Nuclear plants in Japan risk meltdown

[Redwood]

Yep....
Your right Ballvalve....
4.9 million barrels of spilled oil disappeared the instant the cap went on....

Can I interest you in my oceanfront property in Montana?

[ballvalve]

The gulf has had a few million gallons a day in seeps for millions of years, and its all natural, and naturally processed.

Corexit, or shampoo, broke up the already LIGHT oil [bacteria doesnt like the asphaltic oils as much] stopped the clumping, and gave a huge surface area for the bugs to feast on.

4.9 million gallons in the gulf is about one teaspoon in lake Tahoe.

BP did a great job, much better and faster than the Japanese dolts.

BP is paying now for the perception of damage, like your posts that scare people into not eating the food. And the locals do not want the BP feed trough to go away.

The scientists trying hard to impeach BP are rather coming away impressed.

[Redwood]

The gulf has had a few million gallons a day in seeps for millions of years, and its all natural, and naturally processed.

Corexit, or shampoo, broke up the already LIGHT oil [bacteria doesnt like the asphaltic oils as much] stopped the clumping, and gave a huge surface area for the bugs to feast on.

4.9 million gallons in the gulf is about one teaspoon in lake Tahoe.

BP did a great job, much better and faster than the Japanese dolts.

BP is paying now for the perception of damage, like your posts that scare people into not eating the food. And the locals do not want the BP feed trough to go away.

The scientists trying hard to impeach BP are rather coming away impressed.

FYI... A barrel of oil is 42 US Gallons....
So we are talking about 205.9 million gallons of oil with another 1.6 million gallons of Corexit...
Consider that 1 gallon of used motor oil can foul the taste of 1,000,000 gallons of fresh water you tell me the extent of the environmental damage...

Nah on second though you've obviously got your head in the sand, I don't need your opinion to try to sway the obvious IMHO...
There is no way that all that oil disappeared!
It's laying on the bottom unseen except when a fishing boat pulls up tarballs along with its catch....

November 24, 2010 NOAA re-closed a 4,200 square miles area to shrimping. A Florida TV station sent frozen Gulf shrimp to be tested for petroleum by-products after recent reports showed scientists disagreed on whether it is safe to eat after the oil spill. A private lab found levels of Anthracene, a toxic hydrocarbon and a by-product of petroleum, at twice the levels the FDA finds acceptable.

January 2011, an oil spill commissioner reported that tar balls continue to wash up, oil sheen trails are seen in the wake of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled and dying, and that crude oil lies offshore in deep water and in fine silts and sands onshore.

Yep, It has certainly disappeared....

[ballvalve]

Crude oil, arsenic, cyanide, uranium, radon, silica dust, smoke are all natural products. Nature manages them. Drain oil is not.

Drain oil has been filled with toxic additives that have been burned, beaten and heated and molecularly changed into a fairly toxic brew.

Although even drain oil has its bacteria that render it safe in the dirt after a few years.

You probably injest more toxins changing your engine oil and wiping pipe dope on a thread, than eating my 25 pounds of delicious natural oil scented shrimp.

And have a cigar or cigarette while doing it. The plumbers around here look like crystal meth is their flavor of cigarette, and junk food is their substanence. A bag of fresh shrimp would be a tonic to them, even if dipped in Corexit with mayo.

[Redwood]

Oh Damn The Oil Eating Microbes All Puked....

Oil Eating Microbes Regurgitate BP Oil Spill Into The Gulf

[ballvalve]

If you bothered to read your own post, you would see that this vomit came down the Miss. river.

This river is a industrial sewer, and likely some Cajun dirtbag that CHARGES to collect drain oil got drunk one late night and decided to clear out his holding tanks.

Took his chevy to the Levy.....

OR a natural seep decided to feed the gulf its natural and historic legacy.

JOBS for the locals! And Why not let the Brits pay for them? They make a fortune from our oil. Its a lie, but lets give them the blame.

Perhaps it was Ian creating socialist type jobs for the area poor.

[Redwood]

If you bothered to read your own post, you would see that this vomit came down the Miss. river.

This river is a industrial sewer, and likely some Cajun dirtbag that CHARGES to collect drain oil got drunk one late night and decided to clear out his holding tanks.

Took his chevy to the Levy.....

