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No one knows how to deal with Fukushima’s radioactive water

international law forbids Japan from dumping contaminated water into the ocean if there are viable technical solutions available down the road….So Tepco is considering bringing in barges and tanks, including a “megafloat” that can hold about 2.5 million gallons….Yet even using barges and tanks to temporarily handle the water creates a future problem of how to dispose of the contaminated vessels.

Cleaning up Japan’s radioactive water could take decades, latimes.com, 7 April 11, No one is sure how to safely dispose of millions of gallons of highly radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. ‘There is nothing like this, on this scale, that we have ever attempted to do before,’ a U.S. expert says. Continue reading →

April 7, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan, technology | 1 Comment

Radioactive Cesium can travel up the food chain, in fish

Power company back pedals over reactor plans, Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Higgins April 7, 2011, FUKUSHIMA:”…….After unsuccessful attempts with concrete, and even newspapers and sawdust, engineers used sodium-silicate to stop the leak, but radioactivity in fish exceeding health guidelines has been detected for the first time off northern Japan.Caesium radioactivity in sand lance caught south of the Fukushima Daiichi plant was 526 becquerel per kilogram, compared with a health ministry standard of 500 becquerel.With a radioactive half-life of 30 years, caesium can build up in the meat of marine predators as they eat smaller animals…..Power company back pedals over reactor plans

April 7, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Risk of new explosion at Fukushima, -gas being pumped in

Experts say the risk of a detonation could rise as the nuclear fuel rods cool and as the steam inside the containment vessel condenses into water, reducing pressure inside the unit and drawing air in through cracks.

Japan using gas to avoid explosion at nuclear plant, THE STRAITS TIMES, Apr 7, 2011 Japan using gas to avoid explosion at nuclear plantTOKYO – WORKERS at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant on Thursday pumped nitrogen gas into a crippled reactor in a bid to contain the world’s worst atomic accident for 25 years and prevent a possible explosion. Continue reading →

April 7, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 7, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 7, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | Japan, Legal | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan | 1 Comment

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

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, China | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | 1 Comment

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

April 4, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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