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No, Japan's Nuclear Reactors Are Not "Stable"
The Japanese government and Tepco claim that the nuclear reactors are "stable" and that radiation releases have subsided to low levels.
But world renowned physicist Michio Kaku - who studied under atom bomb developer Edward Teller - told Democracy Now today:
Tokyo Electric has been in denial, trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear accident. However, there’s a formula, a mathematical formula, by which you can determine what level this accident is. This accident has already released something on the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation. You do the math. That puts it right smack in the middle of a level 7 nuclear accident. Still, less than Chernobyl. However, radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all. So, you’re looking at basically a ticking time bomb. It appears stable, but the slightest disturbance—a secondary earthquake, a pipe break, evacuation of the crew at Fukushima—could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.
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When the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the situation now.
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TEPCO is like the little Dutch boy. All of a sudden we have cracks in the dike. You put a finger here, you put a finger there. And all of a sudden, new leaks start to occur, and they’re overwhelmed.
I suggest that they be removed from leadership entirely and be put as consultants. An international team of top physicists and engineers should take over
I suggested the same thing with regards to BP during the Gulf oil spill.
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the queen never comes to Québec she is hated by most here.
Not on your life. Having a queen gives a country class and costs practically nothing. Besides it makes me happy to think the queen is running the country not those bozos in Ottawa even though I know that is just a dream.
Guys,
All I said was that they "claimed" a weapons program was occurring and that you couldn't have a better conspiracy "theory". This story evidently hails from the "Fourth Media". I have no knowledge of who or what they are or the accuracy of their sources. However, I will state that this thought crossed my mind several days ago. I think what triggered it was the gross amounts of reported fuel at the site and the fact that no outside experts appear to be directly involved and on site. Is there any credibility to the claim? That may be revealed if the situation continues it's deterioration. Potentially effected countries may demand that closer inspection. Until then the only clues we may get will come from "unusual" sources and anecdotal reports. PS. I didn't junk anyone!
This is so far from infuriating that I have no words to express my anger here. We are watching the slow motion destruction of every living thing on the planet, and the "media" are bypassing the entire story, in favor of Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen.
Where are the experts? Why is TEPCO still in charge. All they have managed to do is lie about the situation and obfuscate their way around the hard questions.
We are so completely fucking doomed.
Okay Chicken Little... Time to stop hyperventilating.
"Why is TEPCO still in charge."
Because government interference (regulations etc) would be messing with the "self-correcting free market."
More likely it's some cultural thing about "saving face"...
That would be Socialism
More like crony capitalism.
Of course we are. We are doing the same thing to the Earth that happened to Easter Island. The entire island was covered in tropical forest at one time. Now it is bare.
What did the person who chopped down the last tree on the island think? Why did he do it?
Humans will continue to reproduce and will consume every resource on the planet until famine, drought, resource wars and disease kill most of us.
"What did the person who chopped down the last tree on the island think? Why did he do it?"
"This damned tree is blocking my view of the Pacific ocean."
tree sex...
He Thought:"This Climate Change stuff is BS, it's just a temporary Phenomena.
Trees die off and regrow all the time. Look at the history, My Great Grandparents were cutting down trees and
they regrew then, they will regrow now. What we need are Tax Cuts and More Military Spending. We can always
get Trees from the Philippines, they can sweat and cut trees and sell them to us, while we sell them Statues".
Jared Diamond and Collapse.
Our Easter Islander was thinking it was his tree to chop down of course... it was all about property rights even then you know!
(I just love the Rock Mulch concept!)
More likely there was no private property and all land and trees were common property. Have you not heard of the tragedy of the commons? If land and trees were privately owned it is more likely stands of trees would have been planted and jealously guarded by their owners, as representing a scarce and valuable commodity.
Yes, he expected the tree to be declared an endangered species and its habitat, i.e. his property, to be set aside as a preserve.
My guess is he was cold and wanted some firewood to warm his family and cook his dinner. After all they had been cutting down trees for hundreds of years and nothing bad happened before.
I read the real problem was they used wood to make boats (obviously) and were dependent on fishing for most of their protein. No more big trees meant no more fishing boats, which meant no more fish protein.
