Japan Raises Nuclear Crisis To Highest Level - The Same As Chernobyl

Threat: Fire and smoke are seen at a building for sampling from seawater near No. 4 reactor in this image taken today

When you look at Japan today, they're not only recovering from the earthquake, but also from a major nuclear crisis.

The severity Of Japan's Nuclear Crisis level now matches Chernobyl.

Now radiation in Japan is as bad as Chernobyl as crisis level is raised to 7 for only the second time in history.

The level 7 signifies a 'major accident' with 'wider consequences' than the previous level, according to the standards scale.

*Spread of radioactive particles is 'out of control'
*Further earthquakes could worsen problems at the Fukushima plant
*Total radiation released 'could exceed Chernobyl', officials admit

Japanese officials admitted today that the spread of radiation from its crippled nuclear plant was out of control and that the government had raised the crisis level to the worst on the international scale.
With radioactive substances pouring out a 'wide area' the crisis level had been raised from 5 to 7, posing a threat to human health and the environment. Level 7 has only been applied to the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986

A fresh 6.3-magnitude aftershock rocked the plant today, forcing Tokyo Electric to pull out their workers as a precaution.

They have been working round the clock since the 9.0-magnitude megaquake on March 11 but have been impeded by the continued aftershocks. An unnamed official from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa) said the amount of radiation leaking from the nuclear plant was around 10 per cent of the Chernobyl accident.

The level 7 signifies a 'major accident' with 'wider consequences' than the previous level, according to the standards scale.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yuki Edano said as it was revealed the level was being raised: 'This reconfirms that this is an extremely major disaster. 'We are very sorry to the public, people living near the nuclear complex and the international community for causing such a serious accident.' But he said there was no 'direct health damage' so far from the crisis. 'The accident itself is really serious, but we have set our priority so as not to cause health damage,' he added. Hironobu Unesaki, a nuclear physicist at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, said the revision was not a cause for worry, as it was about the overall release of radiation and not directly linked to health dangers.

He said most of the radiation was released early on in the crisis and that the reactors still have mostly intact containment vessels surrounding their nuclear cores. Nisa spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said: 'We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data. 'The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways.'
He added that unlike at Chernobyl there have been no explosions in the reactor cores - although there have been hydrogen blasts. 'In that sense, this situation is totally different from Chernobyl,' he said.
Tokyo Electric is still estimating the total amount of radioactive material that could be released, company spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said. He acknowledged that, if leaks continue, the amount of radioactivity released might eventually exceed the amount emitted by Chernobyl.

On March 18, a week after the earthquake and tsunami which destroyed towns and villages on the east coast and severely damaged the Fukushima plant, Nisa estimated the crisis level at the nuclear complex to be at level 5, the same as the accident at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979.
But level 7 has only been applied to Chernobyl in 1986, when hundreds of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine-131 were released into the atmosphere with dire consequences for the health of people hundreds of miles around.

Officials are gravely concerned that another major earthquake in the region will cause further problems at Fukushima - and might also damage other nuclear plants on the east coast.
A strong earthquake - of magnitude 7 - hit the Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of four miles on Monday, shaking offices and homes, but an initial tsunami warning was lifted.

Several minor quakes followed later but officials have warned of further strong aftershocks in the days and weeks to come. What the government fears is that another earthquake or tsunami could cripple other nuclear plants, increasing the spread of radiation in the air and in the sea. Meanwhile, setbacks continued at the tsunami-stricken nuclear power complex.Workers discovered a small fire near a reactor building today. The fire was extinguished quickly, the plant's operator said. Tokyo Electric, which operates the disabled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said the fire at a box that contains batteries in a building near the No. 4 reactor was discovered at about 6.38am local time and was put out seven minutes later.

It wasn't clear whether the fire was related to a magnitude-6.3 earthquake that shook the Tokyo area on Tuesday morning. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

'The fire was extinguished immediately. It has no impact on Unit 4's cooling operations for the spent fuel rods,' said TEPCO spokesman Naoki Tsunoda.

The plant was damaged in a massive tsunami March 11 that knocked out cooling systems and backup diesel generators, leading to explosions at three reactors and a fire at a fourth that was undergoing regular maintenance and was empty of fuel.

The earthquake that caused the tsunami immediately stopped the three reactors, but overheated cores and a lack of cooling functions led to further damage.

Engineers have been able to pump water into the damaged reactors to cool them down, but leaks have resulted in the pooling of tons of contaminated, radioactive water that has prevented workers from conducting further repairs.

In Chernobyl, Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere.

A zone about 19 miles around the plant was declared uninhabitable, although some plant workers still live there for short periods and a few hundred other people have returned despite the government warning them to stay away. [dailymail.co.uk]

Is There A Logical Proof That There's Only One God?

God has no borders, so how can there be more than one God? Where would one God end and one begin if there is no dividing line between them?


Question:
I accept that some sort of "Higher Being" created the Universe. But why couldn't there be many such beings? Is there any logical reason to say that there is only one God?

