Tag Archives: cesium

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, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: Daiichi floods Pacific after typhoon! ‘Black’ copters return to California! U.S. will increase radiation contamination limits!

11 September 2015 (20:02 UTC-07 Tango 01, 10 September 2015)/20 Shahrivar 1394/27 Dhu al-Qa’dah 1436/29 Yi-You 4713

United States: “The change is being pushed by a group of pro-nuclear fanatics — there is really no other way to describe them. If implemented, the hormesis model would result in needless death and misery.”-Michael Mariotte,  Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)

Washington DC: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission wants to eliminate the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) basis of radiation protection.  In other words they want to greatly increase the amount of radiation exposure per person before the government would consider it officially as ‘contamination’!

Kansas: Speaking of exposure, local news reports say about a dozen University of Tulsa’s North Campus researchers were bused to Burlington to be tested for radiation exposure, caused by a cesium 137 spill that occurred last year!

California: Once again, helicopters were seen flying low over the San Francisco bay area, and yes it was confirmed they were checking the air for radiation levels. 

UC San Francisco: Genetic Makeup May Make Radiation Riskier for Pediatric Cancer Patients

Idaho: The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigating a company called International Isotopes after an employee was sent to an Idaho Falls hospital for being exposed to more than a years worth of radiation.  Reports say contaminated items fell out of their protective container and the employee picked up the items thus contaminating himself.

The city of Hailey unanimously adopted a resolution opposing anymore nuke waste shipments to Idaho.  Gov’na Butch Otter, with the support of Senators, is waving an agreement between the state and federal Department of Energy banning nuclear waste shipments to The Gem State, in the name of making money (about $20-million USD) for the economically strapped state: “I think Senator Risch’s opinion was, and appears to be, that the economics of the INL [Idaho National Laboratory] are more important than the removal of dangerous nuclear waste that could contaminate the East Snake Aquifer.”-Fritz Haemmerle, mayor

Missouri: “Radiation from the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton has spread to neighboring properties. That’s according to reports released on Thursday by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (evil DARPA) unveiled a new crowd sourcing radiation detector.  

Texas: Researchers with Chrysalis BioTherapeutics claim their new drug Chrysalis can stop radiation poisoning: “Because radiation-induced damage to the intestines plays such a key role in how well a person recovers from radiation exposure, it’s crucial to develop novel medications capable of preventing GI damage.”-Darrell Carney, University of Texas Medical Branch and ceo of Chrysalis BioTherapeutics

New Mexico:  NASA has, in a round-a-bout way admitted that they really don’t know how much radiation you’re exposed to when you fly on an airliner.  At Fort Sumner, NASA launch a high altitude balloon to test just how much radiation you’re exposed to when flying around the world. 

The shenanigans at WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Project) continue.  There was debate on whether three tonnes (metric tons) of weapons grade plutonium should be stored at the disaster site, until it was revealed that “The reality is that about 3 metric tons of down-blended weapons grade plutonium has already been disposed of at WIPP. As Bill Richardson knows, because it was completed while he was Secretary of Energy.”, according to Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway.

DOE names field office manager at WIPP

More DOE bungling at WIPP

Radiation presentation at WIPP town hall

Critics blame mismanagement for WIPP delay

New York: I’ve got relatives who went through radiation treatment for their cancers, only to have the tumors get bigger, which backs up my argument that treating cancer with radiation is like treating a gunshot wound by pumping a few more bullets into it.  Now there’s yet another study that backs me up.  “…radiotherapy may actually be making it easier for some skin cancer tumors to return and prosper. This may happen, they found, because the applied radiation causes a suppression of the immune system in the area being targeted.”

Japan: In Fukushima Prefecture two tropical storms caused record level rain, flooding hundreds of tons of radiation from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster reactors into the Pacific Ocean, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo).

The flooding also damaged thousands of homes and apartments across eastern Japan, which comes at a time when a new study admits that the people forced to flee their homes after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi explosions were not given adequate temporary housing, and that there still isn’t enough temp housing (four years on) for the people who cannot return to their homes due to radiation levels.

Radioactive forest bursts into flames

Siberian fires prove North America blanketed with Japanese radiation!

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: More proof cell phones can kill you! Idaho & California elementary schools site of new radioactive cell towers? TEPCo finally pouring concrete! Santa Barbara hit by giant radioactive lobsters? WIPP wants more of your money!

