Fukushma Nuclear Reactor 4: constant danger from fuel pool
By Harvey Wasserman 25 July 13 Radiation leaks, steam releases, disease and death continue to spew from Fukushima and a disaster which is far from over. Its most profound threat to the global ecology—a spent fuel fire—is still very much with us. ………
the worst fear of all remains unabated. At Unit Four, which apparently did not actually explode, the building’s structural integrity has been seriously undermined. Debate continues to rage over exactly how this happened.
In such an event, the radioactive emissions could be catastrophic. Intensely lethal emissions could spew for a very long time, eventually circling the globe many times, wrecking untold havoc.
The Japanese have removed two apparently unused rods from the fuel pool so far. But intense international pressure to clear out the rest of them has thus far been unsuccessful.
So while a depleted, discredited and disorganized nuclear utility moves to restart its other reactors, its stricken units at Fukushima continue to hold the rest of us at the brink of apocalyptic terror.
Mysterious steam engulfing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor no 3
AFP: ‘Fukushima reactor site engulfed by steam’ — Kyodo: ‘Something like steam’ coming from unknown source at Unit No. 3 — Tepco: ‘Continuously wafting through the air’ — Work to remove rubble suspended http://enenews.com/just-in-fukushima-reactor-site-engulfed-by-steam-something-like-steam-coming-out-of-unit-no-3-continuously-wafting-through-the-air-work-to-remove-rubble-suspended
Kyodo, July 23, 2013:[… Tepco] said Tuesday it has confirmed “something like steam” is coming out of the No. 3 reactor building again […Tepco] said one of its monitoring cameras showed what appeared to be steam coming out of the building’s fifth floor just above the reactor container at around 9:05 a.m. Tuesday. The steam continued to be seen at 10:30 a.m. […] TEPCO has suspended work to remove rubble at the reactor building due to the apparent steam emission, they said.
Washington Post,July 23, 2013: […] Tepco also said in an e-mailed statement today that steam from an unknown source that was first spotted near the fifth floor of the Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor building on July 18 was seen again this morning. […]
The Australian, July 23, 2013 (h/t RadChick): Fukushima reactor site engulfed by steam […] Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have reported steam inside a battered reactor building for the second time in less than a week. The operator said today steam was seen around the fifth floor of the building housing Reactor No 3 shortly after 9am […] Steam was spotted in the same area on Thursday […] with TEPCO saying it did not know for sure what had caused it. […]
TEPCO Press Release, July 23, 2013: Steam Found Near the Central Part of the Fifth Floor (Equipment Storage Pool Side) of Unit 3 Reactor Building at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Follow-up Information 9) […] This is a follow-up report on the statuses of steam found wafting through the air near the central part of the fifth floor (equipment storage pool side) of Unit 3 on July 18. At around 9:05 AM today (July 23), we found steam coming from near the central part of the fifth floor (equipment storage pool side) of Unit 3 by a camera. […] The steam is continuously wafting through the air as of 10:30 AM. We will continue to monitor the status closely.
After 2 years of denial, Tepco admits radioactive water leaks int o the sea
TEPCO had persistently denied contaminated water reached the sea, despite spikes in radiation levels in underground and sea water samples taken at the plant.
TEPCO Admits Radiation Leaking Into Sea For Past Two Years http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/tepco-admits-fukushima-radiation-leak July 22, 2013 By Susie Madrak That cat’s on the roof and it won’t come down! TEPCO dribbles out some more information. I wonder what they’re not telling us? Because it’s a little odd that this isn’t front page news in America:TOKYO — A Japanese utility said Monday its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is likely leaking contaminated water into sea, acknowledging for the first time a problem long suspected by experts.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, also came under fire Monday for not disclosing earlier that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposures exceeding threshold levels for increased cancer risks was 10 times what it said released earlier.
