"We cannot just go back to business as usual," [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel said, adding that events in Japan "teach us that risks that were thought to be completely impossible cannot in fact be completely ruled out".
Just when I thought it could not get any worse, it got worse.
As you all know, one nuclear plant had the top blow off and began to leak radioactivity into the air (Unit 1, built in 1970). Then a 2nd one it exploded yesterday (Sunday) (Unit 3 built in 1974) Tonight we received word at 8 pm that Unit 2 exploded (built in 1972 - the same year as Vermont Yankee). Each explosion has gotten worse, and the third explosion has severely damaged the containment building.
By the way, the 2nd reactor to blow - Unit 3 is burning MOX fuel - mixed oxide fuel, which has plutonium added. Did you know that plutonium is named after Pluto the god of hell?
Now Unit 4 has a fire in spent fuel pool caused by exposed fuel and burning hydrogen. A burning fuel pool fire is worse than a meltdown because the uranium and plutonium vaporize.
By the way, all 4 Japanese nuke plants in trouble are the same vintage, design, & model as Vermont Yankee, Oyster Creek (NJ)(Exelon owned), and Pilgrim (MA - just south of Boston) (another Entergy plant)
It is very, very late Monday night, no early Tuesday morning. I am exhausted. Yesterday (Sunday) we researched and prepped for several radio shows and NY Times, Washington Post, and WSJ. This morning began with Chicago radio, where Illinois has 11 working nukes - 4 of its oldest units are like Fukushima. All the Illinois nukes are owned by Exelon, the corporation that was President Obama's biggest campaign donor.
Next Arnie interviewed w/ a Miami station. It always bothers us to do press in Florida, where we already did a nuclear case with a cancer cluster of 42 families exposed to illegal radioactivity from a nuclear power plant that was covered-up by the NRC.
After those two radio shows Arnie was on Democracy Now & will be again on Tuesday morning @ 8:10 a.m.
After Democracy Now, Arnie did an interview with Mark Johnson, VPR - John Dillion, Dave Gram at AP, and numerous other radio, TV, and print media.
[I'd love it if anyone posts those links in the comment section].
Arnie's interview here in the Global Postwas spot on regarding a reactor core melt and containment failure.
GlobalPost: The ultimate risk in any nuclear accident is that the heat can grow so intense that the steel containment vessel is ruptured, releasing a large amount of radiation. You say there's a 50-50 chance of this happening. What kind of health effects can we expect?
Gundersen: First, it's important to know that this steel containment is about an inch thick. It's not some massive battleship of steel. The reactor is already open, because the pressure relief valves have to stay open.
On top of that, these containments have already breached. We saw iodine and cesium in the environment before the first unit exploded. When you see that, that's clearly an indication that the containment has breached.
Now, is it leaking 1 percent a day? Probably. Is it leaking 100 percent a day? No. I think for the neighboring towns out to 2 miles, they won't have anybody back in them for five years. Out to 15 miles, I doubt you're going to see anyone back for six months. And that's in the best case, without a meltdown.
If we have a meltdown, I don't think anyone will be back within 20 miles for 10 or 15 years.
Mr. Gundersen ... had one maintenance task where the "stay time," in which workers would be exposed to their yearly limit, was three minutes. He hired local farmers, trained them on a mock-up for two weeks, and then sent them in for their brief stint. "Then I'd send them home for a year," he said.
In Japan, the plant operators do not have the luxury of time for training. "You need somebody who is familiar with the plant, because you need somebody to do it now," Mr. Gundersen said.
Complete about face in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel had overridden Germany's own study showing the health hazards of nuclear power due to daily radiation exposure to residents living around the plants.
In Germany, where tens of thousands of anti-nuclear activists protested in a human chain this weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a three-month moratorium on plans to extend the operation of its nuclear power plants.
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"We cannot just go back to business as usual," Merkel said, adding that events in Japan "teach us that risks that were thought to be completely impossible cannot in fact be completely ruled out".
Switzerland suspended plans to replace five aging nuclear power plants, while Italy and Poland decided to rethink prior decisions to invest in nuclear energy.
As an long time admirer of Bev Smith, I'd like to give my special thanks to her for discussing this topic live for two hours.
I will post again, but I don't know when. Please help by posting from our interviews. The nuclear industry is trying desperately to say that this could never happen in the US. These are the same plants of the same vintage of old nukes here. The management at TEPCO was indicted for fraud in 2002, and have been caught not doing what needs to be done - again and again! Old nukes need need lots of money invested to keep them running safely, and that is simply not happening anywhere in the world. Nor are regulators like the NRC enforcing what must be enforced.
Most of all, please pray for the people of Japan. This is the worst tragedy the world has ever seen.
