Penn State College of Medicine researchers have shown, for the first time, a possible correlation between the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and thyroid cancers in the counties surrounding the plant. Three Mile Island (TMI), located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, had a partial meltdown accident on March 28, 1979. During the […]
The Plutonium Files: America’s Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War
When the vast wartime factories of the Manhattan Project began producing plutonium in quantities never before seen on earth, scientists working on the top-secret bomb-building program grew apprehensive. Fearful that plutonium might cause a cancer epidemic among workers and desperate to learn more about what it could do to the human body, the Manhattan Project’s medical doctors […]
Woolsey Fire & Santa Susana Field Lab Documentary: ‘In the Dark of the Valley’
MSNBC will widely share the stories of local community members, activists, and parents in a brilliantly produced and acclaimed documentary entitled In the Dark of the Valley. This documentary, which will be aired nationwide, chronicles the stories of families living in the shadow of chemical and radiological contamination, making them and their children ill. MSNBC recently […]
Nuclear power: how might radioactive waste water affect the environment?
Markus Distelrath/Pixabay , CC BY Awadhesh Jha, University of Plymouth It’s been just over a decade since the fourth most powerful earthquake of the modern era triggered a tsunami that struck Fukushima on the eastern coastline of Japan, causing thousands of deaths and leaving hundreds of thousands unable to return home. That tsunami was also […]
Chernobyl Radiation Surge ‘Cause for Concern,’ Say Scientists
Scientists monitoring the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine are detecting increased fission reactions inside an inaccessible chamber built around the radioactive ruins of a reactor that suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986—and they aren’t sure why. New Scientist reported this week that since 2016, researchers have detected a 40% surge in neutron emissions from a sealed […]
Genetic effects of Chernobyl radiation
In two landmark studies, researchers have used cutting-edge genomic tools to investigate the potential health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen, from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. One study found no evidence that radiation exposure to parents resulted in new genetic changes being passed from […]
A radioactive isotope is showing up in honey
That natural, bee-produced sweetener you stir into your tea and lavish on your toast may be laced with cesium-137. It’s a radioactive isotope, Jim Kaste explains, a relic of the atom bomb tests of the Cold War. And there is a good chance that your delectable honey contains detectable amounts of the stuff. Kaste hastens […]
Radiation causes blindness in wild animals in Chernobyl
Vast amounts of radioactive particles spread over large areas in Europe. These particles, mostly Cesium-137, cause a low but long-term exposure to ionizing radiation in animals and plants. This chronic exposure has been shown to decrease the abundances of many animal species both after the Chernobyl and later Fukushima nuclear accidents. Damage caused by acute […]
Greenpeace Says Japan’s Plan to Contaminate Pacific Ocean With Fukushima Water Would Violate International Law
In a decision that sparked condemnation from environmental advocates, fisherfolk, and neighboring countries, Japan announced Tuesday a plan to dump over 1.2 million tons of stored contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. The decision made by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet gives Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) the green light […]
Possible correlation shown between the partial meltdown at TMI and thyroid cancers
Penn State College of Medicine researchers have shown, for the first time, a possible correlation between the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and thyroid cancers in the counties surrounding the plant. Three Mile Island (TMI), located near Harrisburg, Pa., had a partial meltdown accident on March 28, 1979. During the […]