Nuclear Meltdown Watch

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

The 'uber-E. Coli' European story serves as a decoy of Japan's nuclear melt-down consequences re: food and water.

Probably spook-spread E. Coli. Marketing tie-in to other info-liabilities- "Killer Cucumbers."

They've done it before. See 'Jimmy Carter criticizes Israel' and 'Dave Eggers book nominated'....

[hanshan]

Looks like Berlusconi has lost big-time!

http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/berl ... dum-defeat

Berlusconi accepts humiliating referendum defeat
Published on 13 June 2011 - 5:12p

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recognised a humiliating defeat on Monday in opposition-backed referendums aimed at blocking nuclear power and abolishing a law intended to give him legal immunity.

"The high turnout in the referendums shows a will on the part of citizens to participate in decisions about our future that cannot be ignored," Berlusconi said, after official data showed 57 percent of voters had taken part.

Turnout was of crucial importance since the referendums required participation of more than 50 percent in order to have legal force.

"The will of Italians is clear on all the subjects of this consultation. The government and parliament must now respond fully," Berlusconi added.

Final results are due later on Monday but early data showed crushing votes of more than 90 percent against the government in the four referendum questions -- one on nuclear, one on the immunity law and two on water privatisation.

"Italians have finally woken up and decided to take their destiny into their hands," said a jubilant Margherita Sina, 25, one of hundreds partying in the streets of Rome as the results came in.

"This is huge. Italians have become more responsible," she said.

The setback for Berlusconi comes after the embattled premier's People of Freedom party lost mayoral elections in Milan and Naples last month -- a failure that already had many commentators predicting his demise.

The government had urged its supporters to stay away from the votes but switched to damage control mode as the first results came in, warning critics against making too much of the referendums.

Daniele Capezzone, a spokesman for the ruling party, said critics should not see "a meaning or a political effect" in the votes, while Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said there would be "no effect on government policy".

But Umberto Bossi, the leader of Berlusconi's junior coalition partner, the Northern League, was more critical on Sunday as the high turnout became clear after a first day of voting.

"Berlusconi has lost the ability to communicate on television. That's the simple truth," he said, even as he dismissed the referendums as "useless".

Commentators said the success of the referendums will force a fundamental rethink within the ruling coalition.

"The referendums are communicating an alarming message for the entire centre-right," centrist daily Corriere della Sera said in an editorial.

"If what the polls are revealing is a loss of contact with the country, then the problem concerns the entire alliance," it said.

Business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said this was the "most arduous" challenge for Berlusconi since his election victory in 2008.

The nuclear vote will put a definitive stop to Berlusconi's aim of restarting Italy's atomic energy programme by 2014, plans that are already under a temporary moratorium following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

"Following a decision being taken by the Italian people, Italy will probably have to say goodbye to the issue of nuclear power stations," Berlusconi said at a joint press conference with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We will have to commit strongly to the renewable energy sector," he said even before the polls closed, anticipating the defeat.

Italy abandoned atomic energy with a referendum in 1987 after the Chernobyl disaster, but Berlusconi has made its reintroduction a major policy goal.

His government argues that it would slash electricity bills, reduce Italy's energy dependency and be better for the environment.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, has said that a vote against nuclear power in Italy "could open a serious phase of reflection in other member states" of the European Union.


A vote against Berlusconi's partial immunity law was also expected to give a strong signal of voter disenchantment over the 74-year-old prime minister's legal woes.

Berlusconi is a defendant in three trials involving allegations of bribery, fraud and paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl.

A Constitutional Court ruling has already curbed much of Berlusconi's legal protection but the "legitimate impediment" law also being voted on is still officially in place.

