How Many People Died From Chernobyl? Probably More Than A Million

Nuclear industry pundits, propagandists, and astroturfers would like you to believe that the health and environmental effects of catastrophes such as Chernobyl are insignificant. Reality is that the health effects are much larger than the industry and its supporters will admit.

The New York Academy of Sciences published a study by renowned scientists that compiles thousands of studies completed mainly in Slavic that the UN’s groups ignored due to politics and a lack of independence from nuclear industry influence. It’s a landmark work that I recommend everyone interested read.

The authors show that to date more than one million deaths have occurred due to the Chernobyl nuclear radiation catastrophe. This is far more than the tiny numbers claimed by the nuclear industry. Further, the other health effects are enormous. Childhood disease, birth defects, and numerous other health effects have devastated vast areas in the Ukraine and Belarus.

The health effects of Chernobyl and, unfortunately, Fukushima will haunt the world for generations to come.

Here is the PDF of the book for your convenience:

Professor Karl Grossman interviewed the consulting editor, Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger regarding the study on his excellent television program. If you are not up to reading the entire study, I do recommend you watch this video:

Solar Implications For Pumped Hydro In Japan

Thanks to Wikipedia for this wonderful photo of the Yomikaki pumped hydro power station.

Mountainous Japan has enormous pumped hydroelectricity storage potential. In fact, there are numerous pumped hydro stations already built in tandem with the now shut down nuclear plants. A recent development in Germany could remake the usefulness of these peak power generators.

Cheap solar power during afternoon peaks could double the number of pumped hydro cycles from one to two times per day. This sounds boring but the  implications are quite large.

Power Play – Germany : Great Short Film on Energy Revolution [Video]

Journeyman Films has a great short film on the energy revolution happening in Germany. It focuses on two villages, Schönau and Feldheim.

One interesting point is that the film translates the German term for feed-in tariffs as ‘subsidies’. According to Renewables International, the word actually translates as “funding”:

100% Renewable Energy Information Resources

One hundred percent of the world’s energy can be obtained via renewable energy. There are no technical, financial, space, nor resource barriers.

Political will is the only thing preventing a 100% renewable world from happening.

There are numerous academics, consultants, nations, and other groups that have put forth various 100% renewable energy scenarios. Though there are so many scenarios, I’ve found it difficult to find them at times due to the vagaries of search engine optimization. I also have a feeling that certain vested interests such as the nuclear and fossil fuel industries would prefer you not read them. So I decided to write this post to make it easier to find these resources.

Here is a list of various 100% renewable energy research papers, presentations, scenarios, and other interesting information:

Think nuclear is safe in the USA? Think again.

Thom Hartmann has a great show and personally I find it ironic that it’s only on the Russia Today (RT) network. This segment with Paul Gunter from Beyond Nuclear is excellent. Thanks to this tweet from @kenshimada for pointing it out.

See the video after the jump and let me know what you think!

Nuclear Charges 10X More Than Renewable Fees In Japan

Some vested interests want you to think that Japan’s new renewable energy feed-in tariffs (FIT) are really expensive! Well, their sort of right – everything costs money, but are the FITs really expensive?

The Japan renewable energy feed-in tariffs system, after its launch in July, will be paid for by electricity consumers. Everyone who buys electricity will have some additional amount tagged onto their bill each month to pay for the renewable deployment.

A typical household with a 7,000 yen (about €68 or US$88 per month) electric bill will be charged an additional renewable energy fee of 70 to 100 yen (about one Euro or US dollar)  per month. These fees will be collected from everyone and used to pay for the FITs for renewable energy deployed.

GRTV: The Secret US – Japan Nuclear Program [Video]

This is an absolutely fascinating video interview. Highly recommended for anyone interested in nuclear proliferation, the Fukushima catastrophe, or anything related. Excellent job GRTV!

Please check out the video after the jump.

Why “Cost Plus” Is A Very Bad Thing™

Traditional power rate setting mechanisms are a very inefficient and expensive way to set electricity rates. These mechanisms can, and many times do, incentivize electric utilities to invest in the most expensive forms of power generation. This means that you and I pay way too much for electricity.

In Japan and many other countries/markets, electric utility rates are set through a “Cost Plus” system. As I wrote the other day, the Cost Plus system works like this:

Thorium Nuclear Bombs (Shorter Version)

Thorium bred Uranium-233 can be used to make atomic bombs, despite what proponents may claim.

You don’t have to trust me on this, see what the experts at various institutions have to say below:

Thorium Nuclear Bombs

Yours truly posted a general list of independent resources regarding thorium nuclear the other day. While the resources do cover thorium based nuclear weapons proliferation risks, the amount of misinformation online lead me to write this post focused on the issue.

Why would any cult-like group of online astroturfers thorium ‘evangelists’ be so interested in covering up the fact that the object of their devotion thorium bred U-233 cannot be used to make nuclear bombs? Do they have ulterior motives?

We all should certainly hope not. Or, have them arrested.

Thorium bred Uranium-233 can be used to make atomic bombs, despite what proponents, astroturfers, evangelists, or fanatics may claim. No “ifs” “ands” nor “buts” -Thorium can be used to make nuclear bombs.

You don’t have to trust me on this, check out what the experts at various respected institutions have to say below: