FIRE-EARTH Alert: The Next Chernobyl (FSCT 042802)

ALERT FSCT 042802 UPDATES AVAILABLE VIA FIRE-EARTH PULSARS!

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• CJ
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 Alert FSCT 042802:  The Next Major Nuclear Disaster

Alert FSCT 042802 issued by FIRE-EARTH Science.

• Details available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Alert FSCT 042802 

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The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake – Third Anniversary

SEISMIC HAZARD
NUCLEAR AGGRESSION AGAINST EARTH
ONGOING DISASTER
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NO Lesson Learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake

The so-called ‘Great East Japan Earthquake’ was a magnitude 9.0 (Mw) shock, the most powerful earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and the fifth most powerful earthquake globally in modern record.

The 3.11 Earthquake, centered at 38.322N, 142.369E was an undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday 11 March 2011. The hypocenter was at an underwater depth of about 30 km.

The earthquake spawned powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 41 meters in Miyako,  Iwate Prefecture, and traveled inland at least 10 km in the Sendai area.

The massive shock moved Japan’s main island of Honshu 2.4 m east toward North America and shifted the Earth on its axis by an estimated 10 to  25 cm.

The quake and tsunami double action left up to 20,000 people dead or missing (presumed dead), and more than 6,000 injured across twenty prefectures; destroyed  about 130,000 buildings, left a further 275,000  buildings  seriously damaged, and another 750,000 buildings partially damaged.

The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive damage to the infrastructure in north-eastern Japan, including severe damage to roads and railroads, sparking fires in many areas, and causing a dam collapse.

“In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan,” said the then Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Japan 2011 Tsunami Map. Source: NOAA

Ongoing Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

IMPORTANT NOTICE:    The Internet Mafia has previously censored Public Health Emergency, global health warnings and any and ALL information posted on this blog concerning nuclear disasters, nuclear energy and the global nuclear mafia. The cabal have specifically blocked or buried blog entries on Fukushima Daiichi NPP.

The tsunami triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake on March 11, 2011 hit the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, causing a catastrophic failure, resulting in meltdowns at three of the plant’s six nuclear reactors.

The meltdowns became  the largest nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster measuring Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. More than 300,000 people evacuated the area due to the radiation.

To date no short term radiation exposure fatalities have been reported, however, up to 2,000 deaths related to the evacuation conditions have been recorded. The exact cause of most of the  evacuation-related deaths remain unspecified.

On June 11, 2011 in Japan’s Nuclear Industry: Mega Disaster in the Making, FIRE-EARTH noted:

In the hand of the Japanese ruling elite who own, operate and invariably fail to safeguard the country’s nuclear industry, the atomic plants have turned into weapons of mass destruction.

Japan’s ruling elite are the remnants of the same diabolic regime that painted the entire region red with human blood in the last century.

Japan MUST now be disarmed and its nuclear “weapons” removed BEFORE the next Mega Quake strikes the country.

The world community must force Japanese authorities to decommission all of their nuclear power plants forthwith.

Meantime, the deadly farce continues…

Japan’s Nuclear Facilities. Copyright © Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA, Japan). All Rights Reserved.

Related Links

• Record-high Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima NPP February 20, 2014
• Radiation Levels at Fukushima Hugely Underestimated: TEPCO February 8, 2014
• “Radioactive River” Flowing at Fukushima No. 3 Reactor January 20, 2014
• Fukushima Radiation Level 8 Times* Govt Standard: TEPCO January 13, 2014
• Record Radiation Detected at Fukushima [AGAIN] December 22, 2013
• Japan Renews Nuke Ambitions Despite Fukushima, Common Sense December 14, 2013
• Record Outdoor Radiation Level Detected at Nuked Fukushima Plant December 9, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013

Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog

EXCLUSIVE

TEPCO’s “sense of crisis is weak:”  Japan’s NRA

Highly radioactive water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking into the ocean creating an “emergency” that the operator, TEPCO, may be unable to contain, said an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog.

“This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force,” told Reuters.

Tokyo Electric Power Co’s “sense of crisis is weak,” Kinjo said. “This is why you can’t just leave it up to Tepco alone” to deal with the ongoing disaster.

“Right now, we have an emergency,” he said.

A total of up to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium may have leaked into the ocean since the disaster, said TEPCO, insisting that it was within legal limits.

• Full report is posted HERE.
• Related news link: Radioactive Fukushima groundwater rises above barrier

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures  calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011 still hold!

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• France (855)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding…]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast. (Last UPDATED: June 26, 2011)

Nuclide Analysis Results of the Underground Reservoirs

• Nuclide Analysis Results of the Underground Reservoirs/Observation Holes (As of August 4) – TEPCO Website

Related Links

• Nuke Disasters
• Japan Quakes
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country
• Record High Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish March 1, 2013
• Radiation Record Broken by Fukushima Fish March 18, 2013
• Fukushima Pre-Harvested Rice Contaminated by Radiation September 24, 2011
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Also search the blog for dozens of additional entries on “Fukushima.”

Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 6 April 2013

Fukushima Nuke Plant Leaking Large Quantities of Radioactive Water

Up to 120 tons of radioactive water may have leaked from one of the seven underground storage tanks at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, contaminating the surrounding ground, Tokyo Electric Power Co was reported as saying.

The storage tanks hold about 13,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, which  TEPCO is transferring to other tanks nearby, Kyodo news wire quoted the utility as saying.

Third large oil spill in 7 days: Shell Pipeline ruptures in Texas

Thousands of gallons of oil have spilled from Shell Pipeline in West Columbia, Texas, the third incident of the kind in a week, said a report.

Manatee death toll rising in Florida despite Red Tide ebbing

Red Tide, a deadly algae bloom, has killed at least 241 manatees in Florida so far this year, surpassing the previous record of 151 deaths set in 1996.

The recent Red Tide bloom in the Gulf of Mexico began in September 2012  covering a 70-mile (113-km) stretch of southwest Florida’s coast from Sarasota County to Lee County, which is  home to a large population of the state’s estimated 5,000 manatees, said a report.

