Over at Grist, Tom Philpott writes Think tainted Chinese pork is scary? Check out the nearest supermarket meat case:
Over in China, the nation's burgeoning pork industry has been been busted for churning out meat tainted with an illegal and quite dodgy growth-enhancing chemical, The Washington Post reports. The banned chemical, clenbuterol, is said to "reduce a pig's body fat to a very thin layer and makes butchered skin pinker, giving the appearance of fresher meat for a longer time." When people ingest it from eating the resulting pork, they suffer "symptoms such as a quickened heartbeat and headaches ... and, in rare cases, die."
Something similar could never happen here, right? Well, the poultry industry quite legally laces its feed with arsenic -- for similar reasons. Traces of arsenic do end up in chicken meat, in the poisonous "inorganic" form. And the pork industry regularly doses pigs with ractopamine, a growth enhancer that the USDA allows even though its own research shows that it stresses pigs out. The European Union and, yes, China ban ractopamine, worrying that it harms people when ingested.
Then there's "non-therapeutic" use of antibiotics so popular among the four or five companies that dominate our meat industry. Eighty percent of antibiotics consumed in the United States go to factory animal farms, the FDA recently revealed. One of the main functions of this pharmaceutical barrage is to promote growth. The problem with routine antibiotic use on farms, of course, is that it gives rise to all manner of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which then can break out of farms and infect the human population (i.e., us).
There's a growing consensus among U.S. food-regulatory and public-health agencies that industrial meat's addiction to antibiotics endangers the public. The latest: the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have collected data showing that antibiotic overuse in meat factories "could be exposing Americans to bacteria like Escherichia coli and Campylobacter that have become resistant to antibiotics," The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Green Diary Rescue begins below. Inclusion of a diary in the GDR does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
• • • • •
ProgressiveTokyo found this video on-line and just had to share it in his diary
Explaining The Nuclear Incident As Only The Japanese Could: "This is so classic, yet it makes sense and explains the incident in a way you will never see elsewhere. Anyway without further ado":
Patric Juillet alerted us to World Water DAY: March 22: "World Water Day is to be held again on the 22nd of this month. … Here are a few facts: half of the world’s population today lives in cities; within 20 years, the percentage of urban residents will rise to 60%, or a total of nearly 5 billion people. This population growth mainly affects developing countries. Meanwhile, one in four city residents – 789 million people – do not have access to improved sanitation facilities. Today 497 million city residents share sanitation facilities; in 1990 this number was 249 million."
Oceans, Wetlands & Water
Patric Juillet wondered if we have the will when it comes to water in Dead Water News: Mardi 2011: "Even without accounting for climate change impacts, future population development, especially in the underdeveloped and developing regions, will greatly aggravate water scarcity. The challenge before us is to move the world toward a state of improved water efficiency and to address the growing scarcity of water. And that requires political will, which seems to be as scarce as, you have guessed, water."
blue jersey mom discussed EcoJustice: Egypt's New Valley Project: " The people's revolution in Egypt has been dominated the news since January. One of the factors that led to the revolt against the Mubarak government was sharply rising food prices. Egyptian civilization has always been based on the gift of the Nile, and today most of Egypt's 80 million people are crowded into the Nile Valley and the delta. Most of the rest of the country is desert. The country, as a whole, receives an average of two inches of rainfall per year. "
Energy
Because of the vast numbers of diaries about the Fukushima nuclear power plants, diaries on that subject can be found in their own category at the end of the GDR. But some diaries about nuclear power in general with references to the Japanese reactors are in this section.
In a two-part series, Epsilon opined On Oil (Part One): Republicans and the Price of Fear: " The recent increase in gasoline prices has provided politicians another opportunity to stand before the American people and feign concern over the issues that actually impact their lives. There has been a sudden and all too expected shift in the rhetoric being put forth by the Republican leaders in Congress, particularly after being chastised for unveiling an ‘economic plan’ that would further hinder the U.S. recovery and showing their true face of not caring if public sector workers lose their jobs and join the ranks of the unemployed. In attempting to show a modicum of compassion – a characteristic that has eluded the political right for some time …"
(Part 2): Big Oil Playbook - Blame Brown People.
fracking in Pennsylvania, wrote Domenic, is probably not going to handled well by the governor: "I should not have to appeal to a jerk whose interests are "political" and lie with and favor his wealthy friends and political cronies. Let's not do anything. Let's wait until thousands of Pennsylvanians get sick and die of the fracking that pollutes our water supply. Let's wait until Gov. Corbett and his family are admitted to the ER. He'll not tell a different story then, either. His Republican ideology will not permit that."
pollwatcher made the argument for Why the nuclear industry will grow stronger.: "How in the world can the nuclear industry get stronger with the disaster unfolding in Japan? The answer, unfortunately, is rather simple. America's favorite dish is boiled frog with a heaping side of denialist propaganda."
jamess asked Ever wonder what a Lack of National Energy Policy will get you?: "The recent events in Japan should make us pause and reassess. Regroup. Re-prioritize our national Energy Goals. You'd think. Especially in regards to our "faith" in Nuclear Power. But certainly US Nuclear Engineers were smart enough to avoid the "mistakes" made by the Japanese Nuclear Engineers -- I mean WHO would choose to build a Nuclear Plant in an active Seismic Zone, right next to the Ocean?"
