Millions of larval creatures of unknown origin (even to biologists) washing up on Hawaiian beaches, aggressive or active enough to crawl on surfboards and surfers.. Where are they from? A mid-Pacific trench? Fukushima? Space? Other dimensions? Andy Dick's last pool party? It's not Sharktopus, but hey, it could be a nice little paycheck.. Plus a celebrity cameo by both Deborah Gibson and Tiffany! Working title: Crabtopus Vengeance: Humanity Skitters.
Showing posts with label contamination radioactive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contamination radioactive. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Arafat's widow calls to exhume his body
Did Polonium kill Yasser Arafat? If so, whose Polonium was it? Al Jazeera. With video. Excerpts:
It was a scene that riveted the world for weeks: The ailing Yasser Arafat, first besieged by Israeli tanks in his Ramallah compound, then shuttled to Paris, where he spent his final days undergoing a barrage of medical tests in a French military hospital.
Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.
A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.
More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.
“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute.
The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah. If tests show that Arafat’s bones contain high levels of polonium, it would be more conclusive proof that he was poisoned, doctors say.
“I know the Palestinian Authority has been trying to discover what Yasser died from,” Suha Arafat said in an interview. “And now we are helping them. We have very substantial, very important results.”
Unsupported polonium
The institute studied Arafat’s personal effects, which his widow provided to Al Jazeera, the first time they had been examined by a laboratory. Doctors did not find any traces of common heavy metals or conventional poisons, so they turned their attention to more obscure elements, including polonium.
It is a highly radioactive element used, among other things, to power spacecraft. Marie Curie discovered it in 1898, and her daughter Irene was among the first people it killed: She died of leukemia several years after an accidental polonium exposure in her laboratory.
At least two people connected with Israel’s nuclear program also reportedly died after exposure to the element, according to the limited literature on the subject.
But polonium’s most famous victim was Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy-turned-dissident who died in London in 2006 after a lingering illness. A British inquiry found that he was poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea at a sushi restaurant.
There is little scientific consensus about the symptoms of polonium poisoning, mostly because there are so few recorded cases. Litvinenko suffered severe diarrhea, weight loss, and vomiting, all of which were symptoms Arafat exhibited in the days and weeks after he initially fell ill.
Animal studies have found similar symptoms, which lingered for weeks - depending on the dosage – until the subject died. “The primary radiation target… is the gastrointestinal tract,” said an American study conducted in 1991, “activating the ‘vomiting centre’ in the brainstem.”
Scientists in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat’s belongings - in some cases, they were ten times higher than those on control subjects, random samples which were tested for comparison.
The lab’s results were reported in millibecquerels (mBq), a scientific unit used to measure radioactivity.
Polonium is present in the atmosphere, but the natural levels that accumulate on surfaces barely register, and the element disappears quickly. Polonium-210, the isotope found on Arafat's belongings, has a half-life of 138 days, meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months. “Even in case of a poisoning similar to the Litvinenko case, only traces of the order of a few [millibecquerels] were expected to be found in [the] year 2012,” the institute noted in its report to Al Jazeera.
But Arafat’s personal effects, particularly those with bodily fluids on them, registered much higher levels of the element. His toothbrushes had polonium levels of 54mBq; the urine stain on his underwear, 180mBq. (Another man’s pair of underwear, used as a control, measured just 6.7mBq.)
Further tests, conducted over a three-month period from March until June, concluded that most of that polonium – between 60 and 80 per cent, depending on the sample – was “unsupported,” meaning that it did not come from natural sources.
Must've been swamp gas or lens flare. Maybe it was a "lone wolf." I'm sure everything will be fine. Just keep shopping, please..
It was a scene that riveted the world for weeks: The ailing Yasser Arafat, first besieged by Israeli tanks in his Ramallah compound, then shuttled to Paris, where he spent his final days undergoing a barrage of medical tests in a French military hospital.
Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.
A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004.
More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.
“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute.
The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah. If tests show that Arafat’s bones contain high levels of polonium, it would be more conclusive proof that he was poisoned, doctors say.
“I know the Palestinian Authority has been trying to discover what Yasser died from,” Suha Arafat said in an interview. “And now we are helping them. We have very substantial, very important results.”
Unsupported polonium
The institute studied Arafat’s personal effects, which his widow provided to Al Jazeera, the first time they had been examined by a laboratory. Doctors did not find any traces of common heavy metals or conventional poisons, so they turned their attention to more obscure elements, including polonium.
It is a highly radioactive element used, among other things, to power spacecraft. Marie Curie discovered it in 1898, and her daughter Irene was among the first people it killed: She died of leukemia several years after an accidental polonium exposure in her laboratory.
At least two people connected with Israel’s nuclear program also reportedly died after exposure to the element, according to the limited literature on the subject.
But polonium’s most famous victim was Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy-turned-dissident who died in London in 2006 after a lingering illness. A British inquiry found that he was poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea at a sushi restaurant.
