Environment

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Will Contaminate ‘The Pacific Ocean For The Rest Of Time’ … If Fuel Can’t Be Removed

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– Fukushima plant “to keep contaminating the Pacific Ocean for the rest of time” if fuel can’t be removed — No good solution, must constantly pump out water from under buildings (VIDEO) (ENENews, Sep 3, 2012):

Title: Arnold Gundersen with another update on the unfolding effects of the Fukushima disaster
Source: KPFT Houston, If You Love This Planet Radio
Date: Aug 31, 2012
Description: This week, Dr. Caldicott brings on nuclear engineer Arnold Gundersen  […]

At 19:00 in

Caldicott: If you put concrete on it, you know it’s going to keep going down into the water table.

Gundersen: Right.

Caldicott: And you know it’s going to keep contaminating the Pacific Ocean for the rest of time.

Gundersen: Right. So the solution — there is no good solution — but the solution would be to bore holes underneath and constantly pull water out from under the buildings.

[…]

At 23:00 in

Caldicott: You are sacrificing the Pacific by leaving this stuff there for the rest of time, which will leak and drain consistently into the Pacific.

Gundersen: You’re right. It needs to be constantly pumped out

[…]


YouTube

Listen to the report here

Hidden Toxin Sources In New Clothes – Always Wash Them Several Times Before Wearing

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For babies and small children wash those clothes 5 times before wearing!

– Beware of hidden toxin sources in new clothes – Always wash them before wearing (Natural News, Sep 1, 2012):

Several decades ago, the Dupont logo had the following text attached: “Better living through chemistry.” Since then, many of us have come to realize we are living worse in a toxic environment that includes chemically polluted air, water, food, so called “medicine,” and now even clothing.

Dupont had created Rayon, a synthetic fiber used for much of our clothing. So it made sense to team up with the timber industry to ensure hemp was banned in the late 1930s. Rayon and paper could continue to be made by chemically processing wood from trees without competition.

Read moreHidden Toxin Sources In New Clothes – Always Wash Them Several Times Before Wearing

‘We’ll Make A Killing Out Of Food Crisis’, Psychopathic Glencore Trading Boss Chris Mahoney Boasts

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– ‘We’ll make a killing out of food crisis’, psychopathic Glencore trading boss Chris Mahoney boasts (Sott.net, Aug 30, 2012):

Drought is good for business, says world’s largest commodities trading company

The United Nations, aid agencies and the British Government have lined up to attack the world’s largest commodities trading company, Glencore, after it described the current global food crisis and soaring world prices as a “good” business opportunity.

With the US experiencing a rerun of the drought “Dust Bowl” days of the 1930s and Russia suffering a similar food crisis that could see Vladimir Putin’s government banning grain exports, the senior economist of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Concepcion Calpe, told The Independent: “Private companies like Glencore are playing a game that will make them enormous profits.”

Read more‘We’ll Make A Killing Out Of Food Crisis’, Psychopathic Glencore Trading Boss Chris Mahoney Boasts

Former Managing Director Of Monsanto India: ‘Introducing Genetically Modified Seeds Is Murder!’ (Video)

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YouTube Added: 30.08.2012

Description:

Watch on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1bjdWTFMUM
or on journeyman here: http://vodsite.journeyman.tv/store?p=4885
For downloads and more information visit: http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=63220

Our morning ritual speaks of our love affair with cotton: we throw off crisp cotton sheets, shower and dry ourselves with thick cotton towels, sweep fluffy cotton balls over our face, then slip on cotton panties, socks, t-shirts, jeans and jackets. With cotton so much in demand, we ask growers and seed developer Monsanto if the trade is fair, in a film that beats to the ancient rhythms of cotton production.

India is the world’s second largest producer, one of the largest consumers and one of the largest producers of organic cotton. Rural life revolves around it. Barefoot farmers plough their cotton fields. Traditional handlooms work the yarn – weavers working for wages their children would never accept. When the cotton is “sized” huge swathes of fabric run through the village.

