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| Tweet Topic Started: April 11 2011, 02:28 PM (7,667 Views) | |
| Audi-Tek | June 23 2011, 01:24 AM Post #161 |
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Prince
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Tsunami warning lifted....thank god |
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| Audi-Tek | June 23 2011, 01:29 AM Post #162 |
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Prince
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Rainy season adds to troubles at Fukushima plant Tokyo Electric Power Company is stepping up efforts to prevent possible overflows of highly radioactive water building up at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as the region enters the rainy season. More than 110,000 tons of highly contaminated water is believed to have accumulated in the basements of reactor and turbine buildings at the plant. The water is increasing by about 500 tons a day, as fresh water must be injected into reactors to cool them down. The annual rainy season began on Tuesday in the region where the nuclear plant is located, raising concerns that the wastewater could overflow. If 100 millimeters of rain falls over the complex, it may raise water levels in the basements of the turbine buildings by about 50 to 70 millimeters. TEPCO has been trying to operate a crucial system to decontaminate the highly radioactive water so that it can be recycled to cool the reactors. But as a series of problems has surfaced, it may take 2 more days to finish test runs on the system before full-scale operation. In an effort to slow down the increase of contaminated water as much as possible, TEPCO decreased water injection into troubled reactors by up to 1.5 tons per hour each from Tuesday. The company also piled up sandbags around building entrances to prevent rainwater from pouring in. But the measure may have only a limited effect, as some of the buildings had their roofs blown off by explosions. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 11:23 +0900 (JST) IAEA ministers agree on emergency reactor checks Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed on the need for emergency inspections of nuclear reactors around the world. The agreement came on Tuesday, the second day of the IAEA's ministerial meeting in Vienna. A working session was held to discuss nuclear safety based on the lessons from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Some delegates said it is not appropriate to study universal safety measures based on the Fukushima disaster. They said the accident was a special case, as the plant was hit by tsunami more than double the predicted height. Other delegates voiced the need for stricter safety procedures to prevent nuclear plants from completely losing their backup power sources. The chairman of the working session, Michael Weightman, expressed hope that the delegates will use the lessons from the Fukushima accident to draw up an action plan to bolster nuclear safety on Friday, the final day of the conference. However, rifts are emerging between the nuclear and non-nuclear countries on how to strengthen safety. Attention is focused on whether IAEA member nations will be able to overcome their differences and come up with specific measures. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 06:10 +0900 (JST) Temperature at No.3 reactor rises The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says temperatures at the No.3 reactor have started to rise after it reduced the injection rate of cooling water. The cutback is part of efforts to prevent possible overflows of radioactive water at the facility. On Tuesday, Tokyo Electric Power Company reduced the amount of fresh water it has been injecting into 3 of the plant's reactors. The volume was cut back by 0.5 tons per hour at the No. 1 and 2 reactors, and by 1 ton at the No.3 reactor. TEPCO says that by 5 AM on Wednesday, temperatures at the upper and lower parts of the No.3 reactor had risen by 4 and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively, from the day before. But it says temperatures at the other 2 reactors remained relatively stable. The company says it will carefully monitor the No.3 reactor but will keep the rate of water injection unchanged. It added that it will further reduce the rate of water injection into the other 2 reactors by 0.5 tons per hour. TEPCO is facing difficulties in striking a balance between cooling down the reactors and limiting the amount of highly radioactive water threatening to spill out. More than 110,000 tons of such water is believed to have accumulated at the nuclear complex. Tuesday's start of the annual rainy season has also added to fears of overflows. TEPCO has yet to start full operation of a crucial system to decontaminate the wastewater. It hopes to use the treated water to cool the reactors. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 13:04 +0900 (JST) More than 680 rushed to hospital for heatstroke More than 680 people have been rushed to hospital with heatstroke in Japan so far this year, and one has died. Emergency officials say the incidents occurred during the 3-week period between May 30th and last Sunday. Broken down by prefecture, Okinawa had 67 cases of heatstroke, followed by Aichi with 64, and Osaka with 37. People aged 65 or older account for about 40 percent of the cases. A 74-year-old woman in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa died in her sleep earlier this month, apparently due to heatstroke. Officials are urging the public, especially the elderly, to use air conditioners and electric fans, and to drink water frequently even if they don't feel thirsty. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 16:04 +0900 (JST) Temperatures top 35 degrees Daytime temperatures in eastern and northeastern Japan rose above 35 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the summer solstice, for the 1st time this year. The Meteorological Agency says the daytime high in the city of Tatebayashi, north of Tokyo, was 36.5 degrees. In the northeastern city of Shiogama, the temperature rose to 32.4 degrees, a record high for June in the city. The daytime high in downtown Tokyo was 31.9 degrees. The agency says temperatures topped 30 degrees at 400 observation points around the country. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 18:10 +0900 (JST) Work begins inside No.2 reactor building The operator of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant reports considerable lessening of humidity at the Number 2 reactor but radioactivity remains high in some parts of the building. Extreme humidity was one of the factors hampering work inside the reactor building. The humidity level stood at 99.9 percent until Sunday when the Tokyo Electric Power Company opened the doors to lower the level after filtering radioactive air inside. On Wednesday afternoon, workers found humidity levels inside the building to be between 46 and 65 percent. Following the findings, they began fixing a water gauge and installing surveillance cameras on the ground floor. High radiation levels were measured at some spots on the second floor. In one area readings came in at 97.2 millisieverts per hour, compared 15 to 60 millisieverts per hour on the ground floor. Wastewater contaminated with nuclear material was 6.1 meters deep in the basement, with surface radiation levels between 388 and 430 millisieverts per hour. Work on the second floor was scheduled to start on Thursday but was postponed because of the high radiation levels there. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 18:41 +0900 (JST) Plant decontamination not working The Tokyo Electric Power Company is looking into why a system for decontaminating radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is not working as expected, delaying resumption of the system's full-scale operation. The firm on Wednesday published data showing the amount of radioactive materials that had been removed from contaminated water during a test run of the US-made system. The data show that density of Cesium-13 and Cesium-137 dropped to only one-100th of initial levels. An earlier test run using water with a lower density of radioactivity showed a drop to about one-1000th. The utility had said the system would begin full-scale operation in a couple of days. TEPCO on Tuesday began reducing the amount of cooling water injected into the plant's No. 1 to 3 reactors and is carefully monitoring changes in their temperatures. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 21:13 +0900 (JST) Clearing rubble under a scorching sun Residents and volunteers are clearing rubble under the scorching sun in a disaster-stricken town in Miyagi Prefecture. About 20 local residents were working hard in the town of Minamisanriku on Wednesday. They wore straw hats under their helmets and cold towels around their necks to avoid heatstroke, as the mercury rose above 30 degrees Celsius before noon. Retired firefighters from Tokyo and Niigata prefectures were volunteering in the cleanup of a local government building that had been left untouched since the March disaster. One of them said he would be drinking a lot of water to prevent heatstroke as the temperature continues to rise. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 14:58 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | June 23 2011, 02:02 AM Post #163 |
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Prince
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Whereabouts of 30 nuclear power plant subcontractors unknown: Health Ministry The whereabouts of about 30 subcontractors who helped deal with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is unknown, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said on June 20. The workers are among some 3,700 who worked to control the disaster in March, the month the plant was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The workers' names were listed in records showing that they had been loaned dosimeters, but when the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), contacted the companies they were associated with, the companies replied that there was no record of those workers. The ministry has branded TEPCO's administration of workers "sloppy" and ordered the company to conduct an investigation to identify the workers. "We don't know why there is no record of the workers. The records and dosimeters were managed by TEPCO and its administration can only be described as sloppy," a representative of the ministry's Labor Standards Bureau said. Ministry officials said that 3,639 emergency workers were enlisted to handle the nuclear crisis in March. As of June 20, TEPCO had reported provisional radiation exposure figures for 3,514 workers to the ministry. The other 125 had not undergone tests for internal radiation exposure as of June 20. TEPCO has asked cooperating companies to have 69 of these 125 workers tested. The remaining 56 were either about to undergo tests or could not undergo tests due to illness. Officials said that TEPCO managed records of workers who had been loaned dosimeters between the outset of the disaster and mid-April. When workers were loaned dosimeters at the base isolation structure of the power plant and another area, the serial numbers of the dosimeters, the names of the companies involved in the work and the workers' names were recorded in handwriting. But when TEPCO contacted the cooperating companies there was no record of some 30 of the 69 workers. All of the workers who were not found on company records have returned their dosimeters. Records of their external radiation exposure remained, but none of the workers was exposed to radiation exceeding the limit of 250 millisieverts, officials said. Since mid-April, records have been managed with bar codes and other means of identification, but the only way to identify workers at the plant before then is through handwritten records. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 23 2011, 04:42 PM Post #164 |
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Prince
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Water filters at Fukushima still not working The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is still struggling with a malfunctioning water-decontaminator---the key to dealing with highly-radioactive water accumulating at the site. The new water decontaminating system was shut down only 5 hours after it went into operation on Friday. Tokyo Electric Power Company says an irregular flow of the water in the system could have hampered the system from working properly, causing it to malfunction. The utility says it discovered on Wednesday that a US-made device in the system only succeeded in lowering the concentration of radioactive cesium in the water to one percent of the previous amount, instead of 0.1 percent as initially expected. The device has 6 absorbent chambers lined up in a row. The utility says radioactive readings in the lower chambers surged to 15 millisieverts per hour on Wednesday from 3 millisieverts per hour on Tuesday. This occurred even though dosages in the lower chambers should have remained low, compared with those higher up where most of the filtering was supposed to have occurred. It says this suggests that the problem could have been caused by the uneven flow of water through the chambers. It says it will continue to try and identify the cause of the problem so that it can begin operating the system as soon as possible before the water begins to overflow from the facilities, which are almost full. Thursday, June 23, 2011 06:11 mproper water flow blamed for filter failure The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has resumed testing a water decontamination system after making repairs to improve the flow of the water. Tokyo Electric Power Company has been testing the system to filter highly radioactive wastewater that has been accumulating at the plant. The utility discovered on Wednesday that a US-made device in the system only succeeded in lowering the concentration of radioactive cesium in the water to 1 percent of the previous amount, instead of to 0.1 percent as initially expected. Contaminated water was supposed to pass through 3 absorbent chambers. But it was found that some water passed through only one chamber, because "open" and "shut" indications on a valve had been incorrect. The utility inspected all the valves and resumed test runs early on Thursday. TEPCO began full-scale operation of the decontamination system last Friday, but it was stopped after only 5 hours. Thursday, June 23, 2011 12:35 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 23 2011, 04:48 PM Post #165 |
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Prince
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Very heavy rain in Niigata Prefecture and the Tohoku. June 23 23:21 Under the influence of active fronts, in Niigata Prefecture, northeastern and intense intermittent rain, heavy rain and has more than 200 mm rainfall from July 22. JMA has urged caution in such a landslide. According to the agency, under the influence of an active front extending northeast from the Sea of Japan, the Tohoku and Hokuriku such as atmospheric conditions become unstable, violent and intermittent rain. Yamagata and Niigata Prefecture, has more than 200 mm rainfall and high rainfall at the beginning of the day down 22. The rain so far in Aizu in Fukushima Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture, there are areas where very high risk of landslides. Stagnant fronts, around noon on May 24 is expected to pass near the low pressure system northeast, is expected to remain unstable atmospheric conditions around the Tohoku and Hokuriku. Thus, in the Japan Sea side of Tohoku, intermittently through the evening of the 24th, it may very heavy rain of 50 mm per hour with a gust of wind and lightning. Also, in the Northeast Pacific Ocean side and Niigata, may cause heavy rain from 30 millimeters to 40 millimeters per hour until around noon on March 24. Furthermore, since the night of May 24 is expected to increase rainfall in the Hokuriku prefectures. The amount of rain until the evening of the 24th, where many either, 250 mm in the Sea of Japan side of the northeast and 180 mm in the Pacific Ocean side of the northeast, is expected to 150 mm in Niigata Prefecture, in the earthquake-stricken area, three Since the earthquake of the month, is expected to be the most good rain. In the Northeast, but there was to observe the motion of the weak seismic intensity 5 23 morning, in areas of strong earthquake shaking in the past, it may loose ground. KMA landslides and flooding of low lands, as well as guard against rising water of the river are also urged to carefully blast like lightning, and tornadoes. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 24 2011, 05:51 PM Post #166 |
