No solution to Fukushima’s melted nuclear fuel
Filmed: Oct. 18, 2012
Published: Oct. 21, 2012
Translation: Fukushima Diary
Hiroaki Koide, Kyoto University Reactor Research Institute: There are a lot of problems and Tepco and Japanese government state they are going to pick the melted fuel up someday, somehow. I personally think it’s impossible.
30-km nuke safety zone may not be enough http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121024a3.html Kyodo Radiation doses beyond 30 km from four nuclear plants, including those in Niigata and Fukui prefectures, could reach 100 millisieverts in the first seven days amid a severe meltdown crisis like the one that started in March 2011 at the Fukushima No. 1 complex, according to estimates by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.The NRA is crafting new guidelines on nuclear disaster mitigation measures based on the Fukushima disaster and has proposed a radius of 30 km from a nuclear plant as a rough standard for areas where special preparations against fallout exposure should be made.
The latest simulation results, however, could lead local governments to require preparations in areas beyond the 30-km zone.
The four nuclear power stations are Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima No. 2 plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture, and Chubu Electric Power Co.’s Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The NRA assumed two scenarios — one in which the amount of radioactive substances released is as high as in the Fukushima disaster and the other in which all reactors at each plant suffer meltdowns — to identify areas in which exposure could reach 100 millisieverts in the first seven days. The simulation did not take into account the geography around the plants.
For Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, areas located within a 40-km radius of the plant would register 100 millisieverts.
High radiation in Fukushima neighbourhoods
Japan Newspaper: Radiation levels rising every month since decontamination in Fukushima district — Gov’t won’t help or even respond — “Are they forcing us to tolerate high radiation?” http://enenews.com/mainichi-radiation-levels-rising-every-month-since-decontamination-in-fukushima-district-govt-wont-help-or-even-respond-are-they-forcing-us-to-tolerate-high-radiation Title: One year on, Fukushima still fights uphill battle to decontaminate farming district
Source: Mainichi Japan
Date: Oct. 18, 2012
h/t Fukushima Diary
[…] The residents of the Onami district are frustrated with the government’s inaction, with one of them saying, “Are they forcing us to tolerate high radiation doses?” Continue reading
Japan official fudging of radiation readings
False hope: radiation monitoring in the Fukushima area (includes video) Greenpeace by Greg McNevin – October 23, 2012 Last week, three Greenpeace radiation-monitoring teams took to the streets of Fukushima City and the heavily contaminated region of Iitate to again record and assess contamination threats.
Like many trips before, we noticed decreased expose rates in a few areas, but many hotspots remain throughout heavily populated Fukushima City. What is more concerning, however, is the official government radiation monitoring stations that have appeared throughout the city.
Earlier this month The Association for Citizens and Scientists Concerned About Internal Radiation Exposures raised concerns that the Japanese government was manipulating radiation readings with these official monitoring stations. Continue reading
West Bengal government puts another fly in India-Russia’s nuclear ointment
The West Bengal government’s decision means that the hunt for a new site will begin afresh, at a time when anti-nuclear activists are protesting against nuclear power…
Haripur site cancellation is one more wrinkle in India-Russia ties THE HINDU, 23 Oct 12 SANDEEP DIKSHIT Search on for another location for the proposed nuclear electricity park
There is another wrinkle in India-Russia relations, besides the known differences over Sistema’s telecom investments, the delays in the commissioning of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and the applicability of the nuclear liability legislation to units 3 and 4 of
the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.
India and Russia are scouting for another site for a nuclear electricity park after the West Bengal government decided to cancel the allotment of a site in Haripur. Continue reading
Japan Engineer: Tepco won’t spend money needed at Fukushima Daiichi — Asahi: Tepco still giving large ‘donations’ to areas with nuclear facilities (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/japan-engineer-tepco-wont-spend-money-needed-fukushima-daiichi-asahi-tepco-giving-large-donations-areas-nuclear-facilities Continue reading
A HOAX about new Fukushima crisis should not make us think it is now SAFE
Nuclear Perceptions Fight Reality OpEd News, By William Boardman, 22 Oct 12, FUKUSHIMA FREAKOUT OBSCURES REAL ACCIDENT THAT GOES ON AND ON An early morning flurry of internet reports carried scary – but false – headlines aboutFukushima nuclear power plant’s fuel pools exploding and burning, and releasing massive amounts of radiation on October 22. Many readers expressed skepticism, as the reports seemed to come from a single, unconfirmed source and by later the same afternoon more responsible websites were labeling the story a hoax .
The Fukushima accident in Japan continues nonetheless, at a slower pace for now, even though one of the more dangerous damaged units has cracks in its walls and is sinking into the ground, as affirmed by nuclear engineer Arnie Gunderson in his October 21 podcast .