There is little scientific consensus about the symptoms of polonium poisoning, mostly because there are so few recorded cases. Litvinenko suffered severe diarrhea, weight loss, and vomiting, all of which were symptoms Arafat exhibited in the days and weeks after he initially fell ill.
Animal studies have found similar symptoms, which lingered for weeks - depending on the dosage – until the subject died. “The primary radiation target… is the gastrointestinal tract,” said an American study conducted in 1991, “activating the ‘vomiting centre’ in the brainstem.”
Scientists in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat’s belongings - in some cases, they were ten times higher than those on control subjects, random samples which were tested for comparison.
The lab’s results were reported in millibecquerels (mBq), a scientific unit used to measure radioactivity.
Polonium is present in the atmosphere, but the natural levels that accumulate on surfaces barely register, and the element disappears quickly. Polonium-210, the isotope found on Arafat's belongings, has a half-life of 138 days, meaning that half of the substance decays roughly every four-and-a-half months. “Even in case of a poisoning similar to the Litvinenko case, only traces of the order of a few [millibecquerels] were expected to be found in [the] year 2012,” the institute noted in its report to Al Jazeera.
But Arafat’s personal effects, particularly those with bodily fluids on them, registered much higher levels of the element. His toothbrushes had polonium levels of 54mBq; the urine stain on his underwear, 180mBq. (Another man’s pair of underwear, used as a control, measured just 6.7mBq.)
Further tests, conducted over a three-month period from March until June, concluded that most of that polonium – between 60 and 80 per cent, depending on the sample – was “unsupported,” meaning that it did not come from natural sources.
Must've been swamp gas or lens flare. Maybe it was a "lone wolf." I'm sure everything will be fine. Just keep shopping, please..
Friday, June 29, 2012
[Photos] Demonstration of 200,000 people occupied official residence against nuclear restart
From Fukushima Diary. The Japanese are waking up and finding their voice. 45 thousand people came out for the last demonstration, 11 thousand the time before. Let's go!-Ja-pan!! Excerpts, with photos at the link:
The organizer states 200,000 people joined the demonstration. People who joined commented it was more than 4 times as before. Last time, 45,000 people joined.
Actually, most of the people collected information from the internet to join the demonstration, it was very difficult to count how many people took part in.
It's kind of hard for the Japanese media to ignore 200 thousand of their fellow screaming countrymen, isn't it?
The organizer states 200,000 people joined the demonstration. People who joined commented it was more than 4 times as before. Last time, 45,000 people joined.
Actually, most of the people collected information from the internet to join the demonstration, it was very difficult to count how many people took part in.
It's kind of hard for the Japanese media to ignore 200 thousand of their fellow screaming countrymen, isn't it?
Saturday, June 2, 2012
It's Cooked And We're Boned? No. It's Boned And We're Cooked!
New photos show what remains of No. 4 reactor building’s eastern wall The top photo shows how much progress TEPCO's cleanup has made. Cleaner? Yes. Sturdy? For now..
The fact Spent Fuel Pool/Reactor 4 remains standing is the only thing standing between us and global catastrophe. Earthquakes happen almost daily. There's enough material here to contaminate.. Everything, eventually. And there's a good chance a quake will come along sooner rather than later, thereby causing civilization to effectively end.
I, for one, are doing things I will miss when they become unavailable. Went to a movie tonight. I haven't been in a theater in two years. Small crowd, no one talked.. It was really nice!
I will be, in the very near future, doing more items on my Fukushima Bucket List. Small, accessible activities I love. Up next, Thai or Indian, and frozen custard. Jogging outdoors. A day of photography. Asking ______ out. This really is the time, friends. There might not be any more. Don't say no one ever told you..
The fact Spent Fuel Pool/Reactor 4 remains standing is the only thing standing between us and global catastrophe. Earthquakes happen almost daily. There's enough material here to contaminate.. Everything, eventually. And there's a good chance a quake will come along sooner rather than later, thereby causing civilization to effectively end.
I, for one, are doing things I will miss when they become unavailable. Went to a movie tonight. I haven't been in a theater in two years. Small crowd, no one talked.. It was really nice!
I will be, in the very near future, doing more items on my Fukushima Bucket List. Small, accessible activities I love. Up next, Thai or Indian, and frozen custard. Jogging outdoors. A day of photography. Asking ______ out. This really is the time, friends. There might not be any more. Don't say no one ever told you..
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Whistle-blower “Reactor 4 is inverse pyramid, very unstable and dangerous.”
Dire, Catastrophic, or Pre-Apocalyptic? We're one big earthquake or explosion from finding out. Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
A Japanese journalist (a former secretary of Japanese prime minister) tweeted about reactor 4.
A Japanese journalist (a former secretary of Japanese prime minister) tweeted about reactor 4.
More people are concerned about the situation of reactor 4.Meanwhile, NOT on the fifth floor, Reactor 4 is cracked, so we've got that to look forward to..
..
A Tepco manager from engineering department showed this map of the fifth top floor of reactor 4. This is confidential.