Under that law, the premier may decide not to appear at a court case he is due to attend if he decides he has important government business to attend to at that time.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit

Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (born 4 April 1945) is a German politician, active in France and Germany. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and he was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge (French for "Danny the Red", because of both his politics and the color of his hair). He is currently co-president of the group European Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, becoming "Dany le Vert" (French for "Danny the Green", because of his new fight for ecology).
In 2010, he was involved in founding JCall, advocacy group based in Europe to lobby the European parliament on foreign policy issues concerning the Middle East.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 1961 Summer Universiade
3 Early life in France
4 Revolutionary Struggle
4.1 Allegations of paedophilia
5 Joining the Greens
6 Member of the European Parliament
6.1 Support for European constitution
6.2 2009 European elections
6.3 Spinelli Group
7 Political controversy
7.1 Confrontation with Czech President
7.2 2010 Belgian federal elections
7.3 Confrontation with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán
8 Bibliography
8.1 Articles
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Cohn-Bendit[[/url]

Bolded above is a rather euphemisitic scrub of what actually was going on at street level
(jargon)(hint:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bader-Meinhof)

(shhhh):
The Red Army Faction (German: Rote Armee Fraktion), shortened to RAF and in its early stages commonly known as Baader-Meinhof Group, ....

The Europeans are oh so civilized.....(heh)


edited once for italics/bold clarity(?)
...

[American Dream]

http://www.counterpunch.org/leonardi06142011.html

Huge Victory in Italian Referendum

No! to Nuclear Power and Privatized Water

By MICHAEL LEONARDI


After an inspiring mass mobilization of people across Italy with demonstrations of all kinds: banner drops, critical mass bike rides, workshops, information booths, film screenings, use of the social networking and facebook, people running nude through the streets, flash mob die-ins, young people living confined in a giant rendition of a radioactive drum for over a month, and a door to door, neighbor to neighbor, person to person grassroots storm, the Italian people have won a historic vote against the forces of global capitalism and privatization to ban the construction of Nuclear Power plants now and forever, to keep or return Water resources to public ownership and to Prosecute the criminal behavior of political leaders -- first and foremost Silvio Berlusconi.

Italians managed to overcome the daunting task of a quorum of 50 per cent + 1 of all Italian voters in the face of a mass media controlled by Berlusconi and a government that was encouraging voters to go to the beach instead of vote on the first weekend of summer vacation for Italian grade school, middle school and high school students. The quorum had not been reached for over a decade on any referendum. This time the Italian people responded with 57 per cent of the voters turning out to the polls, the highest on any referendum in over 20 years, and with the quorum being surpassed in every region of the country. 95 per cent of the voters have voted “SI” to say No as the Italian winds of change have grown to gale force.

The vote began on Sunday morning and by mid-day the results showed that only around 10 percent of voters had responded nationally. There was a frenzy of activity in every town and city, on the streets, in the coffee bars, in the town squares, on the beaches, everywhere! The proponents of the referendums threw all caution to the wind as they called to every passerby to go to the polls and not let this important opportunity to express our collective democratic voice pass by. This was an incredible mobilization that had a domino effect, as students, families and co-workers pushed one another to make the democratic process function for the people once and for all. Flags sprung up on balconies, stickers on the windows of busses and walls of the metros, with bicyclists up and down the coasts whistling and shouting to get out the vote. By 7 o’clock on Sunday the attendance at the polls was up to 30 per cent. The depression of the morning gave way to a nervous feeling that maybe it really was possible that the quorum could be reached. People went to the phones and text messages and continued to hit the streets contacting and calling out to everyone to let them know that they could be that one vote to tip the scales.

The polls closed on Sunday at 10 o’clock and by that time voter turnout was reported at 41 per cent, the quorum was well within reach. 25 towns and cities out of over 8000 had already reached the quorum and the predictions were that the last 10 per cent could be reached on Monday. Being so dominated by the Catholic church, the word miracle started to spring forth from people’s lips as a nervous and incredulous tension continued to build. The government still had some tricks up its sleeve. It was rumored that they might not count the votes from Italians living abroad on the nuclear question. It was said that we needed to arrive to at least 52 or 53 per cent of the vote to ensure the Quorum and not just 50 per cent+1, would it be possible? Rome was in a stir of activity, and people there were convinced saying that they hadn’t felt this kind of energy in the streets since the student uprisings of 1968. In the region of Calabria, the only region that voted for Berlusconi’s right wing coalition in the municipal elections, the activists were more cynical. Would they be the downfall of the quorum for the country? While nationally the turnout was at 41 per cent Calabria was only at 30 and the tension was palpable. On Monday the Italian people responded and even in Calabria! We surpassed the 50 per cent + 1 and sailed to 57 per cent, overcoming any possibility that the votes from abroad could change the outcome.

