"New signs of damage at stricken Japanese nuclear plant; Officials urge wider evacuation of adjacent areas" by New York Times / March 26, 2011
TOKYO — New signs emerged yesterday that parts of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are so damaged and contaminated that it will be even harder to bring the plant under control soon....
One sign of possible deterioration came at Reactor No. 3. Workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal. Officials and specialists offered conflicting explanations of what had gone wrong — but all pointed to greater damage to the reactor’s systems and more contamination there than officials had indicated earlier.
Translation: Officials and authorities and their mouthpiece media are LYING TO US!!!!!!
Two workers were exposed to radiation and burned when water poured over the top of their boots and down around their feet and ankles, officials said. A third worker was wearing higher boots and did not suffer the same exposure.
So it is their own fault, huh?
Like the injured workers, many of those risking their lives are subcontractors of Tokyo Electric who are paid a small daily wage for hours of work in dangerous conditions. In some cases they are poorly equipped and trained for their task....
But believe your government and its media mouthpiece reports.
The news yesterday and the discovery this week of a radioactive isotope in the water supplies of Tokyo and neighboring prefectures punctured the mood of optimism with which the week began, leaving a sense that the battle to fix the damaged plant will be a long one.
That's why it is fading further and further into the corporate paper.
No one is being ordered to evacuate the second zone around the plant, officials said, and people may choose to remain, but many have already left of their own accord, tiring of the anxiety and tedium of remaining cooped up as the nuclear crisis simmers just a few miles away. Many are said to be virtual prisoners, with no access to shopping and immobilized by a lack of gasoline.
“What we’ve been finding is that in that area life has become quite difficult,’’ Noriyuki Shikata, deputy secretary for Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said. “People don’t want to go into the zone to make deliveries.’’
Shikata said the question of where those who chose to leave would go was still under consideration.
--more--"
"Japan criticizes utility’s actions after disaster; Government reveals series of missteps" by Eric Talmadge and Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press / March 27, 2011
SENDAI, Japan — Japan’s government revealed a series of missteps by the operator of a radiation-leaking nuclear plant yesterday, including sending workers in without protective footwear in its faltering efforts to control a monumental crisis.
The US Navy, meanwhile, rushed to deliver freshwater to replace corrosive saltwater now being used in a desperate bid to cool the plant’s overheated reactors.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano urged Tokyo Electric Power Co. to be more transparent, two days after two workers at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered skin burns when they stepped in water that was 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found near the reactors....
The government’s admonishments came as workers at the plant struggled to stop a troubling rise in radioactivity and remove dangerously contaminated water from the facility, which has been leaking radiation since a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out the plant’s key cooling systems....
Yeah, I keep coming back to the fact that the THING IS LEAKING RADIATION as I type!!!
--more--"
"Elevated radiation levels force plant evacuation; Japan officials do not think fuel is melting" by Hiroko Tabuchi and Keith Bradsher, New York Times / March 28, 2011
TOKYO — Sharply elevated radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex yesterday raised the possibility of spreading contamination and forced an emergency evacuation of part of the damaged plant....
There was also an alarm about initial readings of radioactive iodine 134, which has a half-life of only 53 minutes and would not be present in very large quantities unless fission had resumed — that would present the alarming possibility of an out-of-control reactor. Several hours after releasing the initial results, the nuclear company said that those readings had been in error and that retesting had shown negligible amounts of the isotope....
Sigh.
Meanwhile, radiation in the Tokyo water supply continued to diminish yesterday, authorities said....
Yeah, there were spikes in radiation and workers were forced to evacuate but the radiation levels are dropping.
Japan's National Police Agency said yesterday that the death toll from the quake and tsunami had risen to 10,668, with 16,574 still missing.
--more--"
Also see: Bedford company's robots to help out in Japan
State steps up monitoring after radioactivity found in rainwater
Fukushima Radiation Found In Massachusetts Rainwater As Bio-Robots Fight To Prevent Disaster
Related: Fukushima probably exceeds Chernobyl and there is no end in sight
"It is time to face reality. It has been repeatedly reported over the last few weeks that the reactor cores are breached and containment is breached. Then the next day we get the official denial and assurances all is well and we should go back to paying taxes and breeding soldiers, then the day after we learn that yes indeed, things are as bad as we first suspected while the media castigates those of us reporting the truth as "fear mongers."" -- Wake the Flock Up
Or "conspiracy theorists."
