Fukushima

[timh651]

A real solution to the problem

I found these youtube video about what it would take to really solve this problem at Fukushima

YouTube - ‪Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster: Solution (part 1 of 3)‬‏

YouTube - ‪Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster: Solution (part 2 of 3)‬‏

YouTube - ‪Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster: Solution (part 3 of 3)‬‏

[aljhoa]

PLASMA PLANT FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE TREATMENT
S.A. Dmitriev, F.A. Lifanov, A.Eu. Savkin, V.N. Popkov, M.A. Polkanov, V.A. Gorbunov, N.A. Spirin, Yu.A. Oskolkov, M.Yu. Burov, S.Yu. Shvetsov
Moscow Scientific & Industrial Association RADON, RUSSIA

Moscow SIA RADON has developed and tested an experimental plant for treatment of radioactive waste of the mixed type including up to 40 wt. % of incombustible components with the capacity from 50 to 80 kg/h on the base of the shaft furnace with plasma heat source......

The ablation of 137Cs from the furnace did not exceed 12 %, 60Co – 2.5 %and trans -uranium elements - 1 %. The treatment of radioactive waste without fluxing additives has been carried out, and the slag compound with high chemical durability has been obtained.

The present work was directed to development of the technology of plasma conditioning radioactive waste provided to obtain a slag compound with the maximal degree of inclusion of radionuclides. Questions of a choice of refractory materials for high-temperature zones of the furnace, opportunity of treating waste without addition of glass-forming fluxes, organization of the slag melt discharge, and maintenance of reliable purification of off-gases etc. were studied simultaneously.

CONCLUSION
As a result of carried out in RADON investigations the opportunity of treating effectively radioactive waste of the mixed type in the plasma shaft furnace while obtaining a slag compound, having extreme durability to aggressive influences of an environment is confirmed.

The advantages of plasma shaft process developed in RADON over traditional waste incineration are the following:
· Absence of necessity in careful waste sorting;
· Opportunity of obtaining a final product of necessary quality in one stage without intermediate and additional processes;
· Essential reducing (1.5 - 2 times) volume of off-gases as a result of application of plasma sources of heating instead of fuel devices;
· Moderate times of starting-up the plant to the operational mode (2-3hours).

http://www.wmsym.org/archives/2001/21D/21D-40.pdf

Al

[blackchisel97]

I wonder if transmutation could work - based on Russell periodic table. I also remember Tom Bearden talking about that in one of EFV videos. The question: is there anyone really interested or they just follow the line "cheaper - better" or are they just that dumb so they have no idea how to control situation if anything goes wrong. They built those plants since it was best investment vs profit ratio assuming nothing will ever fail. Just like Titanic story.

Meanwhile -

NHK: “Possibility that there is little water left inside the Number 2 reactor” because of full meltdown — New gauge measuring water level not operating because temps are too high

TEPCO unable to gauge No.2 reactor water level, NHK, June 25, 2011:

[TEPCO] says it still cannot obtain accurate data on the water level and pressure of the Number 2 reactor. It says a provisional measuring device installed earlier this week is not operating properly. [...]

TEPCO says this is because the temperature near the reactor containment vessel is so high that water inside the device’s pipes has evaporated.

Fuel meltdowns are believed to have occurred at the Number 1 through Number 3 reactors, leading to a possibility that there is little water left inside the Number 2 reactor. [...]


Resumption of decontamination system not in sight, NHK, June 25, 2011:

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has still not resumed operations of a system to decontaminate highly radioactive water. [...]

Tokyo Electric Power Company hopes to fully restart the decontamination system in the next few days. But it has experienced a number of problems and it is unclear whether the recycling of water can be carried out as planned. [...]

Boric acid being added to No.3 reactor fuel pool, NHK, June 26, 2011:

Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun adding boric acid to the spent fuel storage pool of the No.3 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to prevent fuel racks from being corroded by alkaline water.

TEPCO says the condition may accelerate corrosion of aluminum racks holding spent fuel rods and may cause the rods to topple in the worst case, which could lead to re-criticality. [...]

Experts urge great caution over radiation risks, Japan Times, June 26, 2011:

[...] “I think some municipal governments have only recently begun to release soil data in response to mounting calls from the public,” [Akira Sugenoya, mayor of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture and a medical doctor who spent 5˝ years from 1996 in the Republic of Belarus treating children with thyroid cancer] said. “But the central government should have taken the initiative to release them much earlier … . What the central government must do now is release all data, no matter how bad, because if it doesn’t it can only add to people’s suspicions that it is manipulating information.

