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Lack of Power at Nuclear Plant Highlights Lack of Planning

Massive radiation has been detected 20 miles from plant. WHO admits radiation in food dangerous. Smoke plumes from reactors. Super-duper water sprayer being brought in for cooling. Hot spot TEPCO claims wasn't there.

by Heidi Stevenson

22 March 2011

Radiation Symbol over Iris of Eye with Eyelashes Radiating

Yukio Edano, Japan's Nuclear Disaster Spinner in Chief, now says that they're appointing new cabinet advisors on the issue. Apparently, we're all supposed to be impressed with such an affirmative action on the unfolding nuclear disaster. Meanwhile, the lies get thicker as the disaster expands. Each day, we get less and less real news of the Fukushima plant's status.

Yesterday, smoke poured from reactors two and three. Exactly what was causing the smoke is unknown. Yet, we're to believe that they'll have power restored to reactor 2 by tomorrow and reactor 3 by Thursday, the day after tomorrow. Whatever happened to the initial claims that they'd have power to the reactors by last Saturday?

Click here to see a stunning satellite photo of the nuclear plant's devastation.

Food and Internal Radiation

Food from the Fukushima prefecture has been contaminated with radiation. Not noted by mainstream media, the IAEA reports that the increase was 22.5 times the legal limit. But don't worry, it isn't harmful to your health. Well...wait a minute, the WHO now says it's a "serious situation". The truth? The truth is that no studies have ever been done to determine the risk associated with radiation-exposed foods. However, a bit of logic should answer the question of how dangerous they might be. The Fukushima radioactivity, mostly beta, involved at this point is primarily from iodine and cesium. They release beta particles, which then release gamma radiation. Skin blocks most of these particles from entering the body. However, when eating them with our food, nothing stops them, so our bodies get the full force of radiation—from the inside.

Were you wondering about the advice that suggests it's not a problem if the food is first washed? Well...that does seem a tad optimistic, considering the fact that beta radiation is in the form of an electron, try to picture a water molecule—almost immeasurably larger than an electron—washing away a single electron particle hiding in the nooks and crannies of anything. The reality is that the very term, wash, has no place in this scenario.

Hot Spot in Reactor Not Acknowledged

Yesterday, TEPCO claimed that a survey of the reactors showed that none of them had hot spots over boiling temperature, 100C. They produced an image purporting to show the hot spots in However, the German publication, Welt Online, displayed a contradictory report showing that reactor number 3 has a hot spot of 128C—well over boiling. The two images are displayed to the left.

But, Hey! We wouldn't want to call TEPCO management a bunch of liars—would we?

Radioactive Seawater

Seawater 100 meters from the Fukushima plant were tested for radioactivity. It will come as no surprise that they found it. Cesium-137 was found at 16.5 times the accepted level, Cesium-134 was 24.8 times greater, and iodine-131 was 126.7 times greater.

Of course, Jun Misono'o, a senior researcher at the Marine Ecology Research Institute, said that the radiation is unlikely to cause problems because it will be dispersed by the ocean.

Radiation 1,600 Times Normal

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced yesterday that beta-gamma radiation 1,600 times normal was detected 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The annoying thing about this information is that nothing else, absolutely nothing else, has been explained about it. It's there, but how it got there is unknown. At least, that seems to be the level of understanding about it. I suppose they haven't figured a way to spin it yet.

As this goes live, news is coming out that radiation hundreds of time greater than normal has been found 40 kilometers from the plant.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is quoted as saying, "We see a light for getting out of the crisis." He doesn't say where the light is coming from.

Smoke Plumes from Two Reactors

Reactor 3 blew gray smoke and reactor 2 blew steam yesterday, causing personnel to be evacuated and emergency operations to be stopped. The cause is unknown.

Bill Borchardt of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stated, "I say optimistically that things appear to be on the verge of stabilizing." He didn't say what made him optimistic.

Super-duper Water Sprayer

TEPCO announced yesterday that they'd be using a super-duper device for pinpoint water spraying on overheated reactors and spent fuel rods. This is an instance in which a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at the picture to the right. It certainly looks like a good idea, but it also leads to a couple of serious questions. The first is: Why wasn't this used earlier? Instead of something intelligent that stands a real chance of working, they put time, energy, money, and effort into the ridiculous attempt to drop water from helicopters. That brings up the second question: Was there any emergency plan in place?

Again, as this goes live, truly good news has arrived. Power has been turned on to the control room of reactor 3. That doesn't mean they're out of the woods. Next, they must determine whether the equipment to run the cooling is operational. Then, there's the question of the status of the containment and the vat holding the spent fuel rods.

Early Radiation Deaths of Plant Workers Is Likely

German radiation biologist, Edmund Lengfelder has extensive experience in the effects of nuclear plant radiation. He has said that at least half the TEPCO workers will likely die from acute radiation poisoning. The rest of them will live longer, but they will gradually fail and their cancer risk will be high.

Lengfelder also warns of the effects of radioactive contamination in the water, which will be particularly bad for the Japanese people, since they subsist on a high-fish diet.

Criminal Negligence

Even if they do manage to get the equipment working and plug all radiation leaks, there's still the question of how much radiation has been released, where it has traveled, what it has contaminated, and when—even whether—the residents of Fukushima can return to the their homes—that is, those of them who still have homes.

Whatever the outcome, the obvious issue is that this entire event is nothing short or criminal. For almighty profits, TEPCO placed a nuclear power plant in an extremely earthquake and tsunami prone region. Both TEPCO and Japan were warned, over and over, by those who are in the best position to know, seismologists, that they were taking an extremely bad risk. As if that weren't bad enough, they skipped doing safety checks. This malfeasance is not covered by the term negligent homicide. Only negligent genocide will do.

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