Answer:
The definition of God is: "a Being without definition." God cannot be defined, because if I define Him then I limit Him. And something limited is not God. By defining something, I give it borders. If for example I define an apple as a sweet, round fruit that is green or red, then when I find a long purple fruit, I know that it can't be an apple. An apple is limited to being round and red or green. That is its definition.

God can't be defined, because by defining Him you are saying that there's something He can't be; but this could not be true, because God is unlimited.

That's why there can be only one God. Because if you don't have a definition, then there is nothing outside of you. There can be no "other".

An example: two neighboring countries can only be called two countries when there is a border in between them. But if a country has no borders, if there is no defined place where it ends and another country begins, how can you say that there are two countries?

God has no borders, so how can there be more than one God? Where would one God end and one begin if there is no dividing line between them?

The act of creation is the act of making borders and drawing definitions: this is an apple and not a banana, this is land and this sea. Creation has definitions. The Creator doesn't have a definition. That's what makes Him God. And that's why there can only be one. [Aron Moss]

Japan - The Fragility Of Our Knowledge Of The World And Its Workings

The tragedy in Japan revealed the fragility of our knowledge of the world and its workings.

Japan's Black Swan - What could go wrong? The significance of unexpected events in history.

A black swan isn't just a ballet role played to perfection by Natalie Portman that won her an Oscar for best actress.

As developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his masterful scholarly work The Black Swan, praised by many as one of the most important books of the century, the black swan is a metaphor about the significance of unexpected events in history. As he explains it, it is an event with three attributes. First, it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.
Simply put, black swans are things we were certain could never happen.

And recent tragedies that have captured world headlines have been perfect illustrations of experiences that were supposedly out of the range of possibility.

Japan is today struggling to cope with its largest disaster since the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Years ago, architects and engineers joined to create quake-proof buildings and planned backup generators and thick containment vessels at nuclear plants. Nothing could ever go wrong they assured their countrymen. Their mantra was that humankind had triumphed over risk. Technology had finally achieved mastery over the vicissitudes of nature.

Recent events make clear how wrong they were. They had foreseen the possibility of an earthquake, but not one of a magnitude of 9.0. They built a sea wall to protect against an expected tsunami, but not one that rolled six miles inland, devastating towns, obliterating villages, and causing partial meltdowns at three major nuclear reactors.

This disaster was not a failure of human engineering, but of human imagination. No one dreamt it could happen; that made everyone certain that it was impossible.

The tragedy in Japan revealed the fragility of our knowledge of the world and its workings. The wisest fell back on the lame excuse, “But no one could have expected this…” Black swans happen. We choose to disregard them due to hubris, human arrogance that prevents us from acknowledging that with all of our knowledge we are still not divine masters of the universe. Surely, we all thought, the engineers and the scientists and the weather forecasters and the technicians and the nuclear specialists were intelligent enough to make proper plans to stave off catastrophe. But they weren't. And human mastery of events was not as total as we presumed. The experts were wrong.

Hurricane Katrina also couldn't happen. We built walls around New Orleans to contain raging waters. We felt secure because we arrogantly told ourselves we were so smart the forces of nature no longer threatened us. And we were similarly mistaken.

The financial collapse of 2008 and 2009 couldn't happen. Our Wall Street wizards were too brilliant to allow for a financial meltdown. The people who annually received multimillion dollar bonuses couldn't have created prime loan strategies that would prove worthless. The real estate market couldn't collapse forcing an untold number of foreclosures when "those in the know" assured investors there was absolutely no risk involved. And yet they too were all wrong.

The oil industry finally figured out how to pump liquid gold from beneath the ocean without any fear of spillage or contamination - or so they assured us. Until the BP catastrophe last summer proved them wrong. Again, it couldn't happen because that's what the experts told us - until it did, with all of the horrible consequences. The collective wisdom of the marketplace and the scientists proved wanting. It was yet another Black Swan.

Black swans remind us that in spite of all of our achievements, we are still ultimately mortals.

The unexpected overwhelms us because our egotism doesn't allow for considering the possibility of human error.

The ancient Greeks understood overweening pride as the underlying cause of man's downfall. Human hubris, they said, "is the pride that comes before the fall". The greatest antidote to man's exaggerated sense of self-importance was, for the longest time, a religious sensitivity that acknowledges a Higher Power. Recognition of God could at least place a limit on man's ego. But a contemporary world that could make Christopher Hitchens's book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything an international bestseller is a world that suffers from the delusion that we are all self-made heroes who have no need to worship anything but ourselves. As Dorothee Sölle put it so beautifully in The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance, “With the disappearance of God, the Ego becomes the sole divinity.”

Without faith, we worship our own truths as if they were the sole reality. Without faith, we believe we are the sole captains of our destiny. Without faith we put our trust in the works of our own hands and confuse our talents with divine perfection, our limited knowledge with the possession of infinite wisdom.

That is why we continue to be stunned by black swans. They starkly remind us that in spite of all of our achievements, we are still ultimately mortals. And if the many tragedies we have endured in the past decade can teach us that lesson, perhaps we may, in spite of their horrific consequences, salvage a measure of blessing from them. [R Benjamin Blech - Aish]

Harmony Between Families And Communities And Nations

It is not the tranquility of a home that makes it peaceful; it is the life within. Harmony at home, within a family, translates into harmony between families and communities and nations.

