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World Bank President: The World is ‘One Shock Away from a Full-Blown Crisis’

04/17/2011 Leave a comment

“It’s the fourth year of the global financial crisis, and the world economy is slowly picking up.  But there are still great vulnerabilities and uncertainties.  That’s the message world financial leaders are sending out from their spring meeting.  World Bank President Robert Zoellick says the surge in food prices is the biggest threat to the world’s poor, pushing 44 million more people into poverty over the past year.”

Mystery Illnesses Plague Louisiana Oil Spill Crews

04/17/2011 Leave a comment

By Kerry Sheridan – “RACELAND, Louisiana (AFP) – Jamie Simon worked on a barge in the oily waters for six months following the BP spill last year, cooking for the cleanup workers, washing their clothes and tidying up after them.

One year later, the 32-year-old said she still suffers from a range of debilitating health problems, including racing heartbeat, vomiting, dizziness, ear infections, swollen throat, poor sight in one eye and memory loss.

She blames toxic elements in the crude oil and the dispersants sprayed to dissolve it after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010.

‘I was exposed to those chemicals, which I questioned, and they told me it was just as safe as Dawn dishwashing liquid and there was nothing for me to worry about,’ she said of the BP bosses at the job site.

The local doctor, Mike Robichaux, said he has seen as many as 60 patients like Simon in recent weeks…” Read more.

Radioactivity Rises in Sea Off Japan Nuclear Plant

04/16/2011 Leave a comment

By MARI YAMAGUCHI – “TOKYO (AP) – Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country’s nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

… The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold.” Read more.

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Texas Wildfires Continue Widespread Destruction, Evacuations

04/16/2011 Leave a comment

“GRAHAM, Texas – Wildfires sweeping across hundreds of thousands of acres in parched Texas killed a firefighter, forced hundreds of evacuations — including an entire town — and destroyed dozens of homes on Friday, officials said.

Strong winds were fueling fires that spanned about 655 square miles, according to the Texas Forest Service. Some of the fires have been burning for a week or more, including three in West Texas that have charred a combined 400,000 acres.”  Read more.

Dr. Michio Kaku: Fukishima Daiichi Nuclear Facility is a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’

04/15/2011 Leave a comment

Dr. Michio Kaku: This accident has already released something on the order of 50 thousand trillion Becquerels of radiation.  You do the math.  That puts it right smack in the middle of a Level 7 nuclear accident.  Still less than Chernobyl, however radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors, the situation is not stable at all.  So you’re looking at basically a ticking time bomb … a secondary earthquake, a pipe break … could set off a full-scale meltdown at 3 nuclear power stations far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl...

An international team of top physicists and engineers should take over with the authority to use the Japanese military.  I think the Japanese military is the only organization capable of bringing this raging accident under control … because of the fact that the radiation levels are so great.  Workers can only go in for perhaps 10 minutes, 15 minutes at a time and they get their year’s dose of radiation.  You’re there for one hour and you have radiation sickness … you’re there for a day and you get a lethal amount of radiation.  At Chernobyl there were 600,000 people mobilized, each one going in for just a few minutes, dumping sand, concrete, boric acid on to the reactor site.  Each one got  a medal.  That’s what it took to bring one raging nuclear accident under control… In the best case scenario … they hope to bring it under control by the end of this year.

Radiation Levels in Fukushima Underground Water Rise 38x During Past Week

04/15/2011 Leave a comment

“The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says radiation levels in underground water gathered in so-called sub-drain pits rose by up to 38 times during the past week.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, is working to remove contaminated water from the basements of the turbine buildings and tunnels. The contaminated water is hindering efforts to restore the reactors’ cooling systems.

TEPCO said that in its monitoring on Wednesday, it found 400 becquerels of iodine-131 and 53 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter in the No. 1 reactor’s sub-drain pit. These levels are 6 times and 38 times higher than a week ago respectively.”  Read more.

Melting of Japan Plant’s Fuel Rods Confirmed

04/15/2011 2 comments

DAVID McNEILL – “SCIENTISTS SAY the fight to bring Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant under control could take three months or more, even if not hampered by further earthquakes. The announcement comes after another day of aftershocks, including one with an epicentre about 25km from the Fukushima plant.

The head of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Takashi Sawada, said yesterday that fuel rods in reactors 1 and 3 have melted and settled at the bottom of their containment vessels, confirming fears that the plant suffered a partial meltdown after last month’s huge earthquake and tsunami.”  Read more.

Report: Japan Mulls to Move Capital over Disaster Worries

04/14/2011 Leave a comment

“As powerful earthquakes continue to jolt Japan and radiation levels near Tokyo are rising, the Asian country’s authorities are considering moving the capital to another city.

The most probable location for a new capital are Osaka and Nagoya, according to ITAR-TASS. Both cities are located near international airports.

The main conditions the new capital has to provide are a population over 50 000 and a sufficient capacity to accommodate the parliament, the government, the Emperor’s residency and the foreign diplomatic missions.”  Read more.

Environmental Expert: 400,000 People Could Develop Cancer Within a 200 KM Radius of Fukushima

04/14/2011 Leave a comment

Environmental Expert Dr. Christopher Busby: “In my estimation, on the basis of the risk model of the European committee on radiation risks, about 400 thousand people will develop cancer in the 200 km radius if they are not moved out.  We’re talking about 7.8 million people living inside that 200 km radius … I’m basing my predictions on the health effects of the Chernobyl accident and I was in Berlin talking to a lot of researchers from the Chernobyl area who’ve been looking into the effects of the Chernobyl accident and on the basis of those figures it’s possible to predict the number of cancers that will develop in Fukushima.  And also along the coast, I have to say, because the marine sediment is now becoming contaminated and the shell fish will concentrate the radioactivity.  It’s an absolute disaster.”

NIC: Japan Government ‘Is At Last Beginning to Wake Up to the Reality of the Scale of the Disaster’

04/11/2011 Leave a comment

By Michio Nakayama and Aaron Sheldrick – “… [T]he government widened the surrounding evacuation zone yesterday … [and] ‘is at last beginning to wake up to the reality of the scale of the disaster,’ said Philip White, International Liaison Officer at the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, a Tokyo-based group opposed to atomic energy. ‘Its belated move to evacuate people from a larger area around the nuclear plant, likewise, is a recognition that the impact on public health is potentially much greater than it first acknowledged.’…

Level 7 means there has been a ‘major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures,’ the factsheet says.”  Read more.

 

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Japan Officially Raises Fukushima Nuclear Crisis Level to 7, Matching Chernobyl

04/11/2011 Leave a comment

“The Japanese government’s nuclear safety agency has decided to raise the crisis level of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident from 5 to 7, the worst on the international scale.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency made the decision on Monday. It says the damaged facilities have been releasing a massive amount of radioactive substances, which are posing a threat to human health and the environment over a wide area.

The agency used the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, to gauge the level. The scale was designed by an international group of experts to indicate the significance of nuclear events with ratings of 0 to 7.”  Read more.

Japan Evacuation Area to Soon be Declared ‘Off-Limits’

04/11/2011 Leave a comment

Kyodo News – “The 20-km evacuation zone around the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will soon be turned into a legally binding off-limits zone, senior officials said Sunday.

The step is aimed at increasing government control over the area. Desperate residents have been braving radiation fears for quick return trips to pick up essential belongings. Officials suggested Sunday that they will now be able to force anyone out of the evacuation zone who refuses to leave.”  Read more.