Karenia brevis. Photo:  FFWCC

Meanwhile, deaths of 85 manatees since July on Florida’s Atlantic coast remain a mystery. The mass die-off occurred  in the Indian River Lagoon, Brevard County.

• Red Tide Kills Millions of Fish Along Texas Coast

Mount Karangetang: A Mountain of Fire

Lava spewes from the top of Mount Karangetang. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.

• One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Karangetang, aka, Api Siau, is a located on the northern part of Siau Island.
• Karangetang was one of the three volcanoes that erupted after the The Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, 2011.

Frozen Britain

UK temperatures over the past week fell to among the coldest experienced in April for nearly 100 years, with maximum temperatures barely above the freezing in many parts of the southeast, reports said.

At -11.2ºC (11.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the village of Braemar in Scotland, about 90 km west of Aberdeen, held the joint coldest weather anywhere in the UK in April for nearly a century.

US Weather: Snow Impacting the Upper Midwest and Northern Great Lakes

‘A storm system moving through the Upper Midwest will bring a round of late-season winter weather to parts of the northern Great Lakes region on Saturday. The heaviest snow will fall from northeastern Minnesota through northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These areas could see up to 6 inches of snow.’ NOAA reported.

• How Homo Ignarus Killed Spring

Previous Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines

• Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 2 April 2013

Japan Underestimating Nuclear Fallout Risks: U.N.

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,201 Days Left 

[November 27, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,201 Days Left to the most Fateful Day in Human History
• Symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began on May 15, 2011 ...

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Global Disasters/ Significant Events

When was the last time Japan cared about its victims?

Japanese government has adopted overly optimistic views of radiation risks and has conducted only limited health checks after the core meltdowns at multiple reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Anand Grover, a UN special rapporteur on the right to health, who is charged with investigating Japan’s handling of the health risks from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

• More than 2 million people lived in the Fukushima area surrounding the power plant, but only a quarter of them have been tested for radiation effects so far.

• The U.N. official said the health tests should cover “all radiation-affected zones” because the impact of radiation affected large areas far beyond Fukushima’s borders.

• “The scope of the survey is unfortunately narrow as they draw on the limited lessons from the Chernobyl accident and ignore epidemiological studies that point to cancer as well as other diseases in low-dosage radiation,” Grover said.

• According to some studies there’s no clear evidence that radiation exposures of up to 100 millisieverts per year pose higher cancer risks, he said. “But that is controversial. And there are a lot of studies which indicate otherwise. The government need not say which is right. The government has to err on the side of caution and be inclusive,” he said.

• “They draw on the limited lessons from the Chernobyl accident and ignore epidemiological studies that point to cancer as well as other diseases in low-dosage radiation,” Grover said.

• The cumulative radiation exposure from Fukushima in towns around the disaster stricken power plant was between 43 and 122 millisieverts, according to a report by World Health Organization (WHO), which “leaked” to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper over the weekend.

Korea

South Korean nuclear regulators have reportedly discovered about a thousand more fake parts supplied for their nuclear plants with bogus quality certificates.

• Earlier this month, eight companies were found to have submitted 60 fake  certificates that covered more than 7,000 parts mostly used in the two reactors that were shut, said a report.

• S. Korean government is planning an additional 11 nuclear reactors, to add to its existing fleet of 23, reports said. 

• About 12,500 tons of nuclear waste filled more than 70 percent of the country’s  storage capacity at reactors, as of June 2012.

• S. Korea’s four nuclear power plant complexes, which provide onsite storage facility for spent fuel and other radioactive waste, will run out of waste storage space by as early as 2016, said a report.

• South Korea is slightly larger than Indiana, and has a population of more than 50 million.

• More than half of South Korea’s population, and about 1/3 of a million international residents, live in the Seoul metropolitan area.

See also

• S. Korea: Nuclear Waste Storage Facility Reaching Full Capacity Posted on November 20, 2012

Related Links

• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country
• Nuclear Power

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

U.S. Corn Condition Continues Worsening

51 percent of the U.S. corn crop in very poor or poor condition

The amount of U.S. corn crops considered to be in very poor or poor conditions increased to 51 percent in the week ending August 12, 2012, a rise of one percent since previous week, according to the USDA Crop Progress released August 13, 2012.

• The amount of corn regarded as being in good or excellent condition remained unchanged at 23 percent. It was 60 percent last year.
• The USDA statistics are based on 18 States which planted 92% of the 2011 corn acreage:  Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

• Fukushima butterflies have mutated following exposure to radioactive material released into environment

Previous Corn Progress

• More Corn Grilled on the Cob Posted on August 7, 2012
• Half U.S. Corn in Very Poor or Poor Condition Posted July 30, 2012
• Deadly Drought Worsens Corn, Soybean, Pasture and Range Conditions Posted July 24, 2012

Related Links

• U.S. Disaster Impact Leaps 24 Folds Posted  August 1, 2012
• U.S. Disaster Areas Expand as Drought Deepens Posted August 1, 2012
• Extreme and Exceptional Drought Spread Across Midwest, South Posted August 2, 2012
• Wildfires Destroy Oklahoma Town Posted August 5, 2012

• Watching Events Unfold, Frame by Frame, Exactly as Forecast Posted July 20, 2012
• Deadly Heat Continues to Devour U.S. Crops Posted July 19, 2012

• Drought Continues to Plague Two-Thirds of Continental U.S. Posted July 17, 2012
• Largest Ever U.S. Disaster Continues Unfolding July 14, 2012
• Drought 2012 Posted on January 8, 2012
• Drought and deluge 

Disaster Calendar – 16 June 2012

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,369 Days Left

[June 16, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,369 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

• Japan. No one is quite capable of taking pride in ignorance than the wanting in self-esteem, self-serving and ultimately corrupt Japanese politicians.
  • The Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda, and the country’s Industry Minister, Yukio Edano, have announced the resumption of nuclear power operations at two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Co at Ohi Nuclear Power Plant (Ōi NPP), in Fukui Prefecture, western Japan.
  • The reactors are the first to resume operation after they were shut down following the Fukushima meltdown, world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
  • More reactors elsewhere in the country are expected to follow suit.
  • There are uncorroborated reports that the incidents of birth defects in Fukui Prefecture are higher than in most of the rest of Japan.
  • It’s believed that a number of nuclear incidents have occurred at Oi NPP, but the reports were not made public.
  • It can be argued that the Japanese deserve their government. Unfortunately, nuclear disasters have global repercussions.
  • See also:
    • Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts
    • Chernobyl legacy to linger long after most humans have gone

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Harassment and Intimidation by the Japanese Establishment

Blog contributor in Japan stalked, hounded, harassed, goaded and intimidated by the Establishment

FIRE-EARTH Moderators condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing harassment and intimidation perpetrated by the Japanese establishment against a blog contributor who lives in Japan.

