Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis Facts and Figures

It has now been three weeks since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Here are the latest facts and figures on the crisis, culled from official sources via Relief Web.

Casualties:

According the government of Japan: The number of deaths is 12,087, the number of the injured is 2,876, and the number of missing is 15,552.  The number of those evacuated is approximately 206,400.

International Response

From the government of Japan:

So far, rescue and medical support teams from 20 countries and regions (Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, the ROK, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the U.K., the U.S.) as well as and the UNOCHA, an IAEA expert team, and the WFP have arrived Japan and have been operating in disaster-stricken areas. (The list includes countries and regions which have already left the site.) Surveys have been conducted by UN organizations and other institutions related to disaster relief. As of March 31, Japan has received relief goods from 29 countries/regions and international organizations.

Nuclear Crisis:

From the World Health Organization:

Is there a risk of radioactive food contamination?

-Yes, there is a risk of exposure as a result of contamination in food.
-However, contaminated food would have to be consumed over prolonged periods to represent a risk to human health.
-The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial food monitoring results show radioactive iodine detected in concentrations above Japanese regulatory limits. Radioactive caesium has also been detected.
-Local government authorities have advised residents to avoid these food and have implemented measures to prevent their sale and distribution.

From the International Atomic Energy Agency:

Overall at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the situation remains very serious.

On 2 April, transferring of water from the Unit 1 condenser storage tank to the surge tank of the suppression pool was completed in preparation for transferring water in the basement of the Unit 1 turbine building to the condenser. Also, on 2 April transferring of water from the Unit 2 condenser storage tank to the surge tank of the suppression pool was started in preparation for transferring water in the basement of the Unit 1 turbine building to the condenser…

Radiation Monitoring

On 2 April, deposition of iodine-131 was detected in 7 prefectures ranging from 4 to 95 becquerel per square metre. Deposition of cesium-137 in 6 prefectures was reported on 2 April ranging from 15 to 47 becquerel per square metre. Reported gamma dose rates in the 45 prefectures showed no significant changes compared to yesterday.

Most of the previously imposed recommendations for restrictions on drinking water have been lifted. As of 2 April, one recommendation for the restriction based on iodine-131 concentration was in place in one village in the Fukushima prefecture, which applied for infants only. Meanwhile, also in this village, the iodine-131 level in drinking water has dropped below 100 becquerel per litre, which is the recommended restriction level for intake by infants. The restriction is still in place as a precautionary measure of the local authority.

Currently, one IAEA monitoring team is working in the Fukushima region. On 2 April, measurements were made at 7 locations at distances of 32 to 62 km, North and Northwest to the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The dose rates ranged from 0.6 to 4.5 microsievert per hour. At the same locations, results of beta-gamma contamination measurements ranged from 0.09 to 0.46 megabecquerel per square metre.

View the original article here

Japan nuclear ‘suicide squads’ paid fortunes as ‘battle is lost for reactor 2′

Home » Asia, Disasters, Survival » Japan nuclear ‘suicide squads’ paid fortunes as ‘battle is lost for reactor 2'

Subcontractors are reportedly being offered up to £760 a day to brave high radiation levels.

Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being paid vast sums of money to brave high radiation levels – as experts warn that the race to save the facility has been lost.

Subcontractors are reportedly being offered up to 100,000 yen a day (£760) – 20 times the going rate – but some are still refusing the dangerous work.

Radiation levels are still extremely high at the plant, with water around the reactors emitting a highly dangerous 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

There are also fears that the plant is leaking more radiation as sea water around the plant was found to contain levels 3,335 higher than normal – almost three times higher than last week.

In a further development, an expert who helped design the plant said today that the race to prevent reactor number two melting down had been lost.

The plant’s operators also said today that the four reactors that suffered explosions will be shut down for good once they are under control – and could be sealed in special material to keep radiation in.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian that he believed nuclear fuel had melted and burned through the reactor floor in unit number two.

That would expose the core to the atmosphere, risking more serious radiation leaks.

He told the Guardian: ‘The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the dry well.

‘I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.’

The major worry is that the lava-like radioactive core will react with the concrete floor in Unit Two, sending radioactive gasses into the atmosphere.

Fortunately, though, the plant is flooded with seawater which will cool the material quicker than normal, reducing the amount of gas released.

Water is also causing problems for the plant workers. Now that power has been restored to pumping systems they can pump water into the stricken reactors, but the water coming out is highly radioactive and poses a risk to health.

According to the Independent newspaper, subcontractors have been offered the huge daily rates to take part in the containment efforts.

It comes as a team of American robots was dispatched to help efforts to keep the reactors under control without risking lives.The Energy Department robots will take pictures and measure radiation levels in areas where a human would not be sent.

Former worker Shingo Kanno said: ‘They know it’s dangerous so they have to pay up to 20 times what they usually do.’

The seasonal farmer and construction worker turned down offers of work. ‘My wife and family are against it because it’s so dangerous.’

There has been widespread speculation in Japan that the levels of radiation workers face could ultimately prove lethal.

A new evacuation zone is now being considered by the Tokyo Electric Power Company which could mean another 130,000 people have to evacuate.

Seawater outside the crippled nuclear power plant in north-eastern Japan was found to contain 3,335 times the usual amount of radioactive iodine – the highest rate yet and a sign that more contaminated water was making its way into the ocean, officials said today.

Readings on Friday found levels were 1,250 times higher than normal.

The amount of iodine-131 found offshore 300 yards south of the power plant did not pose an immediate threat to human health, but was a ‘concern’, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

He said there was no fishing in the area. ‘We will nail down the cause, and will do our utmost to prevent it from rising further,’ said Mr Nishiyama.

The power plant has been leaking radiation since the March 11 tsunami slammed into Japan’s north east, knocking out power and back-up systems crucial to keeping temperatures down inside the plant’s reactors.

Residents within 12 miles have been evacuated, while those up to 19 miles have been urged to leave as radiation has made its way into vegetables, raw milk and water. Last week tap water as far away as Tokyo, 140 miles to the south, contained levels of cancer-causing iodine-131 considered unsafe for infants.

Radiation from the Fukushima leak has been also detected across Britain this week. The Health Protection Agency revealed that radioactive iodine had already been discovered 5,500 miles from the stricken plant in Oxfordshire and Glasgow.

Experts said the levels were ‘minuscule’ and posed no health risk to Britons. However, its arrival highlights how far radioactive material can travel on the winds – and how vulnerable Britain would be if there was a serious release of radiation thousands of miles away.

The government acknowledged yesterday that its safeguards had been insufficient to protect the plant against the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

‘Our preparedness was not sufficient,’ chief Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said. ‘When the current crisis is over, we must examine the accident closely and thoroughly review’ the safety standards.

Highly toxic plutonium was the latest contaminant found seeping into the soil outside the plant, Tepco said. Safety officials said the amounts did not pose a risk to humans, but the finding supports suspicions that dangerously radioactive water is leaking from damaged nuclear fuel rods.

Workers succeeded last week in reconnecting some parts of the plant to the power grid. But as they pumped in water to cool the reactors and nuclear fuel, they discovered numerous pools of radioactive water, including in the basements of several buildings and in trenches outside.

The contaminated water has been emitting many times the amount of radiation that the government considers safe for workers. It must be pumped out before electricity can be restored and the regular cooling systems powered up.

That has left officials struggling with two crucial but contradictory efforts: pumping in water to keep the fuel rods cool and pumping out contaminated water.

Officials are hoping tanks at the complex will be able to hold the water, or that new tanks can be trucked in. The Nuclear Safety Commission said other possibilities included digging a storage pit for the contaminated water, recycling it back into the reactors or even pumping it to an offshore tanker.

Yesterday three workers trying to connect a pump outside the Unit 3 reactor were splashed by water that gushed from a pipe. Though they wore suits meant to be waterproof and protect against high levels of radiation, Mr Nishiyama said the men were soaked to their underwear.
They quickly washed it off and were not injured, officials said.

Last week, two workers were hospitalised with burns after they waded into highly radioactive water that reached their knees while wearing ankle-high protective boots. They have been treated and released.

Nikkei, Japan’s top business newspaper, called it ‘outrageous’ that Tepco had been slow to release information about trenches outside the reactors filled with contaminated water, one just a few inches (10cm) from overflowing.

Source

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View the original article here

Japanese officials consider cell transplants for nuclear workers

By Ian Sample

Frozen blood stem cells could save workers’ lives if they become ill after exposure to high levels of radiation

Workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant are taken to hospital under a blue sheet after they were exposed to high levels of radiation. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Japanese authorities are considering plans to collect and freeze cells from engineers and water cannon operators at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in case they are exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

The proposal has been drawn up as a precautionary measure that could potentially save the lives of workers if they receive high doses of radiation while battling to bring the damaged nuclear reactors under control.

High levels of radiation can cause serious illness and death from bone marrow failure, but the condition can be treated if patients are seen quickly enough and given transplants of blood stem cells collected before they are exposed.

The procedure requires workers to take a drug for several days that causes their bone marrow to release stem cells into the blood. They are then hooked up to a machine through which their blood is passed and filtered to extract the stem cells.

[more at guardian.co.uk...]

Bill Bard says:

Just so you know, it’ll be alright, nothing to worry about!!!

By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo

Workers who have been fighting to bring the reactors under control at Japan’s strick nuclear plant expect to die from radiation sickness, according to the mother of one of the men.

The so-called Fukushima 50, the group of around 300 technicians, soldiers and firemen who work in shifts of 50, have been exposed repeatedly to dangerously high radioactive levels as they attempt to avert a nuclear disaster.

The mother of one of the men has admitted that the group have discussed their situation and have accepted that death is a strong possibility.

“My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary in the long-term.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said the world needed international safety standards on nuclear power by the end of the year as fears surrounding the extent of radiation leaks in Japan continued to grow.

Mr Sarkozy, on the first trip by a foreign leader to Japan since the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, said he would call a meeting of the G20's nuclear power watchdogs to discuss safety regulations. “We must address this anomaly that there are no international safety norms for nuclear matters … We need international safety standards before the end of the year.”

[more at telegraph.co.uk...]

View the original article here

Japanese officials consider cell transplants for nuclear workers

By Ian Sample

Frozen blood stem cells could save workers’ lives if they become ill after exposure to high levels of radiation

Workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant are taken to hospital under a blue sheet after they were exposed to high levels of radiation. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Japanese authorities are considering plans to collect and freeze cells from engineers and water cannon operators at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in case they are exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

The proposal has been drawn up as a precautionary measure that could potentially save the lives of workers if they receive high doses of radiation while battling to bring the damaged nuclear reactors under control.

High levels of radiation can cause serious illness and death from bone marrow failure, but the condition can be treated if patients are seen quickly enough and given transplants of blood stem cells collected before they are exposed.

The procedure requires workers to take a drug for several days that causes their bone marrow to release stem cells into the blood. They are then hooked up to a machine through which their blood is passed and filtered to extract the stem cells.

[more at guardian.co.uk...]

Bill Bard says:

Just so you know, it’ll be alright, nothing to worry about!!!

By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo

Workers who have been fighting to bring the reactors under control at Japan’s strick nuclear plant expect to die from radiation sickness, according to the mother of one of the men.

The so-called Fukushima 50, the group of around 300 technicians, soldiers and firemen who work in shifts of 50, have been exposed repeatedly to dangerously high radioactive levels as they attempt to avert a nuclear disaster.

The mother of one of the men has admitted that the group have discussed their situation and have accepted that death is a strong possibility.

“My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary in the long-term.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said the world needed international safety standards on nuclear power by the end of the year as fears surrounding the extent of radiation leaks in Japan continued to grow.

Mr Sarkozy, on the first trip by a foreign leader to Japan since the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, said he would call a meeting of the G20's nuclear power watchdogs to discuss safety regulations. “We must address this anomaly that there are no international safety norms for nuclear matters … We need international safety standards before the end of the year.”

[more at telegraph.co.uk...]

View the original article here

The Truth About Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster

March of 2011 may end up setting records when it comes to devastating disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather and more. However, nothing really comes close to the two edged threat caused by the March 12, 2011 Earthquake which may be one of the most severe of all time. Rated at between 9.0 and 9.4, depending on who you listen to, the quake and subsequent aftershocks have caused 310 billion dollars in damage as of this writing, thousands of lives with over six thousand dead and seventeen thousand people still missing. It had also created a potential nuclear nightmare.

The first fruit of the earthquake was a huge tsunami which stretched from the orient, all the way to the west coast of the United States. America managed to avoid the kind of wholesale destruction seen in Japan. The Japanese are known for being prepared when it comes to such things as earthquakes, but this one caught them off guard. It was just too powerful and created the additional nightmare of a tsunami that came ashore with heights that ranged from thirty to eighty feet.

Earthquakes that happen under the sea often create the most damaging tsunami waves. Waves of that type can be thirty to eighty feet high when they hit shorelines. The speed and power of the tsunami wave is irresistible and devastating to anyone and anything in its path. Ships, land vehicles, buildings and people are often tossed about like tiny toys in a bathtub. Even the natural shape of the land can be altered by the power of this phenomenon. In the aftermath of the huge waves, the receding water can easily draw people and things out into the ocean.

Residents of towns along the Japanese coast had little time to prepare for what would become record-setting wave heights that worked their way inland, past areas thought to be tsunami safe. One wave that was twenty-three feet high raced ashore at the speed of a jumbo jet and managed to get six miles inland before it began to recede. People, vehicles and buildings of all sizes were laid waste by the giant waves. Nothing could stand up before this huge force of nature and survive.

Along with power outages, lack of clean water supplies, food shortages and thousands of dead bodies washing up on to the beaches of the Japanese coast, came the sudden possibility of a nuclear disaster. Several reactors and containment buildings for their spent fuel were damaged in the earthquake. Despite valiant efforts on the part of employees at several nuclear power generating sites, the threat looms worse than ever. Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has become increasingly somber and pessimistic as he has addressed the Japanese People and the world.

The most frustrating thing for the average American is the inability of our national news media to speak the truth concerning the extent of the nuclear problem now facing Japan and the world. It's almost as if it either doesn't exist, or will never reach the shores of the Americas. Even religious leaders and broadcasters seem to be ignoring the nuclear situation. Most of them are more focused on using the earthquake and tsunami as fundraising tools for their individual programs and worldwide ministries.

Several days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, one national religious broadcaster was in the midst of an annual fundraising effort. Although they run a text graphic at the bottom of the screen asking people to pray for the Japanese, they did not mention the twin disasters during their live show and made no mention whatsoever of the nuclear threat posed by the power plants that were damaged. Instead, the preacher in charge asked people to send him ten dollars for a new internet ministry to receive financial blessings. If you didn't have the ten dollars, he suggested that folks go to their neighbors, borrow the money and send it off to him.

It's time for people to understand what is really happening in Japan. Within forty-eight hours of the earthquake, a spokesperson for the Union of Concerned Scientists appeared on The Today Show and stated that the area around the Fukishima facility was registering one million times above normal trace radiation levels. As of this writing, that same area is now said to have radiation levels ten thousand times above safe limits. The sea water around the Fukishima reactors has become highly contaminated with levels now over 1000 times normal.

More frightening than the current situation is the possibility that radiation from one or more nuclear reactors in Japan has been leaking into the world's natural environment for over a year. Several scientists have pointed out that the reactors have not been properly inspected for over ten years. They also say that previous earthquakes and tremors in Japan may have caused damage that was not detected and might explain the enigmatic deaths of fish and birds throughout the world during the last several years.

On March 9, 2011 over one million dead sardines clogged a marina in Redondo Beach, California. The cause of death remains unknown, but many were said to have had high levels of radiation in them. So much so that many could not be used for fertilizer as originally planned. Several fishing vessels within a thousand miles of Japan have reported pulling up nets full of dead fish within weeks of the earthquake. These fish also showed higher then normal levels of radiation when tested.

