techyum ::

CNN just sent out a breaking news alert saying the Japanese government confirmed it is assuming the possibility a meltdown is underway not only at at the #1 reactor at the Fukushima I site, but at #3 reactor. Meanwhile, it turns out that the #1 reactor (the one first reporting problems) (probably) did not use MOX fuel, but the #3 reactor, which is now apparently melting down, did. Rescue workers are pumping in seawater and boron (which is used in control rods) to try to stop the (assumed) meltdown.

MOX fuel is a mixture of reprocessed oxide of uranium mixed with plutonium. It allows the use of weapons-grade plutonium to create fuel for civilian nuclear power plants, and also uranium to be reprocessed so that a much, much larger percentage of energy can be generated.

The #3 reactor started loading MOX fuel in September, 2010. I presume that means the #1 reactor is using uranium. Uranium alone is much less toxic; plutonium is generally said by scientists to be the most toxic substance humans have documented.

The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a statement that was vague on details, given that it was giving me a 404 error — it’s either been taken down or their site is overloaded. This is what the CNN article says about the Japanese government’s statement:

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters there is a “possibility” of a meltdown at the plant’s No. 1 reactor, adding, “It is inside the reactor. We can’t see.” He then added that authorities are also “assuming the possibility of a meltdown” at the facility’s No. 3 reactor.

[Link.]

This is fairly ridiculous double-speak; they’ve been assuming the possibility of a meltdown since the beginning. I believe this is a less committal way of the government saying they are assuming a meltdown has occurred.

Like the rest of the world.

I had previously thought that the fuel at all the reactors at the Fukushima I plant was mixed-oxide, or MOX fuel, which is a mixture of oxides of plutonium and uranium. But the BBC story implies that is not true in #1. The BBC story says the following (the “second reactor” they refer to is #3):

[T]he BBC’s Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the second reactor is a different type which uses MOX (plutonium plus uranium) fuel and the consequences of a problem there are potentially more severe.

Quoted by Kyodo, Tepco [which operates the plant] said the tops of the MOX fuel rods were 3m above water.

Meanwhile, Tepco said at least 15 people at a nearby hospital were found to have been exposed to radioactivity.

And the firm also confirmed that four of its workers were injured in Saturday’s explosion, but that their injuries were not life-threatening.

[Link.]

Three meters above water is bad. MOX, in this context, is bad.

From the Keith De Lellis Gallery.

Cyriaque Lamar has a short piece at io9 about Spiritualist artist Georgianna Houghton, who claimed her works were the result of her possession by ghosts.

Lamar links to a great blog post by John Ptak, who acquired one of Houghton’s gallery catalogs from an 1871 show. The Keith De Llelis Gallery has an online collection of Houghton’s spirit photography. Here’s Ptak, quoted by io9:

She writes in the very first paragraph of her catalog’s introduction, “the execution of the Drawings my hand has been entirely guided by Spirits, no idea being formed in my own mind as to what was going to be produced…” She explains that the spirits were definitely those of dead people, and after having heard of such possibilities of communication as early as 1859 set out to “obtain mediumship” by holding hands with her mother at a small table for some months on end waiting for contact—which of course she says happened. Sundays worked best, “as we should then be less disturbed by evil influences.”

[io9 Link.]

[Ptak Science Books Link.]

Spirit photography was a reasonably common Victorian and Edwardian obsession. Just about everyone involved in the Spiritualist movement in any way got involved with it once photography became commonplace (among them Harry Houdini, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), but I’ve never heard of Miss Houghton before.

People are, of course, still doing it, with digital photos being frequent pieces of evidence in ghost hunting. In fact, last year I saw a presentation at the Sacramento Public Library by Sacramento paranormal investigators Shannon McCabe and Paul Dale Roberts, from Haunted and Paranormal Investigators, Inc, which included quite a few (possible, or claimed possible, or suggested possible) spirit photographs (and some audio recordings).

People are still said to be doing channeled paintings, too, and you can judge the veracity of their claims for yourself.

Before and after image of Fukushima I, from Wikipedia.

A Reuters report referenced on Wikipedia indicates that the Japanese gov’t said the big Fukushima explosion was a hydrogen explosion. “Hydrogen had been produced due to falling water levels in the reactor.”

Richard Black, environment correspondent at the BBC, says that the cesium found at Fukushima was outside the power buildings, and that that could indicate that the core itself was exposed to the air. Previously, I hadn’t been clear whether the presence of cesium (a waste product of mixed-oxide or MOX fuel fission) might mean that the fuel rods were exposed. Apparently it might indicate that.

Black’s view, however, is that there was no meltdown:

It appears that the reactor was shut down well before any melting occurred, which should reduce considerably the risk of radioactive materials entering the environment.

However, the detection of caesium isotopes outside the power station buildings could imply that the core has been exposed to the air.

Although Japan has a long and largely successful nuclear power programme, officials have been less than honest about some incidents in the past, meaning that official reassurances are unlikely to convince everyone this time round.

He’s referring, I think, to the Tokaimura incident (1999) and the Mihama incident (2004).

From Al Jazeera's liveblogging coverage.

China’s Xinhua news agency is claiming (via AllVoices.com) that radioactive cesium has been detected in the atmosphere from the Fukushima I plant. However, the AllVoices.com post is pretty garbled, and leads one to believe there could be a complete meltdown (which is very unlikely). A partial meltdown (which seems, pretty obviously, like it’s already happened, though no one’s admitting it) is bad enough.

The BBC confirms that cesium (aka “caesium”) and iodine has been detected near the number 1 reactor, though it doesn’t say whether it was within the structure or not. The concrete building has been destroyed by the explosion, but the steel containment vessel is said to be intact.

However, the AllVoices post is incoherent enough that I’m not sure whether to trust the Chinese cesium-in-the-atmosphere report. Fukushima uses mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. Civilian nuclear plants tend to use one or several of three substances for fuel — uranium, plutonium, or cesium thorium.*

Mixed-oxide fuel is a mix of oxides of more than one fissile material, but the term usually refers to a mix of uranium and plutonium. Plutonium is the most toxic substance known, even apart from its radiation. Decay of the fuel inside the reactor produces americium, thorium and curium, plus lots of cesium. Because of the nature of nuclear plants, it’s not like most waste products are put out of an exhaust pipe; I would think the generated cesium is integral to the core.

If that’s true, it seems possible (though I don’t know for sure) that a cesium release would indicate that part of the core has been exposed. Just a guess. However, the Wikipedia article on cesium says that it’s part of nuclear plant “emissions,” which doesn’t sound like it’s a direct decay product within the fuel rods. That’s somewhat comforting.

As of this writing (11:26 am Pacific Time), Al Jazeera leads its English site with the above story about the Fukushima plant, but CNN does not. What CNN does do is show a story title on the front page: “Pump system caused nuclear blast.” That’s now at least the fourth front-page teaser I’ve seen on CNN calling it a “nuclear blast.”

This was not a nuclear blast. It was a blast in a nuclear plant. A “nuclear blast” is a chain reaction caused by weapons-grade fissionable material reaching critical mass rapidly enough to cause a sustained explosive chain reaction instead of merely a chain reaction (all nuclear plants reach criticality, and sustain chain reactions). On the other hand, a blast in a nuclear plant could be a lot of different things. None of them good; none of them good at all. But none of them a “Nuclear blast.”

Does the distinction not seem important? Well, it’s damned important, particularly in Japan. It’s the difference is between Three Mile Island and Hiroshima, and I’d appreciate it if CNN would get it straight. Failure to make that distinction is unfair to the potential victims of what is happening.

In this case, what the explosion is reported to indicate was the failure of a pumping system, which “buckled the walls of a concrete building that surrounded one of the plant’s nuclear reactors, but did not damage the reactor itself,” says CNN. At least three workers have gotten radiation exposure. Here’s the really scary part from CNN:

On Saturday night, three patients at a hospital tested positive for radiation exposure, according to the Japanese public broadcasting station NHK, citing a statement from Fukushima Prefecture.

The three were randomly selected from a group of 90 hospital workers and patients who were already at the medical facility — about three kilometers from the Daiichi plant — before Friday’s massive quake. The patients were outside of the hospital awaiting evacuation at the time of the explosion.

[Link.]

However, Al Jazeera’s report says “However, local media reported that three workers have suffered radiation exposure.” That sounds like those are three different people, and if there was a release of radiation, a lot more workers than three will have suffered radiation exposure once the info goes out. But if random members of the populace are showing radiation exposure, that obviously isn’t good.

More from CNN:

Japanese authorities appeared to be preparing for the possibility of a nuclear release. Japan public broadcaster NHK reported the country’s defense ministry had sent a unit that specializes in dealing with radioactive contamination to a command post near one of the stricken plants.

The government was also preparing to distribute iodine tablets to residents, the IAEA said. Iodine is commonly prescribed to help prevent the thyroid gland from taking in too much radioactivity, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website.

Iodine tablets are designed to prevent people from taking in radioactive iodine from the environment; iodine takes on radiation in the case of exposure, so in the absence of iodine tablets, radioactive iodine can travel to the thyroid and cause cancer.

