dharma power

Buddhist federation speaks out against nuclear power
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201203210053
The Japan Buddhist Federation has called for a society that does not depend on nuclear power not to repeat the mistake Buddhist organizations made…

Marshall Islanders and Islands, R.I.P.

http://www.wbez.org/worldview/2012-02-23
About the 67 nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall islands, including "Bravo" which was 1000 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb and the US govt's deliberately planned (proven by USDOE documents) exposure of the Marshall Islanders who recvd 9 lifetimes of radiation exposure. Over an inch of snow-like radioactive fallout (vaporized coral) fell. Burned, hairless irradiated islanders evacuated after 2-3 days. Listen from minute 6. Extremely racist govt archive audio from minute 13.

Sandbox ban, go.jp document hunt, & To-Dai Prof Tatsuhiko KODAMA

Schools in Tokyo ban use of playground sandboxes over radiation fears - The Mainichi Daily News
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20110830p2a00m0na015000c.html
When sandboxes are banned, only criminals will play in sandboxes.

http://www.s.affrc.go.jp/docs/press/pdf/110830-06.pdf
=Aug30 radiation map from MAFF.

http://radioactivity.mext.go.jp/ja/distribution_map_around_FukushimaNPP/0002/11555_0830.pdf
one from MEXT -- see pp 10, 11, 14, 15

http://www.s.affrc.go.jp/docs/press/pdf/110830-06.pdf



Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlf4gOvzxYc
Click on "cc" button to show English subtitles.


Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDlEOmcALwQ
Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama is the head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo. On July 27, he appeared as a witness to give testimony to the Committee on Welfare and Labor in Japan's Lower House in the Diet. (At the end, Prof. Kodama was able to elaborate only three of his "four requests" probably due to the time constraint.)

Radiation in food: intl'ly suggested limits

Experts urge great caution over radiation risks | The Japan Times Online

Intl comparison of radiation limits in the graph.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110626x3.html

I-131 exposure in the years of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests

http://www.ieer.org/latest/iodnart.html
or
http://books.google.com/books?id=vgwAAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false

IEER's article on I-131 fallout: "Let Them Drink Milk"
By: Pat Ortmeyer and Arjun Makhijani
Article published as "Worse Than We Knew,"
for November/December 1997 issue of
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
www.ieer.org

On August 1, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) revealed that as a result of U.S. nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), American children were actually exposed to 15 to 70 times as much radiation as had been previously reported to Congress.

LATimes on the Chernobyl zone

"It is the zone that kills the young and leaves the old be," Laptev's mother, Roza Lapteva, said in a quiet, almost indifferent tone. "I don't know how it does it, but the zone is to blame."

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/24/world/la-fg-chernobyl-fear-20110424

"User's Manual"?

INES
THE INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR
AND RADIOLOGICAL EVENT SCALE
USER’S MANUAL

All Things Nuclear (Union of Concerned Scientists)

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/5173479472/fukushima-7-week-update

While details of the damage to the nuclear fuel at the site are not known, it appears that more total fuel damage has occurred during this accident than all previous reactor accidents combined.

Currently all of these reactors and pools are being cooled, although normal cooling systems have not been restored. They will require active cooling for many months or years because of the high levels of radioactivity in the fuel they contain.

Links with information about the situation at Fukushima Dai-Ichi:

UCS website and allthingsnuclear.org blog posts on the Japan crisis

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) press releases (in English)

TEPCO videos and photos of Fukushima Dai-Ichi

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) website

New York Times reactor status

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updates by Tatsujiro Suzuki

Japan Atomic Industrial Forum updates

This is your kid on radiation.

U.S. doctors hit Tokyo radiation limit for kids
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110502x1.html

Physicians for Social Responsibility, a U.S. nonprofit organization of medical experts, has condemned as "unconscionable" the Japanese government's safety standards on radiation levels at elementary and junior high schools in nuclear disaster-stricken Fukushima Prefecture.

"(Twenty millisieverts) for children exposes them to a 1 in 200 risk of getting cancer. And if they are exposed to this dose for two years, the risk is 1 in 100. There is no way that this level of exposure can be considered 'safe' for children," the statement said.

The pressure rises. If they can't attend school there, they can't really live there. If the kids can't live there, the parents (or in Japan, at least the mothers) need to leave, too. Once the children and women leave, the towns basically die. It's better (imo) to force evacuation of the contaminated ag areas anyway to keep toxic food out of the supply chain.