“So many people in Japan are now saying that they can’t trust their own government.”

Adding to such concerns are the views of Richard Broinowski, a former Australian diplomat who is now adjunct professor at the University of Sydney. [...]

Specifically, he said, “What I am anxious to know is: Are qualified Japanese epidemiologists and public health experts (that is, those not in the pay of the nuclear industry) undertaking objective and impartial research into how deeply and to what intensity, radiation dispersal of cesium-137, strontium-90, iodine-131, noble gases and plutonium-239 … has spread, and how much the general population of the Tohoku region and other regions of Japan have been exposed?”

He added: “I also suspect that full disclosure of such data is not in the interests of the Japanese nuclear industry.” [...]

Missouri River flooding prompts northwest Missouri evacuations, Associated Press, June 24, 2011:

[...] The area could see water for some time. The Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing water from upstream dams after heavy rain and snow melt. Water releases at the Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota hit 160,000 cubic feet of water per second Thursday, and the corps plans to continue releasing water at that rate until at least August.

Several areas downriver got some temporary relief Friday. In southeastern Nebraska, near the Cooper nuclear power plant, the Missouri River had dropped by more than a foot, but forecasters expected the water to rise this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. [...]

There are also severe floodings in Gatineau and Quebec regions. This water will also go South and add to looming disaster and the snow is still melting......
Sand bagging nuclear power plant

A Nuclear Plant’s Flood Defenses Trigger a Yearlong Regulatory Confrontation, New York Times, June 24, 2011:

[The water level at Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant] reached a height of nearly 1,007 feet above sea level at the plant yesterday. [...]

The NRC responded in its October 2010 letter that once flooding reached 1,004 feet, water would have entered the plant and the ability of emergency workers to move around the site would “significantly degrade.” [...]

At 1,010 feet, water would begin to enter the auxiliary building, “shorting power and submerging pumps. The plant could then experience a station blackout with core damage estimated within 15 to 18 hours,” under a worst-case scenario, the NRC said. [...]


Carlyle Group and Rand take over By Leuren Moret.
UC and nuclear weapons: the kiss of death

The top-secret Manhattan Project was laid out by Robert Oppenheimer the night Ernest Lawrence took him to the Bohemian Club during World War II. It was a part of California's brutal rise to economic and political power described in "Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin" by Gray Brechin.

In 1939, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr had argued that building an atomic bomb "can never be done unless you turn the United States into one huge factory." Years later, he told his colleague Edward Teller, "I told you it couldn't be done without turning the whole country into a factory. You have done just that." That was after Edward Teller had stuck the proverbial knife in Oppenheimer's back, and pulled his security clearance.

Teller - also known as Dr. Strangelove - went on to promote a grandiose U.S. nuclear weapons program for decades at the nuclear weapons labs: Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos. The program remained under a no-bid University of California management contract for 61 years.

In a stealth takeover by the Carlyle Group, facilitated by five admirals, the management contract will be transferred next year to the University of Texas, where the military and the Carlyle Group will have control. A new "ramping up" of the nuclear weapons program is underway, with program funding at the highest level ever - even higher than during the Cold War - extending nuclear weapons into outer space, into the very atmosphere that makes life on earth possible, and with no "real" enemy in sight.

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[blackchisel97]

Senators demand congressional probe on nuke safety, Associated Press, June 23, 2011:

Three U.S. senators, alarmed by findings of an Associated Press investigation about aging problems at the nation’s nuclear power plants, asked Thursday for a congressional investigation of safety standards and federal oversight at the facilities.

The request by Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont builds on increased public concern about nuclear safety in recent months – an outcry unlike anything since the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

Public interest first spiked after the March accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. Concern has been heightened this week as the AP began releasing the results of a yearlong investigation into aging related safety problems at the 104 reactors operating in the United States. [...]

2,000 ft berm holding back floodwater has collapsed at Ft. Calhoun nuke plant — River now surrounding two buildings

Flood berm collapsed at Nebraska nuclear plant, AP, June 26, 2011 at 12:59 pm EDT:

A berm holding back floodwater at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station has collapsed. [...]

The 2,000-foot berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing the swollen river to surround two buildings at the plant. [...]