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland during the early months of 2011. Since December of 2010, 100 tons of fish have washed ashore near Paran?, Paranagu?, and other coastal towns in Brazil. New Zealand reported that hundreds of dead snapper fish washed onto the beaches of Coromandel on the North Island. Not all of these odd occurrences may be related to some unknown or unreported release of radioactive materials, but I cannot recall a time when so many unexplained events of this type have happened so often throughout the world.

In early January over five thousand blackbirds and starlings fell out of the sky and were already dead when they hit the ground in Arkansas. Five hundred birds fell dead out of the sky in Louisiana less than a month later. In all, the U.S. Geological Survey has reported that at least ninety mass deaths of birds and other wildlife occurred between June and December of 2010. None have been explained to the satisfaction of scientists and most wildlife preservation societies; a few have involved over one thousand birds inexplicably dropping out of the sky dead.

It's upsetting to watch news and weather professionals basically lie to people about the potential danger to the United States and other nations posed by the Japanese nuclear disaster. They keep saying that any radiation carried to other areas by seawater currents will be completely dispersed, but is that really true? If loads of dead fish are being pulled up in nets by fishing boats within one thousand miles of Japan and reports now indicate that one or more reactors may have been leaking for a over a year or more, can we not assume that at least some of the damage is already done?

As of this writing, on March 27, 2011, Japanese officials report that several pools of radioactive water now exist in containment and/or nuclear reactor buildings that are ten million times above normal. How long can this kind of contamination be contained? That is especially true when you consider the fact that the people trying to solve the problem have admitted that they really do not know how bad the leak is or even if that is the problem in the first place. We must remember that certain types of radiation exposure tend to create damage on humans and animals from the inside out.

Let's take a look at the situation from a scientific, Biblical and prophetic standpoint:

As early as March 12, 2012, newspapers and broadcasters were making statements like "It's not good" about the nuclear disaster in Japan. The reactors in question are forty years old and have not been inspected properly for some ten years. The record-setting Earthquake in Japan may have merely added to a problem or leak that already existed. At least five reactors now have problems or are in danger of a core meltdown.

Just in the past few days, sometime around March 24,2011, three workers from one plant were admitted to the hospital after they were exposed to a pool of contaminated water that may have contained radioactivity that was a million times above the normal levels. The workers were shielded by a large tarp to keep from public from seeing what has happened to them. It's possibly and probably burned by exposure to radiation. It appears that the news media and their carefully chosen expert spokespeople are simply ignoring the reality of radiation science and making things up as they go along, attempting to quell panic among their readers, listeners and viewers.

The worst offenders are the people that claim to speak for the Lord. They stand in their pulpits and remain silent about the threat and the fact that Bible Prophecy is coming true while we watch. God has warned people about ignoring Him and disobeying His Will. For example, the Bible says in Psalm 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." There are many people in many nations that believe that God is merely a concept; that his Word is a book of fairy tales; that his prophecy and judgments are merely made up stories designed to frighten people. But, guess again!

During the past year we have witnessed a number of disasters and odd events that have been predicted in the Word of God. These include numerous and powerful earthquakes, devastating floods, pestilences, strange and unidentified objects seen in the skies all over the world, wars, conflicts, rebellions, the shrinking and then enlargement of the moon, famines and much more.

ON THE EARTH: According to the U.S. Geological Society, there have been over 50 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from three all the way to the 9.0-9.4 (depending on which expert you listen to) earthquake in Japan from January of 2010 to March of 2011. Record cold weather has destroyed or delayed crops in many U.S. States. A new type of citrus pest is killing orange trees and citrus cops in the southeast and also threatens the southwest. Hoards of up to a million wild boars are roaming the Southern and a few Midwestern U.S. States. They destroy crops, damage property and are difficult to kill.

IN THE SKIES: Last year scientists told us that the Moon was shrinking; now they say it's growing larger. A huge object appeared over North and South American and moved slowly across the sky. It was photographed and filmed by thousands of people. Scientists were unable to identify this object which did not appear to be a meteor or easily recognizable astronomical object. It did not break apart and may have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The following Bible verses give us a preview of things to come as God's Judgment plays out on the Earth:

Matthew 24:3-8: "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Luke 21:5-11: And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

Isaiah 34:4: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree."

Ezekiel 22: 25-31: There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 14:12: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

It's important for people to understand that the world will probably not end tomorrow, but the events that are unfolding worldwide are certainly a sign that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. God's patience is running out and it's time for people to examine their lives and their relationship with the Creator of our world! Do not be fooled by the happy talk of news media pundits and preachers sold out to the idea that having people support their lavish lifestyles is more important than telling the truth as it's revealed in God's Word.

For more information and TRUTH from the Word of God, please visit the God's House of Worship website at http://pastorbenjohn.tripod.com

The Truth About Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster

March of 2011 may end up setting records when it comes to devastating disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather and more. However, nothing really comes close to the two edged threat caused by the March 12, 2011 Earthquake which may be one of the most severe of all time. Rated at between 9.0 and 9.4, depending on who you listen to, the quake and subsequent aftershocks have caused 310 billion dollars in damage as of this writing, thousands of lives with over six thousand dead and seventeen thousand people still missing. It had also created a potential nuclear nightmare.

The first fruit of the earthquake was a huge tsunami which stretched from the orient, all the way to the west coast of the United States. America managed to avoid the kind of wholesale destruction seen in Japan. The Japanese are known for being prepared when it comes to such things as earthquakes, but this one caught them off guard. It was just too powerful and created the additional nightmare of a tsunami that came ashore with heights that ranged from thirty to eighty feet.

Earthquakes that happen under the sea often create the most damaging tsunami waves. Waves of that type can be thirty to eighty feet high when they hit shorelines. The speed and power of the tsunami wave is irresistible and devastating to anyone and anything in its path. Ships, land vehicles, buildings and people are often tossed about like tiny toys in a bathtub. Even the natural shape of the land can be altered by the power of this phenomenon. In the aftermath of the huge waves, the receding water can easily draw people and things out into the ocean.

Residents of towns along the Japanese coast had little time to prepare for what would become record-setting wave heights that worked their way inland, past areas thought to be tsunami safe. One wave that was twenty-three feet high raced ashore at the speed of a jumbo jet and managed to get six miles inland before it began to recede. People, vehicles and buildings of all sizes were laid waste by the giant waves. Nothing could stand up before this huge force of nature and survive.

Along with power outages, lack of clean water supplies, food shortages and thousands of dead bodies washing up on to the beaches of the Japanese coast, came the sudden possibility of a nuclear disaster. Several reactors and containment buildings for their spent fuel were damaged in the earthquake. Despite valiant efforts on the part of employees at several nuclear power generating sites, the threat looms worse than ever. Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has become increasingly somber and pessimistic as he has addressed the Japanese People and the world.

The most frustrating thing for the average American is the inability of our national news media to speak the truth concerning the extent of the nuclear problem now facing Japan and the world. It's almost as if it either doesn't exist, or will never reach the shores of the Americas. Even religious leaders and broadcasters seem to be ignoring the nuclear situation. Most of them are more focused on using the earthquake and tsunami as fundraising tools for their individual programs and worldwide ministries.

Several days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, one national religious broadcaster was in the midst of an annual fundraising effort. Although they run a text graphic at the bottom of the screen asking people to pray for the Japanese, they did not mention the twin disasters during their live show and made no mention whatsoever of the nuclear threat posed by the power plants that were damaged. Instead, the preacher in charge asked people to send him ten dollars for a new internet ministry to receive financial blessings. If you didn't have the ten dollars, he suggested that folks go to their neighbors, borrow the money and send it off to him.

It's time for people to understand what is really happening in Japan. Within forty-eight hours of the earthquake, a spokesperson for the Union of Concerned Scientists appeared on The Today Show and stated that the area around the Fukishima facility was registering one million times above normal trace radiation levels. As of this writing, that same area is now said to have radiation levels ten thousand times above safe limits. The sea water around the Fukishima reactors has become highly contaminated with levels now over 1000 times normal.

More frightening than the current situation is the possibility that radiation from one or more nuclear reactors in Japan has been leaking into the world's natural environment for over a year. Several scientists have pointed out that the reactors have not been properly inspected for over ten years. They also say that previous earthquakes and tremors in Japan may have caused damage that was not detected and might explain the enigmatic deaths of fish and birds throughout the world during the last several years.

On March 9, 2011 over one million dead sardines clogged a marina in Redondo Beach, California. The cause of death remains unknown, but many were said to have had high levels of radiation in them. So much so that many could not be used for fertilizer as originally planned. Several fishing vessels within a thousand miles of Japan have reported pulling up nets full of dead fish within weeks of the earthquake. These fish also showed higher then normal levels of radiation when tested.

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland during the early months of 2011. Since December of 2010, 100 tons of fish have washed ashore near Paran?, Paranagu?, and other coastal towns in Brazil. New Zealand reported that hundreds of dead snapper fish washed onto the beaches of Coromandel on the North Island. Not all of these odd occurrences may be related to some unknown or unreported release of radioactive materials, but I cannot recall a time when so many unexplained events of this type have happened so often throughout the world.

In early January over five thousand blackbirds and starlings fell out of the sky and were already dead when they hit the ground in Arkansas. Five hundred birds fell dead out of the sky in Louisiana less than a month later. In all, the U.S. Geological Survey has reported that at least ninety mass deaths of birds and other wildlife occurred between June and December of 2010. None have been explained to the satisfaction of scientists and most wildlife preservation societies; a few have involved over one thousand birds inexplicably dropping out of the sky dead.

It's upsetting to watch news and weather professionals basically lie to people about the potential danger to the United States and other nations posed by the Japanese nuclear disaster. They keep saying that any radiation carried to other areas by seawater currents will be completely dispersed, but is that really true? If loads of dead fish are being pulled up in nets by fishing boats within one thousand miles of Japan and reports now indicate that one or more reactors may have been leaking for a over a year or more, can we not assume that at least some of the damage is already done?

As of this writing, on March 27, 2011, Japanese officials report that several pools of radioactive water now exist in containment and/or nuclear reactor buildings that are ten million times above normal. How long can this kind of contamination be contained? That is especially true when you consider the fact that the people trying to solve the problem have admitted that they really do not know how bad the leak is or even if that is the problem in the first place. We must remember that certain types of radiation exposure tend to create damage on humans and animals from the inside out.

Let's take a look at the situation from a scientific, Biblical and prophetic standpoint:

As early as March 12, 2012, newspapers and broadcasters were making statements like "It's not good" about the nuclear disaster in Japan. The reactors in question are forty years old and have not been inspected properly for some ten years. The record-setting Earthquake in Japan may have merely added to a problem or leak that already existed. At least five reactors now have problems or are in danger of a core meltdown.

Just in the past few days, sometime around March 24,2011, three workers from one plant were admitted to the hospital after they were exposed to a pool of contaminated water that may have contained radioactivity that was a million times above the normal levels. The workers were shielded by a large tarp to keep from public from seeing what has happened to them. It's possibly and probably burned by exposure to radiation. It appears that the news media and their carefully chosen expert spokespeople are simply ignoring the reality of radiation science and making things up as they go along, attempting to quell panic among their readers, listeners and viewers.

The worst offenders are the people that claim to speak for the Lord. They stand in their pulpits and remain silent about the threat and the fact that Bible Prophecy is coming true while we watch. God has warned people about ignoring Him and disobeying His Will. For example, the Bible says in Psalm 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." There are many people in many nations that believe that God is merely a concept; that his Word is a book of fairy tales; that his prophecy and judgments are merely made up stories designed to frighten people. But, guess again!

During the past year we have witnessed a number of disasters and odd events that have been predicted in the Word of God. These include numerous and powerful earthquakes, devastating floods, pestilences, strange and unidentified objects seen in the skies all over the world, wars, conflicts, rebellions, the shrinking and then enlargement of the moon, famines and much more.

ON THE EARTH: According to the U.S. Geological Society, there have been over 50 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from three all the way to the 9.0-9.4 (depending on which expert you listen to) earthquake in Japan from January of 2010 to March of 2011. Record cold weather has destroyed or delayed crops in many U.S. States. A new type of citrus pest is killing orange trees and citrus cops in the southeast and also threatens the southwest. Hoards of up to a million wild boars are roaming the Southern and a few Midwestern U.S. States. They destroy crops, damage property and are difficult to kill.

IN THE SKIES: Last year scientists told us that the Moon was shrinking; now they say it's growing larger. A huge object appeared over North and South American and moved slowly across the sky. It was photographed and filmed by thousands of people. Scientists were unable to identify this object which did not appear to be a meteor or easily recognizable astronomical object. It did not break apart and may have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The following Bible verses give us a preview of things to come as God's Judgment plays out on the Earth:

Matthew 24:3-8: "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Luke 21:5-11: And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

Isaiah 34:4: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree."

Ezekiel 22: 25-31: There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 14:12: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

It's important for people to understand that the world will probably not end tomorrow, but the events that are unfolding worldwide are certainly a sign that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. God's patience is running out and it's time for people to examine their lives and their relationship with the Creator of our world! Do not be fooled by the happy talk of news media pundits and preachers sold out to the idea that having people support their lavish lifestyles is more important than telling the truth as it's revealed in God's Word.

For more information and TRUTH from the Word of God, please visit the God's House of Worship website at http://pastorbenjohn.tripod.com

A First Person's Narrative 'I Was Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant When The Quake Hit'

The BBC has released a dramatic recollection of events at ground zero when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. The source is an unnamed maintenance worker who witnessed and experienced events in real time. Below is his story.

When the massive earthquake occurred it was a little before three o'clock in the afternoon.

The 31-year-old, who runs a turbine maintenance company subcontracted to work at the plant, was doing a regular check-up of the turbine in the No 5 reactor when the quake hit.

"Heavy machinery, cranes were shaking above our heads. After about three minutes all the electricity went out," he told the BBC World Service.

"The shaking went on for about five minutes, and it was very strong.

"I shouted out my colleagues' names and used a torch to try and check that everyone was okay."

The earth started shaking again and they all ran outside.

When it was confirmed that everyone was safe, workers were given permission to go back home to their families.

He got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could.

"I knew there was a tsunami coming," he said. "I saw the warning on the TV in my car, about 20 minutes after the first quake."

However, he said, the scale of it was totally unexpected.

"Although the shaking was very strong, I did not predict the scale of the tsunami, I didn't imagine the power station would be damaged in the way it was."

The man says workers were well aware that the plant, commissioned in the 1970s, was relatively old.

"But even knowing that I did not think the plant would fall into a situation like this.

"If it was only the quake, I think the situation would not so bad. But because of the tsunami, things like the emergency switches were destroyed."

Once he realised that the nuclear plant had been damaged, the worker says his first priority was to warn his family and friends.

"I knew that radiation affected people's health badly, and as soon as I knew that the radiation was leaking, I told my family and friends to escape immediately, as far away as possible," he said.

But, he said, he would go back to work at the plant if he could.

"If it was possible, I would go back and work there. But we cannot do anything. The people working at the site now are expert workers from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)," he said.

"We want to go back and help the people working to manage the situation, to stop it getting worse. We cannot go back no matter how much we want to. It's frustrating, but we just cannot help them."

Highly polluted

He says he is aware there are health risks for those working inside the plant.

"The situation is changing day by day. If they asked me to go back now, I realise there is a degree of risk."

The worker says although he is prepared to go back inside the plant, he would not let his employees work there.

"I am a boss of a company, and I cannot send in my workers knowing that the site is highly polluted."

Despite the disaster unfolding at the plant, he says he doesn't blame Tepco, the company that runs it.

"Although the situation is not good, they are working really hard to minimise the damage. It's nobody's fault, it's not Tepco's fault. They are doing their best to minimise the damage."

Although he is currently staying with friends in Chiba prefecture, well beyond the current 20km exclusion zone, his house is only 3km from the reactor.

He says he wants to go back home.

"If possible I want to go back. There are a lot of memories there. I guess it's a common feeling for all people, to feel sad when you cannot go back to the home where you grew up.

"I think if this disaster happened in another country, people would feel the same as we do."

View the original article here

A First Person's Narrative 'I Was Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant When The Quake Hit'

The BBC has released a dramatic recollection of events at ground zero when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. The source is an unnamed maintenance worker who witnessed and experienced events in real time. Below is his story.

When the massive earthquake occurred it was a little before three o'clock in the afternoon.

The 31-year-old, who runs a turbine maintenance company subcontracted to work at the plant, was doing a regular check-up of the turbine in the No 5 reactor when the quake hit.

"Heavy machinery, cranes were shaking above our heads. After about three minutes all the electricity went out," he told the BBC World Service.

"The shaking went on for about five minutes, and it was very strong.

"I shouted out my colleagues' names and used a torch to try and check that everyone was okay."

The earth started shaking again and they all ran outside.

When it was confirmed that everyone was safe, workers were given permission to go back home to their families.

He got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could.

"I knew there was a tsunami coming," he said. "I saw the warning on the TV in my car, about 20 minutes after the first quake."

However, he said, the scale of it was totally unexpected.

"Although the shaking was very strong, I did not predict the scale of the tsunami, I didn't imagine the power station would be damaged in the way it was."

The man says workers were well aware that the plant, commissioned in the 1970s, was relatively old.

"But even knowing that I did not think the plant would fall into a situation like this.

"If it was only the quake, I think the situation would not so bad. But because of the tsunami, things like the emergency switches were destroyed."

Once he realised that the nuclear plant had been damaged, the worker says his first priority was to warn his family and friends.

"I knew that radiation affected people's health badly, and as soon as I knew that the radiation was leaking, I told my family and friends to escape immediately, as far away as possible," he said.

But, he said, he would go back to work at the plant if he could.

"If it was possible, I would go back and work there. But we cannot do anything. The people working at the site now are expert workers from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)," he said.

"We want to go back and help the people working to manage the situation, to stop it getting worse. We cannot go back no matter how much we want to. It's frustrating, but we just cannot help them."

Highly polluted

He says he is aware there are health risks for those working inside the plant.

"The situation is changing day by day. If they asked me to go back now, I realise there is a degree of risk."

The worker says although he is prepared to go back inside the plant, he would not let his employees work there.

"I am a boss of a company, and I cannot send in my workers knowing that the site is highly polluted."

Despite the disaster unfolding at the plant, he says he doesn't blame Tepco, the company that runs it.

"Although the situation is not good, they are working really hard to minimise the damage. It's nobody's fault, it's not Tepco's fault. They are doing their best to minimise the damage."

Although he is currently staying with friends in Chiba prefecture, well beyond the current 20km exclusion zone, his house is only 3km from the reactor.

He says he wants to go back home.

"If possible I want to go back. There are a lot of memories there. I guess it's a common feeling for all people, to feel sad when you cannot go back to the home where you grew up.

"I think if this disaster happened in another country, people would feel the same as we do."

View the original article here

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami And Nuclear Crisis Facts and Figures

The latest update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

Casualties: 27,600 dead or missing

As of the 30 March, the official death toll from the 11 March  earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast  coast of Japan now stands at 11,257. Another 16,344  people remain missing.

Displacement

There are now 173,200 people  living in more than 2,000 evacuation centres  in 17  prefectures mostly in the north of Japan.  In the three worst  affected prefectures, Miyagi, Iwate and  Fukushima,  146,628 evacuees are living in some 1,245 evacuation centres.

Transportation Infrastructure:

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reports that more than 90 per cent of the Tohoku region’s main land, sea and air routes  are  open.  More than 37,200 vehicles are now passing through the Tohoku  Expressway per day, which is 1.3 times more traffic than before the disaster struck. All 15 ports and most  airports are now open. Railway lines are still under repair. Express buses are carrying 4,400 people per day  into and out of the region which is more than twice as many passengers than before the disaster. However,  roads in the affected cities and towns  are  still damaged or blocked with debris and this is  hampering the  delivery of aid  to  the many  smaller evacuation centres. Relief items are  being  delivered on foot in some  places.

Electricity:

An estimated 190,000 households (492,000 people) remain without electricity. Another 330,000 households  (936,000 people) are without gas supplies. Water availability has improved by about 25 per cent in the last  few days. Currently, 372,000 households (913,000 people) are still without water in nine prefecture.

Nuclear Crisis:

Radioactive water found in and outside reactor buildings is delaying work to restore cooling functions of the  Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reached a  much higher level of radiation than previously reported. New readings from a sample of sea water found  radioactive iodine at 3,355 times the legal limit. Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency says this does not pose a  health risk. The Government says it is  expected to take a considerable amount of time before the  temperatures of fuel rods in the reactor cores at the power station are lowered to a stable state. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains very  serious. A Joint FAO/IAEA Food Safety Assessment Team met with local government authorities in Ibaraki  Prefecture on Monday who  briefed the  team  on the extent of contamination in Ibaraki, the principle  agricultural products affected, the main production areas and production methods and levels of  contamination found. The FAO/IAEA  team also meet with the local authorities in Tochigi  Prefecture  yesterday, and will meet with local government officials in Gunma today.

U.S. Military Response:

Since Operation Tomodachi started US Military forces have delivered more than 185 tons of food, 3,638,184 gallons of water and 17,836 gallons of fuel, in support of Japan Self Defense Force efforts.  Currently, 19 ships, 133 aircraft and 18,165 personnel of the 7th Fleet are operating in support of the Operation to assist Japan.  Since Operation Tomodachi started, U.S. 7th Fleet forces have delivered more than 240 tons of  humanitarian assistance supplies to tsunami and earthquake areas.

View the original article here

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami And Nuclear Crisis Facts and Figures

The latest update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

Casualties: 27,600 dead or missing

As of the 30 March, the official death toll from the 11 March  earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast  coast of Japan now stands at 11,257. Another 16,344  people remain missing.

Displacement

There are now 173,200 people  living in more than 2,000 evacuation centres  in 17  prefectures mostly in the north of Japan.  In the three worst  affected prefectures, Miyagi, Iwate and  Fukushima,  146,628 evacuees are living in some 1,245 evacuation centres.

Transportation Infrastructure:

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reports that more than 90 per cent of the Tohoku region’s main land, sea and air routes  are  open.  More than 37,200 vehicles are now passing through the Tohoku  Expressway per day, which is 1.3 times more traffic than before the disaster struck. All 15 ports and most  airports are now open. Railway lines are still under repair. Express buses are carrying 4,400 people per day  into and out of the region which is more than twice as many passengers than before the disaster. However,  roads in the affected cities and towns  are  still damaged or blocked with debris and this is  hampering the  delivery of aid  to  the many  smaller evacuation centres. Relief items are  being  delivered on foot in some  places.

Electricity:

An estimated 190,000 households (492,000 people) remain without electricity. Another 330,000 households  (936,000 people) are without gas supplies. Water availability has improved by about 25 per cent in the last  few days. Currently, 372,000 households (913,000 people) are still without water in nine prefecture.

Nuclear Crisis:

Radioactive water found in and outside reactor buildings is delaying work to restore cooling functions of the  Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reached a  much higher level of radiation than previously reported. New readings from a sample of sea water found  radioactive iodine at 3,355 times the legal limit. Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency says this does not pose a  health risk. The Government says it is  expected to take a considerable amount of time before the  temperatures of fuel rods in the reactor cores at the power station are lowered to a stable state. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains very  serious. A Joint FAO/IAEA Food Safety Assessment Team met with local government authorities in Ibaraki  Prefecture on Monday who  briefed the  team  on the extent of contamination in Ibaraki, the principle  agricultural products affected, the main production areas and production methods and levels of  contamination found. The FAO/IAEA  team also meet with the local authorities in Tochigi  Prefecture  yesterday, and will meet with local government officials in Gunma today.

