Apparently uncontrolled continual leakage of Fukushima radiation into the ocean
Fukushima’s Catastrophic Aftermath: The Dangers of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation, Global Research, By Stephen Lendman 28 April 13,“……..In early April, around 120 tons of contaminated water leaked from Fukushima’s No. 1′s underground storage tank. It contained an estimated 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity.
Water around the affected tank is highly radioactive. It’s about 800 meters from the Pacific. Government and Tokyo Electric (Tepco) claimed it won’t likely reach it. Numerous previous reports suggest otherwise.
Tepco general manager Masayuki Ono said “(w)e cannot deny the fact that our faith in the underwater tanks is being lost.”
In November 2012, Nature.com headlined “Ocean still suffering from Fukushima fallout,” saying:
“Radioactivity is persisting in the ocean waters close to Japan’s ruined nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daiichi.”
New data show high contamination levels. “The Fukushima disaster caused by far the largest discharge of radioactivity into the ocean ever seen.”
Radiation levels aren’t dropping. “The implications are serious for the fishing industry.”………http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushimas-catastrophic-aftermath-the-dangers-of-worldwide-nuclear-radiation/5333138
17,000 tons of radioactive rice still stored in Fukushima prefecture
“It would bedifficult to find an option other than disposal.”
Fukushima’s ‘contaminated’ rice still in storage two years, Asahi
Shimbun, April 25, 2013 By TETSUYA KASAI/ Staff Writer
FUKUSHIMA–-Officials are still struggling to dispose of some 17,000
tons of contaminated rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture after the
nuclear disaster there two years ago. Most of the rice, called
“kakurimai” (rice separated for disposal), was produced in 2011.
The central government wants to incinerate the rice, but disposal
facility operators have been reluctant to do so for fear that harmful
rumors could start circulating if they handle contaminated material. Continue reading
Parents may appeal, as Japanese court dismisses lawsuit about radiation
Japanese court refuses to rehouse children near Fukushima site RT April 25, 2013 A Japanese court has dismissed a lawsuit demanding that the government pay for the re-settlement of children from the city of Koriyama, 60 km from the site of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which suffered a meltdown in 2011.
On Wednesday, the Sendai High Court said that while the radiation level in the city of over 300 thousand still exceeds the Japanese average, it poses no danger to health, and said those worried are free to re-locate at their own expense. “The children are victims with absolutely no responsibility for the nuclear accident,” complained the Toshio Yanagihara, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, following the ruling, which can be appealed in a higher court. Continue reading
Japanese court admits radiation risk to children, but rules out evacuation
Japan court rejects demand to evacuate kids, acknowledges radiation risk The Associated Press CTV News, , April 25, 2013 TOKYO – A Japanese court has rejected a demand that a city affected by the fallout of the country’s 2011 nuclear disaster evacuate its children. The unusual lawsuit was filed on behalf of the children by their parents and anti-nuclear activists in June 2011. The Sendai High Court handed down its ruling Wednesday.
The case had drawn international attention because it touched the uncertainties about the effects of continuous low-dose radiation on health, especially that of children, who are far more vulnerable than adults.
The lawsuit argued the city of Koriyama had legal responsibility to evacuate children at elementary schools and junior-high schools, which are part of compulsory education under Japanese law.
The court acknowledged radiation in the city exceeded levels deemed safe prior to the disaster. But it said the government shoulders no responsibility for evacuating the schools as demanded — in effect, telling people to leave on their own if they were worried. Continue reading
Rejection of evacuation claim for Japanese children – is this justice?
Japan court rejects demand to evacuate children while acknowledging radiation risks on health http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/24/japan-court-rejects-demand-to-evacuate-children-while-acknowledging-radiation/#ixzz2RWzeEca2 April 24, 2013 Associated Press
TOKYO – A Japanese court has rejected a demand that a city affected by the fallout of the country’s 2011 nuclear disaster evacuate its children.
The unusual lawsuit was filed on behalf of the children by their parents and anti-nuclear activists in June 2011. The Sendai High Court handed down its ruling Wednesday.
The case had drawn international attention because it touched the uncertainties about the effects of continuous low-dose radiation on health, especially that of children.
The court acknowledged radiation exceeded levels deemed safe prior to the disaster. But it said the government shoulders no responsibility for evacuating the schools as demanded — in effect, telling people to leave on their own if they were worried.