The NRC says its inspectors were at the plant when the berm failed and have confirmed that the flooding has had no impact on the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent fuel pool cooling. [...]

Ft. Calhoun nuke plant now running on emergency generators as workers try to restore electricity — Power supply cut after water surrounded main electrical transformers

[...] The berm’s collapse didn’t affect the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent fuel pool cooling, but the power supply was cut after water surrounded the main electrical transformers, the NRC said. Emergency generators powered the [Ft. Calhoun] plant Sunday while workers tried to restore power. [...]

Auxiliary building at Ft. Calhoun surrounded by water after berm failure — NRC letter said if water enters auxilary building, could have station blackout with core damage in hours

[...] At 1,010 feet, water would begin to enter the auxiliary building, “shorting power and submerging pumps. The plant could then experience a station blackout with core damage estimated within 15 to 18 hours,” under a worst-case scenario, the NRC said. [...]

Midwest Floods: Waters Breach Berm at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station in Nebraska, ABC News, June 26, 2011:

[F]ederal inspectors are on the scene [at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station], and the federal government is so concerned the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is headed to the plant. [...]

Waters Encircle Nuclear Plant, Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2011:

[... NRC spokesman Victor] Dricks said temperature monitors were working properly and temperatures of key parts of the nuclear power plant were normal. Water has not seeped into any of the containment structures, he said.

Even when in shutdown mode, a nuclear plant requires electricity to keep key components cool in order to avoid any degradation or melting of the core that could result in the release of radiation. [...]

Residents’ urine now radioactive Fukushima, Kyodo, June 27, 2011:

More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday.

Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has been releasing radioactive material into the environment since the week of March 11 [...]

[T]wo rounds of tests on each resident [were conducted] in early and late May, taking urine samples from 15 people between 4 and 77.

Radioactive cesium was found both times in each resident. [...]

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[blackchisel97]

Event Notification Report for June 27, 2011, NRC, June 27, 2011:

Event Number: 46989
Facility: FORT CALHOUN
Event Date: 06/26/2011
Event Time: 10:45 [CDT]

Event Text
OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO PETROLEUM RELEASE TO THE MISSOURI RIVER

“At approximately 0125 CDT, the AquaDam providing enhanced flood protection for Fort Calhoun Station Unit 1 failed. This resulted in approximately 100 gallons of petroleum being released into the river after a protective barrier was breached and many fuel containers were washed out to the river. The fuel/oil containers were staged around the facility to supply fuel for pumps which remove water within the flood containment barriers. The spill was reported to the State of Nebraska at 10:45 AM CDT on 6/26/2011.

New Mexico wildfires force evacuation at Los Alamos nuclear labratory, NY Daily News, June 27, 2011:

Raging wildfires in New Mexico forced the evacuation of the famed nuclear lab at Los Alamos Monday, though officials insist that radioactive material is secure.

Fires have burned as close as one mile from the government lab – threatening buildings, power lines and gas lines, officials said. [...]

[L]ab spokesman Jeff Berger [said] “Protected areas include all hazardous and radioactive facilities [..."]

About 100 non-essential personnel were cleared from the area around the lab, where the first atomic bomb was built. [...]

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[blackchisel97]

TEPCO halts water circulation due to leaks, NHK, June 27, 2011:

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suspended using decontaminated water as a coolant because of leaky pipes. [...]

[I]t halted the operation one and a half hours later after discovering water leaking from the pipes. [...]

TEPCO says it will repair the leaks and hopes to resume water circulation soon.

Dilution of radioactive materials at sea is no solution to nuke-plant crisis, Mainichi, June 27, 2011:

[...] The reason for the situation comes from politicians’ delusion, grounded in their idea that the nuclear crisis is somehow being brought under control, and that the effects from radioactive material are minimal. But the fact is, the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant isn’t returning to normal. And we still don’t know just how much damage environmental pollution from the crisis will inflict on people and their DNA. [...]


Dilution of radioactive materials at sea is no solution to nuke-plant crisis, Mainichi, June 27, 2011:

[...] The reason for the situation comes from politicians’ delusion, grounded in their idea that the nuclear crisis is somehow being brought under control, and that the effects from radioactive material are minimal. But the fact is, the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant isn’t returning to normal. And we still don’t know just how much damage environmental pollution from the crisis will inflict on people and their DNA. [...]

