Bill Magwood, NRC Democrat, Is 'Treacherous, Miserable Liar' And 'First-Class Rat,' Says Harry Reid
Bill Magwood is not Harry Reid's favorite person.
WASHINGTON -- Harry Reid isn't known for hyperbole. The
soft-spoken Senate majority leader tends to wield his power behind the
scenes, and when he does speak at his weekly press briefing, reporters
lean in and bend their ears to make out the words.
But if Reid is lied to, all that changes. It may sound dissonant to
the public to say that honesty is the mostly highly valued quality in
Washington. But while members of Congress may lie to their constituents
with regularity, lying to one another is considered an unforgiveable
sin.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, the Nevada Democrat savaged
Bill Magwood, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, when asked
if he thought the Democrat had a chance to become NRC chairman.
"You know, when you're in this government, this business of politics,
the only thing that you have is your word," said Reid, seated in his
Capitol office. "I can be as partisan as I have to be, but I always try
to be nice. I try never to say bad things about people. Bill Magwood is
one of the" -- Reid paused, deciding which adjective to reach for,
before picking them all -- "most unethical, prevaricating" -- he paused
again, this time for 10 full seconds -- "incompetent people I've ever
dealt with. The man sat in that chair -- right there -- and lied to me.
I've never, ever in my life had anyone do that. Never."
Magwood didn't respond to a request for comment left with his assistant.
Reid is a vociferous opponent of storing nuclear waste in Nevada's
Yucca Mountain. By backing Obama early in his campaign for president, he
persuaded the candidate to promise to block the project. A former
staffer of Reid's was named chairman, and Reid said he was assured by
Pete Rouse, a senior White House official, that Magwood would also
oppose Yucca. Instead, according to Reid and confirmed by sources
familiar with the internal dynamics of the NRC, Magwood worked against
the effort to shut down Yucca.
"That man I will never, ever forget what a treacherous, miserable
liar he is. I met with him because Pete Rouse asked me to meet with him.
I said, 'Is he OK on Yucca Mountain?' Pete said, 'Yeah.' So I went
through some detail with him as to how important this was to me.
'Senator, I know this industry like the back of my hand. You don't have
to worry about me,' [Magwood said]. And the conversation was much deeper
than that."
Late in 2011, HuffPost reported
that Magwood was working with Republicans and the nuclear industry to
oust then-NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko, just as he had done to his boss
Terry Lash at the Department of Energy in the 1990s.
"What I eventually found was that he had been deceptive and
disloyal," Lash said of his then-number two, when told what Reid said.
"I'm surprised at the strength of it, but it's certainly consistent with
what I've seen."
Reid and Lash have company in their critique of Magwood. In the earlier story
about Magwood and the industry, multiple people who've worked closely
with him questioned his integrity, but none did so on the record like
Reid and Lash:
Magwood built a reputation at the Department of Energy as a sharp-elbowed operator. "He was a consummate inside player, a bureaucratic power player of the first order," recalled a former Department of Energy colleague, who, like many others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity because his current work has him interacting regularly with industry clients.
But that level of ambition is hard to contain over a long period of time in a relatively small industry. Every source to whom HuffPost spoke for this story referred to other players, whether friends or foes, by their first names. Magwood never understood it's a small world. "He always struck me as a guy who thought he was playing in a bigger political pond than he was. I mean, there are about 50 people here in town who care about nuclear energy. So it seemed like a lot of politics for no good reason," said one Democratic lobbyist who worked in the Senate while Magwood served in the Department of Energy.
Reid's public rebuke makes it nearly impossible for Magwood to attain
the chairmanship. Even if Reid leaves the Senate, it would be difficult
for Magwood to overcome such a judgment having been rendered.
In June, Magwood's internal wrangling against Jaczko culminated in the chairman's resignation. Magwood was immediately floated
as a replacement chairman, but the Obama administration, aware of
Reid's opinion of Magwood, passed him over. The term of the new chair,
Allison Macfarlane, ends in 2013.
Reid said that Magwood's behind-the-scenes maneuvering was
unforgivable. "He's a first-class rat. He lied to Rouse, he lied to me,
and he had a plan. He is a tool of the nuclear industry. A tool," Reid
said. "Magwood was a shit-stirrer. He did everything he could do to
embarrass Greg Jaczko." Reid has donated $10,000 to help Jaczko pay the considerable legal bills he racked up defending against Magwood's allegations.
