Blume & Gundersen Get A Venue

To spread their anti-nuclear propaganda:  

  

 

There's the #4 spent fuel pool myth.  There's an amateurish San Onofre S/G mockup that he did because he was hired by an anti-nuclear group to explain to them why they should be anti-nuclear.  He tries to promote that it was his "research" that led him to conclude what was wrong regarding the S/G before anyone else, but he didn't do any scientific research.  He just did some internet research, including the NRC's site.  I wonder how much $ he raked in from that.  Arnie tries to portray the NRC as unwilling to discuss the problems there, but that is a lie.

Blume talks about more and more things going wrong due to their age, but components are replaced, sometimes with safer components than the originals.  Likewise, a new component (like the S.O. S/G's) can be of poorer quality than what it is intended to replace.  It isn't about age (except for those components which are not replaceable like the reactor vessel).

He then takes us back to the late 1950's to discuss a Russian accident.  He says the CIA didn't tell Americans about what happened in order to promote nuclear power.  He needs to provide evidence to support that claim.  If they knew about it, and if they didn't inform the public, it might have been due to secrecy concerns regarding letting the Soviets understand how we obtained the information.  We were in the midst of the Cold War. (Coincidentally, this month's Health Physics Journal is dedicated to Chelyabinsk).

Arnie talks about another 1950's reactor accident.

Well, if the government kept these accidents secret how is it that Blume & Gundersen know about them? Do they work for the government?  Of course, not.  The Cold War is over and information has been disseminated.   These guys are really stretching to fear-monger if they have to go back over 50 years to the Cold War!

Blume then exaggerates, that if the S.O. problem continued, "and the thing melted down and blew"...say what???  S/G's don't melt down and blow.  He is grossly exaggerating if he is stretching to think that the plant's engineered safety features as well as operator actions wouldn't shut down the plant prior to the reactor melting down from a S/G leak. And kill 7.5 million people!   He's just made that up and Arnie "couldn't agree with you more"!  A total lie.

Then the host says something like the "science doesn't even design for it (safety)", and gets corrected by Blume.  What a moronic statement it was.  It is the safest energy industry in terms of mortality.  And it's a lie to say it's the most expensive energy source, even when we consider subsidies.  Arnie, renewables are subsidized too, so are fossil fuels.

He says there's no keeping people away from solar energy, but in order to have enough power density to compete with nuclear will take large land areas full of solar panels.  Those will be protected facilities.

Blume doesn't mention the negative impacts of biofuels because he wants you to buy his products.   He lies again about the toxicity of radioactivity including that you only need a couple of atoms of plutonium in your lungs to guarantee your death.   I've addressed that lie here.  BTW, ethanol produces more CO2 per energy unit than gasoline.


Blume gets deeper in irony and says, "totally not talked about in the press are the two plants on the Mississippi River" and then says "and you saw pictures of the nuclear power plant".  Well, I think he meant the Missouri River and just where did those pictures come from?  Perhaps the press.


Arnie says there were 45,000 protesters at the Japanese P.M.'s house.  Nice exaggeration.  He seems to have been accurate on the number of signatures.


It's really funny at around 48:40 the host says, "it's really great that you're advocating the truth".  Sucker!

And then Arnie lies and says the tuna were "quite highly contaminated" (they weren't) and infers that our government doesn't test the tuna (they do).  And then Blume tells us that the radioactive particles are water soluble...even though moments later he says that they are metals.  HA!

The host ends by encouraging his audience to think green.  I would emphasize that they just think.