Video above: This is the source of the 4:30 pm time from Wikipedia. The video shows the explosion, after the fact. If you understand Japanese, would you please help out by translating the source of the time? This source is reporting 3:36 pm and the New York Times is reporting 3:40 pm. We will be going with the 3:36 pm chart, which puts Leo in the ascendant. The 3:36 pm time appears to be confirmed by a press release from the nuclear plant itself. Note, here is the latest from Karl Grossman, posted to his personal blog. A longtime scholar of nuclear power issues, he is able to explain the technical side of the situation.
News from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant has taken a turn for the worse overnight, as an explosion was reported at the plant at about 3:36 local time. The atomic reactor suffered the loss of its primary and backup cooling systems in yesterday’s earthquake, and was running on battery power as Japanese and American workers worked to install portable diesel generators to supply backup power.
The explosion at the plant, seen in the video above, obviously did damage — the question is whether the containment structure is intact. It does not look good.
Both pressure and radiation levels inside the plant were increasing through the day yesterday and overnight, with radiation being reported inside the control room of the plant at 1,000 times the normal level. Plant engineers were venting toxic steam, probably from the primary and secondary cooling loops, into the atmosphere in an attempt to keep the pressure down. Last night Rachel Maddow did a segment explaining the situation. It is worth watching if you want a clearer picture of how this type of nuclear plant works and which ways the situation could go.
But the explosion Saturday afternoon seems to indicate that their efforts failed; basically the world is left hoping that the 40-year-old nuclear device does not melt down. It is located just 240km from Tokyo, a city of more than 12 million — extremely close in terms of the potential for radiation to travel.
I just spoke briefly to Karl Grossman and he said he believes that the issue involves the use of zirconium, an explosive metal, in nuclear power plants of that era. We will continue to carry Grossman’s coverage; he is working on a new piece that he said would be done later in the morning. Here is the latest, that he posted to CounterPunch last night.
I am going to hold off interpreting the chart until I have a better sense of the time that this happened. I have an idea what’s going on but the ascendant is going to make a big difference, and between the two times most commonly given the ascendant does change between Leo and Virgo.
As for the chart. The good news is we’re not near an eclipse. It’s true that the Sun is getting ready to square the lunar nodes and there is a big Full Moon coming with the Moon and Sun square the nodes. We’re a little ahead of ourselves there but let’s remember this is a story with a fairly long arc. It’s going to be developing at full intensity for weeks and then over months and years. Remember this happened on the brink of Uranus ingressing Aries, within hours — which is as ominous as the Deepwater Horizon explosion happening within hours of Chiron ingressing Pisces last year.
As for the rest. The way the story of a chart like this is told is by looking at the Moon’s aspects in sequence as it moves through its present sign. Appropriately enough, the Moon reaches right into the Nuclear Axis (see related article from Friday), which extends from mid-Gemini to mid-Sagittarius. The Moon’s precise aspect as this happens is a trine to Venus. Remember that trines are not good — they are an opening. For example, the Sept. 11 chart was dominated by an exact trine between Mercury and Saturn.
Next, the Moon moves from the trine to Venus right into a square to Mars in Pisces. In fact, the square is to the Mars-Borasisi conjunction in Pisces (I covered Borasisi last week several places; it’s a planet about believing what makes you feel good, and for many this includes believing that nuclear power is safe). The square to Mars indicates an explosive situation that is developing — not just that has happened. This is a comment on the situation developing and also a caution about aftershocks (of which there was one at Fukushima before 9 am EST).
Next up, the Moon trines Saturn in Libra. So that makes a grand trine — Moon, Venus, Saturn in the air signs. That’s a lot of air, and actually there are three other upcoming points in Aquarius that the Moon will trine: Nessus, Cerres and finally Neptune (which is the last aspect of the story)
Here is the troubling part. The Moon is opposite Pholus in Sagittarius. This is not thrilling because Pholus is about that which is uncontainable; and it represents the the small cause with a big effect. Pholus factors prominently into the Nuclear Axis chart, as it’s the planet on the midheaven. If any planet says ‘radiation release’, it is Pholus, as it’s the ultimate thing that cannot be contained, and the small cause with the big effect.
After opposing Pholus, the Moon will trine Nessus and make a sextile to Eris; then it will trine Ceres; then it will trine Neptune and ‘come home’ to Cancer. I don’t have interpretations of those aspects yet but when I do I will add them either as comments or into the text. What matters is that the Moon is making contact with these two obviously potent archetypes. Nessus in particular has a big role in the Nuclear Axis chart, as the planet that was rising when the nuclear age began.
I checked in with our webmaster in the Ukraine this morning, Anatoly Ryzhenko. Nuclear accidents have been a long topic of conversation — the Ukraine was the host of the last really serious power plant disaster, Chernobyl in 1986. I asked him the tone of the press this morning. He said that much of it was understated, attempting to minimize the issue. One writer commented that Japan, a democratic nation, was hiding the details just like the totalitarian USSR.
But another wrote, “It is necessary to pass immediately in the light of occurring events to alternative kinds of energy. Time has just come. It is not necessary to wait. Immediately to start to dismantle ALL atomic power stations and completely to cancel peace atom. It not the peace. It is an infection from which there is no disposal. We must put our hope in the rivers and wind-driven generators.”
