Meltdown Likely Under Way At Japan Nuclear Reactor

[brahmburgers]

Day Traders: Invest in Japanese concrete, radiation monitoring equipment, lead futures, solar panels.

Divest in properties on the NE coast of Japan.

[Crushdepth]

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has detected radioactive substances in underground water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

Good luck cleaning that up.

Some workers were sharing dosimeters

This company is completely incompetent. There's no dosimeters available from elsewhere in the country? Neighbouring countries? They couldn't get some off the US Navy? They've had THREE WEEKS to sort this out. Utter disgrace.

[elcent]

Thailand to send power facility to Japan

The Thai government is to send a complete power-generation facility with two gas-turbine generators to Japan to help restore electricity supplies affected by the March 11th disaster and damage to the Fukushima nuclear power complex.

Once operational, the facility is capable of producing 240,000 kilowatts of electricity, enough for between 80,000 and 240,000 households, depending on demand.

The equipment was built in 1995 by a Japanese firm near the Thai capital, Bangkok, and has been used there in times of emergency, such as power outages.

The loan deal comes in response to a request from Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the nuclear power plant.

The owner of the facility, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, and the Japanese maker have been analyzing how best to transport the huge system. Just one of the generators and its associated equipment weighs more than 500 tons.

The group says it will dismantle the equipment beginning Saturday and ship it in parts to Japan later in April.

On arrival in Japan, the equipment will be set up at a TEPCO site and should be operational as early as August.

An EGAT official says it is an honor for Thailand to help Japan as a friend.

Friday, April 01, 2011 19:30 +0900 (JST) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_37.html

... what about the gals below ...

Tremors exceeded design limits for 3 reactors

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station says 3 of the plant's 6 reactors were shaken on March 11th by tremors exceeding forces they were designed to withstand.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, says reactor No.2 suffered the largest horizontal ground acceleration of 550 gals, which is 26 percent stronger than the reactor's design limit.

TEPCO says the readings were 548 gals at the No.5 reactor, about 21 percent higher than its design limit; and 507 gals at the No.3 reactor, topping the capacity by about 15 percent.

The power company says the strength of ground motions were close to or within the design parameters at the remaining 3 reactors, and at all 4 reactors of the nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear plant.

The utility says it was planning to reinforce the reactors so they could withstand horizontal shaking of 600 gals, after the government reviewed their quake-resistance standards 5 years ago. But the work was not finished.

TEPCO says it will continue analyzing the seismic activity in detail.

Friday, April 01, 2011 19:40 +0900 (JST) Edited April 1, 2011 by elcent

[unblocktheplanet]

Thailand to send power facility to Japan

Friday, April 01, 2011 19:40 +0900 (JST)

Geez, elcent, thanks for the April Fool’s!

[elcent]

Thailand to send power facility to Japan

Friday, April 01, 2011 19:40 +0900 (JST)

Geez, elcent, thanks for the April Fool's!

not sure about it. There's a video about it. The facility should be working until August. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_37.html

[elcent]

Radioactive water may be kept in mega float

Japan's government is deciding if highly radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant can be temporarily kept in a steel mega float or in US military vessels.

Highly radioactive materials have been detected in water at the crippled nuclear plant in northeast Japan.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to use water tanks to store the radioactive water, but the capacity of these tanks is limited.

Shizuoka City has offered TEPCO a hollow floating platform made of steel to store the water. The mega float is 136 meters long and 46 meters wide, and is currently used as a deep-sea fishing park.

The government is also negotiating with the US military, to see if 2 US barges can be used to temporarily store the radioactive water. The barges were used to transport freshwater that will be used to cool reactors at the nuclear plant.

The government also plans to use 2 ships leased from a private firm.

It says storage of up to 15,000 tons of contaminated water is possible if these ships are used alongside the mega float.

TEPCO and the government are trying to iron out concrete methods of safely transporting and storing radioactive water.

Saturday, April 02, 2011 05:33 +0900 (JST)

Higher radiation levels on SDF helicopters

Higher than normal levels of radiation have been detected on Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters that flew over the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant even after decontamination.

GSDF sources say hundreds of microsieverts of radiation per hour were detected at engine inlets and other parts of the helicopters, which monitored radiation levels and took aerial pictures of the plant.

The US military has informed the Japanese force that radioactive cesium in particular easily adheres to paint used on helicopters and other vehicles.

The GSDF is trying to ensure that all mechanics will wear protective gear during their work. It is also considering the purchase of new equipment to vacuum up radioactive substances.

Saturday, April 02, 2011 09:27 +0900 (JST)

Restoring stable cooling systems may take time

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is working hard to restore systems that cool reactors in a stable manner by circulating massive volumes of water.

Currently, freshwater is being poured directly into the reactors and the pools containing spent nuclear fuel rods, to cool them down.

But the plant operator wants to restore the functions of the cooling systems that circulate water inside the reactors and the pools for spent fuel. The freshwater is cooled down by seawater.

On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company installed temporary pumps at 4 reactors, from No. 1 to No. 4. The pumps will be used to capture seawater to cool down the circulating freshwater.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/

After what we have seen here all together it's save to say that the Japanese are not very future oriented. Just greed and no effective response to desasters due to lack of foresight. Unfortunately this is true for many other Nations too.

[Chopperboy]

Reactor Core Was Severely Damaged, U.S. Official Says

Saturday, April 02, 2011

By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID JOLLY, The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that roughly 70 percent of the core of one reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had suffered severe damage.

His assessment of the damage to Reactor No. 1 was the most specific yet from an American official on how close the plant came to a full meltdown after it was hit by a severe earthquake and massive tsunami on March 11.

Japanese officials have spoken of "partial meltdown" at some of the stricken reactors. But they have been less than specific, especially on the question of how close No. 1 -- the most badly damaged reactor -- came to a full meltdown.

In addition to the severe damage at Reactor No. 1, the Energy Department said that Reactor No. 2 had suffered a 33 percent meltdown. Mr. Chu cautioned that the figures were "more of a calculation" because radiation levels inside the plant had been too high for workers to get inside, and sensors were unreliable.

[Chopperboy]

Viewpoint: Japan plant - who is in charge?

Since the beginning, one of the unanswered questions has been: "Who is in charge?"

A Japanese law laying out measures to be taken by the government in case of a nuclear energy disaster dictates that when a nuclear accident happens, an atomic power disaster response headquarters headed by the prime minister is to be established.

This ad hoc headquarters is expected to take charge of setting out the government's response and facilitating necessary inter-agency co-ordination within the government.

He has two entities from which to draw expert opinions to assist him in decision-making: the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa, an agency within the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade (Meti)) and the Nuclear Safety Commission, an advisory panel made up of non-government experts.

So, legally speaking, the prime minister of Japan is in charge. Or he is supposed to be.

So what of Mr Kan's leadership to date? despite his efforts, as more time passes he appears less in charge. In terms of media questions, he has for the most part left the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, and Tepco executives in the hot seat.

Too many advisers around Mr Kan have created confusion in the communication process within government, making it harder, not easier, for him to make decisions.

Instead, we have witnessed finger-pointing, primarily at Tepco and also at Nisa. In fact, the idea of separating Nisa from Meti and making it an independent agency has already been floated as one of the lessons learned from the situation.

This is because the Kan government feels that Meti has been in too cosy a relationship with Tepco - to the extent that it has not exercised proper supervisory authority over the power giant and its response to the plant situation.

The decades-long tradition of close co-operation between big businesses and the government agencies that have regulatory and supervisory authority over them has certainly contributed to lapses in oversight.

It also, in part, has made the government dependent on these businesses for technical expertise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12933010

[Chopperboy]

Mother: Fukushima Workers Expect To Die From Radiation

Workers at Japan's severely damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant believe they will likely die from the radiation exposure they have endured while trying to keep the nuclear reactors from melting down, the mother of one of the workers told Fox News.

Workers at Japan's severely damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant believe they will likely die from the radiation exposure they have endured while trying to keep the nuclear reactors from melting down, the mother of one of the workers told Fox News.

"He told me they have accepted they will all probably die from radiation sickness in the short term or cancer in the long-term," the mother of a 32-year-old worker said through a translator. She asked to remain anonymous because the plant workers and their families have been told not to speak to the media.

[animatic]

Seems like the worlds largest concrete pump is on it's way to Japan...

