Tag Archives: war

Fukushima

Mystery radiation coming from reactor 4!

20 June 2011, NHK reporting that Tokyo Electric Power Company is now scrambling to find out why extreme radiation levels are coming from Reactor 4 building, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.

Reactor 4 was shut down for maintenance when the 11 March 2011 natural disasters hit.  Early on most concerns were with the spent fuel pool above the reactor.  TEPCo officials thought they had that under control.

Over the weekend, workers had to be moved out of Reactor 4 building due to a sudden jump in radiation levels.

TEPCo was using the fuel pool to store large contaminated objects found around the nuclear plant’s compound.  After the jump in radiation emissions they discovered that water levels in the pool had dropped by 1/3.  They are now injecting water, hoping that will stop the radiation emissions.  Workers were in the process of strengthening the structure of Reactor 4 building.

International, U.S.

Pentagon commits biggest theft in history, Iraq says the U.S. stole $17 billion, U.S. investigators back up Iraq

“All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion.”-Iraq letter to United Nations

Remember when the Bush Jr administration said they were taking Iraqi oil funds so they could be used to rebuild Iraq?  Never happened, now Iraq wants their money.

Even U.S. investigators say the Iraqis are owed billions. Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, says the Pentagon is to blame, and calls it “…the largest theft of funds in national history.”

This comes after Kalifornia’s (sic) idiot Congressman Dana Rohrabacher demanded that Iraq pay for being invaded and occupied by the United States.   The Kalifornian described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a sign that we care about Iraqis: “We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”-Dana Rohrabacher

Unfortunately for the Iraqis, the clever Bush Jr administration got the UN Security Council to make it almost impossible for Iraq to sue the U.S.  The money went to the Coalition Provisional Authority to fund reconstruction and pay Iraqi government employees. The CPA was headed by Paul Bremer.  So far no one has been able to show what really happened to the Iraqi oil money.

International, U.S.

NATO preps to attack Syria, Germany & Spain increasing NATO troops in Turkey

A Turkish news source says the Turkish government has agreed to allow NATO to increase troop strength in Turkey.  Turkey is a member of NATO.

Currently there are about 400 NATO personnel at the Turkish Izmir Air Station, but that could increase to the thousands as NATO personnel from Germany and Spain are moved in.

Western media is showing Turkey as helping Syrian refugees, and seemingly taking a neutral stand on events in Syria.  Reports in Middle Eastern news sources say otherwise.  There is growing evidence that the weapons being used by Syrian “protestors” are coming from Turkey.  Several times Turkish warplanes have crossed into Syrian airspace.

NATO is reporting the build up of personnel in Turkey as part of plans to “…make NATO leaner, more flexible, and better able to deal with future challenges.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General

 

Fukushima

Tokyo revises Liquefaction Zone Map

The 11 March 2011 9.0 earthquake near Fukushima, Japan, caused liquefaction as far away as Tokyo.

Tokyo officials say they are now revising their current liquefaction zone map, because the 11 March quake revealed a potentially larger liquefaction zone.

The new map will affect future construction in Tokyo.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo stops radiation decontamination; too much radiation!

On 17 June 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company turned on a water decontamination unit, recently installed at its damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  It failed.

Just five hours after turning the unit on, they had to shut it down.  The radiation was far higher than what the decontamination unit was meant to handle.

TEPCo ran the unit on Sunday, 19 June, to try and figure out where the spike in radioactive water was coming from.  That lasted four hours.  They concluded that the radiation contamination must be far higher than what they first thought (replace that with “wild ass guessed”).

TEPCo will try adding additional water decon units in the hopes of dealing with the radioactive water.  It’s estimated that 500 tons of water is being contaminated everyday (most of which is ending up in the Pacific Ocean).  Like Bill Nye the Science Guy said: “Why don’t they just dump concrete on it?”

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Parents decontaminate Japanese school contaminated with radiation

In an obvious sign of government incompetence, parents and teachers decontaminated a local elementary school, on their own.

In Date City, about 80 people worked together to wash down a school contaminated with radiation.  The national government said the radiation levels at the school were below the official safe limits, so they felt no reason to do anything.

Parents are concerned because the radiation levels remained constant, and were found in the soil as well as on the buildings.  Tired of a government that didn’t want to respond they took matters into their own hands.  I wonder how they feel about continuing to pay their taxes?

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: No standardized airborne radiation monitoring in Japan, radiation levels higher than officially reported

After many citizens complained of faulty radiation readings by local governments, Japan is now testing for airborne radiation at one meter (3.2 feet) high, and at more than one location per city/town.

What happened was that citizens groups were conducting radiation readings on their own (you see; never trust the government).  Their readings were much worse than many official readings by local governments.  The citizens were taking readings closer to the ground.  In Tokyo, air borne radiation readings were being taken at only one location, on top of a 19 meter (62 feet) tall building.  Many cities across Japan varied their testing height from 1.5 meters to as high as 80 meters off the ground.

Today, 15 June 2011, Japan’s science ministry started taking readings at one meter high, in 100 locations across Japan.  The results are important: Already they’ve found, in several prefectures, that radiation levels, taken at one meter in height, are twice the levels taken at higher sampling sites.

Citizen groups pointed out that air borne radiation testing should be done at a height where humans activity takes place.  Looks like the People are correct.

 

Fukushima

Plutonium in more soil samples!

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that their May soil samples are positive for plutonium-238.

The sample was taken on the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, on 30 May 2011.  The samples were taken 500 meters away from Reactor 1 building.

This follows claims by university students who found plutonium as part of a class project.

Fukushima

Radiation spreading in Japan, thanks to Mother Nature

NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) discovered, through random interviews with local officials throughout Japan, that cesium is showing up all over, thanks to rain.

22 of Japan’s 47 prefectures (states, or glorified counties) have been testing their soil.  16 found their soil is contaminated with cesium.  Some areas are as far south as Osaka, which is about 350 miles away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Local officials believe the cesium is being spread by clouds that sweep through the Fukushima area then rain on other parts of Japan.

The area with the highest cesium levels, in their soil, is Fukushima, currently at 447,000 becquerels per kilogram.  Tokyo has 55,000 becquerels.

NHK reported that Japan has no guidelines for dealing with radiation contamination in soil.

 

Fukushima

Strontium 90 in ground water & Pacific Ocean

For the first time, Tokyo Electric Power Company says strontium 90 is contaminating ground water, and the Pacific Ocean.

Water samples that were taken on 16 and 18 May, 2011, are positive for strontium.  Sample testing takes three weeks for results.

Three ocean inlets were tested on 16 May.  The lowest reading was 53 times safe limits.  The highest, 240 times, was taken at reactor 3 inlet.

Ground water samples were taken on 18 May.  The highest reading was 6,300 becquerels per liter near reactor 2.

Strontium 90 is created during nuclear fission. It has a half life of 29 years and causes bone cancer.