*UPDATED 8:51PM Saturday, Pacific Time: I wrote earlier today that the three possible fuels for nuclear reactors were uranium, plutonium, and cesium — MOX being a mixture of oxides of plutonium and uranium. I meant, of course (of course!!) thorium, not cesium. Cesium is a by-product of reactors — one of many; thorium is another — and an indicator that partially consumed nuclear fuel has been exposed. Thorium is a potential alternative fuel to uranium, plutonium, and MOX, but it is not in wide use. I’m not sure whether to be pleased with myself that I noticed that flub without anyone reminding me, or disturbed that I made it in the first place. Whatever. Thorium. Thorium. Thorium. KThxbai.

The ABC News Australia story about the possible Fukushima I nuclear plant meltdown just published a screencap from the above YouTube footage shot from Japanese TV  and posted by YouTube user grokthena. Yes, there was an explosion.

NOTE 12:51am PST: The above is an UNVERIFIED image floating around Twitter around midnight Saturday Pacific Time of the Fukushima I explosion reported about 3:36pm Japan Time (2.5 hours ago). I got it from Wikipedia.

NOTE 1:33AM PST: See updates and video at the end.

In the wake of the tragedies in Japan, information is sketchy at this point about the Fukushima I light water reactor, which appears almost certain to have experienced at least a partial meltdown. It’s difficult to get good information, and all the authorities will confirm as of now (12:56am Saturday) is that they are investigating whether a meltdown occurred. The following picture, purportedly of the Fukushima I plant is said to be going around Twitter; it was time-tagged as going up on Wikipedia about 10 minutes ago but has not been verified.

At this point, news stories even 10 minutes old seem to be out of date. The most current development I can find is the report via  ABC News Australia of an explosion at 3:36pm local time (about 2.5 hours ago), which does not necessarily signal a meltdown. However, this paragraph from the ABC story is pretty terrifying:

According to public broadcaster NHK, the plant’s exterior walls are gone and only the skeleton structure remains.

Any given news report may not be accurate; in any disaster situation it’s critical to stay calm and listen to the authorities.

The following may be obvious to many of you; it may be plenty of stuff you already know; maybe everyone knows it. I’m sure the news will cover this, but I’m going to say it in case anyone out there is worried:

Multiple safety systems seem to have failed, here, which naturally makes people skeptical of authority and the nuclear industry specifically. But there are a couple things about Fukushima I that are important. One thing people may not know is that a light water reactor like this absolutely cannot cause a nuclear explosion. It also absolutely cannot experience a Chernobyl-style meltdown. Chernobyl was a different type of reactor. Light-water plants like Fukushima may blow up from steam explosions or extreme heat from a meltdown, which is some pretty bad shit. But they don’t ever detonate the way weapons do.

While the safety systems that failed can be cited as a good example of things “not being what they seem” in the nuclear industry, it is not just that the two nightmare scenarios of Chernobyl and Hiroshima are “protected against”; it is physically impossible for the Fukushima I plant to either become a nuclear bomb or a Chernobyl style disaster. My understanding is that it is not even possible for the entire core at Fukushima to melt down.

If there was (or is) a meltdown at Fukushima, things will be bad enough. But for what it’s worth, those two scenarios, at least, are ruled out by the laws of nature.

UPDATE 1:30am Pacific Time: The ABC News Australia story now says:

An explosion has blown the roof off an unstable reactor north of Tokyo, raising fears of a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant damaged in the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday.

[Link.]

They link to footage from Japanese TV uploaded by YouTube user grokthena:

Photo from XRailbyRCI.com.

Would you rather carry ammo and have to load it, costing you valuable time, or would you prefer it in your gun?

Of course the answer is always “in my gun.”

My sentiments exactly!

Though a relatively small number of magazine-fed shotguns exist, they’re rare in the civilian market. Most shotguns feed through what’s called a “tube magazine.” It lines the shells up end-to-end between your trigger finger and the muzzle. The magazine is part of the gun. It’s the same overall configuration used in the Henry rifle design so popular in the frontier era (aka the Indian Genocide era), but most civilian shotguns are pump action, as opposed to the lever-action most common in Henry-style rifles (though some rifles, also, are pump action). Even semi-automatic shotguns tend to use tube magazines in the United States, even if they’re military or law-enforcement.

That means that if you’re a shotgun user, you usually can’t use extended magazines like the ones you’ll use to guarantee your second-amendment freedoms in the event that Bubba-Larry starts talking shit over at the bait store about how your AK can’t hit anything. Shotgun magazines (like Henry rifle magazines) are integral to the weapon, and you won’t be able to pull a New York Reload when avian flu morphs into a zombie virus. The day Blackbirdicus ohGoditseatingus starts coming for you en masse, you’re pretty much screwed, zombie-hunter. You ever try to hit a flock of swarming brain-starved featherweights with a pair of Glocks and some Chow Yun Gun Fu? It’s not fun. It’s not fun at all.

