Von: „Labor Video Project“ <>
Betreff:
Labor, Energy & The Lessons Of Fukushima One Year On
Datum: Sonntag, 11. März 2012 05:00
KPFA WorkWeek 3/9/12 OpEd And Calendar
http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20120309-Fri0800.mp3
Labor, Energy & The Lessons Of Fukushima One Year On
by Labor Video
3/9/2012
Only a month after the meltdowns of Fukushima Daiich plant last year,
Liz Schuler, the Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO said that nuclear
power could be made safe and these plants provided good working family
jobs.
The idea that good working class jobs are justification for the
continued operation of nuclear power plants is not unique. The
Japanese trade union federation Rengo and the Electrical workers union
which represents Japanese nuclear utility workers has also opposed the
closures of the plants.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111005a5.html
One of the most despicable practices at these plants in Japan is the
use of temporary day workers at the plants with no safety training or
preparation for working at a nuclear plant.
The Japanese Yakuza has also been involved in recruiting these day
workers with the collusion of the nuclear utility operators and the
Japanese government. They are then moved from plant to plant get
around safety rules.
US workers in the nuclear power and weapon industry have been
contaminated for decades.
These workers have had to fight for their healthcare rights in a
system in which most workers have to have an employer for healthcare.
If you are sick without a job you are in trouble. In Japan, nuclear
plant workers have to prove that they got sick as a result of working
at the plants and other diseases other than cancers are not covered.
The dirty little secret about the nuclear plant meltdown at Fukushima
Japan is that the Tokyo Electric Power company and the government had
been told for decades that the plant had serious problems. In fact bay
area General Electric nuclear inspector Kei Sugaoka had inspected that
very plant and discovered serious health and safety problems. He was
ordered to edit video tape of a cracked dryer at the plant even though
this is a criminal offense in the United States. After he was layed
off he blew the whistle about this cover-up and was never hired back
for further investigations by GE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJjbNw07OUA
There are dozens of other nuclear plants in the US with the same GE
design as the Fushima plant and the Obama administration along with
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC are pushing to allow them to be
re-licensed for another twenty years although they are already over 40
years old.
San Onofre Nuclear Power plant near San Diego and next to the bread
basket Imperial Valley is another one of these dangerous plants. Like
the Diablo Canyon plant near San Louis Obispo it has been built on
major fault lines.
When the NRC was forced to come to San Clemente which is next the
plant nuclear whistleblowers spoke out.
James Chambers who was a nuclear inspector at the plant which is owned
by the Southern California Edison Company spoke out about the serious
health and safety hazards at this plant.
http://sanonofresafety.org/safety-allegations-8/
Instead of taking his complaints seriously and making sure that he and
others were not retaliated against the NRC allowed Southern California
Edison to harass him and others out of their jobs. You would think
that it would be a criminal offense for firing and retaliations
against whistleblowers at nuclear plants but not one nuclear power
plant utility official has ever gone to jail for covering up health
and safety problems in this country. At the same time thousands of
used nuclear rods are piling up at these plants in California and
other plants with no place to go. They are a ticking time bomb ready
to go off.
The answer should be obvious. The nuclear industry and the utilities
control the regulators and agencies that are supposed to protect the
safety of workers and the public.
As one activist in Japan near the Fukushima plant said accidents are
bound to happen and it is only a matter of time before another plant
has a meltdown.
Private control of the energy industry is a deadly threat to our
health and safety as the industry controls the agencies set up to
regulate it. The California Legislative Analyst has even lied to the
people of California by saying that if San Onofre and Diablo Canyon
were closed it would cost the people of the state billions. They got
their figures of course from PG&E as well as Southern California
Edison and they repeated them with no independent evidence in order to
stop people from signing an initiative to force the closure of these
plants unless there is a place to store the used rods. The ballot
initiative can be found at
The response of the Obama administration to these growing dangers has
been to support a new design for more nuclear plants, subsidize new
plants in Georgia with $8.3 billion and actually support the
construction of “Small ‘Modular’ Reactors made by Babcock & Wilcox
that would be built around the country. It is time to develop
alternative energy sources and stop the dangerous proliferation of
these deadly dangerous plants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/science/earth/13nuke.html?_r=
Trade unionists and activists are seeking to educate working people
about these issues and there will be a rally at the Bechtel Company
this Sunday at 12:00 noon. It is located at 50 Beale St. near Mission.
There will also be anniversary of the Fukushima meltdown on Sunday
evening at 6:30 PM at ILWU Local 34 which is located at 810 2nd St at
King St next to the AT&T stadium. You can find out more about this at http://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/
or call (415)282-1908.
This is Steve Zeltzer with WorkWeek Radio. If you have events for the
calendar send them to info@workweekradio.or<>