Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Nuclear Cover Up: World's Largest Movable Structure to Seal the Wrecked Chernobyl Reactor

To safely enclose and robotically dismantle the 25-year-old makeshift confinement sarcophagus at Chernobyl, contractors are now erecting a massive steel structure weighing more than 29,000 metric tons

World's Largest Movable Structure to Seal the Wrecked Chernobyl Reactor Computer simulated image of the construction of the New Safe Confinement. Image: Novarka


CHERNOBYL, Ukraine—Imagine a metal arch taller than the Statue of Liberty. Now picture it sliding a distance of roughly three football fields, making it the largest movable structure ever . Under this steel rainbow engineers are planning to entomb the site of the worst nuclear accident in history, the destroyed reactor at the Chernobyl power plant, using robotic cranes to dismantle the ruins and keep its deadly remains from poisoning the rest of the planet.

After reactor No. 4 exploded at Chernobyl in 1986 due to errors in both design and operation it sent plumes of radioactive dust as far away as Japan and the U.S. To contain the fallout, the Soviet Union constructed a metal and concrete structure commonly known as the sarcophagus over the wreckage.

"It was really quite a remarkable feat, but after 25 years, it's in danger of collapse," civil and environmental engineer Eric Schmieman of Battelle Memorial Institute explains in an interview in Kiev.

The sarcophagus, technically known as the Shelter Object, was made of more than 7,000 metric tons of metal and 400,000 cubic meters of concrete. It was erected as quickly as possible to limit worker exposure to radiation, and was never meant to last forever. In many ways it was designed "like a house of cards," Schmieman says, with pieces of metal essentially leaning against each other and hooked together. "There are no welded joints or bolted joints—it wouldn't take much of a seismic event to knock it down."

At the same time, when the sarcophagus was completed, "there were over 1,000 square meters of openings in the roof where joints didn't match up," Schmieman says. These holes allowed water in, resulting in corrosion that is hastening the structure's decline. Since then, workers have patched many of these holes, but 100 square meters of gaps remain. To help keep radioactive matter from leaking , a dust- suppression system inside relies on sprinklers that periodically spray a watery solution to prevent it from becoming airborne.

Now, to safely enclose the ailing sarcophagus, the French consortium Novarka is working on a replacement: the New Safe Confinement, a steel structure 110 meters high at its tallest point, 164 meters wide, spanning across 257 meters and weighing more than 29,000 metric tons. In comparison, the Statue of Liberty from the ground to the tip of its torch is about 93 meters high, says Schmieman, who helped lead New Safe Confinement's conceptual design .

Because the destroyed reactor is still highly radioactive, to protect workers, the arch will not be constructed over the sarcophagus. R ather, it will be assembled nearby from prefabricated segments each about 25 meters high and weighing an average of 300 metric tons. Once complete, hydraulic jacks will then slide the arch approximately 300 meters on Teflon bearings during the course of a week to enclose the sarcophagus. Walls on either side of the structure, making it resemble an aircraft hangar, will help isolate debris. "All told, it has a design life of 100 years," Schmieman says.

Inside the structure, three robotic cranes capable of lifting up to 50 metric tons each will be equipped with tools to help dismantle the sarcophagus, using drills, manipulator arms and concrete crushers, along with vacuum cleaners that can suck up to 10 metric tons of dust. The cranes will also employ radioactivity monitors as well as cameras to help remotely operate the tools . Once the sarcophagus and its contents are dismantled , it remains to be seen where the most radioactive material will be buried, but there are facilities to store the less radioactive remains.

So that's what they mean by the “War on Poverty”

innesota is leading the way. Our Rethuglicans have figured out how to end poverty: by making it illegal to have money if you're poor? Wait, that makes no sense.

Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month.

Lest you think our most contemptible lawmakers have no heart at all, consider that this is the generous version of their earlier plan.

This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all.

