Published: May 13th, 2012 at 5:13 pm ET
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Fukushima Daiichi: The Truth and the Future
Fairewinds Energy Education
May 12, 2012
As part of a presentation in Kansai, Japan on May 12th 2012, Maggie and Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education answered specific questions asked by symposium organizers regarding the condition of the spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4. Fairewinds analyzes the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3. Also, Arnie discusses what the future may hold for Japan if it chooses a path without nuclear power.
At ~16:00 in
There’s a couple of very, very grainy videos that clearly show [Unit No. 4] did explode.
It was a different type of explosion, and perhaps a fire and an explosion, that went on for a period of days.
So exactly how it did explode is one of the big questions about the Fukushima accident.
Full Video:
Last July, Beyond Nuclear reported:
Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates has circulated a YouTube video labelled as showing the Unit 4 explosion at Fukushima Daiichi. The YouTube plays Japanese language audio of two newscasters, while showing television footage labelled as the explosion of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4. Such footage has rarely been circulated or broadcast. Arnie points out it may be because of the crude quality of the visual footage. Also, the Unit 4 explosion appears less “dramatic” than the Unit 3 explosion.
Published: May 13th, 2012 at 5:13 pm ET
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sending...
Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6EjV4Y-Xcg no longer available due to copyright claim by… NHK.
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Wow! That was quick! Poof!
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I always tweet and FB first before scrolling down. The Video removed does not surprise me at all.
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And how.
(These guys are efficient).
☺
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efficient haha! at what !! someone must have a rather large backside to cover… and THAT is more important than dealing with radiation contamination?
Here's hoping any spooks still on the job can report deep embarrassment back to their handlers. Shit Farm. Devils clear and simple. Brain dead self serving idiots.
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TEPCO to NHK: "If you will assert copyrights to control this video we would like to make a large ad purchase…"
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Rub a dub dub…
… Nuclear scrub.
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This is a bit like proving the grass is really green. Green to whom? What if I'm wearing shades?
Well, it appears an explosion DID occur at Unit 4:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_units_4,_5_and_6#Explosion
At approximately 06:00 JST on 15 March, an explosion damaged the 4th floor rooftop area of the Unit 4 reactor as well as part of the adjacent Unit 3.
The explosion is thought to be caused by the ignition of hydrogen that had accumulated near the spent fuel pond, the hydrogen was initially thought to have come from the stored fuel rods, but later, TEPCO believed the hydrogen came from Unit 3.[11] Later reports from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission speculated that fuel could have been ejected from the Unit 4 spent fuel pond during this explosion.
Later on the morning of 15 March, at 09:40, the Unit 4 spent fuel pool caught fire, likely releasing radioactive contamination from the fuel stored there.[13][14] TEPCO said workers extinguished the fire by 12:00.[15][16] As radiation levels rose, some of the employees still at the plant were evacuated.[17] On the morning of 15 March, Secretary Edano announced that according to the TEPCO, radiation dose equivalent rates measured from the Unit 4 reached 100 mSv/h.[18][19] Edano said there was no continued release of "high radiation".
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Here's the March 15, 2011 Associated Press article about the fire at Reactor #4 and the fact it caused radiation levels to spike, so workers had to be (temporarily) evacuated:
"Workers Evacuate Nuke Plant Due to High Radiation:
Risk of radiation poisoning forces those working to keep reactors cool to suspend their efforts"
By Eric Talmadge and Shino Yuasa, Associated Press
http://www.salon.com/2011/03/16/japan_nuclear_plant_evacuation/
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(snip from above article):
"There are six reactors at the plant, and three that were operating at the time have been rocked by explosions. The one still on fire was offline at the time of the magnitude 9.0 quake, Japan’s most powerful on record."
/snip
W-A-T-K: "..one still on fire was offline…" = That would be #4.
(snip):
"The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor.
"Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted.
“We don’t know the nature of the damage,” said Minoru Ohgoda, spokesman for the country’s nuclear safety agency. “It could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them.”
"Meanwhile, the outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
"Japan’s nuclear safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4, but that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out."
/snip
W-A-T-K: Hmm…can a blaze in the outer containment housing vs. the SFP really cause such a high spike requiring evacuation? And can anyone find any subsequent articles or confirming evidence (or claims) since this March 15, 2011 article stating the fire in #4 was indeed finally…
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(continued)…
…finally extinguished? Note also the article mentions three explosions rocking the plant, which I assume are #1, #3 and #4. But I thought TEPCO only described the one at #4 as "an 'explosive SOUND was heard," rather than saying it WAS an actual explosion.