Unit 4 at Fukushima is perhaps the most threatening part of the damaged plant because the unit’s fuel rods are outside the containment where further mishap could lead to the release massive amounts of radiation directly into the environment.
At the time of the earthquake in March 2011, about 100 miles of Japan’s coastline, including the area around Fukushima, dropped about three feet, increasing the impact of the tsunami that destroyed the nuclear power plant, which continues to deteriorate.
In recent weeks it’s become increasingly clear that Fukushima Unit 4, with its unprotected fuel rods is continuing to sink into the ground, and is sinking asymmetrically, creating the possibility that the building will begin to tilt. The unit sank about 36 inches in March 2011 and has sunk another 30 inches since then, as confirmed by Gunderson.
How Safe Is a Buckled, Sinking Building?…….. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nuclear-Perceptions-Fight-by-William-Boardman-121022-931.html
Russia’s Putin is put out about India’s Nuclear Liability Law
Kudankulam sparks ‘nuclear winter’, Putin defers visit Sachin Parashar, TNN | Oct 23, 201 NEW DELHI: In a sudden and unexpected move, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to postpone his much-awaited summit meet with PM Manmohan Singh by close to two months. The meet, which was scheduled to take place on November 1 and for which groundwork had been completed during deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin’s visit to India last week, will now take place on December 24. .. TOI had learnt on Friday that since Moscow was not pleased with the outcome of Rogozin’s visit, Putin may decide to delay his India visit.
While the Russians had been maintaining that the cost of the reactors will go up substantially if suppliers are made accountable for compensation, they were still hoping that the two sides would be able to circumvent, if not override, the liability provisions through some arrangement that will acknowledge Moscow’s contribution to India’s nuclear power industry even during times of adversity. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kudankulam-sparks-nuclear-winter-Putin-defers-visit/articleshow/16920253.cms
In order to keep people happy, nuclear power plants were kept UNSAFE!
Nuclear Perceptions Fight Reality OpEd News, By William Boardman, 22 Oct 12, FUKUSHIMA FREAKOUT OBSCURES REAL ACCIDENT THAT GOES ON AND ON ”….Perception of Safety Wins Out Over RealityAs has been widely reported, Tepco has known since 2002 that the Fukushima site was unsafe. “I actually think they knew in the eighties,” Gunderson commented. One reason TEPCO didn’t do anything was money, and another was public relations. They didn’t want to create the perception that the site was unsafe, so therefore they kept the site unsafe,” Gunderson said. He explained that they have since acknowledged their behavior and he read from a TEPCO public statement:
“There was a worry that, if the company were to implement a severe accident response plan, it would spur anxiety throughout the country and in the community where the plant was sited, and it would lend momentum to the anti-nuclear movement.”
Similar thinking in the U.S. was revealed by the release of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) study that showed that 34 U.S. nuclear power plants at risk of flooding from dam failures upstream. Written about six months ago, but classified “not for public disclosure,” the studywas recently made public by a whistleblower.
“So here’s the NRC, America’s nuclear watchdog, doing exactly what Tokyo Electric did, preventing the public from becoming aware of a safety problem, because they don’t want to frighten the public,” Gunderson said….. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Nuclear-Perceptions-Fight-by-William-Boardman-121022-931.html
“Sleeping dragon” Fukushima reactor No 4 nuclear fuel pool
Nuclear Perceptions Fight Reality OpEd News, By William Boardman, 22 Oct 12, FUKUSHIMA FREAKOUT OBSCURES REAL ACCIDENT THAT GOES ON AND ON These buildings are supposed to be seismically and structurally secure and, you know, if the ground sinks under them, that suddenly changes a lot of people’s perception,” Gunderson said, underscoring the assurances of the nuclear industry that reactors are constructed to survive earthquakes intact. The Japanese “seismic calculations were wrong all along,” he added.
Unit 4 was first damaged by the earthquake/tsunami event, and then suffered several explosions during the aftermath. Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) acknowledged that the building was damaged and went in during the spring of 2011 to structurally reinforce the elevated fuel pool, to keep the bottom of the pool from breaking and dumping fuel rods uncontrollably.
Today the Unit 4 building is buckled, and is two inches wider at the bottom than at the top. There is at least one crack in its foundation.
Of the four Fukushima reactors and fuel pools, Unit 4 has the most nuclear fuel in the fuel pool, and no fuel in its reactor within the containment. All the fuel in Unit 4 is outside the relative safety of the containment. And part of that fuel is the entire hot nuclear core that used to be in the reactor. That’s why the fuel pool steams on colder days.
“There is dozens of times more Cesium in the nuclear fuel pool at Unit 4 than was ever released in all the above ground [nuclear bomb] testing that ever occurred, so if that pool were to face structural damage from another earthquake, it would likely devastate Japan,” Gunderson said, “It’s a sleeping dragon.”
