The Need For A Contingency Plan To Move South (or, When In Doubt, Ask The Web)

This is a redacted copy of a letter I recently addressed to a religious organization in the Americas. I post it here to by way of impressing upon the intrepid Reader the severity of the situation with which we are faced.

May 11, 2012 attn:  a knowledgeable and caring human being  with a spare moment or two Dear --------: I am contacting you today to request contact information, introductions, &c., should the complete relocation of myself, my loved one, and my  household become suddenly necessary.  You are no doubt familiar with the nuclear crisis that began a year ago in northeastern Japan.  Given the alarming developments recently reported by reliable sources, the need for relocation (especially considering that I dream of becoming a mother in the not too distant future) is unfortunately real, and is in no way farfetched. I have arrived, after much thought, at the depressing assessment that not only do I have not the most basic outline of a plan, I am at a loss at present for the basic building blocks of one.  I do not even know anyone who lives somewere, as you do, which will be "safe" should such a horror indeed come to pass. At times such as this it is my custom to appeal to my fellow human beings for assistance.   I am therefore appealing to you for help: contacts, websites, advice, whatever you judge useful, if you have the time.  If you do not, it would be most helpful if you were to direct me, please, to someone who does. I have appended hyperlinked source material to this document, to which I direct your attention, should you desire context for my request. Thank you very much, in advance, for your attention in this regard.

Sources:

Chief Engineer: I’m telling my friends on West Coast of US to watch Unit No. 4 like a hawk — Wake up everyday and make sure it’s standing… have a plan to move somewhere (VIDEO)  Arnie Gundersen Interviewed by Mike Adams Transcription by Energy News May 11, 2012 At 41:40 in I’m telling my friends on the [US] west coast, you gotta watch it like a hawk everyday get up and make sure Unit 4 is standing… if it’s not, have a plan B to move somewhere.

Gundersen: Move south of equator if Unit 4 fuel pool goes dry, that’s probably the lesson there — Like cesium from all 800 nuclear bombs ever dropped on Earth, except all at once (VIDEO) the information published just below it (expanded with the 'Show more' button) Arnie Gundersen Interview KGO Radio’s Pat Thurston April 15, 2012 Transcription by Energy News Gundersen at ~25:00 in There’s more cesium in that [Unit 4] fuel pool than in all 800 nuclear bombs exploded above ground… But of course it would happen all at once.... It would certainly destroy Japan as a functioning country… Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there. Listen to the full interview here***

GLOBAL CONCERN:  Fuel Pools Impending Disaster & Inaction  (A. Gundersen on Ecoshock) the information published just below the video (expanded with the 'Show more' button) http://www.fairewinds.com/ http://www.ecoshock.org/ Radio Ecoshock: The Worst Problems In The World Alex Smith, of Radio Ecoshock, interviews nuclear industry expert Arnie Gundersen, of Fairewinds Associates. Smith notes that the nuclear accident at Fukushima Japan is far from over as three reactors continue to meltdown. Smith adds that now there is a storm of international worry about nuclear fuel pools tottering in blown up buildings putting the whole Northern Hemisphere at risk. Gundersen says it is unlikely there would be an explosion if the #4 Fuel pool collapses. But dangerous "hot" particles would still be sent around the world, because within two days of the collapse, the Zirconium and radioactive metals  (like Cesium and Plutonium) would burn at a very high temperature, sending particles high into the air. The result would be an everlasting disaster for Japan.  Arnie thinks it could create a no-man's land 50 miles across the country, perhaps destabilizing the government. According to Smith, "Arnie Gundersen, a year ago, warned us here on Radio Ecoshock, and to anybody who would listen, that a world-scale catastrophe was lurking in the nuclear fuel storage pools of both reactors Three and Four, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. Why is this story finally getting wider attention, a year later?"

Senator: Fukushima Fuel Pool Is a  National Security Issue for AMERICA Posted on May 6, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog After visiting Fukushima, Senator Ron Wyden warned that the situation was worse than reported … and urged Japan to accept international help to stabilize dangerous spent fuel pools. An international coalition of nuclear scientists and non-profit groups are calling on the U.N. to coordinate a multi-national effort to stabilize the fuel pools. And see this. Fuel pool number 4 is, indeed, the top short-term threat facing humanity. Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott says that if fuel pool 4 collapses, she will evacuate her family from Boston and move them to the Southern Hemisphere. This is an especially dramatic statement given that the West Coast is much more directly in the path of Fukushima radiation than the East Coast. Read more

EVACUATING:  Dr. Helen Caldicott - What We Learned From Fukushima (April 2, 2012) Published on Apr 4, 2012 by CreativeMessage This information is published just below the video on Youtube,  when expanded with the 'Show more' button Caldicott: If Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 collapses I am evacuating my family from Boston. Few people know that the Pacific Northwest got whacked hard by fallout from the Fukushima disaster with radiation rates hundreds of thousands of times higher than normal background radiation. The damage from this is not something that the corporate media or the government is talking about. It mysteriously disappeared from the radar almost immediately. Dr. Caldicott referred to this as a process of "cover-up and psychic numbing." Looks like it may be working. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission just approved two new nuclear power plants this week (4/2/12) in South Carolina in addition to the two approved earlier this year in Georgia. Dr. Caldicott talks about the dangers and hidden costs of nuclear power then tells the awful truth in minute detail about the actual scale of the Fukushima disaster and compares it to the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Recent studies estimated that a million people have died so far from Chernobyl. Dr. Helen Caldicott is a physician, Nobel Peace Prize winner, noted author, anti-nuclear power advocate and has founded numerous national and international groups which oppose nuclear power & weapons, including Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Fukushima Reactor 4: Life On Planet Earth in the Balance Published on Apr 12, 2012 by brazilnr1 This information is published just below the video on Youtube,  when expanded with the 'Show more' button Diplomat Akio Matsumura is warning that the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan may ultimately turn into an event capable of extinguishing all life on Earth. Matsumura posted a startling entry on his blog following a statement made by Japan's former ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, on the situation at Fukushima. Speaking at a public hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, Murata warned that "if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 -- with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground -- collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4," writes Matsumura. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421. Matsumura then asked Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, about the the impact of such an additional catastrophe at Fukushima. Containing radiation at the crippled facility will be no small feat, Alvarez explained. "Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks," Alvarez told Matsumura. He then said the 11,138 spent fuel assemblies stored at the Fukushima plant contain "134 million curies is Cesium-137 — roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection." "It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet," he concluded. Matsumura admits this is an astounding number and one difficult to comprehend. He wrote that 85 times more Cesium-137 than released at Chernobyl "would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival." Akio Matsumura sent a letter United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide," he wrote to Ki-Moon. "The world has been made so fragile and vulnerable. The role of the United Nations is increasingly vital. I wish you the best of luck in your noble mission."

(the following was struck from the letter)

A threat, being real and immanent produces, in the resourceful, the inquiry after & utilization of any and all options that can remotely be considered available. To their fullest possible extent.

That being said, should you have any information that may help me form a concrete and viable relocation strategy that may be enacted on short notice, leave me a message below, or email me.

Thank you all.

Be seeing you.