He also blasted subsidies in Big Oil, Big Energy, Big Nukes, Big Bucks: "Lately Randi Rhodes has been talking about a recurring theme: The Oil and Energy Subsidies and about how these Big Industries keep getting Billions in Energy Subsidies, simply by investing a few Millions in Energy Lobbyists in DC, and other Anti-Science Front Groups. -- What a Steal, for them! What a waste for us. Our Tax-Payer Energy Subsidy money COULD BE invested much more wisely -- that is IF Congress were encouraging R&D in the Tech of the Future and NOT busily apologizing to BP and others -- when they don't have a clue how to handle the Tech of the Past."
If Nuclear Is Going To Be Part Of Our Energy Mix..., wrote : AustinCynic, perhaps it should look at reactor models like these: "There are proven reactor designs that are safer and more efficient than the water cooled reactors failing in Japan, and that failed at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. For instance, there's the Molten Salt Reactor. This is, in some ways, a very old technology. It was first used as a part of research into the feasibility nuclear propulsion for aircraft. A modified B-36 bomber powered by an experimental molten salt reactor small enough to fit in the plane's bomb bay flew numerous times in the late '50s before the program was ended in 1961. "
the dogs sockpuppet argued for investing more in non-nuclear energy generators inWhile the reactor melts, the wind still blows: "If instead of spending billions to set up nuclear power plants, couldn't we use some of that money to set up more wind and solar and the rest to do some more R & D on capacitors and batteries that can make wind and solar viable continuous sources of power?"
splashy also showed more confidence in non-nuclear energy in the diaryJapan's Wind Farms Step Up to the Plate: "I ran across this and just had to spread it around. The wind farms in Japan not only survived the earthquakes and tsunamis, they did so without any problems at all! 'Colleagues and I have been directly corresponding with Yoshinori Ueda leader of the International Committee of the Japan Wind Power Association & Japan Wind Energy Association, and according to Ueda there has been no wind facility damage reported by any association members, from either the earthquake or the tsunami. Even the Kamisu semi-offshore wind farm, located about 300km from the epicenter of the quake, survived. Its anti-earthquake 'battle proof design' came through with flying colors."
Ellinorianne wrote about this too in Wind Turbines Survive Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.
Rex Freedom posed some Simple Conservative Nuclear Energy Questions.
Road Dog labeled nuclear power An Unstable 3-legged Stool: "Nuclear needs to be looked at as a 3-legged stool with all three legs needing to be stable for nuclear power to be considered a viable option for our energy future. If any of the 3 are unstable then nuclear power use should not be expanded and existing plants should be decommissioned as quickly as feasible."
A Siegel just can't get Why does Jay Rockefeller hate great investments: "Rockefeller's efforts seemed to show how contributions to him from coal-industry and other fossil-foolish interests could gain a high return in legislative action rather than paying any attention to the very high value for America and the American people derived from thoughtful EPA regulation executing the Clean Air Act. Rockefeller's drive to undermine the EPA was -- and is -- at odds with the bests interests of America and nearly all Americans. It was -- and is -- at odds with the views of essentially all the relevant experts."
ger took some jabs in Excuse Me, But That Nuclear Plant Has Its Hand On Your Wallet: " Now ask yourself the question. What's the worst thing that could happen? Plane crash, deliberate or accidental? Earthquake? Design flaw? Construction flaw? Operator error? What's the potential damage in dollars? How about $600 billion, according to the Sandia National Laboratory and reported by PublicCitizen."
drmah discuss a personal history in Write all you know about nuclear power.
demsd made claims about radiation deaths in Inconvenient Truth about the Inconvenient Truth: Wind Energy Has Killed More Americans Than Nuclear: "The Inconvenient Truth about the "Inconvenient Truth: Wind Energy Has Killed More Americans Than Nuclear," is that the right leaning article does not tell you many of the deaths were construction related deaths, or the result of moving a wind turbine - and not all were in the U.S."
Green Policy, Green Philosophy & Green Activism
Benjaminwise deplored a move to cut California's environmental regulation in Republicans Demand Gutting CEQA as Price for Budget Vote: "The L.A. Times is reporting that the five GOP Senators whose votes Gov. Brown has been courting in order to pass his budget proposal are making a new demand just hours before both houses of the Legislature are scheduled to vote. Their demand is to significantly weaken the landmark environmental law known as the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The law requires development projects to go through stringent environmental reviews, and it has long been a target of Republican legislators."
Ideologies of denial afflict advocates for dealing with climate change as well as climate change deniers, said Cassiodorus: "The suggestion, then, is that 'opinion' about climate change is not about climate change, but rather about one's position in the culture wars -- specifically, about the nature of one's allegiance to the corporate culture responsible for most of the 85 milllion bbls./day crude-oil (and an equal carbon-equivalent of coal) burning habit. [Naomi] Klein then continues to discuss how climate change threatens the Right's agenda: you would have to deal with inequality, regulate corporations, have some real global governance, and so on."
