TEPCO dumps the failed ice wall plan to contain Fukushima radiation
Tepco to give up the preceding frozen wall and directly fill the trenches with cement instead http://fukushima-diary.com/2014/09/tepco-give-preceding-frozen-wall-directly-fill-trenches-cement-instead/Tepco is going to give up the preceding water wall project and simply pour cement instead, they announced in the press conference of 9/22/2014. Extremely highly contaminated water is “retained” in the underground trenches, which are connected to the plant buildings.
Though Tepco is denying this, there is a possibility that these trenches are also severely damaged by the continuous explosions and earthquake, keep letting the coolant water leak underground and sea directly from plant buildings. Tepco was attempting to separate the plant buildings and trenches by frozen water wall in order to pump up the extrenely highly contaminated water retained in the trenches.
However the frozen water wall has never been completed.
Instead of the frozen water wall, Tepco announced they developed the special type of cement to fill the entire trenches.In the simple math, if they pour cement, the same volume of contaminated water would be pushed out of the trenches. However Tepco states it would not leak out because they would pump up the contaminated water as they pour cement.
Because the trenches and the plant buildings are connected, they would end up having to pump up the same volume water as the entire capacity of the trenches. Tepco hasn’t announced if they prepare the enough contaminated water storage. http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/archive-j.html
Very high abnormality rates in Fukushima insects eating radiation contaminated leaves
“Groundbreaking” study reveals Fukushima nuclear waste is poisoning wildlife: Up to 99% of offspring died after eating ‘low-level’ contaminated food — “Very high” abnormality rates including “severe and rare” deformities (PHOTOS) http://enenews.com/groundbreaking-study-fukushima-radiation-poisoning-wildlife-99-offspring-died-after-eating-food-low-level-contamination-severe-rare-abnormalities-photos?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
PhysOrg, Sep 23, 2014 (emphasis added): In a previous study, the group [of university researchers] suggested that eating leaves with high levels of radiation seriously affected the pale grass blue butterfly. Their new study investigated the effect of eating leaves with much lower levels of radiation… Joji Otaki, University of Rukyus, says… “Our study demonstrated that eating contaminated foods could cause serious negative effects on organisms. Suchnegative effects may be passed down the generations… eating non-contaminated food improves the negative effects”…
AAAS, Sep 22, 2014: Fukushima radiation still poisoning insects — Eating food contaminated with radioactive particles
may bemore perilous than thought… The findings from Otaki’s group are “groundbreaking,” says Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina… there have been “almost no studies” on how ingestion of radiation-tainted foods affect wildlife.
Study by University of the Ryukyus and Nagasaki University researchers, published Sep 23, 2014: [We] examined the effects 
of low-level-contaminated diets… The mortality rate increased linearly in accordance with an increase of the caesium… Remarkably, the mortality rate of the Koriyama group [.04 Bq per larva] was 53% [in the first generation]… We discovered various morphological abnormalities in the surviving adults… severe and rare abnormalities shown in Figure 5might imply the effects of a contaminated diet. Only three [that ate] Okinawa leaves [1760 km from Fukushima Daiichi] showed very minor morphological abnormalities… As observed in the F1 [first] generation, various morphological abnormalities were detected in the surviving F2 [second generation] adults… very high mortality and abnormality rates [were] recorded…low-dose effects were clearly detected… results suggest that low-dose ingestion of approximately 100 Bq/kg may be seriously toxic to certain organisms… The biological effects of ingesting the contaminated diets were more severe in the F2 generation…
Mortality Rates
- Koriyama [60 km from Fukushima Daiichi] F1 group and the Koriyama F2 group obtained from the Koriyama F1 adults were 53.0% and 79%, respectively
- Motomiya [also 60 km] F1 group and the Motomiya F2 group obtained from the Motomiya F1 adults were 31.2% and 99%, respectively… “very small number of surviving adults”
Prof. Otaki: Many theoreticians and politicians have claimed [that Fukushima has caused] no harmful biological effects… Even worse, some biologists have claimed that there are no biological impacts… to our surprise, leaves contaminated at relatively low levels… resulted in a mortality rate of more than 50%… Moreover, the sensitivity of the offspring generation increased, resulting in very high mortality rates… it is widely believed among modern biologists that insights obtained from one biological system are largely applicable to other systems…
Fukushima” radioactive groundwater seeps towards Tokyo
VIDEO: Radioactive material now flowing toward Tokyo and contaminating their water supply; Problems “actually only getting worse” — “Truth is no one in world really knows how to deal with Fukushima” — Gov’t Expert: Tepco “should give up’ making ice walls VIDEO: Radioactive material now 
flowing toward Tokyo and contaminating their water supply; Problems “actually only getting worse” — “Truth is no one in world really knows how to deal with Fukushima” — Gov’t Expert: Tepco “should give up’ making ice walls
Japan Times, Sept 19, 2014: Tepco started building ice walls [but] has been unable to seal the leaks… it hasn’t been able to freeze because the [highly contaminated] water is flowing too fast [from the turbine buildings]. Tepco is trying to figure out how it can seal up the leak[s]… but it is still unclear when it will be able to plug the leaks. [Atsunao Marui, a groundwater expert who isa memer of a goverment panel dealing with the tainted water issue] said Tepco has been spending too much time trying to make the ice walls work, and should give up and explore other alternatives.