The article above also has a silly little statement that a "little" bit of radiation was also detected in Tokyo. Where have we heard that before? LOL The "5 D's" in full force here: Diffuse, deflect, distract, dumb down.
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Ok, now I see. They meant #1, #2, and #3 were "rocked by explosions" and #4 just caught fire.
I didn't remember hearing about an explosion in #2….but it's been over a year, so my memory could be wrong…
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to the best of my knowledge no formal explanation has ever been given as to what caused the destruction to building 4
For a long time the explanation was that 4 was damaged by the explosion in unit 3
I don't believe that was the sole cause of damage to 4
Fukushima Diary has quoted people who said building 4 imploded
???
We never received confirmation that the fire at 4 was extinguished, although the IAEA reported it was.
I don't thinks so
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CONFERENCE CALL
JOHN MONAGER:
Unit 1 and 2 is boiling
8 down, and Unit 3 and 4 is having zirc/water reaction.
9 They believe there is essentially no walls on Unit 3.
10 The explosion — I'm sorry — Unit 4. The explosion
11 leveled the walls, leveled the structure for the Unit
12 4 spent-fuel pool all the way down to the approximate
13 level of the bottom of the fuels. So, there's no
14 water in there whatsoever.
15 MALE PARTICIPANT: And no ability to
16 retain water.
17 page 62 transcript http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1205/ML12052A108.pdf
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Thanks, Majia. Did you (or anyone here) ever see a document from the NRC stating that their assessment of the condition of SPF4 as stated in the document you linked to was in fact INCORRECT?
Also, did TEPCO actually state there had been an actual explosion in #2? Interesting there was no outer building damage visible, if there indeed was an explosion there. If so, it would have been smaller and in the inner containment building?
Does anyone know the condition of SFPs #1 and #2? Seems we never hear anything about them. If they can't get near them, (i.e. #1 is now encased in a circus tent), how can they monitor their condition properly?
Seems the more we read here, the more questions just keep popping up, huh?
Also, Majia, I read your comments further down in this thread, speculating whether TEPCO may have already removed some spent fuel assemblies from SFP4. From what I have read, I thought it would be a physical impossibility until the rods are cooled down enough to even pick up with equipment…
(Not sure what the physics are behind this assumption, but I'm guessing they'd melt any piece of equipment, usually made of metal, that would attempt to pick them up?)
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What-About-The-Kids,
I haven't seen it, and I have been looking…if such a reversal was made in the NRC transcripts, I am pretty sure it would have been posted repeatedly by now.
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Thanks, NoNukes. Maybe if the NRC sees enough people asking about it, they will make a statement about it (or release a previously withheld FOIA document about it?)
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caught with the hand in the cookie jar………..
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has anyone been noticing the increase in copyright claims against the anti nuclear community?
chris busby and the censored fallujah documentary
tokyobrowntabby on you tube with multiple copyright claims, her whole you tube account was closed and the links from the web to all her videos are now dead…
and now the recensoring of number 4 explosion
and remeber the copyright claims that ian goddard had to fight!!
and many others…
this is a serious matter and i hope everyone takes note!
many links to articles are dead also
we cant copy whole articles because of copyright and the ptb can delete articles and hide stories. although in the early days of enenews some articles were nearly completely cut and pasted but that stopped at the request of admin as the blog developed… since then only a part of the story… not very convincing to a skeptical public! hmm?
it seems to be mainly media news based organisations… anyone to do with advertising, which is everyone..
we know that the whole thing is being managed from the big PR companies, we know the names of the companies like WPP who advise the governments on damage limitation.. usually in a certain country like the usa (gulf oil spill)
japan (fukushima daichi/daini et al)
but the nuclear problems have gone global and so has the response from big PR…
strange times indeed?? and NO MEDIA is questioning of the snuffing out of important information?? they have consensus! most dangerous!!!!