The pump was moved Wednesday from the construction site in Aiken County to a facility in Hanahan, S.C., for minor modifications, and will be trucked to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where it will be picked up by the world's largest cargo plane, the Russian-made Antonov 225, which will fly it to Tokyo.

http://chronicle.aug...te?v=1301580247

I thought this also had to be a Aprils fool joke

noting the pump makers name Putzmiester.... ?????

Putz in yiddish is

'(American Jewish), jerk, fool, simpleton (vulg. penis)'

Meister in German is 'master' as in master craftsman, ton meister etc.

In German,

Putz

m , -es no pl a dated (=Kleidung) finery

(=Besatz) frills and furbelows pl

in vollem Putz erscheinen to arrive all dressed up in one's Sunday best

So I guess this makes sense, but on April 1st it did give me pause.

[elcent]

Emails and blogs written by Japan's faceless heroes -- the nuclear workers toiling anonymously inside the stricken Fukushima plant -- reveal desperation and doubts among workers who fear they may be sacrificing themselves to prevent radiation from spreading to their countrymenThe Japanese government has tried to keep the identities and details of Fukushima's workers under wraps, and no media have ventured close to the radioactive facility 150 miles north of Tokyo.

But some email messages have emerged, reported by several media outlets, that offer a rare glimpse inside the secretive recovery effort at the heart of Japan's worst crisis since World War II. They also show gripping emotion by workers forced to buckle down and do a dangerous, life-threatening jobI just wanted people to understand that there are many people fighting under harsh circumstances in the nuclear plants. That is all I want," one Fukushima worker wrote. "Crying is useless. If we're in hell now all we can do is to crawl up towards heaven."

About 400 TEPCO workers are living within about half a mile of the stricken Fukushima plant, working 12-hour rotating shifts. They eat only two meals a day: crackers and vegetable juice for breakfast, and instant rice for dinner. It's too difficult to deliver food to the site at midday, so they go without lunch. The workers sleep in conference rooms, corridors and stairwells, with one blanket each and a lead mat to try to prevent radiation exposure. The level of contamination they've been exposed to is still unknown.

Another Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee in the capital, writing to a Fukushima worker, acknowledged to his colleague that "what I can do for you is limited. But when the time comes, we will take our turn to protect you all. Without fail"Everyone here pays respect and has lowered their head to pray for those who are facing the brunt of it and fighting on the front lines surrounded by enemies," the Tokyo employee wrote. "Although I am not in a position to say such a thing, I beg you to hang in there." http://www.aolnews.c...uclear-workers/

more mails written by the workers here

http://blogs.wsj.com...-worker-emails/

Edited April 2, 2011 by elcent

[elcent]

In German,

Putz

m , -es no pl a dated (=Kleidung) finery

(=Besatz) frills and furbelows pl

in vollem Putz erscheinen to arrive all dressed up in one's Sunday best

So I guess this makes sense, but on April 1st it did give me pause.

Putz is the final cement coating on buildings and walls.

[slapout]

In response to elcent's last post and the statement "the level of contamination they have been exposed to is still unknown". Not sure why the term contamination was/is used as it would seem the major concern for the workers would be their exposure to radiation.

This would/could be measured via dosimeters, which are cumulative, to that area where the dosimeter is located on the body. With the different reports we see concerning safety equipment in use, the workers surely have this or a similar type of monitor on their person. In the time sense the start of this incident and today, someone must have this info for at least a cross section of those working in the contaminated zone.

[elcent]

In response to elcent's last post and the statement "the level of contamination they have been exposed to is still unknown". Not sure why the term contamination was/is used as it would seem the major concern for the workers would be their exposure to radiation.

This would/could be measured via dosimeters, which are cumulative, to that area where the dosimeter is located on the body. With the different reports we see concerning safety equipment in use, the workers surely have this or a similar type of monitor on their person. In the time sense the start of this incident and today, someone must have this info for at least a cross section of those working in the contaminated zone.

In response to elcent's last post and the statement "the level of contamination they have been exposed to is still unknown". Not sure why the term contamination was/is used as it would seem the major concern for the workers would be their exposure to radiation.

This would/could be measured via dosimeters, which are cumulative, to that area where the dosimeter is located on the body. With the different reports we see concerning safety equipment in use, the workers surely have this or a similar type of monitor on their person. In the time sense the start of this incident and today, someone must have this info for at least a cross section of those working in the contaminated zone.

