The Rods of Nuclear--They Melted! 24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas
by Mary Lou Dauray
This
artwork illustrates radioactive rods immersed in water inside a nuclear
reactor. The painting is part of my
series relating to nuclear energy and especially to the alarming radioactive situation
at the Fukushima Daiichi triple nuclear meltdowns in Japan. This disaster is
the worst industrial accident ever, according to Arnie Gundersen of
Fairewinds.org. In Fukushima the
radioactive nuclear rods have apparently melted through their containers and
quite likely have reached groundwater. From
what I understand the leaking from the damaged facilities will continue for
more than a century! It is frightening
to know that an unprecedented release of radioactive contamination continues to
flow every day into the Pacific Ocean from the damaged plants. According to
many news sources, the melted fuel rods are inaccessible. The intense amount of
radioactivity actually destroyed sophisticated robots trying to access the
meltdown areas. The Japanese are going
to be wrestling with the cleanup from radioactivity for decades to come and
will spend a quarter of a trillion dollars in the related activities according
to Mr. Gundersen.
During
the process of working on this painting, I sometimes had to just stop and smell
the roses. I cannot explain how
difficult and heart wrenching it is for me to create art about this topic of
increasing man-made radioactivity encircling our beautiful planet. It
would be far easier to hide my head in the sand and just not think about it. Nevertheless I am compelled to continue this
art series in order to hopefully raise awareness about the dangers of nuclear-based energy. There is no clean nuclear. All nuclear power plants need to be shut down
and no new ones built. Renewable energy
is safer.
An
artist’s note:
While
doing my painting, I painstakingly coated my stretched canvas with numerous layers
of fluorescent green and blue acrylic paint in an attempt to mimic a feeling of
active radioactivity within a nuclear reactor.
Admittedly, the glow, called Cherenkov radiation, is challenging to
create.
I
would appreciate comments on my blog.
Also, please check out my newly updated website: www.maryloudauray.com
You can listen to a podcast I did with Mrs. Green’s
World. The podcast will be available
starting Saturday, April 9.
Here
is the link: http://www.mrsgreensworld.com/2016/02/11/art-speaks-nuclear-energy/
For
easy sharing, the social media platforms are:
You did an excellent job on the glow. The article is very informative and should be a wake up call to all humanity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment David. I do hope more people become aware of the situation not only in Japan but elsewhere.
DeleteYour blog touched me to the core of my being. And the painting is amazing. Thank you for caring enough about Mother Earth to go deeper, feel the pain and raise your voice. Because of you, I am raising mine louder and more intentionally. Thank you for showing up in my life.
ReplyDeleteNice post and artwork, tho the image is perhaps too 'nice'. Radioactive messes like Fukushima Daiichi are much uglier, with gnarled metal that is discolored, and leaking falling-apart tanks not welded together, holding radioactive water, but using rubber between circles of material to help hold them together with the radioactive water inside. How about this suggestion for a next artwork: a Japanese grandmother from Fukushima now living in temporary housing, thinking about going home, that this will all be over in 30 years (as this is the half life of the main popularly measured radionuclide cesium-137) just learning (from Mary Olson) that no, it is not one half life/30 yrs but, 300-600 years for cesium anyway (it's actual 'hazardous life')- not to mention plutonium with its 240,000 to 480,000 year 'hazardous life,' plus all the dust and water that is recontaminating the 'cleaned???' areas that are about 2% of the Fukushima Prefect - that has ridiculous levels of radioactivity back in ole home Fukushima.
ReplyDeleteThis comment sent to me by Conrad Miller, MD