First World Economic System Based On Oil And Nukes

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From an email from Joel, a correspondent from Tokyo:

 

Great confusion about Fukushima

I hate TEPCO. They have cut corners. They have not been capable of handling the crisis with the reactors. I think the disaster should have been brought under government control immediately after it happened. The failure to disclose radiation readings immediately in the areas around the Fukushima plant of course resulted in everyone thinking that everything is a lie. I initially fully supported ZeroHedge’s gadfly prompting to disclose information which was clearly not being disclosed quickly enough.

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However, this following at ZeroHedge is really not helpful and just doesn’t have anything to do with what is actually happening here.

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The latest in the tragic story that just gets weirder by the minute.

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TEPCO’s mishandling of info on nuclear crisis ‘unacceptable’: Edano
Partial meltdown of fuel rods believed to be temporary: Edano
Radioactive water from No. 2 reactor due to partial meltdown: Edano
Contaminated water due to condensed steam, not reactor crack: Edano

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And our personal favorite:

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Locals within 20-km evacuation zone asked not to return for now

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This gives the impression that there are only brief statements being made. But every evening on NHK there are hours of documentaries explaining in detail what is happening at the plant using very detailed scale models and diagrams.

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Worse, these statements are being taken out of context and the translations are slightly off, so the nuance might seem laughable.

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I have been teaching Japanese translators for more than 20 years. Even the most veteran NHK native English speaking translators are struggling to translate what is happening in real time. The lack of correspondence between Japanese and English is enormous. So any brief translation you may see almost always sounds odd, especially if translated directly on the fly.  (ELAINE: So very true!  Fast translations are always dangerous, the further apart the linguistic history of a language is from each other!)

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.In the above statement by Edano:

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Locals within 20-km evacuation zone asked not to return for now

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ZeroHedge seems to imply that the entire area is permanently contaminated and will be uninhabitable for decades and that the authorities are just trying to hide this.

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But this is not what happened. People have been returning to their homes in the evacuation zones. Edano is trying to tell them not to go there now and to wait until they can determine when it is safe to return for brief periods to get their possessions LATER.

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There are no doubt specific areas that are contaminated and will have to be abandoned, but the contamination is not following the circular evacuation zone drawn on a map.

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So, cynical smirking can certainly have its uses and be perfectly called for sometimes. However, when that way of thinking hijacks your understanding of what is happening, and then you broadcast your misunderstanding, however much it may seem correct to you, that is really not helpful.

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If ZeroHedge is going to make statements like this, they really should get a native Japanese speaker on their staff and watch all of the NHK cable coverage in the US so that they do not misunderstand what is happening. Please continue to say what is true, but please do not inflame a situation with really simple misunderstandings.

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One of my friends is trapped in Sendai.  He has a lot of food because I sent him two big boxes from Costco two days before the quake… because I was trying to help him beat inflation…(ELAINE: Yes, inflation is raging in ZIRP Japan, big time!)

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I wanted to send him a box with supplies and snacks, but the 200 mile road to Sendai was completely destroyed in places.  It was completely repaired last week.  Deliveries by Yamato courier started on Friday, two weeks after the quake.  I sent my friend a box, and it went from Tokyo to Sendai in under 18 hours… unbelievable.

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Supplies are now flowing all along the coast.  Food is moving in.  Barrels of gasoline are being pumped into cars by hand pump for free, so now people can leave or do things to clean up.

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We are still having aftershocks daily, but I hope they have turned the corner.

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It isn’t only Japan that has nuclear power plants opting out of reporting serious incidents in the past:  30% US Nuke Plants Don’t Report Serious Trouble.  We can’t have a ‘safe’ system if everyone lies, covers up incidents or refuses to monitor their own reactors.  This isn’t like coal which burns or doesn’t burn and if burning improperly, shows black smoke.  The dangerous chemicals produced by coal furnaces isn’t what is bothering the bulk of the ‘environmentalists’, they began to focus more and more on CO2 instead which sidetracked sane solutions to the issue of energy systems polluting the planet in dangerous ways.

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Most Americans don’t know that right here in the US is the most nuclear-waste pollution outside of the former Soviet Union:  Photo Gallery: The Western Hemisphere’s Most Contaminated Place – SPIEGEL, Germany:

Fifty-two buildings at Hanford are contaminated, and 240 square miles (622 square kilometers) are uninhabitable because the soil is full of radioactive waste that seeps into the ground water: uranium, cesium, strontium, plutonium and other deadly radionuclides. Altogether, more than 204,000 cubic meters of that deadly refuse remain on site — two-thirds of America’s entire nuclear waste….When the Hanford site closed in 1988, the government launched a massive decontamination effort. Even today, the project still costs more than $2 billion (€1.4 billion) a year. The work is constantly interrupted by sloppiness, setbacks and accidents and isn’t supposed to be completed until 2052.

