8/3/2011 Swedish man arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen; says it was only a hobby

Source: Associated Press via The Washington Post
Date: Wednesday, August 3, 10:34 AM

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby.

Richard Handl told The Associated Press that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.
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Read full article here

Editor's Note: See also "Swede held for building nuclear reactor in his kitchen" from a local English language Swedish publication.

8/3/2011 Fukushima Radiation Highest Ever, Exceeding Capacity of Measuring Device ... Fuel Likely Leaking Out Of Containment Vessel

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 8/3/2011

Things are - literally - heating up again at Fukushima:

• Tepco Says Highest Radiation Yet Is Detected at Fukushima Dai-Ichi

• 10+ sieverts per hour means there is direct exposure to fuel rods or spent fuel ponds: Australia’s former top radiation official

• Tepco: Ultra-high radiation levels may be from melted fuel that leaked out of containment vessel

• Paper: TEPCO needs to check if high radiation doses are “spreading elsewhere” — Two more spots appear to be above 10 sieverts per hour, but no plans to actually take measurements

• New indoor radiation dose record at Fukushima ... May be higher as it exceeded capacity of measuring device

• New York Times: Fatal Radiation Level Found at Fukushima — “Exceeded” 10 sieverts per hour, measuring device was maxed out

• Experts: Melt-through scenario means even higher radiation readings to come — Likely many more reports of deadly radiation in future

• Tokyo U. nuke expert: Radioactive substances may have “poured” into pipe during explosion — Levels could also be extremely high outside Reactors No. 3 and 4

• Asahi: Latest detection of such high radiation levels is evidence that radioactive material spewed from Fukushima at much higher levels than previously believed

In related news from Japan:

• Gov’t says 1,500 tons of highly radioactive sludge may end up as “soil for gardening”

• Japan gov’t: Agency funding project to monitor online info about Fukushima crisis — Around the clock monitoring of “blogs on nuclear power” and “Twitter accounts”

• “Collusive relationship” between Japan gov’t and nuclear power industry — U.S. regulators illustrate why it’s so dangerous

But Reuters notes that the world's most hazardous nuclear plant in terms of worker radiation exposure is in the U.S., not Japan. This Reuters graphic ranks the world's 5 most hazardous plants (Fukushima is only the 5th most hazardous):

(click for better image).
Other U.S. nuclear updates include:

• While it was initially claimed that only 2 acres were burned at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 133 acres were actually burned

• Radioactive fish have been found in Connecticut River — State officials trying to determine source of Strontium-90

• Whistleblowers Say Nuclear Regulatory Commission Watchdog Is Losing Its Bite

One piece of good news. The river level outside the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant has dropped to 1006 feet, well below the critical 1014 foot danger level:

8/3/2011 Thom Hartmann: Fukushima...what you haven't been hearing and why

Source: RT News
Date: 8/3/2011
by: Thom Hartman


Nearly five months after the earthquake and tsunami - Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant is still spewing radiation. Yesterday - Tokyo Electric Power Company said it detected the highest radiation levels to date at the crippled nuclear facility - recording ten thousand milliSieverts an hour - the maximum level the devices can even measure. The measures were taken just outside ventilation stacks in reactors one and two - reactors we saw explode in the weeks after the quake and tsunami. So what's going on here? Could the nuclear crisis in Japan ACTUALLY be worsening after 5 months? Here to shed some light on this issue is Kevin Kamps - Nuclear Waste Watchdog at Beyond Nuclear.