There’s a dead cat at the bottom of Unit 1

March 23, 2015March 22, 2015 ~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Remember when I compared the Fukushima situation to that old joke about “the cat’s on the roof”? Yes, I remember all the reasonable, rational, technically-employed menfolks (not here, over at the other site) explaining to me how irresponsible and crazy I was for saying this was what happened. But it did:

The Tokyo Electric Power Corp. says Unit 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant did, in fact, meltdown during the 2011 accident.

TEPCO released results from a three-day study in February of the Unit 1 reactor building jointly with the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning. The two companies collected data until March 10. The project used cosmic rays to inspect the interior of the building. By analyzing the flow of muons, which are subatomic particles generated when cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere, TEPCO was able to generate X-ray like images of the interior of the reactor. Muons can pass through concrete and iron, but they are blocked and change direction when they hit high-density substances such as plutonium and uranium, creating a “shadow.”

TEPCO said the fuel had melted because there were no shadows around the reactor’s core, and the fuel had likely melted and fallen to the bottom of the building into a containment vessel. The operator also said there was no accumulation of water in the core of the reactor pressure vessel.

TEPCO said the results confirmed previous assumptions of a meltdown. The utility plans to continue measurement until it gains enough data to conduct a statistical analysis, and said the data gained will help it work out a plan to remove the debris, most likely by robots due to the high amounts of radiation in the reactor.

First of all, it’s not an “accident.” TEPCO cut corners to save money, and this is the predictable result.

And who are they kidding? The containment vessel melted, too. They didn’t scan the containment area because they don’t want us to know that. That fuel is out there. And we can probably assume the same about Unit 2.

It’s frustrating to have the kind of mind I do, because I so frequently get an accurate gut reaction (which is really my brain hitting overdrive and connecting random experience and pieces of information) and I do not know how to download all that data (remember, I’ve read an estimated 60,000 books, minimum, and countless articles) and put it into context for people who don’t have the same data set. I frequently fail, which annoys me. I usually lack the patience to sift through the data in a way that will communicate the same conclusion to others, but I sometimes try.

It is even harder to communicate what’s happening with a situation like Fukushima, because engineer types believe in their fail-safe systems — the system does not fail! But that’s because technical people don’t accurately assess human factors like corruption, company leadership and dangerous cost-cutting until they see it with their own eyes.

So let me remind you: It is a well-established principle in governance that the “responsible” thing to do is withhold information that will cause a panic and other negative social and economic ripple effects. (I seem to recall there’s even a U.S. law to that effect.) So they will never, ever really tell us the actual risks to the U.S. population from this meltdown. To their way of thinking, there’s no need for us to know.

Unsafe water kills 500K babies a year

March 18, 2015March 17, 2015 ~ susie

I know we’re all inundated with donation requests, but I always give to the water charities. It’s too basic to ignore:

Half a million babies die in their first month of life from preventable deaths in unclean hospitals and clinics across the world, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and international nonprofit WaterAid. The report, published Tuesday, investigated health care facilities in 54 developing countries and found, for example, that more than… Continue reading “Unsafe water kills 500K babies a year” →

What did Monsanto show Bill Nye to make him fall ‘in love’ with GMOs?

March 12, 2015March 11, 2015 ~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Yeah, I’d love to know how they made this happen:

Bill Nye, the bow-tied erstwhile kids’ TV host, onetime dancer with the stars, and tireless champion of evolution and climate science, was never a virulent or wild-eyed critic of genetically modified crops. Back in 2005, he did a pretty nuanced episode of his TV show on it, the takeaway of which was hardly fire-breathing denunciation: “Let’s farm responsibly, let’s require labels on our foods, and let’s carefully test these foods case by case.”

In his book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, published just last November, Nye reiterated these points. His concern about GMOs centered mainly on unintended consequences of growing them over large expanses—he cited the example of crops engineered to resist herbicides, which have been linked pretty decisively to the decline of monarch butterflies, which rely on abundant milkweeds, which in turn have been largely wiped out in the Midwest by GMO-enabled herbicide use. Nye praised certain GMOs, such as corn engineered to repel certain insects, but concluded that “if you’re asking me, we should stop introducing genes from one species into another,” because “we just can’t know what will happen to other species in that modified species’ ecosystem.”