Some of the reactors at the nuclear power plant have melted down, and the melted nuclear fuel is sinking toward water under the ground. An underground barrier is needed to stop water that becomes contaminated from flowing into the sea. Experts have pointed out the urgency of the situation and the government supports the idea, but Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the crisis-hit nuclear plant, is saying “wait.[...]

Floodwater enters turbine building at Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant
June 27th, 2011 at 01:23 PM

- Missouri River floodwater seeped into the turbine building at a nuclear power plant near Omaha on Monday, but plant officials said the seepage was expected and posed no safety risk because the building contains no nuclear material. [...]

Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson said pumps were handling the problem at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station and that “everything is secure and safe.” [...]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks described the situation as stable. [...]

The NRC in Action at Fort Calhoun, Monthly Review by Dave Lochbaum, June 27, 2011:

[...] During their routine inspections of weather protection readiness in 2010 [...] NRC estimated there was a 100% chance of reactor core damage caused by a flood rising above 1010 feet. The table at the top of Figure 1 provides the NRC’s assessment of the flooding risk while the table at the bottom provides the results from the risk assessment by Fort Calhoun Station (FCS). The company contested the NRC’s estimate. Its calculations showed that the chance of core meltdown was merely 19% for floods above 1010 feet and up to and including 1010.8 feet and only 23.9% for floods above 1010.8 feet to 1014 feet. [...]

UCS cannot say that these NRC actions already prevented an accident at Fort Calhoun or that they will prevent one should the flood waters continue to rise. However, the NRC did its job last year. The NRC’s inspectors found that Fort Calhoun was supposed to be protected against floods rising to 1014 feet, but was not. The NRC’s risk analysts determined that this deficiency was not academic — floods above 1010 feet had a 100 percent chance of core meltdown. And the NRC’s managers used the agency’s enforcement process to compel the plant’s owner to remedy the shortcomings rather than merely debate their risk. [...]

5:24 pm ET: Fire has crossed onto Los Alamos lab property at Technical Area 49

Evacuations ordered as wildfire threatens Los Alamos, N.M., USA Today, June 27, 2011:

Update at 5:24 p.m. ET: The fire has crossed onto lab property and jumped across State Route 4, New Mexico fire officials say. A one-acre spot fire was reported in Water Canyon, within Technical Area 49, on the lab’s southwestern boundary.

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[blackchisel97]

Los Alamos...

Los Alamos Being Evacuated For Wildfire, KOAT, June 27, 2011 at 10:28 pm EDT:

At :40 in – Massive fire 10 years ago took 17 days to burn as much as current fire did in just 2 days

At 5:15 in – Senator: We hope we’re in better position to avoid a catastrophic fire… We’ll find out

Los Alamos Being Evacuated For Wildfire - Albuquerque News Story - KOAT Albuquerque

Report: Up to 30,000 drums of plutonium-contaminated waste stored in fabric tents above ground at Los Alamos dumpsite — Lab declines to comment

Wildfire shuts Los Alamos lab, forces evacuations, AP, Jun 27, 2011:

[...] The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety said the fire appeared to be about 3 1/2 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in fabric tents above ground. The group said the drums were awaiting transport to a low-level radiation dump site in southern New Mexico.

Lab spokesman Steve Sandoval declined to comment on that assertion, but did acknowledge there is low level waste stored in drums on lab property that is regularly taken to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project site in Carlsbad. [...]

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[mbrownn]

Missing fuel problem

At Chernobyl 10 to 50 tones of fuel went missing (CHERNOBYL TODAY: Missing Fuel Mystery ), Fukushima is at least 10 times bigger so we can expect there to be at least 10 times more fuel lost into the environment, No wait, at chernobyl they rapidly got the fuel and radiation leaks under control, not here at Fukushima. fuel is still fissioning and being lost through leaks.

To be honest, I was on the fence about nuclear power until Fukushima, I know what side I'm on now.

[blackchisel97]

Nuclear Plant’s Vital Equipment Dry, Officials Say, New York Times, June 27, 2011:

[...] At Fort Calhoun, where the river has risen gradually, the water seeps in through sandbag walls, electrical conduits and other places that workers had not thought much about before. There are so many small water pumps running to keep up with the leaks that keeping them supplied with gasoline and diesel requires something akin to a bucket brigade.

