Radiation levels close popular tourist park in Ibaraki Prefecture
HITACHI SEASIDE PARK CLOSED DUE TO RADIATION, FUKUSHIMA UPDATE MAY 26, 2014
via JapanCrush / May 25, 2014 / Netizens have been alarmed by the news from national broadcaster, NHK, that part of the beautiful Hitachi Seaside Park have been closed off due to a peak in radiation levels.Ibaraki Prefecture, which is home to the park, neighbours Fukushima Prefecture, and therefore concerns over radiation levels have been ongoing since the 2011 nuclear disaster.
From NHK.com – “…….Hitachi Seaside Park is one of Ibaraki prefecture’s leading tourist spots and had over 350000 visitors during Golden Week this year and from now on MLIT will be carrying out decontamination of the area.” http://fukushimaupdate.com/hitachi-seaside-park-closed-due-to-radiation-fears/
Japan’s nuclear regulator OK’s dodgy government funde plan for ice wall around Fukushima nuke plant
Japan to create underground ice wall at crippled nuclear plant https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/23861341/japan-to-create-underground-ice-wall-at-crippled-nuclear-plant/ Tokyo (AFP) – Japan’s nuclear regulator on Monday approved a plan to freeze the soil under the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to try to slow the build-up of radioactive water, officials said.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority examined plans by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to construct an underground ice wall at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant starting in June, regulatory officials said.
The wall is intended to block groundwater from nearby hillsides that has been flowing under the plant and mixing with polluted water used to cool reactors that went into meltdown after an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Under the plan, which is funded by the government, the firm will circulate a special refrigerant through pipes in the soil to create the 1.5-kilometre (0.9-mile)frozen wall that will stem the inflow of groundwater.
“We had some concerns, including the possibility that part of the ground could sink,” one official said on condition of anonymity.
“But there were no major objections to the project during the meeting, and we concluded that TEPCO can go ahead with at least part of the project as proposed after going through further necessary procedures.” However, TEPCO may have to review other parts of the project amid fears it might affect existing structures at the plant such as underground drains, he added.
The idea of freezing a section of the ground, which was proposed for Fukushima last year, has previously been used in the construction of tunnels near watercourses.
However, scientists point out that it has not been done on this scale before nor for the proposed length of time.
Coping with the huge — and growing — amount of water at the tsunami-damaged plant is proving to be one of the biggest challenges for TEPCO, as it tries to clean up the mess after the worst nuclear disaster in a generation.
As well as all the water used to keep broken reactors cool, the utility must also deal with the water that makes its way along subterranean watercourses from mountainsides to the sea.
Last week TEPCO began a bypass system that diverts groundwater into the sea to try to reduce the volume of contaminated water.
Full decommissioning of the plant at Fukushima is expected to take several decades. An area around the plant remains out of bounds and experts warn that some settlements may have to be abandoned because of high levels of radiation.
Japan’s atomic survivors, Hibakusha in Peru, on their global voyage of nuclear warning
Global Voyage for a Nuclear Free World – Radiation survivors tell their story in Lima, Peru Peru This Week By Roxana Garmendia, 27 May 14 Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors visit Lima as part of their worldwide tour campaign ‘world free of nuclear weapons.’Hiroshima and Nagasaki are two words one cannot easily forget. They represent the destruction and the immense human suffering and loss caused by the usage of nuclear weapons. On August 6, 1945, American airplanes dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki. 69 years have passed since then but the effects of such acts are still present to this day. To tell us more on these tragic events, a delegation of survivors recently visited Lima as part of their worldwide tour campaign on a ‘world free of nuclear weapons.’
A group of both men and women – most of them in their 70s – shared their memories and the consequences these events had in their lives and those of their families. They were young – if not infants – and some did remember those moments quite well; others learnt about them growing up and through their families. One man recalled his hair falling off and having open wounds in his legs and body caused by the radiation and from which worms would stem out; a lady being covered with a blanket by her mother, saving her from getting the radiation burns – different was the fate of the other family members who died soon after, she explained. More than 200,000 people have died of radiation sickness; the vast majority of them civilians.
