The Archon, Devil Radiation, Assaults an Innocent

"I am he who received revelation from the Pleroma of Imperishability…
he who stripped himself and went about naked…."
From The (Second) Apocalypse of James



Fukushima!


It hasn't gone away.


It's still bad and getting worse.


TEPCO announced today that their Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility was experiencing record high  radiation levels. 
Reading of 10 sieverts an hour have been recorded in a ventilation duct at plants 1 and 2. Such a level of radiation is lethal after only an hour's exposure. 
This is double June's previous high readings at the site since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami triggered meltdowns at the inadequately designed and fortified reactor complex.
This is bad news for the workers trying to batten down the site.

Peter Burns, former chief executive officer of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, says given the scale of the Fukushima emergency, the high reading is to be expected.

"The levels reported of 10 sieverts per hour are very high levels and it's going to be very difficult to manage workers going into those areas and doing operations," he said.

"To put the 10 sieverts into context, that 10 sieverts is actually a lethal dose of radiation. So you can't afford to be exposed for more than a few minutes at those levels.

"It means you're directly exposed to fuel rods in the reactors or the spent fuel ponds very closely and while it's possible to get to those levels it means there is very little shielding going on there."

from an ABC News (Australia) report

But, as has been reported in this space, the workers at Fukushima Daiichi already expect to die. 

Abraxas begetteth truth and lying,
good and evil, light and darkness,
in the same word and in the same act.
Wherefore is Abraxas terrible.
It is love and love’s murder.
It is the saint and his betrayer.
It is the brightest light of day
and the darkest night of madness.

–The Seven Sermons to The Dead—

Yesterday the Japanese government expanded the prohibition of the shipment of cattle from another area in the vicinity of the radiation. Iwate prefecture may now not ship cattle along with Fukushima prefecture and Miyagi prefecture. Tochigi prefecture, closer to Tokyo, may soon be added to the list.
More and more food of all kinds, vegetables, seafood and meat. Has been found on grocers shelves with unacceptable radiation levels.
More and more we know and understand that the "clean and safe" nuclear industry  lied to the world and is harming all of us. But I should not have put the verb "lie" in the past tense.
Evil never gives up.

Straight from the Pleroma, Susan Hayward as Sophia

Image via WikipediaJapan considering Tepco breakup: report - MarketWatch

Nationalizing nuclear power is an outstanding idea, if only because nuclear power is always unprofitable business. Why not remove the entitled element  that expects to profit from the undertaking? If you believe that nuclear power is an efficient, useful and safe method of energy generation you are a rare bird. The nuclear industry itself doesn't believe this, else they would not seek government protections from indemnity and government subsidies and assistance at every level of operation. In fact, nuclear power as practiced today is an array of Rube Goldberg contraptions waiting to break down and spew deadly long-lasting human and environment killing poison over extensive areas.

Government should nationalize this beast if only to safely terminate it.

"My ass contemplates those who talk behind my back."- Francis Picabia

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix, 
first lines from Howl

Monday Morning EDT/
Monday Evening Japan Time
With Inspiration from the American Poet Allen Ginsberg 

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does."

Another strong aftershock this morning briefly knocked out power to the Fukushima Daiichi plant complex. The Japanese government intends to increase the evacuation zone around the plant from 12 to 19 miles in certain areas, displacing many more thousands of people even as the government is claiming that risks from the leaking radiation were "considerably lower".

"Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness."

Helen Caldicott goes off on George Monbiot ("a journalist not a scientist") and other nuclear apologists today in the Guardian.UK  and takes them to school. Her explication of the difference between external and internal radiation is enlightening on how the defenders of the industry confuse the issue. She shows that no level (even low levels) of radiation is safe. She then writes on the efforts to make Chernobyl appear less devastating than it was. 

.