The Importance Of Home & Family:

Your home and family are your nest, the center of your life, the hub from which all your daily experiences extend. Both as children and adults, our home and family are where we should feel most comfortable in the world. They determine how you make your life decisions; they shape your attitudes, your awareness, your self-esteem. A healthy home life is obviously a vital ingredient in the pursuit of a meaningful life.

There are three key elements in building a peaceful home life: the relationships between family members, the atmosphere of the home itself, and the way the home is run.

When a family shares principles and values, they grow together. The home becomes a foundation for the family’s shared sense of purpose while providing a springboard for each member to pursue his or her own goals. In such homes, families stay up late talking heart-to-heart about what’s on their minds. Children crowd around grandparents to hear stories. Teenagers debate meaningful issues with each other and with their parents. The whole family gets together -- and not just on holidays -- for evenings of songs, games, and reminiscing. The home becomes alive, a source of energy and hope, of urgency and love. It is not the tranquility of a home that makes it peaceful; it is the life within.

The ultimate beauty in a home is its emotional and spiritual warmth. There are many ways to beautify your home spiritually, to invite God into your home. Place a charity box in each room. Talk with your family about God and our responsibilities as good-hearted people. Invite guests into your home, and allow it to be used as a place of study and prayer, or to hold charitable functions or community meetings.

Each healthy home is a macrocosm of the entire universe, helping make the entire world a home for God. Harmony at home, within a family, translates into harmony between families and communities and nations. When there is no harmony between people who are related by blood, how can we expect to create harmony between strangers?

After many centuries of exhausting journeys, it is time for all of us to come home - to ourselves, to our families, to God. After the thousands of years of civilizing this world, after the millions of spiritual seeds that human beings have planted through acts of kindness, the time has come for this world to sprout like a garden - God’s garden, a universe filled with goodness and knowledge.

Make your home truly beautiful by introducing spirituality into your home, welcoming guests, and talking with your family about our responsibilities as good hearted people.
Your children will grow up to remember their home as a place of warmth and kindness, where people felt comfortable to gather and talk about things that mattered to them. In all likelihood, these children will grow into adults who will create the same sort of home.

A beautiful home must also be free from influences that can pollute its wholesomeness and spiritual grace - television, for instance. People today recognize the damaging effects that television has on impressionable children, and, for that matter, on teenagers and adults. A television must not be allowed to rule the home.

The next time you are sitting in your living room or sharing a meal with your family, ask yourself:  Do I truly feel at home? Am I doing everything possible to build a healthy family and household?  Do guests feel welcome here? And, above all, does God feel comfortable in my home?
[The Wisdom of the Rebbe” by Simon Jacobson]

Work for peace within your family, then in your street, then within the community.
Your home should become a light that illuminates the entire street and community. The love of family is life's greatest blessing.

Japan Bodies Of Two Nuclear Workers Found Killed & Missing Since Quake

HO/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Two Bodies Found At Stricken Nuclear Plant


The bodies of two Japanese nuclear power workers killed by the tsunami which wrecked Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant more than three weeks ago have been recovered an official with the plant's owner said Sunday. The plant workers had been missing since the epic March 11 earthquake and tsunami .

Their remains were found last Wednesday but had to be decontaminated before they could be returned to the families.

The men's remains were found in the basement of the turbine building at the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters Sunday.

The pair -- identified as Kazahiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, both members of the utility company's operations management department -- were working in that building when the 9.0-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck. The disaster caused damage throughout northeastern Japan, including at the power plant, which is on the Asian nation's eastern coast about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

One of the workers was found floating in a pool of water in the basement, the utilty company official said. Both appeared to have suffered multiple traumatic injuries and severe blood loss.

The bodies were found Wednesday, but the power company did not disclose the news until late Sunday morning.

Tokyo Electric officials explained the information was delayed in getting out because it took time to notify victims' families and discuss how to announce the news.

Company Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata offered condolences for "the loss of two valuable lives."

"It is deeply regrettable that we lose two employees who were trying to protect the safety of the power plant from the earthquake and tsunami," he said in a statement.

Later, Katsumata reiterated Tokyo Electric's vow that every effort is being made to address the crisis at the nuclear plant and this such a situation will never happen again.

"We swear never to repeat this tragedy," he said, "and we making a full effort to resolve the situation as soon as possible." [CNN Tokyo]

Japan Dog Rescued Found Floating On Roof Three Weeks After Tsunami

A story of survival is lifting spirits in Japan.

A dog found floating on the roof of a house that washed away in Japan's devastating tsunami has been rescued after three weeks at sea.

A small dog was spotted by the Japanese Coast Guard in the Pacific Ocean, about a mile off the coast of Japan.

The dog was spotted on a roof in the middle of a floating island of debris off the coast of Japan  that probably was swept out to sea by the receding tsunami.

