- Written by Harvey Wasserman
Fukushima's Apocalyptic Threat
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Fukushima Units One, Two and Three are all in various stages of melting down.
Molten fuel at Unit One may have burned through its reactor pressure vessel, with water poured in to cool it merely pouring out the bottom.
A growing pond of highly radioactive liquid is softening the ground and draining into the ocean.
There is no way to predict where these molten masses of fuel will yet go.
Especially in the event of an aftershock, steam and hydrogen explosions could blow out what's left of the containments.
The extra plutonium in the MOX fuel at Unit Three is an added liability.
At least one spent fuel pool has been on fire.
The site has already suffered at least two hydrogen explosions. Some believe a fission explosion may also have occurred.
All have weakened the structures and support systems on site.
These shocks and the soft ground may be why Unit Four has partially sunk and is tipping, possibly on the brink of collapse. Even a relatively minor aftershock could mean catastrophe.
More explosions are possible. More leaks are virtually certain.
Escalated radiation levels from any one of the reactors could force all workers to evacuate, leaving the entire site to chance.
The New York Times has now reported that critical valve failures that contributed to the Fukushima disaster are likely at numerous US reactors.
Significant radioactive debris has been found thousands of yards from the plant. Radiation levels in Tokyo, nearly 200 miles away, have risen. Fallout has been detected in North America and throughout Europe.
Radiation pouring into the sea has begun to spread worldwide.
There is much more, none of it good.
Japan and Germany have had the good survival sense to abandon future reactor construction, and to shut some existing sites.
But here, the corporate media blackout is virtually complete. Out of sight, out of mind seems the strategy for an industry desperate for federal loan guarantees and continued operation of a rickety fleet of decaying old reactors.
The Obama Administration has ended radiation monitoring of seafood in the Pacific. It does not provide reliable, systematic radiological or medical data on fallout coming to the United States.
But we may all be in unprecedented danger.
A national movement is underway to end atomic give-aways and turn to a green-powered Earth.
Now we must also move ALL the world's governments beyond denial to focus on somehow bringing Fukushima under control.
After two months of all-out effort, four reactors and at least that many spent fuel pools remain at risk.
Our survival depends on stopping Fukushima from further irradiating us all.
The world community has come together to put a new sarcophagus around Chernobyl.
A parallel, more urgent effort now needs to focus on Fukushima.
Whatever technical, scientific and material resources are available to our species, that's what needs to go there.
NOW!!!
Harvey Wasserman edits www.nukefree.org and co-authored KILLING OUR OWN: THE DISASTER OF AMERICA'S EXPERIENCE WITH ATOMIC RADIATION, available free on the internet. His SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH is at www.solartopia.org.
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