HAMNET Report 26 November 2017

News coming from mainstream sources in Europe, and being analysed by American sites suggests a huge increase in radioactive toxicity in clouds wafting across Europe, a thousand times stronger than usual. Alex Jones, speaking on InfoWars.com, tells us that the kind of radiation measured is not that which one might expect from ordinary nuclear leaks, which just about any nuclear reactor could be guilty of, as the technology ages, but rather that created by secret nuclear tests or even an explosion in a facility building nuclear weapons.

Russian, French and British sources are identifying a particularly dangerous isotope called RUTHENIUM-106, which arises from fission reactions within a nuclear reactor, and is present at this intense level 968 times more than expected. The origin seems to be in Eastern Central Russia, but the Russian sources have not formally admitted to an accident, or where it has occurred. An area in Russia, bigger than the whole of France, is polluted with Ruthenium-106, and winds are blowing the cloud into Italy, Ukraine, Switzerland, and on to France, as well as up towards Sweden, Finland and Germany.

Alex expresses his huge concern at the cover-ups which continue as the general public is reassured that none of this kind of radioactive leakage is important, and it will be spread out and wafted away, while a million people have been shown to have died of illnesses directly attributable to Chernobyl’s 1986 accident, and Fukushima’s nuclear reactors continue to leach radioactive materials into ground water at the site, and ultimately into the Pacific ocean.

And, as an extension to that, the mind can only boggle at what will happen if a nuclear war breaks out over the Korean Peninsula. In early phases of such a war, local fatalities could run to millions, but radioactive clouds will be relatively confined to the Northern hemisphere for a while, and radiation sickness and deaths in the short-term will be greater there. However, with generalised diffusion, the whole globe will be affected, and you and I could suffer the misery of this chaos too.

Alex Jones pleads for greater attention to be paid to coal-fired power stations, with more modern scrubbing of released fumes, such that coal-dust and lung disease can be restricted, and the only ejecta released by the power stations being carbon dioxide.

The times we live in are very distressing indeed.

In a remarkable show of camaraderie, various and unexpected countries have pitched in to help look for the Argentinean submarine lost off the coast of South America. Unfortunately, it would seem that the supply of oxygen for the 44 crew members trapped has probably run out by now, and the likelihood of survivors being found is very slim. Nevertheless, such disparate countries as England and Russia have sent ships and aeroplanes to try to find the signature of a sunken submarine on the bottom of the ocean.

Tass, the Russian News Agency, says that the Russian oceanographic ship, Yantar, will reach the area by the end of the week, and be able to deploy its high tech survey equipment and submerged search capability.

So far, the countries involved are Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany,  Norway, Peru, Spain, the U.S., the UK, Uruguay and now Russia. Wonderful cooperation indeed, and I hope they are able to locate and retrieve the sub.

A report given to Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, this week, charts the progress made in various communal water projects as the day the taps in the Western Cape run dry draws nearer.

Boreholes have been completed in Beaufort West, Knysna, Kannaland, and various other projects in Bitou, Saldanha Bay, Matzikama, Langeberg and Theewaterskloof municipalities. Newly appointed Geo-Hydrologists and Provincial Engineers are partnering well with municipalities in all districts. Boreholes have been drilled and water supplies secured at Beaufort West, Stellenbosch, Lentegeur, and Mowbray Maternity hospitals, and further drilling will soon commence at Clanwilliam, Vredendal, Karl Bremer and Red Cross Children’s hospitals.

Approximately one third of schools in the province have an existing borehole, and treatment of groundwater to be able to use it is being tested. Stellenbosch University scientists have developed a  water meter that can be monitored electronically, to be able to notify the school authorities of water leakage before too much is wasted, and these are to be installed in at least 270 schools, as a result of pledges and donations by commerce and industry in the Western Cape to fund their installation. We were lucky to receive 25mm of rain this week, which will help the groundwater levels, though not make a big difference to the dam levels.

Dam storage levels for the City of Cape Town at the beginning of this week, were 36.2% full, down 0.6 percentage points on last week, and usage in the City of Cape Town an average of 602 million litres a day. This is 100 million litres a day more than the city would wish for, so a lot more conservation is needed.

Alister, ZS1OK, has posted a very comprehensive report on the City of Cape Town’s nuclear disaster exercise held this last Thursday. His long report includes photos of strategic positions occupied by disaster managers and HAMNET members, as well as well thought-out arguments on future exercises, and the kinds of digital communications we should be incorporating in these activities.

The report will be posted on our HAMNET website at hamnet.co.za, so do go and have a look there. Thank you for this, Alister.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.