Tag Archives: employment

Business/Economics, U.S.

Week of Action, Californians protesting bad jobs and budget cuts

“We are in the middle of a recession. We need to get out of the recession by moving forward with good jobs, not poverty jobs.”-Mike Chavez, Labor Expert

California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S.; 12.3% as of March 2011.  In Los Angeles County it’s 12.6%.

State workers are facing benefits cuts up to 30%.  This week Californians are protesting the bad economy, and the state and local budget cuts, in a Week of Action.

“This is the 21st century, we need to go forward, not backward.”-protester

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 still flooding ocean with Cesium!

Even after Tokyo Electric Power Company plugged a leak, Reactor 3 is still pouring water contaminated with cesium into the Pacific Ocean.

The water is pouring out of a pipe containing electrical cables, but officials still don’t know where the water is originating.  The latest tests of the ocean water showed cesium contamination at 620,000 times safe limits!

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1 springs mysterious leak, fuel rods fully exposed, melting!

Tokyo Electric Power Company says contaminated water is pouring from Reactor 1.  This after workers were finally able to enter the building and check gauges.  The gauges showed that despite hundreds of tons of water being injected, the water levels were low.

TEPCo suspected faulty gauges. Workers checked the gauges again, after more water was pumped in, and they discovered the water levels actually dropped.

Now officials are worried that the water could be pouring from a hole in the reactor itself.  When checked on the morning of 12 May, workers discovered the fuel rods fully exposed.   Water levels are a full meter (3.2 feet) below the rods!

TEPCo is pumping in water, but the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency believes rods have started melting.

Business/Economics, International

Argentina warns South Africa: WalMart will destroy your economy

“WalMart does not take ownership of the goods until a product is sold.”-Sofia Scasserra, FAECYS

At a labor conference in South Africa, the Argentine Federation of Commerce and Service Workers ( FAECYS ) warned of allowing WalMart to set up shop.  The warning wasn’t about labor issues, but supply issues.  They claim that since WalMart was allowed to operate in Argentina, the affects on business supply has almost destroyed the business middle class.

In Argentina WalMart operates a “spot sale” deal with its suppliers.  Basically WalMart doesn’t pay anything for the products it stocks, until they sell.  On top of that, WalMart takes three months to pay suppliers.

Another trick WalMart plays; it ships its own products in from China.  First the the products go to Brazil, then Argentina, thus avoiding tariffs.

In the case of home appliances is was discovered that WalMart forced suppliers to sell below their cost, and even give them to WalMart for free.

The result is that Argentine suppliers are going out of business.  And the result of that, is that small manufacturers in Argentina are going out of business as well.

 

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)

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?