Nuclear Workers in Japan Face the Greatest Danger

Nuclear Power Plant Workers

Like many of you, I've spent a large part of the last few days watching the Japanese disaster unfold. The accuracy of the picture we are getting has been called into question by some in the nuclear field as in this article by Ron Freeman, an engineer trained in Nuclear Physics. Rachel Maddow has also made reference to previous inaccurate reporting and cover-ups by the Japanese government regarding past nuclear incidents.

At this juncture, scientists are hoping for something less horrific than the Chernobyl incident. It's important to note that, while vast numbers of people are being negatively impacted by the present situation, it is the nuclear plant employees who are in the greatest danger.Their jobs will likely cost many of them their lives. Although we aren't sure exactly what is actually happening in Japan, or even whether or not the news reports are reliable, we do know that a simliar scenario is entirely possible in California where we have the same deadly combination of nuclear power plants, earthquake fault and tsunami potential.

The only optimistic note is that perhaps this disastrous event will mark the beginning of the end of the nuclear industry.

Fascism or Nuclear Holocaust?

Maybe we'll have both...Between Walker's walking all over the rights of the people of Wisconsin and the danger of meltdowns from Japan's earthquake and tsunami-damaged nuclear reactors, we are being Fukushima'd up down and sideways. Tractors driven by agricultural workers and the largest crowd ever, estimated at 180,000 protesters, descended on the Capitol in Madison and filled the rotunda. Deafening cries of "Shame! Shame! echoed throughout the building as Walker overrode the democratic process entirely to sign his "budget repair bill" into law. This demonstration was the first since that travesty of justice. Protesters were joined by the 14 renegade Democratic senators who had returned home in the misplaced hope that they could negotiate with the Dairyland Dictator. The well-mannered and patient demonstrators sang a few choruses of "We Shall Overcome."