Sr-90 density rose up 155 percent of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2
From Tepco’s report released on 9/4/2015, the density of Strontium-90 increased to 155% of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2.
It was measured in groundwater gathered to pump up. The sampling date
was 8/3/2015, Sr-90 density was 2,800,000 Bq/m3. The previous highest reading was 1,800,000 Bq/m3, which was analyzed on 7/2/2015.
From the report of 9/15/2015 about the same area, the density of Mn-54, which has 310 days of a half-life, reached the highest reading of 680 Bq/m3 on 9/10/2015. 4 days later, it rose up to 970 Bq/m3 again.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15090401-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15091501-j.pdf
Source: Fukushima Diary
End the nuclear ‘safety myth’
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s final report on the March 2011 triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant puts the main blame on the then prevailing assumption that Japan’s “nuclear power plants were so safe that an accident of this magnitude was simply unthinkable.” Constant monitoring is needed to make sure the government, power companies and nuclear regulatory authorities aren’t falling into the same “safety myth” as they push to reactivate idled reactors that meet what is now touted as the “world’s most stringent” nuclear safety standards.
Last week, Kyushu Electric Power Co. began commercial operation of the No. 1 reactor of its Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture — a little over a month after it became the first reactor idled since 2011 to be reactivated on the basis of the safety standards that were tightened in response to the Fukushima disaster. The utility plans to restart the plant’s No. 2 reactor as early as next month, and the Abe administration and the power industry are pushing to bring more idled plants back online once they have cleared the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s screening.
The regulatory system for nuclear power generation has been reformed since the 2011 crisis. The old Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which came under fire for the Fukushima debacle, has been replaced by the NRA, and new regulations introduced in 2013 require operators of nuclear power plants to beef up their defense against natural disasters such as major earthquakes and tsunamis. But while the NRA itself states that compliance with the new standards does not guarantee the plants’ safety, the government says the plants are ready for restart because they meet the NRA criteria. No one appears ready to take final responsibility for the plants’ safety.
The IAEA report, compiled by around 180 experts from 42 countries and submitted to an annual general conference of the United Nations nuclear watchdog this week, highlights the “assumption” held by Japan’s nuclear plant operators prior to 2011 that a crisis of that magnitude would not happen, which was never challenged by the government or regulatory authorities, leaving the nation unprepared for a severe accident.
The Fukushima power plant lost its emergency power supply after it was flooded by a 15-meter tsunami triggered by the magnitude-9 quake on March 11, 2011. The loss of power crippled its crucial core-cooling functions and led to the meltdowns in its three operating reactors. Citing Tepco’s failure to take precautionary action against such external hazards despite an estimate prior to the disaster that a powerful quake off Fukushima could cause a tsunami of roughly the same scale that hit the plant site, the report said “there was not sufficient consideration of low probability, high consequence external events,” partly because “of the basic assumption in Japan, reinforced over many decades, that the robustness of the technical design of the nuclear plants would provide sufficient protection against postulated risks.” This assumption led to “a tendency for organizations and their staff not to challenge the level of safety” and “resulted in a situation where safety improvements were not introduced promptly.”
The report also pointed to the deficiencies in Japan’s nuclear regulatory system behind the Fukushima disaster. “The regulation of nuclear safety in Japan at the time of the accident was performed by a number of organizations with different roles and responsibilities and complex interrelationships. It was not fully clear which organizations had the responsibility and authority to issue binding instructions on how to respond to safety issues without delay,” it said. “The regulations, guidelines and procedures in place at the time of the accident were not fully in line with international practice in some key areas, most notably in relation to periodic safety reviews, re-evaluation of hazards, severe accident management and safety culture.”
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, in his foreword to the report, says Japan’s regulatory system has since been reformed to meet international standards, with regulators given clearer responsibilities and greater authority. Whether the new plant safety standards are the world’s most stringent or not, plants that meet the standards are supposed to withstand much greater levels of external hazards and be better able to respond to emergencies than before.
Still, complacency under the new standards would risk reviving the same safety myth rebuked in the report. Questioning whether the tightened standards are sufficient could be branded as demanding zero tolerance of risks and thereby unrealistic. However, as the IAEA report points out, it was an “unlikely combination of events” that hit the Tepco plant, and the utility’s unpreparedness for such a situation that resulted in the 2011 disaster.
We need to consider whether the tendency to dismiss low-probability risks as “small enough” — as was, for example, the risk of Kyushu Electric’s Sendai plant being hit by a volcanic eruption when the go-ahead was given for its restart — is acceptable from the viewpoint of preventing severe accidents at nuclear plants in the future.
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/09/14/editorials/end-nuclear-safety-myth/#.Vfjrx5eFSM9
TODAY SEPT. 17, 2015 ABE’S LAW WAS DICTATED BYPASSING THE DUE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Remarkable report from our friend Laurent Mabesoone (青眼 マブソン) in Japan explaining to us what took place today at the Diet (Parlement) of Japan.
Translated by Hervé Courtois (D’un Renard)
Abe’s law, which should allow Japan to conduct an offensive war abroad at the side of an allied country – in fact, the USA (a law judged unconstitutional by all serious experts) would pass in front of the Senate, after being passed thanks to an expeditious procedure last July 15th before the Diet.
On this occasion, the senators of the opposition parties (Fukuyama for the Democratic Party Minshuto, Koike for the CCP, Taro Yamamoto, etc …) wanted to do everything possible to make the debates last long. This is because the character very confused and very risk of this law (which challenges the constitutional basis of the country since World War II).
But also because the Abe government would be required to revote the law in plenary session of the Diet, if the ratification by the Senate would take place 60 days after July 15th. In this case, as Abe would not get 2/3 of the votes in plenary session in the Diet, the law could fall in the water …
The limit for the vote in the Senate was this week. So the opposition parties have done everything to delay, with an unpublished heroism – they felt lifted by the huge crowd that rallies everyday and night in front of the Diet and elsewhere in Japan (youth movement “SEALDs”, among others, who have finally expanded our movement, which was antinuclear at its foundation …).
Yesterday evening, the few women senators from the opposition parties have worn pink headbands and form a women’s wall (a “no kabe onna”, to prevent the President of the Special Committee of the Senate to go to the hall of parliament. They had the clever idea to shout “Sekku hara” (sexual harrassment) every time the police touched them to clear the way. This held until 0:30, and the session had to be postponed to this morning 9:00.
This morning, surprise: the government announces that the law will not be voted in plenary session of the Senate, but in a special commission expeditious manner (as it was done in the Diet in July, that is by just asking members of that commission sho support the law to stand up … an incredibly expeditious procedure for a law of this importance, and an unreliable procedure).
So the opposition had the idea to file a censure motion against the President of the Committee (Mr. Konoike), which would delay one day. They intended afterwards to file a motion against the government, which would help to exceed this week time limit, and to maybe drop the law.
Each opposition MP was brilliant, taking his/her time (since this morning until 5:00 p.m. It was broadcasted live on NHK). Taro passing last (15: 30-17: 00: a full speech, taking the whole American policy since the Pacific War until the Iraq war and the problems with China, etc …).
All speeches were broadcasted live (well, NHK is trying to show that it was doing its job for a change!), It was watched live throughout Japan.
Yamamoto Taro was particularly appreciated on all social networks – having his way to “buy time” while marking strong points…. As examples:
“the Iraq war was declared illegal by the International Court of The Hague, at that time, Japan was on the side of the US, in a passive way – for constitutional reasons, but the Iraqis have already been disappointed by Japan during that time”
or” To follow a country that sustains its economy with illegal wars, is to also transform Japan in an economy that depends only of war ”
or” the Japanese military are not things that one moves for the economic interests of the US or Japan. They are human beings. If you want to participate in an offensive war with the US, Abe, go yourself to the front line, please. It is you who has promised this Constitutional reform to the American military last year! ”
(Abe was away until the last moment …).
At 17:00 the Vice President of the Committee (Mr. Sato, former commander of PKO troops in Iraq in 2003! …) forced Yamamoto Taro to end his speech. And immediately, the sameVice-President requested the vote on the censure motion against the President of the Commission.
Without surprise, the motion was rejected, but all of a sudden, the NHK mutes the sound ( 5:50 in the video), posting subtitles claiming that “the exchanges that follow are not transcribed” (???).
We saw then the president of the commission, the PM Abe and his Minister of Defence finally entering into the room, escorted by policemen, the President announcing that the vote on the law would take place immediately in reduced session!