OR a natural seep decided to feed the gulf its natural and historic legacy.

JOBS for the locals! And Why not let the Brits pay for them? They make a fortune from our oil. Its a lie, but lets give them the blame.

Perhaps it was Ian creating socialist type jobs for the area poor.

It turns out it didn't come floating down the river....
Gotta love this one...
The oil producers self report their oil spills....
Yesterday, days after an oil slick was first seen near southern Louisiana's Grand Isle, Houston-based Anglo-Suisse Offshore Partners accepted responsibility for what seems like a minor oil spill.
They had reported that they spilled 5 gallons! LOL

http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/201...the-old-spill/

Gotta love how that works.... If you get caught you pay....

[ballvalve]

Anglo-Suisse. Is that the Brits and the "neutral" country that lives on the Jewish blood money from WW2? Lets give them a few billion dollar fine and get some repayment for our work in their pathetic machinations in 1939.

5 gallons of oil and 5 pounds of Jewish gold fillings in the Swiss vaults. Add a few dozen zeros to that and we'll get near the truth.

[Cookie]

I wish they would pass our a report on what they saw, it could save me money on Imaging done at the hospital, it might be cheaper...


Tue Mar 29, 8:50 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Full-body scanners used to secure airports, about 1,000 of which will be deployed across the United States by year's end, do not pose health risks, a study released has found.

The University of California study appearing in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" found that a traveler would have to go through a body scanner 50 times to receive the same amount of radiation as from a dental X-ray.

The researchers also said a lung X-ray was equivalent to 1,000 trips through an airport scanner, while a mammogram delivers as much radiation as passing through such a scanner 4,000 times.

The study focused on x-ray machines dubbed "backscatter" which use low-dose x-rays, similar to those used in medical imaging. So far there are some 486 full-body scanners in place in 78 US airports.

"The radiation doses emitted by the scans are extremely small; the scans deliver an amount of radiation equivalent to 3 to 9 minutes of the radiation received through normal daily living," the authors wrote.

And "since flying itself increases exposure to ionizing radiation, the scan will contribute less than one percent of the dose a flyer will receive from exposure to cosmic rays at elevated altitudes," they added.

"The estimation of cancer risks associated with these scans is difficult, but using the only available models, the risk would be extremely small, even among frequent flyers. We conclude that there is no significant threat of radiation from the scans," they wrote.

Advanced imaging technology X-ray scanners currently in use at airports around the United States sparked an uproar among travelers because they produce a graphic image of a person's naked body, ********* and all.

Others have worried the scans might be unsafe.

[Cookie]

Need a good paying Job?



The mother of one of the atomic "samurai" working to bring Japan's stricken nuclear plant under control has said her son and his colleagues expect to die as a result of their efforts. Meanwhile, there are reports that additional workers are being offered big money to dash into the radiation-drenched heart of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, perform a job, then withdraw.

In a phone interview with Fox News, the tearful mother of a 32-year-old worker said: "My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary to save the nation."

"He told me they have accepted they will all probably die from radiation sickness in the short term or cancer in the long term," the woman added.

"They know it is impossible for them not to have been exposed to lethal doses of radiation."

The woman did not give her name, because she said the workers had been asked by management not to speak publicly about their ordeal, in order to minimize panic.

There are also indications that the workers aren't being provided with some crucial safety equipment. Japan's interior minister said that not all of the workers were given lead sheeting to protect themselves from the floor--which may be contaminated by radiation--while sleeping.

"My son has been sleeping on a desk because he is afraid to lie on the floor. But they say high radioactivity is everywhere and I think this will not save him," said the mother.

In another bleak sign, there are reports of additional workers being offered up to $5,000 a day to act as "jumpers"--so called because they "jump" into highly radioactive areas to quickly perform a task before fleeing with minimal exposure. But even at those rates, many candidates are turning the work down, Reuters reports.

"My company offered me 200,000 yen ($2,500) per day," one subcontractor in his 30s told a reporter."Ordinarily I'd consider that a dream job, but my wife was in tears and stopped me, so I declined."

And Ryuta Fujita, 27, told the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper he was offered $5,000 to go into Reactor 2, but likewise declined.

"I hear that guys older than 50 are being hired at high pay," Fujita said. "But I'm still young, and radiation scares me. I don't want to work in a nuclear plant again."

