Tag Archives: inl

Fukushima, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Idaho trains Korean anti-Nuclear Combat Teams!

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06 November 2021 (15:56-UTC-07 Tango 06) 15 Aban 1400/30 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1443/02 Ji-Hai (10th month) 4719

Idaho National Laboratory photo by Meghan Fujimoto, 22OCT2021.

The U.S. Army’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency has revealed that from October 18th through the 22nd, Republic of Korea (RoK, South Korea) anti-nuclear combat team conducted training on the U.S. Navy owned Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Learning how to use a collimator with a detector when finding a specific radiological source overwhelmed by other radiological sources. INL photo by Meghan Fujimoto.

It’s called the Nuclear Infrastructure, Assessment and Characterization Course, and is taught mainly on the INL’s Idaho Falls campus.  This is, according to the U.S. Army, part of twice a year training of anti-nuclear units, this being the seventh time since 2018.

RoK NCT unit conducts decontamination of victims on INL’s Idaho Falls campus. INL photo by Meghan Fujimoto, 20OCT2021.

U.S. units are called Nuclear Disablement Teams (NDT), the RoK units are called Nuclear Characterization Teams (NCT), they have slightly different missions.

RoK NCT personnel train on how to detect a ‘suspected uranium conversion facility’ (covert uranium enrichment operation) on the INL’s Idaho Falls campus. INL photo by Meghan Fujimoto.

The U.S. NDT focus on finding and disabling nuclear facilities/weapons, while the RoK NCT include other CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) operations.

Nuclear Infrastructure, Assessment and Disablement Course at the Idaho National Laboratory, 13-24SEP2021. Photo via INL.

Another U.S. Army NDT unit completed the Nuclear Infrastructure, Assessment and Characterization Course (NIACC) in September 2021.

Searching for the location of a large radiological source during September’s NIACC training at the INL. Photo via U.S. Army’s 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command.

World War 3:  U.S. ARMY’S ‘NEW’ COUNTER THREAT FINANCE OPERATIONS! NO MORE SPECIAL FORCES?

Biden’s War: ‘REBELLIOUS’ SNAKE RIVER (FLORIDA, IDAHO, MONTANA, NEVADA, OREGON) DEPLOYS TO KUWAIT! POLITICIAN BEGS IDAHOANS TO RESIST THE WILL OF BIDEN!

WMD, August 2021: IDAHO’S ALL HAZARDS ENVIRONMENT TRAINING

Vehicle I-D: KOREAN 대한민국 K1

Fukushima FallOut, Five Years Later: I-N-L ADMITS ITS RADIATION DETECTORS DON’T WORK! MORE W-I-P-P PROBLEMS!

Fukushima FallOut, 2012: RADIATION MYSTERY AT IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY, CESIUM & COBALT

I-N-L History: 

HTRE-3, photo by Alexander Hutchins, April 2011

ANCIENT NUCLEAR POWERED JET ENGINE FOUND IN IDAHO DESERT, PROOF OF ANCIENT ALIEN VISITORS?

Lead-lined train in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho. Photo by Alexander Hutchins, April 2011.

GHOSTLY NUKE TRAIN ROLLIN’ ‘CROSS IDAHO DESERT

Fukushima

Hawaiian cows bombed by Fukushima radiation! Highest skin cancer rate & government lies connected to Idaho?

11 June 2016 / 23:30 UTC-07 Tango 01 (23 Khordad 1395/06 Ramadan 1437/08 Jia-Wu 4714)

Belgium: Yet more problems with troubled Tihanga 2 nuke plant (which was supposed to be shutdown in 2015): “An electrical motor that turns a steam turbine in a non-nuclear part of the site broke down.”-Serge Dauby

Canada: Reports say the Canadian government has reversed course on shutting down the Whiteshell/Pinawa nuclear site in Manatoba. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has frozen the decommissioning and has apparently decided to leave underground reactors in place and simply pour concrete over everything: “Essentially, it has become too difficult and expensive to dismantle and dig up the radioactive waste at the Pinawa site, and the result is the province will wind up with a de facto nuclear waste facility.”

Finland: In 2020 the northern country will begin burying nuke waste for the first time.  They plan to bury 5-thousand tons of nuke waste for at least 100-thousand years.  The initial cost to taxpayers to build The Hollow is $4-billion USD!  Imagine the cost to maintain it, they must expect their economy to boom in order to provide the tax revenues to support The Hollow.

