Japan Earthquake and Tsunami!

[Merckx index]

There seems to be a frightening situation at Fukushima/Dai-Ichi, in the wake of the tsunami that hit Japan last year. As I understand it, there are six nuclear reactors there. One of them, in building 4, was seriously damaged during the tsunami, and has not been repaired. It is thus very vulnerable to another earthquake, and it has been estimated that there is a 70% probability of one in that area this year, and a 98% chance in the next three years. Here is what is believed would happen:

The storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building has a total of 1,535 fuel rods, or 460 tons of nuclear fuel, in it. The 7-story building itself has suffered great damage, with the storage pool barely intact on the building’s third and fourth floors. The roof has been blown away. If the storage pool breaks and runs dry, the nuclear fuel inside will overheat and explode, causing a massive amount of radioactive substances to spread over a wide area. Both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and French nuclear energy company Areva have warned about this risk.

Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata…stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4—with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground—collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries.

The meltdown and unprecedented release of radiation that would ensue is the worst case scenario that then-Prime Minister Kan and other former officials have discussed in the past months. He warned during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos that such an accident would force the evacuation of the 35 million people in Tokyo, close half of Japan and compromise the nation’s sovereignty.

[Former UN Advisor Akio] Matsumura was told that if the fuel pool at unit 4 collapses or the water spills out, so much radiation will spew out for 50 years that no one will be able to approach Fukushima.

The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters…Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 — roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).
It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.

[Nuclear expert Arnie Gunderson, who used to build spent fuel nuclear pools] warns that – if the fuel pools at reactor 4 collapse due to an earthquake – people should get out of Japan, and residents of the West Coast of America and Canada should shut all of their windows and stay inside for a while.

Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott says that if fuel pool 4 collapses, she will evacuate her family from Boston and move them to the Southern Hemisphere. This is an especially dramatic statement given that the West Coast is much more directly in the path of Fukushima radiation than the East Coast.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contribute...ort-term-threat-humanity-fuel-pools-fukushima

 

[DirtyWorks]

There seems to be a frightening situation at Fukushima/Dai-Ichi, in the wake of the tsunami that hit Japan last year....

Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott says that if fuel pool 4 collapses, she will evacuate her family from Boston and move them to the Southern Hemisphere. This is an especially dramatic statement given that the West Coast is much more directly in the path of Fukushima radiation than the East Coast.

Hold on a minute.

What we know is the way air flow works east-to-west. The common wisdom is if there were an enormous release, the 'cloud' sits out at sea and disperses slowly. I'm not sure what Ms. Caldicott thinks she's going to outrun. It's not like the radiation would show up in a box on her doorstep 24 hours later. It probably shows up in seafood from the North Pacific first.

Let's say common wisdom is wrong. What else do we know? The West coast and many population centers in the U.S. are loaded with radiation sensors. You can buy one yourself and broadcast sampling too. It's got to be a USB dongle by now. My point being one way or another you'll know with great specificity the status of a real or imagined radiation cloud.

The way Fukushima was handled was brilliant PR. But, it isn't a Chernobl disaster either. Not yet anyway.

Finally, ZeroHedge has powerful amnesia when they call something wrong. Last time I checked they were still feeding the Gold Bugs and they are wrong the vast majority of the time.

 

[Merckx index]

Scary. The canary in the coal mine.

Researchers found dozens of mutated butterflies near the site of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, prompting officials to say it’s the first sign of damage to the ecosystem.

According to NBC News, researcher Joji Otaki of the University of Ryukyus found mutation in roughly 12 percent of 144 commonly-found pale grass blue butterflies collected two months after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Even more alarming, researcher said the mutation increased to 28 percent six months later and more than 50 percent of the offspring showed some signs of mutation.

Researchers said the butterflies have disfigured antennas, smaller-sized wings, indented eyes and different color patterns, NBC News reported.

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2012/08/14/mutated-butterflies-found-near-fukushima/

 

[ElChingon]

Well still no sign of a superhero or supervillan, not to mention Godzilla, so I think we're ok

 

[BroDeal]

Well still no sign of a superhero or supervillan, not to mention Godzilla, so I think we're ok

It is only a matter of time now. Mothra!!!