Thursday Morning EDT/ Thursday Evening Japan Time
Disaster Update

"The first experiment already illustrates a truth of the theory, well confirmed by practice, what-ever can happen will happen if we make trials enough."- Augustus De Morgan, 1866

"Anything that can possibly go wrong, does."- Jack Sack, 1952

The Nuclear Industry is not exempt from Murphy's Law

The official death toll is 9,787.  16,501 are missing. 

Fukushima Daiishi  
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. 
Three workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear site have been diagnosed with high levels of radiation exposure, said to be 160-170 millisieverts of radiation. In comparison, the average American is exposed to 6.2 millisieverts a year.  Two have been hospitalized.
Repair work has been halted in the compound.
The reactors have been diagnosed with excessive salt buildup from the constant pumping of seawater into the cores to keep them cool enough to avoid further meltdown of the fuel rods. The salt is actually interfering with cooling of the rods.
It is feared that many were left behind to die inside the evacuation radius of 20 km around the devastated nuclear plant.
Reactor 1
Lights were turned on in the control room of reactor 1 today! But control and pumping systems are inoperable. The pressure in the reactor was said to be rising. There is much damage from the hydrogen explosion. Rods partially exposed.
Reactor 2
This plant was described as "quite stable" but radiation readings are high in its area. The containment vessel of the reactor is damaged. The building is relatively undamaged. Fuel rods partially exposed. Seawater continues to be pumped into reactor and spent fuel cooling pool.
Reactor 3
Yesterday's black smoke stopped this morning. Fuel rods partially exposed. It was announced today that three workers were exposed to high radiation working in the turbine area yesterday. Seawater was pumped all day into the  reactor but it is hoped to change that to fresh water since the salt buildup in the reactor is interfering with cooling. This reactor is damaged and the building is severely damaged. This reactor is especially dangerous since it uses deadly plutonium fuel.
Reactor 4
Spent fuel pool continues to be doused since it seems it was damaged by the earthquake and does not hold water.  It is fortunate that this reactor was offline at the time of the earthquake.
Reactors 5 & 6
Workers have not been able to activate the reactor cooling systems. Spent fuel pools must observed for rising temperatures since there is no circulating water and evaporation could expose spent fuel rods. These reactors were off line at the time of the earthquake.

"I am now almost certain that we need more radiation for better health."
- Dr. John Cameron

The late Dr. (of physics) John Cameron was a proponent of hormesis, the theory that radiation isn't that bad, and, in fact, a little bit  is good for you. Ann Coulter has latched on to this notion to defend nuclear accidents. Hormesis Theory, as best as I can understand, says that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I would agree to a point. But I wouldn't want to gamble I would be a survivor. Or, that I would have the judgement to determine where hormesis ends and the process of death begins.

This approach to toxicity when applied to poisons, was famously used by Mithridates VI of Pontus, hence the eponymous term, Mithridatism.   He gave himself low doses of all known poisons to ensure his immunity. His father, Mithridates V had been poisoned and this part of the world had a long history of regime change in this fashion. Evidently it worked in his case. It is told that when he was surrounded by his enemies at the end and holed up in Panticapaeum he finally had a soldier run him through with a sword after failing at a suicide by poison. 

I would find it instructive and inspiring if the lantern jawed Ms. Coulter would volunteer her services to the disaster at Fukushima Daiishi as a test of the theory of radiation hormesis.

Tokyo officials announced today that tap water was within acceptable limits for radiation.
There's nothing to see here folks. Move on. There was nothing to worry about anyways.
"Japan's standards are too strict in the first place. Even if babies are given tap water, their parents don't have to worry too much about it."-Otsura Niwa, Kyoto University professor emeritus of radiation biology

The Damekh Stupa

The Four Noble Truths of The Awakened One
(catvāri āryasatyāni)

Dukkha 
Life is suffering. (Suffering is real.)

Samudaya 
The origin of suffering is attachment to things. (Suffering has an origin.)
Nirodha 
The cessation of suffering is attainable by releasing things. (There is an escape from suffering.)
Magga
The eightfold path leads to the cessation of suffering. (This Way is known.)

But Buddhism also teaches that "Nothing is real."
But does that mean that the concept of "Nothing" has reality while "Things" have reality as well?
Or does it mean that No Things at all are real?
Or can both be true statements?

Or, is only Nothing real and the many "Things" are not real?

Town of Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, an insane landscape that needs to be cleaned up. 

Wednesday Morning EDT/ Wednesday Evening Japan Time Earthquake Update

23,000 human beings are now reported dead or missing.