He added that until Tepco gets the fuel out of the pool, the world needs to keeps its fingers crossed that there’s not another earthquake, because Tepco is moving too slowly and methodically to make the site safe any time soon…… http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Nuclear-Perceptions-Fight-by-William-Boardman-121022-931.html
150 years before people can return to radiation contaminated land
It takes over 150 yrs for people to come back to Futaba machi, “Decontamination is useless.” http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/10/it-takes-over-150-yrs-for-people-to-come-back-to-futaba-machi-decontamination-is-useless/ by Mochizuki October 20th, 2012 · On 10/16/2012, Assistant Prof. Kimura from Dokkyo medical university had a lecture in the
restration committee of Futaba machi.
In this lecture, he introduced his personal view over the situation that it takes over 150 years for all the citizens to come back to the town even though they consider the half-life and the shielding effect of the ground.
He adds this is on the assumption that they don’t decontaminate the town, but he also added it’s useless to decontaminate this highly contaminated land. In Futaba machi, the lowest atmospheric dose is 0.3μSv/h but the highest reading is over20μSv/h.
Fukushima Diary reveals – Japan to restart another nuclear plant
[Express] Another nuclear plant will be restarted http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/10/express-another-nuclear-plant-will-be-restarted/ by Mochizuki October 22, 2012
民主党の細野豪志政調会長は２１日、薩摩川内(さつませんだい）市内の街頭演説で、九州電力川内原発の再稼働を明言しました。詳しくは明日の「しんぶん赤旗」で。
― 赤旗政治記者さん (@akahataseiji) 10月 21, 2012
<Translate>
On 10/21/2012, Hosono, the policy chief of Democratic Party of Japan had a soapbox oratory, then stated they are going to restart Sendai nuclear plant of Kyushu electric power. (Sendai nuclear plant is in Kagoshima prefecture, Kyushu)
Authorities keeping quiet about Fukushima reactor 4’s dire situation
Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 3 and 4 are waterlogged, cracked and just one major earthquake jolt away from a catastrophe that one expert said could be “of biblical proportions.”
Fukushima’s Hot Water: Now Fallout in Our Kitchens? On The Issue, by Kimberly Robertson, 21 Oct 12, Information about radioactive fallout from Japan has been in very short supply since the unprecedented triple nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi on March 11, 2011.
“Nuclear meltdown” is a term for a catastrophic reaction in a nuclear reactor that has overheated. The uncontrolled heat damages the reactor itself, causing an uncontrolled release of life threatening radioactive material, also known as “radioactive fallout” into the environment.
At Fukushima this happened three times, an unprecedented catastrophe.With the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 2012, it was strange to realize that Japan unwittingly dropped an even deadlier bomb on itself. Fukushima contained over 100 times more cesium-137 alone than Hiroshima, and there are literally hundreds of dangerous radionuclides in the “mix.” Continue reading
Sinking ground under Fukushima nuclear reactor 4 brings catastrophic risk
Fukushima threatens Global Human Survival The Canadian, 21 OCTOBER 2012 : BY SUBRATA “…..is Fukushima still a threat? It seems that it is, and on a potentially devastating level. Mitsuhei Murata, who served his country as Ambassador to both Senegal and
Switzerland, explained in a recent interview that far from the situation at the Fukushima Daiitsu plant improving, it is actually worsening in an alarming way: the ground beneath the plant’s number 4 reactor is sinking.
Mr Murata implied that the whole structure is on the verge of collapse. He wrote to the Secretary General of the United Nations stating unequivocally that the fate, not only of Japan, but of the rest of the world depends on the No. 4 reactor.
The cooling pool still contains more than fifteen hundred spent fuelrods. The collective power of these “spent” rods is 37 million curies. By comparison, the release of nuclear material at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania (an INES level 5 event) amounted to approximately
2.5 million curies. In other words, there are nearly 15 Three Mile Islands sitting in the severely compromised Unit 4.
The ground beneath Unit 4 has sunk by about 31.5 inches already. Further sinking, or a minor earthquake could cause the entire structure to collapse, draining the pool and causing a meltdown of potentially catastrophic proportions. Some scientists predict that
his would mean the ruin of Japan and a serious threat to the rest of the world. http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/news/nature/2012/10/19/4621.html
Tamil Nadu – not a TOTAL disaster – solar energy policy
TN Govt unveils solar energy policy http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/tn-govt-releases-solar-energy-policy/article4016264.ece R. BALAJI CHENNAI, OCT 20: Industrial and Commercial buildings connected to a high tension power load will have to use solar power to meet a portion of their power consumption , according to a solar energy policy announced by the Tamil Nadu Government on Saturday.
The policy offers incentives and mandates exploitation of solar energy in industrial, commercial and residential buildings. Continue reading
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