Opposition senators, revolted (they counted immediately file a further motion against the government) have rushed to the desk of the president. YamamotoTaro was the first in line, naturally, asking for time to file another motion. They were ignored,
In an incredible noise and turmoil, the president of the commission, invisible and inaudible, probably stammered that the law was passed! Indeed, the LPD senators stood up more or less two or three times. Just after they are already stood up a first time, Abe came out !! (He fled?) …
There it is, it has been done … Japan is not a pacifist country anymore. It can make war again!
The trial record of the meeting (published on twitter by Koike of the PCF) specifies that the law was fully read, there was 5 questions and a regulatory vote: gross lie perfectly verifiable on the video).
In short, Taro has been the last Japanese MP (Senator) to express himself in a democratic framework. Now we know that Abe is ready to to do ANYTHING!
395 bags of tainted material washed away in floods
Japan’s Environment Ministry says nearly 400 bags of weeds and other waste contaminated with radioactive materials were washed into a river during a torrential rain in Fukushima.
The plastic bags contained weeds, branches and soil from cleanup work in Iitate Village in the prefecture. The area was contaminated by fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
The bags were being stored on farmland near a river temporarily.
The ministry says that of the 395 bags that were washed away, 314 were recovered. But about half of them were torn, and their contents were empty.
Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki noted on Tuesday that the grass and branches in the bags had been collected recently and had relatively low radiation levels. He suggested that the possibility they will affect the environment is low.
He added that his ministry will work to recover the remaining bags and implement measures to prevent a recurrence.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150915_24.html
Tepco started discharging contaminated groundwater beside crippled reactor buildings
Tepco started discharging the contaminated groundwater to the Pacific on 9/14/2015, Tepco reported.
It was discharged for nearly 6 hours in daytime. The reported volume of contaminated water was 838 tons.
The discharged water was pumped up from 20 of 41 wells called “sub-drain” situated beside crippled reactor buildings 1 ~ 4.
10,800,000 Bq/m3 of Cs-134/137 and 16,000,000 Bq/m3 of Tritium were measured from the water pumped this August. Tepco announced they purified water before discharging, however unremovable nuclide Tritium still remains in water. 390,000 ~ 600,000 Bq/m3 of Tritium was detected from “filtered” water from third party organization’s analysis.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/archive-j.html?video_uuid=q2f3u22p&catid=69619
http://www.tepco.co.jp/decommision/planaction/sub-drain/index-j.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259086_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259171_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150902_07-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259687_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259973_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259923_6818.html
Source: Fukushima Diary
[Video] Tepco started discharging contaminated groundwater beside crippled reactor buildings
850 tons of ‘decontaminated’ Fukushima water dumped into ocean
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) that operates the crippled nuclear plant released its first 850 tons of filtered radioactive groundwater by sundown on September 14. This is a part of TEPCO’s “subdrain plan” that was approved in late July after a year-long battle with local fishermen who opposed the release fearing that it would pollute the ocean and contaminate marine life.
A third party panel has given the green light to the release after confirming that the radioactive content was below measurable limits, according to The Japan Times. TEPCO allows one becquerel of radioactive cesium per liter of decontaminated groundwater, three becquerels for elements that emit beta rays and up to 1,500 becquerels for tritium, which cannot be removed with existing technology.
Monday’s batch measured 330 to 600 becquerels per liter, TEPCO said, citing analyses conducted by the company and an outside organization.
TEPCO has yet to deal with remaining 680,000 tons of water that was used to cool the reactors during the 2011 meltdown.
“The risk that you run is that you have all these tanks full of water,” Dale Klein, the chairman of a committee created to prevent possible meltdowns, told AFP. “The longer you store the water, the more likely you are going to have (an) uncontrolled release,” he said. Klein added that he hopes the supplies will be released from storage in the next three years.
TEPCO, much criticized for handling the tsunami-triggered meltdown at Fukushima No.1 reactors, is running behind schedule on a project to build a huge underground ice barrier – the “ice wall” – around Fukushima plant as it tries to stop groundwater from reaching the reactor building basements.
In addition, flooding from Typhoon Etau caused new leaks of contaminated water to flow from the Fukushima nuclear power station into the ocean last week. The incident came after a rush of water overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps.
Source: RT
https://www.rt.com/news/315350-fukushima-decontaminated-water-ocean/
Tepco dumps treated groundwater in Pacific to ease toxic water buildup at Fukushima No. 1
This article was removed from the Japan Times website certainly due to censorship. Maybe someone did not like something said in it or its style. Luckily i had already copied it early when it came out and before they deleted it.
