BOTH PICTURES FROM INFOWARS.COM
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
PESTILENCES (CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS)
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(CHEMICAL,BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
NUCLEAR LEVEL METER
7-MAJOR ACCIDENT
6-SERIOUS ACCIDENT - JAPAN AT THIS LEVEL CURRENTLY
5-ACCIDENT WITH WIDER CONSEQUENCES
4-ACCIDENT WITH LOCAL CONSEQUENCES
3-SERIOUS INCEDENT
2-INCIDENT
1-ANOMALY
RADIATION NETWORK
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
WEATHER MODEL-WINDSTREAM
http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=npac_250
JONES ON THE MELTDOWN(RADIATION CONTAMINATION)OF JAPAN ALL THIS WEEK
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110316_Wed_Alex.mp3
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110317_Thu_Alex.mp3
http://rss.nfowars.net/20110318_Fri_Alex.mp3
THIS WILL BE A PERFECT SITUATION FOR THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT CONTROL FREAKS TO TRY TO BAN COAL AND NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS WHICH WOULD KILL 65% OF THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION.HOW WOULD THE NWO NUTCASES WANT THIS 65% FILLED,OF COURSE WITH WIND MILLS,SOLAR WHICH WOULD REALLY SKYROCKET OUR BILLS.AND THEN THEY COULD TAX US INTO INFINITY AND CONTROL OUR EVERY MOVES IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES.ICLUDING ALL KINDS OF CARBON TAXES.
ITS 12:05AM WED MAR 16,11 AND JIM WALSH A INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST:SAYS WERE IS THAT USELESS IAEA:IT SHOULD BE IN JAPAN AT THE SITE,SO THE 50 WORKERS WOULD NOT HAVE TO USELESSLY DIE FROM WORKING ON THE 6 SITES BY THEMSELVES.THEN WE HAVE GOVERNMENT REPORTS SAYING:THE 50 WORKERS HAVE SUSPENDED OPERATIONS.
NOW I HAVE A BRIEF COMPARISON HERE TO START THE DAY.
3,373 PEOPLE ARE OFFICIALLY DEAD AND 7,558 STILL MISSING SO FAR.
3/16(1+6=7)/11 - TODAYS DATE MAR 16,11 (3=TRINITY)(7=COMPLETION IN THE BIBLE)
REACTORS 4&3=7 AND REACTORS 1&2=3 HERES THE 3 AND 7 IN THE DISASTER TO.
ITS 4:30PM WED MAR 16,11 AND DR PETER HOSEMANN OF UC BERKLEY DEPT OF NUCLEAR ENG. WAS ON FOX NEWS AND SAID:IF THERES STEAM OR WATER AROUND THE FUEL RODS,AND THEY OVERHEAT.THEN THEY CAN PRODUCE HYDRGEN.THIS COULD LEAD TO EXPLOSIONS LIKE WE SAW IN REACTORS 1 AND 3.
U.S NUCLEAR CHIEF:RADIATION LEVELS MAY(MORE LIKE ARE)HAMPERING EMERGENCY CREWS.HE ALSO SAYS THERE IS NO MORE WATER IN THE SPENT FUEL POOL IN REACTOR 4.WHICH MEANS NOTHING TO STOP THE FUEL RODS FROM OVERHEATING,MELTING.
SO OVIOUSLY SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THE SEA WATER PIPE(IT WAS EXPLODED)OVIOUSLY,THATS WHY NO WATER CAN BE PUT ON THE RODS TO STOP THEM FROM OVERHEATING,MELTING AND SENDING OFF LARGE AMOUNTS OF RADIATION INTO THE AIR AND POISONING IT.THE U.S IS TELLING AMERICANS TO AVOID A 50 MILE RADIOUS OF THE SITE,NOT JUST 13 MILES LIKE THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IS SAYING.
Analysis: Worst case nuclear cloud seen limited to Japan
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent - MAR 16,11 6:30PM
OSLO (Reuters) – In the worst case, any radioactive cloud from Japan's damaged nuclear plant is likely to be limited to the densely populated nation -- unlike the wider fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, experts say.The 1986 blast in then-Soviet Ukraine, when the reactor exploded, contaminated large parts of Europe in the world's worst nuclear disaster. At the Fukushima plant, the explosive potential within the six reactors is easing with time.In the worst case, a radioactive cloud would not go that far up in the atmosphere, said Jan Beranek, head of environmental group Greenpeace's International Nuclear Campaign.That is good news for the world, but bad news for Japan.Despite assurances by Japanese authorities about low health risks, the crisis at the Fukushima plant has worsened since Friday's quake-caused tsunami, with desperate, unsuccessful attempts on Wednesday to water-bomb the facility.We are at the beginning of the catastrophic phase, Sebastian Pflugbeil, president of the private, German-based Society for Radiation Protection, said of Japan's efforts to pull the Fukushima plant back from the brink.Maybe we have to pray, he said, adding that a wind blowing any nuclear fallout east into the Pacific would limit any damage for Japan's 127 million population in case of a meltdown or other releases, for instance from spent fuel storage ponds.Japan's nuclear crisis may have taken its most dangerous turn yet, after the head of the U.S. nuclear regulatory body said one of the pools containing highly radioactive spent fuel rods at the stricken plant had run dry.
