Allen L Roland

Wishful thinking is no longer appropriate regarding the nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. With yesterday’s startling announcement that the plant may be at level six with seven being a Chernobyl event ~ precautionary measures should be taken.

Those of us on the West Coast would be wise to increase our intake of potassium iodide over the next few days in light of the increasing severity of the situation at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. "It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.

Today The workers were ordered to leave the facility after the level of radiation at the plant soared to 10 millisievert per hour - above the level considered harmful to human health. Earlier, officials from the nuclear and industrial safety agency said that 70% of fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor had been significantly damaged, as well as 33% of rods at the No. 2 reactor ~ the cores of both reactors are believed to have partially melted, Kyodo news agency said. The meteorological agency said winds near the power plant would blow from the northwest and out into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday. The winds were expected to strengthen in the afternoon, the agency added.

Andrew Pollack wrote yesterday in the New York Times ~ “ As Japan races to avoid a nuclear disaster, some Americans and companies in the United States are scrambling to obtain potassium iodide, a drug that can protect people from radiation-induced thyroid cancer .... Potassium iodide, also known by the chemical symbol KI, is used to saturate the thyroid gland with iodine so that radioactive iodine inhaled or ingested will not be retained by the gland…Congress passed legislation in 2002 requiring the federal government to supply potassium iodide capsules to people living within 20 miles of nuclear power plants in the United States. But the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have not implemented that provision, saying the law allows for alternatives.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/health/16iodide.html

Yesterday President Obama told KDKA-TV of Pittsburgh “ that experts have assured him that a nuclear release from Japan will dissipate by the time it gets to Hawaii, much less the U.S. mainland “ but I stopped believing Obama a long time ago and, besides, he lives on the East Coast ~ well out of harm’s way. By the way, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt recently joined Obama’s team as a top economic advisor and GE designed the faulty nuclear containment systems that are now breaking down in Japan. So Obama is not about to say anything that could harm his more than cozy relationship with Wall Street and the financial elite ~ the public be damned.

The New York Times reports that GE marketed the Mark 1 boiling water reactors, used in TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi plant,” as cheaper to build than other reactors because they used a comparatively smaller and less expensive containment structure." The same containment structures that are now breaking down ~ like BP, it’s all about greed, profit and lax oversight ~ and dam the safety concerns!
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0316/Reports-Lax-oversight-greed-preceded-Japan-nuclear-crisis?cmpid=addthis_email&sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d80e5ecd8cfa879%2C0

Contrary to Obama’s vacuous comments ~ "The worst case scenario is ~ the fuel rods fuse together, the temperatures get so hot that they melt together in a radioactive molten mass that bursts through the containment mechanisms,” said nuclear expert Joe Cirincione. "Some of the radioactivity could carry in the atmosphere to the West Coast of the US," added Cirincione, head of anti-nuclear group Ploughshares Fund. He cited the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to underline how far radioactivity can travel. "The radioactivity spread around the entire northern hemisphere," from the devastated Ukrainian plant, he said..

As for myself, I’m increasing my intake of Miso soup with seaweed (which I love) kelp and low fat yogurt ( which are all high in Iodine ) and hoping for the best.

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Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/possible-radioactive-fallout-close-at.html

About the Author: Allen L Roland is a Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist. Allen L Roland is also available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations. Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website www.allenroland.com . He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Weblog: http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com
Website: www.allenroland.com
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