The dog was frightened by the helicopter and hid under the roof, forcing rescuers to descend onto the debris pile to try and lure it out. Once on the roof, rescuers had hoped to find more tsunami survivors living inside the house but after tearing the roof open, it was found to be empty apart from the dog.
But the helicopter ran out of fuel before rescuers could reach the frightened animal.

A nearby coast guard boat took over the rescue attempt and eventually saved the dog several hours later.

Despite being out at sea for apparently three weeks, the dog appeared to be in fair condition.

The dog was not wearing a collar. So for now, the dog has a new home aboard the Japanese coast guard ship. Rescuers are hoping the dog will be able to lead them to its owners.

 Photos of dog found stranded on debris: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/slideshowajax/156786/dog-founded-stranded-on-debris-at-sea.slideshow

Mother Captures The Magical Moment A Rainbow Forms Over Her Young Son's Head

Stunning: Avena Singh was taking pictures at a botanical garden when a rainbow formed

It is without doubt the picture of a lifetime: a rainbow forming in all its colourful glory as a young boy looks out over the rocks and out to sea.

Avena Singh realised she only had seconds to capture the image as she and her three-year-old son explored the Shore Acres State Park in Oregon. But she managed to fire off a quick photograph before the splash from a wave caused the incredible effect to disappear before their every eyes

Mrs Singh, 35, a college worker and amateur photographer from Oregon, was thrilled when she viewed the photos later to see she had recorded the scene in full technicolour.
'The park is only a few miles from our home and the weather report was for high waves so I knew there was going to be some spectacular shots. The sun was out and the waves were absolutely huge,' she said. 'I had noticed remnants of rainbows once in a while when the waves crashed and was trying to capture them with little success. A couple of photographer friends were with me and got my son, Rishabh, to pose as the waves hit. 'After they took their photos they turned away. I was standing right behind my son and saw the rainbow bend right over him. It was astonishing. I started snapping photos madly hoping to capture it all.

'The remnants of the wave just fell straight down, and the rainbow disappeared as quickly as it had come. My son stood perfectly still in complete awe of what he discovered, his very own rainbow.

'After I took the photo, I realised my friends had been too busy chatting to notice what happened. I was overjoyed when I uploaded the images to my computer and was able to see them in all their glory, it was something I could never replicate.'

She added: 'It felt amazing. Having my son be right in the middle only made it more special. My children are everything in the world to me and had my son not been there it still would not have been as special.' [dailymail uk]


 

Japan Admits It Has Lost The Race To Save The Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Japan has finally conceded it has lost the battle to contain radiation at four of its crippled reactors and they will be closed down and be entombed in concrete

The battle to save the Fukushima nuclear power plant now appears lost as the radioactive core from Reactor No. 2 has melted through the containment vessel and dropped into the concrete basement of the reactor structure. This is "raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site," reports The Guardian, which broke the story.

Fukushima Reactors to Be Entombed in Concrete
After a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11 crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, the Japanese government has finally conceded it has lost the battle to contain radiation at four of the plant’s reactors and they will be closed down.

Details of what that will entail have yet to be revealed, but according to Bloomberg, Japanese officials are looking at ways of entombing the Fukushima reactors in concrete.

The government hasn’t ruled out pouring concrete over the whole facility as one way to shutting it down, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a press conference today in Tokyo.

The dramatic announcement that the four reactors, including a partial meltdown of fuel in the No. 1 reactor building are out of control and will have to be decommissioned was made yesterday by Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of the electric company (TEPCO) operating the nuclear complex.

The reason for the admission of total defeat is that TEPCO knew the battle to keep the fuel rods in the troubled reactors cool could not be won. While workers, who were being paid vast sums of money to brave high radiation levels have averted the threat of a total meltdown by injecting water into the damaged reactors for the past two weeks, “the risk to [them] might be greater than previously thought because melted fuel in the No. 1 reactor building may be causing isolated, uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions, Denis Flory, nuclear safety director for the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], said at a press conference in Vienna. [via Bloomberg]”

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said however, there’s no possibility of uncontrolled chain reactions. Still, [via Kyodo News] Secretary Edano said Japan and the IAEA agreed that “they would not rule out the possibility of the situation worsening.”

Radiation levels continue to remain extremely high at the Fukushima plant, with water around the reactors emitting a highly dangerous 1,000 millisieverts per hour. Radioactive iodine rose to 4,385 times the regulated safety limit yesterday from 2,572 times on Tuesday.[wallstreetpit.com]

Has Japan 'lost the race' to prevent a total nuclear meltdown?
Nuclear fuel apparently melts through the bottom of a container at one of the Fukushima reactors, heightening fears of a major meltdown.

The disaster at Japan's troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is getting worse: Trace amounts of plutonium have been found in the soil outside the plant, the seawater outside the reactors has radioactive iodine-131 at levels 3,355 times above what's considered safe, and, according to former GE nuclear safety researcher Richard Lahey, Japan appears to have "lost the race" to save reactor 2 from a full nuclear meltdown.