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Prince
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Ministry of Environment Sets Radiation Standard for Ocean Water for Beach-Goers The amount of iodine-131 in the seawater is to be less than 30 becquerels/liter, and radioactive cesium is to be less than 50 becquerels/liter (I assume it is the total of cesium-134 and -137) in order for the local municipalities to open their beaches. The Ministry felt, no doubt, that it could set the limits very low because the tests done by the local governments showed there was no radioactive materials detected in the ocean water at the beaches, except one in Fukushima that detected 13 becquerels/liter of radioactive cesium. These limits are lower than the legal density limits for radioactive materials in the exhaust water out of a nuclear power plant in a normal operation: Iodine-131: 40 becquerels/liter Cesium-134: 60 becquerels/liter Cesium-137: 90 becquerels/liter They are also lower than the provisional limit for drinking water and milk for babies. By the way, did you know that the provisional standards for radioactive materials in water and milk for babies are HIGHER than those for the exhaust water from a nuclear plant?: Iodine-131: 100 becquerels/liter Cesium total: 100 becquerels/liter Not to mention they are much lower than the provisional limits for drinking water and milk for the rest of the population: Iodine-131: 300 becquerels/liter Cesium (total): 200 becquerels/liter The reasoning? Read the article translated below, and be puzzled. The Ministry of the Environment announced its guideline on June 23 regarding the safe use of bathing facilities at the ocean, lakes and rivers in Japan, setting the limits of radioactive materials in the water at 50 becquerels/liter for radioactive cesium and 30 becquerels/liter for radioactive iodine. This guidance will apply to this summer only. The Ministry will formally notify the prefectural governments on June 24. The guideline numbers are lower than the provisional safety limits on drinking water. The Ministry of the Environment explained the reasoning as "Unlike drinking water which is indispensable for daily life, the ocean bathing is a recreational activity that people choose to do. So, it is desirable to make the radiation exposure as small as possible." The Ministry will leave the decision of whether to open the beaches to the local municipalities. Already, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures have decided not to open any beaches at all within the prefectures, and Fukushima Prefecture is not going to open any ocean beaches. Well, WHAT ABOUT THE BEACH SAND? Has anyone measured the beach sand, with the equipment that can measure alpha, beta and gamma rays? People will sit on the beach, lie down on the beach for sun bathing. Bare feet and near-naked bodies. Hello? AND OCEAN SOIL? Maybe it is safe to swim, but I wouldn't sun-bathe on the beach unless I hear someone actually tested the sand. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 01:32 AM Post #167 |
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Prince
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Saturday, June 25, 2011 Tepco pensions may be tapped for redress Panel keeps all of utility's assets on redress table Tokyo Electric Power Co. may need to cut pensions to acquire ready cash to compensate people affected by the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis if a government panel examining the utility's assets deems this necessary, Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said Friday. "(The corporate pension) is a really difficult issue to deal with, as it is protected by special legislation. But we will consider various things, like lowering its interest rate when we receive suggestions from the panel," Katsumata told reporters after attending a meeting of the panel to explain Tepco's current financial situation and outlook. To slash pensions, Tepco needs to get approval from two-thirds of its pensioners and employees who are paying pension premiums, as was the case with Japan Airlines. Lawyer Kazuhiko Shimokobe, who heads the panel, said while the issue of corporate pensions was not raised at Friday's meeting, "it will be included in the discussion." The panel was formed a week ago to monitor Tepco's operations and evaluate its financial assets to prepare for massive compensation over the nuclear plant crisis. Another issue in the spotlight is whether the panel will recommend that Tepco sell its key assets for generating and distributing power. Asked about the possibility, Katsumata remained vague, only saying, "it is a matter of profit and loss arithmetic." The panel is expected to discuss the issue of separating the generating and distribution business, but the topic will not be the main focus as there is not enough time, Shimokobe quoted panel members as saying. But since the government is expected to rethink the overall nature of the nation's power business, the panel should kick off discussions that serve as the basis of that pursuit, he said. Tepco has claimed it has about ¥14.7 trillion in assets, including ¥7.6 trillion in facilities for generating and distributing electricy, including power plants. A task force of the panel will select companies to evaluate Tepco's assets by mid-July, start the evaluation process and compile a report in September. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 01:34 AM Post #168 |
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Prince
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Heavy rainfall worries disaster victims in Tohoku The Yomiuri Shimbun Heavy rain is causing concern in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, as residents deal with flooding around temporary housing units and rainwater leaking inside. Following heavy precipitation on Thursday, rain warnings were issued for Friday in many parts of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. In Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture, two families complained Thursday that rain had leaked into their temporary housing units, built on the grounds of Iriya Primary School. Toshio Abe, 75, found four puddles on the floor under window frames at his home. Employees of home repair businesses checked all 18 temporary units at the primary school and injected silicon between window frames and walls to prevent leaks. "I'm not demanding a cushy living environment, I just want a home that doesn't leak when it rains. I'm worried about the rainy season, typhoons and heavy rains," Abe said. The playground of a fisheries high school, also host to temporary housing units, in Ishinomaki in the prefecture was inundated by rain beginning Thursday morning. A large puddle two to three centimeters deep had formed in front of Tsuneko Kimura's house. "I'll have to wear boots to reach my car during the rainy season. I'm worried about hygiene," said Kimura, 60. Flooding spread at a dumping area for debris near the coast in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, as occasional bouts of heavy rain accumulated in places where the ground has sunk as a result of the March 11 disaster. Water also approached sandbags that had been laid along roads to keep back spring tides. (Jun. 25, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 01:38 AM Post #169 |
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Prince
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Vacationers may avoid beaches this summer The Yomiuri Shimbun Before the start of this year's beach season, prefectural governments and beach businesses on the Pacific coast in the nation's east are worried about a drastic decrease in visitors due to the ongoing nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Local governments have been trying to lure visitors to the beaches by emphasizing their safety with radiation checks and setting up signs to guide visitors to safe areas in case of tsunami. "We've received so few calls for reservations we thought our phone was out of order," said Tsuguhisa Tayama, 65, who runs a ryokan inn named Resort Oarai Matsumoto. Tayama's inn boasts a beautiful view of the sea, but it has received only about 10 percent of a regular year's reservations so far. Hiroyuki Terunuma, 62, president of the Oarai Sun Beach shops' association, has decided not to open his seaside cabana for swimmers this summer, saying, "I can't see many visitors coming this year." Other members of the association have also said they will not open their seaside businesses this summer. Last year, about 1.75 million visitors came to Ibaraki Prefecture's 18 swimming beaches. As the final segments of the Kita-Kanto Expressway, linking Gunma, Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures, were completed and opened to traffic in March, an increase in the number of visitors from inland areas was expected. However, when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the Tohoku and Kanto regions, expectations changed. In Ibaraki Prefecture, a local tourism association gave up opening the Isohara Futatsujima beach in Kita-Ibaraki this year due to the amount of time it will take to remove debris from the beach. As summer approaches, people working on preparing beaches and oceanside businesses are concerned about how many visitors will turn up this year. At the Kujukurihama beach in Chiba Prefecture, the disaster caused a large drop in the number of surfers. According to Atsuko Numata, 33, of the surf shop Tany Surf in Isumi, Chiba Prefecture, the surfing season usually starts in early May and the shop usually rented about 10 surfboards a day on weekends at this time of the year. However, it now rents only one or two boards a day. "I think the number of new surfers probably dropped due to fears related to the nuclear accident," Numata said ruefully. === Safety declarations The Ibaraki, Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectural governments have tried to reassure the general public that their beaches are safe by measuring levels of radioactive substances in seawater and sand at the beaches. "We tested the water and checked the radiation levels on the beach, which were safe," said Mikio Kondo, 64, senior director of the Fujisawa tourism association, which provides information on the popular Katase Kaigan beach and other beaches in the Kanagawa Prefecture city. "As usual, the preparation of our beach shops is going well. We'll do our best to host as many visitors as possible, but I think if we fail, no other beaches in the country will be successful this summer," Kondo added. At Umi no Koen (marine park) in Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama, the only swimming beach in the city, managers are practicing evacuating people to safe areas away from the water as part of tsunami drills. The park also plans to test the operation of its emergency power generators, which were put in place following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The Shimoda city government in Shizuoka Prefecture plans to post signs giving evacuation directions in the event of tsunami. The Ito municipal government in the same prefecture will distribute tsunami evacuation maps to business owners who run seaside shops. (Jun. 25, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 01:49 AM Post #170 |
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Prince
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![]() The crashed copter on top of reactor 2 Unmanned helicopter crash lands at nuke plant The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it lost control of an unmanned helicopter during a flight near the No. 2 reactor building, forcing the controller to make an emergency landing on a roof there. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the remote-controlled light helicopter took off from an observatory south of the Fukushima plant just past 6:30 AM on Friday. Its mission was to collect airborne radioactive substances around the No. 2 reactor building. The utility says its engine failed about 30 minutes later, making it impossible for the aircraft to ascend. The helicopter -- 50 centimeters long and weighing 8 kilograms -- was found lying on its side on the rooftop. TEPCO says it did not see any smoke or flames coming from the helicopter when it landed, and neither the craft nor the reactor building was damaged. It says it plans to retrieve the helicopter using a mobile crane. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 01:54 AM Post #171 |
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Prince
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Fukushima Meltdown Mitigation Aims to Prevent Radioactive Flood Three months after its meltdown, the stricken nuclear power plant continues to struggle to cool its nuclear fuel--and cope with growing amounts of radioactive cooling water ![]() HOLDING TANKS: Tanks hold some of the radioactive water overflowing from cooling efforts at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Image: Courtesy of TEPCO More than three months after a powerful earthquake and 14-meter-high tsunami struck Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains flooded with a salty mix of ocean and fresh water that is contaminated with the radioactive residue of three reactors and four spent fuel pools' worth of nuclear fuel. Every day an additional 500 metric tons of seawater is poured onto the still hot nuclear fuel in the stricken reactors and fuel pools. More than 100,000 metric tons of such water now sits in the basement and trenches of the reactors—or evaporates inside the hot reactor buildings, making for a radioactive onsen (hot bath). Thus far, neither the nation's 75 aftershocks of magnitude 6.0 or greater—the latest of which struck on June 23—nor inclement weather has halted ongoing efforts to cool the stricken nuclear power plant. With the start of any decommissioning process still at least year away, cooling the fuel with water remains the focus—as well as a potential source of additional problems as contaminated water threatens to overwhelm the plant and its environs. In early June Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) installed a series of devices—from nuclear equipment manufacturers Kurion and Areva Group—meant to filter radioactive material from the contaminated cooling water and enable it to be reused on the hot nuclear fuel rods. Without such filtration, radiation levels in the reactor buildings can climb too high to permit workers to advance their efforts to control and clean up the damaged power plant. But a trial run of the new filtration system was halted on June 18 in less than five hours when it captured as much radioactive cesium 137 in that span as was expected to be filtered in a month. Massive tanks have been delivered to store some of the excess radioactive water, given that spraying must continue due to leaks in the reactors themselves that prevent restoration of the normal cooling system. "The most important thing is to keep the reactor fuel cool. If the only alternative is to use saltwater then that's the best thing to do," said Bill