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So, this decontamination effort (burial) will be finished around 50 years from now?  And started in 1988?  Let’s be nice and assume this will cost $1 a year.  This means it will cost over $60 billion?  If it is over $2 billion a year, it will be $120 billion?  About one year fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq!  The military throws money around like there is no tomorrow.

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The point also is, this has to be deeply, deeply buried and buried encased in huge cement tombs and then we pray there are no earthquakes, etc.  But this region isn’t geologically quiet, it is actually rather active over the last 20 million years.

I know of no coal or oil burning plant that ends up with all the humans forced to flee, all the homes totally destroyed and buried deep in the ground while every living thing is stripped clean away!  The town of Hanford, Washington, no longer exists.  This shot of the surrounding lands shows clearly how on the other side of the Columbia river all the way down to Richland, there is a lot of irrigation and green stuff.  On the nuclear side of the river, the place which originated the first materials for the first nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan, is total dead wasteland.

This eerie Mordor-like landscape is inescapably an intrinsic part of the nuclear legacy.  This is literal ground zero of the Nuclear age as is the nuclear bomb testing grounds further south in the Nevada/California deserts and southern New Mexico.  The US nuclear processing program began in the middle of the Columbia Basin.  This is where

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…the region is underlain by Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group rocks and interbedded Neogene terrestrial sediments.

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Data about what lies under the Columbia River basalts are sparse. Along the Idaho border south of Spokane, steptoes that once were mountain tops consist of Precambrian Belt Supergroup sedimentary rocks and metamorphosed Cretaceous granites. These mountains were enveloped by Miocene basalts so that only the summits remain above the lava flows…

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.…The four formations of the Columbia River Basalt Group consist of 38 units or members that in the three-state area (Washington, Idaho, and Oregon), cover 63,208 square miles (163,700 km2), and have a volume of 41,820 cubic miles (174,300 km3). The greatest volume of basalts was erupted before 15.5 Ma. These flows have similar appearances; techniques have been developed, however, to fingerprint individual basalt units using whole-rock geochemistry and magnetic polarity. Within the Grande Ronde Basalt, individual flows exceed 480 cubic miles (2,000 km3) in volume. The flows were extruded from vents and northwest-trending fissures east of Pasco and in the southeast corner of the state. The flows were extremely fluid, and as a result a number of them reached the Pacific Ocean via the ancestral Columbia River drainage.

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There were periods of quiescence between major extrusive events. Erosion would take place, and tuffs, sandstones, and conglomerates would be deposited on top of basalt flows.

Yellowstone’s Colossal Columbia River Basin Lava Flow and Other Large Igneous Provinces on Earth and Mars

The point here is, maybe we can have another massive Yellowstone eruption and this will fix the Hanford nuclear mess!  Yeah, that’s the ticket!  Of course, the fact that Yellowstone belches out this massive, massive lava flows—only the Siberian Trap mega-flows and second to that is the Indian Decca plains flows and the Ethiopian basalt plains—seriously, Yellowstone can very much erupt again.  This, of course, could be the worst geological event to hit the earth in the last several million years if it happens again.  A rather scary thought, actually.

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We can either have another ice age or another Yellowstone event which may have been the major trigger for creating the series of Ice Ages which we have had since the very first Yellowstone-hot spot event which created the Snake River Plain in the first place!  The entire geological complex is volcanic just as all of Japan.  And yes, it is quite possible for a volcano to engulf any part of Japan’s nuclear power system not to mention more tsunamis.  It turns out the recent one may have been higher than 50 feet in some places.

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The news from Japan is also bad and remember, the news from Hanford, Washington is always bad, every year, year after year until Yellowstone erupts massively and fixes everything by wiping out much of the central US farming (volcanic dust) and encasing much of the Northwest in lava hundreds of feet deep…yeah, Japan’s mess continues to pollute the entire planet earth very quickly:  asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：TEPCO says damage possible to reactor pressure containers – English

 

TEPCO officials told reporters Monday morning that despite the continuous pumping in of water to cool down the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactor cores, water levels were not rising as expected, meaning the pressure containers may not be completely sealed off.  The water, which is believed to be mixing with radioactive materials from the fuel rods within, is likely leaking from the pressure containers, they said.

