BREAKING: Smoke also seen at Fukushima plant’s No. 2 reactor (Also at No. 3, workers evacuated)

[amerfayed]

Source: AP

Kyodo at 6:17 am EDT - BREAKING NEWS: Smoke also seen at Fukushima plant's No. 2 reactor: agency (19:16)

See also: Gray smoke rises at Unit 3, workers evacuated: Official – Washington Post at 3:58 am EDT

Read more: http://enenews.com/breaking-news-smoke-fukushima-plants-2-reactor

[Dennis Donovan]

1. It's white smoke coming out of #2; grey smoke from #3...

[xchrom]

2. Does that mean they've chosen a pope? Nt

[Junkdrawer]

3. Tasteless, but very funny....

:rofl:

[RKP5637]

4. That is funny!

:) :) :) Humor makes very difficult things more bearable IMO.

[Mojorabbit]

27. OMG

I needed that laugh! :rofl:

[Corruption Winz]

32. I'm glad you said it, because when I read this headline, I was thinking of how to word it. Lol. n/t

[Rhiannon12866]

55. I have to admit, that was my first thought, too...

But I just came back from a funeral mass, and there was a pic of the current pope on the wall... :(

[CoffeeCat]

67. LOL!!! Very inventive!

I LOL'd!

:applause:

[GKirk]

81. Good thing you're not a spokesperson for...

...Geico! They'd have to fire your ass!

(but it was funny)

[Baclava]

28. More fodder for my "This can't be good" file

[Botany]

30. That picture means there was a meltdown

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/03/21/2011-03-21_smoke_from_japanese_nuclear_plants_reactor_forces_evacuation_of_fukushima_daiich.html

Smoke from Japanese nuclear plant's reactor forces evacuation of Fukushima Daiichi workers

[Baclava]

31. Not necessarily a meltdown...why would both reactors start smoking at the same time?

SMOKE FROM REACTOR 3 GONE, REACTOR 2 STILL SMOKING

(AGI) Osaka - Reactor No. 3 of the Fukushima atomic plant has stopped disgorging the grey smoke that had led to the evacuation of the unit. Engineers from one entire section had had to leave the plant temporarily, says the Japanese Agency for Nuclear Safety, which says the same thing happened, almost simultaneously, in Reactor 2, which is currently releasing a tall plume of whiteish smoke. Attempts to cool down the spent fuel rods, which continue to emit radiation, are ongoing. . .

http://www.agi.it/english-version/world/elenco-notizie/201103211227-cro-ren1039-japan_smoke_from_reactor_3_gone_reactor_2_still_smoking

[Botany]

39. It doesn't have to do with smoke being there or not.

The containment structures seem to be gone and we have been picking up
radionuclides that are the by product of some kind of melt down / nuclear reaction
for over a week now.

[Baclava]

43. Yes - we know this has been going on over a week - a partial meltdown is old news

What caused it today?

[defendandprotect]

59. misplaced --

[Mojorabbit]

40. reuters has this today in the live coverage

Finnish nuclear autroritory STUK has informed Japanese nuclear authotorities that according their studies conducted 20 yrs ago using sea water for cooling in nuclear plants can be only temporary solution. As sea water boils, the saline liquid will condensate and eventually create salt crystals. If crystallation happens extensively, there will not be way of cooling down the reactors. www.yle.fi (Finnish only)

[Auntie Bush]

46. That sounds ominous!

[defendandprotect]

52. ...and that's why we have nuclear reactor on Lake Erie ... a source of drinking water -- !!

[freedomnorth]

65. Problems from using salt water in cooling down efforts

YLE Finland

According to Finnish nuclear authority (STUK) Chief officer Jukka Laakso,using seawater is only gambling time in problematic reactors 1,2 and 3.
"Using seawater is not a long term solution. When you boil water in a cettle and there is only salt left, it leads to problems, Laakso says.

According to Laakso Finnish nuclear authority (STUK) has informed japanese about finnish experiment and its results conducted about twenty years ago. According to the studies, there will be additional problems in reactor, if salt is not removed.

"In worst case scenario, strong salt liquid will condensate in reactor and salt will start to crystallize, int that case you cannot cool down the reactor by any means.

Laaksonen adds that the only solution is to get sweet water to the cooling system.