Agriculture, Gardening & Food
Garlic mustard by wide eyed lib
wide eyed lib was back with a new installment in his seires
Free Food: Foraging Starts with Looking: "Today's diary is, I admit, a bit of a cheat. It's too early in my area of the Northeast to actually forage anything other than the winter staples I covered in this diary. While it's true that the grass is starting to recover from near-perpetual snowstorms this winter and little green shoots are poking through the soil here and there, this early in the season the plants are simply too small to make harvesting worth the effort. But that doesn't mean that foragers should just stay indoors. Identifying edible plants is more than half the battle (arguably the most important half), and the great outdoors offers opportunities to sharpen your identification skills at any time of year."
Ysabet made her declaration in "Hi, my name is Ysabet, and I'm a gardening addict...": "'See, it all started with just a few small plots. I mean, just a few little herbs; nothing wrong with a little green, right? So I did a little Mexican Santolina, some English Thyme, a little Dittany Of Crete and Catnip and Lemon-Balm and Garden Sage... That was several years ago, and every now and then I'd have to add a few plants, and hey, I even let the herb garden lie fallow for a couple of summers, so it wasn't anything like an addiction, right?'"
In her regular Macca's Meatless Monday beach babe in fl discussed how We All Cook Together: "Have you had 'The Talk' with your kids? No, I don't mean 'That Talk' I mean 'The Talk' about climate change. It's a difficult subject because you don't want to scare the children. But, it's an important talk because they need to be on board early to learn how to live their lives without becoming uber consumers of carbon intensive fossil fuels. The best place for them to learn is at home because learning earth friendly everyday habits is the best way to mitigate climate change. Their choices regarding their transportation, home power use and the food they eat can be their contribution to a healthier and safer future for their generation."
And then she posted a midweek "meatless Monday" for St. Patrick's Day, With A Little Irish Luck.
Cook for Good was happily surprised at the Semi-green Congressional Farm Breakfast: " My hopes weren't high as I looked around the annual Congressional Farm Breakfast in Raleigh last week, held by Congressmen Brad Miller and David Price (both D-NC). The attendees were mostly older white men in suits who looked more ready to go to an office afterward than a field, not the usual colorful sustainability group. Turns out nearly a third were bound for classrooms or labs at NCSU. I'd sent Congressman Miller's staff a heads-up a week before about an email on local sustainable-agriculture lists warning about risks associated with Roundup Ready crops, especially promiscuous alfalfa. If no one else asked about it, I would.But except for being unprepared on the Roundup Ready crops, the presentations were far more green than I'd hoped. "
Frankenoid let us know what's happening in Denver in Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 7.4: "But now I have two kinds of tomatoes, three types of peppers, eggplant, kohlrabi, cauliflower and some flowers sprouting away. Now, my procrastination put me so behind that I'm just abandoning a couple of other flower varieties that will take too long, but still, at least I'm two weeks ahead of how behind I was last year."
Eddie C visited The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden and gave us a plethora of those exotic, erotic flowers: "Greetings from the Bronx where "It's warm, it's tropical, it's just thousands and thousands of orchids." As an early celebration of spring the Orchid Divas have taken Center Stage at the New York Botanical Garden." One of the real Reed Orchids in mood lighting:
Climate Change
deepsouthdoug sounded a bit homesick for warmer climes in his diary, The snow’s been too damn high: "When we moved back to Minnesota from the Deep South two years ago we were hopeful that Global Warming just might mitigate the harshness of Minnesota winters. NO SUCH LUCK. The past two winters have been long, cold, hard, and snowy. The bummer is these hard winters might have been caused by Global Warming."
Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund gave us some action help in Jamie’s Important Update: "When we meet with members of Congress and their staff, they often tell us what they are hearing from their constituents about an issue. We know they are listening. So please call the Capitol Switchboard (202 -224-3121), ask for your Representative's office, and urge them to support protections on our health"
Air, Water and Soil Pollution
Mary Anne Hitt was glad to see that the EPA Releases Mercury Safeguard to Protect Americans: "Mercury is one example of a particularly harmful air toxic because it builds up in the environment and then fish, which people then consume. A potent neurotoxin especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses, mercury exposure affects a child’s ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn."
As was A Siegel in A lock of hair, the EPA, and a better future, but he had some harsh words for the foot-draggers in this matter: "Lisa Jackson announced that 'The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards build on this decades-long success.' Yup, decades-long success of 'job-killing regulation' that protects lives, reduces student and worker sick-leave, creates jobs, and strengthens our economy and society."
DWG had also some harsh words for captives of industry in State regulators protect coal company fraud in eastern Kentucky: "Eastern Kentucky is home to 60% of the mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. Adding further insult to the environmental devastation, state regulators in the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) are doing a better job protecting the mining companies than enforcing even minimal water quality standards. Not only have EEC regulators not even bothered to review required water quality reports by mountaintop removal mining operations, the agency is fighting penalties for violations by the coal companies in court."
beach babe in fl complained that US Water Is A Lot Less Safe Today: "So we worked hard to get the 2008 EPA regulations in place and now are back to square one. The industry lobbyists are in control and until we can get them out of the equation market pressure may be the only way we are going resolve the factory farm issue."
Animals
ottrageous asked Will you help save California sea otters, before they're all gone?: "I know I could watch them for hours, because I have. But it's beginning to look like a distinct possibility that I won't be able to for much longer: the otter population is declining, and nobody really knows why. And, right now, there is next to no funding dedicated to finding out. If you care, please join me below the break for more details, and to find out what you can do."
fblau posted some of his photos of Southern California Birds.
loblolly for Backyard Science was ecstatic because The Butterflies are Back!: "This past week, I've seen several Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies. Every year these lovely butterflies with their irridescent blue lower wings entertain us by visiting our butterfly garden in large numbers during the summer months. It got me to wondering though, where will they get nectar this time of the year, since there are still very few wildflowers blooming? Are the butterflies emerging too early, perhaps fooled by warming temperatures? What about their caterpillars? Will they be able to find food plants in early March? Join me to learn more, including some fascinating interactions of these butterflies with the plants their larvae feed on."
praenomen told a story of a favorite basset hound as background for How Much is an Animal Worth?: "I am sharing this story because the Republicans in the Missouri state legislature are set to repeal the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, which was approved by the Missouri voters last year. The Governor, Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has not yet indicated if he will support their efforts to overturn the bill. I am asking anyone who loves animals to contact Governor Nixon and let him know, the Republicans efforts are inhumane, and he needs to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. "
lineatus posted some photos that there weren't submitted for bragging rights recently in Dawn Chorus: Raptor pr0n: "It's all Julie's fault. She put together a photo contest this past week and encouraged folks to send their best raptor pix. All in good fun, no prize except the glory and you could vote for as many of the entries as you like. However, you could only enter one photo. gah. For someone whose hard drive has a couple thousand raptor photos (and that's after doing a lot of deleting over the years), this was not an easy task. I decided to make it easier on myself by just choosing from photos that were already on Flickr, figuring that a lot of the best ones had been uploaded to share in previous diaries. (This is not to say everything I've put on Flickr is good - sometimes I just have to get enough photos together to do a diary. Perhaps you've noticed...)"
Public Land, Forests & The Great Outdoors
craigkg wrote another of his wonderful National Park diaries, Things to Know Before You Come to Yellowstone: "In addition to the geysers, Yellowstone is home to many other types of thermal features such as mud pots and hot springs. In northwest Yellowstone is the Mammoth Hot Springs, an area of thermal activity where the discharge of hot water from the earth over eons of time has built up travertine terraces with strikingly beautiful and delicate formations. It is one of the most variable parts of the park as springs go through cycles of dormancy where the thermophilic bacteria go dormant or die fading and losing their color in an ever changing symphony of color.
Canary Springs of Mammoth Hot Springs
ban nock kept his nose warm in View From Beside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: "I glanced into the wind and saw the snow was being blown across the ground in long twisting swirls only a few inches above the surface. Hadn’t seen that before. I remarked on it to the young guy from Montana, I forget his name, he said, “we’re in for a blow and we should stop stomping jugs”. My eyes followed his glance a mile out in front of us where I could see Stevie and his helper headed back our way pulling the cable back into the Nodwell and picking up the jug sets they’d just put down."
Round-ups, Wrap-ups, Live Blogs & Summaries
Mark Sumner posted some more entries in the The Daily Bucket series,Bonus snow edition: "No particular wildlife observations to report. The frogs are huddling somewhere, muttering little amphibious curses. What's happening at your place?"
And Uggh: "Yesterday's surprise snow turned into a kind of pale grey slush almost as soon as it hit the ground, and this morning it's still hanging on in blobs and patches -- as if someone had spilled a platter of some not-quite-white Jell-o across my hillside and woods. Combined with a lowering overcast sky that has the tops of the opposing ridge cloaked in streamers of mist, it's hard to imagine a day that could look too much less appealing. Naturally, I have to drive several hundred miles today. So... uggh."
And Spring has 'sploded: ""Sprung"" just seems way too weak. I drove off to Indiana with the temperature hovering in the 30s with the landscape masked by chill rain and fog and a few pockets of sloppy snow still hiding between the trees. I drove home this morning into 70-something sunshine, and evidence of new green edging every road, woods, and interchange. Startled a couple of deer along my road as I turned in, which was a pleasant surprise. They've been quite rare this winter. "
Gulf Watchers by Lorinda Pike: Sunday - Another Permit Issued - BP Catastrophe.
Gulf Watchers #487 by peraspera: Air Pollution Measuring Advance Comes Out of Spill - BP Catastrophe.
Gulf Watchers #488 by Lorinda Pike: We Are Royally Screwed - BP Catastrophe.
Et Cetera
Noah Heller is hoping for a better outcome this time around, as he explained in Will Oregon finally ban toxic sippy cups?: "Well-funded corporate lobbyists were able to kill the ban in the last legislative session by convincing all of the Senate Republicans and a handful of conservative Democrats to vote their way. Sadly, the chemical industry has become remarkably adept at using a host of tactics (inspired by the Big Tobacco) to defeat proposed BPA bans."
raoul78 evaluated Radiation, Cancer, and the Linear No-Threshold Model: "To begin with, we need to understand that epidemiology is difficult. When talking about the effects of low-dose radiation, we are trying to measure small increases in the risk of cancer in a background where there is already a very large number of cancers reported. In the US, according to this fact sheet from The American Cancer Society (pdf!), over 1.5 million people were expected to be diagnosed with cancer in the US in 2010."