24 November 2014 (10:15 UTC-07 Tango)/01 Safar 1436/03 Azar 1393/03 Yi-Hai (10th month) 4712

India: A new report shows the nuclear power industry is not cost effective, but like a parasite lives off the backs of unsuspecting taxpayers!  The Hindu reveals even more ugly truths about nuclear power: “The key fact about nuclear power is that it is the world’s most subsidy-fattened energy industry…..Commercial reactors have been in operation for more than half-a-century, yet the industry still cannot stand on its own feet without major state support….costs have escalated multiple times…..The nuclear share of the world’s total electricity production reached its peak of 17 per cent in the late 1980s. Since then, it has been falling, and is currently estimated at about 13 per cent, even as new uranium discoveries have swelled global reserves…..there is enough uranium to meet current demand for more than 100 years.

Yet….wind power, solar power and biomass — has surpassed installed nuclear-generating capacity. In India and China, wind power output alone exceeds nuclear-generated electricity.”

France: French nuclear company Areva is in big trouble, losing 23% of its stock value due to massive delays in its Finnish nuke reactor, and other nuke projects.  Areva is also a major player at the Idaho National Laboratory in United States.  Areva administrators are rethinking their financial projections for 2015 and 2016.

Sweden: Yet another international study on cell phone radiation concludes that chronic use of the little computer could give you brain cancer.  The study was published in Pathophysiology, and concluded that insecure people who just have to constantly gab their heads off to somebody on the other end of that smart phone, will lose their heads to cancer; 25 years of manic cell phone use increases your chance of brain cancer by 300%!

U.S.A.:  Speaking of cell phones and cancer, lets not forget that government administrators in India put a hold on cell tower construction in their country, based on their own studies and studies done by the UN WHO (which says ‘cell’ signals cause cancer).  In fact  the Indian Cellular Association requires new cell phones to show users the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) they get from cell phone use.  But that isn’t going to stop the administrators of School District 25 and the city of Chubbuck, in the U.S. state of Idaho, from allowing T-Mobil to build a cell phone tower right on the playground of Chubbuck Elementary (which is also right next to a residential area).  Of course T-Mobile is going to pay School District 25 a hefty monthly rent for putting the tower on the playground, and the scandalously administered district is short on cash.  Parents have justifiably threatened to pull their kids from school if the cell tower deal goes through.

But wait there’s more!  In Clairemont, California, Verizon is forcing the building of cell towers on school properties!  School administrators of the English-French elementary and preschool La Petite Ecole are actually against such a plan (in contrast with the greedy administrators in Idaho), which will see 16 antennae and a microwave dish (I’ve seen radiation from a radar dish on a C-130 kill a bird that was sitting in front of it, during a test of the radar) implanted on the school property!  Verizon administrators responded by pointing out that there are already cell towers in the area.

The Federal Communciations Commission says local governments cannot dictate to cell phone companies, and the United States government allows much higher exposure rates from cell towers than other countries.

In New Mexico, the number of nuke workers allowed into the failed Waste Isolation Pilot Project has been increased to 74.  Administrators are crediting the increase in recovery ops to the repair work done on a massive “emergency” elevator hoist, which can carry vehicles.  It was also revealed that the explosion(s ?) was strong enough to require replacing of roof bolts needed to secure the roof and walls of the underground tunnel system.  The massive bolts are 3.6 meters (12 feet) long!

Administrators with Los Alomos Nuclear Laboratory (the source of the exploding waste drums) are denying that they got lazy with safety protocols. Their tantrum was in response to an article in The Santa Fe New Mexican.  The old school newspaper spent six months investigating the WIPP fiasco and concluded administrators made mistakes and then covered them up: “…workers packaging the waste came across a batch that was extraordinarily acidic, making it unsafe for shipping……

Instead, the lab and its various contractors took shortcuts in treating the acidic nuclear waste, adding neutralizer and a wheat-based organic kitty litter to absorb excess liquid. The combination turned the waste into a potential bomb that one lab chemist later characterized as akin to plastic explosives….” 

Senators from New Mexico are asking the U.S. taxpayers to fork over even more money for WIPP, this time they want an additional $113-million USD on top of what’s already been approved!

(and back to The Golden State) Reports that cesium 134 from Fukushima Daiichi has been detected off the California coast.  Could this have anything to do with the record 12 pound lobster caught near Santa Barbara?  

