Fukushima reactors are at highest temperatures they've ever been!

Initially, the Japanese government wanted to evacuate Tokyo but didn't because they didn't want to deal with the fear and the panic. And now that the reactors are in "cold shutdown", supposedly, the temps are spiking higher than ever. The mayor lost all of his body hair from his neck down, and has had constant nose-bleeds since Fukushima started. Many of the Japanese feel that they should stay even though they know the risks because they feel it is their "duty" to absorb the radiation because it is their fault so they have to bear it and not leave. It's even their children's "duty" to endure it. So, lot's of Japanese are committing suicide, getting cancer, nosebleeds, and all sorts of radioactive symptoms and diseases. Where the fuck is the media on this?

http%3A//goo.gl/fb/qgWWm%20%20



• I'm really beginning to believe it is the end of the world as we know it, and perhaps, the end of the world, period.

• Just watched the documentary "Collapse" on Netflix streaming tonight, and yea...we as a species are fucked. And it's our own fault.

• Where do 30 million people evacuate to?

• [QUOTE]Initially, the Japanese government wanted to evacuate Tokyo When you do one of these, you don't want to start with your most preposterous notion. Save them for later on ater you've reeled the readers in with something which appears sensible.

• R4 is right. After all, you wouldn't want to discredit yourself by making wild false claims like the one about Saddam and his vast arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

• The truth is stranger than fiction, R4. and eventually stronger than disinformation but, hey, keep on swallowing the lies of the nuclear industry apologists and profiteers. Are they paying you too? Here is the report (in english) just published by the japanese national newscaster NHK detailing the exact scenario related by the OP: two weeks after the multiple meltdowns (which you'll recall were denied for six months) the japanese government had devised interim plans to evacuate Tokyo if the nuclear emergency worsened quickly (see link). People should have abandoned Tokyo anyway: hot particles from the nuclear explosion (not the falsely-claimed hydrogen explosion) were deposited throughout Tokyo. Countless numbers of those particles have now been ingested by the population who will continue to be irradiated for the rest of their lives (and their corpses for thousands of years more) causing countless cellular mutations and, inevitably, cancers.

  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120212_23.html

  Not%20OP.

• That's hot.

  One%20Night%20In%20Paris

• Here's something you can do. Go to Tokyo. Formulate a plan for evacuating it. Come back and post.

• Here's something you can do: eat nuclear fallout and die.

• Is that source legit?

• I like people like R4. They come in and lay a big turd, but don't provide any information to the contrary. Maybe OP's link is an exaggeration, and maybe it's not. If you think it is, then post something that dispels what you believe to be less preposterous and more sensible.

• [quote]Where the fuck is the media on this? No time, Whitney's dead.

• Santorum is surging and spreading, get back to us next year

• Why did they build reactors in well-known, frequently active earthquake zones? Anyone?

• the folly of mankind?

• You'd better believe there are evacuation plans for Tokyo. But not for the temperatures currently reached.

• so people who've been in tokyo since march ?

• Yes, R10. NHK is the main television network in Japan. Click on the word NHK on the link I posted at R6 to see their home page. I haste having to harp on this but DL is constantly invaded by sockpuppets who are paid to spread disinformation and disrupt meaningful discussion which may be contrary to their employer's interests. This is not a conspiracy theory, just a sad fact of life on the WWW. R4/R8 immediately piped in to derail the conversation about the truly horrific events that are continuing at Fukushima and attempted to make the conversation about the absurdity of a plan to evacuate Tokyo. That absurd plan was considered by the japanese government BECAUSE of this greater ABSURDITY: the toxic nuclear facility at Fukushima,. I say "absurdity" but abomination is a more apt description of what is going on there. It is the worst environmental disaster ever wrought by mankind (far eclipsing Chernobyl) and they have no idea how to fix it. We heard ALL about Chernobyl in the media because Russia was our political enemy - we hear NOTHING about Fukushima because the nuclear lobby has compromised the political process in most western countries. They're as bad as Big Tobacco - and just as cashed up. You owe it to yourself to check in occasionally at ENENEWS.com, an independent news aggregation site that doesn't editorialise or generate content itself but specialises in posting links to stories from across the WWW from other legitimate news sources, updated constantly..

  http://enenews.com/

  R6

• hate not "haste" @ R18

  R6

• Hmm, suddenly there are lots of trivial threads being started and old ones being bumped ("Men showing their taints", "Madonna's Superbowl half-time show" - I mean, REALLY!!?) I'm bumping this to the top again just to spite 'em.

• [quote]I haste having to harp on this but DL is constantly invaded by sockpuppets who are paid to spread disinformation and disrupt meaningful discussion which may be contrary to their employer's interests. This is not a conspiracy theory, just a sad fact of life on the WWW. If I were in the business of paying sockpuppets and they spent their time on a tiny, obscure gay discussion site, I'd fire their asses.

• Is there anyone posting here who lives on the west coast and owns a Geiger counter?

• People like R4 R8 (me) who live on the west coast, own a geiger counter (in one of the labs at work anyway,) have lived in Japan and been to Tokyo (and driven there) many times know quite well that any plan to evacuate Tokyo is .. searching for a proper adjective .. complete fucking nonsense. (Clue - where to exactly?)

• hawaii!

• [quote](Clue - where to exactly?) Denver International Airport, of course.

  Standing%20By

• Then again, had they replaced the faulty themometer before letting everyone go all nutso and giving the nuke pansies a week's worth of ammo, we wouldn't be wasting our time typing this morning. R4 R8 R23 and done

  Emily Litella

• Oshima Island?

  Tiger%20Dad%20says%20swim%21

• Keep them goddam illegal immigrants outta my country!

  teabagger

• Then again, if TEPCO and Japanese government official had been open and honest about the severity of the crisis all along, people wouldn't be suspicious of their motives now, would they?

• I was really relieved when the Obamas vacationed in Hawaii.

• Yeah everyone will care when a giant lizard or moth shows up!

  Toho

• Despite the best efforts of the "it's nothing to worry about" trolls this thread survives. If you want a quick summary of what the news corporations haven't being telling you about Fukushima and its obvious implications look no further than this recent video update from Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates. Arnie is an acknowledged expert witness on nuclear energy matters and, as a former nuclear industry executive, he has a sober, informed view of the industry and can speak authoritatively of its systematic failings and how to fix them. BTW, R4/R8/R23, you showed your true colours @ R26 with that "nuke pansies" line. You DO realise you're on DL, right? Yeah, I'm a pantywaist for giving a shit about one of the greatest environmental disasters ever seen?!! No-one could pay me enough to spout the shit you do. What a fucked up world you live in.

  http://vimeo.com/34349565

• Immature people buy into the notion that not to care = cool, when, all it means is that you're more robot than human. If you don't care about the survival of humanity, what the fuck do you care about? Grow the fuck up.

• R6 I liked when you said "haste." Made ya sound classy.

• Um, excuse me R21. It's not obscure if your name is Marcia Cross. We matter. People listen!

• Hi r32. I was the one who initially posted the fukushima diary and enenews links on another thread. Glad you started this thread OP. I have been freaking out about it.

• Wouldn't gieger counters be going nuts in tokyo if things were as bad as you say? And Hawaii?

• oops r32, forgot my message to you

• r32, did it again. I wanted to say thanks for finding out about Arnie. I didn't know his background. I've seen links to his videos and wasn't sure who or if he knew what he was talking about. Know I'll go watch.

• The Arnie Gundersen videos are great for those who know nothing about how nuclear energy works. He explains things so well. I just watched the February 9 video. He says there will be another one in a week or so.

• Where *are* the people in Tokyo supposed to evac to? Seems to me the whole island is dangerous now. Where would the people go? And how? If the gov put out an evac notice, it would be absolute chaos!

• You would have to be a complete moron to not think a melt down like that would all but kill the island of Japan. They have talked it down and continued to tell everyone that everything would be OK. It's worse than Chernobyl it's just that no one reports on it or talks about it.

• r41... split them among all the countries in the world. Who cares.. we can figure it out. Do we really want to watch all these people die over the next 50 years? They have allowed people to live 20 miles from the plant. Shame on them.

• People often accept their miserable fates. Sometime people feel like death is preferable to their circimstances...corporations have turned people the world over into slaves.

• We'll take their refugees. The U.S. could definitely use their brainpower right about now.

• [quote]Why did they build reactors in well-known, frequently active earthquake zones? The entire frickin' country of Japan is a collection of fault lines. Being situated along the Ring of Fire as it is.

  Johnny%20Cash

• It's no different r42 here in the States, we can't get the truth about our nuclear problems. How is that farmland around Fort Calhoun?

• The R4 et al. poster not only is a braggart but can't seem to string words together in a sensible way. If English is not a second language to you, bub, how about you take an extra five seconds to make your posts readable - you know, logical with English conventions used - so that your points, such as they are, can be assessed. Otherwise, how about fucking off, you homophobic know-it-all muddlehead.

• I can see the DL thread now: Fukushima Reactors Melt Down. 50,000,000 Japanese join Whitney Houston.

• Wwe aren't getting any truths about our nuclear facilities and since energy corporations are really into spending money for the upkeep up our planis. They prefer to keep their billions of profits in their offshore bank accounts.

• There's a nuclear plant in San Onofre, CA (San Diego) which makes a whole lot of sense also! Geniuses.

• I read somewhere that the Japanese government purchased a large parcel of land in India where they intend to build an unbelievable amount of residential and commercial property over the span of 2.5 years. Someone speculated the intention may be a refuge for some Japanese citizens. I wish I could remember where I saw the article, a quick google search did not turn it up, and I don't have time now to find it.

• They should move to the middle east. Apparently, when your people suffer a great calamity, you can go there and set up your own country.

• R53 Achmed Ahmadinejad what are you doing here? Don't you have a country to run?

  BonnieandClyde

• If this forces millions of Japanese to relocate then it will also force millions of Russians and Koreans to relocated too. Look at a map!

• R53=idiot.

• Exactly, kick everyone off their land...rob people of their homes, run people over with tanks. That's no problem in the middle east.

• R14 [quote] Why did they build reactors in well-known, frequently active earthquake zones? "They" are GE, never fucking care about earthquakes or its geographical history. Ultimately, when those Americans presidents and bureaucrats really push something, Japanese goverment can never say no. Onagawa plant, which was totally made by TOSHIBA, was hit by even bigger earthquake and higher tsunami but it's remained intact.

• This evacuation, if it ever comes to pass, is eerily like the Japanese film "Nippon chinbotsu" (released in English overseas as "Tidal Wave"). After a massive seismic/volcanic/tsunamic catastrophe levels Japan, the remaining citizens are forced to emigrate overseas to places like Australia. Who would have thought that this cheesy 1970's disaster movie would start to imitate life?

  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070447/

• [quote] We'll take their refugees. The U.S. could definitely use their brainpower right about now. I wish they'd come here. The Japanese have a great work ethic, value education, have respect for the elderly, and deep spiritual ties. They can leave the Yakuza on the island, tho...

• R37 is correct. They have gieger counters all over the country.

• After being the only country ever hit with two atomic bombs, how could their government let this happen? It was probably America's fault, right? We probably built inferior reactors there.

• I hope Maru is OK.

• R62 Japanese goverment can't say NO!, okay? We've got our gay culture shut down by Americans, too.

• agree r60... maybe it will inspire some to get off their asses.. (nope, not talking about those laid off)

• Lets swap out the Japanese refugees for the Red Staters. Tell them God wants them to move to Japan and will give them the power to cure the radioactivity.

• So perhaps now you will understand our actions during WWII.

  Empire of Japan

• wait huh what?

• R66 Pray the radiation away?

• Wtf is that link, OP? Is this a reliable source? Where is the quote from anyone who says it's their "duty"?

• Why the hell is OUR GOVT allowing them to keep on burning trash and let it into the wind or dump it in the sea? I see Japan trying to save themselves, but why doesn't our govt acknowledge or say "could you please not put that into the ocean ... tidal will reach us"

• You have to watch the video which is a compilation of Japanese news footage, twitters from Jap execs, etc. As far as the "duty" thing, I think it comes from the comments.. Sorry, no short-cut.

• Oh, and click the links in that article that take you to actual Jap news.

• Maybe it really is just a faulty thermometer

  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE81C0FN20120213

• OP's link is full of bullshit. R71 Too late. Way to late. Accept it. Oh, by the way, Russian has been dumping Radioactive waste into Arctic Ocean for a couple of decades. Chinese Sand Dust contain fucking Uranium and Plutonium which are all over China, Korea and Japan for decades, too. You've fucked, already.

• I wonder if this is why the potency of sperm has dramatically declined across the world?

• R71 That part makes poor Japanese people a little happier. "Our ocean, the tidal bring the Nuclear shit to the otherside, the GE country who built these faulty towers. Thank god."

• R77 The towers weren't what was faulty. It was first and foremost their protective wall which was breached (they didn't build it high or strong enough), and then their thirteen backup generators that failed as a result of all the water.

• homophobic know-it-all muddlehead here to counter (try to anyway) counter R48's brilliance. It was a faulty themometer, as Miss Emily keeps trying to point out. It will likely be an incorrect report on a leaky valve which will not cause the Keystone to spring a leak and poison the entire Ogallala in under three hours. On the evacuation, I have to correct myself and apologize to R48. I hadn't realized he was so easily piqued. it is possible that officials have investigated the Kanto utsukushii as a possible re-location site for Tokyo. It is fairly near the metropolis, almost unhabited, flat, with only scattered farms and grazing, and available.

• Wasn't it just announced a few days ago that we're building a new reactor here in America? The first in decades, I believe. Something is wrong with our country.

• Fukushima was hit by the biggest earthquake ever recorded; then swamped by a tsunami of epic size. Abandoned for days, its emergency cooling systems flooded. And...nothing happened. No China syndrome, or meltdown, or nuclear dawn. All that's left now is to peddle conspiracy theories and troll forums in the hope of getting some support - any support - for a lunatic idea.

• R81 Bullshit. They are never been abandoned at all. Didn't you read some newspapers? TEPCO plant workers never left. 50 veteran engeneers volunteered themselves for working there next day, while 2 GE engneers in fled away to US on the same day. Meltdown was occured, TEPCO and Japanese gov admitted it later. IAEA scaled Fukushima 7, same as Chornobil.

• Comparing it to Chernobyl is like linking the Costa Concordia to the Titannic. It makes good press even though the only common factor was water and a large boat. There was no meltdown at Fukushima. The plant was shut down with no significant leakage. Of course, its not to deny it was a crisis. And that Tepco lied its ass off to try and cover up its inadequacies. But ultimately, it was a managed crisis. To try and link what happened in Japan to some sort of industry conspiracy is daft.

• WTF? There were FOUR separate meltdowns at Fukushima, as reported by the international press. What kind of crack are you smoking to say "there was no meltdown"?

• I am not doubting this was a horrendous event and that it will have repercussions for DECADES, but why won't someone answer my geiger counter question??? I have a friend in Tokyo who checks his daily, and so far nothing alarming is happening with it.

  r37

• Here's a heartwarming story about radiation monitoring after the earthquake event and multiple Fukushima meltdowns. Taken from The Asahi Shimbun, the most respected daily newspaper in Japan.

  http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201202060076

  Geiger%20counters%3F%20We%20don%27t%20need%20no%20stinking%20geiger%20counters%2

• I would love to hear from that tall drink of water, ShinjukuBaby.

• Yes, good for the people who pushed back against the call to stop monitoring, r87. But now that they are continuing to monitor, why haven't the levels raised?

• [quote]Why did they build reactors in well-known, frequently active earthquake zones? FWIW, the reactor handled the earthquake just fine. The reactor was shutting down and the backup generators kicked in. It's the tsunami that dealt the blow by flooding the reactor and backup generators. The tsunami was fuckin' HUGE, much larger than anything they had seen in that area in hundreds of years, and unfortunately larger than anything TEPCO had anticipated.

• R89 But Tohoku Electoricity and TOSHIBA anticipated them and prepared well for Onagawa plant in Miyagi where they were hit by bigger earthquake and tsunami. TEPCO was totally fucked up because they are lazy and misjudged everything. Not "hundreds of years", Fukushima has the history of HUGE tsunami and earthquake in the past and they were all well-documented since..like, fucking 7th centuries!

• I don't understand. What does this have to do with Whitney Houston?

• I saw that, too, r52 - but am no help, as far as remembering where. In comments on the enenews site, I believe. And anyone kidding themselves about this is in for a horrible awakening.

• R85 I have my own brother who works in Yokohama (near US navy base), with his wife and a baby. They each of them have geiger counters, and according to what they say, ALL the housewives with kids have geiger counters and are crazily monitoring everywhere like mad people. So far, they believe they are safe. I also have some impression that they believe Japan based US military know better and well informed about everything so while their families are in there, they are also safe, is what I heard. Having said that, his wife's parents send us a nice bunch of fruits, persimmons, from Yokohama around Christmas time, I NEVER ate them. I didn't even touch them. I stopped buying everything from mainland over Okayama. I told my old parents to eat because you guys old enough and can handle them. My mother had a couple, then decided to give the rest to my aunts and friends in Chorus group...

