ScribbleLive

@Angie I am glad the evacuation centers at least let people bring their pets. This was a big issue during hurricanes in the US that people could not bring their pets. I hope someone gets the cages and tents going quickly before it gets hotter out.

@all MOX fuel manufactured by a Belgian
company Belgonucleaire for Fukushima 3
arrives at Fukushima Plant, Okuma Town,
Fukushima Prefecture. (22/Sep./1999) cnic.jp

So Debra, Is the question about the white area in the middle of the west wall of #4? I thought that was an are reflecting light from the south side through the demolished building. Night Nancy. Im about done for the night too... I don't know what the tube is that Lurker posted, suspect water injection device.

@Nancy, thanks. I truly value your input.

@Nancy Thanks again for the screen grabs...Good Night!

Nancy you still there? Bentonite is the clay material leth was talking about

@smoss later!

Hey Bo

Im back tracking a bit... Mata

Al Qaeda Could Try To Replicate Fukushima-Type Meltdowns

By: Anthony Kimery and W. Scott Malone
A May 5 "intelligence brief" prepared by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official at the Pacific Regional Information Clearinghouse (PacClear) in Hawaii, warned Al Qaeda might try to cause the meltdown of certain vulnerable nuclear power plants in the US and Europe by replicating the failure of the electric supply that pumped cooling water to the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The plant's primary and backup power supplies were knocked out by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March, resulting in partial meltdowns of the plant's reactors.

Only a week after the intelligence brief was circulated, federal officials dispatched a security alert notifying US power plant operators to raise the level of their security awareness.
www.hstoday.us

US State Department cables leaked to Wikileaks revealed that US officials have been concerned that Japan has not provided adequate security at its nuclear power plants to defend against potential terrorist attacks, Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday.

The intelligence briefing stated that “the disaster in Fukushima may have provided the knowledge Al Qaeda needs to carry out such an operation. The global focus on the disaster in Japan has made the vulnerabilities of our aging nuclear infrastructure painfully apparent. In the past, preparations to defend a nuclear facility mostly focused on protecting the reactor vessel from breach.”

The briefing pointed out that “studies commissioned after the 9/11 attacks were mostly concerned with the capability of an airplane strike in effecting such a breach,” but “the March 11th earthquake and tsunami demonstrated that simply turning the power off [with] some reactor designs can result in a catastrophic failure within a matter of hours …”

“[I]t is conceivable," the briefing stated, "that Al Qaeda may attempt to recreate this series of failures at another nuclear facility in the West as a way of fulfilling their pledge of a ‘nuclear’ revenge,” which is a reference to Bin Laden’s May 1998 endorsement of the use of nuclear weapons against the US and its allies. In a statement called, "The Nuclear Bomb of Islam," which was issued under the auspices of the "International Islamic Front for Fighting the Jews and Crusaders,” Bin Laden stated "it is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorize the enemies of God."

www.hstoday.us

Original plan to cool Fukushima nuclear reactor to be scrapped

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated Sunday that a plan to flood and cool the No. 1 reactor's containment vessel at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant with water will be abandoned as holes have been created by melted nuclear fuel at the bottom of the pressure vessel.

Goshi Hosono, tasked with handling the nuclear crisis, told TV programs, however, that the government will keep intact the "road map" devised by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to bring the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors under control within six to nine months.

On the original plan to completely submerge the 4-meter-tall fuel rods by filling the vessel with water, Hosono said, ''We should not cause the (radioactive) water to flow into the sea by taking such a measure.''

Hosono said that the government will instead consider ways to decontaminate water used to cool fuel in the reactor so that the water can be reused.

Hosono made the remarks after TEPCO found a pool of water over 4 meters deep, which could be highly contaminated and total 3,000 tons, in the basement of the No. 1 reactor building, suggesting water poured into the reactor core may be seeping through holes created by melted fuel. The water is then suspected to have leaked from the containment vessel or suppression pools, which form the vessel, into piping.

The Fukushima Daiichi complex has been crippled since the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

(Mainichi Japan) May 15, 2011

Well enough, just kinda frantic and frenetic

Daughter is leaving her rat-bastard husband (finally) and moving home to mama wiyh the three kids. getting the old cabin some extra beds, etc., in a hurry. Polishing up my granny skills :)

@Veenie You know you love her. Admit it :-0

All in the granny job description. In a year they'll all be fine- better off!

@Rob in SF Yeah... teach me the dougie

Security at nuclear power plants is in the hands of private security companies hired to protect the facilities by the power companies that own them.

Before 9/11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission mandated that there would be five to 10 private security guards on duty at each site per shift. After 9/11 that number was increased. On average, there are now a total of 20 such security personnel on duty at any one time to guard a nuclear power plant. That is 20 individuals to secure the entire perimeter and interior of what may be a vast facility.

These guards are grossly underpaid. In many cases, they make less than the janitors at the facilities in question. They train with their weapons no more than two to three times a year. Some of them are prior military and have combat experience.

Many others are hired off the street and given less than a week's worth of training before they begin to stand post. Much of that week of training is consumed with administrative matters, which have nothing to do with learning how to repel a terrorist attack.

Morale among the guards at nuclear power plants is chronically low. I was told by many individuals during my research that it was common to hear discussions among guards about where they would hide if there were an attack.

These guard forces are typically trained to respond to a limited number of scenarios. These scenarios are always designed around attacks by very small numbers and are artificially constrained so as to not allow these attackers to use many weapons, such as rocket launchers and machine guns, commonly in use by terrorist groups today. Even so, the guard forces are defeated at least half the time.

More at edition.cnn.com