The Perfect (Radiation) Storm is Brewing

Dees Illustration

Brandon Turbeville

Ever since March 11, 2011, when the Japanese earthquake rattled the Asian country, there have been increasing numbers of strange coincidences involving nuclear power plants, natural disasters, and mismanagement of facilities. I say strange coincidences, because it now appears that nuclear power plants fall into the same category as the recent earthquakes that seem to be increasing in frequency and proximity to highly populated areas, as well as tornadoes that seem to be doing the same.

As for the Japanese situation, after months of claims by both the Japanese and American “authorities,” as well as the mainstream media that the situation in Japan was not as serious as “conspiracy theorists” were making it out to be, the Japanese Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters has finally been forced to admit that at least three of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had, indeed, melted down.

Of course, these admissions came well after the mainstream media had long since stopped reporting on the Japanese crisis. But the fact that the Japanese reactors had melted down is not news to those of us who no longer follow the mainstream media. Indeed, most readers of the independent media were well aware of the nuclear meltdowns in what was virtually real time.

Yet the Japanese crisis is not the only nuclear emergency that has occurred since March. Nor is it the only one to be ignored by the corporate media.

Just a week after Fukushima, I wrote an article regarding a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that Canada’s Ontario Power Generation had released radioactive water into Lake Ontario via a leak in the Pickering A nuclear generating station. Like the Japanese, the Canadian government deemed this accident to be of little consequence, even though Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Canadian government even began using the term “demineralized” in place of “radioactive” when discussing the leak.

Fast forward to June and we now have three more nuclear power plants under threat from “natural” disasters. Ft. Calhoun, while receiving scant coverage by the mainstream media, is now surrounded by flood water from the Missouri river. The facility is a storage site for 20 years worth of nuclear waste material; specifically, spent fuel rods from different plants in the state as well at its own.

When asked about the safety concerns regarding the facility, Gary Gates, CEO of the Ft. Calhoun facility, said, “There is no water inside the plant. The reactor is covered with borated water. The spent fuel is covered with borated water, which we want it to be. That’s intentional. That’s where it should be. The floodwaters are outside Fort Calhoun, not inside.”

At this time, there is no concrete evidence that there has been a meltdown or radioactive leakage from the Ft. Calhoun plant. However, there are some suspicious occurrences at the facility. First, there was a fire in the switch room, but it is maintained that this fire was contained to the switch room and that it was not flood related. The fire did shut down the cooling pumps for about 90 minutes but the backup generators were quickly used to return power to the pumps.

Later, one of the berms holding back the flood waters mysteriously collapsed. Unfortunately, with the weather in Nebraska still wet and nasty, levees are still being breached and dams are still overflowing. Under these conditions, a damaged berm is something that Ft. Calhoun can ill afford.

Strangely, even though the “switch room fire” occurred on June 7th, the FAA had imposed a flight ban within a two mile radius of the nuclear plant. The FAA claims the flight ban is a result of the Missouri flooding; but, as Ricky Kreitner of the Business Insider points out, “[But] the FAA ban specifically lists the Forth Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant as the location for the flight plan.”

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) spokesman Jeff Hanson stated that the flight ban is due to power lines and “security reasons that we can’t reveal.” Of course, the real reasons for the ban are unknown, but it is highly suspect that water and power lines on the ground have prompted a ban on traffic in the air. 

Not only that, but the Red Cross shelter next to the Fort Calhoun facility has been closed, an odd thing to do in the event of an emergency. Particularly when the Red Cross is on location as a result of an emergency in the first place.

Regarding the Ft. Calhoun plant, Marvin Wolf, editor of Local Talk News writes:

Wolf goes on to suggest that the Russians are claiming that there was a nuclear accident at the plant due to flooding and that the Obama administration has ordered a news blackout.

In addition to Ft. Calhoun, the Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownsville, Nebraska is also under a state of alert. Much like the Ft. Calhoun station, the Cooper Nuclear Station is under threat of being flooded out. This comes just days after two tornadoes ripped through the area.

We are also watching as a raging fire threatens the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The fire apparently started on Saturday in the Santa Fe National Forest and is now bearing down on the town and the lab. Not only are nuclear weapons tested in the lab, but there are approximately 20,000 barrels of discarded plutonium-related nuclear waste at the facility. A fire of this level at this particular facility could unleash devastating amounts of radioactive pollution. Even a loss of power to the facility could trigger a full-fledged emergency.

Naturally, one hopes that the Japanese and Canadians manage to get control over their power plant malfunctions. One also hopes that the floods recede and the fire goes out.

Yet, amid these hopes, one also begins to wonder if all this is more than just coincidence. After all, the first tell-tale signs of treachery is an attempt to cover it up.

Consider the track record of the corporate media, government agencies, and private facility owners just over the last few months.

We know that after the earthquake in Japan and the subsequent damage at Fukushima, the Japanese government actively covered up the extent of the damage from the international community, the press, and the Japanese people. In fact, the media and foreign governments, particularly the United States, aided them in doing so. The US government even went so far as to discourage Americans from purchasing potassium iodide supplements to protect themselves from the radiation coming across the ocean.

We also know that the Canadian government has been even more successful in covering up the pollution in Lake Ontario.

So, given this reputation, one would be justified in taking anything their government says with a grain of salt.

However, it is also true that an attempt to cover up an accident, mistake, or incompetence does not necessarily mean that the individual or agency attempting the cover up actually caused the incident. Even if the cover up is of a monumental scale.

But it certainly doesn’t help. And the fact that in the last few months so many nuclear facilities have come under threat from so-called natural disasters is starting to look a bit funny. After all, much of the flooding at Ft. Calhoun was caused by the government itself, in an apparent attempt to protect reservoirs.

As Wolf writes, “Keep in mind that some flooding was deliberately caused by the Army releasing water from reservoirs to protect them from failing. This has flooded levees. The Army has in the past dynamited levees to direct the water elsewhere – like where poor people live and work – to protect where rich people live and work.”

But the real question is whether or not this done as a necessity, an afterthought, or for a more sinister purpose altogether. Considering the fact that many governments now possess HAARP and similar technology that is capable of creating earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes as well as the fact that these governments rarely have the best interest of their citizens at heart, the idea of intentional destruction of nuclear facilities is not so far-fetched. It would certainly contribute to population reduction if all of this radiation combined with the Fukushima fallout and spread across the US. It would also provide an emergency situation that some would use to justify an even bigger police state and perhaps forced relocation.

It’s also interesting to note that, in the new Super 8 movie, there is a scene in which the US government deliberately sets a forest fire in order to force citizens out of the town and into military evacuation centers. In the movie, it was for the purpose of hiding secret government research. Was this predictive programming or just yet another coincidence?

Let me be clear – I’m not saying “the government did Fukushima” or “the government flooded Nebraska or set the fires in New Mexico.” But I am saying I don’t put it past them. I am saying it’s entirely physically possible. And I am saying these recent events have become a bit too coincidental to be ignored. Considering the track record, I don’t think we can afford to be naive.

View nuclear expert Arnold Gunderson’s take on the Nebraska situation here: