Intervention. Now!

24 comments on “Intervention. Now! ”

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1. ghostwhowalksnz 1

   3 September 2013 at 3:24 pm

   Oh Irony.

   It took an atomic bomb last time to get foreign troops on Japanesese soil.. Would take the same to get them to allow intervention again
   • aerobubble 1.1

     4 September 2013 at 2:52 pm

     A large Earthquake hit Japan, I hope it was nowhere near the nuclear plant.
2. northshoredoc 2

   3 September 2013 at 3:45 pm

   ‘….to any wonton poisoning of civilians’

   ..bloody chinese takeaways !

   On a serious note, love the permafrost solution very clever.
   • Bill 2.1

     3 September 2013 at 4:20 pm

     a-hem. Fixed that.

     Meanwhile, the permafrost idea is fairly smart, assuming there are no further quakes that split it and no sustained periods of power loss.

     Have to question why they didn’t dig a 40m deep ditch above the site in the first instance to divert the groundwater. I can’t quite fathom the thinking behind the construction of an underground dam on the lower side of the site to catch it after it was already contaminated. And neither can I figure what led them to believe that it would never reach capacity, as it has, and spill on out into the Pacific.

     But yeah – engineers and operators. Big difference in competence levels.
     • One Anonymous Knucklehead 2.1.1

       3 September 2013 at 4:54 pm

       Who said they believed it would never reach capacity? They found a temporary stop-gap solution to a symptom of a situation that is nowhere close to being under “control”. Workers at the site are tweeting that the job is going to take decades, and that brings to mind three words: Tokaimura criticality incident.

       No-one even knows if a “melt-through” has occurred yet.
3. tc 3

   3 September 2013 at 4:43 pm

   ‘largest and most serious industrial accident in history..’

   Err no Bill it’ll be mother natures fault, nuclear all good move along people nothing to see here.
   • Bill 3.1

     3 September 2013 at 5:52 pm

     ‘industrial incident’ would probably have been a more accurate term to use.
4. Sable 4

   3 September 2013 at 4:52 pm

   The Japanese government (like so many others) suffer from no small amount of arrogance. They assume they can resolve what is a catastrophic problem with nominal international assistance because to do otherwise would be to loose face. Ironically polluting the worlds oceans for thousands of years to come is somehow less likely to lead to the world viewing them with a mixture of hatred and contempt??
5. bad12 5

   3 September 2013 at 4:53 pm

   Have the Japanese got the smarts to fix Fukishima, their actions so far would cast doubt on that and thus cast a huge shadow of doubt over the effects on the Pacific Ocean and ultimately all of us,

   If we weren’t talking about Nuclear Radiation openly spilling into the ocean the Fukishma meltdown would look akin to a slap-stick comedy,

   Previous measurements of radiation levels have now been said to have been totally off the mark with the reading instrument only able to read up to 100 milli-whatsits of radiation being used up to last week as the only testing devices,

   Having it would seem just decided to find out the ‘true’ radiation levels a new device has been used to take such measurements which have shown the actual radiation levels of the leaks as being a massive 1800 milli-whatsits,

   Exposed to that level of radiation the average human would be on the way to the cemetery after four hours…

   Oopth, forgot to provide a link,

   http://www.examiner.com/…/fukishima-radiation-death-within-four-hours
6. Te Reo Putake 6

   3 September 2013 at 5:24 pm

   You got your wish yesterday, Bill. The Japanese government intervened, removed control of the plant from Tepco and Russian experts have been invited in to take over the containment process.
   • Bill 6.1

     3 September 2013 at 5:50 pm

     Really? Well, that would have to be good start, assuming the field of engineers and experts encompasses an ever larger international contingent…otherwise, given the novel nature of the problems that are popping up, my fear is that curtailing potential input will lead to less than optimum plans and measures being put in place.

     edit. you wouldn’t happen to have a link to that announcement?
     • Te Reo Putake 6.1.1

       3 September 2013 at 6:13 pm

       I heard it on the news overnight, Bill, not sure if it was the BBC or RNZ. I’ll see if I can find the report. In the meantime, these touch on it: http://news.yahoo.com/radiation-readings-spike-water-tank-japans-ruined-nuclear-054204612–finance.html

       http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/27/national/tepcos-whack-a-mole-prompts-government-take-over-in-fukushima/#.UiV-Vn9iI1I
       • Bill 6.1.1.1

         3 September 2013 at 6:27 pm

         Interesting that those links touch on costs without mentioning any actual numbers. The figure I’ve heard for cleaning up the prefecture is US $500 000 000 (half a trillion) – in other words, getting up towards what the US has spent on its Afghanistan ‘venture’ since 2001 – and way beyond what any private company could front with.
         • Te Reo Putake 6.1.1.1.1

           3 September 2013 at 6:51 pm

           Yep, one way or the other, the Japanese people will be paying for years to come. I also heard a radio clip suggesting that the TEPCO workforce was on less that $20 bucks an hour and the company was struggling to find volunteers to do the hands on stuff. No need for the 90 day fire at will, more like fry at will!

