IPFM 20th Aug 2018 , On 31 July 2018, Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) issued a new
policy paper, The Basic Principles on Japan’s Utilization of Plutonium,
which for the first time, stated that “Japan will reduce the size of its
plutonium stockpile.”
A similar statement was included in the new Strategic
Energy Plan (in Japanese) by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(METI) that was adopted on 3 July by the Cabinet of the Japanese
government. Japan’s plutonium stockpile, according to the data released by
the JAEC at the same time as the new policy, is about 47.3 tons of
plutonium (as of the end of 2017), of which 36.7 tons is overseas (21.2
tons in UK and 15.5 tons in France) and 10.5 tons in Japan. The Rokkasho
reprocessing plant, with a design separation capacity of 8 tons of
plutonium per year, on which stated construction in 1993, is currently
planned to be completed in 2021. Plans call for the J-MOX plant to be
completed in 2022 to turn this plutonium into MOX fuel for light water
(LWR) nuclear power reactors.
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2018/08/japans_new_policy_on_its_.html
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
- Fukushima 2011, - plutonium |
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Energy Voice 20th Aug 2018, The site of Britain’s worst nuclear accident is to be dismantled as part
of the wider decommissioning of the Sellafield nuclear plant. The planned
demolition of the 360 foot structure will begin later this year. A giant
crane has been constructed to bring it down. The 152m crane is the tallest
structure ever built at Sellafield, just six metres shorter than the
Blackpool Tower. It will begin work this autumn, removing and lowering
chunks of the chimney cut out using diamond wire saws. Duncan Thompson, the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Sellafield Programme director, said:
“The complex task of decommissioning and demolishing the Windscale Pile
One Stack has reached an important stage. It is another example of the
ingenuity that goes into solving the UK’s decommissioning problems.
https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/nuclear/179544/watch-sellafield-nuclear-chimney-to-be-demolished/
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
decommission reactor, UK |
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Experts voice safety concerns about new pebble-bed nuclear reactors Eurekalert, 23 Aug 18
Researchers advise caution as a commercial-scale nuclear reactor known as HTR-PM prepares to become operational in China. The reactor is a pebble-bed, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), a new design that is ostensibly safer but that researchers in the U.S. and Germany warn does not eliminate the possibility of a serious accident. Their commentary, publishing August 23 in the journal Joule, recommends continued research, additional safety measures, and an extended startup phase that would allow for better monitoring.
“There is no reason for any kind of panic, but nuclear technology has risk in any case,” says first author Rainer Moormann, a nuclear safety researcher based in Germany. “A realistic understanding of those risks is essential, especially for operators, and so we urge caution and a spirit of scientific inquiry in the operation of HTR-PM.”
…….the soon-to-be-operational HTR-PM has been built without the safeguards that nuclear reactors in operation today are usually equipped with: it does not have a high-pressure, leak-tight containment structure to serve as a backup in case of an accidental release of radioactive material. It also does not have a redundant active cooling system.
“No reactor is immune to accidents. The absence of core meltdown accidents does not mean that a dangerous event is not possible,” Moormann says. He and his coauthors, Scott Kemp and Ju Li of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argue that with new technology, there is always a higher chance of user error. And prototype HTGRs have surprised their operators in the past by forming localized hot spots in the core and unexpectedly high levels of radioactive dust. The pebble-bed design also produces a larger volume of radioactive waste, which is challenging to store or treat……….
Joule, Moormann et al.: “Caution is Necessary in Operating and Managing the Waste of New Pebble-bed Nuclear Reactors” https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(18)30335-0 https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/cp-evs081618.php
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
China, safety, technology |
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Finnish firms target Chinese radwaste market, WNN, 23 August 2018
Finnish utility Fortum and consulting engineering company AINS Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to provide radioactive waste management services to China’s rapidly expanding nuclear industry. Through the MoU, the companies will provide services for the management of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in China. The agreement also enhances cooperation between the firms and other Finnish companies and organisations, including VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and Posiva Solutions.
Based on expected installed nuclear generating capacity of 50 GWe by 2020, China’s annual used fuel arisings will amount to about 1200 tonnes at that stage, the cumulative total being about 14,000 tonnes then.
