The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and its aftermath – theme for this week
Entering the nuclear age, body by body — the Nagasaki experience, Asia Times, BY AT EDITOR on AUGUST 6, 2015 (From TomDispatch.com)
By Susan Southard [This essay has been adapted from chapters 1 and 2 of Susan Southard’s new 
book, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War, with the kind permission of Viking.] “…….The five-ton plutonium bomb plunged toward the city at 614 miles per hour. Forty-seven seconds later, a powerful implosion forced its plutonium core to compress from the size of a grapefruit to the size of a tennis ball, generating a nearly instantaneous chain reaction of nuclear fission. With colossal force and energy, the bomb detonated a third of a mile above the Urakami Valley and its 30,000 residents and workers, a mile and a half north of the intended target. At 11:02 a.m., a superbrilliant flash lit up the sky — visible from as far away as Omura Naval Hospital more than 10 miles over the mountains — followed by a thunderous explosion equal to the power of 21,000 tons of TNT. The entire city convulsed.
At its burst point, the center of the explosion reached temperatures higher than at the center of the sun, and the velocity of its shock wave exceeded the speed of sound. A tenth of a millisecond later, all of the materials that had made up the bomb converted into an ionized gas, and electromagnetic waves were released into the air. The thermal heat of the bomb ignited a fireball with an internal temperature of over 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Within one second, the blazing fireball expanded from 52 feet to its maximum size of 750 feet in diameter. Within three seconds, the ground below reached an estimated 5,400 to 7,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Directly beneath the bomb, infrared heat rays instantly carbonized human and animal flesh and vaporized internal organs.
As the atomic cloud billowed two miles overhead and eclipsed the sun, the bomb’s vertical blast pressure crushed much of the Urakami Valley. Horizontal blast winds tore through the region at two and a half times the speed of a category five hurricane, pulverizing buildings, trees, plants, animals, and thousands of men, women, and children. In every direction, people were blown out of their shelters, houses, factories, schools, and hospital beds; catapulted against walls; or flattened beneath collapsed buildings.
Those working in the fields, riding streetcars, and standing in line at city ration stations were blown off their feet or hit by plummeting debris and pressed to the scalding earth. An iron bridge moved 28 inches downstream. As their buildings began to implode, patients and staff jumped out of the windows of Nagasaki Medical College Hospital, and mobilized high school girls leaped from the third story of Shiroyama Elementary School, a half mile from the blast.
The blazing heat melted iron and other metals, scorched bricks and concrete 
buildings, ignited clothing, disintegrated vegetation, and caused severe and fatal flash burns on people’s exposed faces and bodies. A mile from the detonation, the blast force caused nine-inch brick walls to crack, and glass fragments bulleted into people’s arms, legs, backs, and faces, often puncturing their muscles and organs. Two miles away, thousands of people suffering flesh burns from the extreme heat lay trapped beneath partially demolished buildings.
At distances up to five miles, wood and glass splinters pierced through people’s clothing and ripped into their flesh. Windows shattered as far as eleven miles away. Larger doses of radiation than any human had ever received penetrated deeply into the bodies of people and animals. The ascending fireball suctioned massive amounts of thick dust and debris into its churning stem. A deafening roar erupted as buildings throughout the city shuddered and crashed to the ground……http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176032/ http://atimes.com/2015/08/entering-the-nuclear-age-body-by-body-the-nagasaki-experience/
One living witness to the history of Hiroshima bombing survivors
Survivor Koko Kondo shares horror of Hiroshima’s ground zero by: YUKA HAYASHI The Wall Street Journal August 06, 2015 Every year, Koko Tanimoto Kondo tours her hometown carrying the tiny, tattered pink tunic she wore on the day, 70 years ago, she and her family survived the world’s first atomic bombing.On storytelling tours around the August 6 anniversary, Ms Kondo, who was eights months old when the bomb hit, tells students about the devastation that destroyed her home and haunted her for decades.She recalls when her American fiance abandoned her days before their wedding because his relatives thought radiation exposure had made her unable to bear children.
She shares the humiliation she felt as a teenager, standing naked on a stage while doctors and scientists scrutinised her for signs of radiation’s long-term effects on the body.