We're not told the truth and everything that happens. Tactical denial is rampant. It's not even sure if the workers have dosimeters (just a few). Their IDs being kept secret or at least they try. It's all cover ups.

the below comes closer to the point.

By Karin Zeitvogel

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2011 (AFP) - Japan's unfolding nuclear disaster is "much bigger than Chernobyl" and could rewrite the international scale used to measure the severity of atomic accidents, a Russian expert said here Friday.

"Chernobyl was a dirty bomb explosion. The next dirty bomb is Fukushima and it will cost much more" in economic and human terms, said Natalia Mironova, a thermodynamic engineer who became a leading anti-nuclear activist in Russia in the wake of the accident at the Soviet-built reactor in Ukraine in 1986.

"Fukushima is much bigger than Chernobyl," she said, adding that the Japanese nuclear crisis was likely to eclipse Chernobyl on the seven-point scale used to rate nuclear disasters.

A 2005 report by UN bodies including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called Chernobyl "the most severe in the history of the nuclear power industry" and ranked it a seven on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).

But the nuclear crisis in Japan, which was triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami three weeks ago, could be "even higher" on the INES scale, said Mironova.

"Chernobyl was level seven and it had only one reactor and lasted only two weeks. We have now three weeks (at Fukushima) and we have four reactors which we know are in very dangerous situations," she warned.

Japan's nuclear safety agency has maintained its rating of the Fukushima accident at four -- the lowest level at which INES considers a nuclear "event" to be an accident -- while a French watchdog has upgraded it to six.

Chernobyl's death toll, meanwhile, is hotly debated.

The 2005 UN report on Chernobyl said only about 1,000 people received high doses of radiation immediately after the accident and 134 emergency workers died in the year following the disaster of acute radiation sickness.

Nearly 20 years after Chernobyl, thyroid cancer had spiked in people who were children at the time of the accident, and "a large fraction" of those cancers were likely due to eating foods contaminated with radioactive iodine after the disaster, the report said.

But the UN report said Chernobyl might be responsible in the long term for "up to several thousand fatal cancers," dismissing as "highly exaggerated" claims that "tens or even hundreds of thousands of persons have died as a result of the accident."

A report released in 2006 by the environmental group Greenpeace said 60,000 people had died in Russia "because of the Chernobyl accident", which would also cause "nearly 100,000 fatal cancers."

Mironova said Chernobyl would likely impact the health of 600 million people around the world over the long-term, or nearly nine times more than were killed in World Wars I and II.

She cited a study which found that, by 2015, the nuclear accident will have cost the world $9 trillion.

continue reading by clicking http://www.mysinchew...de/55512?tid=37

A nuclear expert also has warned today that it could be 100 years before fuel rods at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are safe.

Dr John Price, a former member of the Safety Policy Unit at the UK's National Nuclear Corporation, said radiation leaks would continue and it could take 50 to 100 years before the nuclear fuel rods have cooled enough to be removed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1372589/First-clear-pictures-true-devastation-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-Japan-flies-unmanned-drone-stricken-reactor.html#ixzz1ILWBgDxO

[elcent]

Tokyo (CNN) -- Highly radioactive water is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a crack in a concrete pit outside a crippled reactor at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, an official with the plant's owner said Saturday.

Water from the two-meter deep, concrete-lined basin could be seen escaping into the sea through a roughly 20-cm (8-inch) crack, an official the Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters Saturday afternoon. But the company could not explain how the water was getting into the sump.

Radiation levels in the pit have been measured over 1,000 millisieverts per hour, which is more than 330 times the dose an average resident of an industrialized country naturally receives in a year. Utility company officials said Saturday that the plan was to to fill the sump with concrete in order to stop the leakage.

The discovery comes after a feverish search in recent days to explain a sharp spike in contamination in seawater measured just off the plant.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1

[elcent]

High-level radioactive iodine detected offshore

Radioactive iodine twice the country's legal standard has been detected in seawater at a location 40 kilometers south of the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The Japanese Science Ministry on Saturday released the results of a survey based on samples taken 3 days ago. The sample was collected at a spot 10 kilometers off Iwaki City and 40 kilometers from the disabled plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture.

