*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

Tepco May Not Clear Radioactive Water in 2011

Tepco has been pouring water to bring reactor temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit), a state called cold shutdown, after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused three meltdowns at the station in the worst accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The treatment system started in June had suffered 32 breakdowns as of Aug. 13, the utility said Aug. 16.

“It would be disastrous if the accumulated water leaks to the environment,” Tetsuo Ito, the head of the Atomic Energy Research Institute at Kinki University, said in a telephone interview. “In addition to rainfall, underground water must be flowing into basements. Unless Tepco stops the flow, it would be a big challenge to remove all the water.”

[link to www.bloomberg.com]

- Did anyone seriously think they would be able to meet that goal?

Fukushima kids give silent officials an earful on crisis

"I can't trust a government that insists on describing Fukushima as safe when children there wear masks to go to schools and can't use swimming pools," she said.

The officials mostly listened in silence, heads bowed.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

- Pathetic.

Fukushima now radiating everyone: 'Unspeakable' reality


"In fact the whole world will be exposed from the radiation from Fukushima," Dr. Kaku told CBS reporter Liz Hayes.

"We are already getting radiation from Fukushima," Dr. Kaku said.


Continue reading on Examiner.com Fukushima now radiating everyone: 'Unspeakable' reality - National Human Rights | Examiner.com [link to www.examiner.com]

Strong earthquake rattles eastern Japan, no damage

[link to channel6newsonline.com]

New 57 (Sv/h) Radiation Increase In Unit 1 After Aug 17 Quake Near Fukushima Daiichi
Posted on August 18, 2011 by admin
[Translate]

A new significant earthquake ( 6.2) occurred at Fukushima Daiichi on August 17th . In our previous report we explained the connection between the recent 6.0+ earth quakes and changes at the plant. The quakes caused changes in the pressure, temperature and radiation levels in the reactors indicating relocation of the melted fuel and concerns about building integrity.

After the most recent quake on the 17th, the radiation readings at the drywell “b” sensor spiked from 359 (Sv/h) on August 15th to 416 (Sv/h). This was a 57 (Sv/h) jump in radiation levels in just over one day. The drywell sensors are in the concrete containment bulb below the reactor pressure vessel.
[link to houseoffoust.com]

More data at link. Love the House of Foust data, they put a lot of research into it.

Fukushima radiation alarms doctors

There is widespread concern in Japan about a general lack of government monitoring for radiation, which has caused people to begin their own independent monitoring, which are also finding disturbingly high levels of radiation.

Kodama's centre, using 27 facilities to measure radiation across the country, has been closely monitoring the situation at Fukushima - and their findings are alarming.


[link to english.aljazeera.net]

Recent readings taken at the plant are alarming.

When on August 2nd readings of 10,000 millisieverts (10 sieverts) of radioactivity per hour were detected at the plant, Japan's science ministry said that level of dose is fatal to humans, and is enough radiation to kill a person within one to two weeks after the exposure.

10,000 millisieverts (mSv) is the equivalent of approximately 100,000 chest x-rays.

It is an amount 250 per cent higher than levels recorded at the plant in March after it was heavily damaged by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), that took the reading, used equipment to measure radiation from a distance, and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device's maximum reading is only 10,000 mSv.

TEPCO also detected 1,000 millisieverts (mSv) per hour in debris outside the plant, as well as finding 4,000 mSv per hour inside one of the reactor buildings.

Nearly half of children near Fukushima plant absorbed radiation.

A survey of more than 1,000 children and babies living near the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has produced an alarming finding: 45 percent of them suffered internal exposure to radiation following the accident there.

[link to www.asahi.com]

The U.S. government had considered evacuating part of its forces out of Japan in a "worst-case scenario" in the early days of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, a former senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Internal exposure, added to the food supply that will no doubt bring more internal exposure. This breaks my heart as a mom and pisses me off as a person.

Lot of thyroid issues and flu-like symptoms, nose-bleeds.
Damned shame.

Former U.S. envoy critical of Japan's nuclear crisis response

Kevin Maher, a former State Department official, says the U.S. worried about Prime Minister Naoto Kan's lack of leadership after the earthquake and tsunami led to a nuclear crisis.



