Excerpt: "Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 - with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the groun - collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced."
The Fourth reactor at Fukushima. The yellow area is the containment vessel, 02/20/12. (photo: The Asahi Shimbum Digital)
Fate of Japan and the Whole World Depends on No. 4 Reactor
11 April 12
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Fukushima Daiichi site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl accident.
apan�s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public Hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, on the Fukushima nuclear power plants accident. Before the Committee, Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 - with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground - collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421� (396+615+566+1,535+994+940+6375).
I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 rods.
I received an astounding response from Mr. Alvarez [updated 4/5/12]:
In recent times, more information about the spent fuel situation at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site has become known. It is my understanding that of the 1,532 spent fuel assemblies in reactor No. 304 assemblies are fresh and unirradiated. This then leaves 1,231 irradiated spent fuel rods in pool No. 4, which contain roughly 37 million curies (~1.4E+18 Becquerel) of long-lived radioactivity. The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.
The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters. Despite the enormous destruction cased at the Da-Ichi site, dry casks holding a smaller amount of spent fuel appear to be unscathed.
Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 - roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).
It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.
Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival.
There was a Nuclear Security Summit Conference in Seoul on March 26 and 27, and Ambassador Murata and I made a concerted effort to find someone to inform the participants from 54 nations of the potential global catastrophe of reactor unit 4. We asked several participants to share the idea of an Independent Assessment team comprised of a broad group of international experts to deal with this urgent issue.
I would like to introduce Ambassador Murata�s letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to convey this urgent message and also his letter to Japan�s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for Japanese readers. He emphasized in the statement that we should bring human wisdom to tackle this unprecedented challenge.
It seems to us that the Nuclear Security Summit was focused on the North Korea nuclear issue and on the issue of common security from a terrorist attack. Our appeal on the need for the independent assessment at Reactor 4 was regarded as less urgent. We predicted this outcome in light of the nature of the Summit. I suppose most participants fully understood the potential disaster which will affect their countries. Nevertheless, they decided not to raise the delicate issue, perhaps in order to not ruffle their diplomatic relationship with Japan.
I was moved by Ambassador Murata�s courage in pressing this issue in Japan. I know how difficult it is for a former career diplomat to do this, especially in my country. Current and former government officials might be similarly restricted in the scope of their actions, as Ambassador Murata is, but it is their responsibility to take a stand for the benefit of our descendants for centuries to come - to pass on a world safer than our ancestors passed us.
If Japanese government leaders do not recognize the risk their nation faces, how could the rest of us be persuaded of the looming disaster? And if the rest of us do not acknowledge the catastrophe we collectively face, who will be the one to act?
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Tokyo,
March 25, 2012
Dear Secretary-General,
Honorable Ban Ki-moon,
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for your considerate letter dated 2 March, 2012. Your moral support for a United Nations Ethics Summit will remain a constant source of encouragement for my activities.
Please allow me to pay a tribute to your great contribution to strengthen nuclear safety and security. The current Nuclear Summit in Seoul is no doubt greatly benefiting from the high-level meeting you convened last September.
I was asked to make a statement at the public hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 23. I raised the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima containing1535 fuel rods. It could be fatally damaged by continuing aftershocks. Moreover, 50 meters away from it exists a common cooling pool for 6 reactors containing 6375 fuel rods!
It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide.
Please allow me to inform you of an initiative being taken by a former UN official who is endeavoring to have the Nuclear Security Summit take up the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima. He is pursuing the establishment of an independent assessment team. I think his efforts are very significant, because it is indispensable to draw the attention of world leaders to this vital issue.
I am cooperating with him, writing to some of my Korean acquaintances that this issue deserves the personal attention of President Lee Myung-bak. I have written today to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. I asked him to consider taking the initiative of mobilizing human wisdom on the widest scope to cope with the Fukushima reactor No.4 problem, fully taking into account the above-mentioned "independent assessment team."
The world has been made so fragile and vulnerable. The role of the United Nations is increasingly vital. I wish you the best of luck in your noble mission. Please accept, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mitsuhei Murata
Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics
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Now the CIA and its puppet Nazi regime in Kiev are facing elections this summer. It is not likely that the people of Ukraine will elect anyone from the Nazi parties who were paid by the EU and US to overthrow the Yanukovich government and bring all this violence to Ukraine. Someone else would win.
