*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

Radiation readings in evacuation zones released

The government has released the results of detailed radiation measurements in evacuation zones around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The government measured radiation levels at 2,696 locations inside the 20-kilometer no-entry zone and adjacent evacuation zones in July and August. The measurements, mainly at schools and parks, are being displayed on maps on a government website.

Radiation was the highest at a location in Okuma Town, Fukushima Prefecture, about one kilometer from the plant. The level there was 139 microsieverts per hour, which translates into more than 700 millisieverts per year.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

700 mSv/year???

139x24x365=1217640... approximately 1.2 Sv/year!!!

Thanks and goodbye, R.I.P.

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yeah farewell glp i hope you get a planet where they will look differend when your on a planet and go to the next village.

am i the only one who hates it here on earth ? or

Lot of bad news lately.

Lord knows, no one wants to hear my rant! This is so much bullshit!!

I hate the fact I will see so many suffer and die on this island because of the Japanese ELITE - Just like what happened during the 40's. At least this time, they are killing their own as well. Some comfort I suppose.

Actually, their actions in the past was the cause of bombings in the first place - killing thousands of Japaneses as a result - perhaps that is and always has been their agenda after all. It is an island with little space for the elite to thrive.

Who knows what is going on... but, nonetheless, What assholes!!!!!!!

I've traveled the entire world - lived & worked in many - but, honestly.. never met a more fucked group of Elite like the Japanese have to deal with. May God be with the common man.

yeah thats best.

I hope not.

Less vulnerable? They hope?

It seems when there is a glimmer of dissention among the people the ELITE start their dictator-like rote. God help them all.

JD and RL you are right on. The elite of Japan show the utmost disdain for their countryman. The thing that I can't abide is the lying. Letting children suffer needlessly. Criminal actions.

Fukushima Blows Lid Off Exploited Labour

Fukushima has created public awareness on a section of nuclear workers castigated as ‘radiation- exposed people’ but forming the dark underbelly of an industry that depends on them," says Minoru Nasu, spokesperson for the Japan Day Labourers Union.

Nasu, a long-time labour activist, says that while nuclear industry relies heavily on unskilled workers it has left it to thuggish subcontractors to marshal them as daily wagers.

The common practice for the past several decades can best be described as "human auctioning," Nasu told IPS. Labourers gather at the crack of dawn at designated places such as public parks to be picked up by toughs who take them to the nuclear plants.

According to figures available with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Japan’s regulator, of the 80,0000-odd workers at Japan’s 18 commercial nuclear power plants, 80 percent are contract workers. At the Fukushima plant, 89 percent of the 10,000 workers in 2010 were on contract.

The men are given contracts to do unskilled, dangerous work inside nuclear plants for months together. There are no guarantees in the event of an accident, or long-term health insurance against such diseases as leukaemia or other forms of cancer which may surface years after exposure to radiation.

"When their work is completed, they are expected to simply disappear. Nobody cares about them," said Nasu.
[link to www.ipsnews.net]

In One Japanese City, Hot Spots to Avoid


Five months after a nuclear accident blew radioactive particles across the countryside, contamination in Date (pronounced DAH-tay) is deemed low enough to be manageable—as long as residents don't spend too long outside, and avoid spots such as parks and forests, where radioactive elements tend to gather. Radioactive cesium has a tendency to bind to earth, and flow along with silt in water.

[link to online.wsj.com]

Fukushima Unit 3: Steam-Explosion Theory

The signature event of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns was the large mushroom-cloud explosion of Unit 3 on March 14th. In contrast, the explosion of Unit 1 lacked any notable vertical projection. Yet Tokyo Electric Power Company assumes each was a hydrogen explosion in the upper-deck above the reactor. However, because dramatically different effects suggest different causes, let us consider an evidence-based model wherein the Unit-3 explosion was a steam explosion that vaporized tons of injected seawater into a mushroom cloud and that triggered secondary hydrogen explosions.

[link to lewrockwell.com]

- This theory makes more sense than anything from Tepco.

Graphic simulations.

Radioactive rice rumors rampant among Kansai region consumers

More than 40 percent of married women in the Kansai region are reluctant to buy newly-harvested rice grown near the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, according to a recent survey.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]

A closer look at North Anna

Multiple trip signals were coming in, and we will get to the bottom of it,” he said.
Jason Russell was Unit 1’s senior reactor operator in the control room when the earthquake hit.


[link to fredericksburg.com]

More Fukishima Reactors Melting Down

[link to www.huntingtonnews.net]

vid from RT with Busby.

UN fears grow over military aspect to Iran's nuclear program

Read more: [link to www.smh.com.au]

Three Florida Plants on Nuclear-Quake List; Utilities Unshaken

Three Florida nuclear plants are on a federal list of 27 reactors that could need upgrades to withstand earthquakes, but regulators and utilities downplayed the risks.

Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie 1 and St. Lucie 2 reactors appeared on the list, along with Progress Energy's Crystal River plant on the west coast.

[link to www.sunshinestatenews.com]

NRC critical of Mass. nuke plant post-shutdown

Federal nuclear regulators have issued a critical report following the unplanned shutdown of a Massachusetts nuclear power plant in May.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report released Thursday criticized Pilgrim's owners for inadequate training and enforcement of its standards following the automatic shutdown, which occurred as the reactor was being returned to service after a refueling and maintenance outage.

[link to www.businessweek.com]

Ft. Calhoun reactor gets go-ahead

Federal regulators gave the flood-idled Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station the green light Friday to move forward with plans for returning to service.

The earliest the plant could be brought back online would be the end of the month, and that assumes everything goes according to plan, said David Bannister, vice president and chief nuclear officer at Omaha Public Power District, which owns the reactor.

Much of the work that lies ahead involves the investigation and testing of equipment.

"Our intention is that we will be able to restart in the coming months; however, we will not compromise on safety for the public or our workers," Bannister said. "That means we absolutely will not restart the plant until we can ensure that it is safe to do so."
[link to www.omaha.com]


- Well that would be never in my view.

Ga. nuclear reactor is back online

Officials say a nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle is producing electricity again after automatically shutting down during routine maintenance earlier in the week.

The company said that the reactor shut off Wednesday during repairs to a valve that controls water flow in the unit. Officials say the shutdown posed no risk to the public.

[link to www.ajc.com]


- Bullshit. They don't just automatically shutdown unless something is very wrong. No risk to the public is always a lie.

This company wants to build 2 new reactors at this site. They are desperate to preserve the status quo.

Would you believe them knowing this underlying motive?

Nuclear Energy Institute Report on Japan's Nuclear Reactors, September 2, 2011 .

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues

The Japanese government has released the results of detailed radiation measurements taken from 2,696 locations within the 12.5-mile exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility and in adjacent evacuation zones. The highest reading, with an annual dose rate of more than 70 rem, is at a location in Okuma Town about a half-mile from the plant. Areas with readings of more than 10 rem per year extend out as far as 20 miles from the plant, while coastal locations north of the facility are showing an annual dose rate of less than 0.5 rem. The measurements, which are available on a government website, will be used to create a decontamination plan.
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has instructed Tokyo Electric Power Co. to improve safety measures for workers at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. Yesterday three workers were accidentally sprayed with highly radioactive water while they were working on the water decontamination system. On Aug. 28, two workers were exposed to beta radiation. NISA said that TEPCO failed to make use of past experiences with radiation exposure and that the utility company was late in reporting the latest incident.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. began work on Wednesday to temporarily shut down reactor 2 at its Sendai nuclear energy facility for regular inspections. The reactor was to be shut down by Sept. 1, making it the 42nd of Japan’s 54 reactors to be out of service.

Plant Status

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has begun to put into operation a more efficient method of cooling the core of Fukushima Daiichi reactor 3. TEPCO announced yesterday that it had begun using the core spray system to cool the slumped fuel core from above. The company will gradually increase the flow rate in the core spray system as it reduces the flow rate of the feedwater system it had been using to cool the fuel. The move is part of TEPCO’s recovery plan to reduce the temperature of reactors 1, 2 and 3 to below boiling.


[link to www.enewspf.com]

Advocates of nuclear power have not solved the problem of safe disposal
[link to www.heraldscotland.com]

-Well, they at least have a plan...

"Fort Calhoun Station Post-Flooding Recovery Action Plan"
[link to pbadupws.nrc.gov] (pdf / 1,2MB)

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French research suggests cesium-137 from Fukushima has arrived in Metro Vancouver

A French atmospheric-research organization has created a "simulation map" suggesting that the North America's west coast has higher cesium-137 levels than western Japan.

[link to www.straight.com]

Simulation Map of Cesium-137 Deposition Across the Pacific by CEREA Shows Contamination in US Greater Than That of Western Japan.

According to the map, the US, particularly the West Coast and particularly California, may be more contaminated with radioactive cesium than the western half of Japan or Hokkaido.

[link to www.salem-news.com]

More than 1,000 cattle running wild in Fukushima radiation zone

The Fukushima prefectural government said Friday that at least 1,000 cattle have escaped the confines of their farm homesteads within the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and have likely gone feral.

[link to www.japantoday.com]

Got doom?



Weekend Weather Disaster Round-Up Report

[link to www.pacificfreepress.com]

Red flags at a nuke plant

Since the near-disaster at its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor in 2002, FirstEnergy insists it has put its troubles behind it and renewed its focus on safety. But its performance at its Perry nuclear plant near Cleveland raises questions about that assertion.

[link to www.toledoblade.com]

How safe are we? Napolitano offers an assessment


Read more: [link to www.azcentral.com]