America, The Exceptional (II)

There are no adequate words for Japan's nuclear disaster, visible so far only in terms of physical destruction, not lasting impacts on health and the environment.

Dahr Jamail interviews a former nuclear industry executive on the horrific details of "the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind."

Michael Shaw, on "Fukushima: The Latest Personal Electronics"—

I was waiting for it to happen: Fukushima Prefecture kids get their own portable dosimeters.

... Any similarity to the iPod, I assume, is strictly coincidental.

Via TPM is this Reuters report on the Japanese nuclear industry's past and current use of "throwaway workers": foreigners (including Americans) and homeless day laborers.

This hits home, knowing how economic conditions and the shredding of safety nets create desperation.

And having lived near Osaka, I've heard the story that Kamagaski, the city's skid row, is omitted from official maps so it can be presumed not to exist.

The Reuters piece includes an eerie look at a dying consumer culture momentarily revived—

In Iwaki, a town south of the Fukushima plant once known for a splashy Hawaiian-themed resort, the souvenir stands and coffee shops are closed or losing money. The drinking spots known as "snacks" are starting to come back as workers far from home seek the company of bar girls.

"It's becoming like an army base," said Shukuko Kuzumi, 63, who runs a cake shop across from the main rail station. "There are workers who come here knowing what the work is like, but I think there are many who don't."

For years, Harry Shearer has done a Le Show segment—"Clean, Safe, Too Cheap to Meter"—where he reviews the past week's little nuclear mishaps around the world.

He's taken to abbreviating to the Japanese site as, "Fuk."

Exceptional as we are, we do have some potential Fuks in process, what with those Midwestern plants built on a flood plain.

And why worry about this, in an increasingly fire-prone Southwest desert.

Digby on our own nuclear industry's safety record—

I guess it's a good thing these Mississippi floods are happening slowly because it's giving this Nebraska nuclear plant some time to read their emergency manuals. No word on whether they are learning anything from it.

Meanwhile, an important climate change denier cancels travel to a deniers' conference: the record heat has him, he says, "under the weather."