India: The U.S. Obama regime is supporting India’s plan to join the international Nuclear Suppliers Group: “In practical terms, there is nothing extra that the NSG will give India other than a seat at the nuclear high table.”-Rakesh Sood

Italy: The prime minister of the the U.S. led NATO member revealed plans for Italy to abandon its anti-nuclear weapons policy, and will allow the U.S. Obama regime to maintaining a nuclear arsenal in the Latin country (despite Obama’s promise seven years ago that the U.S. would stop exporting nukes), all in the ironic name of nuclear security: “Thank you President Obama. Italy is fully determined to follow through with its commitment for nuclear security.”-Matteo Renzi, Italian prime minister commenting on the basing of new U.S. B-61-12 nuclear bombs in Italy

Japan:  Five years later several people are breaking the news media silence on cancers caused by the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi disaster. A 21 years old woman with thyroid cancer is begging the rest of her neighbors to get screened for cancer. She’s one of 173 young people to reveal they have cancer that according to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation says can only be caused by a nuclear disaster.  News reports say the 21 years old woman is hiding her identity because victims of Fukushima Daiichi who go public are actually attacked by supporters of the nuke industry!  In the nuclear disaster areas skyrocketing cases of children with thyroid cancer are making local news, however, the neo-imperialist ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ government of Japan blames the increased child cancer rates on increased cancer screenings, not radiation! Even the Fukushima Medical Association flat denies the increased cases of thyroid cancer in children could be caused by radiation contamination!   News media revealed that the government is actually dragging its feet on cancer screenings, at least 38% of the victims of Fukushima Daiichi have yet to be tested for radiation contamination!

Micronesia: 70 years after the U.S. nuked the shit out of Bikini Atoll its still too radioactive for people to return: “People dream of going back to Bikini Island, but there’s an ugly history of people returning too early and getting sick. I couldn’t get clear answers, even in scientific literature, on whether these islands were, in fact, radioactive or not.”–Emlyn Hughes, Columbia University

Sweden: Government administrators have voted to build ten new nuclear power plants. At least four will be built to replace four of Sweden’s nine older nuke factories: “This is a traditional Swedish compromise.”-Ibrahim Baylan, Ministry of Energy

United States: A shipment of plutonium and weapons grade uranium from Japan was delivered to Savannah River Site in South Carolina and weapons lab Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee.  So far nobody has explained why Japan had been storing massive quantities of weapons grade material in violation of its own laws and international laws.  It was revealed that Japan was convinced to hand it over due to its lax security of nuclear facilities: “The removal of the material from Japan represents a significant accomplishment in our broader global nuclear security efforts to secure highly enriched uranium and plutonium worldwide.”-Lieutenant General Frank G. Klotz, U.S. Department of Energy

In California “There is 89 times the amount of radiation at San Onofre as was released at Chernobyl, [Southern California Edison] spends millions of dollars each year distorting the truth. It’s a smoke-and-mirrors show they put on for the public while they cut costs to increase their profits.”-Rita Conn of Secure Nuclear Waste commenting on spent nuclear fuel at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS)

Reports out of The Aloha State reveal that only one week after Fukushima Daiichi blew up radiation was detected in the air over Hawaii.  That same year the University of Hawaii at Manoa began collecting water samples to establish a baseline cesium level.  Researchers say since then elevated cesium levels have been detected around Midway Island and the west coast of North America.  But what’s more worrisome is that cesium is showing up in the milk of dairy cows on Hawaii: “The Department of Health monitored precipitation and the atmosphere and also milk. They found positive hits in all of these.”–Henrietta Dulai, University of Hawaii researcher who admitted her own cesium testing conflicts with the state Department of Health’s test results

The Idaho state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden claims he will defend the 1995 nuclear waste agreement between The Gem State and Washington DC, despite the fact that ‘elected’ state and federal lawmakers are pushing to bring more nuke waste into Idaho. The Idaho Statesman revealed that the federal government repeatedly violates the 1995 agreement. This comes as it’s been revealed that since November 2015 clean up crews from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have been investigating why a Snake River Plain Aquifer monitoring well, near Highway 20, is contaminated with tetrachloroethylene. Efforts are now underway to clean up the contamination. And of course that news arrived as news that between 2001 and 2005 Idaho had the most people die from skin cancer than any other U.S. state!
Idaho’s neighbor The Evergreen State had the highest rate of skin cancer in 2008! Both Idaho and Washington are home to huge nuclear laboratories.