Jaczko was "the first chair that has never been part of the nuclear
industry," Reid said, explaining the intense opposition. "That
commission was a tool to the nuclear industry. Greg Jaczko, this young
guy, he of course worked for me. He was against Yucca Mountain. But they
knew that going in."
Reid can tolerate ideological or political disagreement, he said, as
long as his opponent is honest. He cited GOP Commissioner Kristine
Svinicki, a former aide for Larry Craig (R-Idaho). "I have no problem
with her, she told us who she is. I mean, you know, [Calif. Sen.
Barbara] Boxer is upset at her because Boxer thinks
she didn't level with her, but I have no problem with her, cause we
knew what she was going in there: she was a tool of the industry. That's
most everybody that's gone in there, so she had a qualification that
fit into the past recipients of going to that agency."
Reid said that he wasn't looking to eviscerate Magwood and would have
kept his concerns private if he hadn't been asked. "I have told Pete
Rouse what I think, but no one publicly has ever asked me. I didn't feel
it was appropriate to bring it up. You brought it up, and I do not have
words to describe how little I think of this person. And as long as I
have this job, he will never be chairman of anything that takes Senate
confirmation."
NUCLEAR ISSUES PAGES on NUCLEAR ISSUES
PAGES on NUCLEAR ISSUES
The nuclear industry is unlike any other industry, in the range of topics to which it relates. The effects of the nuclear industry, and its eventual viability depend on the way in which it relates to each of these topics.
On this website, the main aspects of the uranium/nuclear issue are summarised in these PAGES, listed here and also listed on the sidebar, near the bottom of page:
-
Pages
-
- Civil Liberties « nuclear-news
- - - Civil liberties – China and USA « nuclear-news
- Climate change
- Economics
- - Employment « nuclear-news
- – Marketing nuclear power « nuclear-news
- – Marketing Nuclear Power Internationally « nuclear-news
- nuclear ‘renaissance’? « nuclear-news - Energy
- Environment
- Health
- Indigenous issues
- Ionising radiation
- - Ionising radiation – medical « nuclear-news
- Media
- Politics
- – Politics international « nuclear-news
- - Politics USA 2010 « nuclear-news
- Religion and ethics
- - Ethics of nuclear power « nuclear-news
- Safety
- Secrets and lies
- Spinbuster
- Wastes
- Weapons and war
- Women
-
Each month we focus on a particular topic.
Some of the hazards of the industry are illustrated in the diagram below
ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg
Zeitgeist:
Addendum, 2008, was born out of public interest in possible solutions
to the cultural issues presented in Peter Joseph's first work, Zeitgeist: The Movie. Building upon the topics of social distortion and corruption, Addendum moves to also present possible solutions.
Featured in the work is former "Economic Hit-man" and New York Times bestselling author, John Perkins, along with The Venus Project, an organization for social redesign created by Social Engeneer and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco.
Zeitgeist: Addendum was premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist's Film Festival and given its highest award in 2008.
"Director Peter Joseph demonstrates the ability to take risky subject matter and turn it into a visually, emotionally, and intellectually compelling case for a greater point of view," states Diaky Diaz. "Millions of people gravitated toward Peter's first film. We are excited that this year's Artivist Film Festival will provide a platform to once again, pique the curiosity of millions of viewers and continue the dialogue about topics concerning Americans and citizens worldwide."
"Director Peter Joseph demonstrates the ability to take risky subject matter and turn it into a visually, emotionally, and intellectually compelling case for a greater point of view," states Diaky Diaz. "Millions of people gravitated toward Peter's first film. We are excited that this year's Artivist Film Festival will provide a platform to once again, pique the curiosity of millions of viewers and continue the dialogue about topics concerning Americans and citizens worldwide."
It was released online for free on Oct.