To the best of our knowledge, the atrocities committed against our colleague is for no other reason than his outspoken criticisms of the Japanese establishment for their handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Antarctic whaling and the annual dolphin massacre at Taiji.

WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE AGGRAVATIONS THAT ARE BEING PERPETRATED AGAINST OUR COLLEAGUE!

Signed by FIRE-EARTH Blog Contributors

Fukushima Pre-Harvested Rice Contaminated by Radiation

Radioactive cesium of 500 becquerels per kg found in pre-harvested rice sample near Fukushima Daiichi NPP

Contaminated rice sample found in Nihonmatsu city, Fukushima Prefecture, about 60 km west of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant: Report

READ THIS FIRST

Continued hacking and content censorship

In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.

FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

WordPress is HACKING this blog!

WordPress Continues to Hack Fire-Earth, Affiliated Blogs

The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!

United States of Censorship

Even Twitter Counters are disabled when Blog posts criticize Obama, or contain “forbidden phrases.”  See also: Google’s Top 10 List of ‘Holy Cows’

Disaster Calendar 2011 – September 24

[September 24, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,635 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Japan. The country’s farm ministry has found radioactive cesium of 500 becquerels per kg in pre-harvested rice sample near Fukushima Daiichi NPP. The sample was found in Nihonmatsu city, Fukushima Prefecture, about 60 km west of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a report said.
• Fukushima Daiichi NPP was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which led to the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, 25 years ago.
• Japan’s nuclear industry poses an existential threat to its own population and many people in Asia and elsewhere. See Global Tectonics Alert – April 9
• Contaminated Soil. Soil samples taken at four locations in Fukushima City on June 26 were found to contain radioactive cesium of up to 46,000 becquerels per kilogram, or nearly 5.6 times the legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kg. In one area of the city contamination levels exceeded 931,000 becquerels per square meters.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person’s age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• France (855)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast. (Last UPDATED: June 26, 2011)

Related Links

• About Half the Kids In Fukushima Have Thyroid Radiation Exposure ‎
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – July
• Disaster Calendar – June 2011
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

• 2011 Disaster Calendar – September

• Mega Heatwaves Could Kill Tens of Thousands in the U.S.  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)
• U.S. Disaster Losses Mounting
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities  (EDRO Forecast)
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

The Silent Summer in Fukushima

No Birds, Bees or Even Cicadas

Fukushima’s native fauna have all but disappeared

[August 17, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,673 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

READ THIS FIRST

Continued hacking and content censorship

In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.

FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

WordPress is HACKING this blog!

WordPress Continues to Hack Fire-Earth, Affiliated Blogs

The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!

Disaster Calendar 2011 – August 17 Entry

• Fukushima, Japan. A number of colleagues who recently visited Fukushima, Japan have confirmed that the native fauna including birds, bees, the ubiquitous cicadas and crickets, and all other summer insects normally found in abundance throughout the Japan Region, have all but disappeared from a vast area surrounding the Fukushima Dai-Ich Nuclear Power Plant.
•  In a move reminiscent of the war atrocities committed by the old, evil empire against own nationals, Japanese government is coercing electricians throughout the country to “volunteer” for work at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ich NPP, informed sources say.  They are told, “if you consider yourself Japanese, then you must do your bit for the country by working at the nuclear plant,” or words to that effect.
• Each technician is expected to work 3 to 4 hours a day for about 4 weeks before the accumulated levels of radiation exposure would exceed the “danger limits.”
• Time and time again, the Japanese elite have demonstrated that they are incapable of running their national affairs without hurting own subjects, or harming people in other countries.
• Sindh Province, Pakistan. The government has declared southern Pakistani province of Sindh a disaster area following widespread flooding caused by monsoon rains. About 150 villages have so far been inundated seriously affecting at least a quarter of a million people, reports said.
• Louisiana, USA.The St. Tammany Parish has declared a State of Emergency following large scale fish kill in the Pearl River Basin, a report said. The authorities have discovered “tens of thousands of dead fish and other river animals” in a section of the river that covers St. Tammany and Washington parishes and part of neighboring Mississippi.
• “The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is advising residents not to swim, wade, fish or come in contact with waterways in the Pearl River watershed, including its tributaries.”

Related Links

• WARNING: About 20 percent of the world population could perish by 2016
• WARNING: JPTRMT1
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

• WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

2 Atom Bombs and a Major Nuclear Disaster

Hiroshima 66 years on

Japan’s Nightmares Have Barely Begun!

[August 6, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,684 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

READ THIS FIRST

Continued hacking and content censorship

In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.

FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

WordPress Continues to Hack Fire-Earth, Affiliated Blogs

WordPress is HACKING this blog!

The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!

Disaster Calendar 2011 – August 6 Entry

Today is the 66th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing when the U.S. atomic attack killed 140,000 people.

The Atomic Bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima by the pilot of an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, killing an estimated 80,000 people.

The death toll from the radiation and injuries climbed to 140,000 before the year’s end. The bomb destroyed more than two-thirds of the city and severely damaged about a third of the remainder.

It takes intelligence and courage to do the right thing!

Two atomic bombs, 66 years on, and a major nuclear disaster don’t seem to have made a significant impression in the Japan’s self-destructive psyche.

Five months after the magnitude 9.0 Mega Quake spawned the destructive tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the reactors continues to leak radioactive material.

Enter Japan’s Doublespeak PM Naoto Kan

Using the occasion to deliver his skill of holding two contrasting thoughts together (with the aim of deceiving his audience into merging those thoughts as one consistent and therefore acceptable outcome), he has vowed to challenge “conventional beliefs” that nuclear energy is safe.

“We will deeply reflect over the conventional belief that nuclear energy is safe…,” Kan said.

While promising to “thoroughly look into the cause of the accident and to implement and secure fundamental safety measures,” he added.

What hogwash!

Japan’s Nightmares Have Barely Begun!

When the big one knocks Humpty Dumpty off the wall, Kan or the next PM of Japan and all of the country’s defense forces won’t be able to put him together again!

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts
• Nature’s Warnings Exponentially Intensifying  Posted by edro on April 14, 2011
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• US Nuke Plants Threatened by Extreme Heat
• WARNING: JPTRMT1

Japan Mega Quake Warning

Mega Quake Measuring about 9.6Mw Could Strike Near Fukushima, Japan: FIRE-EARTH

FIRE-EARTH Models show that a large earthquake measuring up to 9.6Mw could strike within a 130 km coast of Fukushima, Japan.

Forecast Details:

• Magnitude: Up to 9.6Mw 
• Estimated Depth: 15km (±5km)
• Location: Epicentered near 37.63ºN, 142.45ºE
• Position: 130km east of Minamisōma, Fukushima, Japan
• Expected Time of occurrence: July – October 2011
• Probability of Occurrence: 72%

Global Tectonics Alert – April 9

JPTRMT1 – FIRE-EARTH estimates that about 80 exajoules (EJ) of tectonic stress energy could be accumulated in Japan Region between now and early 2016.

FIRE-EARTH Models show that most of the energy would be released as large earthquakes including a massive shock, a Megathrust earthquake, the largest on record, measuring 10.0+Mw, which could release about 64EJ of energy.

[NOTE: The 1960 Valdivia earthquake—The Great Chilean Earthquake—is the largest ever recorded earthquake measuring 9.5Mw. The quake struck on May 22, 1960 at 38.29ºS, 73.0ºW. Seismic moment release: ~ 11.3 EJ]

Previous Forecasts

• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING Posted on March 16, 2011
• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes Posted on March 13, 2011
• MEGA QUAKE STRIKES NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU
• Tectonics Update – March 10
• Strong Earthquake Strikes East of Honshu, Japan Posted on June 13, 2010
• M6.5 Strikes East Coast of Honshu, Japan Posted on July 5, 2010
• Honshu Earthquake Warning Posted  on November 10, 2010

Related Links

• Magnitude 7.1 Quake Strikes Off Sanriku, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

About Half the Kids In Fukushima Have Thyroid Radiation Exposure ‎

 45 percent of children in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture were exposed to thyroid radiation:  Report

Of more than 1,000 children screened for radiation exposure in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan,  45 percent have tested positive for thyroid radiation exposure, according to a statement by the Nuclear Safety Commission published today, a report said.

The survey was conducted on 1,080 children from newborns to age 15 in the cities of Iitate, Iwaki and Kawamata between March 26 and 30 following the radiation leak  caused by the core meltdown in Fukushima Dai-Ichi NPP.

The amounts of exposure averaged about 0.04 microsievert per hour, the report said.  “The largest exposure was 0.1 microsievert per hour, equivalent to a yearly dose of 50 millisieverts for a 1-year-old.”

Contaminated Soil

Soil samples taken at four locations in Fukushima City on June 26 were found to contain radioactive cesium of up to 46,000 becquerels per kilogram, or nearly 5.6 times the legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kg.

In one area of the city contamination levels exceeded 931,000 becquerels per square meters.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person’s age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• France (855)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast. (Last UPDATED: June 26, 2011)

Related Links

• Japan’s Fukushima Nuke Plant Still Leaking
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – July
• Disaster Calendar – June 2011
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Fukushima NPP: “There must be a large leak”

High levels of radiation detected near Fukushima Reactor 1

Water level in Reactor 1 reactor vessel has dropped 5 meters below operating level

TEPCO technicians at Fukushima Nuclear Plant discovered earlier today that water level in the Reactor 1 pressure vessel had dropped 5 meters below the designated operating level, or  more than one meter below the base of the uranium fuel rods, indicating a large volume of water was leaking into the containment building.

NRC schematic drawing of Containment Building and Basic Internals

“There must be a large leak,” Junichi Matsumoto, a senior manager at TEPCO told a news conference.

“The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged […] the pressure vessel itself and created a hole.”

Fukushima prefecture officials have revealed that the radiation level rose to 1,015 mircrosieverts per hour on Saturday, NHK reported.

“One hour of exposure to this amount of radiation is equivalent to the permissible amount of radiation an ordinary person receives in one year. It is about twice the level that requires power companies to notify the government of an emergency situation.” Said the report.

[Note:  Single radiation dose of 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) and above causes serious illness. See also exposure list below.]

TEPCO raised the alarm, after noticing that the water in the pressure vessel had not risen despite pumping in 150 tons of of water daily to cool the reactor core.

The technicians  have pumped a total of about 10,400 tonnes of water into the reactor so far, a report said.

TEPCO says temperatures at the bottom of the containment building are between 100 and 120 degrees Celsius, suggesting that the damaged fuel rods have melted and fallen through the reactor vessel and into the bottom of the reactor building, where they are being cooled down for now.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, France, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person’s age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

The latest figures released by the authorities put the number of dead at about  12,000 with 16,000 people still listed as missing.

Related News

• Japan is shutting down 35 of its 54 reactors by late May

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts
• News Links 
• WARNING: JPTRMT1

Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment

The book is available online.  http://bit.ly/mo29TZ 

Related Links

• Chernobyl nuclear disaster: 25th anniversary
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country
• Chernobyl: A Night to Remember!
• All is NOT Well at Chernobyl
• World’s Worst Polluted Places
• Chernobyl: The Day After

Other Related Links

• Remarks by Ralph Nader on the 25th anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, Ukraine

M7.1 Quake Strikes Eastern Honshu, Japan

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: JPTRMT1

Powerful Quake Strikes Eastern Honshu on One-Month Anniversary of  Great East Japan Earthquake

JAPAN MUST DECOMMISSION ITS NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS NOW !

