[Biofuel] Death toll from China oil pipeline blast rises to 52, 11 missing | Shanghai Daily

[Darryl McMahon]

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/national/Death-toll-from-China-oil-pipeline-blast-rises-to-52-11-missing/shdaily.shtml

 Death toll from China oil pipeline blast rises to 52, 11 missing
Source: Xinhua | November 24, 2013, Sunday | Online Edition

The death toll from Friday's oil pipeline blasts in east China's 
Shandong Province rose to 52 as of 1pm today after four bodies were 
found at the scene, rescuers said.


Reports and investigations showed that 11 others were missing in the 
deadly accident, the rescue headquarters said.


Among the dead, four have not yet been identified, according to the 
rescue headquarters for the blast accident, which occurred at Huangdao 
district in Qingdao City.


Six of the dead were professional firefighters with the Huangdao oil 
warehouse of Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner.


Rescue efforts continued today despite rainy weather. The complicated 
situation and the remains of flammable gas at certain sections in the 
explosion area hindered the debris-clearing progress.


Crude oil began leaking from an underground pipeline operated by Sinopec 
at 3:00am Friday in Huangdao District of Qingdao, according to the 
municipal government. The valves of the Huangdao oil warehouse were shut 
about 15 minutes later.


The oil spill then flowed into the city's rainwater pipe network, which 
empties into Jiaozhou Bay. Two blasts occurred at around 10:30am Friday 
when workers were repairing the ruptured pipeline.


The damaged pipeline was put into use in July 1986. It is the second 
pipeline linking Dongying City in Shandong with Huangdao. The pipe 
measures 711 mm in diameter and runs 248.5 km, with an annual oil 
transfer capacity of 10 million tonnes.


Ten of the 136 hospitalized are in critical condition, according to 
provincial health authorities.


About 18,000 residents were evacuated following the explosions, which 
ripped through roads, overturned vehicles, and shattered the windows and 
bricks of nearby buildings.


Sinopec's board chairman, Fu Chengyu, apologized for the accident 
yesterday. He vowed all-out efforts to handle the rescue, relief and 
aftermath and to cooperate with the investigation team of the State 
Council to find the cause of the accident.


--
Darryl McMahon
Failure is not an option;
  it comes standard.
___
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel

[Biofuel] 47 dead after ruptured oil pipeline explodes CCTV News - CNTV English

[Darryl McMahon]

http://english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20131123/103896.shtml

[video in on-line article]

47 dead after ruptured oil pipeline explodes

11-23-2013 20:25 BJT

At least 47 people are now known to have died, and 136 injured, after a 
leaking oil pipe caught fire and exploded.


Search and rescue operations are still going on at the explosion scene.

Qingdao environmental protection authority said the oil spill into the 
sea and underground water has been basically brought under control. 
About 3,000 square meters of sea area have been contaminated.


Barriers have been erected around the contaminated areas along the coast 
line. Meanwhile, the oil refinery Sinopec denied earlier reports that 
the exploded pipeline was put into operation just this August.


It confirmed that it was in fact one that had been in use for 27 years, 
linking Huangdao with the city of Dongying.


--
Darryl McMahon
Failure is not an option;
  it comes standard.
___
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel

Re: [Biofuel] Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation

[Kirk McLoren]

thats why I regard their starting work on the pool without saturating it first 
with boron as Russian roulette.
 
Kirk



On Sunday, November 24, 2013 10:15 AM, Keith Addison 
 wrote:
 


Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers 
of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation

By Yoichi Shimatsu

Global Research, November 24, 2013

After repeated delays since the summer of 2011, the Tokyo Electric 
Power Company has launched a high-risk operation to empty the 
spent-fuel pool atop Reactor 4 at the Dai-ichi (No.1) Fukushima 
Nuclear Power Plant.

The urgency attached to this particular site, as compared with 
reactors damaged in meltdowns, arises from several factors:

- over 400 tons of nuclear material in the pool could reignite

- the fire-damaged tank is tilting badly and may topple over sooner than later

- collapse of the structure could trigger a chain reaction and 
nuclear blast, and

- consequent radioactive releases would heavily contaminate much of the world.