When 311 happened, it (Reactor 4)was in periodic checkup, large cranes or other heavy facilities were gathered too much. The weight constitution is inverse pyramid, very unstable and dangerous.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Meanwhile, Fukushima's Still Cookin'..
More vegetables are deformed from stress Fukushima Diary. Delicious pictures featured at the link. Dig in!
It's a dream apartment. What's the catch? Radioactive Apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, Measuring 1.2 Microsievert/Hr Inside Ex-SKF. Excerpts:
If you recall, 446,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the sewage sludge in Fukushima City on May 8, 2011. The sludge had been sold to cement companies until the detection at Koriyama City on April 30, when 26,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from their sewage sludge. In the case of Koriyama City, over 900 tonnes of this radioactive sludge had been sold to one cement company (Sumitomo Osaka Cement) alone.
If the surface radiation level of the concrete is 1.4 microsievert/hour, I believe the concrete has at least 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in it, if the radiation measurements of sludge and rooftop sediment are any indication.
No security deposit and the first three months free? I'll take it!
Question: Is it still "News" if it's nine months old? NRC March Email: “The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there”
From: Boska, John
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:31 AM
To: Guzman, Richard
Cc: Pickett, Douglas
Subject: Developments in Japan
Importance: High
Rich, please review and comment, for distribution to our branch.
In a briefing with Joe Giitter that just ended, we were informed that the situation is now much worse in Japan. The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there. There were a large number of fuel assemblies in the pool, and the fuel may no longer be intact. The radiation levels are increasing so much that it may prove difficult to work on the other 5 reactors at the site, which could lead to more fuel damage and releases. [...]
The answer? Yes. Yes it is still news, and catastrophic to boot..
Breaking News: Possible rapid increase of temperature at Reactor 2 Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
One of the heat gauges at or near the bottom of the container vessel of reactor 2 measured heat over 100.
According to the explanation of Tepco, it’s the gauge of the equipment for moving control rod.
17:00 1/12: 48.4
23:00 1/12: 102.3
5:00 1/13: 116.4
Because the gauge at the bottom of the vessel measures 48, Tepco still asserts it’s in the state of cold shutdown. They assert it’s not because the fuel has moved or recriticality happened, only because the gauge was broken.
Broken temperature gauge. Check. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to Keep Shopping so the terrorists won't win and our economy won't sink. So.. Who's gonna win that Super Bowl?
It's a dream apartment. What's the catch? Radioactive Apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, Measuring 1.2 Microsievert/Hr Inside Ex-SKF. Excerpts:
Relatively high levels of radiation have been detected from the concrete in an apartment building in Nihonmatsu City [in Fukushima Prefecture]. The Ministry of the Environment suspects that radioactive materials were in the concrete, and is investigating.I wonder if it is just concrete.
The apartment was built in September last year in Nihonmatsu City. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the glass badge worn by a student who lives in the apartment registered 3-month cumulative radiation exposure of 1.5 millisievert on December 27, prompting the city to survey the surrounding area.
The survey found 1.4 microsievert/hour from the concrete foundation of the apartment, and 1.2 microsievert/hour inside the apartment. The Ministry of the Environment thinks the apartment was built using concrete with radioactive materials, and is asking the building contractor for details.
If you recall, 446,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the sewage sludge in Fukushima City on May 8, 2011. The sludge had been sold to cement companies until the detection at Koriyama City on April 30, when 26,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from their sewage sludge. In the case of Koriyama City, over 900 tonnes of this radioactive sludge had been sold to one cement company (Sumitomo Osaka Cement) alone.
If the surface radiation level of the concrete is 1.4 microsievert/hour, I believe the concrete has at least 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in it, if the radiation measurements of sludge and rooftop sediment are any indication.
No security deposit and the first three months free? I'll take it!
Question: Is it still "News" if it's nine months old? NRC March Email: “The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there”
From: Boska, John
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:31 AM
To: Guzman, Richard
Cc: Pickett, Douglas
Subject: Developments in Japan
Importance: High
Rich, please review and comment, for distribution to our branch.
In a briefing with Joe Giitter that just ended, we were informed that the situation is now much worse in Japan. The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there. There were a large number of fuel assemblies in the pool, and the fuel may no longer be intact. The radiation levels are increasing so much that it may prove difficult to work on the other 5 reactors at the site, which could lead to more fuel damage and releases. [...]
The answer? Yes. Yes it is still news, and catastrophic to boot..
Breaking News: Possible rapid increase of temperature at Reactor 2 Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
One of the heat gauges at or near the bottom of the container vessel of reactor 2 measured heat over 100.
According to the explanation of Tepco, it’s the gauge of the equipment for moving control rod.
17:00 1/12: 48.4
23:00 1/12: 102.3
5:00 1/13: 116.4
Because the gauge at the bottom of the vessel measures 48, Tepco still asserts it’s in the state of cold shutdown. They assert it’s not because the fuel has moved or recriticality happened, only because the gauge was broken.
Broken temperature gauge. Check. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to Keep Shopping so the terrorists won't win and our economy won't sink. So.. Who's gonna win that Super Bowl?
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