FUKUSHIMA – Tepco on Monday discharged into the ocean filtered groundwater taken from wells around the damaged reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in an effort to curb the buildup of toxic water.
The project has been touted as one of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s key measures in tackling the contaminated water problem.
Some 300 tons of untainted groundwater seeps into the buildings each day, where it mixes with water made radioactive by keeping the damaged reactors cool.
By pumping up groundwater through 41 wells and discharging it into the sea after treatment, the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. hope to halve the amount flowing into the reactor buildings.
On Monday, Tepco released some 850 tons of filtered groundwater — part of some 4,000 tons pumped up last year on a trial basis and stored in tanks — after confirming that radiation levels were below measurable limits.
Tritium, which cannot be removed with existing technology, measured 330 to 600 becquerels per liter, well below the legally allowable limit of 1,500 becquerels, the utility said, citing analyses conducted by the company and an outside organization.
Fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture had long opposed releasing the water over concerns it would pollute the ocean and contaminate marine life, but signed off on the plan in August.
In exchange, the fishermen demanded among other things that Tepco and the government continue paying compensation for as long as the nuclear plant damages their business.
Tepco is running behind schedule on a project to build a huge underground ice wall at the site, another key measure to prevent groundwater from reaching the reactor building basements.
Source: Japan Times
Partially Decontaminated Groundwater release starts at Fukushima Daiichi. Sept 14, 2015
TEPCO releases first batch of decontaminated Fukushima groundwater to sea
Tokyo Electric Power Co. was set to release 850 tons of treated radioactive groundwater into the sea off the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by sundown on Sept. 14.
The discharge marks the first release under the utility’s “subdrain plan,” an additional measure conceived to help diminish the build-up of contaminated groundwater at the crippled facility.
TEPCO began discharging water after a third-party panel confirmed that the radioactive content was below the standard set by the utility.
The plan utilizes subdrains, which are essentially wells set up around the main buildings of the power plant to collect groundwater flowing into the complex. Once the groundwater has been pumped from those wells, it undergoes decontamination in a special facility for release into the ocean after being checked for radioactive content.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations gave the green light to the operation on Aug. 11, and TEPCO began pumping in earnest on Sept. 3.
The release of the first batch of decontaminated groundwater, which had been stored in a tank since last year, started around 10 a.m. The water collected from Sept. 3 will be released in a few days.
TEPCO’s standard is set at 1 becquerel of radioactive cesium per liter of decontaminated groundwater, 3 becquerels for elements that emit beta rays and 1,500 becquerels for tritium–a substance which is very hard to treat.
As for now, the utility plans to pump 100 to 200 tons of groundwater daily, but will increase the volume to 500 tons if it does not encounter any problems with the decontamination facilities.
TEPCO believes the subdrains can halve the approximately 300 tons of daily groundwater buildup at the plant. However, the utility is uncertain how many months it will take to see whether this holds true.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509140069
Partially Decontaminated Groundwater release starts at Fukushima Daiichi
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has started releasing groundwater into the sea pumped up from around reactor buildings. The water is decontaminated and monitored before releasing.
The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company say the release is aimed at reducing the daily production of radioactive wastewater by half. The work began at around 10 AM on Monday.
300 tons of contaminated water has been produced daily in the damaged reactor buildings due to flow-in of groundwater.
By evening the operator plans to release some 850 tons of groundwater. This is from the 4,000 tons it has already pumped up from wells around reactor buildings since August last year. The groundwater has been cleaned to permissible radioactive levels.
Workers will continue to release the stored water for 3 more days this time.
Municipalities and local fishermen worry about possible effects on the environment if something goes wrong. The government and the Tokyo Electric Power say they will conduct strict monitoring of the discharge.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150914_22.html
Japan: call by former Prime Minister Koizumi for a national anti nuclear movement
Koizumi calls for national movement to lead fight against nuclear power,September 13, 2015 HE ASAHI SHIMBUN by Shinichi Sekine and Takashi Funakoshi
Although he has no plans to return to national politics, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tells the electorate not to lose hope in the campaign against nuclear power. In an exclusive interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo, Koizumi called for a national movement to steer Japan away from nuclear plants. “We should patiently continue to make efforts toward such a movement,” he said on Sept. 9. “It is worth our efforts.”