• lol R93.

• The oil companies and our government tells us that dumping millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico hurt nothing and the government of Japan tells it's people that all the radiation will not hurt them...what about their unborn chiildren? We should know bullshit when we hear it.

• Geiger counters don't show internal radiation inside a person. That's the kind that will really hurt you. Also, geiger counters don't even measure some of the most dangerous types of radiation. They only measure some types. As far as "no one" getting a high reading, bullshit. There have been many readings, some inside Tokyo, near schools, or particular areas such as storm drains or gutters where radioactive water collects, that were very high. Some have been over the Chernobyl evacuation level by a lot. They just put a fence up and let the kids keep going to school close by. People are getting inundated with radioactive materials from everyplace, that is why their internal expsoure is increasing. This story is from a Japanese newspaper: Radioactive Firewood, This Time from Miyagi Prefecture: 730 Bq/kg Cesium in Wood Would Become 130K Bq/kg in Ashes

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-02-11T13:16:00-08:00&max-results=20

• 2077 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Dried Shiitake "Made in Japan" Sold in Yokohama.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/2077-bqkg-of-radioactive-cesium-from.html

• #Radioactive Okinawa Noodles and Pizzas from Radioactive Ashes from Radioactive Firewood from Fukushima Okinawa Times: ...In another restaurant, 39,960 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the ashes after the firewood was burned, which is about 5 times the level of the national safety limit of 8,000 becquerels/kg. The distributor who sold the firewood to Okinawa says, "We washed the firewood with a high-pressure washer, and it passed the test by Motosu City [in Gifu Prefecture]. So we thought it would be OK." The distributor will recall the firewood in question.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/radioactive-okinawa-noodles-and-pizzas.html

• 1.37 Million Bq/kg Radioactive Cesium in Earthworm Castings in Fukushima From a Professor's blog: I collected a lot of earthworms that are about 5 centimeters in length in Watari District of Fukushima City, about 60 kilometers away from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Earthworms were in direct contact with soil, and so I assumed they would be highly contaminated with radioactive cesium. As a preliminary test, I used the NaI scintillation detector over each worm. On the high end, there were several tens of thousands of becquerels/kg of cesium-137. All worms were highly contaminated, but I wondered at why there were wide variations between the worms. On closer observation, it seemed that the worm that still had the soil it had eaten remaining in the body tested high in radioactive cesium.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/137-million-bqkg-radioactive-cesium-in.html

• Fukushima's Leaf Tobacco Farmers Secured Contract with Japan Tobacco for 2012 Crop From KFB Fukushima Broadcasting Co.: 494 leaf tobacco farmers in Fukushima will grow leaf tobacco this year and sell it to Japan Tobacco (JT), a monopoly in Japan (50% of shares owned by the Ministry of Finance) and the 3rd largest tobacco and cigarettes manufacturer in the world, next to British American Tobacco. Did you know that there is no national safety standard for radioactive materials in leaf tobacco?

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/fukushimas-leaf-tobacco-farmers-secured.html

• TEPCO "Decontaminates" Parking Lot of Fukushima I Nuke Plant using brooms, dustpans, spatula, and a patent-pending dust collector. The results as announced by TEPCO (2/3/2012): Air radiation levels at 1 meter off the ground: Before: Average 82μSv/h,Maximum 355μSv/h After: Average 54μSv/h, Maximum 115μSv/h Air radiation levels at 1 centimeter off the ground: Before: Average 254μSv/h (microsiverts an hour) Maximum,240μSv/h* (*TEPCO's Japanese version of the document says "1,240".) After: Average 68μSv/h (microsieverts an hour), Maximum 181μSv/h For TEPCO's credit, the company didn't call the work "decontamination"; it was "Radiation dose reduction by collecting dust and small rubbles at the parking lot in front of Main anti-Earthquake Building of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station".

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/tepco-decontaminates-parking-lot-of.html

• R81 claims the Fukushima Daiichi I plant was "Abandoned for days, its emergency cooling systems flooded. And...nothing happened. No China syndrome, or meltdown, or nuclear dawn." Why on earth would you peddle this ridiculous lie? Within the first hour without electricity, the temperature started to climb and the reactors started to melt down. The people on site worked tirelessly to get the power going again before the reactors all exploded. They still melted down, and there is still footage of explosions. At one point, parts of the plant were so hot you could get a fatal dose in 16 seconds. They had to evacuate all but the most essential personnel. That's why the people who stayed were called the "Fukushima 50," although the real number was more like about 300. They were all expected to die horrible deaths of radiation for their country, yet they stayed to save Japan. Pretending these heroes never existed is like pretending no planes ever crashed into the World Trade Center and no firemen or policemen saved anybody. Lying is lying, but this is just plain ridiculous. These events are known around the world, how can you lie like that? They were nominated for "Person of the Year" for Time magazine in 2011.

  http://theweek.com/article/index/213796/are-the-fukushima-50-doomed-to-death

• Here's a timeline of the actual events of March 11 and after. Some excerpts: March 11 14:46: A 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 15:27: The first tsunami strikes the plant 15:30: The emergency condenser designed to cool the steam inside the pressure vessel of the No. 1 reactor fails 19:30: The fuel in reactor 1 becomes fully exposed above the water surface, and fuel damage in the central core begins soon after. March 12 02:44: Emergency battery power for the high pressure core-flooder system (HPCFS) for reactor 3 runs out. 04:15: Fuel rods in reactor 3 are exposed. 06:50: Although unknown at the time, the core of reactor 1 has now completely melted and falls to the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel 15:36: There is a massive explosion in the outer structure of unit 1. The concrete building surrounding the steel reactor vessel collapses as a result of the explosion March 13 07:00 (approximate): The water level in reactor 3 reaches the top of the fuel.[18] 09:00: Core damage starts occurring in reactor 3

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

• March 14 11:01: The unit 3 reactor building explodes, injuring six workers 13:15: The reactor core isolation cooling system for reactor 2 stops and, shortly afterwards, the water level within the reactor starts falling.[18] 15:00: A major part of the fuel in reactor 3 drops to the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel. 18:00 (approximate): The water level in reactor 2 reaches the top of the fuel. 20:00: Core damage starts occurring in reactor 2 March 15 11:00: A second explosion of reactor 3 20:00: A majority of the fuel in reactor 2 drops to the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel. Radiation of 400 millisieverts per hour is observed in the vicinity of unit 3. March 16 14:30 TEPCO announces the fuel rod storage pool of unit 4 may have begun boiling, raising the possibility that exposed rods could reach criticality By midday NHK TV is reporting white smoke rising from the Fukushima I plant, likely coming from reactor 3. All but a small grouof remaining workers at the plant are placed on standby because of the radiation of up to 1 Sievert/hour March 17 Self-Defense Force helicopters drop water four times on the spent fuel pools of units 3 and 4 March 18 Tokyo Fire Department dispatches thirty fire engines with 139 fire-fighters and a trained rescue team at approximately 03:00 JST, including a fire truck with a 22 metre water tower

• CNN, June 6, 2011 3 Nuclear reactors melted down after quake, Japan confirms Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced full meltdowns at three reactors in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami in March, the country's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters said Monday. [Tepco] had already said fuel rods at the heart of reactor No. 1 melted almost completely in the first 16 hours after the disaster struck. The remnants of that core are now sitting in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel at the heart of the unit and that vessel is now believed to be leaking. A "major part" of the fuel rods in reactor No. 2 may have melted and fallen to the bottom of the pressure vessel 101 hours after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant, Tokyo Electric said May 24. The same thing happened within the first 60 hours at reactor No. 3, the company said, in what it called its worst-case scenario analysis, saying the fuel would be sitting at the bottom of the pressure vessel in each reactor building. "On the basis of what they showed, if there's not fuel left in the core, I don't know what it is other than a complete meltdown," said Gary Was, a University of Michigan nuclear engineering professor and CNN consultant. And given the damage reported at the other units, "It's hard to imagine the scenarios can differ that much for those reactors." A massive hydrogen explosion -- a symptom of the reactor's overheating -- blew the roof off the No. 1 unit the day after the earthquake, and another hydrogen blast ripped apart the No. 3 reactor building two days later. A suspected hydrogen detonation within the No. 2 reactor is believed to have damaged that unit on March 15.

  http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-06/world/japan.nuclear.meltdown_1_nuclear-reactors-fuel-rods-tokyo-electric-power?_s=PM:WORLD

  This is history.

• Measurement of 6.20 microsiverts an hour at bike parking lot near Kashiwa High School "On 5 Feb 2012, I measured radiation around Kashiwa High School, Kashiwa city, Chiba pref. Japan.　 "The monitor indicates 0.29 micro Sievert per hour in air at chest hight, 6.20 on road side near a bicycle parking lot for students. The monitoring place is aprrox. 200 km from Fukushima Nuclear power plant, and 25 or 30 km for the center of Tokyo."

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSMlbOK2wr8&feature=autoplay&list=WL60CD6C2FD5A374DB&lf=BFp&playnext=2

• NHK News, October 18, 2011 A radioactivity level higher than that of areas near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has been detected at a Tokyo elementary school. A level of 3-point-99 microsieverts per hour was observed 5 centimeters above ground just beneath a rainwater pipe on Monday at the school in Tokyo's Adachi Ward. Radiation levels in Fukushima City about 60 kilometers from the plant were around 1 microsievert per hour on Monday. The ward is about 210 kilometers from the plant.

  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_24.html

• wtf!

• WTF Indeed. Why would someone start trolling and insisting that there was never any problem and/or meltdowns? It is international historical fact. A very creepy revisionism / propoganda entirely.

• ...and the meltdowns began immediately after the earthquake and before the tsunami hit.

• bump

• More reasons to be cheerful about Fukushima: the less-active fault line near the plant has been "awakened" by the march earthquake and stronger quakes closer to the damaged plant are likely (there was already a magnitude 7 quake in nearby Iwaki last April). The plant is still in a precarious state. Here is a seismic study of the area and how it since last march:

  http://enenews.com/full-paper-study-warns-risk-another-nuclear-disaster-fukushima-daiichi-be-directly-disturbed-large-quakes

• how it has been changing since march

• R113, the first couple of months there were some large discharges of radiation, and salt water was put in to stop the reactors from exploding. That caused the insides of the reactors to rust out over time. They and the pipes are leaking radioactive water now. The fuel rods, which haven't been kept covered by water continuously, burnt through the bottom of the containment vessels and are burning through the other layers slowly (China Syndrome). Radioactive particles have dispersed and blew into trees, pollen and over mountains, and got into the Gulf Stream. Some was carried to the U.S. and around the world. Particles gradually sifted onto the land, contaminating livestock, feed, roofs of houses, rivers and fields. The area 20-30 km around the plant is heavily contaminated. Several types of radiation in the area have a 30 year half life. They've found plutonium scattered around Fukushima prefecture. (Plutonium can't be picked up by Geiger counter). The half life is thousands of years. Some areas have heavy contamination, a few feet away it's ok. It lands in clumps or "hot spots." Radiation is soaking into the groundwater, plants are drinking it up. Radioactive water from the plant overflowed and ended up in the ocean, fish nearby are all contaminated. Fish is a basic necessity in the Japanese diet. Rice and tea are contaminated too. Food producers continue to ship contaminated food whenever they can. Wood is contaminated, burning it causes the radiation to concentrate a lot in the ash. They've been selling Fukushima trees for firewood far away. Now they're finding radiation in little kids' thyroids from Fukushima, about 1/3 of those tested. Normal would be 2%. Internal radiation exposure in humans and animals is slowly rising. They're finding particles further south over time, blown by the wind.

  The very short version.

• Many, very many are dying early because of this. Many mutations to dna also.

• What I don't understand is how the world's news was reporting non-stop on this, and then suddenly there was a blackout. It was like all newspapers - even allegedly progressive ones like the Guardian and the New York Times, alongsid the BBC and Channel Four news-sites - suddenly stopped all reporting, like they had got some kind of directive. I am not the only one who noticed. Most people I know here in London mentioned this. All tsunami coverage (not just Fukushima) stopped as well. It was like everyone decided people couldn't take any more bad international bad news. Very peculiar. And very disrespectful to the people suffering in Japan.

• R116 Nothing conspiratorial about it really. It's expensive to station or temp reporters in Japan. Once the great pictures quit coming, it was bugout by order of the bean counters, the same soulless bastards who bring you the "hard break" on cable. Besides, no one gets nuke or wants to. (See "Idiocracy" or "The Stupids." We're there.

• In the same way Cheney exploited 9/11 to pursue his policy of "regime change" in the Middle East (the first Gulf War), the nuclear industry has exploited Climate Change as a trojan horse to make their technology more acceptable to the world. "Green" nuclear energy? Give me a break! Fukushima has come at a very inconvenient time for them.

• Excuse me, that should be the SECOND Gulf War, not the first.

  R118%20

• R116's not wrong. There was a news blackout starting in about April. The worldwide government-sponsored university and research weather sites that posted radiation forecasts, blacked out one by one. Australian ABC has had a couple reporters doing good stuff. Russia Today had an American posted there. Don't know if he still is. Japan Today, an English-language site for immigrants, posts a few stories. It's the only place I know of that post readers comments, which sometimes tell more than the story. Other sites are Mainichi Daily News (English), Ex-Skf (Japanese-speaking blogger translating articles in Japanese media not available to English speaking public), and some others. I'll post a few.

  http://www.japantoday.com/

• The Mainichi Daily News

  http://mdn.mainichi.jp/

• Daily Yomiuri Online

  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/

• NHK News' online site. They also have an English language broadcast in the U.S. It's on the World Channel, available on Cox Cable. They're on a couple times a day, early in the morning and in the evening. West Coast time it's 6:am, 1:00, 5:30 and midnight.

  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html

• The World Channel is run by PBS, I didn't know that. The offical name is MHz Worldview. Here's a link to their website, you can see what channels broadcast it in your area. They also carry daily broadcasts of Al-Jazeera, Russia Today, Inside Taiwan, IBA News, South Asia Newline, France 24, EuroNews and others. They also have foreign TV films. Everything is in English, some film with subtitles. Check these guys out.

  http://www.mhznetworks.org/mhzworldview/carriage/

• For the technical point of view, here's a bunch of physicists jawing amongst themselves about Fukushima and nuclear power in general. More entertaining than it sounds. Keep in mind, these guys are hard facts people, they only use what data is credible to them. They tend to be somewhat conservative in their estimates.

  http://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106

• One of the most reliable bloggers around. He's a Japanese speaker translating articles about Fukushima. Before this, his blog was financial info, and he seems pretty level headed. He's done his homework since.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/

• Here's a controversial site that is often quoted. This blogger posts stories, in part from Japanese Twitter and blogs, from his regular group of sources. Some are people who are allegedly nurses and TEPCO plant workers, posting anonymously. Others are Japanese celebrity blogs, everyday people, news, whatever. He has a good grasp of Japanese culture. He's a native Japanese, his English is good but not perfect. He's recently voted with his feet and now lives in Europe, but feels he is performing an important public service. Some people feel he must be exaggerating the situation, or using bad sources. I leave it up to you to decide. Don't go there unless you want the living crap scared out of you.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/

• You can buy a Geiger counter on amazon, you know.

• You know what I don't get? Is how people are so willing to believe "professional" celebrated reporters who make a ton of money, in other words, a ton of self-interest driving them, versus people who have nothing to gain by reporting.. In fact, many people reporting on these sensitive issues have everything to lose, including their lives, if they go too far, or blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance. Until we can get past the mindset that celebrated, wealthy people are the only ones who report the truth, things will never change for the better.

• The North Asia Correspondent at ABC Australia is called Mark Willacy. He's covering Fukushima, and has done some outstanding work. He went into the no-go zone himself. He is an outlet for locals who have no one willing to listen to them locally. Here's a story he did January 20: Japan 'betrayed citizens' over radiation danger Check out his stories for today and Feb 13 as well.

  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-19/japan-delayed-radiation-details/3782110

• Here's the search results for ABC Australia's Fukushima coverage. If you go back, there's some good stuff if you want to catch up.

  http://www.abc.net.au/news/search/?query=fukushima&x=23&y=9

• If you do buy a Geiger counter, be aware, different ones work differently. None pick up all radiation. They pick up radiation in the atmosphere, immediately around the counter, not inside you where it will do the most damage. It's very hard to get an accurate measurement on food, for example. That's better done by other tests not available to you, although universities can do them. Research the topic before you buy.

• Keep in mind when you read all this stuff that no one who types about nuclear energy has an impartial view about it.

• The truth is, saturation of credible info about this will continue to be successful until there is a body count in Tokyo. Chernobyl was exposed by the Swedes and the French. Otherwise it also could have gone undeclared for years.

• I do R133. I think it's objectively insanely risky and typical that it was given completely unscientific and innumerate risk assessment by the brainless "experts" in American industry and universities. The true risk of a meltdown at a nuclear power plant, any nuclear power plant, over foreseeable circumstances in 1,000 years is effectively 100%. I think it's great that Obama was offended by Bush's political distortions of science and reality and wanted to put the experts back in charge. But it's also true that experts have their own agendas which are not always driven by their expertise, and this has been particularly true in the areas of economics (where right wing rich people funded all the research) and nuclear power (where there has been not one chair at one university funded by opponents of nuclear power).