“About 700,000 people drink water from the Kentucky River, which runs through the city of Irvine. Last year, Irvine received 4 million to 10 million pounds of concentrated, radioactive fracking residue from Advanced TENORM Services LLC, which further concentrated waste from Virginia-based Fairmont Brine Processing.”-Leslie Bruner

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rates Massachusetts’ Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station as one of the three worst in the U.S. (all three are operated by the same company, Entergy).   Pilgrim is supposed to be decommissioned starting in 2019, however local news media revealed “Entergy does not have enough money to decommission now. Entergy has about $900 million in Pilgrim’s Decommissioning Trust Fund (DTF). Entergy estimated that the total cost (if the work started in 2014) to clean-up Vermont Yankee, a smaller reactor than Pilgrim, would be about 1.243 billion dollars. Pilgrim’s DTF is about 350 million dollars short, even if work started today. By the time that the work is actually done, the shortfall likely will be in the billions.”

The fat-ass Christie regime in New Jersey is allowing the aged Artificial Island nuclear power plant to continue operations for another five years, and interestingly is not requiring the construction of cooling towers.  It’s all about the politics of global warming and taxpayer funded (socialist) job creation: “Nuclear plays a key role today and also in the future in meeting New Jersey and America’s clean air goals. These goals can’t be achieved without carbon free nuclear power. Just as important is the economic impact of the 1,800 jobs we supply and the millions of dollars we spend each year on goods and services right here in New Jersey.”-Joe Delmar, PSEG Nuclear

The Department of Energy (DoE) gave the green light to restart ‘cold operations’ at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico,  more than two years after the mixed-nuke waste explosion.  The DoE is paying the Land of Enchantment $74-million USD compensation for the WIPP disaster.

In Washington DC “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly issued proposals …to allow radioactive contamination in drinking water ….equivalent to 250 chest X-rays a year.” Yet another study saying cell phones cause brain cancer, this time it’s the federal government.  After spending $25-million taxpayer dollars funding the study through the National Toxicology Program it was concluded that “radiofrequency radiation (RFR) at frequencies and modulations used in the US telecommunications industry” was connected to “…RFR exposure and the neoplastic lesions…”

Fukushima

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: INL admits “nobody really knows what’s going on.” Radioactive trash dump in U.S. on fire?

19 September 2015 (12:24 UTC-07 Tango 01)/28 Shahrivar 1394/05 Dhu l-Hijja 1436/07 Yi-You (8th month) 4713

“The Agency has for many years made a major contribution to development by making nuclear science and technology available in areas such as food production, water management and agriculture. Our work deserves greater recognition.”-Amano Yukio, UN IAEA

India: “Over the past four months, sporadic rainfall saw Mumbai’s UV Index (UVI) levels touch the ‘high risk’ category. Their immediate effect can be seen in form of sun burns, long-term exposure can lead to skin cancer and cataract.  ‘The sporadic rain pattern is responsible for the high UV radiations in the city this monsoon,’ said Gufran Beig, project director, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), IITM. ‘When (the number of) rainy days are less followed by a long period of sunny days, UV radiation levels peak.’”

Ukraine: “International heavy lift company Mammoet and its client Novarka have successfully connected the two halves of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. This was needed following the catastrophic nuclear accident in 1986.”

United States: “Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee, are accusing the FCC of failing to enforce safety guidelines on cell tower worker exposure to radiofrequency radiation, saying they are putting the health and safety of a quarter of a million workers at risk.”

“Exposure to high doses of radiation triggers a number of potentially lethal effects. Among the most severe is the gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity syndrome caused by the destruction of the intestinal barrier, resulting in bacterial translocation, systemic bacteremia, sepsis, and death….   ….TP [Thrombin-derived Peptide] 508 may be an effective emergency nuclear countermeasure that could be delivered within 24 h post exposure to increase survival and delay mortality, giving victims time to reach clinical sites for advanced medical treatment.”

“Scientists have recently developed a new hybrid solar energy system that harnesses all of the sun’s radiation…..”