Japan placed top priority on Wednesday on efforts to cool down a plutonium-fueled nuclear reactor at Fukushima -- the only one of six not fueled by less hazardous uranium. Some countries advised their nationals to leave the country.Many experts expect the outcome to be worse than the partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979, which caused no widespread health damage, but less severe than Chernobyl.A U.N. study estimated that there could be 4,000 to 9,000 extra cancer deaths from Chernobyl, but Greenpeace has said that the disaster could cause more than 250,000 cancer cases, including 100,000 fatalities.In Chernobyl the whole plant core exploded, said Malcolm Crick, Secretary of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).But there was also a lot of heat and that lifted it high into the atmosphere.He said Fukushima was a serious situation but it's too early to say what the worst outcome could be.Malcolm Grimston, a nuclear expert at the Chatham House think-tank in Britain, said Fukushima was not like Chernobyl.We're nearly five days after the fission process was stopped, the levels of radioactive iodine will only be about two-thirds of where they were at the start, some of the other very short-lived, very radioactive material will be gone altogether by now, he said.The situation may recede or deteriorate and lead to a massive radiation leak to the atmosphere, said Professor Javier Dies, head of Nuclear Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona. As things stand, this cannot be ruled out.A key warning sign would be if plumes of cesium are emitted from the plant, according to Richard Barrett, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission member who led the regulator's emergency response center.When cesium comes out, that means your temperatures have reached the 4,000 and 5,000 degree level,he said.
After that, the next step would produce transuranics such as strontium, plutonium and americium.If you begin to see those things then it may be an indication that the accident has proceeded to the next step, he said. The core would have melted through the bottom of the vessel ... and it is on the floor of the reactor cavity.Greenpeace's Beranek said that heavy pollution from cesium could make some areas of Japan near the plant uninhabitable, at least for decades, as happened around Chernobyl. Pflugbeil also said some areas might be off-limits. Laurence G. Williams, Professor of Nuclear Safety at the John Tyndall Institute for Nuclear Research in Britain, said he did not see a Chernobyl-type blast as likely. I can't think of anything at the moment that would drive that explosive force, he said.It will just be a melting, or a degrading, heating up of the fuel which will just crumble into a heap like what happened at Three Mile Island.Richard Wakeford, of the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester, said in a statement that words like apocalypse and catastrophe were utterly inappropriate about the situation at Fukushima and could cause unnecessary panic. Leaks from Fukushima have already spread some radiation from the plant, briefly raising levels in Tokyo to 10 times normal levels, but are far below the level of a catastrophic release that would pose a wide threat to human health, experts say.Crick at UNSCEAR said that long-term exposure after Chernobyl for people living in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia was about 10 millisieverts, the equivalent of the radiation in one CT scan. People pick up about 2.4 millisieverts a year in background radiation.(Additional reporting by Gerard Wynn in London, Vera Eckert in Frankfurt, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Martin Roberts in Madrid and Matt Daily in New York; editing by Mark Trevelyan, Phil Berlowitz)
In the Media 1PM MAR 16,11 By Lynn Herrmann-Reports: Japan’s radiation problem appears out-of-control DIGITAL JOURNAL
Tokyo - Latest reports from Japan reveal a country drowning in sorrow from last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, and it will now have to give undivided attention to a disaster of surging radiation levels at Fukushima’s Daiichi nuclear facility. Scientists are warning that the fires associated with explosions at the Daiichi nuclear plant, where fuel storage pools have overheated, may be letting off radioactive steam. David Lochbaum, nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: If the spent fuel pool is on fire, the chances of radioactivity getting to the public are very much higher, the Guardian reports. Lochbaum said a shutdown last year at the No. 4 reactor led to the emptying of its reactor core into the spent fuel pool. There is much more material there because there is at least one reactor core plus what there was to start with, and it is in a building that has a big hole in the side of it.
