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Operator of Japan plant starts pumping radioactive water
The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear plant began pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one of its buildings to a makeshift storage area Tuesday in a crucial step toward easing the nuclear crisis.
Removing the nearly 6.6 million gallons of contaminated water that has collected in the basement of a turbine building at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant will help allow access for workers trying to restore vital cooling systems that were knocked out in the March 11 tsunami.
It is but one of many steps in a lengthy process to resolve the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. projected in a road map released over the weekend that it would take up to nine months to reach a cold shutdown of the plant. They then plan on covering the buildings, possibly with a form of industrial cloth, to further deter any possible radiation leaks. But government officials acknowledge that setbacks could slow the timeline.
The water will be removed in stages, with the first third of it to be handled over the coming 20 days, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. In all, there are about 18.5 million gallons of contaminated water to be removed from the plant’s reactor and turbine buildings and nearby trenches, and the entire process could take months.
TEPCO is bringing the water to a storage building that was flooded during the tsunami with lightly contaminated water that was later pumped into the ocean to make room for the highly contaminated water.
The operator plans to use technology developed by French nuclear engineering giant Areva to reduce radioactivity and remove salt from the contaminated water so that it can be reused to cool the plant’s reactors, Nishiyama said, adding that this process would take “several months.”
Once the contaminated water in the plant buildings is safely removed and radioactivity levels decline, workers can begin repairing the cooling systems for the reactors of Units 1, 2, and 3, which were in operation at the time of the tsunami. Workers must also restore cooling functions at the plant’s six spent fuel pools and a joint pool for all six units.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Japan, News Desk | No Comments »
Syria lifts 50-year-old state of emergency
Syria’s government approved lifting the country’s nearly 50-year-old state of emergency Tuesday to meet a key demand of anti-government protesters, but also issued a stern warning to demonstrators to call off their challenges to President Bashar Assad’s hard-line rule.
The mixed messages—just hours after security forces stormed an occupied square in Syria’s third-largest city—leave ample doubt about whether authorities will ease their increasingly harsh blows against the month-old protests. Assad’s regime has labeled the protest movement as an “armed insurrection” that could give them the cover to continue the crackdown.
Assad last week had told his Cabinet to remove the state of emergency, in place since his Baath Party took power in March 1963, but added that such a move would give protesters no more reason to take to the streets. This could give Assad further pretext to move against any further marches or rallies.
Syria’s official news agency SANA said the Cabinet also approved abolishing the state security court, which handled the trials of political prisoners, and approved a new law allowing the right to peaceful protests. The changes need parliament approval, but no objections are expected at its next session planned for May 2.
The death toll from Assad’s crackdown of anti-government protests has topped 200, human rights groups say.
Following funeral processions by more than 10,000 mourners for some of those killed in clashes Sunday that a rights group said left at least 12 people dead, hundreds of people gathered Monday at Clock Square in the center of Homs, bringing mattresses, food, and water to the site for an Egypt-style standoff. They vowed to stay until President Bashar Assad is ousted.
An eyewitness said police used loudspeakers to call on protesters to evacuate the area around 2 a.m. Shortly afterward, security forces moved in, firing first tear gas, then live ammunition at fleeing protesters.
On Monday, the government blamed the weeks of unrest on ultraconservative Muslims seeking to establish a fundamentalist state—the latest effort to portray the reform movement as populated by extremists.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Middle East, News Desk | 2 Comments »
North Carolina faces massive price tag in storm cleanup
The storms that chugged across the South last week killed at least 44 people in six states, but the worst devastation came over about four hours Saturday in North Carolina.
From remote rural communities to the states’s second-largest city, thousands of residents hit by the worst tornado outbreak in nearly 30 years were clearing away rubble and debris, repairing power lines, and facing a recovery that will cost tens of millions of dollars.