• Now the Wall Street Journal has published a story about the latest tectonic study of the Fukushima region (I linked to that study @ R112). Another strong earthquake is very likely, this time right beneath the weakened plant itself (rather than 100kms away like last march). Of course the big question is whether the plant itself will last long enough for that to even be a factor. There's something very fishy about the "failure" of the temperature gauges in reactor 2.

  http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/02/15/could-fukushima-daiichi-be-ground-zero-for-the-next-big-one/

• [quote]Chernobyl was exposed by the Swedes and the French. Otherwise it also could have gone undeclared for years. Wow. Didn't know that.

• Ministry of Agriculture Enlists "Miss Campus" from 9 Universities to Be "Eat and Support East Japan" Ambassadors To support the agriculture, forestry sand fisheries industries in the disaster-affected areas, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed 9 "Miss Campus" (beauty queens) "Eat and Support student ambassadors." The nine young women will participate in activities for improving the food self-sufficiency rate. Upon being sworn in, each member spoke of their plans. Miss Seikei University (age 20) said, "I will eat food items from east Japan heartily". Miss Rikkyo Women's College (age 22) said enthusiastically, "I will come up with one desert a week using fruits from Tohoku, and eat it." Agricultural products like rice and vegetables from Tohoku and Kanto are contaminated with radioactive materials in varying degrees. You don't want to eat fish caught off the coast of Tohoku and Kanto if you don't want to eat cesium and strontium (and God knows what else). Fruits from Tohoku are particularly bad, with kiwis, blueberries regularly exceeding the provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium). Peaches, apples, persimmons have all been found with radioactive cesium. Mushrooms are routinely found with radioactive cesium easily exceeding the safety limit. Comment at the bottom of the article: I teach at Aoyama Gakuin University, and am embarrassed that one of our air-headed students is campaigning to encourage other Japanese people to suicide with her...

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/ministry-of-agriculture-enlists-miss.html

• I loved Fukushima in Flower Drum Song!!

• [quote] Another strong earthquake is very likely Yes. EVERYONE says that, and many people talk about Mount Fuji activity. This may be a horrible thing to say, but one of things I want to see befoer I die is Mount Fuji explosion. I read that it occurs once a several hundreds years. Mount Fuji is an active volcano, and the last time eruption was 1707, which was really big. Before 1707, it was 1511, 1435, 1083, 1033....so on and on.

• You may get your wish, R140.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/02/new-crater-appeared-on-mt-fuji/

• HOLY CRAP, r141!!!!

• !@!!

• I'm holding out for the big one, Yellowstone.

• [quote]Miss Seikei University (age 20) said, "I will eat food items from east Japan heartily". Stupid, stupid girl.

• I know, R145. It is a truly tragic situation over there. Much worse to come, sadly.

  Naked%20human%20folly.

• The odds of a magnitude-7 earthquake hitting Tokyo within the next four years is 70%. Before the Tohoku earthquake in March 2011, it was 70% within the next thirty years.

  http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-24/asia/world_asia_tokyo-quake-forecast_1_magnitude-large-scale-earthquake-big-earthquake?_s=PM:ASIA

• seismic bump

• .

• We lost a city with Katrina, will we lose a whole country in my lifetime? Maybe it's already happened in Africa and I wasn't aware. It does seem like between quakes, storms and droughts, the earth is turning against us.

• Can you blame her, r150? After all of the shit we've dumped, used up and fucked up? I'm surprised we haven't had a mass human extinction yet.

• Even Reuters is now writing about the multiple reactor meltdowns in the days after the quake and how the japanese government was devising plans to evacuate Tokyo should the situation have become even more catastrophic.

  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/17/us-japan-nuclear-scenarios-idUSTRE81G09120120217%20

  Coming%20soon%20to%20a%20reactor%20near%20you%21

• Just a *bump* in the nuclear road?

• Alright, I'm going to go off-topic for a second. I've been bumping this thread over the last couple of days and it's my belief that the sock puppets, having failed to prevent this thread starting (read the early trollish replies) are now burying it down the thread list by bumping old threads and inventing new, trivial ones. They don't care if no-one ever replies to these stale or irrelevant threads, the intention is to bury the offending thread (this one being a prime example). Here are some of their techniques: For instance, someone just posted a thread asking if U.K. drivers sit on the other side of the car and drive on the other side of the road? Like they really want to know and they think the DL would be interested? Another strategy is to start threads about subjects that are already covered elsewhere: for example the overabundance of Whitney threads. Yes, I know she's a hot topic right now but many of these new threads are just restating previously posted threads. Another topic that spawns multiple threads is Mitt Romney. Try bumping this thread and see how long it stays on the first two pages of the thread list and see the bogus nature of the threads made up on the spot or dredged up from the depths that suddenly proliferate, bumping this one down the thread list. I truly believe this is a concerted sock puppet campaign. Yeah, yeah, call me paranoid - but just watch. In the manner of motorists honking support as they pass a picket line, I am now asking you to BUMP your support of threads that vested interests don't want people to access. And watch what happens. In the same

  Read%20between%20the%20lines

• r154, I don't agree. People start dumbass threads all the time. I know I have here. Just something pops in my head and I post. Honey, I have been watching the F-diary and enenews since October. It is so slow how the news is picking up. Quite bizarre like they don't want to fuck with "someone". Reuters and other agencies are now reporting.... believe me a vast improvement. Hang in there.. it is getting better. How they report what is going on makes peoples eyes roll in there head. It is hard to understand.

• The guy who blogs Fukushima-diary did a couple posts about thinking about taking his site down. He says nothing he does will help the people he left behind in Japan. He sounds like he is depressed and burned out. If you feel like sending him an encouraging comment, send it over here. Please don't send anything snarky, he's been through hell.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/02/i-cant-help-disappointing-you/

• r156, I read it yesterday. And I think all the comments were posted today. Do you think depression or pressure from outside.. he mentioned attacks a few days ago. Oh, agree, please no snarky to this guy. He's been through hell.

• He made some comments right before he left Japan. He seemed to think his life might be in danger. When he arrived in Europe, he said he would not disclose what country he was living in, and he had gone to a lot of trouble to hide his computer's location too. He was sick when he first arrived. He seems to be feeling better, but he also says he's afraid he left too late for his health. He's said recently he's living with a host family. About the time he left, a Japanese politician had suddenly "comitted suicide" in a car, though supposedly the gun was found outside the car, and other circumstances made it suspicious. Nobody questioned it. It's well documented that the yakuza have been involved in supplying workers to Fukushima from the very first. There's also been some cases of radioactive bottles buried in parking lots, or under somebody's house. My guess is the yakuza is threatening people, or punishing them. I don't think he's crazy to worry. I got the impression part of his reason for leaving might be some kind of threats. I think he's just really tired. He's posted a lot about feeling obligated to help by keeping people informed, but I think it's really taking it out of him. PTSD maybe?

  R156

• I 100% agree R154.

• The fact that R154 believes as he does about the conspiracy among us DL nuke-lovers to bury the truth, well, that should tell you all about this controversy.

  Going over in Mar/April for the cherry bossoms

• Enjoy, r160.

  I%20mean%2C%20REALLY%2C%20now

• *

• Here's footage of the PR event of the college beauty queens vowing to eat Fukushima produce. It's described as "supporting" the region that had the "earthquake." Nothing about radiation at all.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/video-of-miss-campus-eat-and-support.html

• Feb 15: Over 1 Million Bq/kg of Radioactive Cesium from the Mysterious Black Dust in Minami Soma City A blogger, "Night that never ends", has been measuring radiation on the strange, black dust he finds in many locations in Minami Soma City, mostly on the road surface. His geiger counter (Inspector) measures all alpha, beta, gamma radiations and x-ray, and his measurement on the surface of this black dust was 295 microsieverts/hour. Assemblyman Ooyama apparently sent the sample to Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University. Professor Yamauchi did the test, and here's the result, from Assemblyman Ooyama's blog: Cs-134: 485,252 Bq/kg Cs-137: 604,360 Bq/kg TOTAL: 1,089,612 Bq/Kg Converting the total number to Bq/square meter, 1,089,612 × 65 = 70,824,780 Bq/m2 "Night that never ends" says in his blog this substance is very light-weight and blows off easily.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/over-1-million-bqkg-of-radioactive_15.html

• Feb 17: More on Minami Soma's Mysterious Black Dust: Spectrum Analysis by Prof. Yamauchi, and High Alpha Radiation Detection by an NGO The data sheet of the black dust with over 1 million Bq/kg of radioactive cesium from Minami Soma, as Professor Yamauchi measured, from Naoya Fujiwara: Minami Soma's Assemblyman Koichi Ooyama says he simply took the sample to a laboratory in Minami Soma instead of waiting for the city officials to come back to work on Monday. The result, presented in his blog, was: dried soil Germanium semiconductor detector for 600 seconds 718,000 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium] margin of error 10% He says the sample was from a different location than the sample that Professor Yamauchi had tested. Assemblyman Ooyama says he will be giving a press conference at 11AM on Monday February 19. (Tweet that just got deleted) Emergency survey by OPCOM Institute of Isotopes, special arm of HCR, upon the discovery of "black dust". In the parking lot of a public housing project of Minami Soma City, measurement was: γ＋β＋α：61.321μSv/h γ＋β：15.622μSv/h which means α: 45.699μSv/h ----- At that rate, they'd reach Chernobyl evacuation level in about 5 days.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-on-minami-somas-mysterious-black.html

• Now the japanese Emperor has heart problems (a common symptom of radiation poisoning). There has been a huge increase in heart attacks in children near Fukushima since the disaster. Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, toured Fukushima in April. In November he was hospitalised with Bronchitis-like symptoms and fatigue (also common after radiation exposure).

  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120218_20.html

• New study links childhood leukaemia to nuclear power plant radiation: In the latest development in the debate over to what extent there is a link between childhood leukaemia and radiation from nuclear power plants, a French study has found a doubling in the incidence of the disease among children under 5 living within 5-kilometre radius of a nuclear plant. The study, conducted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (INSERM) and reported in the International Journal on Cancer in January 2012, looked at child leukaemia cases nationwide diagnosed between 2002 and 2007, with addresses coded around 19 nuclear power plants. It demonstrated a stastically signficant doubling of the incidence of leukaemia childhood near nuclear power plants. The French study confirms an earlier German study, known as the KiKK, which found a doubling of the incidence of child leukaemia near nuclear power plants, and an increased risk of 60 per cent for all childhood cancers. The KiKK findings were confirmed by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

  http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1235795/new_study_links_childhood_leukaemia_to_nuclear_power_plant_radiation.html

• Imagine if we DIDN'T love children! Yes, what would it be like if an entire island nation just....

  Atlanteans

• Is it me or has recently some really nutty conspiracy people been posting on enenews. The nuclear workers aren't posting anymore, and I think it is b/c of them.

• Maybe they can put the reactors into a bomb and drop it over Iran and tell them they here we'll help you build your reactor.

• Have there been any reports of increased rates of birth defects in humans, in Japan or anywhere downwind of Japan? It's been more than nine months, now.

• r171, I haven't seen any. The govt isn't exactly telling anyone anything.

• No one will talk about it. They didn't talk about it after Chernobyl. Every family kept the heartache to themselves.

• From today's Wall Street Journal: [quote]“It’s still too dangerous for workers to enter reactor No. 3,” said Yasuki Hibi, an engineer with Kajima Kensetsu who heads a team of 50 workers responsible for removing debris, in an interview at the command center inside the Fukushima Daiichi compound. Mr. Hibi said they have to limit work to two three-hour shifts per day.Still, the message from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. remains that the crippled reactors have been tamed.

  http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/02/20/another-look-at-the-inside-of-fukushima-daiichi/

  snafu

• The U.K's Telegraph newspaper mentions a secret U.S. plan to evacuate 90,000 citizens (its own, obviously) in the days after the nuclear disaster: [quote]Water-bombing the stricken plant from army helicopters was then attempted. The pilots knew that Soviet aircrew who had done this at Chernobyl later died of cancer. But the wind was too strong for accuracy, and by now the US government was secretly planning to evacuate 90,000 citizens from Japan. What finally worked was Tokyo firefighters spraying sea water into the plant, showing great bravery. They had no training to deal with nuclear disasters, and weren’t sure how much radioactivity they were being exposed to. This has been revealed in a BBC documentary screening this thursday. Trolls, mark that one in your calendar. You'll be busy here that day.

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/9091069/The-aftershocks-still-hitting-Japan.html

• Pull up to the bumper, baby.

• ,

• enenews... some good stuff was posted today

• Palast had their number. The diesel pumps were never designed to work.

• I want to see the BBC2 documentary that aired last night. It won't let me view it b/c I am not in the UK. damn

• From Fukushima-Diary blog: A Japanese journalist, Iwakami Yasumi has been suffering from severe diarrhea since he visited Fukushima Plants. He tweeted: "I've been sick these 3 days. Especially yesterday and today, I suffer from severe diarrhea and stomachache. "I had my blood tested at hospital. Inflammation reaction was at the maximum. The white blood cell's counter was about in the middle of the normal range. Doctor says, it's going to increase and strengthen the immune system. The climax hasn't come yet, he says. Had an injection of anti-biotics. had a sudden fever since a while ago. can't stop shivering, wearing many clothes. Go for it, my immune system." Fukushima-diary is living on contributions to his website. He's a Fukushima refugee living in Europe now. He's really doing a valuable job nobody else seems to be doing. If anyone has any money, throw him some at his website. He says, rather endearingly: This article took me a whole day to write. I’m aware that this article will makes you awkward. It does make me. Currently, the donation is the only money source of me. I don’t want to go back to advertisement economy, which is only about traffic, pagerank, and adsense. I want to keep it quality. 5USD is totally enough. Still it’s so much better than advertisement in many meanings. I would love you to throw me a penny if you find an article useful. I’m working all day to find useful information from multiple continents. Please don’t go free ride. I trust you. Sorry for the strange post. It’s not just money. It’s also the feedback and confident in what I’m doing. I hope you to understand it.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/02/japanese-journalist-suffers-from-severe-diarrhea-after-visiting-fukushima-plant/

• r181, he also was going to close it down a few days ago... so don't donate too much.

• Sorry if the above isn't appropriate. This is just a really unusual situation. He's giving us info nobody else is, and if we lose him as a news source, we will all be worse off. I wouldn't normally post something like that.

  R181

• A legacy of the incompetence of Stone & Webster. Why am I not surprised?

• r181, I didn't mean to come across harsh at all. I think I am going to donate about 40. I just didn't want someone going bongo.. b/c he has been apprehensive about continuing the blog. No, I think a donation is nice, it was also a warning that don't be suprised if it is closed down. I hope this clears that up r181. He appears to be a great guy.

• I missed this earlier: evidence that the so-called hydrogen explosion at Fukushima was in fact a nuclear explosion, dispersing core materials up to 45km from the plant.

  http://enenews.com/mag-curium-and-plutonium-outside-fukushima-plant-sign-of-nuclear-explosion-at-reactor-no-3-broken-spent-nuclear-fuel-rods-may-have-been-scattered-around

• R182, No problem, I actually wrote my comment before you did, it just posted later. I did wonder if it was appropriate, but I feel so bad for this guy. He stuck his neck out when everybody else was toeing the party line in Japan. He seems depressed and demoralized, but how would we feel in his shoes? How would you feel if you knew most of the U.S. was rapidly becoming inhabitable, maybe all of it would be in a couple of years, top to bottom, and nobody talked about it? When you tried to tell people, half of them said you were crazy, even though you were just gathering information that in most cases was available to anybody. Still, 99% of people just stayed there and didn't even try to escape, or left for a while, then came back, kids and all. Maybe escaping himself is giving him survivor's guilt.

  R181

• r181, I bet a lot of guilt, his family is still in Japan. I don't know how all of this has not exploded in their media. Would we do the same? r186, by chance, do you know the difference between hydrogen explosion and nuclear explosion? I ask just to ease my need to go look up. Nuclear crapola is one stuff subject to learn.

• [quote]Maybe escaping himself is giving him survivor's guilt. I think you're on the money here, R181/R187. I can't imagine how I'd cope in the same circumstances. Not very well, I'm sure.

• A day late and a dollar short - New York Times

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/world/asia/japan-considered-tokyo-evacuation-during-the-nuclear-crisis-report-says.html%3F_r%3D1%26nl%3Dtodaysheadlines%26emc%3Dtha2

• bump

• Reminder: Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown on PBS 2/28/12 @ 9 pm central

• Why the hell did they make Toyko firefighters handle this? They weren't experienced. Should have sent Tepco executives in...

• Well I missed most of it.

• r194, it was good. Should have actually been a series of shows. I teared up at one point. They were fucked from DAy 1

• "Where do 30 million people evacuate to?" Let's give them Detroit.

• better yet r196, florida

• I've read around about people being evacuated here... many say it would not happen because of the radiation. Once you leave the area, you still have radiation? you emit it and others would be affected... ??? can anyone clear that up for me?