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and in case the media think by complying they will remain safe and secure i refer you to the statement
"..First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me…"
you could add perhaps
then they came for the journalists (think daily mail and independent journalists (julian assange)here), and i did not speak out
because i was not a journalist……
to clarify for all people on the net..
they are coming for the antinukes because they can easily get away with it.. no one will notice or care! but soon they will be turning that "machinery" towards the rest of the web…
the cleansing of the web by the misuse of copyright claims is the end of free speech on the net imo.. we need something else.. an independant net.. i may be wrong here, but the evidence is mounting for the deliberate cleansing of the net of anti nuclear info and any educational nuclear info too!
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oh and the use of phone exchanges isnt a good idea as the security services are tapped into those for phone and broadband..
just adding that point..
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arclight, you speak the truth! Just this week I have seen a vast increase in the "cleansing of the web." The anti-nuke ghettos are being disappeared.
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people will use phone cameras and the web, hopefully.
we can become our own reporters. I image (and it already somewhat happens) that a person with a phone camera can stream to www. Then there is no copyright hold by the big boys.
people can do their own interviews, i've even made contact with water authorities to find out what their plans are (very limited by the way).
we can clearly break away from MSM and create the fifth estate. What I'm trying to figure is how to create our own internet, that is not bound by the corp.mob.gov
(a few recent police shootings in sydney have been captured by private cameras. when a recent assault occured in the centre of a very higly populated area, citizens fired up cameras from all angles, showing how the cops shot a 17 year old at the wheel. and how they then dragged a battered and bleeding suspect from the passenger side and proceed to belt him up).
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mobile phone signals can be interupted easily and traced.. the uk government is starting to use technology against any protesters, they have now got sonic weapons to use in crowd control (the same ones that isreali forces are using against the palastinians) reported to cause hearing damage!
switching of the mobile system has been done before in the uk…
oh and they will use plastic bullets against any children that riot like they did last summer!!
stopping to film when plastic bullets are flying about?? not!
we need an alternative format that can archive news articles and video.. or history will change!
heres a blogger that was censored and given a hard time by the japanese.. he returned to the warm bosom of france and i hope he and his family are well and thriving!
Japan Calls for WORLDWIDE CENSORSHIP of Fukushima Radiation Info on the Web! April 22, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A07IWIE2ovQ
much missed!!
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Japan in Uproar Over Censorship of Emperor's Anti-Nuclear Speech
MAR 26 2012, 8:46 AM ET 170
Why did Japanese TV channels cut Emperor Akihito's address on the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima crisis?
" After all, Tokyo Electric is one of Japanese TV's largest sources of revenue, and is tightly linked to the Japanese government, which sponsors some media here.
The incident has also played off Japanese fears, sometimes edging into paranoia, that powerful interests in Japan are withholding important information about the risks of nuclear power. When the Fukushima crisis began last March, the government was aware of both the risks of meltdown and the spread of radiation. Yet it waited days or weeks to make that information public, it says for fear of sparking a mass panic. Because radiation is totally invisible, large numbers of Japanese were unwittingly soaked in it. This reliance on the authorities to tell them when they're a danger, and a lingering fear that maybe the powerful aren't telling them everything, were both raises again by the odd cutting of the emperor's nuclear speech. Whether the skeptics are right or not about .."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/japan-in-uproar-over-censorship-of-emperors-anti-nuclear-speech/255025/
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i'm aware that phones can be blocked. i'm simply offering that as alternative to gathering real news fact, instead of depending on the MSM. i hear you and understand it's not easy.
But, if we are going about protesting in a legal manner and spreading news in a legal manner (ie, not breaking copyright) and educating instead of brainwashing in a legal manner, then we have done our best to begin with.
should TPTB then decide that they will block protest and people news (that were legal) then it becomes obvious it's time for war. the mob.corp.guv must be brought down, put in line, and people should be moved to the top of the decision tree.
tear down the elite dogs, break the spirit of the thugs that think they own us.
do the legal, peoples' news gathering, then when the thugs get in your face, we begin to hit back. we can't let these mongrels rule our world anymore.
stop the urnaium mining, stop the nuclear power plants, stop the toxic waste, stop the elitist corrupt corp.mob.guv world.
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It's like the elephant in the living room – nobody wants to talk about it.
Mentioning the "R" word in public can get you funny looks, or worse.
Carrying a geiger counter might get you a jail term.
We know the drill …
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It's the same with the best video of #3 exploding – the one in which you can hear the audio with the three distinct bangs. It often vanishes from youtube.
