Archive for March, 2011

No April Fools Day Joke

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

IMPEACH

OBAMA

By attacking Libya, without Congressional approval, Obama violated his constitutional power and thereby committed an impeachable offense.

Libya does not pose an actual or imminent threat to the U.S.

No More Bombing People to Save Them!

Bring the Endless War Dollars Home!

Jobs & Income Now!

Take Back the Nobel Peace Prize!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (April 1, 2011 – 498th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Kulani: New cannon fodder reporting for duty….

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

VIDEO: Youth ChalleNGe Academy marches on at Kulani | Big Island Video News

Nuclear Regulatory Meeting (NRC) on Pohakuloa

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Pohakuloa Radiation Safety Plan at NRC meeting, March 31  | Big Island Video News

Is Fukushima about to BLOW?

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Press Release: Is Fukushima about to blow?
further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622
ja@interpac.net

The media has a responsibility to explain the possible worst case scenario at Fukushima.  Authorities in Japan and the U.S. appear to be downplaying the seriousness of the crisis in an attempt to protect the nuclear industry rather than protecting people and the environment.

Hawaii retired Dr. Tom Burnett says:

“If reactor 3 is in meltdown, and I believe it is, the concrete under the containment looks like lava. But Fukushima is not far off the water table.  When that molten mass of self-sustaining nuclear material gets to the water table it won’t simply cool down.  It will explode – not a nuclear explosion, but probably enough to involve the rest of the reactors and fuel rods at the facility.”

Burnett says: Japan has “a level 7 nuclear disaster going for almost a week but won’t admit it.  It is going to dwarf Chernobyl- the disaster is occurring the opposite way than Chernobyl, which exploded and stopped the reaction.  At Fukushima, the reactions are getting worse.  I suspect three nuclear piles in meltdown and we will probably get some of it.”

It is reported that Fukushima has nearly 10 times  (1760 tons) the radioactive fresh and used nuclear fuel than Chernobyl (180 tons)

For more comments by Burnett see malu-aina.org.
Burnett can be contacted at tcburnett@gmail.com

See additional important articles on the malu-aina.org website about Fukushima and the article below.

Jim Albertini

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O.Box AB

Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760

phone: 808-966-7622

email: JA@interpac.net

Visit us on the web at: www.malu-aina.org

Is Fukushima About To Blow?

By Mike Whitney

March 28, 2011 “Information Clearing House” — – Conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are deteriorating and the doomsday scenario is beginning to unfold. On Sunday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) officials reported that the levels of radiation leaking into seawater at the Unit 2 reactor were 100,000 times above normal, and the airborne radiation measured 4-times higher than government limits. As a result, emergency workers were evacuated from the plant and rushed to safe location. The prospect of a full-core meltdown or an environmental catastrophe of incalculable magnitude now looms larger than ever. The crisis is getting worse.

If spent fuel rods catch fire from lack of coolant, the intense heat will lift radiation plumes high into the atmosphere that will drift around the world. That’s the nightmare scenario, clouds of radioactive material showering the planet with lethal toxins for months on end. And, according to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics of Vienna, that deadly process has already begun. The group told New Scientist that:

“Japan’s damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl. (“New Scientist”, March 24 —thanks to Michael Collins “They said it wasn’t like Chernobyl and they were wrong”)

So, volatile radioactive elements are already being lofted into the jet stream and spread across continents. What’s different here is that the quantities are much larger than they were at Chernobyl, thus, the dangers are far greater. According to the same group of scientists “the Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site” (while) “the Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.” The troubles at one nuclear facility now pose a direct threat to humans and other species everywhere. Is this what Obama meant when he called nuclear power, “Safe and green?”

This from CNN:

“Authorities in Japan raised the prospect Friday of a likely breach in the all-important containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a potentially ominous development in the race to prevent a large-scale release of radiation.”

And this from the New York Times:

“A senior nuclear executive who insisted on anonymity but has broad contacts in Japan said that there was a long vertical crack running down the side of the reactor vessel itself. The crack runs down below the water level in the reactor and has been leaking fluids and gases, he said….