The delayed announcements underscored the criticisms the company has faced over the Fukushima crisis. TEPCO has been repeatedly blamed for overlooking early signs, and covering up or delaying the disclosure of problems and mishaps. Continue reading
Fukushima cancer risk to workers, thyroid cancer to older people
‘Fukushima cancer risk surges’ — Ongoing saga at nuclear plant ‘dangerously murkier’ — Over 10 times more workers suffered cancer-inducing radiation doses than Tepco admitted http://enenews.com/fukushima-cancer-risk-surges-ongoing-saga-at-nuclear-plant-dangerously-murkier-over-10-times-more-workers-suffered-cancer-inducing-radiation-doses-than-tepco-admitted
Title: Fukushima cancer risk surges
Source: The Times of India
Author: Subodh Varma
Date: Jul 21, 2013
Fukushima cancer risk surges
The ongoing saga of Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan that suffered a triple meltdown in March 2011 just got dangerously murkier.
The number of workers who suffered cancer-inducing radiation doses is not 178, but 1,978, Asahi Shimbun reported on Friday. That’s eleven times more than admitted by Tepco, the owner of the plant last December.
[…] Very shaky records of radiation testing and results have been maintained.
The Fukushima plant continues to leak radiation in the sea and the groundwater and Tepco […] appears to have no clue as to what is happening. […]
Asahi Shimbun:: Children are believed to be the highest at risk to thyroid gland doses. But a recent study showed the risk of cancer from thyroid gland doses rises even in people over 40, countering the previous belief that older people were far less susceptible to the cancer-inducing effects of radiation.
See also: 25 times as many people in Fukushima area developed thyroid cancer after disaster — Japan Expert: My heart breaks greatly that those U.S. servicemembers suffered radiation exposure
According to TEPCO, 2000 Fukushima workers at higher risk of thyroid cancer
Workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant see raised cancer risk http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/international/workers-at-japans-fukushima-nuclear-plant-see-raised-cancer-risk/article4931822.ece TOKYO, JULY 19: Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Friday that 1,973 employees who were at the nuclear power plant damaged after a 2011 tsunami are facing a higher risk of thyroid cancer.
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have estimated thyroid radiation doses exceeding 100 millisieverts, the widely accepted level for an increase in the risk of cancer, the company said.
They are to undergo annual ultrasonic thyroid examinations, it said.
Health tests were given to 19,592 workers — 3,290 Tokyo Electric employees and 16,302 employees of its affiliated companies.
They were involved in the struggle to bring the plant under control after the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after the earthquake and tsunami two years ago.
Steam rising from Fukushima No 3 nuclear reactor
Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan seen leaking steam but operator TEPCO says it’s no emergency Date SMH July 19, 2013 Steam has been spotted in a reactor building at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, its operator says, stressing there is no sign yet of increased radiation.
The incident, which Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said was not “an emergency situation”, is the latest underlining the plant’s continuing precariousness more than two years after it was wrecked by a tsunami.
TEPCO is struggling to manage the clean-up, which scientists say could take up to four decades to complete.
Steam has been seen around the fifth floor of the Reactor 3 building, a TEPCO spokesman said on Thursday, adding it was “drifting thinly” and was not a large column of vapour.
“We do not believe an emergency situation is breaking out, although we are still investigating what caused this,” he said.,,,,he steam is the latest in a growing catalogue of mishaps that have cast doubt on the utility’s ability to fix the world’s worst atomic disaster in a generation.
A series of leaks of water contaminated with radiation have shaken confidence, as did a blackout caused by a gnawing rat that left cooling pools without power for more than a day. http://www.smh.com.au/world/fukushima-nuclear-plant-in-japan-seen-leaking-steam-but-operator-tepco-says-its-no-emergency-20130718-2q73e.html#ixzz2ZWRAaHGM
300,000 tons of radioactive water at Fukushima, and still growing
As of May 7, the Japan Times reported that TEPCO had installed 290 huge storage talks at Fukushima to hold more than 78 million gallons (290,000 tons) of radioactive water, with another 25 million gallons still uncollected. Fukushima is generating an estimated 100,000-plus gallons (400 tons) of radioactive water every day
TEPCO estimates that groundwater is entering the complex at a rate of at least 54,000 gallons per day.
Fukushima 2013: “Remaining Radioactive Mass”, “Dangerous Leaking Radioactive Water”, All Four Reactors are “Getting Worse” By William Boardman Global Research, July 
11, 2013 The first thing to know about the danger from the radioactive mass remaining on site in the three reactors that melted down at Fukushima is that nobody knows how much radioactive material there is, nobody knows how much uranium and plutonium it contains, and nobody knows how to make it safe — so no one knows how great the continuing danger is.