She offers tales of ordinary Americans who sent food and built homes for the victims, and continued for decades after the war to send cheques on birthdays to sons and daughters of Hiroshima connected through “moral adoption”.Ms Kondo’s father, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, was a US-educated minister at a church in Japan. When Hersey visited Hiroshima in the spring of 1946, Tanimoto shared with him a detailed account of the horror and chaos he witnessed. In the book, Tanimoto is described as passing by “rank on rank of the burned and bleeding”, scurrying to find water for dying victims, and removing a dead body from a rowboat to carry those who were still alive, after apologising to the dead man for doing so.
Ms Kondo and her mother were buried under the parsonage of her father’s church. Her mother managed to hoist her out of the rubble after chipping away at “a chink of light” that they could eventually fit through. When Tanimoto was reunited with his wife and baby, he was “so tired that nothing could surprise him”. Hersey wrote in his account, which first appeared in the New Yorkermagazine in August 1946, a year after Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the first and only cities in history to experience a nuclear bombing………..
Ms Kondo shows the visitors where her father’s church stood before it collapsed, burying her under the rubble. She takes them to the river her father crossed in a rowboat to carry victims, some grotesquely burned, to escape the devastation. They go to the Red Cross Hospital, where thousands went for refuge. Ms Kondo’s brief appearance in the book Hiroshima, by journalist John Hersey, set her on a path to become a messenger from ground zero. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/survivor-koko-kondo-shares-horror-of-hiroshimas-ground-zero/story-fnay3ubk-1227471529950?from=public_rss&utm_source=The%20Australian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial
China sends back infant milk formula to Fukushima
The principle radioactive poison that is being tested for in Japanese foods is cesium-137. Unfortunately, there are also other deadly poisons that have been spewed in lesser amounts by Fukushima disaster. These include americium-241, plutonium-236, uranium-238, thorium-232 and the extremely dangerous isotope, strontium-90. All of these contaminants may also be found in food from Japan, including in baby formula.
Fukushima Baby Milk Formula Declared Unfit by China http://www.huntingtonnews.net/11938 August 5, 2015 – BY JOHN LAFORGE Chinese authorities seized more than 881 pounds of baby milk formula that had been imported from Japan because it had been produced in areas known to be heavily contaminated with radioactive material emitted by three damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi complex. Continue reading
Damaged fuel rod containers, suspicious death at Fukushima nuclear plant
Vice: ‘Suspicious’ death at Fukushima plant — Officials: Damaged nuclear fuel containers found in Unit 3 pool after removal of massive piece of debris — “High radioactivity prevented workers from carrying out the removal smoothly” — Concern about “new fuel failure” (PHOTOS & VIDEO) http://enenews.com/vice-suspicious-death-fukushima-plant-officials-damaged-nuclear-fuel-rod-containers-found-unit-3-pool-after-debris-removed-concern-about-new-fuel-failure-high-radioactivity-prevented-workers?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
NHK, Aug 4, 2015 (emphasis added): Fuel rod casings found damaged by debris… workers have found damaged fuel rod containers after removing a device that had fallen on them during the 2011 disaster. They’re now checking whether the damage will affect their plan to remove fuel from the pool. A 20-ton device for moving fuel rods in and out of the pool on the building’s top floor was removed on Sunday… High radioactivity prevented workers from carrying out the removal smoothly… Workers found that the metal casings of 4 assemblies had been distorted and have twisted handles. This is evident in images released by the operator… The utility is checking for other damage and studying how to remove the distorted casings from the pool.
TEPCO (pdf), Aug 4, 2015: Unit 3 Spent Fuel Pool… we found bent handles of 4 nuclear fuel assemblies located under the Fuel Handling Machine which was removed on August 2nd… there is no indication ofnew fuel failure by the removal… In the future, when discussing fuel removal, we will consider how to deal with the bent handles of nuclear fuel assemblies.
Vice News, Aug 4, 2015: A 30 year-old man died this weekend as he worked on decommissioning Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant… It is not yet known whether the man’s death was due to radiation exposure, and an autopsy is pending… In a statement released Monday, [Tepco] said that the man had been taken to the emergency room after complaining that he wasn’t feeling well. “His death was confirmed early in the afternoon,” Tepco said. Isabelle Dublineau, the head of the experimental radiotoxicology laboratory for France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), said… it was “too early” to comment on the death… While the latest death has already been branded suspicious in the media, Tepco has so far denied that any of the deaths are related to radiation exposure… The worker who died over the weekend was working… on the construction of the “ice wall”…
Fukushima: ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO MELT DOWNS IN BOTH NUCLEAR REACTORS 5 AND 6
Fukushima; Reactors And/Or SFP’s In #5 And #6 Melted Down – Total of 7 Melt Down’s, Melt Outs, Nuclear Explosions A Green Road Blogspot, 12 July 15,
- massive amounts of hydrogen/tritium gas released out of holes cut in the buildings
- high levels of cesium in the drains coming from 5 and 6
- radioactive water in the basements, hauled away by US military barge
- white smoke from both buildings
- melted fuel in pipe picture
- broken pipes in all buildings
- report of melted down fuel
- report of radioactive xenon gas releases months after disaster
Gov’t model shows Fukushima radioactive gas near Tokyo skyrocketed to 10,000,000,000 times normal levels soon after 3/11 – “Very high concentrations” recorded at all monitoring posts in northern hemisphere (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/noaa-model-shows-fukushima-radioactive-gas-tokyo-skyrocketed-10-billion-times-normal-levels-after-311-very-high-concentrations-recorded-all-monitoring-posts-northern-hemisphere-video
Radioactivity in the drains, in the gas/air and in the water in the basements comes from melting down fuel rods, not normal operations from a shut down and cooled off reactor and spent fuel pools, wouldn’t you agree?
And where did all of that highly radioactive water from the basements of the #5 and #6 buildings go, by the way, in that US supplied barge? Where did the high level radiation in the water come from? Where did that melted fuel in the pipe go?
In all of the other buildings, the high level radiation in the basements comes from broken reactors with melted down fuel in them. Certainly radioactive water does not come from the tsunami, because the tsunami wave was clean, pure ocean water. And pray tell TEPCO, what was the radiation level in that water, from buildings 5 and 6, hmmmmmm?
MELTDOWN OF THE TRUTH AROUND BUILDINGS 5 AND 6
Problems ahead, if Japan restarts mothballed nuclear reactors
Japan Heads Toward Nuclear Unknown With Post-Fukushima Restarts, Bloomberg by Stephen Stapczynski Yuriy Humber August 6, 2015 Japan is about to do something that’s never been done before: Restart a fleet of mothballed nuclear reactors.
The first reactor to meet new safety standards could come online as early as next week. Japan is reviving its nuclear industry four years after all its plants were shut for safety checks following the earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station north of Tokyo, causing radiation leaks that forced the evacuation of 160,000 people.
Mothballed reactors have been turned back on in other parts of the world, though not on this scale — 25 of Japan’s 43 reactors have applied for restart permits. One lesson learned elsewhere is that the process rarely goes smoothly. Of 14 reactors that resumed operations after four years offline, all had emergency shutdowns and technical failures, according to data from the World Nuclear Association, an industry group.
In Sweden, E.ON Sverige AB closed the No. 1 unit at its Oskarshamn plant in 1992 and restarted it in 1996. It had six emergency shutdowns in the following year and a refueling that should have taken 38 days lasted more than four months after cracks were found in equipment……..The challenges facing the NRA are “absolutely unique worldwide,” said John Large, chief executive at Large & Associates, a London-based engineering consultant to the nuclear industry. “You have had the whole nation’s fleet of nuclear power plants closed down for four years.”
Long-Dormant
As problems can arise with long-dormant reactors, the NRA “should be testing all the equipment as well as the operator beforehand in preparation,” Macfarlane of the U.S. said by e-mail. …….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-05/japan-heads-toward-nuclear-unknown-with-post-fukushima-restarts
Every year, thousands of Hiroshima survivors treated for radiation-induced illnesses
Hiroshima nuclear bomb 70th anniversary: New research shows thousands of survivors treated every year August 6, 2015 Julie Power Reporter
“…….New Red Cross data released on Thursday shows that even 70 years after the atomic blasts, Japanese hospitals treat thousands of survivors each year, mostly for cancer which has caused two-thirds of deaths. In the past 12 months, the Red Cross hospitals treated nearly 11,000 survivors.
The full impact of the blast on the survivors and their children who are now reaching 50 years of age, is still not fully known, Dr Masao Tomonaga, the director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital and a survivor told Fairfax Media this week.
As well as suffering higher rates of cancer, new research by the Red Cross hospitals showed survivors who had lived close to the epicentres were also 1.5 times more likely to suffer from heart attacks and angina.
