Concrete burial a better option for Fukushima- but not good for PR?
Japan Expert: Covering Fukushima reactors in concrete like at Chernobyl should be considered — Nuclear Official: If we just buried them, no one would want to look at another nuke plant http://enenews.com/japan-expert-covering-fukushima-reactors-concrete-like-chernobyl-be-considered-nuclear-official-buried-one-look-another-nuke-plant-years
Title: Errors Cast Doubt on Japan’s Cleanup of Nuclear Accident Site
Source: New York Times
Author: Martin Fackler
Date: Sept. 3, 2013
[…] some experts dismiss the current cleanup plans as just a way of defending the status quo by convincing the public that the damage can be undone […]
Harutoshi Funabashi, a sociologist at Hosei University who led a critical examination of the recovery efforts by the Science Council of Japan […] and other critics say Japan should consider other options, including the tactic adopted by the former Soviet Union at Chernobyl of essentially capping the shattered reactors in concrete and declaring the most contaminated towns off limits for a generation.
Japanese officials said the large amounts of groundwater under the plant mean that just covering the reactors with concrete would fail to contain the spread of radiation. They also said giving up on a large portion of Fukushima was not an option in a densely populated country where land remains a scarce commodity.
But they also suggested that the reason for eschewing a Soviet-style option may be the fear that failure could turn a wary public even more decisively against Japan’s nuclear industry.
“If we just buried the reactors, no one would want to see the face of another nuclear power plant for years,” said Shunsuke Kondo, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, an advisory body in the Cabinet Office. […]
See also: Bloomberg: Tepco now in talks to cover Fukushima reactors with concrete for next 75 years — Officials reviewing plan in U.S.
Could the Fukushima Ice Wall melt?
Nuke Fatigue & the 2020 Tokyo Olympics EE Times, Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent, 6 Sept 13, “…………So far, I’ve heard no skeptics in Japan questioning the science and long-term viability of the technology behind the proposed ice wall — especially on NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster.
To hear the argument against it, I had to turn to Tuesday’s edition of the PBS Newshour, whose link my former colleague and science writer George Leopold sent via e-mail.
‘Risky experiment’
In the program, Arjun Makhijani, an engineer specializing in nuclear fusion and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, called the proposed ice wall scheme “a risky experiment.”
Looking at Risks if the Fukushima Ice Wall Defrosts
Makhijani explained that the Japanese “hope to freeze the soil, basically, with a giant freezing machine, just like your freezer at home, [to] put cooling coils in the soil, lots and lots of them.” He pointed out that this scheme “takes an enormous amount of electricity.” That is just what the Fujushima nuclear plant can’t do.
The biggest worry is potential power failures. Makhijani said:
…if the power fails, you know, just like if your — when the power goes out with your refrigerator, everything will de-freeze in — defrost in the freezer. Even though ice wall technology had been used frequently to stabilize the ground in big construction projects, like the Big Dig highway project in Boston, The New York Times pointed out that some critics are dubious.
They argue that it’s a costly technology “that would be vulnerable at the blackout-prone plant because it relies on electricity the way a freezer does, and even more so because it has never been tried on the vast scale that Japan is envisioning and was always considered a temporary measure, while at Fukushima it would have to endure possibly for decades.” http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&_mc=SM_EET&itc=eetimes_sitedefault&doc_id=1319412&page_number=2
Japanese people ‘in denial’ about Fukushima radiation – suffering ‘nuclear fatigue’?
Nuke Fatigue & the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, EE Times, Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent 9/5/2013“………..What’s unacceptable to me, though, when I come back here, is to witness firsthand how Japan is handling the persistent radioactive leakage problem at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The people, the government, and the entire nation seem to be living in total denial.
Hitomi Nakayama, a lawyer and a long-time friend of mine since college days, calls it “nuclear fatigue.” She laments the fundamentally stoic nature of people in the stricken region of Tohoku. Some who lived in villages in Fukushima, heavily nuked as a result of the meltdown at the power plant, still harbor dreams of returning to their homes. Many have never even considered suing the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco). Instead, with a shrug, they say they’re thankful for Tepco’s contribution to economic growth in the region, Nakayama explained.
