Radiation fears as report shows Fukushima fir trees to be growing strangely
TOKYO — Following the events of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex, radiologists in Japan have been closely observing the area for potential changes. A new report by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences now suggests that the fir trees in Fukushima may be exhibiting strange growth patterns, with the radiation from the disaster being named as a possible factor.
The report, published on the organisation’s website on August 28, states that when comparing fir trees from within the affected zone to those from areas with lower radioactivity, the fir trees in the affected area were increasingly found to be stunted and exhibiting signs of morphological change, particularly bifurcation, the splitting of a body into two parts, i.e. “branching.”
Each year of a healthy fir tree’s growth sees it growing directly upward while also putting out two horizontal branches. Scientists have noted, however, that some of the trees in the affected areas are only branching off into two separate directions at the tip, and exhibiting lack of upward growth.
The changes can be identified in the images above left, which were included with the report. Image A shows a normal example of growth. Note the vertical central branch. Photo B shows a trunk which has entirely split into two, and photo C shows horizontal growth only, with a distinct lack of vertical growth. The red arrows indicate where bifurcation has occurred. You can see in image C how the central, vertical branch of the tree which should be growing upward is missing entirely.
The investigation was conducted in January of this year, with trees examined in Okuma, Fukushima (3.5 kilometres from the nuclear plant), and two locations in Namie, Fukushima (8.5 and 15 kilometres from the plant). Radiation levels in Okuma were recorded at 33.9 microsieverts, and in Namie, the levels were 19.6 and 6.85 microsieverts, respectively. These trees were compared against trees in the north of neighbouring Ibaraki Prefecture
from an area with a microsievert reading of 0.13.
Between 100 and 200 trees in each location were examined for changes, with the effect seen more often in the areas with higher levels of radiation. 90% of the trees examined in Okuma exhibited some degree of morphological change, a number which fell to 40% and 30% in Namie, and to less than 10% in northern Ibaraki Prefecture.
The correlation between the frequency of the morphological change and the proximity to the Fukushima Daiichi site/level of radiation recorded suggests that it is likely — but as yet not confirmed — that the changes are connected to the increase in background radiation.
However, the report notes that this particular morphological change has been identified in other areas and can be attributed to a range of other factors including environmental changes and as a result of pest damage. The report states that rather than attributing this change directly to the nuclear disaster, researchers are instead presenting evidence that proves that this change is seen more often when radiation is a contributing factor.
Source: Report on Morphological Changes to Fir Trees in Areas with High Radiation, National Institute of Radiological Sciences
Source: Japan Today
Japan lifts evacuation order for town near doomed nuke plant
NARAHA, Japan (AP) — Japan’s government on Saturday lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town’s 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.
Naraha became the first to get the order lifted among seven municipalities forced to empty entirely due to radiation contamination following the massive earthquake and tsunami that sent the plant’s reactors into triple meltdowns in March 2011.
The central government has said radiation levels in Naraha have fallen to levels deemed safe following decontamination efforts.
According to a government survey, however, 53 percent of the evacuees from Naraha, which is 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the nuclear plant, say they’re either not ready to return home permanently or are undecided. Some say they’ve found jobs elsewhere over the past few years, while others cite radiation concerns.
Naraha represents a test case, as most residents remain cautious amid lingering health concerns and a lack of infrastructure. In the once-abandoned town, a segment of a national railway is still out of service, with the tracks covered with grass. Some houses are falling down and wild boars roam around at night.
Only about 100 of the nearly 2,600 households have returned since a trial period began in April. Last year, the government lifted evacuation orders for parts of two nearby towns, but only about half of their former residents have returned.
Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto said that Saturday marked an important milestone.
“Our clock started moving again,” he said during a ceremony held at a children’s park. “The lifting of the evacuation order is one key step, but this is just a start.”
Matsumoto said he hoped Naraha could set a good example of a recovering town for the other affected municipalities.