There were, of course, those who survived the nuclear attacks; in Japan they are known as hibakushas. A hibakusha technically is someone that has been exposed to radiation within a few kilometers of the hypocenter or was not yet born but was carried by a pregnant woman that had been exposed to such radiation. It is estimated that there are more than 220,000 hibakushas alive – Japanese for the most part but also Koreans and Chinese who were brought to Japan as forced labor during those years. One percent of them are believed to still suffer from some disease related to the bombings. The effects of the radiation, it must be said, are both short and long-term, and may appear later.
It was not only the physical scars, illnesses and traumas that the hibakusha have suffered all along; they were also victims of discrimination. Jobs were difficult to get as people were afraid of any disease transfer. Likewise in social terms, it was not any better as the belief that the illness could be hereditary was very much in the air, and doubts about this still persist. A Japanese lady revealed, for example that all her children suffer from cancer, thyroid, and intestinal problems, common illnesses among other second generation hibakushas (approx. 300 to 500,000).
Several years after, the hibakushas organized themselves and managed to obtain some benefits from the Government. The Japanese Government provides them a monthly allowance and free medical treatment for those registered hibakushas. No compensation, however, was ever paid by the Americans even though they were the ones who threw the bombs……http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-global-voyage-for-nuclear-free-world-radiation-survivors-tell-their-story-in-lima-peru-103071
A legal precedent that could stall Japan’s nuclear power restart
Oi ruling may fuel anti-nuclear push Plaintiffs elated as district court prioritizes rights over profits Japan Times, BY ERIC JOHNSTON MAY 22, 2014 Wednesday’s court ruling blocking restarts of the No. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi plant may embolden opponents of nuclear power nationwide.
It creates a legal precedent and could fuel resistance to restarts, throwing into question whether the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be able to push ahead with them as swiftly as planned.
The government earlier asserted that the ruling, by the Fukui District Court, would have no impact on its plans.
Kepco announced Thursday it has appealed the lower court’s decision to the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court. There, the case could take two or three years to be decided……….
Kepco came under intense criticism from the Fukui court, which said the utility had made optimistic safety projections with no clear evidence. But in a move that could have ramifications nationwide, the court also ruled that 166 plaintiffs living within a 250-km radius of the Oi plant faced concrete dangers from the operation of nuclear power stations.
That could open the door to lawsuits from anyone living within 250 km of a nuclear plant, if the Fukui court’s decision is used as the basis for a claim that other utilities, as well as the Nuclear Regulation Authority, have created inadequate safety measures to deal with the possibility of an accident.
The entire Kansai region, most of Chubu, including Nagoya, much of Chugoku, including Hiroshima, and roughly a third of Shikoku lies within 250 km of the Oi plant.
Plaintiffs were particularly happy the court ruling included language that said providing electricity via nuclear plants is a mere economic activity, and as such has a lower priority than personal rights……..ww.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/22/national/oi-ruling-may-fuel-anti-nuclear-push/#.U4PbrnJdWik
IN Japan, huge public opposition to nuclear power is ignored by the Abe government
Abe administration ignored massive public opposition to nuclear power Asahi Shimbun, By ATSUSHI KOMORI/ Senior Staff Writer, 25 May 14, More than 90 percent of respondents during a public comment period on the Abe administration’s basic energy policy were opposed to nuclear power generation, according to an Asahi Shimbun estimate released on May 25.
The Asahi Shimbun made the determination by tallying how many of 2,109 of about 19,000 comments sent to the government from December to January were in opposition.