Orange plastic fuel cans are rolled on a cart over the catwalks and then handed off to employees who are headed deeper into the plant. Climbing over the sandbags at the entrances, they carry them in, and workers on their way out pick up a few empties and carry them out for refilling. [...]

Los Alamos lab still under threat from blaze, CBS/AP, June 28, 2011 at 7:35 am EDT:

[...] The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety said the fire appeared to be about 3.5 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in fabric tents above ground. [...]

Lab officials at first declined to confirm that such drums were on the property, but in a statement early Tuesday, lab spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf said such drums are stored in a section of the complex known as Area G. She said the drums contain cleanup from Cold War-era waste that the lab sends away in weekly shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Los Alamos Evacuated; Fire Crews Concentrate on Nuclear Lab, Arutz Sheva, June 28, 2011:

Los Alamos National Laboratory is indelibly etched in historical memory as the hatching site of the Manhattan Project, the effort which created the first atomic bomb. The world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal is still located there. [...]

Given the recent Japanese disaster at Fukushima, the fear of course is that a natural disaster can morph into a nuclear one. Firefighters are therefore concentrating on keeping the blaze out of the laboratory. “If it spots on the lab, we’ll get really aggressive about putting it out,” Los Alamos Fire Chief Doug Tucker said. [...]

‘Hoping for the best’: Firefighters battle blaze at edge of Los Alamos nuclear complex, MSNBC, June 28, 2011:

Flames licked all day at the boundary of the laboratory site, home to the nation’s largest supply of nuclear weapons, as fire crews scurried to douse spot fires carried onto the grounds by winds from the leading edge of the blaze. [...]

She said the drums were on a paved area with few trees nearby and would be safe even if a fire reached the storage area. Officials have said it is miles from the flames. [...]

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[blackchisel97]

Fukushima radiation fears....

Dosimeters to be given to 34,000 children in city 45 miles from Tepco plant after high radiation readings

Tens of thousands of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are to be given personal radiation monitors, as concern grows over the long-term health effects of exposure to radiation.

Dosimeters will be given to 34,000 children aged between four and 15 living in Fukushima city, 45 miles from the plant, after abnormally high radiation readings were recorded in the area.

The risks posed by radiation from the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl have already driven 80,000 people from homes within 12 miles of the plant. Many of the child evacuees from communities that now lie empty attend schools in Fukushima, a city of 300,000 people.

Local authorities have provided monitors to schools outside the exclusion zone, but this is the first time they have been supplied to individual pupils. Data from the dosimeters will be analysed to assess the risks posed by cumulative radiation exposure.

The move, the latest concession to growing parental anger over patchy official information about the risks of radiation exposure, came as the company that operates the plant faced repeated verbal attacks at a rowdy annual shareholders' meeting in Tokyo.

More than 9,000 investors attended the meeting, held at a hotel under heavy police guard, with many berating Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco] executives over their response to the 11 March tsunami, which crashed into the plant and knocked out vital cooling systems to reactors.

The crisis has knocked 85% off the value of Tepco shares and resulted in annual losses of $15bn (Ł9.4bn). The company also faces a compensation bill that could exceed $100bn, while a government plan to help fund damages claims has yet to be put to a parliamentary vote.

The executives got a more sympathetic hearing from others at the meeting, however, and late on Tuesday afternoon, institutional investors helped vote down a motion by activist shareholders to force Tepco to scrap its nuclear reactors.

The company's new chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, opened the meeting with an apology for the accident. "We are working to get out of this crisis as quickly as possible," he said. But his attempts to answer questions were punctuated by heckles and demands for him and the rest of the Tepco board to resign. One man demanded that the utility's executives "jump into the reactors and die", while another said that in feudal times they would have been expected to commit ritual disembowelment.

The meeting was held the same day that Japan's nuclear safety agency said about 15 tonnes of low-level radioactive water had leaked into the ground from the Fukushima plant. Tepco, which is struggling to deal with huge volumes of contaminated water that have built up during the operation to cool damaged reactors, said it was investigating the cause of the leak.

In Fukushima city, a local official said children would be required to wear their dosimeters for three months. "We are still considering whether to expand the programme to include other residents," said Koichi Kato.

The government says radiation levels in the city remain well below those considered dangerous, but dozens of schools lying outside the official exclusion zone have taken extra precaution to protect children.