About 100,000 people from about 10 municipalities around the wrecked plant still cannot go home. The government hopes to lift all evacuation orders except for the most contaminated areas closest to the plant by March 2017 — a plan many evacuees criticize as an attempt to showcase Fukushima’s recovery ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Matsumoto said that fear of radiation and nuclear safety was still present, and that Naraha had a long way to go in its recovery. The town will be without a medical clinic until October, while a new prefectural hospital won’t be ready until February.
A grocery store started free delivery services in July, and a shopping center will open next year. Still, many residents, especially those who don’t drive, face limited options for their daily necessities.
Residents have been given personal dosimeters to check their own radiation levels. To accommodate their concerns, the town is also running 24-hour monitoring at a water filtration plant, testing tap water for radioactive materials.
Toshiko Yokota, a 53-year-old homemaker who had to leave her Naraha house after the disaster, said Saturday that she came back to attend the ceremony and clean her home, and that she eventually wants to move back with her husband. Their house was damaged by rats, bugs and rainwater leaks in their absence, and still needs to be fully renovated, but she hopes to return in a few years.
“My friends are all in different places because of the nuclear accident, and the town doesn’t even look the same, but this is still my hometown and it really feels good to be back,” said Yokota, who currently lives in another town in Fukushima prefecture.
“I still feel uneasy about some things, like radiation levels and the lack of a medical facility,” she said. “In order to come back, I have to keep up my hope and stay healthy.”
Source: AP
Japan census conducted every five years likely to show first population plunge since 1920
Japan will on Thursday kick off a national census conducted once every five years that is expected to be the first showing a drop in the nation’s population since the survey began in 1920.
The upcoming census, covering all residents and households in the country, regardless of nationality, will also be the first in which an online response system will be made available nationwide.
According to estimates by the internal affairs ministry, the nation’s population has fallen annually in recent years. Preliminary population figures based on the new census data are to be released in February.
The census “will provide basic data needed for various policies, including welfare services and disaster prevention, which are essential to the creation of Japan’s future,” a ministry official said, calling for cooperation in the survey.
The census will be taken household by household, covering the names, birthdays, occupations and other questions.
In the previous census, online responses were accepted only in Tokyo. This time, the ministry projects more than 10 million households will submit answers online, including via personal computers and smartphones.
If the number reaches the expected level, the census would be one of the biggest online surveys in the world that use similar techniques, the official said.
The forthcoming census will also be the first one since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent atomic crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, both of which forced the evacuation of many people in the Tohoku region.
The survey is expected to help deepen understanding of population movements triggered by the disaster.
Source: Japan Times
Evacuation order lifted in Fukushima’s Naraha Town
Japan’s government has lifted an evacuation order for Naraha Town, near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The measure took effect on Friday at midnight. Nearly all of the area is located 20 kilometers from the plant in Fukushima Prefecture and was subject to the March 2011 evacuation order.
The government says decontamination has been completed in the area. Officials say the town’s environment is almost ready for residents to return to their homes.
This is the third evacuation order to be lifted since the accident. The previous 2 were the Miyakoji district in Tamura City and the eastern part of Kawauchi Village.
But Naraha is the first municipality among the 7 towns and villages around the plant to have its evacuation order lifted.
These 7 municipalities totally emptied of residents, as well as local government workers. The evacuation was ordered by the central government soon after the disaster.
The lifting of the evacuation order allows the town’s approximately 7,300 residents to return to their homes. It also permits them to resume commercial and business activities.
At the same time, the town faces the challenge of addressing residents’ concerns about radiation and building a safe environment for its residents. It also faces the task of resuming the town’s commercial and medical services for the first time in 4-and-a-half years.
An evacuation order remains in place for about 70,000 people in 9 municipalities surrounding the Daiichi plant.
The central government plans to lift the order for the remaining municipalities once decontamination is complete and services are capable of supporting people’s lives.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150905_07.html
Plant operator to reactivate another reactor
The operator of Japan’s only active nuclear power station plans to prepare to restart a second reactor at the plant.