Since 2002 India has replaced almost all its native varieties with genetically modified seeds – known as BT cotton – containing toxins that destroy pests. The price of cotton seed has soared from 9 rupees a kilo to a staggering 4,000. The cotton farmer’s life is a hard one; they treat their crops “like children,” since wildlife may destroy them and “man is so dependent on money.” Children toil in the fields for less than $2 a day.

Monsanto says farmers buy seeds developed with its technology as they have confidence in their yields. But Greenpeace claims GM farmers get into 80% more debt. Farmers blame suppliers when their seed turns out to be sterile: “Everything they said was a lie.” Experts examine plants and fail to find male/female parts to them. Monsanto denies its seeds carry a “Terminator” gene but Tiruvadi Jagadisan – former head of Monsanto India – alleges they do: “Introducing genetically modified seeds is murder!”

Read moreFormer Managing Director Of Monsanto India: ‘Introducing Genetically Modified Seeds Is Murder!’ (Video)

2012 Crop Of Fukushima Rice On Sale in Tokyo

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– New (2012) Crop of #Fukushima Rice that “Passed” the Test Is On Sale in Tokyo (ENENews, Sep 1, 2012):

Sure it passed. The detection limit was 25 becquerels/kg, testing done in 5 to 10 seconds at most using brand-new detectors built specifically for the task of rapidly “measuring” the radioactive cesium in rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture.

Never mind the details like that. Shoppers in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo (itself in the more contaminated section of Tokyo) are happy to snap up this year’s fresh crop.

From Nikkei Shinbun quoting Kyodo News (9/1/2012; emphasis is mine):

??????????????????????

New crop of Fukushima rice sale started in Tokyo, all bags passed the inspection [for radioactive materials]

Read more2012 Crop Of Fukushima Rice On Sale in Tokyo

Mysterious Disease Killing Seals Along US East Coast

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– Radio: Mysterious disease killing seals along US East Coast — Fukushima radiation testing underway by gov’t scientists — “Never seen anything like this before” (AUDIO) (ENENews, Sep 1, 2012):

Title: Bird Flu Not Responsible For Alaska Ice Seal, Walrus Illness
Source: KNOM Alaska
Author: Laureli Kinneen
Date: August 1, 2012

Scientists say a type of bird flu – H3N8 – is responsible for the death of the more than 160 harbor seals on the East Coast [New England area, from Maine to Massachusetts]. Reports of sick seals began in September, which coincided with the reports of diseased seals in Alaska’s northern coasts. KNOM’s Laureli Kinneen reports there is no relation between the avian flu on the East Coast and the disease affecting iced seals and walrus in Alaska.

Transcript Excerpt

Kinneen: Based on hunter observation, it is a new disease syndrome that we are observing, because based on traditional knowledge, as well as communication from the hunters, they had never seen anything like this before.

The researchers have not ruled out the radiation released from the Fukushima nuclear accident as the cause […]

[Dr. Raphaela Stimmelmayr, a wildlife veterinarian and research biologist with the Department of Wildlife Management, has been one of the leading professionals trying learn more about what is happening to the seals] says they are now looking at whether the diseased seals carried cesium-134 and -137 […]

Cesium-134 is the signature radionuclide that was released during the Fukushima accident.

Read moreMysterious Disease Killing Seals Along US East Coast

It’s Official: People Who Stayed In Fukushima Are Guinea Pigs (Video)

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– Watch: It’s official, people who stayed in Fukushima are guinea pigs (VIDEO) (ENENews, Sep 1, 2012):

Japan government officially making study on kids in Fukushima
Published by aristoman007
Published on Aug 31, 2012

Transcript Summary

At 0:25 in

  • I was completely shocked by the news I saw today… the Japanese gov’t to make research and study of radiation effects
  • So now it’s official, all those things we heard about people staying behind in Fukushima being Guinea pigs.
  • They just completely confirmed officially.
  • For me this is morally unbelievable.
  • Of course these people need some attention, but they don’t need study or research on them.

At 1:50 in

Read moreIt’s Official: People Who Stayed In Fukushima Are Guinea Pigs (Video)

Homeland Security To Release Bacteria Into Subway Tunnels To Test Bioterror Sensors

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– Boston to Test Bioterror Sensors (The Scientist, Aug 29, 2012):

Federal officials will release harmless bacteria into subway tunnels beneath the Northeastern city to test new sensors designed to detect biological agents.