The potential for disaster at the Unit 4 SFP is probably of a higher 
magnitude than suspected due to the presence of fresh fuel rods, 
which were delivered during the technical upgrade of Reactor 4 under 
completion at the time of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 
The details of that reactor overhaul by GE and Hitachi have yet to be 
disclosed by TEPCO and the Economy Ministry and continue to be 
treated as a national-security matter. Here, the few clues from 
whistleblowers will be pieced together to decipher the nature of the 
clandestine activity at Fukushima No.1.

Accidents happen

The delicate rod-removal procedure requires the lowering of a steel 
cylinder, called a transfer cask, into a corner of the pool and then 
using the crane to lift the 300-kilogram fuel assemblies 
(4.5-meter-tall bundle of fuel rods held inside a metal cage) one at 
a time from the vertical array of rods up and then down into the 
cask. The container can hold 22 assemblies for transfer to a 
temporary cooling unit built next to Reactor 4 before these are moved 
to a storage building.(1)

Lifting the 1,533 fuel bundles out of the pool is fraught with 
danger. If an assembly breaks away and falls, the impact could 
shatter other rods below, triggering an uncontrolled nuclear 
reaction. Compounding the threat, many rods are not intact but were 
fragmented into loose shards by a collapsing crane. In addition, many 
of the rods likely lost their protective cladding during the two 
fires that engulfed the spent-fuel pool on March 14 and 15, 2011.

The urgency of this transfer operation is prompted by the warping of 
the supporting steel frame by the twin fires that followed the March 
11 quake. The pool is also tilting. If the unbalanced structure 
topples, the collapse would trigger nuclear reactions. A cascade of 
neutrons could then ignite the nearby common fuel pool for Reactors 1 
through 6. The common pool contains 6,735 used assemblies.(2)

The Reactor 4 spent fuel pool contains an estimated 400 tons of 
uranium and plutonium oxide, compared with just 6.2 kilograms of 
plutonium inside Fat Man, the hydrogen bomb that obliterated Nagasaki 
in 1945.  (While predictions are bandied about by experts and 
bloggers, there exists no reliable method for calculating the 
potential sum or flow rate of radiation releases, measured in 
becquerel or sievert units, after an accident. The tonnage involved, 
however, indicates only that a large-scale event is likely and a 
cataclysm cannot be ruled out.)

More than 1,700 tons of nuclear materials are reported to be on site 
inside Fukushima No.1 plant. (My investigative visits into the 
exclusion zone indicate the existence of undocumented and illegal 
large-scale storage sites in the Fukushima nuclear complex of 
undetermined tonnage.)  By comparison Chernobyl 's reactors contained 
180 tons of fuel not all of which melted down.

Despite the looming threat to residents in Fukushima, surrounding 
provinces and the capital Tokyo, the office of Prime Minister Shinzo 
Abe along with TEPCO hews to the tradition of risk denial and 
blackout of vital information. No contingency plan has been issued to 
Fukushima residents or to the municipalities of the Tohoku and Kanto 
region in event of a nuclear disaster during the SFP clearance 
effort. A concurrent drive to impose a draconian law against 
whistleblowers on grounds of national security is reinforcing the 
cover-up of data and testimony related to nuclear power plants, 
including the Fukushima complex.

Mystery of MOX super-fuel

A Mainichi Shimbun editorial mentions in passing that the Reactor 4 
pool contains 202 fresh fuel assemblies.(3) The presence of new fuel 
rods was confirmed in the TEPCO press release, which described the 
first assembly lifted into the transfer cask as an "un-irradiated 

[Biofuel] Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation

[Keith Addison]

Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers 
of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation


By Yoichi Shimatsu

Global Research, November 24, 2013

After repeated delays since the summer of 2011, the Tokyo Electric 
Power Company has launched a high-risk operation to empty the 
spent-fuel pool atop Reactor 4 at the Dai-ichi (No.1) Fukushima 
Nuclear Power Plant.


The urgency attached to this particular site, as compared with 
reactors damaged in meltdowns, arises from several factors:


- over 400 tons of nuclear material in the pool could reignite

- the fire-damaged tank is tilting badly and may topple over sooner than later

- collapse of the structure could trigger a chain reaction and 
nuclear blast, and


- consequent radioactive releases would heavily contaminate much of the world.