In order to prevent nuclear material from being diverted to use in weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency of the U.N. requires each country to report regularly on the volume of nuclear materials in its nuclear power plants. At Fukushima, this is currently impossible with the cores of the three reactors that melted down.
Diversion of this material to weapons use is not a problem at the moment, since the level of radioactivity is high enough to kill anyone who comes close to it, which is why it hasn’t been moved. On the other hand, it is necessary to move it in order to measure it, and even if it was movable now, the technology to measure it does not yet exist. Continue reading
94% of Japanese think that the Fukushima crippled nuclear plant is not under control
Survey: Most Japanese think Fukushima nuclear accident not settled http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201307180064 July 18, 2013 By SHIGEKO SEGAWA / Staff Writer The vast majority of Japanese, 94 percent, think the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant triggered by the earthquake and tsunami two years ago has not been put under control, a survey showed.
A research team led by Hirotada Hirose, a professor emeritus of Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, sent out questionnaires in March to 1,200 people across the nation ranging in age from 15 to 79.
According to the survey, 94 percent said that they thought the nuclear accident had not been settled. When asked for reasons, many responded that radioactive substances were still leaking from the stricken plant.
As far as who the respondents said they trust, 33 percent said disaster information disseminated from the central government and its ministries and agencies was the most untrustworthy, while 2 percent chose local governments as the most unreliable source of disaster information.
“An (effective) nuclear policy is impossible unless the central government wins the understanding and support of not only local residents living in areas that host nuclear power plants but also the support of all the people in Japan,” Hirose said.
Twenty-three percent of respondents said they believe it is only a matter of time before another accident will occur if nuclear plant operators resume operations at now-idle reactors, while 57 percent said they think a similar nuclear disaster will likely happen.
Thirty-one percent said nuclear power should be abandoned as soon as possible, whereas 54 percent said Japan should phase out nuclear power over time.
The research team presented the findings to a meeting of the Cabinet Office’s Atomic Energy Commission on July 17.
World Health Organisation predicted cancers from Fukushima radiation, called for long term monitoring
Fukushima 2013: “Remaining Radioactive Mass”, “Dangerous Leaking Radioactive Water”, All Four Reactors are “Getting Worse” By William Boardman Global Research, July 11, 2013 “………Radiation Dose So Far Not Harmful, U.N. says – But It’s Not Over Yet
In February the World Health Organization (WHO) of the U.N. released an almost 200-page assessment of the health risks from the Fukushima disaster, “the first-ever analysis of global health effects due to radiation exposure” from Fukushima. In a press release issued in Geneva, WHO concluded that: “for the general population inside and outside of Japan, the predicted risks are low and no observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates are anticipated.”
Using preliminary dose estimation data to make its predictions, the WHO report also found “that the estimated risk for specific cancers in certain subsets of the population in Fukushima Prefecture has increased and, as such, it calls for long term continued monitoring and health screening for those people.”
The release quotes Dr Angelika Tritscher, Acting Director for WHO’s Food Safety and Zoonosis Department, saying that: “In addition to strengthening medical support and services, continued environmental monitoring, in particular of food and water supplies, backed by the enforcement of existing regulations, is required to reduce potential radiation exposure in the future.”
And the WHO report “notes that the psychosocial impact of Fukushima] may have a consequence on health and well-being. These should not be ignored as part of the overall response.”…..http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-2013-remaining-radioactive-mass-dangerous-leaking-radioactive-water-all-four-reactors-are-getting-worse/5342466
Radiation the most probable cause of Fukushima’s deformed butterflies
Japan Biologist: Radioactivite contamination from Fukushima disaster is most reasonable explanation for butterfly deaths and abnormalities — “I think maybe this is a very touchy issue, politically” http://enenews.com/japan-biologist-radioactivity-from-fukushima-is-most-reasonable-explanation-for-butterfly-deaths-and-abnormalities-i-think-maybe-this-is-a-very-touchy-issue-politically
Source: Nature
Author: Ewen Callaway
Date: 16 July 2013 […] Last week […] biologists studying Fukushima and Chernobyl came together at the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution in Chicago […]What Fukushima data do exist are sporadic — and contested. […]
[…] Insects collected in May [2011] showed few problems, but their lab-reared offspring had many abnormalities, such as misshapen wings and aberrant eyespots, and many died as pupae (A. Hiyama et al. Sci. Rep. 2, 570; 2012). Among the September-collected butterflies, more than half of the progeny showed such defects.
