Thursday, March 17, 2011

Japan nuclear alert at Fukushima - Q&A


There have been a number of explosions and fires at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, following Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
Four of the plant's six reactors have been in trouble. How great a danger do these problems pose for people in Japan and further afield?
Has there been a leakage of radioactive material?
Yes. Harmful levels of radiation have caused at least one temporary evacuation of staff at the power plant. Higher than normal, but harmless, levels of radiation have been registered in Tokyo, 140 miles (220km) away.
How much radioactive material has been released?
The World Health Organization's representative in China says there is no evidence of any significant international spread of radiation.
What type of radioactive material has escaped?
There are reports of radioactive isotopes of caesium and iodine in the vicinity of the plant. Experts say it would be natural for radioactive isotopes of nitrogen and argon to have escaped as well. There is no evidence that any uranium or plutonium has escaped.
What harm do these radioactive materials cause?
Radioactive iodine could be harmful to young people living near the plant. After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster there were some cases of thyroid cancer as a result. However, people who are promptly issued with iodine tablets ought to be safe. Radioactive caesium accumulates in soft tissue, while plutonium accumulates in the bone and liver. Radioactive nitrogen decays within seconds of its release, and argon poses no threat to health.
How did the radioactive materials escape?
In at least two ways. Some is known to have escaped as a result of steam and gas released from overheating reactors. There has also been a release from the fourth reactor's fuel storage pond, which was damaged in an explosion, and caught fire.
Could radioactive materials have escaped by any other means?
The authorities have pumped seawater into three reactors. This water is likely to have been contaminated by its passage through the reactor, but it is currently unclear whether any of it has been released into the environment.
How long will any contamination last?
Radioactive iodine decays quite quickly. Most will have disappeared within a month. Radioactive caesium does not last long in the body - most has gone within a year. However, it lingers in the environment and can continue to present a problem for many years.
Has there been a meltdown?
The term "meltdown" is used in a variety of ways. Some of the metal encasing fuel rods have been damaged by heat, and may have partially melted (a "fuel-rod meltdown"). However, there is as yet no indication that the uranium fuel itself has melted. Still less is there any indication of a "China Syndrome" where the fuel melts, gathers below the reactor and resumes a chain reaction, that enables it to melt everything in its way, and bore a path deep into the earth. If there were to be a serious meltdown, the Japanese reactor is supposed to be able to handle it, preventing the China Syndrome from taking place.
Could there be a Chernobyl-like disaster?
Experts say this is highly unlikely. The chain reaction at all Fukushima reactors has ceased. The explosions that have occurred have mostly taken place outside the steel and concrete containment vessels enclosing the reactors. At Chernobyl an explosion exposed the core of the reactor to the air, and a fire raged for days sending its contents in a plume up into the atmosphere. At Fukushima the explosions have damaged mainly the roof and walls erected around the containment vessels - though it is feared the steel and concrete containment vessel of reactor number two has been damaged. Even if a reactor at Fukushima were to explode - according to the UK government's chief scientific adviser - it would send radioactive material only 500m into the air (rather than 9,000m) and the fallout would be concentrated within 20km or 30km of the site.
Could there be a nuclear explosion?
The explosions so far have been caused by hydrogen released from the reactors. At Chernobyl there may have been a nuclear explosion in the reactor, but this has not been confirmed.
What caused the hydrogen release from the reactor?
At high temperatures, steam can separate into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of zirconium, the metal used for encasing the reactor fuel. This mixture is highly explosive.
How do iodine tablets work?
If the body has all the iodine it needs, it will not absorb further iodine. The tablets fill the body up with non-radioactive iodine, which prevent it absorbing radioactive iodine from contaminated milk, or other food sources.
What kind of radiation levels have been recorded at Fukushima?
Levels as high as 400 millisieverts per hour have been registered at the plant itself. A couple of hours exposed to this dose-level could cause radiation sickness. However, for long periods since the crisis began, the level has been at 10 millisieverts per hour or lower. (A spinal X-ray delivers roughly one millisievert of radiation, a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis has an effective dose of 15 millisieverts.) On Monday morning the level was as low as 0.02 millisieverts per hour - only a few times more intense than the level of radiation experienced on a passenger jet flying at 40,000 feet.
Is any level of exposure to radiation safe?
In some parts of the world, natural background radiation is significantly higher than others - for example in Cornwall, in south-west England. And yet people live in Cornwall, and many others gladly visit the area. Similarly, every international air flight exposes passengers to higher than normal levels of radiation - and yet people still fly, and cabin crews spend large amounts of time exposed to this radiation. Patients in hospitals regularly undergo X-rays. Scientists dispute whether any level of exposure to radiation is entirely safe, but exposure to some level of radiation - whether at normal background levels or higher - is a fact of life.