Borchardt, executive director for operations at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at a talk in May. "Given the situation that existed and that there were very few options available, I think injection of saltwater was clearly the appropriate thing to do," although TEPCO has switched to using fresh water more recently. With just centimeters remaining before the radioactive water overtops its storage, however, another release of contaminated water into the ocean looks ever more likely. Already, pools of this water burned at least two workers at the plant when they stepped in the puddles, and TEPCO was forced to dump more than 11,000 metric tons of such contaminated water in early April. "The reactors weren't designed to have water poured in the top, pour out the bottom and pool in the basement," says nuclear energy advisor Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates consultants. "What TEPCO should be doing is building a trench around the reactors down to bedrock, 20 meters deep and 1.5 meters wide, and fill that trench with zeolite." Zeolite minerals capture radioactive particles, and are used in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The normal equipment for such cooling is inoperable thanks to the complete meltdown and corrosion from seawater, so spraying new water on the hot nuclear fuel remains the only option. Debris and detritus—radioactive and inert, alike—continue to impair human and robot workers' attempts to achieve so-called "cold shutdown," which would allow the real work of tearing down and cleaning up the contaminated site to begin. "It's going to be very complicated to decommission this thing," physicist Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research notes. "The handling equipment has been destroyed, it was a complete meltdown, it's a highly radioactive environment and there's radioactive water." The rising level of used cooling water is just one of the challenges at the plant, more than three months after the crisis started. Radiation levels continue to spike at times as high as 4,000 millisieverts an hour, impairing repair efforts, even with robots. (A sievert is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to 100 rems; a rem is a dosage unit of x-ray and gamma-ray radiation exposure.) @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Verdana"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Despite the restoration of electric power in April, cooling systems remain inoperable. And radioactive material—cesium 134, cesium 137 and some 50 other longer-lived radioactive isotopes—continue to be found farther and farther afield from the site itself, concentrating in hot spots as far as 225 kilometers from the stricken complex. For its part, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency now estimates Fukushima has released some 770,000 terabecquerels worth of radiation—or roughly 15 percent of the amount released by the catastrophic 1986 fire at Chernobyl in Ukraine. (One becquerel represents the rate of radioactive decay—or radiation emitted by a substance—as one disintegration, or count, per second.) "When you have an accident for months and certain patterns of rainfall, you get hot spots," Makhijani says. As a result, entire towns, such as Date, Iitate and Iwaki City, may have to be permanently abandoned and roughly 80,000 people have lost their homes to radioactive contamination. In addition to the failed water filtration system, TEPCO has proposed enshrouding in plastic the reactor buildings torn apart by hydrogen explosions to prevent further releases from that source of radioactive material. The good news is that the heat from the melted down nuclear fuel and still intact fresh fuel rods continues to decline. "As time goes on, the decay heat gets less and less," the NRC's Borchardt noted. "Around 90 to 100 days the problem becomes much less severe"—a time period Fukushima Daiichi has now entered. More than 3,700 workers continue to attempt to control and contain the crisis. Nine of those workers have already reached the legal "emergency limit" of 250 millisieverts of cumulative radiation exposure, and 124 have received more than 100 millisieverts, the prior limit. In the U.S. annual exposure for nuclear power plant workers is limited to 50 millisieverts per year, and it is estimated by some that their risk of cancer increases by 4 percent per sievert. (This risk figure remains controversial as either too high or too low, by scientists who study the impact of radiation on health, primarily based on data collected after the 1945 detonation of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.) In the end TEPCO plans call for a cold shutdown of the stricken reactors by April 2012—more than a year after the crisis began—and that means some kind of treatment plan for hundreds of thousands of metric tons of radioactive cooling water will be needed as soon as possible. Beyond that lies the challenge of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of soil contaminated with radioactive isotopes across at least 600 square kilometers of northeastern Japan. The challenge is not insurmountable, just costly. "You can clean up almost anything if you're prepared to spend enough money on it," adds Peter Bradford, a former member of the NRC. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 06:49 PM Post #172 |
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Prince
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Power Demand Soaring in Japan Due to Heat Wave Tokyo, June 25 (Jiji Press)--Power demand is soaring in Japan due to heat wave, a bad sign in the nation suffering from tight electricity supply since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused capacity cuts. On Friday, it was unusually hot in many places throughout the country. In the eastern city of Kumagaya, the temperature climbed to a national record high for June of 39.8 degrees Celsius. Apparently due to strong demand for air-conditioning, power consumption reached 43.89 million kilowatts in the service area of Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501>, only 8 pct shy of the firm's maximum output capacity of 47.9 million kilowatts. The safety margin was the narrowest since April 8, when the company, known as TEPCO, decided to stop rolling blackouts in principle. Power industry people say the minimum safety margin required to ensure stable electricity supply is 3 to 5 pct. (2011/06/25 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 25 2011, 07:02 PM Post #173 |
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Prince
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Resumption of decontamination system not in sight The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has still not resumed operations of a system to decontaminate highly radioactive water. Tokyo Electric Power Company had planned to start decontaminating and recycling the water by July 17th to cool the reactors. Water is being injected continuously into the reactors and the resulting contaminated water is starting to fill up the storage facilities, raising fears that it will start overflowing around July 5th. So far 4,500 tons of contaminated water has been treated in a test run, and work to remove salt started on Friday. The company says the amount of stored contaminated water will drop significantly, once the decontamination system begins operating. It says it wants to start spraying the recycled water into the reactors by the end of this month. But first, pipes and valves must be checked thoroughly as the components of the system are located in different parts of the plant, and the contaminated water travels a distance of 4 kilometers during treatment. Tokyo Electric Power Company hopes to fully restart the decontamination system in the next few days. But it has experienced a number of problems and it is unclear whether the recycling of water can be carried out as planned. Saturday, June 25, 2011 22:05 TEPCO unable to gauge No.2 reactor water level The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it still cannot obtain accurate data on the water level and pressure of the Number 2 reactor. It says a provisional measuring device installed earlier this week is not operating properly. Tokyo Electric Power Company believes that readings by the original device are incorrect due to damage suffered in the March disaster. Workers at the utility company entered the Number 2 reactor building and installed the provisional gauge on Wednesday. The company initially planned to have the gauge begin providing data on Thursday. But it says as of Saturday, the device is not yet working properly. TEPCO says this is because the temperature near the reactor containment vessel is so high that water inside the device's pipes has evaporated. Fuel meltdowns are believed to have occurred at the Number 1 through Number 3 reactors, leading to a possibility that there is little water left inside the Number 2 reactor. Accurate measurement of the water level is essential for ensuring stable cooling of the reactor. The utility is struggling to find ways to activate the device. Saturday, June 25, 2011 13:21 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 26 2011, 09:05 PM Post #174 |
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Prince
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Monday, June 27, 2011 Residents' urine now radioactive Fukushima Kyodo More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has been releasing radioactive material into the environment since the week of March 11, when the quake and tsunami caused core meltdowns. "This won't be a problem if they don't eat vegetables or other products that are contaminated," said Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University. "But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas." Kamada teamed up with doctors including Osamu Saito of Watari Hospital in the city of Fukushima to conduct two rounds of tests on each resident in early and late May, taking urine samples from 15 people between 4 and 77. Radioactive cesium was found both times in each resident. Radioactive iodine was logged as high as 3.2 millisieverts in six people in the first survey, but none was found in the second survey. The data indicate accumulated external exposure was between 4.9 and 13.5 millisieverts, putting the grand total between 4.9 to 14.2 millisieverts over about two months, they said. "The figures did not exceed the maximum of 20 millisieverts a year, but we want residents to use these results to make decisions (to move)," said Kamada. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 26 2011, 10:02 PM Post #175 |
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Prince
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Inside Japan's 'Suicide Forest'![]() Remnants: Shoes for a man, a woman and a child left in the Aokigahara Jukai forest on the flank of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. The name in part translates as "Sea of Trees," though with good reason it is often referred to as "Suicide Forest." ROB GILHOOLY PHOTOS ![]() Rites of remembrance: At a point overlooking a section of the 30-sq.-km Aokigahara Jukai forest, Buddhist priest Showzen Yama(censor)a offers prayers for the untold number of people who have entered that "Sea of Trees" wilderness but failed to make it out alive. By ROB GILHOOLY Special to The Japan Times I am walking through Aokigahara Jukai forest, the light rapidly fading on a mid-winter afternoon, when I am stopped dead in my tracks by a blood-curdling scream. The natural reaction would be to run, but the forest floor is a maze of roots and slippery rocks and, truth be told, I am lost in this vast woodland whose name, in part, translates as "Sea of Trees." nexplicably, I find myself moving toward the sound, searching for signs of life. Instead, I find death. The source of that scream remains a mystery as, across a clearing, I see what looks like a pile of clothes. But as I approach, it becomes apparent it's more than just clothes I've spotted. In a small hollow, just below a tree, and curled up like a baby on a thick bed of dead leaves, lies a man, his thinning gray hair matted across his balding cranium. His pasty upper torso is shirtless, while his legs are covered only by black long johns — with blue-striped boxers sticking out above the waistband — and a pair of woolly socks. Under his bent legs a pair of slacks, a white shirt and a jacket have been spread out as a cushion at his final resting place. Scattered around are innumerable documents, a briefcase and other remnants of a former life. Nearer to him are items more closely related to his demise: empty packets of prescription pills, beer cans, and bottles of liquor. Seemingly this man, who looks to be in his mid-50s, had drawn his last breath before I heard that unsourced, chilling cry. That I came across a body in this forest was a shock, but not a surprise. For half a century, thousands of life-weary Japanese have made one-way trips to this sprawling, 30-sq.-km tract of woodland in Yamanashi Prefecture on the northwest flank of 3,776-meter Mount Fuji, the nation's highest peak. It's a dark place of stark beauty, long associated with demons in Japanese mythology — and one that has earned itself the unfortunate appellation of "Suicide Forest." Evidence of such pilgrimages is strewn amid the dense undergrowth. Four pairs of moss-covered shoes are lined up on the gnarled roots of a tree — two adult-size pairs and two children's pairs. ![]() Signs of life and death : Tape left following sweeps of the forest. Further on there's an envelope of photos, one showing a young man, another two small children dressed in colorful kimonos and elementary school uniform. Together with the photos there's a typed note "To Hide" (most likey the name of a man), including the final stanza of "Song of the Open Road," Walt Whitman's poem from 1900 that ends with the line: "Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?" Nobody can know exactly how that line was answered — there was no sign of life, no sign of human remains. Local police suggest wild animals often get to corpses before they do, so clouding the issue of exactly how many achieve their goal and end it all here. Nonetheless, bodies are frequently discovered in monthly sweeps coordinated by the police and local volunteer firemen. As they move around the forest, these searchers leave color-coded plastic tapes strung between trees to mark where they have searched and where they have found items or bodies — or sometimes simply to mark their way back out of this sylvan maze. Altogether, police records show that 247 people made suicide attempts in the forest in 2010 — 54 of them successfully. Local officials and residents believe that number could be significantly higher. "There are people who come here to end their lives in Aokigahara Jukai but, uncertain as to where exactly the forest is, kill themselves in neighboring woodland," said Masamichi Watanabe, chief of the Fujigoko Fire Department that covers this area. Even so, his officers still recover an annual average of 100 people from the forest in various states of consciousness — including an increasing number who tried to take their lives by inhaling toxic gas in their cars, either from the exhaust or charcoal-burners they bring with them. "What is certain, though, is that the numbers continue to rise each year," Watanabe added. ![]() A necktie noose (hanging and drug overdoses are the most common means of suicide there) This is also the case nationwide. In January, a National Police Agency (NPA) report indicated that 31,690 people committed suicide in 2010, the 13th consecutive year in which the figures topped 30,000. In fact, according to World Health Organization data, the suicide rate in Japan is 25.8 per 100,000 people — the highest among developed nations, and more than double that of the United States. Experts are quick to point out the impact of the global financial crisis, especially since the