“As China becomes increasingly mindful of environmental integrity and reduces its use of fossil fuels, [its] zero-carbon nuclear energy solution requires enhanced focus on radioactive waste management,” the companies said in a joint statement. “Finnish expertise has an important role in disposing of Chinese radioactive waste and building a cleaner future together with shared respect for nature and the environment.”……….Finnish waste management company Posiva – jointly owned by Fortum and TVO – launched Posiva Solutions in June 2016. The business, it said, would “focus on the marketing of the know-how accumulated from the design, research and development efforts in the final disposal of used nuclear fuel, as well as on associated consulting services”. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Finnish-firms-target-Chinese-radwaste-market
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
China, Finland, wastes |
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Further safety fears at nuclear weapons site, Basingstoke Gazette, By Dan Whiteway 23 Aug 18 FURTHER safety concerns have been raised in regards to the running of the UK’s nuclear warhead assembly facility. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has required immediate safety changes to be put in place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).
If sufficient progress is not made on reducing risk at the facility, the ONR has said that operations may need to stop altogether.
There has been a series of announcements related to safety concerns at AWE, including the ONR placing the Aldermaston and Burghfield facilities into special measures. This is the sixth consecutive year that Aldermaston has been in special measures, and the third year in a row for the Burghfield site.
AWE said after being put into special measures, an investigation was undertaken…….http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/16594315.further-safety-fears-at-nuclear-weapons-site/
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK |
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Redirecting Trump’s Coal and Nuclear Bailout to Fund Economic Redevelopment
Bailout money could be better used to cover gaps in tax revenue, help workers retrain for new jobs, and fuel economic development in affected communities. GreenTe4cyhMedia, SONIA AGGARWAL AUGUST 23, 2018 Coal and nuclear facilities are facing a tough economic reality in the United States. Competitive power markets are oversupplied, while natural gas and renewable energy are undercutting coal and nuclear on cost…..
Last year, the Department of Energy proposed a federal bailout for power plants that could prove they had a 90-day supply of fuel on site, suggesting that imminent coal and nuclear retirements would constitute a national emergency. But the five members of the bipartisan Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously rejected DOE’s proposed market intervention in January 2018, citing a lack of evidence that retiring coal and nuclear facilities would cause reliability or grid resilience concerns out of the normal course of business for the nation’s power grid.
However, a DOE memo made public earlier this summer suggests the agency is still considering exercising emergency authority to require electric consumers to pay above-market rates to ensure certain coal and nuclear plants stay online, despite mounting evidence from grid operators that these power plants are not needed.
An analysis of the original bailout proposal, conducted by Energy Innovation and the Climate Policy Initiative last year, suggested that keeping uncompetitive coal and nuclear facilities in the black could cost consumers up to $12 billion per year. A new analysis finds that that money could go a long way toward helping workers and communities transition to a new energy future.
FirstEnergy: A case for a proactive transition plan
FirstEnergy has been among the loudest voices clamoring for a coal and nuclear plant financial rescue, and it’s no wonder why — new economic realities are hitting the company hard. Its competitive subsidiary filed for bankruptcy last spring after filing a deactivationnotice for three of its uncompetitive nuclear power plants, and last week it filed worker retraining plans for these plants with federal regulators.
FirstEnergy’s market-exposed power plants would need about $1 billion per year to keep running profitably. Assuming the two-year price support referenced in DOE’s memo from earlier this summer, that would imply subsidies of about $2 billion over two years to keep six of FirstEnergy’s uneconomic plants operating.
Giving $2 billion over two years to one company is a shocking amount of money to squander in the face of underlying economic trends that show no signs of reversal. So, assuming the price supports went forward, it’s quite reasonable to think that the same retirements would be imminent for FirstEnergy at the end of the period. And the affected communities would still face the same tough economic and employment questions in two years.
But what if funds were instead directed to help impacted workers and the communities that host the power plants that can no longer compete in power markets? What if funds went directly to communities to support the inevitable transition, diversifying local economies and setting the stage for longer-lasting solutions?
n the case of FirstEnergy, if the same $2 billion were to be directed toward locally led solutions in each of their six affected communities, instead of keeping these uneconomic power plants running for two more years, it would provide more than $300 million per community.
The idea may seem far-fetched, but it’s already been implemented in New York………
The wave of coal and nuclear closures is building
………A transition plan becomes vital in this context, and we still have time to be proactive. Other states may be able to follow the Tonawanda model, and in some cases coal generation sites may be suitable for redevelopment (there is promising work underway to convert
brownfields to brightfields, for example) to can help moderate economic damage.
Another model is emerging, as well: leveraging utility balance sheets to transition from fossil to clean energy. In vertically integrated markets like the territory of Public Service Company of Colorado, uneconomic coal power plants are being retired, with utility funds reinvested in clean energy located in the same communities, like the plan to retire a coal plant in Pueblo County and replace it with local solar and wind power plants.
In Arizona, where the Navajo Generating Station retirement threatens to devastate two Native American tribes’ economies, the future is less clear. Solar and wind resource potential on Navajo lands holds promise for longer-lasting benefits that can similarly be contrasted with proposals to prop up coal plants temporarily.
Communities where these plants are located — not the federal government and power plant owners — should be in charge of deciding how any available funds can best be spent to support them in this economic transition. If state or federal policymakers want to put workers first and support communities facing power plant closures, they could generate a more positive impact by giving any available funds to the affected communities to use however they want. They should support a just transition that diversifies local economies for long-term success. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/redirecting-trumps-coal-and-nuclear-bailout-to-fund-economic-transition#gs.YLYGSAw
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
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Philippines concerned over possible nuclear weapons in South China Sea, PhilStar, Patricia Lourdes Viray (philstar.com) – August 23, 2018 , MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang expressed concern over the warning of the United States that China might bring nuclear elements to its outposts in the South China Sea.
The US Department of Defense, in its annual report to the US Congress, warned that Beijing may soon install floating nuclear power stations on its military bases in the disputed waterway. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippine government is concerned over any entry of nuclear weapons on Philippine territory.
“We are concerned about the possibility that any foreign power be it American, Russian, Chinese may bring nuclear warheads into our territory and into Asean, which is declared as a nuclear-free zone,” Roque said in a press briefing Thursday.
Citing the Constitution, Roque stressed that the Philippines is a nuclear-free zone. Section 8, Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution states that “The Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.”
The Malacañang spokesman also noted that the whole Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a nuclear-free zone under the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, which was signed.
Roque, however, said that the warning was only “US observation” and that the Philippines is in no position to verify such report.
“The important point to underscore is we have a nuclear-free policy and that should be applied to all countries, including the Americans, because the Americans have been using nuclear-powered [weapons] and have been stationing warships with nuclear capability as well,” he said………. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/08/23/1845175/philippines-concerned-over-possible-nuclear-weapons-south-china-sea#hyf82odPHqmY8vO2.99
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Philippines, weapons and war |
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Peace activists are aging — but all those nuclear weapons RIGHT OVER THERE are just as threatening as ever August 23, 2018 With so many social justice issues to consider, most of today’s young activists are taking a pass on the peace train. Seattle Times, By Ron Judd
Pacific NW magazine writer ADE LAUW WOULD LIKE to upset you. Maybe even ruin part of your day or, better yet, question your very existence.
None of this is born of surliness. She simply has assigned herself a civic duty (remember those?): to make the rest of us look unimaginably destructive nuclear weapons in the eye. Or, failing that, at least glance at them over our shoulders, where surprising numbers of nukes have long lurked, right on Puget Sound.
Lauw thus leaves herself open to the charge of being Not Much Fun at Parties, one of which she recently dampened by asking celebrants whether they knew about the still-lingering radiation effects of U.S. weapons-testing in Micronesia, nearly seven decades ago.
“People were like, ‘Are you drunk?’ ” she recalls.
Sober as a judge. And frustrated. Her university peers, she points out, are far from alone in paying as little attention as is humanly possible to the unpleasant subject of nukes, which, since the Cold War that gave birth to them, have become broadly accepted as a safe/sane part of America’s military deterrence. Even many Americans old enough to remember the big bomb’s coming-out party tend to think of them as a relic of their own dusty, duck-and-cover past.
THE BACKSTORY: The story behind “Peace activists are aging — but all those nuclear weapons RIGHT OVER THERE are just as threatening as ever”………
All is fair on the road to nuclear awareness. Sugiyama says she does see progress among her generation, but much of that has been fueled by fear induced by Trump’s open talk of nuking U.S. foes.
“More people are afraid of nuclear weapons now,” she says.
At age 20, the University of Washington senior already has enough experience in anti-nuclear activism to accept the reality: Most local people, natives or newbies, are willfully ignorant about the massive stockpile of nukes — a number sufficient to wipe out a good portion of the planet — sleeping in their midst every day.
