Flyover footage of flooded Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant

It's an indefensible industry. The situation is profit vs. public safety. The latter stands no chance over the long term.
-CounterPunch

A floodwall at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant has collapsed under the pressure of the rising waters of the Missouri river.

The 2,000-foot berm collapsed about 1:25 a.m. Sunday due to “onsite activities,” OPPD officials said. The Aqua Dam provided supplemental flood protection and was not required under NRC regulations.

“We put up the aqua-berm as additional protection,” said OPPD spokesman Mike Jones. “(The plant) is in the same situation it would have been in if the berm had not been added. We're still within NRC regulations.”
-Omaha World-Herald

That's the official story.
However, coming the heels of the less-than-acceptable results of a recent investigation into nuclear power plant safety in the US, a de facto mainstream media blackout surrounding the situation at Fort Calhoun, which is only about 19 miles north of Omaha, is to be regarded with the utmost interest and skepticism.
Obviously, people were concerned enough about the flooding that they filled up a 2,000 foot aqua berm...and now that berm has failed.
A second Nulcear Plant in Nebraska that sits on higher ground is also allegedly fine.

35% spike in infant deaths in Northwestern US

Infant deaths in Northwestern US cities have spiked 35% over the past 10 weeks, and physician Janette D. Sherman, M. D. and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano blame the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that eight cities in the northwest U.S. (Boise ID, Seattle WA, Portland OR, plus the northern California cities of Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley) reported the following data on deaths among those younger than one year of age:

4 weeks ending March 19, 2011 - 37 deaths (avg. 9.25 per week)
10 weeks ending May 28, 2011 - 125 deaths (avg.12.50 per week)

This amounts to an increase of 35% (the total for the entire U.S. rose about 2.3%), and is statistically significant. Of further significance is that those dates include the four weeks before and the ten weeks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. In 2001 the infant mortality was 6.834 per 1000 live births, increasing to 6.845 in 2007. All years from 2002 to 2007 were higher than the 2001 rate.
-Counterpunch

Similar issues afflicted the region surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor when it exploded and melted down.

We need to measure the actual levels of isotopes in the environment and in the bodies of people exposed to determine if the fallout is killing our most vulnerable. The research is not technically difficult – the political and economic barriers may be greater.
-Counterpunch

Considering how the government doens't really want to know how much radioactivity is making its way across the pacific, it's safe to assume that they don't want to know whether or not such radioactive substances are causing problems in our newborn babies.
Thanks George Washington.

Arnie Gunderson Fukushima update

CNN's John King interviews Arnie Gundersen about the Hot Particles discovered in Japan and the US. from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

Mutant rabbit born in Japan

Earless rabbit born just outside of Fukushima "exclusion zone."
Now we'll need a radioactive mutant lizard to save Tokyo from this monster.

Arnie Gunderson's latest on Fukushima

Fukushima - One Step Forward and Four Steps Back as Each Unit Challenged by New Problems from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

Inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility

FNN News Network in Japan has a rare footage of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant from the ground-level. The video was taken by Shigeharu Aoyama, a member of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission on April 22.
-Arevamirpal

Chernobyl

Fukushima radiation map exists

EX-SKF posted a good read yesterday. Apparently, TEPCO has a map of the radiation surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, and TEPCO is more concerned with protecting its iRobot Packbots than their human contract workers.

Remember the Packbots from iRobots that went inside the Reactor buildings (1, 2, and 3)? The Packbots didn't go in from the south door of the Reactor 1 building because the radiation at the south door had measured 270 milli-sievert/hr the previous day. So the bots cannot enter if the radiation is that high, but the workers are obliged to dodge the debris with even higher radiation and continue to work. One unlucky worker got to remove the 900 milli-sievert/hr concrete piece.
Unconvincingly, however, the Kyodo article claims the high radiation level on the compound will not derail the schedule of the roadmap that TEPCO has announced.
I've read on several Internet message boards in Japan about how the workers have been doing their best to avoid the debris and water puddles on the compound because of the very high radiation, and how the dosimeter starts beeping right away just by standing in front of the Reactor buildings. I guess they weren't the "baseless rumors" after all, and it seems the workers are more expendable than the bots.
-Arevampiral

Footage inside Fukushima reactor buildings

TEPCO iRobots ventured into the damaged reactor buildings at the Fukushima I nuclear plant, and here is some of what they saw:

Latest Fukushima update from Arnie Gunderson

Nuclear Ghost Town

Arnie Gunderson on Fukushima

"Clearly we're witnessing one of the greatest disasters in modern time."

Closing Ranks: The NRC, the Nuclear Industry, and TEPCo. Are Limiting the Flow of Information from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

32 years later