Kyushu Electric Power Company on Friday told the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, of its plan to start putting fuel rods into the Number 2 reactor of the Sendai plant in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on September 11th.
The company says loading the 157 units of fuel rods into the facility will take 4 days.
NRA officials are to then inspect emergency equipment and procedures for handling severe accidents. If no problems are found, the utility plans to reactivate the reactor in mid-October, aiming at starting commercial operations in mid-November.
The firm restarted the plant’s Number 1 reactor on August 11th. The reactor is to undergo final checks by the NRA next Thursday and, if it passes them, become the first in Japan to supply electricity in 2 years.
The 2 reactors are the first to meet regulations introduced after the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in 2011.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150904_32.html
Evacuation order lifted in Naraha, but few returning home
NARAHA, Fukushima Prefecture–Authorities lifted an evacuation order for 7,400 residents of this small town close to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Sept. 5, but very few homeowners have indicated they plan to return anytime soon.
Most of Naraha is located within the 20-kilometer-radius evacuation zone surrounding the stricken plant. Even though the evacuation order was lifted at midnight for the entire town, there are lingering fears of radiation contamination and concerns over a lack of essentials that would allow residents to pick up the threads of their former lives.
Of the seven Fukushima municipalities where all residents were ordered to evacuate after the triple meltdown triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, Naraha is the first one to have the evacuation order removed.
One evacuee who did return to his Naraha home was 68-year-old Fusao Sakamoto.
“Looking back, I feel my four-and-half-years as an evacuee was agonizingly long,” the landscape gardener said.
According to the town government, only 780 residents of 351 households, or just over 10 percent of the entire population, were registered at the end of August with the town’s program to allow them to stay overnight to prepare for permanent resettlement.
It was the third removal of an evacuation order among areas in the former no-go zone set within 20 km of the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The number of residents allowed to return home is the largest with the lifting of the Naraha evacuation order. It is expected to set a precedent for large-scale resettlement of Fukushima evacuees.
Almost all Naraha residents fled from their hometown on March 12, the day after the nuclear disaster unfolded. The Fukushima plant is located in the nearby towns of Okuma and Futaba.
Naraha was initially designated as a no-entry zone, which in principle prohibited residents from entering the town. But it was redesignated as a zone being prepared for the lifting of the evacuation order in August 2012, which meant that residents were allowed to enter the town during daytime hours.
With decontamination work and restoration of basic infrastructure largely completed, evacuees were allowed to return home for long-term stays in April to prepare for permanent resettlement.
On Sept. 5, the town government, which relocated its functions to Iwaki and other municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, began to resume operations at the town office building in central Naraha.
“The clock has just started ticking again for our town with the lifting of the evacuation order after many months,” Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto told town officials. “We will accelerate efforts to achieve full recovery of the town.”
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509050035
Fukushima: Japan ends evacuation of Naraha as ‘radiation at safe level’
The town’s 7,400 residents are allowed to return to their homes after the four-year-old evacuation order was lifted on Saturday
A man lights candles in Naraha, Japan. Residents of Naraha will return from Saturday to live in the town near the Fukushima nuclear power plant for the first time since the 2011 disaster.
The Japanese town of Naraha has lifted a 2011 evacuation order that sent all its 7,400 residents away after the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant was crippled by a tsunami that led to a meltdown and contamination.
Naraha was the first among seven municipalities forced to empty entirely due to radiation contamination following the massive earthquake and tsunami that sent the reactors into meltdown.
The government says radiation levels in town have fallen to levels deemed safe following decontamination efforts, and on Saturday lifted the four-year-old evacuation order.
The town represents a test case, as most residents remain cautious amid lingering health concerns and a lack of infrastructure. Only about 100 of the nearly 2,600 households have returned since a trial period begun in April.
The Naraha mayor, Yukiei Matsumoto, said Saturday marked an important milestone. “Our clock started moving again,” Matsumoto said during a ceremony held at a children’s park. “The lifting of the evacuation order is one key step but this is just a start.”