Gov. Beverly Perdue and other officials toured the damage Monday, pledging prompt support to rebuild. Charities, religious groups, and emergency shelters sprang into action, offering their services to residents well-versed in disasters like hurricanes, who suddenly found themselves in the path of a very different type of storm.
Bertie County in the state’s northeast corner is the only county with a monetary damage estimate available so far. The county, which was devastated by floods just seven months ago, was hit by at least two tornadoes in rapid succession Saturday, one doing enough damage to kill 11 people.
Property damage was at least $2.5 million, but that figure doesn’t include infrastructure damage or the loss of crops. Bertie County produces tobacco, peanuts, and soybeans, among other staples. Statewide, costs will likely be at least in the tens of millions because the weather raged through densely populated cities, trashing homes, businesses, and public buildings.
Employees in Wake County, where Raleigh is located, estimated Monday that local costs will be around $65 million, county commission Chairman Paul Coble said, an estimate he expects to rise.
More than a quarter-million people lost power during the storm, but by late Monday that had dropped to a few thousand. The storm not only brought down power lines, but crews responding to outages found the storm had been so strong that some wires had simply vanished.
Emergency workers took damage estimates to see if uninsurable losses reach $10.3 million, the minimum amount needed for North Carolina to qualify for federal disaster assistance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in News Desk, Weather | 3 Comments »
Whirled Views 04.19
Hello!
Random question of the day: What is something you have built or developed from the ground up?
This is our daily (except for Sundays) open thread, where you can 1) answer my question, 2) talk about something else, or 3) say something truly encouraging to the commenter before you.
Posted in News Desk, Watercooler Chatter | 52 Comments »
Nigerian leader wins election amid riots
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won the oil-rich country’s presidential election Monday, as severe rioting sweeping across the Muslim north demonstrated the religious and ethnic tensions still dividing Africa’s most populous nation.
The violence cut across 13 states, leaving behind burning buildings, neighbors hiding in their homes, and hundreds injured. Heavy gunfire echoed through cities, as shouting crowds burned tires and threw stones at security forces. Umar Mairiga of the Nigerian Red Cross said the Red Cross estimated more than 270 people had been wounded and another 15,000 had been displaced by the violence.
While Christians and Muslims have shared the same soil in the nation for centuries, the election result showing the Christian president’s more than 10 million vote lead over Muslim candidate Muhammadu Buhari stoked popular resentment. It also spread accusations of rigging in a nation long accustomed to ballot box stuffing and violence.
But observers largely said Saturday’s presidential election appeared to be fair, with fewer cases of ballot box thefts than previous polls.
Election chairman Attahiru Jega announced results Monday night that showed Jonathan won 22.4 million votes, compared to the 12.2 million votes of his nearest rival, the former military ruler Buhari.
Many in the Muslim-dominated north supported Buhari, a disciplinarian who took power after a 1983 New Year’s Eve coup, as his campaign promised change in a nation ruled by the same ruling political party since it became a democracy.
Buhari’s party brought a formal complaint against the nation’s electoral commission even before the vote count ended, alleging massive rigging in Jonathan’s homeland of the Niger Delta. The letter also alleged that the computer software used to tally results had been tampered with in northern states to favor the ruling People’s Democratic Party.
Violence began Sunday in the north, but took full hold Monday morning. Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano set fires to homes that bore Jonathan party banners. Heavy gunfire also could be heard.
The state-run Nigerian Television Authority did not mention the attacks on air, though it finally ran a scrolling graphic across the screen with a statement from Jonathan calling for peace just before Jega announced the results.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Africa, News Desk | No Comments »
Pentagon inquiry clears McChrystal of wrongdoing
A Pentagon inquiry into a Rolling Stonemagazine profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal that led to his dismissal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has cleared him of wrongdoing.
The probe’s results released Monday also called into question the accuracy of the magazine’s report last June, which quoted anonymously people around McChrystal making disparaging remarks about members of President Barack Obama’s national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden.