“I couldn’t imagine (these results) before we started this research some 65 years ago (when the hospitals were built.) This means atomic bomb radiation is a life-long effect, with evidence of a life-long susceptibility to cancers, leukaemia and heart attacks,” Dr Tomonaga said.
Of the 16,000 nuclear weapons held today, 1800 are launch ready and any one would make Little Boy or Fat Man “look tiny” and wipe out a city like Sydney, said Robert Tickner, the CEO of the Australian Red Cross. No country or medical service could handle the immediate or long-term impacts, including the millions who would go hungry, Red Cross research has found.
Mr Tickner is calling on Australians and their leaders to support a ban on nuclear weapons for humanitarian reasons.
The author Junko Morimoto drawing as a young girl near what became the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.Photo: Junko Morimoto
“If the world has moved on biological and chemical weapons as illegal weapons of war, if we have moved on clusters, landmines and had conventions to tackle those to deal with them as a weapon of war, what madness is it that we have not taken a similar stand on nuclear weapons.They are the standout greatest threat to the planet,” he said.
Around 113 countries have now signed the Austrian Pledge to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons because of their unacceptable humanitarian consequences. The federal government hasn’t signed, but the ALP ‘s new party platform, amended at last month’s conference, agrees to “prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons is a humanitarian imperative.”…..http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hiroshima-nuclear-bomb-70th-anniversary-new-research-shows-thousands-of-survivors-treated-every-year-20150804-girqz8.html#ixzz3i4jl5UGt
Scary part of Fukushima is the sheer epic scale of this mega nuclear disaster
Fukushima; Reactors And/Or SFP’s In #5 And #6 Melted Down – Total of 7 Melt Down’s, Melt Outs, Nuclear Explosions A Green Road Blogspot, 12 July 15, “………CONCLUSION
Building 1 – melted out
Building 2 – melted out
Building 4 – melted out from at least the equipment pool
Building 5 – melted down
Building 6 – melted down
TEPCO exploits homeless, mentally disabled men, in Fukushima nuclear clean-up
TV: Mentally disabled are working at Fukushima Daiichi, says journalist — Many men forced to go to plant — Homeless treated like ‘disposable people’(VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-journalist-says-theres-mentally-disabled-workers-at-fukushima-many-men-forced-to-work-at-plant-homeless-treated-like-disposable-people-video
RT News, Nov. 20, 2013: Homeless men employed cleaning up the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, including those brought in by Japan’s yakuza gangsters, were not aware of the health risks they were taking and say their bosses treated them like “disposable people.” […] While some workers voluntarily agreed to take jobs on the nuclear clean-up project, many others simply didn’t have a choice […] many of the workers were brought into the nuclear plant by Japan’s organized crime syndicates, the yakuza. […] Although a special task force to keep organized crime out of the nuclear clean-up project has been set up, investigators say they need first-hand reports from those forced to work by the yakuza […]
Anonymous former Fukushima worker: We were given no insurance for health risks, no radiation meters even. We were treated like nothing, like disposable people — promised things, and then kicked us out when we received a large radiation dose.
Tomohiko Suzuki, journalist who worked at Fukushima plant: The government called Tepco to take urgent action, Tepco relayed it to subcontractors — and they, eventually, as they had a shortage of available workers, called the Yakuza for help. […] They were given very general information about radiation and most were not even given radiation meters. They could have exposed themselves to large doses without even knowing it. Even the so-called Fukushima 50 […] at least three of them were enrolled by the yakuza.
Aleksey Yaroshevsky, RT: There are 25% more openings for jobs at Fukushima plant than applicants, according to government data. Gaps filled, says Suzuki, by the homeless, the desperately unemployed and even those with mental disabilities.
The effects of radiation have haunted the lives of atomic bomb survivors.
The A-bombs fell / Specter of radiation lingers on , Japan News, , August 04, 2015, August 04, 2015 The Yomiuri ShimbunThis is the second installment in a series. “……….When hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) need treatment due to malignant tumors, leukemia, cardiac infarcts and other ailments, they may be officially recognized as having radiation sickness. This entitles them to a special monthly medical allowance of about ¥140,000, which is provided by the government apart from medical costs.
However, there are certain requirements for receiving the allowance, such as how far they were from Ground Zero when they were exposed. There were a total of 183,519 holders of special hibakusha health-care certificates for the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as of the end of March, but only 4.8 percent of them, or 8,749, were recognized as having radiation sickness………..
