A Japanese newspaper (Sankei Shimbun) has named the workers fighting the nuclear disaster ‘Kesshitai’. It means ‘unit that expects to die’.
A daughter of one of the workers says her father told the family that he will die. The wife of another worker received a message that said: “Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.”
So far, at least 20 people are confirmed to have radiation contamination.
The International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Yukiya Amano, says Japan’s nuclear crisis requires international cooperation.
Yukiya Amano met with Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday, and expressed the need for more information from Japanese officials.
A four man team from the IAEA is now in Japan for monitoring of the situation.
Japanese engineers are considering the possibility they will have to bury some of the reactors, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. This was the final action taken by the Soviets with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Sand and concrete would be the main ingredients. The Soviets also used boric acid. South Korea has sent samples of boric acid to Japan to test for possible use on the reactors. Japanese officials say they want to continue to attempt to cool down the reactors first.
Japan raised the level of seriousness of the disaster to 5 on the INES scale. International observers had placed it at 6 last week. Obviously there is a difference of opinion. Three Mile Island is rated at 5. Chernobyl is rated at 7, the highest, on the INES scale.
Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced that Libya will accept a ceasefire with rebels.
Libyan officials believe the UN Security Council resolution allows the Libyan government to use force in order to protect civilians.
France and United Kingdom say they are preparing for military action. Spain and Norway announced they are prepared to join the enforcement of a no fly zone.
President Obama will make an announcement this afternoon. It is expect that two Arab nations will be named as taking part in the no fly zone operation, Qatar is expected to be one of those countries.
The United States, United Kingdom, France are members of the UN Security Council, and voted for the no fly zone. China, Russia, Germany, India and Brazil are also members, but abstained, they will not help with the no fly zone.
In the 1980’s the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 5-4 that there was no reason to require nuclear plants to create earthquake disaster plans.
In 2003, an earthquake in California, prompted the Diablo Canyon plant officials to come up with a plan. But, for some unknown reason, they have yet to publish that plan. The plant operators were not required to include earthquakes in its emergency response plan, when the plant was first licensed.
In fact according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nuclear plants in the U.S. are required to have only a general emergency response plan. In other words they don’t plan for specific types of disasters.
Some officials say no planning is needed because the plants were supposedly built to withstand earthquakes. Tell that to the Japanese. Two workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, who survived the 9.0 quake/tsunami, say the plant was falling apart. One of those workers said he was surprised because everyone had been told the plant was earthquake proof.
An attempt to hit reactor 3 with the water cannon of fire truck was successful.
Plans are to rotate 6 to 7 fire trucks to spray 50 tons of water per day, on reactor 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The initial attempt using a fire truck, by the Japanese Self Defense Forces, demonstrated that the reactor can be hit. Now the Tokyo Fire Department will take over operations.
On site radiation levels at 20 millisieverts (20,000 microsieverts) per hour. This is why attempts to hook up outside electrical power has not taken place.
Tokyo Fire Department staging to take over cooling operations at the plant, when the JSDF has completed their cooling operations.
Officials confirming that water levels still falling in reactors 1, 2 & 3. Reactor 3 has priority. Overall situation has not changed from day before. Indicates water dropping efforts not successful.
Officials in Japan now confirm that liquefaction took place during the 9.0 quake.
This added to the destruction. Roads, power poles and buildings were damaged directly by liquefaction.
Liquefaction is a major concern in the United States along the New Madrid fault line. There is evidence, and reports of liquefaction during a series of strong quakes during the 1800s.
Liquefaction causes solids, like sand, to act like water. It happens when great pressure is applied, as in the case of an earthquake.
Not reported by the main stream U.S. media was the fact that New Orleans police took guns from law abiding residents.
Bar owner Joann Guidos, said if it wasn’t for her shotgun her business would have been looted. “There were vans with thugs in them. They were breaking into any businesses where there was no sign of anyone around in them. They didn’t mess with us in here because I stood out front with my shotgun,” yet, when she finally decided to leave to escape the flooding, the local police took her guns.
I was in California during the Rodney King riots, and there were many similar stories of business owners, and individuals, protecting themselves in a similar way. In fact, by the time the National Guard came in, most neighborhoods, and businesses, that did not suffer looting were those who had guns!!!
My sister, when living in San Diego, experienced an attempted break in to her apartment by a criminal that was being chased by cops. She pulled out a gun and chased off the criminal who was caught by the police. Until then she wasn’t secure with guns, but our dad insisted she have the gun when she moved to San Diego.
Back to the issue of cops taking guns from people in New Orleans. So many people had their guns taken that they sued the city. A book was published documenting the incident called “The Great New Orleans Gun Grab”.
There are reports that President Barak Obama is looking into the possibility of issuing an executive order, to over ride the Second Amendment.
Reportedly he has asked the Justice Department to look into the legalities of such a move. President Obama has made statements recently in which he expressed desires to make current gun control laws tougher.
On March 15, 2011, Aides to Vice President Joe Biden met with Justice Department officials, and gun control advocates, to discuss options. Apparently no pro-gun advocates were present. Biden’s aides said this was the beginning stage, “…we are just gathering ideas…”.