The Battle of Chernobyl

A film by Thomas Johnson

On 26 April 1986 01:23:45 a.m., at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Station (Чернобыльская АЭС им. В.И.Ленина), the RBMK reactor of block No.4 suffered a catastrophic failure during a routine test. Only 56 deaths have been "officially" attributed to the disaster, however, documentation shows that well over 600,000 men women and children were directly affected by the fallout. In total, the fallout produced by the exposed burning reactor core would be 400 times greater than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The deadly toxic molecules were spread across 100's of miles with nearly 60% of the pollutants falling on Belarus. The radioactive plume touched almost every European country including Sweden, Italy, Hungary, The Netherlands, Britain, and France. It is without question, the biggest nuclear disaster humanity has ever witnessed.

JapanFocus

JapanFocus
http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516

Mistrust of the media has surged among the people of Fukushima Prefecture. In part this is due to reports filed by mainstream journalists who are unwilling to visit the area near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. But above all it is the result of contradictory reports...

...at TEPCO press conferences, which are now being held at company headquarters, foreign correspondents and Japanese freelancers regularly ask probing questions while mainstream journalists simply record and report compa...ny statements reiterating that the situation is basically under control and there is nothing to worry about. One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is that TEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual 20 billion yen advertising budget. "The media keeps defending the information from TEPCO!”
...
There is one particularly telling example of the media shielding TEPCO by suppressing information. This concerns “plutonium”. According to Uesugi, after the reactor blew up on March 14, there was concern about the leakage of plutonium. Howe...ver, astonishingly, until two weeks later when Uesugi asked, not a single media representative had raised the question of plutonium at TEPCO's press conferences.
On March 26, in response to Uesugi’s query, TEPCO stated, “We do not measure the level of plutonium and do not even have a detector to scale it.” Ironically, the next day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano announced that “plutonium was detected”.
When TEPCO finally released data on radioactive plutonium on March 28, it stated that plutonium -238, -239, and -240 were found in the ground, but insisted that it posed no human risk. Since TEPCO provided no clarification of the meaning of the plutonium radiation findings, the mainstream press merely reported the presence of the radiation without assessment.

Chernobyl Disaster: Ghost City Chronicles

A documentary film about Pripyat from Russia Today.

Secretive Meteorological Agency the new CIA

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/88604.html

Weather chief draws flak over plea not to release radiation forecasts
The chief of the Meteorological Society of Japan has drawn flak from within the academic society over a request for member specialists to refrain from releasing forecasts on the spread of radioactive substances from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Just unbelievable.

The comments and resignation of Toshiso Kosako from his radiation advisory post

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/04/government-adviser-quits-post-to.html

Government Adviser Quits Post to Protest Japan's Policy on Radiation Exposure for Fukushima Schools.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110430x2.html

TOKYO—A prominent Japanese radiation safety specialist has resigned his governmental advisory post in protest over what he calls "inexcusable" standards for school children in Fukushima Prefecture. The Yomiuri Online news web site reported in Japanese this evening that Toshiso Kosako
Prime Minister Naoto Kan defended his government's handling of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant on Saturday, a day after one of his advisers on the emergency vowed to resign in protest at what he called the state's lax response.

Kan told the Lower House Budget Committee the departure of Toshiso Kosako, a professor on antiradiation safety measures at the University of Tokyo's graduate school who assumed the advisory post March 16, is extremely unfortunate.

"We are dealing with the crisis based on the advice that comes as a result of discussions by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. Our handling of the crisis has never been impromptu," Kan said.

Kosako told the government Friday he will resign as Kan's adviser.

"The government has belittled laws and taken measures only for the present moment, resulting in delays in bringing the situation under control," Kosako said.

It is extremely rare for an intellectual adviser appointed by the prime minister to resign in protest at measures the government has taken.

Kosako told reporters at the Diet on Friday it is problematic for the government to have delayed the release of forecasts on the spread of radiation from the Fukushima plant, done by the Nuclear Safety Technology Center's computer system, called the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI).

He also blasted the government for hiking the upper limit for emergency workers seeking to bring the crippled plant under control to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts after the crisis broke out.

"The prime minister's office and administrative organizations have made impromptu policy decisions, like playing a whack-a-mole game, ignoring proper procedures," the radiation expert said.