He said fear of radiation and nuclear safety was still present and the town had a long way ahead for recovery. It would be without a medical clinic until October and a new prefectural hospital would not be ready until February next year.
A grocery store started free delivery services in July, and a shopping centre will open in 2016. Still, many residents, especially those who do not drive, face limited options for their daily necessities.
Residents are given personal dosimeters to check their own radiation levels. To accommodate their concerns the town is also running 24-hour monitoring at a water filtration plant, testing tap water for radioactive materials.
In 2014 the government lifted evacuation orders for parts of two nearby towns.
Source: The Guardian
Nearly 700,000 tons of radioactive water stored at Fukushima plant
OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture–Almost 700,000 tons of radiation-contaminated water have accumulated at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. disclosed Sept. 4.
The water is stored in rows of massive tanks on the plant’s premises.
Contaminated water has been a persistent problem since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster triggered a triple meltdown at the plant, resulting in a vast amount of radiation being spewed from the facility.
Each day, about 300 tons of groundwater still seeps into the basements of the reactor buildings, where it mixes with melted nuclear fuel and becomes highly contaminated, the utility officials said.
The storage tanks TEPCO has constructed to store the water are 10 meters tall and positioned on the inland, and not seaward, side of the reactor buildings.
The plant operator said it had lowered the radiation level of a large portion of the contaminated water using a multinuclide removal apparatus called ALPS (advanced liquid processing system) and other equipment.
The utility completed processing the most highly contaminated water stored in tanks by the end of May.
TEPCO has also worked to replace flange-type bolted storage tanks that are susceptible to leakage with welded tanks to reduce the risk of accidental seepage.
To intercept clean groundwater before it flows into contaminated reactor buildings, TEPCO started a “subdrain plan” Sept. 3 to pump tons of groundwater from “subdrain wells” before it reaches the contaminated reactor buildings each day. The water will be released into the sea after undergoing decontamination treatment
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509050017
Japan’s Monju nuclear reprocessing reactor, plagued by safety errors, offline for most of 20 years
Errors found in safety management of Monju reactor http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150903_28.html Sep. 3, 2015 Japan’s nuclear regulators have found fresh faults with the safety management of the country’s fast-breeder reactor, which is currently offline. They say they have found thousands of errors in safety classifications of the equipment and devices at the Monju reactor.
The operator of the prototype reactor in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, has been banned from conducting test runs since 2013 following discoveries of a large number of safety inspection oversights.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it has recently found at least 3,000 mistakes with safety classifications of equipment and devices at the reactor during its regular inspections which are conducted 4 times a year. Its officials say, equipment and devices with high importance were, in some cases, classified in lower ranks in the 3-level system, which suggest the operator might have failed to carry out necessary inspections for them.
The errors found recently include those going as far back as 2007. The fact suggests that government inspectors have also overlooked the operator’s mistakes. The operator, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, built the Monju fast-breeder reactor in the early 1990s to reuse the spent nuclear fuel MOX, a mixture of plutonium extracted from spent fuel and uranium.
But it has been offline for most of the period after it underwent a fire from a leak of sodium, the reactor’s coolant, in 1995.
The operator aims to conduct the reactor’s test run by next March. But it is uncertain when the ban by the authority will be lifted. The plant’s director, Kazumi Aoto, says he will take the government’s report seriously. An NRA inspector, Yutaka Miyawaki, says the regulators will try to identify the actual effects of the errors.
In Japan’s hot summer, solar power ramped up its contribution to electricity
Solar power supplies 10 percent of Japan peak summer power: Asahi http://news.yahoo.com/solar-power-supplies-10-percent-japan-peak-summer-030520802–finance.html?utm_content=buffer78331&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer September 2, 2015 TOKYO (Reuters) – Solar power generation contributed to about 10 percent of peak summer power supplies of Japan’s nine major utilities, equivalent to more than 10 nuclear reactors, the Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday.
Though solar power accounts for about 2 percent of annual generation of all power sources, summer’s favorable sunlight conditions increased power output, generating up to about 15 gigawatts of power in total in early August, the paper said.
