13 March 2011

crescent city may be getting worse than water from japan

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The video at the image link is a bunch of good footage of the nukes plant explosion in Japan yesterday, but reports were that the construction of the plant was different than that of, say, Chernobyl, and new generators were being rushed to the site to replace the failed ones and it was expected that the cooling could be maintained so as not to allow meltdown. The story doesn't seem to be quite as reassuring as it was anymore.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.
Yesterday they were saying something in the walls had done it, not the core, and I was thinking possibly pipes full of hot cooling water exploiting quake cracks, something of that ilk, but the pros aren't falling for it... or so it would seem.
However, the earthquake in Japan, in addition to damaging the ability of the control rods to regulate the fuel — and the reactor’s coolant system — appears to have damaged the containment facility, and the explosion almost certainly did. There have been reports of “white smoke,” perhaps burning concrete, coming from the scene of the explosion, indicating a containment breach and the almost certain escape of significant amounts of radiation.

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And so now the question is simple: Did the floor of the containment vessel crack? If not, the situation can still be salvaged by somehow re-containing the nuclear core. But if the floor has cracked, it is highly likely that the melting fuel will burn through the floor of the containment system and enter the ground. This has never happened before but has always been the nightmare scenario for a nuclear power event — in this scenario, containment goes from being merely dangerous, time consuming and expensive to nearly impossible.
Now they're saying we're too far away to be harmed by the radiation, but the wind—the jet stream—is blowing right now from the general direction of poor, creamed, Japan, and it's blowing hard. So you'll pardon me if I confess I'm getting a little worried. I mean, I was worried anyway, but my thyroid doesn't need any more help malfunctioning, thank you, thank you very much indeed.

The crux of my problem, here, is that we have NO experts or authorities to trust. If anything, we can bank on them NOT providing us with the kind of information and assistance needed to maintain our health and safety and this sends me back into extreme vexation with my fellows for continuing to put up with it.

And, of course, Japan isn't our only radiation threat.
The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation — 247 machines at 38 airports — after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.
It took one hell of a lot of screaming to get even this far. TSA employees, stupid oxen, are standing right there with it for their entire shifts. So while it might only be contributing egregiously to our bad health, it's KILLING them.

I just keep seeing stupid and dull sheep in chutes, having their tails docked, getting vaccinated, shorn, branded. I can see the rancher laughing as one or another kicks up its heels in protest, poking it with an electric prod.

Don't mind me. I'm in a bad mood because I've been in so much pain for so long. I told the dentist she needed to prescribe twice as much antibiotic for twice as long—because I know this drill after a life full of occasions to understand my body really well—or it wasn't going to faze the infection, but she has protocols she must follow and WON'T veer from them even if I can't open my mouth wide enough to get in a bite of mush without it hurting really, really badly. I'm going to cheer myself with the thought that perhaps radiation will kill the infection.

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Did I mention that the wind is blowing? Now it's blowing RADICALLY hard. After all this rain, this does NOT bode well for my electricity. Trees whose tap roots are not deep enough tend to get blown over when the ground is this wet and they almost always take down a power line. So. If there seems to be an extra-uncanny silence from me, this could well be the cause.

Does this mean the radiation gets here faster or that it blows past so quickly that it ceases to be a threat?

I don't know how a generation of humans who were brought up with the notion that it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature turned out to be this avid to mess with her, but, well, there you have it. Gaia is outraged and I don't blame her one bit.

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Oh, and I forgot to mention that the putz who got himself killed in the tsunami here wasn't a tourist, but a newbie. Same difference, only—at least down in Mendocino—everyone gives newbies the RULES first thing.
People were advised to continue staying away from the harbor and beaches as continuing surges diminished.

The Del Norte County Sheriff's Office released the name of the only known victim of the tsunami in the United States. Dustin Weber, 25, was a native of Bend, Ore., and had recently moved to the area. He was on the beach near the mouth of the Klamath River taking photographs of the tsunami surges with his family when he was swept away by a wave.

The U.S. Coast Guard searched for his body, but was unable to find Weber in the turbulent water.
All coast residents rap down the rules to newbies till they're so well drilled they know this stuff in their sleep.
[1] Do not EVER slam on your brakes or veer to avoid an animal in the road. Number one cause of untimely death on the coast.

[2] Do not EVER turn your back on the sea, and don't get brave at low tide. Huge waves can come at any time, with NO warning, and wash you out to drown. Number two cause of untimely death on the coast.