Friday, March 11, 2011

Words of Wisdom for Our Age of Transformation


“We stand before this great world.
The Truth of our life depends upon our attitude of mind towards it –
an attitude which is formed by our habit of dealing with it
according to the special circumstance of our surroundings and our temperaments.
 It guides our attempts to establish relations with the universe
either by conquest or by union,
either through the cultivation of power or through that of sympathy. 
And thus, in our realization of the truth of existence,
we put our emphasis either upon the principle of dualism or upon the principle of unity.”
                       
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
India’s Poet Laureate

Thursday, March 10, 2011

AMA Seniors Go On Boat Trip

On the 11th of February, 2011, a group of students from the AlphaMax Academy, went ton a boat trip along the Suriname and Commenwijne rives as part of a history project on Suriname. We did the trip on a boat owned by Suriname's most famous writer of historical fiction-- Cynthia Mc Leod.The name of ther boat is “Sweet Merodia”; sweet roots . Her boat was named after Cyntia’s first novel “the cost of sugar” and Merodia comes from the apartment “Merode” were Cyntia stayed in Belgium whille writing the novel..

This boat trip gives people the opportunity to see and learn about Suriname’s history. Mrs MLleod makes the trip available to schoolchildren free of ccharge. The Dutch ambassador made a donation of 25,000 guilders to help Cyntia made the boat sea worthy.. Telling people about Suriname’s history, Cyntia through this trip on the Sweet Merodia has been a success. Here is a brief description of my experience on the trip.

On the trip there was a woman who told us stories connected to the places we were seeing. As we were nearing the Commewijne river, she told us we should see the border line between the Suriname rivier and the Comewijne river as well as excited dolphins who would be jumping around the boat. Unfortunately, we did not see any of this. Because I ,however, had been on a previous trip and had seen this..

Written by Sharen Vess Schaap

While sailing past the Antondragtonweg, the lady told us that in this area lay plantations, all with French names-- Tourtonne, Marethraite. Around the year 1685, the rich French Huguenots, religious refugees, went to Holland and in Holland it was arranged for them to come to Suriname to set up plantations . These Huguenots were so rich that you could tell teir wealth from the height of their front step; the higher the steps the richer they were.

Years after that, in 1750, there was a place called Hoer Helena. This place was named after a woman who used to be a prostitute as well as the governor’s partner outside his marriage. During that period the term prostitute was quite norma. Later the place's name from “Hoer Helena” to “Orleane Kreek”.

Our guide then continued her stories of Suriname’s history by telling us that, in 1650, Lord Wiloughby came here to establish a colony for England. He came to our country and created ae fortress, Fortress Wiloughby. After seventten years in 1667, a Dutchman , Abraham saw the potential of Suriname and came with three ships, each having 2 guns.. Wiloughby had only 2 guns and the war lasted for exactly one hour and Suriname became a colony of Holland until the 25th of November 1975. Abraham changed the name of the Fortress to Zeelandia,. He also wanted to change the name “Paramaribo” into New Middelburg” , but unfortunately, the ship that had the legal papers with the name change sank and this never happened.

We now found ourselves sailing on the Commewijne river, passing New Amsterdam, which has an open air museum. One significant element of this old plantation is the statue of “Alonso de Ageda, the peering man”, made by Erwin de Vries in 1968. He stands with his back against the river and looking to the fertile ground of New Amsterdam. Near this plantation lies plantation “Rust en Werk”. During the period of 1750, this plantation used to produce coffee, sugar, and tobacco. After the emancipation in 1863, indentured workers from British India and Java came to work on these fields. Because India was a colony of England then, Holland needed permission for the Immigrants to come to Suriname. After the world wars, however, nothing was done on these plantation and many former indentured laborers came to Paramaribo and stated businesses. Plantation Rust en Werk belongs to the family of Armand van Alen, who owned seven plantations in total. In the second half of the 18th century there were a lot of plantation, because Suriname was then important for her agriculture.

