Good morning. I don’t have time for the print and fill in your name press card, but I do have a reporting assignment for you: please check these sites, read as far back as you can, and let’s talk about what we see here. These are some of the places I’ve been looking. Friends have also been sending me the latest out of the mainstream media. Any breaking news items would be excellent to post here; understanding the issue will help you feel steadier on your pins, and you will help me keep my facts straight. If you find other reliable places that are blogging or otherwise compiling updates,
Thank you!
Union of Concerned Scientists — Union of Concerned Scientists. They have a press briefing every morning at 11 that is streamed as an MP3.
Nuclear Information Resource Service — a reputable antinuclear site. This guy has been at it for about 30 years. They update a PDF several times a day that you must download and review for the latest update. Weird way to blog.
Nuclear Street — an industry site. No clue, just found this on a Google search
World Nuclear News — an industry site. It’s been pretty good about what is going on, when this is all over I will send the editor a bottle of champagne.
Serennu News Feed — Tracy, who usually programs asteroid and outer planet aspects, is tracking breaking news then tweets the URL. Very handy.
The Automatic Earth — one reader writes, “She understands systems and how pieces can fit together and how they can fall apart. While she is usually concerned with economic systems, she can cover many topics.”
This Can’t Be Happening — presents an analysis of GE’s concept of ‘safety’. Here is another analysis by Robert Reich called Safety on the Cheap.
The Petkau Effect — dose/response in radiation exposure is not linear.
The Onion — common sense coverage. Here is another. What Happens at Yucca Mountain Stays at Yucca Mountain.
Anti-nuclear site: http://nukefree.org/
Here is a bit on GE from Reuters, published in the Sydney Morning Herald. The thing we want to see are their internal memos warning one another of the problems. I assure you that in the files is a memo describing exactly what is happening now. They also make it sound like 40 years is a long time. The reactors were designed to last about that long, and most electrical equipment is left in place long after its due date. Also this would be 40 years of safe operation under basically normal conditions. It seems like someone left the cake out in the rain. –efc
Engineer quit over reactor design
March 16, 2011 – 10:39AM
A General Electric Co engineer said he resigned 35 years ago over concern about the safety of a nuclear reactor design used in the now crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.
Dale Bridenbaugh said the “Mark 1” design had “not yet been designed to withstand the loads” that could be experienced in a large-scale accident.
“At the time, I didn’t think the utilities were taking things seriously enough,” Bridenbaugh, now retired, said in a phone interview. “I felt some of the plants should have been shut down while the analysis was completed, and GE and the utilities didn’t want to do that, so I left.”
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Bridenbaugh said that to the best of his knowledge, the design flaws he had identified were addressed at the Daiichi plant, requiring “a fairly significant expense”.
The Aptos, California, resident spoke earlier with ABC News, a unit of Walt Disney Co.
GE, in a statement, said it has had “40 years of safe operations” of its boiling water reactor Mark 1 technology.
“In 1980 the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) issued a generic industry order assessing the Mark 1 containment,” the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company added. “We responded to this order and issued it to all of our customers.”
Following last Friday’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, the Daiichi plant has suffered several explosions, and is now sending radiation wafting into Tokyo, 150 miles to the south. Authorities are trying to prevent a full meltdown.
Bridenbaugh said that after leaving GE he started a firm to advise state governments on safety issues. Like many, he said he is watching closely as events unfold in Japan.
“I feel sorry for the guys over there trying to handle that thing,” he said. “On the other hand you can’t say the Fukushima situation is a direct result of the Mark 1 containment. It is a direct result of the earthquake, tsunami and the fact the Mark 1 containment is less forgiving than some of the other reactor versions.”
Reuters
Here is today’s update from NIRS, in case you haven’t been to that site. They believe that multiple meltdowns are in progress. — efc
UPDATE, 10:00 am, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. The situation at Fukushima Daiichi continues to deteriorate. All plant workers were evacuated for some hours due to extremely high radiation levels onsite, but a skeleton crew is said to have returned. Solid information is sketchy and even the Japanese government is publicly complaining about the quality and quantity of information coming from Tokyo Electric Power.
