{"id":8642,"date":"2011-03-15T06:59:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T21:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8642"},"modified":"2011-03-17T06:06:54","modified_gmt":"2011-03-16T21:06:54","slug":"discussion-is-japan-in-danger-of-a-nuclear-disaster-or-not-what-source-to-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8642","title":{"rendered":"Discussion: Is Japan in danger of a nuclear disaster or not? What source to trust?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Blog. \u00a0I have to admit being thoroughly confused about what’s going on at Fukushima’s nuclear power plant<\/a>. \u00a0Are we in danger of a nuclear meltdown or aren’t we?<\/p>\n

I’m hearing from NHK and the connected authorities that there is no cause for concern and everything is under control (as roofs get blown off plant buildings).<\/p>\n

I’m also hearing from overseas sources that there is little cause for alarm. \u00a0For example, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet I’m hearing from sources on the ground without an interest in the nuclear power industry making statements like these:<\/p>\n

(Source is anonymized, but is a trustworthy on about matters dealing with U.S. military:)<\/em><\/p>\n

========================<\/p>\n

March 14, 2011: \u00a0You are absolutely right to have zero trust in Government of<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>Japan (GOJ) or Japanese-controlled press on this. \u00a0The Japanese authorities<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>simply won’t confirm the meltdown that is occurring. \u00a0Here are some of the<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>facts from the western press:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0The USS Ronald Reagan, located 100 miles Northeast, had to relocate due<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>to a radioactive plume cloud heading their way. <\/strong><\/em>
\n2. \u00a017 members of the Reagan’s helicopter crews doing rescue missions have<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>tested positive for radioactivity. \u00a0All helos are being decontaminated as<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>they return to the Reagan. <\/strong><\/em>
\n3. \u00a0The Navy has tested positively for airborne radioactivity up to 100<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>miles away from the plant. <\/strong><\/em>
\n4. \u00a0The Japanese are pumping saltwater in to cool the rods. \u00a0This is only<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>done as a last-ditch effort, since salt corrodes the reactors. \u00a0After that,<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>they are out of options. <\/strong><\/em>
\n5. \u00a0Cesium has been detected by the Navy in the air. \u00a0The presence of this<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>element in the air is an indication that the rods have actually started<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>melting. <\/strong><\/em>
\n6. \u00a0The plant at Onagawa is also experiencing abnormally high radiation<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>levels. \u00a0This plant is much closer to Tokyo.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Now, let’s remember how the GOJ is treating the casualty numbers. \u00a0They are<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>reporting 1600 casualties right now. \u00a0That’s because they do not even<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>consider a person “dead” until they are identified, so even though they have<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>thousands of bodies piled up, they won’t report them yet as “dead”. \u00a0That is<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>the way the GOJ operates. \u00a0\u00a0They are simply not forthcoming with<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>information. \u00a0The US Govt. was extremely frustrated at this way of operating<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>during the Kobe earthquake. \u00a0The US Government could not get adequate<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>situational awareness because the GOJ was simply not forthcoming. \u00a0This is<\/em> <\/span><\/strong>no different.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, the GOJ “officials have yet to confirm a meltdown because IT IS<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>TOO HOT INSIDE THE TO CHECK.” (cnn.com) So, do they expect the reactor to<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>cool down so they can check and confirm that the rods are actually<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>melting? \u00a0Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman for Japan’s prime minister, said<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>Sunday the situation was “under control.” (cnn.com). \u00a0\u00a0Under control? You<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>can’t confirm if the rods are melting because it’s too hot to check, but<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>everything is under control?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Stephanie Cooke, editor of Nuclear Intelligence Weekly for the atomic-energy<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>community, said best summarized the GOJ on this issue by saying “The more<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>they say they’re in control, the more I sense things may be out of control.<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>(cnn.com)”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

========================<\/p>\n

So which is it? \u00a0Again, Debito.org is disinclined to trust official sources given their record regarding safety and forthcomingness (witness 1999’s nuclear accident at Tokai-mura<\/a> and the consequent media debacle). \u00a0But I wish I knew what to believe. \u00a0Suggestions and links from Debito.org Readers welcome. \u00a0Arudou Debito<\/p>\n

UPDATE MARCH 16:<\/strong> The thing that I don’t get about recent developments is that Japanese society tends to overcompensate in regards to safety issues. \u00a0Why don’t we see that happening whenever there’s a case of nuclear energy? \u00a0“Just stay indoors for the duration” is not what I would call adequate safety advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a trustworthy source about the US military:<\/p>\n

March 14, 2011: You are absolutely right to have zero trust in Government of Japan (GOJ) or Japanese-controlled press on this. The Japanese authorities simply won’t confirm the meltdown that is occurring. Here are some of the facts from the western press:<\/p>\n

1. The USS Ronald Reagan, located 100 miles Northeast, had to relocate due to a radioactive plume cloud heading their way.
\n2. 17 members of the Reagan’s helicopter crews doing rescue missions have tested positive for radioactivity. All helos are being decontaminated as they return to the Reagan.
\n3. The Navy has tested positively for airborne radioactivity up to 100 miles away from the plant.
\n4. The Japanese are pumping saltwater in to cool the rods. This is only done as a last-ditch effort, since salt corrodes the reactors. After that, they are out of options.
\n5. Cesium has been detected by the Navy in the air. The presence of this element in the air is an indication that the rods have actually started melting.
\n6. The plant at Onagawa is also experiencing abnormally high radiation levels. This plant is much closer to Tokyo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussions","category-japanese-government","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}