Tag Archives: debt

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: One Year Later it’s revealed that another Japanese nuclear plant is in trouble, massive leaks!

Fukushima Daiichi was not the only nuclear plant in Japan shut down as a direct result of the March 11, 2011 disasters.

The Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPCo) revealed that their Tokai nuclear plant has leaked more than 20 tons of radioactive water since October 2011!

The radioactive water has been leaking into one of the buildings.  The current leak was detected after water used to hose down employees was testing positive for high levels of radiation. Somehow the radioactive water got into the rinse water for employees.

JAPCo says they don’t know where the radioactive water is coming from! They have yet to pump out the building where it has been flooded with the contaminated water.  Gee this sounds familiar?  TEPCo? Fukushima Daiichi?

But wait, there’s lots more tales of incompetence regarding the Tokai nuclear power plant.

It turns out that Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency discovered leaks last year!  After an inspection the government agency warned JAPCo that the building housing reactor 2 was filling with radioactive water.

On top of that, JAPCo’s own employees said an alarm went off at 10:20 on October 26, 2011.  Water was pouring from a pipe at the bottom of the reactor’s pressure vessel.  JAPCo blew it off saying it was a minor leak easily fixed.  That minor leak ended up being 22.4 tons (according to media source Japan Today)!

Since then another 2.2 tons of radioactive water went ‘missing’.  That’s how much contaminated water disappeared between the October 2011 leak and March 16, 2012.  Then on Saturday, March 17, workers discovered their rinse water was now radioactive.

On closer inspection they realized that 1.2 tons of radioactive water somehow got into their rinse water tanks!  Upon inspection of reactor 2 building, they found it is flooded with contaminated water (just like the buildings at Fukushima Daiichi).

Can’t blame GE on this one, the Tokai nuclear plant is Japan’s first nuke power factory, and it was built by the British.

Immediately after the March 11, 2011 Mega Quake and tsunami, it was being reported that the Tokai nuke plant survived the tsunami because the sea wall had been raised.  It was also reported that Tokai didn’t rely on cooling systems like at Fukushima Daiichi.  Both reports have proven to been a little misleading.

On March 13, 2011, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported that one of three seawater cooling pumps quit working.  Tokai was lucky in that the other two pumps were still working, as well as their diesel generators.

Regarding the raised sea wall.  It was still overrun by the tsunami, one reason being that there were cable holes in the new wall that still needed to be plugged.

Tokai failed a recent stress test because its electrical systems are unable to survive future earthquakes.

But to make matters more confusing, Japanese media is not being very specific when reporting on the Tokai nuclear power plant.  You see there are two nuclear reactors one called Tokai I, the other called Tokai II.

In 1998 Tokai I (reactor 1) was shut down and was supposed to have been dismantled by 2011, yet the way Japanese media is talking the dismantling is still on going.

Tokai II (reactor 2) was still operational when the 2011 tsunami hit.  It is the one that is currently flooding with radioactive water from a mystery source!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Evil: Canadians to be raped of at least half a million dollars by Royal family

The visit of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, to Canada this year, is expected to cost the Canadian taxpayers more than $500,000.

The travel expenses documents were published by the Department of Canadian Heritage.  The published costs do not reveal the costs by federal departments and agencies, nor do they take into consideration the security costs.

The last two “royal” visits ended up raping Canadian taxpayers of more than $1 million for each visit.  The 2011 visit by Prince William and Kate Middleton cost the taxpayers more than $1.2 million.  The 2010 visit by Queen Elizabeth cost taxpayers $2.8 million!

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: TEPCo finally looks inside Reactor 4 Fukushima Daiichi, strange white objects in reactor & spent fuel pool!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has finally looked inside GE designed reactor 4, using an underwater camera.

All they could see was “wreckage” and strange “floating white objects”.

Those same “floating white objects” have been observed in reactor 4’s spent fuel pool.  TEPCo said visibility in the spent fuel pool has decreased in the past month.

Visibility is down to one meter (about 3 & half feet), the month prior it was five meters (16 feet)!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government/Corporate Evil: Greek taxes will increase, collections to be privatized, EU officials sending in the tax collecting troops

At the end of February the European Union said it was sending in tax collection forces to help the new, unelected Greek government take money from the people.

On March 15, 2012, the EU tax collection task force (including 160 German tax man troops!) said Greece has already collected about U.S.$1.2 billion.

On March 14, 2012, New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, said not only is the Greek government going to increase taxes, but they’re going to privatize the tax collection business: “If necessary we will get tax oriented companies like KPMG to help collect taxes. We have to make an appeal for outsourcing, even in collecting taxes and we’ll also try to make public employees more competitive.”

Making public employees “more competitive” is code for reducing their pay and benefits even more!  Now you know why the Greek people are still fighting in the streets.

