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Price inceases on April 4th at the LDS canneries show inflation up between 11 and 49% for many basic food staples. These rise in prices are a strong barometer for the overall economy since the LDS facilities are usually the last to raise prices for their communities, which provides food in bulk that they can collect through their vast networking operations. According to the new price list from April 4th, many food staples have increased by more than 20% since the last price list came out just 3 months ago on January 3rd. Beans. Black 13.69% Beans, Pinto 12.13% Beans,...

Japan Agency Admits Fuel Melt at Fukushima N-Plant Tokyo, April 18 (Jiji Press)--The industry ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Monday acknowledged that nuclear fuel rods have melted at the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors of the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. The agency reported the assessment to the day's meeting of the government's Nuclear Safety Commission. This was the agency's first official recognition of core melt accidents at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 plant, which was knocked out by the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami. On March 12, officials...

Melted nuclear fuel likely settled at bottom of crippled reactors TOKYO, April 15, Kyodo Nuclear fuel inside the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has partially melted and settled at the bottom of pressure vessels in the shape of grains, according to an analysis by the Atomic Energy Society of Japan made public by Friday. The academic body's panel on nuclear energy safety has said the melted fuel at the No. 1 to 3 reactors has been kept at a relatively low temperature, discounting the possibility that a large amount of melted fuel has already built up at...

TOKYO — News reports say Japan has decided to raise the severity level of the crisis at its tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant to 7 — the highest level and equal to the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. Quoting sources at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Kyodo News agency and public broadcaster NHK both said Tuesday that NISA would raise the severity level of the nuclear radiation disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant to 7 from the current 5.

Although the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has not yet been stabilized, there is no evidence that overheating during the last month has resulted in any melting of the reactor vessels or their containment structures, Obama administration officials said Thursday. If that assessment is correct, then significant additional releases of radioactivity into the environment will be limited, and emergency crews should have a far better chance of preventing further damage to the plant's reactors. The assessment, provided to The Times on background, suggests that the plant is unlikely to suffer a complete meltdown, in which uranium fuel gets so...

Cover-Up: Acorn clones using the Community Reinvestment Act to shake down banks aren't happy with our campaign to expose the truth about the CRA's central role in the financial crisis. The Greenlining Institute is typical. The Berkeley, Calif.-based community organizer fired off a letter to us complaining about our March 21 editorial "WaMu: Guilty Only Of CRA Compliance." In it, we argued that Washington Mutual, a CRA poster boy in the run-up to the crisis, is now a convenient whipping boy for the same regulators who pressured the bank into making the "reckless" multicultural loans they're suing it over today....

Gundersen describes the Fukushima plant as stable, but precarious. In this update, he discusses the high levels of radiation (2 Million disintegrations/second being found on the ground as far as 25 miles from the plant site.) He also addresses a New York Times report of hundreds of tons of water being put into the reactors each day. Gundersen points out that all of the water going in to the reactors is being irradiated, leaking out, and polluting the Ocean. He concludes by discussing the differences between the accident scenarios that the nuclear industry previously planned for and what has actually...

Nuclear Power: The greatest danger at Fukushima was and is the spent fuel stored at the reactor sites. So why are we doing the same thing when we have a safe place to store it? Before a 9.0 axis-shifting earthquake damaged the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan, legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives endorsing the construction of 200 nuclear power reactors in the U.S. by 2040, tripling current megawatt generating capacity. H.R. 909, co-sponsored by 64 Republicans, also endorsed the completion of the spent fuel storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That facility, which was supposed to...

They are an anonymous band of lower and mid-level managers who are risking their lives at the very heart of Japan’s nuclear crisis. But as the stricken reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant appears to stabilise, plant owners are still remaining tight-lipped about the so-called 'Fukushima Fifty' - the heroes fighting to save Japan from nuclear catastrophe. Fifty essential workers stayed behind to stop a catastrophic meltdown at the plant, as 750 of their colleagues were evacuated earlier this week when the over-heating seemed to be getting out of control. Five are now believed to have died, 15 are injured...

