Good afternoon —
Following the theory that awareness is the antidote to fear and shadow, I’ve just completed a nuclear news podcast, pulling together the best I can find from mainstream and alternative sources.
The upshot is that there is still a really big problem at Unit 3 and in truth nobody knows how bad it is. The radiation has spread to some parts of the plant that raise the question of the source — the spent fuel pond or the reactor core.
Efforts are still underway to keep the thing cool, and they’ve decided to switch to freshwater instead of seawater because they are having a problem with salt accumulating and preventing the water from cooling the fuel down.
What we are left with is something that can never be cleaned up — Japan is going to be forced to abandon an significant swath of its very small country, and leave us with a point source of radiation right on the Pacific. The question really is: what are we humans going to do to prevent this from happening again?
Anything? There is plenty that can be done — it’s really a matter of intelligence and will, which seem to be in short supply at the moment; maybe we hobbits can muster up a little where the big people leave off.
Kyla, in response to your question: what am I missing, may I respond with the obvious? You are missing the truth, my dear. You are missing the truth. That is why, really, you are not missing anything. Just thought I’d say it. ;>)
Jere, you rock, bro. *smooch*
Okay, here is today’s thing:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/28/japan-idUSL3E7ES2ND20110328
By Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) – Plutonium found in soil around the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex added to mounting problems on Tuesday in Japan’s battle to contain the world’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) (TEPCO) said the radioactive material, which is used in nuclear bombs, was traced in soil at five locations at the plant, hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The under-pressure company stressed the traces were not at dangerous levels.
“Plutonium found this time is at a similar level seen in soil in a regular environment and it’s not at the level that’s harmful to human health,” TEPCO vice-president Sakae Muto told reporters at a briefing.
Muto said the level was similar to that found in the past in other parts of Japan as a result of nuclear testing abroad. He said it was unclear where the plutonium was from, although it appeared two of the five finds were related to damage from the plant rather than from the atmosphere….
~~~~~
So, having listened to the interview with Dr Caldicott, I am understanding that we have a problem with semantics here? Or is it lying?
One technical question I have is that Dr Caldicott refers to the comparison between “background” radiation, and radioactive isotopes, as a source of confusion, because it is the isotopes that are the problem (if I understand this correctly, and I am looking for a place to get clear on this but so far have not found that clarity.)
So it is almost an “apples to oranges” type of comparison. Saying levels present are “safe” — what does that mean? Safe meaning, you won’t get cancer for about ten years and so however much it shortens your lifespan we won’t be able to prove nukes culpable for your early death?
What am I missing here? This is a sincere question.
Of course I do know that cancer is far far from a death sentence, and also that our bodies are actually capable of what looks like miraculous self healing given the correct Consciousness and multidimensional agreements….. if you will. But even that degree of confidence simply does not excuse wanton toxifying of our shared hologram, and then lying about it.
What am I missing here?
Kyla and G.G., please continue the ‘talking points’ conversation, you guys are feeding me energy I need to step into the public realm. I know this whole space can be altered with the wave of a wand, but the alchemy has got to be in place. 😉
Eric, if you ever want to jam.. (well, we will, I’ve just got to get there..)
..I swear, I feel like Tank in ‘The Matrix’, “..these are exciting times..”
..and hey,.. I want to throw out my concern, and Love for anyone who has been affected by the tsunami-nuke-bombing-thieving-protest-wars that has been going on in our shared collective.
..We will prevail.. trust You. Love you,
Jere
BPRN, R, the last thing I would ever want to do is put Mr. Frances upon the rack.. This is why I throw out the initial disclaimers, so that he isn’t attached to me when I go down. But, I think his brain hits on some neurons (that I can’t explain) when I say ‘certain’ things.
..I just want to be happy, and have a good life for ALL in “this” world, Now.
And, Mr. Frances can never be diluted (only enhanced). By those willing to be as honest as he is.