Enter Roth Concept Innovations, “designer and manufacturer of high capacity solutions for your shotgun” and the latter-day Tippi Hedren’s very best friend. As a press release in Guns & Ammo informs me, They manufacture the new XRAIL System, “an auto indexing loader for shotguns.”

Here’s what you’ll be wearing, come the apocalypse, to accompany your stylish headgear: Read more…

Freshman Senator Rand Paul has been waiting for 20 years to talk to you about toilets and liberty. He wants a super-toilet — and he’s not talking about a throne with goldfish, one that plays “Bolero” when he does number 2. His beef is that he has to flush ten times — and how is that not “antithetical to the American way?”

This gent apparently emits some phenomenally potent waste products. Been there, Senator! I mean, this one time I was road tripping across I-40, and I ate at McDonald’s and then I ate at Der Wienerschitzel and then I ate at Taco Bell and then I ate at Pizza Hut, and lemme tell you…

But seriously now, folks. Senator Paul even went so far to compare “a woman’s right to an abortion” to his right to buy a one-flush toilet. According to Talking Points Memo, Senator Paul laid out his manifesto for toilet freedom to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee:

“I think there should be some self-examination from the administration on the idea that you favor a woman’s right to an abortion, but you don’t favor a woman or a man’s right to choose what kind of light bulb, what kind of dishwasher, what kind of washing machine.”

Ideally, Paul said, the government would use a bully pulpit to persuade people to use more efficient lightbulbs, washing machines, and toilets, but not intrude in the marketplace of water- and energy-wasting products. Particularly toilets.

“I find that all of the arguments for energy efficiency you’re exactly right. We should conserve energy. Why not do it in a voluntary way?” he said. “I find this antithetical to the American way.”

It turns out Paul was flushing away decades worth of pent up anger about not being able to own a toilet that gets ‘er done in a single flush.

“We have to flush the toilet 10 times before it works,” Paul said. “I’ve been waiting for 20 years to talk about how bad these toilets are and this was a good excuse today.”

[Link.]

My big concern there is the Senator’s definition of “good.” But if he’s been waiting 20 years, he’s probably pretty eager. Hey, I’ve only been waiting about ten years to talk about the hijacking of American politics by self-important boneheads, and yet often when I sit down to take a Number 2, I unexpectedly emit my most cogent political criticism of the neoconservative movement — especially after a nice meal of hot wings and Budweiser from 7-11.

And when that happens, I have to flush WAY more than ten times…

[Via Susie Bright.]

From ICHC.

Did Julian Assange say the alien invasion was beginning this year, and by 2015 the would would be run by aliens? He absolutely did not. Period. If that’s all you need to know, move along. Otherwise, git comfortabuls:

The UFO world is abuzz this month for two big reasons. The first is the release of 8,500 UFO-related British government documents, which are available free at the National Archive, w00t w00t w00t. Or you can save time and check out that site’s PDF-format Highlights Guide, which is only a 397K download.

The second is that back in February, Julian Assange made a passing reference to UFOs in response to a question at the Wikileaks roundtable. The question related to a December news story that Assange was going to release information about UFOs. This was sorta weak soup compared to what people were expecting. Here’s the Assange quote from the transcripts, via UFO-Blogger.com:

Julian Assange: “I have said in the past that there is information about UFO’s in Cablegate. And that is true, but these are only small references. Most of the material concerns UFO cult and there behavior in recruiting people. For instance there is quite a large cable which we will try to release in the next few days concerning the Raëlians, a UFO cult which has a strong presence in Canada and was a concern to the US ambassador in Canada. At that time the Raëlians claimed to have cloned an Individual and fantastically the press all around the world ate this up and turned it into front page stories.”

…Which is not really news, dude. Whack-ass Raëlians is so, like, 2005.

On UFO Blogger, the comments on this piece are awesome: Read more…

SheenLOL from Crawling Brain.

There’s Communist Party propaganda floating around about Charlie Sheen, and it’s too good to be true. Or is it?

The English edition of The Global Times, a newspaper produced by the Chinese Communist Party, recently published an English-language article titled “Charlie Sheen is Not Filial.” In it, author “Hao Leifeng” claims, “Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.”

The article is, to English-speaking eyes, clearly satiric and hilarious. But who was responsible? Al Jazeera broke the news that it was a hoax, and that the paper published it not knowing it was a parody. AJ reported that the piece was written by a foreign journalist and squeaked by the editors at The Global Times, the implication being that the editors are clueless and incompetent.

Shanghaiist posted on the story here, pointing out Leifeng’s previous article about women induced to pose with iPhones in their cleavage to win a new iPhone. Shanghaiist was flooded with responses proclaiming, to summarize, “You jackasses!!” They published a follow-up saying it was not a hoax — or, at least, that The Global Times editors weren’t the ones being hoaxed….WE WERE!!! Read more…