Lauw thus leaves herself open to the charge of being Not Much Fun at Parties, one of which she recently dampened by asking celebrants whether they knew about the still-lingering radiation effects of U.S. weapons-testing in Micronesia, nearly seven decades ago.
“People were like, ‘Are you drunk?’ ” she recalls.
Sober as a judge. And frustrated. Her university peers, she points out, are far from alone in paying as little attention as is humanly possible to the unpleasant subject of nukes, which, since the Cold War that gave birth to them, have become broadly accepted as a safe/sane part of America’s military deterrence. Even many Americans old enough to remember the big bomb’s coming-out party tend to think of them as a relic of their own dusty, duck-and-cover past.
Human nature being what it is, it’s easy to look away. And most of us do.
The average Puget Sound resident probably spends more time worrying about proper accounting procedures in the occasional Seattle’s Best Burger poll than freaking out about the massive concentration of nuclear warheads sitting 20 miles from downtown Seattle, as the radiation flies.
THAT’S THE FRUSTRATION — and motivation — lurking within a shrunken-but-persistent local peace movement, which blossomed in the late 1970s and early 1980s with large-scale Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Actionprotests of the arrival of the first Ohio-class nuclear-missile submarines at the Naval Base Kitsap ….
THE BIGGEST WEAPON in the quiver of local anti-nuke evangelists, ironically, might be Donald J. Trump. Most local peace activists agree that the president’s bellicose threat of the use of nuclear weapons against foes such as North Korea and Iran has been a shot of cold water to the face of a slumbering public.
But the presence of Trump’s finger on the button, in an “outdated and dangerous” Cold War missile-launch system, also pushes the world closer to a nuclear confrontation, Adams says.
Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review earlier this year was a “dangerous departure” from the recent bipartisan tradition of pushing disarmament, and advocates the development of more “low-yield” devices that critics say enhance the chances of a nuclear exchange, Adams adds………….Ron Judd is a Pacific NW magazine staff writer. Reach him at rjudd@seattletimes.com or 206-464-8280. On Twitter: @roncjudd. https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/peace-activists-are-aging-but-all-those-nuclear-weapons-right-over-there-are-just-as-threatening-as-ever/
August 24, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
opposition to nuclear, USA |
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The nuclear company Terrestrial Energy has joined those other pro nuclear spinners –
“Ecomodernists” “The Breakthrough Institute” “Generation Atomic” “Environmental Progress” “Bright New World” and others – in their very modern very alternative type of pro nuclear spin. It’s a lovely touchy feely style, where you concentrate on things beautiful, a gorgeous glowing future – and the words “nuclear reactor” are barely mentioned.
Yes, they want a glowing future – unfortunately, it’s the wrong kind of glow.
Terrestrial Energy has set up this new pro nuclear propaganda group “ABOUT THE FOURTH GENERATION” – it’s all about “climate and clean energy”
August 23, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
spinbuster, technology, USA |
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Kenna Grossman, 22 Aug 18 Meanwhile we struggle, under the ongoing radionuclide apocolypse, of our planet. We struggle, against the monsterous power of the nuclearists. It includes the blatant pronuclear shills . There are the pronuclearist monster’s, allies: THE NUCLEAR APOLOGISTS that say they care and use Fukushima as A political Statement, Though they could care less
THEIR NUCLEAR APOLOGIST GAME INCLUDES:
1. PROTRUMP The worst nuclearist monster in history. Is proAbe. Abe is another nuclearist Criminal and monster who used thugs in his last election to win. Abe is continuing with the olympics. He is shipping radioactive food all over the world. Abe continues to open the most dangerous nuclear plants, in the the most earthquake prone country on the planet. Trump wholeheartedly supports Abe.
2. RABID Climate-denial
As hurricanes, rising sea levels, earhquakes combine to insure another fukushima earthquake soon, they say it is ok to keep a few reactors open, make more nuclear waste, make more nuclear weapons, and haul deadly nuclear waste anywhere. on roads, railways, in jets. The TRUMP/KOCH/NUCLEAR APOLOGISTS SAY IT IS OK TO PUT NUCLEAR WASTE anywhere from here to kingdom come.
3. THEY ARE PRONUCLEAR WEAPON APOLOGISTS; THEY ARE AFTER ALL protump apologists. They think the Enemies, that lurk everywhere, should be obliterated with nuclear explosions.