The water temperature is dropping in the spent fuel rod pool of the No.5 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company restored a power generator at the No.6 reactor on Saturday morning. One of the 2 generators at the No. 6 reactor has been used since the quake to cool the spent fuel rod pools of the No.5 and No.6 reactors. But water temperatures rose as the generator could not supply enough power by itself. The newly restored generator is being used to activate a cooling pump in the No.5 reactor. The 2 generators can now...

Last night radiation levels were “extremely high” in the stricken building, which was breached by an earlier explosion, meaning that radiation could now escape into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric, the owners of the plant, said five workers had been killed at the site, two were missing and 21 had been injured.

The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens 'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster.'

Officials admit they may have to bury reactors under concrete - as happened at Chernobyl Government says it was overwhelmed by the scale of twin disasters Japanese upgrade accident from level four to five - the same as Three Mile Island We will rebuild from scratch says Japanese prime minister Particles spewed from wrecked Fukushima power station arrive in California Military trucks tackle reactors with tons of water for second day The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors...

The radiation from Japan’s nuclear power plant crisis has spurred a dramatic increase in sales of Potassium Iodide in the United States, reports The Huffington Post. Potassium Iodide, also called KI, is a salt of non-radioactive iodine. In cases of radiological or nuclear events, people at high risk of radiation exposure may take potassium iodide to prevent radiation damage to the thyroid gland with can develop into cancer. It works by flooding the thyroid gland with non-radioactive iodine, preventing absorption of radioactive iodine. It does not cure the thyroid gland after radiation exposure or provide any measure of radiation protection...

There is a meltdown occurring over in DUmmieland. DUFU favorite nadinbrzezinski is threatening to LEAVE the DUmp, to take a break from it all. Why? Because her fellow Dummies are tired of putting up with her drama queen antics and her know-it-allishness. A bit of background…Nadin posted the other day about how she was stockpiling milk, because pretty soon, our dairy supply is going to be glowing in the dark in this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x655166#655222: Ok I an not the only "fool" stocking up on milk You’re the only fool for me, Nadin… I went to the local store and who...

Fukushima Dai-ichi status and potential outcomes"Oil Drum commenter donshan left this comment on my Safety of nuclear power and death of the nuclear renaissance thread which I believe may provide an accurate picture of what is actually going on in the reactor cores: I think I can answer this if I am correct that the Japanese reactors use conventional zirconium ( Zircaloy) fuel cladding with ceramic uranium oxide fuel pellets inside. I understand that Unit 3 has a mixed oxide pellet including plutonium oxide. In 1956, my first job as a materials scientist was at the AEC's Hanford Laboratory...

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

Could it happen here? That's the question on everyone's mind as we watch the nuclear emergency unfold at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. As it turns out, the U.S. government has long been asking the same question. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently provided MSNBC with an updated list of the American plants most at risk of core damage (which can lead to meltdowns and radiation release) in the event of an earthquake. What parts of the country are most at risk? You may be surprised. Most people would assume California plants, built around the turbulent San Andreas fault line, might...

“Gaman-subeki.” Translated from the Japanese, the words mean “we must endure.” It’s these words the Japanese are using to describe the way they are dealing with the nightmare engulfing their country, according to an edited report by Winnetka native Dan Simon, 30, who has lived in Tokyo for the past three years. “The Japanese people have responded to the situation with resilience and determination,” said Simon, a journalist who is now working for a public relations company. “They are hanging tough and proud of the way they have responded to the crisis. This is the Japanese way: continue on, do...

Energy: If we drop oil exploration after Deepwater Horizon, coal mining after Chile and nuclear power after Fukushima, what's left? A world without nuclear power would not be risk-free or cleaner. When Navy crewmen returned from disaster-relief missions in Japan to the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, it was breathlessly reported that they'd been contaminated with radioactive particles from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima. A scene from the end-of-the-world epic "On The Beach" this was not. They were treated with good old-fashioned soap and water, and their clothes were discarded. According to the Navy, the exposure received...