Failing to take into account that overwhelming public sentiment, the Cabinet approved in April the basic energy policy, which described nuclear power generation as an “important base load electricity source.” The base load electricity source means that nuclear power will continue to be relied on to meet a percentage of the electricity demand, regardless of the season or time of day.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released on Dec. 6, 2013, the draft of the basic energy policy, the first compiled by the Abe administration since the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant triggered by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
After releasing the draft, the Abe administration gathered public comments for a month until Jan. 6 through e-mails, faxes and other means. In all, about 19,000 responses were sent to the government.
The industry ministry disclosed representative comments in February. However, it did not tally how many replies it received were for or against nuclear power generation………..
As for the 2,109 e-mails, The Asahi Shimbun counted how many were for or against nuclear power generation. It found that 2,008 of them, or 95.2 percent, opposed nuclear power generation. Only 33, or 1.6 percent, supported nuclear power. The remaining 68 e-mails, or 3.2 percent, were “other replies.”
As for the reasons why they opposed nuclear power generation, many of the 2,008 respondents said that the nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture has yet to be resolved or that there are no disposal sites for spent nuclear fuels. Some of the comments also criticized the draft plan, which regarded nuclear power as an important electricity source, for going against public opinion……… http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201405250023
Legal ruling in Japan throws doubt on ANY nuclear reactor restarts
Reflect on Fukui nuclear ruling, Japan Times 23 May 14 The Fukui District Court’s ruling this week that it will not allow the restart of two nuclear power reactors run by Kansai Electric Power Co. challenges the Abe administration’s energy policy of keeping nuclear power as a key source of the nation’s electricity supply despite the safety risks that materialized in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in March 2011.
The court’s Wednesday ruling was on a lawsuit filed by a group of 189 people from Tokyo, Fukui and other prefectures against the 2012 restart of two of the reactors at
Kepco’s Oi Nuclear Power Plant in Oi, Fukui Prefecture.
The two Oi reactors — the first to have been reactivated after all of the nation’s nuclear reactors were shut down following the triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant — were taken offline last year for regular maintenance, leaving the nation again without nuclear power.
The content of the court’s ruling, in effect, questions the plans by power firms and the government to restart more than a dozen nuclear reactors around the country just three years after the disaster in Fukushima, ……
The district court said the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi plant have “structural deficiencies” in their safety measures against severe earthquakes, and determined that restarting their operation would violate the fundamental rights to life of plaintiffs who live within 250 km of the plant — the maximum range where the effects of a worst-case nuclear power plant disaster are estimated to spread in simulations based on the Fukushima case……
The ruling dismissed an argument by Kepco in court, noting that it is legally irrelevant to discuss people’s fundamental rights to life on the same level as the question of rising costs of generating electricity.
It went on to say that even if Japan suffers large trade deficits because of the nuclear power plant shutdowns, the real loss of national wealth is when people become unable to live stable lives on their land — an apparent reference to the shattered lives of those residents around the Fukushima plant who were forced to flee their homes. The court also called the radiation fallout from the Fukushima disaster “the worst environmental contamination” in Japan’s history and brushed aside as completely missing the point the argument that the nation needs to have nuclear power as a clean energy that reduces emissions of global warming gases.
One of the key points of the ruling is that operation of the Oi reactors needs to be stopped if there is “even a slightest chance” that the reactors’ ability to keep cooling their cores and contain radioactivity could be lost — as happened in the case of the Fukushima No. 1 plant — if the plant is crippled by severe earthquakes.
The crucial point of the ruling is its contention that it is inherently impossible to determine on scientific grounds that an earthquake more powerful than assumed in the operator’s worst-case scenario would not happen. It noted that since 2005, four nuclear power reactors around the country have experienced quake shocks more powerful than the maximum level anticipated on their sites. It is “groundless optimism” in this quake-prone country that such a temblor would never hit the Oi plant, the ruling stated……..