U.S. Military Response:

Since Operation Tomodachi started US Military forces have delivered more than 185 tons of food, 3,638,184 gallons of water and 17,836 gallons of fuel, in support of Japan Self Defense Force efforts.  Currently, 19 ships, 133 aircraft and 18,165 personnel of the 7th Fleet are operating in support of the Operation to assist Japan.  Since Operation Tomodachi started, U.S. 7th Fleet forces have delivered more than 240 tons of  humanitarian assistance supplies to tsunami and earthquake areas.

View the original article here

America’s Planned Nuclear Attack on Libya

A war on Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than 20 years.

On April 14th 1986, Ronald Reagan ordered a series of bombings directed against Libya under “Operation El Dorado Canyon”, in reprisal for an alleged Libya sponsored terrorist bombing of a Berlin discotheque. The pretext was fabricated. During these air raids, which were condemned by both France and Italy, Qadhafi’s residence was bombed killing his younger daughter.

Barely acknowledged by the Western media, a planned attack on Libya using nuclear weapons, had been contemplated by the Clinton Administration in 1997, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. 

The Department of Defense had developed a new generation of bunker buster tactical nuclear weapons for use in the Middle East and Central Asia: 

“Military officials and leaders of America’s nuclear weapon laboratories [had] urged the US to develop a new generation of precision low-yield nuclear weapons… which could be used in conventional conflicts with third-world nations.” (Federation of American Scientists, 2001, emphasis added)

The B61-11 earth-penetrating weapon with a nuclear warhead had not been tested. It was part of the B61 series, coupled with a so-called “low yield” nuclear warhead. According to US military sources: “If used in North Korea, the radioactive fallout [of the B61-11] could drift over nearby countries such as Japan.” (B61-11 Earth-Penetrating Weapon, Globalsecurity.org). The B61-11 earth-penetrating version of the B61 was configured initially to have a “low” 10 kiloton yield, 66.6 percent of a Hiroshima bomb, for post-Cold War battlefield operations in the Middle East and Central Asia. 

The Pentagon’s Plan to Nuke Libya

The B61-11 tactical nuclear weapon was slated by the Pentagon to be used in 1997 against the “Qadhafi regime”:

“Senior Pentagon officials ignited controversy last April [1997] by suggesting that the earth-penetrating [nuclear] weapon would soon be available for possible use against a suspected underground chemical factory being built by Libya at Tarhunah. This thinly-veiled threat came just eleven days after the United States signed the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty, designed to prohibit signatories from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against any other signatory, including Libya.” (David Muller, Penetrator N-Bombs, International Action Center, 1997)

Tarbunah has a population of more than 200,000 people, men, women and children. It is about 60 km East of Tripoli. Had this “humanitarian bomb” (with a ”yield” or explosive capacity of two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb) been launched on this “suspected” WMD facility, it would have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, not to mention the nuclear fallout…

The man behind this diabolical project to nuke Libya was Assistant Secretary of Defense Harold Palmer Smith Junior. “Even before the B61 came on line, Libya was identified as a potential target”. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – September/ October 1997, p. 27, emphasis added)

Harold Palmer Smith had been appointed by President Bill Clinton to oversee nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs with a focus on “the reduction and maintenance of the US arsenal of nuclear weapons”. From the outset, his actual mandate, was not “reduce” but to “increase” the nuclear arsenal by promoting the development of a new generation of “harmless” mini-nukes for use in the Middle East war theater.

Harold Palmer Smith Junior

“Testing” the B611-11 Nuclear Bomb on an Actual Country

The Department of Defense’s objective under Harold Smith’s advice was to fasttrack the “testing” of  the B61-11 nuclear bomb on an actual country:

Five months after [Assistant Defense Secretary] Harold Smith called for an acceleration of the B61-11 production schedule, he went public with an assertion that the Air Force would use the B61-11 [nuclear weapon] against Libya’s alleged underground chemical weapons plant at Tarhunah if the President decided that the plant had to be destroyed. “We could not take [Tarhunah] out of commission using strictly conventional weapons,” Smith told the Associated Press. The B61-11 “would be the nuclear weapon of choice,” he told Jane’s Defence Weekly.

Smith gave the statement during a breakfast interview with reporters after Defense Secretary William Perry had earlier told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on chemical or biological weapons that the U.S. retained the option of using nuclear weapons against countries armed with chemical and biological weapons. (http://www.nukestrat.com/us/afn/B61-11.htm, emphasis added)

While the Pentagon later denied its intention to bomb Libya’s Tarhunah plant, it nonetheless confirmed that “Washington would not rule out using nuclear weapons [against Libya]“. (Ibid., emphasis added.)

Nukes and Mini-Nukes: Iraq and Afghanistan

The US military contend that “mini-nukes” are “humanitarian bombs” which minimize “collateral damage”. According to scientific opinion on contract to the Pentagon, they are  “harmless to the surrounding civilian population because the explosion is underground”,

The B61-11 is a bon fide thermonuclear bomb, a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the real sense of the word.  

Military documents distinguish between the  Nuclear Earth Penetrator (NEP) and the “mini-nuke”, which are nuclear weapons with a yield of less than 10 kilotons (two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb). The NEP can have a yield of up to a 1000 kilotons, or seventy times a Hiroshima bomb.

This distinction between mini-nukes and  the NEP is in many regards misleading. In practice there is no dividing line. We are broadly dealing with the same type of weaponry: the B61-11 has several “available yields”, ranging from “low yields” of less than one kiloton, to mid-range, and up to the 1000 kiloton bomb.

In all cases, the radioactive fallout is devastating. Moreover, the B61 series of thermonuclear weapons includes several models with distinct specifications: the B61-11, the B61-3, B61- 4, B61-7 and B61-10. Each of these bombs has several “available yields”.

What is contemplated for theater use is the “low yield” 10 kt bomb, two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb.

The Libya 1997 “Nuclear Option” had set the Stage…

Neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations have excluded using thermonuclear bunker buster bombs in the Middle East war theater. These weapons were specifically developed for use in post Cold War “conventional conflicts with third world nations”.  They were approved for use in the conventional war theater by the US Senate in 2002, following the adoption of the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review.

In October 2001, in the immediate wake of 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld envisaged the use of the B61-11 in Afghanistan. The stated targets were Al Qaeda cave bunkers in the Tora Bora mountains.

Rumsfeld stated at the time that while the “conventional” bunker buster bombs “‘are going to be able to do the job’… he did not rule out the eventual use of nuclear weapons.” (Quoted in the Houston Chronicle, 20 October 2001, emphasis added.)

The use of the B61-11 was also contemplated during the 2003 bombing and invasion of Iraq. In this regard, the B61-11 was described as “a precise, earth-penetrating low-yield nuclear weapon against high-value underground targets”, which included Saddam Hussein’s underground bunkers:

“If Saddam was arguably the highest value target in Iraq, then a good case could be made for using a nuclear weapon like the B61-11 to assure killing him and decapitating the regime.” (Defense News, December 8, 2003, emphasis added) 

“All options are on the table”… Sheer madness. Nukes to implement “regime change”… What Rumsfeld had proposed, as part of a “humanitarian mandate”, was the use of a nuclear bomb to “take out” the president of a foreign country. 

(author’s note: There is no documentary evidence that the B61-11 was used against Iraq).

Is a Nuclear Attack on Libya Still on the Pentagon’s Drawing Board?

“The Coalition of the Willing” under US-NATO mandate is currently involved in “a humanitarian war” on Libya to “protect the lives of innocent civilians”. 

Is the use of a nuclear bomb excluded under the alliances R2P Responsibility to Protect Doctrine? 

The Bush administration’s 2001 nuclear doctrine contained specific “guidelines” regarding “preemptive” nuclear strikes against several countries in the broader Middle East Central Asian region, which explictly included Libya.

