Motley Moose – Archive

One would be forgiven for feeling a weight on one’s soul with each sporadic, slowly unfolding fragment of unfortunate news from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor crisis.  While not newsworthy in an “info-entertainment” sense it is probably inevitable that we continue to follow the sombre narrative as if a friend or acquaintance was declining slowly:

The government expects that several months may be required before radioactive particles stop being released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, its top spokesman said Sunday.

”If we apply methods considered to be normal, I believe that it will be something like that,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference, when asked whether at least several months would be required before the plant crippled by the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami is brought under control.

Several months needed to stop radiation from Fukushima plant: gov’t Kyodo 3 Apr 11

NYT caption: In an image provided by Tokyo Electric Power Company, contaminated water from the crippled No. 2 reactor is seen leaking through a crack and draining into the ocean at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan on Saturday.

But several months of what?:

Experts estimate that about seven tons an hour of radioactive water is escaping the pit. Safety officials have said that the water, which appears to be coming from the damaged No. 2 reactor, contains one million becquerels per liter of iodine 131, or about 10,000 times the levels normally found in water at a nuclear plant.

Hiroko Tabuchi and Ken Belson – Efforts to Plug Japanese Reactor Leak Seem to Fail NYT 3 Apr 11

OK, we are surely getting a crash course on nuclear physics and public safety as the ramifications of the continuing radiation impacts are quantified locally and in the world at large.

Unlike most incidents which threaten lives or public safety the Fukushima Daiichi crisis is unfolding slowly but seems headed towards an unpleasant range of potential outcomes:

“We are experiencing an ongoing, massive release of radioactivity,” says Wolfram König, head of Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation Protection. “And everyone should know by now that this isn’t over by a long shot.” Nuclear expert Helmut Hirsch says: “All I hear is that people are wondering whether this will turn into a meltdown. But the thing is, it already is a partial meltdown.” The difference, in this case, is that Fukushima is a creeping disaster.

How Dangerous Is Japan’s Creeping Nuclear Disaster? Der Spiegel 28 Mar 11

Work on restoring the stricken site, despite heroic efforts, has been virtually halted by unexpected obstacles and prohibitive radiation levels in and around the plant, especially near Unit No 2:

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced on Monday that a puddle of water was found in a [service] trench outside the No. 2 reactor turbine building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Sunday afternoon. It said the radiation reading on the puddle’s surface indicated more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radioactive water in external tunnels NHK 29 Mar 11

TEPCO has no specific explanation for these levels; at 1000 mSv/hr a fifteen-minute exposure would consume even the higher radiation limits set for workers during this incident.

As the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant recedes from mainstream media coverage the situation is presumed to be stabilising, largely because TEPCO and the Japanese government have confined themselves to positive news regarding cooling operations and the restoration of mains electricity power to the site.

Recently we have had reports of some food and water contamination in Fukushima Prefecture and reassurances that the situation is not worsening at the four crippled reactors and that radiation levels are remaining low.  The story, as far as the media is concerned, has largely become one of human interest regarding the clearly heroic efforts of staff and volunteers at the site.  But serious questions remain unanswered and largely unmentioned, specifically regarding the most threatening risks at the plant:

Edward Morse, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, added that it will take huge amounts of water to compensate for the cracks in the containment pools that were uncovered by U.S. surveillance aircraft on Friday.

“The best thing to do is use as much of the Pacific Ocean as possible,” he said.

Ralph Vartabedian, W J Hennigan and Thomas H Maugh II What are the options for containing Fukushima’s radioactive emissions? LAT via Bellingham Herald 18 Mar 11

Say what?  “Cracks in the containment pools that were uncovered by U.S. surveillance aircraft on Friday?”

Along with the report of an internal explosion at the Fukushima No 2 reactor reports of what seems to be at least a partial reactor containment breach have been made:

Part of the container of a troubled nuclear reactor appears to be damaged, the Japanese government said today, a development that could indicate the possibility of serious radiation leaks.

Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano told reporters “damage appears on the suppression pool” – the bottom part of the container that contains water used to cool the reactor and control air pressure inside.

“But we have not recorded any sudden jump in radiation indicators,” Mr Edano said, without elaborating.

Japan fears damage to reactor container AFP via ABC 14 Mar 11

TEPCO reports the partial evacuation of operators from the facility.  Previously there was a report of an explosion at Fukushima No 2:

TOKYO – Japan’s nuclear safety agency says an explosion has been heard at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. An agency spokesman speaking Tuesday on national television said the explosion was heard at 6:10 a.m.

Japanese agency: Explosion heard at nuclear plant AP via Yahoo News 14 Mar 11

In the TEPCO news conference recently the translator mentioned that the explosion was heard “…in the vicinity of the reactor.”

As the mainstream media, like other traditional organisations, struggles to place Libya into acceptable, familiar narratives the actual events emerging renew the dramatic, populist story of the courage and determination of people aroused by the taste of freedom.

Overnight Az Zawiyah, in opposition hands and surrounded on all sides, has endured a concerted attack by forces loyal to the Qaddaffis including the ‘elite’ security battalions of the regime:

TRIPOLI, March 4 (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Friday fought their way into Zawiyah, a town near the capital that has for days defied his rule, killing a rebel commander and pinning fighters into pockets of resistance.

At least 30 civilians were killed in the clashes, residents said by telephone. An improvised force of rebels was pushed back to the central square in Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, a rebel spokesman said.

“We are under siege, we are surrounded from the east, west and south, only the north is open because it opens to the sea,” Ali, a resident, told Reuters by phone. “Electricity has been cut, we are in the dark … Maybe they are planning an attack.”