Jamaica: More than a year and a half has past since the Caribbean country impounded a mini-van from Japan.  It is contaminated with radiation from Fukushima Daiichi.  Jamaican port administrators say Japan is still refusing to take back the contaminated mini-van.  One of the problems is that the contaminated cargo would end up passing through other ports on its way back to Japan: “It may go through other jurisdictions, so you have to get those clearances. It means that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade would have to engage other missions to seek their assistance to have it returned.”-Major Richard Reese, Jamaican commissioner of customs

Japan:  The Japanese government is paying U.S. (Texas based) company Kurion $10-million to come up with a way to get rid of tritium contamination in the 400+ metric tons per day of contaminated water pouring out of Fukushima Daiichi into the Pacific Ocean. Kurion is already making bank on filtering cesium and strontium from the water.

The new contract award to Kurion came days before Tokyo Electric Power Company essentially admitted failure in dealing with the never ending slow burn China Syndrome melt down of Fukushima Daiichi, the following are reasons why.

TEPCo is now filling in trenches connected to reactors 2 and 3 turbine buildings with concrete, because they cannot stop the flow of highly irradiated water, and they still can’t figure out where it’s coming from!  The trench outside unit 2 is said to contain at least 5-thousand metric tons of contaminated water, while the trench outside unit 3 holds 6-thousand metric tons!

Japanese news reports say TEPCo has already tried to use cement to block water sources, but it has failed.  TEPCo administrators say they will try using a new type of water repelling cement.

TEPCo administrators have admitted that their radical plan to freeze the ground, in order to stop the contaminated water from getting to the Pacific Ocean, has failed.

At least three ‘throwaway’ workers were injured when the 13 meter (42 feet) tall cooling tank they were building collapsed.

For some unexplained reason, removal of unused fuel rods from storage pools on top of the GE designed reactor unit 4 cannot be attempted at this point. Unit 4 was not in use at the time of the quake and tsunami in 2011, and all its fuel was in storage in the fuel pool. The plan was to remove the massively heavy, and ignitable, rods to a more stable storage pool, but suddenly Japan’s Nuclear Energy Safety Organization halted the operation, demanding an evaluation of TEPCo’s plan be conducted by Tokyo based International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning.  Supposedly all the spent (used) fuel rods have been removed (400 metric tons worth), but there are still 204 new (unused) fully explodable with the force of a small tactical nuke fuel rods in the storage pool.

TEPCo and Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) have pushed back their hopes for securing Fukushima Daiichi by five years, from 2020 to 2025.

Schools in Fukushima Prefecture are being used to store contaminated dirt, against the will of the locals, and Japan’s Jiji Press discovered there are no plans to remove the radioactive dirt piles!  Prefectural government administrators are blaming a national law implemented in 2012, after the radioactive dirt was piled on school property.  The cost of removing the contaminated soil is also a factor.

Renovations reveal U.S. park is nuke disaster area! 

Fukushima

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: Renovations reveal U.S. park is nuke disaster area! Woods Hole confirms Fukushima radiation heading to North America!

22 October 2014 (14:22 UTC-07 Tango)/27 Dhu l-Hijja 1435/30 Mehr 1393/29 Jia-Xu 4712

United States: What does a 1994 U.S. Department of Energy memo say is the best treatment for tritium exposure?  Water, lots and lots of water.  Is that the real reason the U.S. military suddenly (in the mid-1990s) adopted a policy of “Drink water!” for ground troops?

In Louisiana, a nuclear disaster drill was held (one of dozens that have been held across the U.S. this year) and it involved a nuke waste truck heading to New Mexico’s WIPP, and a school bus.  The area was chosen because WIPP waste trucks actually drive that route: “We actually transport radiation. It’s materials left over from the production of nuclear weapons. So it’s how to respond to radiation should it occur. And it’s different in the chemical aspect because you can’t see it taste it or smell it.”-Bobby St. John, Waste Isolation Pilot Project

In Seattle, Washington, residents near Magnuson Park are outraged after learning the popular park is actually contaminated with radiation left over from the Second World War.   Renovations of two buildings revealed radium contamination.  When some local news sources heard the rumor, and then went to the park, they found  Washington State Department of Ecology employees with geiger counters.  The state employees said the radiation levels were OK for a person to be in the area for two hours per day, five days per week.  One politician is pissed: “Totally unacceptable. It’s a gross injustice to say we’re going to call this safe and cleaned up when future children using the park will be at risk of getting cancer.