Last week two workers in Reactor 3 were taken to hospital after their feet were exposed to 170-180 millisieverts of radiation. The average dose for a worker at a nuclear plant is 50 millisieverts over 5 years.

Because so few workers want to venture into the plant, it's proving hard for TEPCO, that company that runs it, to assess whether efforts to cool the fuel rods are working, or even to fully diagnose the problems.

Robots are usually used for this type of work, but Fukushima's interior is so filled with debris that it's difficult for robots to operate there.

(A young boy is screened for radiation contamination before entering an evacuation center in Fukushima, Japan, April 1, 2011.: Wally Santana/AP)

[Cookie]

By Laura Zuckerman Laura Zuckerman – Sat Apr 2, 11:17 am ET

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – While the nuclear crisis in Japan unfolds a continent away, Mormon-dominated communities in the western United States say the disaster overseas is bringing close to home a lesson about preparing for the worst.

Emergency planning and the long-term storage of food, water and medical supplies are central practices by the 14 million worldwide members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The tradition stems from doctrine - "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" - established by Joseph Smith when he founded the church in 1830 in upstate New York. It also stems from the persecution that drove his early followers from the Midwest to the Rocky Mountains in 1847.

Present-day Mormons, concentrated in the United States in Utah, California and Idaho, say preparedness and self-reliance are a way of life and not signs of survivalist leanings or knee-jerk responses to disasters.

"It's not a sudden, spectacular program," said Craig Rasmussen, spokesman for the church in Idaho, second only to Utah for the highest percentage of Mormons.

Worries about radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear plants have spurred sales in the West of potassium iodide to block absorption of cancer-causing radioactive iodine even though U.S. officials say minor amounts detected in the air, rainwater or milk in 15 states pose no health risks.

At a time of renewed interest in how to cope with calamity in a region where Mormonism is the prevailing religious, cultural and social influence, companies selling dehydrated, freeze-dried or canned foods in bulk are reporting rising sales.

Don Pectol, vice president with Emergency Essentials Inc., a retail and online emergency supply chain based near Salt Lake City, said top sellers are powdered milk, water purifiers and meat processed to extend shelf life.

'NORMAL BEHAVIOR'

Pectol said the spike came after harmless levels of radiation were detected in states like Utah, Idaho and Arizona and the upsurge is similar to one that happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.

Another online seller of stored food said on its website that dried dairy products and powered eggs were temporarily unavailable.

University of Colorado sociologist Kathleen Tierney, head of a national institute that tracks society's reactions to disasters, said potential nuclear threats place people on heightened alert.

She said fears lessen with measures like stocking up on food or remedies because a sense of control replaces the feeling of helplessness.

"It's normal behavior during uncertainty," said Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Mormon Mark Oliverson, a dentist and father of three in the remote mountain town of Salmon in central Idaho, said he and his wife routinely add and rotate items in the family's year-long supply of food. The couple also attends the church's workshops on emergency planning, food storage and other practices that make up so-called provident living.

"It puts you in a position to take care of yourself and provide for your family through hard times - and that puts you in a good position to help others," he said.

Church leaders say that principle allows it to respond to emergencies worldwide.

In the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Mormon missionaries working in areas near Japan's stricken nuclear reactors were moved to safety.

Officials said congregations in Japan have since set up an emergency response committee to organize volunteers distributing food, water, fuel and blankets.

The hazard center's Tierney said models like that confirm studies that show "we are better people in disasters than in day-to-day situations."

Eric Erickson, head of a group of Mormon congregations in the eastern Idaho community of Rexburg, where 90 percent of 24,000 residents are church members, said the crisis in Japan would likely prompt local leaders to fine-tune emergency plans and communications systems.

"Katrina provided us the opportunity to re-look at things and revisit those principles; this will be another," he said.

[Redwood]

Interesting article about hypersaturated brines, but she did not determine the oil was from BP.

The gulf is a region of massive natural and now unnatural seeps, and it is well equipped to dispense of either type. The disperants kept it out of the marsh [and opening the gates of the Mississippi] and broke it up into smaller particles that allowed the bacteria to feed happily.

Corexit seems to be well proven even by the enviro's as better than crude oil, and without any DNA changing effects on life, or less than oil.