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Even Tokyo Electric admits this is happening.  Anyone who has been deluding themselves into believing that all is not amiss can now draw their heads out of the sand and say, ‘Oops!  It broke!  Big time!  Like, totally whacked!  Wow!’ and I cease being a chattering Cassandra and can say safely that from day one, I was pretty much right.  Despite desperate ‘ecologists’ yelling that no one dies in nuclear messes, no one is taking them very seriously (correctly so, I may add).  asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：POINT OF VIEW/ Heita Kawakatsu: Wean Japan from dependence on nuclear power – English

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An earthquake off Suruga Bay on Aug. 11, 2009, shook the No. 5 reactor at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant with a peak acceleration of 426 Gals, a reading more than twice as strong as those recorded at other reactors.

.We are now working to identify the causes of these gaps in the intensity of ground shaking. When a major earthquake occurs, we pay special attention to the intensity of shaking recorded at any nuclear power plant that was affected.

.But neither the NISA nor TEPCO has published much data on the intensities of shaking at the Fukushima No. 1 plant. The only facts that have been disclosed are that the peak ground accelerations at the No. 3 and No. 6 reactors reached 507 Gals and 431 Gals, respectively.

.Why have they not revealed the figures for the remaining four reactors–Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5? The trickle of information released by the agency and TEPCO has been very frustrating.

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May I venture to suggest that the cracks that are now glaringly obvious due to all the water being pumped in is leaking out, that this was caused by the earthquake itself?  The thought should occur to anyone who has worked with cement and I have worked a lot with cement.  It is not invulnerable to earthquakes. Far from it.

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Here is another editorial from Japan I find rather amusing:  EDITORIAL: Ministers must take the lead in power conservation.  One of the greatest griefs of all ‘ecologists’ who are worried about global warming, etc, is the hypocrisy matter.  That is, we have the very rich practically screaming at us to stop using so much energy and conserve power while they and the idle rich like Prince Charles go blissfully about sucking up seas of energy for ridiculous uses.  They really, really, REALLY don’t care.  Not one tiny, itty bitty bit.  They pretend to do this to make money.  But if there is no money, they don’t care.

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Nuclear power, so long as the insurance and costs for messes (see: Hanford nuclear power processing) are shouldered by taxpayers (those idiots who conserve energy and are scared of the world dying) is a great money maker which is why the rich are pushing so very, very hard to shove more nukes down our throats.  As the mess worsens in Japan, they have to figure out how to minimize the facts.  It isn’t working.

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Fukushima’s Cooling Efforts Are Delayed by Spilled Water and Radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear plant can’t be drained as condensers full – The Mainichi Daily News

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The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), had intended to drain the radioactive water into their condensers. However, the condensers of the No. 2 and 3 reactors are almost filled to capacity with water, company sources said.

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Therefore, TEPCO is considering moving the water in the condensers to other locations to make room for the radioactive water.

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To that end, however, temporary pumps need to be installed on the condensers, causing further delay in the ongoing work to restore power sources to cool down the reactors….In a related development, the spent nuclear fuel pools of two of the reactors appear to have been filled with water, TEPCO officials said….”If the additional tank of the No. 4 reactor is confirmed to be full, the reactor will be safe for now,” a TEPCO official said

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We can’t all be nuclear power plant experts.  I am not one. I am an expert in ‘human follies’ and this is easier to detail.  I am rather fond of geological and astronomical facts and I love previous human stories such as myths, etc.  The world is a very odd place full of hazards and this means, any energy system that can outlast our existence on this planet is a very bad idea for lighting up sky scrapers at night or refrigerating our beer.

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Nuclear Free Planet

 

 

A Statement by Helen Caldicott

What we have also seen is a second  tsunami of a different kind – a tidal wave of blow-back from the nuclear industry around the world, which has been rocked back on its heels by Fukushima but is now regrouping.    There are claims that radiation is good for you; that nuclear power is still the only  answer to global warming;  and that  fears about the safety of nuclear power are unwarranted and panic-stricken.

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Let us be clear:  there are billions and billions of dollars at stake for the nuclear industry, which has, as I’ve written earlier, managed to bamboozle governments around the world , much of the press, and many ordinary citizens into believing that nuclear power is green and clean.  Nothing could be further from the truth.   The industry  will not walk away from that money without a fight.

