READER COMMENTS ON

"'Very Grave And Serious': More Analyses Suggesting Fukushima Disaster Reaching Chernobyl Levels"

(37 Responses so far...)





COMMENT #1 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/25/2011 @ 6:34 pm PT...





The Chernobyl documentary. "Nobody was prepared for such a crisis."

COMMENT #2 [Permalink]

... Bear Woman said on 3/25/2011 @ 7:25 pm PT...





Why are they still trying to recover these reactors rather than just sealing them in as done at Chernobyl? Has there been any study as to the altitude that the releases have reached and how much has gotten into the jet stream? Also, why are there no reportings on the amount or the fact that radiation has been detected in Alaska? Just today they finally noted that radiation had been detected in Hawaii.... To me it is logical if it reached California and Colorado, it has to have been detected in Hawaii. Based on early predictions, Alaska would also have radiation detected. On a final note, is there any way to confirm the accuracy of the amounts detected that have reached the US? Finally, I feel sorry for the people of Japan. They are suffering the most.... Thank you to the workers who have been trying so valiantly to save the plant, their countrymen and the world.

COMMENT #3 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 3/25/2011 @ 7:52 pm PT...





Bear Woman asked: Why are they still trying to recover these reactors rather than just sealing them in as done at Chernobyl? I don't think they're trying to "recover" them, as much as stabilize them. They've already said that the plant will have to be permanently shut down, most likely, and there have been reports that workers are training to use the cement trucks currently rigged to pump water into Unit 4, to pump cement with it, as a last ditch effort to "kill" that unit. So I suspect that may be on the drawing board for all of the Units, as necessary. But to do even that much is extremely hazardous, and much safer to accomplish if the units are stable --- or closer to it than they are now. Has there been any study as to the altitude that the releases have reached and how much has gotten into the jet stream? I haven't seen an official "study", but have seen reports (can't recall where off hand) that the explosions to date hurled radiation several hundred meters into the air, as opposed to several thousands meters, as at Chernobyl where, as you note, the radiation was able to get into the jet stream that way, and contaminate a much wider area. Or, so say the reports I've seen, in any case. Also, why are there no reportings on the amount or the fact that radiation has been detected in Alaska? Can't tell you, but can make a guess or two. A) It may not have reached Alaska, but rather, stayed more to the South. The reports I've seen of radiation reaching the U.S. were in Southern California (lucky me!). Luck of the wind. And/or B) Have seen reports that suggest some of the EPA monitors may either not be working, or that there may not be enough of them, because they are only now deploying more of them. There are also monitors around the globe for Nuclear Test Ban Treaty monitoring, but I'd have to go check to see exactly where all of those monitors are placed. On a final note, is there any way to confirm the accuracy of the amounts detected that have reached the US? Not that I know of. You'll just have to "trust" your government, I suspect. Though independent scientists are also plowing through all of that data, so if there are real concerns here in the U.S., I suspect they will get out to the public one way or another.

COMMENT #4 [Permalink]

... Ahab said on 3/25/2011 @ 9:28 pm PT...





The fact that this is occuring so close to the 32nd anniversary of the Three Mile Island crisis is an ill omen. TMI and Chernobyl should have been wake-up calls to the potential dangers of nuclear power. My heart goes out to the people of Japan who are struggling with the aftermath of an earthquake, tsunami, and now a nuclear crisis.

COMMENT #5 [Permalink]

... Dredd said on 3/26/2011 @ 5:49 am PT...





Anchorage is closer to Tokyo(3,462 miles) than either Honolulu (3,859 miles) or Los Angeles(5,487 miles) are. The Aleutian Islands are even closer than Anchorage. The plume hit Alaska before it hit Hawaii or the mainland US.

COMMENT #6 [Permalink]

... ctwatcher said on 3/26/2011 @ 7:05 am PT...





