"A frantic effort to stem spread; Contamination highest within 19-mile radius" by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, New York Times / March 18, 2011
WASHINGTON — Frantic and increasingly unconventional attempts to stem bursts of radiation from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan yesterday did little to immediately ease fears of an ecological disaster at the plant, although US officials said the first readings from data-collection flights show that significant levels of contamination have not spread beyond the 19-mile range of top concern established by Japanese authorities.
The data were collected in the first use of the Aerial Measurement System, among the most sophisticated devices rushed to Japan by the Obama administration in an effort to help contain a nuclear crisis.
That is what a corporate media is for, sob.
Three reactors have had at least partial meltdowns at the plant, where wisps of steam enveloped the stricken units this morning.
I'm inclined to believe it is happening or has happened simply because I'm reading corporate media code.
Also see: Multiples Worse than Chernobyl
Japanese and US officials believe a greater danger exists in the pools used to store spent nuclear fuel: Fuel rods in one pool were believed to be at least partially exposed, if not dry, and others were in danger. Without water, the rods could heat up and spew radiation.
They finally had to own up to the fuel rods because of blogs.
It could take “possibly weeks’’ to get the complex under control, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Gregory Jazcko said....
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The findings were reassuring....
Which INCITES MORE ALARM HERE!!!
The official death toll from the disasters stood at 5,692 as of this morning, with 9,522 missing, the national police agency said....
Yes, that misery is mostly forgotten.
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"Delays in policy on storing fuel rods compound crisis" by New York Times / March 18, 2011
NEW YORK — Years of procrastination in deciding on long-term disposal of highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear reactors are now coming back to haunt Japanese authorities as they try to control fires and explosions at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Some countries have tried to limit the number of spent fuel rods that accumulate at nuclear power plants: Germany stores them in costly casks, for example, while China sends them to a desert storage compound in the western province of Gansu. But Japan, like the United States, has kept ever-larger numbers of spent fuel rods in temporary storage pools at the power plants....
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There are strong indications that some fuel rods have begun to melt and release extremely high levels of radiation....
And until they can get in there and cool things down....
Richard T. Lahey Jr., a retired nuclear engineer who oversaw General Electric’s safety research in the early 1970s for the kind of nuclear reactors used in Fukushima, said....
Why would we give him any credence at all, dear readers?
See: The Silver Lining In Japan's Nuclear Cloud
Yes, it TRULY is a CORPORATE MEDIA!!
Doesn't GE OWN NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC among AmeriKa's media?
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And about that local nuclear power plant built be GE?
"Disaster raises fears on aging N.E. plants" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff / March 18, 2011
MONTPELIER — The Japan nuclear crisis could not have come at a worse moment for New England’s aging nuclear plants — heightening public concern about their safety at the very moment they seek to extend the plants’ operating lives.
Yeah, the poor nuclear power industry, sigh.
Vermont Yankee and the Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Plymouth, Mass., are nearing the end of their 40-year licenses and have sought approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate two more decades, as has the newer Seabrook Station in New Hampshire. The Yankee and Pilgrim reactors have the same design as the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan....
With the FUEL RODS and POOLS on TOP?!!!!!
The timing is particularly bad for Vermont Yankee, which is in Vernon, near the Massachusetts border. The Japan quake came just one day after the NRC approved its 20-year extension, and its owners are now in the position of having to persuade an already deeply mistrustful state Legislature that the plant should be allowed to generate electricity after its license expires next year....
The PRO-NUCLEAR POWER SYMPATHY and BIAS BOTHERS ME, dear readers.
Like the Japan plant, Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee also place spent fuel rods — which must be immersed in water to prevent radioactive release — in a pool in upper levels of the building, where they could be more vulnerable to a sudden loss of coolant than those in other locations, critics say.
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The place is only 20 miles away, dear readers!!!!
The pools contain years of spent fuel rods, and they can heat up and emit enormous amounts of radiation when the water drains away — as appears to have happened in at least one Japanese reactor....
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Oh, I guess I'm just being an alarmist, huh?
Who cares if the place has already leaked cancer into the water and soil and lied about it?
"Week after disasters, Japan concedes slow response; US increases assistance to help prevent full meltdown" by Mari Yamaguchi and Eric Talmadge, Associated Press / March 19, 2011
Related: Japan’s nuclear disaster caps decades of accidents and fake reports
All governments are the frikkin' same!!