Dr Ronald McCoy, MD, physician, Sept. 18, 2014 (emphasis added): Experts say that the Japanese government will soon be left with no choice but to release radioactive water into the ocean… The truth is that no one in the world really knows how to deal with the Fukushima accident… Murphy’s Law is inexorable: If anything can go wrong, in time it will go wrong. A major nuclear accident [can] render large areas of land uninhabitable for thousands of years.
Interview with Yokohama evacuees Beverly Findlay Kaneko and son Ryan, Social Uplift, Sept. 14, 2014 (at 3:00 in): I started working on March 11 this year, 2014, with Libbe Halevy of Nuclear Hotseat and we helped her produce a segment called Voices from Japan (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |Part 4)… We interviewed probably 12-14 different people, top people in the anti-nuclear and the humanitarian movements, regarding Fukushima… Every last one of those people said here we are 3 years after the disaster and nothing has changed. Nothing has changed except for the fact that the government keeps trying to brush the issue under the rug and cover up… Unfortunately the cleanup up the site has not progressed they are to the point now where there is so much contaminated water collecting at the site that now the only choice they have is to dump it into the Pacific Ocean. The rivers in Fukushima Prefecture were contaminated at the time of the accident. That contamination is now flowing toward the Tokyo area, contaminating the Tokyo water supply. So environmentally things have not gotten better they’re actually only getting worse.
Dr. Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress and Dr. Arjun Makhijani, Asia-Pacific Journal, Dec. 19, 2011: Some of the fuel has reached the concrete floor and may breach it, posing a threat of unremediable contamination of ground water.
See also: Bloomberg: Could Fukushima contamination flow downstream to Tokyo and present a big risk? (VIDEO)
Radioactive pollution from Fukushima is becoming a wider problem
Japan Times: Fukushima plant plagued by problems as radioactive material bleeds into Pacific — Radiation level in groundwater now 25,000 times higher than when year began http://enenews.com/japan-times-fukushima-plant-plagued-problems-radioactive-material-bleeds-pacific-record-radiation-level-groundwater-25000-times-higher-when-year-began?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Japan Times, Sept 19, 2014: Tainted water problems still plague Fukushima, despite some positive signs — More than three years since [3/11] the Fukushima No. 1 power plant is still bleeding tons of toxic radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean… [It’s] developed into a wider problem that is stoking public concern… [Tepco] is still trying to find a way to deal with the plant’s utility trenches, which are filled with highly contaminated water. The trenches, which run beneath the plant, were built to house cables and pipes… installed to bring in seawater for cooling purposes… Leaving the tainted water in the trenches is risky. For instance, if another major quake hits and damages the trenches, the toxic water will escape and contaminate the groundwater. Tepco said the trenches… can’t be drained until the leaks from the buildings are plugged…
Asahi Shimbun, Sept 19, 2014: Local fishermen are crying foul over [TEPCO’s] latest plan to discharge processed contaminated water… into the ocean. TEPCO and the central government held the first explanatory briefing… Their explanation was apparently unconvincing. “I can’t believe anything TEPCO says,” one of the attendees said after the meeting… many members of local fisheries associations opposed the plan on the opening day of the briefing sessions… [Others] expressed concern over the plan’s safety. “If a critical problem should occur, (local fisheries) would be severely damaged,” [fisherman Yoshinori Sato] said. “They wouldn’t be able to recover.” Another member criticized the utility for burdening local fishermen with such proposals, asking, “How many times will we have to make a similar painful decision?”
