UN says Ivory Coast negotiation was a ‘trick’

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AP – 29 mins ago

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. peacekeeping chief says this week’s offer by Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo‘s top three generals to surrender was a “trick” to buy time.

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To read the complete article, click here -> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110408/ap_on_re_us/un_un_ivory_coast

 

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No increased radiation so far in Southern California, air quality agency says

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March 17, 2011 | 11:28 am

No increased levels of radiation have been detected in Southern California since a nuclear power plant was damaged in Japan, the local air quality agency said Thursday.

“As of right now, we have not seen any change in the background levels of radiation,” said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The agency monitors radiation on behalf of the federal government for the Southern California area at three regional stations.

“We’re going to monitor it minute by minute,” Atwood said. “Nobody is predicting anywhere near hazardous levels of radiation on the West Coast of the United States. But because our instruments are extremely sensitive, it is very likely the instruments will measure some increase.”

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To read the complete article, click here -> http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/no-increased-radiation-so-far-in-southern-california.html

Fukushima Plume to Reach Continental U.S. Friday

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by Thomas Roche on March 16th, 2011

The New York Times just published a story in which it obtained the projected course of the radiation plume from Fukushima I plant.

If current weather holds, the plume is projected to reach the Aleutian Islands on Thursday (tomorrow) and California on Friday, but by the time it reaches the U.S. the effects should be detectable but not harmful.

This sounds 100% reasonable based on everything I know about the crisis, but to be fair, in coming to that conclusion, it’s my opinion the New York Times is meeting the US Government way more than halfway. The last NRC projection levels were from Sunday, before a whole lot of things happened.

The projection itself did not include information about radiation levels. Those come from the NRC, but are maddeningly unspecific and, most importantly, did I mention they are from Sunday?

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To read the complete article, click here -> http://techyum.com/2011/03/fukushima-plume-to-reach-continental-u-s-friday/

Find more information here as well -> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/science/plume-graphic.html?ref=science

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Screencap from the New York Times

The New York Times just published a story in which it obtained the projected course of the radiation plume from Fukushima I plant.

If current weather holds, the plume is projected to reach the Aleutian Islands on Thursday (tomorrow) and California on Friday, but by the time it reaches the U.S. the effects should be detectable but not harmful.

This sounds 100% reasonable based on everything I know about the crisis, but to be fair, in coming to that conclusion, it’s my opinion the New York Times is meeting the US Government way more than halfway. The last NRC projection levels were from Sunday, before a whole lot of things happened.

The projection itself did not include information about radiation levels. Those come from the NRC, but are maddeningly unspecific and, most importantly, did I mention they are from Sunday?