Tag Archives: debt

Fukushima

Experts say you can’t rely on Federal Government or Coporations in times of Nuclear Disasters!

A panel of experts, in Japan, have released recommendations for future nuclear disaster, and one of those recommendations is: Do not rely on corporations or national governments for help!

After investigating disaster response, regarding the ongoing General Electric designed Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster, experts say local governments should have full control of things like evacuations, and radiation monitoring, among other things.

An existing off site (off nuclear plant property) disaster response center failed, because it was overwhelmed with radiation contamination! The expert panel say in the future off site nuclear disaster response centers must be hardened against radiation contamination (you would’ve thought that was a no brainer).

The panel also recommends two radiation response centers; one located some distance from any nuclear plants, to act as a command & control center, and one near nuclear plants to act as a front line radiation monitor and to direct evacuations.

The panel says the response centers should be under control of local governments, not national/federal governments!  Also, local governments should have total authority, and not be reliant on nuclear power corporations for disaster response advice!  Months of investigations have revealed that corporations are grossly incompetent in that regard!

Already the national government of Japan, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, are downplaying the advice from experts.

 

Fukushima

Official Independent Investigation proves Gross Government & Corporate Incompetence regarding Nuclear Safety in Japan!

“The direct causes of the nuclear accident were the unpreparedness of Tokyo Electric Power…and the government’s lack of a sense of responsibility.”-Kitazawa Koichi, lead investigator

A Japanese government sanctioned independent investigation has revealed gross incompetence in the wake of the March, 2011, nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.  It also says that Tokyo Electric Power Company made the situation worse!

Six investigators interviewed more than 300 people, including Japanese and U.S. government officials.  However, officials at TEPCo refused to co-operate with the investigators! They have just published their findings, 28 February 2012.

The report calls government response “off the cuff”, and “too late” (as I was posting last year)!

The nuclear power plant operator, TEPCo, was ill prepared for a nuclear disaster, despite decades of telling locals they were prepared (as I posted last year).

The Japanese government, especially the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, failed to ensure the proper training for nuclear disaster response (as I posted last year).

The report also blames Japan’s complicated system of delegating authority and responsibility.  No one knew who was supposed to do what regarding the disaster; from top national government officials down to sub-contractors working for TEPCo (again, as I posted last year).

Things were so bad that local governments have been taking the initiative to try and deal with things like relocating residents, and decontamination efforts, with little help from the national government (again, I posted).

Also, many of the discoveries of radiation contamination came as a result of individuals and private groups, who took it upon themselves to pay for testing things like dirt, water, and even food, like beef, sold in grocery stores (again, I).

It was local governments who discovered farm crops to be contaminated (posted last year).

The report also says that information coming from the private sector to government officials was insufficient to make proper decisions. TEPCo officials simply dragged their feet when it came to dealing with specific issues, like cooling systems being shut down, and vents not being opened.

Not only did TEPCo drag their feet, but the investigators found that there was a back up cooling system that was functional, but TEPCo never used it!!!

Although Japan’s government has a crisis management policy, the investigators said it is totally useless!

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese leaders unaware of their own Nuclear Disaster prediction RadNet system!

An investigation by an independent panel discovered that there is indeed a nuclear disaster plan already in place at the national government level in Japan.  But, the Prime Minister’s administration was not aware of it!

Of course, former Prime Minister Kan Naoto and four other politicians blame the Science Ministry officials for not telling them about a computer program/radiation detection sites called SPEEDI (System Prediction Environmental Emergency Dose Information).

The system is similar to the U.S. EPA’s RadNet system (which mysteriously stopped working iimmediately after March 11, 2011).

Former Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio said he found out about it from the Japanese media.  By then, the Fukushima Daiichi reactor 2 was already spewing radiation.

Edano said when he questioned the Science Ministry politicians about it, they told him SPEEDI was not accurate.

The investigators discovered that SPEEDI is being used to convince local governments the nuclear plants were safe!  So why, when determining plans to deal with a nuclear disaster, SPEEDI is considered inaccurate?

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? S&P’s declares Greece in default of debt! Proof that re-negotiating your debt won’t save you!

