Updates on the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

UPDATE: March 19, 2011: This post is now closed.

Updates on the situation at the Fukushima nuclear complex from March 17 -18, 2011. Most of the information is taken from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) website and Al Jazzera news.

1238: Power has now been restored to some parts of the Fukushima plant, reports the BBC's Chris Hogg - though reports suggest the power lines to the cooling systems will only now be switched on on Sunday, after system tests.

1200: Power lines have been connected to the Fukushima nuclear plant's reactor 2 but electricity has not been restored yet, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency has said according to AFP. "If the power is turned on without checks it may malfunction. They are checking the facility now. If no problem is found at the facility today, the power will resume as early as tomorrow [Sunday]."

0512: Engineers are expected to connect a new power line to four quake-damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant by the end of the day. Firefighters have continued to spray water in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.

0403: Tepco says temperatures have fallen in the spent nuclear fuel pool at reactor 5, reports Kyodo.

0349: The operator of the Fukushima power plant says engineers have bored holes in the roofs of the buildings housing reactors 5 and 6 to avoid a potential gas explosion, reports AFP.

0227: Japan has started using a cooling pump at the Fukushima plant's stricken reactor 5, according to several reports quoting the Japanese government. It is thought to be a diesel-powered pump, rather than a device powered by the still-to-be-reconnected electricity supply.

1950: Statement from the Fukushima station operator (Tepco): "Tepco has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied."

1927: Much has been made of the power cables being laid to restart water pumps that cool the reactors but a worrying report in the LA Times notes that some engineers believe the cooling pumps were irretrievably damaged by the initial hydrogen explosions.

1851: The power company, Tepco, has issued a statement today containing the following: "We would like to make our deep apologies for concern and nuisance about the incident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the leakage of radioactive substances to the people living in the surrounding area of the power station".

1848: Tokyo Electric Power Co, which operates Fukushima Daiichi, says it has now connected an external power line to its stricken plant and would first supply reactor 2 because it is less damaged, Reuters reports. The power is needed to operate the plant's badly-needed cooling systems, which were damaged last Friday.

1735: The operation to douse the overheating fuel rods at Fukushima resumed early on Saturday, AFP says, quoting a Tokyo Fire Department official. Five specially-equipped engines from the department poured seawater for 20 minutes. It's not clear what reactors were involved.

1630: Chile and the US have signed a nuclear energy agreement despite the ongoing situation at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. Chile is also on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has its share of powerful earthquakes.

1609: Japan's nuclear agency says it expects that work to install power cables to Number 1 and 2 reactors at Fukushima should be finished on Saturday, NHK news agency reports. Power cables to reactors 3 and 4 should be installed by Sunday. The electricity is urgently needed to run water pumps to cool the overheated reactors.

Get More Info: Here

Reid Kane on Rigor and the Intellectual Pursuit

Reid Kane has a refreshingly honest post (here) that speaks to an authentic dedication to understanding at the very core of his intellectual and existential pursuits. Here is an excerpt:

"I began to understand that while ‘truth’ can sometimes be a mere ideological prop, and discourse explicitly concerned with truth can be somewhat or even predominately power-laden, these phenomena deserve to be understood as distortions that betray the ideal to which they pretend, and that the solution is not to abandon the ideal and adopt a different approach altogether (one whose ideal is musicality rather than truth, for example), but to counter the pretenders with the genuine article."

I am glad Reid is blogging again and look forward to reading how his new interests develop.

Status of the Nuclear Reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant

Although reports are coming in that power may very soon be restored to the cooling systems at the plant, thereby averting total meltdown, the situation is still precarious. Below is the most up to date information on the status of the reactors:

Reactor 1 - Current Status:

The outer building is damaged and it is presumed that there was a partial meltdown; fuel rods reportedly 70% damaged. Small amounts of radioactivity have been vented. On March 12, 3:36 PM an explosion blows the roof and top walls off the reactor building. The reactor containment vessel is not significantly damaged.

Reactor 2 - Current Status:

A partial meltdown is presumed to have occurred; fuel rods reportedly 33% damaged. The containment vessel has been breached and some radioactivity has vented. On March 15, 6:14 AM an explosion near the pressure suppression pool damages the containment vessel around the reactor.

Reactor 3 - Current Status:

The reactor building has been damaged, the containment vessel may have ruptured and radioactive steam may be being released. On March 17, 11:00 AM helicopters began dumping water on the building in an effort to cover the spent fuel, which may have been exposed to the air. On March 14, 11:01 AM an explosion damaged the reactor building and the primary containment vessel. Eleven workers were injured.