[link to www.latimes.com]

Japan Hit by 6.8 Quake off Fukushima, Tsunami Advisory Issued

[link to www.pacificfreepress.com]

Did quake or tsunami cause Fukushima meltdown?

Japan's nuclear safety agency today rejected a claim in British newspaper The Independent that the earthquake itself, not the subsequent tsunami, destroyed cooling systems leading to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

"It is not correct," a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety watchdog, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), told New Scientist.

[link to www.newscientist.com]

Nuclear Safety Commission struggled to summon experts after disaster, chairman admits

The Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) was able to summon only a handful of its 40 emergency advisers immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident that was triggered by the March 11 quake and tsunami, its chief has admitted.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]

Fukushima beef shipment ban stands

The shipment ban on Fukushima Prefecture beef will continue, as more meat has turned up contaminated with an excessive level of radioactive cesium, officials said.

The government had planned to lift the ban for Fukushima Prefecture on Friday. The ban on shipments of beef from Miyagi Prefecture was still expected to be lifted Friday as planned.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Yukon to test for radiation in caribou herd

The Northern Contaminants Program will test caribou for radiation as part of its ongoing effort to monitor the Porcupine Caribou Herd.

[link to www.cbc.ca]

[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com]

8/10/2011 Grennpeace has sampled fish for market from local fisheries near Fukushima and has found extremely high radiation lewels independently verified by French labs. Japanese government has no seafood safety monitoring plan, nor is origin of seafood information required for sale.


[link to www.fishupdate.com]

Flustered Fukushima farmers up to their ears in radioactive bullsh*t

We’ve run out of space to store it,” frets a 75-year-old farmer in Date City, Fukushima Prefecture, who tends a herd of some 70 cattle.

His bovines’ digestive systems are remarkably productive, generating two tons of excrement per day. This material, rich in nutrients, is normally recycled by selling it to vegetable growers.

[link to www.tokyoreporter.com]

- Have to admit this is a problem I had not contemplated.

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Aftermath

[link to thebqb.com]

Fukushima 'seriously out of control,' nuclear industry seriously in control of global media blackout

Since Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant has reportedly released 20 times the radiation contamination amount of the Hiroshima bomb, and its molten core is sinking through the Earth's crust, it appears to be in early stages of a "total China Syndrome meltdown" according to a Russia Today report Thursday during which Beyond Nuclear's Paul Gunter answered why media is blacking out the catastrophe, as noted by numerous scientists, and he revealed the increasing threat of a nuclear explosion.
[link to www.examiner.com]

Map shows spot with high level of radiation near Fukushima plant

The science ministry published a map on Friday on cumulative radiation estimates five months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was crippled in March, showing a nearby town with a high level of radiation.

In giving specific estimates for 50 locations in the no-entry zone for the first time, the ministry said cumulative radiation of 278 millisieverts was estimated for a location in the town of Okuma, 3 kilometers southwest of the troubled plant.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]

Miyagi farmer to ship rice after own safety inspection

[link to www.yomiuri.co.jp]

Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear

In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking federal permission to build a $1 billion plant that would make reactor fuel by the ton.

That might be good news for the nuclear industry. But critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect.

Iran has already succeeded with laser enrichment in the lab, and nuclear experts worry that G.E.’s accomplishment might inspire Tehran to build a plant easily hidden from the world’s eyes.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Lightning strike knocks out a power source for Indian Point nuclear plant.

[link to www.lohud.com]

Update: NRC tags Prairie Island with safety violation

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has officially cited Prairie Island nuclear plant for a safety violation regarding battery chargers, officials said Wednesday.

[link to www.republican-eagle.com]

Iran-Russia nuclear cooperation not halted: AEOI director

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Fereydoun Abbasi has said that Iran and Russia have held negotiations on the construction of new nuclear power plants, refuting the claims that Russia has decided to end its nuclear cooperation with Iran.

[link to tehrantimes.com]

Feds give new SC nuclear reactors safety approval

[link to www.businessweek.com]