Quote of the Day
The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.
Marcus T. Cicero
Fukushima Nuclear Incident Update
Because of the Hiroshima Syndrome contagion and related scaremongering news coverage, I have developed a pattern of checking trusted websites first. The print media are somewhat more balanced than the news channels, but most reporters lack a necessary industry background to properly analyze and question company and government press releases and there is often a mixture of obsolete information.
Atomic Power Review notes:
- morning: Two TEPCO workers had been missing at the start of the crisis, and their bodies were discovered in the plant turbine building of reactor 4. (FYI: The reactor pressurized vessel for reactor 4 was in maintenance mode since November, i.e., no fuel loaded. Also the reactor complex consists of a number of buildings.) An attempt to fill in the power cable pit for reactor 2 with concrete failed and a synthetic polymer mix is being attempted. The blogger (Will Davis) opines, as have others, that effectively TEPCO is treating the symptom, not the disease. As discussed in earlier updates, TEPCO is starting to limit water injections to the reactor core in an attempt to limit the major source of outgoing contamination. The two US Navy barges with freshwater are now on-site and connected to the "filtered water tank".
- evening: The polymer mix to fill the cable pit in reactor 2 isn't effective. There is discussion of releasing nitrogen into reactor 1 to control for any hydrogen buildup. There seems to be a growing sense that residual heat removal pumps and other key system components operational are probably at least a month away.
- late: There is discussion of using marker color dyes in an effort to help diagnose sources of radioactive leaks.
NEI notes:
- daily: TEPCO reports no pit-like cracks have been found for reactors 1 or 3. Electric power lighting has been restored to the reactor turbine rooms. Radiation levels continue to trend downward overall; a few localized zones with elevated readings are being white-boxed. The percentage of food samples exceeding safety thresholds continues to drop.
IAEA notes:
- Drinking water is now within safety thresholds (including Fukushima prefecture), although one village continues to caution use caution for infant purposes. Transfer of water from reactor 1 condenser to suppression pool surge tank was completed; this was to provide capacity for dewatering the turbine room basement. An "anti-scattering" agent was being tested against the common use spent fuel pool (transferred fuel rods 18 months-plus in reactor spent fuel pools).
The Hiroshima Syndrome blogger sadly notes that even the stoic, orderly Japanese whom maintained such poise and grace in the aftermath of historic natural disasters have started scapegoating and harassing TEPCO company managers and employees to the point that company identifiers (e.g., on buildings and offices) are being masked. The Japanese government engages in an Obama-like (my term) "we-can't-afford-to-do-nothing" posturing with respect to the Fukushima incident, so it can claim political credit for no future Fukushima Daiichi's. (No doubt we can expect the prime minister to take up golf, excuse government bureaucrats and announce a moratorium on all new nuclear power plants....) The blogger goes on through a list of status checks; among other things, he's checking on the rollout of the off-site electrical power to various pumps and other equipment and instrumentation; for example, the temporary pumps handling freshwater injections to the reactor pressurized pumps are now running on electricity instead of temporary pumps.
It's Time For the US To Go: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya
I have to be frank; I don't know what to make of Obama's foreign policy. Quite frankly, I don't hear much coming from the White House regarding crackdowns against protesters in Iran and Syria--maybe a boilerplate criticism. Given the alliance between two states, and their well-known meddling in the affairs of other nations (Lebanon) or aiding and abetting terrorist group activities against Israeli citizens, one would expect an American President to be direct, firm, and clear about the rights of the people of these countries. No, the Obama Administration seems to be clearest when it comes to throwing leaders of allies (e.g., Egypt and Yemen) under the bus.