He also urged the government to stiffen guidelines on upper limits on radiation levels the education ministry recently announced as allowable levels for elementary school grounds in Fukushima Prefecture, where the radiation-leaking plant is located.

The guidelines announced by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry "are inconsistent with internationally commonsensical figures and they were determined by the administration to serve its interests," he said.

As the only country to experience an atomic bombing, Japan has long had a powerful antinuclear movement, and such protests have become louder.

Yoshiko Nakamura, 50, a part-time worker, was among 450 who gathered Saturday in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. The demonstrators beat drums, shouted "No more nukes" and held banners that read "Electricity in Tokyo, sacrifice in Fukushima."

"We knew all along nuclear power was dangerous. I just didn't know how to express myself," said Nakamura, taking part in her second demonstration in two weeks. "This is a great opportunity to send a message and voice my fears."

Such demonstrations have become more frequent, including during the Golden Week holidays, which continue through the weekend and this week. "What I had feared might happen has become reality," said Kenji Kitamura, a 48-year-old office worker. "It is outrageous children are being exposed to such high levels of radiation."

Anothr retrospectiv link dump

Japan Radiation map
created by us dept of energy:
http://energy.gov/news/documents/042111__AMS_Data_April_21__v1.pptx
at
http://blog.energy.gov/content/situation-japan/


List of the Mark 1 BWR reactors (cost-saving early 1970s design used in Fukushima) licensed to operate in AL, NC, MN, NY, IA, IL, GA, MI, NJ, some until 2038 (but these licenses are regularly re-re-extended).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x724479

In the US there are 23 reactors using the MK I containment system that are still operating:

Plant Name     STATE OL Issued OL Renewed OL Expires
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 1  AL 12/20/1973 5/4/2006 12/20/2033
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 2  AL 8/2/1974 5/4/2006 6/28/2034
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 3  AL 8/18/1976 5/4/2006 7/2/2036
Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 1  NC 9/8/1976 6/26/2006 9/8/2036
Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2  NC 12/27/1974 6/26/2006 12/27/2034
Cooper Nuclear Station     NE 1/18/1974   1/18/2014
Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 2  IL 2/20/1991 10/28/2004 12/22/2029
Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3  IL 1/12/1971 10/28/2004 1/12/2031
Duane Arnold Energy Center   IA 2/22/1974   2/21/2014
Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Unit 1  GA 10/13/1974 1/15/2002 8/6/2034
Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Unit 2  GA 6/13/1978 1/15/2002 6/13/2038
Fermi, Unit 2     MI 7/15/1985   3/20/2025
Hope Creek Generating Station, Unit 1  NJ 7/25/1986   4/11/2026
James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant NY 10/17/1974 9/8/2008 10/17/2034
Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 1 MN 1/9/1981 11/8/2006 9/8/2030
Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit 1  MI 12/26/1974 10/31/2006 8/22/2029
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1 NJ 7/2/1991 4/8/2009 4/9/2029
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Unit 2 MI 10/25/1973 5/7/2003 8/8/2033
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Unit 3 MI 7/2/1974 5/7/2003 7/2/2034
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station   MI 6/8/1972   6/8/2012
Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 IL 12/14/1972 10/28/2004 12/14/2032
Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Unit 2 IL 12/14/1972 10/28/2004 12/14/2032
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 VT 3/21/1973   3/21/2012

http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm

23 of these BWRs use a smaller GE Mark I pressure suppression containment conceived as a cost-saving alternative to the larger reinforced concrete containments marketed by competitors.
A large inverted light-bulb-shaped steel structure called "the drywell" is constructed of a steel liner and a concrete drywell shield wall enclosing the reactor vessel--this is considered the "primary" containment.. The atmosphere of the drywell is connected through large diameter pipes to a large hollow doughnut-shaped pressure suppression pool called "the torus", or wetwell, which is half-filled with water. In the event of a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA), steam would be released into the drywell and directed underwater in the torus where it is supposed to condense, thus suppressing a pressure buildup in the containment.

The outer concrete building is the "secondary" containment and is smaller and less robust (and thus cheaper to build) than the containment buildings used at most reactors.

As early as 1972, Dr. Stephen Hanauer, an Atomic Energy Commission safety official, recommended that the pressure suppression system be discontinued and any further designs not be accepted for construction permits. Hanauer's boss, Joseph Hendrie (later an NRC Commissioner) essentially agreed with Hanauer, but denied the recommendation on the grounds that it could end the nuclear power industry in the U.S.

...the three original AEC memos, including Hendrie's:

November 11, 1971: outlines problems with the design and pressure suppression system containment.
September 20, 1972: memo from Steven Hanauer recommends that U.S. stop licensing reactors using pressure suppression system
September 25, 1972: memo from Joseph Hendrie (top safety official at AEC) agrees with recommendation but rejects it saying it "could well mean the end of nuclear power..."

In 1976, three General Electric nuclear engineers publicly resigned their prestigious positions citing dangerous shortcomings in the GE design.

An NRC analysis of the potential failure of the Mark I under accident conditions concluded in a 1985 report that Mark I failure within the first few hours following core melt would appear rather likely."

In 1986, Harold Denton, then the NRC's top safety official, told an industry trade group that the "Mark I containment, especially being smaller with lower design pressure, in spite of the suppression pool, if you look at the WASH 1400 safety study, you'll find something like a 90% probability of that containment failing."

...electricity is merely a fleeting by-product of nuclear power plants. The real legacy -- the lasting product of nuclear power plants -- is nuclear waste, which will be a hazard to future generations who will not get one watt of electricity, but will get this toxic legacy for millions of years.

PressTV - 'N-waste to haunt US for generations'

www.presstv.ir

Interview with Paul Gunter, president of Beyond Nuclear in the US.

If they cannot be bothered to find a permanent storage for their waste or even transfer if to dry cask storage now, when they are generating electricity and profits from it every day, what are the chances of that happening in the future when the plant is closed, the people who profited from it long dead or moved away, the area too radioactive to work in? Instead of pushing nukes by subsidizing insurance for tens of billions of dollars, Obama should push them to maximize the dry cask storage as Germany has done.

Some steps by the FDA to protect the food supply

Radiation Safety

www.fda.gov

FAQs related to Radiation Safety

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm247403.htm


Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant must be shut down - The Mainichi Daily News
34.625,138.143
an even worse location
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110418p2a00m0na007000c.html


Radiation around TEPCO
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/index-e.html
These are monitoring posts around the perimeter of the facility.
Only "South Of Main Building" is near reactor 1.

PM is met with angry words at evacuation shelters - The Mainichi Daily News

mdn.mainichi.jp

Kan first visited the Tamura city gymnasium where residents, mainly of Okuma, have been taking shelter. When he was about to leave the evacuation center after spending about 10 minutes there, some evacuees angrily shouted out, "Leaving already?" One evacuee told the prime minister, "You should try living here." "If you're going to visit evacuation centers, you should talk to everyone there," said another.

The only news is that they've set a date. This was formerly "within a month or so". Slowly slowly.

Evacuation zone to be widened | The Japan Times Online

search.japantimes.co.jp

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government on Friday instructed parts of Fukushima Prefecture outside the 20-km no-go zone around the crippled No. 1 nuclear plant to evacuate by the end of May, saying that cumulative radiation levels may pose a health risk to residents.

Radioactive iodine found in breast milk of Japanese mothers

www.telegraph.co.uk

The breast milk of four Japanese mothers has been found to contain small quantities of radioactive iodine.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110422b1.html
A case in Kashiwa, Chiba was the worst!


http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/4814761753/susquehanna-spent-fuel-pool-concerns-and-how-i-ended

All Things Nuclear • Susquehanna Spent Fuel Pool Concerns, and How I Ended Up at UCS

allthingsnuclear.org

Susquehanna Spent Fuel Pool Concerns, and How I Ended Up at UCS
In November 1992, Don Prevatte and I submitted a report to the NRC regarding our concerns with spent fuel pools...

Cheating the workers:

Meanwhile, the radiation exposure registration center at the
Radiation Effects Association, which keeps track of workers' radiation
exposure, says, "If we apply the general rules to those workers who are
exposed to radiation of 250 millisieverts, we will have to strip them of
chances to work for a considerable number of years. We will treat them
completely separately.

Nuke authorities vague about radiation exposure limits for emergency workers - The Mainichi Daily Ne

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110421p2a00m0na009000c.html

A 30-year-old worker with a subcontractor engaged in restoration work at the nuclear power plant said he had been told by an official of a primary contractor that "the radiation you are exposed to this time will not be shown on your radiati...on exposure record book." He said he had also been told: "Even if you are exposed to 250 millisieverts, if you are to work at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, the 250 millisieverts will be exempted."

