Russia just delivered two Mi-35P (P for Peru?) Hind E attack copters to Peru.
Officially Peru is using the helicopters in their drugs war.
In 2010 Peru signed a $108-million contract for six Mi-171 Hip H multi-role helicopters and two Mi-35 helicopters. The Mi-35 is an improved version of the infamous Mi-24 Hind, and the Mi-171 is an improved version of the Mi-17.
The following is from Kyodo News.
Radioactive iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days, meaning that its effect will be reduced to half in eight days, one-fourth in 16 days and one-sixteenth in 32 days.
Half life for cesium-137 is 30 years.
According to The Japan Times, portable generators are almost sold out, thanks to the 11 March 2011 disasters. Also, because of power outages (ironic), and parts supply problems, producers will not be able to meet current (pun; electric generators) demand.
“We’re completely out. We ran out three days after the quake, but we’ve been receiving orders from hospitals and factories every day.” -Ryuzo Nishikawa, Fuji & Yamaha generator salesman
Yahoo Japan has actually been auctioning off Honda generators. The highest bid so far is ¥178,000 (about U.S. $2,000.00).
Lesson: If you got the money, buy the damn generator BEFORE the disaster!
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the Japan Meteorological Agency delayed releasing info on radiation data. He also said, that when the data was released it was so confusing that it has added to the problem of getting people out of harms way.
And as an example of overlapping authority, Meteorological Agency officials say they thought the data was only to be reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency. They pointed out that the ‘data’ was a only computer projection, a simulation, of what could happen, not actual real time data!
You wouldn’t believe how much we use petroleum products (oil & natural gas) in our everyday lives. The people of Japan are finding out the hard way.
The 11 March 2011 quake/tsunami has resulted in several petroleum plants closing down, due to damage and power cuts. Those plants turn oil and natural gas into everyday products.
How would you like disposable diapers with no tape to seal it shut? Unicharm Corporation discontinued production of special tape used to wrap diapers because of a lack of the chemical needed to make the tape.
Are you one of those people who just have to have your whites their whitest when doing the laundry? No bleach. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co has stopped production at its Kashima factory, because of lack of electricity.
Love your Manga? The publisher of mangas including Shonen Jump, is delaying publication because there’s no ink. Maruzen Petrochemical Co stopped production of Diisobutylene, a chemical product used to make ink. Amazingly Maruzen is the only producer of Diisobutylene in Japan, so bye, bye Manga.
Text: AAron Hutchins
Photos by: Alex Hutchins (click on the pics to make them bigger. More pics, including plaques that explain HTRE, in the Galleries section, click on the INL Nuclear Power Site)
Barely noticeable from the two lane highway, sitting literally in the middle of nowhere, a brick building with some strange caged objects next to it. Getting any closer doesn’t help you identify the metallic two story tall objects, behind locked fences with barbed wire on top. They seem extraterrestrial. Perhaps some ancient Alien visitors left behind their space vehicle?
HTRE-3
It’s like something out of X-Files. But this isn’t Area 51, in Nevada. It’s not Roswell, New Mexico. It’s eastern Idaho, and today is windy and cold. As my son Alex said, “It’s Big Wind.”
As far as ‘ancient’ goes, well, some people might think 1950s is ancient. That’s when the strange twisted metal craft first appeared. Extraterrestrial? Many people in the 1950s thought the scientists of the day were out of this world with their crazy ideas, like nuclear powered jet aircraft.
Taking Exit 93 off Interstate 15, turn west towards Arco. Stay on Highway 26 for about 40 miles. As you drive the lonely 40 miles you’ll pass the big “Welcome to the INL” sign. Then you’ll come to an intersection, make a left, just follow the arrows to Arco. You’ll see building complexes to your right, that’s part of the main Idaho National Laboratory complex.
INL Entrance
At that point pay attention to your left. You should see a lone building in the distance, EBR-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor. That’s where the strange alien vehicle looking things are. There should be a left turn lane coming up, with signs for EBR-1. Make the turn, then another left turn lane, again follow the sign for EBR-1.
It’s a desolate place, my son and I were the only ones there that windy, cold day. We passed a couple of parked cars on the roadside, with no one in them, out in the middle of nowhere, mmm.
EBR-1
There they are, like something left behind, and forgotten, by some advanced species, in the middle of the vast, windy East Idaho desert, HTRE-1, 2 & 3. The three huge Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments units making up world’s first nuclear powered turbine engine. Intentionally twisted metal, big pipes, gigantic turbos, and two little jet engine exhaust at the back. Don’t think these guys are safe, they’re radiation warning signs all over. Many of the openings and fittings are sealed off. Even the giant weld seams on the reactor have been recently coated with a white colored material.