We hope to update radiation levels in the next two or three hours; we have seen some contradictory figures and need to clarify before we post. It is clear, however, that radiation is now elevated across northern Japan, and at least one report indicated elevated levels as far south as Tokyo.
Unit 2 primary containment is believed to be significantly breached.
NIRS believes there are now multiple meltdowns in progress along with significant releases from irradiated fuel pools.
Also from Carol:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/reporters-in-japan-face-unusual-danger-exposure-to-nuclear-radiation/2011/03/15/ABJq0Ja_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend
As radiation levels rose and fell around the crippled nuclear power plant near Sendai , Japanese officials added to the uncertainty by giving sometimes vague and conflicting information about the dangers that followed a series of explosions.
That left Western news organizations pondering how to cover the unfolding story. The hazards of exposure raised an implicit ethical question rarely pondered in the news business: Is getting the story worth risking an invisible but lethal dose of radiation?
Carol van Strum (firecracker lady) sends this in:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/15/nuclear-watchdog-response-japanese-disaster
Nuclear officials argued that the fault lay not so much with the agency in Vienna as with its largely toothless mandate, which leaves it dependent on member states for voluntary compliance and control of information.
The fiercest criticism came from a former Soviet nuclear expert who helped organise the clean-up after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Iouli Andreev said that corporations had deliberately ignored the lessons of Chernobyl in the pursuit of profit and had been abetted by the negligence of the agency.
“After Chernobyl, all the force of the nuclear industry was directed to hide this event, for not creating damage to their reputation. The Chernobyl experience was not studied properly because who has money for studying? Only industry. But industry doesn’t like it,” Andreev told Reuters news agency.
Personally I think natural kelp and spirulina are great foods that we’re fortunate to have access to.
Global jet stream forecast: http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=glob_250
Lokta, exactly.. there is no ‘lab cure b.s.’. This sheisse is harmful. No pill is gonna save us, that’s a snake oil sellers dream. We’re already part of the fallout.. it’s just how far do we let it go?..
We’ve already stepped into the World, it aint gonna get any easier,.. It’s time we took control, with our voices, actions, and full participation in life.
With talk of Potassium Iodide tablets, I became curious about the “manufacturing” of this stuff…just an information stroll. The link is a Material Safety Data Sheet on the chemical.
http://www.medisca.com/ecms.ashx/PDFs/en-ca/MSDS/PotassiumIodide.pdf
Iodine supplement supplies wiped out by nuclear fallout fear – here are the foods that contain high levels of natural iodine
http://www.naturalnews.com/031717_iodine_sea_vegetables.html
when it comes to precautions, people must make their own decisions based on the best information they have. when taking something like iodine, research the topic, know the side effects and make up your mind. If something as a minimal or no adverse effect, and you feel right taking it, then I don’t see the harm in doing so.
Eric–
This following is from THE AUTOMATIC EARTH. The information is important because the guest on Rachel Maddow’s show that you linked us to said that the iodine pills are useless–“just don’t drink milk”. This quote explains well why the pills are helpful.
I am a registered nurse with a degree in English. I am 63. Mu username on you blog is Burning River. I was on the streets at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and am actively involved in health care reform as we speak. so to speak.
I found the Osho quote or one that is good enough.
Thank you for your hard work.
“The radioactive material of most concern in the initial stages of a nuclear accident is iodine 131, a major fission product which was responsible for the majority of health effects seen so far in the Chernobyl area. Iodine 131 has a half life of only 8 days, so it is of most concern early on. It is taken up by the thyroid gland where it can be retained (especially in young children), greatly raising the risk of thyroid cancer. Taking potassium iodide tablets can protect the thyroid from taking up the radioactive isotope. People in the affected area should be given this option as a preventative measure.”