Tag Archives: GE

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Still no decontamination efforts in Fukushima!

Just days after the the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunamis, several Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors went critical, melted down, and some even exploded.  But to date (11 December 2011) no decontamination efforts have been carried out by the prefectural or national governments!

A couple of cities, and even neighborhood committees have attempted decontamination of their immediate surroundings, but nothing on the large scale that’s needed.  This is because no one in higher authority thought such a nuclear disaster would ever happen.

Testimony by many Japanese officials (and Tokyo Electric Power Company officials) say representatives from General Electric (and other U.S. nuclear power companies), and the U.S. government, had claimed the U.S. designed disaster reactors were the safest in the world.  Japanese officials thought there was no justification for such preparations as the U.S. designed nuke plants were so safe.

As a result of the March nuclear disaster (which is still ongoing) officials in the national and prefectural governments have been scrambling to learn everything they can about how to deal with the situation (that included a trip to Chernobyl, albeit very late in the game).

But learning everything they could in a short time wasn’t enough.  The Japanese national government had to pass a law ordering the large scale decontamination!

The Japanese Environment Ministry says they will begin decontamination of roads and other infrastructure in late January 2012.  They do not expect to be able to start decontaminating residences until March 2012!  And that’s for areas contaminated with less than 20 millisieverts of radiation. Japanese officials admit they still don’t know how to deal with areas contaminated with more than 20 millisieverts of radiation!

The Environment Ministry says they are conducting new studies to see how best to handle decontamination in areas with more than 20 millisieverts of radiation, with a focus on protecting the workers.

Fukushima, International

Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 4: Minamisanriku, hometown of Heroine Miki Endo is becoming the Atlantis I predicted

Video

On March 11, a massive tsunami hit Minamisanriku.  If it wasn’t for a young woman, Miki Endo, as well as her boss ordering the residents to escape, many thousands more would have been killed.

Endo and her boss did not survive. They stayed at their posts on the second floor of the town hall building.  The water reached the top of the third floor of the building.  Endo’s last words over the city’s loudspeaker system were: “Take care mom!”

On November 7, Independent Television News updated the situation of Minamisanriku, and it looks like my past posts, comparing it to a modern day Atlantis, might apply.  A city official says no rebuilding can take place, because the land is slowing sinking into the ocean: “…our plan is to move the entire town to higher ground, because the ground level here has dropped by 70 cm [27.5 inches]. When we get higher tides, they come in and this entire area is underwater.”-Jin Sato, Mayor

Who said southern California can’t drop off into the ocean?

ATLANTIS SYNDROME: OFFICIALS CONFIRM LAND SUNK AFTER 9.0 QUAKE

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 3: QUAKE UPGRADED 10,000+ DEAD

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

Government & Corporate Incompetence: A second Japanese nuclear plant has been leaking radiation! 85% of Japan’s nuke plants off line

It has just been revealed that another nuclear plant in Japan is leaking radiation.  The Mihama nuclear power plant, in Fukui Prefecture, shut down one of their reactors, after failing to stop a radioactive leak.

Kansai Electric Power Company says reactor 2 has been leaking contaminated water since November!  A valve has been leaking, and the radioactive water has been collected in a tank, but it is nearing full capacity.  The reactor was scheduled to be shut down for inspection on December 18.

This means 85% of Japan’s nuclear reactors are shut down.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Powdered milk contaminated with radiation!

Japanese powdered milk maker Meiji says they will replace 400,000 cans of their product, after it was found contaminated with cesium.

The levels are below safe limits but the company says it’s better to be safe than sorry.  The powdered milk was produced from March 14 to 20. The base powder used was made before 11 March 2011.

Meiji did not voluntarily test their product, nor was it government officials, it was a consumer group who forced the testing.  Meiji officials are now trying to figure out how their product got contaminated.  The company has factories all over Japan, from Hokkaido down to Tokyo.  This is another indication how much the radiation from Fukushima Daiichi has spread.

Fukushima

Government & Farmer Incompetence: More raidation in new rice crops in Japan, the list keeps growing!

Continuing inspections of rice crops are revealing how pervasive the radiation contamination is.  Three more farms have been found to be contaminated above safe limits.

The result is that the national government, on 05 December 2011, banned rice shipments from 406 farms.  The farms are located in several districts within the cities of Fukushima and Date, in Fukushima Prefecture.

The latest rice farms to make the list are 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Russia warning the world; Japanese products contaminated with radiation. Why isn’t the U.S. EPA or FDA protecting us?

On 01 December 2011, Russian port authorities in Vladivostok stopped a shipment of tires from Japan. They say the tires are emitting beta and gamma rays.

This is not the first time Russian inspectors found radioactive products from Japan.  In April, 49 second hand (used) cars shipped from Japan were found to be emitting radiation six times the safe limit.  A similar incident happened in June.  Eastern Russia is a big market for used Japanese cars.

What about radiation testing in the U.S.?  The latest statement from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) claims to have conducted “…28,190 field examinations for radionuclide contamination.”  However, they only talk about 1186 samples (out of the 28,190 tests) being safe.  The data for the rest of their test is in a format my computer couldn’t open.

The FDA website has some statements that are pure bogusnus.  Example: “Little or no harvesting of fish is taking place in the area around the reactor.”  This is false! Fisherman in the Fukushima area have been fishing, including around the Daiichi power plant, it’s their only source of income!  In fact the latest revelation, that strontium 90 is pouring into the ocean, has the local fishermens’ co-op threatening to sue Tokyo Electric.