Here, a brief guide to the unraveling situation:

How has Japan "lost the race"?
The nuclear cores of four reactors have partially melted, officials believe, but in reactor 2, "the indications we have... suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the [steel containment] pressure vessel" and onto the cement floor, Lahey tells The Guardian. That would escalate the radiation contamination, but even in a worst-case scenario, "it's not going to be anything like Chernobyl."

Where are the leaks coming from?
Experts aren't sure, but the highly radioactive water in tunnels and basements at the plant, and plutonium in the soil, are worrisome. There's "a complex cacophony of different sources that could have contributed to the leaking water," says nuclear engineering expert Robin Grimes. The most likely are cracks in reactor core vessels, or runoff from the water being used in the last-ditch efforts to keep the cores from melting. Journalist Martin Savidge says the radioactive water in the tunnels is probably responsible for the toxic seawater, since the only obstacle in its path is "sandbags to block drainage pipes."

Is anyone still there?
Yes. Japanese workers are reportedly being offered up to $1,200 a day to brave the potentially deadly conditions at the plant. They are sleeping over a lead-lined sheet in an earthquake-proof building. "The working environment is very tough," acknowledged Kazuma Yokota, head of the nuclear inspection office. Not working is Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) President Masataka Shimizu, who was hospitalized Tuesday for dizziness and high blood pressure. Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 71, took the reins.

What will happen to the plants?
When the crisis is contained, at least four of the reactors will be permanently mothballed, Tepco says. Japan's government has called for all six reactors to be shut. In the meantime, the company is exploring ways to contain radiation leaks, including spraying resin on the ground to trap the radioactive particles, and covering the reactors with a special sheet. Japan is also talking about bringing in tanker ships to store the radioactive water pumped from the site.

Is there any good news?
The radiation in the ocean is expected to disperse and become harmless, and the plutonium levels in the soil are not high enough to harm humans, at least not yet. Also, the Japanese government hasn't been sugarcoating the problem, as widely feared, according to Greenpeace. The anti-nuclear group sent scientists to Japan specifically to keep the government honest, but "there is no contradiction between Greenpeace data and local data." [theweek.com]

Japan Pays 'Suicide Squads' Fortunes To Work In Stricken Nuclear Plant

Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being paid vast sums of money to brave high radiation levels.
Is it worth risking life and limb for a job to help the greater good, just for a paycheck?

*Four reactors at stricken plant to be decomissioned
*Subcontractors offered £760 a day - 20 times going rate - to brave radiation levels but some refuse
*One expert who designed reactor says race to save reactor two is 'lost'
*Radiation levels in sea water 3,335 times higher than normal
*Readings are almost three times worse than last week
*Unmanned drone photographs plant from the air amid health fear for pilots

Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being paid vast sums of money to brave high radiation levels - as experts warn that the race to save the facility has been lost.

Subcontractors are reportedly being offered up to 100,000 yen a day (£760) - 20 times the going rate - but some are still refusing the dangerous work.

Radiation levels are still extremely high at the plant, with water around the reactors emitting a highly dangerous 1,000 millisieverts per hour. 

There are also fears that the plant is leaking more radiation as sea water around the plant was found to contain levels 3,335 higher than normal - almost three times higher than last week.

In a further development, an expert who helped design the plant said today that the race to prevent reactor number two melting down had been lost.
 The plant's operators also said today that the four reactors that suffered explosions will be shut down for good once they are under control - and could be sealed in special material to keep radiation in.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian that he believed nuclear fuel had melted and burned through the reactor floor in unit number two.

That would expose the core to the atmosphere, risking more serious radiation leaks.

He told the Guardian: 'The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the dry well.

'I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.'

The major worry is that the lava-like radioactive core will react with the concrete floor in Unit Two, sending radioactive gasses into the atmosphere.

Fortunately, though, the plant is flooded with seawater which will cool the material quicker than normal, reducing the amount of gas released.

According to the Independent newspaper, subcontractors have been offered the huge daily rates to take part in the containment efforts.

Former worker Shingo Kanno said: 'They know it's dangerous so they have to pay up to 20 times what they usually do.'

The seasonal farmer and construction worker turned down offers of work. 'My wife and family are against it because it's so dangerous.'

There has been widespread speculation in Japan that the levels of radiation workers face could ultimately prove lethal.
 A new evacuation zone is now being considered by the Tokyo Electric Power Company which could mean another 130,000 people have to evacuate.

Seawater outside the crippled nuclear power plant in north-eastern Japan was found to contain 3,335 times the usual amount of radioactive iodine - the highest rate yet and a sign that more contaminated water was making its way into the ocean, officials said today.

Readings on Friday found levels were 1,250 times higher than normal.

The amount of iodine-131 found offshore 300 yards south of the power plant did not pose an immediate threat to human health, but was a 'concern', said Hidehiko Nishiyama, of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

He said there was no fishing in the area. 'We will nail down the cause, and will do our utmost to prevent it from rising further,' said Mr Nishiyama.

The power plant has been leaking radiation since the March 11 tsunami slammed into Japan's north east, knocking out power and back-up systems crucial to keeping temperatures down inside the plant's reactors.