           This was the RNZ piece:

           http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2567841/fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-clean-gets-government-help
           • Bill 6.1.1.1.1.1

             3 September 2013 at 7:08 pm

             Thanks for finding that…I think. Sounding like the English language needs a new word – clusterfuck doesn’t do justice in describing or encapsulating the totality of what’s being reported in that report and elsewhere.
             • Te Reo Putake …

               3 September 2013 at 7:20 pm

               I’m reminded of being told a few years back that a lot of Japanese tourists drown in Surfers because they’re too polite to put their hands up when they’re going down for the third time. Instead of dealing with it properly, we’ve had two years of TEPCO pretending they had it under control when really, they just had it under wraps. It’s not capitalism’s fault though 😉
               • Colonial Viper …

                 3 September 2013 at 7:35 pm

                 And similar to the reports of Korean Boeing pilots and co-pilots.

                 If the pilot flying is doing something horrendously wrong which will crash the plane, the junior pilot not-flying won’t say a thing. Because it would be wrong to contradict the experience and judgement of someone more senior than you.
7. Populuxe1 7

   3 September 2013 at 6:23 pm

   And here was me thinking this was some arch and elaborate parody on the Syria debate. Part of me still hopes that this is the case.
8. Foreign Waka 8

   3 September 2013 at 7:20 pm

   One wonders how many almost and not so almost accidents have happened at nuclear plants all over the globe. And this disaster just reminds us all that this form of energy is not as safe as it has been perpetrated. No insurance can cover such incident, let alone the hundreds (!) of years where mutations will take hold and god knows what will be the result. Right now, those who think they have no such issue – think waste and where it gets dumped.
   And NZ has once more been well ahead by being a bit more courageous.
9. red rattler 9

   3 September 2013 at 9:36 pm

   An excellent article on the crony capitalists walking away from disaster

   “Abe at Ground Zero: the consequences of inaction at Fukushima Daiichi”

   – See more at:

   http://japanfocus.org/-Christopher-Hobson/3991?utm_source=September+2,+2013&utm_campaign=China%27s+Connectivity+Revolution&utm_medium=email
   • johnm 9.1

     4 September 2013 at 12:43 pm

     Red Rattler
     +111
     Externalising the costs has not worked in this instance 🙁
10. infused 10

    4 September 2013 at 12:41 am

    The one thing I’ll agree on. Japan as fucked half the worlds ocean.
11. johnm 11

    4 September 2013 at 12:22 pm

    The World’s Nuclear Powers and the Japanese Government should have mobilised a “War Effort” to contain and control Fukushima from Day 1. Eventually,seriously!, we have to stop eating Pacific fish.

    Some links:
    “Fukushima radioactive leak is ‘the greatest threat humanity ever faced’ “- expert
    Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_03/Japan-to-spend-500m-on-water-leaks-at-Fukushima-3258/

    “Professor: Fukushima Unit No. 4 “an immediate problem” — Building is sinking, over 30 inches in places — Extraordinary possibility plant could be back at March 2011 if situation continues — Risk of fission accident in fuel pool (AUDIO)” http://enenews.com/professor-fukushima-unit-4-immediate-problem-building-sinking-30-inches-places-extraordinary-possibility-plant-could-be-march-2011-resolved-risk-fission-accident-fuel-pool-audio

    “Fukushima Plume Headed to Southern Hemisphere: Enters South Pacific and Indian Ocean after 2 decades — Will contain around 25% of total cesium-137 release”
    http://enenews.com/study-fukushima-plume-enters-south-pacific-and-indian-ocean-in-2-or-3-decades-will-be-around-25-of-of-total-cesium-137-release

    Japan to pay $500 million to freeze soil, find other ways to stop leaking Fukushima water
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/japans-government-pledges-nearly-500-million-as-tepco-deals-with-water-crisis/2013/09/03/581876c6-147c-11e3-880b-7503237cc69d_story.html?hpid=z1
12. johnm 12

    4 September 2013 at 12:38 pm

    “this is a global threat. They say that one microgram of plutonium could theoretically kill a person.

    There are billion micrograms in a kilogram and there are 400.000 hot kilograms in this pool. So, if these rods combust, if the set of rods begins a thermonuclear reaction, it will vaporize the water in the pool and the entire pool can become an uncontrolled nuclear reaction open to the air. These particles will be spread through the northern hemisphere.

    This is perhaps the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. And I think you would acknowledge there has been far too little attention given to this at this point and the measures that the Japanese government is discussing at this point are not sufficient, I believe. Other governments must become engaged in this.”
    Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_03/Japan-to-spend-500m-on-water-leaks-at-Fukushima-3258/

    Referring to the spent fuel rod pool some 30 feet up in the air which is sinking and damaged from 3/11plus some liquifaction from groundwater underneath. The same pool they will begin in November to extract manually and laboriously each rod to store safely elsewhere.

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