This is why it's VERY important to use something like Youtube Downloader (www.youtubedownloadersite.com – freeware) and save local copies of significant videos. Same with key web articles.
Hint: prefix the filenames with the full date, like "YYYYMMDD_", that way you can reliably keep date-sorted archives of event sequences. If you're really keen on keeping track of a topic, keep a text file with the URLs and titles of things you find, also date-sorted. Like these ones of mine: http://everist.org/archives/links/
About the #4 explosion video – I'm not at all surprised it's been withheld. The gut impact of video of exploding nuclear power plants is enormous, and the boost to global anti-nuclear sentiment from *two* examples was huge. The 'rule of three' says a third example would have completely closed the case, immediately. The authorities and MSM *knew* this, so the #4 explosion story was heavily suppressed.
It's essential that video *does* become public. Hopefully someone saved a copy while it was briefly visible. Or the original poster. Please, can that person fileshare it, so it can be spread?
Meanwhile, here are my thoughts on unit #3 again: http://everist.org/archives/Fukushima/20120430_Message_of_Fuku3.htm
Copy the #3 explosion video file and spread it around, please!
The article is free to…
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Good call on YouTube Downloader, but make sure you get the faster version.
The free version is really slow and more limited.
Either way I think it's the #1 way to get vids off YT and bring
them onto your HD.
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Your Attention Please by Peter Porter
The Polar DEW has just warned that
A nuclear rocket strike of
At least one thousand megatons
Has been launched by the enemy
Directly at our major cities.
This announcement will take
Two and a quarter minutes to make,
You therefore have a further
Eight and a quarter minutes
To comply with the shelter
Requirements published in the Civil
Defence Code – section Atomic Attack.
A specially shortened Mass
Will be broadcast at the end
Of this announcement -
Protestant and Jewish services
Will begin simultaneously -
Select your wavelength immediately
According to instructions
In the Defence Code. Do not
Tale well-loved pets (including birds)
Into your shelter – they will consume
Fresh air. Leave the old and bed-
Ridden, you can do nothing for them.
Remember to press the sealing
Switch when everyone is in
The shelter. Set the radiation
Aerial, turn on the Geiger barometer.
Turn off your television now.
Turn off your radio immediately
The services end. At the same time
Secure explosion plugs in the ears
Of each member of your family. Take
Down your plasma flasks. Give your children
The pills marked one and two
In the C D green container, then put
Them to bed. Do not break
The inside airlock seals until
The radiation All Clear shows
cont'd …
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(Watch for the cuckoo in your
Perspex panel), or your District
Touring Doctor rings your bell.
If before this your air becomes
Exhausted or if any of your family
Is critically injured, administer
The capsules marked 'Valley Forge'
(Red pocket in No 1 Survival Kit)
For painless death. (Catholics
Will have been instructed by their priests
What to do in this eventuality.)
This announcement is ending. Our President
Has already given orders for
Massive retaliation – it will be
Decisive. Some of us may die.
Remember, statistically
It is not likely to be you.
All flags are flying fully dressed
On Government buildings – the sun is shining.
Death is the least we have to fear.
We are all in the hands of God,
Whatever happens happens by His will.
Now go quickly to your shelters.
http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/poetry/poetry_nuclear3.html
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What the?
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Love it, Pu239, especially the lines about the priests, it is complicated!
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I first thought this was a poem and then it is so powerful, i did not know what it was….
but yeah, fantastic poem..
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Its interesting that Arnie completely dismisses a fatal and thorough failure of the reactor containment and continues that the SFP was the source of the explosion or a "criticality in the fuel pool" in order to push the fuel up.
So this brings us back to the status of that pool. Becuase he has also said it remains intact and presents a potentially more serious issue than 4 becuase it may be weaker.
So a prompt moderated criticality in the SFP, that released spent fuel is a "dirty bomb" and how much feul went with it given that some pieces were found 2km away.
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I respect what Arnie is doing and realize that he can only say publicly what the facts are or he risks professional ruin and perhaps personal consequences, as well,
That said, I think the evidence is very, very good that spent fuel pool 3 is gone.
We were just discussing the status of spent fuel pool 4 on the next thread.
I summarized the opinions on 4 there (sorry for re-posting but relevant here):
The recent images suggest that the pool in 4 is gone.
4 is a blackened wreck with half the building (seemingly) utterly demolished
If spfp 4 is indeed gone, then my guess is that industrial light plus loops in the day TECO webcam have blinded us to the fire.
