12/17/2012 More Lessons From the Fukushima Daiichi Accident

Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Date: 12/17/2012
by: Arnie Gundersen

Description
In this Monday's video, Fairewinds investigates a recently released report from Tokyo Electric. Arnie Gundersen discusses TEPCO's latest analysis that, almost two years after the accident, fully substantiates Fairewinds long held position that the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 was the result of a detonation shock wave. Arnie also discusses troubling reports that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been avoiding the analysis of damage to many nuclear plants' emergency cooling systems (Ultimate Heat Sink) from storm surges, tsunamis or dam failures. The ramifications of both of these issues on old designs and also the AP1000 are also analyzed in depth.

6/19/2012 Reporter Bob Powell Reports on Mysterious Explosion in Michigan

Reporter Bob Powell who lives in Alpena, Michigan was arrested for attempting to interview the Executive Secretary at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training center whom he had called over the phone to inquire about the mysterious explosion which occurred at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 6/6/2012.  The reply on Bob's answering machine is that they (the base) were not responsible for the blast and did not know what caused it.  As per Bob Powell he has done reporting from military bases before without ever being arrested or subject to harsh treatment/threats.

Reporter Detained/Arrested Investigating Mysterious Explosion 6/6/12 (Part 1 - Witness Redacted)

Reporter Detained/Arrested Investigating Mysterious Explosion That Rocked N.E. Mi On 6-6-12 (2 of 2)

Below is Bob Powell's insightful CNN iReport titled Nuclear Coverup In Michigan?
(quoted verbatim):

As far as what’s been going on in Michigan this past week, here is what I can prove so far.

1. There was a huge explosion that rocked hundreds of square miles of North East Michigan last Wednesday. Not only have scores of people posted about their experience on Facebook, but Terry Kins, the Undersheriff of Alpena County, gave me his own account face to face.

2. The Undersheriff said local law enforcement is at a loss to explain the origin of the explosion. Deputies were dispatched to investigate, but no source was ever found. I’ve spoken to every state and federal government agency that might have the slightest oversight of this issue, from N.O.A.A. and the US Geological Survey, to the State Police; but they have all told me that they have no idea what could have caused the blast.

3. The local news media has not said a single word about this explosion. One would think that an unexplained blast that rocked hundreds of square miles might be a subject of interest for reporters in a town where the biggest events to happen all year are the Brown Trout and Potato Festivals; but there has not been a peep from any of them.

4. Roughly an hour and 45 minutes after the explosion here in Alpena, a radiation spike was recorded at three separate facilities simultaneously along the Michigan and Indiana border. Normal background radiation at those stations is 5 to 6 Counts Per Minute, but these brief spikes peaked at over 7 THOUSAND Counts Per Minute; and then the instruments fell silent.

5. The EPA quickly took down the reading, but a quick thinking internet user was able to grab a screenshot first. The EPA blamed a “glitch” in the instruments, but I find it difficult to believe that instrument packs from three different networks – two privately owned and one government-run - failed simultaneously with the same glitch. In addition, a police officer from Chicago also reported a radiation spike on the instruments at the police lab there. So that is FOUR reputable sources that recorded a radiation spike last Wednesday.

6. There have been insane amounts of military activity in Michigan over the past week. According to one witness I spoke with at the Alpena County Courthouse last Wednesday, a flight of Apache gunships came in off of Lake Huron heading west at the time of the blast we heard here in Northeast Michigan. Down below near the Indiana border, Apache gunships, Black Hawks, Chinooks, A-10 Thunderbolts, and AC-130 Spectre Gunships have been photographed in the skies.

7. While not proof of anything sinister in itself, it is interesting to note that Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is currently running a “Nuclear Containment Drill,” and a fleet of Department of Homeland Security Nuclear Emergency Response HazMat trucks has been reported to have left its normal campus where the vehicles have been parked, immobile, for years.

8. The military doesn’t seem to care about the concerns of the residents in Michigan. A message was left on my cell phone by the Alpena CRTC’s executive assistant denying any knowledge of the source of the blast. These people are supposed to be in charge of our national security, and the best answer they can come up with is “It wasn’t us?”

9. When I tried to get that statement on video, I was arrested the second I stepped on to the base. If I was just some nosy busybody, I could understand that; but I have credentials going back almost a quarter of a century. I’ve interviewed Congressmen, Senators, Governors, Presidential candidates. During Desert Storm, I was responsible for reporting from Peterson Air Force Base, the US Space Command, the 4th ID out of Ft. Carson, and NORAD for KVOR and the CBS Radio Network.

