Fukushima worker says reactor was "time bomb"

Bloomberg reports today: "One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. (6501) in 1974. The reactor, which Tanaka has called a “time bomb,” was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 7-meter (23-foot) tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks."

Read the full story.

Thom Hartmann: The Big Picture with Paul Gunter and Linda Gunter

Radiation levels 1,600 times above "normal" in Fukushima, reports RT

Please note, the notion of "normal" radiation levels is misleading. There is no safe dose of radiation and any "norms" are usually based on the capacity of a robust man, not the most vulnerable such as pregnant women and children.

NRC relicenses US reactor that is same design as Fukushima

With audacious (and we would argue reckless) timing, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today officially issued a license extension for the Vermont Yankee reactor, the same GE Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor design as those in crisis at Fukushima, Japan. A mass vigil on Sunday at the plant was attended by 600 people but on Monday the NRC declared the reactor safe enough to operate another 20 years when its current license expires on March 21, 2012. Bob Stannard of Citizens' Action Network told Vermont Public Radio: ""It's unimaginable to think that the NRC would declare this plant safe when this plant houses 640 tons of spent fuel in an unprotected fuel pool with no containment vessel; In Japan, the plant that's in the worst shape has only 80 tons."

Update on March 22, 2011 by admin

Read  - and circulate - our press release.

New Gallup poll shows waning support in U.S. for nuclear power

Seven in 10 Americans say they are more concerned about a nuclear disaster occurring in the United States after the recent events in Japan, including 39% who say they are "a lot more concerned," according to a new Gallup poll. The poll also found more people now opposed to than in favor of construction of new reactors: "The events in Japan may also be diminishing Americans' support for the use of nuclear power in the United States. The poll finds 44% in favor and 47% opposed to 'the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States.'" 56% of women opposed new construction with only 36% of men opposed - a traditional gender breakdown reflecting a historic tendency for more women to oppose nuclear energy than men. 34% of women were in favor of new constrution while 55% of men favored it.