Good research Eric. I used the 3:36 pm time too. Worth putting Sedna in the chart, conjunct the MC
I am a professional translator from Japanese to English. All the newscasters are saying is that the explosion was “approximately 3:30.”
Star, CNN is doing credible reporting with a Red Alert on the nuke situation; analysis is subdued but that’s to be expected as the threat is minimized, i.e., “don’t scare the natives.” The reporting, however, is pretty dire with a clear sense of emergency. They’re using words like “desperate” and “last ditch effort” as the Japanese try to flood the core with sea water.
A couple of things have crossed my mind in the last 24 hours: one, shared with Aword… is how karmically ironic this seems, with the Japanese unable to safely harness the same lightning that struck them so long ago. The other is how quickly the tsunami morphed from a wall of water into a wall of STUFF, massive hunks of debris that flattened anything in its path. Consumption karma plus some.
Here’s an informative piece from AlterNet about how prepared the Japanese are … which is incredibly impressive, given our own glaring deficit in preparedness … AND how the nuclear issues are systemically covered up.
http://www.alternet.org/story/150212/japan%27s_tsunami%3A_human_failings%2C_not_nature%27s_power%2C_are_the_real_calamity?page=entire
Olbermann is calling for an end of the American nuclear program, here:
http://foknewschannel.com/and-good-night-nuclear-power/
This is truly another wake-up call in action. I just watched the Rachel Maddow video explaining how nuclear reactors work ~ thank you for such a great explanation!
We have yet another opportunity to disengage these reactors across the world and turn to alternative energy sources because we self-destruct again.
Humanity has totally polluted the world and everything on it by creating chemicals that are destroying the eco system of every living organism within and without. Why are we so self-destructive and inconsiderate of all of life?
I did find this anti-nuclear group out of Japan warning of this happening: http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/12/6254004-anti-nuclear-group-in-japan-says-emergency-was-predicted
And so what steps are each of willing to take to change our choices and therefore what is produced in the world? As you know, your spending dollar counts so are you reading the labels on everything you buy? Do you realize the amount of chemicals in each bottle and can of “food”? How are you intending to be healthy? Not just physically, but we have to take responsibility for our thoughts, our words and our actions.
In the words of Eckhart Tolle, all we have is this present moment. So what are you choosing?
So, is it just me or do most of the major news outlets seem to be glossing over the nuclear meltdown issue? ABC and ever Reuters had very little coverage about it, which just seems odd to me. The threat of a meltdown should be front page news and it is not. Plenty of stories about the earthquake and tsunami, some including a small amount of information but not one story solely reporting on the reactor.
I concur with the last paragraph. Nuclear power is crazy for humans to use. Not just a bad idea, suicidally crazy. We need responses, not reactors. Every reactor is a bomb that only needs a failed piece of old equipment, an earthquake, or safety regulations being secretly ignored because the corporation who owns the plant needs to up the profits to explode. Everywhere there’s a nuclear reactor is a nuclear bomb in a liminal state of not quite exploding. It only takes one failing to create a planetary event. Fuck this noise. And dams are killing fish. Fuck that noise too. Wind, solar, small scale water that doesn’t block the rivers. Less electricity. Power stuff with a bike. Humans using nuclear power is fucking crazy. Uranium belongs to the mountains. Put it back.
I have contacted my Japanese-English-Mandarin speaking friend for the translation
Ditto, awordedwise, ditto.
I agree Jude.
I think what Ceres is going to remind us is that life runs in cycles. We do not have to choose to think of this incident as though it were on a linear path. As such it is clearly Karma that has dropped the other shoe and brought us full circle back to Japan to resolve our Nuclear Foolishness. Perhaps our Nuclear Age can be contained by bringing our consciousness back to the “starting point” (painful and terrible though this evolving moment is, to be sure.)
The Axis – the potential for clamity will always exist because we have the knowledge – perhaps out of this comes the wisdom “to know the difference” – We Can Plant A New Tree of Knowedge, a Tree of Wisdom and nurture it.
What Opening exactly it is that Neptune gives us as follow up I have no intuit but I Feel it to be something Substantial, to be sure. Hopefully not dis-illusion.
“I am the Lorax, I speak for the Trees” 🙂 Indeed!
Dancedali, perhaps this is where we all change our minds about what’s ‘viable and safe.’ Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are no longer out of sight, out of mind.
Perhaps an Opening for a different outcome will begin with that trine to Ceres.
This is from a press release issued by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., and it can be found on their website:
Today at approximately 3:36PM, a big quake occurred and there was a big
sound around the Unit 1 and white smoke.
Our two employees and two subcontract workers working for the safety of
the plant were injured and transported to the hospital.
We are presently checking on the site situation of each plant and effect
of discharged radioactive materials.
We will endeavor to restore the units and continue monitoring the
environment of the site periphery.
I am not a sophisticated person when it comes to knowledge of physics and nuclear energy. However, it appears to me that nuclear energy is an absolutely ridiculous and dangerous alternative to energy when it appears that it requires so much electricity to maintain sufficient coolant for the core. I personally did not know the exact method and procedure involved in nuclear energy until this incident. The more I read about what it takes to maintain this form of energy, it seems like we are sitting on potentially castrotrophic incidents in each of these plants really at any given moment as they require so much electricity to maintain. Any severe act of mother nature as we have seen this week or severe malfunction and the result is total destruction…Again, forgive my naivety but Why do we continue to see this as a viable and “safe” form of energy?