Posts from — March 2011

I’ve been wondering why the Japanese haven’t been using robots to check out the reactors, and they are about to start according to CNN: U.S. robots aid Japanese relief efforts

(CNN) — As Japan’s disaster evolves, so too are the measures taken to mitigate the chaos.

One such initiative comes from U.S. military contractor iRobot, which will help Japan’s army incorporate robots into their recovery efforts. The company joins at least two Japanese robotics teams on the ground in the quake- and tsunami-ravaged country, one of which operates an 8-meter-long, snakelike robot with a camera.

iRobot, based in Bedford, Massachusetts, is donating four ground-based models to the Japan relief effort: two PackBots and two Warriors.

Japan’s robots are apparently all tied up with personal appearance commitments or something, so they brought in some iRobot mil-bots. Japan apparently doesn’t have the general purpose robots that are used by bomb squads in the US and by the US military.

I’m in a time warp about Japan, because I haven’t been there in decades, but if you belief all of the hype about how advanced things are, you apparently miss the fine print about “in a limited number of areas”.

Canada might have an early election … or not. The CBC provides an explainer that is rather confusing to someone who isn’t versed in the parliamentary system.

Apparently, the opposition has the votes to force an election, but they want it forced on their terms, not as a result of a failure of the budget to pass. It would seem that the budget was drawn up knowing it wouldn’t pass, so it contains “gifts” for different voting blocs so the Conservatives can tell voters that the nasty opposition parties don’t support puppies, kittens, small children, and widows, or some such foolishness.

The opposition wants the government to fall on a no confidence vote concerning certain actions that have been adjudged to be “contempt of Parliament”, so they can campaign on how corrupt and ruthless the Conservatives are.

It gets confusing for Americans, because the Canadian parties are actually different, with different policies and solutions for problems, and some of those policies are actually left-leaning. It is hard for US voters to believe that such policies and principles still exist in politics.

There are definitely going to be elections in Portugal, as the latest austerity budget has been rejected.

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I have no idea why the military seized on “impunity”, but the use of the word equates to “air supremacy”, i.e. total control of the air space.

The BBC announces: Libya air force ‘unable to fight’

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s air force “no longer exists as a fighting force”, the commander of British aircraft operating over Libya has said.

Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate “with near impunity” over the skies of Libya.

He said they were now applying unrelenting pressure on the Libyan armed forces.
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Nato members have been holding talks about assuming responsibility for the no-fly zone over Libya, so far without agreement.

You’ve heard of “mission creep”? Well, in this case it would appear that many people have decided that Sarkozy is the “creep”. He really wants to go all Dubya over Libya, which is not what the others have in mind.

Since “impunity” has been declared, the US mission is over. We are packing up. The equipment, munitions, and personnel were designed to provide air supremacy, and they have. This is a package that comes off the shelf and is used for that one purpose. The “exit” is built in, and we have achieved it. Suppression of Enemy Air Defense [SEAD] is over, and now it is time for other people to take to the field.

NATO might consider handing over control to the Spanish Defense Minister, Carme Chacón Piqueras. She has a two-year-old at home, which qualifies her to handle Sarkozy.

Via Mary at Left Coaster, check out the Japan Quake Map, a time-lapse graphic that shows what has been happening off the coast of Japan since March 11^th. The colors correspond to the depth of the ‘quakes, while the diameter of the circles indicate the strength.

The BBC offers today’s update:

Tokyo’s tap water is unfit for babies to drink after radiation from Japan’s quake-hit nuclear plant affected the capital’s water supply, officials said.

Radioactive iodine levels in some areas were twice the recommended safe level.

People in Fukushima prefecture, where the nuclear plant is located, have been told not to eat certain vegetables because of contamination worries.

Workers have been temporarily evacuated from the plant after black smoke was seen rising from reactor No 3.
… [Read more →]

I avoid writing about this because I have a personal beef with “Colonel” Hows-it-spelled, so I can’t be impartial.

Oil is part of it, but so is Lockerbie and Chad. The initial call for a no-fly zone actually came from Libya’s UN ambassador when he resigned. It was picked up by David Cameron of the UK who quickly gained agreement from Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The two of them weren’t having a lot of luck selling the concept to the EU until the Arab League endorsed the idea, and Lebanon introduced a motion to establish a no-fly zone at the UN Security Council.

The Security Council passed Resolution 1973 with 5 abstentions, and the US finally was engaged in the process.

As soon as the resolution was passed, Sarkozy sent French aircraft into eastern Libya to “enforce” it.

The US was needed to provide some targeting information and the current GPS offsets that the UK and France didn’t have. The US has been dealing directly with the air defense system, and has not been engaged in anything else.