world's third-largest economy suffered its most severe contraction in over 30 years in 2009. It is also believed that next year will see a further rise in suicides due to the magnitude-9 megaquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan on March 11. "It is likely to have a huge influence," said Yoshinori Cho, director of the psychiatry department at Teikyo University in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, and author of a book titled "Hito wa naze Jisatsu Suru no ka" ("Why do People Commit Suicide?") Already there have been several suicides by relatives of disaster victims, while the long-term effects of life in evacuation shelters may also lead to depression and thus, directly or indirectly, to further suicides, Cho added. "It's not just regular depression, but also clinical depression due to the stress caused by the reality of their circumstances," he said. "Depression is a huge risk factor when it comes to suicide." ![]() Last resting place: An unidentified man lies dead from an apparent overdose in the Aokigahara Jukai forest. According to NPA reports, a major suicide trigger in 2010 was depression, and some 57 percent of all the suicide victims were out of work when they died. Among those, men in their 50s were most numerous, though men in their 30s and 40s has been the demographic showing the biggest percentage increase in the past few years. "This generation has a lot of difficulty finding permanent jobs, and instead people take on temp work that is unstable and causes great anxiety," said Yukio Saito, executive director of Inochi no Denwa (Lifeline), a volunteer telephone counseling service that last year fielded nearly 70,000 calls from people contemplating suicide. "Callers most frequently cite mental health and family problems as the reason for contemplating suicide," Saito said. "But behind that are other issues, such as financial problems or losing their job." Although financial worries are undoubtedly major drivers of modern-day suicide, other unique cultural and historical factors also seem to play a part. In some countries, suicide is illegal or at least largely unacceptable on religious or other moral grounds, but in Japan there is no such stigma. "Throughout Japanese history, suicide has never been prohibited on religious or moral grounds," said Cho. "Also, apart from on two specific occasions in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), suicide has never been declared illegal." Lifeline's Saito concurred, saying: "Suicide is quite permissible in Japanese society, something honorable that is even glorified." The tradition of honorable suicide dates back centuries to Japan's feudal era, when samurai warriors would commit seppuku (ritual disemboweling) as a way to uphold their honor rather than fall into the hands of an enemy. The present-day acceptance of suicide stems from this, Cho said. "Vestiges of the seppuku culture can be seen today in the way suicide is viewed as a way of taking responsibility," he observed. Japan is also subject to suicide fads, and Seicho Matsumoto's 1961 novel "Nami no To" ("Tower of Waves") started a trend for love-vexed couples, and then jobless people, to commit suicide in the Aokigahara Jukai. The book, which this year posts its 50th anniversary, concludes with its beautiful heroine, who is involved in a socially unacceptable relationship, heading into the forest to end her life. In fact that suicide trend in the forest peaked in 2004, when Yamanashi prefectural police figures show 108 people killed themselves there. In recent years, local authorities have implemented measures to try and reduce that toll, including siting security cameras at the main entrances to the forest and carrying out round-the-clock patrols. ![]() Local anti-suicide patrollers out at night. t the entrances there are also signs that read: "Think carefully about your children, your family." Below them is the phone number of a volunteer group headed by lawyers specializing in debt advice, as debt is a common suicide trigger. The signs were erected by 38-year-old Toyoki Yoshida, who himself attempted suicide due to debt. He blames Japan's money-lending system, which the government has now reformed to a degree. ![]() A figure bound to a tree where someone took their own life "As things stood," Yoshida said, "major banks would provide loans to loan sharks at 2 percent interest, and then the lsharks would loan to people like me at 29.2 percent. But despite the reform, it's still not hard to amass crippling debts in this country." Vigilant shopkeepers also play a role in the prevention effort. Hideo Watanabe, 64, whose lakeside cafe faces an entrance to the forest, said that he has saved around 160 people over the past 30 years. "Most people who come to this area for pleasure do so in groups," he said. "So, if I see someone on their own, I will go and talk to them. After a few basic questions, it's usually not so difficult to tell which ones might be here on a suicide mission." On one occasion, he said a young woman who had tried to kill herself walked past his store. "She had tried to hang herself and failed. She had part of the rope around her neck and her eyes were almost popping out of their sockets. I took her inside, made her some tea, and called an ambulance. A few kind words can go a long way." Showzen Yama(censor)a, a priest who conducts Buddhist rites in the forest to pray for the repose of the thousands of people who have died there over the years, agreed, adding that the lack of support networks in Japan is a main cause of the ever-increasing suicide rate. "They have no one to talk to, no one to share the pain, the suffering," he said. "So they think, 'If I take my life I can escape this misery.' We conduct these rites in order to ponder how we might help make a world that is free of such suffering." Rob Gilhooly's photo-story "Suicide Forest" was awarded a special prize by jury in the 2011 Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards and an honorary mention in the OnAsia International Photojournalism Awards for 2010. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 27 2011, 12:52 AM Post #176 |
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Prince
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Boric acid being added to No.3 reactor fuel pool Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun adding boric acid to the spent fuel storage pool of the No.3 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to prevent fuel racks from being corroded by alkaline water. The company started the operation on Sunday morning. About 90 tons of water containing boric acid will be poured into the pool through Monday. Concrete debris from the March hydrogen explosion of the reactor building has been detected in the fuel pool. Last month, TEPCO found that the water in the pool had turned strongly alkaline, with its PH level reaching 11.2. The leaching of calcium hydrate from the debris is believed to be the cause. TEPCO says the condition may accelerate corrosion of aluminum racks holding spent fuel rods and may cause the rods to topple in the worst case, which could lead to re-criticality. At the same time, TEPCO is preparing to install a circulatory cooling system at the fuel pool that will go into operation in early July. Sunday, June 26, 2011 13:01 Water decontamination and recycling to resume Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says it plans to resume operation of a system to decontaminate highly radioactive water and recycle it to cool the reactors at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as early as Monday. Contaminated water is still accumulating in the plant from the constant stream being injected into it to cool the reactors. TEPCO has been forced to suspend test runs of the system a number of times due to problems with a device that removes radioactive substances. But the utility says it managed to resolve the problem by using a different absorbent material for the device. The company says 600 tons of contaminated water was cleaned in the test runs and it says this water will be used to cool the reactors as early as Monday afternoon. If the operation is successful, the company would not need to inject new water into the reactors and would be able to prevent the plant from generating highly contaminated water. But it remains to be seen if the system can operate in a stable manner, as the salt-removal pump failed on Saturday. Monday, June 27, 2011 Radiation health checkups to start Health checkups for over 2 million residents in Fukushima prefecture are going to start on Monday. The Fukushima prefectural government will first focus on checking about 28,000 residents in the three communities near to the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Iidate village, Kawamata and Namie towns. People will be asked how they led their life after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that damaged the nuclear power plant. The level of their external radiation exposure will be estimated by matching their behavioral patterns against the daily radiation data gauged in the atmosphere and on the ground. A special medical device called the whole body counter will be used to check internal radiation levels for more than 2,900 people. On Monday 10 of the more than 2,900 people are scheduled to be brought to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences near Tokyo for detailed tests. 5 of the 10 people are already en route by bus to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences near Tokyo for detailed tests. Monday, June 27, 2011 05:46 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 12:21 AM Post #177 |
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Prince
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Fukushima: World's Worst Industrial Disaster Reveals How Nation States Are Powerless to Protect Us from Advanced Technology The nuclear crisis brings key questions about our system of social organization to the fore, and the answers may influence what the world looks like in the future. June 27, 2011 | The day after the disastrous level-nine earthquake that triggered the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear crisis, March 12, an Israeli expert on air quality and poisoning, Professor Menachem Luria, told Israeli Channel 2: "From what we can gather, this disaster is even more dangerous than Chernobyl." At the time, his was a minority opinion in the scientific community; very few believed that a nuclear accident as bad as the 1986 meltdown in Ukraine would occur again. "I think that's basically impossible," said James Stubbins, an expert at the University of Illinois, and many others agreed. Yet, as we are now slowly coming to realize, Fukushima is worse than Chernobyl. In a revealing recent feature article published by al-Jazeera, Dahr Jamail conveys the comments of Arnold Gundersen, a senior former nuclear industry executive in the United States. "Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Gundersen asserts. "We have 20 nuclear cores exposed, the fuel pools have several cores each, that is 20 times the potential to be released than Chernobyl ... The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl. We are seeing square kilometers being found 60 to 70 kilometers away from the reactor. You can't clean all this up." [1] The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the operator of the crippled plant, now grudgingly acknowledge that their timeline for bringing the situation under control, by the end of the year, "may be" unrealistic. They also acknowledge that Fukushima has "probably" released more radiation than Chernobyl. Both have come under strong criticism in the past for withholding information and releasing overly optimistic estimates. Yet even scientists working at the plant apparently have trouble comprehending the severity of the crisis. Last week, they attempted to install a filtration system to decontaminate and recycle the vast amounts of highly radioactive water accumulated as a result of the continuous efforts to cool the reactors. Fukushima is running dangerously low on storage capacities for the used water. However, the system jammed after just five hours of operation. "The company said that the sprawling system, which is designed to siphon oil, radioactive materials and salt from the water used to cool the reactors, was shut down because of readings that indicated one of the filters had filled up with radioactive cesium," The New York Times writes. "The rapid depletion of a filter that was supposed to have lasted several weeks suggested the presence of far greater radioactive material than anticipated." [2] According to another New York Times report, the Japanese government was initially in complete disarray over the crisis, issuing contradictory orders and finding itself unable to make use of available resources. Coordination with Tepco, which was in a state of panic itself, faltered. The plant manager likely prevented a greater calamity by disobeying an order to stop using sea water to cool the reactors. "We found ourselves in a downward spiral, which hurt relations with the United States," a close aide to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told The New York Times. "We lost credibility with America, and Tepco lost credibility with us." [3] Reportedly, American pressure for more information and concerted action eventually helped jerk the Japanese authorities from their shock. This narrative carries the seeds of another narrative which most of us would very much like to believe: a story of international cooperation and the coming together of the world's finest technological achievements to combat a natural disaster. Yet American officials were also caught unprepared. Most continue to deny outright that the radioactive pollution will have a palpable effect on the United States. Recent reports, however, indicate that infant mortality rates in eight major cities in the northwestern United States, where the fallout was greatest, jumped 35% in the four weeks following the accident. This is consistent with the biological effects of radiation. [4] Previous reports have indicated the presence of radioactive particles in rainwater as far east as Massachusetts, and in milk and other products throughout the country. The American authorities, as indeed most authorities in the world, appear to be in denial. Many important reports continue to be classified, and there is a sense that governments are lying to their people for lack of a better response. In all likelihood, the scope of the disaster continues to evade us. There is little doubt that "the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind" will force us to learn painful lessons, and that we are only just beginning to grapple with its meaning. Some of the consequences are fairly mundane, if hard to pinpoint very precisely yet, in that they are economic and technical. The nuclear industry will be doing some major soul-searching, and seems set for a period of decline; numerous countries are already reconsidering their reliance on nuclear plants. The global economy will face reshuffles, as will the global energy market. It has the potential, however, to go much deeper than that, shaking the very foundations of our sense of collective security. Certainly if some of the worst-case predictions materialize, and a sizeable part of Japan turns into a nuclear desert, we'll face urgent questions about where we are heading as a species; this may happen even in a more optimistic scenario. It is possible, for example, that people's trust in the state system will be shaken, and on many levels. This is not to say that the predominant current form of political and social organization will disappear, at least in the near future. But it has been under stress for quite some time now, and this disaster seems capable of bringing the existing stresses into public attention; so far they have been mostly confined to academic discourse. A few leading anthropologists and