Archive

Archive for the ‘Man-Made Disasters’ Category

‘Radiation Levels Are So High That Monitoring Devices Have Been Rendered Useless’

04/06/2011 Leave a comment

“A radiation monitor at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says workers there are exposed to immeasurable levels of radiation.

The monitor told NHK that no one can enter the plant’s No. 1 through 3 reactor buildings because radiation levels are so high that monitoring devices have been rendered useless. He said even levels outside the buildings exceed 100 millisieverts in some places.

Pools and streams of water contaminated by high-level radiation are being found throughout the facility.

The monitor said he takes measurements as soon as he finds water, because he can’t determine whether it’s contaminated just by looking at it. He said he’s very worried about the safety of workers there.”  Read more.

 

U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant

04/05/2011 Leave a comment

By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD – “United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Among the new threats that were cited in the assessment, dated March 26, are the mounting stresses placed on the containment structures as they fill with radioactive cooling water, making them more vulnerable to rupture in one of the aftershocks rattling the site after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. The document also cites the possibility of explosions inside the containment structures due to the release of hydrogen and oxygen from seawater pumped into the reactors, and offers new details on how semimolten fuel rods and salt buildup are impeding the flow of fresh water meant to cool the nuclear cores.”  Read more.

 

Categories: Man-Made Disasters Tags:

Radioactive Fish Found in East Japan

04/05/2011 Leave a comment

“Japan’s Fisheries Ministry has found high levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in fish caught near the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.

One kilogram of young launce caught near the town of Kitaibaraki on the Ibaraki Prefecture on Monday contained 526 bequerels of radioactive cesium, 500 bequerels more than the legal limit, and 1,700 bequerels of iodine.

The Ibaraki authorities urged people to stop eating fish…”  Read more.

 

Radioactive Water Million of Times Over Legal Limit Pouring Into Pacific

04/05/2011 Leave a comment

“Tokyo (CNN) — Another attempt by Japanese officials to stop the leaking of highly radioactive water from a nuclear reactor into the ocean failed Tuesday, the country’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

A silica-based polymer dubbed ‘liquid glass’ was pumped into the leaking shaft from below at reactor No. 2 of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Workers hoped that the substance would harden and fill gaps beneath the concrete that was poured into the shaft in a previous unsuccessful attempt, but the material did not set as hoped, NISA reported.

It was the latest of a series of setbacks Japanese authorities faced Tuesday, with the detection of radiation in a fish and news that water gushing from the nuclear plant into the Pacific had radiation levels more than millions of times above the regulatory limit.”  Read more.

Sea Turtle Deaths Continue to Climb in the Gulf

04/05/2011 Leave a comment

By Rocky Kistner – “Sea turtles continue to wash ashore along the Gulf, forcing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to scramble and figure out what is causing the spike. Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Huffington Post were first to publish blogs about the sea turtle deaths in Mississippi…

Like the dolphin strandings this year, it’s likely that many more turtles have died and will never be found. A recent study of dolphin deaths showed the true number of mortalities is probably 50 times what is recovered. As of Friday, NOAA says recent deaths of sea turtles, all of which are included on the Endangered Species list, include 6 in Alabama, 10 in Louisiana, and 47 in Mississippi.” Read more.

 

Radiation in Japan Seas: Risk of Animal Death, Mutation?

04/04/2011 Leave a comment

By Christine Dell’Amore – “If radioactive material from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—disabled by the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami—continues to enter the ocean, marine life could be threatened, experts say.

In the past week, seawater samples taken near the nuclear power plant, on Japan’s eastern coast, have shown elevated levels of radioactive isotopes, including cesium 137 and iodine 131, according to the New York Times.

All life on Earth and in the oceans lives with exposure to natural levels of ionizing radiation—high-frequency radiation with enough energy to change DNA. Most such genetic damage heals, but the addition of human-made radiation can make it harder for the body to repair broken genes.” Read more.

 

Fukushima ‘Much Bigger Than Chernobyl’, Says Russian Nuclear Activist

04/03/2011 Leave a comment

“JAPAN’S unfolding nuclear disaster is “much bigger than Chernobyl” and could rewrite the international scale used to measure the severity of atomic accidents, a Russian expert says.