The potential for disaster at the Unit 4 SFP is probably of a higher 
magnitude than suspected due to the presence of fresh fuel rods, 
which were delivered during the technical upgrade of Reactor 4 under 
completion at the time of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 
The details of that reactor overhaul by GE and Hitachi have yet to be 
disclosed by TEPCO and the Economy Ministry and continue to be 
treated as a national-security matter. Here, the few clues from 
whistleblowers will be pieced together to decipher the nature of the 
clandestine activity at Fukushima No.1.


Accidents happen

The delicate rod-removal procedure requires the lowering of a steel 
cylinder, called a transfer cask, into a corner of the pool and then 
using the crane to lift the 300-kilogram fuel assemblies 
(4.5-meter-tall bundle of fuel rods held inside a metal cage) one at 
a time from the vertical array of rods up and then down into the 
cask. The container can hold 22 assemblies for transfer to a 
temporary cooling unit built next to Reactor 4 before these are moved 
to a storage building.(1)


Lifting the 1,533 fuel bundles out of the pool is fraught with 
danger. If an assembly breaks away and falls, the impact could 
shatter other rods below, triggering an uncontrolled nuclear 
reaction. Compounding the threat, many rods are not intact but were 
fragmented into loose shards by a collapsing crane. In addition, many 
of the rods likely lost their protective cladding during the two 
fires that engulfed the spent-fuel pool on March 14 and 15, 2011.


The urgency of this transfer operation is prompted by the warping of 
the supporting steel frame by the twin fires that followed the March 
11 quake. The pool is also tilting. If the unbalanced structure 
topples, the collapse would trigger nuclear reactions. A cascade of 
neutrons could then ignite the nearby common fuel pool for Reactors 1 
through 6. The common pool contains 6,735 used assemblies.(2)


The Reactor 4 spent fuel pool contains an estimated 400 tons of 
uranium and plutonium oxide, compared with just 6.2 kilograms of 
plutonium inside Fat Man, the hydrogen bomb that obliterated Nagasaki 
in 1945.  (While predictions are bandied about by experts and 
bloggers, there exists no reliable method for calculating the 
potential sum or flow rate of radiation releases, measured in 
becquerel or sievert units, after an accident. The tonnage involved, 
however, indicates only that a large-scale event is likely and a 
cataclysm cannot be ruled out.)


More than 1,700 tons of nuclear materials are reported to be on site 
inside Fukushima No.1 plant. (My investigative visits into the 
exclusion zone indicate the existence of undocumented and illegal 
large-scale storage sites in the Fukushima nuclear complex of 
undetermined tonnage.)  By comparison Chernobyl 's reactors contained 
180 tons of fuel not all of which melted down.


Despite the looming threat to residents in Fukushima, surrounding 
provinces and the capital Tokyo, the office of Prime Minister Shinzo 
Abe along with TEPCO hews to the tradition of risk denial and 
blackout of vital information. No contingency plan has been issued to 
Fukushima residents or to the municipalities of the Tohoku and Kanto 
region in event of a nuclear disaster during the SFP clearance 
effort. A concurrent drive to impose a draconian law against 
whistleblowers on grounds of national security is reinforcing the 
cover-up of data and testimony related to nuclear power plants, 
including the Fukushima complex.


Mystery of MOX super-fuel

A Mainichi Shimbun editorial mentions in passing that the Reactor 4 
pool contains 202 fresh fuel assemblies.(3) The presence of new fuel 
rods was confirmed in the TEPCO press release, which described the 
first assembly lifted into the transfer cask as an "un-irradiated 
fuel rod." Why were new rods being stored inside a spent-fuel pool, 
which is designed to hold expended rods? What threat of criticality 
do these fresh rods pose if the ste

[Biofuel] How Factory Farms Are Pumping Americans Full of Deadly Bacteria and Pathogens

[Keith Addison]

By Kathy Freston

How Factory Farms Are Pumping Americans Full of Deadly Bacteria and Pathogens

January 12, 2010  |  

We're getting sicker and sicker, thanks to gruesome conditions in 
animal agriculture nationwide.


