Hosono Goshi, special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto, said attempts to control Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will take “several months”. Hosono also said that the plant is still “critical”.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, admitted that the government, and Tokyo Electric, have not been forthright with the public about how bad the situation really is. Edano said that it was time for a “highly independent” panel to review the situation at the damaged nuclear plant.
Text: AAron Hutchins
Photos by: Alex Hutchins (click on the pics to make them bigger. More pics, including plaques that explain HTRE, in the Galleries section, click on the INL Nuclear Power Site)
Barely noticeable from the two lane highway, sitting literally in the middle of nowhere, a brick building with some strange caged objects next to it. Getting any closer doesn’t help you identify the metallic two story tall objects, behind locked fences with barbed wire on top. They seem extraterrestrial. Perhaps some ancient Alien visitors left behind their space vehicle?
HTRE-3
It’s like something out of X-Files. But this isn’t Area 51, in Nevada. It’s not Roswell, New Mexico. It’s eastern Idaho, and today is windy and cold. As my son Alex said, “It’s Big Wind.”
As far as ‘ancient’ goes, well, some people might think 1950s is ancient. That’s when the strange twisted metal craft first appeared. Extraterrestrial? Many people in the 1950s thought the scientists of the day were out of this world with their crazy ideas, like nuclear powered jet aircraft.
Taking Exit 93 off Interstate 15, turn west towards Arco. Stay on Highway 26 for about 40 miles. As you drive the lonely 40 miles you’ll pass the big “Welcome to the INL” sign. Then you’ll come to an intersection, make a left, just follow the arrows to Arco. You’ll see building complexes to your right, that’s part of the main Idaho National Laboratory complex.
INL Entrance
At that point pay attention to your left. You should see a lone building in the distance, EBR-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor. That’s where the strange alien vehicle looking things are. There should be a left turn lane coming up, with signs for EBR-1. Make the turn, then another left turn lane, again follow the sign for EBR-1.
It’s a desolate place, my son and I were the only ones there that windy, cold day. We passed a couple of parked cars on the roadside, with no one in them, out in the middle of nowhere, mmm.
EBR-1
There they are, like something left behind, and forgotten, by some advanced species, in the middle of the vast, windy East Idaho desert, HTRE-1, 2 & 3. The three huge Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments units making up world’s first nuclear powered turbine engine. Intentionally twisted metal, big pipes, gigantic turbos, and two little jet engine exhaust at the back. Don’t think these guys are safe, they’re radiation warning signs all over. Many of the openings and fittings are sealed off. Even the giant weld seams on the reactor have been recently coated with a white colored material.
Nuclear powered jet engines and the lead-lined train that pulled them.
Some people would say that only an evil scientist would come up with such a thing. Maybe they’re right? General Electric spent one billion taxpayer dollars on the project, before it was canceled by President Kennedy in 1961. And that’s 1950s dollars, whew!
There are several informational plaques that give the visitor more understandable, and more interesting, info than what I found on the internet. Like “Operation Wiener Roast”. They actually burned a nuclear turbine engine to see if dangerous levels of radiation would be spread if a nuclear powered aircraft crashed.
Operation Wiener Roast
Testing of the reactor turbine was successful, but an actual aircraft was never developed. The program was conducted in Idaho, in Test Area North, of what is now called the INL. The project was managed by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission. There’s lots more information on the signs, you need to go there to look for yourself.
One things for sure, this archeological find proves that the U.S. government spent taxpayer dollars on some really far out stuff in the 1950s.
Radiation signs next to jet engines.
Lead-lined train in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho. Photo by Alexander Hutchins.
GHOSTLY NUKE TRAIN ROLLIN’ ‘CROSS IDAHO DESERT
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, met with Tokyo Electric chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa on Sunday.
TEPCo officials said GE’s Immelt offered ‘maximum’ support for dealing with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which GE designed.
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there are 23 nuclear plants in the United States that are similar in design as Fukushima Daiichi.
Immelt will meet with the Japanese Economy Minister on Monday. Under Japanese regulations, if the design of the plant is proven faulty then GE can be sued.