The quake measuring 7.1Mw struck at a depth of 10km about 160 km NNE of Tokyo, and 37km W of Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture.

The powerful quake shook buildings in Tokyo and a large area of eastern Honshu, Japan’s main island.

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported the earthquake details as follows:

Occurred at (JST)	Latitude (degree)	Longitude (degree)	Depth	Magnitude	Region Name
17:16 JST 11 Apr 2011	36.9N	140.7E	10 km	7.1	Fukushima-ken Hamadori

Significant Aftershocks

As of 12:00UTC

Source: JMA

Earthquake Location Maps

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The powerful quake, which was followed by a tsunami warning, forced technicians to flee the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP. The latest shock struck amid reports that Japanese authorities were considering to extend the evacuation zone around NPP because of “prolonged exposure to radiation” in several areas.

The villages and towns outside the 20 km evacuation zone that have accumulated radiation will be evacuated, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano Edano said at a daily news conference.

The decision to enlarge the evacuation zone around the Fukushima plant is “based on data analysis of accumulated radiation exposure information,” he said.

“These new evacuation plans are meant to ensure safety against risks of living there for half a year or one year,” he said, adding that there was no need for immediate evacuations.

Japan’s Triple Disaster: Human Cost

• Official Death Toll: 13,127
• Missing:  14,348
• Homeless: At least 155,000
• Others: In addition to the above, an unknown number of people in remote areas may have perished, but no records are available as of posting.

Related Links

• Global Tectonics Alert – April 9
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update – March 30

Radiation Rises in Seawater near Fukushima NPP

Radioactive iodine was detected at 3,355 times the legal limit in seawater some 330 meters south of Japan doomed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Japan’s nuclear safety agency.

Iodine 131 is believed to have caused the high incidence of thyroid cancer among children living near the Chernobyl plant when the 1986 nuclear disaster occurred.

Highly radioactive water has inundated at least 3 reactor buildings and is also  found elsewhere at the stricken nuclear plant.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

Source: Various

TEPCO UPDATE

The most ridiculous news out of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO): Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata has told reporters that he thinks Fukushima Reactors 1 to 4 MAY HAVE TO BE SHUT DOWN PERMANENTLY!

[REALLY?]

Also, is he implying that Reactor 5 and 6, or any part of the Fukushima Dai-ichi for that matter, are still safe?

Death Toll

The number of people dead or missing from the megaquake and tsunami on March 11 stands at about 28,000 people.

Aftershock

Meanwhile another strong aftershock measuring 6.0Mw struck off the east coast of Honshu about 246 km (152 miles) ENE of Tokyo, USGS/EHP reported.

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had not reported this quake, as of posting.

Related Links

• M6.4 Shock Strikes Off Fukushima Coast
• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING
  Large Earthquake Could Strike Tokyo Area – Megaqauke measuring up to 9.2Mw could strike Tokyo / Chiba Area:  FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes
  As Many as 4 Large Earthquakes [Megaquakes measuring ≥8.0] Could  Strike Japan Region by 2015

• M6.5 Aftershock Strikes Offshore Miyagi
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

How Nuclear Reactors Double as Nuclear Weapons!

Japan Govt on “Maximum Alert”

The nuclear situation “continues to be unpredictable. [The government ] will tackle the problem while in a state of maximum alert,” Japan PM Naoto Kan said.

Plutonium Detected Outside Fukushima NPP

Traces of highly radiative plutonium have been detected in soil outside Fukushima NPP in half dozen locations, NHK quoted Japanese officials as saying.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said  the radioactive traces may have come from the plutonium fuel in the damaged reactors. But they said the levels present were too small to pose a health risk.

Plutonium-239, the primary fissile isotope used as reactor fuel and for the production of nuclear weapons, is a reactor bred, highly radioactive heavy metal with a half-life of about 24,200 years.

Photo shows part of the wreckage caused by several explosions at Reactor No. 4, Fukushima Daiichi NPP, March 27, 2011. Source: Japan Ground Self-Defence Force/ via Kyodo/ via Reuters.

TEPCO said Monday that water found in a utility tunnel outside  Reactor 2 was highly contaminated, emitting more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radioactive Iodine in Massachusetts

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine-131 believed  to have originated from the quake-and-tsunami stricken Fukushima NPP have been detected in rainwater samples in Massachusetts, Reuters quoted state officials as saying.

The findings are consistent with similar occurrences in California, Ohio, Washington state and Pennsylvania, but do not pose  any threat to drinking supplies, according to public health officials.

“The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation,” said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner.

“We will carefully monitor the drinking water as we exercise an abundance of caution,” he added.

Radio-active iodine has a short life of only 8 days and should not pose any risk to human health at the current levels detected in the U.S.

Related Links

• Japan Nuclear Emergency – Update 28 March
• Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: Worst of its Triple Disasters
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Radiation Contaminates Sea Near Fukushima NPP

Radioactive iodine in the sea near Fukushima NPP 1,250 times higher than the safety limit: Officials

Today’s news is about radioactive leaks in Fukushima, Japan, tomorrow you could hear about similar or worse incidents at a plant near you.

The following article was first published in May 2004 and is one of the most read pieces on the proliferation of nuclear energy. It’s reprinted here with the kind permission of MSRB Blog.

On The Way To Armageddon: Could We Make A Detour?

James Lovelock: ‘Only nuclear power can now halt global warming’

Lovelock’s assertion that “Only nuclear power can now halt global warming” [Independent UK, May 24, 2004] is what Ed Regis (Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition) calls turn of century’s “great wave of fin-de-siècle hubristic mania.” The Professor can be forgiven for his tardiness: He is 84.

Lovelock proposes that a massive expansion of nuclear power is the only thing that “can now check a runaway warming which would raise sea levels disastrously around the world, cause climatic turbulence …”

He says he is concerned by “two climatic events in particular: the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which will raise global sea levels significantly, and the episode of extreme heat in western central Europe last August, accepted by many scientists as unprecedented and a direct result of global warming.” He is right to be concerned.