The Abe administration and the power companies need to stop and reflect on the Fukui court ruling in the context of what the events of the Fukushima disaster. The core meltdowns at Tepco’s Fukushima plant took place after the operator deliberately underestimated tsunami risks and failed to take necessary precautions. When it hit, Tepco sought to excuse its lack of preparedness by characterizing the tsunami as simply beyond the scope of “conventional assumptions.”
What the ruling called the “groundless optimism” about safety of the Oi plant can be a malady common to all nuclear power plants in this country. The “safety myth” in nuclear power was shattered in the Fukushima disaster. Such a myth should not be resurrected. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/05/23/commentary/reflect-on-fukui-nuclear-ruling/#.U4ENcHJdWik
Thyroid cancer rates rise in Fukushima children
50% jump in cancer in Fukushima children’s thyroids since last report 3 months ago — Now 90 cases suspected or confirmed — Gov’t Experts: “Difficult to determine” if cancers caused by nuclear disaster http://enenews.com/50-increase-in-cancer-in-fukushima-childrens-thyroids-since-last-report-3-months-ago-total-number-jumps-to-50-from-33-90-cases-suspected-or-confirmed?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Jiji Press, May 19, 2014: 50 Fukushima Children Confirmed as Thyroid Cancer Sufferers […] The cancer figure […] increased by 17 from the previously reported figure […] the panel said it is hard to think that there is a causal link between the children’s cancer and the March 2011 reactor meltdowns […]
Fukushima Voice, May 19, 2014: In summary, there were 17 more cancer cases confirmed since the last report on February 7th, 2014. The total number of cases confirmed or suspected of cancer is 90. Of these, 51 had surgeries as March 31, 2014 and 1 turned out to be a benign nodule, 49 were confirmed to be papillary thyroid cancer, and 1 still has no confirmed cytological diagnosis […] As usual, no information was offered such as the type of nodules […]
Total number of children whose initial examination results are confirmed: 287,056 […]
Assessment A1 148,182 (51.6%) (no nodules or cysts found)
Assessment A2 136,804 (47.7%) (nodules 5.0 mm or smaller or cysts 20.0 mm or smaller)
Assessment B 2,069 (0.7%) (nodules 5.1 mm or larger or cysts 20.1 mm or larger)
Assessment C 1 (0.0%) (requiring immediate secondary examination)
Japan Times, May 20, 2014: Number of Fukushima kids with thyroid cancer jumps by 17 from December […] 50 children in the prefecture have developed thyroid cancer [and] 39 children suspected of having developed cancer, sources said. The cancer figure was taken at the end of March […] the panel said it was difficult to determine that a causal link existed between the children’s cancers and the triple meltdown […] Once the results of the first round checkups become available, likely in August, the panel will again assess the thyroid cancer numbers and any possible connection between the cancers and the accident, the sources said.
17 new cases of thyroid cancers / 33 reported in Feb. 2014 = 51.5% increase
See also: Cancer Specialist in Fukushima: There are simply too many cases, I see a connection
Japan’s atomic bomb survivors – now a dwindling band
Hibakusha: Disappearing A-bomb survivors leave movement’s future in question Mainichi By Sakiko Takahashi, Hiroshima Bureau 20 May 14 HIROSHIMA — The sun cast its soft rays on the green summer vegetation as I headed on my way to visit atomic bomb survivor and poet Hiroshi Maruya, 89, this May 1 after I received his invitation…..
“Finally, only I am left,” said Maruya, his eyes wide open and his voice lonely.
At the end of April, a general meeting of an A-bomb survivors’ group was held at Hiroshima Kyoritsu Hospital, for which Maruya serves as honorary head. The subject of the meeting: how to shrink down the group’s activities. As chairman, Maruya spoke to those gathered, saying, “We haven’t the vitality to actively campaign against nuclear weapons, and must have the younger generation take over the reins.”
At the meeting the subject of disbanding the group even came up, but on the request of members it was decided to leave it in existence.
