Tag Archives: nuclear

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: 230 tons of radioactive water found under Fukushima Daiichi!

On 18 December 2011, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, found 230 tons of highly radioactive water in a tunnel under a building used to store contaminated water.  This comes after the Japanese government declared the damaged nuclear reactors in “cold shut down”.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say the water is giving off 3 millisieverts per hour of radiation. Of course, and as usual, TEPCo officials don’t have clue how it got there, and are investigating.

This latest discovery reminds everyone to question TEPCo’s inspection and management capabilities.  Even the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture is challenging the national government’s declaring the plant in cold shut down.

 

International, U.S.

North Korea: Kim Jon Il dies, South Korea puts military on alert

North Korean government media reporting that North Korea’s leader Kim Jon Il has died.  He was 69 years old (some reports say he as 70).

North Korea’s state-run KCNA says he died of “great mental and physical strain” and a heart attack.  He was on a train touring North Korea.

South Korea has put their military forces on alert.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Israel forms new commando unit, to attack Iran

“We have no intention of acting for the moment …We should not engage in war when it is not necessary, but there may come a time or another when we are forced to face tests…Our position has not changed on three points: a nuclear Iran is unacceptable, we are determined to stop that and all options are on the table.”– Ehud Barak, Defense Minister of Israel

Israel has formed a new commando unit called Depth Corps.  “Depth” refers to commando raids that will be carried out over long distances: “The primary task of the corps will be to extend joint Israeli army operations into the strategic depth.”-Israeli military statement

Unnamed sources inside Israel’s military say the Depth Corps is also known as Iran Special Operations Command.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Lawsuit gives U.S. government ammo to attack Iran

“We are dealing with fabrications whereby a war agenda, which has been on the Pentagon’s drawing board for many years, is now seeking justification to go live, and we’ve seen the drone attacks, we’ve seen the sanctions.”-Michel Chossudovsky, Center for Research on Globalization

On December 15, a lawsuit supposedly brought by victims of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, won a default judgment (default means the accused didn’t show up).  The problem is that it blames Iran and Lebanon for the World Trade Center attacks!  Analysts believe the leaders of the United States could claim this court case as ‘proof’ that Iran is part of anti-Shia/pro-Wahhabi al Qaeda (Iran is majority Shia Muslim).

“There is absolutely no evidence that Iran aided the 9/11 attacks. There is ample evidence after collection that there was conspiracy and the complicity of the U.S. government…There is absolutely no evidence that al Qaeda or the Taliban were involved in the 9/11 attacks. In fact, if there is anyone behind al Qaeda, it was the Central Intelligence Agency, going back to the Soviet Afghan war!”-Michel Chossudovsky, Center for Research on Globalization

Analysts say the U.S. government is setting the stage, just like they did prior to invading Iraq: “What we are seeing now is this strange self-fulfilling prophecy process. This is exactly what we saw with Iraq. This is a campaign to go to war.”–Jamal Abdi, National Iranian American Council

Iran even helped the U.S. topple the Taliban (who had executed Iranian diplomats): “Immediately afterwards Iran condemned the attacks. There were candlelit vigils on the streets of Tehran in solidarity with the Americans who lost their lives. You saw Iran cooperating with the United States in helping to topple the Taliban, the enemy of Iran.”–Jamal Abdi, National Iranian American Council

Here’s the real reason the U.S., and the United Kingdom, want to attack Iran: “…Iran has 10 per cent of the world’s oil reserves, four or five times the amount of the United States; it’s in a crucial region, it doesn’t accept U.S. hegemony and it’s an ally of Russia and China.”-Michel Chossudovsky, Center for Research on Globalization

International, U.S.

World War 3: Talk against possible nuclear weapons program in Iran is just rhetoric. U.S. officials actually want to destroy Iran’s nuclear power program. War with Iran, Syria and North Korea almost guaranteed. Russia also targeted

“It is not possible to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program without targeting its nuclear program as a whole, because there is no safe dividing line between those activities and facilities that are purely peaceful and those which are military related.”-Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, U.S. Representative for Florida

By using that argument then any country can justify destroying the nuclear power industry in the United States, especially since the U.S. has thousands of nuclear weapons.

The statement by U.S. Representative Ros-Lehtinen was used to justify the passage of HR 2105; the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Reform and Modernization Act of 2011.  It passed the House almost unanimously on December 14 (418 for, 2 against and 13 abstaining).