• This bullshit with Japan is American media propaganda!! I know it's hard to believe but people living there aren't hearing this shit!! the game the US is playing worldwide with foreign policy is an evil one. If you're interested you have to look beyond the official media. Look up HAARP. Benjamin Fulford and follow the trail to come to your own conclusion.

• I always put on my sunglasses and cover my mouth when a Japanese car pulls up next to me at a red light.

• We were taught in high school that a dead body can be used to block radiation in the event of nuclear fallout, R198. Refugees might have the equivalent of radiation therapy for cancer - little danger to others, but harmful to the individual.

• Yeah, Florida's fucked, anyway.

• anyone else been reading the articles @ enenews in the past 48 hours...

• They closed the Chernobyl reactors up. They haven't done anything close to that with the Fukushima reactors. Sorry but that country is fucked. The largest city in the world is expecting a 9.0 earthquake within the next 10 years. What will happen? They had tried so hard to prepare for a tsunami, it didn't work. The land dropped by three feet, allowing the sea to come over their barriers.

• hey r204. I just read today how they dug under Chernobyl to put concrete under so it wouldn't hit the ground. They did it immediately. What the hell have they been doing in Fukushima? By googling you can still see the effects of Chernobyl on the people still. Fukushima hasn't done anything like Chernobyl... that country is so fucked. So much is coming out within the last few days. Everything predicted by the comments at websites. It's downright scary.

• They said they avoided the worst case scenerio...I wonder if they really did? What happened to the rods?

• r206, which reactor at Fukushima? There were 3 that melted. Don't forget the spent fuel pond (correct term?) at top of each reactor.

• How long did it take the russians to build the Sarcophagus around chernobyl? And why are the japanese not building one on all three reactors to stop the release of radiation?

• r208, I don't know how long it took, but they started pretty quick so it wouldn't hit the earth.... Japanese haven't even started and we are almost to one year. I think, and r208, I am guessing, within 2 weeks/a month. It was immediate reaction. I want to say 1 weeek... but that is a Disney version. Many people lost their lives to do this for Chernobyl. Many are still losing their lives at Fukushima.... at least the Chernobyl knew it was something that would make a difference. At Fukushima, they just aren't doing shit there. they spend more time covering-up

• There was such a black out of information coming from the problem, it's as if they just ignored it, it would go away. You can't see radiation. People don't die within minutes. I guess they can sweep it under the rug.

• From this new article in the NY Times, it appears as if the experts are saying that there is no real threat, and that parts of the evacuated areas are safe. I wish they had included the experts who say there is real danger in their meeting.

• And here's the link:

  http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/sizing-up-health-impacts-a-year-after-fukushima/%3Fscp%3D1%26sq%3Dfukushima%26st%3Dcse

• In the beginning of this thread a few posters mentioned that the Japanese gov't purchased a huge tract of land in India immediately after the Fukishima disaster and that they're planning a rapid 2.5 year construction project to build up housing developments there (possibly so the rich and well-connected can escape from Japan with their families). Does anyone know more about this? Any news articles that discuss it? I have not been able to find any.

• I think the damage will be seen for decades to come. Maybe if they bought land in India...it's because after this last earthquake, they realize an even worse disaster could occure, an even larger earthquake could be coming and they live on a rather small Island.

• here's another article (from Time magazine) that says the threat is/was never all that bad. I'm skeptical. They also try to minimize the fear of radiation poisoning by saying it's statistically not nearly as dangerous as air pollution from coal-burning, or dying in a car accident. that argument just is not reassuring, especially if you look at the effects irradiation has long term through multiple generations. once radiation fucks up a developing embryo, the genetic mutations can take multiple centuries to breed back out of the population.

  http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/03/02/nuked-how-bad-was-fukushima/

• You HAVE to watch this YouTube video, taken from japanese TV. It explains the deadly knife-edge situation at Fukushima Unit 4. Another significant earthquake (nowhere near as big as the original one) could further crack the damaged fuel pool with catastrophic consequences for Tokyo. This situation cannot be addressed until December NEXT YEAR at the earliest. There have already been dozens of earthquakes nearby since last march. That terrible, distant earthquake also re-activated the fault lines closer to the plant. Turn on the english captions by pressing the CC tab below the screen.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DeJi-o4F8eOo

• r216, I watched it earlier. My God that is frightening. Did you read recent comments... many are speculating that the pool is already cracked and the govt is easing the public into the news.

• That country is fucked, I tried to tell you. Stay out of Tokyo.

• as for Chernobyl, the sarcophagus was an emergency measure that was undertaken to bury the reactor under concrete, but it was never meant to be a long-term solution. something like 500,000 people (dubbed "liquidators") worked to build the sarcophagus and they've been getting cancer and dying at a rate of about 7,000 a year since. already, the concrete sarcophagus is cracking. I don't know how much money it'd cost to reinforce it, rebuild it or come up with a permanent solution to dispose of the nuclear waste in Chernobyl (probably in the billions), but it looks as though the government has little intention of doing any of those things. people are even being allowed into the town of Pripyiat as tourists. just because it isn't visible doesn't mean it's gone away.

• I just watched a great video on Chernobyl. It doesn't an excellent explanation on what happened. The Liquidators.... heros every one of them.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiCXb1Nhd1o

• Wow, r219, just posted about Chernobyl video I saw, and even commented about Liquidators. So bizarre... Liquidators are interviewed on the video I linked. I do want to add, after seeing that video.... I need to stop complaining about.. well, just about everything I do complain about.

• Before the quake, Chinese were buying up all of Japan's agricultural land.

  http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2010/fears-growing-over-land-grabs

• I would think there are lots of better places for Japan to buy as a refuge than India. Thailand, for example.

• This young Russian gal has been photographing Chernobyl's surroundings for years.

  http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

• A cloud of distrust hangs over Japan The Fukushima nuclear disaster has left residents doubting their government, their source of energy, even the food they eat.

  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-trust-20120311%2C0%2C5531592.story

• So, will Nevada or New Mexico sell rights to dump Fukushima garbage?

• W&W R129.

• On the contrary, it will be dumped in some state which doesn't charge.

• Yep, poor people will be living on a timebomb. I wish they would build a really expensive subdivision on the radioactive waste.

• Japan has banned the sale of foreign "fear-inducing" geiger counters. If I shut my eyes, block my ears and go "La, la la..." it will all go away.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/03/foreign-dosemeters-are-banned-to-sell/

• That's kind of scary. But don't worry, we are all on the verge of one terrible disaster or another.

• [quote]That's kind of scary. But don't worry, we are all on the verge of one terrible disaster or another. That's kind of inane.

  Don%27t%20worry%2C%20be%20happy.

• What was I suppose to say? Sorry, that you will die from cancer in 10 years? I was just trying to say, WE FEEL YOUR PAIN! For christ sake, we live in America, our country never tells us the truth either.

• Your post sounded a little ambiguous to me. Sorry for being snippy.

  R232%20etc.

• Don't apologize. It's just...really, what can you say?

• Fuku keeps getting hit by earthquakes, not good my friends. And now they are telling the Japanese citizens slowly. goddamn I am pissed. Children are cleaning the radioactive dirt from around their schools.

• They really expect a huge earthquake under Tokyo and Tokyo is the largest city in the world. No wonder they made all those Godzilla movies...Godzilla equals huge earthquake If I knew any families from Japan I would beg them to move over here except with Republican rule...which is worse? Dying from an earthquake and tsunami or living under Republican rule? I would take the earthquake.

• r237, it will be radiation (future generations.. google "Chernobyl Children") and earthquake. I pick the damn Republicans.

• thank you to those keeping this thread alive

• No-one ever mentions anything about coolant recycling anymore (it's impossible) or where they are storing the contaminated waste water that is created cooling the reactors. Why? Because it is all going straight into the ocean. Reactor 2 alone uses 9 tons of water EVERY HOUR! Can you imagine how much radioactive pollution that is every day from all four reactors? They are saying it will take decades to clean up the mess though the reality is they have no idea yet how they will EVER be able to do it. The technology for that doesn't exist. DOESN'T EXIST! Will it ever? Meanwhile, the most toxic chemicals known to humanity pour into the ocean at a prodigious rate every second - FOREVER! This is affecting ALL of us, not just Japan.

  http://www.startribune.com/world/145007755.html%3Fpage%3Dall%26prepage%3D2%26c%3Dy%23continue

• In the USA they would never tell us. Next big earthquake there will be a blackout on nuclear news.

• When our oceans are dead from it, what next?

• Oh reactors, we love you get up!

• They never told us about Hanford or Savannah River Plant disasters, why would they tell us about anything else?

• Fukushima No. 4 Reactor is still in a perilous state - and will be for the foreseeable future. [quote]If the storage pool breaks and runs dry, the nuclear fuel inside will overheat and explode, causing a massive amount of radioactive substances to spread over a wide area. Meanwhile Fukushima keeps experiencing medium-sized earthquakes. A larger one may have catastrophic consequences for the fragile No. 4 Reactor, eclipsing everything that has happened up to now. [quote]If this were to happen, residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area would be forced to evacuate.

  http://enenews.com/breaking-mainichi-expert-sr-writer-govt-sources-say-no-4-pool-a-grave-concern-storage-pool-barely-intact-we-have-no-time-to-humor-senseless-thinking-of-those-who-downplay-the-risks

• Further to my post at R245, Nuclear expert Dr. Helen Caldicott says if No. 4 Reactor collapses she is leaving Boston and moving back to the southern hemisphere where it is (relatively) safer from Fukushima fallout. Watch the full video here as well.

  http://enenews.com/caldicott-if-spent-fuel-pool-no-4-collapses-i-am-evacuating-my-family-from-boston-to-southern-hemisphere-video

• The true enormity of the situation at Fukushima is finally being spoken about openly: [quote]Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public Hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, on the Fukushima nuclear power plants accident. Before the Committee, Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4—with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground—collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. [quote]Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival.

  http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/04/682.html

• oh jesus christ on a crutch!

• ABC News just reported that researchers are finding that kelp off the california coast have high levels of radiation...

• link

  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/04/10/radiation-from-japan-disaster-found-along-calif-coast/

• Niponese make much like. Chung Ho from Korea and in the World War, they come to Korea before and say they help us, but they rape our woman and make merry with wine and take factories and make us learn the Japanese. Then they make the North able to be with the Communism. Bad people do not believe them because they make good radio. They lie to decieve truths

  Chung%20Ho

• Why are we using power sources that have the potential to destroy the world? Isn't that a bit...short-sighted? And to think these plants are all over the globe. God, humans are so fucking stupid. It's one thing to kill ourselves off, it's another to kill off the rest of the living planet.

• Because their "experts" say, Oh there is a 1 in a trillion chance of that happening. Not only is it a lie, but over time the chance of an accident at every nuclear plant is 100%. We can't repair our roads and bridges, but you think that every few dozen years nuclear plants will get a makeover? Get real!

• "The latest from Fukushima is, and I was shocked when I saw this… We know there’s been partial meltdowns before, TMI, Chernobyl. The core collapses but still some of it is intact, it’s a partial meltdown. The latest result from Fukushima is the nuclear power plant suffered at 100% liquification. The core completely liquified. There’s nothing left. There’s no hook. There’s no remaining collapsed core, the core completely liquified."

  We%27re%20doomed

• "Unit 2 we now know completely liquified. We’ve never seen this before in the history of nuclear power. A 100% liquification of a uranium core." Dr. Micio Kaku

• So how long before we all die of cancer?

• r254 and r255, will you please post a URL link to your source(s)? I could not find confirmation of the supposed Unit 2 core liquification on the Fukushima Diary website (though I have read a lot of extraordinarily disturbing stuff there recently, including reports that some people in the irradiated areas have begun bleeding from their eyes...he also posted an article about Chernobyl that said even though scientists thought Cesium-137 would have a half-life of about 30 years, evidence from the Chernobyl disaster site indicates that the stuff in reality has a much much longer half-life and it'll be over 300 years before the area is inhabitable rather than less than 100 as they originally predicted). Dr. Caldicott, whose lecture was linked in this thread earlier, said that if/when the Fukushima plant melts down she plans on evacuating her family from Boston/USA to her native southern hemisphere country of Australia. Anyone know if she's left yet?

• R257, Dr. Caldicott says she's moving to the southern hemisphere with her family as soon as Reactor 4 collapses. It's in a precarious state and another (highly likely) large earthquake or extreme weather event could very well make that happen. They are many years away from being able to address any of the serious engineering problems they will need to solve to stabilise that site. Other reactors are equally problematic there. Link to the ENEWS report about reactor 2 (which has through links to the original story).

  http://enenews.com/professor-shocked-core-completely-liquified-left-hook-remaining-collapsed-core-chernobyl-partial-meltdown-video

• If you ever want to observe brainwashing in action, discuss Fukashima to an office drone on the west coast. I read some locals were rallying to collect and recycle the waste floating over here in some eco-action, but...it's radioactive! Nobody should touch it. Anybody who continues to eat fish and meat (animals collect the toxins in the food chain) is CRAZY - unless you're into rapid aging and cancer. FUCK nuclear power and FUCK the lying Japanese government. And FUCK Obama too, that smiling creep, who took off to Brazil when all that shit rained down on California.

  Anonymous

• R259 So my plan to move to CA is a bad one?

• Amen [R259]

  Fuck Obama

• So, where does / did the liquified uranium go? Is it washed out of the reactor building or something?

• "China Syndrome", R262. Vast amounts of toxic materials released into the environment (earth, air and water).

  http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/nuclear_disasters/nuclear_disasters.html

• We are all fucked now.

  Anonymous%20

• Why did she say she would move from Boston to Australia? Why would Boston be more dangerous than Australia in light of the Fukushima disaster?

• The Fukushima facility has many fuel rods still filled with unspent fuel. If the fuel is radioactive MOX, there would be enough radiation in just one rod to kill millions of people. Worst case scenario involves the integrity and safety of the rods, which are made of low quality materials accompanied with poor maintenance. This situation means that any major earthquake could cause massive damage to the rods. Additionally, if all of the rods rupture simultaneously, this cataclysmic disaster could mean the annihilation of many life forms on planet Earth.

  http://digitaljournal.com/article/324349

• The radioactive particles from Japan get carried all around the northern hemisphere in clouds and rain down all over, r265. Dr. Caldicott said that the southern hemisphere continents/countries have different wind patterns so are less susceptible. Also, she is an Australian citizen so she could return there easily. And Australia does not have any nuclear power plants. Still though, if the Fukushima disaster gets to be as catastrophic as they're saying it could be (ie, if a weather event like another large earthquake or tornado or another tsunami hits near the power plant before they've had a chance to shore up the damaged spent fuel rod pools, etc) then it is only a matter of time before the entire world ecosystems are destroyed. Slow-motion apocalypse.

• Thanks, R267. I realize clouds carry paritcles, but eventually wouldn't it be everywhere, including Australia? And if there was another big explosion, Australia is pretty close to Japan - would that stuff never reach Australia?

• Are they doing anything to contain this problem? It's a problem for the world - all nations, thinkers and money should be trying to fix it.

• I hate that this sounds naive, but who can we contact about this? Do Senators, Congresspeople and assorted corrupt pigs even care about calls and emails? I was horrified US Zionist media chose to focus on Charlie Sheen degrading himself instead of the poison floating over us, immediately after the disaster. I always wanted to go to Japan (sigh).

  Anonymous

• So, were the Mayans right with their 2012 prophecy? Looks most likely. Thanks, Japan.

• I'm sorry, but why was this thread bumped up again. Did something new happen?

• Well, R269, they would - if the arrogant and deceitful Japanese govt didn't lie through their fucking teeth. They lied their asses off...to 'save face'. Well, if they keep it up, they will be saving face as they try to keep it from fucking melting off. NOT. KIDDING.

  Anonymous

• Ugh, R273.

• There seems to be a news blackout on this story.

• Is this why tuna sashimi has become scarce since the Fukushima disaster? It's radioactive?

• This thread ain't exactly an upper.

  Pearl%20Lowenstein%2C%20Professional%20Usherette

• You ain't kiddin Pearl. Drinks anyone?

• Obama and his family have visited Hawaii since the meltdown, right?

• I don't know r279, if they have, did they eat the fresh fruit grown? Stand out in the rain?

• [quote]I'm sorry, but why was this thread bumped up again. Did something new happen? Nope. Just troll-bumped.