…..How many of you have children or high school students who use the park more than two hours a day?”-Gerry Pollet, state representative

Canada: U.S. based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is now warning that Fukushima radiation, still flooding into the Pacific Ocean, is about to come ashore on North America.

On 02 August 2014, a water sample taken off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, showed cesium-134 and 137 originating from the GE designed disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.  Woods Hole officials will reveal more at a public announcement in November: “There is definitely offshore Fukushima cesium now. It’s not on the beaches, but it’s offshore.”– Ken Buesseler

Japan: Continuos tropical storms and cyclones are flooding contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.  Phanfone and Vongfong have increased leaked cesium levels to 251-thousand becquerels per liter, tritium as high as 150-thousand bq, and strontium to 1.2-million bq!

And soon they’ll be even more, as Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun controlled demolition of reactor building 1.  The problem is TEPCo tried that last year with reactor building 3 and the result was massive contamination of rice fields due to radioactive dust being spread by the demolition.

This time TEPCo officials say before they remove the protective canopy from reactor 1 building they will spray down the interior with chemicals to try and reduce the amount of dust.

A former news anchor for Japanese state TV revealed he was fired for reporting the truth about Fukushima Daiichi: “I am a newscaster, but I couldn’t tell the true story on my news program.  I was on the ground in Fukushima, and a lot of people kept asking me, why didn’t you tell us earlier about what is happening? ….then my superiors said the NHK was getting complaints from politicians about what I was saying. They told me I had to stop.”-Hori Jun, former anchor-reporter for NHK

Russia: Studies aboard the International Space Station are showing that cosmic radiation is not as big a threat to astronauts as first thought: “This finding is crucial to the planning of protracted space flights. It means in practical terms we can fly longer and go further.”-Vyacheslav Shurshakov, Institute of Medical-Biological Problems

Why does Rudolph’s nose glow?

Fukushima, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: Why does Rudolph’s nose glow? Because Santa’s Reindeer are radioactive! Why is Japan getting hit with so many hurricanes + earthquakes? EPA confirms airborne radiation at the WIPP! Nuke waste shipments on hold for two more years, or more!

11 October 2014 (16:40 UTC-07 Tango)/16 Dhu l-Hijja 1435/19 Mehr 1393/18 Jia-Xu 4712

United States: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that some radiation escaped into the air around the failed Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in New Mexico, but claims “The public doses were well below EPA’s standards.”

EPA also criticized the Department of Energy’s (DoE) air monitoring system: “EPA identified a number of areas needing improvement regarding DOE’s ambient environmental air sampling network, laboratory procedures and incident response protocols.”

More revelations out of WIPP.  DoE has revealed that one reason why the investigation and clean up is taking so long is that the main means of transportation down the 655 meter (2150 feet) shaft is broken!   DoE officials are trying to make it sound like it had nothing to do with the salt truck fire back on 05 February 2014, but that just happens to be the day the massive elevator stopped working.

DoE officials claim the hoist system stopped working because of soot accumulation on the electrical components.  Just more proof it was a massive fire.

WIPP is now affecting the state of South Carolina.  The Savannah River Site (SRS) has been told that nuclear waste shipments to the WIPP are on hold until at least 2016, or even longer: “Resumption of full scale operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant may not occur until 2019 and could cost up to $551 million, though initial operations are slated for resumption in early 2016 at a cost of about $242 million.”-DoE report

I assume this delay in nuke waste shipments also applies to LANL in New Mexico, INL in Idaho and other nuclear laboratories around the United States.

Japan:  I’ve written many times before about how heavy rain floods through the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy factory, getting contaminated and then flooding into the Pacific Ocean.  Anybody notice how many typhoons have hit Japan this year?  So far there have been 19 western Pacific typhoons, at least four hit Japan directly, and at least two came close enough to cause flooding in Japan.

Now, this years largest typhoon Vongfong (now rated category 6 supertyphoon) is heading to the big islands of Japan.  The current expected track of the supertyphoon will take it right over Fukushima Daiichi, it is expected to be downgraded by then.  On top of that, northeastern Japan was just hit by yet another 6.3 earthquake (followed by a 5.5 quake), in Amoroi Prefecture 400km (248.5 miles) north of Fukushima Daiichi!