Man made corium lava – from Fukushima, toxic for centuries
Wired: ‘Healthy debate’ about location of Fukushima corium — Lava can melt a foot of concrete per hour — Cooling with water may not stop corium flow Title: The Most Dangerous (Man-Made) Lava Flow http://enenews.com/wired-healthy-debate-about-where-fukushima-coriums-are-lava-can-melt-a-foot-of-concrete-per-hour-cooling-with-water-may-not-stop-corium-flow
Source: Wired
Author: Erik Klemetti
Date: April 18, 2013 at 11:45a ET
h/t Room101
Title: The Most Dangerous (Man-Made) Lava Flow
[…] researchers at the Argonne National Lab have created corium in the laboratory […] They found that corium lava can melt upwards of 30 cm (12″) of concrete in 1 hour! This is why it is so important to know if a nuclear reactor accident has gone into true “meltdown” as the corium lava will rapidly melt its way through the inner containment vessels (or more) in a matter of hours unless it can be cooled again.
However, results from these CCI (core-concrete interaction) experiments, suggest that cooling with water may not be sufficient to stop corium from melting the concrete. One thing to remember — much of the melting of concrete during a meltdown occurs within minutes to hours, so keeping the core cool is vital for stopping the corium for breaching that containment vessel.
[…] TEPCO, the Japanese energy company who ran Fukushima Dai’ichi, claims that the corium didn’t breach the outer wall of the containment vessel (although there is a healthy debate about this). […]
So, why is corium so dangerous? Well, even long after the flow has stopped, that lava will be highly radioactive for decades to centuries (along with the surrounding countryside if radioactive material made it out of the containment vessel) as the various radioactive materials in the lava decay. In fact, we don’t even have pictures of the corium lava from Fukushima Dai’ichi due to the high levels of radioactivity near the reactor. […]
Japan’s nuclear future – very uncertain
Japan’s nuclear future Don’t look now A series of mishaps comes at an awkward time for the government the Economist, Apr 20th 2013 | TOKYO In February this year, Shinzo Abe, leader of the then incoming Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said the new government would restart reactors after they passed a forthcoming set of new safety tests. The country’s “nuclear village”, a cosy bunch from industry and government, cheered. But now the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is starting to alarm the public once more. Continue reading
Solar power developments in Japan: battery storage
Japan To Implement 60,000 kWh Capacity Battery http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3697 19 April 13 The Japanese government plans to install a massive battery at an electrical substation on the island of Hokkaido.
According to the Japan Times, the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) says the battery will be put in place by the end of the first quarter in 2015 to help develop a stable electricity supply generated by solar and wind power sources. The battery system will have a storage capacity of around 60,000 kWh and will use up a large portion of ¥29.6 billion earmarked for battery projects.
Hokkaido is Japan’s second largest island and the largest and northernmost of Japan’s 47 prefectures. It has become a hive of renewable energy activity due to the availability and low prices of suitable land. According to Bloomberg, the island’s power infrastructure is approaching its limit for handling the amount of clean electricity being generated.
Japan has seen solar uptake skyrocket since the introduction of a feed in tariff scheme, currently paying 38 yen per kilowatt hour (around AUD 38 cents) for rooftop solar power systems under 10kW and slightly more for larger systems.
In other renewables news out of Japan, METI states based on data compiled by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), the total combined new renewable energy capacity added between April 1, 2012, and January 31, 2013,reached 1,394,000 kW .
Photovoltaic power facilities accounted for 1,329,000 kW, with household solar panel systems making up 1,023,000kW of that amount. METI notes that 37,000kW capacity was added by January 31 – with all of that being added after June 2012.
METI also announced Japan and India have decided to hold the “India-Japan Energy Forum 2013” in September in New Delhi and Greater Noida, which aims to reinforce the two nation’s cooperation in the field of energy.
For the Pacific Ocean? – 400 tons daily of Fukushima radioactive water
Bloomberg: Radioactive water from Fukushima reactors to be dumped in Pacific? “It’s obvious they can’t keep storing it forever”http://enenews.com/bloomberg-tepco-to-dump-radioactive-water-from-fukushima-reactors-into-pacific-its-obvious-they-cant-keep-storing-it-forever
Title:Title: Tepco Faces Decision to Dump Radioactive Water in Pacific Ocean
Source: Bloomberg
Author: Tsuyoshi Inajima
Date: Apr 11, 2013
[Tepco]’s discovery of leaks in water storage pits at the wrecked Fukushima atomic station raises the risk the utility will be forced to dump radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean.