I'm not sure what they're thinking. If they're so poor, the only way they could have any money is if they stole it from a rich guy? Or something? Maybe they're just setting up a perfect Catch 22: now the police can roust someone who looks poor, and if they've got no money, send them to jail for vagrancy; if they've got more than $20, arrest them for possession of illegal currency.


Some people don't believe me. Here's the link to the proposed legislation. They want to give all benefits via a debit card so they can restrict and monitor purchases. And if this is their sole source of income, that means they're only allowed a cash allowance of $20/month. Control, control, control.

Section 1. [256.9870] ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER DEBIT CARD.
Subdivision 1. Electronic benefit transfer or EBT debit card. (a) Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) debit cardholders in the general assistance program and the Minnesota supplemental aid program under chapter 256D and programs under chapter 256J are prohibited from withdrawing cash from an automatic teller machine or receiving cash from vendors with the EBT debit card. The EBT debit card may only be used as a debit card.
(b) Beginning July 1, 2011, cash benefits for programs listed under paragraph (a) must be issued on a separate EBT card with the head of household's name printed on the card. The card must also state that "It is unlawful to use this card to purchase tobacco products or alcoholic beverages." This card must be issued within 30 calendar days of an eligibility determination. During the initial 30 calendar days of eligibility, a recipient may have cash benefits issued on an EBT card without the recipient's name printed on the card. This card may be the same card on which food support is issued and does not need to meet the requirements of this section.
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), EBT cardholders may opt to have up to $20 per month accessible via automatic teller machine or receive up to $20 cash back from a vendor.

Video: Buffett's Partner Charlie Munger On The Bailouts

US Treasury to sell $142 bn of mortgage assets

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Treasury Department on Monday said it would start selling-off mortgage-backed securities worth an estimated $142 billion, in an effort to close another chapter of the financial crisis.

The department said each month it will offload up to $10 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), assets which bundle together large numbers of mortgages.

"We will exit this investment at a gradual and orderly pace to maximize the recovery of taxpayer dollars and help protect the process of repair of the housing finance market," said Treasury official Mary Miller.

The products, secured by state-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were bought as part of the 2008-2009 financial sector bailout.

As the housing bubble began to burst the Treasury and Federal Reserve bought up swathes of so-called "toxic assets," when losses appeared to be endangering individual banks and the financial system at large.

But the Treasury said the market for asset-backed derivatives is now much more robust, three years after the depths of the crisis.

"The market for agency-guaranteed MBS has notably improved since the time Treasury purchased these securities in 2008 and 2009," it said in a statement.

The Treasury hopes to net $15-20 billion profit from the sale, depending on market conditions.

According to Nancy Vanden Houten, an analyst at Stone & McCarthy, that estimate "might be on the high side," but a profit was likely.

"I think perhaps something closer to $10 billion is more reasonable."

The Treasury has recently offloaded equity stakes in Citigroup, General Motors, Ally Financial and American International Group that it took on to help them survive the crisis.

AIG recently offered to buy back $15.7 billion in mortgage-backed securities from the Federal Reserve as part of its effort to emerge from a government bailout.

BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules Fed Must Release All Bailout Data

Video - The Fed has 5 days to release all data.

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve must disclose details of emergency loans it made to banks in 2008, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an industry appeal that aimed to shield the records from public view. The justices today left intact a court order that gives the Fed five days to release the records, sought by Bloomberg.

A huge win for transparency.

Statement from Matthew Winkler, editor in chief of Bloomberg News:

As a financial crisis developed in 2007, "The Federal Reserve forgot that it is the central bank for the people of the United States and not a private academy where decisions of great importance may be withheld from public scrutiny. The Fed must be accountable to Congress, especially in disclosing what it does with the people’s money."

“The board will fully comply with the court’s decision and is preparing to make the information available,” said David Skidmore, a spokesman for the Fed.

The order marks the first time a court has forced the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed from its oldest lending program, the 98-year-old discount window. The disclosures, together with details of six bailout programs released by the central bank in December under a congressional mandate, would give taxpayers insight into the Fed’s unprecedented $3.5 trillion effort to stem the 2008 financial panic.