political theorists have concluded that the current state system (whose origins arguably lie in the distant 1648 when the treaty of Westphalia was signed) is obsolete, and that it is incapable of adjusting to the ever more fluid borders and rapid rates of communication that come with globalization. Their argument is that new types of organizations, some criminal while others representing legitimate economic, political, and other interests, will rise up to challenge the national state; we have started to see some of this in the proliferation of multinational corporations, international political organizations, and international crime networks of the last decades. But while these former developments draw on the positive aspects of globalization - the availability of new resources to which new types of structures are better adapted - there is also a darker side. It is visible in Fukushima. The new possibilities have led to the manufacture of technology that is too powerful to control; its effects cannot be confined to national borders - and what better example than Japan of the fact that, to paraphrase John Donne, no society is an island nowadays. Add to this that increased global interdependence comes with increased global vulnerability to crises in distant parts of the world, and we have a situation where our sense of security is not guaranteed any more. The concept of the state, in a sense, offers a counter-balance to all these powerful and often blind forces, a regulatory mechanism that we like to believe works well and in the public interest. This is part of why the scale of the Fukushima disaster is so hard to grasp, both for experts and for lay people. In the face of the increased vulnerability of modern societies, we desperately need something that gives us a sense of security. What better safeguards than progress, technology, and order, exemplified by the spectacular ability of nation states, separately and in concert, to mobilize unprecedented resources to achieve an urgent goal? And where a more safe expectation for all these forces to produce the desired effect than in Japan, one of the top industrialized world economies and a paradigm of social cohesion and discipline? In many ways, Fukushima is the perfect paradigm for the failure of our source of security at its finest. The confusion and panic of the government and industry officials in the wake of the disaster should humble us all. So should our face to face encounter with our limitations, and the contrast with how we like to imagine ourselves. In some of our most popular science-fiction narratives, the best astronauts of the leading world powers destroy asteroids that threaten the Earth with nuclear weapons (Armageddon grossed over half a billion dollars, attesting to our eagerness to consume the images; suffice it to mention that early on in the Fukushima crisis, some observers suggested nuking the reactors). [5] Yet in reality, we can't deal with a sizeable pile of radioactive waste, even long after the chain reaction has stopped. Gundersen's conclusions speak loudly: "Somehow, robotically, they will have to go in there and manage to put it in a container and store it for infinity, and that technology doesn't exist. Nobody knows how to pick up the molten core from the floor, there is no solution available now for picking that up from the floor." So do those of Dr Sawada, another scientist interviewed by Dahr Jamail: "Until we know how to safely dispose of the radioactive materials generated by nuclear plants, we should postpone these activities so as not to cause further harm to future generations." Fukushima is worse than what we are being told. There is no doubt about that. How bad exactly it is may not become clear for years. Debates about its meaning are likely to stretch much longer. The crisis brings some fundamental questions about our system of social organization to the fore, and the answers may influence what the world looks like in the future. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 12:30 AM Post #178 |
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Prince
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Environment Ministry to approve incineration of rubble contaminated with radiation The Environment Ministry has decided to approve the proposed incineration of rubble contaminated with radiation from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant at existing incineration facilities equipped with exhaust gas filters and absorption devices, officials said. It made the decision after discussing how to safely dispose of rubble contaminated with radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. The policy is based on the assumption that residents near disposal sites will be exposed to less than 10 microsieverts of radiation a year. The ministry will allow local governments to bury burned rubble containing less than 8,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of rubble at waterproof final disposal sites for ordinary waste. However, the ministry will ban such disposal sites from being converted to residential areas in the future. Authorities will also require local bodies to temporarily store ash caught by exhaust gas filters and ash from burned rubble containing more than 8,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium in special drums that can block radiation and ash containing over 100,000 becquerels of radiation at facilities shielded by concrete walls. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 12:35 AM Post #179 |
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Prince
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011 Fukushima starts health checks Kyodo FUKUSHIMA — The Fukushima Prefectural Government on Monday started conducting health checkups on its roughly 2 million residents in light of the radiation leaking from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant. ![]() Exposure check: A worker at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in the city of Chiba undergoes a thyroid radiation exposure checkup Monday. Residents of Fukushima Prefecture are now set to undergo similar exams. KYODO PHOTO The prefecture has launched an unprecedented effort to continuously monitor the health of its residents for several decades. The data is expected help doctors around the world understand how low but long-term radiation exposure affects the human body. The first people to be examined, a group of 10 from the town of Namie, visited the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in the city of Chiba to find out how much internal contamination they have through urine tests and whole-body counter exams. A group of around 110 people from the municipalities of Namie, Iitate and Kawamata will follow in about 10 days, prefectural officials said. Their areas are in the primary and secondary hot zones designated around the nuclear plant. Full-scale exams for all who were residing in Fukushima when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima plant into crisis will begin in August, following priority checks for about 2,800 residents from the three municipalities, they said. The central government plans to establish a ¥100 billion fund for the long-term study, which will last around 30 years. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 12:37 AM Post #180 |
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Prince
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Monday, June 27, 2011 Tepco utilizes decontaminated water Circulation system tried on reactors Kyodo Tokyo Electric Power Co. began efforts Monday to circulate decontaminated water to cool three damaged reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power complex. The water has been run through a newly installed water treatment system, according to the government's nuclear safety agency. The start of "circulating injection cooling" is seen as key in getting a handle on reactors 1, 2 and 3, which were being manually cooled from outside in an emergency measure that resulted in thousands of tons of highly radioactive water flooding the premises. Although the water treatment system is designed to remove the radioactive substances, the system has been plagued with troubles, including leaks. Still, about 1,850 tons of clean water has been produced in trial runs of the system, and Tepco started injecting that water Monday, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Some 110,000 tons of highly contaminated water — enough to fill about 40 Olympic-size swimming pools — plus coolant from the leaking reactors is flooding their turbine buildings and adjacent areas, raising the risk of it overflowing into the Pacific Ocean. NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said the main focus of the circulating injection cooling will first be on reducing the amount of polluted water to address the overflow danger. Hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, the six-reactor nuclear complex suffered a station blackout that caused the cooling pumps for the reactors and spent nuclear fuel pools in units 1 to 4 to fail. The cores of units 1, 2 and 3 are assumed to have melted and sunk to the bottoms of their pressure vessels, where the deformed fuel pellets are being cooled by perpetual water injections. Reactor lids in works A combination of traditional post-and-beam construction methods and cutting-edge dome stadium technologies will be used in building giant covers for three damaged reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power complex, it was learned Monday. Major general contractors Kajima Corp., Shimizu Corp. and Takenaka Corp. will begin work as early as Tuesday, with an eye to completing the first cover around the fall, industry sources said. The construction orders for blanketing the buildings of reactors 1, 3 and 4 to contain the release of radioactive substances are expected to cost ¥15 billion to ¥20 billion each, the sources said. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 01:15 AM Post #181 |
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Prince
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TEPCO halts water circulation due to leaks The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suspended using decontaminated water as a coolant because of leaky pipes. Tokyo Electric Power Company began circulating recycled water through the No.1, 2 and 3 reactors at 4:20 PM on Monday. But it halted the operation one and a half hours later after discovering water leaking from the pipes. TEPCO has been attempting to run the decontamination system since June 14th. It has so far treated about 1,850 tons of the water. The operator hopes to reduce the levels of radioactive wastewater accumulated at the plant as a result of injecting fresh water into the damaged reactors. Circulating the decontaminated water around the reactors is considered an important step to stabilize them by mid-July as planned. It will also help prevent the volume of wastewater from increasing. TEPCO says it will repair the leaks and hopes to resume water circulation soon. Monday, June 27, 2011 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 10:40 PM Post #182 |
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Prince
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A former Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) vice president said the company's biggest worry in dealing with the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant was the prospect of heavy storms washing radioactive materials into the environment. Enomoto, who stepped down from his current post as an adviser to the company following a shareholders' meeting Tuesday, said TEPCO's "biggest fear" was the possible impact of heavy rain dumping water on the stricken plant. He said storms could also flood the basements and trenches under the affected reactors, triggering the contaminated water now collecting there to overflow. "We need to get on with the water treatment process," he said. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 11:11 PM Post #183 |
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Prince
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TEPCO injects nitrogen into No.2 reactor The Tokyo Electric Power Company began injecting nitrogen into the containment vessel of the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant on Tuesday night to prevent hydrogen explosions. Hydrogen is generated when water in the reactor comes in contact with radiation. It's believed that hydrogen is building up inside the containment vessel. As the reactor continues to be cooled, reaction between hydrogen and oxygen can result in an explosion, in the worst case scenario. The utility firm has been pumping nitrogen into the No.1 reactor. But there's no knowing yet when it can start doing so at the No.3 reactor, because the plumbing work for nitrogen injections cannot be undertaken due to high-level radiation inside the reactor. According to a roadmap to contain the crisis at the plant, the work of injecting nitrogen into the 3 reactors is scheduled to be complete by July 17th. The spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Hidehiko Nishiyama, says the current situation is severe but workers at the plant will do their best to achieve the target on the roadmap. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 20:39 +0900 (JST) TEPCO starts covering No.1 reactor building The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun building a giant polyester shield over the damaged Number 1 reactor building to contain the spread of radiation. One of the largest cranes in Japan has been brought to the site for the construction. It has a 140 meter-long arm that can lift up to 750 tons. The crane will be used to install a fabric cover around the reactor building. Before that, it will be used to remove debris from the top of the building, which was shattered by a hydrogen explosion one day after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. Tokyo Electric Power Company says that when the shield is installed, the entire structure will be about 54 meters high. Meanwhile, offsite at Onahama Port about 50 kilometers from the nuclear plant, the utility is preassembling 62 steel components that will be joined to create a rigid frame. The frame will support one millimeter-thick polyester fiber panels. The components will start arriving at the plant in July. Work to assemble them will be done by the crane. The utility says the process will minimize the number of workers who must spend time at the site and lessen their radioactive exposure. TEPCO hopes to complete the cover by late September. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 20:07 +0900 (JST) TEPCO shareholders pressure utility management The management of Tokyo Electric Power Company has come under severe criticism from shareholders over its handling of the accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The utility's shareholders meeting was held in Tokyo on Tuesday morning. The meeting was attended by over 9,300 shareholders, nearly 6,000 more than the record number of participants set last year. President Masataka Shimizu opened the meeting with an apology for the leak of radioactive materials outside the plant, saying it has caused severe problems such as mass evacuations. He also apologized for the company's net loss of more than 1.2 trillion yen, or about15 billion dollars, in its settlement for the fiscal year that ended in March. During the question and answer session, shareholders attacked the management's responsibility. One person said critics had been pointing out the dangers of the Fukushima plant for some time, and asked how management would take responsibility for the reactors' meltdown. Another said the utility had been causing trouble with its nuclear power generation and that accidents could happen again unless management practices are changed. The meeting later adopted, as proposed, the utility's agenda proposals including the elections of directors. Meanwhile, a proposal by more than 400 shareholders to have the utility's corporate rules stipulate a withdrawal from nuclear power generation was voted down. At the meeting, motions to dismiss the chair of the meeting -- the chairman of the utility Tsunehisa Katsumata -- were proposed but were voted down. Supporters of the proposals said there are problems with the proceedings of the meeting, which ended after a record 6 hours, more than twice that of last year. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 20:38 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 11:22 PM Post #184 |