TOKYO — The entire world was on alert, watching for any evidence of dangerous spikes in radioactivity spreading from the six-reactor facility, or that damage to the Japanese economy might send ripple effects around the globe....
I see I am not the only one.
In a further sign of spreading alarm that uranium in the Japanese plant could begin to melt, Japan planned to import about 150 tons of boron from South Korea and France to mix with water to be sprayed onto damaged reactors, French and South Korean officials told The New York Times. Boron absorbs neutrons during a nuclear reaction and can be used in an effort to stop a meltdown if the zirconium cladding on uranium fuel rods is compromised.
In western United States, faint traces of very low levels of radiation from the stricken complex were detected in Sacramento, Calif., bringing the crisis to American shores for the first time. Officials said the levels would have no health consequences.
None at all?
These the same officials that lied about oil in the Gulf, lied about the economy, etc, etc, etc?
Related: Reports Of “Harmless” Radiation Reaching California Are a Whitewash
Sirens wailed along Japan’s devastated northeast coastline yesterday to mark one week since the prosperous country was stricken. More than 7,200 have been killed, Japan’s National Police Agency said today. About 10,900 are missing in an area struck first by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and then an enormous wall of water....
Amid the misery, the threat of nuclear disaster has riveted international attention....
The events have led to power shortages and factory closures, hurt global manufacturing, and triggered a plunge in Japanese stock prices.
Most of Japan’s auto industry is shut down. Factories from Louisiana to Thailand are low on Japanese-made parts. Idled plants are costing companies hundreds of millions of dollars. And US car dealers may not get the cars they order this spring.
Related: Car prices rising after disaster
Citing leak risk, Honda issues recall
Yen falls from recent high as G-7 considers action
Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed that the disasters would not defeat Japan. “We will rebuild Japan from scratch,’’ he said, comparing the work with the country’s emergence as a global power from the wreckage of World War II.
This could end up being much worse.
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"Stranded survivors near damaged reactors await rescue; Local officials, companies step in to help relocate" by Martin Fackler, New York Times / March 19, 2011
YAMAGATA, Japan — Some are stuck in their homes, fearful of radiation, heeding government warnings to stay indoors, cut off without electricity or phone service. Others want to leave but have no gasoline. Still more, those whose homes were ruined wait helplessly for evacuation at crowded shelters.
All face dwindling supplies of heating fuel, food, and water.
A week after the earthquake and tsunami devastated their communities, the plight of the thousands still stranded in areas near the stricken reactors — many too old or infirm to move — has underscored what residents say is a striking lack of help from the national government to assist with the evacuation of danger zones or the ferrying of supplies to those it has urged to stay inside....
Instead, the task has fallen to some local governments and even private companies and organizations that have made limited but heroic efforts to help those left behind. Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless along coastal communities, and the search for bodies has been halted in the evacuation zone....
And they are all being radiated on.
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Also see: The faithful reach out to Japan with the power of prayer
That's about all you have left when it comes to the AmeriKan media.
And what the Boston Globe will never go near:
"Stuxnet found in Japan in October - Is Fukushima an unintended consequence of Israel's hacker attack against Bushehr?
According to the security company, the virus is designed to target a German-made program often used in systems managing water, gas and oil pipelines. The program is used at public utilities around the world, including in Japan.
"Here is a nightmare scenario for you.
1. Israel and the US create Stuxnet.
2. Stuxnet is deployed to wreck Iran's nuclear power station.
3. But Stuxnet escapes from its intended target and spreads across Asia!
4. As the above article documents, Stuxnet was in Japan last October, presumably still spreading and intended to wreck nuclear power plants.
5. Stuxnet targets the Siemens controller
6. Fukushima uses the Seimens controllers Stuxnet was designed interfere with!
So now the difficulty the Fukushima nuclear plant operators faced in recovering control over their runaway reactors takes on a darker significance. Remember that the first problem following the quake was that the automated shutdown systems failed to operate at some of the reactors, because pumps failed and valves would not open even while running on batteries; the very sorts of mischief Stuxnet supposedly was designed to cause at Iran's power station.
Did we all just get hacked to death by Israel?
Would anyone reading this in Japan please forward to the Fukushima managers." -- Wake the Flock Up
Also see: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Israeli Virus Invades Iran
Israeli Worm Eating Its Way Through Iran
Israeli Security Firm in Charge at Japanese Nuke Facilities Prior to Disaster
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Being “Guarded” by Israel
WTF?