As well, “climate change is speeding, but many people are still in ignorance of this.” Unfortunately, he is right on target on this one, too.

Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, says: “Climate change and radioactive waste both pose deadly long-term threats, and we have a moral duty to minimize the effects of both, not to choose between them.”

“[A]s of the end of 2000 the world counted 438 reactors with a total of 350 GW, less than 8 percent of the projected nuclear capacity. They produced about 17 percent of the world’s electricity or about 7.5 percent of its commercial primary energy, far behind oil (40%), coal and natural gas (25% each). Nuclear power accounts for only 2 to 3 percent of the world’s commercial final energy consumption.” http://www.greens-efa.org

Lovelock also fails to consider the issue of time frame: It would probably take 15 to 20 years to even double the projected nuclear capacity from 8 to 16 percent (increasing to 5 percent the nuclear share of world’s commercial final energy consumption) without taking too many shortcuts with devastating consequences (the Chernobyl disaster, the Three Mile Island incident, and many recent near misses in Japan and elsewhere spring to mind). By then, however, the rising sea levels will have inundated most of the existing reactors.

How would Lovelock propose to solve the civilization’s mobility dilemma that we have created in the last 100 years? (About 600 million cars are registered worldwide, as well as millions of trucks and buses, thousands of trains, planes, boats … and millions more are being manufactured each year). What is Lovelock proposing, cars running on nuclear powered batteries? [How about nuclear-powered jets flying over Washington DC?]

Soon the additional demand for oil fueled by the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads and planes in the air would render the nuclear conversion ineffective. The only thing to show for a fleeting moment of madness would be a bigger pile of radioactive waste, which no one knows what to do with.

Global Warming is not the disease; it’s a symptom, albeit the most serious symptom of a cancer caused by industrial civilization. Prescribing more nuclear power (even if it were physically possible) as a cure to the civilization’s cancer is tantamount to treating a smoker’s lung-cancer by switching her over to a different brand of cigarettes.

According to Lester Brown (Earth Policy Institute) the world experienced the fourth consecutive harvest shortfalls in 2003. Last year’s shortfall of 105 million tons (5.4 percent of the total world consumption) was “easily the largest on record.” The world’s carryover stocks of grain are at their “lowest level in 30 years,” amounting to “dangerously low level of 59 days of consumption.” The minimum level needed for food security is considered to be 70 days of consumption. Meanwhile, 74 million people will be added to the world population in 2004. (www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update40_data.htm).

Based on the United Nations projections, by 2015 nearly 1.4 billion people in up to 48 countries will face severe water shortages (we believe this figure is highly optimistic), while the water quality continues to deteriorate globally from pollution and rising temperatures.

World oil production is about 80 million BPD [barrels per day] and the projected demand for 2015 [a conservative estimate] is an unsustainable 135 million BPD. The New Oil-Rule Economy will replace the “old” economy in the very near future. A single company/organization will have a monopoly on about 80 percent of “economically recoverable” global oil reserves. It will dictate “production,” pricing, and delivery (and will even decide on the end user – who may or may not buy the oil). How much is too much for a barrel of oil, $40, $240, or $4,000 a barrel? Soon, the current monetary system will be of no value.

The world spent about 1,500 billion dollars on military [the war racket] in the last 12 months. The US share of the spending was about 1,000 billion dollars, or 52 cents in every dollar of Federal Funds (current military spending 29 percent; Iraq and Afghanistan 4 percent; past military 19 percent, including national debt created by military spending) while 35 million Americans live at or below the federal poverty level.

All around us we have created a garbage quicksand. We are sinking rapidly in a quicksand of 57 trillion pounds of materials that is turned into waste annually. Of course, there is a price to pay: The Sixth Great Extinction is looming.

To avert extinction we need an ecological revolution. We must unlearn, rethink, undo, and re-do all human activities re-mapping a sustainable path within the framework of eco-centrism.

Unless the dynamics of our civilization pertaining to our morality, militarism, mobility, consumption, and our perceived ideas about possession and waste are reversed rapidly, this writer believes, the “final” war (which is being fought over the control of resources) would, in the very near future, enter its next sinister stage – a global thermonuclear holocaust.

How else could you prevent anyone in China, to quote but one example, from eating a square meal a day, or owning a car, or the gasoline to drive her car, while the United States with less 5 percent of the world population is taking more than 25 percent of the energy and 30 plus percent of all the resources?

We must begin a new chapter in human evolution, one that rejects wars for control over the oil, food, water supplies, and other resources.

But how do we do it? Is there a “single” solution that would avert an all-out nuclear war, prevent further militarism, check global warming, stop consumerist madness, reduce CO2 emissions by more than 80 percent, reduce acid rains, minimize toxins in the land, air, and sea … ?

The Zero Oil Solution

Yes there is. The zero-oil, NO fossil fuel principle—a moratorium on oil extraction and fossil fuel consumption.

Freeze the oil. Seal the oil wells. Cement them, or otherwise make it impossible to pump out any oil for 50 years. Keep all the fossil fuels in the ground, where they belong!

Stopping the flow of oil globally and keeping the fossil fuels in the ground are drastic measures, of course, and cannot be easily implemented. Freezing the consumption of fossil fuels has far-reaching socio-economical implications; it will create great upheavals. The consequences of the zero-oil, NO fossil fuel principle, however, would be far less devastating than the remaining alternatives: The inevitable global thermonuclear war, and global warming.

A moratorium on oil and fossil fuel production can only be reached through global consensus among governments; it would require an unprecedented level of cooperation among the “representatives” of nations.

The existing resources need to be redistributed fairly; populations must be readied to assume new challenges; lifestyles will be changed dramatically; communities would have to learn how to produce their food (and renewable power) locally, be sustainable and learn to do more with less.

Unfortunately, this author does not believe such levels of cooperation could possibly develop between the world governments anytime soon.

We must, therefore, rely on “we the people.” We need non-violent volunteer organizations to develop and promulgate a new, unified value system based on an eco-centric economy at war speed, employing creative ways and means of stopping the flow of oil and consumption of fossil fuels globally to avert The Sixth Great Extinction.

If we choose life, that’s a price well worth paying for.

