Sophie, our Audience Engagement Manager, shares her excitement: "Great news for the next generation in the U.K.
making climate and nature part of the curriculum.
I would have loved to study this at school!" #ClimateEducation #FutureGenerations
Public comment extended to September 1st!
Environmental groups criticize #Hanford #nuclear waste cleanup plan
by Eric Tegethoff
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
"A new agreement on plans for cleaning up nuclear waste at the Hanford site in #WashingtonState is receiving pushback from #environmental groups.
"Public comment was originally scheduled to close at the beginning of August but has been extended to Sept. 1 for the Tri-Party Agreement between the U-S Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Washington Department of Ecology.
"Simone Anter, staff attorney and Hanford program director for the nonprofit #ColumbiaRiverkeeper, said the new agreement means changes to the cleanup efforts including how and where the Hanford #NuclearWaste is stored.
"'If new proposals are coming out to ship either grouted or liquid nuclear waste across the region, communities deserve to know that and deserve to have a voice and deserve to be engaged,' Anter contended.
"The agreement for dealing with 177 underground storage tanks at Hanford took four years of closed door negotiations. Columbia #Riverkeeper and other environmental groups worry the new agreement opens the door for a storage method other than #vitrification, which is used to turn high-level waste into glass.
"Anter noted #TribalNations in the region were not consulted about the proposal. She stressed even if they could not be part of the agreement, the agencies should have been considered before it was presented to the public.
"'#Tribal nations are not members of the public. They are government entities and should have been treated as such,' Anter pointed out.
"Anter added members of the public can play a big role in how the 56 million gallons of nuclear waste at Hanford are handled.
"'It's really important that all these cleanup decisions put human health, the #ColumbiaRiver and the environment first,' Anter asserted. 'I think public comments play an enormous role in reminding the #TPA agencies about this."
#WaterIsLife #NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons
#RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #HanfordNuclearSite
Historic #Hanford #Contamination is Worse Than Expected: #Oregon Experts Weigh In
July 7, 2023
"In late June, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that radioactive contamination beneath a building at the #HanfordNuclearSite is worse than originally thought.
"The Hanford 324 Building is located on the south end of Hanford – in what’s known as the 300 Area – just 1,000 feet from the #ColumbiaRiver. The US DOE has known about one spill under the building for over a decade, and has been working on a plan for cleanup of the area while also making progress in other areas of Hanford since production turned to cleanup at the site in the 1980s.
"The agency knew the contamination in the soil was serious, but sampling this spring found unexpected contamination deeper in the soil and outside the previously known spill area. So what does that mean? Oregon Department of Energy Assistant Director for Nuclear Safety and Emergency Preparedness Maxwell Woods and Hanford Hydrogeologist Tom Sicilia weigh in.
"Q: Is the #groundwater or the Columbia River at risk of exposure to the contaminated soil?
"A: Based on data from monitoring wells, the US DOE reports that the spill has not migrated to groundwater, so at this time the groundwater that flows to the river poses a minimal risk. But it will be important moving forward that the area remain covered and protected and for monitoring to continue while a cleanup plan is identified.
"We hear US DOE may also be considering adding additional groundwater monitoring in the area to capture more data, which we support.
[...]
"Q: What are the risks with the new plan?
"A: If US DOE decides to construct the big metal shell, a next question will be whether work should continue with robots or remotely operated equipment to resume the digging, or if the agency should wait a few more decades to allow the #radioactive materials in the soil to decay further.
"Depending on how “hot” the soil really is – it could be hundreds of years before it would be safe enough for humans to manually excavate it. Remotely operated equipment is used across the Hanford site for safe cleanup activities.
"While the risk to groundwater and the river are low, there is a balance between the inevitable migration of #contaminants over time and the ability to safely complete the cleanup. In the near-term, US DOE seems to be doing the right thing, and is 'measuring twice' to avoid having to go back out and re-dig this complicated and dangerous soil. This pause will allow a more efficient and protective remedy to be developed for review by stakeholders, Tribal nations, the public, and site regulators."
#WaterIsLife #Oregon #WashingtonState #HanfordNuclearFacility #NoNukes #NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWeaponsDump
What’s being done now about #RadioactiveWater that threatens the #ColumbiaRiver in #WashingtonState?
by Annette Cary
Tue, July 9, 2024
"A major #radioactive contamination threat to the Columbia River should be removed at the #Hanford #nuclear site before the end of summer.