People and the media in Japan would rather talk about something else, like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as they look past the still unfolding nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling troubled by the supine media here — who are insanely obsessed with the pending vote by the chronically corrupt International Olympic Committee. Japanese newspapers and TV are clearly dancing to the tune of those who badly want Tokyo to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
In contrast, there is little public debate about the worst atomic horror in Japan since Nagasaki……
Death within hours – if you get close to Fukushima reactor’s radioactive areas
Nuclear disaster: Radiation levels at Fukushima would now be fatal within hours Raw Story, By Justin McCurry, The Guardian, September 4, 2013 The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has radiation leaks strong enough to deliver a fatal dose within hours, Japanese authorities have revealed, as the government prepares to step in to help contain leaks of highly toxic water at the site.
On Wednesday the country’s nuclear regulation authority said radiation readings near water storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have increased to a new high, with emissions above the ground near one group of tanks were as high as 2,200 millisieverts [mSv] per hour – a rise of 20% from the previous high.
Earlier this week the plant’s operator, Tepco, said workers had measured radiation at 1,800 mSv an hour near a storage tank. That was the previous highest reading since Tepco began installing tanks to store huge quantities of contaminated water that have built up at the plant.
An unprotected person standing close to the contaminated areas would, within hours, receive a deadly radiation dose. The nuclear regulation authority said the radiation comprised mostly beta rays that could be blocked by aluminium foil, unlike more penetrative gamma rays…… http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/04/nuclear-disaster-radiation-levels-at-fukushima-would-now-be-fatal-within-hours/
Fukushima radiation exposure will later bring cancer death toll
Nuclear Engineer on Radio: Unfortunately, the truth is there will be a large death toll from Fukushima — Damages to be seen “over the next century” — Disaster at plant is unprecedented in magnitude (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/radio-interview-nuclear-engineer-truth-death-toll-fukushima-will-be-large-hazard-will-remain-many-decades-disaster-plant-site-unprecedented-magnitude-audio
Title: Interview with Dave Lochbaum
Source: Linda Moulton Howe
Date: Aug. 29, 2013
Dave Lochbaum, Nuclear engineer, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
instructor, current director of Union of Concerned Scientists’ Nuclear Safety Project: The Fukushima site is unprecedented in the magnitude — 3 reactor cores have melted down, 4 spent fuel pools that are in jeopardy, 3 buildings that exploded — so, they have a lot of problems. […]
Linda Moulton Howe, Emmy-nominated journalist: And Fukushima, the reality, without any sugar-coating is, that in the next 18 to 19 years, there will be a death toll from radiation exposure in Japan that will be large.
Lochbaum: Yes, that is unfortunately the truth. Plant operated for 40 years and will remain a hazard to people living around it for decades longer. Politicians and society will have to determine whether the benefits derived from those 40 years offset the damages done over the next century.
More from this interview on Linda Moulton Howe’s website here
Full broadcast here (subscribers only) — Interview currently available on YouTube here
Fukushima radiation spreads under pacific Ocean seabed
Japan Expert: Contamination from Fukushima is traveling “under the seabed” and spreading further out in Pacific Ocean — Measures needed to stop flow http://enenews.com/japan-expert-contamination-fukushima-traveling-seabed-spreading-further-pacific-ocean-measures-needed-stop-flow
Source: Associated Press
Author: MARI YAMAGUCHI
Date: Sept. 3, 2013
Atsunao Marui, an underground water expert at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, said a frozen wall could be water-tight but is normally intended for use for a couple of years and is not proven for long-term use as planned in the outline. The decommissioning process is expected to take about 40 years.
“We still need a few layers of safety backups in case it fails,” Marui told the Associated Press. “Plus the frozen wall won’t be ready for another two years, which means contaminated water would continue to leak out.”
