Tag Archives: war

U.S.

On average, 18 U.S. veterans kill themselves everyday

“No more veterans should be compelled to agonize or parish while the government fails to perform its obligations.”-Stephen Reinhardt, Federal Judge

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to get its rear in gear.  It has been revealed in court that the VA is dragging its feet on helping military veterans with mental problems.

On average it takes four years for a veteran to get help with mental issues.  For vets who’re suicidal it takes two weeks before their first mental health appointment.

For years now the Department of Defense has reported on the record number of suicides of active duty personnel, and veterans.  Apparently the VA can’t deal with it.

 

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 still flooding ocean with Cesium!

Even after Tokyo Electric Power Company plugged a leak, Reactor 3 is still pouring water contaminated with cesium into the Pacific Ocean.

The water is pouring out of a pipe containing electrical cables, but officials still don’t know where the water is originating.  The latest tests of the ocean water showed cesium contamination at 620,000 times safe limits!

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1 springs mysterious leak, fuel rods fully exposed, melting!

Tokyo Electric Power Company says contaminated water is pouring from Reactor 1.  This after workers were finally able to enter the building and check gauges.  The gauges showed that despite hundreds of tons of water being injected, the water levels were low.

TEPCo suspected faulty gauges. Workers checked the gauges again, after more water was pumped in, and they discovered the water levels actually dropped.

Now officials are worried that the water could be pouring from a hole in the reactor itself.  When checked on the morning of 12 May, workers discovered the fuel rods fully exposed.   Water levels are a full meter (3.2 feet) below the rods!

TEPCo is pumping in water, but the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency believes rods have started melting.

International

Gaddafi international man of mystery, Libyan TV says he is alive, NATO bombs again

Libyan state TV showed video of Gaddafi meeting with tribal leaders.

On April 30, Gaddafi’s youngest son, and three grand children were killed by a NATO airstrike.  Italian media has been speculating that Gaddafi was also killed, because he stopped making public appearances.

Libyan TV did not give a date for when the video of Gaddafi was made.  Hours after the video was aired NATO bombed Tripoli.

 

International, U.S.

Iraqi officials say again, U.S. get out

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, said the United State needs to get its troops out of Iraq by the agreed date of December 2011.

Zebari denied that the Iraqi government was working with the U.S. to keep troops past the 2011 deadline.  Recently Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maiki said that the only way U.S. troops could stay is if the U.S. and Iraq agreed to a new withdrawal date.

Also recently, Russian and Iraqi officials announce deals that include military equipment.  Iraq might be trading one military super power for another, getting a better deal from the Russians.

International

Israel invades Gaza

Israeli ground troops have invaded the northern half of Gaza, Wednesday, May 11.  Reports say troops, tanks and armored bulldozers are advancing towards Gaza City.

Israeli officials say they are destroying “possible tunnels”.  Palestinians think the Israelis are trying to provoke action by Gazans, that would then be used to justify a larger military operation.

Recently Hamas and Fatah unified, a move deplored by the Israeli government.  Israel responded by withholding Palestinian taxes (which Israel controls) from the government of Palestine.

 

Fukushima, U.S.

U.S. nuclear plant under NRC scrutiny

The Brown’s Ferry nuke plant in Alabama, is under investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Investigators say a cooling system failure is of “high safety significance”.

Last October the plant had a cooling valve problem, in reactor 1, that cause it to shut down.  Operators say the valve is fixed.  But there are concerns especially since the Brown’s Ferry plant is similar to the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Also, Brown’s Ferry Reactor 1 had been shut down for 22 years before being put back into operation in 2007.

 

 

 

Fukushima

TEPCo finds out hard way that it’ll take much longer to get control of Fukushima Daiichi

On 17 April, Tokyo Electric Power Company issued a plan to control the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.  That plan involved 51 steps, so far as of 10 May, only one is being done; the continued pumping of water to try and cool the reactors and fuel pools.

TEPCo admitted they did not expect such high levels of radiation inside the reactor buildings, and that has been the big hold up.  They can’t do much with such high levels of radiation.

Workers have finally entered the building of Reactor 1, but that is only to help with the water injection and cooling operation.  In other words, still stuck on step one of their 51 step plan.

Fukushima

Government instructs schools to simply bury their radioactive top soil! government experts have their head up their a…

Schools near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant have found radiation contamination in the top soil of their playgrounds.

Normally you remove the top soil and have it hauled away in sealed containers, as nuke waste.  But that’s not what the Japanese government is suggesting.

School officials are being told by the government to simply bury the radioactive soil deeper in the ground.  They say by burying it 50 cm (19.6 inches) into the ground, it will reduce the detectable radiation by 90%.  The suggestion is being made by the Japanese Education and Science Ministry (can you believe that!).

Hello, what happens when a child digs it up?  Or a dog?  This sounds like an expedient way to simply reduce detectable radiation levels, it’s still there waiting for someone to accidentally dig it up!

What about water soaking down through the soil, eventually hitting the ground water?  It’s going to pass through the buried radiation contamination, dragging some of it along with it to the ground water.