Radioactive rainwater in Pacific Northwest

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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

Michio Kaku talks with Amy Goodman

World-renowned nuclear physicist Michio Kaku went on Democracy Now! to talk about the situation in Fukushima, and said that "The utility (TEPCO) here is simply outclassed and overwhelmed."

When the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the situation now.
-Michio Kaku

Have no fear though, TEPCO hopes to have the situation under control "by the end of this year."
In the meantime, feel free to heed Prime Minister Naoto Kan's advice to support Fukushima farmers by eating their vegetables.

"Eat them, and enjoy."
-Naoto Kan

Fukushima and Chernobyl

Zero Hedge posted a great comparison of the Fukushima and Chernobyl situations, now that they're officially on the same crisis level.
It includes a great breakdown of how TEPCO officials have completely bungled this whole fiasco from the very beginning.

And another key difference: with Chernobyl, even under utmost secrecy, the government moved fast, sacrificing many people, but only to prevent a far greater damage in the long run.
-Tyler Durden

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.

Well, Now it's "official"

(Reuters) - The core at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor has melted through the reactor pressure vessel, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey told a hearing on the nuclear disaster on Wednesday.

"I have been informed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the core of Unit Two has gotten so hot that part of it has probably melted through the reactor pressure vessel," said Markey, a prominent nuclear critic in the House of Representatives.
-Reuters

Here is some video footage of the meltdown magma from Chernobyl:

Wow.

"Skyshine" over Fukushima

Sounds nice, huh? It isn't.
According to this latest video from nuke expert Arnie Gundersen, the nuclear fuel racks in Fukushima reactor #4 are exposed to air instead of being immersed in water, and that's not good.

"The fact that the nuclear fuel pool does not have water in it, to me, indicates that it might be a clean path for those heavy elements to be escaping from the building and being discovered off site."
-Arnie Gundersen

Untitled from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

Fukushima 50 expect to die

The group of about 300 technicians, soldiers, and firefighters who are struggling to contain the nuclear disaster unfolding at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have accepted the fact that they are very likely to die of radiation exposure. They are referred to as the "Fukushima 50" because they are organized into shifts of 50 people.

The mother of one of the men has admitted that the group have discussed their situation and have accepted that death is a strong possibility.
“My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary in the long-term.”
-The Telegraph

We appreciate the sacrifice guys. We all have idiot bosses who make messes that we then have to clean up, but most of us don't become martyrs in the process. Please keep these brave souls in your thoughts everyone.

The Chernobyl Solution

Huge cement pumps are arriving in Japan to help douse areas of the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant with water, but eventually will be used for cement work: i.e. entombing the site under concrete and steel as was done in Chernobyl.

Apparently, there has still been no mention yet about this strategy in the Japanese media...

Radioactive lava

We have achieved meltdown.

"It won't come out as one big glob; it'll come out like lava, and that is good because it's easier to cool."
-Richard Lahey