Two armed ships set off from the northwest of England this week to sail round the world to Japan on a secretive and controversial mission to collect a consignment of plutonium and transport it to the US.
The cargo of plutonium, once the most sought-after and valuable substance in the world, is one of a number of ever-growing stockpiles that are becoming an increasing financial and security embarrassment to the countries that own them.
So far, there is no commercially viable use for this toxic metal, and there is increasing fear that plutonium could fall into the hands of terrorists, or that governments could be tempted to use it to join the nuclear arms race.
All the plans to use plutonium for peaceful purposes in fast breeder and commercial reactors have so far failed to keep pace with the amounts of this highly-dangerous radioactive metal being produced by the countries that run nuclear power stations.
The small amounts of plutonium that have been used in conventional and fast breeder reactors have produced very little electricity − at startlingly high costs.
Dancing With Fools 
Is that a pic of The Donald’s head exploding?
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Not true. The EBR-II ran fine for 30 years while the Russian BN -400 and now BN -800 operate. If the goal is to render the weapons Plutonium unusable for that purpose, such reactors are up to the task for reasonable operating costs. However, uranium is sufficiently inexpensive that recycling the Plutonium is the more expensive.
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I think if you read the whole article, it was referring to the storage and transport of Plutonium held by other nations to eliminate the possibility of it falling into the wrong hands.
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Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 are at best misleading.
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My favorite Loco at the Missabe Railroad just showed up on Facebook.
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Winter storm Jonas.
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Michael Moore;
What’s happening in Flint, Michigan, is disastrous—and it’s personal for me: Flint is my hometown and the community at the forefront of my first major documentary film “Roger & Me.”
Gov. Synder violated the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations by cutting off clean drinking water to the city of Flint—impacting more than 100,000 people. Instead of safe, clean drinking water, the people of Flint had polluted water piped into their homes from the Flint River—water that was then contaminated with lead.
He said he did this to “cut costs”. He knew he could get away with it because Flint is one of the poorest towns in the country.
There is no way to totally reverse the effects of lead in a child’s blood stream. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe blood level of lead for children.
The children of Flint, already among the poorest in the U.S., will now have to endure a life of pain, irreversible brain damage, and lower IQs because of Gov. Snyder’s actions and the ensuing cover up.
Justice must be served—and other elected officials must be put on notice that people’s lives are more important than balancing a budget.
That’s why I signed a petition to Loretta Lynch, Attorney General, which says:
“We demand an investigation and, if warranted, the arrest and prosecution of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.
The governor must be held accountable for poisoning the children of Flint, for fraud and political corruption, and for covering up the actions of his administration.”
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/hold-gov-synder-accountable?source=s.fwd&r_by=493484
Thanks!
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Did that there thing.
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@ the Tokyo Seoul for the usual bento box.
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Had Mongolian beef yesterday, possible fajitas tonite.
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I almost never eat beef anymore.
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Everybody and their uncle are sending water to Flint, Michigan. Even a brewery has bottled water in their beer cans and sent them. Can you imagine the waste of plastic and metals to transport water to Flint? Snyder is to blame for THAT, too. Michigan has a bottle return bill, 10 cents on most cans and bottles, but that law was put in place ages ago when sane people still ran this place. The law was never revisited and the variety of products sold in bottles and cans has gone through the roof. Water bottles are NOT on the list. Look at the waste w/o water bottles being 10 cents.
I fully believed, from the start, that Snyder and his gang would get rid of our bottle return law like they got rid of our price sticker law, but so far not a peep about it.
I’m glad they never revisited that law since Engler was governor and the house and senate were taken over by repukes. If they revisited that law to add bottles, they wouldn’t add bottles, they would kill the law.
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Thanks to Rachel Maddow, I’ve been following this story for months. Snyder is the perfect example of The Emperor Wore No Clothes.
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Their Emergency Manager bull shit has bit this state in the ass. Mostly it has bit poor, black citizens of Flint, Michigan. But repukes don’t care about black people, so there you have it.
Every EM Snyder has put in place has been in black cities, and black school systems. I’m heartsick over the putrid water. Poisoned. Little kids whose brains will be altered by the lead, and god knows what else is happening to people there who have drank the water, or washed in it, or cooked with it.
What about the homeowners whose plumbing, water heaters, etc. are ruined, or gummed up with crap? No one has $5,000 laying around to replace pipes, or to fix anything. What are the homeowners going to do? Is the State of Michigan, or the federal government going to fix every house LIKE THEY OUGHT TO? Business and the rich get all the help, the everyday peasant gets nothing.
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Easy to check that the Flint water department is adding phosphorus to the water to build up scale which holds the copper and lead in place.
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Be back to normal to 2 to 6 months, they wrote.
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Yeah, sorry, Doc, sounds like a bunch of happy horseshit.
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Jill and Brian are safely home. She’s at Brians for the night, will pick up Quincy in the morning. I’m happy the kid is back home. *phew*
Still no weather to report on. Hanging around 20°. Warmer earlier, lots of sun but I didn’t glance at our thermometer so I don’t know how warm it got.
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The most sophisticated concert I have ever heard is over. I am most satisfied.
At the intermission talked with Andrea the violist, a performer. Before the concert with Reagan the pianist, who came to listen, especially to the exquisite harp. After the concert mentioned to Alice, also the first oboist and the second bassoonist, how well they had done in the Stravinsky, a piece I had never heard before.
Also, before the concert chatted with the symphony president and afterwards with the conductor.
Content sipping wine…
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Nice!
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