If I can interview spokesmen at those bases during a time of war the question has to be asked: Why the stonewalling now, in peacetime, at this tiny little base tucked away in the back woods of Northern Michigan?

1st report - http://youtu.be/TJO3zdXXhTY
Update - http://youtu.be/_VvFFXBmtgo

BP

The only item I would take issue with is 4. as we do have conflicting information from Radiation Network.  As per Tim Flanegan who runs Radiation Network, the experienced operator whose station reported the 7K CPM (counts per minute) Geiger counter reading is positive his computer software and not the Geiger counter itself was responsible for misreporting the high 7K CPM reading.  Also the same Geiger counter is confirmed to have fed in to both Radiation Network and Black Cat Systems, which would give the false impression that two different stations in the same area corroborated elevated radiation. See 6/15/2012 Radiation Network Alerts Show They are POSITIVE South Bend, IN was a FALSE Detection for details.

4/8/2012 Fukushima Unit 3 Fuel Pool, Did it Explode?

Source: Goddard's Journal
Date: 4/8/2012


Description

Footage used:

March 16, 2011 flyover of Fukushima:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV_r5Ifp8-I&hd=1
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/2011/201103-e/110317-01e.html

March 17 saw the first effort to add water to the fuel pools:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_nuclear_accident_log,_March_2011#Thurs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00YjEOpnsCc#t=30s

Infrared Imagery:
http://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/defense/saigai/tohokuoki/temp.html

Unit 3 overhead shot, March 24:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLXtUnE5cFG_y-oxUmsVuqDKwJ4xorr0NBQkndFjN6mgYrcFMMHSraczGCOf104o757Jt0gR1mrEMKaIKdECv6L6TADaZ5WhW1absFhR68o6VtJMvMmTYC66t8OwlzPTgWF7YxxUz5dIc/

Unit 3 directly above fuel pool, brief clip in news report:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThB9yg8wCSY#t=0m24s

More footage of girders underwater at the NW pool corner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Okncug11aY#t=6m4s

Unit 3 fuel pool, underwater footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KugIrnThul0

12/6/2011 Hartmann: Fukushima...Has the China Syndrome now officially begun?

Source: RT News
Date: 12/6/2011 upload date


Paul Gunter, Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann. The crisis at Fukushima continues. Over the weekend - the crippled Japanese nuclear plant spewed even more highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean - roughly 45,000 liters in all. According to a French nuclear research institute - since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began in March - the plant has leaked more radioactive material into the ocean than has ever happened before in the history of the planet. And he claims that after more than 8 months since an earthquake and tsunami triggered this crisis - it's inevitable that nuclear fuel has leaked into the groundwater - meaning the "China Syndrome" is officially upon us. He also warned that if underground water gets overheated - it could trigger a hydrovolcanic explosion. So what does all this mean? Time to ditch nuclear power - the most expensive and dangerous form of energy on Earth.

11/22/2011 Fukushima: “China Syndrome Is Inevitable” … “Huge Steam Explosions”, “Massive Hydrovolcanic Explosion” or a “Nuclear Bomb-Type Explosion” May Occur

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 11/22/2011

Fukushima May Blow

I’ve repeatedly noted that we may experience a “China syndrome” type of accident at Fukushima.
For example, I pointed out in September:

Mainichi Dailly News notes:

As a radiation meteorology and nuclear safety expert at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, Hiroaki Koide [says]:
The nuclear disaster is ongoing.
***
At present, I believe that there is a possibility that massive amounts of radioactive materials will be released into the environment again.
At the No. 1 reactor, there’s a chance that melted fuel has burned through the bottom of the pressure vessel, the containment vessel and the floor of the reactor building, and has sunk into the ground. From there, radioactive materials may be seeping into the ocean and groundwater.
***
The government and plant operator TEPCO are trumpeting the operation of the circulation cooling system, as if it marks a successful resolution to the disaster. However, radiation continues to leak from the reactors. The longer the circulation cooling system keeps running, the more radioactive waste it will accumulate. It isn’t really leading us in the direction we need to go.
It’s doubtful that there’s even a need to keep pouring water into the No.1 reactor, where nuclear fuel is suspected to have burned through the pressure vessel. Meanwhile, it is necessary to keep cooling the No. 2 and 3 reactors, which are believed to still contain some fuel, but the cooling system itself is unstable. If the fuel were to become overheated again and melt, coming into contact with water and trigger a steam explosion, more radioactive materials will be released.
***

 We are now head to head with a situation that mankind has never faced before.

