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
Another water storage tank leaking at Fukushima Daiichi power plant
Second leak detected at Fukushima nuclear plant Reuters | Apr 8, 2013, TOKYO: Radioactive water has apparently leaked from another underground storage tank at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said on Sunday.
The volume of the latest leakage was believed to be small, it said. On Saturday, it said as much as 120 tonnes of radioactive water may have %leaked from another nearby storage tank.
The plant’s seven storage tanks are lined with water proof sheets meant to keep the contaminated water from leaking into the soil.The power company has faced a range of problems with leaks and with the plant’s cooling system.
Tepco said on Friday it lost the ability to cool radioactive fuel rods in one of the plant’s reactors for about three hours, the second cooling system failure at the plant in three weeks.
Nuclear fuel, even after use, has to be kept cool to prevent it from overheating and beginning a self-sustaining atomic reaction that could lead to meltdown http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Second-leak-detected-at-Fukushima-nuclear-plant/articleshow/19435752.cms
Fukushima Daiichi tank leaks 120 tons of radioactive water
Kyodo: Radioactive leak is up to 120 tons from Fukushima Daiichi tank http://enenews.com/kyodo-radioactive-leak-is-up-to-120-tons-from-fukushima-daiichi-tank-video 7 April 13
Kyodo News April 6, 2013: Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that up to 120 tons of contaminated water may have leaked into soil from one of the seven underground reservoir tanks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Around 13,000 cubic meters of contaminated water remain in the tank, with TEPCO having begun transferring it to other tanks nearby on Saturday morning, the utility said. It will take roughly two weeks to complete the transfer, TEPCO added. […]
NHK WORLD English: Tokyo Electric Power Company says a small amount of radioactive water may have seeped out of an underground water storage facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The water contained strontium. […] The level of radioactivity is considered by the utility to be low. […] The utility recently constructed 7 large-scale underground facilities for storing the water after removing some radioactive substances. Each facility can accommodate up to 14,000 tons of water. […]
RIA Novosti: : The company operating the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) in northern Japan warned about the possibility of radioactive water leak, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday. […] Radioactive substances have been detected in the water that accumulated outside the tank, covered by three layers of waterproof sheets. The exact volume of leak is unknown, but radiation levels in the water stand at about 6,000 Becquerel per cubic centimeter. […]
Failure of Fukushima cooling system due to rat risk
“We were installing wire nets to keep the rats out. But the end of one of the wires may have momentarily come into contact with a live terminal,” said Masayuki Ono, general manager at Tepco’s Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Division. “The next moment, there were sirens.”
Rat Chase Again Bedevils Fukushima Nuclear Plant http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/world/asia/rat-chase-again-bedevils-fukushima-nuclear-plant.html?_r=0 By HIROKO TABUCHI April 5, 2013 TOKYO — Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant who were installing wire nets Friday to keep rats away from a vital cooling system instead tripped up that system, causing it to fail for the second time in weeks. The spent-fuel pool at the site’s No. 3 reactor went without fresh cooling water for almost three hours on Friday afternoon, said the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco. Continue reading
The growth, and strength, of anti nuclear sentiment in Japan
The anti-nuclear movement will provide a challenge to the LDP and business community’s desire to restart Japan’s nuclear sector. The Japanese public expects the new Nuclear Regulation Authority to strictly enforce safety regulations at existing nuclear facilities. Whether anti-nuclear sentiment will maintain its strength at the local and national levels and influence policy makers will strongly shape Japanese nuclear energy policy.
Post-Fukushima Nuclear Politics in Japan, Part 3: Empowered Anti-Nuclear Sentiment http://themonkeycage.org/2013/04/03/post-fukushima-nuclear-politics-in-japan-part-3-empowered-anti-nuclear-sentiment/ by DANIEL ALDRICH on APRIL 3, 2013 (This post is co-authored with James Platte and Jennifer Sklarew. Part 1 of this series is here. Part 2 is here.)
Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, public support for nuclear power in Japan has declined sharply, and anti-nuclear politicians have become empowered in their own parties or formed new, often single-issue parties to leverage popular support. Even the relatively pro-nuclear Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is facing challenges in openly promoting nuclear power. At the same time, the LDP must remain mindful of nuclear facility host communities, which continue to support nuclear power, and of the larger business community and the politically powerful regional utilities, which remain committed to nuclear power for economic reasons. Continue reading
Shellfish species disappears near Fukuhsima nuclear plant
UPI: ‘Shellfish gone near damaged nuke plant’ — Researcher: Likely extinct because of Fukushima nuclear crisis http://enenews.com/upi-shellfish-gone-near-damaged-nuke-plant-japan-researcher-extinction-likely-caused-by-fukushima-nuclear-crisis
April 2nd, 2013
Xinhua, April 1, 2013: Japanese researchers announced recently that a sort of shellfish called Thais clavigera disappeared in a 30-km coastal area near Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. […] Other shellfish species, such as Cellana grata, were found in the alert zone but the amount of them declined, with high dose of radioactive materials inside their bodies, according to the researchers. […] Toshihiro Horiguchi, a researcher from the environmental institute and the head of the team, said that it is a rare occurrence that Thais clavigera entirely disappeared from a 30-km long area, adding the extinct was probably caused by the nuclear crisis. The link between the disappearance and the catastrophic tsunami was excluded as the shell was also found in other areas that affected by the disaster, according to the team. […]
UPI, April 1, 2013: Shellfish gone near damaged nuke plant […] A species of shellfish has disappeared along an 18-mile stretch of coast near Japan’s devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, scientists say. […] Other shellfish species were found in the alert zone but their numbers had declined and high levels of radioactive materials were detected in them, the researchers said. Lead researcher Toshihiro Horiguchi said the disappearance of Thais clavigera was likely a result of radiation from the damaged plant. […]
See also: Study: Significant decrease in abundance of Fukushima birds and butterflies as radiation levels increase -NYT
AUDIO Groundwater flows from Fukushima reactors to the ocean
Tecpo shows groundwater flowing from Fukushima reactors into ocean April 2nd, 2013 http://enenews.com/tecpo-shows-groundwater-flowing-from-fukushima-reactors-into-ocean-photo
Title: Progress Status of the Groundwater Bypass Construction
Source: Tokyo Electric Power Company
Date: March 27, 2013
[…] Gradual Reduction of Groundwater
The groundwater level will be gradually reduced with the groundwater bypass put in operation. Careful water level control will be implemented to prevent the accumulated water in the buildings from leaking to the outside while monitoring the groundwater level reduction and its water quality. The sub-drains installed around the buildings will be fully utilized for the monitoring. An observation hole will be newly installed between the Reactor Building and the pump well. […]
See also: Graphic shows ‘direct discharge’ going from Fukushima Daiichi reactors into Pacific — Underground flow of contaminated water also indicated (VIDEO)
Tohoku Electric Power Company scraps plan for new nuclear power plant
TOKYO, Japan, March 28, 2013 (ENS) – The Japanese utility that supplies electricity to seven prefectures on Japan’s main island of Honshu today officially withdrew its plan to build a new nuclear power plant near the site of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Tohoku Electric Power Company said Thursday that it will cancel the construction of the Namie-Odaka plant in view of strong local opposition.
Physicians counter the lies of World Health Organisation, on Fukushima radiation
Even though the global media is controlled by just a handful of mega-corporations (4; 5), some people (perhaps too few of them) – to their credit – do not instantly accept the WHO’s findings and are now becoming more vocal in their demands for accurate information.
In contrast to WHO disinformation and what may only be described as pro-nuclear propaganda, a report from the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) has analyzed some of the available data from Japan and found “[t]he initial health consequences of the nuclear catastrophe are now, two years after the incident, scientifically verifiable” (9).
WHO Lies Refuted: Physicians’ Group
Predicts 100,000+ Fukushima
Cancer Incidences/Deaths
rense.com By Richard Wilcox, PhD
3-14-13 “All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.” – I. F. Stone
In this new age of instant information, navigating the pitfalls of overload (too much); uncertainty (lack of); misinformation (poor quality); disinformation (intentional distortion, lies); is key in determining the scope of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and assessing immediate and long-term impacts on the international and Japanese public health. Fortunately we have one of the first attempts from researchers to set the record straight and calculate the death toll from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The report comes from the courageous men and women of International Physicians for Preventing Nuclear War (IPPNW) who expose the Big Lie being perpetrated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that few ill health effects will occur.
Consider that it is standard operating procedure for governments and industry to obfuscate, cover-up and lie about a nuclear disaster as soon as it occurs. The chaos that unfolds during a nuclear disaster such as Fukushima is used in a carefully orchestrated Big Lie process whereby damage control and perception management allow the perpetrators of the Big Crime – Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Japanese government and the international nuclear apologists and nuclear industry – to eventually get off scot free (1).
Even though the Japanese government was fully aware that three reactors had melted down and another one severely damaged, and that people should have been evacuated in a much more bold and expedient manner, the phrase that will live in infamy, “there is no immediate danger,” was repeated during the worst days of the nuclear crisis by the government. …. Continue reading
Tokyo has the storage capacity for a solar powered city
A Solar Powered Tokyo? http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3661 28 March 13 Much of Tokyo’s power needs once supplied by nuclear power could be met by rooftop solar along with energy storage systems already in place.
Nuclear is still a dirty word to many in Japan following the Fukushima crisis, a disaster that will continue to negatively affect a large area for many years to come.
While solar power offers an attractive alternative; the issue remains of continual supply – particularly at night and during heavily overcast days.
A recent study examining the potential for rooftop photovoltaics in Tokyo to replace nuclear capacity reveals some of the answer is already in place – pumped hydroelectric storage. Continue reading
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority suspect earthquake cause of Fukushima disaster
Japan: A New Nuclear Inquiry
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/world/asia/japan-a-new-nuclear-inquiry.html?_r=0By
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 27, 2013 Japanese government regulators
said Wednesday that for the first time they will conduct their own
investigation into the country’s nuclear crisis to address unanswered
questions. The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami cut power and
destroyed vital cooling systems at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant,
causing meltdowns at three of its reactors. Experts still suspect that
the quake, not the tsunami, may have set off the meltdowns.
The
Nuclear Regulation Authority said this issue, which could affect
antiquake measures at nuclear plants nationwide, would be part of its
investigation. The authority said the inquiry would also look into
other issues, including how much and from where radiation leaked at
the plant.
Increased radiation released as Fukushima cooling systems lost power
Fukushima Spews More Radiation … Due to Tepco’s Carelessness Zero Hedge by George Washington on 03/21/2013 Power was lost to the cooling systems to virtually all of the spent fuel pools at Fukushima for more than a day.
Some of these fuel pools have lost containment, and are arguably the top short-term threat to humanity … and America’s national security.
The loss of cooling increased the radiation output from the pools. And the loss of power was due to carelessness by the operator of the Fukushima reactors. As nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen notes:
Is TEPCO doing an adequate job of keeping the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power site safe?We don’t think so. Continue reading
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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