11/10/2013 What You Should Be Doing NOW to Protect Yourself from Radiation

Source:

Washington's Blog

[Editor's Note: Great financial blog with many insightful Fukushima articles as well.]
Date: 11/10/2013

Easy, Inexpensive Ways to Help Protect Your Family from Radiation

It is well-known that potassium iodide works to protect against damage from radioactive iodine by saturating our body (the thyroid gland, specifically) with harmless iodine, so that our bodies are unable to absorb radioactive iodine from nuclear accidents.
For example, the World Health Organization notes:

The thyroid gland is at particular risk from irradiation from radioactive iodine because the thyroid uses iodine to produce hormones that regulate the body’s metabolism.  The thyroid gland does not differentiate between non-radioactive and radioactive iodine.
***
When taken at the appropriate dosage and within the correct time interval around exposure to radioactive iodine, KI [i.e. potassium iodide] saturates the thyroid gland with stable (non-radioactive) iodine. As a result, radioactive iodine will not be taken up and stored by the thyroid gland.

11/11/2013 Radioactive water leak shuts down SC reactor.

Source: Reuters via The State
Date: November 11, 2013

Oconee Nuclear Station, Seneca (Oconee County, South Carolina)  Credit:Wikipedia

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A small radioactive water leak prompted Duke Energy to shut down a reactor Monday at the Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina.

Utility officials said the leak in Unit 1 poses no danger, but it is the second time in less than three weeks a problem has shut down a reactor at the nuclear plant near Seneca built 40 years ago.

Engineers first noticed the possibility of the leak Friday in the airtight, steel-lined concrete containment building designed to prevent any radiation from leaking into the air or ground. They spent the weekend trying to pinpoint its location and severity, Duke Energy spokeswoman Valerie Patterson said.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/11/11/3092094/radioactive-water-leak-shuts-down.html#storylink=cpy

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Read the rest here.

11/7/2013 Saudi Arabia said to have bought nukes from Pakistan

Source: The Times of Israel via TruNews
Date: November 7, 2013, 10:10 am

Test launch of a Pakistan-made Shaheen ballistic missile (screen capture: Youtube/Al Jazeera English)

Saudi Arabia may be prepared to field nuclear bombs it has purchased from Pakistan in response to Iran’s alleged military nuclear program, and may already have deployed missile systems capable of delivering the bombs, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
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Read the rest here. 

Editor's Note: Infowars also had an article from the BBC linked on their site titled Saudi nuclear weapons 'on order' from Pakistan.  

11/4/2013 Island of debris the size of TEXAS from 2011 Japanese tsunami is headed straight for the U.S.

Source: MailOnline via TruNews 
Date: 22:41 EST, 4 November 2013 | UPDATED: 05:32 EST, 5 November 2013

Gigantic: A floating island of debris the size of Texas is floating toward California coast after washing into the Pacific in Japan's horrific 2011 tsunami  Photo Credit: MailOnline

• Part of the over one million tons of debris dispersed in the Pacific, the trash island is located northeast of the Hawaiian Islands
• The first documented tsunami debris to reach California arrived in April 2013
• Boats, a dock, a soccer ball, and motorcycle have all been identified on the West Coast as confirmed tsunami debris

A floating island of debris the size of Texas has been crossing the vast Pacific Ocean to the western shores of the Americas since a devastating tsunami inundated Japan in 2011, says a new study.
 
Five million tons of wreckage - the remains of homes, boats, and other remnants of shattered lives in eastern Japan - were swallowed by the ocean that day in March, and more than one million tons of flotsam continues to head towards the west coast of the US.
 
While the first documented debris from the tragedy has already been found in California, scientists fear these new findings mean there could be a lot more to come and it might arrive all at once.
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Read the rest here.

10/17/2013 Toxic flush: Typhoon causes radioactive leaks at Fukushima

Source: Russia Today 
Date: 10/17/2013 15:34

AFP Photo / Japan Pool via JIJI Press Japan out

A powerful typhoon which swept through Japan led to highly radioactive water near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant being released into a nearby drainage ditch, increasing the risk of it flowing into the sea.
On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, said it had detected high levels of radiation in a ditch leading to the Pacific Ocean, and that it suspected heavy rains had lifted contaminated soil.

Workers say that Strontium-90 – a radioactive isotope of the alkaline earth metal strontium produced by nuclear fission – along with other isotopes that emit beta rays measuring 1,400 becquerels (Bq) per liter were detected in the ditch, which is located about 150 meters from the ocean, The Asahi Shimbun reported.
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Read the rest here.

