Typhoon weakens to tropical storm, downpours expected across Japan
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Typhoon Songda weakened to a tropical storm off Shikoku Island in southwestern Japan on Sunday afternoon, but the Japan Meteorological Agency warned it could still bring downpours and strong winds across the country through Monday.
The storm is expected to move toward waters off eastern Japan on Monday, activating the rain front hovering over northeastern Japan, especially on the Pacific side that was ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the agency.
The typhoon, the second this year, had already brought heavy rain to most parts of Japan, with accumulated rainfall on Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture during the 24 hours to early Sunday setting a record high for the location of 457.5 millimeters.
(Mainichi Japan) May 29, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110529p2g00m0dm085000c.htmlFukushima plant prepares for wind and rain
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is stacking sandbags around buildings that house electrical equipment to keep heavy rain and strong winds from affecting the cooling system.
Weather authorities say heavy rain is expected around the plant from Sunday to Monday, and strong winds may blow at sea...
...The level of contaminated water in the tunnels and the turbine buildings of the Number 2 and 3 reactors has been rising. The utility will continue to monitor the situation to make sure that contaminated water will not overflow and run into the sea or groundwater.
It is spraying a special processing agent on debris and buildings to stop radioactive materials from being washed out to sea through ditches.
Sunday, May 29, 2011 23:18 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_21.htmlNo.5 reactor temperature rises after pump failure
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says temperatures in the Number 5 reactor and its spent fuel storage pool have risen due to pump failure. The reactor has been in a state of cold shutdown.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says it found at 9 PM on Saturday that a pump bringing seawater to cooling equipment for the reactor and pool had stopped working. TEPCO says temperatures have been rising since then.
The water temperature in the reactor rose by about 24 degrees Celsius to 92.2 degrees at 11 AM on Sunday. The temperature in the fuel storage pool increased to 45.7 degrees from 41 degrees.
On Sunday morning, TEPCO installed a new pump that started operating shortly after noon.
The company suspects failure in the pump motor caused the malfunction. It is now working to detect the cause of the failure while monitoring temperatures in the reactor and pool.
Sunday, May 29, 2011 13:08 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_11.htmlCooling system restored at No.5 reactor
A broken pump has been replaced at the Number 5 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and the temperature inside the reactor has started to decline. The reactor has been in a state of cold shutdown.
An employee patrolling the facility noticed around 9 PM on Saturday that the pump was not working...
...The water temperature inside the reactor reached 94.8 degrees before the work was completed. It fell to 76.5 degrees by 2 PM, and the temperature of the spent fuel storage pool has also stabilized.
The utility says it will investigate the cause of the failure, as it continues to monitor the temperatures inside the reactor and the pool.
Sunday, May 29, 2011 23:18 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_19.htmlSunday, May 29, 2011
ANALYSIS
France, U.S., U.K. committed to nuke power, Germany resolutely opposed, Italy's plans on hold
G-8 differ in reactions to Fukushima
By ALEX MARTIN
Staff writer
GERMANY — While the Group of Eight wrapped up their two-day summit in Deauville, France, by agreeing on the need to better define international standards for nuclear safety, its member nations differ in their reactions to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant…
…"Politics and money are the most influential factors in formulating each nation's stance toward nuclear energy," Sophia University political science professor Koichi Nakano said, explaining that nations such as Germany and some Nordic countries where environmentalists have a strong say in politics would naturally be more reluctant to back the continued use of nuclear energy in the wake of a crisis…
…In a recent magazine article, Tomoko Murakami, a researcher at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, suggested that while Japan's competitiveness in the international market for nuclear energy has weakened following the Fukushima crisis, this has only made room for other nuclear giants, including Areva of France, AEP of Russia and Westinghouse Electric. and General Electric of the U.S. to claim more market share. "The market for nuclear power generation and development remains little changed in the 'post-Fukushima' world, and it is safe to say that the business strategy of companies will also remain unchanged," she wrote.
