Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 2914

breakfast ..
by dean 1/27/2012 1:33:07 PM

@lilly, check out this chapter from "Killing Our Own," and scroll down to the chapter on Dirty Harry: ratical.org

In the recent film "Atomic Mom," the filmmakers mother, who worked at the NTS tells the story of one of the rad lab doctors going out to southern Utah after Harry and finding the large number of dead sheep scattered all around, and coming back to the lab and weeping.. There were thousands of them. The ranchers pressed for compensation and were told all of them died of malnutrition, on the same night.
by bo 1/27/2012 1:35:35 PM

@lillymunster, the whole world is the laboratory for an unfolding nuclear-energy experiment.
by Ian 1/27/2012 1:44:10 PM

@Ian Some of the weird deaths and other odd things that get reported make me wonder how much is fear and hyper vigilance and what could just be new things we don't fully understand yet because the whole situation has some unique parameters not previously seen or tested for. There was a Fukushima Prefecture mention of "super hot spots". It makes me wonder where or why they came up with this term. Is it just someone trying to find wording to classify levels or have they found intense concentrations and are not telling people. With the weird sudden deaths going on it makes me wonder if there isn't some form of hyper concentration going on.

by lillymunster 1/27/2012 1:48:58 PM

@Bo, this from the book on test Harry:
"Cattle and horses developed lesions and severe sores in large numbers.[104]"
This sounds like what is being found in some of the companion animals being rescued from the zone. Horrible skin conditions, hair loss, sores all over. One dog they found required 5 months of hospitalization for his skin condition. He was covered in sores. From talking to the animal rescue groups nobody has ever mentioned the veterinarians are citing a typical cause like mange and the photos I have seen do not look like typical skin disease found in dogs and cats.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 1:57:06 PM

The tent protest in front of METI continues past the evacuation demand time www.japantimes.co.jp
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 1:59:36 PM

@bo, some OT karma for the St. George area law2.umkc.edu
by eyes 1/27/2012 2:02:08 PM

@lilly, then, as now, the animals are the canaries in the coal mine. People in Utah realized that if the animals outside were killed by the fallout, they were only barely spared themselves. It wasn't long before the people of St. George began to develop radiation related diseases themselves. We are all going to watch the slow motion horror of this unfolding again in Tohoku.
by bo 1/27/2012 2:02:37 PM

@eyes, yes. A few have pointed that out before! (you may be one of them!)
by bo 1/27/2012 2:02:55 PM

@lillymunster, good thinking. The FDA would require a new-drug application for a new compound for exactly the reasons you cite. We can't know a priori all the effects, pharmacodynamics and so forth. So we can't rely on historic radiobiology to predict outcomes if there's a new compound created. However, I don't know if this compound was spread over land.
by Ian 1/27/2012 2:05:05 PM

@bo I have not been able to see patterns of where the really sick animals have been found geographically as they don't always say the location the animal was found. There has also been variety in the condition of animals based on their ability to find food and water. I notice many of the cats have hair loss and some also have small sores above their nose. The hair loss above the nose is really odd, not something "typical" of any condition. Many of these cats otherwise looked ok.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:05:58 PM

@lilly I haven't studied any of the epidemiology of the effects, but there do sound like similarities. I know there are a lot of people who have studied this. I know that here in Hiroshima there are some epidemiologists who have studied the impact on animals in the Semipalatinsk region. I don't know if they are now working up north.
by bo 1/27/2012 2:08:15 PM

"This nation's failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly. It will be even more damaging and more costly the longer it continues,..." a quote from the CNN post on waste storage.
www.cnn.com
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:10:10 PM

...well the nation was never properly consulted.
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:10:37 PM

@Peter no kidding and now it is a huge issue because it keeps getting kicked down the road.

This from the CNN article:
The commission also recommends Congress transfer responsibility for nuclear waste from the Department of Energy to a new organization, independent of that agency, that would license, build and operate nuclear waste facilities. It said this congressionally chartered federal corporation should have substantial authority and access to funds to accomplish its mission. A board, nominated by the president and confirmed by Congress, would oversee the organization.