9/16/2011 SILENCE On French Nuclear MOX Plant Explosion! There is NO more information, except for the original story! WHY?!

Source: Sherrie Questioning All
Date: 9/16/2011

 France - Marcoule Nuclear Plant

I have been searching and searching for updated information about France's Marcoule nuclear site explosion, which was identified as being a MOX fuel site.  France has claimed it was an industrial explosion and not a nuclear explosion, but it happened at a MOX fuel producing part of the nuclear power plant.

...

Read full article here

9/13/2011 Marcoule: an increase in radioactivity was observed in the Gard, Vaucluse and Herault

Source: Passerellesud via ENENEWS
Date: 9/13/2011
[Editor's Note:  Below is the original French article piped through Google Translate]
"A level of radioactivity 10 times the daily measurement of Avignon and 4 times higher than the Mont Ventoux"

According to an article published September 13, 2011 on the website of the anti-nuclear coordination Southeast (see below), an "anomalous increase" of radioactivity on the detection of X-rays, Gamma and Beta particles have been measured within a radius of 120 km downstream of Marcoule.
 
On September 12, 2011 anti-nuclear members of the Collective have made the Vaucluse independent measurements of radioactivity in different parts of Vaucluse, Gard and Herault, see the statement below:

No "credible explanation" from the makers of the nuclear accident at Marcoule and the weight of the French nuclear lobby, the collective anti-nuclear states that the cause of this increase in radioactivity could be directly linked to the bombing in the Gard.
 
In the same article, said that the collective anti-nuclear Provence is the region most nuclearized of France and its inhabitants, like those of Fukushima or Chernobyl, are daily exposed to radiation produced by the nuclear industry and the dangers posed by the French sites Triscastin, Marcoule and Cadarache, located on active seismic faults [ 1 ].
 
Finally, the collective anti-nuclear states that in the Vaucluse area of ​​malfunctions in the center of nuclear radioactive waste processing (Centraco), would do "not his first attempt," he refers to it to the list very official of accidents and incidents recorded by the ASN (Nuclear Safety Authority).
For more details read the article: Nuclear Incident at Marcoule: At least 1 dead, wounded and radiation

---

To cite this article:

Drozerah "Marcoule: an increase in radioactivity was observed in the Gard, Vaucluse and Herault," Passerellesud.org, first broadcast September 14, 2011. ISSN: current request. URL: http://passerellesud.org/Marcoule-une-augmentation-de-la.html

9/12/2011 Explosion occurs at French nuclear facility

Source: NHK World
Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 05:55 +0900 (JST)
by: Keiko Kitagawa


An explosion has occurred at a nuclear waste processing plant in the suburb of Nimes in southern France. The country's nuclear safety body says no radioactive leaks have been detected. The blast in Marcoule took place shortly before noon on Monday. One person reportedly died and 4 others were injured. The nuclear agency says the explosion occurred in an oven used to melt metallic waste that contains very little radioactivity. The plant is operated by a subsidiary of the EDF power company. A spokesperson says a fire broke out after the explosion, but it has since been brought under control. Local media say no evacuation orders have been issued to residents living near the facility. The nuclear safety authorities are investigating how the blast occurred. The International Atomic Energy Agency has set up a task force. It is asking the French authorities to provide details of the accident in order to ascertain the situation.

Editor's Note: For the history of the Mercoule Nuclear Facility, see the article "Marcoule's long nuclear history".

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

9/12/2011 Explosion Hits French MOX Nuclear Site

Source: Infowars
Date: Monday, September 12, 2011
by: Paul Joseph Watson




An explosion at a French nuclear facility that processes dangerous MOX plutonium has killed one person and injured four others, provoking fear that radioactivity could be escaping into the atmosphere, although officials have played down such concerns.

...
Read full article here

6/26/2011 TEPCO failed to report possible hydrogen explosion

Source: Asahi.com
Date: 6/26/2011

Smoke rises from the No. 3 reactor  at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power  plant which exploded in March.  (Asahi Shimbun)

Tokyo Electric Power Co. knew there could be an explosion at the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant the day before it happened, but didn't report the possibility to authorities. The failure to notify the central and local governments was revealed in reports submitted by TEPCO to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The reports were made available on NISA's website June 24. ... Read full article here

5/31/2011 | Blast at Japan nuclear plant 'likely gas cylinder'

Source: AFP via Yahoo News
Date: Tue May 31, 4:00 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – An explosion was heard Tuesday at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but no rise in radiation levels nor any injuries were reported, the plant operator said.
...
Read full article here