Monday, February 6, 2012

Lessons From Fukushima Presentation


I am working on my Lessons from Fukushima Presentation and thought I would share a few of my findings in my blog.

•American media failed to investigate and report on scientific findings on radiation contamination in the US


The US media reported that traces of radiation were found, but insisted that there was no risk from the level of exposure:

For example: March 13 The New York Times "Military Crew Said to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call Risk in US Slight" http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html?_r=1
"On Sunday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expected no “harmful levels of radioactivity” to move on the winds to Hawaii, Alaska or the West Coast from the reactors in Japan, “given the thousands of miles between the two countries.

Contrasting account:


•Hot spots of hot particles in Seattle and local contamination throughout Cascades of 100 becquerels (disintegrations per second) in about 2 pounds of dirt.

•In the early days of the disaster, 10 hot particles a day inhaled in Seattle, 100X more in Japan.
 
•Marco Kaltofen found 100 becquerels from Cesium-134 and 137 in a square meter in the Portland Oregon area. This research was conducted before November 6
 
•The radiation is going to cause cancer on a statistical basis
 
•Update from Gundersen on Robert Knight's Five O'Clock Shadow - WBAI, New York
http://fairewinds.com/content/update-gundersen-robert-knights-five-oclock-shadow-wbai-new-york
The data Gunderson discusses in this recent interview were presented in a November 6 Interview - with Marco Kaltofen - titled "Airborne Radiation Spread" http://enenews.com/university-researcher-weve-seen-radioactive-rain-outs-in-areas-of-oregon-and-washington-areas-with-a-lot-more-radiation-video 0r http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJe7rCHXgYs


•American media, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, failed to report that a melt-through had occurred until December of 2011

Example of the Wall Street Journal's inability to write "melt-down" without the word partial in from of it, although the Japanese media reported a melt-through in June:

•Article: Power, Stephen & Smith, Rebecca (2011, July 18). Nuclear plant safety proposals put on fast track. The Wall Street Journal, p. A3.
–The print version of this article (referenced above) described the Fukushima mega-disaster as “a partial meltdown”
 
•Article: Nuclear Plant Loses Electricity in Temblor. Wall Street Journal August 24
“Electricity is needed to keep the reactor cores covered with coolant and to keep safe temperatures in spent fuel pools. Problems in both those areas led to the near-meltdown of reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, following a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576526642400085456.html 

Finally, on Dec 1 2011 WSJ reports "reactor core melted fully, Japan says -- Fuel breached Vessel Floor, Operator Says" by M. Obe & T. Fowler.


•American media consistently reduced the number used to represent total radiation releases

Example of strategic media reduction of radiation releases:


•Mitsuru, O., & Sekiguchi, T. (2011, December 16) “Tokyo Turns to Evacuation and Cleanup” The Wall Street Journal [online]: “The total radiation dispe
rsed over a broad swath of northern Japan is equal to about 15% of what was released 25 years ago from Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident in history."

contrasted with:


Summary Report of RSMC Beijing on Fukushima Nuclear Accident Emergency Response
WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
CBS/CG-NERA/Doc. 5.4 (27.10.2011)
Nuclear leaks occurred in Fukushima and lasted for five days. The total release amount was equal to that of Chernobyl nuclear explosion” p. 4


1 comment:

  1. typo alert: "Example of the Wall Street Journal's inability to write "melt-down" without the word partial in from of it,"

    (front instead of from)

    great article here on agw skeptics finally getting through:
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/06/germany-in-skeptical-turmoil-on-both-climate-and-windfarms/


    that article and the following show that our unfolding disasters in finance, energy and health will not be addressed in any productive way by the existing political apparatus. if anything, the apparatus will make things worse.

    even if we replace obama/merkel/sarkozy/half of congress over the next year the best we can hope for is complete gridlock. these people don't understand accounting, engineering, science, they think computers are magic and that growth is the solution to all of our problems.

    the path forward, imho, revolves around trust. small groups of people who _know_ one another like the old timers in rural maine in the 50's. having that circle of trust will be the most valuable of all currencies.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-what-if-were-beyond-mere-policy-tweaks

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.