Idaho:  Researchers at the INL are on the verge of creating a system to track nuclear waste from the oil industry.  The oil industry uses radioactive material as part of its oil extraction process.  The new system will be tested in North Dakota because “It’s the Wild West out there. Waste sites are taking the wrong stuff, or they’re dumping it in fields. Nobody really knows what’s going on.”-Doug Akers, Idaho National Laboratory

Massachusetts: “As a resident of Plum Island, Newbury, I are deeply concerned about the threat posed by Seabrook Station — the threat of radiation release. If a radiation release were to occur, evacuating this area would be impossible.”

“…parents filed a lawsuit claiming that the Fay School in Southborough has ‘high-intensity Wi-Fi emissions’ that have harmed their son……he has a condition called Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome (EHS)”

Missouri: “…radiation from the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton has spread to neighboring properties. The reports also suggested that an underground fire at the neighboring Bridgeton Landfill is moving toward radioactive waste and could reach it as soon three to six months. The landfills’ owner, Republic Services, has vehemently maintained that the situation at the landfills is under control.”

“Loretta Copeland is shutting the doors on her dog grooming business on Natural Bridge Road, near McKelvey Road, about a mile from the landfill. She says she’s afraid of getting cancer.  ‘…it just seems like everybody you talk to they either have cancer or they know somebody……..Who wants to buy a grooming shop sitting within one mile from the landfill?’”

New Mexico: “The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant simulated a full-scale emergency response on Wednesday to prepare the facility and community in case an emergency occurred again.”

“The Underground Ventilation System at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is being upgraded to provide additional airflow into the facility’s underground.”

“…burying 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium would be far cheaper and more practical than completing a multibillion-dollar plant that would turn the radioactive material into commercial reactor fuel.”

New York: “The studies found that 50 percent to 75 percent of the animals who were exposed to a potentially lethal dose of radiation died without any treatment. Using Cleveland BioLabs’ Entolimod drug, less than a third of all animals that received the drug died, even when the drug was administered as much as 48 hours after exposure.”

“An upstate New York man faces life in prison after he became the first person ever convicted in the U.S. of trying to acquire a radiation weapon for mass destruction…”

Washington: Hanford to remain Undeclared Interim Storage site “By early 2007 the decision was made to construct a mox fuel plant at the Savannah River Site (SRS), in South Carolina. Construction is 70 percent complete, and some $4.5 billion has been spent.  ……DOE-Headquarters is now considering major/arbitrary changes to the final disposition of MOX, and stopping construction the mos facility at SRS!    DOE’s new path is considering ‘downblending’ (diluting) the weapons grade plutonium and adding it to waste going to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. DOE reports shutting down the SRS mox plant could cost a billion dollars.”

“In the near term the cost of dealing with the solid waste would be about $20 million from the DOE Richland Operations Office annual budget, which is about $1 billion a year, according to the state of Washington.”

Washington DC: “In 1981, anthropologists, engineers, nuclear physicists, and others assembled to form the Human Interference Task Force, at the behest of the U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel Corp. The impetus of the task force, according to a technical report issued a few years later, was to ‘reduce the likelihood of future humans unintentionally intruding on radioactive-waste isolation systems.’”

Japan:  Off the coast of Hokkaido a fish called a Wolffish was caught. The man who caught it says it’s one of the largest Wolffish ever caught.  See internet ‘TV’ news report here.

Proof of arrogant incompetence: “…there was a basic assumption in Japan that the design of nuclear power plants and the safety measures that had been put in place were sufficiently robust to withstand external events of low probability and high consequences….there was a tendency for organizations and their staff not to challenge the level of safety……resulted in a situation where safety improvements were not introduced….”

More proof of government incompetence: “…a team of Japanese researchers report that evacuation following the Fukushima nuclear accident may have been much worse for Japanese citizen’s health than nuclear radiation.”

“Authorities in the small city of Nikko in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture, some 175 km away from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, have said that at least 334 bags containing radioactive soil have been swept into a tributary of the Kinugawa river, The Asahi Shimbun reports.

According to the city’s authorities, the washed-away waste was only part of hundreds of bags being stored at the Kobyakugawa Sakura Koen park alongside the river. Another 132 bags of waste reportedly rolled down the slopes.” 

‘Black’ helicopters return to California! U.S. will increase radiation contamination limits! 

Fukushima, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: Siberian fires prove North America blanketed with Japanese radiation!