Marui said additional measures should be taken to stop contaminated water from keep traveling under the seabed during that time and leak further out in the sea.
See also: Japan Expert: Contamination from Fukushima flowing beneath seafloor? “Could spring up outside the port”
Wall of ice planned, to go underneath Fukushima nuclear plant
Japan to build $470M ice wall to prevent nuclear leaks http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57601127/japan-to-build-$470m-ice-wall-to-prevent-nuclear-leaks/ 4 Sept 13, The Japanese government announced Tuesday that it will spend $470 million on a subterranean ice wall and other steps in a desperate bid to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after repeated failures by the plant’s operator.
The decision is widely seen as an attempt to show that the nuclear accident won’t be a safety concern just days before the International Olympic Committee chooses among Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid as the host of the 2020 Olympics.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has been leaking hundreds of tons of contaminated underground water into the sea since shortly after a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the complex. Several leaks from tanks storing radioactive water in recent weeks have heightened the sense of crisis that the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., isn’t able to contain the problem. Continue reading
More leaks found at Fukushima nuclear plant
Fukushima Leaks: More Tank Leaks Found At Crippled Japanese Nuclear Plant HUFFINGTON POST, By MARI YAMAGUCHI 09/02/13 “……On Monday, Japan’s top nuclear regulator raised safety concerns about the hastily built storage tanks and their foundations after signs of new leaks.
One was found over the weekend in a connecting pipe, and plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said it suspects three storage tanks where elevated radioactivity was detected also have had leaks.
Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka told a news conference that the small leak and possible other leaks have added to concerns about the plant’s stability.
They follow a major leak two weeks ago. TEPCO reported a loss of 300 tons of highly radioactive water from a steel tank on Aug. 19, saying most of it is believed to have seeped underground but some might have escaped into the sea. The company has yet to determine the cause or exactly where the water went.
More than 300 tanks there are of a similar type. About 1,000 tanks hold 330,000 tons of contaminated water at the plant, and the amount grows by 400 tons daily. The water is part of the makeshift system to keep the radioactive material at the plant stable. TEPCO also said it overlooked several signs of leaks – increases of radioactivity near the tanks and higher exposure levels for workers – for more than a month. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/02/fukushima-leaks_n_3855621.html?ir=World
Spread of high radiation at Fukushima nuclear plant
High radiation spreads at ruined Fukushima plant, Japan vows aid SMH, September 3, 2013 – Tokyo: High radiation levels are spreading at the ruined Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator said on Monday, and the Japanese government prepared to offer more funding and oversight to try to contain the crisis. Japanese authorities were seeking to address criticism that Tokyo Electric Power Co has bungled the response to the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Japanese officials fear the Fukushima crisis could threaten Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics
“Tokyo Electric has been playing a game of whack-a-mole with problems at the site,” Trade and Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in a televised interview.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to “step forward and implement all necessary policies” to deal with the flood of radioactive waste building up at Fukushima since the March 2011 reactor meltdown at Fukushima……….
Olympic Bid At Stake
Japan’s nuclear industry, which once provided a third of its energy, has ground nearly to a halt since the earthquake, causing reactor meltdowns. Restarting Japan’s idled reactors, and reducing its reliance on foreign energy supplies, is a central element of Abe’s economic growth plans.
Japanese officials also fear that international attention to the Fukushima crisis could threaten Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a decision set to be made by the International Olympic Committee on Saturday in Buenos Aires.
Yasuhisa Shiozaki, deputy policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and head of its project team on nuclear regulation, called for the creation of a “decommissioning agency” that could resemble Britain’s National Decommissioning Authority, a public body charged with managing the dismantling of the nation’s atomic power and research stations. http://www.smh.com.au/world/high-radiation-spreads-at-ruined-fukushima-plant-japan-vows-aid-20130903-2t1jf.html#ixzz2dssfzv3V
Out of control: Fukushima will finish off the nuclear industry
Professor Busby believes the situation is clearly out of control and that no one can go anywhere near it. “Nobody can go in to measure where these leaks are or do anything about them, because anybody who is to approach that sort of area would be dead quite quickly. They would be seriously harmed”
What happens next is anyone’s guess,
This will have a domino impact on all nuclear reactors in my opinion. The cost of keeping those still operating will have to go up, and as the cost of decommissioning them becomes clearly extraordinary, often more than double the cost of building them, and sometimes, like Sellafield, orders of magnitude more, and in a climate of disappearing liquidity……… nobody will be able to afford to build any nukes. There simply won’t be the funds, as all the money that could have been used disappears down the blackhole of decommissionings.
