Tag Archives: tea party

Business/Economics, Fukushima, Technology

Just how much do we rely on Petroleum? No ink, no bleach, no tape, no Shonen Jump

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.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Grocery store shelves empty due to lack of Packaging for food products

According to The Daily Yomiuri, lack of food is not the only reason for bare grocery store shelves.  Even food that is abundant is not making it to the Japanese grocery stores because of a lack of packaging.

The problem is a lack of plastic, and plastic wrap, used for food packaging. The 11 March 2011, 9.0 quake severely damaged a petroleum complex in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, where the chemicals are made for plastics. (another example of  how we are dependent on oil)

Even plastic bottle cap producers have shut down.

Cardboard production has been stopped as well. The result is products like milk can not be packaged, according to Nippon Paper-Pak Co, a major beverage packaging firm.

Fukushima

Japanese government OKs intentional release of Radioactive Water!

After blasting Tokyo Electric Power Company for the leaking water from Reactor 2, the Japanese national government has given the go ahead to release radioactive water from reactors 3 & 4!

Chief Cabinet secretary, Edano Yukio, said the intentional release of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is to maintain operational safety!

Fukushima

Shitake mushrooms radioactive, no response from national government, local government taking action!

Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, has order its own ban on Shitake mushrooms after a sample tested positive for contamination.

Iodine and cesium were found on mushrooms grown outdoors in the city of Iwata. No contamination found on indoor grown mushrooms. Iwata is 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The radiation levels are higher than safe limits set by the national (central) government. It was the local government that set the ban on shipping the contaminated mushrooms, after no order was heard from the central government.

Fukushima

Winds blowing radiation to North America, now the Black Current will bring radiation as well

The predominant winds from Japan are bringing radiation spread into the air, to North America.  The radiation is, so far, lower level isotopes, and the air disperses it over the long distance.

Now there is highly radioactive isotopes spilling into the Pacific Ocean, in higher concentrations, and the currents could eventually bring it to the North American coast.

The Kuroshio Current (Black Current, or Black Tide) runs northward up the Pacific coast of Japan, then turns eastward into the North Pacific Current heading towards the North American coast.

Fukushima

Japanese government demands leaking radioactive water be stopped!

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, has demanded that Tokyo Electric Power Company stop the leak of highly contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.

TEPCo has failed at two attempts to stop the leak. They have admitted that they don’t even know where it’s coming from. It’s pouring into a pit connected to Reactor 2, at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Now TEPCo will try to use silt screens in the ocean, to block the spread of radiation in the water.

Fukushima

Kitty Litter fails to stop radioactive water leak from Reactor 2!

First the concrete failed, now the disposable diaper absorbent fails.

Workers combined 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of  polymeric absorbent with 60 kilograms of sawdust and three bags of shredded newspaper into pipes leading to a pit connected to Reactor 2, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.  It failed.

Highly contaminated water continues to pour into the Pacific Ocean.

 

Fukushima

Stopping radiation leaks at Fukushima will take months, recognition that truth not being told!

Hosono Goshi, special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto, said attempts to control Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will take “several months”. Hosono also said that the plant is still “critical”.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, admitted that the government, and Tokyo Electric, have not been forthright with the public about how bad the situation really is. Edano said that it was time for a “highly independent” panel to review the situation at the damaged nuclear plant.

Business/Economics

Remember the Mexican Gulf Oil disaster? Company officials get bonus for beating “safety” standards!

“Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate.”-Transocean, LTD

Transocean, one of the companies involved with the BP (British Petroleum) oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, gave it’s executives pay raises and bonuses, for having their “best year” ever for safety!

Can you say “What the F**k!”  Let me remind you that 11 people were killed on 20 April 2010, after an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon platform. Nine of those killed were Transocean employees. And they say they had their best year ever?  If that was their best year ever then they need to be investigated big time.  How many other people have died while working for Transocean?

Also, the disaster isn’t over with. There are still plumes of stuff coming up from the bottom of the Gulf. The well that the Deepwater Horizon was drilling at the time of the explosion may have been capped, but there are reports that plumes are coming up from other areas, that might have been caused by previous drilling by the Deepwater Horizon platform.

More proof that corporations don’t give a crap about you.

Fukushima, U.S.

GE getting involved in Fukushima

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, met with Tokyo Electric chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa on Sunday.

TEPCo officials said GE’s Immelt offered ‘maximum’ support for dealing with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which GE designed.

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there are 23 nuclear plants in the United States that are similar in design as Fukushima Daiichi.

Immelt will meet with the Japanese Economy Minister on Monday.  Under Japanese regulations, if the design of the plant is proven faulty then GE can be sued.

Immelt has also been pushing for taxpayer supported nuclear plant development in the U.S.  The Guardian newspaper recently reminded people that Immelt once said that investors are not willing to take on the risks of nuclear power, and that those risks should be handled by the government (taxpayers).  In other words, capitalist investors know nuclear power is a bad bet.

According to former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, General Electric paid no U.S. taxes in 2010. He also wants Jeffery Immelt to resign from President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.