About a week prior, Iwate Prefecture (also north of Fukushima Daiichi) got hit with a 5.3 quake.  About two weeks ago Fukushima Prefecture got hit with 5 and 5.1 quakes. About one month ago Iwate Prefecture got hit with a 5.1 quake.  That same month Fukushima Prefecture got hit with multiple 4 magnitude quakes.  About two months ago Fukushima and Iwate prefectures got hit with multiple 4 magnitude quakes.  Three months ago Fukushima Prefecture suffered a 6.5 quake and Iwate a 5.7 quake, on top of numerous 4 magnitude quakes.    There hasn’t been a month in 2014 when Fukushima or Iwate prefectures hadn’t experienced a single 4 to 6 magnitude earthquake.   In fact, the big island of Honshu has been racked by 4 to 6 magnitude quakes all year.

The German news source DW interviewed Michael Maqua, who works for pro-nuke GRS (Gesellschaft für Anlagen und Reaktorsicherheit).  He gave typical assurances that nothing will happen at Fukushima Daiichi when Vanfong hits, but gave this warning: “Apart from physical damages to construction equipment, we could expect radioactive isotopes from contaminated surfaces being washed away and transported into the groundwater or the sea. Over the past days, the concentration of radioactive substances in the groundwater has increased significantly at some of the plant’s measuring points and, according to TEPCo, this was caused by the recent heavy rains.” 

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) has run out its latest unsecured debt financing, and hasn’t paid it off.  No problem, the Japanese government convinced the three banks to simply refinance TEPCo for another six months.  Those Too Big to Jail banks are Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.

It was revealed that not only has TEPCo failed to pay many of their throwaway workers promised hazard pay, but some of those that did get paid got a whopping $36 USD!  TEPCo had promised $180 per day in hazard pay.

Canada: The Canadian national government has ordered nuclear power plant operators to provide all residences, businesses and institutions living within 16km (10 miles) radius of nuke factories potassium iodide pills.   The decision was made by the Nuclear Safety Commission.  Back in June the NSC advised Canadians to stockpile iodide pills.

Norway: Scientists are alarmed over a sudden 5 times increase in radiation levels contaminating reindeer!

In September the reindeer had 82-hundred becquerels of celsium-137 per kilo.  Compare that to 2012 when they had 1500bq.

It’s not just reindeer but sheep as well, some have tested out at 4500bq!  600bq is the max limit considered safe to eat.  But Norway isn’t blaming Fukushima Daiichi, they’re blaming the 30 years old Chernobyl disaster.

Scientists claim that the gypsy mushroom is soaking up radiation contamination caused by Chernobyl after the 1986 meltdown: “This year, there has been extreme amounts of mushroom. In addition, the mushroom season has lasted for a long time. And the mushroom has grown very high up on the mountains.”-Lavrans Skuterud

Norway is 1686.5km (1048 miles) by air from Chernobyl.  This proves that nuclear accidents never go away!

“…you are killing us…!”

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

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: WIPP inspections never done! China Syndrome confirmed at Fukushima! Melt downs started 5 hours before originally thought! Pouring water directly on core made things worse!

06 August 2014 (12:37 UTC-07 Tango)/09 Shawwal 1435/15 Mordad 1393/11 Ren-Shen 4712

“We’re preparing for the worst day in America.”-Colonel Lawrence Terranova, U.S. Army NorthCom

Back in June I wrote how the GE designed reactor Unit 2, at Fukushima Daiichi, could very well be experiencing China Syndrome.  Now, Tokyo Electric Power Company confirms Chine Syndrome in reactor Unit 3!

TEPCo has now discovered that all the nuclear fuel rods in Unit 3 melted through the reactor core, and are working their way through the containment vessel!

It was also revealed that the melt downs at Fukushima Daiichi started at least five hours before an official government investigation stated.   Unit 3 actually began melting down at 05:30 hours on 13 March 2011 (The cooling system actually stopped six hours earlier than originally claimed.  You conspiracy theorist need to get busy with this one!).

TEPCo says melted fuel in the containment vessel halts their plan to decommission the reactors.   The ijits assumed the reactor cores were stable.  Another kink in their plans to decommission the reactors is the fact that all their attempts to filter radioactive isotopes out of the cooling water have officially failed.   So what now, you nuclear engineering geniuses?

TEPCo also discovered that pouring water directly on the reactor cores back in 2011 made things worse, by creating a chemical reaction that built up explosive hydrogen gas.