In the first interview Koizumi, 73, has granted to a media outlet since he stopped down as prime minister in September 2006, the theme was nuclear power. The former prime minister denounced the Abe administration for pushing to rely on nuclear energy despite the 2011 Fukushima disaster, calling the recent restart of a nuclear power station “wrong.”
“Japan will be all right even if all its nuclear power plants are abandoned right now,” he said.
While in office from 2001 to 2006, Koizumi, of the Liberal Democratic Party, had promoted nuclear power generation in line with previous governments’ policy. Koizumi, however, had a dramatic change of heart in the wake of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011, pointing to the potential danger of nuclear plants.
Last year, he actively campaigned in the Tokyo gubernatorial election for former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on a primarily anti-nuclear platform. Hosokawa placed third in the race, behind winner Yoichi Masuzoe, who was backed by the ruling LDP.
Koizumi said the costs of bolstering the safety of nuclear power stations in quake-prone Japan would prove massive, citing powerful temblors in recent years such as the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake and 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
“Nuclear power plants are not safe,” he said. “If additional precautions are taken (to help prepare nuclear facilities for a giant quake), it will cost a huge amount of money.”
The former prime minister also hit back at the government’s argument that continuing with nuclear power will be a step in the right direction in terms of addressing global warming, given it does not emit carbon dioxide while generating electricity.
“Nuclear power is not clean at all,” he said. “It is obvious that nuclear power also generates ‘nuclear waste’ (highly radioactive waste), which is more dangerous than carbon dioxide (that is spewed by thermal power plants).”
Koizumi criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for “being influenced by promoters of nuclear power” and pressing ahead with the restart of a nuclear power plant……… http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509130042
Iodine-131 detected from dried sewage sludge in Funabashi city of Chiba
From this May to June, Iodine-131 was measured from dried sewage sludge according to Funabashi city government of Chiba.
They collect the samples from 2 sewage plants in the city. This May, 38 Bq/Kg of Iodine-131 was measured from one of the plants. This June, 19 Bq/Kg of Iodine-131 was also detected from the other plant.
Cs-134/137 was also detected. 12 Bq/Kg of Cs-137 was measured from the former sample. 91 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 was measured from the latter sample.
They don’t analyze other nuclides. Regarding this detection of Iodine-131, Funabashi city government has not made any comment.
Related article.. I-131 detected from dehydrated sludge of sewage plant in Gunma [URL]
http://www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp/machi/gesui/0001/gesui-odei27.html
Source: Fukushima Daiichi
Iodine-131 detected from dried sewage sludge in Funabashi city of Chiba
Nearly 70,000 evacuees still living in shoddy temporary housing
Temporary housing in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture
Tens of thousands of evacuees from the earthquake and tsunami disaster in 2011 are still living in temporary shelters designed to last only two years.
Most of the 68,000 evacuees are from the hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
Temporary prefabricated housing was erected hastily because so many people lost their homes and livelihoods in the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing towering tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.
Under the central government’s system to help victims of natural disasters, such prefabricated homes are to be used, in principle, for just two years.
The scale of the disaster led to delays in constructing more permanent public housing for those made homeless.
Many of the communities devastated by the tsunami in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures are trying to build new public housing units for disaster victims on higher ground, but that is proving difficult because the coastal areas are so flat.
In the case of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, all evacuees had left temporary housing and were relocated in 25,000 public housing units just five years after the disaster.
It has been estimated that 29,501 public housing units need to be built for the victims of the 2011 disaster. But as of July, only 11,000 units had been completed.
Officials say construction of all the needed public housing will likely not be completed until fiscal 2018.
Many of those still living in the temporary housing units are senior citizens or those on low incomes who face difficulties in finding other housing on their own.
That is one reason there has only been a 40 percent decrease in the number of evacuees from the peak figure in March 2012. About 199,000 people are still living as evacuees.
About 10 percent of those in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures living in temporary housing either said they were unsure where they would go after leaving those units or local government officials could not confirm the intentions of the evacuees.
In Fukushima Prefecture, about 20,000 evacuees live in temporary housing units. Because nine local communities are still covered by evacuation orders due to the Fukushima nuclear accident that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami disaster, about 70,000 residents are unable to return to their homes.