Poverty and discrimination
The effects of radiation have haunted the lives of atomic bomb survivors.
“Just as I expected.” So thought a 72-year-old woman in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, when she was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma at a hospital nine years ago.
Her older brother and sister, both hibakusha, died from cancer after the war. The woman was the youngest of seven siblings, a boy and six girls. She experienced the bombing when she was 2 years old, in Ushita-Honmachi, now Higashi Ward, in the city of Hiroshima, about 2.5 kilometers from the blast center.
Looking for her brother and sisters, she entered the central area of the city while being carried by her mother for several days.
Her mother died eight months later, probably as a result of that exposure, while her father also died from a disease. The woman was adopted by another family, but three years later, her brother, who was also exposed to the Hiroshima bombing and had reached the age of 17, took her back……..
The woman was recognized as having radiation sickness in 2009. However, a neighbor told her, “You’re lucky to be a recipient” of the special monthly medical allowance. These words were very painful and in May this year, she refused to accept the money.
She wants people to know about her suffering but does not want them to know that she is hibakusha. This spring, a shadow was also found in her pancreas.
“My family was devastated, and I suffered from poverty and discrimination. My life is bound to the atomic bomb. I want to be freed from this,” she said in a trembling voice http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002331263
Nuclear bombing of Japanese cities the”opening salvo of the Cold War”
Hiroshima survivor Keiko Ogura wants people to come and see for themselves.
historians like Dr Kinston said the bombs were also about sending a message to the Soviets.
“We have this incredible new weapon, we have a monopoly on it and we are going to emerge as the strongest superpower. In a sense, this was the opening salvo of the Cold War,” he said.
Hiroshima atomic bombing did not lead to Japanese surrender, historians argue nearing 70th anniversary http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-05/hiroshima-bombing-did-not-lead-japanese-surrender-anniversary/6672616 By North Asia correspondent Matthew Carney The world changed forever when a US bomber dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima 70 years ago.
The Americans said they took the drastic step to put an early end to World War II and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers, but this official narrative is now being overturned.
On August 6, 1945 the world’s first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, wiping out the city centre and killing about 140,000 people by the years’ end.
Keiko Ogura was eight-years-old at the time and only 2.4 kilometres from the hypocentre.
She remembers being engulfed in flames.
“A flash of light and the blast slammed me to the ground and I lost consciousness,” she said.
“I woke up, it was dark and everyone was crying.”
Keiko said the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and another at Nagasaki three days later, which killed 70,000 more, were war crimes.
Many historians say the bombings did not lead to the Japanese surrender, and the Soviet declaration of war on Japan two days later was a bigger shock.
It put an end to any hope the Soviets would negotiate a favourable surrender for Japan. Continue reading
TEPCO removes 20-ton piece of debris from fuel pool at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant
20 – Ton Object Removed From Fukushima Fuel Pool http://www.japanbullet.com/news/20-ton-object-removed-from-fukushima-fuel-pool August 2, 2015 Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Aug. 2 removed a 20-ton piece of debris from a nuclear fuel storage pool, a small but critical step in decommissioning the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. It was the largest piece of debris left in the No. 3 reactor building’s storage pool, which is holding 566 nuclear fuel assemblies.
The reactor building was heavily damaged by a hydrogen explosion shortly after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, triggered the nuclear crisis at the plant.
The object removed was part of fuel replacement equipment used to load and unload nuclear fuel at the No. 3 reactor. It has prevented TEPCO from removing the nuclear fuel assemblies in the pool to a safer location.
The piece of equipment originally weighed 35 tons, but TEPCO used an underwater cutting device to pare it down to 20 tons.
The utility began lifting the debris shortly before noon. Workers remotely controlled two large cranes, equipped with three specially designed hooks, to pull out the debris while closely monitoring the process with cameras.
The delicate operation required the utmost attention to detail to prevent the debris from touching the pool’s walls. If it had dropped back into the pool, it could have damaged the nuclear fuel assemblies.
The debris was safely placed on the ground after 90 minutes, during which time TEPCO suspended all outdoor decommissioning work at the plant compound in case of an accident.
After removing the smaller debris from the pool, the utility plans to install special equipment on the upper structure of the reactor building to lift out the nuclear fuel assemblies.