Meanwhile, as Maruya and I talked, he relayed to me his recent activities: heading to Tokyo to demand improvements for a law supporting A-bomb victims and his visit to South Korea’s Hapcheon County, said to be “South Korea’s Hiroshima” because of its many residents who were exposed to A-bomb radiation.
Regarding the end of the activities by A-bomb survivors’ groups as their members die out, Maruya said, “It’s sad, but I think this is what history is. For both nuclear weapons and nuclear plants, it’s about how vividly and carefully people’s memories of them are preserved, and about how much creativity is born in the process.”…….http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140520p2a00m0na006000c.html
Manga artist not prepared to toe the reassuring official line on radiation and health
Manga depiction of nosebleed spurs debate on radiation health risks CTV News, Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press May 19, 2014 TOKYO — A journalist finds his nose doesn’t stop bleeding after visiting the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. He also learns others suffer similar symptoms.
The scene from popular manga comic “Oishinbo,” published last month, has set off a hot public debate in Japan — a nation still traumatized by the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.
Local governments immediately protested the comic, saying it fosters unfounded fears of radiation.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chimed in over the weekend, reassuring the public there was no proof of a link between radiation and such illnesses. “The government will make the best effort to take action against baseless rumours,” he said.
Undeterred by the ruckus, Tokyo-based publisher Shogakukan added a special 10-page segment to weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine, published Monday, featuring criticism it had received as well as opinion from radiation experts.
Editor Hiroshi Murayama acknowledged he had been unsure about publishing the manga, subtitled “The Truth of Fukushima,” because he anticipated people would be offended. But he had decided that voice needed to be heard, he said.
“We hope the various views on the latest ‘Oishinbo’ will lead to a constructive debate into assessing our future,” he said in the special segment.
“Oishinbo,” a hit series usually about gourmet food, which began in the 1980s, will be discontinued temporarily in the magazine. But the publisher said that had been the plan even before the controversy. It is not clear when it will run again………..
Scientists say there is no exact safe limit to low dose radiation. A causal link to any individual’s disease is hard to prove, given the varieties of carcinogens and other risks in the environment.
Fukushima is monitoring the health of its residents, and carrying out thyroid checks on those ages 18 and under.
Seventy-five confirmed and suspected cases of thyroid cancer have been found in those tests, but it is unclear whether they are linked to radiation.
A group of Fukushima residents, who say they have suffered dizzy spells and nosebleeds since the disaster, came out last week in defence of “Oishinbo.” They said through their lawyer that they will speak out in Tokyo, but on condition of anonymity, perhaps wearing a traditional demon’s mask to protect themselves against ostracism and other social backlash over going public with fears about radiation.
In the final scenes of the Fukushima episodes of “Oishinbo,” the characters — drawn in trademark manga style with big eyes — talk about how they must save Fukushima. But they decide that the best way is to urge people living with radiation to have the courage to get out, with the help of the government.
Tetsu Kariya, the writer of “Oishinbo,” did not immediately respond to requests for an interview. But he said on his blog earlier this month that the intensity of the outrage set off by the nosebleed scene was unexpected.
Having researched Fukushima for two years, he was not about to write that Fukushima was safe and all was well — even if that may be what people wanted to hear.
“I can only write the truth,” he said. http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/manga-depiction-of-nosebleed-spurs-debate-on-radiation-health-risks-1.1828017#ixzz32JOTbOhy
Radiation levels in sea off Fukushima at record high
Record high radiation in seawater off Fukushima plant, Japan Times, 17 May 14 Radiation has spiked to all-time highs at five monitoring points in waters adjacent to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power station, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday.
The measurements follow similar highs detected in groundwater at the plant. Officials of Tepco, as the utility is known, said the cause of the seawater spike is unknown.
Three of the monitoring sites are inside the wrecked plant’s adjacent port, which ships once used to supply it.
At one sampling point in the port, between the water intakes for the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, 1,900 becquerels per liter of tritium was detected Monday, up from a previous high of 1,400 becquerels measured on April 14, Tepco said.