In a related development, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency updated its figures on the number of dead and missing from the 2011 disasters to 21,955 as of Sept. 1 against 18,554 on Sept 12, 2012. It said the number of fatalities includes those who died while living as evacuees.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201509120035
Bags of tainted waste swept into Fukushima river during torrential rain
FUKUSHIMA–Seven sites for radioactive waste generated from the Fukushima nuclear crisis were submerged during torrential rain in eastern Japan on Sept. 11, raising fears over a possible radiation spill into the environment.
The temporary storage sites, located in Kawamata, Naraha and other municipalities near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, store soil, grass and other radiation-tainted waste generated by decontamination work due to the 2011 triple meltdown.
In Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, where all residents remain evacuated, at least 82 black polyethylene bags containing tainted grass and other waste were swept from a site of decontamination work into a river.
Each bag can hold 1 cubic meter of waste.
An Iitate town official alerted the Environment Ministry’s Fukushima Office for Environmental Restoration around 6 a.m. on Sept. 11 that bags of waste were being swept away.
By 6 p.m., officials had retrieved 37 of the 82 bags. The remaining 45 bags got stuck under bridges and other obstacles along the river.
Ministry officials said none of the bags located thus far had spilled their contents and the impact on the environment was minimal.
At the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, heavy rain caused radiation-tainted rainwater to spill into the ocean outside the plant’s harbor from the drainage system that encircles the reactor buildings on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
Floodgates normally block tainted water from reaching the ocean from drainage ditches, but the torrential rains overwhelmed the gates twice in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, the plant operator said.
Utility officials said rainfall increases the radioactive level of the water in the drainage system as rainwater accumulates radioactive materials in surrounding soil when it flows in the ditches.
While the drainage water usually contains less than 100 becquerels of beta-ray-emitting radioactive substances per liter, the water measured 750 becquerels per liter on Sept. 11, TEPCO officials said.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509120043
Flooding swept away radiation cleanup bags in Fukushima
Black plastic bags containing irradiated soil, leaves and debris from the decontamination operation are dumped at a seaside in Tomioka, Fukushima, near Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant in February
Bags filled with grass and soil from work to remove radioactive substances spewed by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were swept away in the flooding of rivers in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, the Environment Ministry said.
A total of 82 of the bags were discovered, with 37 of them recovered Friday, though it remained unclear how many had been washed away, the ministry said.
Scores of 1,000-liter bags were used during the cleanup work, mainly to store surface soil that had been contaminated from the release at the plant, which was heavily damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Source: Japan Times
Japan ignores post Fukushima nuclear safety guidelines
Who Opens a Reactor Next to a Volcano? Japan’s New Nuclear Gamble, The Daily Beast, 11 Sept 15
Massive earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, and natural disasters galore—Japan would seem a rather precarious perch for nuclear power plants. Flooding from Tropical Storm Etau, which overwhelmed the water pumps at the infamous ruins of Fukushima, washing more radioactive waste into the ocean, ought to serve as yet another reminder of how fragile Japan’s atomic energy program really is.
But is anyone paying attention?
Last week the International Atomic Energy Agency sounded a barely heard alarm. In its final report on the March 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the UN watchdog blasted Tokyo Electric Power Co. for not taking sufficient disaster precautions. “A major factor that contributed to the accident was the widespread assumption in Japan that its nuclear power plants were so safe,” it noted.
The report should have been taken as a warning. It was mostly ignored.
Among its recommendations: “Pre-accident planning for post-accident recovery is necessary to improve decision-making under pressure in the immediate post-accident situation.”
On Sept. 1, Japan’s National Disaster Prevention Day, The Mainichi newspaper ran a story showing that absolutely nothing had been done in the three years since the government ordered new disaster-response guidelines for 17 nuclear research and storage facilities—including the Rokkasho facility in Aomori, which has enough plutonium to make hundreds of nuclear bombs.
Meanwhile, Japan’s first nuclear reactor to be restarted after the shutdown in 2011, at Sendai, went back online on Aug. 11. Things have not been going smoothly.
On Aug. 20, an alarm at Unit No. 1 went off at 2:19 p.m. after seawater apparently leaked into the reactor’s secondary cooling system. Plans to return to full capacity were delayed. The restart had been delayed again and again—and for good reasons………
human error isn’t Japan’s only matter of serious concern: In addition to Etau’s nearly three feet of rain and an onslaught of other typhoons this year, there’s Mount Sakurajima, a volcano 30 miles from the reactor in southern Kagoshima prefecture that’s showing signs of having a major eruption. On Aug. 15, the national meteorological agency advised people within two miles of the crater to leave the area.