• No, R272 & R281, the reason this thread became active again is because there has been significant public acknowledgement by experts of the enormity of the problems at Fukushima, something that has been in short supply since this crisis began. There has been a conspiracy of silence across all sections of the global media about this, why and how I cannot speculate: media spin? National security? Business interests? Public squeamishness? Probably a combination of all of these and more. Our only weapon against these incredible lies is credible information - and as it comes to hand people like me and others on this thread are linking to it. Finding out the truth about the situation at Fukushima has been incredibly difficult since the moment the earthquake struck: the japanese government and TEPCO have lied about every single aspect of the disaster and the powerful international nuclear lobby has also conspired with them to hide the facts from the global public. The only "trolls" on this thread are people like R281 who have constantly chimed in to pooh-pooh any serious discussion here as we try to ascertain the true extent of what the world, not just Japan, is facing. Read this thread rom the beginning and you will see that every single "outrageous" claim made here about the enormity of the disaster and its global ramifications have eventually been confirmed - though spokesmen, politicians, industry experts and journalists have constantly stonewalled if not bald-faced lied about each and every terrifying claim, starting with the outright denial that ANY meltdown occurred at all. Those lies have become untenable in the face of more admissions from Tepco insiders, protesting japanese scientists, angry local authorities and other concerned people around the world. As more evidence comes to hand this thread keeps getting bumped. Nothing "happened" today in the sense that Reactor 4 didn't suddenly collapse (yet) - and I pray that nothing like that ever does - however we need to keep highlighting the facts as they are confirmed (or admitted) so that people like R281 can be told to STFU because the evidence is undeniable even for trolls like them. The same forces of public ignorance are still actively trying to minimise the damage to their self-interest but, meanwhile, the slow-motion apocalypse that is Fukushima Daiichi inevitably grinds on. You can try to look away but you cannot escape its consequences.

• Love it, R282.

  Anonymous

• I'm beginning to fear Japanese things ending in "shima"!

• This is the most bizarre thing. I remember Chernobyl and it was very much in the news everywhere for a while but Fukushima is like a ghost event, like it never happened. Because it's so quiet, I wonder if this is the worse catastrophe that has ever happened for our species. I have read this is many times worse than Chernobyl. I think part of this news blackout is because they have absolutely no idea what to do to stop this. It's ongoing for the foreseeable future. At what point will we see the mutations in humans, how many generations of f'ed up DNA? How much sterility? It sounds like a large portion of the planet is impacted, definitely the Pacific ocean. They have no idea how to stop this. There is nothing they can do.

• Chernobyl happened in the Soviet Union who were our enemies. If Fukishima was in Iran, we'd hear about it every night.

• I know people shout 'conspiracy theorist!' when it comes to this, but around that time, the number of people drooling over Charlie Sheen and his sluts instead of demanding answers as to what the health impact would be...I felt like Donald Sutherland in the 'Body Snatchers'. Nothing since than has really convinced me otherwise.

  Anonymous

• Chernobyl wasnt built near a large body of water, was it?

• R282 = the sky is falling troll.

• R289 = Professional Pollyanna.

  Chicken%20Little.

• I'm with you r282. So much is coming out now.

• My friend who lives in Japan told me that American scientists who have worked with similar reactors could help the Japanese. They won't for two reasons - firstly, facesaving for the Japanese. Secondly, it would be an acknowledgement of the problems that same reactors could potentially have in the States. It is not 'if' but when. If there is another earthquake in northern Japan, and it doesn't have to be a big one, the whole Northern hemisphere will be gone. This is not bullshit, this is what will happen. So yes, I guess I am the 'the sky is falling' troll.

• [quote]an acknowledgement of the problems that same reactors could potentially have in the States. In California, we've shut down both of our reactors, citing "problems" -- te sort of problems that used to be fixed in a month or two. I think the US is seriously spooked as both those reactors are in earthquake zones.

• The H-bomb tests of the 50's vaporized entire Pacific islands. They were dirty, but they did not destroy all life on Earth. If there's anyone on DL with sufficient knowledge: Could an intentional, small thermonuclear (H) bomb explosion at the plant burn and convert the fuel rods into a more benign form through atomic fusion? Sure, I know it's heretical to suggest bombing Japan, but here I am...a genuine 50's nuclear test 'downwinder' and pacifist suggesting it.

  Atoms%20for%20peace%21

• PBS has been rerunning the episode of Nature called "Radioactive Wolves." The focus of the hour is how nature has reclaimed all of the land that has been abandoned around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It's fascinating to see them film in the nearby city that essentially became a ghost town when the citizens were permanently evacuated. I wonder if any of the area surrounding Fukushima will suffer the same fate.

• This is one of the few places following this.

  http://enenews.com/

• Here's another site said to have good info.

  http://www.fairewinds.com/fukushima

• I've pasted thins link before, but can't recommend it enough for its look at the remains of Chernobyl

  http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/

• Thanks 282. I believe this is a magnitude 10 serious problem.

• Here is the last link I have on this. Please share if you know of others.

  http://fukushima-diary.com/

• I'm not very educated about nuclear power or its potential for disaster. That said, can someone explain to me why only the northern hemisphere would be in danger if things in Japan escalate? It seems like if the radiation could drift all the way over the entire northern hemisphere, it could easily swirl down into the southern hemisphere too, no? And why the hell are we using a power source where just ONE mistake at ONE plant has the capability of destroying the entire earth??? Am I missing something here?

• r301, it's about wind streams and sea/ocean currents that carry the radioactive material on their routes.

• I live on the west coast and can't believe people aren't talking about this out here. I feel like if I mention anything people will look at me like I'm crazy. I spoke with someone who just vacationed in Hawaii. He talked about eating some fish speciality while there and all I kept thinking was that it was probably radioactive..

• [quote]In California, we've shut down both of our reactors, citing "problems" -- te sort of problems that used to be fixed in a month or two. The United States has 104 nuclear power plants, 36 of them in California.

• r301 ...I don't really have answers; certainly not concise ones. But as for why humans mess with nuclear power plants when they can be so potentially fatal - I think at least part of the answer is that the people who make and run power plants make a LOT of money from them, as do the people who control other power sources (oil, coal). And humans obviously have a terrible track record of reckless, irreversible environmental destruction when it comes to harvesting and burning energy sources. So, the motive for building and operating power plants = need for energy + greed. As for WHY the rest of society allows nuclear power to exist when it is so terribly dangerous? Probably because 99.99% of people just don't know enough about nuclear power to understand how worried/outraged they (we) should be. Did you learn about nuclear power in school? I didn't. Do you ever see much about it in the media? Me neither. Why not? Well, GE (General Electric) owns and operates a lot of power plants nationwide; they also own NBC, one of the "big four" broadcasting stations. Stands to reason that if they don't want bad things being said about nuclear power on TV, we're not going to hear anything bad about nuclear power on TV. The government doesn't have much motivation to alert people either. If all the things are true about Fukushima that we're gleaning from the various sites and sources on this thread, and if the general population was aware of just how dire things really are - can you imagine the chaos that could ensue? The world economy might collapse. As for the southern hemisphere being safer... it is, and it isn't. According to Wikipedia, the glob is encircled by 6 major wind belts; 3 in each hemisphere. The northern and southern trade winds converge at the equator but are pushing against each other, so to that end all the radioactive particles from Japan will probably keep swirling around north of the equator. But, plenty of radiation is spewing from Tokyo Bay into the Pacific ocean and irradiating the fish and whales, so people in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia etc are probably going to get radiation exposure from the Pacific ocean one way or another. It may take a few decades or a few centuries, but eventually the Fukushima fallout may have catastrophic effects globally.

• R305 Thanks for taking the time to answer. So this isn't something that will destroy the earth overnight? My mind is still blown that ONE meltdown at ONE plant has the potential to do this...and then to think there are 450 nuclear power plants on earth. It seems almost inevitable. We're really going to kill the entire planet for MONEY? What value will money have when we're all bleeding out of our eyes and riddled with cancer?? My God, humans are so terribly short-sighted. It almost makes me hope we DO die off. It's just a shame we have to take the rest of the living world (which did nothing to deserve it) down with us.

• It seems Japan might have to evacuate 40 million people in the next few months, including the entire city of Tokyo. 40 million refugees [italic]on an island.[/italic]

  http://www.naturalnews.com/035894_Fukushima_evacuation_radiation.html

• The reason we have so many power plants is to give every home electricity, as well as grocery stores, skyscrapers, computers, think of everything that needs power. Nuclear energy supplies a lot of that, so it is more about maintaining an unsustainable lifestyle as long as possible. Imagine how wasteful we are with energy, empty buses trundling along, refrigerated displays in stores that are open for ease of use, yet still have to be refrigerated, look at any city skyline at night to just see all the lights, many of which aren't needed.

• R306, We are going to die off as a species. The earth will continue and change. Eventually it will look like Mars, a dry barren rock. This will happen whether humans were ever here or not - we've just made it happen faster. The hubris of our species is breath-taking: God (in whose image we are made yet), Eternity, that we can stop the progression of natural processes, that other "intelligent" life in the universe is recognizable to us or would be interested in us. The list goes on and on. For all we know we're freaking mold in the schem of things - an out of control fungus.

• I'm assuming if the mass evacuations R307's link refers to actually happen, the news blackout on this will be lifted and we might be able to get some actual goddamn specific information. I keep reading a lot of scary stuff in the links on this thread, but I want specifics, such as current levels of radiation in various areas of the Pacific compared to normal, and compared to levels put out by X-ray machines etc. It would be good to be able to get some kind of handle on what's going on here, not just 'end of the world' scare stories. Also, how the fuck are the fuel rods 'exposed to the open air' still? How come they haven't dumped concrete on them, or whatever they do in these situations?

• [quote]God (in whose image we are made yet) If God can blast commandments into the side of a mountain, why does he need arms? If there is no Mrs. God, why does he need a penis or a vagina? If God can take any form, a burning bush or something else, why is his natural form one with such physical limitations? I agree, the hubris of our species is breath taking, indeed.

• R307 Why did the US demand that TEPCO release radioactive waste into the pacific ocean? P.S. Thank you to all those posting news on this thread, incredibly one of the few places that you can read about this disaster is a gay website, this news should be reported by every news organization on the planet.

  Anonymous

• I know pointless bitchery is the main menu item on DL, but there has to be a pointed way to FORCE west coast media to discuss this. It's going to have to be caused by an upswell in public demand for information. Maybe the Kardashians can investigate the area. The only reason I am activated (for probably the first time in my life) is due to the fact I was teased at a gathering for 'smoking too much pot', being 'paranoid', and 'exaggerating'. These people were all parents of young children. They were just a bunch of spoiled drones bragging to each other, and I apparently got in the way. I don't even have children!

  Anonymous

• r313, do you really want all those Tea Party and right wing fanatics go into panic mode where they use gun force to gather all the needed supplies to survive such an eviromental crisis? They need just a spark to reach out for their guns. That's the current climate in the US. It's better to clue the crazy ass trash in when all the smart people have prepared and stocked their hideaways and are out of the shooting range.

• [quote]...the full release of their fuel would cause not only a regional catastrophe, but also a global nuclear holocaust. So...why even bother evacuating?

• Or, R313, we could stick together. Guns aren't going to save anybody from the possible steady stream of toxic radiation. We're all going to have to stop eating meat. Sorry, but it's true. That's what 'the powers that be' are afraid of, drastic change that will affect their bottom line. I'm not going to base my actions out of fear of other people's actions. This is about doing something about Tower 4! Now!

  Anonymous

• Beach rocks that burst into flames in O.C. woman's pocket tested May 17, 2012 | 9:04 am Beach rocks that burst into flames in a San Clemente woman’s pocket were being tested, authorities said Thursday. The 43-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized for second- and third-degree burns. She had collected seven colored rocks, known by locals as trestles, while visiting San Onofre State Beach *[near the nuclear reactor]* with her family on Saturday, Orange County fire officials told KABC-TV. She had returned home for about an hour when, apparently because of the friction, the rocks caught fire, igniting her shorts. When the rocks fell to the floor, they continued to burn the wood floor of her house. Her husband’s hands were also burned as he tried to help her, and the “rocks were still smoking when firefighters took them to the hospital,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Marc Stone told the Orange County Register. Orange County officials told KABC that the incident remained under investigation, and authorities from the county health agency said two of the rocks contained a "phosphorus substance," a chemical element that can be highly flammable.

  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/beach-rocks-that-caught-fire-in-womans-pocket-remain-a-mystery.html

• Donna Summer has died so I can't bothered with nuclear reactors collapsing and beach rocks exploding into flames, thank you very much.

  Elsie%20Tanner

• It is VERY weird that there are no MSM news stories about this. The only stories on it are very dire, and all from fringe-y sites.

• This is depressing, and I am with r319 that it is weird that msm people aren't reporting this. I am assuming that they are trying to avoid everyone panicking, and leaving Japan. The population of Japan is already shrinking, as couples aren't having children at the rates of other countries. On a side note, what can we do if we live on the west coast? I have thought about buying a ton of bottled water, but obviously I can't buy enough for a lifetime....eventually I would run out.

• Reading this thread at first made me think you bitches are looney. However, some of the links here are making me a little concerned. If the worse happens, I have land and citizenship in Peru. Would I be safe there?

  Honestly%20concerned%20Mary%21

• And I've been seriously contemplating moving back to CA. Should I reconsider? Will it really matter where I live if we end up in a nuclear holocaust? Should I just live for today and not worry? What about the people who live in Hawaii?

• [quote]The population of Japan is already shrinking.. And they're pretty short already. Sounds like Middle Earth.

• That 'Natural News' website (linked @ R307) looks more than a little "fringe-y" (nice word, R319), it appears to consist of a lot of wild speculation and fantasy. A lot of the claims there I have not read anywhere else and I've been following this story very closely since the beginning (I'm R352/Chicken Little). ENEWS (a news aggregation site) links to much more "respectable" sources: major japanese newspapers, The Wall Street Journal, Fairewinds Associates etc. Fukushima Diary is one of the few "amateur" sites that ENEWS links to but that blog has been a valuable source of information from ordinary japanese citizens in the disaster zone.

• What can you do if you live in the West Coast??? Well accept your fate with dignity.

• [quote]That 'Natural News' website (linked @ [R307]) looks more than a little "fringe-y" (nice word, [R319]), it appears to consist of a lot of wild speculation and fantasy. And it starts out by saying "according to EUTimes.net" and then goes on to elaborate. Is EUTimes.net fringey?

• That should be R252, not R352

  R324%20etc.

• [quote]ENEWS (a news aggregation site) links to much more "respectable" sources: major japanese newspapers, The Wall Street Journal, Fairewinds Associates etc. So the message here is only trust news if it's put out by major corporations.

  Dr.%20Mercola%27s%20newsletter%20sitting%20in%20your%20junk%20email%20folder

• There are detox habits to research online. Baking soda baths (with a filter on your tap or shower head) is one of them. Drinking it on an empty stomach is good too. One of the things about radiation poisoning is you just...start...feeling...like...shit. I can't believe anybody trusts Obama after he grinned his way through the most serious ecological disaster EVER on this planet. Nothing. He did nothing - because he was told to do nothing. He went on vacation to Brazil, where there were no cessium rainstorms (which happened for two weeks after Fukashima, all across the U.S. Minnesota got hit bad as did Seattle. Only Florida avoided being showered).

  Anonymous

• I would like for aliens to help us clean ul the radiation even if they make us their slaves afterwards.

  Where%20can%20I%20get%20a%20tinhat%3F

• Oh shit. I hope that hot dude from Karate Kid Part 2 is ok.

  Ralph%20Macchio

• Put your money where your mouth is, R330: go there.

  Anonymous

• Damn! All those people who say its the end of the world are going to right ! That's what really makes me mad!

• Friends, we have already had a complete nuclear meltdown in the U.S--the Santa Susanna Disaster of 1959 in Simi Valley, Ca. This was a total and complete cover-up, obviously, because no one references it. Now, what makes the Santa Susanna meltdown the worst of all time is that that facility was very primitive, and the building, reactor, and core literally burned for days. Its radioactive smoke burned over so cal and into the greater southwest without any media reports. Total and complete cover-up. Decades have past and what are the repercussions--autism? cancer? mood/thought disorders? I can't speculate on this but one theory i haave heard is that lower doses of radiation are much, much, worse thanhigher doses, which the Santa Susanna Facility would have given off. Pretty amazing history here.

• If I recall, it was two meltdowns -- one in March and the other in May 1959. It would be interesting to see how many kids born around there and around then fared...

• R335, well, California was the first state to experience the exponential rise in autism--this occured in the eighties. Texas was the second state to have the high autism rates. Mexico then became the next autism hotspot. I guess we can just follow the winds...

• If Japan's population were to be evacuated would the US, China and Russia fight over the brain drain? Who'd get the top industrialists?

• The fellow who writes Fukushima Diary said he believes it is too late to evacuate his countrymen; they're already irradiated to the point where they're pretty much fucked. He also said that, since he was in Japan for 9 months after the disaster, he expects to die of cancer or a heart attack within the next few years. He's been having heart trouble since last fall. As for the Japanese populace, the children will get sick first; the fastest-growing things are the most vulnerable. By the way, did anyone else see the news report from a few weeks ago that said half the US military troops in Okinawa are being sent away from Japan? The only real reason given is that they want to "reduce the American military footprint in Japan." The reassigned Marines and their families will be sent to Guam, Australia, and Hawaii. Nothing suspicious about that, right?

  http://articles.cnn.com/2012-04-27/asia/world_asia_japan-us-okinawa_1_okinawa-futenma-military-personnel%3F_s%3DPM:ASIA

• damn r338.

• R308, the huge marine base on Okinawa has been a contentious issue for many years in Japan (one Prime Minister resigned over his failure to close it). I think the re-deployment is a diplomatic move to take some of the heat out of the issue and is not related to Fukushima. Okinawa is a relatively safe distance away from there - well, [italic]safer[/italic] than much of Japan anyway.