23 April 2015 (09:17 UTC-07 Tango 01)/03 Ordibehesht 1394/04 Rajab 1436/05 Geng Chen (3rd month) 4713

Massive wild fires in Siberia, Russia, have been smoking out the Pacific Northwest of North America for days now.  The smoke is now reaching the Atlantic Coast.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the majority of North America is blanketed by the smoke.

The wild fires started about a couple of weeks ago, and have killed dozens of people in Siberia.  If the smoke is already covering most of North America in less than two weeks, then imagine the massive radiation contamination that is still spewing from Japan’s exploded Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors!   The same wind currents that bring the smoke from Siberia are bringing radiation from Fukushima.  Of course, U.S. and Canadian environmental administrators have denied that high levels of radiation from Fukushima has reached North America.

Japanese news media reported that four years after the explosions at Fukushima new data has been released by the U.S. Department of the Navy.  The data shows 75% of  the initial radiation contamination released after the explosions actually took place several days afterward, and was released for much longer than first thought.  Researchers learned that a metal used to make fuel rods, zirconium, continued overheating even after thousands of tons of water was poured into the reactors.  It turns out the water actually acted as a catalyst and could have contributed to what looks like  a slow burn China Syndrome, that is still ongoing.

To prove that radiation contamination is still ongoing, administrators with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) revealed yet more airborne and waterborne leaks, and admitted they knew about one leak a year ago!  TEPCo says airborne radiation levels inside reactor building 1 (Fukushima #1) are so high they will kill you in one hour!  They determined this after two robots sent into the building were disabled by the radiation levels.

The most recent water leaks happened this week, when all the water pumps failed.  An unknown amount of contaminated water went into the Pacific Ocean.

Then there’s the leak TEPCo knew about one years ago, but said nothing until now.  TEPCo described the contaminated water leak as “highly radioactive” and said it’s been pouring into the Pacific Ocean, from reactor building 2 (Fukushima #2), since April 2014!

In a possibly related story, the residence of the neo-imperialist Japanese prime minister was found to have a highly radioactive RC drone on the roof!  Security personnel say nobody had been on the roof for the past month, and they don’t know how it got there.  The drone was carrying a container of liquid contaminated with cesium that comes from nuclear reactors.   The drone was marked with radiation warning labels.

In Takahama, a Japanese court judge has blocked the re-start of two reactors at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant.  The judge reviewed data and declared the reactors to be unsafe, and that the new national government regulations for nuclear factory safety to be insufficient.  Even government administrators admit a catastrophic accident could still occur even with the new regulations.  It turns out the Takahama nuke reactors, operated by Kansai Electric Power Company, are built over three earthquake fault lines!

The Journal of Ornithology has published a study that shows radiation is killing off Japanese birds.  The journal Environmental Indicators published a study saying the radiation levels around Fukushima are far worse than Chernobyl.

In the U.S. state of New Mexico radiation problems continue at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP).  The DoE accuses the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory (LANL) of causing the explosions inside WIPP by improperly packing mixed nuke waste in 55 gallon drums.  The DoE investigation confirmed that at least one drum exploded.

The contractor running the site has been hit with $7.3-million USD in fines!  The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) effectively accused Nuclear Waste Partnership of failing across the board, from lack of maintenance programs to outright violations of DoE regulations!

To try and remedy their failed operations at WIPP, Nuclear Waste Partnership has selected a new manager to run WIPP.  He was in charge of the plutonium facility at Idaho National Laboratory, and also worked at the Savannah River Site.

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has also been accused of contributing to the WIPP disaster, as it is one of the users of WIPP for nuke waste storage.  Now the INL is now asking for permission to receive 2-hundred pounds of spent nuclear fuel, for the purpose of researching new ways to store and/or recycle nuke waste.  Former Idaho governors Phil Batt and Cecil Andrus condemned the proposal, pointing out it would violate a 1995 deal banning nuke waste shipments into The Gem State.

Nobody can trust anything administrators say at the INL, it turns out there was a nuclear accident there six months ago, but only now was made public!  It was revealed by the DoE during a local public hearing.  Back in October 2014, at least one employee was contaminated during the re-packing of nuclear waste.  It shutdown the New Waste Calcining Facility for several weeks.

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout:  Santa Barbara hit by giant radioactive lobsters?

Fukushima, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: WIPP employee lawsuit! France & Idaho connection to Fukushima & WIPP! Cosmic rays to be used at Fukushima! Hows your underwear?

