Legalectric

Nine years ago, when this happened, I posted as much as I could find about it, and it was hard to nail info down, but this photo above pretty much said it all, massive explosion.

Today, the release of SimplyInfo.org’s 9th Anniversary report:

View The 9th Anniversary Annual Report Here

SimplyInfo.org, a group of talented volunteers deep-researching this issue, has been tracking this for 9 years now. From their site’s “about us” page:

Our group began out of a live blog run by Reuters during the Great East Japan Earthquake and the related Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. We wanted the real news and a way to do something about this unprecedented tragedy. Our strength is in our diversity. People from around the globe, from varied professions and industries came together to research, investigate, analyze and educate about this ongoing incident. Using the knowledge of the crowd for research and analysis of both the technical and humanitarian aspects of complex incidents and concerns without focus on profit.

Back when it happened, I put these up on my Legalectricsite, and shortly after it happened, Day 3 I believe, I had over 4,000 hits in ONE DAY! People were hungry, desperate, for information. When I’d reported the explosion, the first one, someone commented that “no way was it melting down,” and that made no sense, even given what little objective information we had. And in fact, it was a lot worse than those folks thought. I knew it was a disaster, but as it kept getting worse, well, stunning… and the impacts are still affecting us, will be for thousands of years. Right now, they’re on the verge of dumping radioactive water into the ocean!

These Legalectric posts below were no real scoop, “just information lite,” a compilation of public info, news reports, but its information that we in Minnesota should take into account because our Monticello nuclear plant is the same design as Fukushima Diiachi:

The “peaceful atom” strikes Japan March 12th, 2011

Fukushima Reactor 3 blows… March 13th, 2011

Nuclear saga continues in Japan March 21st, 2011

Fukushima Daiichi update March 26th, 2011

Another Fukushima Daiichi update March 30th, 2011

More on Fukushima nuclear disaster April 8th, 2011

Fukushima can’t happen here? Uh-huh… right… June 6th, 2011

Fukushima admittedly a mess… August 9th, 2011

One year after Fukushima Daiichi meltdown March 10th, 2012

Fukushima Daiichi — 4 years ago today March 11th, 2015

There’s been another earthquake at Fukushima.  One report says 6.8, 6.9, and another says 7.3.  Aftershocks starting.  Both say tsunami warnings.  This is where we’ve had the worst nuclear disaster, meltdown, contamination, in history, and it’s now going to get worse.

From the Guardian, in Japanese:

Fukushima residents urged to flee as 7.4 magnitude quake in Japan

• Here’s CNN’s live broadcast, no sound sometimes.

Live updates from ABC HERE

Daniel Smith reports (UPDATE – cooling equipment back online):

Cooling equipment stopped in power plant 

According to NHK, cooling equipment for the spent nuclear fuel pool in the reactor No. 3 of Tepco’s Fukushima No. 2 power plant has stopped. But the water in the pool is currently enough to keep it cool, NHK reports.

The nuclear regulatory agency says that so far, the cooling water has not leaked out, and Tepco are preparing to resume operation of the cooling system within an hour or two.

The water supply has stopped, however, the nuclear regulatory agency says that so far no abnormalities have been observed.

Japan earthquake: 7.3 magnitude quake strikes off Fukushima – tsunami warning issued

Earthquake near Fukushima triggers small tsunami and shakes buildings in Tokyo

Japan earthquake: 6.9 magnitude quake prompts tsunami warning …

Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake Strikes Off Fukushima in Japan, Tsunami Warning Issued

Four years ago today nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi started melting down.

… same type of reactor that it is in Monticello, along the Mississippi River, upriver and just northwest of the Twin Cities.

Four years later…

Japan Radiation Map

Four years later…

Some residents to ‘come home to Fukushima disaster zone

The government says about 138,000 Fukushima residents are still living in temporary accommodation.

At a meeting Sunday, Miyakoji residents were told that radiation contamination levels had lowered sufficiently for their return to the area — though some voiced concern over existing radiation levels despite decontamination efforts around some communities.

Four years later…

Navy sailors have radiation sickness after Japan rescue

Four years later…

Navy Sailors Possibly Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Fight for Justice

In March of 2011, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan rushed to Japan to help after the disastrous tsunami. Since then, many sailors from that ship have fallen ill, possibly as a result of exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. They will soon have their day in court.

…

The court decision came in the mail a few weeks later. The class-action lawsuit, the court ruled on Oct. 28, may proceed. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on Feb. 26.

The complaint is 100 pages long and contains the names of 247 sick sailors along with details pertaining to reactor construction, water samples taken, Navy tactics and Japanese politics. It assails company greed just as it does the negligence of those who built the Fukushima reactors — and goes on to censure global politics and the cynicism of humankind. A kind of Old Testament fury infuses the text, and the complaint is so sweeping that it almost loses track of its true target. The USS Ronald Reagan appears therein as humanity’s last ship. An aircraft carrier. A ship of ghosts.

Today in the mail, I got the annual Prairie Island nuclear calendar, above, with notice of the exciting “NEW Xcel Energy Nuclear Planning App” available at “Google play.”  Gee, I feel so much safer now.

Also today, thanks to the internet, I learned that the Fukushima Diiachi nuclear plant is exploding, again, underground… as a friend noted, time to kiss our collective ass goodbye.

It’s everywhere, just like the radioactivity emitting from the plant.  Just GOOGLE IT!

Anyway, to make a dreadful story short, on December 31, 2013, there were two explosions, one a 5.1 magnitude explosion, followed by a 3.6 magnitude explosion.

Underground Nuclear Explosion At Crippled Nuclear Plant Shocks World (take with a grain or two of salt!)

Steam Rises from Fukushima reactor, cause still unknown

Homeless recruited to clean up Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility and surrounding area

 

I live in Red Wing, home to two nuclear reactors.  This week I hope you all will take some time to reflect on the mess at Fukushima Daiichi and the role of nuclear generators in our energy scheme.   It was a year ago today when Fukushima Daiichi reactors melted down.

When Fukushima Daiichi first blew up, I spent some time tracking down every shred of info, which wasn’t much.  That there was so little information available was startling, and that was emphasized by my blog stats which showed 4,00o+ hits in just one day, people trying desperately to find out what was going on.

For an overview of how difficult it was to get information, and the struggles of even NRC personnel, from Marketplace earlier this week:

Lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Interview: Witness Fukushima Daiichi

From the New York Times:

Nuclear Disaster in Japan Was Avoidable, Critics Contend

The Wiki is packed with info:

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Here’s what I’d posted then: