Fish off Japan found to contain radioactive Cesium
Toxic caesium found in fish off Japan, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, 7 April 11 Traces of radioactive caesium have been found for the first time in fish off Japan’s east coast.
It is believed the contamination came from overheated fuel rods at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Continue reading
Two days after Fukushima disaster TEPCO planned 2 new reactors there
Tepco announced last week that four reactors at the centre of the crisis will never go back into service. At the same time, however, it submitted a report to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that included a proposed timetable for the construction and commissioning of two new reactors – No. 7 and No. 8 – at the same complex….
Power company back pedals over reactor plans, Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Higgins April 7, 2011, FUKUSHIMA: Even as it struggled to contain the world’s worst nuclear disaster in a quarter of a century, Tokyo Electric Power Company late last month quietly set out big plans for the future: it proposed building two new nuclear reactors at its radiation-spewing Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Continue reading
Growing volumes of radioactive water entering the ocean from Fukushima nuclear plant
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said officials were growing concerned about the sheer volume of radioactive materials spilling into the Pacific. It is not clear how much water has leaked in addition to what is being dumped purposely…….”Even if they say the contamination will be diluted in the ocean, the longer this continues, the more radioactive particles will be released and the greater the impact on the ocean,..”
Japan nuke plant dumps radioactive water into sea – seattlepi.com, MARI YAMAGUCHI, YURI KAGEYAMA, April 4, 2011“………More water keeps pooling because TEPCO has been forced to rely on makeshift methods of bringing down temperatures and pressure by pumping water into the reactors and allowing it to gush out wherever it can. It is a messy process, but it is preventing a full meltdown of the fuel rods that would release even more radioactivity into the environment. Continue reading
Desperate efforts to cool stricken nuclear plant, and stem radioactive leak
Government sources and TEPCO say that the water in the pit almost certainly came from the reactor core in Unit 2 where the fuel rods have apparently melted down, at least in part.
A Sense of Desperation as Nuclear Workers Fight to Plug Radioactive Leak, Forbes, Osha Gray Davidson , Apr. 4 2011 “……The water being dumped comes from different sources, including runoff from water sprayed on the reactors to cool fuel rods, newly-found contaminated groundwater near the turbine building at Unit No. 1, and runoff from Units No. 5 and 6 (two units that had previously been termed “safe”). Continue reading
Years to deal with damage and radioactivity at Fukushima nuclear plant
The task at Fukushima Daiichi is especially complicated because it involves at least three damaged reactors and apparent damage to nuclear waste pools……the situation will become much more complicated if workers find fuel melted in the reactor core.
Nuclear Plant Cleanup Will Take Years, Not Months – WSJ.com, 1 April 11, By REBECCA SMITH As Japanese officials struggle to stabilize damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi complex, an international team already is assembling to help them tackle the next big task: the cleanup…… Continue reading
11,500 metric tonnes of radioactive water to be dumped into the sea
Japan to dump 11,500 metric tonnes of radioactive water (Reuters) 5 April 11, – Japan needs to discharge a total of 11,500 metric tons of low-contaminated water into the ocean from a stricken nuclear power plant, a Japanese official said on Monday.Koichiro Nakamura, a deputy director general of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said the measure was needed to “avoid a more serious risk,” without elaborating. Continue reading
Huge civil damages claims looming from Fukushima disaster
“If the government nationalises TEPCO then they take on TEPCO’s debts, and if TEPCO remains private it will probably need government support for its obligations to pay damages, so whichever way you look at it the government will be taking on responsibility
Japan nuclear crisis to trigger huge civil damages claims | Reuters, Mon Apr 4, 2011 * TEPCO and government to handle claims* Hundreds of thousands of claims expected* Claims could top $130 bln in worst case – BofA-ML* Government likely to set up central compensation fund By Rachel Armstrong – Japan’s nuclear crisis is likely to lead to one of the country’s largest and most complex ever set of claims for civil damages, handing a huge bill to the fiscally strained government and debt-laden plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co . Continue reading
Fukushima will become a radioactive no man’s land
Even after a cold shutdown, scrapping the plant will likely take decades, and the site will become a no-man’s land.
Tonnes of nuclear waste sit at the site of the nuclear reactors, and enclosing the reactors by injecting lead and encasing them in concrete would make it safe to work and live a few kilometres away from the site, but is not a long-term solution for the disposal of spent fuel, which will decay and emit fission fragments over tens of thousands of years.
‘No safe levels’ of radiation in Japan, Al Jazeera 5 April 11“……Japanese officials conceded to the public on March 31 that the battle to save four crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been lost. On March 29 a US engineer who helped install the reactors at the plant said he believed the radioactive core in unit No. 2 may have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor. Continue reading
China detects radioactive cesium 137 from Fukushima
Radioactive cesium detected in more Chinese regions amid Japan nuclear crisis BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) — Trace levels of radioactive isotope cesium-137 and -134 were detected in the air of 13 of the Chinese mainland’s 31 provincial-level regions on Monday, up from eight regions on Sunday.Cesium-137 and -134 were detected in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Jiangshu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Ningxia on Monday….Radioactive cesium detected in more Chinese regions amid Japan nuclear crisis
Comparing Fukushima’s radiation to Chernobyl’s
The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics of Vienna told New Scientist on March 24: “Japan’s damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986…..The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.”….According to a report from the New York Academy of Sciences, due to the Chernobyl disaster, 985,000 people have died, mainly from cancer, between 1986-2004.
‘No safe levels’ of radiation in Japan, Al Jazeera 5 April 11“………Fukushima as ChernobylThis month marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.“There are still no-go areas there, and the workers town has long since been abandoned, and we are seeing radioactive refugees from there, like we are now seeing generated in Japan,” Continue reading
Fukushima radiation and the marine food chain
there is a very strong likelihood that caesium, iodine and strontium could accumulate in the food chain from phytoplankton and algae to edible fish.
The World Today – Scientists monitor fallout from Fukushima 04/04/2011 The World Today , 4 April 11, ELEANOR HALL: Conservation groups and marine scientists say they remain very concerned about the ocean fallout from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant. The Japanese government says it could take months to stop radiation leaking from the plant. Continue reading
Newspaper and sawdust to fix Fukushima nuclear leak?
Japan nuclear crisis: workers using newspaper and sawdust to block pipes, Japanese workers battling to stop a radioactive water leak into the Pacific from the beleaguered nuclear power plant have resorted to using newspaper and sawdust to try and block the pipes. – Telegraph, By Danielle Demetriou, Tokyo 04 Apr 2011
TEPCO workers were using a polymer mixed with shredded paper and sawdust to try to close off pipes through which the water has flowed into a cracked concrete pit at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, from where it has run into the sea. An earlier attempt to seal the crack with cement failed to stop the leak.”From the afternoon, the workers began pouring polymeric powder, sawdust, newspaper – things we could think of to clog up the holes,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency.
“So far, there has not been any clear indication that the volume of leaking water has been reduced.”…… Japan nuclear crisis: workers using newspaper and sawdust to block pipes – Telegraph
Fukushima “worst nuclear disaster in history”? – with release of radioactive Cesium 137
The highest cesium-137 levels in some villages near Chernobyl were 5 million Bq/m2. If true, Fukushima has already released higher levels of Cesium 137 than Chernobyl, making it the worst source of nuclear radiation release in history…..If preliminary information is correct, Fukushima already is the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Japan’s Government Needs to Move Quickly, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Daniel Wagner, 4 April 11, Daniel Wagner is managing director of Country Risk Solutions, a political risk consulting firm based in Connecticut, and senior advisor to the PRS Group. Why the Japanese Government Needs to Move Quickly The focus of much of the press since the quake and tsunami has been on levels of radioactive iodine that has been released into the environment, but cesium-137 is a much greater health concern and has been linked to cancer deaths nine times greater than radioactive iodine, with a half life of 30 years. Last week, for the first time, the Japanese science ministry began to release measurements of cesium-137 in soil around the plant. Continue reading
The anger of evacuated Japanese citizens against nuclear company
In Japan, evacuees direct anger at nuclear-plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The Washington Post By Andrew Higgins, April 3, TAMURA, JAPAN — When the boss of Tokyo Electric Power Co. checked into a Tokyo hospital last week with high blood pressure, he didn’t get any sympathy from Tomishige Maruzoi. “High blood pressure? We’ve all got high blood pressure,” said Maruzoi, a 57-year-old construction worker who now sleeps on a piece of cardboard in a gymnasium. “I feel nothing but anger.”
Maruzoi fled his home, less than two miles from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, on March 12. In a fit of fury and despair, he decided last week to return and see for himself the havoc wrought by Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco….He stayed for less than an hour, just long enough to inspect his property, grab some clothes — and dig up some soil from his garden.He wrapped the earth in plastic and set off back to Tamura,….Back in the gymnasium, Maruzoi had the soil tested at a radiation screening center. The Geiger counter flashed an alarm. Maruzoi quickly got rid of his contaminated sod. He also ditched all hope of returning to Okuma to live anytime soon.“I wish I could go back, but realistically it will not be possible for 20 or 30 years,”….. In Japan, evacuees direct anger at nuclear-plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. – The Washington Post
Fukushima facility “awash with radioactive saltwater”
The battle to cool overheated reactors and avoid dangerous meltdowns of the highly radioactive fuel rods has seen workers hose saltwater into reactors, but this has left the facility awash with contaminated saltwater, preventing workers getting closer to the reactors……
Japan says it may take months to end radiation leaks, Daily Times, 4 April 11, TOKYO: Japan’s government warned on Sunday it may take months to stop radiation leaking from a nuclear plant crippled by a huge earthquake and tsunami, three weeks ago, as more bodies were recovered in devastated areas of northeast Japan. Continue reading
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