4. IT IS OK TO HAVE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS OPEN Even in Japan. Its Ok to deragulate supervIsion of old dangerous nuclear reactors, cause Trump says so. MAYBE THEY MIGHT CLOSE later the Nuclear Apologists say. THEY NEVER DO CLEAN UP NUCLEAR WASTE BECAUSE, IT WOULD CAUSE CERTAIN PEOPLE TO LOSE MONEY. IF THEY DID, NO ONE WOULD CLEAN UP THE MESS BECAUSE IT IS SO UNPROFITABLE. TRUMP DOES NOT BELIEVE THE MESSES HAVE TO BE CLEANED UP
The nuclear appologists, are pronuclear weapon-nuclear, appologists-protrump, devils..
They constantly gaslight the public with ever-changing conspiracy and ever-changing , alternative reality narratives.
They are the allies of the nuclearist monsters
August 23, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Uncategorized |
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Russia is preparing to search for a nuclear-powered missile that was lost at sea months ago after a failed test, CNBC 221 Aug 18
- Moscow is preparing to recover a nuclear-powered missile lost at sea, according to sources with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin bragged earlier this year that the new missile had unlimited range.
- The missile was tested four times between November and February, each resulting in a crash, according to sources who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity.
Amanda Macias | Crews will attempt to recover a missile that was test launched in November and landed in the Barents Sea, which is located north of Norway and Russia. The operation will include three vessels, one of which is equipped to handle radioactive material from the weapon’s nuclear core. There is no timeline for the mission, according to the people with knowledge of the report……
Russian President
Vladimir Putin unveiled the new nuclear-powered missile in March, boasting it had
unlimited range. Yet, the weapon has yet to be successfully tested over multiple attempts.
August 22, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
incidents, Russia |
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|
  Stop producing nuclear waste until we can dispose of it, critics urge Canada https://www.theoutlook.ca/stop-producing-nuclear-waste-until-we-can-dispose-of-it-critics-urge-canada-1.23407670
The Canadian Press, AUGUST 21, 2018 OTTAWA — Environmental groups say Canada should stop producing nuclear energy until the federal government replaces its “pathetic” waste disposal policy with something more meaningful and scientific.
The groups, including the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, plan to protest a meeting Wednesday where officials will discuss plans to decommission nuclear labs and reactors in Chalk River, Ont., and Pinawa, Man.
The groups are particularly concerned about the proposal to build a surface-level disposal site at Chalk River to bury one million cubic metres of waste just a kilometre from the Ottawa River, and to encase nuclear reactors at the sites in concrete.
They say neither proposal meets international guidelines for the handling of nuclear waste.
Coalition president Gordon Edwards says Canada’s only written national policy on radioactive waste is so short it would take less than four tweets to post it on Twitter.
The groups want Ottawa to stop producing nuclear waste and work on developing a disposal policy in consultation with the public.
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August 22, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Canada, opposition to nuclear |
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Sweden calls for nuclear reactors to be shielded from hot weather, Business Times, AUG 21, 2018
[OSLO]Sweden’s nuclear energy regulator SSM has asked plant operators to produce plans in the coming months to shield their reactors from harmful hot weather, its director told Reuters on Monday.A number of Swedish reactors had to shut down or reduce output as the summer heatwave sent temperatures to record highs in July, with the sea water that is used to cool them becoming much warmer than normal, exceeding safety levels. The last time that SSM, the Swedish radiation safety authority, asked operators to produce plans to modify their reactors was after Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011. The cost of those changes, which are due by 2020, was in the hundreds of millions of euros.
“We really have to take into consideration what happened this summer … We have asked them orally to come with suggestions. Of course there will be a cost. I do not know how much at this stage,” said SSM chief Mats Persson said.
The cost of post-Fukushima modifications to Swedish nuclear plants reached as much as 100 million euros (S$155 million) per reactor, Persson said……..https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/energy-commodities/sweden-calls-for-nuclear-reactors-to-be-shielded-from-hot-weather
August 22, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change, Sweden |
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Food from Japan to Hong Kong is now being imported under eased and newly effective food safety protocols.
According to the Hong Kong Center for Food Safety (CFS), the 7-year-old order in response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster was recently amended. The CFS is a unit of Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
The Fukushima disaster, a 2011 nuclear power plant failure stemming from a massive earthquake and tidal wave, caused Hong Kong to restrict food imports from that area and four other Japanese prefectures: Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi.