After reading www.BirdFluBook.org [3], by Dr. Michael Greger, I was 
stunned to realize the extent to which we have endangered our health 
by allowing factory farms to flourish and produce 99 percent of the 
meat, dairy and eggs we eat. Not only are dangerous flu viruses 
mutating because of these concentrated animal feeding operations 
(CAFOs), but we are also being exposed to some other very serious 
bacteria and pathogens. Things have gotten out of hand in our food 
production, especially in the livestock sector.


In Part I of my interview [4] with Dr. Greger, he explained the 
growing potential of deadly flu viruses. In Part 2 of the interview, 
we discuss E. coli, salmonella and other worrisome pathogens.


Kathy Freston: Where does E. coli come from and how does it get into 
food? Why is it often found on vegetables?


Michael Greger: E. coli is an intestinal pathogen. It only gets in 
the food if fecal matter gets in the food. Since plants don't have 
intestines, all E. coli infections-in fact all food poisoning-comes 
from animals. When's the last time you heard of a person getting 
Dutch elm disease or a really bad case of aphids? People don't get 
plant diseases; they get animal diseases. The problem is that because 
of the number of animals raised today, a billion tons of manure are 
produced every year in the United States-the weight of 10,000 
Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Dairy cow and pig factories often 
dump millions of gallons of putrefying waste into massive open-air 
cesspits, which can leak and contaminate water used to irrigate our 
crops. That's how a deadly fecal pathogen like E. coli O157:H7 [5] 
can end up contaminating our spinach. So regardless of what we eat, 
we all need to fight against the expansion of factory farming in our 
communities, our nation and around the world.


KF: What percentage of the population gets hit by the bacteria? How 
many of them die? Could that number increase?


MG: While E. coli O157:H7 remains the leading cause of acute kidney 
failure in U.S. children, fewer than 100,000 Americans get infected 
every year, and fewer than 100 die. But millions get infected with 
other types of E. coli that can cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) 
that can invade the bloodstream and cause an estimated 36,000 deaths 
annually in the United States.


KF: We only occasionally hear of the very few fatal E. coli cases; is 
it really a widespread problem?


MG: When medical researchers at the University of Minnesota took more 
than 1,000 food samples from multiple retail markets, they found 
evidence [6] of fecal contamination in 69 percent of the pork and 
beef and 92 percent of the poultry samples. Nine out of 10 chicken 
carcasses in the store may be contaminated with fecal matter. And 
half of the poultry samples were contaminated with the UTI-causing E. 
coli bacteria.


Scientists now suspect that by eating chicken, women infect their 
lower intestinal tract with these meat-borne bacteria, which can then 
creep up into their bladders. Hygiene measures to prevent UTIs have 
traditionally included wiping from front to back after bowel 
movements and urinating after intercourse to flush out any invaders, 
but now women can add poultry avoidance as a way to help prevent 
urinary tract infections.


KF: Are there any long-term problems for people who ingest E. coli 
and have a bad day or two with diarrhea, or is the problem over once 
out of the system?


MG: Last month the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention 
released a report [7] on the long-term consequences of common causes 
of food poisoning. Life-long complications of E. coli O157:H7 
infection include end-stage kidney disease, permanent brain damage 
and insulin-dependent diabetes.


KF: Is E. coli a problem if the meat is cooked?

MG: With the exception of prions, the infectious agents responsible 
for mad cow disease and the human equivalent-which can survive even 
incineration at temperatures hot enough to melt lead-all viral, 
fungal and bacterial pathogens in our food supply can be killed by 
proper cooking. Why then do tens of millions of Americans come down 
with food poisoning every year? Cross-contamination is thought to 
account for the bulk of infections. For example, chicken carcasses 
are so covered in bacteria that researchers at the University of 
Arizona found [6] more fecal bacteria in the kitchen-on sponges and 
dish towels, and in the sink drain-than they found swabbing the 
toilet. In a meat-eater's house it may be safer to lick the rim of 
the toilet seat than the kitchen countertop, because people aren't 
preparing chickens in their toilet