The NRA states that the volcano doesn’t pose a threat to the nuclear power plant.
According to Kyushu Electric Power, there are 14 known active volcanoes within 100 miles of the Sendai reactor. The company says its new equipment is fully prepared to withstand 15 centimeters (or about 6 inches) of volcanic ash. In a country that’s home to 10 percent of the world’s known active volcanoes, not everyone is convinced by those assurances.
Why the rush to put a nuclear plant online in the first place?……..
Japan’s big business association [Keidanren] is also under the strong influence of the nuclear power lobby, and it has long demanded that the government restart the plants as soon as possible,” said Prof. Koichi Nakano, an expert on Japanese politics at Tokyo’s Sophia University. “The ‘nuclear village’ is very well represented among the power elite behind the Abe government, so it has long thought that if this government cannot resume nuclear power generation, no other government can.”
“The problem for them is that the public remains very strongly opposed to nuclear power,” Nakano added. “The Sendai facilities in Kagoshima prefecture are far away from any major city in Japan, so presumably they thought that it is a suitable plant to start with. But given the strength of popular opposition, it won’t be easy to restart so many other plants as if nothing happened.”
But in light of the Fukushima disaster and the frequent seismic activity endemic to its Ring of Fire setting, is Japan’s reliance on nuclear energy a wise choice?…….
The restarts illustrate that the lessons of Fukushima are being ignored and that authorities are still wishing risk away,” says Prof. Jeff Kingston, author ofContemporary Japan. “The evacuation plans are a macabre joke. If there is an accident, it won’t be possible to get people out of harm’s way in an orderly and timely fashion. In the event of a tsunami, landslides, and or volcano eruption, many of the roads could become impassable. There is no Plan B.
“The new, so-called strict guidelines do not meet global standards and focus on hardware, whereas the main lesson of Fukushima is that human error was a major factor contributing to the meltdowns,” Kingston added. “It is clear that these significant risks remain unaddressed in the rush to restart. Yet again corners are being cut and public safety is being risked to help the bottom line.”
In the aftermath of Fukushima, former Prime Minister Kan Naoto, who was in charge during 2011’s triple disaster, acknowledged nuclear’s lethal uncertainties—and then one more. “Nuclear power is a huge risk. Not to mention the possibility of human error. And the Fukushima accident also showed the world how vulnerable nuclear power plants could be to terrorism,” Naoto wrote in his memoirs in 2012. “Terrorists don’t have to bomb them, they just need to get inside and cut the power to potentially unleash great destruction.”
Unarmed guards protect Japan’s nuclear power plants, and background checks are not required for employees. Members of organized crime, the yakuza, staff construction teams and work within the plants. The Japanese government has acknowledged in reports that not only is there a threat from outsiders storming the nuclear plants, but also a high risk from workers already inside—in other words, terrorists might walk through the front doors as employees.
And there is another time bomb ticking here for the Abe administration: Japan’s anti-nuclear activists and the courts……….http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/11/who-opens-a-reactor-next-to-a-volcano-japan-s-new-nuclear-gamble.html
Tepco investigated equipment hatch of Reactor 3 PCV / “Next time, use robot with a smartphone”
On 9/9/2015, Tepco investigated the equipment hatch of PCV 3 (Reactor 3 PCV) with a portable camera.
They reported the hatch is not leaking coolant water from the inside of PCV 3, nor was damaged however the floor was wet and didn’t confirm where the water was leaking.
None of the atmospheric dose or nuclide analysis data was released. On the other hand, the video shows the white noise caused by extremely high level of radiation.
Considering what they have found in this investigation, Tepco is to decide to send a remote-controlling robot for the next phase. The robot is planned to carry a “smartphone camera” for some reason.
The plan image of the new robot to investigate inside PCV 3. A smartphone is used as its camera.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150909_12-j.pdf
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/date/2015/201509-j/150909-03j.html
Source: Fukushima Diary
1 This Month
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
1st July – Webinar Waste of Space: The Environmental Harm of Military and Civil Space Activity st July, 7 pm
Report Launch Online: We are seeing an increasing exploitation of space for military and commercial purposes. This must change.
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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