Fukushima Nukes
boatsie: Liveblog1: melt down.
boatsie: japan nuclear disaster: mothership#2.
joanneleonLiveblog 2: Meltdown(s)?.
boatsie: japan nuclear disaster: mothership.
boatsie: MotherShip #4: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
Marcus Tullius: Liveblog, v3.0 - Fukushima Nuclear Incident.
Marcus Tullius for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: Please Unrec. Liveblog, ROV 3.0, Japan Nuclear Incident..
Marcus Tullius for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: Japan Nuclear Incident, ROV 4 Liveblog.
Julia Grey for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 5 - JAPAN Nuclear Disaster.
middleagedhousewife for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 6 - JAPAN Nuclear Disaster.
nota bene for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV #7--Japan Nuclear Crisis.
boatsie for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV#8 Japanese Nuclear Crisis.
Julia Grey for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 9 - Japan Nuclear Disaster.
ekyprogressive for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 10: Japan Nuclear Disaster..
Marcus Tullius for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: Japan Natural/Nuclear Disaster Liveblog, ROV # 11.
peraspera for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 12: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
joanneleon for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 13: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
joanneleon for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 14: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
woolie for Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs: ROV 15: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
ekyprogressive: ROV 16: Japan Nuclear Disaster.
Drewid: ROV 17: Japan Nuclear Disaster..
akmk: No Matter What--Fukushima 50 are Heroes.
akmk:Fukushima front line workers rewarded with increased radiation allowances: "The scenario in Japan remains critical. The government has gone from reporting 'no significant threat' to 'no serious threat' to 'no acute threat' to public health within hours. One doesn't have to look hard between the lines to find the unspoken 'yet.' How governments (theirs and ours) can manage to downplay the seriousness of the nuclear incident in Japan is a bit mind-boggling."
mikeypaw: Work at Reactor 4 Temporarily Suspended...The Brave 50 Evacuated.
XOVER: "Suicide Mission".
Richard Cranium: What the Fukushima? Q&A: "By way of credentialing myself, I'm an old school, Institute for Nuclear Power Operations-certified systems engineer in GE Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), and worked for over 20 years in the industry with a large architect engineering (A/E) firm and an electric company with a nuclear portfolio. I've worked directly at four BWR plants, including one similar to Fukushima."
Richard Cranium : What the Fukushima? 2.0: "Having spent time in the industry, and having been exposed to the public relations apparatus of the industry, I have very little faith in the limited information that is being released. The bottom line: take everything you read or hear about the events at the Fukushima plants with a grain of salt. There is a lot of anecdotal information that leads to some obvious conclusions, but there is very little hard data that allows even someone with my experience to fully understand what's going on. If someone on TV says the reactor core is melting out of the bottom of the reactor vessel, don't believe them. If someone on TV says there are flowers blooming and everything's peachy in the nuclear world, don't believe them, either. "
Samer: Radioactivity, part 1: Why Japan is giving iodine to its residents: "As you may have read, the Japanese government plans to distribute tablets of potassium iodide to deal with potential exposure to radioactivity as a result of the radiation leaks at nuclear power plants there. But you might be wondering: why iodine?"
Samer: Radioactivity, part 2: The bigger danger from nuclear fallout: "Another potential product is cesium-137. If you've never heard of cesium, it's an alkali metal, chemically similar to sodium and potassium, but bigger. It's used in some atomic clocks, but, unlike iodine-131, it has no biological role. So why is it dangerous?"
Samer : Radioactivity, part 3: rads, rems, etc.: "When the fission occurs, at least some of the resulting smaller nuclei are themselves radioactive, and capable of decaying spontaneously; as those two earlier diaries noted, uranium, with a mass of 238, produces atoms such as iodine-131 and strontium-90. While there are several ways this can happen, the key thing to note is that radioactive decay does not produce these large particles. Instead, it generally produces one of three other types of radiation"
kbman : What, exactly, IS a nuclear meltdown?: " The kernel of truth is that core materials can melt and also can form a molten glob, or multiple molten globs, in the bottom of the reactor vessel. The part about being unstoppable and boring to China is bogus."
kbman: Retraction on unit 3 explosion, more thoughts on this: "Anyway, I wanted to get this out there. I certainly don't know everything and never claimed that I do. What I value is the opportunity to have rational discussion in which ideas can be challenged and in which they stand or fall on their own merits and not because of who is putting them forward. I've been wrong on things before and have a sneaking suspicion I will be again, possibly before the day hour is even finished. I will survive being wrong. If you think something I've put forward is not correct, challenge me on it. I'll either be able to support my perception of things, come to your point of view, or hopefully be able to reach consensus that seems to approach accuracy and truth."