Thank you, Brad, for trying to tell it like it is while being responsible about pure speculation. I have been extremely disappointed and bothered by the poor quality and lack of in-depth reporting both on Japan (which is partly understandable) but also about the conditions of the domestic nuclear industry. Some of the happy talk being passed off by news also is in fact pure speculation. IN terms of alternative sources of info, I found a link to a seller of geiger counters who said he was putting up a network here: http://www.allvoices.com...YXRpb25uZXR3b3JrLmNvbS8= I don't have any way of evaluating that site other than to say that it's one source of info. be sure to read the notes and follow the comments by the owner to use this site responsibly. The EPA's site for radiation monitoring is here:

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/ This disaster is a cautionary tale for governments that lose the trust of their citizens by either not leveling with them, or losing citizens' confidence over time by getting in bed with a regulated industry, or both. When the govt really needed/s to be taken seriously.....we see here that it's now not the go-to trusted source of accurate info. Not a good place for a government to be at all in a disaster. In terms of whether the Fukushima plants were going to be abandoned as of a few days ago, I was puzzled by a piece in the WSJ which says TEPCO is seeking $25Bn for "repairs to damaged plants".

http://online.wsj.com/ar...4576217632245381732.html If that's what it costs to stabilize and decommission these plants, we should all sit up and take note, because this article also suggests that the government of Japan (e.g, the taxpayers) will most likely be taking the hit. It's impossible for me as a layperson with no sense of costs involved to tell from the article whether some attempt to repair the plants was actually being contemplated. Maybe one of your engineer readers will have insight on this. Japan has over 50 reactors. How many times can a government in an earthquake prone area of the world take the hit for a damaged reactor? Somebody better be considering such a scenario. The US has over 100. Everybody focuses the most attention on the West coast, but it's eye opening to look at the density of reactor sites on the East coast. Realizing that most of these plants are located on bodies of water in a region with a "hurricane season" ever year, and that the East coast has become far more densely populated since the plants were built decades ago, there's lots to consider here as we go forward. For example, the issue of radiation contamination of Tokyo's water reminds me that we have to consider not only where the population lives, but where its major roadways and airports are, where its open reservoirs for water supplies are located, and so forth. People don't have to be near a plant to be powerfully affected by an accident at that plant. BTW, my favorite euphemism (NOT) was heard on NPR, where radiation had not "contaminated" an area, but had "found its way" to that area.

COMMENT #7 [Permalink]

... TraLaLaLaLa said on 3/26/2011 @ 7:10 am PT...





Thought, I was kidding before? Enjoy the following climate change is man made presentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1yIfOYQWxA Celebrate Earth Hour a day before Green News. I remind again, if your local, city, state, or federal have budget deficits and they are cutting services, or raising taxes, You'll need to bring a copy of the "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" to the table and slap it down.

COMMENT #8 [Permalink]

... TraLaLaLaLa said on 3/26/2011 @ 7:14 am PT...





Today is the last day of 2011 Tsunami Awareness Week March 21-26 http://www.oes.ca.gov/We...6EE00575B85?OpenDocument

COMMENT #9 [Permalink]

... ctwatcher said on 3/26/2011 @ 7:41 am PT...





For those looking for hard data rather than spin, I noted the following attempt to acquire more Japan radiation level info for the public, mentioned in a press release from Beyond Nuclear: Friends of the Earth and other organizations have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to U.S. agencies asking that they release the monitoring data they are getting from their staff in the U.S. and in Japan.” link to the release via commondreams.org:

http://www.commondreams....rg/newswire/2011/03/25-4

COMMENT #10 [Permalink]

... Ernest A. Canning said on 3/26/2011 @ 8:28 am PT...





It is interesting that the same U.S. government which recommended an 80 kilometer (50 mile) "exclusion zone" to Japan operates at home under "emergency-response plans that call for evacuating residents only within a 10-mile radius of such a disaster here."

COMMENT #11 [Permalink]

... xisco said on 3/26/2011 @ 10:24 am PT...





Yeah Brad, I'm cynical too about the safety claims from the radiation emissions, especially as it is compared to "natural" radiation that one receives over the course of a year. It's like me saying a 20 foot tsunami isn't dangerous because there are waves that "naturally" wash ashore EVERY day, and the water in the tsunami is FAR LESS than the total water that hits the beaches in a year. But there are plenty of videos on youtube that will attest to the destructive force of the tsunami. How long before the youtube videos of the cancer damage caused by this "tsunami of radiation" released on the world?

COMMENT #12 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:03 am PT...





I have been extremely disappointed and bothered by the poor quality and lack of in-depth reporting... The war news out of Libya conveniently knocked events in Japan out of prime time.

COMMENT #13 [Permalink]

... Realist said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:33 am PT...





"Some greens have wildly exaggerated the dangers of radioactive pollution."

- George Monbiot in his article explaining his conversion to pro-nuke http://www.guardian.co.u...-nuclear-japan-fukushima If he will stand behind these words, then he should will willing to act as the watch guard and keep terrorists from stealing the debris.

COMMENT #14 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:37 am PT...