Japanese news media have revealed that TEPCo is fudging on its ice wall attempt.  They’re supposed to be using a giant frigeration system to freeze the ground around Fukushima Daiichi, in the hopes it will stop contaminated groundwater from getting into the ocean.  However, TEPCo now admits they’re dumping 15-tons of huge ice blocks, per day, into the trenches meant for the in-ground AC unit.   They claim they are only trying to “speed things up”.  Why can’t they just admit they don’t know what they’re doing and start dumping concrete on the whole thing?

And now for some more bad news:  Japan has been hit with massive amounts of rain, this means Fukushima Daiichi is flooding even more radioactive isotopes into the Pacific Ocean.

In the United States: “A study from 2012 reports that the plume of radiation made a serious impact on Southern and Central California, with Southern California’s seaweed testing at a 500 percent higher level of radiation than normal…..

…..Elevated levels of iodine-131, which is a product of nuclear fission and exceeds the levels of contaminant permitted in the water supply, have been reported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)….

….radioactive elements that are present in California are Iodine, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137…..

…the Japanese government’s Meteorological Institute, found that levels of cesium 137 at the surface of the Pacific could potentially be 10,000 times higher that the contamination at Chernobyl….

….In 2012 the U.S. government ordered 14 million pills of Potassium Iodide….”–Adrianne Hill

In New Mexico, more confusion about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  This time it was revealed that federal Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) wasn’t conducting mandatory quarterly inspections of WIPP!

MSHA officials claim they were confused as to just how much authority they had at the Department of Energy’s (DoE) WIPP.   The DoE and MSHA signed a vague agreement back in 1987, but MSHA didn’t begin inspections until 1995, and even then they were sporadic.

In my last Fukushima posting I wrote about the massive nuclear disaster training taking place all across the U.S.  One of those exercises is being conducted by the U.S. Army’s NorthCom in Indiana.  The first half of the “premier” Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) wargame was from 21-27 July.

An update on Vibrant Response 14 (VR 14) shows it has entered the second half (01-09 August), and involves 55-hundred personnel from FEMA, Homeland Security, National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collections Task Force, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, FBI, DoE, USA (United States Army), USAF (United States Air Force), USN (United States Navy) and more than 28 states including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.

The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) is considered the best for simulating a nuclear disaster area: “This place is unreal! Considering how this whole place was once a functioning facility, this is probably the best place for my unit to get a feel for what we’d encounter during a real-life nuclear attack.”-1st Lieutenant Jeff Merritt, Indiana National Guard

The achilles heel of a nuclear disaster response is the same as for combat, logistics: “If the transportation mission wasn’t accomplished, Vibrant Response would not be possible.”-1st Lieutenant Mitchell Vaughan, Michigan Army Reserve

Massive False Flag exercise

 

Fukushima, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation update: WIPP explosion caused by glove? Massive False Flag exercise for nuclear attack on United States! Japanese monkeys contaminated!

29 July 2014 (23:15 UTC-07 Tango 28 July 2014)/01 Shawwal 1435/07 Mordad 1393/03 Xin-Wei (7th month) 4712

In Japan, the cute macaques known for taking hot tub baths are now contaminated with radiation from Fukushima Daiichi.  61 monkeys living 70km (44 miles) from the GE designed disaster reactors are contaminated with cesium, blood tests show.

Japanese living within 5km (3 miles) of the Sendai nuclear power factory were issued iodide pills.  This is because it’s likely the power plant will be allowed to re-start soon.  For some reason many news media continue to incorrectly call the pills “iodine”.

In United States, investigators trying to figure out what caused the explosions inside New Mexico’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), now think it was caused by a contaminated glove.

Their new hypothesis is that the glove contained radioactive metal particles that heated up when it came into contact with chemicals.  Apparently this is not the first time this has happened: “Glove box gloves and nitric acid and lead have been implicated in other energetic events within the DOE complex.”-Nan Sauer, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

All across the U.S., massive emergency response exercises are taking place.  The scenario is a nuclear explosion.  Some exercises already underway are part of operation Vibrant Response, which is conducted by the U.S. Army’s NorthCom.

Other nuke disaster exercises involve federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  On 29 July 2014, Idaho State University campus, in Pocatello, will be the site of such training: “This exercise is being conducted to evaluate the capability of local response agencies and other essential partners to effectively respond to and manage a simulated incident of significance on the ISU campus. In order to keep the drill as realistic as possible for the responders and other participants, we are not releasing a great amount of detail about the scenario.”-Stephen Hayward, Eastern Region for the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security

In August, Army National Guard units will converge in Kansas for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Enhanced (CBRNE) training.  Those units are from the states of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Iowa.  The training is known as Vigilant Guard: “This is the first time that all levels have been operational.  It gives us a chance for the very first time to exercise the battle hand-off and participate as a member of a unified National Guard CBRNE response enterprise.”-Major Robert Cole, 73rd CST

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been advertising for free  (paid for by taxpayers) Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.  The next CERT training is this September.