3rd 2008 and since then it has been estimated to have been downloaded
over 70 million times. As with the previous release - non-commercial,
open distribution is allowed/encouraged. This work can be freely
screened, shared, uploaded, downloaded in both compressed and DVD form (
via torrents ) without restriction - as long as no money is exchanged.
http://www.zeitgeistaddendum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=55
WWW.ZEITGEISTMOVIE.COM
Zietgeist Movies
Fukushima nuclear disaster , effects of radiation and maps of radiation readings
Fukushima nuclear disaster , effects of radiation and maps of radiation readings
June 25, 2011
This chart provides an excellent explanation of the dangers of
radiation exposure. There are also several links to radiation level maps
in Japan and related videos.
Radiation Effects Fukushima Japan
 |
| Radiations Monographie Effets sante valeurs millisieverts mSv Japon |
The Wall Street Journal was providing an excellent interactive map of radiation levels in Japan up until April 2011 and then stopped reporting further details. Wonder why
(Read more) http://noorslist.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/fukushima-nuclear-disaster-and-effects-of-radiation/A map of citizen measured radiation levels shows radioactivity is distributed in a complex pattern reflecting the mountainous terrain and the shifting winds across a broad area of Japan north of Tokyo which is in the center of the of bottom of the map. Radiation limits begin to be exceeded at just above 0.1 microsieverts/ hour blue. Red is about fifty times the civilian radiation limit at 5.0 microsieverts/hour. Because children are much more sensitive than adults, these results are a great concern for parents of young children in potentially affected areas.
Did HAARP cause Fukushima Quake, Indonesia Tsunami, Haiti Quake, Climate Control, Flood, Drought...
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v2Y07oM8e0s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Reportedly, its purpose is to investigate the ionosphere and establish whether some of its properties can be used for communication or surveillance purposes.
Started in 1993, the project is proposed to last for a period of twenty years. (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program - Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program
According to www.worldnetdaily.com.:
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program Research Station
| Established | 1993 |
|---|---|
| Research type | Unclassified |
| Field of research | Ionosphere |
| Director | John Heckscher |
| Location | Gakona, Alaska |
| Affiliations | University of Alaska |
| Operating agency | Office of Naval Research Air Force Research Laboratory |
| Website | www.haarp.alaska.edu |
"Months before the end of World War II, an American intelligence agency launched a top-secret project aimed at devising ways to trigger massive earthquakes and tsunamis that would wreak havoc among enemy civilian populations, recently uncovered documents reveal."
According to http://www.nzherald.co.nz/:
"Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified files reveal.
"An Auckland University professor seconded to the Army set off a series of underwater explosions triggering mini-tidal waves at Whangaparaoa in 1944 and 1945."
IS THERE A PROJECT TO TRIGGER EARTHQUAKES?
HAARP Weapon Future leading edge for being able to Organize thoughts, Earthquake and world climate ! (Read more)
Activists break through gate at uranium mine, Australia
Print Email Facebook Twitter More
Activists break through gate at uranium mine
PM By Rebecca Brice and staff
Updated July 17, 2012 08:04:39
VIDEO: Mine protesters storm outer gate (7pm TV News SA)
MAP: Roxby Downs 5725
Anti-uranium activists have smashed through the perimeter gate of the Olympic Dam mine near Roxby Downs, 560 kilometres north-west of Adelaide.
The protesters are opposed to the planned expansion of the mine which sits on top of the largest known uranium deposit in the world.
Security guards and police waited inside the mine gate as the group of about 350 people broke a lock to smash through an exterior fence.
They were prevented from reaching the mine, however, by the main reinforced steel gate.
The move prompted police to bring in extra officers on horseback and on foot in the third day of protests against BHP Billiton's multi-billion-dollar expansion.
The group marched two kilometres from a makeshift camping ground, chanting anti-uranium messages and jeering mine workers who were watching from the side.
It was really brute force. They just pushed and pulled back and forth on the gate until the lock broke on it and they pushed their way through it. It's a cyclone wire fence though, so it's not particularly strong compared to the second gate that's there.
The second one is much sturdier and they did push and pull on it, but someone from BHP, who is here among the crowd, said to me that they were fairly confident that it was strong enough to withstand that force.
I spoke with one of the protesters ... and she described the act as harmless and said that it was really probably just a matter of the protesters being quite frustrated that they've been contained, they're saying, in their campfire sites since the last couple of days.
ABC reporter Rebecca Brice
Some have lit campfires and others are dancing and singing as police stand around them securing the site.
