06 August 2014 (12:37 UTC-07 Tango)/09 Shawwal 1435/15 Mordad 1393/11 Ren-Shen 4712
“We’re preparing for the worst day in America.”-Colonel Lawrence Terranova, U.S. Army NorthCom
Back in June I wrote how the GE designed reactor Unit 2, at Fukushima Daiichi, could very well be experiencing China Syndrome. Now, Tokyo Electric Power Company confirms Chine Syndrome in reactor Unit 3!
TEPCo has now discovered that all the nuclear fuel rods in Unit 3 melted through the reactor core, and are working their way through the containment vessel!
It was also revealed that the melt downs at Fukushima Daiichi started at least five hours before an official government investigation stated. Unit 3 actually began melting down at 05:30 hours on 13 March 2011 (The cooling system actually stopped six hours earlier than originally claimed. You conspiracy theorist need to get busy with this one!).
TEPCo says melted fuel in the containment vessel halts their plan to decommission the reactors. The ijits assumed the reactor cores were stable. Another kink in their plans to decommission the reactors is the fact that all their attempts to filter radioactive isotopes out of the cooling water have officially failed. So what now, you nuclear engineering geniuses?
TEPCo also discovered that pouring water directly on the reactor cores back in 2011 made things worse, by creating a chemical reaction that built up explosive hydrogen gas.
Japanese news media have revealed that TEPCo is fudging on its ice wall attempt. They’re supposed to be using a giant frigeration system to freeze the ground around Fukushima Daiichi, in the hopes it will stop contaminated groundwater from getting into the ocean. However, TEPCo now admits they’re dumping 15-tons of huge ice blocks, per day, into the trenches meant for the in-ground AC unit. They claim they are only trying to “speed things up”. Why can’t they just admit they don’t know what they’re doing and start dumping concrete on the whole thing?
And now for some more bad news: Japan has been hit with massive amounts of rain, this means Fukushima Daiichi is flooding even more radioactive isotopes into the Pacific Ocean.
In the United States: “A study from 2012 reports that the plume of radiation made a serious impact on Southern and Central California, with Southern California’s seaweed testing at a 500 percent higher level of radiation than normal…..
…..Elevated levels of iodine-131, which is a product of nuclear fission and exceeds the levels of contaminant permitted in the water supply, have been reported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)….
….radioactive elements that are present in California are Iodine, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137…..
…the Japanese government’s Meteorological Institute, found that levels of cesium 137 at the surface of the Pacific could potentially be 10,000 times higher that the contamination at Chernobyl….
….In 2012 the U.S. government ordered 14 million pills of Potassium Iodide….”–Adrianne Hill
In New Mexico, more confusion about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This time it was revealed that federal Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) wasn’t conducting mandatory quarterly inspections of WIPP!
MSHA officials claim they were confused as to just how much authority they had at the Department of Energy’s (DoE) WIPP. The DoE and MSHA signed a vague agreement back in 1987, but MSHA didn’t begin inspections until 1995, and even then they were sporadic.
In my last Fukushima posting I wrote about the massive nuclear disaster training taking place all across the U.S. One of those exercises is being conducted by the U.S. Army’s NorthCom in Indiana. The first half of the “premier” Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) wargame was from 21-27 July.
An update on Vibrant Response 14 (VR 14) shows it has entered the second half (01-09 August), and involves 55-hundred personnel from FEMA, Homeland Security, National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collections Task Force, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, FBI, DoE, USA (United States Army), USAF (United States Air Force), USN (United States Navy) and more than 28 states including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.
The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) is considered the best for simulating a nuclear disaster area: “This place is unreal! Considering how this whole place was once a functioning facility, this is probably the best place for my unit to get a feel for what we’d encounter during a real-life nuclear attack.”-1st Lieutenant Jeff Merritt, Indiana National Guard
The achilles heel of a nuclear disaster response is the same as for combat, logistics: “If the transportation mission wasn’t accomplished, Vibrant Response would not be possible.”-1st Lieutenant Mitchell Vaughan, Michigan Army Reserve