Japan has been pouring billions of dollars in clean-energy investment after introducing a feed-in tariff (FIT) program in 2012, aiming to help the world’s third-biggest economy shift away from its reliance on nuclear power after the March 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Asahi’s survey showed that the ratio of solar power at peak hours was as low as Hokuriku Electric Power’s <9505.T> 5.9 percent and as high as Kyushu Electric Power’s <9508.T> 24.6 percent, depending on access to ample land with favorable sunlight conditions.
The installed capacity of solar power taking advantage of FIT scheme has reached more than 24 gigawatts at the end of April, government data showed, up from about 5 GW before the scheme started.(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
MANDATORY INDICTMENT FOR FORMER TEPCO EXECUTIVES FOR FUKUSHIMA DISASTER
FORMER TEPCO EXECUTIVES FACE MANDATORY INDICTMENT FOR FUKUSHIMA DISASTER http://www.fukushimawatch.com/2015-09-03-former-tepco-executives-face-mandatory-indictment-for-fukushima-disaster.html The Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution announced last July that former Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, as well as two other former company executives, should be indicted for his role in the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
The will of the people trumped the prosecutor’s decision not to indict the men. Despite public support, convicting the three men for “culpable negligence in an accident associated with a natural disaster” will be difficult, as The Japan News reported.
The decision clearly states that [TEPCO] should’ve been able to foresee the onslaught of the tsunami,” said Hiroyuki Kawai, lawyer for the Complainants for the Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, at a press conference. “The prospects for the trial are bright.”(1)
The prosecution hinges upon whether the three men knew that a tsunami would likely strike the power plant, and whether the gentlemen made adequate preparations in light of that knowledge.
A 2008 TEPCO report suggest that the three men were aware of the threat that a potential tsunami posed to the nuclear plant. The report predicted a maximum credible tsunami of 15.7 meters. Nevertheless, TEPCO claims that, since the report was preliminary, it lacked scholarly credibility. The company argues that it didn’t have sufficient reason to believe a tsunami would strike the plant, and that more evidence was needed before stirring a panic.
The inquest committee was made up of 11 members of the public. In response to these remarks, the committee stated, “it is sufficient that there must be foreseeability given the fact that a tsunami occurred and some sort of response was required.”(1)
The committee went on to note that the men held high positions of power and responsibility, and that the 2008 report should not have been taken with a grain of salt.
Soil Sample July 2015 from Nakano, Tokyo — Cesium 134 Cesium 137
From Mimi German, the head of Radcast in Portland, Oregon, USA:
Latest from RadCast Labs… not surprised to find Cesium134 and Cesium 137 in soil samples from Nakano, Tokyo.
Tokyo is 240 kms South of Fukushima Daiichi…
RadCast received samples of soil from Nakano, Tokyo which clearly showed both Cesium 137 and Cesium 134. This sample is from July 2015. We have 476 Bq/kg
Source: Radcast.org
https://www.radcast.org/radcast-soil-sample-july-2015-from-nakano-japan-cesium-134-cesium-137/
Japan to lift evacuation order for Fukushima town of Naraha
FUKUSHIMA – The government is set to lift at midnight Friday its evacuation order for the Fukushima Prefecture town of Naraha, most of which is located within 20 kilometers of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Naraha will be the first of the seven Fukushima municipalities where the entire populations were instructed to evacuate to have the order removed.
It will be the third such order to be lifted for a municipality in the former no-go zone set within 20 kilometers of the northeastern Japan power station, which suffered a reactor meltdown accident after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Naraha had a registered population of 7,368 in 2,694 households as of Tuesday. According to a survey by the government and others, some 46 percent of the residents hope to return home.
Only a portion of them are likely to go back immediately, however, including 780 people at some 350 households who are doing long-stays at their homes in the town to prepare for permanent returns.
The central and town governments will reopen a medical clinic in the town in October. A new prefectural clinic will be built as early as February.