“I can’t recall that the Fed was ever sued and forced to release information” in its 98-year history, said Allan H. Meltzer, the author of three books on the U.S central bank and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Continue reading at Bloomberg...

Japan Earthquake: before and after

WHO: Japan Nuclear Fallout Food Radiation ‘More Serious’ Than Thought; Officials Worried Of High Levels Of Radiation In Food Supply

WHO warns of serious food radiation problem in japan
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The World Health Organization reports that food radiation from Japan’s nuclear fallout is ‘More Serious’ than thought. Japanese officials are now worried that high levels of radiation have entered the food supply. To make matters worse contaminated food has been sent beyond the affected area.

Breaking from Huffington Post’s Live Blog:

Today 12:54 PM Food Radiation ‘More Serious’ Than Thought

Food radiation contamination is more serious than was originally thought. Reuters reports:

The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors.

Engineers managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, and started a water pump at one of them to reverse the overheating that has triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

ABC News reports:

Japan Radiation Contaminates Food Sent Beyond Affected Area

Japanese Officials Fear Radiation Contamination From Local Food but Experts Say U.S. Consumers Have No Cause for Alarm

Many Japanese citizens around the Fukushima nuclear plant have evacuated amid growing fears of increased radiation seeping into the ground and air.

But Japan officials now fear that high levels of radioactive materials have entered the food supply as efforts continue to get the damaged nuclear reactors under control.

Radioactive iodine found in the air falls to the ground naturally, or is brought down with the rain or snow. On a farm, the radioactive substances can embed in the grass that cows eat, and are then excreted in its milk.

High levels of iodine that can be absorbed through the milk can accumulate in the thyroid and specifically cause thyroid cancer. High levels of cesium can damage cells and put many people at higher risk of developing other kinds of cancer.

Many of the local farms surrounding the plant export their products to areas outside the radiation zone. Some products are even shipped internationally to countries such as the United States.

Yahoo News:

WHO warns of “serious” food radiation in disaster-hit Japan …

TOKYO (Reuters) – Global anxiety rose over radiation from Japan’s earthquake damaged nuclear plant even as engineers had some success in the battle to avert disaster from the world’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.
.

“It’s a lot more serious than anybody thought in the early days when we thought that this kind of problem can be limited to 20 to 30 kilometers,” Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional office, told Reuters.

“It’s safe to suppose that some contaminated produce got out of the contamination zone.”

However, Cordingley said there was no evidence of contaminated food reaching other countries from the Fukushima complex, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

Japan has urged some residents near the plant to stop drinking tap water after high levels of radioactive iodine were detected. It has also stopped shipments of milk, spinach and another local vegetable called kakina from the area.

Fed Will Release Bank Loan Data as Top Court Rejects Appeal

The Federal Reserve will disclose details of emergency loans it made to banks in 2008, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an industry appeal that aimed to shield the records from public view.

The justices today left intact a court order that gives the Fed five days to release the records, sought by Bloomberg News’s parent company, Bloomberg LP. The Clearing House Association LLC, a group of the nation’s largest commercial banks, had asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

“The board will fully comply with the court’s decision and is preparing to make the information available,” said David Skidmore, a spokesman for the Fed.

The order marks the first time a court has forced the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed from its oldest lending program, the 98-year-old discount window. The disclosures, together with details of six bailout programs released by the central bank in December under a congressional mandate, would give taxpayers insight into the Fed’s unprecedented $3.5 trillion effort to stem the 2008 financial panic.

“I can’t recall that the Fed was ever sued and forced to release information” in its 98-year history, said Allan H. Meltzer, the author of three books on the U.S central bank and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Unprecedented Disclosure

Under the trial judge’s order, the Fed must reveal 231 pages of documents related to borrowers in April and May 2008, along with loan amounts. News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox News is pressing a bid for 6,186 pages of similar information on loans made from August 2007 to November 2008.

The records were originally requested under the Freedom of Information Act, which allows citizens access to government papers, by the late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman.