As revealed by William Arkin in early 2002, “The Bush administration, in a secret policy review… [had] ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons [The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review approved by the Senate in late 2002] against at least seven countries, naming not only Russia and the “axis of evil”–Iraq, Iran, and North Korea–but also China, Libya and Syria. (See William Arkin, “Thinking the Unthinkable”, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2002) 

In addition, the U.S. Defense Department has been told to prepare for the possibility that nuclear weapons may be required in some future Arab-Israeli crisis. And, it is to develop plans for using nuclear weapons to retaliate against chemical or biological attacks, as well as “surprising military developments” of an unspecified nature. These and a host of other directives, including calls for developing bunker-busting mini-nukes and nuclear weapons that reduce collateral damage, are contained in a still-classified document called the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was delivered to Congress on Jan. 8. (ibid)

The preemptive nuclear doctrine (DJNO) –endorsed by the Obama Administration– allows for the preemptive use of thermonuclear weapons in conventional war theaters directed against “rogue states”. While the “guidelines” do not exclude other (more deadly) categories of nukes in the US /NATO nuclear arsenal, Pentagon “scenarios” in the Middle East and North Africa are currently limited to the use of tactical nuclear weapons including the B61-11 bunker buster bomb. 

The fact that Libya had been singled out by the Pentagon for a possible 1997 mini-nuke “trial run” was a significant element in the formulation of the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

It is worth noting that tactical B61 nuclear weapons have also been deployed by America’s NATO partners: five European “non-nuclear states”, including Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy, which are directly participating in the Libya bombing campaign, have B61 mini-nukes stockpiled and deployed under national command in their respective military bases. (Michel Chossudovsky, Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States“, February 10, 2010) 

These European-based mini-nukes are earmarked for targets in the Middle East. While Libya is not mentioned, according to “NATO strike plans”, the European-based thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs could be launched “against targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran” (quoted in National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe, February 2005).  

In the context of the ongoing war against Libya, “all options are on the table”, including the preemptive nuclear option, as part of a “humanitarian mandate” to protect the lives of innocent civilians.

In 2007, a Secret 2003 STRATCOM Plan was revealed, which confirmed Washington’s resolve to wage preemptive nuclear attacks against Iran, Syria and Libya. While the concepts and assumptions of this document were derived from the 2001 NPR, the Plan formulated by Strategic Command headquarters (USSTRATCOM) focused concretely on issues of implementation.

The use of  nuclear weapons including the B61-11 against Libya in the course of the current military campaign, as formulated in the 2001 NPR cannot, therefore, be ruled out.

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America’s Planned Nuclear Attack on Libya

A war on Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than 20 years.

On April 14th 1986, Ronald Reagan ordered a series of bombings directed against Libya under “Operation El Dorado Canyon”, in reprisal for an alleged Libya sponsored terrorist bombing of a Berlin discotheque. The pretext was fabricated. During these air raids, which were condemned by both France and Italy, Qadhafi’s residence was bombed killing his younger daughter.

Barely acknowledged by the Western media, a planned attack on Libya using nuclear weapons, had been contemplated by the Clinton Administration in 1997, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. 

The Department of Defense had developed a new generation of bunker buster tactical nuclear weapons for use in the Middle East and Central Asia: 

“Military officials and leaders of America’s nuclear weapon laboratories [had] urged the US to develop a new generation of precision low-yield nuclear weapons… which could be used in conventional conflicts with third-world nations.” (Federation of American Scientists, 2001, emphasis added)

The B61-11 earth-penetrating weapon with a nuclear warhead had not been tested. It was part of the B61 series, coupled with a so-called “low yield” nuclear warhead. According to US military sources: “If used in North Korea, the radioactive fallout [of the B61-11] could drift over nearby countries such as Japan.” (B61-11 Earth-Penetrating Weapon, Globalsecurity.org). The B61-11 earth-penetrating version of the B61 was configured initially to have a “low” 10 kiloton yield, 66.6 percent of a Hiroshima bomb, for post-Cold War battlefield operations in the Middle East and Central Asia. 

The Pentagon’s Plan to Nuke Libya

The B61-11 tactical nuclear weapon was slated by the Pentagon to be used in 1997 against the “Qadhafi regime”:

“Senior Pentagon officials ignited controversy last April [1997] by suggesting that the earth-penetrating [nuclear] weapon would soon be available for possible use against a suspected underground chemical factory being built by Libya at Tarhunah. This thinly-veiled threat came just eleven days after the United States signed the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty, designed to prohibit signatories from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against any other signatory, including Libya.” (David Muller, Penetrator N-Bombs, International Action Center, 1997)

Tarbunah has a population of more than 200,000 people, men, women and children. It is about 60 km East of Tripoli. Had this “humanitarian bomb” (with a ”yield” or explosive capacity of two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb) been launched on this “suspected” WMD facility, it would have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, not to mention the nuclear fallout…

The man behind this diabolical project to nuke Libya was Assistant Secretary of Defense Harold Palmer Smith Junior. “Even before the B61 came on line, Libya was identified as a potential target”. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – September/ October 1997, p. 27, emphasis added)

Harold Palmer Smith had been appointed by President Bill Clinton to oversee nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs with a focus on “the reduction and maintenance of the US arsenal of nuclear weapons”. From the outset, his actual mandate, was not “reduce” but to “increase” the nuclear arsenal by promoting the development of a new generation of “harmless” mini-nukes for use in the Middle East war theater.

Harold Palmer Smith Junior

“Testing” the B611-11 Nuclear Bomb on an Actual Country

The Department of Defense’s objective under Harold Smith’s advice was to fasttrack the “testing” of  the B61-11 nuclear bomb on an actual country:

Five months after [Assistant Defense Secretary] Harold Smith called for an acceleration of the B61-11 production schedule, he went public with an assertion that the Air Force would use the B61-11 [nuclear weapon] against Libya’s alleged underground chemical weapons plant at Tarhunah if the President decided that the plant had to be destroyed. “We could not take [Tarhunah] out of commission using strictly conventional weapons,” Smith told the Associated Press. The B61-11 “would be the nuclear weapon of choice,” he told Jane’s Defence Weekly.

Smith gave the statement during a breakfast interview with reporters after Defense Secretary William Perry had earlier told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on chemical or biological weapons that the U.S. retained the option of using nuclear weapons against countries armed with chemical and biological weapons. (http://www.nukestrat.com/us/afn/B61-11.htm, emphasis added)

While the Pentagon later denied its intention to bomb Libya’s Tarhunah plant, it nonetheless confirmed that “Washington would not rule out using nuclear weapons [against Libya]“. (Ibid., emphasis added.)

Nukes and Mini-Nukes: Iraq and Afghanistan

The US military contend that “mini-nukes” are “humanitarian bombs” which minimize “collateral damage”. According to scientific opinion on contract to the Pentagon, they are  “harmless to the surrounding civilian population because the explosion is underground”,

The B61-11 is a bon fide thermonuclear bomb, a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the real sense of the word.  

Military documents distinguish between the  Nuclear Earth Penetrator (NEP) and the “mini-nuke”, which are nuclear weapons with a yield of less than 10 kilotons (two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb). The NEP can have a yield of up to a 1000 kilotons, or seventy times a Hiroshima bomb.

This distinction between mini-nukes and  the NEP is in many regards misleading. In practice there is no dividing line. We are broadly dealing with the same type of weaponry: the B61-11 has several “available yields”, ranging from “low yields” of less than one kiloton, to mid-range, and up to the 1000 kiloton bomb.

In all cases, the radioactive fallout is devastating. Moreover, the B61 series of thermonuclear weapons includes several models with distinct specifications: the B61-11, the B61-3, B61- 4, B61-7 and B61-10. Each of these bombs has several “available yields”.

What is contemplated for theater use is the “low yield” 10 kt bomb, two-thirds of a Hiroshima bomb.

The Libya 1997 “Nuclear Option” had set the Stage…

Neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations have excluded using thermonuclear bunker buster bombs in the Middle East war theater. These weapons were specifically developed for use in post Cold War “conventional conflicts with third world nations”.  They were approved for use in the conventional war theater by the US Senate in 2002, following the adoption of the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review.