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Prince
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new research findings Dr. Chris Busby On Fukushima Radiation Risk Radioactivity form the Fukushima Catastrophe is now reaching centres of population like Tokyo and will appear in the USA. Authorities are downplaying the risk on the basis of absorbed dose levels using the dose coefficients of the International Commission on Radiological Protection the ICRP. These dose coefficients and the ICRP radiation risk model is unsafe for this purpose. This is clear from hundreds of research studies of the Chernobyl accident outcomes. It has also been conceded by the editor of the ICRP risk model, Dr Jack Valentin, in a discussion with Chris Busby in Stockholm, Sweden in April 2009. Valentin specifically stated in a videoed interview (available on www.llrc.org and vimeo.com) that the ICRP model could not be used to advise politicians of the health consequences of a nuclear release like the one from Fukushima. Valentin agreed that for certain internal exposures the risk model was insecure by 2 orders of magnitude. The CERRIE committee stated that the range of insecurity was between 10 and members of the committee put the error at nearer to 1000, a factor which would be necessary to explain the nuclear site child leukemia clusters. The ECRR risk model was developed for situations like Fukushima Since the ECRR 2003 Radiation Risk Model, updated in 2010, was developed for just this situation it can be employed to assess the risk in terms of cancer and other ill health. See www.euradcom.org. It has been checked against many situations where the public has been exposed to internal radioactivity and shown to be accurate. Using the ECRR 2010 radiation risk model the following guide to the health effects of exposure can be employed. Take the dose which is published by the authorities. Multiply it by 600. This is the approximate ECRR dose for the mixture of internal radionuclides released from Fukushima. Then multiply this number by 0.1. This is the ECRR 2010 cancer risk. Example 1 : the dose from exposure to radioactive milk from Fukushima is said by the authorities to be so low that you would have to drink milk for a year to get the equivalent of a CT scan dose. A CT scan dose is about 10 milliSieverts (mSv) Assuming you drink 500ml a day, the annual intake is 180litres so the dose per litre is 0.055mSv. The ECRR dose per litre is at maximum 0.055 x 600 = 33mSv. Thus the lifetime risk of cancer following drinking a litre of such contaminated milk is 0.0033 or 0.33%. Thus 1000 people each drinking 1 litre of milk will result in 3.3 cancers in the 50 years following the intake. From the results in Sweden and elsewhere following Chernobyl, these cancers will probably appear in the 10 years following the exposure. Example 2. : External doses measured by a Geiger counter increased from 100nSv/h to 500nSv/h. What is the risk from a weeks exposure? Because the external dose is only a flag for the internal dose we assume that this is the internal ICRP dose from the range of radionuclides released which include radiodines, radiocaesium, plutonium and uranium particles, tritium etc. A weeks exposure is thus 400 x 10-9 x 24 x 7days or 6.72 x 10-5 Sv . We multiply by 600 to get the ECRR dose which is 0.04Sv and then by 0.1 to get the lifetime cancer risk which is 0.4%. Thus in this case, in 1000 individuals exposed for a week at this level, 4 will develop cancer because of this exposure. In 30 million, the population of Tokyo, this would result in 120,000 cancers in the next 50 years. The ICRP risk model would predict 100 cancers from the same exposure. Again we should expect to see a rise in cancer in the 10 years following the exposure. This is due to early clinical expression of pre-cancerous genomes. Other health effects are predicted, including birth effects, heart disease and a range of other conditions and diseases. These calculations have been shown to be accurate in the case of the population of Northern Sweden exposed to fallout for the Chernobyl accident, and also are accurate for the increased in cancer in northern hemisphere countries following the 1960s weapons testing fallout (the cancer epidemic). The public and the Japanese and other authorities would do well to calculate exposure risks on the basis of these approximations and to abandon the ICRP model which does not protect the public. This was the conclusion of a group of international experts who signed the 2009 Lesvos Declaration |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 11:31 PM Post #185 |
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Radioactive strontium detected in seabed Radioactive strontium has been detected for the first time on the seabed near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company says it found strontium-89 and -90 in the seabed soil. The company conducted a survey on June 2nd about 3 kilometers off the coast at 2 locations, some 20 kilometers north and south of the nuclear complex. The substances pose a serious health risk because they can accumulate in the bones if inhaled, which could cause cancer. Up to 44 becquerels per kilogram of strontium-90 were detected, which has a half-life of 29 years. The substances had been detected before in soil on land and in seawater following the nuclear accident in March. A member of the government's Nuclear Safety Commission, Shigeharu Kato, says more examination should be carried out to find out if or how the substances can accumulate in marine life. The fishery ministry conducted separate surveys. It did not find radioactive strontium in fish and seafood samples taken off the coast of Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures. Both are located south of the Fukushima plant. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 08:54 TEPCO restarts water-circulation cooling The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has restarted its new water-recycling cooling system after repairing leaky pipes. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, activated a pump for the water injection system on Tuesday afternoon, after checking pipe connections and taking measures to prevent a sharp rise in water pressure. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the system is working steadily. TEPCO was forced to halt the system on Monday after only about 90 minutes of operation due to a water leak. The firm said the leak lasted for 2 minutes at most, and that about one ton of water seeped out. TEPCO said water burst from a weak connection, and that the firm had not taken originally planned measures to prevent a sharp rise in water pressure. The system is designed to pump highly radioactive water out of reactor buildings, decontaminate it and circulate it back into the reactors as coolant. TEPCO says the system is the key to cooling the reactors while decreasing the amount of contaminated water threatening to overflow. Tuesday, June 28, 2011 19:15 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 28 2011, 11:33 PM Post #186 |
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Prince
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(Reuters) - Tons of radioactive water was discovered to have leaked into the ground from the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan's nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday. About 15 tons of water with a low level of radiation leaked from a storage tank at the plant, on the Pacific coast 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said it was still investigating the cause of the leak, which was repaired after being discovered around noon on Tuesday. Vast amounts of water contaminated with varying levels of radiation have accumulated in storage tanks at the plant after being used by the utility to cool reactors damaged when their original cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Tepco is trying to use a decontamination system that cleans radioactive water so it can be recycled to cool the reactors, but has encountered technical glitches. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 29 2011, 08:59 PM Post #187 |
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Prince
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Very high levels of radioactive cesium 137 discovered in localities around Fukushima reactors, also nothing can be done to stop the meltdowns of all reactors until at least 2012: June 29th, 2011 For those most focused on Fukushima’s human toll, there are several main sources of concern: the continuing radiation menace in the region’s fields, crops and seafood; and TEPCO’s recent admission that its reactors won’t be under control until 2012 at best. These offer critical reminders that radioactive cesium is now Japan’s public enemy No. 1. Behind the confusing fog of rad, rem, becquerel and milliseivert statistics lurks the basic fact that the spread of cesium 137 was the deadliest legacy of Chernobyl and is now the gravest health threat facing eastern Japan. Moving through strong radiation fields like chest X-rays, U.S. airport scanners or Fukushima reactor rubble is obviously hazardous, but time limited. Carrying the radiation source around inside you 24/7, however, poses an exponentially greater threat, especially when it’s an aggressive ionizing radionuclide like cesium 137 with a half-life of 30 years. Despite its meager eight-day half-life, iodine 121 somehow became the rock star of radiation reporting and always gets top billing when things slip out of control. People in affected areas routinely dose themselves with potassium iodide to protect against I-121 exposure, but they hear little and do nothing about the cesium 137 they absorb. Cesium levels are usually reported second, if at all, even though they pose far greater risks for children, farm communities and the public at large. Spawned profusely in fission reactions, cesium 137 decays slowly, bioaccumulates rapidly, spews intense gamma rays and hitchhikes easily in water, air and food. Imbibed, inhaled or eaten, even a few atoms can stir up mutagenic havoc in the organs where they land. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences apparently had cesium in mind when it announced in 2005 that the only safe radiation level for young people is absolutely none at all. As Kanto/Tohoku parents are becoming aware, their children are now surrounded by unnaturally high cesium levels in local neighborhoods and schoolyards, which translate into incessant exposure and countless youth at risk. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 29 2011, 09:20 PM Post #188 |
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Pacific concern over radiation spread ast Updated: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:01:00 +1000 The Pacific Disaster Centre says the revelation that the contamination from Japan's earthquake crippled nuclear power plant will be more widespread than previously thought is a big concern. It says nuclear monitoring should be set up across the region to assess the risk. Japan's Atomic Energy Agency says radioactive caesium leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant will spread 4,000 kilometres through the Pacific Ocean in the next year and reach Hawaii in three years. The centre's Stanley Goosby told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat while the contamination levels will be low, the impact on the environment and people's health need to be closely monitored. "What does that mean (when) we begin to get that into the food chain?" he asked "And the other aspect would be when we have it in the atmosphere and we start having rain." |
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| Audi-Tek | June 29 2011, 09:52 PM Post #189 |
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Prince
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TEPCO restarts new cooling system The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant restarted its new reactor cooling system on Wednesday after fixing faults in the hosing. Tokyo Electric Power Company was forced to suspend the system's operation earlier in the day after plant workers detected water leaking from 2 holes in the hosing. On Monday, TEPCO halted the system after 90 minutes of operation due to water leakage from a displaced joint connecting plastic hoses. The system was restarted on Tuesday afternoon, but more leaks from another joint were found. After the series of leaks, TEPCO says it will look at ways to strengthen the system's hosing. Also on Wednesday, workers found water leaking from a storage tank for decontaminated water. TEPCO says the leak stopped after about 2 hours. It is now investigating the cause. The cooling system is designed to decontaminate radioactive wastewater accumulating at the plant and reuse the treated water to cool the reactors. The leaky tank is part of its devices to filter radioactive materials and salt. TEPCO says the system holds the key to stabilizing the reactors and reducing the amount of contaminated water. Wednesday, June 29, 2011 15:28 |
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| Audi-Tek | June 30 2011, 11:32 PM Post #190 |
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Prince
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TEPCO starts system to cool another spent fuel pool at nuclear plant TOKYO, July 1, Kyodo Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that it had activated a water circulation system to stably cool another spent nuclear fuel pool at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, while also starting to transfer relatively low-level radioactive water at the plant to an artificial floating island called a megafloat. The plant operator is hoping to efficiently cool the spent fuel pool of the No. 3 unit, having started a similar cooling system for the No. 2 unit's pool. The utility known as TEPCO is trying to contain the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in line with a road map that aims to stabilize by January the plant's reactors and spent fuel pools, which lost their key cooling functions in the wake of the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami. |
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| Audi-Tek | June 30 2011, 11:37 PM Post #191 |
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Japan braces itself for hottest summer on record Japan is bracing itself for the hottest summer on record, leading to fears that thousands of people will die as the government limits the use of air conditioning. ![]() Temperatures in Tokyo have reached 96.4 degrees (35.8 Celsius) 4:28PM BST 30 Jun 2011 The country is on course to surpass the historic heatwave of last year when more than 54,000 people were admitted to hospitals. Soaring temperatures are compounded by concerns over power shortages caused by the loss of power from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Temperatures reached 96.4 degrees (35.8 Celsius) in Tokyo on Wednesday and claimed four lives. In the city of Koshu, it reached 101.3F (38.5C). In total, authorities say that eight people have died from heatstroke since the end of May. Some 2,996 were admitted to hospitals across the country last week alone for treatment for heat complaints, while 16 children between the ages of 12 and 17 required medical attention on Wednesday after collapsing during a school sports day. Japan’s Meteorological Agency is to introduce “heat advisories” as temperatures rise and people try to limit their use of air conditioning. The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, are pleading with the public to reduce their energy consumption. People are rallying around to help – adopting “Super Cool Biz” attire of shorts and T-shirts to the office instead of the more usual formal suit and turning off all unnecessary electrical appliances – but consumption was still at a worryingly high 94 per cent of total capacity on Thursday. Medical experts have urged the elderly – who are particularly susceptible to heatstroke – not to make go too far in their efforts to conserve electricity. A spokesman for the Japan Red Cross said: “The elderly are most at risk, along with children who want to go swimming in rivers and the sea at this time of year, but this year it is worse because of the threat of power cuts. This is affecting everyone in Japan this summer and there is a serious risk for thousands of people.” The maximum temperature recorded in Japan last summer was a 103.8F |
