Author: Martyn

TEPCO Directors Get That Sinking Feeling.

The latest news about the TEPCO [ Tokyo Electric Power Company ] owned Fukushima plant does make for some very very scary reading.

The company has at long lost admitted that it has known for the last two years about the water flowing under the plant and in to the sea .

Now there is speculation that because of the water flowing under the reactor buildings, that it has caused the soil to resemble quicksand, and they might well “topple”.

It is currently estimated that some 600 tons of groundwater
enters the Pacific ocean from the plant each day.

Just do the maths on that,
or
Pump and pray.

Safe Jobs for the Directors.

Meanwhile:  –
A number of TEPCO directors have recently secured new directorships at TEPCO related organisations, and are now living overseas.

They are: –

– Shimizu, Arai, Takei – Directors of ARABIAN OIL Company’s umbrella companies.

– Katsumata – External Director, the Japan Atomic Power Company.

– Hirose – Part-time Director, the Japan Atomic Power Company.

– Miyamoto – CEO, Nippon Field Engineering.

– Kimura – Vice President, The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

&

– Fujiwara – External Auditor, Kandenko.

Lucky them!

They have been able to get out of the county,
but most of the population is staying put.

Is it any wonder that the Japanese have become very worried about what’s happening at the plant?

Following On From The Fire.

Following on from the fire upon the Atlantic Cartier in May.

The ship has been repaired.

Since then she has sailed to Antwerp, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New York.

It recently put in to the port of Liverpool, but no one was aware about this until after the ship had moved on.

The ship is currently sailing back towards Halifax,  Nova Scotia, and will then continue to New York,  Baltimore,  and Norfolk, Virginia.

The Atlantic Cartier is owned by the Atlantic Container Line, and is classed as being a: ‘ Roll On Roll Off With Container Capacity.’

There are still many open questions about just what kind of goods the ship has carried in the past, or will be carrying in the future?

Maritime Piracy Publications.

SIPRI  ( The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute )
has just published a article entitled: –

Combating Blackbeard:
how to reduce maritime piracy in Somalia.

This article looks at some of the reasons as to why piracy exists off
the coast of Somalia, and just what might be done about it.

While Taylor & Francis have just published the following works:-

The Price of Modern Maritime Piracy.

&

Privatizing the struggle against Somali piracy.

Both of these are expensive publications, and so best accessed via your local library.

Up In Flames.

Fire!

The ATLANTIC CARTIER is a Swedish owned Ro-ro/container carrier which was built during 1985.

At present it is in port at Hamburg, and was scheduled to be sailing on to Antwerp.

But . . . .

On May 1st the ship became seriously damaged as it went up in flames.

The ships cargo included 9 tons uranium hexafluoride ( UF6 ),
which was destined for the Areva owned uranium-enriching plant at Lingen, Lower Saxony.

Also included in the cargo were four tonnes of explosives, and 180 tons of flammable ethanol.

Explosions and Toxic Clouds.

If the ship had exploded, then a cloud  of the uranium hexafluoride might of been released in to the atmosphere.

Here is a quote from  wikipedia which will give you some idea as to what would of happen next:-

‘ When UF6 is exposed to moist air, it reacts with the water in the air to produce UO2F2 (uranyl fluoride) and HF (hydrogen fluoride) both of which are highly corrosive and toxic. ’

One can only speculate about just what else might of happened next – ? ? ?

As you might imagine there has been a lot of concerns about this issue both within Hamburg, and throughout the world.

It will be very interesting to read the inquiry report as to just how this accident came about, and just why the boat was allowed to carry such a mixture of dangerous materials.

On the High Seas – – –

In the meanwhile: –

Here is a link to the International Maritime Organisation ( IMO ) resolution upon  INTERNATIONAL MARITIME DANGEROUS GOODS.

While I’m left wondering just how many ships with such a dangerous mixture of highly dangerous cargoes are currently to be found sailing upon the high seas, and just which ports they visit on a regular basis ?

Looking To Find A Nukiller Waste Train.

Many towns in Britain have nukiller waste passing through them via the railways.

Finding out just when they go through any town has been a very time consuming and costly process – up until now.

One way of finding out has been by purchasing a copy of Freightmaster.

Now you can look up some of the same information via Realtime Trains.

This is a really useful online resource, especially as it gives an exact set of times and towns which these trains go through.

If your uncertain as to which ones to look at on your search,
then they will code as ZZ ,
and are run by DRS ( Direct Rail Services ).

New Guards At Springfields.

Here is a news story about one of the key plants in the nukiller fuel cycle.

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) are about to be withdraw from the Springfields site at Salwick near Preston.

The plant is one in which nukiller fuel rods and other key reactor items are assembled.

What is not so clear at present is just who will provide ‘security’ at the plant once the CNC have been withdrawn.

Will it be the local constabulary ?
or
A private company like G4S ?

Only time will tell.

Small Change For The Bank Please.

Some years ago I was in a shop on Green Lane, Harringay.

While I was in the process of waiting to pay for my goods a woman came to the counter and asked if she could change a £20 note for some small change.

The shop keeper did this, and the woman went back next door to her place of Employment.

Nothing so remarkable you might think,  except for just one fact.

She worked in a branch of the Bank of Cyprus.

I’ll make no further comment.

Associating With Armed Guards.

BIMCO is an International shipping association which exists to facilitate the commercial operations of its membership organisations.

BIMCO is now about to offer an associate membership to private
maritime security companies which achieve the International
Standards Organisation’s PAS 28007.

The good news is that the UK Chamber of Shipping has rejected the
idea of having private security firms as a part of the organisation.

Policing Cumbia

There are a lot of changes going on around Cumbrian,
and the Windscale / Sellafield nukiller plant.

Cumbria Constabulary, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have just launched the Sellafield Policing Unit.

This new police unit has been created
‘to specifically deal with conventional policing issues that occur
in and around the Sellafield’.

The new unit will consist of 17 police officers:
Eight of which will be based at the plant and the rest at
Whitehaven Police Station.

Exactly who this new unit will report to,
and just how  it will operate in practice,
is something which will need to be monitored from now on.

The creation of this new unit raises some interesting questions about police accountability, and other civil liberty issues.