The Boston subway system will soon host simulated biological weapon attacks as the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) conducts tests of sensors designed to detect the presence of biological agents in metropolitan areas.

After temporarily shutting down the transportation system, S&T will release small quantities of harmless and inactive bacteria into subway tunnels under Beantown and monitor the spread of the dead microbes using newly developed sensors. The bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, is considered nontoxic even when alive and active.

Read moreHomeland Security To Release Bacteria Into Subway Tunnels To Test Bioterror Sensors

Radioactive School Lunch In Niigata, West Coast Of Japan

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– Cesium measured from school lunch ingredient in Niigata, west coast of Japan (Fukushima Diary, Aug 29, 2012):

Your child may be forced to eat contaminated food for school lunch

Cesium was measured from ingredient of school lunch. The school is in Niigata, on the west coast of Japan.

On 8/29/2012, Niigata city government announced they measured 13 Bq/Kg of cesium from spinach. It was a sampling test of school lunch ingredients.
The spinach was from Gunma prefecture, it may have been used for school lunch for nursery school, elementary school or junior high school in Niigata city. The sample wasn’t used for school lunch supposedly.

Read moreRadioactive School Lunch In Niigata, West Coast Of Japan

Underground cesium near Fukushima reactors increases the deeper samples get — Other locations tested are much different, with higher radioactivity on top

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– Underground cesium near Fukushima reactors increases the deeper samples get — Other locations tested are much different, with higher radioactivity on top (ENENews, Aug 31, 2012)

Radioactive Japan: Head of The Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan Says ‘People in Fukushima, Part of Kanto Including Tokyo, Should Not Marry’ Because of Radiation Exposure

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– #Radioactive Japan: Head of The Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan Says “People in Fukushima, Part of Kanto Including Tokyo, Should Not Marry” Because of Radiation Exposure (ENENews, August 29, 2012):

At a gathering of politicians from prefectural and municipal governments in Japan, the veterinarian head of a non-profit organization called “Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan” told the audience, quite off-handedly,

People in Fukushima, Tochigi, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa where the radioactive plume went by, should not marry because the deformity rate of their offspring will skyrocket.

To the outraged delegation from Fukushima City, he says,

Tough. They misquoted me on purpose, I was just talking generalities.

Generalities. So these days in Japan, citing specific locales and predicting specific events like deformity of babies is talking generalities.
So far, only the delegation from Fukushima City is outraged. The reactions from the rest of Japan are two types:

Read moreRadioactive Japan: Head of The Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan Says ‘People in Fukushima, Part of Kanto Including Tokyo, Should Not Marry’ Because of Radiation Exposure

Copters To Measure Radiation In Bay Area

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– Copters to measure radiation in Bay Area (San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 25, 2012):

Federal safety agencies announced Friday that they will conduct low-flying helicopter surveys over the Bay Area next week to measure naturally occurring background radiation.

The daily flights starting Monday and ending Saturday are part of a joint research project between the Department of Homeland Security‘s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Energy Department agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Read moreCopters To Measure Radiation In Bay Area

DOE Memo: Bechtel Incompetent To Complete Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup

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– Bechtel Incompetent To Complete Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Memo (Forbes, Aug 29, 2012):

More than 10 years into the job, Bechtel National Inc. has been described as incompetent to complete the $12.2 billion nuclear waste treatment plant at Hanford, Wa., the nation’s largest radioactive waste site, according to an internal Department of Energy memo.In the Aug. 23 memo, the DOE official responsible for supervising engineering at the facility, Gary Brunson, calls for Bechtel to be immediately removed as the design agent for the novel Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), which was supposed to begin operation last year.

Brunson lists 34 “brief examples” of issues in which Bechtel’s design advice was factually incorrect, technically flawed, unsafe, or more costly than alternatives.

“The number and significance of these issues indicate that Bechtel National Inc. is not competent to complete their role as the Design Authority for the WTP, and it is questionable that BNI can provide a contract-compliant design as Design Agent,” Brunson writes in the memo.

