The Return of Nukespeak

[Octafish]

There are no words to convey what has happened at Fukushima Daiichi...



...for a reason.

The Return of Nukespeak

By Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell
ConsortiumNews.com
March 16, 2011

George Orwell argued that controlling language offered the ultimate tool for getting people to accept the unacceptable – such as the catastrophic risks of operating nuclear power plants.

In Orwell’s “1984,” each new edition of the Newspeak dictionary had fewer words than the previous one, making it harder and harder even to think a thought that might challenge Big Brother.

So Orwell would not have been surprised to learn, as the New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert helpfully pointed out this week, that there is literally no word for “meltdown” in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s glossary of atomic-related words and phrases.

A Google search for the past month showed more than 1.93 billion hits for “meltdown.” Yet the regulators at the NRC remain wary of listing the word that everyone else in the world uses to summarize the full horror of what will ensue if uranium fuel at the core of a commercial nuclear power plant is left uncooled long enough for it to melt.

SNIP...

Minimization of risk is one essential component of Nukespeak. In the U.S., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assured us on March 13 that given the weather conditions and the distance, “Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radiation.” Note the use of the discussion-ending categorical “any.”

CONTINUED...

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/031511b.html

[Wilms]

1. I think they call it...

...a theoretical but practically impossible conversion of fissile material into an non-solidified state resulting in a complete lack of transparent reportage.

And junk...

[Octafish]

5. Opaqueness makes it easier for people to forget long enough to uptake a certain amount of fallout.

After a generation or two: Not as many people.



Don't worry. You should be so happy.

Japanese Nuclear Plants Damaged by Earthquake, Tsunami Pose No Risk to U.S., Experts Say

[Mnemosyne]

2. There are no words... K&R n/t

[Octafish]

8. TEPCO failed to warn Workers that there was radioactive water in reactor building.

Agency knew of staff nuke risk at Fukushima plant

...Disgraced utility TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear plant, was forced to admit yesterday that it had known about dangerous conditions at the No 3 reactor last week, but failed to warn workers, who were affected when they stepped in radioactive water...

[Mnemosyne]

9. Beyond heinous lack of action. What has this world become?

I wonder how much we still are not being told about the situation. There is no reason to trust anyone in official capacity anywhere, anymore.

[kudzu22]

3. That "War" word also seems to be missing

Hence the current "kinetic military action". Double-plus ungood.

[Urban Prairie]

4. "not expected to experience any harmful levels of radiation"

Their "not expected" based primarily upon what? Their vast wealth of prior experience in dealing with radiation being emitted and spread through the steam and smoke from tons upon tons of spent fuel rods in pools within earthquake/tsunami damaged reactors, as well as the waste sea/freshwater seeping into the ground and/or eventually drained into the ocean?

:eyes:

[Rex]

6. It is to keep people from panicking and if the govt knew we were

all about to be exposed to a huge dose of radiation, they would keep quiet and let whoever was unfortunate enough to die, die then clean up the remains and get back to ru(i)ning the country.

BANK ON IT.

[Karmadillo]

7. Please ignore this article and continue to trust your Corporate Overlords.

They have your best interests at heart.