At the time he dismissed McChrystal, Obama said the general had fallen short of “the standard that should be set by a commanding general.” But the Defense Department inspector general’s report concluded that available evidence did not support the conclusion that McChrystal had violated any applicable legal or ethics standard.
Last week the White House tapped McChrystal to head a new advisory board to support military families, an initiative led by first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president. The selection of McChrystal was announced on April 12, four days after the inspector general’s report was finished.
The report said it reviewed an unpublished Army investigation of the case and interviewed numerous eyewitnesses. It said McChrystal declined an invitation to provide sworn testimony, saying he had already testified to Army investigators.
The Pentagon inquiry also concluded that not all of the events at issue happened as reported in the Rolling Stone article.
The magazine issued a response after the report was released saying they stood by their story and claimed the Pentagon was unable to find the witnesses who made or heard the comments as reported because the witnesses “knew that their careers were on the line if they admitted to making such comments.”
After the Rolling Stone article was published, McChrystal was summoned to the White House and dismissed. He was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus.
Obama at the time called the dismissal the right decision for U.S. national security and said McChrystal’s conduct represented in the magazine article “erodes the trust that’s necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Military, News Desk | 4 Comments »
Scientists: Gulf health nearly back to pre-spill levels
Scientists judge the overall health of the Gulf of Mexico as nearly back to normal one year after the BP oil spill, but with a few blemishes that restrain their optimism about nature’s resiliency, an Associated Press survey of researchers shows.
More than three dozen scientists graded the Gulf’s big picture health a 68 on average, using a 1-to-100 scale. What’s remarkable is that that’s just a few points below the 71 the same researchers gave last summer when asked what grade they would give the ecosystem before the spill. And it’s an improvement from the 65 given back in October.
Still, some scientists are worried. They cite significant declines in key health indicators such as the sea floor, dolphins, and oysters. In interviews, dozens of Gulf experts emphasized their concerns, pointing to the mysterious deaths of hundreds of young dolphins and turtles, strangely stained crabs, and dead patches on the sea floor.
In the survey, some categories, such as red snapper and king mackerel, average out to higher grades than before the spill, mostly because months of partial fishing bans have helped populations thrive.
While that sounds good, the average grades for the sea floor plunged from 68 pre-spill to a failing grade of 57 now. Dolphins initially seemed to be OK, but as more carcasses than usual kept washing up—almost 300 since the spill—the grade fell to 66, compared to a pre-spill 75. Oysters, always under siege, dropped 10 points, crabs dropped 6 points. And the overall food web slid from 70 before the spill to 64 now.
At this point, the oil is only obvious in a couple of places. It’s nothing compared to the black gunk stuck on beaches and marshes last summer or the multi-colored slicks so massive they could be tracked by satellite.
The spill itself lasted nearly three months. Then there was the clean-up. Then federal officials pronounced the oil mostly—but not completely—gone, eaten by microbes, dispersed by chemicals, or diluted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in News Desk, Science | 3 Comments »
S&P cuts U.S. long-term outlook to negative
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service lowered its long-term outlook on the United States’ sovereign debt from “Stable” to “Negative,” saying there is a one-in-three chance it will downgrade the rating on the debt in the next two years.
It reaffirmed its investment-grade credit ratings on the U.S. long- and short-term debt itself, but said the ratings are at risk from the country’s growing deficit.
S&P said the United States has a high-income, diversified, and flexible economy that has helped it to encourage growth while containing inflation. But the country’s ballooning deficit could offset those positives over the next two years.
The agency noted that the deficit grew to 11 percent of gross domestic income in 2009. That is much higher than the average of 2 percent to 5 percent in the previous six years.
Stocks plunged after the rating agency lowered its outlook. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 200 points in early trading. The S&P’s 500 fell more than 20 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell nearly 50 points.
S&P said it has little confidence that the White House and Congress will agree on a deficit-reduction plan before the fall 2012 elections. By that time, the measures won’t go into effect until the fiscal year 2014.