Now, Nye’s doubts have evidently fallen away like milkweeds under a fine mist of herbicide. In a February interview filmed backstage on Bill Maher’s HBO show (starting about 3:40 in the below video), Nye volunteered that he was working on a revision of the GMO section of Undeniable. He gave no details, just that he “went to Monsanto and I spent a lot of time with the scientists there.” As a result, he added with a grin, “I have revised my outlook, and am very excited about telling the world. When you’re in love, you want to tell the world!”

Another oil train crash

March 5, 2015March 5, 2015 ~ susie

We need a better way to run the world than oil:

GALENA, Ill. (AP) — A BNSF Railway freight train containing 103 cars loaded with crude oil has derailed near the northern Illinois city of Galena.

According to railroad officials, the train derailed around 1:20 p.m. Thursday in a rural area where the Galena River meets the Mississippi.

Galena City Administrator Mark Moran said city fire crews responded to the derailment 3 miles south of the city.

“The report that came back to me from them is that eight tanker cars had left the track,” Moran told the Dubuque Telegraph Herald. “Two of those were still upright. The other six were not.”

Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Moser says several cars have caught fire as a result of the derailment. Authorities are evacuating a 1 mile radius around the crash site as a precaution, according to the sheriff’s office.

Gov. Rauner has activated the State Incident Response Center and has sent personnel from several state agencies to the site of the derailment.

Firefighters could only access the derailment site by a bike path, said Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley. They attempted to fight a small fire at the scene but were unable to stop the flames.

Firefighters had to pull back for safety reasons and were allowing the fire to burn itself out, Conley said. In addition to Galena firefighters, emergency and hazardous material responders from Iowa and Wisconsin were at the scene.

Obama vetoes Keystone XL

February 25, 2015February 24, 2015 ~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Not to piss on your enthusiasm or anything, but political insiders have told me they believe Obama will use the Keystone XL later in an attempt to bargain. I hope it’s not true, but look at how he justifies the veto: Because Congress tried to circumvent his authority. We’ll see:

The Keystone bill cleared the senate in January and passed in the House earlier this month, but the legislation was swiftly vetoed this afternoon by President Barack Obama.

Here’s Reuters:

The Senate received Obama’s veto message and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately countered by announcing the Republican-led chamber would attempt to overturn the veto by March 3. Obama rejected the bill hours after it was sent to the White House. Republicans passed the bill to increase pressure on Obama to approve the pipeline, a move the president said would bypass a State Department process that will determine whether the project is in the U.S. national interest.

…Despite their majority in the Senate, Republicans are four votes short of being able to override Obama’s veto.

President Obama has issued the following memo to the Senate:

I am returning herewith without my approval S. 1, the”Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act.” Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest.

The Presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously. But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people. And because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest — including our security, safety, and environment — it has earned my veto.

Gee, another extreme weather event

February 20, 2015February 19, 2015 ~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Cyclone Marcia, a Category 5 storm, hit the coast of Queensland, Australia yesterday. Nary a mention in U.S. media, and certainly no talk of all these RECORD-BREAKING WEATHER EVENTS we’re having lately. Hmm.

Authorities say it’s now too late for the 30,000 Queenslanders in the direct path of this category-five storm to evacuate, AAP reports.

The core of the cyclone is now starting to affect parts of the central Queensland coast, with the town of Yeppoon to feel the full brunt of its winds and its destructive storm surge, which could destroy low-lying homes.

Marcia is packing winds gusting to 285km/h, a force that’s expected to destroy older homes in the area that have not been built to modern cyclone standards.

At about 7.45am (AEST), the cyclone was less than 100km from Yeppoon.

State Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner Peter Jeffrey says the time for preparations has passed.

“It’s time to essentially brace, make safe for yourself, and make safe for your family,” he told the Nine Network.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the 30,000 people who live in Yeppoon and surrounding communities are most at risk.

But the threat extends to a vast swathe of the coast, with a 2.6-metre storm surge expected on top of the normal high tide level.

Rockhampton, south of Yeppoon, is also in the firing line with Marcia still expected to be a strong category three cyclone when it hits there, after tracking south over land.

Tra la la!

Extreme weather, no context from our corporate media

February 17, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Yeah, like Brian Williams lying is the biggest problem with the media!