Nearby, also within the port, tritium levels were found to have spiked to 1,400 becquerels, from a previous high of 1,200 becquerels.
And at a point between the water intakes for the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, seawater sampled Thursday was found to contain 840 becquerels of strontium-90, which causes bone cancer, and other beta ray-emitting isotopes, up from a previous record of 540 becquerels.
At two monitoring sites outside the port, seawater was found Monday to contain 8.7 becquerels and 4.3 becquerels of tritium. The second site was about 3 km away……… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/17/national/record-high-radiation-in-seawater-off-fukushima-plant/#.U3ptgdJdWik
Spanner in the works for Fukushima’s planned ice wall against radiation
Work on frozen soil walls at Fukushima plant hits glitch Asahi Shimbun, May 17, 2014 By AKIRA HATANO/ Staff Writer Plans to start construction in June of frozen underground soil walls at the crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant are now askew after concerns were raised by the nation’s nuclear watchdog body.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. has yet to submit documents demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the project, which is unprecedented in scale.
Announced in May 2013, the frozen walls are intended to stem the flow of groundwater into the nuclear complex.
“Once the project is started, it will be difficult to turn back,” said Toyoshi Fuketa, an NRA commissioner who is screening the project planned by TEPCO and the central government. “We have to thoroughly examine every aspect of this project because it is such a drastic measure.” TEPCO has been grappling with ways to staunch the daily flow of 400 tons of groundwater into the plant complex. The groundwater mixes with melted nuclear fuel debris and has significantly raised the volume of contaminated water that TEPCO has to deal with, in addition to tons of highly radioactive water used to cool the reactors.
The technique to build the walls of frozen soil is similar to a method used in the construction of tunnels.
A series of steel pipes that contain a liquid at minus 30 degrees spaced at 1-meter intervals will be placed around the buildings housing the four reactors, as well as the turbine buildings.
Stretching 1,500 meters, the frozen walls are expected to cut the inflow of groundwater to 130 tons from the current 400 tons a day.
TEPCO and the government plan to begin the actual freezing of soil in March 2015, with the expectation the walls could last for seven years.
The government has provided 32 billion yen ($313 million) in funding for the project…….
Fuketa pointed out at a review meeting that the document fell far short of providing the necessary safety assurances to pass screening.
The NRA told the utility to provide answers to 24 items that the watchdog is concerned about, such as the possibility of land sinking, leaks of contaminated water and countermeasures in the event the frozen soil thaws.
The NRA is also demanding that TEPCO explain how the construction of the walls of frozen soil will be able to cut the volume of contaminated water…….http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201405170031
Japan to check lefelong health of 20,000 Fukushima nuclear workers
Lifelong health checks planned for 20,000 workers at Fukushima plant http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201405170037 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 17 May 14, The government will look for increased rates of leukemia and other cancers linked to radiation exposure as part of a lifelong study of 20,000 workers mobilized in the recovery effort after the 2011 nuclear disaster.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare study is projected to be still continuing 60 years from now because many of the workers are in their early 20s. The triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was triggered by the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The individuals taking part in the study worked at the plant between March 14 and Dec. 16 of that year.
A panel of experts on May 16 approved the ministry’s plan, including the methodology of the study, the subjects to be covered and conditions to be checked.
Under the plan, blood and liver function tests will be conducted once a year during routine health checks. Every three to five years, doctors will check for signs of kidney failure.
The ministry plans to start the study on a trial basis during the current fiscal year, which will then be expanded on a full-scale basis in fiscal 2015.
The ministry will decide at a later date which entity it will contract to carry out the study.
During the nine-month period in question, the government raised the safety limit for radiation exposure in cases of emergency from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.
Of the 20,000 workers, 174 were exposed to radiation doses that exceeded the safety limit of 100 millisieverts over five years for those working under normal conditions.