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Helen Caldicott links to these sites:  Modélisation de la dispersion des rejets radioactifs dans l’atmosphère à l’échelle globale – 22 mars 2011 This one is from France and shows how the nuclear debris is circulating across the ENTIRE planet.  Already, many  more communities are finding traces of this ‘accident’ in their water.  Note that Japan is being  hit the least!  Wonderful, no?  We, in North America, are being hammered.

Finally, here is an interesting article which pleases me because without reading a single article about Thorium, I got very upset about it based mainly on the thought that this hideous stuff has a half-life the same length as the entire universe!   http://nuclearfreeplanet.org/thorium-fuel-no-panacea-for-nuclear-power.html

 

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Thorium is not actually a “fuel” because it is not fissile and therefore cannot be used to start or sustain a nuclear chain reaction. A fissile material, such as uranium‐235 (U‐235) or plutonium‐239 (which is made in reactors from uranium‐238), is required to kick‐start the reaction. The enriched uranium fuel or plutonium fuel also maintains the chain reaction until enough of the thorium target material has been converted into fissile uranium‐233 (U‐ 233) to take over much or most of the job. An advantage of thorium is that it absorbs slow neutrons relatively efficiently (compared to uranium‐238) to produce fissile uranium‐233..

The use of enriched uranium or plutonium in thorium fuel has proliferation implications. Although U‐235 is found in nature, it is only 0.7 percent of natural uranium, so the proportion of U‐235 must be industrially increased to make “enriched uranium” for use in reactors. Highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium are nuclear weapons materials.

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In addition, U‐233 is as effective as plutonium‐239 for making nuclear bombs. In most proposed thorium fuel cycles, reprocessing is required to separate out the U‐233 for use in fresh fuel. This means that, like uranium fuel with reprocessing, bomb‐making material is separated out, making it vulnerable to theft or diversion. Some proposed thorium fuel cycles even require 20% enriched uranium in order to get the chain reaction started in existing reactors using thorium fuel. It takes 90% enrichment to make weapons‐usable 1uranium, but very little additional work is needed to move from 20% enrichment to 90% enrichment. Most of the separative work is needed to go from natural uranium, which ahs 0.7% uranium‐235 to 20% U‐235.

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It has been claimed that thorium fuel cycles with reprocessing would be much less of a proliferation risk because the thorium can be mixed with uranium‐238. In this case, fissile uranium‐233 is also mixed with non‐fissile uranium‐238. The claim is that if the uranium‐ 238 content is high enough, the mixture cannot be used to make bombs without a complex uranium enrichment plant. This is misleading. More uranium‐238 does dilute the uranium‐233, but it also results in the production of more plutonium‐239 as the reactor operates. So the proliferation problem remains – either bomb‐usable uranium‐233 or bomb‐usable plutonium is created and can be separated out by reprocessing….

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…Finally, the use of thorium also creates waste at the front end of the fuel cycle. The radioactivity associated with these is expected to be considerably less than that associated with a comparable amount of uranium milling. However, mine wastes will pose long‐term hazards, as in the case of uranium mining. There are also often hazardous non‐radioactive metals in both thorium and uranium mill tailings….

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…Thorium may be abundant and possess certain technical advantages, but it does not mean that it is economical. Compared to uranium, thorium fuel cycle is likely to be even more costly. In a once‐through mode, it will need both uranium enrichment (or plutonium separation) and thorium target rod production. In a breeder configuration, it will need reprocessing, which is costly. In addition, as noted, inhalation of thorium‐232 produces a higher dose than the same amount of uranium‐238 (either by radioactivity or by weight). Reprocessed thorium creates even more risks due to the highly radioactive U‐232 created in the reactor. This makes worker protection more difficult and expensive for a given level of annual dose.

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Thank you, Arjun Makhijani and Michele Boyd for arriving at the same conclusion with better information as I.  I did it flying rather blindly but knew deep in my nuclear bomb-exposed bones that something was very, very wrong with thorium.  Aside from the obvious (Thor and I have a very violent relationship!).  I went to http://www.thoriumpower.com and found their pdf files but not their home page which is actually this insidious, deceptive name:  Lightbridge : Home

This reminds me of all the promises for nuclear power in previous years.  We shouldn’t rush into this without considering the possibility that once we do this, we open even more devilish Pandora Boxes of even worse catastrophes.  Mere promises are not enough.  Rigorous tests to see if there are real problems is necessary especially if the story above this one is true, too.  That is, the benign appearance may be due to wishful thinking coupled with greed=a very dangerous combination.

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