When we arrived at Rust en Werk, we were introduced to two iresidents . They spoke about their work, which was processing dried shrimp. This happens as follows: the shrimps are cooked in salt water and afterwards dried in the sun. They are than put in a sack and knocked so that their shells get loosened. At last they are put into a big strainer and the shrimp and the loose shells are than divided.

This plantation looks like a farm.. I saw many cows, goats, coconut trees and there was one special tamarind tree.. This tree is 350 years old! The plantation once had hundreds of tamarind trees, but because there was a practice of using whips from these trees to beat slaves. Eventually the trees died out. What few people know is that these treescan grow older than a thousand years old., for example, The tamarind trees on the Independence square , for example, has been there from 1650..

Walking further we saw a huge bowl called “kappa” which was used to process sugar. The slaves had to stand next to this hot pot of sugar that would burn their body when getting in touch with it. Nowadays people use this term “kappa” to talk about somebody’s mouth in a rude way by saying “hold your big kappa”. I would really have like d to see the small cemetery with four graves from the past but for some reason we were not allowed. In these graves lay 2 daughters of Governor Crommelin, one with the age of 17 and the other 29, a brother in law, and an unknown grave from which indentured laborers used stones to built their floors. We had the opportunity to drink and eat something from the little bar that was available. We only spent half an hour on this plantation was half an hour..

On our way to the next plantation, our tour guide told us about the next plantation we were about to go to, named Pl. Frederiksdorp. This plantation produced coffee and cocoa. In 1785 it belonged to Mr. Knuppel and later his two daughters inherited all. They sold it to a new owner and this owner sold it again to the current owner Ton Hagenmeyer. He has been the ownert for 25 years. He wanted to make this place suitable for the Indian indentured workers so he decided to have a doctor there, a school,a police officer and from that a community group. One of the houses you could see had two black chairs which were the two dentist chairs. One of the most significant places we saw was the old coffee drying floor which is made of limestone and is still in its original form since 1750. There was also a big tank that was filled with rainwater, which was used by the people back then.

After having seen these historical monuments, my fellow students and I had the opportunity to walk around. We enjoyed the nice environment . When it was time to head back to the boat, it meant that we had to head back home. While heading back we did our presentation of the book “Elisabeth Samson “and turned our attention to the exciting and horrible stories of the past.
Written by Sharen Vuss Schaap

Friday, March 4, 2011

HISTORIC VISIT BY QUEEN’S COLLEGE STUDENTS TO SURINAME


Groundings with their AlphaMax Fellows & Colleagues


On Wednesday, March 2nd, 60 students from Queen’s College, the leading Middelbare high-school in Georgetown, Guyana, met and interacted with more than 30 high school students from the AlphaMax Academy in Paramaribo.

Under the theme, “Youth, Agriculture & the Earth’s Future,” the students from the two English schools followed power-point and video presentations, and discussed organic agriculture and technology at the Anton de Kom University Lecture Hall.

The program was organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture in collaboration with the AlphaMax Academy, the Suriname Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Guyana, and Queen’s College, Guyana.

Following a presentation by Suriname’s IICA Representative, Cromwell Crawford, about the mission and work of the organization in Suriname and the Americas, Suriname's Minister of Labour, Technology & the Environment, Ginmardo Kromosoeto, addressed the students and teachers from both schools about the importance of this cross-border meeting between students of two top schools.


Video presentations on organic agriculture and solar dehydration technology developed with know-how and expertise from Guyana and Suriname were followed by lively discussions, and a question and answer period about forging a path of cooperation.


During their five-day visit – the first of its kind – the agriculture-science students from Queen’s College also visited CELOS, NATIN, and Guiana Sea Foods.  They also met with representatives from the national youth parliament of Suriname.  The Queen’s College students and their five instructors returned to Georgetown, Guyana, on Saturday, March 5th.