According to Reuters, there are no longer flames at the No. 4 reactor which exploded on Tuesday. Workers have been attempting to clear debris for road construction so fire trucks can access the Daiichi complex. The Japanase government still insists the radiation levels discharging from the Fukushima site are low.People would not be in immediate danger if they went outside with these levels. I want people to understand this,Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in a televised news conference, Reuters reports. Latest reports from TEPCO call the brewing nightmare a specific incident,defining it as an Extraordinary increase of radiation dose at site boundary.TEPCO also reports there are no longer signs of fire at the No. 4 reactor
The Japanese government has instructed evacuations for those within a 20km radius of the site, and all citizens within a 30km radius of the site should remain indoors. That area involves some 140,000 people. High radiation levels at the site prevented a helicopter from a planned operation of dropping water on No. 3 reactor’s fuel rods, in an attempt to cool them. The No. 3 reactor is now the priority, as Reuters reports it is the only reactor at Daiichi using plutonium in its fuel mix. Plutonium is highly toxic to humans, lingering for years in bone marrow and liver, leading to cancer. High winds have also hindered attempts at using helicopters for dropping water and boric acid at the No. 4 reactor in an effort at slowing the nuclear reaction, even as Edano indicated doubts of that plan. It's not so simple that everything will be resolved by pouring in water. We are trying to avoid creating other problems,Edano said, the Guardian reports.We are actually supplying water from the ground, but supplying water from above involves pumping lots of water and that involves risk. We also have to consider the safety of the helicopters above,Edano added.
Emperor Akihito made his first public comments since last Friday’s Tohoku-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake.I am deeply concerned about the nuclear situation because it is unpredictable, he said on live television. With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse,according to the Guardian. Winds at the Daiichi plant on Wednesday were blowing offshore, pushing any contamination over the Pacific Ocean.
Many flights to Tokyo have been halted or rerouted over fear of increased radiation levels. On Wednesday, Australia and France have urged their nationals to depart the country.Adding to the devastating plight of Japan’s citizens, a cold front moved through the region, dumping snow in some of the heaviest-hit areas of the earthquake and tsunami.Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304724#ixzz1Gms6MhxR
Nuclear debate sees rise in EU carbon prices
ANDREW WILLIS 15.03.2011 @ 09:29 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European carbon prices hit a two-year high on Monday (14 March), as the region reassesses the future of its nuclear energy industry following events in Japan.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said plans to extend the operating life of the country's nuclear plants would be suspended for at least three months, pending an inquiry into their safety, while Switzerland halted plans to build new reactors.Carbon permits under the EU's emissions trading scheme, which Switzerland is set to join, rose 5.5 percent to close at €16.60 a tonne on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.The emissions scheme forms a key element of European efforts to cut CO2 emissions by 20 percent over the coming decade, based on 1990 levels.On Monday, EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard presented her 2050 Roadmap for a low-carbon economy to EU environment ministers in Brussels, stressing that a 25 percent cut was achievable if member states increased their energy efficiency.Seven environment ministers went further, calling for an EU cut of 30 percent in an open letter to the commission. The ministers came from Britain, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.But analysts said an EU move away from the relatively-clean nuclear energy could cast a question mark over the bloc's ability to meet its carbon-cutting pledges.
European governments will need to know what happened in Japan - look at it in terms of nuclear new build and the existing fleet, Peter Atherton, a utility analyst at Citigroup in London, told Bloomberg News. That's a process that will take time. The big question is what this means for EU energy targets. Will politicians have the capacity to push them through.A German government decision to cancel nuclear extensions would result in an additional demand for 700 million tonnes of carbon through 2020, Heiko Siemann, an analyst for UniCredit said.Nuclear energy accounts for roughly 30 percent of Europe's energy mix, rising to as high as 80 percent in France.French environment minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet on Monday said events in Japan were unlikely to change her country's reliance on nuclear energy. We can't switch to renewables overnight ... For the foreseeable future, we will need nuclear, she said.Spanish and Italian ministers made similar pronouncements, while separately, EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said events in Japan were likely to force a fundamental rethink of energy policy across the globe.Oettinger agreed that EU member states could not simply switch off their nuclear power plants overnight but stressed that nothing is irreplaceable.The unthinkable has occurred. Energy policy faces a fundamental new beginning, he told the German Press Agency DPA.
Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants
The no-BS info on Japan's disastrous nuclear operators
Monday, March 14, 2011 for Truthout/Buzzflash by Greg Palast
Texas plants planned by Tokyo Electric. Image:NINAI need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough.Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called SQ or Seismic Qualification. That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.
The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from failed to passed.The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to build the Texas plant, Lord help us.There's more.Last night I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.These safety back-up systems are the EDGs in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because it was on fire.What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bail-out-in-the-making is called the South Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse — Toshiba.
I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty work. However, it's kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the earth's core.TEPCO and Toshiba don't know what my son learned in 8th grade science class: tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So these companies are real stupid, eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn't have worked on a fine, dry afternoon.Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels,Snap, Crackle and Pop.(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the industry. But in Japan, no one tells Tokyo Electric to do anything the Emperor of Electricity doesn't want to do.I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved the come-hither check to Toshiba and Tokyo Electric to lure them to America. The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence.
