(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
UPDATE: “Japan raised the nuclear alert level from a four to a five, on par with Three Mile Island. This decision has shocked many nuclear experts who thought it should be higher.” Please see my Comment below: “Thanks, RiaD!”
(cross-posted at firefly-dreaming.com)
From the AP: Diplomat says minuscule fallout reaches Calif.
– 1 hr 50 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Government experts in the United States are keeping a close eye on any radioactive particles that could travel from Japan, and they may already be seeing trace amounts.A diplomat who has access to radiation tracking by the U.N.’s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization told The Associated Press in Vienna that initial readings show tiny amounts of radiation have reached California. But it’s not dangerous in any way – “about a billion times beneath levels that would be health threatening,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the organization does not make its findings public.
U.S. government experts also insist there’s no threat to public health from the plume, but they are still closely monitoring the situation with detection monitors deployed along the West Coast. . . . (emphasis mine)
Obama also sought to reassure the nation:
Obama’s statement came as he tried to reassure a worried nation that “harmful levels” of radiation from the Japanese nuclear disaster are not expected to reach the U.S., even as other officials conceded it could take weeks to bring the crippled nuclear complex under control. . . .
I went to NukeFree.Org, which has on-going updates of the whole situation. I noted the following — and while I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the content and I confess utter ignorance in the premises, I do know there are always attempts to downplay bad situations.
NY Times Maps Underplaying Extent Of Radiation
Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, March 17, 2011The New York Times has posted a slideshow based on a forecast issued by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization showing how weather patterns this week might disperse radiation from a continuous source in Fukushima, Japan. Small dots on the map show the position of monitoring stations.
March 13
March 15
March 18
(click on maps for larger view)The radiation plume illustrated on the map is from the original release over last weekend. A far larger and more deadly plume of radiation from the explosions and fires earlier this week will soon follow.
“The forecast does not show actual levels of radiation,” the Times admits. “Health and nuclear experts emphasize that any plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States” (emphasis in the original).
As Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com have documented, the U.S. government, the Pentagon, and the Japanese government are all covering-up the actual amount of radiation escaping from the earthquake damaged nuclear plant.
It looks like the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization is deliberately releasing misleading information. The CTBTO is an “international organization” associated with the United Nations.
“The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse,” the Times reported yesterday.
NukeFree.Org also lead me to read this article from Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Protective Measures from Radioactivity in North America!
These recommendations are for people in North America as of March 17, 2011
The amount of the radioactive release from the Fukushima sites is not known today. Very high radiation levels are reported at the plant site while lower, but still significant readings are reported in nearby towns.
Radiation from the Fukushima accident is expected to begin reaching North America as early as Friday, March 18, 2011. Current weather patterns indicate the initial plume is most likely to arrive in southern California. However, radiation continues to be released at Fukushima and thus will continue to arrive in North America for days to come, and perhaps longer. Eventually, slightly elevated radiation levels are likely to occur throughout North America and much of the world.
The radiation levels that will come to North America will not be large enough to cause acute symptoms or immediate health effects.
At this point, we do not believe it will be necessary-or feasible given the expected duration of elevated radiation levels-to take shelter. Nor is evacuation a feasible strategy, since after arriving on North America’s west coast the elevated levels will continue to move to the east. We will post immediately if there is reason to believe that sheltering is necessary.
However, unnecessary exposure to radiation should be avoided when possible. Rain, in particular, can bring radioactive particles to the earth.
RAIN:
If it rains over the next several days, stay out of it if possible. If you get wet, put your clothes in the wash and take a shower.
Leave outerwear and shoes at the door so you don’t track water in your home.
Do not collect rainwater for drinking or later garden use during the period of time when active distribution of radioactivity is happening. . . . .
Without any attempt to be an alarmist, it doesn’t hurt to be aware, so I urge everyone to read and print out the information contained in the above protections. Note the print is very small, so you may want to copy and put it in Word and enlarge it there.
Some of you may or may not be aware of other problems involved — the latest from Japan!
Nuclear Crisis in Japan: Updates on Fukushima reactors and aftermath of Japan earthquake. Updated 5:00 pm, Thursday, March 17, 2011. U.S. NRC chair reiterates statement that Unit 4 fuel pool has no water, says nearby onside radiation levels are lethal; water cannon and helicopter water drops appear to have had little effect; Germany moves embassy operations from Tokyo to Osaka; NY Gov. Cuomo calls for shutdown of Indian Point reactors.
~~~~~~~~~~
Now, some words about our own nuclear reactors. Congressman Dennis Kucinich was on the Ed Schultz Radio show this past Monday and a discussion concerning the U.S. nuclear reactors was had. Kucinich said that our own reactors are over 40 years old and have not been maintained and have the same design as those of the Fukushima types, which have now been found to have a flaw in their design, something having to do with the rods, as I recall.
I did not see the Ed Show, but Kucinich was on that show, as well, and here is a short clip of him discussing our U.S. reactors and asking for full briefing on nuclear issues, as well as his thoughts on the issues with nuclear power that the accident in Japan has raised.
Obama has reacted:
NRC to review safety of all US nuclear plants
Fri Mar 18, 8:02 am ET
WASHINGTON – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a “comprehensive review” of the safety of all U.S. nuclear plants following what U.S. officials are calling the dangerous and complicated situation at Japan’s damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.
President Barack Obama took the rare step and called upon the independent commission to conduct the review. (emphasis mine)
“When we see a crisis like the one in Japan, we have a responsibility to learn from this event and to draw from those lessons to ensure the safety and security of our people,” Obama said Thursday.
Obama’s statement came as he tried to reassure a worried nation that “harmful levels” of radiation from the Japanese nuclear disaster are not expected to reach the U.S., even as other officials conceded it could take weeks to bring the crippled nuclear complex under control. . . . . .
Bloody good idea, Mr. President!
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in this instance, can there be too much?
Author
Critical needs of food, water, medical . . . . .!
Here is Charity Navigator listing the charities involved with the Japanese horror. Each charity is rated individually and specifies exactly what is done by it.
Although there is radiation reaching the U.S., and although radiation is cumulative, the risk to the continental U.S. is quite minimal.
We should be more concerned with eliminating our nuclear plants here. Just as large numbers of Japanese citizens can do little to protect themselves now, so will it be with us when our reactors go critical.
Lest someone get the impression that taking potassium iodid tablets or increasing their intake of iodized salt is a good idea, It Is Not.
First, potassium iodide tablets should only be taken when advised by public health officials to do so. It is a dangerous drug that if taken in the wrong amounts can cause serious health problems. It is not an antidote for radiation poisoning but only offers some protection from thyroid cancer if there has been exposure to radioiodine.
As to iodized salt, it is dangerous to take large amounts of iodized salt in order to increase the amount of stable iodine in the body. This salt does not contain enough iodine to be effective and eating excessive amounts of salt can have toxic effects since the main component is sodium chloride.
Increasing one’s daily intake of iodized salt will cause more harm than good. The main ingredient of iodized salt is sodium chloride, which is linked with hypertension (high blood pressure) and other medical disorders. The iodine content in iodized salt is too low to prevent uptake of radioiodine.
Sodium chloride is acutely toxic in large amounts: even tablespoon quantities of salt repeatedly taken over a short period of time could cause poisoning.
Lots of good information in this essay, thanks, tb3.
I agree we should be more concerned about the safety of the nuclear reactors here in the US, especially ones sitting on fault lines. The other major concern is the storage of spend fuel rods. It appears that the spent rods at the Fukushima plant are the biggest problem becuase the pools that they were stored in did not have a containment shields like the reactor and that there my be a crack in the wall or floor of the pool that is prevented the poll from being refilled. The proposal is now to pour sand and/or concrete onto the rods that would hopefully also fill the cracks and allow the rods to be covered with water.
Did I fail to explain my concept of pResdident? Ok, actually I do have to reference Mark Dice of Resistance Manifesto for the capital R idea when calling the “President” of the “United States” the pResident of the “United States”.
I have also adopted the convention of enclosing fake Orwellian doublespeak corpo-fascistic oxymoronic world in quotation marks. I ask you, is this, or is it not perhaps a tad too hyperbolic or not. Given what is transpiring daily it’s just a water cooler daily conversation which is in reality becoming an offensive distraction to most of the lower veiled suburbanites I know who don’t realize yet their lives are well beyond over.
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news or information sources. The best I can do is try to
put pieces of the “fragmented information sphere” together in order to get some general outline of things. The limitations of
sciencehubris are obvious, and as things degrade, erode, break and grow toxic, we’re left on our own to come face to face with our experiments,the consequences of which can never be fully known until they are seen much later on. Right now we’re witnessing scientific and political meltdowns simultaneously. Personally, my sense of tomorrow for humankind is quite unclear.…I’ve seen by far:
right here
I didn’t post it because it is best to view large; reprinting here would be too small. It’s being recommended at many sites.
…to qualify for decontamination by almost 20 times: from 6,000 CPM to 100,000 CPM. Authorities said it would have no adverse health effects. !!! Sure.
I guess they are overwhelmed with the idea of having to test and decontaminate a million folks or so. I mean, where would you quarantine them?