Italy was overcome with joy. The leader of the Italian of Values Party Antonio Di Pietro, who launched the petition drives for the referendums on Nuclear Energy and Legitimate Impediment held a press conference to express his pride and contentment with the outcome of this historic vote, stating that “this was a victory of the Italian People and not of the Political Establishment,” and again calling for Berlusconi to resign from power. The hundreds of local committees and local, regional and national organizations erupted in celebrations in piazzas across the country. The main party was held in Rome and symbolically took place in front of the Roman monument known as the Bocca Della Verita’ / The Mouth of Truth.

While the national media reported the election results with the usual mouthpieces from Berlusconi’s government and the Opposition Democratic Party, the message from the piazzas and il popolo Italiano / the Italian people was clear, this was a victory of, by and for the people and not under the banner or any of the political party of the current political caste. As Marco Bersani of the organization ATTAC Italia said, “it is time to change the discourse in Italy. This was not a victory of any of the major political parties but should be recognized as a clear signal that Italians are fed up with the ineptitude of the political leadership in the country and are ready for direct democracy to confront the serious issues affecting the citizenry.”

This victory should not only be seen in the context of the Italian political landscape but also in its significance for the rest of Europe and the world. Italians have voted Yes to say no to the privatization of water resources. Many of Italy’s water resources are already poorly managed by multinational corporations and now Italians have decided that water as a primary resource should be controlled and managed publicly. Yesterday at Napoli’s celebration rally, the renegade Italian priest Alex Zanotelli reiterated that “all life comes from water, water is the mother of our existence and it must not be the multinationals that decide how it should be managed and distributed, but the people of the world. We must join together to build human relationships and to create a network of direct democracy to protect Water and other public goods from exploitation.” The Italian decision to say no to the privatization of water is an challenge to the European parliament, the G8 and the IMF that are threatening the privatization of all public resources in the face of the growing debt crisis facing the Global Economy. Italy now stands alone as the first European country to take this step against the forces of privatization.

Italy’s decision to ban the production of nuclear energy is a signal to the nuclear industry that its time of disastrous profiteering at the expense of our and our children’s future is coming to an end. Italians are now calling for a democratic and just national energy plan that puts renewable energy first. The mass movement of citizens is tired of the business as usual politics dominated by the energy giants and the pressure from the U.S. government to become a nuclearized nation. The people are demanding a diffuse and safe energy production plan that utilizes the abundant sunshine and winds for which Italy is noted and that can help provide thousands of needed jobs for young people left out of the economic shell game dominated by the corrupt business class.

Italians have also decided that elected politicians should not be protected from prosecution while in office and that the law should be applied equally for everyone. This vote eliminates the Berlusconi government’s decree called Legitimate Impediment which allowed office holders, and especially Berlusconi himself, to be excused from appearing in court.

The winds of change are blowing strongly now in Italy and there is a renewed hope and belief that another world really is possible. Let’s hope that the people of the world take inspiration from this new dawn in Italy and join in this global struggle against privatization, nuclear energy and government corruption. Here the people realize that despite this historic victory, the struggle has only just begun.



Michael Leonardi splits his time between Ohio and Italy.

[ninakat]

Nebraska Nuclear Plant at Level 4 Emergency
June 14, 2011
By Tom Burnett

The Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, Nuclear power plant is going down fast due to massive flooding.

The NRC has declared it a level 4 alert.

. . .

[Bruce Dazzling]

Nebraska Nuclear Plant at Level 4 Emergency
June 14, 2011
By Tom Burnett

The Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, Nuclear power plant is going down fast due to massive flooding.

The NRC has declared it a level 4 alert.

. . .

No-fly zone.

[justdrew]

ok weird sync... just exactly as I was looking at that video and saw the words "five o'clock shadow" on the screen, a completely separate unrelated radio stream I was listening too, the person talking said, "five o'clock shadow"

---

well, this is alarming. Of course the authorities are here to tell us there's no danger and nothing to worry about. there never is, is there?