Maria Golovnina – UPDATE 3-Gaddafi forces fight to seize rebel Zawiyah Reuters 5 Mar 11

It is 3:50AM in Az Zawiyah now and only daylight will reveal the outcome.

As free Libyans rise up the world finally reacts to the unforeseen and widely misunderstood events of the last ten days.  

Libya’s prospects rely on their solidarity with each other and the principles of social justice which, as Obama recently mentioned, are as universal as they have been inaccessible to many Libyans for more than a generation.  Libya must rise to the occasion and there is every evidence that they will.

Perhaps we must create the space and opportunity for this and put aside for a moment our geopolitical and cultural fears, not to mention our apprehensions over the price of fuel, and watch the wondrous, rare process of nationhood with respect while withholding our considerable judgement.

This new nation is largely composed of youth whose notions of democracy are as intangible as their understanding of the afterlife and who have earned their hard-won freedom through determination and courage by confronting and vanquishing their own parents’ most terrible fears.

After days of nothing but unconfirmed yet compelling twitter messages of the dramatic events in Libya the mainstream media is finally catching up with the horrible reality.  Libya is ablaze and the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi now hangs by a slender thread, but only at the cost of hundreds of lives.

We are finally getting the confirmation that has been delayed by an almost complete media blackout in Libya since the insurrection began:

CAIRO – The son of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, warned in a nationally televised address early on Monday that continued anti-government protests could lead to a civil war.

The son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, said the army continued to support his father, although he acknowledged that protesters had seized some military bases, as well as tanks and weapons.

David D Kirkpatrick – Qaddafi’s Son Warns of Civil War as Libyan Protests Widen NYT 20 Feb 11

Yes, tanks and weapons and about half of the country, as was accurately reported days ago.  And now Tripoli itself is in turmoil.  Curiously these dramatic events have been reported by eyewitnesses and retweeted widely for almost five days but have been virtually unremarked in the media.  

Mythology records the constraints on power of mortal kings:

…[King Cnut of Denmark, England and Norway] set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes; but the tide failed to stop. According to Henry [of Huntingdon], Cnut leapt backwards and said “Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.” He then hung his gold crown on a crucifix, and never wore it again.

Cnut the Great Wikipedia

In the wake of the revolution in Tunisia and the amazing scenes in Egypt in recent weeks the tide of popular sentiment against autocratic rule has risen to unprecedented levels among the persistent regimes of Africa and the Middle East and threatens to expose the illegitimacy of their rule if not inundate them altogether.

That these movements are concentrated in, though not limited to, the Islamic world seems no coincidence and their scope transcends the geopolitical or religious alignment and ethnicity of their respective ruling classes.  This is not strictly speaking a democracy movement in the narrowly understood Western sense though it is clearly a movement of social justice as framed within the context of the culture of the respective states.

At last some progressives are awakening to the political reality of our economic condition:

Nothing in this year’s exit polling hurt more than this:

Got that? Of the 35 percent who think Wall Street is to blame for our economic problems, 57 percent voted Republican – the party that does nothing but carry water for Wall Street.

Kos – Get Wall Street out of the White House Daily Kos 18 Nov 10

Yeah.  But what makes Democrats so different?  Well…  Not much, it seems:

…people think there is no difference between the parties when it comes to the rich and powerful.  And why should they?  Obama’s finance team is essentially a branch office of Goldman Sachs and company.

Kos – Get Wall Street out of the White House Daily Kos 18 Nov 10

Time to get serious, folks.  And big decision time for Obama.  I think Kos has got this right:

Here’s the bottom line – Obama and the Democrats need to repair their relationship with voters.  They can either focus on that, and the hell with Wall Street’s hurt feefees, or we’re headed for a Republican trifecta in the White House, Senate, and House in 2012.

Kos – Get Wall Street out of the White House Daily Kos 18 Nov 10

The next president will be the one who has convinced a nation of confused and angry voters that he or she is going to lead an administration which will put a stop to this nonsense, and let the chips fall where they may.

It would have probably been fair to say of Sarah Palin that until a few days ago ‘policy wonk’ would have been an unlikely description, love her or loathe her, of any facet of her complex relationship with American politics.

But now this:

I’m deeply concerned about the Federal Reserve’s plans to buy up anywhere from $600 billion to as much as $1 trillion of government securities.  The technical term for it is “quantitative easing.” It means our government is pumping money into the banking system by buying up treasury bonds.  And where, you may ask, are we getting the money to pay for all this?  We’re printing it out of thin air.

Sarah Palin via Robert Costa- Palin to Bernanke: ‘Cease and Desist’ National Review 7 Nov 10

That’s very interesting on a lot of levels.  The piece is coherent and sober and, more importantly, it is aimed directly at a weak point in the current administration’s monetary policy and an electoral vulnerability in the allegiances of establishment Republicans in the newly constituted House of Representatives.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the champion of this recently announced second round of ‘quantitative easing,’ promised Congress on 3 June 2009 that the Federal Reserve would not ‘monetise the debt‘ of the US government, in other words just print money “out of thin air.”  But that seems to be exactly what we are now proposing to do and there are dissenting opinions within the Federal Reserve system itself:

For the next eight months, the nation’s central bank will be monetizing the federal debt.

This is risky business. We know that history is littered with the economic carcasses of nations that incorporated this as a regular central bank practice.  So how can the [‘quantitative easing’] decision made last Wednesday be justified?

Richard W Fischer – Recent Decisions of the Federal Open Market Committee: A Bridge to Fiscal Sanity? Federal Reserve of Dallas 8 Nov 10

So which is it?  Well, that all depends on whose telling the story.  But it’s already a done deal.