I'm not sure at what point I believed it was time for us to stop the madness of nation building. (Actually, I was never a fan of nation building.) Maybe it was hearing a "Christian" cult leader Terry Jones put the Koran on trial for "crimes against humanity" and burning it, provocatively videotaping the event directed at Middle Eastern Muslims, leading to riots in Afghanistan, resulting in 20 dead and dozens more injured. Jones had made a prior threat, just before last year's 9/11, to do this profoundly disrespectful, uncivil, unacceptable, morally unconscionable deed that violates the very essence of Christianity. But I'm frustrated that Afghans would give a two-bit bigot the undue publicity he was looking for. As for President Karzai, whose reelection is, at best, dubious, demanding that the Congress apologize for the Jones incident? NOT A CHANCE. The Congress is not responsible for the unjust but Constitutional-guaranteed abuse of the freedom of expression.
I think Afghanistan has had 10 years of American blood and treasure; I'm becoming more convinced daily that we have moral hazard; as long as America is there, Karzai has no incentive to come to a settlement with the Taliban. I recently heard on Fox former President Bush and his wife extolling the feminist virtues of our deployment in Afghanistan. Clearly Afghanistan should respect human rights, including full participation of women in Afghan society. But if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. We are spending over $600B a year on a military that is pinned down in 3 countries of dubious strategic value.
I think the Libyan situation has evolved beyond what I expected. Hearing over the past week that Obama had authorized covert action against the Libyan government at least to me has the distinct smell of Vietnam written all over it, and it's going beyond the no-fly mandate of preventing war crimes against innocent civilians. It's clear that the revolutionaries do not have the resources, know how, and support needed to take Tripoli without much more extensive Western involvement. America has done its part in helping taking out key infrastructure for the Libyan Air Force. It should focus on negotiations, particularly for the exile of Qaddafi and sharing power.
It's time for our boys to come home and for the Congress and the President to get serious on rightsizing the military and streamlining its mission--no more nation building.
I'm not sure at what point I believed it was time for us to stop the madness of nation building. (Actually, I was never a fan of nation building.) Maybe it was hearing a "Christian" cult leader Terry Jones put the Koran on trial for "crimes against humanity" and burning it, provocatively videotaping the event directed at Middle Eastern Muslims, leading to riots in Afghanistan, resulting in 20 dead and dozens more injured. Jones had made a prior threat, just before last year's 9/11, to do this profoundly disrespectful, uncivil, unacceptable, morally unconscionable deed that violates the very essence of Christianity. But I'm frustrated that Afghans would give a two-bit bigot the undue publicity he was looking for. As for President Karzai, whose reelection is, at best, dubious, demanding that the Congress apologize for the Jones incident? NOT A CHANCE. The Congress is not responsible for the unjust but Constitutional-guaranteed abuse of the freedom of expression.
I think Afghanistan has had 10 years of American blood and treasure; I'm becoming more convinced daily that we have moral hazard; as long as America is there, Karzai has no incentive to come to a settlement with the Taliban. I recently heard on Fox former President Bush and his wife extolling the feminist virtues of our deployment in Afghanistan. Clearly Afghanistan should respect human rights, including full participation of women in Afghan society. But if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. We are spending over $600B a year on a military that is pinned down in 3 countries of dubious strategic value.
I think the Libyan situation has evolved beyond what I expected. Hearing over the past week that Obama had authorized covert action against the Libyan government at least to me has the distinct smell of Vietnam written all over it, and it's going beyond the no-fly mandate of preventing war crimes against innocent civilians. It's clear that the revolutionaries do not have the resources, know how, and support needed to take Tripoli without much more extensive Western involvement. America has done its part in helping taking out key infrastructure for the Libyan Air Force. It should focus on negotiations, particularly for the exile of Qaddafi and sharing power.
It's time for our boys to come home and for the Congress and the President to get serious on rightsizing the military and streamlining its mission--no more nation building.
Political Humor
A few originals:
- Freshman Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA), a member the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recently interviewed about the Libya situation, said, "Where does it stop? Do we go into Africa next?" To be fair, geography is covered during the sophomore year in Congress...
- President Obama told Barbara Walters that he prays every day at night. Four Congressional Republicans claim they've seen him pray at different times during the day...
Beach Boys, "Surfer Girl"
