With the number of conspiracy theories floating around on the internet, it is easy sometimes to get caught up in the fray. The idea of corporate control over media outlets, though, does not fall under this umbrella. It is becoming more and more documented, now that most media outlets are funded by corporations with interests in other industries, that the news in America downplays disasters that affect the bottom line of the industries that fund them.
Two manmade disasters in the past year have raised considerable concern regarding the competancy of the American media to cover important events with an objective and investigative lens. Both events were and still are major global disasters with the effects still uncontained as contamination reveberates through the natural ecosystems that are a part of the human food chain. The first of these events was the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the second is the recent Japanese Nuclear Meltdown.
The technical term 'partial meltdown' of a nuclear facility simply refers to the amount of radiation that is released; more radiation is released during a full meltdown, but a partial meltdown describes the process whereby radioactive steam is vented into the atmosphere. Any amount of radiation contaminates the surrounding environment, so the distinction is technical in a semantic nature only; a partial meltdown will still harm people and contaminate the nearby environment for decades to come.
This distinction between partial and full meltdown is purposely concocted by the nuclear industry itself to avoid unwanted attention regarding non-catastrophic events that happen around nuclear facilities. But, what is happening in Japan over the course of the past five days is just a protracted prologue to an eventual meltdown. The situation shows no signs of being contained, and in addition, a prolonged period of radioactive venting has been going on for five days contaminating people and the environment surrounding the plant.
Over the course of those five days, stories about the nuclear reactors' cooling ponds' temperatures stabilizing, as well as the low level of risk concerning radiation contamination nearby, to even the possibility of radioactive rain have all been considered in light of the escalating situation. The truth of the matter is that is that all six reactors at Fukushima are in the process of of one form of meltdown or another. To make matters worse, spent fuel rods used in the past are stored onsite, raising the possibility that the catastrophe will reach such proportions, that figures are not adequately calculated as to make any definitive statements one way or another regarding the reach of the radiation contamination in the case of full meltdown. The truth is that the situation is out of control and human lives are at risk. The disaster in Japan is capable of surpassing the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf in terms of environmental damage and threat to human life over an extended period of time.
For the first few months after the BP Oil Spill, information regarding the scope of the disaster was controlled by BP itself. The American media hopped on BP's bandwagon and downplayed the size of the spill, and even to this day, refuses to cover the serious health conditions documented along the Gulf Coast in regions where the oil spill effects were most severe. Even though the disaster took place in public waters, the American government relied heavily on BP to inform it, and the American people were not fully informed not only on the size of the spill but also the failure of the efforts being made to stop the spill for months. In retrospect, it is quite clear that BP was content lying to the American people about the size of the spill in order to keep liability costs down, as well the scope of their failure to contain the disaster so as not to appear incompetent; their plan has seemingly worked. BP was concerned about future hits to its bottom line moreso than the safety of the American people or health of the surrounding environment and ecosystems. One thing stood out more than anything in the BP fiasco, that is, the relative silence of the entire oil industry regarding their particular expertise on the issue of deepwater drilling, spill mitigation, and human health and safety regarding the chemicals involved in the oil and gas industry and spill mitigation.
The same strategy that was used by the oil industry during the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf is now being employed by the nuclear industry in relation to the nuclear crisis in Japan. The nuclear industry has been busy in the last few days trying to push a parallel story about the devolving situation at Fukushima. Stories about containment, stabilizing reactors, and low levels of risk are obviously patently false at this point. They are grasping at optimistic scenarios that are simply not based in the reality of the situation at Fukushima.
The reality of the situation at Fukushima is that the active fuel rods in the plant are periodically exposed; in addition, the spent fuel rods accumulated over the past 40 years may be actively being consumed in the fires onsite; there is a shortage of boric acid that is used to stop the nuclear reaction from self-perpetuating; the roofs of two of the cooling ponds have been blown off; periodically radioactive steam is vented in order to prevent further explosions; emergency personnel are considering spraying the reactors with water canons supplied with a boric acid/water mix as well as attempting to air drop the mix from helicopters on the reactors in a frantic effort to stop the runaway heating; a number of plant workers have been asked to essentially commit suicide by going into the nuclear facility to facilitate mitigation; six nuclear reactors are in one stage of metldown or another; even if only half of those melt down, the disaster is unprecedented and there is no way to tell what the extent of damage to the global environment will be, including radioactive rain; if the facility goes into full meltdown, people nearby will only have hours to get out of harms way; the spent fuel rods generated over the past years that the facility was in operation have been stored onsite because it was too expensive to have them shipped elsewhere, therefore, a meltdown of the reactors would also turn those used fuel rods molten adding more radioactivity to the mix; the mass exodus from Tokyo has begun amidst a food, water, and fuel shortage; and all of this is happening while the country is still discovering dead bodies in the tsunami wreckage. The present situation at Fukushima and the surrounding region is the worst-case scenario imaginable and is escalating to a full-blown monumental global disaster.
Like with the BP Oil Spill, the nucelar industry has been in full damage control mode, playing down the extent of present damage and discrediting worst-case scenarios. As with the BP Oil Spill, the Japanese government will probably come on the television in about six months time and say that the crisis has been averted; tiny microorganisms in the ocean have gobbled up all of the radioactivity in one of nature's little miracles. Meanwhile, people surrounding Fukushima will continue to get sick and animals will mysteriously die in Japan for decades to come while scientists remain "baffled" as to why, just as has been the case in America since the BP Oil Spill along the Gulf Coast.
Japan nuclear disaster unprecendented; AlterNet
Japan's nuclear emergency; Washington Post
You should be worried; Science2.0
Survival of the fattest-headed; New Economics
Underground info on Fukushima; Natural News
The fog of nuclear emergency; Atlantic
The mechanics of partial meltdown; NYT
Nuclear meltdown; Wikipedia
Fukushima spent fuel and boric acid shortage; Nature
Workers evacuated from nuclear reactor; NPR
Anger over Japan nuclear exodus; BBC
A shortage of food and fuel, many bodies to bury; Guardian
Tokyo exodus; Time