"Hanford workers have started to pump contaminated water from the final basin of the nuclear reservation’s nine reactors along the Columbia River.
"'This effort will eliminate the risk of a leak of contaminated water to the groundwater about a quarter-mile from the Columbia River,' said Andy Wiborg, the Department of Energy acting deputy assistant manager for river and plateau cleanup."
[...]
"The K West and K East Reactor basins were the last to be used, after storing irradiated fuel from N Reactor that was not processed following the end of the Cold War. Before the fuel was removed in 2004, it #corroded underwater, contributing to a highly #RadioactiveSludge.
"In 2019 the last of the sludge was removed, leaving draining the water the next major task to reduce risk from the basins.
"The nearby K East Reactor basin was emptied first.
"Then in June, the first tanker truck with basin water pulled away from the K West Reactor.
About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.
About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with filtered water to remove radioactive contamination from the K West Reactor basin as it is being drained. The work will protect the nearby Columbia River.
"About 400,000 gallons have been pumped out of the basin so far, which is the equivalent of six residential swimming pools, said Heather Dale, DOE Hanford assistant manager for the river and plateau. About 60 tanker trucks have been filled with basin water.
[...]
"They also installed a system to pump out and then filter the contaminated water before it it loaded into tanker trucks.
"The filtering system removes particles and also uses an ion exchange system to remove radioactive #cesium and #strontium from the water. The initial resin used in the ion exchange system DID NOT WORK WELL, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in January.
[...]
"Some of the contents of the vertical pipe units in the K West Reactor basin may be required to be sent to the nation’s repository for transuranic radioactive waste in New Mexico for disposal [#WIPP].
Read more:
https://news.yahoo.com/news/being-done-now-radioactive-water-181740119.html
#WaterIsLife
#NoNukes
#NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar
#NoNuclearWeapons
#RethinkNotRestart
#NuclearWaste
#HanfordNuclearSite
February 2024: #Texas #wildfires forces shutdown at #NuclearWeapons facility. Here is what we know
by Michael Casey
"#Pantex is one of six production facilities in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Security Enterprise. The plant has been the main U.S. site for assembling and disassembling #AtomicBombs since 1975. It produced its last new bomb in 1991, and has dismantled thousands of weapons retired from #military stockpiles. Pantex says on its website that it places 'the resulting plutonium pits in interim storage,' but it does not explain what that means. The company did not respond to questions about nuclear storage at the site."
[...]
"The fire definitely had an impact. The company said Tuesday night that plant operations had 'paused until further notice,' but that 'all weapons and special materials are safe and unaffected.' Asked about the potential danger of the wildfire, a spokesperson would only say that Pantex 'has robust facilities designed to prevent fire from damaging site facilities.'"
https://apnews.com/article/texas-wildfires-nuclear-facility-pantex-16bfa90f49b65b604f63744a9aee3b97
#Wildfires #ClimateChange #NoNukes #NoDumping
#FutureGenerations
#NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWeaponsDump
Sites with #radioactive material more vulnerable as #ClimateChange increases #wildfire, #flood risks
By TAMMY WEBBER
Updated 1:04 AM EDT, May 22, 2024
"As #Texas #wildfires burned toward the nation’s primary #NuclearWeapons facility, workers hurried to ensure nothing flammable was around buildings and storage areas.
"When the fires showed no sign of slowing, #Pantex Plant officials urgently called on local contractors, who arrived within minutes with bulldozers to dig trenches and enlarge fire breaks for the sprawling complex where nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled and dangerous #plutonium pits — hollow spheres that trigger nuclear warheads and bombs — are stored."
[...]
"Dozens of active and idle laboratories and manufacturing and #military facilities across the nation that use, store or are contaminated with radioactive material are increasingly vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather. Many also perform critical energy and defense research and manufacturing that could be disrupted or crippled by fires, floods and other disasters.
"There’s the 40-square-mile #LosAlamos National Laboratory in #NewMexico, where a 2000 wildfire burned to within a half mile (0.8 kilometers) of a #RadioactiveWaste site. The heavily polluted #SantaSusana Field Laboratory [#SSFL] in Southern #California, where a 2018 wildfire burned 80% of the site, narrowly missing an area #contaminated by a 1959 partial #NuclearMeltdown. And the #plutonium-contaminated #Hanford nuclear site in #Washington, where the U.S. manufactured #AtomicBombs.