HR 2105 was passed the same day that HR 1905 and HR 1540 was passed.

HR 2105 supports sanctions against Iran, Syria and North Korea using Executive Order 12938 , by repealing the old Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation act.

This new Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Reform and Modernization Act of 2011 also targets Russia, by cancelling all previously agreed upon U.S. payments made to support the International Space Station, the Russian Aviation & Space Agency and any other Russian agency.

The bill states that Russia must come over to the dark side and join the U.S. in sanctioning Iran, Syria and North Korea.

The U.S. Senate will now debate their own version of HR 2105.

 

Fukushima

Japan admits high levels of radiation in north eastern Honshu!

Japan’s Environment Ministry has given some clues as to how bad the radiation contamination is in north eastern Honshu.  The area is being devastated by radiation coming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In a report on how the government of Japan plans to address decontamination issues, they revealed that some areas have soil that’s emitting more than 0.23 microsieverts per hour!

They also stated that ‘sludge’ has been found to be contaminated with 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!

The Environment Ministry even admitted that areas as far south as Tokyo are highly contaminated and will require decontamination.  Tokyo is about 220 kilometers, or 137 miles from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

 

Fukushima

Japan says it will take at least 40 years to scrap the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant!

The Japanese government released details of their plan to tear down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

From 2012 to 2015 they hope to remove the hundreds of spent fuel rods stored in the facility’s spent fuel pools.

Then from 2015 to 2021 they will work to repair and fill up the highly radioactive reactor containment vessels with the melted fuel rods inside.  That plan involves using water to fill the containment vessels on four reactors.

Then by 2022 they hope they can figure out a way to safely remove the melted fuel rods from the containment vessels.  The ultimate goal is to tear down the reactor buildings.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Former U.S. National Security adviser says War with Iran would be Armageddon, says American people are being driven by fear

“We think we are going to avoid war by moving toward compulsion. But the more you lean toward compulsion, the more the choice becomes war if it doesn’t work.”-Zbignew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Adviser

Brzezinski worked for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. At a meeting of the Atlantic Council, on December 14, he, along with former NSA officials Brent Scowcroft, Jim Jones and Henry Kissinger, said the United States is facing the most significant world changes since the end of the Cold War.

Brzezinski also said the people, and leadership of the United States are not handling it very well:  “Our public is driven by fear, ignorance, demagogy to a very high degree and that I think has a paralyzing effect in intelligent management.”

He added that if there was war with Iran it would be devastating for the U.S.: “If we slide into a conflict with Iran, in this or that fashion, the consequences for us will be disastrous, disastrous on a massive scale and also globally at the same time.”

Fukushima, Idaho

What Economic Recovery? Japanese nuclear disaster, dissapointing mine operations in Namibia, shutting down French company Areva. Idaho could lose jobs in 2012. Idaho leaders unrealistically optimistic

The ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and a bad mine operation deal in Africa, is bringing down a major player in international nuclear power; Areva.  The result will mean job losses all over the world, and possibly here in Idaho.

French government owned Areva recently announced that their revenues have crashed since the Japanese nuclear disaster began in March, and, since the French government opened an investigation into Areva’s purchase of a mining operation in Namibia, Africa.

On 13 December 2011, Areva officials unveiled a five year plan to reduce the size of the company.  This is because of a projected loss of U.S.$2.1 billion for just this year, and expected losses in the next few years.

Areva officials have already announced they will not replace French employees who retire, and they are laying off 1,500 German employees.

This is because of a negative backlash against nuclear power, as a result of the Japanese nuclear disaster.  In Germany, the government decided to end all reliance on nuclear power.  In Japan, the prefectural governments are refusing to allow nuclear power plants to start back up.  Both actions in Germany and Japan are at the demands of the majority of the citizens.

Areva’s loses also come from what is looking like a pig in a poke deal, from their purchase of uranium mines in Namibia, Africa.  Areva spent $2.5 billion on the mines, and the French government is now investigating because it turns out the mines have only half the projected uranium that Areva officials were told it had.

As part of their five year turn around plan Areva has suspended the construction of a uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls, Idaho.  State officials claim that Areva has agreed to keep on their payroll about 300 Idaho employees, but that’s only until the end of 2012.

The problem now is that Areva has stated that their continued operation depends on the sale of ten new generation EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) nuclear power units.  Those sales need to take place between 2012 to 2016.

 

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.