While Japan’s media outlets are focused on the meetings between government/Tepco and the fishermen over the whether to allow ‘processed’ contaminated water releases, new Tepco data published September 18 reveals strontium-90 concentrations are at record levels in groundwater just 100 feet from the ocean. Gross beta has risen to 720 million becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m³) — and according to Tepco’s most recent strontium-90 tests released September 10 (4 months after the samples were taken), strontium-90 comprises over 95% of the total gross beta at this location — resulting in a Sr-90 concentration of 695 million Bq/m³. At the start of 2014, 28,000 Bq/m³ of gross beta was detected in groundwater from the same well — now 8 months later, the levels are over 25,000 times greater.
Radioactive Strontium at record high levels near Fukushima nuclear reactors
Ocean hits record high for radioactive Strontium at all 6 locations near Fukushima reactors — Levels up to 20 times higher than reported last week — Officials: Contamination from highly radioactive ‘debris’ is seeping into ground and flowing out to sea http://enenews.com/record-high-strontium-90-ocean-water-every-location-destroyed-fukushima-reactors-levels-20-times-higher-reported-last-week-officials-contamination-highly-radioactive-debris-seeping-ground-flowin?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
TEPCO Prompt Report of Result of Analysis, Sept. 10, 2014:
Port of Fukushima Daiichi, around Discharge Channel and Bank Protection — Seawater
This newly published data shows record levels of Strontium-90 have been detected at all 6 seawater monitoring locations in front of the destroyed reactors. At 3 of 6 locations levels are around triple the previous record set last year.
Yet a report released by TEPCO days later on Sept. 12, 2014 claims: “Results indicate efforts to protect water are succeeding… inside the port area, concentrations of radioactivity have been steadily decreasing… Strontium… nearest the reactors… show levels of 70-100 Bq/L … Strontium 90 has been reduced to approximately a third of earlier levels [and] are projected to further reduce… Strontium 90 outflows to one-fortieth of the current estimated amount of outflow.”
According to a TEPCO document from last month: “Groundwater around reactor buildings (Unit 1 to 4) is confirmed to contain radioactive materials which have mixed with rainwater having been contacted with contaminated debris left on the ground surface due to the accident… contaminated water in the buildings theoretically does not mix with the groundwater flowing around the buildings.”
See also: Strontium-90 from Fukushima found along west coast of N. America
120,000 Fukushima nuclear evacuees still displaced, 3 years after
Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday gave the green light for two nuclear reactors at Kyushu Electric Power’s Sendai plant in south-west Japan to restart, but communities are anxious over the safety aspects. The nuclear industry in Japan has been mothballed since the meltdown.
At a temporary housing complex in Fukushima prefecture one resident, Iiko Kanno, said she now spends her days reading, growing vegetables and counting the days until she is reunited with her grandchildren. As with many of her neighbours, Kanno’s family has been torn apart by the nuclear meltdown, which happened in March 2011…….
A survey conducted this year by the prefectural government found that almost half of the households forced to evacuate were living apart, while almost 70% had relatives suffering from physical and mental health problems.
- Of the total, 48.9% of households said family members were living in two or more locations. Of that number, 58.6% said relatives who had once lived together had been scattered across three or more sites.
In the same survey, 67.5% of households said they had relatives who were showing signs of physical or psychological distress. More than half of those afflicted said they had lost interest in activities they once enjoyed or that they had trouble sleeping.
Kanno’s plight is typical of many Fukushima families who lived together in large rural homes before the disaster………
- So far only a few hundred people from two districts on the eastern edge of the evacuation zone have been given permission to return permanently……
- “The nuclear accident turned everything upside down,” she said. “Even if the evacuation order is lifted, no young people or children will go back. We have asked everyone – the village office, decontamination workers, environment ministry bureaucrats – when it will be safe to return. But no one can give us an answer.” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/fukushima-nuclear-disaster-japan-three-years-families-uprooted
USA Dept of Energy’s estimate of Fukushima radiation release “Not for Distribution, Internal Use Only
“Not for Distribution, Internal Use Only”: US Energy Dept. estimated Fukushima release up to 10,000 times larger than nuclear regulators predicted — ‘Supercore’ scenario an underestimate? http://enenews.com/us-energy-dept-estimated-fukushima-release-up-to-10000-times-larger-than-nuclear-regulators-predicted-supercore-scenario-an-underestimate?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Ocean Plume Modeling for the Fukushima Daiichi Event (pdf) — US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, National Weather Service, Sept. 2013:
> Estimates of contamination
- “Coastal releases ignored. According to TEPCO estimates, coastal releases are 1% of atmospheric… Not important for far-field estimates (i.e., exposure for US territories)”
- “Scenarios used [are] NRC source scenario [and] DOE Supercore source scenario”
- Regarding Cs-137 release estimates, “NRC and DOE differ by three orders of magnitude” [i.e. DOE estimate is 1,000 to 9,999 times more than NRC]
- “Enormous uncertainty in total amount of contamination released at FDNPP”
- “Differences between NRC & DOE sources are crippling from a scientific perspective”
- “DOE much too high at… JAMSTEC observation line 30km offshore [and] overestimates Cs-137 by order of magnitude [predicting a] maxima of around 100 Bq/L for Cs-137… JAMSTEC realistic contamination levels would be factor 10 smaller (10 Bq/L).”