Residents within 12 miles have been evacuated, while those up to 19 miles have been urged to leave as radiation has made its way into vegetables, raw milk and water. Last week tap water as far away as Tokyo, 140 miles to the south, contained levels of cancer-causing iodine-131 considered unsafe for infants.

Radiation from the Fukushima leak has been also detected across Britain this week. The Health Protection Agency revealed that radioactive iodine had already been discovered 5,500 miles from the stricken plant in Oxfordshire and Glasgow.

Experts said the levels were 'minuscule' and posed no health risk to Britons. However, its arrival highlights how far radioactive material can travel on the winds - and how vulnerable Britain would be if there was a serious release of radiation thousands of miles away.

The government acknowledged yesterday that its safeguards had been insufficient to protect the plant against the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

'Our preparedness was not sufficient,' chief Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said. 'When the current crisis is over, we must examine the accident closely and thoroughly review' the safety standards.

Highly toxic plutonium was the latest contaminant found seeping into the soil outside the plant, Tepco said. Safety officials said the amounts did not pose a risk to humans, but the finding supports suspicions that dangerously radioactive water is leaking from damaged nuclear fuel rods.


Workers succeeded last week in reconnecting some parts of the plant to the power grid. But as they pumped in water to cool the reactors and nuclear fuel, they discovered numerous pools of radioactive water, including in the basements of several buildings and in trenches outside.

The contaminated water has been emitting many times the amount of radiation that the government considers safe for workers. It must be pumped out before electricity can be restored and the regular cooling systems powered up.
That has left officials struggling with two crucial but contradictory efforts: pumping in water to keep the fuel rods cool and pumping out contaminated water.

Officials are hoping tanks at the complex will be able to hold the water, or that new tanks can be trucked in. The Nuclear Safety Commission said other possibilities included digging a storage pit for the contaminated water, recycling it back into the reactors or even pumping it to an offshore tanker.
Yesterday three workers trying to connect a pump outside the Unit 3 reactor were splashed by water that gushed from a pipe. Though they wore suits meant to be waterproof and protect against high levels of radiation, Mr Nishiyama said the men were soaked to their underwear. They quickly washed it off and were not injured, officials said.
 Last week, two workers were hospitalised with burns after they waded into highly radioactive water that reached their knees while wearing ankle-high protective boots. They have been treated and released.
Nikkei, Japan's top business newspaper, called it 'outrageous' that Tepco had been slow to release information about trenches outside the reactors filled with contaminated water, one just a few inches (10cm) from overflowing. [dailymail.co.uk]

Dire Living Conditions Add To Misery Of Japan's Nuclear Plant Heroes

Following on from reports of yet ANOTHER earthquake tonight of a magnitude-6.4 quake jolting northeast Japan http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/29/c_13803788.htm reports are surfacing regarding the grim living conditions of the Nuclear plant heroes as the emergency workers struggle under harsh conditions to control and stabilize the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.


Tokyo (CNN) -- They sleep anywhere they can find open space -- in conference rooms, corridors, even stairwells. They have one blanket, no pillows and a leaded mat intended to keep radiation at bay.

They eat only two meals each day -- a carefully rationed breakfast of 30 crackers and vegetable juice and for dinner, a ready-to-eat meal or something out of a can.They clean themselves with wet wipes, since the supply of fresh water is short.

These are the grueling living conditions for the workers inside Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They've been hailed as heroes risking their lives by braving high levels of radiation as they work to avert a nuclear meltdown.

But until now, the outside world has known little about the workers' routine.

Tuesday, safety inspector Kazuma Yokota, who spent five days at the plant last week, spoke with CNN about the plight of the 400 workers staying in a building within 1 kilometer (.6 miles) of Reactor No. 1. Japanese officials ordered mandatory evacuations for everyone else within 20 (12.4 miles) kilometers of the plant.

The workers look tired, Yokota said. They are furiously connecting electrical cables, repairing instrument panels and pumping radioactive water out.

They work with the burden of their own personal tragedies always weighing heavy.

"My parents were washed away by the tsunami, and I still don't know where they are," one worker wrote in an e-mail that was verified as authentic by a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the Fukushima plant.

"Crying is useless," said another e-mail. "If we're in hell now, all we can do is crawl up towards heaven.'

But they are doing it all with the kind of determination required in a task with such high stakes. There's no room for plummeting morale and the workers are not showing any signs of spirits flagging, Yokota said.

However upbeat the workers are, there's no denying the conditions are beyond difficult.

"On the ground at the nuclear power plant, the workers are working under very dangerous and very hard conditions, and I feel a great deal of respect for them," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters Tuesday.

The workers spend three days on site and go off for one. They start their work day at 8 a.m. and go for 12 long hours.

Last week, three men who were laying electrical cable in the turbine building of the No. 3 reactor stepped in tainted water, exposing themselves to high levels of radiation. Tokyo Electric apologized and said their exposure might have been avoided with better communication.

Radiation alarms went off while the three men were working, but they continued with their mission for 40 to 50 minutes after assuming it was a false alarm. They were hospitalized after it was determined they had been exposed to 173 to 181 millisieverts of radiation -- two of them with direct exposure on their skin. They were later released.

