October 29, 2013: Fukushima and Nuclear Reactor Hazards - John McAfee & Paul Gunter
Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear then delivers a detailed assessment of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. He traces the catastrophe from its origins in regulatory capture and cost-cutting by TEPCO through the sequential explosions of Units 1 through 4 after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Gunter explains that three molten reactor cores remain unlocated, with even robots sent to find them failing to return from the extreme radiation.
Gunter warns that the upcoming removal of 400 tons of spent fuel from the damaged and leaning Unit 4 building represents the most dangerous salvage operation ever attempted. He describes ongoing contamination of the Pacific Ocean, biomagnification of cesium-137 through the marine food chain, and the possibility that a future earthquake could trigger a cascading failure dwarfing Chernobyl.
Key Moments
$2 million shakedown in Belize: McAfee describes how a Belizean politician demanded a $2 million 'reelection donation' in exchange for land, and how, after he refused, 42 armed soldiers raided his property, shot his dog, and handcuffed him in the sun for 14 hours.
Bank of America app can use your camera: McAfee warns that the Bank of America Android app's terms grant the bank the right to silently activate the user's camera and phone services without notification, illustrating how surveillance has been moved from government to consumer terms of service.
Most dangerous game of pickup sticks: Gunter explains the November Unit 4 fuel removal: 400 tons of irradiated fuel must be lifted by hand from a damaged elevated pool whose heavy-load crane fell onto the rods, with the array possibly askew and fuel already damaged by the explosion.
Plan to evacuate 35 million from Tokyo: Gunter says Unit 4's leaning building could collapse under another major quake, releasing the spent fuel and triggering an atmospheric pall that bars human access to the site, the scenario for which Prime Minister Naoto Kan began planning a 35-million-person Tokyo evacuation.
Cesium-137 in Pacific bluefin tuna: Gunter rebuts the 'dilution is the solution' argument: plankton biomagnify cesium-137 a thousandfold, Stanford and Stony Brook have already confirmed contaminated Fukushima-spawned bluefin tuna reaching California, and the cesium hazard persists 300-600 years.