"'I think we’re still early in recognizing climate change and ... how to deal with these extreme weather events,' said Paul Walker, program director at the environmental organization Green Cross International and a former staff member of the House Armed Services Committee. 'I think it’s too early to assume that we’ve got all the worst-case scenarios resolved ... (because) what might have been safe 25 years ago probably is no longer safe.”
So, I found this article that talks about other possible #NuclearWaste repositories (Pantex in Texas, and Hanford in Washington state). There have been problems with #Pantex and #Hanford because of #ClimateChange, and #YuccaMountain is more seismically active than previously thought! Where to bury the waste is a HUGE problem that I brought up when touring the #SeabrookNuclearPlant before it was operational. Back then I was told, "Oh, we'll figure out that problem when we get to it. Don't worry about it!" Ummmm...
Western Shoshone Nation Opposes Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository
"From our perspective the processes employed by the DOE is environmental racism designed to systematically dismantle the living lifeways of the #WesternShoshone people in relation to our land . . . It’s not about the amount of radioactivity that would permeate the #groundwater . . . The #EnvironmentalRacism lies in the very notion that it would be okay to put any radioactive material there at all."
Commodities, Conflict, and Cooperation
Fall 2016 & Winter 2017
"In 1986, the list was narrowed to three sites in the Western U.S. – Hanford in eastern Washington State, a site in the Texas panhandle [#Pantex] southwest of Amarillo, and Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada about 80 miles north of Las Vegas (see photo below)."
Source:
https://sites.evergreen.edu/ccc/warnuclear/shoshone-tribe-opposes-yucca-mountain-nuclear-repository/
#Pauite #PauiteShoshone
#CulturalGenocide #NativeAmericans #nuclear #WaterIsLife #RespectTheTreaties #NoNukes #NoDumping
#InformedConsent #FutureGenerations
Recently a judge supported BlueTriton's permit to keep bottling up #GinnieSprings.
But there is one participant who can decide the fate of Ginnie Springs right now: BlueTriton.
BlueTriton can abandon its plans to plunder Ginnie Springs, preserving its precious #waters for #wildlife and #FutureGenerations alike.
5/6
Updated #Introduction
Dutch MarCom professional with focus on wellbeing over profit. (site: jijLandt.nu) Toots mainly in Dutch.
Inclusion and empathy will make the world better for everyone.
After at least thirty years of trying, it is clear #Wales can't do #innovation
But without Innovation, we have no future...
Here is my solution for #futuregenerations.
https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2024/01/calvin-jones-future-generations-innovation-wales/
Is #Wales actually much different to England? Is the #FutureGenerations Act making much difference to the real world?
My new #academic paper "Cymru Yfory: Incrementalism or Transformation for the Regional Economy?" in Revue Britannique is now available free and #OpenAccess.
https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/11289
‘They #criminalize us’: how #felony charges are weaponized against #PipelineProtesters
Twenty states have passed laws that criminalize protesting, including on infrastructure including #pipelines. In #Minnesota, at least 66 felony theft charges against #Line3 protesters remain open
Alexandria Herr for Floodlight
Thu 10 Feb 2022
"Last summer [2021] Sabine von Mering, a professor of German at Brandeis University, drove more than 1,500 miles from Boston to Minneapolis to protest against the replacement of the Line 3 #OilPipeline that stretches from #Canada’s #TarSands down to Minnesota.
"Along with another protester, she locked herself to a semi-truck in the middle of a roadway, according to a filed court brief, as a means of #peaceful #resistance. But when she was arrested, she was charged with a serious crime: felony theft, which carries up to five years in prison.
"'It’s very scary that they criminalize us like that, and to face jail time,' said Von Mering, 54, of her June arrest. 'But what can I do? I feel responsible to my kids and #FutureGenerations.'
"The felony charges come as more than a dozen states have passed laws to criminalize #FossilFuel protests, and as the federal government has ramped up its own tactics for surveilling and penalizing protesters.