Thank You, All… I bow in gratitude to every single one of you.,
Jere
Hey, GraffitiGrammarian, thanks very much for bringing that point to the table. I would love to assemble some talking points on just that score. It does seem to be the key argument to “win” — and the whole Climate Change issue has definitely swerved enviros toward supporting nuclear power. how did that happen??????? whoa. But it sure did.
“Emissions” is the new big baddie, and to be honest I don’t think it is the baddest baddie going but it has sure taken that position to its bosom. It wears the crown. To it, all other issues and needs must bow down.
bullshit, I call it. But I call it that not based on much I can haul out and list or point to, only on my very strong intuitive shout, and it is a shout.
The picture of “clean nuclear power” is a canard, but how to convince folks of that? The idea that carbon emissions — and resulting climate change — are more dangerous to the ecosystems of the planet than are the effects of use of nuclear power is a canard, but it is like holding a complex set of results up against something big and bright and simple, a simple shape in a primary color anyone can see: Emissions.
Kind of like trying to convince scientists that there is a reasonable use of the Precautionary Principle. Instead of always going for “evidence” and “proof” as rigorously defined, to take the cautious road of noticing the pattern that when we mess with stuff there are usually repercussions we can’t know about in time to assemble evidence and proof before all the fish die or whatever…… Seems like a similar difficulty, to mount a case against the simplistic “Emissions = Bad. Therefore, Less Emissions = Good.”
duh.
Nicely done, Eric. Thanks.
One thing that struck me from the Helen Caldicott audio interview I posted here a while back was her comment that “nuclear, even though it created no emisions, is far worse than fossil fuels.”
I think many good environmentalists have yet to realize this. They have so zealously taken up the cause that we must reduce CO2 emissions (and we MUST do this, starting immediately), that they think any option that is emission-free must be kept in place.
I will tell you what I think: from the most realistic, pragmatic point of view possible, we must not let any new nuclear power plants be built. Then we have to slowly start to phase out the oldest and least reliable ones, and take them offline gradually.
Simulataneous with all that, we have got to start doing two things to directly address emissions: 1) USE LESS ENERGY, and 2) BUILD MORE RENEWABLES.
In even the rosiest, most optimistic scenario, it’s going to take us a decade or two to get significantly more solar/wind/geo/wave power off the ground.
And as the clock ticks away while we get those facilities approved and financed and built, all during that time, CO2 emissions are going to continue to accumulate in the atmostphere, the weather is giong to get crazier, the temperature is going to go up, and the Earth’s life-support systems are going to weaken more and more.
You know a lot of people think we can’t save life on the planet, they think we’ve diddled away all our chances and the ecosystem is too severely damaged to recover.
Serious people think this, not radical enviros. Many legit climate scientists think we have no hope.
It’s true that we’re in pretty severe “overshoot,” which means we’re using more resources than the earth can replenish. We need 1.5 planets to support our current lifestyle, and in another 20 years that overshoot will increase to where we need 2 planet Earths to support the way we live.
At that point I think many natural resources are going to disappear, never to return.
So really, the most urgent way to talk about nuclear now is to talk about it in terms of its emissions profile. I think we have to win over environmentalists to Helen Caldicott’s point of view, that nuclear is worse than fossil fuel. Because a lot of people buy into the idea that nuclear is the lesser of two evils, and we have to learn to live with it.
But it’s not. It’s the greater of two evils. This is a tough argument to win but we need to win it.
*You pick the place and I’ll choose the time, and I’ll climb the hill in my own way. Just wait a while for the right day. And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds, I look down, hear the sound of the things you said today..” Pink Floyd-Fearless
Like your music and ideas, jere and all. I really like the virtual round-table idea, but don’t want our beloved Eric stretched or diluted. But I choose always over never so I know it will happen and hope to be at it.
BPRN, R
Hey, Jere, I really like the way you think. Transmutational principles are something that might very well open out into a resolution for all manner of fuck ups.
I doubt if it will happen via a rational process. I have really been grateful for the way you step out into that territory with creative ideaforms.