Tokyo tap water is testing twice the safe limit of radioactive iodine 131  for infant consumption.
Authorities insisted there was no immediate danger to drink the water unless the drinker was under one year old.
Meanwhile the United States is banning the import of food from the four prefectures surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants.
Korea is in the process of banning the import of all Japanese food. (Better safe than sorry.)
Excess radiation has been detected in eleven kinds of vegetables, milk and water from the area.
News of contamination of seawater (127 times the safe level one can consume in a year) has caused  plummeting fish prices in Tokyo.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has requested Tokyo residents not to panic and hoard bottled water.
Not long after Mr. Edano's request, Tokyo stores ran out of bottled water.
He has expressed hope that other countries would not over-react to the situation.
"We will explain to countries the facts and we hope they will take logical measures based on them." he said.
I have suspended the purchase of my favorite Japanese tamari.

Dozens of elderly persons have been reported dying in shelters.

Rapid transit.
Public service.
I'm standing in my line.
Melt down.
Containment.
I'm standing in my line
Hang ten pipeline, let's go trippin'
Hang ten pipeline, let's go trippin'
Hang ten pipeline, let's go trippin'
Every wave is new until it breaks.-Neil Young, "Rapid Transit"

Reactor events.

Black smoke spewed from reactor 3 today forcing authorities to order an evacuation of workers attempting to repair all the things that are broken at the site and threaten to release greater quantities of radioactive substances than are already being released. I can find no reports of radiation levels inside the reactor buildings. Readings outside the buildings seem to be selective and I cannot find any constant real time updates of these levels.
Here one can see some real time readings of radiation in Japan but nothing from the Fukushima site itself. 

Reactor 1 Temperature above 400 C forced workers to pump more seawater and boron into the core. Controls and pumps are more damaged than previously thought. 

Reactor 2 Controls and pumps are damaged. Seawater and boron being pumped into core. 

Reactor 3 Black smoke today. Workers evacuated. No radiation levels have been released. This reactor uses plutonium fuel. Spent fuel pond still a concern. 

Reactor 4 No fuel is reported in the reactor as it was down for maintenance. However the building blew up from hydrogen gas and the spent fuel pool has been a great concern. Water must be constantly pumped into the pool because of leaks and high temperature of the exposed spent fuel rods. It has been admitted that far too many spent fuel rods are on site. 

Reactors 5 and 6 were shut down and power is restored to the operating cooling systems. Holes have been drilled in the roofs to release dangerous hydrogen gas that my collect in the buildings.

IAEA flag. It looks like a beryllium atom.   

Tuesday Afternoon EDT/ Wednesday Morning Tokyo Time
Japan Disaster Update


Japan now estimates over 21,000 people died in the earthquake and tsunami.

Pacific quake brings
A radiation leak
Now watch for Godzilla!- new Haiku posted at mubi.com

The temperature in the core of reactor 1 is reported to be rising. It is about 715-735 degrees F, about 140 degrees over operating levels reported Globalsecuritynewswire.org quoting TEPCO Executive Vice President Sakae Muto today.
Electrical lines are connected to all six reactors but the status of the equipment and controls is questionable.
Workers spent Tuesday flooding reactor 2 spent fuel pond, which had been steaming for two days.
Smoke is no longer being observed coming from reactor 3.
UN nuclear officials stated that they were not receiving current updates on radioactivity levels and temperatures at problematic reactors 1,2,3,& 4.
Technicians are attempting to restore power to the equipment and controls at the reactors. Progress could take weeks or months.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that radiation is still being detected coming from the Fukushima Daiishi complex but that the exact source is uncertain.
TEPCO admitted today that far more spent fuel rods were being stored at the Fukushima Daiishi plants than the storage ponds were designed to hold.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has finally got the lights back on in reactor 3 & 4 control rooms.

No Homes


About 300,000 people have been left homeless by the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.

A long armed crane equipped vehicle began spraying water Tuesday at 5:17 PM Japan time into nuclear reactor 4. 

Tuesday Morning EDT/ Tuesday Evening Japan Time
Nuclear/Tsunami/Earthquake Update


"But hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns."
-John James Audubon
Water was injected into reactor 4 at the Fukushima Daiishi complex by a pump equipped with a long arm normally used to pump concrete at construction sites. This device is now pumping water but a similar device was used at Chernobyl to entomb the reactor in concrete.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano stated to the BBC today,"The crisis has still not been resolved and the situation at the [plant] remains very serious," and he had "no doubt that this crisis will be effectively overcome". He was cheered by the fact that the cooling systems of Plants 5 & 6 had been restored to service.
There is little more news other than TEPCO is saying smoke from reactors 2 & 3 is subsiding. Yesterday they said it had stopped. I wish they would get their story straight. But it is difficult to approach to get an accurate status if radiation is dangerously hight. 