Is DOE’s 100 Bq/L an ‘Overestimate’?
- The above report by the federal government claims to use ‘realistic’ data from the JAMSTEC line (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) of 10 Bq/L for Cs-137. However, JAMSTEC measured a maxima of 186 Bq/L for Cs137 at 30km off the Fukushima coast — nearly double the DOE ‘overestimate’.
- The Science Council of Japan: “Oceanic monitoring… identified that 100 Bq/L or more of 137Cs had been diffused to the north and south.”
DOE’s estimate based on the ‘supercore’ scenario came rather close to predicting actual Cs-137 levels observed in samples from the Pacific Ocean — if anything, it appears to be an underestimate.
The reactor conditions assumed in DOE’s ‘supercore’ scenario have been redacted from FOIA documents. However it’s likely that the ‘supercore’ was among the worst-case scenarios discussed by the US government. As reported by Echo News, around 5 different worst-cases were in play — “I still won’t let anybody use the word ‘worst case’ in the room here because there’s about five worst cases.” –NRC’s Director of Nuclear Security & Incident Response
Final abandonment of Fukushima communities – as governor agrees to nuclear waste storage
Fukushima governor accepts ‘temporary’ radioactive waste storage http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2014-09-01/fukushima-governor-accepts-temporary-radioactive-waste-storage/1363279 1 September 2014,
The governor of Fukushima has agreed to accept the “temporary” storage of radioactive waste from the 2011 nuclear disaster. Yuhei Sato has been cajoled with the promises of subsidies if he accepts a Japanese government plan to build a depot on land near the battered Fukushima Daiichi plant.
“I have made an agonising decision to accept plans to construct temporary storage facilities in order to achieve recovery in the environment as soon as possible,” Mr Sato told central government ministers in Tokyo. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 prompted the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant on Japan’s northeast coast.
The resulting plumes of radiation contaminated areas far and wide, rendering a swathe of Fukushima uninhabitable and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.Tokyo’s solution has been to try to scrub the radiation from the affected areas, often by lifting topsoil in the hope that contamination levels will go down. This has left the problem of what to do with all the waste, with no community in Japan prepared to accept its permanent storage.
The government’s answer has been to seek a temporary fix while it works on getting a long-term plan in place.Mr Sato’s acquiescence came after prime minister Shinzo Abe’s government offered subsidies worth more than 300 billion yen ($2.9 billion), including land rent for the facility location.
Under the plan, the government will build storage units on an area of 16 square kilometres near the power plant.
While observers have long said the area around Fukushima is the only viable option, people already displaced have seen it as unacceptable because it would in effect finalise the abandonment of their communities.
Refueling crane console dropped into Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 spent fuel pool
TEPCO is working to check the 566 spent fuel assemblies in the Unit 3 spent fuel pool to see if any of them have been damaged by the most recent accident. According to decommissioning plans, the utility is scheduled to start removing spent fuel rods from the Unit 3 spent fuel pool in the first half of 2015 at the earliest.Tokyo Electric, who is in charge of cleanup operations at Fukushima Daiichi, told reporters that they have not detected any change in radiation levels around the spent fuel pool after the accident.
This is not the first time that debris and large objects have been accidentally dropped, pulled, or pushed into the Unit 3 spent fuel pool. Between 2012 and 2013, TEPCO workers used the remote control cranes to remove debris from atop the Unit 3 reactor building, and multiple instances were recorded where operators moving cranes via remote control knocked debris into the spent fuel pool or dislodged other materials on the roof.