Leaks were found in three of seven pits in the past week, reducing the options for moving contaminated water from basements of reactor buildings. […]
Not Ruled Out
Officials at the utility known as Tepco, including President Naomi Hirose, have said the company will not “easily” release radiated water into the ocean, indicating it’s not ruling out the possibility if it runs out of storage.
“It’s obvious Tepco cannot keep storing water forever as it increases by 400 tons a day,” said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the antinuclear group Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center. That’s why the company won’t rule out discharge into the sea, Ban said in a telephone interview. […]
See also: Tepco: It’s ‘really impossible’ for us to keep storing liquid from Fukushima reactors — We need to think about discharging it into ocean (VIDEO)
Fukushima nuclear plant is NOT stable
NYTimes: Fukushima plant unstable says official, concern another accident can’t be prevented — “Vulnerable… Very dangerous” http://enenews.com/nytimes-fukushima-plant-unstable-says-official-concern-another-accident-cant-be-prevented-vulnerable-very-dangerous April 11th, 2013
Title: Fukushima Nuclear Plant Is Still Unstable, Japanese Official Says
Source: New York Times
Author: HIROKO TABUCHI
Date: April 10, 2013
[…] a series of recent mishaps — including a blackout set off by a dead rat and the discovery of leaks of thousands of gallons of radioactive water — have underscored just how vulnerable the plant remains.
Increasingly, experts are arguing that [Tepco] cannot be trusted to lead what is expected to be decades of cleanup and the decommissioning of the plant’s reactors without putting the public, and the environment, at risk. […]
“It’s become obvious that Tepco is not at all capable of leading the cleanup. It just doesn’t have the expertise, and because Fukushima Daiichi is never going to generate electricity again, every yen it spends on the decommissioning is thrown away. That creates an incentive to cut corners, which is very dangerous. The government needs to step in, take charge and assemble experts and technology from around the world to handle the decommissioning instead.” -Muneo Morokuzu, a nuclear safety expert at the Tokyo University Graduate School of Public Policy
“The Fukushima Daiichi plant remains in an unstable condition, and there is concern that we cannot prevent another accident.” -Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority
See also: Tepco: “Losing faith” in leaking Fukushima tanks — But we don’t have anywhere else to put the radioactive water
World ignores Fukushima radiation at our peril
Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day. How much radiation is that? A quick calculation shows that Chernobyl released around ten thousand times more radioactive cesium each day during the reactor fire. But the Chernobyl fire only lasted 10 days … and the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than 2 years so far.
Indeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive cesium and iodine 131 than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released by Fukushima was some 20-30 times higher than initially admitted.
Fukushima also pumped out huge amounts of radioactive iodine 129 – which has a half-life of 15.7 million years.
Fukushima has also dumped up to 900 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium-90 – which is a powerful internal emitter which mimics calcium and collects in our bones – into the ocean..
Radiation Is Not On People’s Radar, Dr. Mark Sircus, Activist Post, 9 April 13, In publishing Atomic Suicide Drs. Walter and Lao Russell united with Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s 1957 appeal to the world to end nuclear tests, and in fact any and all use of radioactive elements. In this prophetic book, the Russells explain clearly that with radioactive elements unleashed into our atmosphere, the human race is heading for catastrophe. Giving detailed scientific evidence, they warn that ‘to fail to consider the nature of radioactive elements and their consequences would be a folly for which humanity would have to pay a terrible price.’ Continue reading
Fukushima’s radioactive water problem – still unmanageable
Japan Plant Forced to Move Tainted Water, WSJ, 10 April 13 Disclosure of Plan to Close Massive Storage Pools Over Leaks Is Latest Problem at Nuclear Facility, Rousing Safety Fears TOKYO—The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant on Wednesday said it has to move tens of thousands of tons of radioactive water out of leaky underground reservoirs—the latest in a string of problems and missteps that has spurred a rebuke from regulators and amplified fears that the heavily damaged plant isn’t fully under control.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO +9.47% said it would abandon seven massive underground storage pools where it had been keeping 26,600 tons of contaminated water, after finding that three of the pools had likely sprung leaks.