As I'm reading (and relying on) Brad's indispensable coverage of Fukushima, specifically the conflicting reports from the assorted agencies responsible for radiation testing, I am reminded of what I (was mortified) learned in Lower Manhattan in 2001 re: EPA "testing"... In 2001, I worked closely with the Carpenter's Union, Local 608. When the EPA test results on the air quality were released claiming the air was perfectly safe to breathe, the Union President's OSHA rep informed me that their people on scene were shocked to see that the EPA had taken their test samples from WAY outside the affected areas in order to produce the desired "clean" result. They had *no* interest in testing the fatal "hot zones" the Carpenters' OSHA people had discovered when doing their own, independent testing. (Damn dirty Unions!) This made me weep for my Carpenters, who were employing so many overly enthusiastic, young, spirited, patriotic men and women who wanted to be there and help with the recovery; knowing full well what kind of long term health effects they might experience. ...reluctant, citizen Generals. When I saw the moving photo Brad posted last week of the Japanese TEPCO official breaking down in tears, I see the same tub of pain. Thought this was worth mentioning as we all try to mete out the official results / testing coming at us (and not) from all over. Not only do I completely mistrust the U.S. agencies / corpo-media to level with us about the levels - but the mortifying precedent they have set for LYING about serious public health concerns... ...has me instinctively dismissing them, now. With impunity.

COMMENT #15 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:37 am PT...





Poster hanif at PressTV makes a valid point. The IEAE body has beeen making so much of a fuss over Iran all these years, with inspections and criticisms, etc. When last did they ever do such an inspection of the Japanese plants (or, any other for that matter)?Their duplicity is now coming home to roost! Re: youtube videos of the cancer damage caused by this "tsunami of radiation," go to to the 1:24:40 mark in the Chernobyl documentary to see the effect of that disaster.

COMMENT #16 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:44 am PT...





Jeannie Dean, since you bring this up, here's from the article about Larry Silverstein. It was well-known by the city of New York that the WTC was an asbestos bombshell. For years, the Port Authority treated the building like an aging dinosaur, attempting on several occasions to get permits to demolish the building for liability reasons, but being turned down due the known asbestos problem. Further, it was well-known the only reason the building was still standing until 9/11 was because it was too costly to disassemble the twin towers floor by floor since the Port Authority was prohibited legally from demolishing the buildings.

COMMENT #17 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:52 am PT...





One more striking, horrific similarity: NO REGULATION BOOTS. We couldn't get them, either. (That uber-tool Guiluiani kept telling the world we didn't need anything. We did.) Fires from 200tons of burning debris scorched through the thick souls of rubber boots in less than a week. Couldn't use the steel reinforced, because a steel beam coming down on would sever a foot. The regulation boots we DID receive were donated by the private sector (Catapillar's CEO) but had some trouble finding their way to the site after THE RED CROSS re-routed them for storage in one of their massive warehouses...

...in PARAMUS, NJ. The photo Brad posted of the Japanese heroes in sneakers and baggies and duct tape. Is. So. Very. Disturbing.

COMMENT #18 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 12:03 pm PT...





Yes, Ghost - I've seen that disturbing quote from Silverstein. One of many. (Btw, thanks for your handle, your thoughts, your posts, and for uphill battle for justice on behalf of all the Ghosts of 911 that you and the Truth Movement are waging. And hello, "Winning!")

COMMENT #19 [Permalink]

... karenfromillinois said on 3/26/2011 @ 12:22 pm PT...





does any1 have news of whats going on in wisconsin with the recall petions? i keep hearing they have ovr half the signatures needed...but i would love to hear specifics...like if they are using voters lists from last election to contact peops and are they actually finding those peops?

COMMENT #20 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 12:22 pm PT...





Correction / addition to my above post: it was 200,000 tons of burning debris. Not 200. Big diff. And something just came back to me. A direct (albeit paraphrased) quote from Charlie, Local 608's OSHA rep re: the EPA testing... "The testing procedures were so bad a 7th grader taking biology could see they were full of shit..." (From late October / early November 2001.)

COMMENT #21 [Permalink]

... plunger said on 3/26/2011 @ 12:54 pm PT...





"Worse Than Chernobyl" That's the truth of this. The scale of severity will be raised. Welcome to 8.

COMMENT #22 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 1:18 pm PT...





Jeannie Dean, I am assuming that "pull it" is the Larry Silverstein quote you are referring to.