14 August 2014 (01:47 UTC-07 Tango)/17 Shawwal 1435/23 Mordad 1393/19 Ren-Shen 4712

Customs/Port officials in Korea, south, have discovered a shipment of scrap metal from Japan is highly radioactive.  20 kilograms (44 pounds) of scrap metal was found to be contaminated with cesium-137.  They’ve ordered the ship to return to Japan.

Officials with the district of Hong Kong, China, are refusing to lift the ban on food from five Japanese prefectures affected by the ongoing nuke disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

In Japan‘s Fukui Prefecture nuclear power plant inspectors have discovered a new danger; seawater pumps at Takahama Nuclear Power Plant could be destroyed by tornadoes.  Kansai Electric Power Company is now trying to protect the pumps with steel plates and steel nets.

A Virginia U.S.A. company (Decision Sciences International Corporation aka DSIC) has been hired by Japan’s Toshiba to use cosmic rays to scan the melted down GE designed reactor units at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

What most people don’t understand is that nobody has been able to see what’s happening in the reactors, because the contamination levels are so high that it will kill humans, and even the electronics in robots get fried if they’re in the buildings for too long!  This is why this disaster is ongoing more than three years later (and why I believe China Syndrome is now in play).

DSIC will use two muon detectors to scan the reactors.  The detectors will be placed in a reactor building,  on opposite sides of the containment vessel.  Muons are considered harmless, but they can pass through just about anything, however their direction of travel can be altered by dense objects.  The scanners will create a 3D image that will hopefully show exactly where the mass of molten fuel rods are.   By the way, Toshiba openly refuses to say how much they’re paying DSIC for the work.

The neo-imperialist government of Japan has announced it will spend  $3-billion USD to help Fukushima Prefecture recover from the ongoing nuclear disaster, but there’s a catch.  In order to get the money the municipalities within the prefecture must agree to become nuclear waste storage sites!

The bribe comes after three years of utter failure in filtering radioactive water at Fukushima Daiichi, prompting Tokyo Electric Power Company to call it quits, almost.

The experimental and expensive (TEPCo openly refuses to say how much it cost!) filtration system was only able to operate for three months before being repeatedly shutdown for multiple problems, mainly leaks.   TEPCo says there is another problem, radiation contamination.

The filtration system is so radioactive that it has become like the melted down reactors onsite; too ‘hot’ to literally handle.  This is the true reason for the abandonment of the Areva designed filtration system, because throwaway employees cannot get near the system just to perform maintenance!  A new ‘treatment’ system is being tried, and of course all the water that goes through these systems end up in the ocean.

Areva is a French company, and this brings us to Idaho, U.S.A.

Areva is a contractor at the United States’ Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and has just ben awarded a $34-million contract to turn the INL  into a low level nuclear waste storage site.  It involves building 200 concrete nuke waste trash cans (vaults) underground.

INL and Department of Energy also held a health conference in Idaho Falls, regarding the Radiation and Worker Health Program’s scheme (Special Exposure Cohort) in determining health problems caused by radiation: “If a person who worked at INL gets cancer and feels like their cancer is due to radiation exposure they received on the job, they could file a claim in this program and our job at NIOSH is (to) attempt to reconstruct the dose, that person received while they were here. You know how much dose they could have received. Once we have done that, the Department of Labor takes that information and determines whether their cancer was more likely or not caused by the radiation exposure.”-Stuart Hinnefeld, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

It turns out that INL was chosen for the public forum because several hundreds of claims of radiation caused cancer have been filed!

A live reporter with local TV station(s) KIDK-KIFI reported that several DoE employees, and former employees, say their cancer caused by contamination claims have gone unanswered!   (It’s interesting that KIDK-KIFI did not put that info in their text version of the story, it was relayed by their live reporter)

The INL is also one of the major suppliers of nuclear waste to New Mexico’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  And speaking of WIPP, the first of what could be many lawsuits by employees has been filed.

It turns out the lawsuit was actually filed in May!  The waste handler claims he suffered several types of injuries during the salt truck fire, including inhalation of toxins.   He is one of at least a dozen people hurt during the February fire.  He is now having to travel to Colorado for undisclosed respiratory treatments.  The DoE has admitted that one worker is still undergoing treatments.  The employee stated that he’s constantly tired, and coughs and vomits “all the time”.