The discovery of those leaks, which Tepco estimates have spilled more than a hundred tons of radioactive water into the ground, came less than a month after a power outage shut a cooling system for used nuclear fuel, and a few days before two underwater barriers separating the most contaminated parts of the plant from the sea were found to have split….. Continue reading
Japan’s oversight of Fukushima radiation too lax: public concern about food
Japan nuclear safety plans too lax for crowded, quake-prone nation, say nuclear experts The Star, By: Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press, Apr 08 2013 TOKYO—Experts who investigated Japan’s nuclear crisis said Monday that government oversight of the crippled plant’s operator is still too lax, as public concern has grown over recent safety problems.
A power failure last month caused by a rat that short-circuited a switchboard left the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant’s fuel storage pools without cooling water for more than a day. Last Friday another cooling failure occurred, and hours later the operator reported a large leak of radioactive water from underground tanks.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., revealed Saturday that up to 120 tons of highly contaminated water escaped from a temporary underground tank and a smaller amount from another tank. TEPCO said it believes the water has not flowed into the ocean.
Regulators asked TEPCO on Monday to determine the cause and contain the problem quickly.
But the investigators told parliament on Monday that the recently formed Nuclear Regulation Authority is merely rubber-stamping TEPCO’s work at the plant, Continue reading
Fukushima radiation levels rise in rivers, in food 225 miles away
Deadly levels of radiation found in food 225 miles from Fukushima: Media blackout on nuclear fallout continues
http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2013/04/08/deadly-levels-of-radiation-found-in-food-225-miles-from-fukushima-media-blackout-on-nuclear-fallout-continues/ – Source: NaturalNews By Ethan A. HuffAPRIL 8, 2013 NEW DATA RELEASED BY JAPAN’S MINISTRY OF HEALTH, LABOR AND WELFARE (MHLW) SHOWS ONCE AGAIN THAT THE FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR DISASTER IS FAR FROM OVER. DESPITE A COMPLETE MEDIA BLACKOUT ON THE CURRENT SITUATION, LEVELS OF CESIUM-137 (CS-137) AND CESIUM-134 (CS-134) FOUND IN PRODUCE AND RICE CRACKERS LOCATED ROUGHLY 225 MILES (~ 362 KM) AWAY FROM FUKUSHIMA ARE HIGH ENOUGH TO CAUSE RESIDENTS TO EXCEED THE ANNUAL RADIATION EXPOSURE LIMIT IN JUST A FEW MONTHS, OR EVEN WEEKS. Continue reading
TEPCO on a tightrope in attempt to move tons of radioactive water
Japan nuclear safety plans too lax for crowded, quake-prone nation, say nuclear experts The Star, By: Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press,Apr 08 2013 TOKYO
“…….TEPCO is moving tons of highly radioactive water from the temporary tanks to two similar ones nearby to minimize the leak. They are among seven underground tanks of different sizes which employ the same design.
TEPCO admitted Sunday it had dismissed earlier signs of water loss as within a margin of error and waited until a spike in radiation levels around the tanks was detected. Critics suspect cash-strapped TEPCO built poorly designed underground pits instead of safer and more manageable steel tanks to save money. TEPCO has also been criticized for delaying replacement of makeshift equipment, raising questions about whether the plant is really under control.
The underground tanks, several times the size of an Olympic swimming pool and similar to an industrial waste dump, are dug directly into the ground and protected by double-layer polyethylene linings inside an outermost clay-based lining, with a felt padding between each layer. Officials suspect there were ruptures in the linings due to the weight of the water.
Contaminated water at the plant, which suffered multiple meltdowns after the 2011 disaster, has escaped into the sea several times during the crisis. Experts suspect a continuous leak into the ocean through an underground water system, citing high levels of contamination in fish caught in waters just off the plant.
The contaminated water in the tanks is part of more than 270,000 tons of water used to cool melted fuel at the plant’s reactors damaged in the disaster. So much water has been used that TEPCO is struggling to find storage space. The water is also kept in hundreds of steel tanks.
NRA commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa told reporters Monday that the water leak poses a more immediate threat to the plant’s water management than to the environment. He questioned TEPCO’s risk evaluation in the tanks’ design process, but acknowledged that regulators have to allow TEPCO to use the remaining underground tanks for now.
“Although we need more long-term plans, we have to tackle the most immediate problem first. TEPCO’s decommissioning process is a tightrope situation to begin with,” he said. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/08/japan_nuclear_safety_plans_too_lax_for_crowded_quakeprone_nation_say_nuclear_experts.html
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