Nuclear powered jet engines and the lead-lined train that pulled them.
Some people would say that only an evil scientist would come up with such a thing. Maybe they’re right? General Electric spent one billion taxpayer dollars on the project, before it was canceled by President Kennedy in 1961. And that’s 1950s dollars, whew!
There are several informational plaques that give the visitor more understandable, and more interesting, info than what I found on the internet. Like “Operation Wiener Roast”. They actually burned a nuclear turbine engine to see if dangerous levels of radiation would be spread if a nuclear powered aircraft crashed.
Operation Wiener Roast
Testing of the reactor turbine was successful, but an actual aircraft was never developed. The program was conducted in Idaho, in Test Area North, of what is now called the INL. The project was managed by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission. There’s lots more information on the signs, you need to go there to look for yourself.
One things for sure, this archeological find proves that the U.S. government spent taxpayer dollars on some really far out stuff in the 1950s.
Radiation signs next to jet engines.
Lead-lined train in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho. Photo by Alexander Hutchins.
GHOSTLY NUKE TRAIN ROLLIN’ ‘CROSS IDAHO DESERT
Claimed to be the largest concrete spraying trucks in the world, they will be on their way to Japan, after upgrades in California and South Carolina.
The two trucks are made in Germany, for spraying concrete for skyscrapers.
Kelly Blickle, a spokeswoman at Putzmeister America Inc., says similar types of trucks were also used on Chernobyl in 1986.
Officially the trucks will be spraying water, but if necessary, can spray concrete to entomb the reactors.
A Japanese industry analyst, interviewed on NHK, said most of Japan’s industries will be hurt more than thought by rolling blackouts.
For several days NHK has been running reports on different industries that would be affected by power outages. Some of those industries, like bread factories, would have to shut down for longer than the planned 3 hour blackout. This is because of the process for making bread. The bread factory official said they would end up being shut down for 6 hours.
Most factories need to control heat processes for a long period of time, and they can’t do that with power outages. It’s also interesting to see that most factories in Japan do not have any back up power source. Most of Japan’s industries are totally dependent on nuclear power.
The analyst said on NHK, that Japan’s industry must be prepared to move factories to other parts of Japan, or even to other countries. In the future Japan’s industries must be built so that they can operate independently of any single power source.
“This is the biggest impact ever in the history of the automobile industry.”-Koji Endo, Advanced Research Japan
Parts, from electronics, to mechanical parts for cars, to paint pigments, are shipped by slow boat. That means that the U.S., Europe and other parts of Asia have NOT begun to feel the true impact of the Japanese shut down.
Warehouses in Japan are almost out of the parts they had on hand at the time of the March 11 earthquake/tsunami, and the ongoing nuclear power plant disaster. Since then, Japanese factories have had trouble after trouble trying to get their factories restarted.
The United States, Europe and the rest of Asia can expect the full impact of Japan’s shut down to begin in April.
Many factories in Japan are without power to operate. Some factories have lost employees to the disaster.
This disaster in Japan reveals the weakness of a truly global economy. If one part of the chain breaks, it’s in trouble. It should be viewed more like dominoes, if one domino falls, others will be brought down with it. Japan has become the trigger domino, because it has basically become the parts supplier to the world.
Here’s why this is so bad for the worldwide auto industry: About 3,000 parts can go into one car. Those parts come from dozens of factories, and most are in Japan. But it gets worse, some of the “parts” are made up of many tiny parts. And, you guessed it, those tiny parts also come from dozens of other factories. It’s a friggin’ logistical nightmare, it’s a wounder the auto industry didn’t collapse because of parts supply issue sooner!
It’s not just cars. Get ready to see shortages of computers, video game systems, printer ink and even batteries. So much for a global economy! Can you say idiot in Japanese? It’s Baka!
Japanese company, Panasonic, is rushing to get batteries shipped into Japan.
Batteries for electronic items have run short after Japanese bought up all they could after the March 11 disasters.
Panasonic makes batteries in Japan, but even with increasing their production, they can’t meet domestic demand. Usually batteries are shipped by boat, because of their weight, but Panasonic is using airfreight.
Current battery shipments are coming from Indonesia and Thailand. The April shipments will be coming from Belgium and Poland.