…"These governments will likely march on with their nuclear expansion, convincing their people that the Fukushima accident was a special, rare case, and by emphasizing the benefits of nuclear power as a clean source of energy and a safe alternative," Nakano said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110529a2.htmlBig Island Dairy Farmers fight radiation with Boron
May 10, 2011 / Community
All Islands, Big Island, Oahu
Britton & Shekinah; Milk and Honey Farm
Dear Milk Share Members,
Our goal to offer high quality safe food to our community has recently been challenged in the reality of the radioactivity being released into our environment. In the past weeks radioactive levels have increased in Hawaii, with high spikes and a more current leveling off of radiation levels. Milk from the large dairies in Hamakua and Hawi has shown elevated levels of radiation, from 400 to 2400 times the recognized safe levels.
Why is milk contamination significant in the world of agriculture? Because milk represents the overall condition of the entire food chain, since cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as crops. So, when milk tests positive for radiation, it indicates the entire food chain is contaminated since cows eat grass. When grass is contaminated everything grown in the same soil is contaminated. This has proposed a serious concern to us farmers, with us asking what can we do? After much consideration, research, and conversations with much appreciated experts in the field of biological farming and human & animal health, we have found some things which we are able to do to protect our soil, animals, and bodies.
Aside from the much recognized supplement potassium iodine as a protection against radioactive iodine, there are a number of ways we can help. We have remembered our friend, elemental boron and the position it plays on the earth. Boron is the only mineral capable of accepting and ionizing radiation that never changes the innards or the nucleus of the cell. Spoken simply, boron can take radiation and release it without upsetting its own very delicate balance…
...In these tenuous times it is all we can do to be honestly informed of the situation at hand and act accordingly. We are doing our best to protect our soil, animals and bodies from the elevated levels of radioactivity, and hope that you will also. Our prayers and blessings are with the farmers and families closer to the source of radioactive pollution. We send them our love and hopes for a green, safe future for all on this earth.
Blessings,
Britton & Shekinah
Milk and Honey Farm
Pahoa, Big Island Hawaii
http://hawaiihealthguide.com/healthtalk/display.htm?id=915&hhsid=9ea42c3eb9d93ab4faf7ca3cd98ee6d8And now for some Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap:
Fukushima: How Many Chernobyls Is It?
by Bob Nichols
(San Francisco) – The world’s second big nuclear disaster occurred at Chernobyl Reactor No. 4 in the Ukraine on Apr 26, 1986. Simply tagged as “Chernobyl,” it is what the next big and well known nuke disaster, after the American Three Mile Island, on March 28, 1979 came to be called. “Chernobyl” ejected 30% of one 192-ton, three-month old reactor core. That’s 57.6 radioactive tons thrown into the air by fire and explosions.
The tiny radioactive and burning smoke particles have traveled around the world many times since 1979, killing an estimated one million people to date from radiation caused illnesses and cancers. This is according to Editor Dr Janette Sherman’s exhaustive and widely acclaimed book on 5,000 Chernobyl scientific papers recently published by the New York Academy of Sciences <1>...
...As Dr. Michio Kaku, a world renowned CUNY theoretical physicist pointed out on CNN March 18, 2011, Chernobyl involved one reactor and only 57.6 Tons of the reactor core went into the atmosphere. In dramatic contrast, the Fukushima Daiichi disaster immediately involved six reactors and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN Agency) documented 2,800 Tons of highly radioactive old reactor cores.
Simple division tells us there are at least 48.6 Chernobyls in the burning old reactor cores pumping fiery isotopes into the Earth’s atmosphere. It is no stretch to say Fukushima Daiichi’s six reactors and the dry holding pools for old reactor cores are equal to more than 50 Chernobyl disasters. Further clarification is needed, of course, and it is being worked out now by independent physicists. Note that the lethality of radioactive reactor cores goes up the first 250,000 years they are out of the reactor – not down..."
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/28/fukushima-how-many-chernobyls-is-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fukushima-how-many-chernobyls-is-itHappy Memorial Day Holiday Weekend, Mother Earth
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