[82_28]

Why the fuck is this not on the news?!?!?

I just got done watching a whole goddamn hour of it and absolutely no mention of this. This is the first, here, that I've seen of this at all. As in having no idea.

[Nordic]

for years i've had a bad feeling about long term prospects of living in the northern hemisphere.

(yup there i go talking about feelings, sure to piss some off here but too fucking bad because i'm pretty damn clairvoyant so deal with it)

always felt that at some point the northern hemisphere would be a seriously unhealthy place to live.

then you've got the dark overlords buying up big tracts of land down there, and glaciers and things like that ......

[seemslikeadream]

High Levels of Radiation Found in Whales Caught 650KM From Fukishima

According to Japanese news sources, Japanese whalers tested 6 of 17 whales captured 650 kilometers north-east of the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Of the 6 whales tested 2 were found to contain cesium radiation which must have come from the Fukushima nuclear reactor. The first whale contained 31 becquerels per kilogram of cesium radiation and the second whale and the 24.3 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram.

Japan Finds Nuclear Radiation In Whales Caught 650 KM From Fukushima

Tokyo – Radioactive caesium was detected from two minke whales caught off a city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, 650 kilometres north-east of a damaged nuclear plant, a news report said on Tuesday.

Researchers examined six of the 17 whales during so-called research whaling in Kushiro city, which started this year’s season in late April, and they detected 31 becquerels and 24.3 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram in the two whales out of the six, Kyodo News reported citing a whalers’ association.

While the level of the radioactive substances remained below the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram, the association officials told a news conference in the city that the contamination must have been caused by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

[...]

Source: News 24

In case you are wondering how that radiation may have made its way into those whales 650 kilometers away.
Watch Simulation Of 3 Million Gallons Of Dumped Radioactive Seawater Spread Through Pacific Ocean

How 3 million gallons of radioactive water dumped into the sea will spread through the Pacific OceanWatch how the radioactive water dumped in Japan will spread through the ocean. As you watch keep in mind that the island is the size of California.

ASR Limited, a marine consulting and research firm, has just directly sent me a link to their seawater plume simulation which shows exactly how the 3 million gallons of highly radioactive water TEPCO dumped into the sea will spread through the Pacific Ocean.

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com

[freemason9]

Great, Omaha is about one hour from where I live. I'm turning Japanese!

[seemslikeadream]

Fukushima: It's much worse than you think
Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.
Dahr Jamail Last Modified: 16 Jun 2011 12:50
EmailPrintShareSend Feedback

Many Japanese citizens are now permanently displaced from their homes due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster [GALLO/GETTY]

"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera.

Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. It also led to hydrogen explosions and reactor meltdowns that forced evacuations of those living within a 20km radius of the plant.

Gundersen, a licensed reactor operator with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the US, says the Fukushima nuclear plant likely has more exposed reactor cores than commonly believed.

"Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed," he said, "You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively."

TEPCO has been spraying water on several of the reactors and fuel cores, but this has led to even greater problems, such as radiation being emitted into the air in steam and evaporated sea water - as well as generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water that has to be disposed of.

"The problem is how to keep it cool," says Gundersen. "They are pouring in water and the question is what are they going to do with the waste that comes out of that system, because it is going to contain plutonium and uranium. Where do you put the water?"

Even though the plant is now shut down, fission products such as uranium continue to generate heat, and therefore require cooling.

"The fuels are now a molten blob at the bottom of the reactor," Gundersen added. "TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water."

Independent scientists have been monitoring the locations of radioactive "hot spots" around Japan, and their findings are disconcerting.

"We have 20 nuclear cores exposed, the fuel pools have several cores each, that is 20 times the potential to be released than Chernobyl," said Gundersen. "The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl. We are seeing square kilometres being found 60 to 70 kilometres away from the reactor. You can't clean all this up. We still have radioactive wild boar in Germany, 30 years after Chernobyl."