"Von Mering is one of nearly 900 protesters who were arrested in Minnesota for protesting against the pipeline’s construction, with the vast majority of arrests taking place during the summer of 2021, and one of dozens facing felony charges. Construction on the Line 3 pipeline was finalized in October 2021 and carries 760,000 barrels of oil per day across northern Minnesota. But its construction for years has stoked fierce protests and legal challenges, led by #Indigenous activists in northern Minnesota who worried about potential impacts of oil spills and the pipeline’s threat to #treaty rights to gather wild rice. While most of the arrests have led to misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charges for crimes including 'disturbing the peace' and 'trespassing', felony charges like Von Mering’s mean protesters are facing years of jail time.
"Legal advocates say that in Minnesota the elevated charges are a novel tactic to challenge protest actions against pipeline construction. They see them as furthering evidence of close ties between Minnesota’s government and the #FossilFuelIndustry. It follows reporting by the Guardian that the Canadian pipeline company #Enbridge, which is building Line 3, reimbursed Minnesota’s #police department $2.4m for time spent arresting protesters and on equipment including ballistic helmets. Experts say the reimbursement strategy for arrests is a new technique in both Minnesota and across the US, and there’s concern it can be replicated.
"'I do a lot of representation for people in political protests and I’ve never seen anything like that,' said Jordan Kushner, a defense attorney representing clients charged in relation to Line 3 protests.
"Two of Kushner’s clients were charged with felony 'aiding attempted suicide' charges for crawling inside a pipe. The charge is for someone who 'intentionally advises, encourages, or assists another who attempts but fails to take the other’s own life', according to Minnesota law and carries up to a seven-year sentence. Authorities alleged that the protesters were endangering their lives by remaining inside the pipeline."
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/10/felony-charges-pipeline-protesters-line-3
Fake plastic tree: we imitate nature whilst destroying it.
“A green plastic watering can
For a fake Chinese rubber plant
In a fake plastic earth
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plants
To get rid of itself
It wears her out…” - Radiohead
A child points up to a fake plastic tree’s canopy, both silhouetted against the window light of an airport departure lounge.
Climate Lawsuit Against the State
“Now is the moment to act, no more waiting. No more excuses. No more pointing fingers. The time is now.”
“Our brains aren’t built for this. Every generation has its struggles but it’s never been extinction.”
#ClimateAction #climatecrisis #climate
I have a 16 and 20 year olds, I never could understand how ‘adults’ could do this to our #FutureGenerations
Being a politician is a job, where remaining popular is too important to maintain an income. Politicians need to make great unpopular decisions, that put #FutureGenerations first.
Anyone should be able to stand in a meaningful #democracy.
A monumental decision that could influence other cases.
‘In the first ruling of its kind nationwide, a Montana state court decided Monday in favor of young people who alleged the state violated their rights by promoting the use of fossil fuels.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/14/youths-win-montana-climate-trial/
Very excited!
I'm about to interview the outgoing Welsh Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe (you can learn more about her work at this simple blog - www.australiaremade.org/blog/government-can-do-amazing-things).
Anyone got any questions for her?
And this: A #WSJ #NORC poll found that most #Americans believe that their children's lives will be worse than their own. Four out of five respondents said that the #economy is in a not-so-good or poor state, and nearly half think it will get worse in the next year. <how about #climatecrisis?> https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WSJ_NORC_Topline_EconQuestionsMarch2023.pdf #FutureGenerations #FinancialStability #banking #FinancialSystem
#UN #Climate #scientists are running out of ways to #warn us. https://www.vox.com/climate/23648274/climate-change-report-ipcc-ar6-warming-overshoot #ClimateCrisis
What’s become clear is that climate change is no longer a distant, #vague #threat for #FutureGenerations to contend with. It’s a #NearTerm #crisis. The impacts of the #warming we’re already experiencing — 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming above #preindustrial times — are unfolding faster than expected in every region of the world & some of these changes are #irreversible. https://www.vox.com/climate/23648274/climate-change-report-ipcc-ar6-warming-overshoot
[Moreover, in “borrowing” the equivalent of 4.1 planets’ worth of #biocapacity, #Canadians are #consuming more of the Earth’s biocapacity & resources than we are entitled to, if everyone on #Earth were to get their #FairShare .
In doing so we are, in effect, taking precious resources not only from others around the world who need them for their own #human & #SocialDevelopment, but from #FutureGenerations and from other #species .]
