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
Anxiety growing in China over poor nuclear safety
Chinese environmental campaigners, citizens on microblogs and even the normally pliant state-run media are questioning why China has no obvious emergency preparedness plan, even though many people here live less than a quarter mile from nuclear facilities….people here were already suffering health problems associated with living close to a nuclear facility and that the cancer rate in the area has increased.
China expanding nuclear power but lacks emergency planning The Washington PostBy Keith B. Richburg, April 2, SHANGHAI — The Chinese government repeatedly offers assurances that the nuclear crisis in Japan poses no radiation risk in China. Officials monitor radiation levels in the air over coastal cities daily now. And planes and ships bringing cargo and passengers from Japan are closely scanned.
But the Chinese government has not told citizens living near nuclear facilities what to do in case of a similar disaster here. Continue reading
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
India’s coastline at risk from its nuclear power programme
‘N-power plan will turn coastline into disaster zone’ The Times of India, Apr 4, 2011 NEW DELHI: Former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) chairman A Gopalakrishnan has raised alarm over the government’s nuclear power programme based on imported reactors, saying it would turn India’s entire coastline into a disaster zone in waiting.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Gopalakrishnan argued that Department of Atomic Energy’s projection of 6,55,000 MW nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 — with additional fast-breeder reactors that would use plutonium from the imported plants — would mean 655 nuclear power reactors each of 1,000 MW capacity.
Gopalakrishnan said, “These would be stringed along a total coastline of about 6,000 km the country has — about 109 six-reactor nuclear parks, spaced along the coast every 55 km apart”.
He said the reactors being imported were new types, which foreigners had no experience of…
‘N-power plan will turn coastline into disaster zone’ – The Times of India
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
50 prominent Indians call for moratorium on nuclear projects
Are India and Germany beginning to show the way for other democracies around the world? The nuclear moratorium issue appears to be fast becoming the clarion call of our times.
“I” for India comes after “G” for Germany. Energy Collective 4 April 11, A top Indian scientist and government advisor, backed by more than 50 prominent figures, has called for a moratorium on all future nuclear projects following the nuclear crisis in tsunami-hit Japan. Continue reading
India’s Parliament and people kept in the dark, as USA sells nuclear to India
Among the US objectives were the desire ……to revive the moribund US nuclear industry by selling US-design nuclear reactors to India……US and Indian corporate sectors and their federations interested in profiteering from the Indian nuclear power business,….This collective also successfully kept Parliament and the people of India deliberately in the dark throughout this decision-making process. And all this is still continuing under cover of the Official Secrets Act, which is unnecessarily being applied to this civilian nuclear power sector, mainly to hush up the irrational policy decisions and the questionable financial deals between the government and corporate business houses.
Abandon the import of nuclear reactors: DNA , Dr A Gopalakrishnan Former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board , Apr 4, 2011, Mumbai : The decision taken by the government to import about 40,000 MWe of Light Water Reactors (LWRs) within the next two decades, has no justifiable technical or economic basis. Continue reading
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
Workers still trying to stop Fukushima radioactive water leak
Bodies found as nuclear plant leak poisons ocean | The Australian, 4 April 11, “……..Plant workers yesterday attempted to inject water-absorbent polymer into a 20cm crack in a pit beneath the No 2 reactor that has been blamed for radioactive leaks into the ocean. Earlier attempts to fill the crack with concrete failed.”We are hoping the polymers will absorb water and fill in the pipe to prevent water from flowing,” said the deputy director-general of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Hidehiko Nishiyama.TEPCO said radiation readings in the air above the pit had hit 1000 millisieverts per hour – more than four times the allowable annual total for workers at the plant. Continue reading
Decades until Fukushima nuclear plant closed down
Experts: Scrapping Fukushima plant could take decades, asahi.com（朝日新聞社）2 April 11, – Regaining control of the four stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could take months or years, according to nuclear experts. And, even if the reactor cores can be cooled below 100 degrees, known as the “cold shutdown” stage, decommissioning will take several decades……. Continue reading
A floating radioactive waste pool? Hope there’s no more tsunamis!
Pontoon to hold Japan nuke plant water | Herald Sun April 02, 2011 THE operator of Japan’s disaster-stricken nuclear power plant plans to use a huge steel floating structure to contain radioactive water it releases.The pontoon-type structure which can hold a maximum of 18,000 tonnes of water will be handed over to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) by its owner which has been using it as a floating park for anglers, officials said yesterday.Called a “Mega-Float”, it measures 136 metres long, 46 metres wide and three metres high and can hold up to 10,000 tonnes of water without sinking….. Pontoon to hold Japan nuke plant water | Herald Sun
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