living in a radioactive world: hot particles to breathe in the air

Nuclear power industry executive Arnie Gundersen posts invaluable video updates on radiation dangers from Fukushima disaster. The videos have done much to raise awareness, worldwide. Where's the US Surgeon General to warn Americans? The nuclear power executive brings his expertise to the mainstream with interview by John King available here. A surprised Gundersen reports 10 hot particles per day breathed in by the Japanese but Americans in Seattle breath in five. A hot particle is extremely dangerous as it causes damage in close proximity, usually, results in a necrotic spot in lungs, bones or digestive track where it is lodged in the body over time! Hot particles are not easily detected as they are miniscule in size and termed "fuel fleas" by Gundersen. Where's George Harrison when you need him to adapt his song to fit a new age as we're fated to "Living in a Radioactive World"!

fukushima: distant radioactive threat or harbinger of future?

Harvey Wasserman writes, "Fukushima may be in an apocalyptic downward spiral," in a Common Dreams article, "Fukushima's Apocalyptic Threat Demands Immediate Global Action." Wasserman is right and we should all be shouting from rooftops! "There is no reason to incur further unnecessary risk. With all needed resources, it's time for the world's best scientists and engineers to take charge. Even then the outcome is unclear," Wasserman writes. Fukushima has already suffered two hydrogen explosions and some believe also a fission explosion! The subject strikes home when Wasserman notes that, according to a New York Times article "... critical valve failures that contributed to the Fukushima disaster are likely at numerous US reactors." You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to ask whether there's a role played by Stuxnet in the Fukushima venting failure and any events in the United States? Stuxnet is widely believed to have ruined Iran's Bushehr reactor. Isn't it simply an intelligent question?

Wasserman also makes a pointed and persuasive, yet widely ignored, observation that "... the Obama Administration has ended radiation monitoring of seafood in the Pacific. It does not provide reliable, systematic radiological or medical data on fallout coming to the United States." But just last week Texas politicians hid the amount of radioactivity in drinking water to avoid the requirement of advising the public about elevated health risks. Everyone should be asking: Why? A critical point that should persuade, or at least bring into question, whether the public's well-being remains part of government's mission?

The present writer believes the state's intent goes beyond neglect! A deep sense of betrayal should be a settled issue in everyone's mind! Americans should not ignore recent unexpected shutdowns of reactors at US nuclear plants!

japan elite hiding secret weapons program in nuclear plants?

Environmental writer Yoichi Shimatsu provides keen insight on Japan's disaster in article, "Is Japan's Elite Hiding a Weapons Program Inside Nuclear Plants?" A casual observer of the calamity cannot help but compare Japan's inept response to US government's similar ineffective efforts in 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster? Shimatsu comments, "Inexplicable delays and half-baked explanations from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) seem to be driven by some unspoken factor." There is an unsettling lack of response just as in the Hurrican Katrina disaster? Why? "The most logical explanation: The nuclear industry and government agencies are scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan's civilian nuclear power plants," concludes Shimatsu.

Perhaps, most damning are the following two revelations, "[unit 4] omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable material."

The second is equally explosive, "...bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable (or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the bodies of two missing nuclear workers—never before disclosed to the press— were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none dare name." Wow! A tip of the hat goes to Shimatsu for his incisive inquiry!

You can listen to Yoichi Shimatsu's most recent report here on the Japan disaster. Article is an education and interview makes a nice companion. It's great stuff!