The detected level of iodine-131 was 79.4 becquerels per liter, twice the legal standard for water discharged from nuclear plants.

This is the first time that a radioactive reading that exceeds the legal limit has been detected off the shore of Fukushima Prefecture.

It's believed that the radioactive substances were carried offshore from the plant by a north-south current.

On Saturday, a crack was found in the compound of the nuclear plant through which radioactive water has been leaking into the ocean.

The Nuclear Safety and Industrial Agency says radioactive iodine will be diluted in seawater and does not pose a threat to human health. But it said it will continue to closely monitor the condition.

Saturday, April 02, 2011 17:49 +0900 (JST)

[elcent]

There are some misleading information about the 1000 mSV. This is not from in water but the air above.

Radioactive water leak confirmed

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has identified for the first time a place where high-level radioactive water is leaking into the ocean from the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The power company said on Saturday that water has been seeping from a crack in the wall of a 2-meter deep pit that contains power cables near the reactor's water intake.

Water measuring between 10 and 20 centimeters deep was found in the pit. The radiation level has been measured at over 1,000 milisieverts per hour.

The company says it is preparing to pour concrete into the cracked pit to stop the radioactive water leak.

A senior Nuclear Safety Agency official says the crack could be one of the sources of radioactivity found in the seawater near the water outlet.

He says the agency has ordered TEPCO to test samples of seawater at more locations near the plant and analyze them for different radioactive materials.

In the past week, the radiation detected in water in the basement of the turbine building at the No. 2 reactor was about 100,000 times higher than the normal level.

High-levels of radiation were also found in puddles in a utility tunnel outside the turbine building.

Saturday, April 02, 2011 17:33 +0900 (JST)

[brahmburgers]

[/b]About 400 TEPCO workers are living within about half a mile of the stricken Fukushima plant, working 12-hour rotating shifts. They eat only two meals a day: crackers and vegetable juice for breakfast, and instant rice for dinner. It's too difficult to deliver food to the site at midday, so they go without lunch.

These guys are literally putting their lives at risk, and they can't even get some decent meals? Who's in charge of logistics, Daffy Duck?

BTW, few people know this, but drinking wheat grass juice has been shown to allay (lessen) the effects of radioactive sickness. Ok, the Japanese (and Asians in general) don't know about the stuff, so maybe fly over some California hippies who can show them how to make it. It's not difficult. Decades ago, I dated a woman in Sacramento, who made and sold the stuff commercially, on her own. She grew the wheat grass in a bathroom sized greenhouse in her backyard.

[JetsetBkk]

I saw a close up TV shot of one of the reactor buildings last night.

The one with the several meter wide hole in the side.

There was smoke or steam coming out the hole.

As they zoomed in, there appeared to be large flakes like snow wafting about.

What the heck would that be ???

sorry no link to actual footage.

Pete

Well that would be the snow, then.

[JetsetBkk]

Fukushima fearmongers are stealing our Jetsons future

Hysteria now completely disconnected from reality

As the situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant slowly winds down, the salient facts remain the same as they have been throughout: nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences. Economic damage and inconvenience resulting from the quake's effects on nuclear power have been significant, but tiny in comparison to all other human activities – the nuclear power plants in the stricken region have suffered less damage and caused less trouble to local residents than anything else that was there.

Despite this background, the details of which are now largely uncontested, hysteria continues to grip large sections of the news media and the internet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/31/fukushima_panic_breaks_completely_free_of_facts/

[JetsetBkk]

PLUTONIUM FOUND AT FUKUSHIMA!!

Probably from old weapons tests thousands of miles away, but hey, let's wet ourselves anyway

There has also been heavy reporting in the press regarding the discovery of very small amounts of plutonium isotopes at the site – producing less than one Becquerel of radioactivity per kilo of soil. (For context the human body naturally emits radiation around 50 Bq/kg). This is utterly insignificant in a health context but is possibly indicative of fuel damage in the cores – if the isotopes did in fact come from the cores. The levels in three of the five samples are so low, and of such isotopes, that it is quite possible they result from long-ago nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Two other samples contain some plutonium-238, a clue that they may be from the no 3 reactor which had plutonium in its fuel.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/31/fukushima_panic_breaks_completely_free_of_facts/page2.html

[animatic]

[/b]About 400 TEPCO workers are living within about half a mile of the stricken Fukushima plant, working 12-hour rotating shifts. They eat only two meals a day: crackers and vegetable juice for breakfast, and instant rice for dinner. It's too difficult to deliver food to the site at midday, so they go without lunch.

These guys are literally putting their lives at risk, and they can't even get some decent meals? Who's in charge of logistics, Daffy Duck?

BTW, few people know this, but drinking wheat grass juice has been shown to allay (lessen) the effects of radioactive sickness. Ok, the Japanese (and Asians in general) don't know about the stuff, so maybe fly over some California hippies who can show them how to make it. It's not difficult. Decades ago, I dated a woman in Sacramento, who made and sold the stuff commercially, on her own. She grew the wheat grass in a bathroom sized greenhouse in her backyard.

There are a half dozen people at Samui spas than can, grow and make wheat grass juice.

No doubt they exist in Japanese spa culture too. but doubtfully understood in the corridors of power.

[midas]

Fukushima fearmongers are stealing our Jetsons future

Hysteria now completely disconnected from reality

As the situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant slowly winds down, the salient facts remain the same as they have been throughout: nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences. Economic damage and inconvenience resulting from the quake's effects on nuclear power have been significant, but tiny in comparison to all other human activities – the nuclear power plants in the stricken region have suffered less damage and caused less trouble to local residents than anything else that was there.

Despite this background, the details of which are now largely uncontested, hysteria continues to grip large sections of the news media and the internet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/31/fukushima_panic_breaks_completely_free_of_facts/

How come this publication " the Register " doesn't have a single unkind word to say

about the nuclear power industry ?

Comment Praying for meltdown: The media and the nukes (29 March 2011)

Fukushima scaremongers becoming increasingly desperate (25 March 2011)

Radioactive Tokyo tapwater HARMS BABIES ... if drunk for a year (23 March 2011)

Fukushima's toxic legacy: Ignorance and fear (22 March 2011)

Fukushima: Situation improving all the time (21 March 2011)

Fukushima one week on: Situation 'stable', says IAEA (18 March 2011)

Analysis Fukushima is a triumph for nuke power: Build more reactors now! (14 March 2011)

[Crushdepth]

There are some misleading information about the 1000 mSV. This is not from in water but the air above.

Don't fall in!

[JulianLS]

[/b]About 400 TEPCO workers are living within about half a mile of the stricken Fukushima plant, working 12-hour rotating shifts. They eat only two meals a day: crackers and vegetable juice for breakfast, and instant rice for dinner. It's too difficult to deliver food to the site at midday, so they go without lunch.

These guys are literally putting their lives at risk, and they can't even get some decent meals? Who's in charge of logistics, Daffy Duck?

BTW, few people know this, but drinking wheat grass juice has been shown to allay (lessen) the effects of radioactive sickness. Ok, the Japanese (and Asians in general) don't know about the stuff, so maybe fly over some California hippies who can show them how to make it. It's not difficult. Decades ago, I dated a woman in Sacramento, who made and sold the stuff commercially, on her own. She grew the wheat grass in a bathroom sized greenhouse in her backyard.

Potassium iodide is a better bet that wheat grass imho.....

[Organicpete]

I saw a close up TV shot of one of the reactor buildings last night.

The one with the several meter wide hole in the side.

There was smoke or steam coming out the hole.

As they zoomed in, there appeared to be large flakes like snow wafting about.

What the heck would that be ???

sorry no link to actual footage.

Pete

Well that would be the snow, then.

Thanks for your reply.

It wasn't snowing...

the stuff wafting around seemed to be coming out of the hole.

Pete

[Lite Beer]

Power company reports 2 missing Fukushima nuclear plant workers found dead on site - Kyodo News/RT@BreakingNews

[pedro01]

Power company reports 2 missing Fukushima nuclear plant workers found dead on site - Kyodo News/RT@BreakingNews

How sad. RIP.

I hope their families are well taken care of.

[Lopburi99]

What a f**king sad, tragic, awful thing to happen to good, innocent people. A damned shame. May they rest in peace, they died trying to protect their country.

[midas]

Japanese Mayor, Disgusted With The Government's Crisis Response, Appeals For Help To The Entire World