KPMG is a Swiss company that specializes in tax collections. They have operations in the United States, and more than 150 countries!

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

What Economic Recovery? NEC lays off thousands, cuts executive incentives 40%, 1st Japanese company to do so

One of Japan’s oldest electronics appliance makers, NEC, is the first Japanese company to announce huge cuts for Union workers AND executives!

Union labor is asked to take a 4% pay cut, on top of 10,000 workers being laid off!  But, wait there’s more!  Managers will also get hit with a 4% cut in pay.  And executives were told their bonuses will be 40% less!

NEC officials say the company has lost about $1.2 billion, for their business end of year (which is in March)!  They blame natural disasters and the increasing value of the Japanese yen (which is actually caused by the declining value of the U.S. dollar).

 

Fukushima

Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 12: Land continues to shift, slow moving landslide devouring houses

A slow moving landslide, in Niigata Prefecture, has devoured eleven homes, so far.  Locals are trying to stop the Earthly sloth by building a mound of dirt.

The landslide is 150 meters (492 feet) wide and 750 meters (2,460 feet) long, and is moving at only 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) per hour! The next victims in its path are a hamlet of 20 people.

Niiagata Prefecture was hit with heavy snow recently, and officials say the landslide is being cause by melt-water deep in the ground.

They’re building a 5 meter (16 feet) high mound of dirt, and trying to pump out melt-water from the ground.  They think the landslide sloth will gain in size and speed as more snow melts.  At least 80 people have been evacuated.

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 11: MORE THAN 10,000 EARTHQUAKES HIT JAPAN IN THE PAST YEAR! JAPAN ISLANDS SHIFT EASTWARD!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan refused to co-operate with IAEA safety guidlines!

It’s been revealed that six years ago the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) was asked to adopt the safety guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The request was made in 2006 by Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission.  Top NISA officials refused, saying things such as evacuation areas as recommended by the IAEA, would cause undue anxiety among the masses!

Hideaki Tsuzuku, of the Nuclear Safety Commission, blasted NISA, saying if they had followed the IAEA’s guidelines evacuations would have taken place sooner, and faster!

NISA official Yoshinori Moriyama, admitted they never thought such a nuclear accident, as Fukushima Daiichi, could happen!

Fukushima

Corporate/Government Incompetence: For the 1st time TEPCo tries to access #2 & #3 reactors. Big Fail! Radiation levels higher than thought, too high for humans!

March 15, 2012, workers at the damaged GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, tried to enter the basements of reactors 2 and 3.  It was the first attempt since the March 2011 disaster!

FAIL! Radiation levels are still too high for humans, and, on top of that, they discovered the basement doors for reactor 3 are jammed shut!

Tokyo Electric says they need access to the reactor suppression chambers, in order to assess the damage.  They have not been able to do so for a year!

Radiation levels emitted from the suppression chamber of reactor 2 hit 160 millisieverts per hour!  Radiation levels outside the basement door of reactor 3 are 75 millisieverts per hour.  The radiation levels are too high for workers to continue with anymore work around those reactors!

Radiation levels must be lower in order for TEPCo’s plan to remove melted fuel can work.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil: 12 year veteran of Goldman Sachs quits, confirms they are a bunch of Money Vampires & consider investors Puppets

“I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.”-Greg Smith, former Goldman Sachs executive director U.S. equity operations in Europe, Middle East & Africa

Greg Smith, a 12 year employee of Goldman Sachs quit in disgust. He witnessed first hand how these power hungry elites feel about their customers: “It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets,’ sometimes over internal e-mail.”

Smith lets the public in on current Goldman Sachs policies: “…a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients – some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t – to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.”

Smith also warns that things could get worse: “…the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, ‘How much money did we make off the client?’ It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about ‘muppets,’ ‘ripping eyeballs out’ and ‘getting paid’ doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.”

Smith is calling on the Board of Directors to take action: “Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm…”

Concerning “morally bankrupt”, did you know the ‘christian’ CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, has nicknamed his job of ripping of people “God’s Work”!

Protestors attack Goldman Sachs

Fukushima

One Year Later: Potential wild fires threaten to spread even more radiation, Japanese firefighters concerned!

Apparently people are starting to realize another threat within the 20km No-Go Zone around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant; wildfires.

There are no firefighters within the No-Go Zone, and outside the zone there is not sufficient water in the piped systems for firefighters to hook hoses up to.

On March 13, 2012, area firefighters held a drill to prepare for a possible wildfire inside the No-Go Zone. They had to use tanker trucks and helicopters to bring in water.

The firefighters also had to wear radiation suits, and take radiation readings.  The fear is that a wildfire within the No-Go Zone would spread more radiation by burning up contaminated plants and buildings.