"Proponents of nuclear power – including George Monbiot, who has had a mysterious road-to-Damascus conversion to its supposedly benign effects – accuse me and others who call attention to the potential serious medical consequences of the accident of "cherry-picking" data and overstating the health effects of radiation from the radioactive fuel in the destroyed reactors and their cooling pools. Yet by reassuring the public that things aren't too bad, Monbiot and others at best misinform, and at worst misrepresent or distort, the scientific evidence of the harmful effects of radiation exposure – and they play a predictable shoot-the-messenger game in the process."


A new book Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment. Published by the New York Academy of Sciences,  by Dr. Alexey Yablokov, Dr. Vassily Nesterenko and Dr. Alexey Nesterenko estimates that Chernobyl is responsible for close to a million deaths.
Book PDF: http://www.strahlentelex.de/Yablokov%20Chernobyl%20book.pdf

"Democracy! Bah! When I hear that word I reach for my feather Boa!"

China has expanded its ban on Japanese food products and has expressed concern about radioactive water discharge from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant complex. China has urged its neighbor on Friday to "act in accordance with relevant international laws." regarding radiation release in the ocean, something China knows is impossible for Japan to accomplish. Once the magic lamp of nuclear energy is broken, its deadly power may not be contained. China further commented in its Friday statement,"We ask Japan to provide China with timely, comprehensive and accurate information."

This is a consideration that Japan has been ignoring from the beginning. 

"Radioactive Nemesis were you there at the beginning black Dumb 
tongueless unsmelling blast of Disillusion?"

Slate Magazine's William Saletan tells us that humans are doing work that robots might do more safely at Fukushima Daiichi. This report asks the question, "How could such a robotically advanced country be so unprepared?"

Spoiler: Slate tells us that robots aren't available for this contingency because TEPCO decided they would be too expensive. Human life is cheap. TEPCO has even been using temporary workers in dangerous nuclear jobs because they have few benefits and lower pay. TEPCO's lack of preparedness for this catastrophe is instructive for us to understand the nuclear industry as a whole. Japan's nuclear industry had been held up as an example to the world prior to it being exposed by events. 

"Birdbrain runs the World!"

TEPCO announced today that the pumping of radioactive water into the sea was discontinued today. 

They are still pumping water all over the sight to cool spent fuel rods and reactor cores and, as has been repeatedly stated here, that water must go somewhere according to the laws of surface hydraulics. That water is still going to drain to the sea after making love to the radioactive materials at the ruined site. 

"Poets are damned...but see with the eyes of angels." 

Makoto Aida, Harakiri School Girls

Looks Like Mickey Mutant Mouse, Doesn't It?Radiation levels reach new highs as conditions worsen for workers - The Washington Post

TEPCO apologized today for announcing that radiation in water puddles at damaged plant 2 at Fukushima Daiishi was ten million times above safe levels. The actual figure, we are all relieved to hear, was only 100,000 times too high. Our confidence in TEPCO's scientific and calculating abilities is restored.

Previous Notes on the progress of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor Site Through Thursday morning EDT. 

All of the plants at the Fukushima Daiichi complex are General Electric designs. They are operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Here is your scorecard (with reactor manufacturers noted) for the Fukushima Daiichi plants as they experience their unfortunate events:

Status Updated 7:30 AM 17 March 2011 EDT, Thursday night Tokyo time, monitoring NHK World TV Live in English. Further updates will be given via new blog posts.


(Via NHK) Thursday night : Casualty reports indicate over 5,500 confirmed dead in the earthquake and tsunami and over 9,600 unaccounted for.

Plant 1 July 1967-General Electric Reactor
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Saturday. Core may be in partial meltdown, estimated 70% fuel rods damaged.


Plant 2 June 1969-General Electric Reactor
core threatening to In partial melt down. Explosion early Tuesday damaged the containment system. Fuel rods were fully exposed. An estimated 33% damage to fuel rods was reported. The suppression chamber in the reactor is reported damaged.

