Unlimited Nuclear Disaster Updates

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The US has lost at least three nuclear bombs that have never been located – they're still out there to this day. How did this happen? Where could they be? And will we ever find them?


It was a mild winter's morning at the height of the Cold War.

On January 17, 1966, at around 10:30am, a Spanish shrimp fisherman watched a misshapen white parcel fall from the sky... and silently glide towards the Alboran Sea. It had something hanging beneath it, though he couldn't make out what it was. Then it slipped beneath the waves.

At the same time, in the nearby fishing village of Palomares, locals looked up at an identical sky and witnessed a very different scene – two giant fireballs, hurtling towards them. Within seconds, the sleepy rural idyll was shattered. Buildings shook. Shrapnel sliced towards the ground. Body parts fell to the earth.

A few weeks later, Philip Meyers received a message via a teleprinter – a device a bit like a fax that could send and receive primitive emails. At the time, he was working as a bomb disposal officer at the Naval Air Facility Sigonella, in eastern Sicily. He was told that there was a top secret emergency in Spain, and that he must report there within days.


https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220804-the-lost-nuclear-bombs-that-no-one-can-find

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Infographic: The impact of nuclear tests around the world
Since 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions have been conducted by at least eight nations.

August 29 marks the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The day, declared by the United Nations in 2009, aims to raise awareness of the effects of nuclear weapons testing and achieve a nuclear-weapons-free world.

On July 16, 1945, during World War II, the United States detonated the world's first nuclear weapon, codenamed Trinity, over the New Mexico desert.




https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/29/infographic-what-is-the-impact-of-nuclear-tests-around-the-world-interactive

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Japan just signaled a big shift in its post-Fukushima future

The prime minister of Japan said Wednesday that his country would restart more idled nuclear power plants and look into the feasibility of developing next-gen reactors.

Fumio Kishida's comments, reported by Reuters, build upon remarks he made back in May, and come at a time when Japan — a big importer of energy — is looking to bolster its options amid ongoing uncertainty in global energy markets and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

If fully realized, the move would represent a turnaround for the country's energy policy following 2011′s Fukushima disaster, when a powerful earthquake and tsunami resulted in a meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/24/japan-just-signaled-a-big-shift-in-its-post-fukushima-future.html

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Robot issue delays fuel removal from Fukushima nuclear plant


The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it is postponing the start of the removal of highly radioactive melted fuel from its damaged reactors because of delays in the development of a remote-controlled robotic arm


TOKYO -- The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said Thursday it is further postponing the start of the removal of highly radioactive melted fuel from its damaged reactors because of delays in the development of a remote-controlled robotic arm.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings had originally planned to begin removing melted fuel from the Unit 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant last year, 10 years after the disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

That plan was postponed until later this year, and now will be delayed further until about autumn next year because of additional work needed to improve the performance of the robotic arm, TEPCO said.

The giant arm, jointly developed by Veolia Nuclear Solutions of Britain and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has been transported to Japan and is being adjusted at a testing facility south of the Fukushima plant.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/robot-issue-delays-fuel-removal-fukushima-nuclear-plant-88839281

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New submersion method being considered for Fukushima debris cleanup

>>>The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which suffered core meltdowns in 2011, is considering a new submersion method for removing radioactive fuel debris that would wholly encase a reactor building in a water-filled, tank-like structure, a source close to the company said Thursday.

Conceptual breakthroughs with the method, whose advantages include using water's ability to interrupt radiation and thereby provide a safer working environment, have made it a promising candidate for the cleanup of the defunct nuclear plant, according to the source close to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco).

But with no proven track record in the nuclear field, investigations are ongoing into future technological issues and costs, among other contingencies. The source said it could "require advanced technology to stop water leaking out and become a huge construction project."

Were it to go ahead, the process from building to actual debris removal would be lengthy and would likely affect total decommissioning costs, currently pegged at about ¥8 trillion ($57.45 billion).

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/02/national/fukushima-waste-submersion/


In other words, they still are trying to figure out how to remove the melted fuel seven years on.

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36 years after catastrophic event, Chernobyl nuclear disaster spawns 'mutant frogs'



36 years since a catastrophic meltdown at the Chernobyl power plant unleashed one of the world's worst nuclear disasters, now "mutant" black frogs are spawning in the vicinity.

The species of frog found in this area, known as the Eastern tree frogs (Hyla Orientalis), typically have bright green skin but now many have sprung up with dark or pigmented skin.

https://www.wionews.com/science/36-years-after-catastrophic-event-chernobyl-disaster-spawns-mutant-frogs-523687

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Haunted By 67 Nuclear Tests, US Facing Severe Roadblocks To Renew COFA Pact With Marshall Islands

The United States appears to be facing a severe roadblock in renewing a binding treaty with the Marshall Islands, which have long sought compensation for the dozens of US nuclear tests conducted there between the 1940s and 1950s.

