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Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima exceeds radiation levels at Chernobyl!

Six towns in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, have soil that is contaminated with Cesium levels far higher than those at Chernobyl.  The levels exceed that which forced mandatory evacuations around Chernobyl back in the 1980s.  Some areas around Chernobyl are still off limits.

Japan’s Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry put together a soil contamination map.  Six municipalities recorded more than 1.48 million becquerels per square meter of Cesium 137.

The Cesium hot spots are in no-entry and expanded evacuation zones around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

 

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo throwaway subcontractors contaminated with radiation!

In less than two weeks, four contractors working at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, have been contaminated with radiation.

All four were contaminated by water from the defective water decontamination system.

Two workers were contaminated when they replaced defective parts, the other two were contaminated when water surged out of a valve that was mistakenly left open.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has been constantly criticized for how it handles its contracted employees.  Many former employees claim TEPCo provides no training, and even no protective gear.  One government agency backed up those claims a couple of months ago.

The Japanese government is still waiting for health screenings for hundreds of TEPCo employees, as well as the whereabouts of 200 missing employees.  In one public meeting, Tokyo Electric officials said the missing 200 employees were probably terrorists!

 

 

Fukushima

Tropical Storm Talas heading for nuclear damaged Japan, will become a Typhoon before landfall

Tropical storm Talas, directly south of Japan, is heading right for the center of the nuclear damaged island nation.

It’s predicted that by 29 August 2011 Talas will be a category 1 typhoon.  Japan is still recovering from the 11 March 2011 quake and tsunami. Also, the damaged nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi could get hit.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Japan Megadisaster boosts Insurance sales!

The Non-Life Insurance Rating Organization of Japan said insurance companies gained more than 2.51 million new earthquake contracts, since the 11 March 2011 megadisaster.

Not surprisingly the biggest gains were in the areas hardest hit: Fukushima Prefecture saw a 49.6% increase.  Iwate Prefecture 26.4% increase.  Miyagi Prefecture up 22.3%.

Fukushima

Radiation decontamination in Japan will be complicated

The Japanese government is about to vote on a standardized decontamination plan.

Here’s a list of suggested decontamination procedures for cities and towns:

High pressure washing of homes and buildings, including rain gutters.

Trimming of outer leaves and branches on bushes and trees.

Pulling up smaller plants and removal of top soil.

Washing roads, including flushing joints on asphalt and concrete roads, removing mud and dirt along roadsides.

All removed soil and plant material must be treated as nuclear waste.

The Japanese government will vote on a standardized plan on 26 August 2011.  The amazing thing is that it’s been more than five months since the start of the ongoing nuclear disaster, and they’re just now coming up with a standardized national government decontamination plan.

Fukushima, U.S.

Nuclear plant shut down by Viginia Earthquake, 9 other nuke plants affected

The North Anna nuclear power plant, outside Richmond, Virginia, has shut down.

The plant is on the coastline, just seven miles from the epicenter of the 5.9 quake (earlier reports said it was 5.8).

Diesel generators are supplying power to basic systems at the plant.

Nine nuke plants from New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania to Maryland have declared unusual events.  They have not shut down.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan government now realizes contamination too high to cancel evac orders!

When orders were finally given to evacuate areas around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, government officials led people to believe it would only be a few months.

It’s more than five months, and now the government realizes the level of contamination is so bad that it will be “…a long, long time…” before some city and towns can be considered safe for people to live in.

A meeting is being arraigned with local officials to explain the severity of the situation, and to better explain to evacuees why they might never be able to return home.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan announced beef was safe to eat, then once again, more cesium contaminated cows!

The day after the Japanese government announced it was lifting the contaminated cattle ban on Fukushima cows, four cows tested for cesium levels above safe limits.

Then, the very next day five more cows showed up with cesium contamination.

The contaminated cows had already been shipped to a slaughter house in Yokohama.  It was there that the beef was found to be highly contaminated.

To make matters worse, the cow farmers swear they were not feeding the cows local rice hay, but more expensive imported hay.  The imported hay had been stored indoors.

This means that the cows could be getting contaminated on their way to the slaughter house.  Officials are trying to figure it out.

And yes, the Japanese government suspended the lifting of the contaminated cattle ban.

International

Obama wants troops to stay in Afghanistan until 2024, Russia says it doesn’t make sense

Afghan officials have told British media that the U.S. and Afghanistan have agreed to keep thousands of U.S. troops in country until 2024!

The deal would allow U.S. forces to use Afghan military bases, provide facilities to store massive numbers of U.S. military equipment, and allow thousands of military personnel to stay, including special forces.

Russian officials pointed out that the deal doesn’t make sense: “If the job is done, if terrorism is defeated and peace and stability is brought back, then why would you need bases?  If the job is not done, then several thousand troops, even special forces, will not be able to do the job that 150,000 troops couldn’t do.  It is not possible.”-Andrey Avetisyan, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan

The Russians should know, they got their butts kicked by the Afghans back when Russia was part of the Soviet Union.  They did exactly what the U.S. is doing now, trying to train up the Afghan government to take on the “terrorists”.  The Soviet Union left Afghanistan in 1989, but continued to supply weapons and trainers to the Afghan government.  The Afghan government lasted until 1992, brought down by a civil war that lasted until 1996.  The civil war ended in 1996 when the Taliban took control of the country.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo knew explosion could occur, but just didn’t want to believe that it would!

In a case of hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, a Japanese government investigation into the corporate mind of Tokyo Electric Power Company revealed that officials just couldn’t believe the worse case scenario could happen at Fukushima Daiichi.

TEPCo officials admitted that they discussed the possibility of explosions inside the reactor buildings, but dismissed the possibility as unlikely.

Then, just one day after the 11 March 2011 quake/tsunami, Reactor 1 exploded.  TEPCo officials were focused so much on other concerns, that it took the second explosion, in Reactor 3 on 14 March, to wake them up.

Some government officials conclude that Tokyo Electric officials don’t realize just how dangerous a nuclear reactor can be.