In February 2013, workers accidentally knocked the 1.5 ton fuel handling machine mast into the Unit 3 spent fuel pool, and it was later found to have come to rest on top of the spent fuel racks after it narrowly avoided damaging the liner of the spent fuel pool.
The post Workers drop refueling crane console into Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 spent fuel pool appeared first on Enformable.
400-Kg Control Console Fell Into Fukushima Fuel Pool
Tepco Says 400-Kg Control Console Fell Into Fukushima Fuel Pool Bloomberg, By Emi Urabe and Peter Langan Aug 29, 2014 Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) said it’s detected no change in radiation levels in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 3 reactor building after a 400 kilogram piece of equipment slipped from a crane and fell back into a pool holding spent uranium fuel rods.
The accident happened at around 12:45 p.m. today as the company was attempting to move what it described as a crane control console, according to a statement on its website.
The console, which is about a meter wide and 1.6 meters high, was blown into the pool on March 14, 2011, when the No. 3 reactor building exploded following an earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima plant.
Today, the utility known as Tepco was attempting to move the device as part of its cleanup at the site, said spokesman Hiroshi Itagaki. …….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-29/tepco-says-400-kg-control-console-fell-into-fukushima-fuel-pool.html
Fukushima’s young thyroid cancer sufferers – the tip of the coming cancer iceberg?
Thyroid cancer diagnosed in 104 young people in Fukushima, Asahi Shimbun August 24, 2014 By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer The number of young people in Fukushima Prefecture who have been diagnosed with definitive or suspected thyroid gland cancer, a disease often caused by radiation exposure, now totals 104, according to prefectural officials.
The 104 are among 300,000 young people who were aged 18 or under at the time of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and whose results of thyroid gland tests have been made available as of June 30. They were eligible for the tests administered by the prefectural government.
Of these 104, including 68 women, the number of definitive cases is 57, and one has been diagnosed with a benign tumor. The size of the tumors varies from 5 to 41 millimeters and averages 14 mm.
The average age of those diagnosed was 14.8 when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011……..
The figure can be extrapolated for comparison purposes to an average of more than 30 people per population of 100,000 having definitive or suspected thyroid gland cancer.
The figure is much higher than, for example, the development rate of thyroid cancer of 1.7 people per 100,000 among late teens based on the cancer patients’ registration in Miyagi Prefecture…….http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201408240011
$105 billion is the estimated cost of Fukushima nuclear clean-up
Better Market Your Uranium Someplace Else, Japan Appetite No Longer Huge as Before – Former PM Tells Australia Queensland Premier Campbell Newman International Business Times, By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | August 28,
“……….In the research made by Kenichi Oshima, environmental economics professor at Ritsumeikan University, and Masafumi Yokemoto, professor of environment policy at Osaka City University, they said the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant tragedy will cost 11.08 trillion yen ($105 billion). The figure ballooned to include radiation clean-up and compensation to residents.
Specifically, the expenses will include
- 4.91 trillion yen ($47 billion) for compensation to residents in the affected area of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
- 2.48 trillion yen ($23 billion) will be involved in the radiation cleanup of the territories
- 2.17 trillion yen to scrap the disaster-hit plant
- 1.06 trillion yen for the temporal storage of radioactive soil
Nevertheless, the researchers noted the amount still exclude costs for the final disposal of radioactive substances, compensation and plant decommissioning.
Oshima and Yokemoto said the cost will be shouldered by the Japanese people through taxes and utility bills.http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/564339/20140828/uranium-japan-appetite-kan-australia-queensland-newman.htm#.VADXudJdUnk
A legal precedent, as TEPCO us ruled liable for a Fukushima suicide
In a first, Japanese court rules that nuclear plant operator is liable for suicide WP, By Anna Fifield and Yuki Oda August 26 at 6:07 AM TOKYO — A court in Fukushima has ruled that Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Japanese nuclear power plant operator, can be held responsible for the suicide of a woman who became depressed after the 2011 disaster.
The court ordered Tepco to pay $470,000 to Mikio Watanabe and his children after his 58-year-old wife, Hamako, killed herself a few months after the nuclear meltdown in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami forced them out of their home and destroyed their livelihoods.
The ruling was the first time that the struggling utility has been found liable for a suicide resulting from the accident, and it could galvanize others seeking redress from the company…….
The family’s attorney declared the verdict a “complete victory.”