The provisions of a Compact of Free Association (COFA), signed between the Pacific island group and the US in 1986, will be reviewed by the Marshall Islands and the United States later this year.

The COFA's key components include US immigration benefits for Marshallese citizens, direct economic support, and exclusive American defense and security access to the islands and their territorial waters.

The Marshall Islands leaders have repeatedly highlighted that the long-term repercussions of the 67 US nuclear tests conducted between 1946 and 1958 on health, the environment, and the economy must be adequately addressed before they consent to a new economic agreement with the US.


Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll is seen in this 2006 photo
Kwajalein Island where I went to High School

https://eurasiantimes.com/haunted-by-67-nuclear-tests-us-facing-severe-roadblocks-to-renew-cofa-pact-with-marshall-islands/

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Pacific nuclear legacy overshadows US talks in Marshall Islands


A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test, known as Operation Crossroads or the Baker Test, was conducted at Bikini Atoll in 1946.

MAJURO (AFP/Pacnews) — Marshall Islands officials say they are ready to resume talks with the United States this week on renewing a long-standing economic and security deal, provided Washington addresses grievances stemming from the testing of nuclear weapons on the Pacific archipelago more than 70 years ago.

The United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands between 1946-58, and the health and environmental impacts are still felt on the islands and atolls that lie between Hawaii and the Philippines.

U.S special envoy Joseph Yun is scheduled to land in the capital Majuro on Thursday to resume negotiations on extending the 20-year Compact of Free Association, part of which expires in 2023.

Marshall Islands negotiators first want the United States to pay more of the compensation awarded by the international Nuclear Claims Tribunal, totaling just over $3 billion, of which around $270 million has been paid so far.

Officials in Majuro broke off talks in September to renew the compact, a key international agreement between the United States, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.


https://www.mvariety.com/news/pacific-nuclear-legacy-overshadows-us-talks-in-marshall-islands/article_313c164a-5a75-11ed-8a41-73429caaeb6d.html


my bold...

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Fungi That Eats Radiation Are Alive and Well in Chernobyl

>>>hernobyl, Ukraine, has received plenty of attention since the radiation explosion that took place there in April 1986. People are fascinated with disasters, of course, but also with the ideas of the apocalypse and what humanity and the world around it might look like if something similar happened on a wider scale.

In much smaller, but still fascinating news, there's a unique, curious sort of fungi munching on the still-radioactive walls of the nuclear reactors. They're not alone, either – scientists have documented around 200 species of 98 genera of fungi living in and around the ruins of the former nuclear power plant.


While the majority of them just aren't bothered by the high levels of radiation, some of the fungi – known as "black" or "radiotrophic" fungi – actually eat the radiation. They're armed with melanin that allows them to convert gamma radiation into chemical energy for growth, and it's possible it helps shield them from the harmful effects of the radiation itself.

Though scientists understand how the black fungi are converting the radiation into energy, the science on why remains out.

"In many commercial nuclear reactors, the radioactive water becomes contaminated with melanotic organisms [with black pigmentation]. Nobody really knows what the hell they are doing there," said microbiologist Arturo Casadevall back in 2007.


https://twistedsifter.com/2022/10/fungi-that-eats-radiation-are-alive-and-well-in-chernobyl/

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From radiation to water pollution to cities, humans are now a driver of evolution in the 'natural' world – podcast

Humans do a lot of different things to the environment, and there aren't many natural processes – aside from an asteroid impact or the like – that can rival the scale of change brought on by human activity. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to three experts who study different ways that people are affecting how plants and animals evolve – and how humanity has become the single biggest driver of evolutionary changes on Earth.

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My earliest insight into the negative effects of "The Bomb" involved the nuns conducting air raid drills, and a Mickey Rooney movie that pretty much summed up the danger to humans.

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I don't think I posted this here before... check out this interactive L.A. Times story on the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands....

https://www.latimes.com/projects/marshall-islands-nuclear-testing-sea-level-rise/

The article details the testing as well as the human impact and aftermath..

for example;

Contaminated debris and soil left behind by 43 nuclear bombs detonated in Enewetak Atoll were cemented and enclosed in a crater from one of the nuclear tests. The dome, constructed in the late '70s, is showing signs of decay. If it crumbles, its radioactive contents will be released into the lagoon and ocean.

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12.1 Trillion Yen Spent So Far on Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant with rows of tanks storing treated wastewater (Reina Kitamura)
Around 12.1 trillion yen ($82 billion) has already been spent to deal with the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to sources at the Board of Audit of Japan.

That means more than half of the government's total estimated cost of 21.5 trillion yen, including compensation payments and reactor decommissioning expenses, has been used in the 11 years since the meltdowns occurred.

However, the nuclear decommissioning process is not going smoothly, and there are fears that the planned discharge of treated radioactive water from the plant into the sea could damage the reputations of the disaster-affected areas.

Expenses could still expand, and the BOA on Nov. 7 asked the government to review its projected cost.


https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14762193





"Energy so cheap, you won't be able to measure it"

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