Reactor 4 - Current Status:

Spent fuel rods in a water pool may have become exposed to air, emitting radioactive gases. An explosion and fire have damaged the building. On March 17, 5:00 AM the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the water covering the spent fuel rods may have boiled off. Japanese authorities have denied this. March 15, 6:00 AM a hydrogen-gas explosion created by chemical reactions with the spent fuel rods damages the building. A fire also breaks out.

Reactor 5 - Current Status:

The reactor is shut down and the building is not damaged. But there is concern that spent fuel in the building may become exposed to air.

Reactor 6 - Current Status:

The reactor is shut down and the building is not damaged. But there is concern that spent fuel in the building may become exposed to air.

[ h/t New York Times and all the great reporting on Twitter, the BBC and Al Jazeera ]

LIVE UPDATES:

• CBC | Live Blog of Disaster in Japan
• BBC | Japan Disaster Live Coverage
• Al Jazeera | Japan's Nuclear Emergency Live Blog

Japan Nuclear Emergency Live Updates:

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CBC | Live Blog of Disaster in Japan

BBC | Japan Disaster Live Coverage

Al Jazeera | Japan's Emergency Live Blog

Reuters | Japan Disaster Live Updates



no maps for these territories

“The world is increasingly unthinkable – a world of planetary disasters, emerging pandemics, tectonic shifts, strange weather, oil-drenched seascapes, and the furtive, always-looming threat of extinction. In spite of our daily concerns, wants, and desires, it is increasingly difficult to comprehend the world in which we live and of which we are a part. To confront this idea is to confront an absolute limit to our ability to adequately understand the world at all – an idea that has been a central motif of the horror genre for some time.” ~ Eugene Thacker, In The Dust Of This Planet

While I sit here watching and reading live feeds and reports on the escalating nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan I have to constantly brace myself to stop from crying. And the only thoughts I can generate are not at all helpful or hopeful.

We have all but ruined this planet. We have so thoroughly abused, polluted and desiccated it that it is fast becoming uninhabitable for many species, especially humans. A tipping point has been reached and there is no turning back. What kind of creatures do we think we are? How fucking arrogant and stupid we have become. The notion of 'hubris' is not even applicable at this scale.

 From where I view things the future, our collective future, is now opening unto the darkest horizon we ever dared to imagine. We have no maps for these territories.  

There is nothing in me that wants to do anything other than simply be as close to my family as possible. All pontifications are superfluous to the existential imperatives of love and intimacy. Our world, our loved ones are calling for us to feel deeper and act better than we ever have before. And at this point I got nothing else to give.

Anonymous Exposing Bank of America

At 12am EST this morning members of hacktivist group Anonymous released what they say is a cache of internal emails from a Bank of America-owned insurance company, which prove the "too-big-to-fail" financial institution engaged in mortgage-related fraud.

The emails are being referred to as “part 1″, and were originally released on the website BankofAmericasuck.com. That site has been consistently overloaded, and thus unavailable, for much of the morning. The documents have also been made available for download on a number of mirror locations, as well as in the form of a Google document.

The information was leaked by an Anonymous member who goes by the name OperationLeakS on Twitter. He is claiming to  have information from a former employee of Balboa Insurance, a firm once owned by Bank of America, which the source says keeps track of loans for lenders. To prove the authenticity of the source, OperationLeakS has posted a paystub, an unemployment form, a dismissal letter from Balboa and an ID badge to BankofAmericasuck.com.

An "anonymous insider” from the Bank of America has confirmed with the gossip website Gawker that these leaks are “legit,” and we should expect the release of some more sensitive files, as well as additional emails.

I hope there is much more leaked Bank-related information to follow. These criminals need to be exposed and dealt with. [see Krugman's latest here for more details] It is a sad note for democracy that a group of loosely assembled hackers are the only people capable of trying to keep private interests from ruining our social infrastructures. It is quite obvious to anyone tracking the decision-making and flow of money that Western government systems are no longer legitimate. Act accordingly.

This Is Your Brain On Media

click to enlarge

[ h/t k21 ]

:papercutz - Lylac (Helios Remix)

This is the advance single of :pa­per­cutz's new remix album "Do Outro Lado Do Es­pelho (Lylac Am­bient Reworks)". The track is "Lylac (He­lios remix)":

Original lyrics:

Image by Bette Burgoyne

"We're lost on an artificial light;
a white that blinds our human forms.
Take me away, from this moment on we'll be as one.