In Japan, it's simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary-men, who work all their their lives for one company, to drop the dime.Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the builders. The jury didn't buy the corporation's excuses and, in the end, the plant was, thankfully, dismantled.Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I'm far more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York. (The company's other exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.)
If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently signed a deal to become world-wide partners in the construction of nuclear stations.The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing should also give you the willies. But as I'm in the middle of investigating the American partners, I'll save that for another day.So, if we turned to America's own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A.After Texas, you're next. The Obama Administration is planning a total of $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America.
And now, the homicides:CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that the levels are not dangerous. These are the same people who said these meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by this radiation.In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up post-meltdown morbidity rates for the county government.It would be irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur from these releases without further information; but it is just plain criminal for the Tokyo Electric shoguns to say that these releases are not dangerous. Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn't care who lives and who dies whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects we simply cannot measure.Heaven help us. Because Obama won't.Greg Palast is the co-author of Democracy and Regulation, the United Nations ILO guide for public service regulators, with Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor. Palast has advised regulators in 26 states and in 12 nations on the regulation of the utility industry.Palast, whose reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for investigative reporting.
Health risks of radiation depend on dose, duration
The Associated Press – Tue Mar 15, 10:05 pm ET
Concern is mounting about potential health risks of radiation from the crippled nuclear reactors in Japan. How much radiation you get depends on the dose, duration and method of exposure. Some types of radioactive particles are more dangerous or longer lasting than others.
Some basics:
Q. How are people exposed to radiation?
A. Radioactive particles in fallout can be inhaled into the lungs, fall on the skin or be ingested through contaminated food or water. The level can vary greatly even between short distances, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a University of New Mexico radiologist who led an international study of health effects after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.You can come around a corner and the dose rate can be very high, and you get back behind a column and the dose rate is much lower, depending on what type of particles are in the fallout, whether you're standing under a roof where they've accumulated or shielded you from them, etc., he said.
Q. How does radiation harm?
A. In the short term, radiation damages rapidly dividing cells — hair, the stomach lining, bone marrow. That can cause nausea, vomiting, fatigue, loss of infection-fighting blood cells and clotting problems. Children are most at risk because they have so many rapidly dividing cells.One type of radiation, radioactive iodine, is taken up by the thyroid gland and can lead to thyroid cancer if pills are not taken right away to prevent this uptake. Long term, radiation can damage DNA and raise the risk of many types of cancer years down the road.
Q. How much radiation is unsafe?
A. Most people get around three-tenths of a rem (a measurement unit of dose) each year from radiation in the environment, mostly from radon gas in the soil. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says doses of less than 10 rems over a long time period are not a health concern.
Q. When does it threaten health?
A. Symptoms of radiation sickness — nausea, vomiting and hair loss — can occur at exposures of 50 to 100 rems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Death within two months becomes a possible risk at around 400 rems; within two weeks at 1,000 rems, the EPA says.
Q. What about medical radiation?
A. A chest X-ray delivers about one-tenth of a rem of radiation; a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis is 1.4 rems. A person's dose accumulates over time, which is why medical experts say we should avoid unnecessary tests that involve radiation.
Q. What's the antidote once there is radioactive fallout?
A. Potassium iodide pills can block uptake of radioactive iodine and protect the thyroid gland, but they must be used quickly. Ideally, you'd give it before they're exposed or at the time of exposure, Mettler said. After 12 hours, it's hardly useful unless exposure is continuing.
Q. If fallout is occurring, should people flee or stay?
A. Each situation is different and can change rapidly. Japanese officials urged tens of thousands of people to evacuate from a 12-mile zone, but now have told many more in a broader region, about 20 miles from the troubled plant, to seal themselves indoors.
Q. Is this like Chernobyl?
A. No. That Russian plant had no containment vessel around its reactor, so when an explosion occurred, large chunks of radioactive fuel from the core spewed out. That fuel contained cesium, a longer-lasting and more hazardous radioactive material than the shorter-lived radioactive iodine that has mostly been released in Japan. Still, there have been reports of some cesium release in Japan, prompting worries that a meltdown may be occurring.
