Fukushima’s Unit Four reactor building is sinking and there is a threat of fission in the fuel rods in the spent fuel pool if the building collapses. Enenews.com

Japan needs to ask for international assistance in dealing with the Fukushima situation. akiomatsumura.com

Although Southern Co. recently announced reactors under construction at Plant Vogtle will exceed their original budgets, Georgia power regulators voted Tuesday to wait until the first unit is complete before addressing any cost overruns. nuclearstreet.com

Slovakia’s government agreed to limit the amount that the largest industrial electricity consumers have to pay into the state nuclear fund to help businesses in the face of an economic slowdown. bloomberg.com

Ambient office = .088 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .089 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .091 microsieverts per hour

Romaine lettuce from Costco =  .106  microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .081 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .063 microsieverts per hour

           There has been a lot of news lately about the mess at Fukushima. They are still not sure exactly where the cores are. Water is being pumped underground to cool the cores that melted into the earth. We are told that hundreds of tons of contaminated groundwater from Fukushima have been flowing into the Pacific daily since the accident. Estimates are that the plume of contaminated water will reach the West Coast of the U.S. within the next year. There are also models that show that there will be a measurable rise in radioactivity in the entire Pacific Ocean by 2020.

TEPCO has been storing hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated cooling water in tanks that they bolted together. Those tanks are almost full and in danger of corroding. The groundwater is rising up around the site, turning the ground into a swamp and threatening the stability of the buildings. And, at this point, it looks like the cooling water will be flowing directly into the Pacific soon. The latest plan is to pump liquid nitrogen down holes drilled into the ground in order to freeze the groundwater in place. I am still confused about this new groundwater threat and the groundwater that has been flowing into the Pacific for two years.

         At first TEPCO had only assigned two men to inspect over one thousand tanks for leaks. They were not even wearing dosimeters to monitor their radiation exposure. They did find some leaks and measured some increased radiation levels. Then it was found that the radiation meters that they were using were not able to measure above a certain level of radiation. TEPCO put more men on the monitoring with better Geiger counters and found a serious increase in radiation in the past few days on the order of eighteen times the previous averages for past months. This level can kill in hours. Some nuclear chemists day that it is not possible that the spike in radioactivity is from leaking tanks. They speculate that there may be active fission processes going on with the melted cores underground.

        In the past few days, some nuclear experts have been saying that the spent fuel pool in the weaken Unit Four reactor building at Fukushima may very well be the most dangerous situation that the human race has ever faced. Another earthquake could bring down the building and expose the fuel rods to open air which would cause them to burst into flames and burn. This would release massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere that would make its way around the whole world. TEPCO has decided that they are going to try to remove the rods manually because the automatic machinery has been destroyed. However, the radiation levels are high and very dangerous. If they disturb the rods as they try to remove them, they may trigger the lost of cooling water and the burning of the rods. Sort of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation.

        The Japanese government, after dithering around for two years has, finally decided that TEPCO is not competent to clean up the Fukushima mess. They promise to get more involved and have asked for external help from other countries that have nuclear technology. They do, however, claim that it is perfectly safe to hold the Olympics in Tokyo in spite of numerous reports of black dust and mold in Tokyo that tests positive for radioactivity. They are also shutting down one of the two reactors that they had restarted and are talking about shutting down the other one. But Prime Minister Abe is still running around the world trying to sell less developed nations Japanese nuclear reactors.

        There has been a viral picture circulating for several days on the Internet that purports to be a photograph of the Fukushima plant and the nearby ocean boiling. There is something in the air over the ocean but it could be anything from smoke to steam to mist. It is hard to tell and there has been no corroboration in the international media. But the International media and the Internet are certainly boiling over Fukushima. It is a truly international disaster and it is certainly not helping the floundering global nuclear industry.

Ocean boiling at Fukushima??

The spent fuel pool of Unit 4 at the Fukushima power plant may be the greatest threat that the human race has ever faced. voiceofrussia.com

A nuclear expert says that if the Japanese cannot locate and remove the melted fuel cores at Fukushima, then the site may have to be managed for thousands of years. Enenews.com

How much radiation does the average person absorb during normal activities? news.softpedia.com

The Japanese government announced Tuesday that it will spend $470 million on a subterranean ice wall and other steps in a desperate bid to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after repeated failures by the plant’s operator. www.cbsnews.com

Ambient office = .091 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .106 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .123 microsieverts per hour

Iceberg lettuce from Costco =  .094 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .087 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .057 microsieverts per hour

 

A nuclear expert says that Fukushima could be out of control for the next 100 years. Enenews.com

Japan will spend up to $500 million of public funds to tackle radioactive water leaks at Fukushima. voiceofrussia.com

An advocacy group for public employees is suing federal nuclear regulators over documents they say are unlawfully withheld — documents they say would prove the government has been covering up concern over what would happen to Oconee Nuclear Station should the Jocassee Dam ever fail. greenvilleonline.com

A nuclear power plant in Taiwan may have been leaking radioactive water for three years. huffingtonpost.com

Ambient office = .070 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .077 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .077 microsieverts per hour

Redleaf lettucefrom Costco =  .073 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .083 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .076 microsieverts per hour

Here are ten unbelievable Fukushima headlines. govtslaves.info

Radioactive water may contaminate entire Pacific Ocean in 6 years. arirang.co.kr

Henry Ewers, General Manager at Electrical Builders, wishes the general public was better educated as to the truth about nuclear power. analysis.nuclearenergyinsider.com

Environmental law was broken for Mochovce Power Plant construction in Slovakia. worldnuclearreport.org

Ambient office = .106 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .116 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .117 microsieverts per hour

Redleaf lettuce from Costco =  .078 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .107 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .096 microsieverts per hour

Why Fukushima is worse than you think. globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com

The West Bengal government in India doesn’t want nuclear plants and it is instead all set to introduce rooftop solar power schemes to increase its renewable energy supply. indiagazette.com

Governor says no nuclear waste disposal site is coming to Mississippi.  wdam.com

People against the idea of storing nuclear waste in the Saskatchewan province of Canada staged a protest Friday at a gas station just outside Saskatoon. cbc.ca