Corrected Comments on Fukushima Please note that my comments on 3/12, yesterday, were significantly in error as noted below: 1. The gases released in the YouTube video are steam. 2. This steam is not from a secondary water loop because these plants are not designed as pressurized water but are the boiling water type. […]
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Explosion at Fukushima 1: Several Workers Injured
12 March 2011, 16:52 According to the Fukushima office of Tokyo Electric Power, a sound of explosion was heard at Unit 1 of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant around 3:30 PM. A plume of smoke was seen ten minutes later. Several workers have been reportedly injured. The Fukushima office says that the smoke appeared […]
Fukushima 1: Evacuation Incomplete
12 March 2011, 13:26 According to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Ministry of Economy and Industry (MITI), regarding the evacuation of residents within the 10 km radius of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant, as of 11:30 AM, about 30% of 2,000-2,100 residents of Okuma-machi in Fukushima Province, which is located […]
Fukushima 1: Fuel Meltdown Begins
12 March 2011, 14:00 The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Ministry of Economy and Industry (MITI) has just announced that near Unit 1 of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant, a radioactive element called “cesium,” which results from nuclear fission, has been detected, so it believes that a part of the nuclear […]
Fukushima 1: Reactor Container Building Collapses
Note: The image, captured by NHK on 12 March 2011, around 4:30 PM, shows that the outer walls of the container building of Unit 1 of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant have completely disappeared. The document above is an extra published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on 12 March 2011. Cf. “福島第１原発１号機で爆発、天井崩落 炉心溶融か” (Nikkei, 12 […]
On the Nuclear and Earthquake Disaster Unfolding in Japan
The Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) is deeply concerned for the health and safety of the people affected by the earthquakes and tsunamis that have struck Japan over the last two days. We are particularly concerned for the people in the vicinity of nuclear power plants, including workers who are trying to minimize the […]
福島原発: チェルノブイリなら、２０キロ圏では不十分
日本政府は「１０キロ圏出れば大丈夫」だと今日まで言いはっていた。日本のマスコミもそう報道していた。政府とマスコミは、今になってやっと「２０キロ圏」と言いはじめている。国際メディアでは、科学者たちは福島原発の安全策不発の報道後直ちにスリーマイルや チェルノブイリのような事故の可能性を指摘していた。日本国民はどっちを信じるべきか？ 世界の科学者？ それとも金権主義の政治家と官僚と彼らの言いなりになる日本のマスコミ？ チェルノブイリなら、２０キロ圏では不十分。ソ連は３０キロ圏の住人を避難させたが、それでも不十分だったのだ。 「ソビエトの科学者の報告によると、28,000km2が185kBq/m2を超えるセシウム-137に汚染した。約83万人がこの区域に住んでいた。約10,500km2が555kBq/m2を越えるセシウム-137に汚染した。このうち、ベラルーシに7,000km2、ロシア連邦に2,000km2、ウクライナに1,500km2が属する。約25万人がこの区域に住んでいた。これらの報告データは国際チェルノブイリプロジェクトにより裏付けられた。」 福島はチェルノブイリよりも危険だろうという声もある。 日本政府と日本のマスコミが言ってることを丸呑みにしないで。チェルノブイリを考えて、市民で助け合って、避難したほうがいい。 古橋芳恵はMRZineの編集長。 Cf. Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “Fact Sheet on Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant” (11 March 2011); Union of Concerned Scientists, “Nuclear Crisis in Japan: What We Know” (11 March 2011); Philip White, “On the Nuclear and Earthquake Disaster Unfolding in Japan” (12 March 2011); Edwin […]
米科学者:子供たちに被曝防止のヨウ素剤を今すぐに
日本はこの原子力事故の重大さに直面して今すぐ最弱者を放射線被爆の被害から保護せねばならない。特に子供を放射性ヨウ素から守るべきだ。そう米国のトップ科学者が言っている。 「これが最悪のケースではないと言い張る見せかけは無謀です」と科学者団体UCSの上級研究員エドウィン・ライマン氏は摘発する。 米国とフランスには、致命的な放射線放出の際には原発の近くに住んでいる子供たちにヨウ素酸カリウムを配布し投与するプランがある。 もし炉心が融解し鋼製格納容器が破壊されると、日本が直面するリスクは、何十キロも何百キロにも分散する放射性雲だとライマン氏は説明する。「 救済策を必要とする領域は大規模になりかねます。多くの被曝者の中では、癌になる可能性が増加します。」 チェルノブイリ原発事故の後、ライマン氏によると、6000例以上の小児甲状腺癌が発見された。放射線にさらされる数時間前にヨウ素剤を子供に与えると放射性物質の甲状腺摂取量をブロックできることが後に判明した。「投与によって大幅にリスクを軽減できることは確かだ」とライマン氏は言う。 この記事は 抜粋翻訳。原文：<abcnews.go.com/International/japan-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-explosion-workers-injured-radiation/story?id=13120888>. 翻訳:古橋芳恵。
Nuclear Crisis in Japan: What We Know
The massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan has caused a potentially catastrophic situation at one of Japan’s nuclear power plants. The situation is still evolving, but below is a preliminary assessment based on the facts as experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists currently understand them. The plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company […]
Fukushima 1: Fuel Rods Exposed
12 March 2011, 12:03 According to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), the level of water to cool the nuclear reactor at Unit 1 of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant has declined. As of 11:20 AM, a part of the “fuel assembly” of fuel rods is now exposed above water. The maximum exposure […]
Fact Sheet on Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
Excerpt: Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, a Japanese environmental group, has documented previous safety problems and cover-ups by Tepco at the Fukushima reactor complex: cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit92/nit92articles/ nit92coverupdata.html Full Text: * * * MRZine Editor’s Notes Update 1 The evacuation area around the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant has now been expanded to a 10 km radius […]
For the Establishment of a Democratic Republic in Bahrain
Position Statement of the Coalition for a Republic In the name of our glorious religion and international conventions on human rights and on the principle of the right of nations to decide their destiny, and based on our long struggle and sacrifices against the oppressive and corrupt Al-Khalifa regime, we hereby declare a tripartite […]
The Libyan Opposition on Foreign Intervention
Is the “Provisional Transitional National Council of Libya” the kind of leadership for whom self-respecting Libyans would want to carry assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, Manpads, and so on? IMHO, a resounding NO, but, dear reader, draw your own conclusion. — Ed. * * * Excerpt from Eric Ruder, “No U.S. intervention in […]
The Fight Continues in Ohio
Letter to the members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, AFSCME Local 11. Dear OCSEA Member: You are making history! Four weeks ago, Senate Bill 5 was introduced in the Ohio legislature to take away the rights of public employees to collectively bargain. And, four weeks ago, we started a campaign like no other. […]
President of Madison Firefighters after Senate Vote in Wisconsin
Joe Conway and The UpTake
Joe Conway, Madison Fire Fighters Local 311: This is a game changer for everybody here. . . . They took people’s rights away in a matter of minutes, . . . not playing by any rules at all. The UpTake: We’re hearing people talk about a call for a general strike. What do you […]
A System Turned Upside Down
The Tunisian revolution has wiped out the Ben Ali system, and the Egyptian revolution is about to eliminate the Mubarak system after the fall of the president. No doubt, the epoch of unlimited domination in the Arab world is coming to its end. After decades of despotic, patronage-based regimes, the Arab peoples seem determined to […]
Obama’s Intervention in Libya
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print
The Lousy Leader of the Libyan Opposition
One of the problems of the Libyan opposition today is that lousy leader they have. He is none other than the former Minister of Justice of Qadhdhafi’s regime. He has been on Aljazeera and is everything you don’t want to have in a leader. I mean, if Libyans watch him, they won’t be inspired. They […]
The Struggles of a Muslim Communist
Partai Komunis Indonesia, or the Indonesian Communist Party, was at one point the largest communist party outside the Soviet Bloc. In 1965, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of its members were systematically murdered under the watch and approval of General Suharto’s CIA-backed military. Historians estimate that between 500,000 and 2,000,000 communists were killed, […]
The Cash Option
When I was growing up, several decades ago, middle-class society in India was always a little delayed in catching on to Western fashions whether in music or dress or in other aspects. The past decades of globalisation seemed to have changed all that. Modern communications technology has ensured that at least the upper income deciles […]