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure Department
The long history of TEPCO's shoddy safety record in Japan is coming to light. The company is being accused of poor record keeping and covering up accidents at 50 nuclear facilities. This story is found in this Los Angeles Times this morning. There is a strong suspicion that TEPCO has continued to falsify data at Fukushima Daiishi as they have in the past.

"There's Action Only If There Is Danger." -Howard Hawks
Seawater near the plant has measured 126.7 times the safe limit for radioactive iodine. But an unnamed TEPCO spokesman downplayed the danger. "You would have to drink [the seawater] for a whole year just in order to accumulate one millisievert [of radiation]."

People Who Need People Are The Luckiest People In The World
There is an acute shortage of gasoline in the affected area and an effort is being made to supply gasoline. There are difficulties because of damage to the roads. One wonders how excited the rest of Japan is to have thousands of refugees swarming out of these areas if they had the gasoline to operate their automobiles.
Many refugees are suffering from flu and gastrointestinal diseases as well as lacking any prescription drugs they may need. The stress of their living conditions, exposure and lack of proper food is contributing to susceptibility to sickness.

Monday Evening EDT/ Tuesday Morning Japan Time
Nuclear/Tsunami/Earthquake Update


The Confirmed Death Toll is over  8,800,  Missing 12,600

Reactor Status
The New York Daily News is reporting tonight that the pump at reactor 2 is damaged beyond repair. It will need to be replaced before cooling can begin at that plant.
TEPCO had installed external power cables to reactors 2 and 3 Monday before efforts to perform maintenance and restore power were suspended after white smoke was observed at reactors 2 & 3.
Water spraying activity has been suspended since the Monday setbacks. Workers have suspended actions at the complex since observation of white smoke at both plants 2 and 3. Gray smoke was seen for a time at plant 3.
The ocean water around the plant is showing signs of various kinds of radioactivity above considered safe levels.  It now appears that all reactors are now connected to the electrical grid. But only reactors 5 and 6 seem to be capable of having their cooling systems powered up.

A French Assessment
The head of France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) Andre-Claude Lacoste, has declared that releases of radioactivity from the plants  “are now significant and continuing' according to the Herald Sun in Australia. “It's a problem that Japan will have to deal with for decades and decades to come.'' he said.
Much of the radiation is coming from deliberate venting of radioactive steam from the plants.
Other significant radiation is coming from unknown sources.

We're Behind and We Can't Catch Up
Marcus Barum at the Huffington Post reports "Nuclear Plant Was Behind On Safety Inspections".
Surprise, surprise! I linked to a previous story that insisted forty years! of spent fuel were being stored on site at Fukushima Daiishi. Barum, linking to a Reuters story, is reporting only 6 years of spent rods being stored, still pretty bad. Maybe it's somewhere in between, but I have a feeling we will never know. This plant had a piss poor pro-active safety record before they proved they were unsafe after the earthquake.


On the Tsunami
NHK is reporting that residents were told they would have an hour before a tsunami would hit after an earthquake, however this tsunami arrrived within ten minutes. The tsunami was far larger than experts had anticipated. It is now estimated that the tsunami that passed through the Fukushima Daiishi complex was over 14 meters high. The plant was designed to resist a tsunami of 5.7 meters, which is a very liberal interpretation of a tsunami.

Evacuees
Along with losing everything they had and the threat of radiation, evacuees in the affected area have suffered freezing temperatures seven out of the eight days since the earthquake.

For The Love Of Money

NHK World English reports that estimated damages from the nuclear disaster could be $235 billion dollars. [It also could be a lot more.]

Japanese stock markets are up after being closed for a three day weekend. The Nikkei has risen 3 1/2 %  in early trading Tuesday. [perhaps in anticipation of business from rebuilding earthquake/tsunami damage?]

"Invest your money in Dada! Dada is the only savings bank that pays interest in the hereafter!"

- Kurt Schwitters

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
You can't  feel the gamma ray
Radioactive iodine heading my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay


Plutonium is on my shoulder
It's the truth, I  answer
It's for sure I'm getting cancer.
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Horrible feeling, terrible day!