In some towns, authorities have limited the time children are allowed to pay outside and moved swimming lessons from outdoor pools to sports centres. Many have removed layers of radioactive topsoil from their playgrounds, often at the request of anxious parents.

Anti-nuclear campaigners said Fukushima city's move did not go far enough. "The meters don't protect children from radiation, they simply measure exposure after a certain amount of time," said Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action. "Children should be moved out of areas where radiation levels are high, not used as guinea pigs."

Last week, a coalition of civic and environmental groups in the Fukushima area issued an emergency petition demanding the evacuation of children and pregnant women from radiation hot spots outside the exclusion zone.

"Since atmospheric radiation levels show no sign of abating, the inhabitants of heavily contaminated areas will continue to endure high radiation doses, both externally and internally," they said.

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[blackchisel97]

N.M. facility calls in teams to track readings that measure levels of plutonium and uranium in the air ‘as a precaution’

[... T]he facility called in special teams to track readings from a network of 60 monitoring stations that measure levels of substances such as plutonium and uranium in the air “as a precaution,” said lab director Charles McMillan. [...]

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, who was visiting evacuees at the Santa Claran Hotel Casino in Espanola, said “there’s no doubt” the lab stores a variety of hazardous and radioactive materials that “you don’t want to escape in the atmosphere.” But he said he was confident lab and state environmental officials had monitoring systems in place to “evaluate exactly what we’re seeing here.” [...]

UPI: "Web site of group that revealed plutonium-contaminated waste is stored above ground at Los Alamos “appeared hacked early Tuesday morning”

The anti-nuclear watchdog group’s Web site appeared hacked early Tuesday morning, a United Press International check indicated. Its Facebook page had six messages from people alerting the group of the possible hacking, including a message commenting on the timing of the incident happening “just as the fires started.” [...]

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[blackchisel97]

Japan ‘discovers’ tons of radioactive water have been leaking into ground at Fukushim

Radioactive water leaks from Japan’s damaged plant, Reuters, June 28, 2011:

- Tons of radioactive water were discovered on Tuesday to have leaked into the ground from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country’s nuclear watchdog said. [...]

They just "discovered" something what has been obvious since they started pumping water in. Where else would it go? They may soon "discover" export orders canceled too... I usually try not to comment when reporting but I failed this time. And Tepco still resisting idea of building a dam, despite shares hitting rock bottom. This is beyond stupid and criminal.... if not planned.

Cooling pump fails at New Jersey nuclear reactor, plant shut down — Remains in ‘hot shutdown’

Salem Unit 2 nuclear reactor shuts down after cooling pump failure, NJ.com, June 28, 2011:

- The Salem Unit 2 nuclear plant remained shut down this afternoon following a problem with a reactor coolant pump, according to a spokesman for the plant’s operator. [...]

The cause of the pump failure is still being investigated, according to Delmar. The plant functioned as designed, he said.

The plant remained in “hot shutdown” mode this afternoon. [...]

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[blackchisel97]

As Obama Quietly Pushes for a Nuclear Weapons Renaissance, Wildfire Threatens Los Alamos Nuclear Lab, Democracy Now, June 28, 2011:

- [...] GREG MELLO [Director of the Los Alamos Study Group]: Well, Los Alamos National Laboratory is the—in funding terms, it’s the main nuclear warhead facility of the United States. There is a lot of plutonium there. There’s tritium—actually, tritium very close to the fire, about half a mile from the fire. Part of the problem is there’s an information deficit, and there’s a serious trust deficit. You can’t really take anything that the laboratory says at face value. It’s kind of a minimum—you know, they’d be the last to tell you if there was a serious problem. So you have to piece it together from other information. And that’s—Los Alamos Lab is becoming the center of plutonium manufacture for the country. [...]


Local TV: Water has leaked into building containing radioactive material at Ft. Calhoun nuke plant
NRC Chairman says nuke plants safe, for now, Action 3 News, June 28, 2011: - Action 3 News Video - Action 3 News - Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports |

- "We store radioactive material in that building. There is some minor water leakage into the building, and that water we treat as radioactive waste".

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[mbrownn]

Questions and solutions

With all these nuclear incidents taking place, does anyone get the feeling that things are getting worse? or is it just that we have more of what is happening is being reported?

Notice that the cause of these disasters is the siting of these plants in vulnerable areas. When you look at the siting of nuclear facilities globally you see a pattern that does not exist with coal fired plants, Why is this?