=Don't worry about it buddy, nobody's counting! You can still work even if you hit the max!


March 24.

Infant radiation dose over 30 km from plant may be over 100 millisieverts | Kyodo News

english.kyodonews.jp

The radiation dose received by one-year-old infants outside of a 30-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant since Saturday's explosion at the plant may have exceeded 100 millisieverts, a computer simulation conducted by the government showed Wednesday.

Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, told reporters, ''The figure represents the level that one-year-old infants would have received and accumulated in their thyroids by
midnight Wednesday since the explosion.''
Madarame said the radiation dose accumulated by adults outside the 30-km zone in their thyroids would be lower.

Hot Schools in Fukushima

http://atmc.jp/ has added a national radiation map to their existing database which includes air, soil, rain, food. They have also added a map of radiation at Fukushima Prefecture schools, http://atmc.jp/school/ as measured by the Fukushima Prefecture Disaster Office over three days, at present.

Bad news in this map is that schools in Fukushima City and elsewhere with numbers up around 4 to 6 microsieverts per hour are far above the 20 MILLIsieverts per year the govt is setting as an evacuation threshold. Do the math: Anything over 2.3 MICROsieverts an hour will accumulate to more than 20 MILLIsieverts a year. They should err on the side of caution considering: the intl standard for added dose is 1 millisievert annually, not 20; these are children, not adults; there is a possibility of ingesting and inhaling radioactive particles; and emissions and deposition levels are continuing and accumulating. They should evacuate.

One argument against evacuation is that these levels may be temporary, and go down soon, but that is doubtful. Even if so, I think they should temporarily evacuate the cities of Fukushima (290,000ppl), Nihonmatsu (61,000ppl), and Sukagawa (80,000ppl), or, if that is impossible, evacuate at least the children. Note that our levels down here in Chiba are 0.055 microsieverts per hour today, only 1% of what is measured at some of those schools. (compare to 5.5)

If the govt keep to their stated standard of evacuating places with a risk of accumulating over 20millisieverts/year, then they will announce an evacuation. If they keep to their established precedent of moving slowly (and erring on the side of radiation), the announcement will come in about 2 weeks (and allow another month to take effect).

Using the slider on the school map also reveals wider investigations done on previous days. I guess they are not cumulatively added to the map because yesterday's measurements may have changed by today. There are 2 measurements: at 1cm (above the soil, I assume), and 1 meter.

Measurements of the known VERY radioactive areas were done mostly on the first day.

TEPCO 3.0

Final (?) edition, with the transparency, 3 colors, and png quality you expect.

April 10 retrospektiv link-dump

Links I posted on Facebook retroactivly reposted to Blogger with some messy html remaining.
:-(This is May 5 but this post's links were collected prior to Apr 10)-:
This way I won't have to look at facebook for my links either, because I hate (and like) facebook.
My apologies to my reader for the complete lack of posts in the post-earthquake post-tsunami recent past.

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
http://english.kyodonews.jp/rss/news_japan_nuclear_crisis.xml
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/nuclear/Fukushima-nuclear-disaster/
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/world/asia/reactors-status.html
http://allthingsnuclear.org/
http://mitnse.com/
http://twitter.com/JAPANTIMES
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news.html
http://twitter.com/Reuters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami
Radiation: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html
Water: http://atmc.jp/water/
http://atmc.jp/
Earthquakes: http://tenki.jp/earthquake/
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/radiation-visualization.html


Normally, the public is supposed to only get ONE extra millisievert per year from nuclear-industrial actions, nuclear workers 50 millisieverts.
The Japanese govt is saying 20 millisieverts a year is now OK for the public before they would consider evacuation
(and note that some UNevacuated areas are getting much more than that weekly),
250milliSvrt for nuclear workers (That is actually in line with guidelines for life-saving activities.)
This is a commercial site, but has a good explanation.
http://www.oasisllc.com/abgx/radioactivity.htm

Radioactivity and alpha, beta, gamma radiations and X rays

Atoms are not all stable. The excess energy contained in an unstable atom is released in one of a few basic particles and energetic waves. The Greek alphabet is used to name the particles (in the order of their discovery).