(whole finnish news translated)

http://yle.fi/uutiset/teemat/japanin_tsunami/2011/03/stuk_merivesijaahdytyksesta_uusia_ongelmia_fukushimaan_2450186.html
(link in finnish)

[Mojorabbit]

70. Thanks! nt

[ElsewheresDaughter]

47. you can't even see the reactor core in this photo...it melted too?

[Altoid_Cyclist]

5. This is becoming more and more reminiscent of the old SNL gags about Franco.

It seems as though the news releases alternate between good news and bad news about every half hour. It's almost as if BP and Thad Allen are in charge of the press releases.

Maybe that's the plan.....throw so much out there at the people who will be affected for years to come that the truth (and the blame) become obscured by all of the conflicting stories.

[RKP5637]

7. Yep, it's starting to sound like obfuscation! n/t

[Altoid_Cyclist]

26. It is infuriating that corporations and governments keep using the same old scripts.

It's beyond infuriating that the media and talking heads allow it to succeed time after time.

At least it seems as though a lot of the Japanese people are catching on and starting to realize that the industry and their government are very capable of propagating lies to protect their image and their bottom line.

Some things truly are universal in the evil that is spread.

[CoffeeCat]

68. That's exactly what's happening...

One minute, we're told that smoke is pouring out and workers are evacuated. Though
we aren't given concrete facts on what exactly this means.

Then, in the next three-hour news cycle another article interprets the last one as, "It's no big deal!"

It's like Walter Cronkite gives the initial news, and Bill Murray's "Carl" character from "Caddyshack"
chimes in to tell us that what we thought was poo in the pool is really a Baby Ruth bar.

We're confused and befuddled for a reason. They want it that way.

[Overseas]

6. K&R.

Hope they get the power restored to cool the reactors.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. CAll Russia and ENTOMB the damn thing NOW!!! before it poisons every fish in the Pacific

[Pharaoh]

16. It will poisin them regardless

The plutonium/uranium will still seep into the ground water, and as the reactor sits on the coast there is no way to stop it.
You can entomb the top, but impossible to do anything about seepage below. But correct me if I'm wrong :party:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. but it will keep it from going global in the air and poisoning the entire food chain for eveyone....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYaRTbyEFsc

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. Yep.

Not widely publicized ( of course) is that the nuclear plant at Hanford Washington has leaked radiation into the Columbia River.How much is debatable, since no one is reporting on it honestly.
This has been going on for years.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

48. I'm buying my own gieger counter now...they cost about $300

[suffragette]

74. Yes, and they want to use MOX there now

and would have kept that a secret if not for a FOIA filing done that caught them at it.
Of course getting caught at keeping it secret won't stop them from doing it.

And it's in an earthquake zone and downstream from dams, which could produce similar effect as tsunami if they burst after an earthquake.

[defendandprotect]

53. Wherever nuclear reactors are, they are poisoning the atmosphere -- water -- from the Hudson River

to Lake Erie --

[highplainsdem]

17. Topic I posted in GD yesterday, linking to a news article about the risks of entombing it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x700970

This is the article:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Burying-failed-nuclear-reactor-could-make-things-worse/tabid/1160/articleID/203275/Default.aspx

The quote from it I posted yesterday:

Burying failed nuclear reactor could make things worse
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:12a.m.

-snip-

"When you drop tons of material from hundreds of feet in a helicopter, you're going to do some damage," said Alex Sich, a nuclear engineer at Franciscan University in Ohio. "It could be a bad idea. ... I would ask them to stop and think three times before they do any dumping of heavy materials."

Sich, who has lived in Chernobyl and published research on the disaster there, noted that Russian authorities dumped some 5,000 tons of sand, clay and other materials from helicopters in an attempt to smother that dangerous reactor.

The Japanese situation is different, he said. The Japanese reactors are surrounded by multiple barriers designed to contain radiation from the reactor cores. If a heavy dumping cracked the inner vessels and exposed the reactor cores, "that would be absurdity," he said.

Other risks focus on the spent fuel rods, which are a key source of concern. While pouring tons of sand on the rods would block radiation from escaping, it would also insulate them and make them heat up faster. The heat could decompose the concrete floor, allowing the rods to fall through, which could complicate efforts to contain the radiation, said Elmer Lewis of Northwestern University.