But wait, I seem to recognize you.
Your face reminds me of youth.
Lifetime of changes taking place... taking place.

We're all spinning round,
letting it all go now, has never been easier.

(It's the change of seasons...the tree of life)"

[ h/t Xenophrenia ]

Toxic Alberta: Government Delaying Action on Oilsands Contamination

"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we can't eat money."  - Cree proverb

It is official: an independent expert scientific panel has backed research that indicates Alberta oilsands development is releasing dangerous toxic contaminants into northern Alberta watersheds. The panel concluded that industrial extraction of oil from bitumen soaked tar sands in Northern Alberta is irreversibly polluting the Athabasca River. [source]

The panel also suggested that current government monitoring programs weren’t even trying to determine if the actual extent and nature of related pollution. David Schindler of the University of Alberta - whose work led to the formation of the panel - said it’s probably already too late to get a true picture of how energy development has affected the area. [source]

The six-member, government-appointed scientific panel’s task was to try to explain why official government accounts of pollution in the area clashed so sharply with those of independent scientific studies of Schindler and his co-authors. Alberta politicians have long argued that contamination in the Athabasca River is “stable”, at low levels, and “comes from eroding oilsands deposits along the riverbank”. But independent researchers, in papers published last year in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, traced hydrocarbons and heavy metals found in the land and water directly to industrial smokestack emissions and found levels toxic to fish. This new panel has now confirmed these independent results. [source]



The panel's report released Wednesday agreed with the findings from Schindler that oilsands operations are definately contaminating the environment. "Taking into consideration all data and critiques, we generally agree with the conclusion of (the independent scientists) that (chemicals) and trace metals are being introduced into the environment by oilsands operations," says the new report. [source]

With the government long claiming the contamination in the river is from natural resources, the Ministry of Environment quickly changed its tune Wednesday when environment minister Rob Renner told the press the government's position was never that there wasn't any impact, but that contamination in the river was negligible. "There is a certain degree of impact from industrial development from any area," Renner said. "I don't think anyone has ever suggested there is no impact." [source] 

Several studies over the last few years have raised concerns about contamination in the oilsands region. Collected information relative to water-quality standards indicates contamination in the Athabasca watershed is well under human health guidelines. An Environment Canada study found levels of toxic mercury in the eggs of water birds downstream from the oilsands seem to have grown by nearly 50 per cent over the last three decades. And Schindler has published another paper showing pollution is nearly five times greater and twice as widespread as industry figures say. [source]

The immediate response from provincial Government officials this week has been to say that any impact from the oil sands warrants further study but that NO ACTIONS are required at this time. Instead Environment Minister Rob Renner publically called for yet another review of data and the panel’s conclusions. [source]



The Suncor oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

By stalling and delaying intervention (or even regulation) into oilsands development Albertans and their governments continue to make it quite clear that urban economic interests trump the stability of the region's ecological systems, and far outweigh the documented adverse effects of contamination on the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. At least that much is clear. It is alway a good thing to know who your enemies are. Now it's time to get to work.

Read Other Oilsands Related Posts:

• From Tar Sands to Tankers
• Tumorous Fish Downstream from Alberta Oil Sands
• Oil Sands Toxins Rapidly Increasing
• Indigenous Groups Lead Struggle Against Tar Sands
• Petro Politics and Tar Sands Impact
• Most Destructive Project on Earth
• Shell Breaks Environmental Agreements for Oil Sands Projects

GasLand Trailer

This is a must see film if you want to know more about what corporations are doing to YOUR water. I dare you to watch this clip:

GASLAND - (2010) Directed by Josh Fox. Winner of Special Jury Prize - Best US Documentary Feature - Sundance 2010. Screening at Cannes 2010.

It is happening all across America and now in Europe and Africa as well - rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from a multinational energy conglomerate wanting to lease their property. The Reason? In America, the company hopes to tap into a huge natural gas reservoir dubbed the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground—a hydraulic drilling process called fracking—and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.

But what comes out of the ground with that natural gas? How does it affect our air and drinking water? GASLAND is a powerful personal documentary that confronts these questions with spirit, strength, and a sense of humor. When filmmaker Josh Fox receives his cash offer in the mail, he travels across 32 states to meet other rural residents on the front lines of fracking. He discovers toxic streams, ruined aquifers, dying livestock, brutal illnesses, and kitchen sinks that burst into flame. He learns that all water is connected and perhaps some things are more valuable than money.

This is what lack of regulation looks like. Not in my county. Never.