The last nail in the Nuclear Coffin….http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/the-last-nail-in-the-nuclear-coffin/ 2 Sept 13, Things have been looking grim at Fukushima. First, they realised that for some time they had been using a radiation meter that could not read beyond 100 milli Sieverts and believed that this was the actual radiation level there…. only to find out with another instrument that levels were in fact much higher, and that hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive water were leaking into the Pacific Ocean daily for…. well no one knows.
Then it was decided (as I recently reported) that fuel rods lying perilously in a damaged above ground leaking pool that keeps those rods from melting down and causing an actual out of control nuclear reactor (read explosion + mushroom cloud…) were going to be moved, by hand… because? Well the cranes that normally do this have been destroyed by the earthquake, presumably ably assisted by the tsunami.
At the time I commented “what could go wrong?”……..
Well…. things have actually taken a turn for the worse, even before the attempt to move the rods. Continue reading
Massive radioactive water collection grows, Japan’s government paralysed on this issue
Tepco has yet to decide how to dispose of the contaminated water, spokeswoman Mayumi Yoshida said. But before it can act it will need approval from the government, residents and fishermen, who are already suspicious of the company’s motives.
Fukushima’s toxic water pool grows as Tepco dithers http://www.smh.com.au/world/fukushimas-toxic-water-pool-grows-as-tepco-dithers-20130830-2svvn.html#ixzz2dncD1B4t August 31, 2013 Yuriy Humber The Tokyo Electric Power Company is trying to decide what to do with the largest pool of radioactive water in the history of nuclear accidents. It can either dump it in the ocean, let it evaporate into the air, or both.
The more than 330,000 tonnes of water with varying levels of toxicity is stored in pits, basements and hundreds of tanks at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
The government said this week it would take a bigger role in trying to staunch the toxic outflow that has grown to 40 times the volume accumulated in the atomic disaster at Three Mile Island in the US.
Processing and disposing of the water – enough to fill a large crude oil tanker or 132 Olympic-size swimming pools – is presenting one of the most challenging engineering tasks of our generation, former nuclear engineer Michael Friedlander said. Continue reading
Fukushima has new radiation hot spots
New radiation hotspots found at Fukushima nuclear plant ABC News, North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, wires 1 Sept 13, The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant says it has found new radiation hotspots, one with levels so high it could kill a person within a few hours. TEPCO has long struggled to deal with the growing volume of contaminated water it has used to cool reactors that went into meltdown after being struck by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The company says workers have discovered high levels of radioactivity on three tanks and one pipe at the Fukushima plant.
It says one reading was 1,800 millisieverts per hour – a level that can kill a person in four hours.
Although no change in water level was detected in the tanks, TEPCO does believe that new leaks could be possible……. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-01/an-new-radiation-hotspots-found-at-fukushima/4927684
Fukushima radiation levels vastly higher than previously thought
Fukushima radiation levels 18 times higher than previously thought, Justin McCurry in Tokyo theguardian.com, Sunday 1 September 2013 Operator of Japanese nuclear power plant claims there has been no leak but has yet to discover cause of radiation spike Radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported have been found near a water storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing fresh concern about the safety of the wrecked facility.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said radiation near the bottom of the tank measured 1,800 millisieverts an hour – high enough to kill an exposed person in four hours. Tepco said water levels inside the tank had not changed, indicating there had not been a leak. But the company said it had yet to discover the cause of the radiation spike.
