DISASTER FOR EASTERN UNITED STATES

Localized Influences on Wind Patterns

The diurnal, or daily, heating and cooling of land near a lake or ocean of fairly constant temperature causes air to blow toward the relatively warmer land during the day (sea breeze) and toward the relatively warmer water at night (land breeze). These breezes are shallow and seldom penetrate far inland or attain high velocity. Similar diurnal changes occur on mountain slopes, the air in the valley becoming heated and expanding so that it moves up the slope in the daytime, the cold air settling into the valley at night. Friction with the earth's surface, eddies caused by surface irregularities, and inequalities of heating with consequent convection currents tend to reduce wind velocity near the earth's surface and cause winds to blow in gusts.

The prevailing wind systems of the earth blow from the several belts of high pressure toward adjacent low-pressure belts. Because of the earth's rotation (see Coriolis effect), the winds do not blow directly northward or southward to the area of lower pressure, but are deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

This zonal pattern of winds is displaced northward and southward seasonally because of the inclination of the earth on its axis and the consequent migration of the belts of temperature and pressure. In addition, the pattern is considerably modified by the distribution of land and water, especially in the temperate regions, where temperature differences between land and water are greatest. In winter, areas of high pressure tend to build up over cold continental land masses, while low-pressure development takes place over the adjacent, relatively warm oceans. Exactly the opposite conditions occur during summer, although to a lesser degree.

A retired high-level government source was called yesterday to respond to a nuclear incident in Montana. Apparently the silo doors of numerous ICBM missiles were opened.

Two such incidents during the Cold War era nearly started World War III. When silo doors open, it indicates the intention to launch missiles against another nation.

According to an essay published by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), an organization dedicated to abolition of nuclear weapons: "The US experienced several near-accidents at its Cheyenne Mountain early warning station in the late 1970s. Twice, the equipment at the base generated false indications of a nuclear missile strike from Russia and nearly prompted US retaliation on both occasions."

According to Phil Patton, author of "Dreamland: A Cultural History of Area 51," an incident also occurred in 1980 in which "a multiplexer chip failed in a Nova 840 computer and sent a false missile warning to the national command center." Pattons says that it was the second such incident in less than a year. "In the first one, fake data from a war-sim was mistaken for the real thing, and the Pentagon was notified that a Soviet missile strike was under way. It took about eight minutes to determine that the end of the world was not, in fact, at hand."

Today, there are 200 Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base at five missile alert facilities in Montana, with four operational missile squadrons assigned as combat-ready forces to continuously operate, maintain, and secure "strategic nuclear deterrence."

One of these squadrons declares on its web page that its squadron works "every day of the year, 24 hours per day" to "keep America free by operating and safeguarding her most destructive power."

According to the NAPF essayist, Justin Murray, "Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia once again find themselves on the brink of a nuclear Armageddon," but the threat "does not stem from hostilities or a premeditated, intentional strike but from miscalculation and computer errors." Murray states that both the U.S. and Russia maintain thousands of nuclear weapons in launch warning mode. While launch procedures in the U.S. demand almost instantaneous decision-making by the President, the situation in Russia is even more hazardous, where decay of early warning systems elevate the possibility of false alarms.

Of course, the unasked and unanswered question here is: what about terrorists?

There seems to be no indication that the incident in Montana is a terrorist-related one. However, the incident begs two crucial questions: first, are our systems inadequately protected?, and second, does the increase in development of more nuclear weapons under President Bush create greater dangers? (We already have approximately 9600 warheads and are talking about developing a new line of small nuclear weapons called "bunker busters.")

The answers are no and no.

First, the systems are inadequately protected because whenever you have a very sophisticated electronic system (and, in this case, systems), there is the potential for an accident and already there have been enough incidents to warrant shutting these dangerous systems down.

Second, there is no such thing as adequate control of nuclear weapons. Their management and control simply cannot be guaranteed. The return to proliferation of nuclear weapons is risking an End Game THE End Game. Although we might labor under the false belief that the Nuclear Genie is back in the bottle, even if she is, the cork is definitely not on.

The incident in Montana, which may never make it into the mainstream press, proves this.