To handle sudden illnesses among elderly people wishing to return home, medical services will be reinforced through steps such as the distribution of emergency buzzers to those who need them.
In a bid to meet requests for shopping services, a supermarket in the town launched free delivery services in July. A publicly built, privately run shopping center with a supermarket and do-it-yourself store will be established in fiscal 2016.
Dosimeters will be handed out to help people check radiation levels, while 24-hour monitoring will be conducted at a water filtration plant. Tap water will be tested at households hoping to check for radioactive materials.
The government lifted its evacuation order for the Miyakoji district in the city of Tamura in April 2014 and the eastern part of the village of Kawauchi in October 2014.
In August 2012, Naraha was redesignated as an area being prepared for the removal of the evacuation order and where people are allowed to enter during the daytime.
With decontamination work largely completed, evacuees have been allowed since April 2015 to return home for long-term stays to prepare for permanent returns.
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/04/national/japan-to-lift-evacuation-order-for-fukushima-town-of-naraha/#.Ven8rJeFSM9
Fukushima Daiichi drainage system enters operation
The flow of groundwater into the reactor buildings and port area of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan should be significantly reduced with the start of use of a new system to pump, treat, test and discharge the water.
The subdrain system is a group of 41 wells installed in the vicinity of the reactor and turbine buildings. Pumped up by the subdrain, the amount of groundwater flowing into the buildings is expected to be significantly reduced. The groundwater flowing into the port area is held back by the coastal impermeable wall and pumped up by another group of wells, the groundwater drain system, installed in the bank protection area.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) announced the first pumping up of groundwater by 20 of the wells in the subdrain system had begun at 10.00am today.
The collected groundwater will be temporarily stored to check its quality and then discharged into the port area, with thorough treatment processes.
Tepco said it expects the water pumped up by the subdrain and groundwater drain to be slightly more contaminated than water from the existing groundwater bypass (which intercepts water on the land side of the reactor buildings). However, it said the water will be treated to meet the more stringent quality standards for the subdrain and groundwater drain than for the groundwater bypass. The company noted the water would also be monitored more frequently to verify its quality for discharge.
Once the subdrain and groundwater drain systems are found to be operating stably, the opening that was left in the seaside impermeable wall will be closed to prevent groundwater flowing into the port area, Tepco said. The subdrain and groundwater drain will then work to keep groundwater from accumulating behind the impermeable wall.
Tepco estimates the subdrain will reduce the flow of groundwater into the reactor buildings to 150 cubic meters per day from the current 300 cubic meters. In the longer term, the company said the pumping systems and seaside wall are expected to be joined with the land side impermeable wall (frozen soil wall) currently under construction, “creating a wall around the reactor buildings and further reducing the intrusion of groundwater”.
Tepco sought the approval of prefectural and national fishermen’s associations for use of the system.
Tepco’s chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda said, “The activation of the subdrain system is a major milestone in redirecting fresh water from contaminated area. It also enables the seaside impermeable wall to be closed to further prevent any leakage of contaminated water.”
Source: World Nuclear News
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Fukushima-Daiichi-drainage-system-enters-operation-0309155.html
TEPCO pumps up groundwater for release into sea
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun pumping up groundwater from around reactor buildings with the aim of releasing it into the sea.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, hopes the move will slow the accumulation of radioactive wastewater in the buildings, which is building up at a rate of 300 tons a day due to the inflow of groundwater.
The utility will target groundwater from wells dug around the No.1 through No.4 reactor buildings. It plans to filter out much of the radioactive material before releasing the water into the ocean.
Workers on Thursday began pumping up groundwater from 20 wells. They plan to remove 200 tons through the afternoon and store it in special tanks.
TEPCO has yet to reach an agreement with local authorities and fishermen about when to release the decontaminated water, but it will likely be later this month.
The utility claims the drainage will cut the amount of wastewater in the reactor buildings by about half.
But local authorities and fishermen worry about what could happen to the environment if something goes wrong.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150903_17.html
1 This Month
Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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