As a financial crisis developed in 2007, “The Federal Reserve forgot that it is the central bank for the people of the United States and not a private academy where decisions of great importance may be withheld from public scrutiny,” said Matthew Winkler, editor in chief of Bloomberg News. “The Fed must be accountable to Congress, especially in disclosing what it does with the people’s money.”

The Clearing House Association contended that Bloomberg is seeking an unprecedented disclosure that might dissuade banks from accepting emergency loans in the future.

Obama Administration

“We are disappointed that the court has declined our petitions, which deal with the protection of highly confidential bank information provided to the Federal Reserve,” the group said in a statement after the high court acted.

A federal trial judge ruled in 2009 that the Fed had to disclose the records in the Bloomberg case, and a New York-based appeals court upheld that ruling.

The Clearing House Association’s chances at getting a Supreme Court hearing suffered a setback when the Obama administration urged the justices not to hear the appeal. The government said the underlying issues had limited practical significance because Congress last year laid out new rules for disclosing Fed loans in the Dodd-Frank law.

“Congress has resolved the question of whether and when the type of information at issue in this case must be disclosed” in the future, the administration said in a brief filed by acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, President Barack Obama’s top Supreme Court lawyer.

Discount Window

The Fed had previously fought alongside the banks in opposing disclosure. It also sought to join the industry group in seeking high court review, only to be overruled by Katyal, according to court documents.

Justice Elena Kagan, formerly Obama's top Supreme Court lawyer, didn’t take part in the court’s consideration of the appeal. Since joining the court last year, she has disqualified herself from cases in which she took part as a government lawyer.

Bloomberg initially requested similar information for aid recipients under three other Fed emergency programs. The central bank released details for those facilities and others in December, after Congress required disclosure through the Dodd- Frank law.

The legislation didn’t apply retroactively to the discount window lending program, which provides short-term funding to financial institutions. Discount window loans made after July 21, 2010, must be released following a two-year lag.

Clearing House Association

“Fortunately, Congress was well aware of the sensitivity of disclosing this information,” the Clearing House Association said in its statement. “As part of the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress adopted a specific rule to ensure that in the future this confidential information will not be disclosed prematurely to the detriment of our financial system.”

The New York-based Clearing House Association, which has processed payments among banks since 1853, includes Bank of America NA, Bank of New York Mellon, Citibank NA, Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, HSBC Bank USA NA, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, U.S. Bank NA and Wells Fargo Bank NA.

In trying to shield the documents from disclosure, the Clearing House invoked a FOIA exemption that covers “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.”

The cases are Clearing House Association v. Bloomberg, 10- 543, and Clearing House Association v. Fox News Network, 10-660.

To contact the reporters on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net; Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net.

PIMCO Buys Government Debt Outside the U.S., Citing Inflation

AFP image
Activist Post

PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, who recently announced it was dumping their U.S. Treasury holdings, now says it is buying foreign debt in 'Rising Star' nations. Stating that the "pipeline of inflation is starting to hit globally," PIMCO said emerging markets can best weather the inflation storm.

Bloomberg reports:
Pacific Investment Management Co. says investors should buy company debt in Russia, Brazil and other emerging markets where rising wages and relatively low public and private debt will help borrowers weather accelerating inflation.
The manager of the world’s biggest bond fund is buying debt of “rising stars” linked to nations with expanding wealth because they will more easily be able to pass on higher materials costs, Mark Kiesel, Pimco’s global head of corporate bond portfolio management, wrote in a report today on the firm’s website. At the same time, he’s avoiding companies dependent on growth in Europe, the U.S. and Japan that will struggle amid stagnant wages and debt-laden governments and consumers.
“Companies which are tied most directly into the strong economic growth engine in the emerging markets should have the most pricing power and ability to either pass through rising costs or absorb them without a significant margin hit,” Kiesel wrote. Those more tied to growth in developed nations, he said, “will likely have less pricing power and be more negatively affected by rising prices for both food and energy.” (Read full Bloomberg article)