Plant 3-December 1970-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
(uses mixed oxide Plutonium fuel and therefore is the most potentially hazardous)
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Sunday. Core may be in partial meltdown. White smoke was reported Wednesday morning. The reactor container is said to be intact but there are contradictory reports on the actual condition of the container.
(Via NHK) Thursday the water in the spent fuel pool was reported too low which caused authorities to authorize helicopter water drops despite dangerous levels of radiation. There is almost no water left in the spent fuel pool. It will require many helicopter runs. A helicopter can carry 7.5 tons of water per drop. The pool capacity is 2000 tons. It is believed that the pool can cool the spent rods if brought to a level perhaps one third full. The rate of possible leakage in the pools is unknown. Authorities have given reactor 3 first priority for cooling as of noon Thursday, Japan time. This reactor is potentially the most dangerous as it uses plutonium mixed oxide fuel. The first helicopter run was at 9:48 AM Thursday morning Japan time. Water cannon may be used on site by police. Effective range of water cannon is 30 meters. Riot police have been instructed to begin use of riot water cannon on reactor 3 as soon as possible.
Two helicopters made two drops each of 7.5 tons of seawater each from 90 meters altitude Thursday with an insignificant drop in measured radiation in the area at 3754 microsieverts per hour after the drops, measured 100 meters from plant 3. From my observation of video of these helicopters it looks like very little seawater is actually reaching the pool from these drops. Because of the risk of radiation the helicopters were unable to hover about the spent fuel pools. The had to drop the seawater while moving which spread out the water over a large area rather than the target area. Lead plates were installed underneath the helicopters to provide some protection against radiation. The extra weight is was said to hamper mobility and ability of the helicopters to carry a payload.
Five fire engines have been brought into the area to cool the spent rod piles. Police water cannon efforts to add water to the cooling pools was discontinued Thursday. Water cannons were unable to reach the pools without putting police personnel in danger of excess radiation effects.
Water sprayed or dropped into the pool seems to be vaporizing as soon as it enters the pool.
Thursday night heroic Japan Self Defense Force (SDF) personnel commenced spraying water from five fire engines into the spent fuel storage pools at plant 3 and 4. SDF personnel were able to operate the fire engines from inside the equipment helping them to avoid some radiation.
TEPCO personnel are attempting to restore high voltage electric power to the water pumps at the reactor sites. It is unknown if the pumps will operate when power is restored.
"At a certain point, they're going to have to abandon ship, they're committing a suicide mission to go in there. The radiation levels are near lethal right now…you're committing suicide to spend large amount of time there." theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku said Thursday.

Plant 4-February 1973-Hitachi (General Electric) Reactor
A reported fire Tuesday morning was suppressed but fire started again on Wednesday. A possibility of drained water from spent fuel pool caused burning of exposed spent fuel rods.
US officials were quoted Thursday as saying the spent fuel pool is empty at this reactor.
The walls of this reactor have collapsed, according to a TEPCO spokesman Thursday night. Thursday night a TEPCO spokesman stated that some water was left in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4.


Plant 5-May 1972-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
There was a report Wednesday, Japan time, of low coolant pool water level causing a high temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported.

Plant 6-October 1973-General Electric Reactor
A report Wednesday indicated that coolant pool water level was low, causing an elevated temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported.


On Thursday, in cooperation with the Japanese government, a USAF Global Hawk surveillance drone plane was dispatched from Guam to take detailed photographs of the Fukushima Daiishi complex and surrounding areas damaged by the earthquake and Tsunami.

Plant 7 planned for 2016
Plant 8 planned for 2017

Notes:
No one really knows what is going on inside these plants. It is too dangerous to go inside for any long period of time and monitoring equipment is probably inoperable. Actual readings of radioactivity just outside the plant seem to be a guarded secret. Only observations of smoke and structural damage can be made at this time.
Plants#4, #5 and #6 were reported shut down and under maintenance at the time of the earthquake.
General Electric and Hitachi nuclear power divisions merged (or created an "alliance") in 2007 as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
Westinghouse Electric was sold by CBS/Viacom to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. in 1999.
In 2006 BNFL sold Westinghouse Electric to Toshiba.