Jennifer Van Bergen, J.D., is the author of The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America (Common Courage Press, 2004). She has written and spoken extensively on civil liberties, human rights, and international law. She and Raymond Del Papa are currently organizing a major Forum on Dissent Since 9/11 in Miami from March 11-13. See http://www.partnersinprotest.org. She may be contacted at jvbxyz@earthlink.net

Water leak shuts down Wolf Creek

A nuclear power plant in central Kansas that provides energy for Kansas Citians was shut down Saturday night after a water leak and still was offline Monday afternoon, a spokeswoman said.

Officials at Wolf Creek Generating Station in Burlington, Kan., discovered last week that water used to cool a main electrical generator had been leaking. On Saturday night, they decided to shut down the plant so engineers could find and repair the leak.

Plant spokeswoman Susan Maycock said Monday that officials from General Electric Co., the generator's manufacturer, were at the plant to help fix the problem. It was unclear when the work would be done, she said.

The 1.2-gigawatt Wolf Creek plant is co-owned by Kansas City Power & Light Co. and Topeka-based Westar Energy Inc. (NYSE: WR). The two utilities that serve hundreds of thousands of Kansas City-area homes. The plant can provide power for as many as 800,000 homes.

KCP&L spokesman Tom Robinson said Monday that the Kansas City-based utility had sufficient power generation from the rest of its plants to mitigate the Wolf Creek shutdown.

Kansas City-based Great Plains Energy Inc. (NYSE: GXP) owns KCP&L.

Fermi nuclear power plant shut down after coolant plant

January 24, 2005, 7:14 PM

FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- The reactor at the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant was shut down Monday evening after a coolant leak was detected, officials said.

Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and DTE Energy, which operates the plant, said the Monroe County plant was not evacuated and the leak posed no danger to the health or safety of plant workers or the public.

Viktoria Mitlyng, public affairs officer for the NRC in Chicago, said the plant was shut down without complications and nonessential workers were allowed to leave for the day.

Plant officials were trying to determine the cause of the leak Monday evening and it wasn't known when operations would resume, Mitlyng said.

DTE spokeswoman Lorie Kessler said the reactor's coolant remained at a normal level despite the leak. She added that the leaked coolant, which is mostly water, was not released into the environment.

MAYBE THIS WON'T BE AN ACCIDENT???

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Stable After Explosion

Tony Aiello
Reporting

(CBS) BUCHANAN, N.Y. Investigators are working to determine the cause of Friday's explosion and fire on the grounds of the Indian Point nuclear energy center.

The incident forced the shut down of the Indian Point 3 nuclear reactor, and caused plant owner Entergy Nuclear Northeast to issue a "notice of unusual event."

Plant safety director Michael Slobodien said an electrical transformer exploded and caught fire near the reactor shortly after 11 a.m.

"It's in an area outside the nuclear part of the plant," Slobodien told reporters. "The plant shut down safely and is under control.

"Anytime you have something of this nature that affects a major component like the transformer, you would shut down for safety sake and to conduct an investigation," Slobodien said.

The transformer takes electricity from the reactor and feeds it to overhead power cables. It was protected by a sprinkler deluge system that automatically knocked down much of the fire, Slobodien said.

The plant's own fire brigade also worked to put out the fire. The Verplanck Fire Department sent several units to Indian Point to serve as mutual aid, but they were not needed.

Westchester County sent health workers to monitor air quality near the plant after the fire. The monitors detected no release of radiation, according to Tony Sutton, the county's Commissioner of Emergency Services.

"We always want to err on the side of caution," Sutton said. "That's why we dispatched a couple field teams to monitor air quality and check for radiation."

"We have nothing to indicate this had any impact at all on public health and safety."

Smoke from the fire was visible across the Hudson River in Rockland County, and prompted concerned calls from many residents.

Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef complained it took Entergy 30 minutes to notify the county of the event.

In Buchanan, many residents took the scare in stride.

"I didn't even really get scared when I saw the fire trucks," said Norma Barrett. "I just went with the flow."

The fire marked the fourth time since July that Indian Point 3 was forced to shut down. Critics said the problems illustrated the need for an independent safety analysis of the entire plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission downgraded the plant's safety rating after the fire, from green, the best rating, to white, one step lower. The commission said the plant would be under increased scrutiny for several weeks.

Operations at the Indian Point 2 generator were not affected, Entergy said.

Localized Influences on Wind Patterns

Water leak shuts down Wolf Creek

Fermi nuclear power plant shut down after coolant plant

Memo: Threat to Nuke, Power Plants in Northeast

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Stable After Explosion