News Nuggets 571

Images from the Daily Mail of the UK [top] and from Huffington Post.

Partial Meltdowns Presumed at Crippled Reactors from the New York Times
"Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a quickly escalating nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors, and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as problems were reported at two more nuclear plants."
"… bracing for a second explosion…"  Not good.

Japan Struggles to Control Reactors from the Wall Street Journal
"Japanese officials continued their battle to keep damaged nuclear reactors from overheating in what has become the nation's worst nuclear accident, but said there were no signs of radiation leakage that would accompany a major meltdown."

Japanese Nuclear Plants' Operator Scrambles to Avert Meltdowns from the Washington Post
"Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, even as officials struggled to bring several other damaged reactors under control. Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant haven't found a way to stabilize overheated reactors and feared the possibility of partial nuclear meltdown, which could potentially cause a further release of radioactive material, Japan's top government spokesman said Sunday. Engineers were having trouble, in particular, with two units at the nuclear facility -- one of which lost its outer containment wall Saturday in an explosion.  Meanwhile, officials declared a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa, where excessive radiation levels were reported."

How to Stop a Nuclear Meltdown from Time Magazine
"The one quick solution to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power facility is to restore power to it. There is an irony to that observation: a nuclear power plant in need of power. But the problem at unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi began with a double whammy: the 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan that apparently knocked out its main source of electrical power; and the resulting tsunami that put the facility's back-up power supply out of commission. The improbable one-two punch resulted in what is called a "station blackout,""

Japan Ministers Ignored Safety Warnings Over Nuclear Reactors from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Seismologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko claimed that an accident was likely and that plants have 'fundamental vulnerability'"

Government Speaks of 'Unprecedented' Catastrophe from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"An explosion at the Fukushima 1 atomic power plant raised fears of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan on Saturday following a massive earthquake and tsunami a day earlier. Japanese government officials urged calm, saying the plant's core was not affected by the powerful explosion."

Containing the Nuclear Crisis from the Economist [of the UK]
"The explosion, he said, was due to hydrogen buildup in the steam piping that mixed with oxygen, and that there was no damage to the container with the nuclear fuel. TEPCO has been filling the container with seawater combined with boric acid to cool the reactor, which Mr Edano called an "unprecedented" remedy. Boric acid, as well as being a strong neutron absorber to prevent the nuclear fuel from overheating, will also make the reactor much harder to get running again."

Japan Quake: China sets Aside Disputes, Offers Help from the Washington Post
"The earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan may help temporarily ease Japan's strained relations with China, allowing the two Asian rivals for the moment to look past lingering territorial, economic, military and historical disputes."

The Town that Drowned: Fresh Pictures from the Port Where 9,500 People are Missing After it was Swept Away by the Mega-quake from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Half of the population of a Japanese coastal town are still unaccounted for as the death toll from the massive earthquake and tsunami looks set to rise. Government officials revealed the fate of 9,500 people in the north eastern port of Minamisanriku was still unknown more than 24 hours after the double disaster hit."
The photos here are astonishing!

And just when you thought things had reached bottom in Japan:
Japanese Volcano Erupts from the Sunday Times [of South Africa]
"A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Sunday after nearly two weeks of relative silence, sending ash and rocks up to four kilometres (two and a half miles) into the air, a local official says."
Wouldn't be surprised if this is linked to the earthquake.

The 10 Worst Nuclear Disasters from the Daily Beast
"If Japan escapes unscathed from its nuclear close-call, it will have dodged a bullet that many other countries have not. From Chernobyl to Three Mile Island, read about 10 terrifying nuke accidents."

Libya Doesn't Meet the Test for U.S. Military Action (Gen. Wesley Clark) from the Washington Post
"Before we aid the Libyan rebels or establish a no-fly zone, let's review what we've learned about intervening since we pulled out of Vietnam. The past 37 years have been replete with U.S. interventions. Some have succeeded, such as our actions in Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), the Persian Gulf War (1991) and the Balkans (1995-2000). Some were awful blunders, such as the attempted hostage rescue in Iran (1980), landing the Marines in Lebanon (1982) or the Somalia intervention (1992-94)."

Sub-Saharan Africa's Big Move Up from the Financial Post [of Canada]
"Once the undisputed worst economic region in the world, sub-Saharan Africa is now one of the fastest-growing areas on the planet and despite the turmoil in North Africa, has become one of the most incredible success stories of the global economy."
Who knew?  Good to have SOME good news today!

Pay Teachers More (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"A basic educational challenge is not that teachers are raking it in, but that they are underpaid. If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession."

Pro-Worker Movement Power in Wisconsin: What's Next? (John Nichols) from the Nation
"There is a lot of talk about where to take this energy, and a lot of options—all with credible arguments and all with support from serious players."

‘Wisconsin 14′ Dems Speak at Homecoming Rally from Raw Story
"They held a news conference while tens of thousands protested in the streets, explicitly calling the Republicans' actions to pass the anti-union bill illegal and compared the state's political climate to that of a dictatorship."

Confessions of a Recovering Op-Ed Columnist (Frank Rich) from the New York Times
"I have always wanted to keep growing as a writer, not run in place. My latest bout of restlessness had nothing to do with the tumultuous upheavals of the news business in the digital era. It was an old-media mission I started to chafe at — opinion writing within the constraints of newspaper deadlines and formats."
As you may know, Rich is leaving the Times to go over to New York Magazine.

WHALE NUGGET!!
10 Questions for Captain Paul Watson on Japan’s Retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from Sea Shepherd News
"1.      Do you think Japan has given up on whaling operations in the Southern Ocean for good?
Captain Paul Watson: We are not sure. We are hopeful that they will cease whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but if they do return, we will be there once again next season to greet them. I believe we will be able to return stronger than we did this year and better equipped to obstruct their illegal whaling operations."

RONALD REAGAN BOOK NUGGET!!
Reconstructing the Day Reagan Fell: Chaos After a President’s Shooting (Janet Maslin) from the New York Times
"The patient was 70, fit and very polite. He made it a point of pride to walk into the emergency room under his own steam. The medical staff went to work on him immediately, cutting off clothes, inserting IV lines, starting fluids and hooking up monitors. The process moved so fast that one worker never bothered to look at his face. Another asked for an address and was surprised by the answer: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

ANCIENT HISTORY/MYTHOLOGY NUGGET!!
Lost City of Atlantis, Swamped by Tsunami, May be Found from Reuters
"A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain."

LITERARY PLACES NUGGET!!
The English Forest that Inspired Tolkien from Salon
"Slide show: A look at the locations that informed celebrated novelists, from Faulkner to Woolf."

CHRISTIANITY NUGGET!!
The Images of Jesus Over Time (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
Images of Jesus in ancient times vs. today.