In that case, the warning about 4 may be a coded of way of stating aloud that it happened and alerting the world about that
On the other hand, some suggest that the rods were moved (one would think Tepco would gloat about such an accomplishment)
Or, perhaps the pool remains somewhere intact on a lower level of the building.
Lots of interpretations.
(Arnie Gunderson cannot speculate like we can. I admit though I wish he would and get frustrated by recycled news)
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Yes speak in his professional opinion, instead of fact.
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Hi Majia,
I find the information infuriating.
If three went up, its a real big deal. And it seems they are positioning so that when 4 "goes" that will be the time for everyone to scatter. It allows for the cover up to continue.
Arnie also troubles me, because he has believes we need a small nuke in every community complimented with wind and solar and distributed by smart grids.
The alternatives are simply window dressing in such a scenario because a small nuke infrastructure could indeed supply the entire load.
We have no real experience with these things and having them scattered all over the planet with still no answers for waste disposal is insane.
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In the latest interview (before this one) Arnie did say his opinion has changed, and he now thinks nuclear is all bad.
But I agree with you that that the lack of transparency about 3 is CRIMINAL (yes all caps on that)
But it is possible Arnie has been told not to speak truth about that one…
(you know I think 3 and 4 are both gone)
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No Majia he did not.
He said he has been "pushed" and much like using "distributed generation" he talks around the fact that he was "pushed" from Big plants to small nukes.
Its very clear and if you ask him he will tell you.
He says very clearly that Japan can lead the world and sell what the world desperately needs "distributed generation" with a windmill and a solar panel. Translation: Nuke in every town with some alternative bells and whistles.
Its very clear Majia. Arnie is not anti nuke. He is pro small nukes. Stewart Brand and other nuke cheerleaders have been pushing these things for awhile.
I guarantee you Arnie is not anti nuke, has not changed his mind but rather has committed to pimping mini nukes the world over.
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Interestingly I think Maggie is not so enthusiastic.
In fact she may not even on board at all.
Which may make the Fairewinds outfit slightly schizophrenic in its positioning on this. I suspect it is not an actual tenent of the organization as a result of the mixed feelings the two of them hold on the issue of the mini nukes.
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Kevin,
Post links or sources for your information about Gundersen currently being in favor of building more nuclear power plants.
In the videos I have seen, which are many, Gundersen has said over and over again that humans are incapable of anticipating all possible problems that can occur while operating a nuclear power plant, and that he does not support nuclear power. I will provide links if this point is in dispute.
Until you provide LINKS TO SOURCES and EXACT QUOTES supporting your comments about Gundersen's positions don't bother discussing this topic anymore.
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I disagree Admin.
Kevin is correct in my opinion and Arnie (And associates.) needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
For example, the best that his chemist associate can come up with is hydrogen explosion and zirconium reaction with water.
Clearly the reactivity profile of cesium includes violent reaction with zirconium also. On a government website in full view of any would be associate chemist.
In "Reactivity Profile"……"and cesium will react violently, even explosively, with an excess of zirconium powder [Ellern 1968. p. 249]."
http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/8183
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This scenario includes high pressure cesium gas compressed against the internal walls of hermetically sealed, white hot zirconium fuel rod tubes.
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Or cesium displacing the initial steam and reacting with vaporised zirconium from fuel tubes.
Wow, what if the nuclear industry intelligentsia (Including Arnie Gundersen & associates.) discovers the reactivity profile of cesium on the government website??
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Ok Kevin
I will go back and listen again.
If you are correct then I will need to re-think some of my ideas about Arnie Gunderson
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Its what he says and there is no denying it.
I reached this point you are now talking about when you say "rethinking my ideas about AG" at the time of the Japan Conference. At this conference he also referred to the mini nukes agenda and his support of it. That was part of the last straw for me with Arnie.
I held out hope that he was positioning himself in such away that he could bring the hammer down. All that was dashed back at the time of the Japan conference.
Had we been able to see a copy of his book in ENGLISH I guarantee you he is angling to push the small nuke " distributed generation" stuff in those pages. It might be why it is not published in English.
Also all of his critiques and sharp criticism is designed in such away that the attack is primarily focused on large outdated plants which means the answer is small nukes. He also lauds dry casket storage "it even survived the tsunami" so his answer is small nukes with dry casket, air cooled storage.
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Whoops casket was means dry cask. lol Fruedian slip
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Yes, majia, I would appreciate someone pointing to the area where they see the reactor 4 sfp. Even Tepco has not pretended that the r3 sfp exists for months and months.
I find it interesting that Nuckelchen has said that the yellow cap to r4 cannot be seen at times and that Iori at Fukushima Diary has said that thermography has showed that r4 was not empty. This is just to add to the long list that no one talks about, does it have something to do with the status of r4?
http://fukushima-diary.com/
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AG: "Sell to the rest of the world a product we desperately need"
This he calls "distributed generation"
Which is a small nuke in every community.
Gunderson does not want to end Nuclear power, he wants to proliferate around the world in every community. Not big plants just the new small ones.
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Kevin, I agree, Gundersen has been pushing small nukes for at least over a decade, and his language "distributed generation," etc., also sounded to me like more than a solar panel for every roof. Can you imagine the money in "small" nukes? Enough for all of us to own vacation homes in the Southern Hemisphere, at least.
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10410.htm
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Great, nuclear batteries.
There's already enough toxicity in rubbish dumps with all the exotic metals from current day batteries, some really deadly poisonous shyte.
My feeling is we need to stop uranium mining. Plug that pipeline then there can't be any new nukes. To me, this needs to be an imperative. Please enlighten me if i'm wrong.
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Agreed.
If Canada and Australia could be persuaded to leave the crap in the ground we would hobble the mini nuke renaissance.
While we are at it we need for both these countries to look at sovereign policies for their natural resources such as natural gas and in Canadas case, oilsands.
If these two countries steered away from mass export liquidation of these fundamental elements we could begin the real transformation required which lies in alternatives that actually work. They exist now and its time.
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They could still use MOX even if they stopped uranium mining.
Imagine that, MOX in every garage.
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Mox does not replace uranium as i understand it.
It is essentially the same fuel with added plutonium is it not?
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I thought the purpose of MOX was to use recycled fuel for reactors. Not sure of all the details.
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i thought i'd read similar.
and i also don't understand thorium. some try to say that's the answer, but it has long term toxicity as well. as far as i understand.
it's going to be hard, there is mega millions invested in uranium mining.. it's going to be a war to try and stop them.. they wont give up the billions for nothing. (corp.mob.guv that is).
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from wiki
Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material. MOX fuel contains plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors that predominate nuclear power generation. For example, a mixture of 7% plutonium and 93% natural uranium reacts similarly, although not identically, to LEU fuel.
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What is amazing about Mox is that it takes some spent fuel by products and mixes it with Natural uranium thereby eclipsing the need to enrich the uranium.
It must be WAY cheaper as a result. As a percentage of the fuel is waste from spent fuel and the rest does not need to be enrich uranium.
Guess thats why the US is now using it.
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With respect to the footage of the explosion at four.
Heart provided a link awhile back that was very grainy and nowhere near the explosive episodes we witnessed with 1 and 3.
So some footage does exist, although that footage to my mind was inconclusive.
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@Kevin..yep…. I have it.
Footage of explosion 4.
I want to know what happened to all the work… Nuck and I concerning the moment the tsunami hit the reactors.
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R4 May 12th 2011..(note date)..an explosion or not R4 is on fire and burning black smoke… @6mins approx previous days footage shows start of fire, and possible explosion?.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47WdfkF4p-c
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that's .. gulp .. not good
(not sure about the section after 6 mins, too many issues, could even be photoshopped. i know that's being a little paranid, but hey, the first 5 minutes say enough)
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can't get a true timestamp on this one, but it seems to be the same dateline..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwgMAAUtQQY&feature=related
for the record ..
this is number one on the 12th of march 2011 ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1evoo8ab9kA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_ZRO5oATk&feature=related
this is number three on the 14th of march 2011 .. watch at the end, the massive vessel falling back to the ground ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3tG_E0XGck&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QiQbTS7eE&feature=related
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Keep up the good work, enenews! Awareness is critically important to making Earth a better place. BTW The stuff seen at fallout-protection.blogsot.com helped people recover from radiation contamination at Chernobyl. Pass the word…
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Hey, Pu239, have you seen THE BIG SNIT on YouTube? I reckon that you would enjoy it. I certainly do.
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Just looked at it – hilarious! NFB does some pretty awesome stuff.