Editor's Note: See more video reporting below concerning Typhoon Wipha and the radioactive water.

10/8/2013 S. Korea confirms North's Yongbyon plutonium reactor restart

Source: AFP (Agence France-Presse) via Infowars.com 
Date: October 8, 2013 08:53

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a report to parliament that the five megawatt reactor at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex had resumed operations, according to a joint briefing by ruling and opposition party lawmakers. South Korea's spy agency confirmed Tuesday that the North has restarted an aging plutonium reactor that could help boost its nuclear weapons programme. Read the rest here from AFP.

The 5 MWe experimental reactor (Credit Wikipedia)

Editor's Note: Map of Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center appears below.

9/19/2013 Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake hits near Fukushima I Nuclear Plant Area

Source(s): ENENews, USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Date: 2013-09-19 17:25:09 UTC (2013-09-19 11:25:09 CST)

M5.3 - 19km ESE of Ishikawa, Japan 2013-09-19 17:25:09 UTC

I grabbed the earthquake report off of the ENENews feed which collates several articles together, which are available here from ENENews. In summary TEPCO has been checking for earthquake damage and leaks but state they have not found anything (yet). Below is a map of the M5.8 Earthquake.

9/17/2013 Russia Warns of 'Catastrophe' If N. Korea Restarts Reactor

Source: The Jewish Voice 
Date: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 20:35
by: Anna Malpas

Commercial satellite images taken in recent months had indicated preparations for restarting the reactor were progressing rapidly Photo: IHS JANE'S/DIGITALGLOBE

On Thursday, September 12, Russia warned of a potential “man-made catastrophe” if North Korea restarts an aging plutonium reactor to boost its stockpile of nuclear weapons, after US experts spotted steam rising from the Yongbyon facility.
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Read full article here.

Editor's Note:  See also articles by AFP, AP and Bloomberg.  
Map of Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center appears below.

9/16/2013 Typhoon hits Japan as Fukushima operator releases water into sea

Source: AFP via Yahoo News
Date: 9/16/2013 ~5 PM CST

Typhoon Man-Yi in Kyoto overturns sightseeing boat on Katsura River which is now stuck on a bridge.  Photo Credit: AP/Kyodo News

Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan Monday, leaving three people dead and forcing the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release rainwater with low levels of radiation into the ocean.
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Read full article here.

Editor's Note: More details from NHK World on the Rainwater released from Fukushima plant into sea caused by Typhoon Man-Yi.  Maps of Typhoon Man-Yi's progress appear below.

9/14/2013 Japan to switch off nuclear power, may be some time before it's on again

Source: Reuters
Date: Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:17pm EDT
by:  Osamu Tsukimori

Fukushima prefecture panel examines leaking radioactive water tank (C in back) at Fukushima Daiichi, photo released Septermber 13, 2013  Credit: Reuters/Kyodo

(Reuters) - Japan is set to be nuclear power-free, for just the third time in more than four decades, and with no firm date for re-starting an energy source that has provided about 30 percent of electricity to the world's third-largest economy.

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Read full article here.

Editor's Note: Map of Ohi Nuclear Power Plant appears below.

9/13/2013 Dealing With Air Travel Radiation Exposure

Source: Care2.com
Date: 9/13/2013 9:30 am
by: Dr. Michael Greger

Doctors appear to be causing tens of thousands of cancers with CT scans and dentists may be causing a few brain tumors with dental X-rays (see my last two videos Cancer Risk from CT Scan Radiation and Do Dental X-Rays Cause Brain Tumors?), but what about these new-fangled airport full-body scanners that use so-called backscatter technology to reduce X-ray exposure? A thousand times less radiation exposure than a chest X-ray, though they’re still being phased out. In fact, flight passengers may get 100 times more radiation during the flight every hour, because they’re so high up in the atmosphere and exposed to more cosmic rays. Does that mean a round-trip cross-country flight is almost like getting a chest X-ray? Yes. Anyone who’s seen my speaking schedule knows I’m totally screwed. But what can you do? As is the answer to so many health questions, you can eat healthily.

9/11/2013 Russia to build second nuclear plant for Iran, deliver S-300

Source: Israel Hayom
Date: 9/11/2013
by: Amir Mizroch

The Bushehr nuclear plant.  Photo credit: AP

Russia will supply Iran with a modified version of the vaunted S-300 anti-aircraft system as well as build a new nuclear reactor for the Ayatollah's regime, the Russian daily Kommersant business newspaper reported Wednesday.
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Read the rest here.