Hong Kong recently completed a review of these risk management restrictions based on recent surveillance results and expert opinion from international organizations.
Based on that work, the new arrangement for import control on Japanese food went into effect on July 24.
In summary, import restrictions on food from Fukushima remain unchanged. Vegetables, fruits, milk, milk beverages, and dried milk from the other four prefectures are allowed to be imported with the condition that they are accompanied by both a radiation certificate and an exporter certificate issued by the Japanese authority.
The radiation certificate shows which of the four prefectures each consignment of products come from and attests that the radiation levels do not exceed standards set by the Codex Alimentarius.
Codex is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations relating to foods, food production, and food safety
According to the Codex, food is considered safe for human consumption if the radiation levels do not exceed those levels.
The exporter also must hold and produce exporter certificate which certifies the foods exported to Hong Kong by the exporter involved are fit for human consumption as far as radiological protection is concerned and are readily available for sale in Japan implying that the radiation levels do not exceed the Japanese standards which are more stringent than Codex levels.
Two levels of food safety clearance
Two levels of gatekeeping are involved in the current arrangement. At the export level, the Japanese authority that issues the radiation certificates and exporter certificates must ensure that each consignment of those products do not come from Fukushima and attest that the radiation levels of the food products do not exceed the Codex levels as well as the more stringent Japanese levels.
At the import level, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) will continue to conduct radiation tests on every consignment of food products imported from Japan. Food products can only enter the local market after radiation testing has been performed. The CFS will strengthen inspection and testing on vegetables, fruits, and milk products from the four prefectures. The radiation test results will continue to be updated on the CFS’s website every working day for public access.
Updates by the Center for Food Safety on its radiation testing of food imported have been available since March 16, 2011.
Hong Kong partially lifts food safety restrictions imposed after nuclear disaster
August 22, 2018
Posted by dunrenard |
Fukushima 2018 | Fukushima Radiation, Hong-Kong, Japan Food Exports |
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Kyodo News wrote about a new admission at Fukushima Daiichi. The ALPS water decontamination systems are not removing almost all of the contamination as previously claimed. TEPCO admitted new levels of specific radioactive isotopes in the treated and stored water.
Iodine 129 has a half life of 15.7 million years
Ruthenium 106 has a half life of 373.59 days
Technetium 99 has a half life of 211,000 years
All are considered to pose enough of a public health risk that they need to be controlled. Iodine 129 levels found in the water samples exceeds the legally admissible levels. The other two isotopes fall below the legal level. The considerable total amounts of these radioactive substances make them a concern.
Total post ALPS water: 920,000 tons of water
1,000 liters per ton
920,000,000 liters total
Newly admitted levels of contamination along with our calculated totals:
62.2 bq/liter iodine 129 = 57,224,000,000 bq
92.5 bq/liter ruthenium 106 = 85,100,000,000 bq
59 bq/liter technetium 99 = 54,280,000,000 bq
Total of newly declared becquerels of contamination:
196,604,000,000 bq
TEPCO has been trying to gain the needed permissions to dump this water into the Pacific ocean, claiming it only contained tritium and trace amounts of other isotopes. The actual radioactive isotope contents of the treated water has not been clearly declared to the public. Statements like “removes almost all” or only mentioning the removal rate of a specific isotope has been the standard pattern of disclosure. This has left questions about what exactly is in this water they are so eager to dump. TEPCO’s reluctance to be more transparent about the contamination in this water raises concerns they are hiding information.
Regional fishing groups have fought the dumping plan claiming it would hurt seafood sales. This issue of undeclared contamination or the environmental ethics of dumping it into an international body of water are rarely discussed. TEPCO mentioned they have not tested all of the tanks of treated water. The estimated totals we compiled could go up or down based on what is found in those untested tanks. TEPCO did not disclose the process of selecting tanks or how many of the total have been sampled.
The plan to dump the water into the ocean has been based on the claim that this water only contained tritium. With a half life of 12,3 years, this alone seemed a problem the public might tolerate. The addition of these long lived isotopes makes any potential plan to store the water while the tritium decays problematic. The removal of these other isotopes will need to be proven before any long term plan can realistically be determined.
August 22, 2018
Posted by dunrenard |
Fukushima 2018 | Contaminated Water, Fukushima Daiichi, Undeclared Radionuclides |
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