Secret nuke dumps…. 280-billion Bq per hour spewing

Fukushima

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation update: U.S. RadNet system finally back on line? WIPP contractor gets $1.9-million taxpayer bonus! Secret nuke dumps revealed? TEPCo admits 280-billion Bq per hour spewing into environment! Chernobyl still contaminating Blueberries!

23 July 2014 (09:29 UTC-07 Tango)/25 Ramadan 1435/01 Mordad 1393/27 Xin-Wei 4712

Out of Belarus and Russia, reports that blueberries harvested near former radiation contamination zones of the former Soviet Chernobyl nuke plant are still contaminated with cesium, almost three decades after the nuclear disaster!

The former contamination zones had been declared safe after tests for surface radiation showed radiation levels were down.  However, after blueberries were still testing for high levels of cesium-137 (in 2013), a test of of the soil showed contamination was still high underground, at root level.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) admits that ongoing debris removal at Japan‘s GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is spreading trillions of becquerels (Bq) of radiation!   This is after a secret government investigation was revealed by Japanese media last week.

That hidden investigation revealed that rice fields outside radiation no go zones were being contaminated by cesium dust from the demolition of the building housing reactor Unit 3.  Today TEPCo is revealing it’s far far worse than that!

TEPCo officials now estimate that the demolition of the damaged reactor Unit 3 building, which started in 2013, has spread 1.1-trillion Bq of radiation, or 280-billion Bq per hour!  Now realize that’s from just one of at least four reactor buildings that are scheduled for demolition!

But wait, there’s more!  TEPCo admits that even without demolition of Fukushima Daiichi’s reactor Unit 3 building, the nuclear disaster reactors are still spewing 10-million Bq per hour of radiation!

People still living in Fukushima Prefecture are now panicking as TEPCo is about to start demolition of the top of the building housing reactor Unit 1.

If anybody was trying to use the United States RadNet system to monitor radiation, since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, they discovered the system was down.  Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced they’ve completed upgrades to the system, and it is supposedly up and running.

By coincidence, 20% of all RadNet monitors were off line when Fukushima Daiichi exploded.  One reason is that filters in RadNet had not been changed for months.  The EPA relies on unpaid volunteers to change the filters, which must be done twice per week!

The EPA says 92.9% of monitors are now operating, and they’ve added eight new monitors with plans to add eight more.  At this point South Carolina is the only state with no RadNet, but they are supposed to be getting one soon.   But don’t go cheering the EPA.

Reports say the EPA is also planning on increasing government limits on the amount of radiation exposure considered dangerous to humans!   A Forbes report said “…James Conca, senior scientist for the Institute for Energy and the Environment at New Mexico State University, believes the radiation emissions permitted by EPA ‘may increase more than tenfold.'” 

In New Mexico, to add insult to injury it’s been revealed that five days after a salt truck fire in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) the Department of Energy gave Nuclear Waste Partnership a $1.9-million USD bonus, for “excellence”!

It turns out no action has been taken against any management official at WIPP: “No federal or contractor official has lost their job, been transferred, been moved off the WIPP contract or otherwise held accountable. No leadership has changed at the federal level. No company has lost a contract.”-Martin Schneider, ExchangeMonitor Publications

Former Atomic Energy Commission employees testified in court that the remains of the radioactive compressor building for the Huntington Pilot Plant was buried without being ‘decontaminated’ in a now secret Piketon, Ohio, landfill!

One employee suffered incurable radiation damage to his hands during the process of burying the ‘hot’ building.  The site was leveled in 1978-79.  Other employees described the contamination in the compressor building as “green stuff”.

Employees also testified that when they showed up for work, everyday they would have to clear the work site of fresh dead animals.   Another employee stated “The entire INCO facility was a DOE facility in that it processed , under contract, nickel scrap from the various atomic facilities, such as Puducah, Fernald, Portsmouth and other places… making each and every employee at INCO subject to the radioactive pollution that occurred . [We also ] confirm that there were releases of poisonous gases daily at nighttime at that facility and they would completely destroy the vegetation…”