Online: EPA: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/health_effects.html
NRC: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/rad-health-effects.html
Japan Nuclear Disaster: China Leads Exodus as Fears Rise
By JUSTIN BERGMAN / SHANGHAI - 12:35PM MAR 16,11 TIME
Amid escalating fears of a catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan, China became the first nation to begin evacuating its citizens from the country, saying the seriousness and uncertainty of the damaged reactors caused it to be very concerned about the safety of its nationals. Foreign companies, too, have begun flying nonessential expatriate staff out of the capital, Tokyo. But other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have adopted a wait-and-see attitude before ordering costly and logistically challenging evacuations, only advising their citizens at home to avoid travel to Japan. After the Chinese embassy in Tokyo posted the notice on its website Tuesday, buses were immediately mobilized to begin transporting Chinese nationals from four northern prefectures - Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate - to airports in Tokyo and Niigata to fly home to China. China Southern Airlines said it would replace the Airbus 321 aircraft on its Tokyo-Shenyang route with much larger Airbus A300s to accommodate the sizable numbers of evacuees. Two ships capable of transporting a total of 4,000 people were also on standby in the Chinese city of Yantai, China National Radio reported.
Everybody was happy when we heard that the embassy would send a car to pick us up, Li Mingwei, who ran a small shop in Sendai, told the Beijing News. The government, however, cautioned that a complete evacuation could take some time given the fact it has made contact with some 22,000 Chinese citizens in the region around Fukushima. We hope our compatriots in the worst-hit disaster areas remain calm, listen to instructions, understand and cooperate with the evacuation operation,the embassy said on its website. Given China's track record at this sort of thing, it shouldn't take long. The country recently plucked more than 35,000 of its citizens out of Libya over the span of nine days - a maneuver hailed in the Chinese press as the largest overseas evacuation since the 1949 communist takeover.Meanwhile, Chinese in other parts of Japan are trying to get out on their own. Wang Chengyu, who works in a company in Tokyo, told the Beijing News there were hundreds of people waiting at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau to get re-entry permits before leaving the country. The supplies in the supermarkets have almost sold out,he said.All that my colleagues talk about is nuclear leakage.Other countries have yet to follow China's lead by ordering evacuations, though some have advised their citizens get out on their own accord, if possible. The French embassy sent an e-mail to French citizens on Sunday advising those who have no reason to stay in the Tokyo region to leave for a few days.About 3,000 of the estimated 5,000 French citizens living in Japan have already left the country. The German and Swiss embassies posted similar messages on their websites, while Austria said it was relocating its embassy to Osaka, about 250 miles (400 km) to the south.
The U.S. has only issued a travel warning for Japan. Low levels of radiation were detected at two U.S. military bases in northeastern Japan on Tuesday, causing Rear Admiral Richard Wren, commander of U.S. naval forces in Japan, to advise residents to limit outdoor activity.But an evacuation of the bases would happen only if the level of radiation in the atmosphere reached 5,000 millirems, another official told the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes; on Tuesday, it was at only 0.05 millirems.In Tokyo, some foreign companies are moving ahead with their own plans. German companies like Bosch, Daimler and BMW have flown some employees and their families out of the country, while the French oil giant Total offered to move staff south to Fukuoka. Others, however, are staying put. Naomi Watanabe, a spokesperson for Citigroup, told TIME the company had made contingency plans to move staff to other locations if need be. But until then, it's business as usual.
Japan prepares to restart work at nuclear plant By ERIC TALMADGE and SHINO YUASA, Associated Press - 7:45AM MAR 16,11
FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who had been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas.The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now, he said Wednesday morning, as smoke billowed above the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Because of the radiation risk we are on standby.Later, an official with Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said the team had withdrawn about 500 yards (meters) from the complex, but were getting ready to go back in.The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, a blast of black seawater that pulverized Japan's northeastern coastline. The quake was one of the strongest recorded in history.Later Wednesday, national broadcaster NHK showed military helicopters lifting off to survey radiation levels above the complex, preparing to dump water onto the most troubled reactors in a desperate effort to cool them down.But Edano has already warned that may not work.
It's not so simple that everything will be resolved by pouring in water. We are trying to avoid creating other problems, he said.We are actually supplying water from the ground, but supplying water from above involves pumping lots of water and that involves risk. We also have to consider the safety of the helicopters above, he said.Radiation levels had gone down by later Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if the workers had been allowed back in, or how far away they had withdrawn. The workers at the forefront of the fight — a core team of about 180 — had been regularly rotated in and out of the danger zone to minimize their radiation exposure.
Meanwhile, officials in Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late morning. While those levels are unhealthy for prolonged periods, they are far from fatal.Days after Friday's twin disasters, millions of people were struggling along the coast with little food, water or heat, and already chilly temperatures turned to snow in many areas. Up to 450,000 people are staying in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums.More than 11,000 people are officially listed as dead or missing, and most officials believe the final death toll will be well over 10,000 people.In an extremely rare address to the nation, Emperor Akihito expressed his condolences and urged Japan not to give up.It is important that each of us shares the difficult days that lie ahead, said Akihito, 77, a figure deeply respected across the country. I pray that we will all take care of each other and overcome this tragedy.He also expressed his worries over the nuclear crisis, saying: With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse.Since the quake and wave hit, authorities have been struggling to avert an environmental catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo. The tsunami knocked out the backup diesel generators needed to keep nuclear fuel cool, setting off the atomic crisis.
