Is media avoiding the word "meltdown?"

[garybeck]

According to Arnie Gunderson, who I trust, in Unit 2, the fuel rods have melted and been essentially destroyed and the uranium pellets are on the bed of the reactor and they are melting through. (see his 4/10 video http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x572365)

As well, Reuters and several independent news agencies are reporting that a meltdown has occurred and has been confirmed. Example:

On April 6, Reuters reported that "the core at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor has melted through the reactor pressure vessel," Rep. Edward Markey told a House hearing on the disaster, saying:

"I have been informed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that the core has gotten so hot that part of it has probably melted through the reactor pressure vessel."

http://www.phillyimc.org/en/fukushima-meltdown-confirmed

So where is the media on this, most likely the worst nuclear accident in the history of our planet, and it's only getting worse?

Now I don't watch the MSM media on TV but I check CNN.com every so often and I don't recall any recent headlines talking about an actual meltdown (partial or complete) at Fukushima. So I thought I'd go over to CNN and see if they had anything about it. I typed in "Fukushima meltdown" in the search box on their home page. The results were startling... the word "meltdown" itself doesn't appear anywhere in the search results. So I tried a search on just "meltdown". I scanned the first few articles in the search results. One has a reference to the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island. Another said "Engineers and workers so far have managed to stave off a complete meltdown in Fukushima Daiichi's reactors 1-3 and in the spent fuel pool of unit 4." None discussed the possibility that a meltdown has already occurred or is occurring right now.

I thought that was kinda strange, so I decided to investigate further. I did an advanced google search on "fukushima meltdown" and looked for only articles in the last week, and found something interesting. Mysteriously, not a single major news agency has any articles in the last week that contain the words "fukushima" and "meltdown." In the advanced google search, I scanned through the first 8 pages of results and nothing, nada, from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, BBC.

Instead we are hearing the stories of how they fixed the water leak, and how the seawater radiation levels have dropped.

I guess this is what we should expect, given the track record. But it is depressing to see it, especially considering the subject matter. If they are systematically downplaying the extent of the disaster by avoiding the use of certain terms like "meltdown", then they will surely be downplaying the potential effects on humans.

This example is a reminder that we are going to have to rely on independent media for the facts on this. And we need to do this. Our own health and safety may be affected. I strongly encourage people to check Fairewinds Associates website for updated information: http://www.fairewinds.com/ and I would ask people to share other websites they feel are trustworthy news sources for this information in their replies to this thread.

[Chef Eric]

1. Thanks for pointing this out. nt

[AKDavy]

2. What the manipulators of public opinion are avoiding is truth

If the truth happens to be a meltdown, well, that is just one instance.

They prefer the masses to fear imaginary threats, which are much easier to manage than real threats.

[Wilms]

3. You must be new at this.

Everything is fine in Japan, and especially at Vermont Yankee and the 22 other BWR's of that vintage still running in the US.

;)

[garybeck]

5. hey watch it buddy. :)

none 'o dat sarcasm... it scrambles my brain :)

by the way we ARE going to shut down Vermont Yankee next year! I promise! I'm going to be there at the gates with my bus, powering a solar concert, when they turn the power off for good!

[Wilms]

11. Missed by that much with the re-licensing just before Fukashima..

But I have a good feeling about it being closed down.
I just hope the Solar Bus won't be needed to run the cooling pumps after a station blackout. :scared:

[garybeck]

17. Legislature has to approve re-licensing and they have already denied it.

there's no way they can continue operating now past 2012 without a revote in the legistlature, or a court order. the governor is going to do everything in his power to make sure it's closed. I'm optimistic.

[flamingdem]

19. Is Arnie Gundersen still involved with the Vermont Yankee Plant

as in criticizing what's going on there?

[spanone]

4. the nuclear industry is fighting for it's life....there's a huge publicity campaign waging

[franzia99]

12. True. They want to keep pocketing their billions.

[AndyTiedye]

6. How Long Before the Melt Hits the Groundwater?

How bad will it get?

:nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke: :hide:

[garybeck]

7. do we know if it has melted through the bottom of the containment building yet?

does it matter since the top is already blown off?

[franzia99]

13. We know radiation is leading from the plant into the water. Not sure about the extent of the leak

though. But it doesn't sound comforting.

[AndyTiedye]

15. Of More Concern is If the Blob of Melted Fuel Hits the Groundwater and Goes BOOM

The explosion would eject all that molten nuclear fuel into the atmosphere.
Along with the contents of the spent fuel pool which is suspended above the reactor.

Then what happens to the rest of the reactors? The blast will likely have damaged them further,
and the site would then be too radioactive for any kind of mediation efforts.

How bad IS the worst case for this thing?

[garybeck]

18. I think worst case is pretty f-ing bad.

all 4 reactors could melt down and do the boom thing you describe.

[CoffeeCat]

27. I just read that Fukushima has ten times more...

...radioactive material than Chernobyl ever did.

I think we can all see where this is going. With meltdown happening, and
most likely an inevitable explosion--there will be more damage/melting down
to most likely all of those six reactors.

Seriously. Five days ago, the LA Times reported that "Fukushima was improving".

I think we can all see where this is going. It's worse than it's ever been.
They couldn't stop these processes when the situation was more managable. They
aren't going to be able to stop it now. It's too hot to cement, now.

This is incredibly dire. We appear to be headed for a worst-case scenario that will
greatly affect the entire globe.

Do we really need to wait for the LA Times or any other American media outlet to
tell us that?

[northernlights]

28. it almost feels like living "On the Beach"

just peacetime nuke catastrophe instead of war. Guess that makes killing everything off ok...

[JuniperLea]

29. This is what I heard early on too...

They won't be able to hide it either.

That said, we really don't know much because we aren't being told anything... that would indicate, from my POV, a shitstorm of very bad news.

[femrap]

8. And not a peep from the MSM about the

Jet Stream carrying all of this radiation and dumping it on the Midwest and Appalachia....especially w/ all the rain we have endured lately.

This radiation is on its second trip around the globe.

Wrong kind of FEAR....MSM just wants TERRORIST fear.

It's despicable.

[Raschel]

9. I could be wrong, but it seems they're not using the word 'fallout' either.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. On the other hand, if the media says "meltdown", and it's not a meltdown

then it would be sensationalist journalism.

One of the major Japanese newspapers had a big headline, "Partial Meltdown", a few days after 3/11, and the ambient radiation readings taken by various organizations in this area where I am, 100 miles south of the reactors, went up abruptly, reaching several times the normal level. After declining considerably, they went up again around the 20th of March. But for the past week or two the levels have been showing a slow-but-steady decreasing trend, even today when the wind has been coming from the general direction of the reactors, and the current readings are not much higher than normal background radiation levels.

So, from my personal perspective, talk of a "meltdown" at this stage is still conjecture.

[PVnRT]

21. That kind of reasonable response is not welcome at DU for this topic

[liberation]

30. One person's "reasonable response" is another's "propaganda"

The thing is that the function of the press is to "inform" not "helping maintain social order."

It is very easy to mask concern with what the reaction to the news will be, with stalling for veracity.

[jpak]

14. No no no - things are getting better all the time - this could NEVER be as bad as Chernobyl

and other happy horseshit - not

Level 7 = major accident

The denials must cease

yup

[flamingdem]

20. Yes, the Level 7 designation kind of undercuts the feel good talk!

I wonder what it buys them, maybe more international help, maybe a way to write it off.

[PufPuf23]

16. The Japan situation is extreme.

The Japan situation is also a harbinger of what war. social breakdown for whatever reason, or "fair" war has as a target in the USA or Western Europe and Japan by development of nuclear energy without a "safe zone" strategy. Any source that tells you nuclear energy of munitions are "safe" given current technology are liars. Their opinion is based upon at best scienctific breakthrow.

There is the potential in terms of of tonnes and potential persistent of by-products where Japan will exceed Chernobyl and this is a likely result IMO.

I do not want to die.

The aged nuke plants and stored expended fuel in the USA are military and terorist targets.

The nuke apologists are wankers.

[leveymg]

22. As in THX-1138, the Fukushima story has a limited # of credits that can be used to cover it. Once

over the limit, the story (one the MSM never really wanted to cover, to begin with) ceases to be broadcast and might as well not have ever existed. Call it the the "Lucas Unwanted Story Life Maxim." Google reflects that Maxim.

[jtrockville]

23. They avoid the term "nuclear waste" too.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. So the 160 year old Reuters is not 'mainstream media or a 'major news agency'?

Wow.

Perhaps you're too fixated on the precise word 'meltdown'. You can, for instance find this on the BBC a day ago:

The zirconium alloy cans that contain the fuel pellets burst and it is probable that some fuel melted, though we cannot yet be sure about this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13017282

Or, from 2 weeks ago:

"Together with the fact that the water found outside is highly radioactive, I think it can be said that this is proof that the fuel rod has melted a bit and this is a very serious thing," said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano. "We are doing our best to make sure we can stop (the further spreading of radioactivity) and contain the situation."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12896690

I'll leave it to you to recheck the other organisations you mentioned.

[Hannah Bell]

25. no, & as a simple google search will tell you, there are indeed a number of major

news outlets that have 'fukushima' & 'meltdown' in their stories in the last week.

http://www.google.com/#q=fukushima+meltdown&hl=en&prmd=ivnsu&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=qdr:w,nws:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=wn&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=2335820b26d2f13

[CoffeeCat]

26. CNN doesn't call it a meltdown...

I think they refer to it as a "nuclear misunderstanding".

GE helps to craft their talking points.