Fukushima’s ice wall – massive cost, massive drain on electricity
Record high radiation in seawater off Fukushima plant, Japan Times, 17 May 14 “………..Tepco is struggling to reduce contamination at the poorly protected plant, which was damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Measures include plans to build a gigantic underground ice wall around the plant to keep the daily flow of groundwater from entering the cracked reactor buildings and mingling with the highly radioactive cooling water in their basements.
The ice wall project is expected to cost ¥31.9 billion and will put a massive burden on the power grid when completed: It will need about 45.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to operate, equal to annual power consumption of 13,000 average households.
The project involves freezing the soil into barricades 30 meters deep and 2 meters thick for a distance of 1,500 meters around the buildings housing reactors 1 through 4.
The soil will be frozen by sinking pipes into the ground and running liquids through them at a temperature of minus 30 degrees.
On Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and contractor Kajima Corp. demonstrated a miniature ice wall to reporters at the site.
“We can confirm the frozen soil’s effect in blocking water,” a ministry official said afterwards.
The department aims to begin construction next month. But the Nuclear Regulation Authority has not approved the plan, saying its backers have so far provided insufficient reassurances about public safety. International nuclear experts have also expressed concern about the effectiveness of the plan. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/17/national/record-high-radiation-in-seawater-off-fukushima-plant/#.U3ptgdJdWik
Tepco to start dumping Fukushima water into the ocean next week
Japan’s TEPCO to Start Dumping Fukushima Water into Ocean Next Week MOSCOW, May 16 (RIA Novosti) – Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, plans to begin releasing underground water near the facility into the Pacific Ocean as early as next Wednesday, The Asahi Shimbun reported Friday.
The first water to be released will total around 560 tons, the agency said citing an official from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. TEPCO will begin releasing the water as soon as it presents results of radiation tests to local government and the fishing industry.
Initial talks between the government and TEPCO agreed that only water with 1,500 becquerels of radiation or less per liter could be released. Tests conducted by TEPCO and two outside agencies have revealed that the Fukushima underground water met the standards, averaging 220 to 240 becquerels of tritium per liter.
TEPCO began pumping out groundwater from the Fukushima nuclear plant in April in an effort to prevent further radioactive leaks.
The company continues to grapple with the problem of contaminated water storage, with about 450,000 tons of highly-radioactive water currently being stored in Fukushima’s underground facilities and tanks. Experts say some 15,000 tons is also being held in a service tunnel. According to recent estimates, up to 400 tons of contaminated water from the damaged plant is seeping into the Pacific Ocean every day.
In an effort to prevent further irradiation, TEPCO has adopted a plan to draw off groundwater from the plant. The fallout from Fukushima is later to be sent for analysis that will determine whether it is safe to be disposed of by dumping into the ocean.
The practice will allow the operator to reduce the accumulation of radioactive water at the plant by 100 tons a day……..https://news.google.com/news?ncl=d_uao6qIU8QsFkM74lsq0LkpKVl4M&q=radiation&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l7N2U52sB8mtlQXZ_4HYBw&sqi=2&pjf=1&ved=0CDsQqgIwAw
Japan soon to start making ice wall around groundwater at Fukushima nuclear plant
Japan Tries Ice Wall to Stem Radiation Planned Frozen Barrier to Hold Back Water Contaminated by the Stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant WSJ, By MARI IWATA NARAHA, Japan—The idea of freezing ground to block the flow of water has been around for more than a century, but never has it been tried on the scale Japan plans at its stricken nuclear plant to hold back water contaminated by radiation.
As early as next month, workers are set to start installing pipes for a 1.5-kilometer-long and 30-meter-deep subterranean ice wall around four reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant here…….
The Fukushima effort is unprecedented because of the size of the apparatus—its electricity alone is projected to cost $1 million a month—and the period it is expected to operate. The Fukushima decommissioning is expected to take 40 years or longer.
The ice-wall plan has already met a hurdle. Continue reading
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