-snip-

As I said yesterday, I hope people will read the entire article. I haven't found anything else explaining the risks of entombing the reactors.

[wordpix]

19. looks like Japan is damned if they do and screwed if they don't

[ElsewheresDaughter]

25. but the cores are already cracked and leaking cesium 137 plume spreading aroung the globe.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYaRTbyEFsc

[defendandprotect]

57. Thanks -- meanwhile, you can stay indoors, I guess -- but the stuff will land on soil, water --

crops -- animal-life --

[ElsewheresDaughter]

58. exactly...poison the food chain and it's the all over...the ocean and it is the end of men

[defendandprotect]

60. ... but the risks were worth it for few $$$ -- Obama still going forward with nukes -- !!!

:nuke:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

61. Well President Obama has some things to learn...maybe he should take the family on a tour ...

to that region of Japan ...make it a teaching vacation for the girls.

[defendandprotect]

62. Didn't he take the girls swimming in the Gulf ?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

66. I remember the details of that photo-op....that was taken on the bayside & protected from the Gulf.

[defendandprotect]

69. That's good news -- always wondered about that pic!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. "BREAKING?" It's been broken since 3/11

Oil companies must be in 7th heaven.

[neoralme]

10. Isn't number three the one with all the plutonium? I'm losing track

of the damage to each.

[Jeroen]

11. Yes, it is.

[neoralme]

13. Thanks. I better buy some more canned fruit.

[marions ghost]

12. cesium plume

from your link:

http://enenews.com/cesium-137-plume-forecast-march-24-frances-irsn-video

comments?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. There seems to be a total media blackout...I have 3 news sources in Japam and I can't find a word

[neoralme]

15. I fear the worst. We will never eat fish again. One can never tell

where seafood is coming from, so not worth taking the chance. I wonder about fish oil.

[wordpix]

20. even before this, there was and remains plenty of dumping of all kinds of stuff, not to mention

whatever is burned and runs off ends up in the oceans, too. Best not to eat too much fish. Between the mercury, PCB's, radioactivity and plastics, it's not worth it.

I just passed up tuna and cod yesterday.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

21. same with us..we will never eat seafood again either and I just stocked up on fish oil before

it comes from future unreliable source.

watch the animation of the Cesium plume fallout....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYaRTbyEFsc

[Altoid_Cyclist]

24. This is one place to check for results and information on fish oil supplements.

Besides the actual testing, they also tell you which types of fish oil to look for on the labels and lots of other useful items.

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=16536

[neoralme]

29. Hey, thanks for that chart. I've been using Carlson fish oil for about

twelve years now. I am a little worried about the NSI (Nutraceutical Sciences Institute) stuff I take, which is about 30 a day. They are manufactured in North Carolina but I heard some of their stuff comes from Japan. Vitacost sells a lot of NSI, so I will have to investigate. Their prices are great.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. Shit...COQ10 is all sourced in Japan.

[neoralme]

37. Crap. My whole family takes that stuff. I just verified your post, and

you are right. I'm going to try and contact Norway today and see if they can make it. I'll have to do it through a distributor. I don't speak Norwegian. If you can find an alternate source, will you post it here. People who take Satins need to take COQ10.

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. For now, I am ordering X-tra from my supplier.

May need to find out where in Japan and from what the COQ10 comes from.

[neoralme]

45. Yeah. I'll do the same. It'll take a while to go through inventory and

get the bad fish into the manufacturing cycle. Thanks.

[Art_from_Ark]

56. If your COQ10 is made by Nissin Pharma,

then it is probably manufactured at the Kamida plant in Nagano prefecture, which is an alpine prefecture in roughly the center of Honshu Island.

http://www.e-shops.jp/local/nsh/5371773175.html

[suffragette]

75. Good to see you Art

How are you doing today?

[Art_from_Ark]

76. I've got the day off from work because of transportation

problems. Things are still not running at 100% here, but it's better here than in areas north of here. :hi:

[suffragette]

78. Hope you were able to something soul nurturing today

Which just reminded me of a film I saw a long time ago called "Enlightenment Guaranteed" which is about two brothers from Germany who go to Japan.

http://www.buddhistfilmfoundation.org/festival-media/enlightenment-guaranteed/

Beautiful (and some funny) scenes in Japan and nice journey about being lost and found.


