7/6/2012 As Japan Says Fukushima Disaster "Man-Made & Preventable", Fears Grow for Nuclear Plants

Source: Democracy Now
Date: Friday, July 6, 2012

Video Description

DemocracyNow.org - A Japanese parliamentary inquiry has concluded last year's nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster — that could and should have been foreseen and prevented." We speak to former nuclear industry executive Arnie Gundersen about the report and what it means for U.S. nuclear facilities, in particular the 23 with a similar design to the Fukushima plant. "There is some curious information on Fukushima Unit 1, the first one to fail," Gundersen says. "It was built by an American company, General Electric, and an American architect/engineer. It's hard for the Japanese to blame themselves when this was an all-American design ... I'm concerned that the nuclear industry in the United States will say it's a Japanese problem, and it's not."

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7/3/2012 Collapse of spent fuel storage pool at Fukushima Daiichi could be worse than initial accident, says new report

Source: Bellona via TruNews
Date: 7/3/2012
by: Charles Digges

The devastation of buildings at Fukushima Daiichi makes unclear how long it will be before spent fuel from the pond and reactors is safely stored.

Kyodo

A collapse of the already tilting reactor No 4 building at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, ¬atop which sits a spent nuclear fuel storage pool containing 1,535 fuel assemblies – including 204 unused ones – would lead to a “significant global impact,”– by far topping last year’s triple meltdown at the plant, a new report says.
...
Read the rest here

7/2/2012 Kim Jong-Il ordered uranium bombs: reports

Source: Japan Today
Date:  JUL. 02, 2012 - 02:53PM JST

Pyongyang has long maintained that it was enriching uranium solely for the purpose of power generation

TOKYO (AFP) —

The late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il ordered his scientists to produce “a massive amount” of uranium bombs, according to internal regime documents, reports in Japan said on Monday.
...
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7/1/2012 TEPCO resumes cooling Fukushima Daiichi No. 4 reactor fuel pool | House of Japan - Japan News Technology Autos Culture Life Style

Source: House of Japan
Date: Published on Monday, 02 July 2012 

TOKYO, July 1, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday it has resumed cooling the spent fuel pool of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant's No. 4 reactor following emergency repair work after the cooling system shut down on Saturday.
 ...
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7/2/2012 i am radioactive! or: my PET/CT scan - F-18 DOPA (fluorodopa)

Source: bionerd23
Date: 7/2/2012
Editor's Note: I was a bit shocked when I saw this video, poor lady allowed herself to be turned in to a human guinea pig. ;'(

Video Description
my brain is now running on radioactive dopamine...

i was injected with 200 MBq F-18, a radioactive isotope of fluorine, in the chemical form F-18-DOPA.
200 MBq means 200 million decays, resulting in 400 million gamma rays (annihilation photons) every SECOND.
this again resulted in an acute dose of about 5 mSv (including the 0.5 mSv CT scan prior to the PET scan) to me.

this was a scientific study (ethics-commission approved) to study the mechanisms of learning.
studies like this are performed on healthy test subjects on a daily basis.
i'm curious to hear your opinion on the matter...

but anyway, i am not ill, i am a healthy test subject...
or: my PET CAT is chasing the radioactive LAB RAT! =) 

6/30/2012 Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Cooling Problems

This development looked somewhat alarming.  Apparently the spent fuel pool from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4 building has lost cooling as of 6:25 AM EST Saturday Morning (6/30/2012) as per WSJ MarketWatch.  According to TEPCO the temperature climbed at a rate of 0.26 C by late Saturday afternoon.  Quoting MarketWatch:

 [...]

If Tepco continues to be unable to cool the pool, the temperature could reach 65 C, which is the upper limit designated in the safety regulations, on Tuesday morning.

[...]

Here is another estimate from Fukushima Diary if the spent fuel pool cooling is offline for a longer period:

[...]
Prof. Takeda [Link] estimates the coolant water of SFP4 will reach 100℃ in the evening of 7/5/2012 (Thursday).
[...]

Spent fuel pool 4 contains 1535 fuel rods and there have been continued fears that a collapse of the elevated pool due to another earthquake could cause a massive release of radiation in to the environment, possibly rendering Japan uninhabitable.

6/27/2012 Fukushima report prompts anger at TEPCO meeting

Source: ABC Radio Australia
Date: 27 June 2012, 11:53 AEST

In its report, TEPCO denies ever hiding information, blames the government for confusion and delays, and rejects suggestions it ever downplayed the seriousness of the meltdowns. (Credit: Reuters)

Anger against the company has intensified, after it released an in-house report into the disaster, in which it denies ever hiding information and blames the Japanese Government for confusion and delays.
...
Read the rest here

6/27/2012 Fukushima operator to be nationalized

Source: RT News
Date: 27 June, 2012, 14:16

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma Town, Fukushima Prefecture (AFP Photo / Tomohiro Ohsumi)

Shareholders of Japan’s Tepco power company, which operates the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant, have approved the nationalization of the company through a $12.58 billion cash injection from the Government.
... 
Read the rest here

6/25/2012 Fukushima Selling local FISH, Free Tea, & Reactor 4 Bulging Update

Source: MsMilkytheclown
Date: Published on Jun 25, 2012
Editor's Note: I love the unique video editing.

6/25/2012 Experts warn of another disaster awaiting at Fukushima

Source: ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News 7.30
Date: June 25, 2012 21:04:00
by: Leigh Sales, Mark Willacy
Japanese and US nuclear experts warn that another earthquake hitting Fukushima could spark a disaster worse than Chernobyl.

6/25/2012 Radioactive “Dirt” Hits Tokyo

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: June 25, 2012

Tokyo Residents: Don’t Touch the Black or Blue Dirt

Fukushima has been decimated by radiation.

But Fukushima City has less than 300,000 residents.  And all of Fukushima prefecture has 2 million.  On the other hand, greater Tokyo – the world’s largest megacity – has 35 million inhabitants.

Tokyo soil has been blanketed by Fukushima radiation, even though the Japanese capital is 170 miles from the Fukushima nuclear complex. Indeed, officials just found “high levels” of radiation at 13 of 14 areas tested in a Tokyo public park.

Now, substances with even higher levels of radiation are showing up around Tokyo.
...
Read full article here

6/24/2012 Fukushima Daiichi Photo Collection

Source: Ray Masalas
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Photo Archive

Click photo for archive.