The UK attacked the building in the “Colonel’s” compound, which was obvious from the damage. It was hit by two bunker busters, which is the primary use of the European Storm Shadow cruise missile that is carried by Tornadoes. The UK took credit for destroying a “command and control center” which it probably was, but also put the “Colonel” on notice that he will pay a price for the Lockerbie bombing.

The US mission will actually be over fairly quickly, and we can step back to a support role, as European and some Arab nations fly the fighter cap over the country.

The BBC has a table of the allied weaponry.

The 48^th Fighter Wing of RAF Lakenheath lost an F-15E Strike Eagle to mechanical problems in Libya, but the crew ejected and have been recovered. During their last mission to bomb Libya, the Wing lost an F=111 and the crew. I don’t doubt that the crews were told that these missions were payback for the shooting at the Frankfurt airport, another incident most people didn’t notice.

There is no reason for the US to be “in charge” after air supremacy is assured, so in this case, they aren’t kidding when they say we will be out of it shortly.

Sixty-two teams and 990 dogs left Willow. Forty-seven teams and 450 dogs made it to Nome. Only a third of the 15 teams that didn’t make it were rookies. There were no dog deaths during the race, which is a result of much tougher screening all along the trail.

The weather was wonderful for the mushers, but many of the dogs that were dropped were probably affected by the heat, and not “kennel cough”. During the first part of the race, the speeds were very high for the temperature, as a number of veteran mushers noted.

John Baker won by moving at a fairly consistent pace for the entire race, while Ramey Smith was somewhat erratic, with bursts of speed followed by long stops. He was part of group that was racing among themselves early on, and ended up further back than they normally would be. There has been a tendency by some to treat the race as a series of sprints, while John treated it as a marathon from the beginning.

Will Peterson provides some more information on the interaction between Ellen Halverson and Heather Siirtola at the back of the pack.

Scott Janssen (32), the “Mushing Mortician” [he is a funeral director in Anchorage and gave himself the nickname], figures the belt buckle he received as an Iditarod finisher cost him about $120K. When a single dog needs 12,000 calories/day during the race you can see why the numbers are really measured in tens of thousands to run the race. You need sponsors if you aren’t independently wealthy.

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The BBC tells us about “progress” in Japan

Electricity has been restored to three reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant wrecked by fire and explosions after the 11 March quake and tsunami.
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Engineers have restored power to three reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and hope to test water pumps soon.
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A plant spokesman says some workers were temporarily evacuated from the complex after grey smoke was seen rising from the No 3 reactor.

Reports said the smoke appeared to have come from a pool where the reactor’s spent fuel rods are kept.

Radiation levels did not appear to have risen significantly though after the smoke was spotted, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said.

White smoke was later seen rising from the No 2 reactor, the agency said.
… [Read more →]

The snow storm was saved for the first day of Spring and the last day of the race, just as a reminder of what things can be like, and usually are, for the Iditarod.

Ellen has given the Lantern to Heather by leaving a couple of minutes before her, and they came off the mountain last night to run the last of the race into the blowing snow. The windchill is 15°, which is not extreme, as long as the team will run into the wind. They should be in around lunch time.

Update: They are beyond Safety and Heather returned the Lantern to Ellen with a 4 minute lead. They are not going to break Celeste Davis’s Red Lantern record.

Update: No one else seems to be interested, but it would appear that Ellen and Heather are setting up a race in Nome. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a photo finish to resolve the Red Lantern. Both are now down to 9 puppies, and I assume they have left everything but survival supplies at Safety for the final run. Heather arrived 14 minutes before Ellen, but they both spent an hour at Safety, and left a couple of minutes apart. They are having their own private race within the race.

Update: Heather is in after 13 days 19:24:13 and Ellen receives an unwanted second Red Lantern after 13 days 19:45:49.

At Nome

40 Matt Giblin (60)
41 Tom Thurston (25)
42 Scott Janssen (32)^R
43 Angie Taggart (19)^R
44 Kirk Barnum (47)
45 G.B. Jones (40)
46 Heather Siirtola (50)
47 Ellen Halverson (26) Φ [Read more →]

It’s that time of year. Spring arrives at 6:21PM CDT this evening. You can watch it come at Archæoastronomy.

The air is already filled with pollen and the live oaks are starting to drop last year’s leaves. The azaleas are going nuts as the camellias begin their decline.

I would note that locally we have had 12 hours or more of daylight since St. Patrick’s Day, and usually do.

The BBC tells us Power hopes rise at Japan plant

Workers are close to restoring power to cooling systems at a quake-hit Japanese nuclear power plant, officials say.

Engineers connected a cable through which they hope to supply electricity to part of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
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Radioactive contamination has been found in some food products from the Fukushima prefecture, Japanese officials say.

The iodine was found in products – reported to be milk and spinach – tested between 16 and 18 March and could be harmful to human health if ingested, the officials said.
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Traces of radioactive iodine have also been found in tapwater in Tokyo and five other prefectures, officials said on Saturday.