‘Chernobyl was a dirty bomb explosion. The next dirty bomb is Fukushima and it will cost much more’ in economic and human terms, Natalia Mironova said.

Ms Mironova is thermodynamic engineer who became a leading anti-nuclear activist in Russia in the wake of the accident at the Soviet-built reactor in Ukraine in 1986.

‘Fukushima is much bigger than Chernobyl,’ she said, adding that the Japanese nuclear crisis was likely to eclipse Chernobyl on the seven-point international scale used to rate nuclear disasters.”  Read more.

 

Hundreds of Penguins Killed After Massive Oil Spill

04/03/2011 Leave a comment

“SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN — On an island chain located halfway between Africa and Argentina, local authorities say a massive penguin rescue operation is under way.

A mix of island officials and resident volunteers are struggling to save tens of thousands of Northern Rockhopper penguins threatened by an oil spill in the remote stretches of the south Atlantic, roughly 1,500 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa.

The islands’ conservation director said at least 300 penguins have died after a cargo ship leaked thousands of tons of heavy oil, diesel fuel and soya bean near Nightingale Island, a British territory part of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago.”  Read more.

 

Dr. Michael Robichaux Speaks About Growing Health Concerns In The Wake Of BP Oil Disaster

04/02/2011 Leave a comment

“Last week at the Baton Rouge Press Club Dr. Michael Robicheaux spoke in-depth about the large number of sick people that he has been treating since the BP oil disaster occurred. The sick include workers who worked on the response to the disaster as well as divers, fishermen and coastal residents.

Since the BP disaster began we have been receiving an unsettling number of calls from people dealing with unusual health problems. Dr. Robicheaux is an old friend and ally and we feel extremely grateful that he has enthusiastically stepped forward to help these sick Gulf Coast citizens who have had difficulties finding help elsewhere.

We encourage you to watch the video of Dr. Robicheaux’s speech about what seems to be a growing health crisis in our Gulf Coast communities.”  Source.

Concerns Being Raised Over Spate of On-Air Gibberish

04/02/2011 Leave a comment

Maybe it’s beco sofa avv rewo ts in a while me ansthe.  It could bef, it could be ai tirs and nowo iza affecct, same thing.

In all seriousness, I’m less concerned about any possible ‘mind control weapons’ than I am over some of the possible environmental or geological questions that have been affecting animals lately.  Is it possible that what has been wreaking havoc in the animal world is starting to affect some of us?  There are at least four people now who’ve been affected on air within the last few months.  I wonder how many more there are that we don’t know about?

By TOM LEONARD – “A bizarre spate of television presenters dissolving into on-air gibberish has sparked claims that the U.S. military could be to blame.

In four high-profile cases, the latest involving fast-talking Judge Judy, the presenters have started off speaking properly but have then descended into undecipherable nonsense – looking confused and unstable.

The frequency of the ‘attacks’ – and the fact that recorded examples of the mental meltdowns have been popular on websites – has led to conspiracy theorists pointing the finger at shadowy government experiments.

A popular theory being circulated online blames the U.S. Military’s supposed research into using microwaves as a mind control weapon.”  Read more.

Japan Nuclear Struggle Focuses on Cracked Reactor Pit

04/02/2011 Leave a comment

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Chisa Fujioka – “TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focusing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.

‘With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source,’ said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday.

He cautioned, however: ‘We can’t really say for certain until we’ve studied the results.'”  Read more.

 

Radioactive Iodine-131 in Rainwater Sample Near San Francisco Was 18,100% Above Federal Drinking Water Standard

04/01/2011 Leave a comment

“UCB Rain Water Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Nuclear Engineering:

Iodine-131 level in rainwater sample taken on the roof of Etcheverry Hall on UC Berkeley campus, March 23, 2011 from 9:06-18:00 PDT

20.1 Becquerel per liter (Bq/L) = 543 Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) — Conversion calculator here.

The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is 3 pCi/L.”  Source.

 

Categories: Man-Made Disasters