"Fukushima: Hanging by a Thread
by Dr. Mark Sircus
theintelhub.com
April 27, 2012
After writing my essay “Radioactive Hell on Earth”—actually I wanted to change that title to “Fukushima on Steroids”—I see Christina Consolo’s essay “Fukushima is Falling Apart”:
Are you ready—it is becoming clear that we, our children and our entire civilization is hanging by a thread. It is a very sorry thing to report that we have literally shot ourselves in the foot with a big nuclear shotgun full of radioactive particles of the worst conceivable kind.
It has taken a year but finally “a U.S. Senator finally got off his ass and went to Japan to see what is going on over there. What he saw was horrific. Reactor No. 4 building is on the verge of collapsing.
Seismicity standards rate the building at a zero, meaning even a small earthquake could send it into a heap of rubble. And sitting at the top of the building, in a pool that is cracked, leaking, and precarious even without an earthquake, are 1,565 fuel rods.”
If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire that could wipe out most of the northern hemisphere; certainly it would be a massive civilization-breaking event....
Consolo says, “If this pool collapses, as Senator Wyden is now saying too, we would face a mass extinction event from the release of radiation in those rods. This may be the most important thing you ever pay attention to for the sake of your family, friends, your neighbors, every one you know and meet, all of humanity.”
“Preliminary reports of soil contamination are starting to come in from the USGS, who has seemed reluctant to share this information. Los Angeles, California, Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado so far have the highest radioactive particle contamination out of the entire U.S.
Iodine, cesium, strontium, plutonium, uranium, and a host of other fission products have been coming directly from Japan to the west coast for thirteen months. Reports in the past week indicate the pollen in southern California is radioactive now too, and it is flying around, and if you live there and go outside, you are breathing it in. And so are your children,” continued Consolo....
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And what am I reading about Japan in my Globe?
"Japan faces nuclear-free period in May as reactors stay shut" Bloomberg News, April 17, 2012
OSAKA, Japan - Japan may be without atomic-generated electricity for the first time in more than four decades next month, when its last reactor still running after the Fukushima nuclear disaster shuts for maintenance.
Since the crisis on March 11 last year, 53 of Japan’s 54
reactors have been shut, because of either damage from the earthquake
and tsunami, government order, or mandatory maintenance. The plants
provided 30 percent of the country’s electricity prior to Fukushima. The
last one running, on the northern island of Hokkaido, goes offline from
May 5....
“Ultimately, the Japanese citizen will be most affected by the delay in the restarts in paying higher electricity bills,’’ said Tomoko Murakami, a nuclear analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.
Japan’s 10 regional power utilities bought record amounts of liquefied natural gas last year to replace nuclear power, according to data Monday from the Federation of Electric Power Companies.
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Yeah, nothing to worry about.
"Japan cuts $3.7b in Myanmar’s debt; Cites democratic, economic reforms" by Malcolm Foster | Associated Press, April 22, 2012
TOKYO - Japan said Saturday it will forgive about $3.8 billion of Myanmar’s debt and resume development aid as a way to support the country’s democratic and economic reforms.
Hey, what's a hundred-million dollars when it comes to MSM accuracy?
Never mind the lying and such; they can't even add.
The government made the announcement after a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Myanmar president Thein Sein after a summit with leaders from the five nations of the Mekong River region.
Myanmar’s military junta last year handed power to a nominally
civilian government that has surprised the world with a series of
political and economic reforms, including releasing political prisoners
and allowing democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to contest recent
parliamentary special elections.
Not that I'm against the debt forgiveness; however, here is Japan's economy in contraction with the world's worst environmental disaster in history on their hands and they are forgiving billions in payments owed and promising more aid. If I'm a Japanese citizen I wondering WTF.
Japan does not have sanctions against Myanmar, although it cut most government aid in 2003 after Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest, which ended last November.
Japan was Myanmar’s largest aid donor until 2003 and has continued small amounts of humanitarian grass-roots aid in health and education.
Japanese companies have held back from investing in Myanmar in recent years because they did not want to upset relations with the United States and the European Union, which had imposed sanctions on the country, and because of the lack of transparency in business laws.
On Friday, Thein Sein told Japanese business leaders that his country is eager for their investment and know-how to help his country grow.
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Related: EU poised to ease curbs on Myanmar
EU lifts more sanctions on Myanmar
Myanmar opposition objects to oath
Yeah, yeah, I already saw that.
You see what is important to the agenda-pushing war media, no?
Boston's Burmese revel in new year
Let's hope and pray we all have one.
Next Day Update:
"Drilling probe sets ocean depth record
TOKYO - A Japanese deep-sea drilling probe has set a world record for depth, reaching 25,400 feet below the sea surface, the research institute that launched it said. The Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, was digging the seabed off Japan’s northern coast to take fault samples and study last year’s earthquake and tsunami (AP)."
