May 23, 2011

101 East: Pacific paradise timebomb – Japanese shipwrecks destroyed during World War II could lead to an environmental disaster in the Pacific

Al Jazeera’s 101 East program shines a bright spotlight on the impending environmental disaster quietly lying submersed in the pristine area known as Chuuk, Japan – a Pacific Paradise.

From Al Jazeera –

It was a defining moment of World War II. In February 1944, the US Navy attacked Japan’s naval forces in the western Pacific.After 48 hours, 200,000 tonnes of Japanese ships, aircraft, trucks and tanks were sunk, creating a haunting undersea graveyard.

Today, the site is a marine wonderland, attracting scuba divers from across the world. But it has also become a ticking timebomb, threatening a fragile Pacific paradise.

Within the rapidly deteriorating shipwrecks lurk tens of millions of litres of thick black oil which scientists say will be released in the next few years, destroying a pristine environment and the island’s economy for generations to come.

If the Japanese and American governments do nothing to mitigate and resolve this troubling situation, an environmental disaster as big as the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico will occur.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsP7qrl3NY4

March 28, 2011

Press TV – Japan cover-up?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GKk9z-DSM4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQaAgGA3aVw&feature=autoplay&list=ULPdfFitbHr7M&index=15&playnext=1

And today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Environmental Impact statements for two new reactors in Georgia –

There are no environmental reasons why two new reactors should not be built at the existing Vogtle nuclear power plant site in Georgia, according to the US nuclear safety regulators.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed its consideration of the environmental impacts of expanding the Vogtle plant with two 1100 MWe Westinghouse AP1000s in addition to two 1250 MWe units that have operated there since the late 1980s. The regulator’s approval came in the form of a final supplemental environmental impact statement necessary for a limited work authorization (LWA) and the combined construction and operating licence (COL). It concluded that “there are no environmental impacts that would preclude” the awards.

The NRC work in reaching this point was built on an Early Site Permit awarded to Vogtle in August 2009. This officially noted the site’s suitability for new nuclear reactors and therfore allowed planning to begin in earnest. The early site permit documentation was supplemented with a statement from the NRC on environmental impact in September 2010.

Southern Nuclear submitted its application to construct and operate two the new reactors in March 2008 and the company supplemented this in October 2009. The Vogtle application incorporates information from both the Site Safety Analysis Report conducted for its ESP application and from Southern’s environmental report. For a COL application referencing an ESP, the NRC is required to prepare a supplement to the ESP Environmental Impact Statement.

Read the rest of the story HERE

As well, NHK reported today plutonium found in soil samples and NEI reported –

UPDATE AS OF 11:30 A.M. EDT, MONDAY, MARCH 28:
Radiation levels in the seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remained high on Monday, but dropped considerably from the levels reported on Sunday. Monday’s sampling near the plant’s south discharge outlet showed that radioactive iodine levels were 250 times normal, reduced significantly from 1,850 times normal.

Radiation dose rates also remained elevated in the turbine buildings of reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4. Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday said that workers had found similarly high radiation levels in water in drainage conduits outside reactors 1 and 2. The company said that rubble at reactor 3 prevented measures from being taken there on Monday.

TEPCO is pumping contaminated water from the basement of the turbine building at reactors 1 and 2 to the main condenser. The company also continued to pump fresh water into reactors 1, 2 and 3, using electrical-driven pumps rather than diesel-powered fire pumps.

Levels of radiation at the plant’s main gate ranged from 12.5 millirems per hour to about 20 millirem per hour. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual limit for occupational exposure is 5,000 millirem.

For more information about radiation, see NEI’s Web page on health and radiation safety.

March 24, 2011

US GOVERNMENT GIVES JAPANESE GOVERNMENT AN "OMINOUS PRIVATE WARNING"

SEE VIDEO BELOW – Japans Mox Fuel 2 Million times more Dangerous than Regular Nuclear Fuel

By Helen Tansey

The nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai’Ichi power plant continues with no end in sight. Everyday we awake to fresh news about one of four reactors exploding, on fire or spewing white, grey or black fumes into the air we breath. Water used to cool the reactors has been freely flowing into the sea and ground water, thereby forever poisoning the very resource necessary to sustain life.

The good people in and around the area were evacuated over a week ago – first 3 then 10 now 20km. When the evacuee’s entered the evacuation centers they were promptly geigered, given face masks and Potassium Iodide to stave off the poisoning of radioactive material.

Outside the center, folks are learning their milk, food, tap and sea water are all reading high levels of radiation. Those who could afford to flee for safety left last week. The US military initially began voluntary evacuations of women and children last week, but has since made said evacuations mandatory.

Homes, businesses and entire towns are destroyed by the awesome force of mother nature. Thousands remain unaccounted for. Mass graves are filling up with the dead with the hope that some day some family member will identify the perished and provide them with a proper burial.

The air these people breath, the water they drink and the soil they till is poisoned forever. There is no clean up process available for radioactive material. None. Zilch. Zip.

It must feel like a living hell in Japan these days. [Read more…]