[…] “You can come up with alternative explanations, but I think the hypothesis that radiation caused death and abnormalities is the most reasonable,” [Joji Otaki, an ecologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Nishihara, Japan] says.
Tim Mousseau, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia […] is heading to Fukushima this week to begin his third season of field work […] His team saw die-offs in some insects and declining numbers of some bird populations […]
For funding, Otaki says he has had to turn mostly to private foundations. “I think maybe this is a very touchy issue, politically,” he says.[…] The Department of Energy has largely stopped funding its research programme in low-dose exposure, and the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have awarded few grants […]
See also: Japan Scientists: Truly unusual deformities in Fukushima — Forests may be evolving into different ecosystems — “There’s been a sudden, large change”
FUKISHIMA: RADIOACTIVITY in SEAWATER
Issue 1: The number of radio-nuclides entering the marine environment of the east coast of Japan.
Issue 2: The nature of the radio-nuclides derived from reactor and cooling pond outputs
It’s my conclusion that the official monitoring regime being carried out by TEPCO and other Japanese agencies is inadequate to the task of identifying the potential radiobiological threats to the public.
An OPEN BRIEFING, Tim Deere-Jones: Marine Radioactivity Consultant, timdj@talktalk.netJuly 2013
I’m a UK based Marine Radioactivity Consultant, Researcher and Campaigner whose been researching the subject since the 1980’s and working (on a freelance, independent basis) as a consultant to NGO’s, Green Groups, Citizens Campaign Groups and UK Local Authorities since the 1980’s.
My field work experience and desk review research have been focussed on the behaviour and fate of man made radioactivity in UK and European marine, coastal and estuarine environments and the pathways by which doses of marine radioactivity may be delivered to maritime, coastal zone and island populations.
In the context of the ongoing contamination of the marine environment following the multiple meltdowns and loss of coolant from the Fukushima site I note the ongoing near-site monitoring of the marine environment (sea water) and of some marine environmental media (principally fish, with some marine algae).
However I am deeply concerned to note that a number of highly relevant issues and phenomena relating to the behaviour and fate of the Fukushima sea discharged radioactivity and its potential for delivering doses to human populations remain un-recorded, under researched and/or completely ignored.
Thus it is evident that the true impacts of the radioactive contamination of the Japanese east coast are not being documented or acted upon.
The short, informal briefing, set out in the following pages, identifies and comments on some of those issues and introduces the outcome of a number of UK observations and studies (principally carried out in one of the planets most radioactive sea areas: the Irish Sea and it’s adjacent waters) in order to provide some supporting background information in support of my concerns relating to the Fukushima case.
N.B. Input of the search term “Tim Deere-Jones: Marine Radioactivity” to most of the popular search engines will upload links to a number of fully referenced, scientific and technical reports and studies, on the behaviour, fate and doses potential of marine discharged radioactive wastes in UK and European waters, that I have authored for a number of clients. Continue reading
Fukushima’s malformed vegetables- is radiation the cause?
Fukushima Vegetables Have Bizarre Tumor-Like Growths And Deformities: Is Nuclear Meltdown To Blame For Freaky Produce? [PHOTOS] International Science Times, By Philip Ross on July 15, 2013 Photos of what look like malformed vegetables from Fukushima, Japan, have surfaced on Imgur.
Thestrange produce have deformities, bumps and lumps all over them, and look like mutant cabbage patch kids beamed to Earth after having been harvested on an alien planet…… This isn’t the first time the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster has sparked fears that radiation was causing deformities in nature. In August 2012, researchers in Japan discovered evidence of mutant butterflies.
