US Starts The War Against Itself

In case you were worried North Korea was going to launch a nuclear war against the US, hold your horses. There`s something more urgent to worry about. And it`s not a “possible threat”, it`s already happening. USA`s war against itself has just begun and it`s already gone out of control.

I`m talking about the nuclear and environmental hazards that happened in the past two weeks. Three major oil spills in one week, the Hanford nuclear tank about to explode and now the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says nearly all nuclear tanks need to be replaced, or else…

Now that`s a whole load of failures and it`s only the beginning. If these “prophecies” prove to be true, we`re looking at a disaster of such proportions, no clean-up effort could possibly repair the damage. I mean millions of people would get sick and even killed… entire cities could be wiped off the map… we`d have to eat radioactive food and drink radioactive water… and live in a huge puddle of oil and crude.

Now I know this sounds like I`m exaggerating. But if you`ve been around here long enough, you know I`m not a big fan of fear-mongering. So here are the FACTS, so you can see for yourself that I`m not delusional about this:

source: freakoutnation.com

Three major oil spills happened in one single week: one in Arkansas, one in Ontario and the third one in Texas. The “thousands of gallons of crude oil” mentioned in the news title only refer to the Texas incident. The other two disasters had even worse effects. For example, the ExxonMobile pipeline spill in Mayflower, Arkansas lead to at least 500,000 gallons of tar sands crude released in water and soil. Authorities are in the middle of an intensive clean-up process, but the spill seems to be “substantially larger” than initially believed.

The major issue here, just like I said in a previous article, is that our oil pipelines are so old and rusted, we should be expecting this kind of environmental disasters on a daily basis. The pipes buried right under our houses are at least 20 years past their expiration date, so you can only imagine it won`t be long until they all start flooding our streets with crude…

And that`s not even the most urgent threat on the list. Check this one out:

source:www.huffingtonpost.com

According to the Huffington Post, underground tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion. The gas has kept building up for years now, but it`s only now that the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DFNSB) warned about the imminent risk of an explosion. Even though they`ve known about the build-up for years!

In fact, six of The Hanford Nuclear Reservation`s tanks have been leaking about 1,000 gallons of nuclear waste each year and the US government spends nearly $2 billion each year cleaning up the waste. RTAmerica reveals that about one third of the money goes towards the flawed design and construction of the plant. The $2 billion also makes up about one third of the federal government’s nuclear cleanup budget, and costs are only expected to rise.

So instead of doing the effort (a great effort, indeed, but a necessary one) of replacing the leaking tanks, the government just patches them up from time to time and cleans up the mess on the surface… I don`t even want to think of the amount of radioactive waste (we`re talking about plutonium here!) went into the water we drink every day….

Unfortunately, this major hazard isn`t even a singular case. Gregory Jaczko, former Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stated that “all 104 nuclear reactors currently operational in the US have irreparable safety issues and should be taken out of commission and replaced” (rt.com).

source: rt.com

And here`s what he means by “Band-Aids”: instead of finding a long-term solution for these reactors, American authorities simply  “prolonged” their lives with an extra 20 years. Just like that. Even though their life expectancy doesn`t go beyond 40 years.

I don`t understand how a committee can decide that nuclear reactors (!) that spill thousands of gallons of radioactive waste every year will still be functional in two decades… But when you play God, a signature is enough to decide everything you please: you can “prolong” the life of faulty reactors and slash the lives of millions of Americans at the same time.

On the other hand, let`s look on the bright side: no foreign power will bring America to its knees. The government is doing a splendid job all by itself!

By Alec Deacon