[3] Go postal on anyone in breach of [1] or [2] and don't omit tourists.
I guess I will have to canvass locals here to see if they are giving out the rules per form. I know we do it in Mendo World, but I'm such a hermit since moving up here that I find I do not know if this strict observance is followed. I never meet anyone who is new to town, hardly ever meet anyone at all. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone ever rapped down these rules to me when I got here, but Smith River was experiencing a flux of out-of-towners at the post office and grocery store at the time....

NOW IT'S WIND AND RAIN, EVEN WORSE. Shit.

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NO. REALLY.

It's a damn hurricane out there. To the hard wind and rain has been added hail and lightening and thunder and I'm just gonna lay back and try to zone out on my doctoral work while waiting for the power to tank. I figure if I'm not flying all over the tubes to track stuff down for you when it happens, I won't be as upset by it....

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love, 99
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17 comments:

  1. Is this you dear,.. accelerating the pace of change are we ?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D6neBzTnOQ&feature=player_embedded

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  2. IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!

    Only I'm not feeling very nonviolent.

    XOXOXOX

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  3. You would be right about the concrete dust in the air.

    The containment building is completely gone

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  4. I have a startling track record for being right about such awful things. :o[

    If you were not SO slow with my barn and tub, I could at least be content while being nuked... go out in optimal comfort... but... Murphy does not seem to be easing in his fascination for me. Each of those raindrops out there could be full of reactor containment dust....

    If my plants go all disgusting, it will be a sign.

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  5. Reactor building number three has now also suffered an explosion...

    From the various reports from experts that I have seen these explosions are being caused by a buildup of hydrogen from the leaking gases which are a byproduct of the nuclear reaction.

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  6. I have been looking closely at Jet Stream satellite maps and the weather is moving directly from the meltdown/s to my house.

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  7. Time to hang on?


    http://www.therightperspective.org/2011/03/13/is-the-big-one-about-to-hit-california/

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  8. Odd, I tried to make that a link - first at my text then as the address.

    Both times blogger flashed a red banner telling me "Your comment cannot be posted. Http not allowed."

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  9. If there is a large release, I wonder how much radiation would make it this far. I suspect much would fall into the ocean and the remainder would be highly diluted.

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  10. Allowed me to make a link that time!

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  11. Earlier, Blogger would think I was trying to leave the page whenever I started typing in the code for a link. I kept having to click "Cancel" in order to keep writing my post. I was wondering if it wasn't something happening with my screwy new Magic Mouse. It's fabulous for scrolling, but it has a tendency to make all manner of weirdness too... not exactly a mouse with all the bugs worked out.... But maybe it is Blogger being obtuse today. I just know we have to roll with the punches or go bald from pointlessly tearing out our hair....

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  12. As for the radiation, I would say it could be anywhere from insignificant to lethal. No way to tell. All I know is that the Jet Stream is going directly from Japan to my house and it is discomfiting in the extreme.

    This all reminds me of my oft-repeated remonstrations with Homie about how nuclear power was NOT something to which Iranians should aspire, that it was dirty and lethal and, if they want to be world leaders, they should be using all that brainpower on something transcendent and new, but my only response from her was the old ad for nuclear power when the Shah was still in power.

    She is hopelessly nostalgic for the Shah. I hate to say it, but that is what it boils down to. I cannot get it through to her that the vast majority of her countrymen are dead set against it. She was far too Americanized... to include this thing for joining the world of nuclear power morons.

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  13. Back when Rancho Seco was still operating I was working on the roof of a house up in El Dorado Hills. We could see the cooling towers from there and large clouds of steam were flowing from them. It was a cool humid day with clear skies, but the steam from the cooling towers was remaining in the atmosphere and actually seeding the development of a line of clouds heading straight over us. At times light rain fell from the clouds, the implications of which scared the hell out of me.

    I have never felt secure with our ability to harness nuclear power as a viable clean and safe option for power generation.

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  14. Try as I might, I have never been able to feel comfortable about the sanity of any proponent of the technology... EVEN the new miniature jobs that use up their own waste they're trying to push. It's just flat out pathological, not matter which way I look at it, and I've looked at it from EVERY angle.

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  15. The corrosive salt water can damage the steel containment vessel over time, and its use ensures the 40-year-old reactors will never be restarted.

    Good!

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/battle-on-to-contain-japans-nuclear-threat/article1940621/page1/

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  16. Well, right, right, right, as though they ever would be now anyway, but corroding containment vessels is not exactly good planning either, ya know.

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