In United Kingdom, entrepreneur Richard Branson announced he would market radiation proof underwear.  They’re made with silver thread.  Scientist scoffed at the idea, after all if you could make radiation proof underwear then you’ve solved the problem for humans undertaking long distance space flight (with all that lethal cosmic radiation floating about).

“We’re preparing for the worst day in America.”

Fukushima, Idaho

East Idaho Gamma Ray detector update: Conflicting readings on 16 June 2012, as high as 26 μR/h! More proof of Fukushima?

On 25 May 2012, I posted how the public display on the Big Lost River IEMP station, in eastern Idaho, was not working.  Now it is, and it’s showing 10 more micro Roentgens per hour than what is being posted on the www.idahoop.org website.

Big Lost River IEMP Gamma display, 16 June 2012

On 16 June 2012, the display was showing between 24 and 27 μR/h!  I watched for ten minutes and it never went lower than 24 μR/h.  I checked the website and discovered that it was reporting gamma levels of 15.2 μR/h.

Why the big difference?

For perspective, 9.8 μR/h is considered “less than typical”.  The ghost city of Pripyat, which was contaminated by Chernobyl in the 1980s, is still showing gamma levels as high as 66 μR/h!

The Big Lost River IEMP is located in an area of eastern Idaho that has been used for nuclear experiments ever since World War 2.  Are these high(?) gamma levels the result of decades of experiments (still ongoing right now), or is it because of the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan?

Fukushima, Idaho, Technology

Radiation mystery at Idaho National Laboratory, Cesium & Cobalt

U.S. department of Energy reported on April 6, 2012, that radioactive particles of cesium and cobalt are being found on construction materials.

A contractor discovered the contamination.  Officials think it could be from the demolition of old buildings in that area of the INL site, which would imply that the buildings were contaminated before being torn down.

A local east Idaho DOE spokesman said there was no concern “…unless you get it onto your skin…” and you had “…prolonged exposure…”

Employees and vehicles are now being checked for contamination as they enter and leave the site.

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Idaho radioactive Plutonium & Americium contamination update

On November 8, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced that 17 employees were exposed to plutonium.  The INL now says it is 16 employees who were exposed, but, the number of those testing positive for contamination is going up.

The INL has also released more info on how their employees got exposed to deadly plutonium.  The affected area at the decommissioned Zero Power Physics Reactor has been isolated.

Japanese media are reporting that seven workers are now confirmed to be contaminated.  At least three workers are undergoing additional checks after lung examinations pointed to possible internal exposure.

Local east Idaho media are reporting that two employees tested positive for Americium 241 in their lungs.  INL officials say it’s almost sure that their lungs are contaminated with plutonium as well.

The Japanese and Idaho media are giving conflicting info on how the workers were exposed.

Idaho media says INL employees accidentally ruptured 30 year old containers filled with plutonium.  Japanese media says the workers found the containers already ruptured, with powder spilling out.  They opened the containers to see what the powder was.  It was oxidized plutonium that had turned to dust.  The Japanese media says the INL is trying to find out how the containers were ruptured.  INL officials suspect the containers were ruptured a long time ago, which would explain the oxidized (rusted) plutonium (it also means employees might have been exposed to plutonium since 1981).

The INL is currently run by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance.

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Idahoans exposed to radioactive Plutonium

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced that on November 8, seventeen employees were exposed to plutonium.  At least six show signs of contamination.

It happened inside the decommissioned Zero Power Physics Reactor.  A container containing plutonium was opened by the workers.

The employees went through decontamination procedures, and are being checked at the INL’s Central Facilities Medical Center.

The INL is run by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance.

This is the second ‘event’ this year involving radioactive material from the INL.    In January, 2011, an employee was nearly exposed to a full years worth of radiation, after a miscalculation as to the amount of radiation the worker would be exposed to for a specific task.

Also, in September, 2011, a small container was found on an Idaho Falls street, it was labeled as containing radioactive Iodine 131.  The INL was called in to investigate. They claim the container was empty and not radioactive. They discovered it was used for medical purposes.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Major East Idaho Employer makes surprise layoff announcement

September 19, a change of contractors with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) resulted in a surprise announcement; 204 employees will be let go at the end of the month.

On September 30, the existing contract with AMWTP (Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project) ends.  A new contract with Idaho Treatment Group begins on October 1.  The new contractor says they can do the same job with 204 less employees.

The contract involves preparing transuranic nuclear weapons waste stored at the INL, for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.