Today's action was the first sign of civil disobedience during protests at the site.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-16/protests-continue-against-bhp-uranium-mine/4134696
Police have said they are trying to run the protest without creating confrontation.
There have been a handful of verbal confrontations but no physical contact between police and protesters.
But police said they were filming the activists and warned they would prosecute those responsible for breaking through the gate.
BHP said the protesters have not done anything to stop or slow production.
Topics: uranium-mining, mining-industry, industry, nuclear-issues, environment, government-and-politics, activism-and-lobbying, roxby-downs-5725, sa, australia
First posted July 16, 2012 20:03:34
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-16/activists-break-through-gate-at-roxby-downs-uranium-mine/4134442
If You Lived Downwind From This Power Plant, Would You Be Concerned?
If an airline pilot failed an annual exam, and the Federal Aviation
Administration simply lowered its standards to allow that pilot to
continue to fly, would you board the flight? If a surgeon failed a
licensing exam, and the medical board simply lowered its standards and
allowed the surgeon to continue to practice, would you look for another
doctor?
 |
| DAVIS–BESSE: The nuclear power plant near Toledo, Ohio, was shut down for two years due to an equipment failure that might have resulted in a catastrophic meltdown if it had continued to go without detection. Image: Courtesy |
Davis-Besse, a nuclear power plant just 30 miles from downtown
Toledo, does not provide the same margin of safety that it did when it
was built 34 years ago. Will we allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to simply lower its standards?
A year ago, The Associated Press conducted an in-depth analysis of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's treatment of age-related
deterioration at nuclear power plants. The AP concluded
that the NRC "work(ed) closely with the nuclear power industry to keep
the nation's reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly
weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them."
 |
The AP examined "tens of thousands of pages of government and
industry studies... along with test results, inspection reports and
regulatory policy statements...over four decades." Those records "show a
recurring pattern: Reactor parts or systems fall out of compliance with
the rules. Studies are conducted by the industry and government, and
all agree that existing standards are 'unnecessarily conservative.'
Regulations are loosened, and the reactors are back in compliance."
Several nuclear engineers and former regulators "call the approach
'sharpening the pencil' or 'pencil engineering' -- the fudging of
calculations and assumptions to yield answers that enable plants with
deteriorating conditions to remain in compliance."
The cracking is so extensive that the wall is now
"non-conforming to the current design and licensing bases... " In
layman's terms, this means that, given the condition of the shield
building wall, FirstEnergy would not be issued a license to operate
Davis-Besse today under the criteria that were used in 1977.
FirstEnergy's response was to recalculate the strength of the wall
under a new methodology. The NRC has officially accepted that
recalculation and allowed Davis-Besse to operate, even though the margin
of safety in the strength of the shield building wall has clearly been
reduced.
In their four-part series last year, the AP reporters wrote about this precise situation:
"The fact is, a containment building could fail in a severe accident.
Yet the NRC has allowed operators to make safety calculations that
assume containment buildings will hold.
"In a 2009 letter, Mario V. Bonaca, then-chairman of the NRC's
Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, warned that this approach
represents 'a decrease in the safety margin.' "
A "decrease in the margin of safety" at Davis-Besse invites undue
risk. Since Davis-Besse was originally licensed in 1977, FirstEnergy's
management has caused many near-disasters, including two incidents that
Harold Denton, the former director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, referred to as the nuclear "industry's second and third-lowest points after Three Mile Island."
In 1977, a feedwater valve stuck and engineers were barely able to
prevent a partial meltdown after more than 20 minutes of "complete
confusion." In 1985, the reactor core lost its cooling for 12 minutes.
In 2002, the only thing that stood in the way of a burst reactor head
and a release of radiation was 3/16 of an inch of a bulging steel liner.
Would you accept living next to a nuclear power plant with any decreased safety margin?
Would you board a plane whose pilot had been approved to fly with a
decreased proficiency? Would you go under the knife with a surgeon whose
competency requirements were reduced by a state medical board?
Its operating license expires in 2017. FirstEnergy and its shareholders will have reaped the profits they expected from the reactor. Any extension of the Davis-Besse license, for which FirstEnergy has already applied, would give FirstEnergy windfall profits. FirstEnergy always has put profit ahead of safety. Should it now be rewarded for that conduct?