• Interesting about the rise in autism hitting California first. My partner and I were discussing how there are so many celebrites with autistic kids... A Disproportionate number.

• This explains Eisenhower's farewell address warning

• The phosphorous might be from Marine weapons testing at the base nearby

• Illuminating (and frightening of course) interview with Arnie Gundersen by Dr. Helen Caldicott for the 'If You Love This Planet' radio program. He gives a very concise overview of the current situation at Fukushima and also the reasons no-one in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission wants to get involved despite the life-threatening situation for the entire Northern Hemisphere.

  http://www.radio4all.net/files/jazzwilliams@gmail.com/3400-1-184IYLTP_20120508.mp3

  Chicken%20Little.

• Have they exploded yet?

• "The huge marine base on Okinawa has been a contentious issue for many years in Japan (one Prime Minister resigned over his failure to close it). I think the re-deployment is a diplomatic move to take some of the heat out of the issue and is not related to Fukushima. Okinawa is a relatively safe distance away from there - well, safer than much of Japan anyway." R340, they only agreed to start burning radioactive waste from Fukushima on or near Okinawa quite recently. The same thing happened in Tokyo, that's when radiaton levels first jumped there. They're making these incineration agreements town by town. The trash incinerating plants (also owned by TEPCO) don't have filters to stop radioactive ash, so it all goes into the air and contaminates nearby residential areas. My guess is someone in the U.S. gov't knows this, they are trying to minimize the number of soldiers and their families that are exposed. Local officials have told Japanese citizens they have to "share the risk" by the gov't deliberately spreading radiation all over Japan, through trash burning and contaminated food. Local residents protest, but are told it will happen no matter what they say. It's like mass suicide. There's a reason the Japanese population was below replacement level long before this incident; they've lost the survival instinct. Group action is valued more than surviving.

• "The H-bomb tests of the 50's vaporized entire Pacific islands. They were dirty, but they did not destroy all life on Earth. "If there's anyone on DL with sufficient knowledge: "Could an intentional, small thermonuclear (H) bomb explosion at the plant burn and convert the fuel rods into a more benign form through atomic fusion? Sure, I know it's heretical to suggest bombing Japan, but here I am...a genuine 50's nuclear test 'downwinder' and pacifist suggesting it." Atoms for peace, this was discussed on enenews. No, it would be the worst thng possible. According to Arne Gunderson, the radioactive material stored there is the equivalent of the 800 nuclear bombs that have been dropped since Hiroshima. The main difference is the walls would be gone, the fuel pool would be completely exposed, and it would be too radioactive to handle ever again. All this radiation would blow straight up and end up carried by the Gulf Stream to Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Cali.

  The. End. For real.

• "There's a reason the Japanese population was below replacement level long before this incident; they've lost the survival instinct. Group action is valued more than surviving." Insightful comment. It explains why they have no concern at all for their children in this region. Throughout this event, I couldn't get over how they just sit there and send their kids back to school and out to play with radiation levels so high. Now they are taking measures to send the radiation throughout the country. Now it makes sense. This now is a suicide mission. This makes Jonestown and drinking the koolaid a miniscule picnic in the park.

• Latest from NYTimes front page. May be cut off. May 26, 2012 Spent Fuel Drives Fear Over Damaged Nuclear Plant By HIROKO TABUCHI and MATTHEW WALD TOKYO — What passes for normal at the Fukushima Daiichi plant today would have caused shudders among even the most sanguine of experts before an earthquake and tsunami set off the world’s second most serious nuclear crisis after Chernobyl. Fourteen months after the accident, a pool brimming with used fuel rods and filled with vast quantities of radioactive cesium still sits on the top floor of a heavily damaged reactor building, covered only with plastic. The public’s fears about the pool have grown in recent months as some scientists have warned that it has the most potential for setting off a new catastrophe, now that the three nuclear reactors that suffered meltdowns are in a more stable state, and as frequent quakes continue to rattle the region. The worries picked up new traction in recent days after the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said it had found a slight bulge in one of the walls of the reactor building, stoking fears over the building’s safety. To try to quell such worries, the government sent the environment and nuclear minister to the plant on Saturday, where he climbed a makeshift staircase in protective garb to look at the structure supporting the pool, which he said appeared sound. The minister, Goshi Hosono, added that although the government accepted Tepco’s assurances that reinforcement work had shored up the building, it had ordered the company to conduct further studies because of the bulge. Some outside experts have also worked to allay fears, saying that the fuel in the pool is now so old that it cannot generate enough heat to start the kind of accident that would allow radioactive material to escape. But many Japanese have scoffed at those assurances and point out that even if the building is able to withstand further quakes, which they question, the jury-rigged cooling system for the pool has already malfunctioned several times, including a 24-hour failure in April. Had the failures continued, they would have left the rods at risk of dangerous overheating. Government critics are especially concerned, since Tepco has said the soonest it could begin emptying the pool is late 2013, dashing hopes for earlier action. “The No. 4 reactor is visibly damaged and in a fragile state, down to the floor that holds the spent fuel pool,” said Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute and one of the experts raising concerns. “Any radioactive release could be huge and go directly into the environment.” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, expressed similar concerns during a trip to Japan last month. The fears over the pool at Reactor No. 4, amplified over the Web, are helping to undermine assurances by Tepco and the Japanese government that the Fukushima plant has been brought to a stable condition and are highlighting how complicated the cleanup of the site, expected to take decades, will be. The concerns are also raising questions about whether Japan’s all-out effort to convince its citizens that nuclear power is safe kept the authorities from exploring other — and some say safer — options for storing used fuel rods. “It was taboo to raise questions about the spent fuel that was piling up,” said Hideo Kimura, who worked as a nuclear fuel engineer at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the 1990s. “But it was clear that here was nowhere for the spent fuel to go.” The worst-case situations for Reactor No. 4 would be for the pool to run dry if there is another problem with the cooling system and the rods catch fire, releasing enormous amounts of radioactive material, or that fission restart if the metal panels that separate the rods are knocked over in a quake. That would be especially bad because the pools, unlike reactors, lacks containment vessels to hold in radioactive material. (Even the roof that used to exist would be no match if the rods caught fire, for instance.)

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/concerns-grow-about-spent-fuel-rods-at-damaged-nuclear-plant-in-japan.html%3F_r%3D1%26hp%26pagewanted%3Dall

• I'm watching the Eurovision Song Contest now, I can't be bothered with radiation devastation at this particular moment, thanks.

  Bim-Bam-Bonging%20in%20Brussells

• any opinions on this? "Radiation didn't cause Fukushima No. 1 deaths: U.N." Jiji, AP Radiation exposure was not responsible for the deaths of six workers helping to contain the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a U.N. committee said in a preliminary assessment Wednesday. Based on information available so far, their deaths are attributable to cardiovascular disease or other reasons, according to the report compiled by the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. One of the six died of acute leukemia, but radiation exposure was ruled out as a cause because the time between possible exposure and death was so short, the committee said

• Bluefin tuna!!

  http://news.yahoo.com/radioactive-bluefin-tuna-crossed-pacific-us-190121826.html

• I think we are all fucked.

• what's the big deal? Nothing happened and nothing will happen. It is all under control.

• [quote]the jury-rigged cooling system Where's the Oh Dear troll?

• Sitting this one out.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_rig

• Nothing wrong with the term, R355 (and it is o.k. to hyphenate).

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_rig

• R354, sure hope you're joking. Having 4 nuclear reactors melt down on one site isn't "nothing," and at least one has the walls completely blown out and the fuel pool holding the radioactive material is completely exposed to the open air. They've been storing spent nuclear fuel rods there since the 1960's. There's a real chance the melted fuel ("corium"), which is melting through the bottom of the containment vessels, could hit the water table and blow up the whole damn place. If that happens, nobody will be able to get anywhere near there and all 6 reactors, unattended, will "runaway" and blow up. The radiation in the tuna will be a drop in the bucket compared to what we'll get after that. They're not planning to even begin removing the fuel until fall 2013 at the earliest, however, it's too hot to get in there now and they don't know how to resolve that, so 2013 is just a number they're pulling out of their asses. Japanese scientists say the chance of an earthquake as strong as the March 11 2011 quake is about 70% within 10 years. Those are the optimistic ones - I've read the chance is as high as 100%. The Fukushima plant is on a fault line.

  Nothing to see here, move along.

• Why can't they delete THIS thread? I'm already depressed as it is...

  Dawson Elizabeth Edwards

• To use old military slang, Fukushima = snafu. Situation Normal: All Fucked Up. Read it and weep:

  http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201205270025

  Chicken%20Little.

• Bad karma?

• Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California -

  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/28/us-japan-nuclear-tuna-idUSBRE84R0MF20120528

• On NPR's Money Watch tonight there was assurance that sushi will NOT be affected. Carry on. Damn, that Kai Rysdahl's got a sexy former frat boy voice.

• Reasons I don't buy a nuclear restart By AMY CHAVEZ I've heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by reasons why we should return to nuclear power. I don't buy any of them. 1. "We were unprepared for March 11." Um, who is ever prepared for a natural disaster? Even the Boy Scouts would have had a hard time preparing for an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident happening at the same time. Besides, have you ever heard of a disaster that went extremely well because everyone was prepared? Hey, we had only 10,000 fatalities rather than 15,000 because we were so prepared! And 5,000 of those deaths were actually pets. And of those pets, most of them were goldfish. So overall, it was a very successful disaster! It's like being relieved that a small plane crashed killing only 50 people rather than a Boeing 747 that crashed killing 350. Who can quantify life? If the solution is merely to be more prepared, then shouldn't we anticipate a quadruple disaster by throwing a tornado into the mix? Shouldn't we strive to be super-prepared by accounting for a five-fold disaster by adding a shot of Armageddon? 2. "Prime Minister Naoto Kan acknowledged there was poor communication and coordination among nuclear regulators, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and his government." In addition, we have uncovered "inadequate safety guidelines" that need to be overhauled. How can we be sure that communications will improve or that an overhaul of safety guidelines will make us safer? We can't. Even a complete overhaul of the system does not eliminate human error. While we can try to prevent it, we cannot avoid it. There is no guarantee that the "authorities" or anyone else will do the right thing the next time around. Give people safe alternative energy, and all we'll need to worry about is a massive blackout rather than decades of nuclear contamination. 3. "Since nuclear power accounted for about 30 percent of Japan's total energy supply before the March 11 earthquake, the only way to avoid energy shortages this summer is to restart the reactors." Fifty-four nuclear reactors to power just 30 percent! Wow, is it really worth it? Why are we so afraid of running out of electricity anyway? We have this dependency on electricity as if it were a drug. Makes you wonder what people would do if there was a food shortage. You don't need air conditioning, lights or TVs to survive. You do need food. We have a problem distinguishing between wants and needs. Needs are food, clothing and shelter. Wants are iPods, Lady Gaga and nuclear energy. Honestly, we could all do with a good scolding from Mother Nature. When I lived in Indonesia, rolling blackouts were the norm. You just get used to them. Most people had a generator as a backup. You soon realize that power outages aren't so bad. OMG — we'll have to take a coffee break! You learn that inconvenience is actually sometimes "in convenience." And from my observations of the Japanese work place, I'd say most businesses would have higher worker productivity if they thought the electricity was going to go out for a spell. To save energy, grocery stores, department stores and public transportation will continue to keep their air conditioners at minimum temperatures rather than freezing the heck out of their customers. People will still come home and turn on the fan rather than the air conditioner. And maybe they'll discover they can sleep with the windows open rather than with the fan on. What's wrong with that? In the meantime, we can save energy for hospitals and other facilities that rely on it. "But it's so hot!" you scream. Yes, it is. This is what happens when you take out all the trees and parks and replace them with concrete. These days, houses are made for air conditioning. They used to be built to breathe and cool themselves.

  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120519cz.html

• I am pro weeds 'n' dirt and anti concrete. We should tear up the concrete and put in something that breathes and absorbs the heat, rather than reflects it. Amid Japan's economic miracle, pouring money into construction and destruction of the environment, they have lost the plot. We have forgotten what we are here for. We should be striving to live in a balance of nature and technology, not a separation of the two. 4. "Nuclear power is cheap." Really? After the cost of Japan's nuclear disaster, I don't think anyone should be calling nuclear power cheap. Tepco is raising its rates to cover this previously "cheap" energy. At least with increased rates, people use less energy. But why not spend that extra money (that they are going to charge us anyway) on alternative energy? Kansai Electric Power Co. has already made changes such as offering bigger discounts to corporate customers who operate on weekends instead of weekdays (shifting their usage to when electricity demand is lower). They plan on raising the electricity rates in the late afternoon, lowering them at night and adding incentives for households who save energy. This should have happened a long time ago. More options offer more opportunities for companies (many already on the brink) to be more efficient. And employees benefit too. Flex days? Bring 'em on! Electricity should be seen as a commodity. I also propose that Tepco lower the rates in winter, when people "need" energy most, and raise the rates in summer when people "want" it most. 5. "Moving away from nuclear power will take away from research and development in this area." Yes. In addition, by continuing R&D on nuclear power, we take away from R&D in alternative energy. I'd furthermore like to see more development of not just thermal, wind and hydro power, but also tidal power. I can see God looking down on the Naruto Whirlpools right now saying, "You idiots! I give you a natural energy source and you turn it into a tourist spot!" Writer Genichiro Takahashi, referring to the first time since 1966 that Japan has been without atomic power, said, "It is a good opportunity for us to think about what kind of world we should and want to create." And maybe it's time to learn how to appreciate something you don't have: nuclear power.

• Remember when Japan banned imports of of all US meat after a couple cows were tested with mad cow disease? The Japanese now are sending radioactive food and other products around the world for people to consume. They don't want their economy to suffer. Another example of East Asia's one way enconomic strategy.

• Here is an excerpt from a paper given by Professor Toshio Nishi for the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. [quote]As soon as the disaster hit Fukushima and for months after, one scientist after another from famous universities and government agencies appeared on nightly news programs, intoning with an air of superior knowledge that radioactive dust and vapor in the air or fish or rice failed to pose “an immediate health risk.” We, unschooled in the fields of radioactivity or medicine, wondered, if not immediately, then when? Will we have cancer? [quote]Those scholars and experts do not appear on national TV anymore. No one wonders why. [quote]But when the experts disappeared, Tokyo Electric Power Company appeared, acknowledging on television that a reactor meltdown had indeed occurred within the first few hours of the quake and tsunami. This admission of a triple meltdown popped up two months after the accident, during which time Tokyo Electric had obstinately refused to admit to any such thing. The confession came too late for those people who had stayed but a little distance away from the reactors and were unknowingly rained upon by radioactive dust and vapor day after day. Tens of thousands of children lived nearby. Here's a link to the full text:

  http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/113111

• Woman who claimed to be suffering from radiation sickness had her blog shut down. Now has another blog. Warning - graphic pictures

  http://enenews.com/fukushima-resident-numayu-now-has-own-blog-detailing-health-problems-photos

• Japan Nuclear Expert: Almost 8,000 square miles now like a ‘Radiation Control Area’ after Fukushima

  http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-expert-almost-8000-square-miles-like-radiation-control-area-after-fukushima

• Authorities: Masked senior nuclear reactor operator carjacks woman with loaded gun — Says he was just ‘thrill seeking’ I read recently that there were a lot of anecdotal stories about Japanese in general becoming violent, getting into fights, etc. Not normal behavior for Japanese. Radiation sickness can affect people by making them more irritable. Maybe this guy knows what's going on and just doesn't give a damn anymore.

  http://enenews.com/authorities-senior-nuclear-reactor-operator-carjacks-woman-with-loaded-gun-says-he-was-just-thrill-seeking

• From Annals of Internal Medicine - Symptoms of radiation sickness include: Symptoms at different ranges of dose of whole-body radiation for exposed, living persons. Hematopoietic changes include development of lymphopenia, granulocytopenia, or thrombocytopenia. Gastrointestinal symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Cerebrovascular signs and symptoms include headache, impaired cognition, disorientation, ataxia, seizures, prostration, and hypotension. Note that the signs and symptoms of different organ systems significantly overlap at each radiation dose and that cerebrovascular symptoms do not appear until exposure to a high whole-body dose. So does this mean as ordinary Japanese get higher and higher rates of exposure, their judgment and behavior are going to deteriorate? Japan is one big lab experiment now.

  http://www.annals.org/content/140/12/1037.full

  Captain Trips.

• This story is about the mysterious "black dust" or "black pollen" that is found all over Fukushima area and now in Tokyo. It is very high in radiation. Turns out it is a type of bacteria that eats radiation. It is very fine and can be inhaled. It has been found in gutters and on the ground. "There are a bacterium type which likes to absorb the radioactive substance in exuberance everywhere on the paved surfaces in the residential area and at residential houses and they drifts on the side walks, on parkings and on the road. "Cesium for example is highly radioactive and yesterday i saw the result of analysis of Japan Chemical Analysis Center which contain fluid, they found plutonium and strontium in every samples."

  http://enenews.com/local-official-to-govt-they-found-plutonium-in-every-sample-bacterium-is-everywhere-on-paved-surfaces

• so it's a "good" dust??