A 2003 Report, (Reducing the Hazards from Stored Spent Power-Reactor Fuel in the United States Authors: Robert Alvareza; Jan Beyeab; Klaus Janberg; Jungmin Kang; Ed Lymanc; Allison Macfarlaned; Gordon Thompsone; Frank N. von Hippelf) says that too much radioactive waste is being stored in reactor storage pools in the United States and is potentially a greater hazard than Chernobyl.
The link goes to the abstract. Another link to the full pdf. report is at the bottom of the page.

Quote of the Day

"Freedom: Dada, Dada, Dada, crying open the constricted pains, swallowing the contrasts and all the contradictions, the grotesqueries and the illogicalities of life."—Tristan Tzara

Image via Wikipedia

The Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg. It too blew up because it used an inherently dangerous technology. 

Monday Morning EDT/ Monday Evening Japan Time Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Etc.


Over 21,000 persons are dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami.

New Smoke at Fukushima Daiichi
CNN reported this morning that after 6PM today white smoke spewed from reactor 2 today two hours after gray smoke was seen  for a while coming from reactor 3.
Workers were evacuated at that time. Reactor 3 uses plutonium MOX fuel which potentially is the most harmful to human life. It is said that a very small amount (how small is a subject of vigorous and ridiculous debate, but it is safe to say the amount is vanishingly small) of plutonium lodged in one's lung could lead to death. The burning rods could emit aerosolized plutonium which is considered the most dangerous form of the heavy metal, even by defenders of the nuclear industry who have made claims that the metal is not so deadly as advertised. 
Japanese nuclear official Hidehiko Nishiyama said the cause of the smoke was unknown, but that there was no explosion and that there were no spikes in radiation.
Later authorities admitted radiation spiked one kilometer west of the facility from 494 microsieverts at 5:40 p.m. to 1,932 at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening Japan time. By 8:30 p.m. readings dropped to 442, reported the Washington Post.   If radiation spiked 400% one kilometer west of the plant away from the prevailing winds, one's thoughts are inevitably led to ponder how high the readings were at the plant or downwind.

Electrical Connections Made But No Power yet to Four Reactors
Today officials reported that electricity was connected to  reactors 3 & 4. All reactors now are connected. But reactors 1,2,3,& 4 do not have power because of the damage caused by the earthquake, the tsunami, and the explosions caused by hydrogen gas produced when water was used in an attempt to cool the reactors soon after the events of last week.
The heating of the water around the reactors caused by nuclear material actually separated the water molecules into their explosive component atoms. The Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg explosion of May 6, 1937 was caused by the very same mix of elemental gases.

Concrete To Be Poured Into Cooling Ponds and Reactors?
Officials announced that they were working on tests for what they called a "concrete pump engine" for encasing the spent fuel pools in the material to prevent the emission of radioactive materials despite the burning fuel rods.

Food Contamination
Milk 100 km from the plant was found to exceed acceptable levels for radiation. That is halfway to Tokyo from Fukushima Daiichi. Authorities said that drinking the milk or the spinach would not be a threat to human health if it was limited to "a couple of times". Farmers in the area are now throwing away milk.

Wind
Wind direction has favored the Japanese since the accident. Most of the time it has been blowing towards the east out to sea but forecasts indicate that may change Wednesday.

Meanwhile Back At the Ranch
Meanwhile in the United States there has been a reassessment by many of the wisdom of embracing the blue glow of nuclear power. The New York Times quotes Purdue Professor of Political Science Daniel B. Aldrich as saying that nuclear evacuation plans are "fantasy documents". The Times tells us that evacuation of an area around the Indian Point reactor 35 miles from Manhattan with a population of 20 million in the metropolitan area is a problem that is gaining "renewed attention". The last report on the effectiveness of the current evacuation plan done in 2003 stated "that the plans were drafted to comply with regulations rather than to create an effective strategy to protect the population, and that they assumed people would comply with government directives rather than do what seemed to be in their own best interests." said the Times. The Times reports that a 50 mile evacuation plan for Indian Point "does not exist". 



.
Workers' Problems
Rubble from damage to the compound continues to interfere with the efforts of workers to combat the problems there. Workers at the site believe they have not been given sufficient information on the status of radiation there says NHK.
Plant 2 continues to spew steam reports NHK World English at 8:15 EDT Monday

Bad Water
Officials reported radioactive iodine at three times the allowable level in the village of Iidate in Fukushima district. Village leaders asked that tap water not be consumed unless there was no other water available.
Several areas around Fukushima prefect are reporting higher than normal levels of radiation but authorities are saying the levels are not dangerous.