:hi:

[Auntie Bush]

71. Why?

Can you give a quick answer. I always thought it was another excuse to get our money. Is it really that good for you?

[neoralme]

72. Yeah, stuff helps your heart. Past twenties your body doesn't

make enough COQ10. For diabetics, like me, who take Statins it's even more important because Statins suppress the manufacture of COQ10. I take a lot of supplements. I used to play that green man in that show with Bill Bixby.

[suffragette]

77. Helps with gum disease, too

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/coenzyme-q10-000295.htm

[Auntie Bush]

79. Thanks for the info. Wow! I better start taking it, However

I've noticed it's pretty expensive. I'll look for it on one of those two for one sales.

[suffragette]

80. That's when I stock up on it, during the 1/2 off or two for one sales

[Altoid_Cyclist]

64. Rats! Luckily I just bought two bottles today.

If I can find out where Ubiquinol originates, I'll switch to that since it's supposed to be better than CoQ-10. So far, it looks as though it might be of Japanese origin also.

These damn statins really do a job on my body even with the CoQ-10.

[neoralme]

73. You can also switch to ToCoQ10. It has a broad spectrum of

Tocopherols in it, although it may be made in Japan only also. I am working on this.

[Baclava]

63. They aren't talking much about the exact emissions, that's for sure

Japanese Radiation: Atmospheric Transport and Removal

EMISSIONS: As yet, only limited information is available on the nature and magnitude of emissions, though Japanese and American monitors are in the area. Large smoke or dust particles will settle out locally; gases and small particles will not. The longest lived materials, and thus the most likely to have a large-scale impact, are particles between 0.1 and 1.0 micrometers (10-7 and 10-6 meter) in diameter. Materials of this size, characteristic of atmospheric pollution or haze, generally remain airborne until removed by precipitation.

The half-life with respect to radioactive decay ranges broadly as well. In Chernobyl, the main radionuclides (radioactive materials) included iodine 131 with a half-life of 8 days and cesium 137 with a half-life of 30 years.

http://blog-punya-links.blogspot.com/2011/03/unpredictable-radioactive-released-by.html

[Ragrum]

18. Wind Directions for the next 24 hours suggest coming from NE

So that would seem to put Tokyo in the plume line?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. here is an animation of the cesium 137 plume and where it is going

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYaRTbyEFsc

[kickysnana]

42. + Thanks. Duck and cover. n/t

[Cetacea]

33. Kindly keep your crap

out of my house. Opposable thumbs..hmmph

[Baclava]

41. Such a pretty blue!

I hope that's not Cherenkov effect.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. Some headlines from the e-news link:

Fukushima radioactive inventory is “30 to 40 times as high as in Chernobyl”: German radiation expert (Google Translation)
http://enenews.com/fukushima-radioactive-inventory-is-30-to-40-times-as-high-as-in-chernobyl-radiation-expert

Nuclear engineer: Death toll from Fukushima catastrophe could top 500,000
http://enenews.com/fukushima-radioactive-inventory-is-30-to-40-times-as-high-as-in-chernobyl-radiation-expert

IAEA: If radioactivity continues from Fukushima, health hazard to USA “may have to be reassessed” – CNN (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/iaea-if-radioactivity-continues-from-fukushima-health-hazard-to-usa-may-have-to-be-reassessed-cnn-video

[eowyn_of_rohan]

38. ...looks like it's almost time to start worrying

:nuke:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

49. It was time to start worrying back on March 11th

[ElsewheresDaughter]

50. Fukushima reactors will have to be entombed — “Radioactive and deadly for thousands of years”

25 years after Russia’s disaster, experts are still working to entomb the deadly reactor that still releases radioactivity

… In Japan, the Fukushima complex will also have to be entombed, and the radiation levels will make that very difficult.

“These reactors are never going to be used again,” said James Acton, of the Carnegie Endowment’s Nuclear Policy Program. “They’re going to have to be entombed for a significant length of time before anything’s able to be done about them.”

And in Japan, officials are dealing not with just one rogue reactor, but six of them. …

That still unfinished containment dome at Chernobyl is only projected to last 100 years. And Chernobyl, like the Japanese plant at Fukushima, will remain radioactive — and deadly — for thousands of years

Read the report here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/18/eveningnews/main20044868.shtml

[defendandprotect]

54. Thank you --

[defendandprotect]

51. kr