As long as this new agency can't just contract away the whole mess to some private company to cut corners and screw it up. There would obviously be the need for hiring consultants or buying things like casks from private companies. I think this is one place they really can't just dump the entire venture off on some willing private company to do it on a govt. contract.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:14:20 PM

The blue ribbon commission website is down brc.gov Anyone know where we can find a copy of their new report?
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:16:54 PM

by Ian 1/27/2012 2:24:26 PM

The blue ribbon panel also shot down reprocessing green.blogs.nytimes.com
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:26:53 PM

Just a note, I will be leaving for the US tomorrow to do work with downwinders at Hanford and Southern Utah (including a tour of the Nevada Test Site), so I will be in and out for the next few weeks. I will try to send some updates, but you can follow the trip on my Twitter feed (@bojacobs) or at the project Twitter feed (@globalhibakusha).
by bo 1/27/2012 2:45:29 PM

@lillymunster , the npr All Things Considered contribution on the nuclear waste issue yesterday is abysmal. Spent fuel is confused with lower level waste. Interim storage of unprocessed waste is confused with endstorage. No word about the necessary reprocessing and the pollution that involves. I like npr in general, but sometimes you can only shake my head. www.npr.org
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:47:11 PM

@bo , safe travels. Perhaps they let you see the burping tank, ;)
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:48:55 PM

@Peter I have not been impressed with their science and tech reporting lately. With the exception of Science Friday that seems to be fairly in depth and accurate.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:49:09 PM

@bo safe trip. Will keep tweeting the @globalhibkusha feed to raise awareness. Is there a link for background on the other guy working with you using that twitter acct? I was going to do a short article on it but didn't have his uni information etc.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:50:49 PM

of course, I meant "I shake my head" and you are invited to shake yours. Grammar is not always my strength.
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:51:54 PM

@Peter thanks. Although this trip will just be to Seattle were the activist groups monitoring Hanford and advocating for the downwinders there are located. We will develop connections to actually visit the site on a future trip. Of course burping tanks may be anywhere!
by bo 1/27/2012 2:53:14 PM

@lilly thanks! Here is the info on my research collaborator Mick Broderick: www.mcc.murdoch.edu.au

FYI, Mick is the only scholar I know that has been able to get complete access to the Stanley Kubrick papers!
by bo 1/27/2012 2:53:34 PM

This transport shown on the npr contribution looks benign compared with a real spent-fuel cask transport. media.npr.org
by Peter 1/27/2012 2:56:17 PM

@Peter, Do you mean the Columbia River?
by eyes 1/27/2012 2:56:57 PM

Maybe this will work! media.npr.org
by Peter via Media.npr.org 1/27/2012 2:57:16 PM

@bo what did Kubrick have papers on?
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 2:58:18 PM

@bo, sorry Eyes Wide Open here. Have a good trip
by eyes 1/27/2012 2:59:00 PM

@lilly on everything that he did. Boxes and boxes of notes to prepare for each film, and then all of the records of the making of the films. Mick is working on a book on the making of Dr. Strangelove, the definitive nuclear movie. It was originally supposed to be a thriller, but the further into writing it he got with Terry Southern, the funnier and funnier the scenes became. Kubrick was a perfectionist, his papers are extensive.
by bo 1/27/2012 3:00:26 PM

@eyes, there is this fabled tank on the Hanford Reservation (Y102?) that burps gas once in while. Nobody knows what is in there and what drives the reaction. There is no way of knowing when it does it. Ghostly to say the least.
by Peter 1/27/2012 3:00:37 PM

@eyes, I should have guessed that was your full name!
by bo 1/27/2012 3:01:14 PM

@Peter, my apologies, sarcastic a** going to get coffee now
by eyes 1/27/2012 3:03:59 PM

Well, off to the tatami. I'll check in tomorrow morning before heading to the airport. Mata ne.
by bo 1/27/2012 3:06:18 PM

@Peter someone brought up a weird phenomenon in Washington state where people were finding this strange goo all over everything that has human DNA in it. My first thought was something from Hanford but it is west of Hanford. I think it was Oakville
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 3:13:09 PM

Japan Realizes They Don’t Need Nuclear Power www.simplyinfo.org
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 3:19:01 PM

"Panel: Search for nuclear waste dump could last up to 20 years" (Mike M. Ahlers) edition.cnn.com
by Pedro Jesus 1/27/2012 3:29:26 PM

Gregg Levine Critiques Frontline Fukushima Documentary japanfocus.org
by Mid Valley 1/27/2012 3:34:04 PM

Off twitter: Fukushima Nihonmatsu boar meat (wild) 14600Bq/kg cesium system
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 3:56:48 PM

Does anyone know what the thought process or plan for spent fuel was when we began operating nuclear reactors in the US or elsewhere?
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 4:03:50 PM

@lillymunster , as much as I understand, the recoverable plutonium was supposed to be used in fast breeders, and the rest was supposed to be vitrified and stored forever underground.
by Peter 1/27/2012 4:15:52 PM

@Peter thanks, I didn't remember if or what the early plan was. I am assuming fast breeders like sodium reactors etc. were assumed to be established by now since they were already playing with those technologies early on.
by lillymunster 1/27/2012 4:18:12 PM