COMMENT #23 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 1:21 pm PT...





karenfromillinois (#17) ~ While Wisconsin has all but disappeared from our single-tracked, one-trick-pony express national media feed, I just found a ton of links on Twitter using "Wisconsin Recall" in the search field. You, being you, would probably have seen most of the related posts by now, but here's a WAPO article that goes into the Dems projections of the recall / where it stands as of yesterday - but does not address the important details you're smartly inquiring about: http://www.washingtonpos...03/24/ABZ0dPQB_blog.html I suspect you probably have the latest scoop - in fact, I sort of count on you for it. Thanks for bringing it to our attention...will keep my ear to the Twitter feed.

COMMENT #24 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 1:23 pm PT...





{Ed Note: Comment deleted. Serious and offensive criminal allegation levied against a private individual without evidence or reference to support it. Worse, the unlinked reference to the supposed claim is said, misleadingly, to be from a news site, but if the reference cited actually exists there, it's as a user comment, not as a news item. So I've deleted the comment. Please do not do that. Thanks. - BF}

COMMENT #25 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 3/26/2011 @ 1:56 pm PT...





Ghost - Brand new spot from the BuildingWhat? campaign: http://rememberbuilding7.org/

COMMENT #26 [Permalink]

... renzoku said on 3/26/2011 @ 5:22 pm PT...





anyone want to help start a new subdivision outside of a 100 mile radius of a nuke?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship

COMMENT #27 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 5:57 pm PT...





Understood Brad. It is also understood that someone fitting the profile of the person described by poster would be extremely well protected, along the lines of another Larry --- Lawrence King. The poster provides additional information with avenues for verification. Is there any way that can be shared?

COMMENT #28 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 6:04 pm PT...





Jeannie, the gentleman in the spot who lost a son speaks movingly in the documentary.

COMMENT #29 [Permalink]

... ghostof911 said on 3/26/2011 @ 6:26 pm PT...



COMMENT #30 [Permalink]

... ctwatcher said on 3/26/2011 @ 10:22 pm PT...





Unless news stories vastly misrepresent the public response to the government pronouncements on this nuclear disaster, the Japanese government seems to slow on the uptake that nobody trusts either TEPCO or them ALREADY. By the time they got around to "suggesting" people leave a wider radius around Fukushima, the people for the most part were long gone, so people are hardly taking their cue from the government. An LA times story mentions the lack of timely and detailed info on the conditions, once again. ENOUGH ALREADY --- the world should demand that they GET THE INFO AND GET IT NOW. Also, do they get to grade their own homework, deciding what rating to give the accident? I thought I read that the only rating that counts is the self-assessment of seriousness. That's a little self serving. Maybe it's a cultural thing, or an accurate reflection of the rumors aobut how the regulatory body operates in Japan, but the government's "admonitions" to TEPCO to be more forthcoming are along the lines of what you'd expect from somebody in a handmaiden relationship to the power company, rather than the Japanese government's regulatory body demanding answers to pointed, specific questions with quite specific deadlines for information and fines if it is not provided. Yes, I know that the regulators in Japan are said to be "captive," but SNAP OUT OF IT, GUYS. It's crunch time. What is not focused upon but should be is the extraordinary amount of leeway this company seems to be given to just handle it like a corporate internal incident. Or am I missing something? Way way too deferential. http://www.latimes.com/n...20110327,0,4288592.story I note particularly this quote:

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano chastised the company, known as TEPCO, saying that it needed to share information more quickly and, unless it does so, "the government will not be able to give appropriate instructions and [the company] will make workers, and eventually the public, distrustful," according to Kyodo News.

YA THINK? I'd say that horse is already long out of the barn, Mr. Secretary. Continuing:

TEPCO officials apologized for the lapse but also noted that workers had ignored alarms that had alerted them to high levels of radiation in the work area. When it comes to holding anyone's feet to the fire, all I'm hearing is about workers with radiation burns on their feet. We really must bite the bullet and ask this hard question: What is the chance that in the end, this event will have international safety implications? I think we have to face that possibility NOW, not be dragged kicking and screaming into "it can't happen here, but wait, oh guess what, now it is...oh sh*t". If we don't, then if and when it should turn into some sort of an international contamination incident, everybody will be caught feeling the (radioactive) breeze on their butts with their pants around their ankles. What the F is going on, and if you don't know, then you better get in there yourself and find out. It is criminal that these crews are working with incorrect protective clothing (which might be hard to come by if it has to be discarded due to contamination either daily or periodically after use). Where in the prospectus does it say that oh, BTW, in order for this investment in nuke plants to work out, if there's an accident, we might have to ask some people to give up their lives or their health to save our investment? Should we operate ANY nuke plant without this service already buttoned up and contracted out? "Community safety depends upon some as-yet unidentified people who will risk their lives to save our butts. We hope they volunteer.")???