But as long as the violence goes on, there won't be elections. This is a CIA practice that has been followed in many nations all over the earth. The CIA now has control of the government apparatus in Kiev and violence will keep that control. And as in Vietnam, the US will blame the violence and the postponing of the elections on Russia or the people who are resisting the Nazi Regime in Kiev.
In the end, however, the CIA will lose. All what will have happened is that Ukraine will have suffered, just like El Salvador, Vietnam, Guatemala, and about 80 other nations.
To answer your question, I first have to rephrase it to fit what's actually happened so far in Ukraine. The correct question should be: If Russia were to instigate a coup against a democratically elected government in Mexico that is anti-USA ... and there was a small area of Mexico that contained a large contingent of pro-USA people that didn't recognize this coup government as legitimate and those separatists stormed Mexican government buildings and asked to either be ruled by the US or to govern themselves ... and they were under threat of military attack by the coup regime for taking those government buildings ... should the US move in to protect them ? My answer would be ... Yes. But my answer doesn't matter. We both know the US would be far less reserved than Russia was. The US wouldn't limit their drive into Mexico to the area it's support resides. They'd storm in and take the whole damn country, international law be damned.
You keep making that statement but the only "proof" that this is true has been US propoganda. Because the US says it's true ... you unquestioningly accept that view. Let me remind you of what else the US swore was true ... that Iraq had WMDs. How'd that "proof" pan out ?
I have Ukranian friends who are in touch with friends and family and they tell me that the "pro-russians" are indeed russians who are well armed and organized. Their families describe them as "para-military" . They are livid about Putin's invasion.
They are glad about the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. Whom they believe to be a thief and to have stolen from the Ukranian people. And even if the coup was USA supported, at least the people in the new government are UNKRANIANS. This is a far cry from the russians who now want to take over the Ukraine.
I don't claim to have proof that they are not Russians, I only point out that the US is more than capable of lying. Russia isn't the only ones capable of it. As for your Ukrainian friends ... haven't you stated all over the place that it was YOU who knew people in the Ukraine ? Now it's friends of friends ? Isn't it at least possible that, although your connections do support Kiev, there are others that don't ? Ukraine was ruled by Ukrainians before the coup. Because Yanukovich supported a trade agreement with Russia didn't make him Russian. He was an ELECTED official that was wise to favor the deal that Russia was offering (15 billion dollars and reduced gas prices) vs. the deal the EU/US/IMF (harsh austerity measures) are offering. Yanukovich was corrupt, no doubt, but all of the Ukrainian oligarchs were. Our guy, "Yats", is no better.
rt.com/news/156592-odessa-activists-burnt-alive/
If Putin had secured these areas with the Russian military, the illegitimate Kiev govt wouldn't have dared send in the Ukraine army, and if Putin would've done this, as far as the U.S. is concerned, nothing would've changed. The U.S. is still pressing sanctions against Russia no matter what Russia does, and Russia, as it must, should reject these sanctions.
It shouldn't allow itself to be blackmailed or cajoled by extortion to capitulate to illegal U.S. demands, to put their national security at risk, especially when dealing with an incident in their own backyard and one that was actually instigated by the U.S. and its puppet military arm in Europe, NATO.
The following article totally piss me off with Putin and Russia:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kremlin-says-kiev-west-responsible-094436109.html
Of course its the U.S. and NATO who are responsible for the bloodshed in eastern and southern Ukraine.
http://news.yahoo.com/lavrov-presses-kerry-help-stop-ukraine-assault-moscow-153313753.html
Why is Russia begging the U.S. to halt the assault by the Kiev govt in eastern and southern Ukraine. They have to know that the U.S. doesn't give a damn, and it shows weakness on their part.
The Ukrainian military with the help of this extremist group call the Right Sector, under the command of the illegitimate government in Kiev, are now attacking Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, and Mariupul in the region of Donetsk, not to mention of course Slavyansk and Odessa, and the only thing I hear coming from Putin is words and finger pointing.
