Nuclear experimentation began with the first detonation of the Manhattan Project. The first detonation began the unstable and unceasing chain reaction that is the nuclear era. The scientists involved in the detonation experiment actually debated on whether or not it would start a chain reaction of total planetary atmospheric ignition. Numerous detonations afterwards would also experiment with atmospheric influence. The atmosphere did not ignite, but the experiment began with a boom unlike any before in a New Mexico valley fittingly called El Journada del Muerte (The Journey of Death).
I’ll try to be brief because radiation impacts mental capacity, limits attention span and impacts decision making capability – and I have started to wonder, as I observe the world, if it is causing our mental decline along with social media, and so on. The atmosphere did not ignite, but the atmosphere and every strata of the planet has been saturated by and is being continuously being inundated with increasing radiation, nuclear experimentation pollution to the detriment of the world!
Nuclear experimentation continues to be the most taboo and obfuscated subject matter, overtly and covertly, the world over. The experiment is one of the most taboo subjects not only because of cultural (read military industrial complex) influence, but also because of the following rule which I call the Idiocy Certainty Principle: the less mental capacity, the more one muddles or denies the actuality of any and all things one has not seen themselves. This rule is most notable with near invisible subject matter such as nuclear experimentation and indeed with another matter of mostly invisible subjects; spirituality. If you cannot hold it, wear it, eat it, or spend it, how can it be worth anything or even real? And so, perhaps depending on one’s exposure to nuclear experimentation pollution and subsequently affected mental capacity, nuclear experimentation is either a very big deal or it’s out of sight/out of mind.
You can’t see radiation. Which, the aforementioned Idiocy Certainty Principle tells us, may be why most people ignore the topic of nuclear experimentation. Perhaps part of the reason I am fascinated with the subjects of nuclear experimentation and spirituality is because of the invisible nature shared by the diverse matters.
Since the journey of death that is nuclear experimentation began, there has already been a vast nuclear war on terra. There have been over 2,000 experimental detonations and the production, refinement, and storage of the elements of the deadly journey continue leaking into the planetary environment the world over, from Fukushima, to Hanford, to Chernobyl, to The West Lake Landfill, and back again.
A waste site fittingly called a “coffin” of waste is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned. “The Pacific was victimized in the past as we all know,” said Guterres, according to AFP. The structure is on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands; Guterres described the dome as “a kind of coffin” designed to contain nuclear material. The world needs secure above ground storage facilities and yet there is no such developed place and the contamination continues: see this and this.
On the 74th anniversary of the journey of death that is nuclear experimentation, we also have the 40th anniversary of the Three Mile Island meltdown and the 33rd anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown. A major milestone too this year is that the Japanese are reopening some of the formerly closed off zones impacted by the Fukushima event. Japan is to host The Olympics in 2020 and is obviously showing off how exceptional they are at cleaning up radiation beforehand. The Secrecy Law implemented post-Fukushima in Japan admittedly might have been to hide how they clean radiation so efficiently rather than to hide how dirty it remains…but probably not!
The Three Mile Island nuclear experiment is planning on ceasing power production by September, 2019. The owner, Exelon, will have to look after the spent fuel, the cooled reactor next to the melted reactor for decades to come. The frightening prospect of nuclear experimentation is that even when we discontinue the power generation, we still have to deal with the storage of waste. Can we count on Exelon for even the next 100 years? Can we count on any institution for the next 1,000?
For the radiologically mentally impaired who otherwise would dare not research the 74 Year old nuclear experiment on their planet, HBO is airing a miniseries devoted to the Chernobyl event. From the part of the horrorshow I did see it looks quite outrageous and expositional. This year a parallel funny sprouted: a lost sequel to the Burgess novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’ was discovered. It is said to be a thematic look at the impairment of visually stimulated ‘cultures.’
For the not so radiologically impaired, there are ways for individuals to implement change. Anyone in US can submit a Memorial Bill to State Congress by being a United States citizen with some signatory assistance. Anyone can put together and implement a Memorial Bill and The Bill itself can be toward anything. There are innumerable requirements and bureaucratic loopholes to go through, but it is possible. With a little understanding of history, one can conceptualize anything, and one can certainly easily conceptualize reasons to cease global nuclear experimentation. The visible plastic waste of the petrolithic era being is accompanied by invisible radiation of the nuclear age, and we must act.
Perhaps there is someone in The Greater Los Angeles area who lived near Santa Susana nuclear waste site who would be inspired. This nuclear experimentation site experienced the first known nuclear power generation experimentation meltdown in the USA! When there were radiological releases from accidents, residents in nearby Simi Valley and beyond were not informed. The workers at the experiment were not allowed to inform their own families to take precautionary measures -to their demise. This was an era when even normal procedures without accidental releases were as uncaring to the surrounding environment as possible.
Standard operation of disposal of barrels of waste by gunfire in Los Angeles Hills. The bullet caused a chain reaction and dispersal.
Another interesting event in nuclear experimentation this the 74th year since Time 0 of the journey of death was the clandestine use of the disputed Yucca Mountain waste site in Nevada. The DOE secretly brought one half metric ton of disposal to the site. Side note: there have been 928 nuclear experimentation detonations in Nevada since the fateful day we embarked from El Journada del Meurte.
“The Justice Department notified a federal judge in Reno the government had already trucked the radioactive material to the site 70 miles north of Las Vegas when Nevada filed a request for an injunction to block the move in November.” ~Reno Gazette Journal
Let us hope and pray that the saturation of the environment does not stupefy us all and that we can raise awareness of the global nuclear experiment. We simply must change our focus from our current cultural predicament of war to pursuing having clean water. Speaking of water, Russia set sail a floating nuclear power generation experiment. What could possibly go wrong?
And in all seriousness if something does go wrong – or hell, even when standard operation procedure goes “right” – where will the nuclear age institutions of our global “culture” be? Perhaps they will lend a hand. Perhaps they will fight in order to not have to help.
Peace on Earth.
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This article was originally published on Wake Up World.
Activist, author and Tai Chi teacher Ethan Indigo Smith was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California. Ethan’s work is both deeply connected and extremely insightful, blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality, meditation and a unique sense of humor.
Featured image is from WUW