COMMENT #31 [Permalink]

... brian said on 3/26/2011 @ 11:33 pm PT...





The fukushima disaster has helped espose the comical unpreparadness of the japanese 'authorities'

as well as the dangers of nuke power, and that it cant be controlled or contained

COMMENT #32 [Permalink]

... plunger said on 3/27/2011 @ 8:28 am PT...





http://my.firedoglake.co...s-the-end-of-capitalism/ ...there was no regulatory apparatus strong enough to move TEPCO. That is the central problem with capitalism. Efficiency concentrates power in the hands of a few. In other words, efficiency concentrates risk, and the risks are borne by all. Without rules — without government regulation, and lots of it — the wolves will eat everything and everyone. Another incriminating report from Kyodo News: TEPCO’s Fukushima office acknowledged Saturday that it had known earlier that the radiation in the underground level of the turbine building of one of the reactors was extremely high, but had not made the information available to pertinent parties. Labor? Not my problem, says management.

Facts? Nothing to worry about, either. They’re Master of the Universe, doncha know. Look how rich they are! Markets don’t lie! ——————– Capitalism is essentially a system for putting the lives of the many into the hands of a few. And far too often, those few don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves.

COMMENT #33 [Permalink]

... sophia said on 3/27/2011 @ 11:13 pm PT...





@brian: I'd switch the word 'comical' with 'criminal'. The radical ineptness and lack of preparation&foresight on the parts of TEPCO and the Japanese Government is breathtaking, but we've seen this so many times, I'm surprised we're even shocked. Katrina, the BP spill, Exxon-Valdez. I am just wondering: when DOES the self-preservation instinct kick in? When do ENOUGH people die that we as a race of individuals depending on each other collectively take a decision in our own favor, let alone an ACTION! When are there enough extinct species, poisoned waterways, overused farmlands, destroyed mountaintops, eco-systems, and social structures before we say: ENOUGH!? (I hear that word ringing in my ears since 2008, and now that the Strawman has shown is stuffing, I realize-it was US who said it, tho HE parroted it, and we must say it again and again and again!) When will ENOUGH children, men, women, polar bears, bees, birds, plants, forests, and oceans die for us to put a stop to this MADNESS? Why in the name of all that is sacred and holy are we (collectively) content to watch this happen without joining as one to scream: ENOUGH!!!??? I'm damned if I know! But what is happening in Japan is simply the end of the beginning of our nuclear nightmare. We must bring it all to an end, make the adjustments we need to make, and quit living like oil, gas, nuclear energy are necessary to maintain this idiotically frenzied lifestyle we all seem to care so much about. Me, I just wanna read a book, eat an apple, write, and be at peace. Is that so much to ask? ENOUGH!!!

COMMENT #34 [Permalink]

... sophia said on 3/27/2011 @ 11:42 pm PT...





OK-went to Opednew.org to calm down a bit, and found a well written & reasoned article tthat essentially says what I did: here ya go: http://www.opednews.com/...y-j-dial-110326-655.html

COMMENT #35 [Permalink]

... sophia said on 3/27/2011 @ 11:44 pm PT...





Sorry all-that wonky nonwrapping thing happened again-opednews.org

COMMENT #36 [Permalink]

... Ingemar said on 3/28/2011 @ 6:47 am PT...





I, and surely other readers, understand that Greenpeace has an agenda in possibly exaggerating claims. Does TEPCO and other nuclear industry bodies have an agenda in understating the seriousness? I would say they, by several multiples more than Greenpeace, have a compelling interest to not being truthful. It isn't yellow journalism to say that. Use their stock price and holdings as evidence of their interest. However, it needs to be said. If Fukushima becomes a bigger failure the Western world will take notice of it again (its effectively out of the media right now) and it would be better if Brad Blog might contribute to a narrative which explains corporate interests and how those interests interconnect with corporate controlled media, interlocking directorships with other industrial energy firms, etc. They are all working to cover this up. While we all understand caution, journalistic integrity can be compromised in trying to remain 'credible' when credibility is defined by a den of thieves and liars.

COMMENT #37 [Permalink]

... MrComments said on 3/31/2011 @ 7:03 am PT...