The fight over the deficit and next year’s budget is threatening the government’s ability to borrow. Analysts say S&P is warning the two parties not to play politics with the debt ceiling.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday that Republican leaders have privately assured the Obama administration that Congress will raise the government’s borrowing limit in time to avoid an unprecedented default on the nation’s debt.
But a top Republican quickly pushed back and said there was no guarantee the GOP would agree to increase the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling without further controls on federal spending.
Geithner has said that the government will hit its current limit no later than May 16. But he said it will be able to avoid a default on the national debt through various accounting maneuvers for possibly another two months.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Economy, News Desk | 20 Comments »
Suicide car bombing in Baghdad kills nine
Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-packed cars Monday outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, killing at least nine people and wounding 23, officials said.
The blasts marked the start of a violent day in the Iraqi capital, where two more bombings and a jewelry heist left three more dead and 15 wounded.
The twin suicide car bombs rattled windows across Baghdad shortly after 8 a.m. The cars blew up just outside a security checkpoint on a heavily traveled road leading into the Green Zone from Baghdad’s international airport.
Baghdad military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the bombers appeared to be targeting the motorcades of two senior government officials—one from the military, the other from the Cabinet—who were headed to work.
The explosion set ablaze some of the cars that were waiting to be cleared into the Green Zone, which houses Iraq’s parliament and ministry offices, as well as several foreign embassies.
Two police officers and an official at al-Yarmouk hospital said nine people, including five Iraqi soldiers, were killed and 23 people were wounded in the attack.
Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said one parliamentary worker was killed and four more were wounded. A statement on the parliament website said that al-Nujaifi adviser Amjad Abdul-Hamid was the target of the dual bombings. Abdul-Hamid was not hurt in the attack but one of his bodyguards was killed.
Al-Nujaifi said the government’s reluctance to name new defense and interior ministers has contributed to instability in Iraq. The posts have been empty for nearly four months as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and political parties squabble over who should get them.
Although violence has ebbed across Iraq, deadly bombings and shootings still occur on a near daily basis as insurgents seek to highlight Iraq’s continued instability as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in Iraq, News Desk | 5 Comments »
Radiation levels in Japan reactors too high for workers
A pair of thin robots on treads sent to explore buildings inside Japan’s crippled nuclear reactor came back Monday with disheartening news: Radiation levels are far too high for repair crews to go inside.
Nevertheless, officials remained hopeful they can stick to their freshly minted “roadmap” for cleaning up the radiation leak and stabilizing the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant by year’s end so they can begin returning tens of thousands of evacuees to their homes.
Officials announced for the first time Monday that spent fuel rods in Unit 2 were damaged, and contaminated water was discovered in other areas of the plant. They also described in more detail the damage to fuel in three troubled reactors, saying pellets had melted.
Workers have not been able to go inside the reactor buildings at the stricken plant since the first days after the its cooling systems were wrecked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Hydrogen explosions in both buildings in the first few days destroyed their roofs and scattered radioactive debris.
On Sunday, a plant worker opened an outer door to one of the buildings and two Packbots entered. After the worker closed the door, one robot opened an inner door and both rolled inside to take readings for temperature, pressure, and radioactivity. They later entered a second building.
The robots reported radioactivity readings of up to 49 millisieverts per hour inside Unit 1 and up to 57 inside Unit 3, levels too high for workers to realistically enter.
Japanese authorities more than doubled the legal limit for nuclear workers since the crisis began to 250 millisieverts a year. Workers in the U.S. nuclear industry are allowed an upper limit of 50 millisieverts per year. Doctors say radiation sickness sets in at 1,000 millisieverts and includes nausea and vomiting.
The radioactivity must be reduced, possibly with the removal of contaminated debris and stagnant water, before repair crews would be allowed inside, said NISA official Masataka Yoshizawa.
Sturdier robots can remove some of the debris, but workers are needed to test the integrity of the equipment and carry out electrical repairs needed to restore the cooling systems, Yoshizawa said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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