Tag Archives: nuclear

Fukushima

One Year Later: Japan to create Temp Towns to house victims of Fukushima Daiichi

17 August 2012, people forced to flee their homes, because of the General Electric designed nuclear disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, have been living in temporary prefab homes.  Now the Japanese government wants to know if they will accept living in ‘temporary’ towns as well.

A year ago the ignorant Japanese government told nuclear evacuees that they’d be returning home in a few weeks or months.  It’s finally become clear to the exalted leaders that radiation contamination could last years. Some areas will exceed 20 millisieverts per year for at least a decade!

The Japanese government admits they are now considering the wishes of the evacuees for the first time!  At least 15,000 people can never go back to their homes, and the government says it is willing to build new villages for the victims.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Nuclear Disaster Reactors: Damage to Belgian reactor impossible to repair?

16 August 2012, after an emergency meeting was held, officials decided it was likely that the Doel nuclear plant in Belgium will be shut down permanently.

But this means dozens of other nuclear reactors throughout western Europe could be shut down as well.  The whole thing started in 2004 when France inspected two reactors and found perpendicular micro-cracks in the containment vessels.

The perpendicular cracks were not from age, but had been there from day one. It was a design flaw!

Belgium decided to check their reactors, since they were the same design, and found even more micro-cracks. The boss of Belgium’s Federal Agency of Nuclear Control told the emergency meeting that they found “something else”; thousands of parallel cracks as well as the perpendicular cracks.

The defects are so numerous that Belgium officials say it is unlikely they can be repaired.  Belgium will shut down two reactors, and continue investigations. A final report will be presented in October.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Nuclear Disaster Reactors: Belgium shuts down nuke plant; cracked containment vessel, emergency international meeting!

14 August 2012, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control is shutting down Reactor 3 at the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium.

Workers discovered cracks, and other ‘anomalies’, in the containment vessel.  The reactor was built by a company that went bankrupt 40 years ago. Dozens of nuclear plants across western Europe use the same design.

Belgian officials have called for an emergency meeting, with international experts, to be held on 16 August.  Belgium gets 50% of its electricity from nuclear power.

Fukushima

One Year Later: Dogs & cats still abandoned in radiation zones, government now searching for owners. Other pets forced into shelters because owners can’t keep them.

14 August 2012, the Japanese government is now trying to find owners of hundreds of abandoned pets in the 11 March 2011 disaster areas.  Last year the Environment Ministry was able to pick up 750 dogs and cats and place in shelters, 300 are still unclaimed.

Government officials believe there are still hundreds of abandoned pets still living in the radiation zones.

The prefectural government of Fukushima is asking people who are known to have lost their pets if they want them back, or not.  Fukushima officials say they have contacted at least 1,000 people so far.  Officials say they will try to find homes for pets that are no longer wanted, and they will continue to try and capture those pets still loose.

Some owners fear their pets are radioactive, others say they can not afford to take in their pets as they are living in temporary housing, and many owners are still unemployed.

NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) recently ran a sad documentary about pets who are being kept in private shelters, until the owners can take them back. The owners are paying for the shelters.  However, in one sad example, the owners of one old dog were finally able to take their dog back only to learn that their dog died just days before they arrived at the shelter.

Visit American Humane Association  Visit globalanimal.org

ONE YEAR LATER: FRESH WATER FISH MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN SALT WATER FISH! MORE PROOF THAT YOU NEED LOTS OF SALT IN YOUR DIET!

GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE: MORE RADIOACTIVE BEEF SOLD TO PEOPLE, JAPANESE CATTLE FARMERS ARE NOW BEING TOLD NOT TO USE LOCAL FEED, FARMERS SAY ADVISE IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

Fukushima

One Year Later: Fire & new radiation leak at Fukushima Daiichi!

14 August 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) said a new radioactive water leak has been found, coming from Reactor 4.

This morning a worker found a 350 square meter (1,148 square feet) room on the first floor of the reactor building flooded, about one centimeter (0.39 inch) deep.

The water is contaminated with 77,000 becquerels per milliliter of cesium.