IScience Times reported that researchers collected 144 specimens of the pale grass blue butterfly, a common species in Japan, two months after the disaster. They found that 12 percent of the butterflies showed signs of mutation and abnormalities, including antennae disfigurement, small wings and a change in color patterns……To see more photos of the Fukushima vegetables, click here. http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5641/20130715/fukushima-vegetables-fukushima-disaster-nuclear-meltdown.htm
Wind farm development going ahead in Fukushima
Wind farm takes shape off Fukushima as Japan seeks non-nuclear energy http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/12/wind-farm-takes-shape-off-fukushima-as-japan-seeks-non-nuclear-energy/ The first phase is complete of a plan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm near the Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The first turbine has been delivered to the area and the facility is due to become operational in October.
It is part of plans by Fukushima Prefecture to ditch nuclear energy and move towards total reliance on renewable sources over the next 25 years.
By 2020 scores of giant turbines 200 metres high should produce twice as much power as the world’s current biggest offshore windfarm at Greater Gabbard off the UK’s Suffolk coast.
“First and foremost, we want to make this a symbol of Fukushima’s recovery. Secondly, this floating wind farm concept is the ace up our sleeves for the next stage of renewable energy development,” said Keisuke Murakami, Head of New and Renewable Energy at the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. There have been concerns about radioactive water leaking into the sea from Fukushima, and official accounts have given conflicting evidence over whether fish are safe to eat.
The disaster all but shut down Japan’s nuclear industry, forcing the country to rely heavily on imported gas.
It is hoped that wind turbines will be more resistant to earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis.
Fukushima’s leaking water 90,000 times more radioactive than the “safe level”
Fukushima Radiation Leaks Rise Sharply By William Boardman, Reader Supported News 11 July 13 Bad as the situation is at Fukushima, it’s gotten worse. 
erhaps you’ve heard that radiation levels of the water leaving the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan and flowing into the Pacific Ocean have risen by roughly 9,000 per cent. Turns out, that’s probably putting a good face on it.
By official measurement, the water coming out of Fukushima is currently 90,000 times more radioactive than officially “safe” drinking water.
These are the highest radiation levels measured at Fukusmima since March 2011, when an earthquake-triggered tsunami destroyed the plant’s four nuclear reactors, three of which melted down.
As with all nuclear reporting, precise and reliable details are hard to come by, but the current picture as of July 10 seems to be something like this:
On July 5, radiation levels at Fukushima were what passes for “normal,” which means elevated and dangerous, but stable, according to measurements by the owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
- On July 8, radiation levels had jumped about 90 times higher, as typically reported. TEPCO had no explanation for the increase.
- On July 9, radiation levels were up again from the previous day, but at a slower rate, about 22 per cent. TEPCO still had no explanation.
- On July 10, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) issued a statement saying that the NRA strongly suspects the radioactive water is coming from Fukushima’s Reactor #1 and is going into the Pacific.
Rising radioactivity in Fukushima’s leaking water
- 11,000 becquerels per liter – TEPCO’s measurement of Cesium-134 on July 9.
- 18,000 becquerels per liter — TEPCO’s measurement of Cesium-137 on July 8.
- 22,000 becquerels per liter – TEPCO’s measurement of Cesium-137 on July 9.
Fukushima Radiation Leaks Rise Sharply By William Boardman, Reader Supported News 11 July 13 “………Here’s another perspective on the same situation:
- 10 becquerels per liter – The officially “safe” level for radioactivity in drinking water, as set by the NRA.
A becquerel is a standard scientific measure of radioactivity, similar in some ways to a rad or a rem or a roentgen or a sievert or a curie, but not equivalent to any of them. But you don’t have to understand the nuances of nuclear physics to get a reasonable idea of what’s going on in Fukushima. Just keep the measure of that safe drinking water in mind, that liter of water, less than a quart, with 10 becquerels of radioactivity.
- 60 becquerels per liter – For nuclear power plants, the safety limit for drinking water is 60 becquerels, as set by the NRA, with less concern for nuclear plant workers than ordinary civilians.
- 60-90 becquerels per liter – For waste water at nuclear power plants, the NRA sets a maximum standard of 90 becquerels per liter for Cesium-137 and 60 becquerels per liter of Cesium-134.
At some of Fukushima’s monitoring wells, radiation levels were in fractions of a becquerel on July 8 and 9. At the well (or wells) that are proving problematical, TEPCO has provided no baseline readings. Continue reading
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