Last month Tepco said another storage tank – of the same design as the container causing concern at the weekend – had leaked 300 tonnes of radioactive water, possibly into the sea.
Japan‘s nuclear watchdog confirmed last week it had raised the severity of that leak from level 1, an “anomaly”, to level 3, a “serious incident”, on an eight-point scale used by the International Atomic Energy Agency for radiological releases.
Earlier, the utility belatedly confirmed reports that a toxic mixture of groundwater and water being used to cool melted fuel lying deep inside the damaged reactors was seeping into the sea at a rate of about 300 tonnes a day.
Experts said those leaks, which are separate from the most recent incidents, may have started soon after the plant was struck by a powerful tsunami on 11 March 2011……… http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/01/fukushima-radiation-levels-higher-japan
Mysterious white spots on Fukushima cows – ignored by government
TV: Mystery spots on Fukushima cows ignored by gov’t — Veterinarian: It’s extremely important, Japan has to think of what to do with this problem (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-mysterious-white-spots-on-fukushima-cows-ignored-by-govt-officials-veterinarian-its-extremely-important-japan-has-to-think-of-what-to-do-with-this-problem-video
Title: “White spots” on Fukushima cattle ignored by Japanese officials
Source: Channel NewsAsia
Reporter: Makiko Segawa
Date: Aug. 29, 2013
h/t Anonymous tip Channel News Asia: […] radiation exposure can cause DNA and immunological changes in living organisms. […] Farmer Masami Yoshizawa kept his cattle alive to monitor changes due to prolonged radiation exposure. Now, mysterious white spots on the fur and skin are appearing on ten […] so far, nothing has been said about the issue.
SOURCE: Farm Sanctuary
Makiko Segawa, Reporter: When you visited in December 2012 do you remember? Did youu see these white spotted cows?
Kazuo Suzuki, Ministry of Agriculture official: No, I do not remember them […]
Segawa: Could you please test these cows next time you visit?
Suzuki: As I explained before it’s not my duty. They should go to the nearby Livestock Hygiene Service. […]
Channel News Asia: Local farmers disagree, saying they were told by the Fukushima prefectural officials that all such investigations do actually fall under the Ministry of Agriculture’s authority […] Beef from Fukushima [Prefecture] was still the 5th most traded and shipped [in 2012] at Japan’s biggest beef market in Tokyo. […]
Toshimitsu Matsubara, veterinarian and president of the BBB Beef Association: “What is happening [to these cows] now is extremely important. Japan has to think of what to do with this problem.” […]
More photos of Yoshizawa’s affected cattle
Watch the Channel News Asia broadcast
Land is now “mushy” under Fukushima nuclear reactors
“Big Problem”: Cracked floors in Fukushima reactors leaking into groundwater that’s rising and rising and rising due to Tepco wall — “Can no longer be stopped from getting in ocean” — “Worse than that… buildings now on mushy land” (AUDIO)
Title: Breaking News: Entergy pulling the plug on Vermont Yankee
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Host: Nathaniel White-Joyal
Date: Aug 27, 2013
Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds chief engineer:: The big problem is the nuclear reactors themselves have cracked floors. The buildings in those reactor buildings have cracked floors. And groundwater is getting into those buildings, and becoming contaminated, and then leaking out. So, in addition to what’s in those tanks, the physical plant itself is contaminating the groundwater as well.
So what Tepco tried to do is to build a wall along the water. They injected basically a concrete type of a compound and made the ground less porous. That’s not a good idea — it’s a poor idea — because what happened is the mountain that’s behind Fukushima continues to pour the water into the ground. Now it’s got no place to go. So now the groundwater’s rising and rising and rising and likely over-topping this wall, certainly going around it on the sides. So we’ve got radioactive water that can no longer be stopped from getting in the ocean.
It’s worse than that though. The radioactive water has made the site seismic response different. The buildings that were on dry land are now on mushy land. So that if there were to be another earthquake, the seismic response of these buildings — which was already marginal — is further compromised because the ground that they are now on is wet soggy soil, when before it had been firm.
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