Love the background music too.
The Big Snit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90SIuISIVB8
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here's a pic of number 3 as a smoking wreck .. and number is 4 is 'intact' – well, the best i've seen it in a long while.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vizpix/5555742141/
number 4 is actually smoking, just not as much as 3. it looks as though something has fallen and crushed the northern top side of 4.
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"Explosion at No 4 Fukushima reactor"
"let's begin with Naoto Kan and his spokesman, the cabinet secretary who gave a press conference just after the prime minister's statement, what emerged in that that we didn't know before?"
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3164723.htm
MARK COLVIN: So to be pretty blunt about it, 1, 2 and 3 reactors have had explosions and number 4 has spent fuel on fire. Is the fire out yet?
HAYDEN COOPER: Not as far as I am aware and in fact number 4 had an explosion as well and then a fire which is what was revealed in that press conference. Yes, number 4 was not in operation at the time of the earthquake. There were no active fuel rods in there but there is spent fuel.
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"Edano … said a fourth reactor at the damaged nuclear plant is now on fire, with even more radiation released"
By Xeni Jardin at 6:30 pm Monday, Mar 14 UPDATE, 710pm PT
http://boingboing.net/2011/03/14/japan-third-blast-at.html
"a Hydrogen explosion seems to have taken place with No. 4"
"reactor No. 4 is now exposed. The blast at No. 2 reactor came 30 minutes after the incident at No. 4. A hole has been observed in the No. 2 reactor; there is a high possibility of container vessel damage for this reactor"
"At the site right now, workers are trying to take corrective action to put out the fire"
[UPDATE, 8:26PM PT: Kyodo News reports that the fire at Reactor No. 4 has been extinguished.]
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here is a pictorama of reactor 4, just a few shots from the last 6 months combined to show the devolution.
http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg499/fukushima3dmap/tbsFukuCam-112011-052012-x1024.png
i don't know if it's deliberate or otherwise as it decomposes.
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So if I buy a membership at NHK…I wonder if I can view the damn video
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Sorry about repeating myself but I'm still struggling to believe SFP4 is still there. As far as I can make out, the pool should be sitting just next to and right of the yellow cap of the reactor which is on the left side of the reactor building – TBScam view. But the area just looks to be a big blackened hole, as if it was burnt out. It would kind of tie up with report by Fukushima Diary in January about the Minamisoma blogger who leaked that the earthquake of 1st January had caused the pipe to the SFP pool to break and the pool had completely lost its water. Therefore maybe it burnt out then?
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/01/reactor-4-spent-fuel-pool-boiling-without-water-after-112012/
I've also just been looking at the ex-skf article from last month which shows the Photos of Reactor 4 at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant with Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office:
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/photos-of-reactor-4-with-senior-vice.html
Just compare how the background looks against the foreground of the actual pool and workers. Mmmn, it just doesn't look right to me. Doesn't match up, focus-wise. Looks like the actual background of R4 but superimposed (photoshopped)with a spent fuel pool plus workers (from somewhere elsewhere). No debris in the pool, workers looking so relaxed, and flimsy-looking scaffolding. I think it's a poor, faked PR job and doubt SFP4 is still ok.
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Structural changes have occurred at Unit 4.
This is May 3 2011.
And of course weeks from the original explosion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1qID45rFJ0
Unit 4 is more skeletal now ..as seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaI0R38ZGPE&feature=plcp
AND because "my thing"is visuals…I add this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Sn6JzbVYw&feature=youtu.be
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What is in the video of reactor 4 that they do not want to release, let's think first to blow its top, reactor had no fuel, all fuel in SFP, mox fuel in pool, my guess is it was a nuclear explosion, implosion, that may acount for the building being pulled in as a large combustion would require lots of O2 to propagate or the SPF is dry and the fuel is already melted and gone
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A rather low explosion…They just don't want to admit an explosion at all.I tend to believe as mentioned in the NRC FOIA documents..that the explosion of 3 ..damaged the structural integrity of 4.
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PS. then the explosion at 4. As described this way as well..by a whistler blower..adding the comment that the walls morphed.
It is also mentioned that the "noise" in 2 had occurred in close time proximity to the explosion in unit 4.
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You would think that they must have recordings of the reactors exploding before and after, so they could use them like a black box in a plane, to analysis and use to duplicate what happened in reactors,
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