Immelt has also been pushing for taxpayer supported nuclear plant development in the U.S. The Guardian newspaper recently reminded people that Immelt once said that investors are not willing to take on the risks of nuclear power, and that those risks should be handled by the government (taxpayers). In other words, capitalist investors know nuclear power is a bad bet.
According to former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, General Electric paid no U.S. taxes in 2010. He also wants Jeffery Immelt to resign from President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
‘‘Can’t you increase the number of examiners? The lives of farmers are at stake! It’s a matter of whether they can live tomorrow!’’-Sato Yuhei, Governor of Fukushima
The governor of Fukushima Prefecture is blasting the government for dragging its feet with the ongoing nuclear crisis. Especially when it comes to the safety of farm goods.
In response to the governor’s complaints, national government officials simply confirmed that they are short on staffing and equipment, for use in this specific nuclear crisis. Another way of admitting that the government was not prepared.
Tokyo Electric Power Company officials are concerned that Reactor 1, Fukushima Daiichi, could still build up explosive hydrogen gas.
To counter the problem they plan on injecting nitrogen into the containment vessel on Tuesday.
Another case of relatively low tech coming to the rescue. Tokyo Electric Power Company now using a type of polymeric powder to soak up contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The poly kitty litter, which is used in disposable diapers, can soak up to 50 times its weight.
Workers are using it in the cracked pit connected to Reactor 2.
A nuclear plant in Mexico, with a bad history might be leaking radiation, including cesium-137. Laguna Verde nuclear power plant is 290 kilometers southeast of Mexico City, and residents in a near by town have been dying of cancers and tumors since the plant became operational.
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) runs the plant, and has a long list of complaints, including deaths of employees, and a whistle blower that was fired. Laguna Verde has been in operation since 1990.
Vega de Alatorre, a town with about 18,500 residents, has reported unusual amounts of deaths from rare cancers. Just since 2008, 33 people have died of various kinds of cancers and tumors; brain cancer, renal cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, tuberous sclerosis. Most of the people in the area have no family history of cancer. Two of the deaths include workers at the nuke plant.
In 1999 the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) found there had been a high number of shutdowns that weakened the operating systems. Also, inadequate training, lack of proper management and obsolete equipment.
Bernardo Salas was fired from CFE recently, after he went public with information about Laguna Verde. He reported that reactor 2 almost experienced melt down, because of an electrical fault in 2006. Also, Salas reported that he found cesium-137 and cobalt-60 at three locations outside the plant, between 2006-2009.
The ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, in Japan, is forcing officials in Mexico to finally listen to complaints about Laguna Verde. A group of Mexican Senators will visit the plant on April 6.
The lack of electricity in Japan is due to several nuclear power plants being shut down since the 11 March disasters. They were planning on restarting this month, but, because of the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, they will delay longer.
Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, and, Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, have all delayed their planned restarts. This will make the problem of international parts supplies even worse.
Nuclear plant officials say it’s not just the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, but the fact that the Japanese government has ordered nuke plants to increase structural protection against natural disasters. That will take time.
Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say they have found the bodies of two Fukushima Daiichi workers missing since the 11 March tsunami.
They had to remove radioactive debris in order to recover the bodies. The two men bled to death, from injuries caused by the tsunami.
U.S. military forces in Japan has warned of cesium contamination on helicopters.
Yesterday, the Japanese Self Defense Forces announced that some of their helicopters are contaminated with high levels of radiation, even after going through a decontamination process.
U.S. Navy personnel trying to decontaminate the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan
NHK reported that the U.S. military has told the JSDF that the contamination is probably cesium. Cesium sticks to paint, and is not easily removed.
The JSDF says they will try vacuuming the contamination off their helicopters.
This is something for everyone to think about regarding personal vehicles, homes, even your vegetable gardens. Cover everything outside with thick tarps (or several layers of tarps) in a nuclear disaster. Those tarps will become radioactive waste, which will present another problem, but better the tarps than anything you value. Just another reason why nuclear power is so dangerous.