Kbman: : "There is nothing wrong with people being afraid, but let them be afraid of the actual stuff that's happening and likely to happen, not the stuff that is being misinterpreted, or the stuff that is not really all that likely to happen."
kbman for 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Information and Assistance explained Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Nuclear Containments: "By way of qualifications, my training is in physics in which I have a bachelor's degree. I also worked for five years at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. Like the Fukushima plants, Oyster Creek is a GE BWR-I with a Mark I containment. It has a power rating roughly 1/3 higher than Fukushima Daiichi 1."
FishOutofWater: Breaking: Spent fuel fire at reactor 4, hydrogen explosion & radiation release.
FishOutofWater: Feds Not Releasing Rad Plume Model Results: "The United Nations and the United States government are modeling the transport and dispersion of the radioactive plume from the Fukushima nuclear reactor crisis, but they are not releasing the results to the public. Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) has a center called NARAC that has supercomputers to predict the consequences of nuclear incidents, but the New York Times was only able to get some results, likely from the Livermore modeling, through confidential sources."
FishOutofWater: 11,195 spent fuel rods stored at Fukushima: " Today, the New York Times confirmed our concerns about spent fuel at the crippled Japanese reactors.Spent fuel is the biggest potential hazard in this nuclear crisis. "
xaxnar : On Japan, Nuclear Reactors, and Melt Downs.
HoundDog: Why Isn't the IAEA At Fukushima?' Asks Jim Walsh.: "Anderson Cooper relays a report that a Japanese government spokesman announces that they had 'suspend operations at the plant,' due to radiations levels harming the workers. Walsh asserts incredulously, 'They can't leave. They need to keep putting water in these reactors to prevent meltdown's or fire of spent fuel.' 'The government needs to step in and take this from TEPCO,' says Walsh."
Justina: Venezuela's President Chavez Halts Nuclear Energy Program, Colombia's President Santos Agrees.: "As reported at venezuelanalysis.com/news/6070 Chavez's announcement came as Japan continues its struggle to contain the fires and radiation leaks from the six nuclear reactors at Fukishima which were damaged by the recent earthquake and tsunami."
jbou: Alternatively, we can seal the radiation inside the reactors by stacking lawyers around them.: "Los Angeles Times downgrades Japanese reactors to "troubled." You know, like when a "troubled" teen brings a gun to his high school. Obama nuclear catastrophe action item: Ask Japanese radiation cloud to "voluntarily regulate itself.""
Plubius: Views From Japan: How Bad Is Fukushima?: "Although not long remembered in the United States, the Lucky Dragon incident sparked the creation of the Japanese national anti-nuclear movement. One of the key aspects of the crisis was massive damage to the Japanese fishing industry as panic spread like wildfire among the public over possibile radioactive contamination of the oceans by American atomic tests. Although some of their fears had legitimate basis, most of them were ultimately found to be groundless."
Joieau: Fukushima-2: It Just Got A Whole Lot Worse.
Joieau for Nuclear Free DK: "Protect People from the Effects…": " Don't let them fool you. The "minimal dose" they may (or may not) report if the plume comes to a neighborhood near you is indeed minimal. That doesn't mean it's not dangerous."
Joieau: Level 5: Bad As Three Mile Island: "BBCLive reports at 1836 that radiation from Fukushima has reached California. The Solono/NAPA Times-Herald and other sources are of course downplaying the amount of "radiation" in the cloud, since the gamma dose rate from it is, indeed minimal. But as I mentioned in my post yesterday, the gamma dose from the plume isn't the actual danger to human health. Possible interior dose from what's in the plume is the real concern."
Freedom Of Thinking: Singing In The Radioactive Rain In Sacramento: "It's raining here in Sacramento, California. After I read reports today that radioactive material from Japan has been detected overhead, I knew it would be coming down in the rain. But since the government and nuclear experts have said that a good soaking in this small amount of radioactive material is no problem, I decided to go singing in the radioactive rain!"
Circle: To Panic or Not to Panic: "There is something rather remarkable about the fact that I'm teaching Critical Thinking at a time when there's this kind of drama happening in the world. I told my students the other day that the important thing was to pay attention, to sift through the information and make informed decisions as best we can. I basically said, ignoring it all is not the best option. I didn't suggest they all run out and buy Iodine, I just said, educate yourself about what's going on around you. The world is a small place."
vets74: "LIVE" Radiation Sensors Inside Japan. "Get yours HERE."
StarbuckAGTM: Fellow Americans, stop freaking out!.
Liberation Angel: Chernobyl Roulette and the Fukushima Bullet.
nathguy: Fukishima 101.
nathguy: Breaking:Fukushima Japan Reactor: What's Happening, Meltdown?.
journeyman: Fukushima, Japan: Uh-oh.: "I still cannot be sure that this isn't so much sensationalism. I'm still not completely convinced that this isn't a case of people jumping up at the mention of the nuclear bugaboo, but I am convinced that some pretty powerful people think otherwise and that's enough to get my attention. My first indication came earlier this morning when I looked through some of the Japanese media. There was absolutely no coverage of the nuclear situation. It was weird. It was a truly ominous silence. For days, it had been front page news just like it was here. Then . . . nothing. Just stuff about what train lines were back up and running, sports news, a few items of basically just mundane stuff. What you have to understand is that all of those who complain about the "corporate media" here in the US, have no idea what that really means. In Japan there are five major daily newspapers, all with nationwide distribution. They are all part of media conglomerates that also own national television networks."
lgcap: Emergency at Second Japanese Nuclear Reactor (same plant) Possible Meltdown Now Underway.
brighton: Breaking: nuclear meltdown underway.