It is time now to say "Enough is enough." After Fukushima, "pencil
engineering" Davis Besse into "compliance" is not acceptable.
FirstEnergy must either massively repair Davis-Besse or close it.
Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, is representative of the 10th District in the U.S. House.
This article originally appeared in the Elyria Chronicle Telegram.
Analysis Of The Distribution Of Fukushima Radiation In The Pacific Ocean
A disturbing video that shows the pollution distribution in the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvpQu7NY420&feature=player_detailpage
Fukushima Radiation On West Coast of North America Could End Up Being 10 Times HIGHER than in Japan
In 10 Years, Peak Cesium Levels Off West Coast Could Be 10 Times Higher Than at Coast of Japan
We’ve extensively documented the fact that ocean currents bring Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America, and that – rather than adequate ocean dilution - there could be “pockets” and “streams” of highly-concentrated radiation.
Joke F Lübbecke of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and 3 scientists from the GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences poured tracer dye into coastal waters off of Fukushima, and monitored its progress as it traveled to the West Coast of North America, to find out what might really happen.
They have revealed their results in a new paper published by journal Environmental Research Letters.
The paper shows that the West Coast of North American could end up with 10 times more radioactive cesium 137 than the coastal waters off of Japan itself.
How could radiation levels be lower closer to the source of contamination: Fukushima?
Because the currents are swift off of the Eastern coast of Japan, and quickly move the contaminated water away.
The paper explains:
In the following years, the tracer cloud continuously expands laterally, with maximum concentrations in its central part heading east. While the northern portion is gradually invading the Bering Sea, the main tracer patch reaches the coastal waters of North America after 5–6 years, with maximum relative concentrations ( > 1 × 10−4) covering a broad swath of the eastern North Pacific between Vancouver Island and Baja California. Simultaneously some fraction of the southern rim of the tracer cloud becomes entrained in the North Equatorial Current (NEC), resulting in a westward extending wedge around 20°N that skirts the northern shores of the Hawaiian Archipelago. After 10 years the concentrations become nearly homogeneous over the whole Pacific, with higher values in the east, extending along the North American coast with a maximum (~1 × 10−4) off Baja California. The southern portion of the tracer cloud is carried westward by the NEC across the subtropical Pacific, leading to increasing concentrations in the Kuroshio regime again.
***(Read More)
Radiation On West Coast of North America Could End Up Being 10 Times HIGHER than in Japan
震驚! 36% 的福島 兒 童 受到輻射影響 異 常 增 生
 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
測試從日本福島縣的兒童超過 38,000，36%異常增生 — — 囊腫或結節 — — 甲狀腺..福島核災難後, 一年由 ENENews 報告。
令人震驚受到的數位來自"第六次報告的福島縣衛生管理調查，"出版由福島放射性污染症狀研究 （FRCSR），由博客福島語音翻譯的甲狀腺檢查部分。
俊一山下，醫學博士、 日本甲狀腺協會主席概述什麼要遵循甲狀腺異常的準則的 1 月份發送給成員的一封信。在 2001 年山下合著了一項研究，發現在長崎有 0%結節和 0.8 個百分點囊腫的正常兒童。
引進這封信，寫的福島的聲音，在福島縣調查結果顯示"多快進展相比，切爾諾貝爾"的國家作為切爾諾貝利周邊進行研究顯示兒童 5 至 10 年後該宗意外是 1.74%率的甲狀腺結節。
在 2011 年 3 月大地震引發海嘯，導致了系列的核的崩潰和福島核電，自 1986 年切爾諾貝利，最大的核災難導致放射性物質釋放。
這封信的注意到，澳大利亞的兒科醫生海倫星球說它是不正常的孩子們有任何甲狀腺結節或囊腫和結果意味著福島兒童受到非常高劑量的輻射。
ENENews 還報告說發現在一個家庭中的三個孩子住在 60 英里，福島核電站從其甲狀腺上有多個囊腫的具體情況。
閱 讀更多: HTTP://www.businessinsider.com/a-stunning-36-percent-of-fukushima-children-have-abnormal-growths-from-radiation-exposure-2012-7#ixzz20q3T8kgz
(Translate by Bing Translator)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)