Another example from the FDA: “The volume of water between particles and fish absorbs radiation, “shielding” the fish.”  Bull Shit!  Why have so many fish in Japanese markets turned up highly contaminated with radiation?  Why are Fukushima fishermen so pissed off!?

The FDA tries a Red Herring argument by saying: “The half life of I-131 is about eight days.”  They’re talking about cesium 131, they’re trying to make you feel safe.  Hello, what about the strontium 90, the plutonium, and other isotopes that last virtually freakin’ forever!

They do mention cesium 137 (half life of 30 years), but here’s another amazing statement the FDA makes: “…the radionuclides also undergo biological excretion and do not continue to build up in fish…”  Bull shit again!  When I was a Cold War soldier, the U.S. Army had us doing yearly training for NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) warfare.  One of the things we were taught is that radiation contamination freakin’ builds up over time!  The longer you’re exposed the more F–ked up you get, because it builds up!  You see when you work around radiative shit, you have to monitor not only the intensity of the radiation, but how long you’re exposed to it.

Finally the FDA passes the buck onto Customs and Border Protection saying they screen the cargo containers coming from Japan.  The FDA also says their own people walk around the docks using hand held radiometers, and if they detect high “background” radiation levels then they do more intensive inspections. The problem is that just because the contents of the shipping container are radioactive does not means the thick steel container will emit radiation!  The Russian inspectors at Vladivostok must be doing a better job at inspections than our people.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is making things more confusing , because they’ve been revising their “methodologies” and policies (isn’t that convenient).   They don’t inspect products, but are supposed to be testing air and water.  I’ve written about how many of the RadNet sites were not even working during the first few months of the nuclear crisis in Japan.

The EPA has changed how they report their RadNet data.  In Idaho there’s only one RadNet site, in Idaho Falls.  Their gamma counts show a lot of spikes, but it’s not clear if it’s because of Fukushima or not.  On the old RadNet web page there was a detection of cesium 131 (short half life) in precipitation readings on 01 April 2011.  However, the new RadNet sites are even more confusing, there is no way the general public can make use of them, what a waste of taxpayer money!

Fend for yourself!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: After months of expelling radiation into the environment, Fukushima Daiichi officially in Cold Shut Down

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say that on 16 December 2011 (the day the U.S. Postal Service will be in official default) they will declare the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Cold Shut Down mode.

The Cold Shut Down could be officially announced by Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko.

Of course this is after they let millions and millions of becquerels of radiation pour out into the air and water, along with the radioactive remains of the melted fuel rods!

Cold Shut Down means that the water being used to flush out, I mean, ‘cool down’ the reactors remains below boiling point, which is an indication that most of the fuel rods are used up.

There must be so little left inside the reactors that the temps have come down. I guess that’s one way to do it, I personally like the way the Soviets handled Chernobyl: Sand, lead and concrete.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Government & Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo says new radiation leak is pouring Strontium into the Pacific Ocean

On December 4, Tokyo Electric says they found a leak in a desalinization unit.  It’s not a small leak, so far 45 tons of contaminated water has poured out.

What’s really interesting is that the de-salting unit is supposed to be treating water that had already had radioactive contaminants removed.  TEPCo is saying the water is contaminated with 130,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter of strontium!

Company officials say it is highly likely that the strontium contaminated water made it into the Pacific Ocean, because there is a drainage ditch nearby leading to the ocean.  It’s most likely strontium 90, which has a half life of 28.8 years, and causes many cancers including bone cancer.

TEPCo also made confusing statements; one said workers had checked the unit just 21 hours prior and found no signs of leaking, but then in another statement TEPCo officials admitted they did not act fast enough (a now typical trait of TEPCo management) as it was known that water was building up inside the unit, but they thought it would not leak out.

TEPCO says it will take them two weeks to improve their leak detection of the water treatment units.

Fukushima

Global Food Crisis: Fukushima needs help inspecting more than 24,000 rice farms, too much radiation, logistical nightmare!

The Prefectural government of Fukushima (where the spewing Fukushima Daiichi GE designed disaster reactors are) is asking the Japanese government for logistical help.

Fukushima officials said they want to test one third of their rice farms/crops for radiation contamination, after several rice crops came up highly radioactive. Here’s the logistical problem: One third of Fukushima rice farms/harvests amount to 24,000 crops!

Fukushima Prefecture asked the national government to provide devices to measure radiation, dispatch personnel to expedite inspections, and shoulder the cost.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits lack of communication caused Reactor 1 to melt down and explode, evidence it was a man made disaster!

On 02 December 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admitted that lack of communication resulted in Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1 melting down and exploding, on 12 March 2011.

Former plant manager, Yoshida Masao (who recently resigned due to health problems, which might be caused by exposure to radiation, which TEPCo denies) said he, and other officials, were not told that Reactor 1’s cooling system was manually shut down.  He realized the cooling system was not working a little more than six hours after it had been turned off. By then it was too late.

Just a few days ago TEPCo admitted, after an independent investigation, that 100% of the fuel rods in Reactor 1 melted.

The irony is that Reactor 1 had the only operable cooling system after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami hit the nuclear disaster reactor plant.  Reactors 2, 3 and 4 lost their connections to electrical power, but Reactor 1 was still connected.

This could add some fuel to the conspiracy theories out there (that it was intentional, after all, look how long they’ve dragged this out!).