New York state is reporting trace amounts of Iodine-131.
Also, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality reported, on its March 29 RadNet posting, that trace amounts of Iodine-131 and Xenon-133 has been detected in the Gem State. The Idaho DEQ runs monitoring sites in Spokane, Washington, and Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Both states say the levels are of no threat, and monitoring is continuing.
The Idaho National Laboratory is sending robots hardened against radiation, along with hardened cameras to Japan.
That’s according to officials with the U.S. Department of Energy. The robots will be used where radiation levels are too high for people, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The statements by Energy Department officials, about the INL robots, were made to a U.S. Senate panel on 29 March.
The U.S. department of Energy has sent, or is sending, 70 employees, along with tons of equipment, to help fight the nuclear disaster.
Just remember, this nuclear disaster is due to the lax disaster preparations of a Japanese capitalist corporation, and yet, the taxpayers of Japan are paying for it, and we taxpayers in the U.S. are paying for it. Corporations suck!
As of 28 March 2011, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is not reporting any increase in radiation levels in Idaho, on their RadNet site.
Also, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare believes that currently the risk of high radiation levels, from Japan, is still low.
The IDHW has a Japan situation page that lets Idahoans know about monitoring, food safety and FAQs like; “Should I start taking Iodide?”
(don’t take iodide unless you’re real close to a nuclear disaster ’cause to much iodide is bad for you)
Idaho representative Mike Simpson, and senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo all protested against building a Mosque near 9/11 Ground Zero in New York City.
Yet they all support training Saudi Arabian pilots at Mountain Home, Idaho. Most of the terrorists who hijacked the airliners on September 11, 2001, were from Saudi Arabia (no Iraqis or Afghans were involved in 9/11). This is a prime example of talking out both sides of your mouth at the same time. And supposedly most Idahoans voted for these guys.
Don’t forget Idahoans, your Governor Butch Otter supports this as well (and yes you voted overwhelmingly for him).
Peter Gadiel, whose son was killed in the World Trade Center, said this about the training of Saudi pilots in Idaho: “Americans will die and the people in Washington don’t give a damn.”
Training of Saudi Arabian pilots and ground crews in Idaho, is part of the $60 billion arms deal made last year.
Most Saudis are Wahaab Muslims (Wahhabi), the same faction that Osama bin Laden is from, as well as our allies the Saudi Royal Family. Iraqis are not Wahaab. Afghans are not Wahaab. They did not attack us on 9/11. Wahaab Saudis & Wahaab Yemenis attacked us on 9/11. Yet we’re over there killing Iraqis and Afghans, while training Wahaab Saudis in Idaho?
Every now and then, a new law enforcement officer in Idaho mistakenly arrests someone for OPEN possession of a gun. As well, sometimes a citizen freaks out and calls in the police after seeing someone in OPEN possession of a gun.
In Idaho OPEN CARRY of guns is legal. Open carry, as opposed to concealed carry, means you can carry a gun in public as long as it is visible.
Idaho Constitution, Article I Section 11: “….No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition….”
Of course they are limits to Idaho’s open carry law, like being a convicted felon, being intoxicated and being under the age of 18.
As far as Idaho’s concealed carry licensing, it seems it applies only to handguns.
The Idaho House passed a bill that would force colleges and universities to allow firearms on campus, except in student housing.
A Texas House committee moved a bill that would allow licensed handguns on public universities and college campuses.
This is considered an issue of the right to self defense, under the Second Amendment.
There have been many shootings, that could have been stopped, or lessened, if an armed citizen was able to use their gun to stop it.
Here in Eastern Idaho there is an example out of the Salmon area that proves it. Some years ago, at a church service one of the residents of the town flipped out, entered the church and began shooting. A member of the church was handed a gun by his wife. She carried the gun in her hand bag. She told him to “..take the guy out”, and he did (I think she actually used a different word than ‘guy’). The flipped out shooter made it clear he was going to target as many people as he could. He would have been successful if it weren’t for the gun toting woman who encouraged her husband to take the guy out.
How do I know this story? The husband that took the guy out, and I, were both members of the same Idaho Army National Guard unit, back in the late 1990s. When he told his story it was apparent that he was shaken by his actions to shoot the wacko, but, it was clear the wacko was going to take out as many people as he could. Someone had to stop him.
Officials at INL are watching events in Japan very carefully. The INL has their own reactor, and it is the location for the first nuclear plant in the United States.
The INL continues to be active in nuclear power, and clean up, applications.
INL officials say the use of sea water to cool nuclear reactors has never been done before. It is a true last ditch effort.
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.
A local East Idaho TV news reporter interviewed an official at the Idaho National Laboratory, regarding the safety of the INL’s nuclear reactor during a seismic event. INL’s emergency director Riley Chase made almost the same statements that Japanese officials made right before their nuclear disaster.
“If we were to have a seismic event, the safety systems would shut that reactor down…”, also, “…we have diesel generators that run, and we have battery backed-up systems that will provide and constantly keep cooling…”
I’d like to remind people that this is what the officials said in Japan. Their safety systems and back up systems failed. This is because the quake and tsunami in Japan was much stronger than anyone planned for. The Japanese systems were set up to withstand a 7.9 quake. It is now clear that the event was much, much stronger. I believe if we in Eastern Idaho experienced such a strong event the INL system would fail as well. A major fault line does run through East Idaho, from Salt Lake up to Yellowstone.
On the plus side, the INL reactor is low power, and is run for 6 weeks each time it’s powered up. So hope that the big one hits when the reactor is shut down.
By the way, the INL reactor is not the only nuclear plant in East Idaho. Idaho State University has a graphite reactor on its Pocatello campus. Shouldn’t be much concern, their ANG-201 reactor produces only 5 watts of power (at least that’s the maximum it is allowed to produce).
I have talked to long time building maintenance employees at the University, and they have told stories of the radioactive waste, from ANG-201, being stored in unmarked buildings. The story I heard was that some maintenance employees were on the roof of a building when they were suddenly told to get off the building. They were sent for medical exams, where they learned they were being checked for radiation exposure. Apparently the building they were on was being used to store radioactive waste.
This brings up the issue of radioactive waste. In the United States storage of radioactive waste has become a problem, because no one wants it in their back yard. So what happens to it? Some nuclear plants in California have simply been building up a stockpile of waste on their property. Here in East Idaho, the INL has been dealing with the problem of contaminated waste for decades. If the U.S. experiences a major seismic event near nuclear plants, not only will the reactors become an immediate threat, so will the waste.
March 8, 2011, Chubbuck, Idaho.
Today I voted on our local school district’s supplemental levy. The ballot clearly states “7,500,000 for 2011-2012 and 7,500,000 for 2012-2013” school years. Do the math, that’s 15 million over two years. I watched a local TV news live report, 5 & 6pm, on the voting. In the 6pm newscast their live reporter clearly said that the levy for my district was “1.5 million”. That’s one point five million, say what? It is clearly stated on the ballot that it’s seven and a half million each year over two years, which equals fifteen million, not one point five million. I checked the local TV station’s website, and even on their web site they have a story from the day before that says my district’s levy is: “Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 Supplemental Levy – $7.5 million per year for two years“. Either their live reporter is deliberately misleading the audience (as well as the anchors because they did not correct her), or their reporter needs to go back to school and retake math (same for their anchors)!