Related Links:

• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

• Killed by Homo Economicus
• Domination by Disinformation
• Is a Future Possible?
• Exponential Growth Economy and Oil
• Where Is All the Money?
• Exporting Democracy to the Middle East

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

• Carbon Footprint of Your Dollar
• How Much CO2 Are You Producing?

• Look me straight in the eye & tell me you can’t
• The Billionaires’ contribution to CO2 pollution

• Failing Ecosystems
• World Problems:The Root Cause Matrix

10,000 times the normal radiation at Fukushima R3

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Continues to Unfold

Dangerously high radiation levels detected in water at Reactor 3: TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says it has detected dangerously high radiation levels of radiation at Fukushima NPP Reactor 3, which could mean the core has been damaged.

Japanese government says it’s doing all it can to establish the cause of radiation leak at the stricken nuclear complex, and have asked residents living within 20-30km (12-18 miles) of the nuclear plant to leave voluntarily. Until today, residents had been asked to stay indoors.

Two workers at the nuclear facility who were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation remain in hospital. Apparently they had not been wearing protective boots and had ignored a radiation alarm, according to Kyodo news agency.

“As of 24 March, 19:30 Japan time, the number of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found to have received more than 100 millisieverts of radiation dose totalled 17 including the three contract workers. The remaining fourteen are TEPCO’s employees.” IAEA said.

Meanwhile, two Japanese tourists from Tokyo who arrived in China were taken to a hospital after being found contaminated with high radiation levels, Xinhuanet said.

Mystery surrounds the case as to how the two men became contaminated as neither of them had been within 240km radius of the Fukushima NPP, BBC said.

This news came amid an earlier report that  higher than normal radiation had been detected on a Japanese merchant ship entering the Xiamen port in Fujian province, Xinhua news reported.

Japanese Government has confirmed that levels of radioactive iodine detected in Tokyo’s tap water earlier this week  have since dropped to about normal levels, however radiation levels are still high in various areas of northern Japan.

Decommissioning of older nuclear plants big problem: IAEA

Many of the 441 nuclear reactors operating worldwide were built in the 1970s and 1980s, with an average lifespan of about 35 years (including those at Fukushima plant).

“Their decommissioning peak will occur from 2020 to 2030 which will present a major managerial, technological, safety and environmental challenge to those states engaged in nuclear decommissioning,”  according to a draft safety report by IAEA.

Is it Safe?

Construction of 4 pressurized water reactors at Cattenom Nuclear power plant in France began in 1979. CC-License.

Countries with 10 or more nuclear reactors:

The United States: 104  (Highest number of operational units)
France: 58
Japan: 54
Russia: 32
S. Korea: 21
India: 20
UK: 19
Canada: 18
Germany: 17
Ukraine: 15
China: 13
Sweden: 10

The Basic Points that are Overlooked by the International Atomic Energy Clan

1. Earth is a seismic planet and earthquakes regularly strike various regions.

2. The Pacific Ring of fire is particularly prone to earthquakes, some of them large earthquakes [Megaquakes.]

3. Larger quakes  can and do rip through ALL structures.

4. Offshore megaquakes are invariably followed by large tsunamis.

5. Large tsunamis invariable inundate vast areas, starting with coastal areas.

6. Nuclear power plants use electrical devices to operate vital cooling systems.

7. When inundated, electrical systems invariably fail.

All of the above, of course, is academic.

Related Links

• Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants

updated at 12:00UTC

CONTAMINATED WATER TOO HOT FOR BABIES

High radiation levels in Tokyo’s tap water makes it unfit for infants to drink: Officials

Up to 210 becquerels per liter of radioactive iodine-131 have been detected in some of Tokyo’s tap water;  the safe level for infants is under 100 becquerels per liter.

Note: One becquerel (Bq) represents one nucleus decay per second in a given quantity of radioactive material. 1 GBq = 0.0270 Curie (Ci). Curie is an older unit of radioactivity equal to the decay of 1 gram of radium-226 ~ 1 Ci = 3.7 x 10^10 decays per second.

Tokyo residents have been warned not to give tap water to infants, but told the radiation poses no short-term health threat to adults.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has imposed a ban on a comprehensive range of agriculture produce from Fukushima and neighboring Ibaraki prefectures.

Much higher than normal radiation contamination has been detected on spinach and other green leaf vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley, edible flowers and milk, some as far 30 miles from the stricken nuclear plant, Japanese authorities say.

Meanwhile, the US FDA has announced that farm produce and agriculture produce including milk and milk products, and vegetables and fresh fruits from Fukushima and three other Japanese prefectures—Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma—won’t be allowed to enter the United States.

Fukushima Reactors 1, 2 and 3

Work at Reactor 2 was suddenly halted earlier today, but no explanation was given by the authorities, as of posting.

Rising temperature at Reactor 1 is causing mounting concern. The temperature had risen to about 400ºC, some 100 degrees higher than the design permits.

At 4:20pm JST, black smoke was seen rising above Reactor 3, forcing the authorities to evacuate technicians from the area. The cause of the smoke is not known/has not been revealed, as of posting, but the authorities said very high level of radiation was detected before the smoke was released.

Death Toll

About 23,000 people are dead or missing as a result of the March 11 Tohoku Megaquake and the ensuing deadly tsunami.

Japan Forced to Break with Tradition

The overwhelming number of victims and a shortage of kerosene required to cremate their bodies have forced Japan’s local authorities in the stricken prefectures to bury the dead.

Members of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force carry the coffin of a victim of the earthquake and tsunami at a temporary mass grave site in Higashi Matsushima, northern Japan March 23, 2011. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao. Image may be subject to copyright. More images …

Aftershocks/New Earthquakes

Japan’s Tohoku region has been hit by at least 2 dozens significant aftershocks in the past 24 hours, with the 3 largest measuring 6.6, 6.4 and 6.6Mw.