We are also beginning to see a picture of poor design, are the new plants that they are building all over the world full of the same flaws?

All nuclear facilities in the west come under the same controlling body, should we be putting that under scrutiny too?

When you have a technology that cannot be made to fail to a safe condition, why put it in a vulnerable area? why promote it at all? There are cheaper and much safer technologies that could replace all nuclear power and the good thing is they all fail to a safe condition. They may cause some pollution when they fail but that pollution is only temporary and is much less toxic. An oil spill or fire only effects a localized area and not the entire planet. For example the gulf oil spill, the largest oil spill ever, that should have been avoided, does not effect does not effect the entire globe for millennia.. I am not saying that we should continue the way we have in that industry either and I am against Big Oil.

I was involved in designing a 100Kw floating generator for BP to be placed on a river and power a drilling rig, I designed a tidal turbine generator, I have worked on wind turbines, hydro electric, geothermal and Ok, together they are not enough to replace all coal, oil and nuclear but these systems could replace nuclear.

Our governments cannot think for themselves so we have to think for them, but this is not enough. We have to take action to make our governments do the right thing, provide them with the answers and compel them to use them.

All the problems of today would be drastically reduced if we disconnected government from the corporate and banking monopolies. Lets dismantle this fascism and protest, demonstrate and educate. Do not wait for others to do what is our duty to do.

[blackchisel97]

High potential for “major calamity” at Los Alamos if fire reaches 20,000 barrels of nuclear waste in fabric-type building, says former top security official

Los Alamos Fire: EPA Testing for Radiation, ABC news. June 28, 2011:

[...] “It contains approximately 20,000 barrels of nuclear waste,” former top security official Glen Walp said. “It’s not contained within a concrete, brick and mortar-type building, but rather in a sort of fabric-type building that a fire could easily consume.

“Potential is high for a major calamity if the fire would reach these areas,” he added. [...]

Residents worried about radioactive smoke plume if fire reaches radioactive waste: “If it gets to this contamination, it’s over — not just for Los Alamos, but for Santa Fe”

Towns near NM fire, nuclear lab wary of smoke, AP, June 29, 2011:

Residents downwind of a wildfire that is threatening the nation’s premier nuclear-weapons laboratory are worried about the potential of a radioactive smoke plume if the flames reach thousands of barrels of waste stored in above-ground tents.

“If it gets to this contamination, it’s over — not just for Los Alamos, but for Santa Fe and all of us in between,” said Mai Ting, a resident who lives in the valley below the desert mesas that are home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Los Alamos National Laboratory managers see little threat from wildfire, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2011:

[...] Los Alamos County Fire Chief Doug Tucker said his department had the capacity to blanket the barrels with fire-retarding foam if a fire somehow sprang up at the storage site, which is paved and free of combustible materials. [...]

“The concern is that these drums will get so hot that they’ll burst. That would put this toxic material into the plume. It’s a concern for everybody,” Joni Arends, executive director of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, told the Associated Press. [...]

Wildfire closes in on Los Alamos, CBS/AP, June 29, 2011:

[...] Dangerous flames inch ever-closer to the Los Alamos National Lab- fueling more concerns of a possible disaster.

A major concern is that out of control wildfires may reach thousands of containers with Plutonium-contaminated waste in them.

But authorities at the lab say the containers are safe for now, while they continue to monitor the air for any sign of radiation.

Fire Chief Doug Tucker says, “I seriously think it will be up to 100 thousand acres, God I hope not God I hope not. There is unburnt fuel out there.” [...]

Japan’s radiation dilemma: Leave or live in fear, CBS, June 28, 2011:

[...] The government has lowered radiation exposure standards in the Fukushima region to 20 millisieverts a year. That’s about the same amount as 50 mammograms. Fukushima City is 40 miles from the nuclear plant, the source of the radiation, but Japan is telling its residents that there’s no additional risk. Many international experts and even the prime minister’s own nuclear advisor disagree. They claim that Fukushima is no longer safe – particularly for children. [...]

At the Soramame daycare center, there are just a few kids left. Most of the children have moved out of town with their parents. The founder, Sadako Monma, told me she vows to carry on. But she can’t pay her rent anymore.

“The rest of the world must be thinking, “What on earth is wrong with Japan? Where’s the sense of crisis?’” she said “Why isn’t our government protecting us?” [...]

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