• So, what does the dust transform the radiation into? Disco glitter?

• It sounds like these organisms accumulate radiation thus making themselves more dangerous if they come into contact with humans (particularly if ingested/inhaled). They can't convert one one (harmful) element into another (safer) one. That would be Alchemy not Chemistry.

• No, it's not "good dust." People are breathing the dust as it's very fine. The dust is lying piled up in the gutters and is very high in radioactivity. People are concerned about children getting their feet in it. In some pictures, it's lying in drifts a couple of feet from the curb. The story below is about a group that wants "mothers and children" to return to Soma City. The "black dust" there was measured at 56.3 microsieverts an hour. To give you a point of reference, right after the accident they were closing schools that measured more than 3.8 microsiverts an hour, because it added up to over 20 millisieverts a year. This is way beyond Chernobyl levels of evacuation. The group says: "On the roads and near the side drains by the side walks in Minami Soma City and Soma City, we've started to see the black substance that looks like dirt. There has been some media report on this substance, and it is said to be a certain kind of bacteria that has dried out. It has been known to have very high radiation levels, and there is a possibility that it affects human bodies. Please do not go near it. We placed the survey meter on the substance in the photo. The survey meter shows 56.3 microsieverts/hour. Young children in particular should pay attention." Per Ex-Skf: Again, the group wants mothers with children who evacuated from the city to come back. The reason why the group is publishing the newspaper is, according to the website: "We want to protect our children. We want to keep hope for the future. "To do that, we will "change" our way of life. We will "change" the city into a healthy city." The five stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/05/black-dust-in-soma-city-is-also-highly.html

  These people know they're going to die. They're at denial now.

• Here's pictures of the black dust from a few months ago:

  http://enenews.com/mystery-radioactive-black-substance-found-25km-from-fukushima-latest-measurement-over-95-µsvh-strong-alpha-emitter-detected-photos

• From February (enenews), the same geographical area as the story above: Mystery black substance has 1,000,000+ Bq/kg of cesium — Seen all over Minami Soma — Officials meeting to discuss findings Minami Soma City assemblyman Koichi Ooyama discloses the result of the test of the mysterious black dust found in locations in Minami Soma City [...] [...] his measurement on the surface of this black dust was 295 microsieverts/hour. Assemblyman Ooyama apparently sent the sample to Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University. Professor Yamauchi did the test, and here’s the result, from Assemblyman Ooyama’s blog: Cs-134: 485,252 Bq/kg Cs-137: 604,360 Bq/kg

  http://enenews.com/professor-mystery-black-substance-1000000-bqkg-cesium-being-found-all-minami-soma-city-officials-meeting-discuss

• Monday, May 14, 2012 "Black Dust" in Tokyo? With 243,000 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium [..]I've been told that "black dust" exists everywhere in Tokyo. "When I brought the radiation detector closer, it visibly responded. So I knew it might be highly contaminated, but didn't know it was this contaminated...", says Ayako Ishikawa incredulously. Ishikawa is the head of the citizens' group "No! to Radiation, Protect Children in Koto". [Koto-ku is one of the eastern Special Wards of Tokyo]. She says, "We found something that looked like "black dust" near the Hirai JR station in Edogawa-ku. We collected the sample and and asked Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University to measure the radiation. The result was that it had the maximum 243,000 Bq/kg [of radioactive cesium]. [..]"Professor Yukio Hayakawa of Gunma University says if the top 1 millimeter of the soil is taken the radioactivity can be extremely high, though he seems to think that "black dust" is a very good indicator of urban contamination. "No matter what it is or how it came about, it is clearly highly radioactive, and it'd better be removed to avoid contact. No municipalities are doing that, as they should. "Just don't go multiply that number (243,000 Bq/kg) by 65 and exclaim "Look, Tokyo is more contaminated than Chernobyl exclusion zone!" The multiplier of 65 only applies to soil samples that are taken from the surface to 5 centimeters deep, and whose specific gravity is about 1.3g/cm3. If Tokyo's "black dust" has the same weight as Minami Soma's "black dust", it would be less than 0.5g/cm3."

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/05/black-dust-in-tokyo-with-243000-bqkg-of.html

• Why is everyone lying?

• Summary: "This dust is a fungi that grows faster when the radiation level is ***500 times higher than in the normal environment." *** It was first seen at Chernobyl. From Wikipedia: Radiotrophic fungi are fungi which appear to use the pigment melanin to convert gamma radiation[1] into chemical energy for growth. These were first discovered in 2007 as black molds growing inside and around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.[1] Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed that three melanin-containing fungi, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Wangiella dermatitidis, and Cryptococcus neoformans, increased in biomass and accumulated acetate faster in an environment in which the radiation level was 500 times higher than in the normal environment. Exposure of C. neoformans cells to these radiation levels rapidly (within 20–40 minutes of exposure) altered the chemical properties of its melanin and increased melanin-mediated rates of electron transfer (measured as reduction of ferricyanide by NADH) 3 to 4-fold compared with unexposed cells.[2] Similar effects on melanin electron-transport capability were observed by the authors after exposure to non-ionizing radiation, suggesting that melanotic fungi might also be able to use light or heat radiation for growth.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus

  Sayonara Tokyo.

• You're not very familiar with Asian cultures, are you, R380?

• Why is everyone lying? It is a repressed, face-saving, ultraconformist culture that covers up things with lies. Plus lots of money is involved worldwide, so that is why the international press is not really covering it.

• The Whole Pacific Ocean is alreay contaminated. Hawaii, Alaska, Canada. Take it. Why is everyone lying? They don't want to talk about the truth because it's SO depressing. Nothing is safe anymore wherever you are.

• Governments and business are all about cover-up - they don't want to lose money or their position.

• R380, I worked for a Japanese company for about 10 years. When this first happened, all I heard was "at least this happened in Japan, they're so smart, they will deal with it," etc. Totally wrong. I knew this was coming, and I am so sorry to be right. You always heard in the 80's that the Japanese would take over the U.S. It never happened because they are not really better workers, or smarter. What they are is well educated and endlessly seeking approval from their higher-ups. The people in my company that stayed the latest were the Americans, contrary to what you hear about work ethic. My boss once told me to go home earlier when there was a crisis at work, I told him "then you will have to report to your boss that the work wasn't done." That shut him up. Yet he was walking out the door at 6:00 pm and I was staying for hours later, as it was a very urgent project. Right after the big boss left, the others would too. The Americans stayed or not depending on the importance of the work, the Japanese stayed until the boss left, no matter what was going on. I was constantly told, "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Many times I was told not to investigate things that looked unethical, or things that showed the company was less profitable than advertised. Don't draw attention to bad things, it will hurt your career. I'm not saying Americans are better, but I was really struck by how different their thinking process is. Americans make their own judgments, Japanese do what the boss wants even if they personally think it's wrong. That's why it's so shocking that some of these people are trying so hard to call attention to this situation against all authority. It goes against everything they are. It takes tremendous guts on their part to go so against the grain.

• Interesting insights, R386. Thanks.

• Japan Lawmaker: Coolant system at No. 4 fuel pool may take 3 days to fix — Temperature within a few degrees of safety limit by then June 6, 2012 tweets from Kuniko Tanioka, a member of the House of Councillors, translated by Fukushima Diary: Tweet (Later removed by Tanioka) They checked the back up circulation (B) just in case, then they found the weakness of insulation between the motor and cable as well. They could see the metal part through the insulation part. For the risk of short circuit, they stopped (B) to fix as well. They estimate 3 days to fix. Tweet at 2:46 AM – 6 Jun 12 The coolant system of reactor 4 is stopped at this moment. The temperature of water is 35ºC. They assume it increases by 0.3ºC hourly. It will be about 57ºC in 3 days. The safety regulation is 65ºC. NISA explains, it’s simple work, it won’t take longer than 3 days. Tweet at 2:51 AM – 6 Jun 12 NISA explained the reason of these troubles is because the coolant system is improvised preparation. They plan to replace them with better preparation. For the question that reactor 1 ~3 have the same risk. they did not deny the possibility. This is something to concern. I will keep my eyes on it. Related Posts: Temperature spikes in No. 4 fuel pool after pump burns — Backup also breaks June 6, 2012 No. 4 fuel pool temperature began spiking June 2 — No daily ‘Plant Status’ reports from Tepco since June 6, 2012 Tepco Press Conference: Temperature rises at No. 4 Spent Fuel Pool, now around 50°C April 13, 2012 Nuclear Expert: All it takes is coolant to stop circulating at Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 for extensive fuel damage to occur — Doesn’t have to leak, crack, or fall for fuel to overheat April 29, 2012

  http://enenews.com/japan-lawmaker-coolant-system-at-no-4-fuel-pool-may-take-3-days-to-fix-temperature-will-be-within-a-few-degrees-of-safety-limit-by-then

• There are seven nuclear powered submarines lying on the ocean floor - one at least with weaponry on board. And at least 100 or so warheads, bombs and other nuke devices lost off ships and from aircraft during the nuclear weapon age. The Soviets dumped old reactors into the sea just to get rid of them. The sea too has naturaly occuring radiation from erosion of granite rocks which contain uranium and potassium, naturally radioacive material. About 5.5 billion tons of it, which is as part of the ocean as is salt. We are still here.

• But for how long, R389? World cancer incidence will grow 75% by 2030, WHO says June 1, 2012 A new report by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) suggests that the incidence of cancer worldwide will grow by 75% by the year 2030, nearly doubling in some of the developing countries. [..]In 2008, almost 40% of the number of cancers worldwide occurred in countries with the highest standard of living, even though those regions account for just 15% of the world's population. As living standards increase elsewhere, the number of such cancers will continue to grow, the authors said. In countries with medium standards of living, such as South Africa, China and India, the cancer rate will grow by 78% by 2030, the team predicted. In countries that currently have the lowest standards of living, the rate will grow by 93%.

  http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-world-cancer-incidence-20120601,0,4763342.story

• Massive fish kill outside Tokyo in Chiba — “The sight is somewhat apocalyptic” — “Almost looks like a carpet of sardines” (PHOTOS) There are tons and tons of dead sardines washing up on the shore [at the fishing port of Ohara in Isumi City of Chiba Prefecture] According to the news, the dead fish started washing up around noon of June 3rd, and as of early afternoon on June 4th, the situation still remained pretty much out of control. ...the port looks completely filled with fish – it almost looks like a carpet of sardines.

  http://enenews.com/massive-fish-kill-outside-tokyo-in-chiba-the-sight-is-somewhat-apocalyptic-almost-looks-like-a-carpet-of-sardines-photos

• From China Daily, June 6, 2012 (by way of enenews) Radiation levels found in 1,127 tons of scrap metals imported from Japan exceeded China’s regulated safe levels three times over, authorities with Zhejiang Ningbo’s customs said on Wednesday. The metals came from Japan’s Chiba Port[...] “We figured it came from Chiba Port, the area with high radiation risk,” said [Dai Weigu, deputy chief of Ningbo Zhenhai Customs' department of logistics monitoring]. Per RT News: The metals contained caesium-137, a radioactive isotope of caesium.

  http://enenews.com/chinese-official-calls-chiba-port-an-area-with-high-radiation-risk

  If it's too dirty for China...

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• Sign at Tokyo Hospital (Translated by EX-SKF) (photo at link) To our patients, Currently, we do not conduct the tests for radiation exposure or treat radiation exposure. from Director of the Hospital Freelance journalist Hiroki Suzuki reportedly spoke with a nurse at the hospital. (Translated by EX-SKF): We are instructed to say we don’t do the tests for radiation exposure. All we can say is that people consult the local public health center. Tests for radiation exposure cannot be done without appointment. There’s also an issue with the national government when it comes to radiation exposure…

  http://enenews.com/sign-posted-on-tokyo-womens-hospital-we-do-not-treat-radiation-exposure-nurse-we-are-told-to-say-we-dont-do-tests-for-radiation-exposure

• R389, Fukushima's release dwarfs the total of those events, including Chernobyl's and all nuclear testing to date thrown in as well. It is that massive.

• R386 isn't apparently aware that American companies have changed in the same direction since you were last working, and the obscene wealth of undeserving CEOs has frankly made most Americans contemptuous of the value of work. As for Japan, you should visit it today. You will find that they did in fact pass the United States in general prosperity and wealth, and that fact is being covered up to mislead Americans. Yes the nuclear thing is bad, but don't forget it was designed (to fail) by American companies and that we are due for our own nuclear incident any day now.

• I say it's just a matter of months before we see Godzilla jumping out of the pacific ocean and kicking every building that gets in his way

• There's a picture of a deformed kitten on the Fukushima Diary site (see link). The FD guy has been posting photos of deformed weeds and plants all spring, then a few weeks ago there was a photo of a two-headed earthworm. A couple of reports of deformed fish. It was only a matter of time before larger, more complex organisms with longer gestational periods began being born with deformities. I wonder how soon before human births are affected ...and will the Japanese government try to cover it up and deny it when it happens?

  http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/06/more-deformed-kitten-around-in-tokyo/

• "As for Japan, you should visit it today. You will find that they did in fact pass the United States in general prosperity and wealth, and that fact is being covered up to mislead Americans." R396, Japan has a tremendous debt problem. Part of the problem is that their population is older than most, and many Japanese are retirement age or above. They're not having children at the replacement rate either. A poster in the comments section of the story below mentions that they don't calculate unemployment the same way we do and it may be considerably higher than the official number. From Bloomberg, June 4: "Last year, Japan’s gross government debt was 220 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund, by far the largest ratio of any Group of Seven country. All governments lend back and forth among official entities so that their gross debt is bigger than the net debt held by non-government investors, and Japan does this more than other developed countries. Still, on a net basis, Japan’s government-debt-to-GDP ratio is rivaled only by Italy’s and leaped to 113 percent in 2011 from 11.5 percent in 1991. "Ratings Downgrade "Standard & Poor’s has cut the Japanese government-debt rating to AA minus and Moody’s Investors Service cut its rating to Aa3. On May 22, Fitch Ratings reduced Japan’s sovereign grading to A+ and said the government is taking a “leisurely” approach to dealing with the nation’s debt." I'm not saying the U.S. is doing great by any means, but I've seen many Japan-based blogs that seem very concerned about this. Then there's the expense of cleaning up Fukushima, which the government has to pick up, since TEPCO can't afford it. That's a hole in their wallet for years to come. A lot of countries around the world are having financial problems for various reasons, but Fukushima is something they can't resolve with austerity.

  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-04/japan-s-debt-sustains-a-deflationary-depression.html

• Japan's total debt peaked in 1998. Since then rising public debt has been more than offset by declining private debt which is now about equal to GDP (compared the US four times GDP).

• I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that the black dust is ALIVE. Wtf.

• Finally, proof that the japanese government deliberately allowed a huge part of their population to be exposed to dangerous radiation in the immediate aftermath of the reactor meltdowns. One presumes this was done to avoid a P.R. disaster (by admitting the true extent of the nuclear disaster). There would have been significant repercussions for the japanese economy too. Money, people...gee, which one should the government protect?

  http://enenews.com/fatal-error-japan-given-precise-radiation-levels-from-us-govt-just-after-explosions-officials-kept-data-secret-from-public-year-of-safe-radiation-received-in-8-hours

  Fukushima%20and%20its%20aftermath%20is%20a%20crime%20against%20humanity.

• Horrible news r402. Why didn't our govt release to the press, the press report and they could have learned what we knew.

• google "Chernobyl Children") I did Elle Fanning keeps showing up

• Yikes, scary. How many people will die from this? Any estimates? I lived through the Japan corporate worship in the 80s. All smoke and mirrors apparently. Great post r385

  Sad%20for%20the%20people%20in%20Japan

• millions I suppose over the next 30 years.

• Japan on Saturday approved the resumption of nuclear power operations at two reactors despite mass public opposition, the first to come back on line after they were all shut down following the Fukushima crisis. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, his popularity ratings sagging, had backed the restarts for some time. He announced the government's decision at a meeting with key ministers, giving the go-ahead to two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Co at Ohi in western Japan. The decision, despite public concerns over safety after the big earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, could open the door to more restarts among Japan's 50 nuclear power reactors.

• A good thing too. Japan needs energy, particularly non-fossil fuel energy. The fiction that wind or wave can do it will kill their economy. Nuclear is still the safest, and most efficent, way to go.

• R408 lives in Opposite World, just too stupid for words. BTW, there won't be much of a japanese economy when Japan itself is a nuclear wasteland.

  But%20there%27ll%20be%20some%20great%20real%20estate%20bargains%21

• Now exactly is nuclear safe if it's capable of destroying the entire northern hemisphere?

• Um, from a comment at the link provided by R402: "I just traveled the California and Oregon coastal roads right up to Tacoma. I did not see any plant mutations on the coast as of yet, but plenty of radiation burns were seen in the tree tops and absolutely no life in the water or on the beaches or on the land for the entire 1500 mile round trip! Four critters were noted as road kill and that was all that was seen and no animals were seen alive in the wilderness areas we traveled." Has anyone who actually lives in California noticed anything like this??? To be honest, when I'm driving in an area like this, I tend not to see wildlife anyway (eyes on the road, and the wildlife tends to stay hidden in my experience), but I would have thought that if all wildlife had disappeared from the California coast, the people who live there might have noticed.