“There is a definite, definite crack in the vessel — it’s up and down and it’s large,” he said. “The problem with cracks is they do not get smaller.” (Thanks to Washington’s Blog)

The media has switched into full “BP Oil Spill-mode”, making every effort to minimize the disaster and to soothe the public with half-truths and disinformation. The goal is to conceal the scale of the catastrophe and protect the nuclear industry. It’s another case of profits over people. Still, the truth is available for those who are willing to sift through the lies. Radiation has turned up in the Tokyo water supply, imports of milk, vegetable and fruit from four prefectures in the vicinity of Fukushima have been banned, and the evacuation zone around the plant has widened to an 18 mile radius.

Also, monitors have detected tiny radioactive particles which have spread from the reactor site across the Pacific to North America, the Atlantic and Europe…According to Reuters: “It’s only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire northern hemisphere,” said Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.”

Here’s more from Brian Moench, MD:

“Administration spokespeople continuously claim “no threat” from the radiation reaching the US from Japan, just as they did with oil hemorrhaging into the Gulf. Perhaps we should all whistle “Don’t worry, be happy” in unison. A thorough review of the science, however, begs a second opinion.

That the radiation is being released 5,000 miles away isn’t as comforting as it seems…. Every day, the jet stream carries pollution from Asian smoke stacks and dust from the Gobi Desert to our West Coast, contributing 10 to 60 percent of the total pollution breathed by Californians, depending on the time of year. Mercury is probably the second most toxic substance known after plutonium. Half the mercury in the atmosphere over the entire US originates in China. It, too, is 5,000 miles away. A week after a nuclear weapons test in China, iodine 131 could be detected in the thyroid glands of deer in Colorado, although it could not be detected in the air or in nearby vegetation.” (Washington’s Blog)

The smoldering Fukushima hulk is a perpetual death machine poisoning everything around it–sea, sky and soil. Here’s a clip from the Collin’s article:

“…The soil contamination is really high. Soil found 40 kilometers away…. the levels on the soil were very high—in fact, a thousand times iodine, 4,000 times the cesium standard. And we just got a report from the Kyoto Research Reactor Institute, Dr. Tetsuji Imanaka, that said that—he had to look a little bit more into the sampling of the Japanese government, but depending on how the sampling was done, this level of contamination in the soil could be twice the amount that was compulsory evacuation for Chernobyl. Aileen Mioko Smith, March 24 (thanks to Michael Collins “They said it wasn’t like Chernobyl and they were wrong”)

Twice as high as Chernobyl already, and the disaster is likely to persist for months to come. Things are getting worse, much worse.

The Japanese government has been downplaying the crisis to make it look like they have matters under control, but it’s all a sham. They control nothing. The rescue mission has been a flop from the get-go and now things are at a boiling point. The emergency effort has been overtaken by events and now it’s a matter of “wait and see”. We’re approaching zero hour.

So why the cover up? Why is the media trying to soft-peddle the real effects of a nuclear cataclysm? Does the Japanese government really believe they can make things better by tweaking their public relations strategy? They should focus on saving lives and abandon “perception management” altogether. This is from the Union of Concerned Scientists website:

“Our assessment is that the Japanese government is squandering the opportunity to initiate an orderly evacuation from larger areas around the site–especially of sensitive populations, like children and pregnant women. It is potentially wasting valuable time by not undertaking a larger scale evacuation at this time.”

The Japanese government is trying to protect the powerful nuclear lobby. The same is true of Obama, who continues to promote nuclear energy even while radiation belches from battered Fukushima. He’s not thinking about the public; he’s thinking about the deep pocket constituents who fill his campaign coffers.

Japanese workers are putting their lives on the line to regain control of the broken facility, but with little success. The probability of another fire, another monstrous explosion, or a full-core meltdown increases by the day. The Fukushima fiasco is gaining pace putting tens of thousands of people at risk of thyroid cancer, childhood leukemia and other life-threatening ailments.