February 27, 2012, Standard & Poor’s declares Greece to be in default!  S&P’s blamed it on the debt restructuring deal currently being negotiated.

Greek officials say they were expecting it. Other credit rating agencies are expected to do the same thing.  This makes Greece the first European Union member to default.

S&P’s explained that loan contracts state that loan restructuring is condition for default status: “As we have previously stated, we may view an issuer’s unilateral change of the original terms and conditions of an obligation as a de facto restructuring and thus a default by Standard & Poor’s published definition.”

Fukushima

Medical Incompetence: Japanese hospitals not prepared for nuclear disaster in nuclear power dominated Japan!

Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission reviewed the ability of hospitals to deal with nuclear accidents.  The results were not good.

The found that five hospitals, located near the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, were not able to deal with the nuclear disaster.

Fukushima Medical University Hospital, a core care facility for radiation exposure, was too busy dealing with victims of the natural disasters, to be able to deal with victims of the nuclear disaster.

The Nuclear Safety Commission discovered a huge problem; Japanese hospitals are not set up to co-operate with each other regarding major disasters.  This would have been a great help. They are now working on new policy that will include such co-operation in the future.

Fukushima

Corporate Evil: TEPCo & Toshiba works 60 year old contractor to death at Fukushima!

The Japanese Labor Ministry has ruled that Tokyo Electric Power Company, and contractor Toshiba, caused a 60 year old worker to die by overworking him!  The authorities are ordering compensation for the family.

The man worked only one day at the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant!  The investigation showed TEPCo and Toshiba forced the sub-contracted plumber to work non-stop through the night, wearing a heavy hazmat suit.  He died the next day.

At first people thought the man died from radiation contamination.  Toshiba is refusing to comment.

 

 

Idaho, International, U.S.

Lessons for the Occupy Movement from the Egyptian January 2011 Revolution: #2 Cyberspace does not win Revolutions! Occupy the land! Keep Lines of Communication open!

I watched the January 2011 Egyptian Revolution from day one.  It did not start with cyberspace, and it did not end with cyberspace.  Rather cyberspace was only a briefly used tool of the Revolutionaries.

“I don’t think the Revolution ever happened in cyberspace…They need physical space, they need public space. Tahrir Square provided that.”-Nezar AlSayyad, Center of Middle East Studies, University of California at Berkeley

The fact that Revolutions need public space is the true reason why local and state governments, in the United Police States of America, are now passing laws that’re making it illegal to gather in public spaces!

On December 9, 2011, the city of Honolulu, Hawaii, created a law that is not only aimed at preventing public gatherings, but is being called “a particularly egregious attack on the homeless”.

On January 24, 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina, passed a “no camping” on city property law.  Even if you’re not camping the law includes things that allow police to have you removed, or arrested, anyway.

On February 21, 2012, the state of Idaho created a law that specifically targets the Occupy movement.  It has extended anti-gathering laws (no demonstrations can last longer than four hours, which only proves what I said in part one) to the state property the Occupy Boise movement is currently using.

The small, and ignorant, Occupy Boise movement has until 17:00 February 27 to clear out.

I say the Occupy Idaho movement is ignorant, because of what they said in a PBS Newshour interview: “I will take it elsewhere. There are a lot of us who recognize that this movement is more important than the place we’re staying.”-Daniel Grad, Occupy Boise, December 8, 2011

In fact, the Occupy Boise movement told local Idaho PBS reporters that they specifically chose the land (land that until now was exempt from the four hour limit law) so as to not cause legal problems!

FAIL!  There’s a saying in the world of business, “location, location, location”!   If there is no need to Occupy land, then what was the point of Egyptian Revolutionaries fighting so hard to control Tahrir Square?

Back to cyberspace.  In Egypt twitter and facebook and other social media tools were not the instigators of the Revolution.  Those tools only became important as Egyptians in one city realized, through their communications, that they were not alone, that Egyptians in other cities were also rebelling.  So cyberspace became a way of communication after the fact.

Even so, as I was watching the live broadcasts, the Egyptian government shut down many cell phone towers, and internet providers (with the help of a U.S. telecommunications company).   Did that stop the Revolution?  Hell no!