TEPCO plans to start the fuel-removal operation in January 2018 at the earliest.
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 – leak may have consequences for the global nuclear industry
Leak of contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 may have international safety impact http://enformable.com/2014/01/leaks-contaminated-water-fukushima-daiichi-unit-3-may-international-safety-impact/ On Saturday, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan were operating a remote-controlled robot to remove debris on the first floor of the Unit 3 reactor building when they discovered a stream of water nearly a foot wide flowing through the first floor the reactor building before escaping into a drain on the floor.
After an investigation found that the water contained levels of radioactive materials equal to highly contaminated water which is accumulating in the basement of the reactor building, Tokyo Electric announced that water leaking inside of the Unit 3 reactor building is likely coming from the containment vessel where it was used to cool the melted nuclear fuel, rather than rain water.
The operators used the robot to sample water flowing into the basement of the reactor building. The investigation revealed some 24 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive materials, which includes strontium, 700,000 becquerels per liter of Cesium 134, and 1.7 million becquerels per liter of Cesium 137.
Tokyo Electric also found that the temperature of the water, 20 degrees Celsius, is consistent with the same as water found at the bottom of the reactor. he water is coming from a room which houses a main steam isolation valve, which is causing concern among experts around the world. The latest details have raised questions as to whether the main steam isolation valve or any of its ancillary systems may have failed during the disaster.
There are two main steam isolation valves in each of the four pipes which carry steam from the reactor vessel to the turbine. In case of accident or power loss, the MSIV’s are supposed to fail in a closed configuration.
After the reactor shut down on March 11th, 2011, the main steam isolation valves should have closed with the turbine tripped. Even if workers had manually re-opened the MSIV’s when emergency diesel generators restored power to plant equipment before the tsunami hit the plant, the pressure inside of the condenser should have automatically re-closed the MSIVs shortly thereafter.
The fact that water is leaking from a room which houses the main steam isolation valve may indicate that the valve did not close, or was damaged during the course of the disaster.
In 2011, Dave Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists drew attention to the fact that water levels in the Unit 3 reactor dropped below zero by 16:00, without any information available that would explain why.
If the MSIV did not close or broke, operators could have been facing a Loss of Coolant Accident without even knowing how the coolant water in the reactor could have leaked out.
If the MSIV was damaged or failed open, this would represent an unanalyzed condition which could affect every other operating Boiling Water Reactor in operation currently, who count on the MSIV’s to work as planned.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists
Source: Asahi Shimbun
How the Fukushima nuclear disaster happened
The Worst Disaster That You’ll Never Hear Anything About, Criticl, 2 Aug 15 The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster embodies one of the worst man-made calamities in human history that day-by-day receives a dearth of coverage. Three nuclear reactors melting down on March 11th, 2011 ushered in the beginning of one of the most effective and insidious works of misinformation and obfuscation of reality that has been seen in recent memory.
The impetus for the disaster arose from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which was estimated to be the most powerful earthquake to ever hit the island in recorded history. The magnitude of the 869 Jogan Sanriku quake (the previous record holder) is only an approximation due to the lack of seismograph technology, nonetheless the Tohoku earthquake was more powerful than the plant was designed to withstand.
Nuclear reactors are designed to shutdown at the slightest event, quickly reducing the amount of heat produced; yet any heat inside the reactor (comprised of the radioactive decay of short lived fission products) is still a magnanimous amount. Backup diesel generators were quickly ushered into action at Fukushima after outside power was destroyed by the quake in order to keep the reactors cool to prevent a meltdown.
However, standard operation procedures for the plant flew out the window when tsunami waves of 14-20 meters struck the Fukushima prefecture shortly after the earthquake, rendering the 5.7-meter seawall beyond useless and knocking out the generators. Interestingly enough, the nearby Onagawa plant was saved by a 14.8-meter seawall despite being struck by a more powerful wave. Yanosuki Hirai fought bureaucracy for years that clamored for the same 5.7-meter seawall at Onagawa, and got his higher wall, remarking, “Corporate ethics is different from compliance, just being ‘not guilty’ is not enough.” The wall was remarkably effective to the point that local residents sought shelter in the plant’s gymnasium after their homes were destroyed by the wave.