Radiation monitors for children

Japan's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters finally admitted earlier this month that reactors 1, 2, and 3 at the Fukushima plant experienced full meltdowns.

TEPCO announced that the accident probably released more radioactive material into the environment than Chernobyl, making it the worst nuclear accident on record.

Meanwhile, a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that about 966 square kilometres near the power station - an area roughly 17 times the size of Manhattan - is now likely uninhabitable.

In the US, physician Janette Sherman MD and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano published an essay shedding light on a 35 per cent spike in infant mortality in northwest cities that occurred after the Fukushima meltdown, and may well be the result of fallout from the stricken nuclear plant.

The eight cities included in the report are San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Portland, Seattle, and Boise, and the time frame of the report included the ten weeks immediately following the disaster.

"There is and should be concern about younger people being exposed, and the Japanese government will be giving out radiation monitors to children," Dr MV Ramana, a physicist with the Programme on Science and Global Security at Princeton University who specialises in issues of nuclear safety, told Al Jazeera.

Dr Ramana explained that he believes the primary radiation threat continues to be mostly for residents living within 50km of the plant, but added: "There are going to be areas outside of the Japanese government's 20km mandatory evacuation zone where radiation is higher. So that could mean evacuation zones in those areas as well."

Gundersen points out that far more radiation has been released than has been reported.

"They recalculated the amount of radiation released, but the news is really not talking about this," he said. "The new calculations show that within the first week of the accident, they released 2.3 times as much radiation as they thought they released in the first 80 days."

According to Gundersen, the exposed reactors and fuel cores are continuing to release microns of caesium, strontium, and plutonium isotopes. These are referred to as "hot particles".

"We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan, even in Tokyo," he said. "Scientists are finding these everywhere. Over the last 90 days these hot particles have continued to fall and are being deposited in high concentrations. A lot of people are picking these up in car engine air filters."

Radioactive air filters from cars in Fukushima prefecture and Tokyo are now common, and Gundersen says his sources are finding radioactive air filters in the greater Seattle area of the US as well.

The hot particles on them can eventually lead to cancer.

"These get stuck in your lungs or GI tract, and they are a constant irritant," he explained, "One cigarette doesn't get you, but over time they do. These [hot particles] can cause cancer, but you can't measure them with a Geiger counter. Clearly people in Fukushima prefecture have breathed in a large amount of these particles. Clearly the upper West Coast of the US has people being affected. That area got hit pretty heavy in April."

Blame the US?

In reaction to the Fukushima catastrophe, Germany is phasing out all of its nuclear reactors over the next decade. In a referendum vote this Monday, 95 per cent of Italians voted in favour of blocking a nuclear power revival in their country. A recent newspaper poll in Japan shows nearly three-quarters of respondents favour a phase-out of nuclear power in Japan.

Why have alarms not been sounded about radiation exposure in the US?

Nuclear operator Exelon Corporation has been among Barack Obama's biggest campaign donors, and is one of the largest employers in Illinois where Obama was senator. Exelon has donated more than $269,000 to his political campaigns, thus far. Obama also appointed Exelon CEO John Rowe to his Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future.

Dr Shoji Sawada is a theoretical particle physicist and Professor Emeritus at Nagoya University in Japan.
He is concerned about the types of nuclear plants in his country, and the fact that most of them are of US design.

"Most of the reactors in Japan were designed by US companies who did not care for the effects of earthquakes," Dr Sawada told Al Jazeera. "I think this problem applies to all nuclear power stations across Japan."

Using nuclear power to produce electricity in Japan is a product of the nuclear policy of the US, something Dr Sawada feels is also a large component of the problem.

"Most of the Japanese scientists at that time, the mid-1950s, considered that the technology of nuclear energy was under development or not established enough, and that it was too early to be put to practical use," he explained. "The Japan Scientists Council recommended the Japanese government not use this technology yet, but the government accepted to use enriched uranium to fuel nuclear power stations, and was thus subjected to US government policy."

As a 13-year-old, Dr Sawada experienced the US nuclear attack against Japan from his home, situated just 1400 metres from the hypocentre of the Hiroshima bomb.