Another speedy solution suggested by some experts is to pour concrete or sand over the overheated reactors, not waiting until they cool. The tactic has been dismissed by Japan's nuclear safety agency and other experts have called it risky as the nuclear fuel may melt through the container.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110409/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_nuclear_endgame

Information is beautiful. Radiation, not so much.
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/radiation-dosage-chart/

I would have said "castle made of sand" (Hendrix tribute)
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110409p2a00m0na001000c.html
A society that depends on nuclear energy is just like a house of cards

A little long but a sign of change, read later?
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/sundayprofile/stories/2011/3173783.htm
Japanese Opposition MP, Taro Kono, has long argued against Japan's reliance on nuclear power, and he says Japan must move to an energy strategy that includes renewables and natural gas. Taro Kono is also on the Liberal Democratic Party's counter-relief committee. The group is examining better ways of responding and preparing for such disasters as this month's earthquake and tsunami.


Hell no, we won't go, hell no, we won't glow.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84251.html
Companies dispatching workers to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are refusing to adopt the government-imposed provisional limit on radiation exposure for those workers at the plant, saying it would not be accepted by those at the site, Kyodo News learned Saturday.

Former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Victor Gilinsky said the Japanese crisis seems far tougher than the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State, regarded as the most highly contaminated nuclear weapons site in the United States. At Hanford, the Energy Department reportedly plans to decommission eight reactors and process about 58 million gallons of radioactive sludge now in leaky underground tanks at a cost estimated up to $130 billion.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/04/07/Disposal-of-radioactive-water-next-issue/UPI-44251302178116/

Possible reason why tapwater cesium and iodine is undetectable now: added filtering.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110408n1.html
Efforts to protect Tokyo's tap water from radiation leaked by the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have led to a run on Indonesian coconut husks.


http://www.eli.org/pdf/Energy_Subsidies_Black_Not_Green.pdf
Diagram of subsidies to the black energy and green energy industries.

NPR gets critical.
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/06/135175611/in-wake-of-nuclear-crisis-tepcos-plans-questioned

In Wake Of Nuclear Crisis, TEPCO's Plans Questioned : NPR

www.npr.org

Experts say that in the weeks following the series of explosions and fires inside the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, TEPCO made very costly — and avoidable — mistakes. The company, they say, was deeply surprised and overwhelmed by the course of events.

NPR on liquefaction
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/07/135181474/in-japan-shaken-soil-turned-soft-after-quake

In Japan, Shaken Soil Turned Soft After Quake : NPR

www.npr.org

The violent shaking from Japan's March 11 earthquake stirred up the soil, leading to broken water pipes, tilted utility poles and manholes that popped out of the ground. The phenomenon, known as liquefaction, was particularly noticeable in areas built on land reclaimed from the sea.

EXPLOSION!
OK... He probably went a little foo far with the word "explosion" and that idea, but I don't think he was part of the "alarmist" media. I had to work this out and reach my own state of alarm all by myself, only found this much later.
http://dcbureau.org/201103141303/Natural-Resources-News-Service/fission-criticality-in-cooling-ponds-threaten-explosion-at-fukushima.html

Fission Criticality In Cooling Ponds Threaten Explosion At Fukushima

dcbureau.orgThe threat of a fission explosion at the Fukushima power facility emerged today when the roof of the number three reactor exploded and fears that a spent fuel pool, located over the reactor, has been compromised.

A powerpoint of a presentation by TEPCO about their plans to put Fukushima Daiichi's admittedly overpacked spent fuel in the pools into dry cask storage up in Aomori, far from Tokyo.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/6-1_powerpoint.pdf
Slides 4, 5, 9, 10, and 11 are especially relevant to understanding the fuel amounts (or =the tonnage of radwaste) at Fukushima Daiichi, and how they have re-stacked fuel assemblies beyond the design parameters in the cooling pools.


virtual reality
The plaque that you can see in this panorama with the date 35.5.24 indicates the water level of the tsunami caused by the 1960 (Showa35) May 22 Valdivia, Chile earthquake, a magnitude 9.5 and the largest in recorded history.
360° panorama
http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-ohfunato-iwate-pref-2-japan#190.50,1...1.29,10.0
This event at USGS:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/

Before:After
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/38195106.jpg
~=~
http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-kamaishi-iwate-pref-1-japan#95.39,-5.64,17.5



http://blog.360cities.net/japan-tsunami-and-earthquake-damage/
This post links to a collection of 360° panoramas/VRs from post-tsunami Japan.


