Chernobyl scientist says nuclear disaster produced 'invisible enemy'

The horrors of the world’s worst nuclear accident greeted Natalia Manzurova when she arrived in the Ukraine after the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl. Assigned by the Soviet government to study the accident’s fallout, Manzurova visited an abandoned nursery school and found a bony dog sleeping on a child’s cot. Its sagging, bleeding skin showed evidence of radiation burns. Through clouded eyes, the dog looked sadly at her.

Click to read more ...

Ira Helfand: Unsafe at Any Exposure

As the radioactive contamination of food, water, and soil in Fukushima, Japan worsens, the media is continuously reassuring us that these levels are "safe." But there is no safe level of radiation.

Click to read more ...

Mother Nature and Nuclear Power

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, who are suffering the horrendous effects of a massive earthquake and devastating tsunami. Watching the news clips of the natural disasters in Japan makes us realize yet again the enormous power of nature and the limits of our capacities to control such power. Large buildings, roadways and bridges buckled before the shockwaves of the earthquake. Cars and trucks, even houses, seemed like small toys when they were swept away by the tsunami wave hitting the Japanese coastline.

Click to read more ...

Robert Scheer: No Nukes Is Good Nukes

When it comes to the safety of nuclear power plants, I am biased. And I’ll bet that if President Barack Obama had been with me on that trip to Chernobyl 24 years ago he wouldn’t be as sanguine about the future of nuclear power as he was Tuesday in an interview with a Pittsburgh television station: “Obviously, all energy sources have their downside. I mean, we saw that with the Gulf spill last summer.”

Click to read more ...