On Saturday, Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, said the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant was ”serious”. That might be the understatement of the century

Fukushima “is going to Dwarf Chernobyl”

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

Below are comments from Dr. Tom Burnett, PhD sent via a series of emails.  Tom is a retired nuclear physicist now living in Hawaii.  He has been following the Fukushima crisis. I was put in touch with Tom by Curtis Narimatsu and talked with Tom by phone.  The bold type below is my emphasis.  Tom said his opinions are his own “and do not reflect anything but my intelligence guided by experience.”  Let me make a personal comment to be clear:  I do not support using nuclear weapons to stop the nuclear reactions at Fukushima.    Jim Albertini

You asked what caused Fukushima.  The containments were not faulty.  Every containment in the world is built to withstand a MAG6.9EQ.  The Japanese chose to ignore the fact that a similar earthquake had hit that same general area.  That story is here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/fukushima-tsunami-plan-japan_n_841222.html

As I mentioned, Fukushima does not correlate to Chernobyl.   If I had to place odds, I would have bet that the technicians could not have put the reactor into such an unstable condition without all sorts of bells, whistles and automatic safety equipment stopping them.  Even then, if the huge voltage spike had not come down the line, or if it has occurred ten seconds later, Chernobyl could not have happened.

Fukushima was waiting to happen because of the placement of the emergency generators.  If they had not all failed at once by being inundated by a tsunami, Fukushima would not have happened as it did – although it WOULD still have been a nuclear disaster.

MOX is the street name for ‘mixed oxide fuel’ which uses ~9% plutonium along with a uranium compound to fuel reactors.  This is why it can be used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons-grade#Weapons-grade_plutonium

The problem is that you don’t want to play with this stuff.  A nuclear reactor means bring fissile material to a point at which it is hot enough to boil water (in a light-water reactor) and not not enough to melt and go supercritical (China syndrome or a Chernobyl incident).  You simply cannot let it get away from you because if it does, you can’t stop it.

If reactor 3 is in meltdown, and I believe it is, the concrete under the containment looks like lava. But Fukushima is not far off the water table.  When that molten mass of self-sustaining nuclear material gets to the water table it won’t simply cool down.  It will explode – not a nuclear explosion, but probably enough to involve the rest of the reactors and fuel rods at the facility. You asked me the solution.  Well, it is a self-sustaining reaction.  Nothing can stop it except stopping the reaction.  And that would require a nuclear weapon.  In fact, it would require one in each containment to merely stop what is going on now.  But it will be messy.

The Japanese are still talking about days or weeks to clean this up.  That’s not true.  They cannot clean it up.  And no one will live in that area again for dozens or maybe hundreds of years.

http://drtom.posterous.com

On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 12:20, TC Burnett <tcburnett@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/data-updates.html

http://drtom.posterous.com

On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 20:49, TC Burnett <tcburnett@gmail.com> wrote:

FYI-

Those idiots have had a level 7 nuclear disaster going for almost a week but won’t admit it.  It is going to dwarf Chenobyl- the disaster is occurring the opposite way than Chernobyl, which exploded and stopped the reaction.  At Fukushima, the reactions are getting worse.  I suspect three nuclear piles in meltdown and we will probably get some of it.

I am one of the few non-government radiological first-responders in the state and my equipment is ~1 order of magnitude more sensitive than what is issued to the fire department.  I’ll get it and recalibrate it tomorrow or Monday and provide instant information.  I can measure Alpha, Beta and Gamma, not just Gamma – so I can provide a much clearer picture of what we are seeing.

On Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 20:15, TC Burnett <tcburnett@gmail.com> wrote:

Pouring concrete on a critical reactor makes no sense – it will simply explode and release more radioactive particulate matter the concrete will melt and the problem will get worse.  Chernobyl was different – a critical reactor exploded and stopped the reaction.  At Fukushima, the reactor cores are still melting down.  The ONLY way to stop that is to detonate a ~10 kiloton Fission device inside each reactor containment and hope to vaporize the cores.  That’s probably a bad solution.

Anyway, here is the information that the US doesn’t seem to want released.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/news/fukushima?LANG=en&VAR=euradsfc

And here is a chart that might help with perspective:
http://xkcd.com/radiation/

a hui hou
T

http://drtom.posterous.com