Tag Archives: economy

Fukushima, U.S.

U.S. nuclear plant under NRC scrutiny

The Brown’s Ferry nuke plant in Alabama, is under investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Investigators say a cooling system failure is of “high safety significance”.

Last October the plant had a cooling valve problem, in reactor 1, that cause it to shut down.  Operators say the valve is fixed.  But there are concerns especially since the Brown’s Ferry plant is similar to the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Also, Brown’s Ferry Reactor 1 had been shut down for 22 years before being put back into operation in 2007.

 

 

 

Fukushima

TEPCo finds out hard way that it’ll take much longer to get control of Fukushima Daiichi

On 17 April, Tokyo Electric Power Company issued a plan to control the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.  That plan involved 51 steps, so far as of 10 May, only one is being done; the continued pumping of water to try and cool the reactors and fuel pools.

TEPCo admitted they did not expect such high levels of radiation inside the reactor buildings, and that has been the big hold up.  They can’t do much with such high levels of radiation.

Workers have finally entered the building of Reactor 1, but that is only to help with the water injection and cooling operation.  In other words, still stuck on step one of their 51 step plan.

Fukushima

Government instructs schools to simply bury their radioactive top soil! government experts have their head up their a…

Schools near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant have found radiation contamination in the top soil of their playgrounds.

Normally you remove the top soil and have it hauled away in sealed containers, as nuke waste.  But that’s not what the Japanese government is suggesting.

School officials are being told by the government to simply bury the radioactive soil deeper in the ground.  They say by burying it 50 cm (19.6 inches) into the ground, it will reduce the detectable radiation by 90%.  The suggestion is being made by the Japanese Education and Science Ministry (can you believe that!).

Hello, what happens when a child digs it up?  Or a dog?  This sounds like an expedient way to simply reduce detectable radiation levels, it’s still there waiting for someone to accidentally dig it up!

What about water soaking down through the soil, eventually hitting the ground water?  It’s going to pass through the buried radiation contamination, dragging some of it along with it to the ground water.

 

Fukushima

More than half Japan’s nuclear plants down!

How could a few shut down nuclear plants have such drastic affects on Japan’s industries?  When it’s more than a few, try 60%.

Electrical power shortages will continue thru summer.  Japan has 54 commercial nuke plants, right now 32 are shut down.  Some, like Fukushima Daiichi, were shut down by the 11 March disasters.  Others are down for scheduled maintenance, or government orders.

On top of that, six more plants are scheduled to shut down for maintenance this summer.

 

Fukushima

Radiation contamination in fuel pool coming from reactor core!

Tokyo Electric Power Company admits high levels of radiation contamination in Reactor 3 spent fuel pool, are coming from the reactor’s core!

TEPCo recently tested the water of the spent fuel pool, and found radiation that was not present prior to the 11 March disasters, which damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The readings are 140,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium-134, 150,000 becquerels of cesium-137 and 11,000 becquerels of iodine-131 per cubic centimeter.  The clue that the radiation is coming from the reactor core is the iodine.  Iodine is a short life radioactive isotope, and is created during nuclear fission.  (don’t confuse iodine with iodide)

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Not only are the rich getting richer in the U.S., but in the U.K.

A study published by The Sunday Times shows that while the average Brit is struggling with a bad economy and government cut backs, the rich in the United Kingdom just get richer.

The Sunday Times “Rich List” says 1,000 of the richest Brits, not only kept their wealth, but actually increased it.  In fact, the number of British billionaires has increased to 73, up from 53 the previous year.

40 of the top billionaires were born in the U.K., but many British billionaires are from other countries.  Lakshi Mittal retains the number one spot, he’s Indian born and got rich in the steel industry.  Russian born Alisher Usmanov is now in the number two spot.  Chinese born Xiuli Hawken is the newest female billionaire, she got rich turning underground bunkers into shopping malls.

Keep in mind that money does not grow on trees, meaning there is not enough to go around for everyone, otherwise it would be valueless.  Knowing that, it should be obvious to people where the money is going.  The rich can only get richer because they are taking as much of the limited money/wealth supply as they can.  There is less for everyone else.

 

Fukushima

Closing Japan nuke plant will have direct affect on British nuke plant

The closing of Hamaoka nuclear plant in Japan, because of the danger of a massive earthquake, is having direct affect on a British nuclear plant.

Sellafield MOX plant, in north west England, supplies Hamaoka with the nuclear fuel it needs to make electricity.  Hamaoka uses MOX (mixed oxide) nuclear fuel, and Chubu Electric Power Company (operator of Hamaoka) has a contract with Sellafield as its only supplier.

On top of that the Hamaoka plant is the only user of MOX fuel from Sellafield.

Taxpayers in the United Kingdom shelled out 1.34 billion Pounds (U.S. $2.1 billion) for the Sellafield MOX plant, and the British government wants to build another one.

British officials are scrambling to work with CEPCo officials to figure out how to fulfill their contract.  Maybe the Brits can start selling MOX to the Iranians?

Fukushima

Radioactive fallout map of Japan released

The U.S. Department of Energy, and the Japanese Science Ministry, have put together a map of the fallout pattern of cesium.  The damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been spewing cesium.

The map shows the cesium fallout extends north west of the plant, in a large area. It is depicted with the colors yellow and red. NHK has a report.

Official say radiation levels from the Fukushima Daiichi plant have dropped enough that it is time to conduct more testing of soil for levels, and types, of radiation contamination.

 

International, U.S.

S & P’s reacts to Greece needing mo money, get ready for the stock markets to react

Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s credit rating, downward 2 points, after Greek officials announced they needed more bailout money.

The S & P’s rating now puts Greece below investment grade.  S & P’s also says that Greece will need a waiver on repaying most of its current loans (that means they don’t think Greece can pay).