Revolutionaries turned to old fashioned land line phones, short wave radios, even the ancient task of running messages by foot.  Some reports said they had taken over radio stations, even broke into police stations to steal the police radios.

But while this proves that cyberspace is not critical, it does prove that communications are critical.

In the military, communications does not refer to just being able to talk or relay messages.  It refers to the ability to keep your forces fed and armed.  (specifically its called: Lines of Communication, called such because supplies tended to follow the same route that hand carried messages, and telegraph lines, did)

The Egyptian Revolutionaries not only took and held land (sometimes losing it, but retaking it later), they kept their Occupiers fed, and they rotated fresh Occupiers in, while the tired Occupiers went out to get rest.  They, without really thinking about it, kept “lines of communication” open to the land they were Occupying.

This is important, because one of the riot control maneuvers used nowadays is called “Kettling”.  This is a way of hemming in protestors, to cut them off from their lines of communication (even though most protestors don’t even know about such things as lines of communication).

The lesson is that you must not rely on high technology, you must Occupy the land, and you must keep your “lines of communication” open!

By the Way, Occupy Boise is appealing to the Federal Court, on the grounds the new Idaho law violates the rights to freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

LESSONS FOR THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT FROM THE EGYPTIAN JANUARY 2011 REVOLUTION: #1; PEACEFUL PROTEST DOES NOT WORK!!!

Fukushima

Government/Corporate Incompetence: Finally, Japan to use 22,000 square feet of concrete at GE designed Fukushima disater reactor zone! Pacific Ocean under threat!

21 February 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) announced they will start pouring concrete! (again?)

They will focus on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, near the water intakes of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to prevent any further radioactive materials from spreading.

TEPCo says they will begin right away (finally), starting on 22 February.  They will cover a 70,000 square meter (22,9658.7 square feet) area!

TEPCo hopes that the 60 centimeter (nearly 2 feet) thick layer of concrete will stop the spread of radioactive mud and sand, for at least 50 years!  The job could take four months.  The decision was made because high levels of cesium are still being detected in the Pacific Ocean!

People still need to demand an explanation why this decision took so long.  And what about the rest of the nuclear plant?

How did the Soviets deal with Chernobyl?

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

More suicides at Chinese Slave Wage Factory Cities

Chinese media reporting that a man jumped to his death on February 18, and a woman did the same on February 15.  The local government officials claim they are investigating.

The two slave wage employees worked at Nanshan International Stationery.  The man had been trapped their for eight years!  Many people in the United States don’t realize these Chinese factory cities are literally walled in cities.  When you sign a contract to work there you’re stuck inside.

Nanshan International Stationery has Western investors, through Hong Kong.  Officials at the factory said “personal problems” were the cause of the suicides. Yeah, I agree that eight years trapped in a factory city would cause personal problems!

 

 

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan’s own government experts blame the government for lack of response to nuclear disaster at Fukushima! Only 2 reactors now operating in Japan

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is being questioned by their own experts regarding the safety of nuclear reactors.  The Agency responded by censoring their own experts!

A publicized debate held by Agency experts was cut short, when it became clear that the consensus was that the government was accountable for the lack of response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and that the current “stress tests” were also lacking.

The censorship happened specifically because of criticisms of the Agency’s approval of stress testing done at the Ohi nuclear plant.

Experts were pissed: “I feel deceived!”-Ino Hiromitsu, Professor Emeritus University of Tokyo

“The panel started to fully review plant safety to prevent another Fukushima!  Why are you rushing for a conclusion?”-Goto Masashi, Shibaura Institute of Technology

An official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency basically said they’re getting impatient, when he pointed out that the experts have already met eight times about nuclear safety.

Japan is now down to just two operating nuclear reactors, out of 54 total.  Most reactors have been shut down for routine maintenance and inspections, but, local governments are the only ones who can OK restart, and so far they all say ‘no way’.

Japan’s major industries rely on electricity from nuclear power plants.  Japan’s crashing economy is being caused in large part to its major industries struggling to operate with so little power plants on line.  The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is probably being pushed to convince local governments to get those power plants back on line.