In the city of Fukushima, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from the nuclear complex, hundreds of harried government workers, police officers and others struggled to stay on top of the situation in a makeshift command center. An entire floor of one of the prefecture's office buildings had been taken over by people tracking evacuations, power needs, death tolls and food supplies.In one room, uniformed soldiers evaluated radiation readings on maps posted across a wall. In another, senior officials were in meetings throughout the day, while nuclear power industry representatives held impromptu briefings before rows of media cameras.
Wednesday's radiation spike was apparently the result of a release of pressure that had built up in the complex's Unit 2 reactor, officials said. Steam and pressure build up in the reactors as workers try to cool the fuel rods, leading to controlled pressure releases through vents — as well as uncontrolled explosions. John Price, an Australia-based nuclear safety expert, said he was surprised by how little information the Japanese were sharing.We don't know even the fundamentals of what's happening, what's wrong, what isn't working. We're all guessing, he said. I would have thought they would put on a panel of experts every two hours.Given the radiation levels, he saw few health risks for the general public so far, though he was concerned for the workers, who he said were almost certainly working in full body suits and breathing through respirators.
Edano said the government expects to ask the U.S. military for help, though he did not elaborate. He said the government is still considering whether to accept offers of help from other countries.The government has ordered some 140,000 people in the vicinity to stay indoors. A little radiation was also detected in Tokyo, triggering panic buying of food and water.There are six reactors at the plant. Units 1, 2 and 3, which were operating last week, shut down automatically when the quake hit. Since then, all three have been rocked by explosions. Compounding the problems, on Tuesday a fire broke out in Unit 4's fuel storage pond, an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere.Units 4, 5 and 6 were shut at the time of the quake, but even offline reactors have nuclear fuel — either inside the reactors or in storage ponds — that need to be kept cool. Meanwhile, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor.Japan's national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted.We don't know the nature of the damage, said Minoru Ohgoda, spokesman for the country's nuclear safety agency.It could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them.Meanwhile, the outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.Japan's nuclear safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4, but that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out.Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, David Stringer in Ofunato and Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Snow muffles rescue work in Japan's devastated northeast
By Kim Kyung Hoon and Chris Meyers - 6:40AM MAR 16,11
SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) - – Heavy snow blanketed Japan's devastated northeast on Wednesday, hindering rescue workers and adding to the woes of the few, mainly elderly, residents who remained in the area worst hit by last week's massive earthquake and tsunami.In Sendai, once a city but now a water-logged wasteland, firefighters and relief teams sifted through mounds of rubble, hoping to find any sign of life.But, like in most other towns, rescuers just pulled out body after body, which they wrapped in brightly colored blankets and lined up neatly against the grey, grim landscape.The strong smell of bodies and the dirty seawater make search extremely difficult, said Yin Guanghui, a member of a Chinese rescue team working in the battered town of Ofunato.Powerful waves in the tsunami would repeatedly hit houses in the area. Anyone trapped under the debris would be drown in no time, without any chance to survive.Japanese media said at least two people were pulled alive from the rubble, more than 72 hours after the earthquake and tsunami struck. But rescue officials said the snow weakened what little chance they had of finding any more survivors.
Snow has just come down in a blanket. Visibility is just 40 meters, said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from what remained of Otsuchi, a fishing hamlet.People are still working, the army is out here. But the fire service has taken off because they are worried they won't get back to their base because of the snow.Officials estimate Friday's earthquake and tsunami have killed at least 10,000 people, with thousands missing.Those who did survive lost everything they owned and now face shortages of food and water, no electricity or heating and frequent aftershocks -- some as strong as a magnitude -- that have rattled the country.
STRESSED OUT
The meteorology agency said temperatures could drop as low as -2 Celsius (28 Fahrenheit) in Sendai on Wednesday. Broadcaster NHK offered tips on how to stay warm -- wrap your trunk in newspaper and cling film -- and how to boil water using empty food cans and candles.Rescuers said their main concern was for the elderly, who make up the majority of the scores of people packed into shelters.They are having a very tough time of it, said Fuller.They need regular medication and proper care. A lot of the problems, though, are psychological, people are so stressed out. They are getting three meals a day but probably more food needs to come.In addition to their physical well-being, many elderly people at shelters were traumatized by what they had been through, and just sat huddled on blankets, waiting, but not sure for what.Right after the earthquake, I was told to evacuate as soon as possible. I couldn't bring anything but myself, said silver-haired Kiyoko Abe at a shelter in Ishimomaki, Miyagi prefecture.Her husband sat smiling beside her, occasionally wiping away tears.(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Workers briefly abandon Japan plant after radiation surge By Shinichi Saoshiro and Chisa Fujioka - MAR 16,11
TOKYO (Reuters) – Workers were ordered to withdraw briefly from a stricken Japanese nuclear power plant on Wednesday after radiation levels surged, Kyodo news reported, a development that suggested the crisis was spiraling out of control.Just hours earlier another fire broke out at the earthquake-crippled plant, which has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo in the past 24 hours, triggering both fear in the capital and international alarm.The workers were allowed back into the plant after almost an hour when the radiation levels had fallen.Japan's chief government spokesman said it was not realistic to think the Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima, 240 kms (150 miles) north of Tokyo, would reach the start of a nuclear chain reaction, but said officials were talking to the U.S. military about possible help.
