Preferably try to include one who hasn't made a career out of playing with a toy reactor.

It would be refreshing if you'd find a way to criticize the media without demeaning others who are tangential to the story, Jack.

Why doesn't KATU quote the article in the NYT which tells the story of "the GE 3". These engineers quit in protest after they determined that these nuke plants were unsafe 30+ years ago.
And ABC broke the story today!
I understand not wanting to panic the general populace, but out and out lies will not serve anyone. Rampant speculation serves no useful purpose either.

He's the leading spokesperson for misinformation at this point. All over the media with "Don't worry." Ludicrous.

Hey, his toy reactor has had leaks of radiation like a dozen times!

He's the leading spokesperson for misinformation at this point. All over the media with "Don't worry." Ludicrous.

Just because someone has a different opinion (one informed by an advanced degree, I'd point out) doesn't make them an agent of misinformation.

Here's what he said yesterday:

Stephen Frantz said that all signs lead to a meltdown of some level at the reactors in Japan. He predicted that the probable effect on health should that happen will be "zero."

That applies to both people in Japan, and Oregon.

Lately Frantz has been busy importing Arizona's nuclear waste to the Reed campus. Quite proud of it -- he's doing a big favor to the U.S. Department of Energy, who is the nation's worst nuclear villain.

His previous gig was at Trojan:

After getting his bachelors degree in Physics, he spent time as an engineering officer in the nuclear submarine service. He worked for Westinghouse Nuclear for five years, spent some time as a contractor, and most recently as an employee at Trojan nuclear power plant.

It would be interesting to hear what the science profs at that institution think.

He sure knows a lot about how to safely operate a nuclear reactor!

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/current/reactor-actions/2008.html

"Reed College (Reed Research Reactor Facility) EA-08-339. On December 19, 2008, a Notice of Violation was issued for a Severity Level III violation. Specifically, the facility was operated at a power level in excess of the licensed full power limit of 250 kW for approximately 70 minutes, which is in violation of their Technical Specifications."

From the NRC's report on the Reed reactor:

"it also appeared that these problems and events seemed to indicate a negative trend at the facility, and lack of proper emphasis on safety, and failure to instill the proper attitude toward maintaining an appropriate safety culture at the facility."

Regular readers of this blog should know that when Jack gets his panties in a bunch, facts don't matter. All that matters is the story line, not matter how distorted.

Fact is, in the story above, all the surgeon general days is stocking up on iodide is always a good precaution.

Catch the implication: the Surgeon General is a better "expert" on nuclear power than someone who has spent actual time operating a reactor.

Here, let me apply some toilet tissue to that last comment. It was left by "PG" -- Paul Gronke, a political science prof at Reed:

Paul, when it comes to health issues -- which is what we are talking about here -- yes, I do take the advice of the surgeon general over that of some guy whose job at Trojan evaporated, and who took a gig running the toy reactor at Reed. Apparently a guy with a spotty record, as another reader has just noted.

Frantz's public assertion that there is zero probability of health effects, even in Japan, from this nuclear incident -- probably to go down as the worst in history -- is laughable. If he's your safety officer at Reed, I'll let you borrow some iodine.

What the heck does CHP mean after Frantz's name?
And I bet that so called course that Reed hosting for $1400, is like the "training" for the old Civil Defence back in the 50s when you got a sheet of paper with pictures of Russian bombers, a bucket you were supposed to fill with sand and a small shovel.
"duck and cover!" everyone!

CHP likely certified health physicist, the civilian term for Navy ELTs, engineering lab techs. A little extra training in operating radiacs (rad measuring devices) and pass a pretty easy exam.

I realize the post headline names KATU, but the same vidiocy is what every TV station feeds us, including the rightwing-suckup 'Public Broadcasting' ditto propaganda keepers. Perhaps a special criticism is in order aimed particularly at KGW TV since they promote and feature (too often) the dictated talking points by that fop from the FOX syndicate hate-talk radio and Glenn Beck buddy wannabe: LIARS Larson.

Here's more (of a view I endorse) from Wayne Madsen Report .COM, March 16; (subscription req'd so link omitted ... you couldn't click to get there).

March 16, 2011 -- Nuclear industry shills re-inventing history

"I'll be philosophical. Until about two billion years ago, it was impossible to have any life on earth; that is, there was so much radiation on earth you couldn't have any life — fish or anything. Gradually, about two billion years ago, the amount of radiation on this planet—and probably in the entire system—reduced and made it possible for some form of life to begin... Now when we go back to using nuclear power, we are creating something which nature tried to destroy to make life possible... Every time you produce radiation, you produce something that has a certain half-life, in some cases for billions of years. I think the human race is going to wreck itself, and it is important that we get control of this horrible force and try to eliminate it... I do not believe that nuclear power is worth it if it creates radiation. Then you might ask me why do I have nuclear powered ships. That is a necessary evil. I would sink them all. Have I given you an answer to your question?"

- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of the U.S. nuclear Navy, "On the hazards of nuclear power. Testimony to Congress" (28 January 1982); published in Economics of Defense Policy: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, 97th Cong., 2nd sess., Pt. 1 (1982)

The corporate-owned and operated right-wing lunatics on radio and television, particularly major league insanity-based commentator Sean Hannity, may be legally entitled to utter total falsehoods about the Japanese nuclear disaster without worrying about a Federal Communications Commission-enforced Fairness Doctrine to set the record straight. However, it is a violation of FCC broadcast licensing for the right-wing cacophony to spout absolute false information that impacts on public safety. That is a flat-out violation of FCC licensing requirements for broadcasters to serve the public interest.

On March 14, Fox "News" host Hannity had on his program a nuclear industry propagandist named Jay Lehr from The Heartland Institute, a climate change denial outfit. Lehr proceeded to make statements downplaying the effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Lehr's comments and Hannity's agreement with them not only defied logic but were absolute disinformation worthy of Joseph Goebbels. ...

Children in Byelorussia in 1990 suffering from cancer as a result of Chernobyl.

In the above photograph taken at the children's hospital, a one-time Soviet Communist Party retreat that was turned into a cancer clinic for children affected by Chernobyl, there are four boys seen. The young boy at the back right was wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap I had given him, with foreknowledge that hair loss was inevitable at some stage. Lehr claims an 98 percent cure rate from Chernobyl. How about a 100 percent death rate among these children at the hospital outside of Minsk! That is a fact compared to the Heartland Institute's contrived history of Chernobyl and the Koch Brothers-funded junk science and fake history.

I hope that Hannity, Lehr, and the Koch Brothers who fund the Heartland Institute's propaganda output take a close look at the faces of these children. They all died from cancer resulting from the effects of Chernobyl's radiation. Chernobyl was a Level 7 event. Fukushima is approaching that level. Alas, it will have no effect because when Japanese children become cancer victims as a result of General Electric's failed reactors at Fukushima, the right-wing will eject as much venal propaganda as the Japanese reactors are in emitting high-levels of radiation. Pro-corporation right-wingers, like their Nazi and fascist ideological predecessors, are heartless and soulless ogres who love money more than any fellow human being.