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Both democracy and science are based on the free exchange of ideas. A strong democracy depends on well-informed citizens who have access to comprehensive and reliable information about their government's activities. Similarly, science thrives when scientists are free to interact with each other, opening their ideas to wide-ranging scrutiny. Because our country's decision makers need access to the best scientific information available, federal agencies must allow their scientists to participate in the scientific community and speak freely about their research to the media and the public. Yet too often an agency's desire to "control the message" has led to the suppression of information and the censorship of the government's own experts.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced its radiation health standard for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The standard itself sounds innocuous, setting the radiation level at 15 millirems - about equivalent to an X-ray - a year for the first 10,000 years of the project. But Americans should have no confidence in that standard or in the Energy Department's plan to build a dump that can meet the standard. The Yucca Mountain project, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been a failure, and this standard shows how politics - not science - have prevailed.

We may not all be nuclear scientists, but most of us are pretty sure about one piece of nuclear knowledge - we all reckon that "radioactivity has a green glow".

When Paul Zimmerman writes in his new book about the Rio Puerco and the Four Corners, he calls out the names of the cancers and gives voice to the poisoned places and streams. Zimmerman is not just writing empty words. Zimmerman writes of the national sacrifice area that the mainstream media and the spin doctors would have everyone forget, where the corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, in his new book, A Primer in the Art of Deception: The Cult of Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science. "A report in 1972 by the National Academy of Science suggested that the Four Corners area be designated a 'national sacrifice area," he writes.

Nearly 300 of the world's top experts from 21 countries in dealing with subterranean nuclear waste issues are meeting this week at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick. They are sharing science and trying to better understand how to deal with the legacy of radioactive materials. The Migration '09 conference has booked the convention center all week. That means the Kennewick Public Facilities District Board of Directors must hold its monthly meeting Thursday across the parking lot at the Toyota Center. "This is the most important conference (in the world) relating to the science behind the solutions," said Thomas Fanghanel, a researcher from Germany who is chairman of the conference.

Senator Tom Carper (D-Del) convened a hearing on nuclear waste issues at MIT on Monday, May 18. The Senator is the Chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. The panel consisted of Dr. Charles Forsberg, Executive Director of the Fuel Cycle Study, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT Dr. Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Dr. Ernest Moniz, Director, MIT Energy Initiative and Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, MIT Dr. Andrew Kadak, Professor of the Practice of Nuclear Engineering, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

And that doesn't include the weapons work, according to the overall numbers released today by the Dept. of Energy. The Oak Ridge budget numbers released this afternoon show Science going up (from $635 million in 08 and $797 million this year to $836 million in 2010. That doesn't include the stimulus money for Science in Oak Ridge, which is an additional $141 million. The big drop occurred in Environmental Management, which showed a decline from $525 million this year to a proposed $431 in 2010. But, of course, the ARRA money for EM Oak Ridge is set at $825 million. Nuclear nonproliferation funding is scheduled to go to $204 million, compared to current spending at $184 million.

"Presidential science adviser John Holdren found himself in some hotter-than-usual water today during a congressional hearing on the Administration's proposed 2011 research budget. Legislators from both sides of the aisle pressed Holdren to explain several recent Administration decisions that they felt had failed to take into account sound science. And their ire was fueled by Holdren's confession that a report on how to improve scientific integrity among federal agencies is almost 8 months overdue. In March of last year President Barack Obama directed Holden to develop guidelines "designed to guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch." The exercise was a reaction to several celebrated incidents during the Bush Administration in which scientists had been muzzled, documents altered, and information withheld from the public. Due in July, the proposed guidelines are still being vetted by senior officials at several agencies. "

According to an "Occurrence Report" obtained by the non-profit Project on Government Oversight (POGO), researchers blew up their building with a powerful cannon used to study the types of forces produced by a nuclear explosion: "On December 16, 2009, Shock and Detonation Physics Group researchers heard a loud unusual noise from Technical Area 15, Building 562 after firing a shot from a large-bore powder gun (LBPG).... the researchers conducted surveillance outside TA-15-562 and observed that two doors had been blown off the facility and concrete shielding blocks on the west and east side of the building were separated from the wall." Although no one was hurt, a POGO source puts the damage at around $3 million. We're going to say it: That was $3 million of taxpayer funds well-spent. Forget those stem cell thingies. Blow up a couple buildings every month and we'll have high school students flooding science classes like they were Jonas Brothers concerts.