While public broadcaster NHK said flames were no longer visible at the building housing the No.4 reactor of the plant, TV pictures showed smoke or steam rising from the facility around 0100 GMT.Academics and nuclear experts agree that the solutions being proposed to contain damage to the reactors are last-ditch efforts to stem what could well be remembered as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.This is a slow-moving nightmare, said Dr Thomas Neff, a research affiliate at the Center for International Studies, which is part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Concern had earlier been mounting that the skeleton crews dealing with the crisis might not be big enough, or were possibly exhausted after working for days since last Friday's massive earthquake damaged the facility. Authorities had withdrawn 750 workers on Tuesday, leaving only 50.The plight of hundreds of thousands left homeless by the quake and devastating tsunami that followed worsened overnight following a cold snap that brought snow to some of the worst-affected areas.While the official death toll stands at around 4,000, more than 7,000 are listed as missing and the figure is expected to rise.In the first hint of international frustration at the pace of updates from Japan, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he wanted more timely and detailed information.We do not have all the details of the information so what we can do is limited,Amano told a news conference in Vienna. I am trying to further improve the communication.Several experts said that Japanese authorities were underplaying the severity of the incident, particularly on a scale called INES used to rank nuclear incidents. The Japanese have so far rated the accident a four on a one-to-seven scale, but that rating was issued on Saturday and since then the situation has worsened dramatically.France's nuclear safety authority ASN said Tuesday it should be classed as a level-six incident.Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors, as authorities grappled with the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Officials in Tokyo said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal at one point but not a threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.But residents have nevertheless reacted to the crisis by staying indoors. Public transport and the streets are as deserted as they would be on a public holiday, and many shops and offices are closed.Winds over the plant will blow from the north along the Pacific coast early on Wednesday and then from the northwest toward the ocean during the day, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Fears of transpacific nuclear fallout sent consumers scrambling for radiation antidotes in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada. Authorities warned that people would expose themselves to other medical problems by needlessly taking potassium iodide in the hope of protection from cancer.The nuclear crisis and concerns about the economic impact from the quake and tsunami have hammered Japan's stock market.The Nikkei index ended the morning up 4.37 pct after closing down 10.6 percent on Tuesday and 6.2 percent the day before. The fall wiped some $620 billion off the market.
SCRAMBLE TO STOP WATER EVAPORATING
Authorities have spent days desperately trying to prevent the water which is designed to cool the radioactive cores of the reactors from evaporating, which would lead to overheating and the release of dangerous radioactive material into the atmosphere.Levels of 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded near the No. 4 reactor, the government said. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas in Japan. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo.German technology companies SAP and Infineon were among those moving staff to safety in the south. SAP said it was evacuating its offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya and had offered its 1,100 employees and their family members transport to the south, where the company has rented a hotel for staff to work online.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?
Japanese media have became more critical of Kan's handling of the disaster and criticized the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. for their failure to provide enough information on the incident.Kan himself lambasted the operator for taking so long to inform his office about one of the blasts on Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported.Kyodo said Kan had ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the plant. The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour, a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives. What the hell is going on? Nuclear radiation is an especially sensitive issue for Japanese following the country's worst human catastrophe -- the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive quake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors Nos. 2 and 4.Concern now centers on damage to a part of the No.4 reactor building where spent rods were being stored in pools of water outside the containment area, and also to part of the No.2 reactor that helps to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine and strontium in its water.
