All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Fukushima

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster now Ranked 6 out of 7

The International Nuclear Events Scale has just raised the Fukushima Daiichi disaster to 6, out of a total of 7.   7 is the worst, which is what the 1986 Chernobyl disaster is ranked.  The 1979 Three Mile Island incident is ranked at 5.

This ranking contradicts many “expert’s” claims that Fukushima was not serious.

The Japanese government has authorized nuclear plant workers to be exposed to higher levels of radiation. This might be in order to allow workers to fight the new fire at reactor 4, which is emitting deadly radiation levels and preventing fire fighting efforts under current radiation exposure rules.

Fukushima, Idaho

Idaho Man escapes Fukushmia Daiichi Nuclear Plant

Chris Hope, of Ririe, Idaho, is back home after escaping from the Fukushima Daiichi plant during the 9.0 earthquake.

He works for an East Idaho software company, and was in Japan upgrading software programs at the Fukushima plant.  Hope said he had experienced smaller quakes in Japan, even found them exciting, but this quake caused him to fear for his life.

He and other people at the plant had to literally fight to get out of the building.  Outside it was like a disaster movie.  Plant officials went to great effort to get Hope to Tokyo, so he could return to Idaho.  He says the best example of how hard it was to get to Tokyo is the movie “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”.

Despite what is going on with the Fukushima nuclear plants, Hope says he still trusts nuclear power.

Fukushima

Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Rods on Fire Again

NHK is reporting that Fukushima plant 1 (Daiichi), reactor 4, is on fire for a second time. NHK is also reporting that currently no flames are visible.

Late last night/early this morning officials said the fire burned itself out.

Plant officials are saying they can not fight the fire because of the high levels of radiation. They are asking for firefighting help from the government.

There is a growing number of nuclear experts, around the world, that are becoming extremely concerned over the fact that spent fuel rods are exposed and/or burning.

Earlier today NHK reported that reactor 4 has 783 spent rods stored in a “pool” above the reactor.  Spent rods are still highly radioactive.  It has also been admitted that the survivability of the spent fuel rod pools, in event of natural disaster, was never taken into account.

An official interviewed by NHK admitted that they don’t really know what is going on.  This makes sense because there is a skeleton crew at the plant (which probably have been exposed to deadly levels of radiation), and the “officials” are not at the plant.  Most employees evacuated the plant after the earthquake.

International

Ring of Fire Seismic Events part 2 Volcanoes

Using Global Volcanism Program (GVP) website, monthly reports, I totaled the number of volcanic events, around the Pacific Ring of Fire, for the year 2010.  Then I averaged the number of events over the whole year.  The monthly average number of volcanic events, for 2010, came to 5.3.  Keep in mind that at least 90% of the world’s volcanic events took place on the Ring of Fire, in 2010.

The GVP weekly activity reports include “ongoing” activity, so I threw those out and counted the “new” activity only.  It is clear there is an increase.

For the reporting month of January 2011, I counted 16 new activity reports for the Ring of Fire.  For February it is 13.  The first week of March is 2 (I expect March will end up with a high number, due to what’s happening in Japan).

Maybe the GVP has differences in what they post for monthly vs weekly, but, the most monthly activity in 2010, was in February with 9 (remember I did an average for the whole year).  You can see, comparing February 2010 to February 2011, there is an increase of 4.

Is this cause for alarm? Maybe not. I went back to February 2001, and there was much more volcanic activity then (I counted 24).  Another issue is how the GVP gets it information. The website states that information comes from “…hundreds of correspondents, scientists, and other volcano observers that contribute information.”  GVP does list activity reports that they have determined to be “false”.

Fukushima

Spent Fuel Rod Fire Burned Itself Out, Concern with 5 & 6 Reactor Spent Fuel Rods

Officials now saying that reactor 4 spent fuel rod fire, burned itself out.  The temperatures had risen to twice the limit. This, along with possible hydrogen explosion, caused the 783 spent fuel rods to catch fire.

Officials admit the spent fuel rod storage areas are not equipped with any type of “back up” systems to prevent overheating and fire caused by natural disaster.  The design of the nuclear plant has the spent fuel rods stored above the reactors. Workers at Fukushima plant 1 (Daiichi) are now focusing on reducing spent fuel rods from overheating. There is now concern with the Spent Fuel Rod storage above reactors 5 & 6, their temperatures are rising.  Officials say they have begun flooding the storage areas with sea water.  Reactors 5 & 6 were down for maintenance when the quake/tsunami hit.

Atsushi Takeda, an official with Japan’s Nuclear Safety Research Association, says that most of the back up systems did not work properly.  The primary concerns are to keep reactors from overheating.  Takeda believes most of the problems with the Fukushima plant happened after the tsunami, not because of the magnitude 9 quake.

Fukushima

Radiation Level Perspective

The IAEA says spent fuel rod fire on reactor 4 was put out.  Radiation levels have dropped.

Radiation levels had reached 400 millisievert per hour.  The IAEA says “A person’s radiation exposure due to all natural sources amounts on average to about 2.4 millisievert (mSv) per year.”  This clearly shows how bad the radiation levels got, and why people were told to get inside, and not to drink even tap water.

However, NHK, Japan’s public news service, continued to interview “experts” who down played the levels.

Business/Economics, International

Japanese Stock Markets Crashing, Implications for World Markets

Trading in Japan’s stock markets fell for a second day.  This is due to announcements that not only are Japan’s industries going to be shut down for longer than thought, but that Japanese consumers are pulling back on spending big time (especially now that they can’t get out because of the radiation).

For those of use dealing with high fuel prices, the fact that Japan’s industry is shut down, and Japan’s consumers are holding back, is resulting in dropping oil prices.  The situation in Japan means demand for oil there could drop enough to counter the predicted increase in world demand for oil.

Another reason for the drop in oil prices is that investors are shifting to liquid assets, meaning CASH.  This is an indicator that investors feel it is not worth putting their money into stocks or commodities, due to what looks like a looming world economic collapse.

Fukushima

Spent Nuclear Fuel Rod Pond On Fire, Chernobyl on Steroids

Reuters is reporting that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has been told that a spent fuel rod pound is on fire.  Spent fuel rods are still highly radioactive, and the pools contain years worth of rods.

At the Fukushima plant 1, the spent fuel pools are on top of reactors. The problem is that reactors 1 & 3 exploded, literally blowing their tops. So where did the spent fuel rods that were on top of the buildings go?

Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates, said a spent fuel rod fire “…would be like Chernobyl on steroids.” Gundersen is also a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Fukushima plant 1 might have as many as 7 spent fuel pools, with 20 years worth of rods.

Gundersen pointed out that the design of the Fukushima nuclear reactors are based on a General Electric plan, and that plan put the spent fuel rod pools on above of the reactors.  Can you say “dumb & dumber”?  What’s GE’s slogan, “We bring good things to life”?  Yeah buddy!