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| Audi-Tek | June 30 2011, 11:47 PM Post #192 |
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Prince
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TEPCO moves low level contaminated water Workers at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have started moving low level contaminated water to a giant steel barge for storage. The transfer from the plant's make-shift tanks started on Thursday afternoon to the barge called the "mega float." The barge is attached to a quay on the plant's premises. The make-shift tanks have been almost full since Wednesday with low-level radioactive water pumped from the basement of the reactor Number 6 turbine building. The water is threatening to damage equipment and gauges and thus hamper cooling efforts. TEPCO says the water is treated to lower the level of contamination before it is transferred to the barge. The utility also says it will do everything to ensure the stored water doesn't leak into the sea. The utility aims to pump around 8,000 tons of the water into the giant barge over three or four months. The barge, 136 meters long and 46 meters wide, can hold a maximum of 10,000 tons of water. But the company says it has no final plan to dispose of the water stored in the barge. Thursday, June 30, 2011 17:51 Circulation cooling system works again The newly installed reactor cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has resumed working after a 5-hour suspension due to mechanical trouble. The operator of the crippled plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, says a French-made water-decontamination device, which is part of the cooling system, stopped automatically on Thursday afternoon. An alarm system was set off within 10 minutes. TEPCO says after repairing the device and doing test runs, it resumed operating on Thursday evening. The system that decontaminates and re-uses the plant's radioactive water is considered key to the stable cooling of the reactors. Although the cooling system had stopped, the utility says the decontaminated water continued to pour into the reactors. The company says the alarm device indicated the level of decontaminated water inside one tank was too low, and a gas exhaust had malfunctioned. TEPCO is trying to find out why the alarm system was set off, and the cause of the other troubles. Since its start on Monday, the cooling system has suffered a series of problems including leaky piping. Friday, July 01, 2011 01:40 Workers enter No. 4 reactor building Tokyo Electric Power Company says debris scattered inside the No. 4 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is posing an obstacle to work to bring the crippled reactor under control. Workers entered the fifth floor of the building on Wednesday for the first time since an explosion on March 15th. Photos taken by the workers show that most of the ceiling, except for a small part of the framework, has collapsed. Debris, steel frames, and other various things blown by the force of the explosion are scattered all over the floor. The radiation level inside the building was less than one millisievert per hour, which TEPCO says is permissible for workers to carry out operations there. The utility plans to install a circulatory system that will cool and circulate water inside the reactor's spent fuel storage pool. But it says one of the valves necessary to operate the system is covered by debris. TEPCO says it will consider whether to remove the debris or attempt to work around the debris. Thursday, June 30, 2011 20:04 |
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| Audi-Tek | July 3 2011, 01:59 AM Post #193 |
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Prince
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Radiation found outside Japan's evacuation zone More than 100 households in a town near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have been urged to evacuate because of radioactive hotspots. Tens of thousands of Japanese living near the complex have already been forced from their homes. Authorities say despite being well out of the 30-kilometre evacuation zone, radiation hotspots have been found in Date City, which is about 50 kilometres north-west of the Fukushima nuclear plant. Local officials have asked 113 households to leave, but the evacuation notices are not compulsory. They say they will provide subsidies for rental accommodation to anyone who agrees to leave. The March 11 tsunami and earthquake, which caused meltdowns at the Fukushima plant, has left more than 23,000 people dead or missing in Japan's north-east. |
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| Audi-Tek | July 4 2011, 12:15 AM Post #194 |
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Fleeing crisis takes deadly toll on elderly / 77 Fukushima evacuees died within 3 mths Nearly 80 elderly people who were evacuated from nursing homes near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant died within three months of the accidents at the plant that forced them to move, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey. The 77 deaths are more than triple the 25 recorded at the nursing homes during the corresponding period last year. Officials at the homes believe many of this year's deaths resulted from a decline in physical strength caused by moving far from the nursing homes and living in an unfamiliar environment. Many of the people who died had struggled to adapt to their new living conditions, the officials said. The Yomiuri Shimbun surveyed 15 nursing homes--13 for elderly people requiring special care, and two for elderly people who cannot live alone or with their family due to financial and other reasons--within 30 kilometers of the Fukushima nuclear plant. One nursing home just outside the 30-kilometer evacuation zone, run by a corporation that operates a home within the zone, also responded to the survey. According to the survey, 826 elderly people were evacuated from 12 nursing homes near the nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. Based on the Law on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness, the government instructed residents living within three kilometers of the nuclear plant to evacuate on March 11, the day after a massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling functions. The next day, residents within 20 kilometers of the plant were told to evacuate. On March 18, the government asked elderly people at nursing homes 20 to 30 kilometers from the plant to leave the area. The 77 elderly people who died after evacuating were aged 68 to 104--46 were in their 90s, 19 in their 80s, seven in their 100s, four in their 70s and one was 68. At least 20 died within a month after the nuclear accident, and 42 the following month, according to the nursing homes. The major causes of death were pneumonia and brain infarction, the survey found. Some died of old age, the nursing homes said. A nursing home within 10 kilometers of the nuclear plant evacuated its 88 residents to emergency shelters, including a gymnasium in Kawamatamachi, Fukushima Prefecture. They were then moved to a nursing home in Tochigi Prefecture and elsewhere, but 10 died. "Many of them had to stay on the gym's hard floor for a week. Some suffered from dehydration," an official of the evacuated nursing home said. Nursing home Chojuso (house for longevity) in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, evacuated 56 elderly people to 13 institutions in Tochigi Prefecture. According to Chojuso, 16 died in the three months after the nuclear accident. A 67-year-old man whose 93-year-old mother died after evacuating to Ibaraki Prefecture from Chojuso said: "I want to thank everyone who helped my mother evacuate. However, I can't help wishing that she could have spent her final days in Minami-Soma, where she'd lived her whole life." Gunma University Prof. To(censor)aka Katada, an expert in disaster social engineering, said: "I believe so many people died in a short period because they couldn't cope with the change of living environment after moving from a familiar place. We need to realize that these elderly people, who are vulnerable to disasters, died without being able to tell us they were suffering. "The government needs to establish a system in which nursing homes across wide areas cooperate following a disaster or nuclear accident," Katada added. Relatives of at least 23 of the dead elderly people have applied for condolence money paid by local governments when people die due to the indirect influence of disasters, such as a decline in physical strength or worsening of chronic diseases caused by staying at an evacuation site for an extended period. Up to 5 million yen will be paid to the relatives of people who died for such reasons. In the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, 919 of the 6,402 people who died in Hyogo Prefecture were not killed by the direct impact of the quake, such as by being crushed by a collapsed building, but died because of health problems resulting from prolonged life as evacuees. There could be calls to have the nuclear plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., pay compensation for the elderly evacuees' deaths, according to observers. (Jul. 3, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | July 4 2011, 12:17 AM Post #195 |
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Prince
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Hose leaking water at Fukushima No.5 reactor The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says a hose has been leaking seawater used to cool the No.5 reactor, which is currently in a state of cold shutdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, is set to replace the hose, but will have to suspend the reactor's cooling function to do so. It says this will raise the water temperature, but the reactor will still remain in a state of cold shutdown. TEPCO says workers patrolling around the No.5 reactor found a hose leaking water on Sunday morning around the outlet of a temporary pump sending seawater into the reactor's cooling system. The company says the polyvinyl chloride hose has a crack about 30 centimeters long and 7 centimeters wide. TEPCO stopped sending water at around 10 AM to replace the hose. The reactor's cooling system stopped 15 minutes later, meaning its cooling function was temporarily lost. The water temperature inside the reactor was 43.1 degrees Celsius at 8 AM. TEPCO expects the temperature to rise 2.5 degrees per hour while the cooling function is halted. The company says that if the replacement work finishes during the night and the cooling system is restarted, the water temperature will not exceed 100 degrees, the level needed to keep the reactor in a state of cold shutdown. The No.5 reactor was hit by a pump failure on May 29th, when a delay in recovery briefly sent the water temperature to 94.8 degrees. Sunday, July 03, 2011 12:58 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | July 4 2011, 12:33 AM Post #196 |
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Prince
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Sunday, July 3, 2011 Fukushima Cover Up Unravels As repeatedly noted, the Japanese government, other governments and nuclear companies have covered up the extent of the Fukushima crisis. Asia Pacific Journal reports: Japan’s leading business journal Toyo Keizai has published an article by Hokkaido Cancer Center director Nishio Masamichi, a radiation treatment specialist. *** Nishio originally called for “calm” in the days after the accident. Now, he argues, that as the gravity of the situation at the plant has become more clear, the specter of long-term radiation exposure must be reckoned with. *** Former Minister for Internal Affairs Haraguchi Kazuhiro has alleged that radiation monitoring station data was actually three decimal places greater than the numbers released to the public. If this is true, it constitutes a “national crime”, in Nishio’s words. The Atlantic points out: The reason for official reluctance to admit that the earthquake did direct structural damage to reactor one is obvious. Katsunobu Onda, author of TEPCO: The Dark Empire ... who sounded the alarm about the firm in his 2007 book explains it this way: “If TEPCO and the government of Japan admit an earthquake can do direct damage to the reactor, this raises suspicions about the safety of every reactor they run. They are using a number of antiquated reactors that have the same systematic problems, the same wear and tear on the piping.” *** Oddly enough, while TEPCO later insisted that the cause of the meltdown was the tsunami knocking out emergency power systems, at the 7:47 p.m. TEPCO press conference the same day, the spokesman in response to questions from the press about the cooling systems stated that the emergency water circulation equipment and reactor core isolation time cooling systems would work even without electricity. *** On May 15, TEPCO went some way toward admitting at least some of these claims in a report called “Reactor Core Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit One.” The report said there might have been pre-tsunami damage to key facilities including pipes. “This means that assurances from the industry in Japan and overseas that the reactors were robust is now blown apart,” said Shaun Burnie, an independent nuclear waste consultant. “It raises fundamental questions on all reactors in high seismic risk areas.” *** Eyewitness testimony and TEPCO’S own data indicates that the damage [done to the plant by the quake] was significant. All of this despite the fact that shaking experienced at the plant during the quake was within it’s approved design specifications. The Wall Street Journal writes: A former nuclear adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan blasted the government’s continuing handling of the crisis, and predicted further revelations of radiation threats to the public in the coming months. In his first media interview since resigning his post in protest in April, Toshiso Kosako, one of the country’s leading experts on radiation safety, said Mr. Kan’s government has been slow to test for possible dangers in the sea and to fish and has understated certain radiation dangers to minimize what it will have to spend to clean up contamination. And while there have been scattered reports already of food contamination—of tea leaves and spinach, for example—Mr. Kosako said there will be broader, more disturbing discoveries later this year, especially as rice, Japan’s staple, is harvested. “Come the harvest season in the fall, there will be a chaos,” Mr. Kosako said. “Among the rice harvested, there will certainly be some radiation contamination—though I don’t know at what levels—setting off a scandal. If people stop buying rice from Tohoku, . . . we’ll have a tricky problem.” British Shenanigans It's not just the Japanese. As the Guardian notes: British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known. Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse... Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining public support for nuclear power. *** The Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, who sits on the Commons environmental audit committee, condemned the extent of co-ordination between the government and nuclear companies that the emails appear to reveal. *** The official suggested that if companies sent in their comments, they could be incorporated into briefs to ministers and government statements. "We need to all be working from the same material to get the message through to the media and the public. *** The office for nuclear development invited companies to attend a meeting at the NIA's headquarters in London. The aim was "to discuss a joint communications and engagement strategy aimed at ensuring we maintain confidence among the British public on the safety of nuclear power stations and nuclear new-build policy in light of recent events at the Fukushima nuclear power plant". Other documents released by the government's safety watchdog, the office for nuclear regulation, reveal that the text of an announcement on 5 April about the impact of Fukushima on the new nuclear programme was privately cleared with nuclear industry representatives at a meeting the previous week. According to one former regulator, who preferred not to be named, the degree of collusion was "truly shocking". The Guardian reports in a second article: The release of 80 emails showing that in the days after the Fukushima accident not one but two government departments were working with nuclear companies to spin one of the biggest industrial catastrophes of the last 50 years, even as people were dying and a vast area was being made uninhabitable, is shocking. *** What the emails shows is a weak government, captured by a powerful industry colluding to at least misinform and very probably lie to the public and the media. *** To argue that the radiation was being released deliberately and was “all part of the safety systems to control and manage a situation” is Orwellian. And - as the Guardian notes in a third article - the collusion between the British government and nuclear companies is leading to political fallout: “This deliberate and (sadly) very effective attempt to ‘calm’ the reporting of the true story of Fukushima is a terrible betrayal of liberal values. In my view it is not acceptable that a Liberal Democrat cabinet minister presides over a department deeply involved in a blatant conspiracy designed to manipulate the truth in order to protect corporate interests”. -Andy Myles, Liberal Democrat party’s former chief executive in Scotland “These emails corroborate my own impression that there has been a strange silence in the UK following the Fukushima disaster … in the UK, new nuclear sites have been announced before the results of the Europe-wide review of nuclear safety has been completed. Today’s news strengthens the case for the government to halt new nuclear plans until an independent and transparent review has been conducted.” -Fiona Hall, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European parliament |
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| Audi-Tek | July 4 2011, 08:20 PM Post #197 |
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Prince
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Daily life in Fukushima: 'It was like visiting another universe' Link to video ...... http://youtu.be/aY5cvod4Tiw |
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| Audi-Tek | July 4 2011, 08:56 PM Post #198 |
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Prince
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Water flow falls at No.1 reactor, but restored The volume of cooling water flowing into the No.1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant fell on Monday, forcing workers to inject additional water. A cooling system is in place at the number 1, 2 and 3 reactors. The system injects 3.7 tons of water every hour into the No.1 reactor. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the reactor's water flow began to decrease gradually around 9 PM on Sunday night. By 8:13 AM on Monday, only about 3 tons of water was flowing into the No. 1 reactor, setting off an alarm. Workers immediately began injecting double the usual amount of water. They managed to restore normal water flow in the reactor before 9 AM. TEPCO says there was no change in temperature or pressure in the No.1 reactor. The utility says some kind of debris may have clogged the hoses, reducing the water flow, and that it is checking to see how the failure occurred. Monday, July 04, 2011 17:29 +0900 (JST) Work underway for nitrogen injection Work is underway at the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima to reduce radiation levels in the Number 3 reactor container. The move is necessary before nitrogen gas can be pumped in to prevent a hydrogen explosion. According to Tokyo Electric Power Company's schedule to stabilize the plant, the utility needs to inject nitrogen into the containers of the first 3 reactors by July 17th. Nitrogen has already been injected into the Number 1 and 2 reactor containers. On Friday, a US-made robot began clearing contaminated dust and debris from the floors of the Number 3 reactor building. However, radiation levels inside the building are still high with readings of between 50 and 186 millisieverts per hour. The radiation levels need to be reduced to one-third before workers are able to begin the nitrogen injection. On Sunday, more than 50 sheets made of steel were laid on the floor. Work continues on Monday to fill the gaps between the steel sheets. TEPCO plans to start connecting the pipes to inject the nitrogen on Friday and hopes to complete the nitrogen injection by July 17th. Cooling the reactors and preventing more hydrogen blasts are the top priorities in TEPCO's plan to stabilize the plant. The minister in charge of the nuclear disaster, Goshi Hosono, says once the government is able to verify that the blast prevention measures are in place, it will consider lifting an evacuation advisory for certain areas 20 to 30 kilometers from the plant. Monday, July 04, 2011 13:42 +0900 (JST) Date City to decontaminate entire area The city of Date in Fukushima Prefecture says it will take steps to reduce radiation contamination in its entire area. The city is located about 50 kilometers northwest of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, outside the government-set evacuation zone. But high levels of radiation have been found in 4 districts. Last Friday, the government recommended 113 households to evacuate. The city said on Monday that it will decontaminate residential areas, schools, roads and mountains in an attempt to reduce residents' exposure to radioactive substances as much as possible. The city plans to set up a project team to sort out details on the decontamination process. Officials say the city will shoulder the cost for the time being, but will ask the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company and the central government to cover follow-up expenses. Monday, July 04, 2011 16:13 +0900 (JST) Conditions must be met to lift evacuation advisory Members of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission say the government must do more before it lifts an evacuation advisory for areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. During a news conference on Monday, the members referred to comments by the minister in charge of the nuclear disaster that the government could lift an evacuation advisory for areas 20 to 30 kilometers from the plant by around July 17th. The members say a safety assessment must first be carried out to fully understand the situation inside the damaged reactors. They say the government must also confirm that another hydrogen explosion will not occur. Residents in the evacuation advisory zone are required to remain indoors and must be prepared to evacuate in the event of an emergency. Some residents have already left for safer areas. For those who have left, the members say the evacuation advisory zone must be thoroughly monitored for radiation contamination before residents are allowed to return to their homes. Tokyo Electric Power Company has set July 17th as the date for finally getting the nuclear crisis under control. By that day, the utility hopes to have achieved stable cooling of the reactors and implemented measures to prevent a hydrogen explosion. Monday, July 04, 2011 20:11 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | July 5 2011, 06:50 PM Post #199 |
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Prince
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Governor on reconstruction minister resignation Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai has commented on the resignation of Ryu Matsumoto as reconstruction minister, saying people in disaster-hit regions must be disgusted. Matsumoto resigned on Tuesday after serving for only one week as minister in charge of rebuilding the regions devastated by the March 11th disaster. He had been criticized for making insensitive remarks on Sunday during his meetings with the governors of disaster-hit Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. Murai said affected people were apparently especially offended by Matsumoto's comment that the central government will help only those who come up with their own ideas for reconstruction. Murai said disaster survivors are undergoing unspeakable suffering, and that the minister in charge of reconstruction should look at things in the same way that affected people do, and sympathize with them. Tuesday, July 05, 2011 17:34 +0900 (JST) ![]() Survivors welcome Matsumoto resignation Residents in Japan's disaster-hit areas have welcomed the resignation of reconstruction minister Ryu Matsumoto. An 80-year-old survivor of the March 11th tsunami in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, says Matsumoto's resignation is natural as it sounds like he looks down on survivors. He adds that Prime Minister Naoto Kan should also be blamed for appointing Matsumoto. An elderly woman says she wants the government to quickly name a successor to start reconstruction. Also supporting the resignation, a 48-year-old fisherman in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, says that in Matsumoto's televised meeting with prefectural governors he appeared so aggressive that he may not listen to survivors' voices. Another citizen says he is relieved at Matsumoto's quick resignation, but feels that people cannot rely on politicians. Tuesday, July 05, 2011 11:46 +0900 (JST)
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| Audi-Tek | July 5 2011, 06:56 PM Post #200 |
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Prince
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What Went Wrong In Fukushima: The Human Factor July 5, 2011 Japanese officials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Officials already have concluded that the plant was not designed to withstand the 40-foot tsunami that hit it on March 11. But it is also likely that workers at the plant could have reduced the severity of the accident if they had made different decisions during the crisis. Some of the stories from the crisis seem heroic and at times, even quite creative. After the tsunami knocked out the power to the reactors and destroyed the diesel back-up system, plant workers fanned out into the plant's parking lot, which was full of wrecked cars. "So people were out scavenging batteries out of cars and trucks," says Lake Barrett, a retired nuclear engineer who led the Three Mile Island cleanup. He says that workers brought those batteries into the control rooms, "wiring them with hot wires to the instrumentation to try to determine the water level in the cores, and to control the pumps they had." Those desperate measures were clearly not enough. But why the heroics failed is not quite so clear. "It's like the anatomy of any complex accident," Barrett says. "There are a lot of parts to it. I'm sure there's going to be design features, there's going to be some equipment operability features, and there's probably going to be some personnel features as well." The plant operators might have done something different if they had better information, better training or perhaps better guidance. ![]() Workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant spray a substance to help reduce dust on April 1. Experts say it's likely that workers at the plant could have reduced the severity of the accident if they had made different decisions during the crisis. Cultural Stumbling Blocks To Acting Decisively Some of the institutional issues have already emerged. Japan's own preliminary investigation showed disagreement and confusion over who should be calling the shots. Barrett says this was partly cultural. "The Japanese decision-making process, of group decision-making and not individual decision-making, might have been a hindrance for dealing with a situation like this," he says. "It's hard to know, but the timeframe demands of making decisions like this, that are multi-billion-dollar decisions, would be difficult in the Japanese culture to do as promptly as maybe it would be done here." One critical decision was whether to pump seawater into the reactors. That would certainly ruin them, but it could also keep them cool and prevent meltdowns. It appears that the engineers on site hesitated for some hours before they went ahead and did that. Per Peterson, chairman of nuclear engineering at University of California, Berkeley says that was a questionable decision. "It's quite likely that if the injection of seawater had been initiated earlier, the damage of fuel could have been limited greatly or even prevented," Peterson says. "So I think there are possible pathways by which the severity of the accident could have been substantially less." 'Better Preparation Could Have Made A Big Difference' Of course, it's easier to see that now than it might have been in the heat of a crisis. "One has to look at the context of this severe natural disaster," Peterson says. "Many of the staff that were there, they were contractors who had left the site so that they could go to find their families. And so in that context, one can understand why the decision-making process perhaps did not roll out as well as it might have. But also, clearly, better preparation could have made a big difference here." Preparation means having a plant that's designed to be more robust to begin with. It means having a clear process for making decisions. And — last but not least — it means having a staff that's been trained to deal with disasters. Preparing For The Worst That's one area where Japan may have fallen short. Marvin Fertel, president of a trade group called the Nuclear Energy Institute, told a recent panel at the National Academy of Sciences that U.S. reactor operators get better training than their counterparts in Japan. "What we like for the operators and the security guards when we're operating the plants is just boredom," he said. "Everything is just good. So the time we really want them to train and plan for bad events is when they're in a simulator." These simulators mimic each specific nuclear power plant closely. That allows reactor operators to practice dealing with extreme emergencies as they would experience them in their own control rooms. "In Japan," Fertel said, "we understand they: (1) do not have plant-specific simulators: they have generic simulators for the types of plant they have; and (2) they don't have one for every plant." That means less-realistic training and less time to practice, Fertel said. Whether better training would have made a difference at Fukushima is something that should emerge from the ongoing investigation in Japan. |
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2:10 AM Jul 11