VILLAGES AND TOWNS WIPED OFF THE MAP
The full extent of the destruction from last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami that followed it was becoming clear as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.There have been hundreds of aftershocks and more than two dozen are greater than magnitude 6, the size of the earthquake that severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand last month.About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front, said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession.(Additional reporting by Nathan Layne, Linda sieg, Risa Maeda, and Leika Kihara in Tokyo, Chris Meyers and Kim Kyung-hoon in Sendai, Taiga Uranaka and Ki Joon Kwon in Fukushima, Noel Randewich in San Francisco, and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Writing by David Fox and Jason Szep; Editing by John Chalmers)
Alert: Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent Nuclear Rods Blown Sky High
Paul Joseph Watson and Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com March 15, 2011
Infowars analysis: In addition to under reporting the fires at Fukushima, the Japanese government has not told the people about the ominous fact that the nuclear plant site is a hellish repository where a staggering number of spent fuel rods have accumulated for 40 years.A contributor to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine list who once worked on nuclear waste issues provided additional information about Fukushima’s spent fuel rod assemblies, according to a post on the FDL website.NIRS has a Nov 2010 powerpoint from Tokyo Electric Power Company (in english) detailing the modes and quantities of spent fuel stored at the Fukushima Daiichi plant where containment buildings #1 and #3 have exploded, he wrote on March 14.The Powerpoint is entitled Integrity Inspection of Dry Storage Casks and Spent Fuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and can be read in full here. The document adds a new and frightening dimension to the unfolding disaster.The Fukushima Daiichi plant has seven pools dedicated to spent fuel rods. These are located at the top of six reactor buildings – or were until explosions and fires ravaged the plant. On the ground level there is a common pool in a separate building that was critical damaged by the tsunami. Each reactor building pool holds 3,450 fuel rod assemblies and the common pool holds 6,291 fuel rod assemblies. Each assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. In short, the Fukushima Daiichi plant contains over 600,000 spent fuel rods – a massive amount of radiation that will soon be released into the atmosphere.
It should be obvious by now that the authorities in Japan are lying about the effort to contain the situation in order to mollify the public. It is highly likely there are no workers on the site attempting to contain the disaster.Earlier today, a report was issued indicating that over 70% of these spent fuel rods are now damaged – in other words, they are emitting radiation or will soon. The disclosure reveals that authorities in Japan – who have consistently played down the danger and issued conflicting information – are guilty of criminal behavior and endangering the lives of countless people.On Tuesday, it was finally admitted that meltdowns of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor cores are responsible for the release of a massive amount of radiation.After reporting that a fire at the No. 4 reactor was contained, the media is reporting this evening that it has resumed. The media predictably does not bother to point out why the fire is uncontainable – the fuel rods are no longer submerged in water and are exposed to the atmosphere and that is why they are burning and cannot be extinguished.It cannot be stressed enough that the situation at Fukushima represents the greatest environmental disaster in the history of humanity, far more dangerous that Chernobyl, and the government of that country is responsible.
Perhaps the most underreported and deadliest aspect of the three explosions and numerous fires to hit the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor since Saturday is the fact that highly radioactive spent fuel rods which are stored outside of the active nuclear rod containment facility are likely to have been massively compromised by the blasts, an elevation in the crisis that would represent Chernobyl on steroids, according to nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen.As you can see from the NPR graphic below, the spent fuel rods are stored outside of the active nuclear rod containment casing and close to the roof of the reactor complex. Video from Saturday’s explosion and subsequent images clearly indicate that the spent fuel rods at Fukushima unit number one could easily have been compromised by the blast.According to Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, the failure to maintain pools of water that keep the 20 years worth of spent fuel rods cool could cause catastrophic fires and turn the crisis into Chernobyl on steroids.The BBC is now reporting that spent fuel rods in reactors five and six are also now believed to be heating up, with a new fire at reactor 4, where more spent rods are stored, causing smoke to pour from the facility.
Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that the storage pool in reactor four – where the spent fuel rods are kept – may be boiling. Tepco says readings are showing high levels of radiation in the building, so it is inaccessible,adds the report.At the 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, where an explosion Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor, the spent fuel pool, in accordance with General Electric’s design, is placed above the reactor. Tokyo Electric said it was trying to figure out how to maintain water levels in the pools, indicating that the normal safety systems there had failed, too. Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be outside,” reports the Washington Post.The rods must be kept cool because otherwise they start to burn and, in the case of reactor number 3, would release plutonium and uranium in the form of vapor into the atmosphere.That’s bad news, because plutonium scattered into the atmosphere is even more dangerous that the combustion products of rods without plutonium, writes Kirk James Murphy.We’d be lucky if we only had to worry about the spent fuel rods from a single holding pool. We’re not that lucky. The Fukushima Daiichi plant has seven pools for spent fuel rods. Six of these are (or were) located at the top of six reactor buildings. One common pool is at ground level in a separate building. Each reactor top pool holds 3450 fuel rod assemblies. The common pool holds 6291 fuel rod assemblies. [The common pool has windows on one wall which were almost certainly destroyed by the tsunami.] Each assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. This means the Fukushima Daiichi plant may contain over 600,000 spent fuel rods.There have been massive design issues with the Mark 1 nuclear reactor stretching back three decades.
As ABC News reports today, Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing — the Mark 1 — was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant,Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release.