"I think the Fukushima accident has caused the Japanese people to abandon the myth that nuclear power stations are safe," he said. "Now the opinions of the Japanese people have rapidly changed. Well beyond half the population believes Japan should move towards natural electricity."

A problem of infinite proportions

Dr Ramana expects the plant reactors and fuel cores to be cooled enough for a shutdown within two years.
"But it is going to take a very long time before the fuel can be removed from the reactor," he added. "Dealing with the cracking and compromised structure and dealing with radiation in the area will take several years, there's no question about that."

Dr Sawada is not as clear about how long a cold shutdown could take, and said the problem will be "the effects from caesium-137 that remains in the soil and the polluted water around the power station and underground. It will take a year, or more time, to deal with this".

Gundersen pointed out that the units are still leaking radiation.

"They are still emitting radioactive gases and an enormous amount of radioactive liquid," he said. "It will be at least a year before it stops boiling, and until it stops boiling, it's going to be cranking out radioactive steam and liquids."

Gundersen worries about more earthquake aftershocks, as well as how to cool two of the units.

"Unit four is the most dangerous, it could topple," he said. "After the earthquake in Sumatra there was an 8.6 [aftershock] about 90 days later, so we are not out of the woods yet. And you're at a point where, if that happens, there is no science for this, no one has ever imagined having hot nuclear fuel lying outside the fuel pool. They've not figured out how to cool units three and four."

Gundersen's assessment of solving this crisis is grim.

"Units one through three have nuclear waste on the floor, the melted core, that has plutonium in it, and that has to be removed from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years," he said. "Somehow, robotically, they will have to go in there and manage to put it in a container and store it for infinity, and that technology doesn't exist. Nobody knows how to pick up the molten core from the floor, there is no solution available now for picking that up from the floor."

Dr Sawada says that the creation of nuclear fission generates radioactive materials for which there is simply no knowledge informing us how to dispose of the radioactive waste safely.

"Until we know how to safely dispose of the radioactive materials generated by nuclear plants, we should postpone these activities so as not to cause further harm to future generations," he explained. "To do otherwise is simply an immoral act, and that is my belief, both as a scientist and as a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing."

Gundersen believes it will take experts at least ten years to design and implement the plan.

"So ten to 15 years from now maybe we can say the reactors have been dismantled, and in the meantime you wind up contaminating the water," Gundersen said. "We are already seeing Strontium [at] 250 times the allowable limits in the water table at Fukushima. Contaminated water tables are incredibly difficult to clean. So I think we will have a contaminated aquifer in the area of the Fukushima site for a long, long time to come."

Unfortunately, the history of nuclear disasters appears to back Gundersen's assessment.

"With Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and now with Fukushima, you can pinpoint the exact day and time they started," he said, "But they never end."

[ninakat]

Airspace Over Flooded Nebraska Nuclear Power Plant Still Closed
Ricky Kreitner | Jun. 15, 2011, 4:02 PM


Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant is an island, but authorities are hoping it stays dry.

[Bruce Dazzling]

I just ran across this interesting site called Safecast.

About

Safecast.org began as a project to create more data about the levels of radioactivity in the midst of the Japanese nuclear crisis. Initially, the website sought to crowd-source data by encouraging visitors to post the data from their own Geiger counters. In the process of developing the website, Portland-based Uncorked Studios discovered other individuals and organizations seeking out this same data. Many of those individuals joined the Safecast team in the days to come. The data sources displayed on the website came from a variety of sources, official government ministries, scientists, individuals, volunteers and other non-profits.

The Quest for Data

Quickly after the launch of the website, it became evident that many of these sources of data were coming from the same regions. There were glaring holes in the map of Japan where no data was being reported. Safecast member Pieter Franken, creator of the iGeigie, decided to initiate a data outreach effort. Armed with iGeigies, bGeigies, and other detection devices provided by Safecast adviser Dan Sythe, Pieter and a team of volunteers began mapping radiation levels throughout Japan. From schoolyards to highways, from farmlands to the cities, Pieter and team have helped keep people informed about radiation levels.