According to an "Occurrence Report" obtained by the non-profit Project on Government Oversight (POGO), researchers blew up their building with a powerful cannon used to study the types of forces produced by a nuclear explosion: "On December 16, 2009, Shock and Detonation Physics Group researchers heard a loud unusual noise from Technical Area 15, Building 562 after firing a shot from a large-bore powder gun (LBPG).... the researchers conducted surveillance outside TA-15-562 and observed that two doors had been blown off the facility and concrete shielding blocks on the west and east side of the building were separated from the wall." Although no one was hurt, a POGO source puts the damage at around $3 million. We're going to say it: That was $3 million of taxpayer funds well-spent. Forget those stem cell thingies. Blow up a couple buildings every month and we'll have high school students flooding science classes like they were Jonas Brothers concerts.

Nuclear power poses a major conundrum. Nobody's thrilled about nuclear waste, people fear potential accidents, and proliferation of nuclear weapons is downright scary. On the other hand, nuclear plants generate lots of power and no carbon dioxide. And when people crunch the numbers to see how to phase out carbon dioxide emissions, they often come up with nuclear energy playing a major role. "Nuclear technology is something that's there, we know how to do it, there's no technical challenge in being able to apply it, unlike many of the other technologies," says Richard Meserve, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science. He used to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and he served on a recent National Academy of Sciences committee looking at the future of energy in America.

"A $437,000 study being conducted by the city of Virginia Beach, Va. will examine what might happen to the water quality in Lake Gaston and Kerr Lake if a proposed uranium mine in Chatham, Va. were struck by a Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) storm. "The state is attempting to get a study going through the National Academy of Science," said Virginia Beach Director of Public Works Thomas Leahy. "But that study will not look at site specific issues or do any modeling of possible catastrophic events." Leahy said the study being conducted by Virginia Beach is designed to supplement the work of the National Academy of Science by looking at what would happen if a major storm flooded the proposed uranium mining site and washed radioactive materials downstream."

"EnergySolutions wants to dispose of three trainloads of depleted uranium, shipped from South Carolina, in its Tooele County landfill. But critics want to stop it because the waste will get more radioactive over tens of thousands of years. On Tuesday, the governor ordered state experts to sample the first trainload to make sure the waste is what it's supposed to be. The other two trainloads are on hold in South Carolina to give the Radiation Control Board more time to finish up new regulations "I just don't think that squares with good science or with common sense." - Stephen Nelson, former Radiation Control Board chairman. Meanwhile, the former chairman of the Radiation Control Board says EnergySolutions is misleading the public. Geochemist Stephen Nelson says the company falsely portrays its critics as anti-nuclear activists who don't know science. "

"In a surprise development, the government has decided to refer the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests instead of the one on Energy as was widely expected. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy is headed by SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav while the one on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests is chaired by Congress member in Rajya Sabha T Subbarami Reddy. Yadav was a vocal critic of the Bill till some time back though he was apparently won over by the government at the time of the Bill's introduction in Lok Sabha on the last day of the Budget session. "

"Work is due to commence soon on decommissioning obsolete nuclear facilities at the Lucas Heights Science and Technology Centre and the National Medical Cyclotron. Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr said Government funding of $9.7 million in 2010-11 would ensure compliance with international best practice for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Obsolete facilities to be decommissioned "Australia takes its nuclear safety responsibilities extremely seriously," Senator Carr said, and this funding will help ensure the health and safety of the Australian community."