Related Links

• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Nuclear alert level raised at Fukushima

Japan raises alert level at Fukushima NPP

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Crisis Deepens

Quote of the week on dumping water from helicopters to try to cool melting nuclear reactors:

“One can put out forest fires like this—by pouring water from far above… It is not clear where this water is falling. There is no control.”   ~ Gennady Pshakin, a Russian nuclear expert

Japanese authorities have raised the alert level at the doomed Fukushima Daiichi NPP from 4 to 5 [“Accident With Wider Consequences”] on 7-notch international danger scale for nuclear disasters.

This news comes amid earlier warnings by French scientists who had already classified the incident as a category 6, just one notch below the Chernobyl disaster.

Damage sustained at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP taken March 16, 2011 and released March 17, 2011. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)/Handout/via Reuters

IAEA Boss Returns to Japan

Meanwhile, Yukiya Amano, head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA),  himself a Japanese national, has flown to Tokyo to obtain “first-hand” information on the unfolding disaster. However, he has made it quite clear that he does NOT intend to visit the Fukushima NPP. Instead, he  has requested “more information.”

Steam rising from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP on March 16, 2011, released March 17, 2011.  Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)/Handout/via Reuters.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)

The INES, a logarithmic scale, which was introduced in 1990 by the IAEA to enable prompt communication, classifies the intensity of nuclear incidents as follows:

7 – Major Accident [Chernobyl disaster, criticality accident, April 1986]

6 – Serious Accident [e.g., Kyshtym incident, Mayak, former Soviet Union, steam explosion released up to 80 tons of highly radioactive material into the atmosphere, September 1957. ]

5 – Accident With Wider Consequences [e.g., Three Mile Island accident  Pen State, U.S., partial meltdown release radioactive gases  into the environment, March 1979.]

4 – Accident With Local Consequences [e.g., Sellafield, UK, at least 5 incidents reported between 1955 to 1979]

3 – Serious Incident [e.g., Vandellos NPP, Spain, fire destroyed control systems; the reactor was shut down, July1989]

2 – Incident [e.g., Forsmark NPP, Sweden, a backup generator failed, July 2006]

1 – Anomaly [e.g., TNPC, France, 1,600 gallons of water containing 75 kilograms (170 lb) of uranium leaked into the environment,  July 2008]

0 – Deviation (No Safety Significance) [e.g., Atucha, Argentina – Reactor shutdown caused by tritium increase in reactor encasement, December 2006.]

Serious Health Risks

Experts have warned that a major leak of radioactive substances from the stricken nuclear plant could pose serious health risks.

“At this point, there is still no evidence that there’s been significant radiation spread beyond the immediate zone of the reactors themselves,” Michael O’Leary, WHO’s representative in China said at a news conference.

“At the same time, we know that the situation is evolving and we need to monitor closely and see what happens over time. Things can obviously change, and have changed, over this last week.”

Although the risk to China would be minute at this stage, O’Leary said, there are other factors to consider.

“The reactors, of course, are quite far from China. The risk of spread depends on several factors. One is obviously the amount of radioactive material, or radionuclides, that are released from the reactor itself. Beyond that are weather and wind conditions that determine,” he said.

“As with anything that spreads or can spread out, the farther away you are, the more dispersed it is.”

Chinese Panic Buying of Iodized Salt

“The emergency has sparked panic buying of iodized salt in China, based on the misunderstanding that the iodine it contains could prevent the body’s intake of radioactive iodine that could be released in the event of a major explosion at the plant.” Said a report.

“The amount of iodine in salt is very small. It wouldn’t be possible to consume enough salt to get a protective dose. In the end, not many people will need iodine supplements.”O’Leary said.

According to one estimate, you would need an intake of about 1.5kg of salt, a lethal dose, to obtain a “protective dose” from salt.

Related Links:

• Radiation heading east towards the US
• Intelligent People and Nuclear Power Plants
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Related News

• Japan weighs need to bury nuclear plan

Radiation heading east towards the US

Atomic Energy: A Tragicomedy of Errors

Low levels of radioactive particles are detected on their way to N. America: Swedish official

Radioactivity from the disaster-stricken Fukushima NPP will  reach North American shores  within days, a Swedish official has said.

The research director at the Swedish Defense Research Institute (SDRI), a government agency, was quoted as saying that, based  on data received from a network of global monitoring stations, some radioactive particles, albeit minuscule amounts, would cross the Atlantic, and even reach Europe, as did after the Chernobyl disaster.

“It is not something you see normally,” Lars-Erik De Geer told Reuters. However, “it is not high from any danger point of view.”

“It is only a question of very, very low activities so it is nothing for people to worry about,” he said.

“In the past when they had nuclear weapons tests in China … then there were similar clouds all the time without anybody caring about it at all.”More …

US Citizen Advised to Leave from 80-km Radius of NPP

Earlier today, the state department advised all US citizens living within 80km (50 miles)  of Fukushima Daiichi NPP to leave the area. Japanese government’s exclusion zone is 20km, with a 20-30km caution zone.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission  released the following statement:

“All the available information continues to indicate Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity.”

Three Mile Island

Meanwhile, the US Energy Secretary said the situation seemed to be more serious than the 1979 partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island NNP in Pennsylvania.

The French Connection

According to nuke scientists in France, the Three Mile Island partial meltdown was a 5 on a scale of 1 to 7, with the Chernobyl core meltdown scoring 7, and the Fukushima NPP crisis so far rating 6 in severity.

The Chinese Gamble

The Chinese authorities are having second thoughts about their wholesale nuclear energy plan. They are building 27 new reactors (a total of 70 are under construction globally), but have  suspended approval for new plants because of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi NNP.

China had ambitiously planned to build at least 110 nuclear reactors during the next five years.

“We will temporarily suspend approval for nuclear power projects, including those that have already begun preliminary work, before nuclear safety regulations are approved,” said an official statement.

“Safety is our top priority in developing nuclear power plants.”

Most of China’s new NPP’s are planned near high-population areas, and “China’s State Council has assured people that the country will not be affected by the radioactive leaks.” Said a report.

We Are Not Invincible!

However many Chinese prefer to buy salt for “radiation protection” rather than believe the government assurances about radiation safety.

People are hoarding huge quantities of salt for protection against radiation. Potassium iodide, a salt, provides protection against thyroid cancer caused by radiation.

Related Links:

• Intelligent People and Nuclear Power Plants