The resulting influx of water into the Fukushima reactor led to a station blackout, meaning the operators lost all monitors and the ability to remotely control the reactor. Isolation condensers can cool the reactor with no electricity as long as the condenser is filled with water. Regrettably, operators had no idea that the reactor was quickly running out of water and that the valves opening the condensers were not working, rendering the first line of defence against a potential meltdown useless.
Authorities decided next to depressurize the reactors and inject water from fire engines to flood the reactors, yet unseen diversions to steam condensers via small bypasses meant injected water was not sufficient to prevent an overheating of the core. Reactor 1 saw a hydrogen explosion resulting from molten fuel cladding three hours after the tsunami. Vents and piping intended to filter hydrogen were either severely damaged by the earthquake or unable to operate due to a lack of power.
Unit 2 and the Unit 3 Reactor Core had steam-powered turbines that would circulate cooling water, but suffered a hydrogen explosion due to the pressure in the reactor becoming too low for the turbines to operate. Operators were too inexperienced to properly inject water via the fire engines, which again resulted in a meltdown of both reactors. Leading the cleanup efforts several days later, Japanese authorities quickly created a temporary cover over Unit 1 and begin to filter out contaminated water and repair the other components of the reactors, while devising a plan to contain exposed radioactive material from the damaged reactors……………. Like what you see? https://thefirsttruth.wordpress.com/
https://criticl.me/post/worst-disaster-youll-never-hear-anything-about-3562
EDITORIAL: Trials of ex-TEPCO bigwigs a chance to take fresh look at disaster
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is hit by tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. will stand trial over their criminal responsibility for the 2011 disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
For the second time, the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution has rejected an earlier decision by prosecutors not to indict the three, setting the stage for the forced prosecution of these three individuals.
They will be accused of professional negligence resulting in the deaths of people who were in hospitals when the disaster happened and other tragedies.
A report issued by the Diet’s Fukushima nuclear accident investigation committee states, “It is clear that the accident was a man-made disaster.”
But no government officials or TEPCO employees have been punished, either politically or administratively. In other words, no one has been held accountable for the nation’s worst nuclear accident.
Many Japanese citizens still feel that justice has not been meted out with regard to that harrowing disaster. Many are also concerned that a similar accident may occur again if nobody is held responsible for what happened in 2011.
A second decision by the independent judicial panel of citizens to demand the criminal prosecution of the three former TEPCO executives should be viewed as indicative of the disturbing and disquieting feelings among many citizens.
The system of forced indictment through the judgment of citizens was introduced in 2009, along with the “saiban-in” citizen judge system. Until that time, public prosecutors monopolized the power to decide whether to indict a suspect. The new system is intended to ensure that public opinion is reflected in the process of criminal prosecution, at least to a certain degree.
In reversing public prosecutors’ decision not to indict the suspects on grounds that there is no compelling case for holding them liable for negligence, the panel of citizens made a grave decision to force trials of the three individuals.
The court should, of course, consider carefully and fairly whether the former TEPCO executives should be held liable for the misfortunes of disaster victims from the viewpoint of evidence submitted.
At the same time, one question that needs to be asked is how TEPCO implemented measures to protect the nuclear plant from a possible tsunami and ensure the plant’s safety.
Collectively, the trials will offer a great opportunity to take a fresh look into the accident from a perspective that is different from those of the investigation committees set up by the government and the Diet.
There have not been many opportunities for people to talk about the disaster in public. But the three former TEPCO executives will probably be given opportunities to speak in the courtroom. The court can also order submission of specific pieces of evidence.
Future public debate on issues concerning nuclear power generation will benefit greatly if the trials uncover unknown facts in the process, such as chronological changes in the utility’s decisions concerning safety measures for its nuclear power plants and the ways the government and other public organizations influenced the company’s policy.
The nation’s judiciary has a long history of handing down rulings related to nuclear power generation. But in most of the past cases concerning the construction and operations of nuclear power plants, the courts ruled against opposing local residents.
The question is whether all these court rulings in favor of nuclear power were influenced in any way by the perception that there is no way to stop the expansion of electricity production with atomic energy based on the government’s energy policy.
The judiciary’s attitude to nuclear power generation has also been called into question by the accident.
In considering the criminal liabilities related to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which has caused an unprecedented scale of damage, are the traditional criteria, like “specific predictability,” sufficiently effective?
The trials should prompt the judicial community to have more in-depth debate on this question.
We strongly hope the trials will be conducted in a way that lives up to people’s confidence in the judicial system.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
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