Not to say we should not take BP's billions for their f-up, or continue to study and make better dispersants.

New Yorker magazine. Latest one I think. The author started out as a mission to impeach BP, but learned that they did a good job after all the hype.

If we do not build more nuclear, better start drilling like wild today in the gulf.

Well it's good to know that you took the bait on the disappearing oil...

BP plotted to influence what scientists say about oil spill’s impact, internal emails reveal

With the first anniversary of the onset of the BP oil spill coming up next week, spill-weary Gulf natives have a fresh reminder of how the oil giant has devoted itself to studiously downplaying the damage of the disaster: A recently leaked body of internal company correspondence shows senior BP brass trying to spin scientific research produced by company-paid researchers in order to minimize the scale of the spill's destruction in the public mind.
The news doesn't exactly come as a shock to many in the Gulf region. After all, when the Mobile Press-Register first reported last summer that BP was contracting to hire a battery of coastal scientists, many theorized that some such initiative was afoot. And now the internal BP emails obtained by Greenpeace through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appear to bear such worries out.
As The Guardian reports today, BP officials sought to tailor the findings of company-funded research. Last May, BP announced that it was ponying up $500 million to fund "an open research program studying the impact of the Deepwater Horizon incident." That mega-project is now known as the Gulf of Mexico Research Institute (GRI). And to judge by the emails released via Greenpeace, company leaders were deeply concerned with how to spin to the group's findings given they footed its research bills.
"Can we 'direct' GRI funding to a specific study (as we now see the governor's offices trying to do)," BP environmental official Russell Putt asked in a June 2010 email. "What influence do we have over the vessels/equipment driving the studies vs the questions?"
Another email written by a BP environmental officer, Karen Ragoonanan-Jalim, indicates that company officials met in Houma, Louisiana, to discuss how they might "steer the research" to best serve the oil company's interests, writing that officials discussed how "BP can influence this long-term research programme" to "undertake the studies we believe will be useful."
The emails also reveal dissension among U.S. government leaders over the spill, specifically over the White House's controversial, and ultimately disproved, claims that the "vast majority" of the spilled oil had vanished from the Gulf.
Reports the Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg:
The White House clashed with officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last summer when drafting the administration's account of what has happened to the spilled oil.
On 4 August, Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA administrator, demanded that the White House issue a correction after it claimed that the "vast majority" of BP oil was gone from the Gulf.
A few days earlier, Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA, and her deputy, Bob Perciasepe, had also objected to the White House estimates of the amount of oil dispersed in the gulf. "These calculations are extremely rough estimates yet when they are put into the press, which we want to happen, they will take on a life of their own," Perciasepe wrote.
It should be noted that no evidence has yet surfaced to suggest that BP succeeded in compromising the integrity of the research carried out by any of the scientists working with the GCI.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theloo...-emails-reveal

[Tom Sawyer]

We don't have to worry about what the EPA has to say anymore. The tea party wants to get rid of them too.

[Cookie]

This all should be a wake-up call...

Fri Apr 15, 11:16 pm ET
TOKYO (AFP) – A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan on Saturday morning, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake, which shook buildings in Tokyo, struck at 11:19 am (0219 GMT), 83 kilometres (52 miles) north of the capital and at a depth of 20 kilometres, the USGS said.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the tremor did not disrupt the emergency crews who are working around the clock to cool crippled reactors at a nuclear plant hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month.

That earthquake -- the biggest ever recorded in Japan -- struck on March 11, triggering a huge tsunami and leaving 13,591 people dead, with another 14,497 still unaccounted for.

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, while many others were forced to evacuate after a series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sent radiation spewing into the air.

The radiation leaks have resulted in bans on produce from the affected area and hurt the fishing and farming industries because of public fears over radioactivity in food.

On Friday, Japan's government ordered TEPCO to offer payouts to tens of thousands of people made homeless by the ongoing crisis.

The total cost from collapsed or damaged houses, factories and infrastructure such as roads and bridges is estimated to reach 16-25 trillion yen over the next three fiscal years, according to the Cabinet Office.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties from Saturday's quake, which the Japan Meteorological Agency said had a magnitude of 5.9 and struck at a depth of 70 kilometres underground.

[jimbo]

I think we could all chip in and buy Ian a one way ticket to Japan to do some cleanup work at the plants!