One thing I have noticed on a personal level which might have really great ramifications on the macro scale, is the phenom of problems looking like they are gonna take a lot of tedium and time to solve and handle, and then one day, a moment of Efficiency Grace happens to arrive and suddenly whisk whisk, solved and done way faster than I thought possible! This has happened enough I recognize it as a pattern and with some things, I just wait for that moment.
Would be sooooooooo sweet to see some of that kind of action on a more global scale, wouldn’t it?
Sounds like E……good jamming material…..Thanks for the update..enjoyable consciousness.
“..using words you will find the strength, mesmerized as they light the flame. Feel the new wind of change on the wings of the night…” Pink Floyd-On The Turning Away
“..You pick the place and I’ll choose the time, and I’ll climb the hill in my own way. Just wait a while for the right day. And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds, I look down, hear the sound of the things you said today..” Pink Floyd-Fearless
I’ve got a couple of seed ideas I’d like to sow in the ethereal fields, just to solidify the mirror-process in my own reality.
The first has a bit to do with bio-accumulation. Before we realize ‘automated selective matter extraction’ and replicator technologies (which would effectively deal with the clean-up process of the nuclear fuck-ups), we’re going to need a way to isolate and impotentialize radioactive particles. This is where bio-accumulation may actually be of benefit. If we can find some bio-form from any of the Kingdoms of classification (preferably not the animal, unless it’s one of those parasitic little fuckers) to absorb the particles, and then find another (if the one doesn’t cut it, this could take multiples of operations) to metabolize those particles through ‘elemental trans-mutation’, we could potentially, effectively, clean up the nuke disaster sites. Never is just the flip side of always, and always always wins. I realize I speak as a layman, and I know I’m not the one to dedicate full-bore to the scientific hurdles of this project, but I think a creative mind is better than a defeatist mind.
Second, as I inferred earlier in commentary on Fe’s article, what about evolving Planet Waves to a kind of “wordpress meets facebook meets google” kinda portal? (This one’s rough in my head so bear with me) There could be the “Planet Waves” entry point, and then a fuck-load of portals, made by the folks on the network. There could be chat rooms, groups, causes, ..all kinds of shit. A leviathon of everyday folk wanting to interact to create a better life experience for everything. No corporate adverts, perhaps there could be a classifieds section to advertise, perhaps with monetary contribution, decided on the propriety by a group of assessors.
I wish we had a big-ass round table (and not just the one in my head) that we could all kick back around and banter brainstorms regarding the process of evolving this shared reality (and yeah, I know were doing it right now through my little computer, but we’re still stone age in the tech realm).
Your (a little scrambled still from last weeks full moon, but definitely reinvigorated) friend,
Jere
I found this article helpful in explaining how the body takes in radioactive material — I understand now better how mineral nutrition can be protective.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/03/know-your-nukes-understanding-radiation-risks-in-japan.ars
Hey, Eric, that is one mighty cute picture of yourself up there.
Thanks much for the summary and sharable recording….. I’m doing my best to keep a focus on this among my friends, and thinking I might get up with the folks around here who were suing for info on that Hanson plant, the ones who found out they are going for the mox. See what I might do with an oar in that water.
I also really hope some pressure gets organized toward our federal guvmint, Mr Obama in particular could use a few earfuls on the subject, I do believe.
Thank you Eric.
Thank you for taking this stand for awareness, diligence and sanity.
Year after year after year………..
Love from cloudy, wet Sydney
Linda
And may your spirit, O Seditious Alien Empress (did I get that right?) live and reign everywhere it is needed forever.
BPRN, R.
Thanks for your efforts. One wee bit of little hobbit news regarding that little black and orange cap you’re wearing. A necessary diversion, starting soon.
Burning Pussy River Nanny:
May our tribe prosper!!
Thanks for keeping the focus where it should be. And you do it so well. Go play that guitar, rest and be sure to have some fun before next time.
Your care for your community is palpable. Warmest back to you. I’ll sign with my new name, thanks to Fe
Burning Pussy River Nanny, Radically
aw — you’re smiling! much better.