Read moreDOE Memo: Bechtel Incompetent To Complete Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup

Russia Dumped Radioactive Waste And Nuclear Reactors In Arctic Seas

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– Russia announces enormous finds of radioactive waste and nuclear reactors in Arctic seas (Bellona, Aug 28, 2012):

Enormous quantities of decommissioned Russian nuclear reactors and radioactive waste were dumped into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia over a course of decades, according to documents given to Norwegian officials by Russian authorities and published in Norwegian media. Charles Digges, 28/08-2012Bellona had received in 2011 a draft of a similar report prepared for Russia’s Gossoviet, the State Council, for presentation at a meeting presided over by then-president Dmitry Medvedev on Russian environmental security.

The Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom confirmed the figures in February of this year during a seminar it jointly held with Bellona in Moscow.

Bellona is alarmed by the extent of the dumped Soviet waste, which is far greater than was previously known – not only to Bellona, but also to the Russian authorities themselves.

Read moreRussia Dumped Radioactive Waste And Nuclear Reactors In Arctic Seas

Japanese Officials Report Concerns About Gamma Rays Being Emitted From Fukushima Plant Debris

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– Japanese officials report concerns about gamma rays being emitted from Fukushima plant debris (ENENews, Aug 27, 2012):

Title: Japan: Post-Fukushima radioactivity low, gamma ray radiation more of a concern
Source: AP
Date: Aug 27, 2012

Japanese officials reporting on the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster say that gamma rays from the rubble left by the accident are now a greater concern than radioactive cesium still being emitted from the crippled nuclear plant.A report to an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting presented Monday says that cesium being released from the plant is at approximately 0.01 becquerels per hour [Note: Perhaps terabecquerels?], well below the health-hazard level. Shinichi Kuroki, who presented the report, says the greater challenge is to reduce relatively high gamma ray radiation from the plant debris.

[…]

What’s Inside The Suspect Nuclear Waste Tank At Hanford?

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Rendering of Hanford’s Double-Shell Tanks (DOE image)

– What’s Inside The Suspect Nuclear Waste Tank At Hanford? (Forbes, Aug 27, 2012):

When news broke last week that radioactive material had been found outside of the inner containment wall of a double-hulled tank at the nuclear waste cleanup site in Hanford, Wa, most reports characterized the contents of the tank as “radioactive waste.”But that’s more a category than a description.

The Energy Department has been eager to find out exactly what’s in the tank, which received wastes from leaky single-walled tanks and from more than a half dozen facilities at the Hanford site, including nuclear reactors, plutonium processing plants, a PUREX plant, and laboratories.

DOE funded many studies to analyze the chemical compounds in the tank, determine whether they could corrode the stainless-steel walls, and to anticipate the effects of a spill. Here’s some of what those studies found:

Read moreWhat’s Inside The Suspect Nuclear Waste Tank At Hanford?

Japan: More Homes To Be Built With Radioactive Cement

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– Saitama prefecture is going to start recycling disaster debris to cement (Fukushima Diary, Aug 28, 2012):

More houses will be built from radioactive concrete.

3 local governments in Saitama are going to accept disaster debris to recycle into cement.
In one of the cities, the city mayor died of myocardial infarction 2 days after attending at the test incineration of debris. (cf. Hospitalized Hidaka city mayor was at incineration test of debris 2 days before)

Read moreJapan: More Homes To Be Built With Radioactive Cement

Radioactive Japan: Major Supermarket Chain Sells Contaminated Food Up To 50 Bq/Kg

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– Major supermarket chain Aeon sells contaminated food up to 50 Bq/Kg (Fukushima Diary, Aug 26, 2012):


It’s becoming increasingly impossible to eat safe food in Japan.

A major Japanese supermarket chain, “Aeon,” has stopped selling radiation-free food.

On 11/8/2011, Aeon announced that they had set their own safety limit for food at 50Bq/kg. [Link]

The Japanese government’s safety limit is set at 100 Bq/kg, so Aeon’s safety limit is supposed to be doubly safe; however, it’s still not 0 Bq/kg.

Aeon published the results of radiation testing, but the testing was only done on a few samples.

Aeon is currently building their backup headquarters in Aichi, central Japan. (cf. Largest supermarket chain and Imperial family move their back up in western Japan)