Wyrug: My Attempts To Understand Spent Fuel.
Lefty Coaster: In 1976 3 GE Scientists quit in protest over flaws in Mark 1 Reactor design.
behan: Murphy's Law In Japan.
Jean Sloan: A letter of thanks to the Japanese Nuclear Technicians that stayed to fight the fires.
Gonzeaux: Why I'm not freaking out about the Fukushima nuclear plants.
David Pakman: TDPS: Great interview on what's being hidden about Japan nuclear radiation problems.
Vyan: Cool the Reactors with Cadmium.
Dr Linda Shelton: Nuclear reactors and meltdowns 101.
Rex Freedom: Simple Conservative Nuclear Energy Questions.
HPrefugee: How Far Can Radiation Travel? (History Sheds Some Light): "The answer is: It depends on which radioactive isotopes make it into the jetstream, if any. During the era of atomic testing, government was more concerned with protecting the nuclear industry than with protecting citizens. I worry that this is still the case, especially when I see so-called experts on television claiming that radiation cannot spread beyond 200 kilometers, or 800 kilometers, or whatever number they are touting today."
jmknapp: Falling through the doughnut hole in Fukushima.
Th0rn: Wikileaks: Japan Was Warned of 'Serious Problem' With Nuclear Plants Two Years Ago: "Another cable reported to Washington that the nuclear power stations in Japan that recycled nuclear fuel were not safe, and that the government was covering up the dangers and obscuring true costs that would make alternative forms of energy generation more economically competitive. …"
Pluto: On the Move in Japan: Voices of Suspicion, Uncertainty, and Invention: "Different governments have told their citizens different things and given them conflicting advice. The French have ordered their citizens in Japan to come home. The US has told American visitors to stay put and follow Japanese procedures. Japan has told its people that if the nuclear contagion gets stronger, they should wear masks, stay indoors, and cover their skin skin."
rascal7: The Japanese Learned Nothing From Hiroshima and Nagasaki: "The media, both in the US and in Japan, have referred to the 'worst disaster since WWII' without ever using the words Hiroshima or Nagasaki. No one seems willing to make the connection, even though the nexus is extremely relevant and distressing."
Pluto: Chernobyl expert smacks Japan and mocks IAEA - GE reactor design flaw? Germany shuts down 7 plants.
Meteor Blades: Scramble to end Japanese reactor risk continues, media coverage muddled.
PaulLev: Time to Say Goodbye to Nuclear Energy.
renewables: Fukushima: Endangered Workers and What's To Come.
renewables: New Spin: Fukushima Plant PROVES Nuclear Plant Safety.
Paul Deaton : Japan May Cloud Iowa Nuclear Power Debate.
Thutmose V: Where Will the Electricity of the Future Come From?: " The estimates of how long non-renewables will last depends greatly on the price, since the higher the price, the more cost-effective it is to mine more marginal reserves. Of course, mining marginal deposits usually has a higher environmental cost. In fact most of these parameters go up or down depending on costs and price. "
David Brin: The Japan Tragedy, nukes, maturity, uplift and more...: " Point two -- the news from Japan is clearly a setback for those of us pushing for a gradual, prudent resumption of US endeavors in nuclear power. (This movement includes many of the “tech-liberals like Stewart Brand, helping turn it into a bipartisan movement.) In fact, the negligence of the operating company -- Tokyo Power, which has been cited for violations frequently in the past -- is appalling!"
agnostic: A stupid question about Japan.
agnosticThe Japan Syndrome.
lotlizard : "Cooling inoperative in six reactors".
stevebeste : MTP Turns To Nuke Lobbyist for Meltdown Story.
Detroit Mark : Time To Strangle the "All of the Above" Energy Policy to Death: " When solar panels leak radiation and cause tens of thousands of people to have to drop what they're doing and flee for their lives, then maybe the Blue Dog/Republican energy position that we need to do "all of the above" (solar, wind, geothermal, drill here drill now, nuclear, "clean" coal and "clean" diesel") will make sense. When steam generated by a geothermal well explodes and turns the gulf into a cess pool of toxic death, then anything less than calls for green only and back to hell with fossil fuels will hold water. Until then, a good rule of thumb is it's green if its already moving or already burning. But if you have to burn something, or put millions of peoples' lives in danger to keep the lights on then it's the wrong direction. "
HamdenRice : Why nuclear power is not "the" solultion to our energy crisis: "My biggest concern with nuclear power is that it also does not internalize its externalities, and I've rarely come across a proponent of nuclear energy willing to discuss it or face it. "
Dartagnan : Six Nuclear Reactors Explode--Akira Kurosawa's Dreams: ""
Jerome a Paris: The end of nukes?: "T he final outcome and cost of the nuclear accident at Fukushima are yet to be determined but the obituary of the nuclear industry has already been written, and one competing source of power has already been declared the absolute winner by the Serious People: natural gas."