"The levels of radiation accumulated in soil near the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan far exceeded the level of radiation the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, threatening to plague local residents for a lengthy period. Using aircraft, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology checked the cesium-137 (half life of about 30 years) and cesium-134 (half life of about two years) accumulated in soil in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy in April. Cesium-137 that has longer effects, ranging from 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels per square meter, was detected in Namie, Futaba, Minamisoma, Iitate and Katsurao, northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, in Fukushima Prefecture. The levels far exceeded 550,000 bacquerels per square meter, the level the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Based on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the Japanese government used 20 millisieverts per year of radiation in the atmosphere as the criterion to designate evacuation areas in the wake of the nuclear accident in Fukushima. Therefore, there are areas that have not been designated as evacuation zones although they have larger amounts of accumulated radiation. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology says, "Radioactive substances in soil do not enter human bodies immediately." On the other hand, when authorities try to decide whether to allow local residents to return to their homes or resume farming, levels of soil contamination could be one of the hot topics of debate."

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, has handed a Diet science committee another heavily redacted accident manual for the stricken plant. The House of Representatives Special Committee on Promotion of science and Technology and Innovation had requested TEPCO submit two operating manuals -- one each for accidents and severe accidents -- through the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI). On Sept. 7, the committee announced it had received only the first of the two manuals, the majority of which had been blacked out, prompting the body to demand TEPCO resubmit both manuals by Sept. 9. The committee revealed on Sept. 12 that the severe accident manual subsequently handed over by TEPCO was also almost entirely redacted."

Minute amounts of radioactive strontium have been detected in soil and plants in Fukushima Prefecture beyond the 30-kilometer zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the science ministry said Tuesday. It is the first time that radioactive strontium has been detected since the Fukushima plant began leaking radioactive substances after it was severely damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. There is no safety limit set by the government for exposure to strontium, but the amount found so far is extremely low and does not pose a threat to human health, the Education, Culture, Sports, science and Technology said. Experts, however, expressed concern that the accumulation of strontium could have adverse health effects. When strontium enters the human body, it tends to accumulate in bones and is believed to cause bone cancer and leukemia. Samples of soil and plants were taken March 16 to 19 from a number of locations in Fukushima Prefecture.

The accumulated radiation level in Namie, 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in the three weeks through Friday stood at 17,010 microsieverts, according to a tally released by the science ministry Saturday. The accumulated levels during the period starting March 23 stood at 9,850 microsieverts in Iitate and 495 microsieverts in Minamisoma, both near the plant, it said. The readings compare with the level of 1,000 microsieverts that ordinary people in Japan can expect to be exposed to over one year. The amount of radioactive cesium stood between 12.7 and 71.0 becquerels per liter of surface seawater near the plant on Monday and Wednesday and 10.1 becquerels at deeper levels on Monday, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, science and Technology said.

" Cumulative radiation outside the 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the past three months has reached as high as 82 millisieverts, more than four times the yardstick of 20 millisieverts a year, a science ministry estimate showed Tuesday. The highest level was detected in a part of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, around 22 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, science and Technology. Namie is among the designated evacuation areas lying outside of the no-entry zone where radiation levels are feared to exceed the annual limit of 20 millisieverts. Of 160 monitoring sites in the designated areas outside the no-entry zone, 23 registered radiation levels exceeding 20 millisieverts over the three-month period, the ministry said. A man is scanned for levels of radiation in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A man is scanned for levels of radiation in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) Outside the areas subject to evacuation, an area in the city of Minamisoma had an estimated cumulative radiation level of 20.4 millisieverts a year since the start of the crisis. (Mainichi Japan) June 22, 2011"

Almost 700m tonnes of CO2 would be released into the Earth's atmosphere by even the smallest nuclear conflict, according to a US study that compares the environmental costs of developing various power sources Just when you might have thought it was ethically sound to unleash a nuclear attack on a nearby city, along comes a pesky scientist and points out that atomic warfare is bad for the climate. According to a new paper in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, even a very limited nuclear exchange, using just a thousandth of the weaponry of a full-scale nuclear war, would cause up to 690m tonnes of CO2 to enter the atmosphere - more than UK's annual total.