At the same time, the Safecast organization began designing hardware specifications to create their own network of connected devices. bunnie, co-founder of Chumby Industries, has been working on the hardware protocols for these devices. In conjunction with his efforts, the Safecast team began a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to send more devices to Japan. In thirty days, nearly $37,000 was raised. This tremendous success was the result of a combined outreach effort of the Safecast team, led by the communications strategy of Safecast member Sean Bonner.

Our Global Team

To date, the number of volunteers working on Safecast nears 50. From members of the Tokyo Hackerspace to the Los Angeles Crashspace counterparts, from the advisory team in Boston and Hawaii to the software team in Portland, and from Singapore to London, the team that has come together to form Safecast includes experts in hardware, software, branding, nuclear crises and technology start-ups.

The Future

Our short term goals are empowered by our long term goals. Every device we get on the ground now is a bridge to a future where connected devices report all sorts of data - from radiation to pollution to seismic information. From times of crises to those times in between, a connected data network will not only establish what is normal, but it will help rescue teams, non-profits and scientists quickly understand when data stops being normal.

[Joe Hillshoist]

That no fly zone is only for 2 miles and up to 3500 feet.

If this event was serious at this point they would either have no mention at all or a much bigger exclusion area wouldn't they?

[StarmanSkye]

GE Nuclear Plant Inspector/Whistleblower Kei Sugaoko Speaks About Fukushima, GE & Obama

An often amusing, informal, insightful interview by a disgruntled, somewhat-principled ex- GE nuclear worker insider -- seemingly 'loose' as in disarmingly, mildly juiced and/or high on a drama-queen kick. Comes-across like a regular-joe who wouldn't play the brown-nose corporate game, stories interspersed with plenty of quirky, juicy anecdotes.

--Quote--
General Electric nuclear plant inspector Kei Sugaoka was one of the inspectors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2000. He noticed a crack in the steam dryer which he videotaped. He was later ordered by Tokyo Electric Power Company TEPCO to edit this part of the tape which is illegal in the United States. He went public and some TEPCO managers were fired. He thought that things would change but they have not. Additionally, as a result of being a whistleblower he was also laid off by General Electric and has been struggling to get the truth out about these dangerous plants. Sugaoka has inspected plants throughout the world including in Taiwan and Europe.
This interview was done on May 5, 2011.
--UnQuote--


Kei's frank, scathing comments about the thoroughly rotten top management, incompetant supervisors, careless oversight and review standards, defective safety regulation, and pervasive culture of cover-up and denial are qualified with personal examples and first-hand incidents. His upcoming book written from an insider's priveleged perspective will document the systemic, critical problems of radioactive-waste disposal and the half-assed deficient systems of technological faults and management incompetance that make nuclear power far, far too dangerous to be a viable energy option.

Kei exposes the human/corporate culture of GE Nuclear that encourages and facilitates brown-nosing, rewarding favoritism at the expense of competance, skill, experience and integrity.

I dunno but it seems to me that Kei's critical antagonism towards GE Nuclear is not driven just by a principled and humanitarian concern but a kind of payback retribution for the risks, indignities, abuses and disregard he was subjected to and/or observed. I suspect there is a personal resentment here that is part of Kei's motivation in speaking-out, which is not hard to understand. I know I would NEVER (or at least HOPE I wouldn't be tempted to) compromise my own principles and self-dignity to be part of such a dehumanizing, corrupt organization that was so cavalier about the health and well-being of their workers, or so dismissive about environmental and social hazards.

For instance, Kei talks about workers from non-nuclear branches of GE's extensive energy, transportation and service industry that would be shipped as temporary workers to especially 'hot' nuclear jobs, 'burned-out' and then returned to their ordinary positions, having recieved large radioactive doses, perhaps one or more lifetimes worth of accumulated dosages in a matter of weeks or months. Perhaps Kei resents having bargained his well-being and dignity for a career and paycheck that was incompatable with his values and self-respect, and writing/talking about it is one way of coming to terms with it.

Whatever, I applaud Kei's tell-all stand, and can only wish more insiders would talk about the rot at the core of corporations like GE Nuclear that trade-off social accountability for priveleged favors and a bottom-line.
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