Exactly. We're not bad, its just in our nature to consume to meet our needs.
disagree
we ARE bad (or at least incompetant) when we have the wisdom of foresight about the folly and limitations of our basic consumptive nature, and yet fail to act on it
He was thinking how much of a mark-up he could get for it; it being the last tree and all.
Not good news.
When world renowned physicist Michio Kaku tells us his relatives are considering evacuating Tokyo... well... figure it out for yourself.
We are perhaps several years from the point in time that a Chernobyl-like sarcophagus 'solution' can be implemented... plus at any time things could go 'nuclear'.
Time for some outside of the box ideas.
The largest concrete pumping unit in the world has been air lifted to Toyko and hopefully all units will be encased in concrete and large areas abandoned for centuries. However, no work can start until all rods and reactions are completely controlled/cooled. No knows if or when this will happen. There is still a potential for the whole damn thing to go critical and explode. The best case is a $200 billion loss and another lost decade.
Explode in the sense of an atom bomb - fireball - huge shockwave - is not going to happen. Wish it might because in such a detonation almost all the nuclear fuel is gone. But a wet firecracker sort of Mentos fizz eruption spreading contaimination is plenty bad.
Latest from Arnie at Fairewind Associates about Fukushima, getting more concerned about information flow, or rather lack their of.
Also a link to a recent session Arnie did on the myths of 3 Mile Island.
http://goldandsilverlinings.com/?p=616
Yeah, the part that really stuck out for me too was Kaku saying that some of his relatives that have little children have already evacuated from Tokyo. If that isn't telling then I don't know what is.
Japan had a well documented demographic problem before this disaster. I don't think any pregnant woman will be within 100 miles of the plant and that puts Tokyo in play.
Japan is on the verge of failing as a soverign.
That is a real risk... hence Kans soon to be untenable position.
And what's coming out of Kan is frankly just schizo--
[He's now admitted to an "uninhabitable" area...which will no doubt expand as the reactors fail to stabilize and the winds change. How long before Toyota, Nissan, Sony and chip fab plants get engulfed?]
Wednesday, April 13, 2011Japan's Prime Minister Kan: "Evacuation Zone Will Be Uninhabitable"
According to Yomiuri, that's what Kan said to one of his special advisors Kenichi Matsumoto:
Talking about the evacuation zone around the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, Kan said "It will be uninhabitable for a while. For 10 years, maybe 20 years," Matsumoto disclosed to the press.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011#TEPCO's President to Hold Press Conference at 3PM JST
In the press conference of Prime Minister Kan on April 12 (in Japanese), Kan outlined his plan for "recovery and rebuilding" after the earthquake/tsunami on a 1 month (and a day) anniversary of the March 11 earthquake/tsunami; while he did mention the Fukushima I Nuke Plant, it was in the context of "stabilization". He said the government is waiting for TEPCO to submit the prospect of how the whole situation may be resolved. (Good luck with that.)
He concluded his speech by asking the citizens to "buy goods produced in the affected areas, use them, or eat them, and enjoy" so that Japan recovers.
Kan trumps Bush's stupidity. On 9/12/01, our president proclaimed the WTC neighborhood was pollution free--everyone go home and open the NYSE. In a couple of weeks, I expect Kan to prove his Bushiness--to blame the Tsunami on terrorists.
The stakes for Japan are simply enormous. Any attempt to protect the populace by increasing the evacuation zone radius (as proposed by numerous international agencies) also serves to bring pressures on Tokyo and the productive heartland of the nation. And just where the hell can you evacuate millions of citizens to?
Denial of the magnitude of the situation at hand and praying for favorable winds and a yet to be identified solution is his only option.
I would however like to see all members of the Diet (including their families) eat and enjoy the same produce they profess is safe for others.
And that is the 64,000 dollar question, where do you evacuate people too? In fact if my predictions are correct and if 1/3 to 2/3 of Japan becomes uninhabitable, these people may try to get to Australia and New Zealand. I love Michiu, but he left out the nastier radiation particles that will stay for years if not thousands of year. And that is Cesium-137 (30 years), strontium (28 years), and Plutonium-239 and 241 (24,100 years).
"Denial of the magnitude of the situation at hand and praying for favorable winds and a yet to be identified solution is his only option."
Sounds like the way US politicians are dealing with our fiscal disaster.
Which in turn is how the Japanese dealt with their economic crisis.