And it’s not as if they’d mention this, either:

A senior US scientist has expressed concern that the intelligence services are funding climate change research to learn if new technologies could be used as potential weapons. Alan Robock, a climate scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, has called on secretive government agencies to be open about their interest in radical work that explores how to alter the world’s climate.

Robock, who has contributed to reports for the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), uses computer models to study how stratospheric aerosols could cool the planet in the way massive volcanic eruptions do. But he was worried about who would control such climate-altering technologies should they prove effective, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose.

Last week, the National Academy of Sciences published a two-volume report on different approaches to tackling climate change. One focused on means to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the other on ways to change clouds or the Earth’s surface to make them reflect more sunlight out to space.

The report concluded that while small-scale research projects were needed, the technologies were so far from being ready that reducing carbon emissions remained the most viable approach to curbing the worst extremes of climate change. A report by the Royal Society in 2009 made similar recommendations.

The $600,000 report was part-funded by the US intelligence services, but Robock said the CIA and other agencies had not fully explained their interest in the work. “The CIA was a major funder of the National Academies report so that makes me really worried who is going to be in control,” he said. Other funders included Nasa, the US Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Oh look, yet another crude oil train explosion

February 17, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ susie ~ 4 Comments

So this is the second crude-oil train crash in 72 hours (there was one this weekend in Ontario). Yay, deregulation! Yay, petroleum-based economy!

Two West Virginia towns are being evacuated after a train carrying crude oil derailed nearby, local media report.

Emergency officials said that people from towns of Adena Village and Boomer Bottom are being evacuated. At least one tank car ended up in a local river, while another slammed into a house and burst into flames.

Several fire departments are working to contain the flames and the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Department of Environmental Protection have been notified of the accident, the Charleston Gazette reports.

What the hell

February 17, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ susie ~ 3 Comments

It’s not as if a gas tanker should be regulated and inspected or anything, because we wouldn’t want to impede the free fucking market, amirite?

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials said Monday that two worn-out bolts on a gas tanker truck broke, causing a leak that resulted in a hospital explosion that killed five people last month.

The results of the investigation again highlighted the unsafe conditions that many propane tankers operate under.

The failure “was caused by (metal) fatigue on the bolts due to a lack of proper maintenance,” said Mexico City chief prosecutor Rodolfo Rios.

When the two bolts on a pipe flange connected to the truck’s pump cracked, a gasket partially blew out, allowing gas to accumulate on the hospital grounds for about 25 minutes.

I’d rather be in Philadelphia

February 16, 2015February 15, 2015 ~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Our longtime contributor Dr. S. says he’s got at least six feet of snow. Seems like we’ve had quite a few weather records broken lately!

BOSTON (AP) — A storm brought a new round of wind-whipped snow to New England on Sunday, threatening white-out conditions in coastal areas and forcing people to contend with a fourth winter onslaught in less than a month.

A blizzard warning was in effect for coastal communities from Rhode Island to Maine into Monday; and a bone-chilling blast of cold, with lows of minus-10 degrees was in the Sunday night forecast in parts of the region.
With more than 6 feet of snow already standing in some areas from previous storms, crews struggled to keep snow-clogged roads clear as fresh snow blew in as soon as they passed.

Half a foot of snow had fallen across much of eastern Massachusetts by daybreak Sunday, with Ipswich recording 20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Before it is all over, southern New England could get several more inches and coastal areas of New Hampshire and southern Maine could see up to 2 feet, weather forecasters said.

“The best thing people can do is stay home, stay indoors,” said William Babcock, a weather service meteorologist.

Gov. Charlie Baker in Massachusetts and Gov. Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island warned motorists to stay off the roads.

Baker said Sunday morning that high tide was not as severe as anticipated, with no reports of major flooding, but warned that winds gusting over 60 mph could bring power outages.

“There’s a little bit of deja vu all over again in this,” he said.

Transportation officials in the region had taken precautions. Nearly 400 Sunday flights were canceled at Boston’s Logan International Airport, and none was scheduled Sunday morning. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority canceled all rail, bus and ferry service in the Boston area on Sunday.

Babcock said gusts could max out at 75 mph — hurricane territory — on Cape Cod. Officials warned of possible power outages, and north-facing or vulnerable coastal areas could suffer flooding and beach erosion, the weather service said.