Before:After
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/49679345
=
http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-rikuzen-takada-iwate-pref-7-japan#177.92,2.10,15.9


Before:After
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/34514560
=
http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-rikuzen-takada-iwate-pref-3-japan#-42.90,3.73,33.8


After:Before
http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-rikuzen-takada-iwate-pref-5-japan#441.11,23.07,71.9
~=~
http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=ja&geocode&q=%E5%B2%A9%E6%89%8B%E7%9C%8C%E9%99%B8%E5%89%8D%E9%AB%98%E7%94%B0%E5%B8%82%E9%AB%98%E7%94%B0%E7%94%BA&aq&brcurrent=3%2C0x5f88a30facc61139%3A0xd40ddee6af6d4902%2C1&brv=22.25&sll=...39.011886%2C141.631968&sspn=0.005919%2C0.014913&ie=UTF8&hq&hnear=%E5%B2%A9%E6%89%8B%E7%9C%8C%E9%99%B8%E5%89%8D%E9%AB%98%E7%94%B0%E5%B8%82%E9%AB%98%E7%94%B0%E7%94%BA&ll=39.012565%2C141.626902&spn=0.005319%2C0.029826&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.012563%2C141.626903&cbp=11%2C0%2C%2C0%2C0&photoid=po-49395267


nuclear industrial complex
nuke boosters

[JAIF] Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.

www.jaif.or.jp

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110408f1.html

Tokai mayor slams Tepco, government | The Japan Times Online

search.japantimes.co.jp

MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) The mayor of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, has criticized the central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. over their handling of the nuclear crisis in neighboring Fukushima Prefecture.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/04/08/1617720/japans-disasters-might-be-the.html

Japan’s disasters might be the opportunity for needed cultural overhaul

www.thenewstribune.com

TOKYO – Something fascinating is afoot in Japan: anger. People are fuming about the nuclear crisis that put their nation in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06village.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=all
“We have been sacrificed so that Tokyo can enjoy bright lights,” said Takao Takahashi, 68, a tobacco farmer.


‎"Nuclear reactors are inherently dangerous, and will always be vulnerable to the potentially deadly combination of human error, design failure and natural disaster. Governments around the world must commit to a future based on energy efficiency and renewable energy – nuclear power has no place in a modern safe and secure energy system!"

Ocean dumping: Fukushima far from under control

www.greenpeace.org

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/83604.html
We must deliberate this matter slowly and carefully... zzzzz
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/83604.html

Gov't reviewing radiation exposure level for evacuation | Kyodo News

english.kyodonews.jp The government is reviewing the radiation exposure level currently used to designate the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, as the nuclear crisis triggered by last month's massive earthquake and tsunami continues to unfold, its top spokesman said Wednesday.

http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/suidou/souki/documents/sokuteiichiran0402.pdf
Radioactive Cesium in Chiba water peaked around 3-23 or another spike on 3-27 but has been largely undetectable since. Radioactive iodine is well below the 200 bq cutoff for infants. I think i'l go back to tapwater and save the bottled water.

[Chiba has a lot less Iodine-131 and a little less Cesium-137 than Tokyo.]
http://mextrad.blob.core.windows.net/page/13_Tokyo.html

TEPCO

Octoracle

The lyrics as well as I can make out:

Paul the Octopus
by Aiden Ajar

I'm just a cephalopod
I'm only 2 years old
oh--but I'm the 8 legged oracle
or so I'm told

oh wonderful octopus
you're the great prophet of our time
we need a leader to reveal us truth
if I feed you mussels will you please be mine?

all attention will be on your tank
we'll base our lives on the way you behave
be our master, be our saviour
most of all be our slave

I'm just a cephalopod
I've never even seen a tv
oh you think that I control your destiny
oh I don't even know I live in Germany

oh terrible octopus
you're the worst mollusk of our time
we needed you to reveal us truth
--well, I suppose you did but we do not like the truth--
we hold you responsible
off with your tentacles
I will eat you
I will eat you
I will eat you

I'm just a cephalopod
I don't even know what FIFA is!
don't barbecue me
don't cut me into pieces
don't crucify me
I never asked to be your jesus...

(edited 2010¤07·16°)