TEPCo officials think the water might be coming from a pipe that is transferring contaminated water from Reactor 3 to a storage tank.  The pipe runs next to Reactor 4 building.

Also this morning, workers discovered a fire in a water pump.  The pump is used in a building that is used for filtering contaminated water.  They used fire extinguishers to put out the fire.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Former IDF inteligence boss says any Israeli attack against Iran would be the beginning of continued attacks for years to come

The following quotes are from Major General Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, former Israeli Defense Forces intelligence chief

“An attack is not a single strike and once it happens we are in a whole other world. Iran will pull out of the [nuclear] Non-Proliferation Treaty…..and it will be clear that they need a bomb now so that we cannot attack them again. This means that Israel will need legitimacy to be able to maintain the operation with more attacks within weeks, months and years after.” 

“Israel without legitimacy will not be able to, over time, maintain the results of a successful attack.”

“I think that within this window it is difficult to imagine that something will happen a month before [U.S.] elections.”

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Scientists cooking the books on radiation contamination. Now say radiation exposure was not at dangerous levels!

Reported on 13 July 2012, a group of Japanese and Russian scientists, working through the Hirosaki University’s Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine and the Institute of Radiation Hygiene in St. Petersburg, greatly lowered the official radiation exposure records for victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Now they say no adult was exposed to dangerous levels, claiming the highest dose was 33 millisieverts.  Previously they said people had been exposed to as much as 87 millisieverts!

The international standard is 50 millisieverts, before you have to start taking iodide pills.

The scientists based their new claims on data for radioactive iodine concentration in thyroids taken between 12-16 April last year, then tried to extrapolate using recent radiation plume tracking and various dosimeter data.  So they’re making their claims based on one week of human thyroid gland data, then cooking their scientific books with more recent numbers from other measurements that do not look specifically at the health of a person!

Oh, the scientists did warn that children were still exposed to levels of contamination above the international 50 millisieverts range.  So why not the adults?

Fukushima

One Year Later: Japanese tsunami hit town so contaminated with radiation, officials can’t dump radioactive debris, instead they want to burn it!!!

31 July 2012, the Japanese government is considering plans to incinerate highly radioactive debris from the tsunami hit towns of Hirono and Namie.

The destroyed houses and buildings have been contaminated by fallout from the ongoing nuclear disaster at the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power factory.

The contamination is so high that local officials have been hamstrung because the debris can not be handled through usual removal methods.  A plan to build two new incinerators within the area was scrapped because of concerns about the radiation.

But wait, there’s more! In their wisdom officials have now rationalized that it’s OK to incinerate the radioactive debris as long as it’s outside of the contaminated area!

They are asking six municipalities to consider build incinerators for burning radioactive ruble from Hirono and Namie towns!

Fukushima

One Year Later: Prosecutors to launch criminal investigations into Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster!

25 July 2012, after a final government initiated, independent investigation report was filed, NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is reporting that Japanese prosecutors will now accept and investigate criminal complaints regarding the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

The final report basically said that it is not clear that the nuclear disaster was caused by the natural disasters on 11 March 2011, in fact, in an earlier report the investigators said it was a “man made” disaster.

The final report also blamed the ongoing disaster on gross negligence, both by corporations and the government!  This is why Japanese prosecutors are now accepting criminal complaint cases.  Of course corporate officials, and government officials, deny such gross negligence.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Evil: Subcontractor admitted to falsifying radiation exposure of employees!

21 July 2012, Japanese health officials were alerted to a case of cover up by a subcontractor to Tokyo Electric Power Company.  TEPCo operates the GE designed nuclear disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.

The president of a subcontractor called Buildup, says one of his executives has just admitted that back in December 2011 he ordered their employees to cover their dosimeters with lead.

By covering their dosimeters the radiation exposure readings were much lower than what the workers were really being exposed to.  As a result Japanese health officials were given lower falsified exposure level data, which allowed the executive to keep his men working in highly contaminated areas.

The executive said he issued the order to falsify dosimeter readings when a radiation alarm went off in the area they were working in.  His main concern was not the safety of his men, but the completion of their work.  He claims he now regrets that decision.