“This ruling is significant as the precedent of a case caused by the nuclear power plant accident,” Tsuguo Hirota said. “Today’s verdict will greatly influence future lawsuits.”……..http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-a-first-japanese-court-rules-that-nuclear-plant-operator-is-liable-for-suicide/2014/08/26/bc43af62-6c30-4e70-8e22-ffe1895727c1_story.html
Multiple fuel cores ejected from Fukushima nuclear reactors
Studies show multiple fuel cores ejected from Fukushima reactors – Hot particles of uranium and plutonium fuels detected nearly 300 miles away http://fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/studies-show-multiple-fuel-cores.html
Source: pdf: http://bostonchemicaldata.com/wpi/mKaltofenNagoya2014.pdf
Kaltofen : Radioisotopes in dusts released by Fukushima Daiichi units [include] Uranium and plutonium fuels and transuranics such as americium and neptunium… individual radioactive particles [in an] Ibaraki dust sample [include] Eu, Y, Zr, Th, Ce, Sr… in 1 to 15 um size range…
Source: (pdf) : https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/%7Ed30345d/courses/engs43/MarcoKaltofen.pdf
Kaltofen : The Japanese samples came from as far north as Sapporo in Hokkaido Prefecture and as far south as Tokyo, a range of 780 km. Fifty nine samples of dust from Japan were analyzed… Radioisotopes specific to the Fukushima Daiichi accidents, including Cs134, Cs137, and Co60 were detected in dust samples taken throughout Northern Japan, including areas more than 200 km outside of the accident exclusion zone. Cs134 was detected at all of the Japanese sites tested… Japanese samples… analyzed in the first month after the accident also contained I131 and Am241… Radioactive dust has become a ubiquitous part of life in northern Japan.
Source: (pdf) : http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/mar2014/kaltofenjp_measuringradioactivedustinnorthernjapan.pdf
Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator & engineer, Aug 21, 2014 (at 24:00 in): NHK just [broadcasted] that many studies are showing… that multiple cores — parts of it, or some, or even most of it — had been ejected. We thought that too. Once you breach containment, that was one of my big concerns — where did the core go after an explosion like? Whether it be steam or hydrogen explosion or a combination of both… it got ‘sneezed out’ all over the place. It’s totally – it’s a huge mess.
Source: (video interview with Harris here) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tQ5hmieRTpQ#t=1438
U.S. personnel given strict radiation safety orders in Fukushima area March 16 – 19, 2011
US Official: There were orders to not get within 230 miles of Fukushima Daiichi — Potassium iodide given to all defense personnel and families within 200 miles of plant — Over 1,100 kinds of radioactive material detected http://enenews.com/us-official-there-were-orders-not-to-go-within-230-miles-of-fukushima-daiichi-potassium-iodide-given-to-all-defense-personnel-and-families-within-200-miles-over-1100-kinds-of-radioactive-mater
Assistant Secretary of Defense Jonathan Woodson, June 19, 2014: Between March 16 and 19, 2011, ships supporting OT [Operation Tomodachi] were directed to remain at least 100 nm [nautical miles] from Fukushima Daiichi and greater than 150 nm from Fukushima Daiichi along a 90 degree arc, or wedge, centered on the direction of wind from Fukushima Daiichi. The standoff distance from Fukushima Daiichi was temporarily increased to 200 nm [230 miles] on March 16, 2011, as a precaution following detection of abnormally high radiation levels above the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 containment building by the Japanese military. On March 19, 2011, the wedge was reduced to 125 nm…Joint Effects Coordination Board/Joint Requirement Review Board Review:
- Mar. 17, 2011 — Personnel entering within the 100 nm radius of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants, KI [potassium iodide] should be administered.
- Mar. 21, 2011 — Mission: Distribute KI to all DOD personnel and families within 200 miles from the Fukushima power plant.
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (pdf), Sept. 2013: The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) model was used to generate the radiation exposure rates and air activity concentrations for at-sea crew. Inputs to the HPAC model included data on the isotopes inside [Fukushima Daiichi’s] reactors that had the potential for release to the environment… Although HPAC’s output included over 1,100 isotopes, it was determined that the major contributors to inhalation doses were the following 10 isotopes: I-131, I-132, I-133, Cs-134, Cs-136, Cs-137, Te-129, Te-129m, Te-131m and Te-132.
Asahi Shimbun: about 1,000 kinds of radioactive materials [are in the] water at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, sources said.
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