This is real, Activista. People are actually dying right now because the Kiev government firmly believes it can now invade any part of the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine without any fear that Russia will intercede to protect these areas.
Russia is about to lose all of Ukraine because simple words and finger pointing will not stop the illegal government of Kiev.
Russia is about to lose all of Ukraine
This is nuts........How can Kiev a Ukranian government (legal/illegal) run by Ukranians be invading it's own country? What right does putin/russia have to "protect these areas". It's not russian its Ukranian?
Why not ? The US has proclaimed itself as protectorate of the world and, as a matter of policy, has announced to the world on several occasions that they will get involved in any conflict in it's own hemisphere. Have you ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine ? That's where we more or less told the world that everybody but the US better stay out of Latin America because we reserved the right to proclaim our whole half of the world as our "interests". Later, we expanded with the Carter doctrine, in which we announced to the world that we'd routinely "butt in" to shape events in the Middle East, which just happens to be on the other side of the world. This one was put in largely to inform the Middle East that, in the words of Bill Maher, "It may be YOUR land but it's OUR oil !"
No, if you want to ask me what's right, I'd say the US and Russia are both wrong. But I can't simply whisk away what you so casually do. The US created a very dire situation right on Russia's doorstep. Putin would be a madman not to stand up to the US now that they did. Would you wish to have your country competely surrounded by missiles from the strongest military in the world ? I wouldn't. Especially not after years of historical rhetoric and overt US policies stating an aim to "contain" Russia. If you live in the US, you are no more or less threatened by Russia no matter how the Ukraine works out. If you live in Russia, you're in huge trouble if the Ukraine situation works out with Ukraine joining NATO ... a precondition for help from the US/EU/IMF. It's a far more complicated issue than you casually putting a white "good guy" hat on the US and a black "bad guy" hat on Russia.
Lithuania and Poland both issued statements of concern.
Russia has not confirmed the report but insists it has every right to station missiles in its western-most region.
So you see it's the same bull-shit.
Putin's ego was bruised because we managed to get his "man" out and put one of ours in. That's all this is.....Putin's ego-rant. And people are getting killed.
You don't think this has anything to do with Russia's concerns about us ... the most powerful AND most aggressive nation in the world, installing a "puppet regime" right on his doorstep ? You don't think it has anything to do with the natural resources in the Ukraine ? You don't think it has anything to do with the gas lines and naval base Russia would lose access to ? This, to you, is simply all Putin's fault and it's all about his ego ? Really ?
Lastly, with regards to Lithuania and Poland issuing statements of concern ... that is pure hyperbole orchestrated by America telling them to say that. Why should they fear nuclear weapons from Russia even if Russia deployed them there. First off, Russia would feel the nuclear fallout of any nuclear attack to either of those countries. Secondly, Russia would have no need to use nuclear weapons on either since Russia's conventional military could cut through either of those countries like a hot knife through butter.
The Treaty was signed by Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, John Major (of England) and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.
All of these leaders agreed to protect the sovereignty and "territorial agreement" of Ukraine, meaning any Russian support for Crimean independence would be in violation of Russia's international obligations.
I'm not the one giving you a "thumbs down" because you have a right to your opinion no matter how frequently we debate our differences. Lol. It is true that Ukraine doesn't have missiles on Russia's border but part of the EU/US/IMF requirements for a bailout was that the Ukraine would be forced to join NATO. Now, once they join NATO, how long do you think it will be before the US installs missiles there. I agree that all of the leaders agreed to protect Ukrainian sovereignty ... but the US, not Russia, was the first to break that agreement by orchestrating a coup to overthrow the legitimate government of Ukraine. Then Russia may have done (still waiting for proof) what anyone should have expected them to do ... they moved in to guard their own geographic and military interests. All this could have been avoided if the US, for once in it's long, bloody history, minded it's own fucking business.
The other interesting side note to the agreement you spoke of was that the US, itself, said that they consider the agreement as non-binding ... likely because they knew that they'd eventually get reported as having violated that agreement with their coup. Also, Clinton violated that agreement a long time ago when he brought some of the countries that Russia had granted freedom to into NATO.