Tag Archives: health

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: After months of expelling radiation into the environment, Fukushima Daiichi officially in Cold Shut Down

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say that on 16 December 2011 (the day the U.S. Postal Service will be in official default) they will declare the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Cold Shut Down mode.

The Cold Shut Down could be officially announced by Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko.

Of course this is after they let millions and millions of becquerels of radiation pour out into the air and water, along with the radioactive remains of the melted fuel rods!

Cold Shut Down means that the water being used to flush out, I mean, ‘cool down’ the reactors remains below boiling point, which is an indication that most of the fuel rods are used up.

There must be so little left inside the reactors that the temps have come down. I guess that’s one way to do it, I personally like the way the Soviets handled Chernobyl: Sand, lead and concrete.

Fukushima

Global Food Crisis: Fukushima needs help inspecting more than 24,000 rice farms, too much radiation, logistical nightmare!

The Prefectural government of Fukushima (where the spewing Fukushima Daiichi GE designed disaster reactors are) is asking the Japanese government for logistical help.

Fukushima officials said they want to test one third of their rice farms/crops for radiation contamination, after several rice crops came up highly radioactive. Here’s the logistical problem: One third of Fukushima rice farms/harvests amount to 24,000 crops!

Fukushima Prefecture asked the national government to provide devices to measure radiation, dispatch personnel to expedite inspections, and shoulder the cost.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits lack of communication caused Reactor 1 to melt down and explode, evidence it was a man made disaster!

On 02 December 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admitted that lack of communication resulted in Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1 melting down and exploding, on 12 March 2011.

Former plant manager, Yoshida Masao (who recently resigned due to health problems, which might be caused by exposure to radiation, which TEPCo denies) said he, and other officials, were not told that Reactor 1’s cooling system was manually shut down.  He realized the cooling system was not working a little more than six hours after it had been turned off. By then it was too late.

Just a few days ago TEPCo admitted, after an independent investigation, that 100% of the fuel rods in Reactor 1 melted.

The irony is that Reactor 1 had the only operable cooling system after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami hit the nuclear disaster reactor plant.  Reactors 2, 3 and 4 lost their connections to electrical power, but Reactor 1 was still connected.

This could add some fuel to the conspiracy theories out there (that it was intentional, after all, look how long they’ve dragged this out!).

Fukushima

Occupy Fukushima! Residents order all nuclear reactors shut down and scrapped!

The governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Yuhei Sato, ordered all nuclear reactors in the prefecture, to be shut and scrapped.  There are ten nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture.

The residents of Fukushima know that it will have a huge negative impact on their local economy, but they say it’s better than trying to live with an ongoing nuclear disaster!

The Fukushima government is working on a reconstruction plan that will try to create new jobs for those working at the nuclear plants.

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits fuel rods melted through reactor cores! Serious melt down of 3 reactors at GE designed Fukushima Daiichi!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has been forced to admit that serous melt downs took place in reactors 1, 2 and 3, of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Independent researchers confirmed that melt downs did occur, and were severe enough to melt through the reactor cores into the bottom of the containment vessels. Some melted fuel rods penetrated as much as 57 centimeters (22 inches) into the containment vessels.  The bottom of the containment vessel is made of thick concrete, with a steel plate on top.

TEPCo now says 100% of the fuel rods in Reactor 1 melted, all the way through the core into the containment vessel!  57% of Reactor 2’s fuel rods melted, and 63% of Reactor 3’s fuel rods melted.

Many months ago, I posted how nuclear experts, who were being ignored by the main stream media, explained that the amount and type of radiation coming from Fukushima Daiichi could only mean melt down was occurring.  Somehow the main stream news media found other nuclear ‘experts’ (including many who work for the U.S. government, and the U.S. nuclear power industry) who countered those claims.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reactors were designed by General Electric.

Fukushima

Company Hero? Manager of Fukushima Daiichi resigns, major health problems!

The manager of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was forced to resign, because of major health problems.

Yoshida Masao has been directly dealing with the situation at the nuclear plant since the 11 March 2011 disasters.  Yoshida said a major health problem was discovered during a medical check up.  TEPCo officials refused to give any information, or to confirm if was the result of long term exposure to high levels of radiation.

Yoshida said there were three times he, and the workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, thought they were going to die: The explosions of reactors 1 and 3, and the coolant pump failures on Reactor 2.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Tokyo Electric can’t explain the high levels of radiation from Reactor 2!

During the week that followed the March 11 earthquakes and tsunamis that hit Japan, reactors 1, 3 and 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant exploded.  Yet Reactor 2 spewed the most radiation.

Contract workers at the plant say they heard an explosion inside Reactor 2, but TEPCo officials swear no explosion took place.  Independent researchers claim that Reactor 2 has emitted more radiation than the reactors that exploded!

Scientists (not working for TEPCo) say the most probable reason is that the containment vessel around the core was breached.  TEPCo also denies that.

TEPCo officials simply state that “somehow” radioactive gas escaped Reactor 2.

Fukushima

Government & Farmer Incompetence: More cesium contaminated rice, new farms affected!

Three farms in the city of Date, Japan, harvested rice that was found to be contaminated with cesium, up to 1,050 becquerels per kilogram.

Earlier in November as many as six farms in Oonami district were found with contaminated rice.  Those farms did not sell their rice, but the farms in Date did.

Now officials are trying to track down who bought the cesium contaminated rice.

Date, and Oonami are in Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant continues to emit high levels of radiation.  Originally officials were testing rice just from the 154 farms in Oonami, but will now test more than 2,300 farms in the prefecture.

Fukushima

Government & Farmer Incompetence: Yet again, more rice contaminated with cesium, lots of cesium!

Once again, rice harvests in Fukushima Prefecture are coming up contaminated with cesium.  But this time the levels are even higher than before.

Five farms in Oonami district have rice that’s contaminated with as much as 1,270 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!  At the beginning of November rice containing 630 becquerels was found in the same district. The national government safe limit is 500.

The national government already banned rice from Oonami from being shipped to markets.

In several postings (back in March) I warned that Japanese farmers (specifically those in the Fukushima Prefecture) should not plant their crops because of the radiation contamination.  They did anyway, and many said it was because no ‘government official’ told them not to.  This is a clear case of too much reliance on ‘authority’!

The prefectural government of Fukushima is in the process of testing all 154 rice farms in the Oonami district.  This is going to create a huge rice (and other agricultural products) shortage in Japan, which will only add to the coming global food crisis.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Mountains of Eastern Japan now Radioactive!

Japan’s science ministry conducted helicopter surveys of radiation, covering 22 prefectures in eastern and central Japan.  They found that long lasting cesium is contaminating a large area.

The highest level of cesium contamination is around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, with some areas hitting more than one million becquerels per square meter!

The scientists also found that the mountain ranges nearby have been blocking a lot of cesium from spreading further south.  As a result, geographic regions about 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north, and about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest, are contaminated with more than 30,000 becquerels per square meter.

They say the cesium contamination will last decades.  And remember, the Fukushima Daiichi disaster reactors are still emitting lots of radiation!