 Bad Food
According  to Reuters, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that radiation in Japanese food is a lot worse than anyone thought.

Nuclear Sympathetic Links

Status Chart of Reactors can be found on this page as provided by JAIF (Japan Atomic Industrial Forum).

Disaster updates provided by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 

Sunday Morning EDT/ Sunday Night Japan Time Updates and Notes. 
The News Is There Is No News. 

Distraction?
Well, they have started another war to take our attention away from the disasters in Japan.
Did you know?
There is a country where genocide between tribes is going on.
A dictator is refusing to honor election results.
There are mass movements of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Civil War is in progress.
This country is in Africa.
It is called the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire).
But no one cares because there is no oil there.


Reactor Status Hard To Find
Curiously, information about the status of the reactors has gotten scarce for the last day and a half.
Unexplainable.net has made the inevitable claim that UFO sightings have been reported around the Fukushima Daiishi complex. Chris Capps in his story, "Why Are UFO's Being Spotted Near Nuclear Accident" speculates that our space brothers are closely monitoring the situation.
I remember the same kinds of stories going around about Chernobyl.
The history of the phenomena in the nuclear age seems to have shown an affinity between UFOs and human nuclear related activities.

Who Will Solve Our Problems?
Who knows where the truth lies, but somehow I doubt aliens are going to make things better on this planet.  I feel the same way about the belief that Jesus is going to come down from the sky and fix everything we have screwed up.

We must find the solution to our problems, and it is a better strategy to operate our lives on that principal rather than on the lazy infantile wish that someone else will do it.


What perplexes me is the nihilist attitude ironically held by so many believers, 
that humans are incapable of solving their problems.
That is tantamount to committing the Sin of Despair. 
And it only leads down a tunnel back, back, back to the Dark Ages. 

Cooling Ponds Not So Cool
Well, the situation at the busted up nuclear plants is that the greatest threat is said to be insufficient cooling water in the spent fuel pools at all 6 reactors. Personally, I would be worrying as much about the fuel in the reactors that were operating at the time of the earthquake/tsunami. We have had reports of partial meltdowns in some of the plants but very little detail. See my previous posts.

What Is News?
NPR was maintaining a useful minute to minute updated blog on the plants, but now it is late March 20 Japan time and that blog seems to have stopped updating early yesterday.
Most of the news now being promulgated about the situation seems to be focusing on the economic ramifications of the accident and how the nuclear industry will be affected.

The Guardian UK has a good spreadsheet on the status of the six plants here. Detailed spreadsheet is HERE. But it was updated, the last I can tell, yesterday afternoon GMT. It is now Sunday night Japan time.

NHK Current Reactor Status
NHK World English is now giving an update on reactor status, which I am monitoring.
Status given by NHK follows:
"A lot is going on."
2 reactor, water level falling in spent fuel pond.
3 reactor, explosions damaged spent fuel pond, water depleted, reactor damaged
4 reactor, reactor damaged, spent fuel pond water depleted
5 and 6 reactor power restored and reactors being cooled, ( those reactors were offline and were the only ones left relatively undamaged after the earthquake)
Seawater is being pumped into the damaged reactors.
Work is going on to restore power to reactor 2.
Spent fuel pool at reactor 2 is depleted but water cannot be pumped from outside because building is not damaged. Attempts to restore power to cooling systems are continuing.
Restoring power to the damaged reactors will be more problematic.

Evacuees
There is no end to the crisis in sight for displaced persons.
Evacuees are asking authorities to investigate them for radiation effects.
Evacuees are given a card showing they are free of contamination after being checked.

Food Problem
Spinach in the affected area is showing 3 to 5 times allowable radioactive iodine and is now being withdrawn from the market. Spinach is called "king of vegetables" in Japan and is a very important foodstuff.

Pessimisme
Phillipe Jamet, a commissioner at the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, said at a briefing in Paris today“We must avoid being overly optimistic. Many tests are needed to find out if the pumps will work. This will likely take human intervention, like going into control rooms to reconnect valves.” News.gather.com

Not Enough Openness
NHK commentators are requesting more information on the nuclear crisis. They are stating that the government isn't forthcoming enough on radiation levels and status of the reactors.
According to NHK World, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has suggested that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will be demolished.
Japan's SDF has concluded spraying of plant 4's spent fuel rod pond for Sunday. The Defense Ministry reported 100 tons of water were sprayed today.