Adept2u : Time to revisit Chernobyl.
Adept2u : Fukushima’s Spent Fuel, The Reactors Are Not The Only Issue.
Empty Vessel: Fukushima is bad, but the West Coast is Safe.
Erasmussimo: Truth, Falsehood, and Japanese Reactors.
Erasmussimo: Emotionalism versus Rationalism re Fukushima: "That bottom line is simple: how much radioactivity has been released to the environment? Radioactivity is the ONLY threat that nuclear reactors pose to the general public in an accident. Nobody will be suffocated, lacerated, burned, mashed, crushed, or drowned by this accident. As far as the public is concerned, there is just one threat: the increased probability of dying from cancer as a result of exposure to radiation."
Erasmussimo: Keep your eye on the Nuclear Ball.
Plubius: CDPH On Japan Radiation Concerns: No Current Risk: "According to Federal, State and local regulatory agencies, there is no current risk of radiation reaching California."
Liberation Angel: When the Radiation from Fukushima Reaches the US: ""
Liberation Angel: Obama is Wrong about Fukushima Radiation Dangers in U.S..
ProgressiveTokyo: Fukushima Nuclear Accident Facts.
mole333: Japan, Nuclear Energy and Earthquakes:.
mahakali overdrive: Welcome to the First Diary of Nuclear Free DK: " Today, the largest German newspaper, Der Spiegel, announced that it was the end of the nuclear age. A renaissance, really, post-Chernobyl, which we should not have forgotten. "
Bob Johnson: BREAKING: Reactor 3 Explosion, Tsunami Alert (canceled).
Clay Claiborne: Are We Sitting on the Edge of a Nuclear Disaster?.
Empty Vessel: What I learned Working in a Reactor: " I want to be clear at the outset. I am not a nuclear engineer. I do not really understand much about the physics or details of reactor construction. I am an anthropologist, so I'm just a people person. But what I learned working in a reactor was this...no matter how dangerous something is, eventually people become complacent and do stupid things."
ashowboat: No Nukes!: " I have an interesting vantage point on the nuclear industry. I have worked in the air pollution and meteorology measurement industry for about 30 years and for the past decade or so was part of the emergency response team for a US nuclear power plant. "
deweydog: About the Nuke Controversy: " The nuclear industry was one of the first to be completely corrupted by the disease that has affected virtually all regulatory agencies in the last 30 years. First, the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) which was supposed to regulate the industry instead became one of the primary boosters of nuclear power in the 1960's. The revolving door was rampant with industry people moving into the AEC and the regulators becoming employees. I worked in the industry for a while and can honestly say at least as much effort was being expended to hide problems as to prevent them. Since 1975 it has become the NRC (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) that has had the responsibility to regulate the industry. To believe that the NRC is anymore effective than the AEC is naive."
War on Error: Whistleblower Expose' of GE Inspection Coverup & RARE EU Authored US BWR Damage Report -: " There are two common problems with BWR plants: 1. Cracking and Corrosion of bolts, core shroud welds, pipes, and other critical components caused by irradiation/intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC); and 2. Failures have occurred in the jet pump attachment devices and occasionally loose parts have become wedged in the jet pump lines, causing failure."
roseeriter: Glenn Beck Blames Soros for Nuclear Talk in Media.
teacherken: Eugene Robinson: Nuclear power a bargain with the devil.
yuriwho: Japan, my thoughts about the Nuclear Situation.
ekyprogressive:: Japan Nuclear Disaster Liveblog #2.
msirt: Anti-Nuclear Schadenfreude: "No, we are all users, we all bear responsibility, we all must accept all consequences, and until someone offers a better solution than living in caves by campfires by earth's billions, I remain skeptical of the 'ending nuclear energy' pushback. No, we are all users, we all bear responsibility, we all must accept all consequences, and until someone offers a better solution than living in caves by campfires by earth's billions, I remain skeptical of the "ending nuclear energy" pushback.
deepsouthdoug: Tokyo radiation levels 23 times normal: ""
crystal eyes: "A Glowing Report On Radiation"-By Ann Coulter: "Fox asshattery has hit a new low. Ann Coulter is interviewed by Bill O'Reilly and she promotes her new column "A Glowing Report on Radiation". She delivers the irresponsible and tasteless premise with a smirk, that radiation in excess of government guidelines is actually good for you. She cites scientific evidence from a "stunning number of physicists" that there are documented medical benefits from elevated radiation exposure. Bill asks, if this is true, why don't we know about it?"
Satya1: Tokyo Passengers Set Off Detectors at O'Hare.
skywriter: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: This is a report on what atomic scientists are saying in the journal, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The lessons of Fukushima in which Hugh Gusterson observes the politics of who is pro, con, and middle ground on the future of nuclear reactors. He recalls the nuclear meltdown for which Britain hid the details for half a century …"
Th0rn: Diablo Canyon Pump 'Accidentally Disabled' For 18 Months: "For 18 months, operators at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant near San Luis Obispo didn't realize that a system to pump water into one of their reactors during an emergency wasn't working. It had been accidentally disabled by the plant's own engineers..."