• no life in water??? ALL up and down cali and oregon coast? I think this would be news.

• bump

• Cue "Save The Earth" from GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER aka GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH. I'll never forget the shot of that dismembered arm floating in Tokyo Bay.

• Hh?

• Nuclear is not the safest or "the way to go." Within a couple hundred years every nuclear plant built in the world will have an accident or need to be shut down.

• R416, you make me laugh. Within a couple hundred years, just about EVERYTHING operating you see around you now will have an accident or need to be shut down, including you. Nuclear is the safest, most economical option for now until it can be replaced with other "greener" technologies that are not yet mature. As the PM of Japan quite rightly decided, you have to make the decisions that let you survive between now and the future.

• This planet cannot sustain this many people. That is all.

  Collapse%20

• The planet will never be president?

• Amen to [417].

• What a coincidence, that rich Japanese buyers are all of a sudden buying up Hawaii property like crazy. They obviously have no faith that their own government will protect them, so they're invading Hawaii, and buying up prime real estate. Thankfully for them, the yen/dollar exchange rate is EXTREMELY favorable for them, as the article points out, thus giving them a 20% discount right off the top. Yay, Hawaii! Instead of the average price of homes being $500,000, the average price will skyrocket to $1,000,000 per home in the state. It's a realtor's dream, and a local resident's nightmare. People who grew up in Hawaii are being priced right out of the market, thanks to the tsunami.

  http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Hawaii-realtors-see-change-in-Japanese-buyers/aHfwaNYcuEy6HZGBdApTrg.cspx

• But...won't Hawaii be the first place all that radiation drifts to?

• r411, I drove from Vancouver down the coast to Tijuanin 1974, and I didn't see wildlife. I was on a road. I also stopped to walk on the beaches in Oregon and N. California. Nope, no wildlife. What were you expecting?

• .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQLLLr2Li0Qc

• R417: you are aware that "IS TOO IS TOO IS TOO!" isn't a coherent defense, right? Those of us in the reality-based community like a little evidence with our disinformation and bullshit.

• R425, all I see from your side is hysteria and magical thinking.

• R423, I wasn't "expecting" anything. If you can be bothered, you might want to read my post again, carefully this time. And "no" wildlife on the beaches in 1974, not even birds?

  R411

• Horrible story on CNN today about woman committing suicide after the Fukushima crisis forced her to leave her home. Her husband is suing TEPCO.

• R426: a. my side? Bitch, please. b. you're still making bullshit assertions on the safety of nuclear power with zero proof. Care to back your bullshit with some, you know, facts?

• R417 is forgetting that the failure of a coal fired power plant does not render a neighborhood unusable to humans for thousands of years.

• Nucler power promoters are filth. This includes you David Axelrod.

• Japan to burn drums of unprocessed radioactive waste from nuclear accident — Facility to be built 100 km from Tokyo in Ibaraki Nuclear fuel processing firm JCO Co. plans to build an incinerator for disposing of low-level radioactive waste stored at its plant in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, where a fatal criticality accident occurred in 1999, company officials said Tuesday.

  http://enenews.com/japan-to-burn-drums-of-radioactive-waste-from-nuclear-accident-facility-to-be-built-100km-from-tokyo

• Watch: Large clouds blowing from No. 4 reactor during removal work (VIDEOS)

  http://enenews.com/happening-now-large-dust-clouds-blowing-from-no-4-reactor-during-removal-work-videos

• Letter from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to a concerned citizen received on June 25, 2012: ... As you know, I visited the Fukushima power plant this past April. ...Today, there is still hundreds of tons of debris scattered across the plant site, at least several reactors suffered damage to the highly radioactive reactor cores, and spent fuel rods at these reactors are being stored in compromised structures immediately adjacent to the ocean. This unsecured nuclear material could easily be released into both the air and water from a future seismic event—which would be very difficult to control. ...After visiting the site myself and recognizing that the situation was worse than what reports had indicated, I contacted the Japanese Ambassador to the United States urging him to accept international assistance in the clean-up and recovery efforts of the facility. I also contacted the Department of State, Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to see what additional resources and assistance our country could provide to Japan to address these risks.

  http://enenews.com/senator-fukushima-nuclear-material-could-easily-be-released-both-air-water-future-seismic-event

• continued from above, Sen. Ron Wyden's letter: "To write to me, go to (link is posted below) and choose the “Contact” link."

  http://wyden.senate.gov/

• Japan Reactor Building Is Tilting but Not a Risk, Operator Says The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said in a report on Monday to Japanese nuclear regulators that at least two of the walls of the No. 4 reactor building are bulging outward at various points and that the building is tilting. The biggest bulge measured about 1.8 inches about a third of the way up the building, the report said. The latest findings could add to concerns over the state of the No. 4 reactor building, which houses on its upper floors a cooling pool filled with more than 1,000 spent nuclear fuel rods. Some experts say that the building — ravaged in a hydrogen explosion in the early days of the disaster in March 2011 — is not strong enough to support the fuel pool, especially if another earthquake hits the region. Damage to the pool or loss of cooling could lead the spent fuel to overheat, releasing large amounts of radiation into the environment, the experts warn. Tepco has announced that it will start work to remove the spent fuel rods later this year, earlier than initially planned. However, other experts warn against removing fuel rods too hastily, which might pose its own risks.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/world/asia/fukushima-daiichi-building-tilting-but-not-a-risk.html

• Demolition? at Fukushima Daiichi site (video). Note the smoke pouring everywhere, light flashes (?) and camera flashes. As you watch the film, streaks of light appear that look like shooting stars, going sideways across the frame. Gamma rays can affect film and make streaks of light, similar to a light "blizzard" or "static" effect, on film. Are these flashes gamma rays on the film?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVrnpUBYL0Q&feature=youtu.be

• [quote]Are these flashes gamma rays on the film? As that's videotape and not film, I doubt it.

  The Voice of the Night

• [bold]Tepco Detects Record Radiation Levels At Fukushima[/bold] FOX Business reports on Reactor 1: [quote]Radiation levels above radioactive water in the basement reached up to 10,300 millisievert an hour, a dose that will kill humans within a short time after making them sick within minutes. [quote]The annual allowed dose for workers at the stricken site is reached in only 20 seconds. "Workers cannot enter the site and we must use robots for the demolition," said Tepco. Even if you could design and build one to do the job, it's doubtful that even robots would last long in that extreme environment.

  http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/06/27/tepco-detects-record-radiation-levels-at-fukushima/

• Robots?! Snort. This is way beyond anything we are capable of handling technologically. This is not some over budgeted scifi film.

• What a monumental fuck up. The Japanese need to ask for emergency help from any country willing to provide it NOW. Why do they have to be such slaves to their ridiculous, hierarchical, face-saving culture? The whole world is going to suffer just so that they can save face?

• An intense 5.6 Earthquake struck today with an epicentre only a few miles from the stricken Fukushima plant. This kind of an event is one many experts fear will compromise the structural integrity of the damaged buildings and the jury-rigged cooling systems. World, keep your fingers crossed. Radiation spiked shortly afterwards. In other Fukushima news, the cooling system for reactor 2 shut itself down yesterday (long before the earthquake). No word yet on when (or whether) it can be restarted.

  http://enenews.com/fukushima-radiation-monitor-spikes-hours-after-m52-quake-plant-chart

  Chicken%20Little

• Sorry, I got two facts wrong: today's quake measured 5.2 not 5.6 and radiation spiked twice afterwards. I'm also linking to another story linked on ENEWS that has me nervous. Well, pretty much ALL of the stories on that site make me nervous! It's a nuclear expert giving his opinion on "the weakest link" in the No. 4 fuel pool cooling system. A very weak link indeed from the sound of it.

  http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-will-make-whirlpool-4-fuel-pool-seal-tears-seal-failure-good-day-saltwater-quakes-destroyed-building-video

• Uh-oh... Another cooling system at Fukushima shut down yesterday - this one is for the much-feared Fuel Pool 4. As the spent fuel keeps heating, present indications are that the temperature safety limit will be reached early Tuesday morning, local time (Monday evening U.S.). Article linked is from the Wall Street Journal.

  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fukushima-reactor-cooling-system-suspended-kyodo-2012-06-30

• Turns out to have been a failed UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) which they have now bypassed and cooling is restored. However, they use the same UPS for both the primary and backup cooling systems. You'd think someone would be looking at all the single points of failure there by now.

• Thanks, R445. I'll sleep a little easier tonight knowing the Doomsday Clock has stopped ticking again.

• [quote]What a monumental fuck up. What a racist thing to say. I suppose they all have yellow skin, buck teeth and glasses.

• Says something about the seriousness of the story if the Wall Street Journal (Marketwatch) is talking about it. R447, it is a monumental fuckup. Something that dumps radiation everywhere and may actually hurt the whole planet can only be called a monumental fuckup. Nothing to do with "racism." That's something going on in your head.

• R445, can you please provide a link for your post? I don't doubt your information but I can't find any corroborating news stories on Google. Where did you learn about this?

  R446/Chicken%20Little

• How the hell is that, 'racist', r447? 'Monumental fuck-up', indeed.

  pish-posh

• Here you go, R449. Interesting site by a Japanese native who's been collating news on the accident.

  http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/06/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-reactor-4-spent.html

• é

• July 11, 2012 Now that it feels like summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest, many people from all over the state will be heading to the beautiful Oregon coast for vacation. Whether you are there for a weekend or a week, if you spend any time on the beach or are recreating in the water, you may run into tsunami debris. The tsunami that struck the nation of Japan in March 2011 caused immense destruction. As the Japanese people continue to rebuild and recover, Oregon is dealing with some of the ramifications from this disaster. Debris from the tsunami has been washing up on Oregon’s shores and could pose hazards to beachcombers, fishermen and people who use coastal waters. Governor Kitzhaber has created the Oregon Tsunami Debris Task Force to make sure that local, state and federal agencies are organized for cleanup of the Oregon coast. Members of the Congressional delegation are working together to make sure that the federal government is a partner in this effort. We recently sent a letter to the Coast Guard asking for their assistance in dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami. We will be looking for other ways that federal agencies can appropriately assist state and local governments so that we are all working in partnership and are dedicated to mitigating the environmental and economic impacts of this tragedy. There is also an important role for each of us individually. We all care about the Oregon coast and keeping our beaches clean. If you are visiting the coast this summer and come across debris from the tsunami, you can find information about how to deal with human-made debris and drop off sites here, sponsored by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and SOLVE. Also, a “211 line” that can provide information about tsunami clean up services is available for coastal counties. You can find more information on the 211 line here. A backup number of 1-800-SAFENET is also available. If you come across any debris that is potentially dangerous, or if you are unsure of its nature, do not attempt to pick it up or dispose of it. Call 211 to report large or potentially hazardous materials. I will continue working with the governor and federal, state and local agencies to make sure our coast and beaches are clean and ready for this summer and years to come. I’ll also be carrying a plastic bag for trash when I am walking on the beach! Sincerely, Earl Blumenauer Member of Congress

• Here's a spooky video filmed near the Fukushima plant in June this year. If you want a taste of what life is like life after an apocalypse watch this. [quote]Part 4 STORY: Ian and Hiroshi enter the exclusion zone, 10km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. After traveling down the tsunami-ravaged coast, they drive through the center of Namie town, which was badly damaged in the earthquake. After getting out of the car to measure radiation levels, they are stopped by a police patrol and questioned. Finally, after coming across a herd of cows that roams freely in the exclusion zone, the film crew unknowingly drives directly into a radiation hotspot.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DR6BWbJZygnQ%26list%3DPL0ACDF8BAC7DF3054%26index%3D4%26feature%3Dplpp_video

  Chicken%20Little

• The Oregon coast, r453? How about beach-blanket bingo at......FUKUSHIMA?! "Beaches opened in Japan's Fukushima state for the first time since last year's tsunami and devastating nuclear disaster." UK Telegraph. (CBS/AP) TOKYO - "Fukushima prefecture (state) has opened its first beach to swimmers since last year's nuclear disaster after judging the water to be safe. About 1,000 people on Monday descended on Nakoso beach, about 40 miles south of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where three reactors melted down after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami. The opening was celebrated with beach volleyball games and hula dancers from a nearby spa."

• I just know that if I see a glowing Hello Kitty doll on an Oregon beach I'm gonna run like hell.

• I haven't bumped this thread for a while, not that there hasn't been any news: the outlook in Japan is worse than ever and we (the rest of the world) nervously watch - hoping like hell another major earthquake doesn't occur in the next 10 or 20 years before they stabilise the plant and safely remove the damaged reactor cores and spent fuel rods. As always, go to ENEWS to get daily updates on the continuing tragedy. Meanwhile, Dr. Helen Caldicott has written an article (linked below) which contains a list of steps that should be taken immediately by the responsible authorities in Japan and elsewhere: "So what should happen in Japan? These are my recommendations. 1. All areas of Japan should be tested to assess how radioactive the soil and water are because the winds can blow the radioactive pollution hundreds of miles from the point source at Fukushima. 2. Under no circumstances should radioactive rubbish and debris be incinerated as this simply spreads the isotopes far and wide to re-concentrate in food and fish. 3. All batches of food must be adequately tested for specific radioactive elements using spectrometers. 4. No radioactive food must be sold or consumed, nor must radioactive food be diluted for sale with non-radioactive food as radioactive elements re-concentrate in various bodily organs. 5. All water used for human consumption should be tested weekly. 6. All fish caught off the east coast must be tested for years to come. 7. All people, particularly children, pregnant women and women of childbearing age still living in high radiation zones should be immediately evacuated to non-radioactive areas of Japan. 8. All people who have been exposed to radiation from Fukushima – particularly babies, children, immunosuppressed, old people and others — must be medically thoroughly and routinely examined for malignancy, bone marrow suppression, diabetes, thyroid abnormalities, heart disease, premature aging, and cataracts for the rest of their lives and appropriate treatment instituted. Leukemia will start to manifest within the next couple of years, peak at five years and solid cancers will start appearing 10 to 15 years post-accident and will continue to increase in frequency in this generation over the next 70 to 90 years. 9. All physicians and medical care providers in Japan must read and examine Chernobyl–Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment by the New York Academy of Sciences to understand the true medical gravity of the situation they face. 10. I also suggest with humility that doctors in particular but also politicians and the general public refer to my web page, nuclearfreeplanet.org for more information, that they listen to the interviews related to Fukushima and Chernobyl on my radio program at ifyoulovethisplanet.org and they read my book NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER. 11. The international medical community and in particular the WHO must be mobilized immediately to assist the Japanese medical profession and politicians to implement this massive task outlined above. 12. The Japanese government must be willing to accept international advice and help. 13. As a matter of extreme urgency Japan must request and receive international advice and help from the IAEA and the NRC in the U.S., and nuclear specialists from Canada, Europe, etc., to prevent the collapse of Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 4 and the spent fuel pool if there was an earthquake greater than 7 on the Richter scale.As the fuel pool crashed to earth it would heat and burn causing a massive radioactive release 10 times larger than the release from Chernobyl. There is no time to spare and at the moment the world community sits passively by waiting for catastrophe to happen. 14. The international and Japanese media must immediately start reporting the facts from Japan as outlined above. Not to do so is courting global disaster."

  http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/08/the-nuclear-sacrifice-of-our-children-14-recommendations-to-help-radiation-contaminated-japan.html%3Futm_source%3Drss%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dthe-nuclear-sacrifice-of-our-children-14-recommendations-to-help-r

  Chicken%20Little

• How much radiation blasted the West coasts of the US, Canada, and Mexico?

• Sorry, that should have been ENENEWS (not ENEWS) @ R457. They link to news stories about energy all around the globe not just ones about Fukushima. For example, they have also been collating stories about the radioactive sinkhole in Louisiana. Here's the link:

  http://enenews.com

• Oh, that Dr. Helen Caldicott-such a Debbie Downer.

• I [italic]know[/italic], R460. radioactive fallout can just [italic]ruin[/italic] your day.

  Nevermind.

• Radioactive fallout can trigger a recurrence of my breast cancer, but even worse it makes my hair frizzy.

  Suzanne%20Somers

• Somebody fuck my radioactive pussy!!

• Things continue to be dicey at Fukushima. They don't have enough storage for all of the radioactive water flowing out of the reactors. They been cutting down trees around the site to make more room for storage tanks, but they're running out. The place looks like an oil storage farm.

• And then there's this from the NY Times this past week: "“The fact that many fish are just as contaminated today with cesium 134 and cesium 137 as they were more than one year ago implies that cesium is still being released into the food chain,” Mr. Buesseler wrote." TEPCO won't rule out that contaminated water is being discharged into the ocean from the plant.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/world/asia/fish-off-fukushima-japan-show-elevated-levels-of-cesium.html%3F_r%3D1%26adxnnl%3D1%26adxnnlx%3D1351352091-MUktTj+Tx2Xst5mfOA8Q7A

  Chicken%20Little