By comparison, a person in an industrialized country is naturally exposed to 3 millisieverts per year, though Japan's Health Ministry has said that those working directly to avert the nuclear crisis could be exposed to as much as 250 millisieverts before they must leave the site.

The incident also prompted further criticism of Tokyo Electric and how well it is safeguarding the workers.

Yokota said the power company hoped to improve living conditions for the workers by moving them to another facility. Edano said officials also hope to find replacements in order to relieve the workers at the plant.
 

Until then, they will continue as the faceless heroes in Japan's tragedy, the nation's only hope of thwarting further disaster.

The Ugly Truth About Fukushima

On The Brink Of A Mega Disaster!

Japan nuclear disaster may turn out 10 times worse than Chernobyl as Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Crisis Worsens.

Despite all the desperate efforts by world governments to downplay the severity of the release of radioactive material from Fukushima, world radiation sensors are revealing the ugly truth about the Fukushima catastrophe that the nuclear industry doesn't want you to know.

We thought we'd seen the worst in nuclear power plant accidents with the partial meltdown of a reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union in 1986. But what is happening at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northern Japan will likely surpass Chernobyl, if it hasn't already.

All along we’ve known that we’re not getting the full story. The information the public do get from officials is contradictory. The truth is Japan's nuclear crisis is most perilous since Chernobyl. The “situation is very grave & serious”.

The radioactive fallout is now as much as 73 percent of the daily radiation emitted from Chernobyl following its meltdown disaster.

Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

Because Fukushima continues to leak radiation into the environment, its total radioactive output may yet exceed that of Chernobyl. There's certainly a lot more fuel at Fukushima than there ever was at Chernobyl: 1,760 tons of nuclear fuel versus just 180 tons at Chernobyl.

So Fukushima has ten times the amount of fresh and spent fuel as Chernobyl. And it's still spewing radiation every second. The food and water in Japan is already contaminated, the oceans are radioactive, the air is radioactive, neutron beams are jetting out of the nuclear

facility, it's raining yellow water, workers are being hospitalized with radiation burns, and still the nuclear industry says stop worrying... it's all safe!

No wonder there is so much confusion with regard to the true situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Facility!

Clearly, Japan is a natural, nuclear, human and social disaster as radiation from the nuclear plant is spreading across oceans and continents. Truly a very disturbing local crisis with global implications.

Fukushima is quickly rising to the top of the list of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

It only leads me to wonder: How much worse is this going to get? We were told just this week that the reactors had their power restored, that the crisis was over, remember? The mainstream media has already blown past this story and doesn't express much concern at all over the situation. Yet this Fukushima catastrophe is quickly moving into the top position as the world's worst nuclear power plant disaster -- even as the media plays it down!

Fukushima may yet out-Chernobyl Chernobyl!

So where does all this radiation end up? Well, according to the Japanese and American governments, it all just magically fades away and there's nothing at

all to worry about. But NaturalNews readers know better: This radiation ends up in the food, in the water, and circulating throughout the environment. Where will this end? No one knows for sure. But if there's one thing we've all learned from watching Tokyo this past week, it's that the time to get prepared is right now! The immediate crisis is far from over. [mathaba.net/news]

This is no longer a regional event. This is a global challenge. The radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors is now a part of our global ecosystem.

For a status report: Reactor-by-reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant click here

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/japan.nuclear.status/

A MUST READ: Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Truth: Locally Chernobyl

http://www.science20.com/alpha_meme/fukushima_nuclear_reactor_truth_locally_chernobyl-77331

Nuclear whistleblowers: Stop lying about Fukushima
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/nuclear-whistleblowers-stop-lying-about-fukushima

Melted fuel rods cause radiation spike at Japan nuclear plant - govt.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20110328/163241738.html

It is not a question of whether or not a nuclear disaster will occur in Japan , it is a question of when it will occur, and if catastrophic enough, perhaps nothing can be done to contain it. Here's to praying that an equally devastating nuclear accident like Chernobyl can be prevented.

The Entire World Is A Revolving Wheel

Everything Goes Around & Changes

The world is like a spinning wheel.

Everything turns around and changes. Everything is

revolving and changing from one thing to the next, from top to

bottom and bottom to top.

This world is a turning wheel, where above is below and below is above. This is the spinning wheel, the revolving wheel, things changing from one state to another. These transformations are the level of the redemption.

 

We are living our life on the rim of a spinning wheel. The Great Wheel of Life turns and turns. Round and round it turns, faster and faster. Everything goes around and changes.

In life seasons change just like our circumstances

Good times turn into tough times and back again

We live through years of plenty and years when things are lean

Times of carefree happiness and times of challenge and struggle

Days when we are top of the World and days when it all comes crashing down

But while our circumstances may change, our essential worth does not

What matters is not how much we have but what we choose to do with it.

Life is a cycle and it's really challenging to know what is going on around us

The circle is not infinite, as many conclude. The circumference ends when it repeats itself. Therefore, the entire world is a revolving wheel, and everything goes around and changes.

