nuclear-news

Mako Oshidori in Düsseldorf “The Hidden Truth about Fukushima”, Fukushima Voice version 2E 28 May 2014 “……….I would like to talk about the current status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This is a chimney called a “stack” behind Units 1 and 2. There are various issues all over Fukushima Daiichi NPP, but this is one of the places that I consider the most dangerous. It is 120 m tall.

In December 2013, it was discovered the highest radiation level, 25 Sv/h, at the bottom of the stack. It’s not micro- or milli-sievert, but it’s 25 Sievert. and humans cannot go near it. The problem gets worse. TEPCO discovered deformities on 4 sides at 60 of the 120 meter height. That is shown in this photo.

Ordinarily, this should be immediately repaired, but the bottom of the stack is 25 Sv/h, and there is one spot that is 15 Sv/h. So, they can’t do anything about it. What TEPCO is doing about this is they have appointed workers to constantly watch it. This is very close to Units 1 and 2. We still get occasional earthquakes in Fukushima and eastern Japan. Workers on site are very worried about whether it would fall onto the reactor buildings. If it ever fell on Unit 1 or 2, all the workers would have to evacuate. There is no guarantee they would have enough time to evacuate, and it could lead to a severe accident necessitating evacuation of nearby residents once again.

One of the things not well known is the fact that in reality radioactive materials continue to be released into air and groundwater from the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Currently, it is thought that fuel rods have melted, falling to and accumulating in the bottom of the pressure vessel. It is being cooled with water, but then a lot of hydrogen gas is being produced as part of the reaction between water and radioactive material.

This means there is a danger of another hydrogen explosion, so they inject nitrogen gas there, remove as much radioactive material as possible, and release the gas into outside air. Now we get to the real issue here: this is for Unit 1, but they inject 10 ton of nitrogen gas at 35 m3/h and release 21 m3/h after putting it through a filter. This means there is a leak continuing somewhere at 14 m3/h. The situation is the same for Units 1, 2 and 3, and a large amount of radioactive material continues to be released into the air. The total supposedly approaches 10,000,000 Bq/h.

Now we get to the real issue here: this is for Unit 1, but they inject 10 ton of nitrogen gas at 35 m3/h and release 21 m3/h after putting it through a filter. This means there is a leak continuing somewhere at 14 m3/h.

The situation is the same for Units 1, 2 and 3, and a large amount of radioactive material continues to be released into the air. The total supposedly approaches 10,000,000 Bq/h.

Groundwater is of course contaminated. This [diagram] is the area where PM Abe declared the contaminated water being completely blocked when trying to bring the Olympics to Tokyo.

Groundwater is found to be highly contaminated in the area circled in red, [diagram in orginal] and there is a large amount of contaminated water leak in this part, which has been acknowledged by TEPCO. Prime Minister Abe said contaminated water was totally blocked at the harbor, but journalists who attend the TEPCO press conference of course know that was not true.

So, after the statement by PM Abe, one question after another came from many journalists at the press conference if the contaminated water was actually blocked by the harbor. Also, TEPCO said they asked the government of its intention after hearing PM Abe’s statement. In other words, TEPCO was quite surprised. TEPCO did not dare say it wasn’t blocked, but they always answer that they think the effect will be minimal.

In regards to this area with very highly contaminated groundwater, as described earlier, an announcement was made on February 6, 2014, that one of the wells had 5,000,000 Bq/L strontium detected. But it was actually last July when the well was dug and the groundwater sample was taken and measured. Why the measurement result wasn’t released until now?　Measurement data for cesium and other radioactive material was released then, but not strontium 90. Why did they not announce the high strontium level back then? TEPCO explained that the level was so high that they were investigating to make sure there were no errors in the analytical method. This was the first measurement after the observation well for the groundwater was dug, so there is no way to know, at this point, how long and how much the groundwater had been contaminated. Currently, many wells are being dug to take measurements of the groundwater for assessment of contamination, but we are not sure what is leaking from where. All we know is that various things are leaking from many places, not just this one well. We don’t know how long and how much the groundwater has been contaminated. Also, there was an announcement in February that they had underestimated the measurements up to that point.

As described so far, radioactive materials continues to leak into air and water, and there are several places which need immediate attention even though they are not approachable by humans. However, very few Japanese people know about this type of information, as it’s not publicized on TV or in newspaper widely available. Also, the plan is underway to return evacuees to contaminated areas as the government and researchers say it’s safe. This is the reality of a “wealthy” country, Japan, which is considered a free, democratic and wonderful country……Transcription by Takashi Mizuno