In October 2001, in the immediate wake of 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld envisaged the use of the B61-11 in Afghanistan. The stated targets were Al Qaeda cave bunkers in the Tora Bora mountains.

Rumsfeld stated at the time that while the “conventional” bunker buster bombs “‘are going to be able to do the job’… he did not rule out the eventual use of nuclear weapons.” (Quoted in the Houston Chronicle, 20 October 2001, emphasis added.)

The use of the B61-11 was also contemplated during the 2003 bombing and invasion of Iraq. In this regard, the B61-11 was described as “a precise, earth-penetrating low-yield nuclear weapon against high-value underground targets”, which included Saddam Hussein’s underground bunkers:

“If Saddam was arguably the highest value target in Iraq, then a good case could be made for using a nuclear weapon like the B61-11 to assure killing him and decapitating the regime.” (Defense News, December 8, 2003, emphasis added) 

“All options are on the table”… Sheer madness. Nukes to implement “regime change”… What Rumsfeld had proposed, as part of a “humanitarian mandate”, was the use of a nuclear bomb to “take out” the president of a foreign country. 

(author’s note: There is no documentary evidence that the B61-11 was used against Iraq).

Is a Nuclear Attack on Libya Still on the Pentagon’s Drawing Board?

“The Coalition of the Willing” under US-NATO mandate is currently involved in “a humanitarian war” on Libya to “protect the lives of innocent civilians”. 

Is the use of a nuclear bomb excluded under the alliances R2P Responsibility to Protect Doctrine? 

The Bush administration’s 2001 nuclear doctrine contained specific “guidelines” regarding “preemptive” nuclear strikes against several countries in the broader Middle East Central Asian region, which explictly included Libya.

As revealed by William Arkin in early 2002, “The Bush administration, in a secret policy review… [had] ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons [The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review approved by the Senate in late 2002] against at least seven countries, naming not only Russia and the “axis of evil”–Iraq, Iran, and North Korea–but also China, Libya and Syria. (See William Arkin, “Thinking the Unthinkable”, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2002) 

In addition, the U.S. Defense Department has been told to prepare for the possibility that nuclear weapons may be required in some future Arab-Israeli crisis. And, it is to develop plans for using nuclear weapons to retaliate against chemical or biological attacks, as well as “surprising military developments” of an unspecified nature. These and a host of other directives, including calls for developing bunker-busting mini-nukes and nuclear weapons that reduce collateral damage, are contained in a still-classified document called the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was delivered to Congress on Jan. 8. (ibid)

The preemptive nuclear doctrine (DJNO) –endorsed by the Obama Administration– allows for the preemptive use of thermonuclear weapons in conventional war theaters directed against “rogue states”. While the “guidelines” do not exclude other (more deadly) categories of nukes in the US /NATO nuclear arsenal, Pentagon “scenarios” in the Middle East and North Africa are currently limited to the use of tactical nuclear weapons including the B61-11 bunker buster bomb. 

The fact that Libya had been singled out by the Pentagon for a possible 1997 mini-nuke “trial run” was a significant element in the formulation of the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

It is worth noting that tactical B61 nuclear weapons have also been deployed by America’s NATO partners: five European “non-nuclear states”, including Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy, which are directly participating in the Libya bombing campaign, have B61 mini-nukes stockpiled and deployed under national command in their respective military bases. (Michel Chossudovsky, Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States“, February 10, 2010) 

These European-based mini-nukes are earmarked for targets in the Middle East. While Libya is not mentioned, according to “NATO strike plans”, the European-based thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs could be launched “against targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran” (quoted in National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe, February 2005).  

In the context of the ongoing war against Libya, “all options are on the table”, including the preemptive nuclear option, as part of a “humanitarian mandate” to protect the lives of innocent civilians.

In 2007, a Secret 2003 STRATCOM Plan was revealed, which confirmed Washington’s resolve to wage preemptive nuclear attacks against Iran, Syria and Libya. While the concepts and assumptions of this document were derived from the 2001 NPR, the Plan formulated by Strategic Command headquarters (USSTRATCOM) focused concretely on issues of implementation.

The use of  nuclear weapons including the B61-11 against Libya in the course of the current military campaign, as formulated in the 2001 NPR cannot, therefore, be ruled out.

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Japan is Going To Fix It’s Nuclear Problem

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We can breathe a sigh of relief as Japan has announced it is going to scrap the four reactors and cover them with a (SPECIAL MATERIAL) yet unannounced. We have no word on what this special material would be. The Chernobyl reactor was coated in lead and cement but it was only a partial meltdown. Fukushima is a total meltdown and so we are in uncharted territory here. What we do know is some 88,000 Russian draftees were destroyed physically coating the reactor with their own special material. 

We are told that iodine 131 has reached sea water and is being reported 10 miles south of the plant to the tune of 1850 times the normal amount for safety but not to worry as it only has a half life of 8 days. no word on plutonium and how much of this has leaked into the ocean as it has a life of some 24,000 years and one particle ingested into the body begins to destroy it with cancer at some point. It is not there in levels that threaten human life according to TEPCO. So the proclamations that plutonium leakage is nothing to worry about are a fairy tale. 

Newer readings on iodine 131 place it at some 3300 times the safe amount in Pennsylvania.

The the nuclear industry TEPCO will most likely be nationalized. The president, Tsunehisa Katsumata has been hospitalized. There is no indications forthcoming that Japan intends to move away from nuclear power. In fact just the opposite they intend to point the sail into the wind and proceed forward, earthquakes or no earthquakes. This is the precarious position in most countries of advanced technology. They are not going to sit safely in the dark. The economy is at stake. 

The plutonium detected inside the plant and outside the plant have to come from inside the MOX fuel rods. They have melted down and that means the the rods are turning the cement base into molten lava and and it will continue downward until we see a fairly significant explosion. At least that is what I have gathered off the internet over the past week. That is why they are telling people to move away from the reactors there in Japan. This is much more serious than Chernobyl. 

When this molten glob finally melts down into the seawater expect some fireworks and increased radiation worldwide. Speaking of radiation, radiation levels in Pennsylvania are testing out 3300 times above danger levels. Sweden has advised people to begin taking potassium iodide tablets as governments have in various countries. They don’t tell you to do that in America, in fact I doubt many Americans even know what it is. No what Americans are told is the EPA is going to up the standards on safe doses of radiation. This is not an exact science see. When people begin keeling over then we will know they have had too much. 

America at last count was told by the president we were going to push on with clean green nuclear energy. There have been no statements indicating any sort of a change in the policy since the nuclear horror in Japan. I don’t expect to hear any. We will not take note of the fact that America has 15 nuclear plants on the New Madrid fault line, one of the most dangerous faults in the world and it will play a significant role most likely in the great worldwide earthquake foretold by the Mayans. No I agree with the Native American Heyoka Red Elk who states that mankind is approaching that giant steel mouse trap from which there is no return. 

I am afraid I have been around too long to expect the world of man to suddenly show some respect for the natural world and the web of life. He will opt for greed, ignorance and pestilence every time. We will continue down the road toward degradation. If Cayce is right and Japan goes under the waves, it will only be a short stay of reprieve as there are many more reactors on earth quake faults all  over the globe. Man will do nothing but proceed blindly forward believing the earth itself has no consciousness, but she does. Corrections will be made in conjunction with the other planetary bodies of the solar system as happens periodically and it won’t be pretty. 

The irony in this situation is that seaweed is one of best ways on the planet to protect against nuclear fallout. Unfortunately most of it comes from Asia which will bear the brunt of the iodine and plutonium now going into the sea.

Physicist Michio Kaku 

“The 720 HP tanks are expected to clear away rubble from the destroyed reactors; including thousands of tons of burning, highly radioactive old reactor cores stored on site. Internationally known Physicist Dr Paolo Scampa has calculated that 70 Billion Lethal Doses of radioactive particles have been released from the Fukushima Daiichi six reactor site. That is enough lethal radiation to kill everyone on Planet Earth 10 times over.”

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/03/21/japan-the-solution-to-the-blown-reactors/

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