The traces are within government safety limits, but usual tests show no iodine, the AP news agency reported.
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The CBC reports on a Japanese government announcement: Japan food radiation above safety limit

Spinach and milk from two regions near Japan’s stricken nuclear plant are showing radiation levels above the legal safety limit, a Japanese official said Saturday.

But Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, said a person would have to drink the milk for a year to ingest as much radiation as in a CT scan. A year of the spinach would amount to about one-fifth of a CT scan.

“It’s not like if you ate it right away you would be harmed,” Edano told reporters in Tokyo as Japan’s nuclear crisis entered its second week. “It would not be good to continue to eat it for some time.”
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The contaminated milk was found 30 kilometres from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, and the spinach was collected between 80 and 100 kilometres to the south, Edano told reporters in Tokyo.

If there is radiation in the milk, the cows and pastures are irradiated, and the level is much higher for them to have it still detected in the milk. One doesn’t normally schedule cows for regular CT scans. Further, milk is normally ingested daily by children, and it is used, by definition, as the basic ingredient for all dairy products.

In addition, “between 80 and 100 kilometres to the south” is not near to the site, and is well outside the warning zone. No one wants their food enriched with caesium-137.

Justin Savidis (63) lost two places in the run from White Mountain to Nome, but that has been the only change in positions overnight.

Ellen seems to have a bit more speed than Heather, and may be planning to “lose” the Red Lantern after White Mountain, but Heather will surely notice her action. There is a full moon and obvious trail, so racing is still possible at this point, even though the teams are tired. Update: They are two minutes apart at White Mountain. Ellen really doesn’t want a second Red Lantern.

Nicolas Petit (14) literally limped in to win the rookie race. He broke a bone in his foot on the trail before Unalakleet.

Robert Nelson (51) made it into the top 20 with his right arm strapped to his side after he dislocated his shoulder on the trail before Eagle Island.

He was followed in by Rick Swenson (49) who has been wrapped like a Christmas package after breaking his collarbone on Happy River Steps.

When G.B. Jones gets in it is hoped that his right eye is looking a lot better that it did in Nikolai. He “kissed” the ice on the “Glacier” outside of Rohn.

At Nome

33 Magnus Kaltenborn (22)^R
34 Paul Johnson (46)
35 Cain Carter (48)^R
36 Wattie McDonald (38)
37 Billy Snodgrass (24)
38 Gerald Sousa (62)
39 Justin Savidis (63)
40 Matt Giblin (60)
41 Tom Thurston (25)
42 Scott Janssen (32)^R
43 Angie Taggart (19)^R

Beyond White Mountain

44 Kirk Barnum (47)
45 G.B. Jones (40)

At White Mountain

46 Heather Siirtola (50)
47 Ellen Halverson (26) Φ [Read more →]

It has to be plumbing, since in less than a year I have watched highly paid petroleum scientists, engineers, and technicians spend months to fix a leaking pipe, and now I’m watching nuclear scientists, engineers, and technicians trying to get water into a building.

The BBC reports that Japan raises nuclear alert level

Japan has raised the alert level at its quake-damaged nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having “wider consequences”.
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Japanese nuclear officials said core damage to reactors 2 and 3 had prompted the raising of the severity grade.

The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the US was also rated at five on the scale, whereas the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated at seven.
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From several sources, including the Doctors Without Borders site [I donate what I can there, because I like their work, and they start immediately]: The basic problem would seem to be logistics. The government has the necessary supplies, but they did not plan for a situation where they lost the ports, the landing fields, the railroads, and the roads. They haven’t yet come up with a plan to distribute the supplies on anything more than a hit and miss basis.

There is no gas or diesel available in the affected area, so private efforts have to take enough fuel with them to make the round trip, which severely limits their reach. Approximately 100,000 people are in shelters, and they can get medical care, but they can’t get enough food and water. The area back from the coast that wasn’t wiped by the tsunami is relatively intact but the transportation systems and power grid are broken.

Food, water, and warmth are the primary concerns.

The US military can solve this problem, as they did in Haiti, but they can’t do what they aren’t asked to do, and they haven’t been asked. The same airdrops by C-17s would work, but they have to be coordinated on the ground, and it is not clear that the Japanese government understands what can be done. [Note: The US is the best in the world when it comes to logistics. We have more practice than any other country, and the rest of the world just assumes that we will do it.]

The overall problem would seem to be that the situation doesn’t match the plan for disaster response, and they are very slow to adapt to the facts.

Doctors Without Borders does not have a Japan fund started, as they are still assessing the situation, and are not sure that it will be necessary. They have no plans to be involved in the radiation exposure cases, as the Japanese are probably the best in the world in that area. They have not been able to reach the northern-most section of Honshu island.