Times change. The wheel of fortune never stops spinning. The thing to remember, is that change is constant in the Universe, and tough times do not last. The forces of change in the Universe will bring a change in circumstances if we follow the Above and keep moving.

Thousands Of Beetles Swarm Surfers Paradise - Australia

Picture of beetle invasion in Surfers Paradise. Sent in by reader Norman Herfurth.

A SWARM of water beetles is wreaking havoc across the Australian Tourist Mecca

THOUSANDS of beetles are swarming Surfers Paradise in a never before seen phenomenon that has stumped local scientists.

The water beetle invasion captured on amateur youtube footage shows the large black beetles swarming around lights and dropping to the footpath on The Esplanade last night.

Watch Beetles Swarming Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGABy-hqo8

Watch Beetles Swarming Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAqyLbeOhwc

Griffith University entomologist Professor Clyde Wild said he had no definitive explanation for the rare phenomenon. ''I've never seen swarms of these like this before, why they are at the beach front escapes any explanation I can think of,'' Prof Wild said. ''You might see two or three on any given night - this is literally thousands. They haven't come out of the sea, they live in fresh water and live on larvae, or eating other insects.''

Prof Wild said he would be less surprised if the invasion had occurred in areas that had recently flooded. ''If there was masses of flowing water, a lot of habitat, it would make more sense. But it hasn't been that wet on the Gold Coast so it's a very curious phenomenon. They can fly very well, kilometres, but if for instance they were breeding in a river, or a swamp that had dried up, I can't see the connection as to why they would relocate to the beachfront.''[goldcoast.com.au]

Three Of The Fukushima Fifty Rushed To Hospital With Radiation Poisoning

Hospital: Medical workers in protective gear gather around an ambulance taking two of the Fukushima workers to hospital

*Panicked Tokyo residents clear shop shelves of bottled water
*Men stood in irradiated water which seeped through protective gear
*Tokyo convenience stores all but run out of bottled water
*Families with babies get three half-litre bottles of water a day for each infant
*City officials appeal for calm
*Death toll rises to 9,700 while missing number 16,500

Three of the Fukushima Fifty have been rushed to hospital with radiation poisoning as they battle to save Japan's crippled power plant from nuclear meltdown.
Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, said the three workers, two in their 20s and one in his 30s, came face to face with the danger they had all feared when contaminated water came into contact with their skin at the Fukushima Dai-chi plant.
Officials said they were standing in irradiated water in the No.3 reactor when it somehow seeped through their protective gear, causing them to be contaminated with a level of radiation almost twice as high as the accepted 'safe' limit.

'This is a very regrettable situation,' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yudio Edano said later today as he described the sketchy details he had received from the plant.
'They were in a basement area of the No.3 reactor, standing in water that was irradiated,' he said.
Mr Matsuda said the workers were exposed to radiation levels of up to 180 millisieverts, which is less than the maximum 250 millisieverts that the government is allowing for workers at the plant.
About two dozen people have been injured since the plant began leaking radiation after suffering tsunami damage on March 11


Meanwhile anxiety over the safety of Tokyo’s tap water continued amid fears it has been contaminated by radiation seeping from the plant.
New readings showed the levels had returned to safe in Tokyo, but were high in two neighbouring prefectures - Chiba and Saitama.

'The first thought was that I need to buy bottles of water,' said Tokyo real estate agent Reiko Matsumoto, mother of five-year-old Reina. 'I also don't know whether I can let her take a bath.'
The Fukushima plant has been leaking radiation since the March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out its crucial cooling systems, leading to explosions and fires in four of its six reactors.
Workers doled out bottled water to Tokyo families today after residents cleared store shelves, forcing many shops to start rationing goods including milk, toilet paper, rice and water.
Anxiety over food and water supplies surged when Tokyo officials reported yesterday that radioactive iodine in the city's tap water was above levels considered dangerous for babies over the long term.

After setbacks and worrying black smoke forced an evacuation, workers were back inside today, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano sought to allay fears over the tap water readings.
'We ask people to respond calmly,' he said at a briefing today. 'The Tokyo metropolitan government is doing its best.'
Households with infants will get three, half-litre bottles of water for each baby - a total of 240,000 bottles - city officials said, begging Tokyo residents to buy only what they need for fear that hoarding could hurt the thousands of people without any water in areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.


Nearly two weeks after the magnitude-9 quake, some 660,000 household still do not have water in Japan's north east, the government said. Electricity has not been restored to some 209,000 homes, Tohoku Electric Power Co said.
The figures were a reminder of the grim humanitarian situation that hundreds of thousands continue to face in the wake of twin disasters that are proving to be the most costly natural disaster on record.
Damages are estimated at up to 309 billion US dollars, the government said.

 The number of dead and missing continued to rise: 9,700 dead, with another 16,500 missing, Japan's police agency said today. The figures that may include some overlap.
Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without heat, warm food or medicine and no idea what to call home after the colossal wave swallowed up communities along the coast and dozens of strong aftershocks continued to shake the nation.

Fears about food safety began to spread overseas as radiation seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant.[dailymail.co.uk]