Tag Archives: unemployment

Fukushima

Government, Corporate & Farmer Incompetence: Cows fed with radioactive hay!

Officials with Fukushima Prefecture announced they found the source contaminating beef cattle: Radioactive hay.

It was initially reported that beef farmers were feeding their cows with feed that was kept indoors.  Turns out they were not.  Farmers admitted that they quickly ran out of feed that was kept indoors, and began feeding the cows hay from outside.

Since people don’t eat hay, no one had tested hay for radiation.  Now they have, and it tested positive for cesium contamination.  The local government safe limit is 300 becquerels per kilogram, the national safe limit is 500.

Officials are still testing local well water.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits they’ve screwed up on trying to control nuclear plant!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has admitted that the many delays in getting the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant under control, are due to the use of improvised parts and equipment.

TEPCo says they were never prepared for such a disaster, as a result many of the equipment they put together to tackle the problems, are made of material that can not stand up to the job.

TEPCo admitted that many of the leaks that have plagued water decontamination and cooling are caused by the use of hoses that are not meant for the job.

We rarely hear about Reactor 5 (since the reactors of main concern have been 1,2,3 & 4), but it turns out its cooling system was shut down at the beginning of July, because of shoddy improvised hoses/plumbing.  TEPCo will try to install better hoses and re-start cooling operations.

Another reason for the use of shoddy improvised parts and equipment: Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admit they did not understand the severity of the situation at the beginning of the disaster, and thought they would have the nuke plant under control within a few days.  Now they are asking for more time, to get proper parts and equipment to replace the improvised ones.

 

Fukushima

Corporate incompetence: TEPCo stops water decontamination…again

10 July 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company has stopped its water decontamination operation, again.  This time it’s due to chemicals leaking from the system.  The chemicals are used to absorb radiation from the water.

According to NHK, TEPCo is blaming the new leaks on “non-durable” materials used to build the decontamination unit.  Basically they used parts that could not withstand the pressure, radiation and chemicals in the system.

Many reports from Japan have been confusing, because they’ve referred to problems in the ‘cooling’ system, when they mean decontamination system.  This could be because the two systems are interconnected.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Tokyo officials admit Radioactive beef was sold in markets, can’t find source of contamination!

A couple of days ago Tokyo officials reported that cows from Fukushima Prefecture tested positive for high levels of cesium contamination.  Originally officials said none of the beef was sold in Tokyo markets.  Now they admit radioactive beef was sold.

Beef from a total of 11 cows, from a Minami Soma city farm, were tested.  But it turns out that beef from six cows, from the same farm, were not tested, and were sold in Tokyo and Tochigi markets.

Some of the contaminated beef tested for as much as 3,200 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.  The national safe limit is 500.

Officials from the Fukushima Prefecture have inspected the Minami Soma farm.  They discovered that the cows had been kept indoors, along with their feed.  A skin test on the cows, prior to shipment for slaughter, showed no radiation contamination.   Water for the cows came from a well, testing is being done on the water, as well as the feed.

Officials in Tokyo are now back tracking the shipping route used to deliver the beef.  There are concerns that somewhere along the route the beef became contaminated.  It’s also possible that the beef became contaminated during the butchering process.  This could mean that extremely high levels of cesium are being emitted, probably from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese beef contaminated with Cesium!

Tokyo officials say they found beef, shipped in from Fukushima Prefecture, is contaminated with high levels of cesium.

On 08 July 2011 the beef tested positive for 2,300 becquerels per kilogram of cesium, the national safe limit is 500 becquerels per kilogram.

The beef came from cows raised in Minami Souma, in Fukushima Prefecture.

Japan’s Health Ministry says this is the first time such high levels of radiation showed up in beef.  They are now requesting the six prefectures around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to increase testing their cows for radiation.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Japanese nuclear plant operator lies about plant safety, gets caught!

In Japan, the restart of the Genkai nuclear power plant has been put on hold, after a whistler blower revealed that the company boss ordered false statements about the plant’s safety.

Operator Kyushu Electric Power Company got the go ahead to restart the nuclear plant, located in Saga prefecture, after a public meeting in which email testimonies were read in favor of restarting the plant.  Those emails, supposedly from independent observers, and even affiliates of KEPCo, turned out to be lies.

Saga is located many hundreds of miles from Fukushima, on the southern island of Kyushu.

It’s been revealed that the boss of KEPCo ordered false emails to be sent to the public hearing, in order to win approval for restart.

Now local officials will wait until the central Japanese government completes its new stress tests, before giving the go ahead for restart.

 

International

Studies say cutting back on salt does not reduce death rates

“Cutting down on the amount of salt has no clear benefits in terms of likelihood of dying or experiencing cardiovascular disease.”-Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

No fewer than seven international studies have concluded that reducing salt in your diet does not reduce the chance of death.

A moderately low salt diet might reduce your blood pressure, but there is no evidence it will prolong your life.  However, there is evidence that people who have congestive heart failure might increase there chance of death with a low salt diet.

This makes sense to me, because salt, along with potassium, helps prevent your muscles from cramping.  Your heart is a muscle.

The studies looked at 6,000 people.  Researchers admit they need to do more detailed studies, like looking at cardiovascular morbidity in people with normal or high blood pressure.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More Japanese tea farms contaminated with Cesium!

Another tea growing prefecture is now contaminated with dangerous levels of cesium.  Tochigi prefectural government says 1,810 becquerels per kilogram of cesium is contaminating the harvest, piked earlier this week.

The levels are three times the safe limits set by the Tochigi government.  Tochigi Prefecture is 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

This latest prefecture is part of a growing list of prefectures that have stopped tea shipments because of cesium.  Others include Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures. Shizuoka is Japan’s largest tea producer.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits airborne radiation still being emitted in high doses!

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced it will increase monitoring of airborne radiation levels around the damaged reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.

TEPCo will especially focus on reactors 1 and 4.  High levels of contamination are being found in dust and steam emitted from the reactor buildings.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Another nuclear reactor in trouble in Japan, failed to meet its own company standards!

Looks like it was the right move, for the Prime Minister to order standard safety stress tests of all nuke plant in Japan.  The Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture has failed earthquake safety tests for its electronic equipment.

The amazing thing is that the earthquake safety standards for Tokai Daini were created by the very company that runs the nuclear plant.

The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says many of the nuclear plants in eastern Japan are failing their own earthquake safety standards for their electrical equipment.  In one case it was discovered that the metal frames holding electric motors were made of such inferior metal that they could be easily broken by twisting.  The agency also says they still don’t know the true reason why the electrical systems at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed.