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

About Damn Time

I wonder if the ever-growing area of hotspots is coming from underground.

Yes, definitely.



I've been trying to find information on venting. Good chance you are on to something.

US Republicans seek new probe of nuclear chairman

Four Republican senators are asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general to investigate the agency's chairman for what they say is a continued pattern of withholding information from colleagues and acting unilaterally on the commission's behalf.

Lawmakers from both parties have criticized NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, asserting that he has an overly secretive and controlling style.

[link to www.google.com]

Large Zone Near Japanese Reactors to Be Off Limits

Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Withholding information from colleagues and acting unilaterally on the commission's behalf; I hope they have proof.

3/7: Tepco gave NISA high-wave scenarios
Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. was aware 10-meter-plus tsunami could hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station as early as in 2008, reporting the results of simulations for the first time to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on March 7 — four days before 13-meter waves knocked out the plant, leading to three meltdowns, it was learned Wednesday.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Accelerate decontamination

Some 100,000 people are still living as evacuees away from their homes in the wake of the severe accidents at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Kyodo News has reported that some 17,000 children in Fukushima Prefecture have changed schools or kindergartens because of radiation fears. Of these children, some 8,000 moved out of the prefecture.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

West Coast salmon to be tested for radiation

Sockeye, Coho, Chum, and Pink are being tested, as well as Albacore Tuna.

The fish are being taken from processing stations at various points across the B.C. fishery, CFIA spokesperson Mark Clarke said.

Fish from the West Coast likely won’t be impacted by the Fukushima disaster but testing is prudent nonetheless.

“We expect that these test results will be well below Health Canada’s actionable levels for radiation,” Clarke said.

[link to www.bclocalnews.com]

Spooked consumers snapping up cheap Geiger counters

Consumers are snapping up the devices, which range in price from ¥10,000 to ¥1 million, to check radiation in their backyards and parks where they take their children. The cheaper models are proving the most popular.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Nuclear Reactors on East Coast Brace for Hurricane Irene’s Wrath

More than a dozen nuclear reactors along the U.S. East Coast are being prepared for potential loss of power and damage from high winds and storm surges as Hurricane Irene bears down on the region.

Nuclear plants in Irene’s path continued to operate as workers secured loose equipment, checked diesel fuel supplies for backup generators and stowed cots and food for workers who may be stranded during the storm.

[link to www.bloomberg.com]

Tepco's personnel costs higher than firms in other fields, state panel says

"Compared with firms in other sectors, it is undeniable that the expenses are high," Kazuhiko Shimokobe, a lawyer heading the panel, said at a news conference Wednesday, declining to specify which category of the costs is drawing attention.

The five-member panel established by the government is investigating Tepco's finances as the utility faces massive compensation payments over the crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Japan Lifts Ban on Beef From Disaster Area

Despite continuing fears over the safety of food from the area of the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan has lifted a ban on beef shipments from there that it had imposed just a month ago, when meat contaminated with radioactive material was found to have reached Japanese supermarkets.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Physicians for Social Responsibility Calls for Improved Safety at Nuclear Reactor Sites .

[link to www.enewspf.com]

kinda looks like i feel when reading this stuf! lol! peace man.

Volume of radiation screening requests for food beyond capacity of current facilities

In Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where a central government ban on cattle shipments has been lifted and blanket testing of all cattle has been adopted, private agencies that screen food products for radioactive contamination have been overburdened with requests from food producers, distributors and consumers, in addition to tests on newly harvested rice.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]

Low levels of cesium found in rice

Farmers have already been prohibited from planting rice this year within a 20-km radius from the leaking plant and in some more distant areas where heavy contamination was found.


[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Industry watchdogs concerned about power supplies - to reactors, not just homes

It’s counterintuitive for most people that nuclear power plants need electricity from the outside for the safety systems to function,” said Jim Riccio, an energy policy analyst at Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power. “But as we’ve seen from Fukushima, if you don’t cool the core, you have serious trouble on your hands and eventually a meltdown.”

Nuclear reactors require constant cooling, even when plants are not generating electricity, as will be the case for nuclear plants along the East Coast during Hurricane Irene. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires reactors to go into shutdown mode at least two hours before the onset of hurricane-force winds, typically between 70 and 75 miles per hour.

[link to www.iwatchnews.org]

14 Conspiracy Theories That the Media Now Admits Are Conspiracy Facts

#1 Fukushima Uninhabitable


Back in April, I published an article entitled "Much Of Northern Japan Uninhabitable Due To Nuclear Radiation?" At the time, almost everyone in the mainstream media was insisting that Fukushima was nothing like Chernobyl and that those that lived near Fukushima would be able to return to their homes fairly soon.


Well, it turns out that those of us that feared the worst were right after all. Just consider the following quote from the New York Times....

Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.

[link to my.auburnjournal.com]



Aha! Vindication...

U.S. Begs for More Nuclear
Nuclear Use to Rise Despite Japan, Uranium Crunch Looms

Don't believe everything you hear.

Nuclear energy is only a contentious issue among people who are powerless to do anything about it.

Those in control are plowing ahead full tilt.

Take the latest news from the Tennessee Valley Authority (NYSE: TVC), that government-owned publicly-traded skeleton in free market capitalism's closet...

Like its Uncle Sam, the TVA is in financial trouble. It has a government-set debt limit of $30 billion. And it has $24 billion in debt. Sound familiar?

But fiscal ineptitude isn't the point; making money from nuclear energy is.

[link to www.energyandcapital.com]

Hitachi, GE In Canada Small Reactor ProjectNEW YORK (Nikkei)--Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. said Thursday it would jointly develop small nuclear reactors with the government of Saskatchewan in Canada, foreseeing higher demand for safer small reactors following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Hiroto Uozumi, the joint venture's president, and Saskatchewan Innovation Minister Rob Norris signed a memorandum Thursday on the project that will invest 5 million Canadian dollars (400 million yen) over the next five years. The project includes the development of uranium recycling and nuclear medicine technologies. The partners aim to commercialize these technologies by 2023-2025.

[link to e.nikkei.com]

What You Don't Know Can Kill You

Last march, as the world watched the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear near-meltdown, a curious thing began happening in West Coast pharmacies. Bottles of potassium iodide pills used to treat certain thyroid conditions were flying off the shelves, creating a run on an otherwise obscure nutritional supplement. Online, prices jumped from $10 a bottle to upwards of $200. Some residents in California, unable to get the iodide pills, began bingeing on seaweed, which is known to have high iodine levels.

[link to discovermagazine.com]

Radioactive Sludge Collects in Japan's Sewage Treatment Plants

Toxic Sludge

Japan is struggling to deal with a new threat arising from the Fukushima nuclear crisis: contaminated sludge. And just like the thing in the old sci-fi movie The Blob, the problem keeps growing, with thousands of tons of waste accumulating in water treatment and sewage plants across eastern Japan.

The sludge is composed mostly of earth and sand, the residue from river water purification and sewage treatment systems. A significant percentage of it has become contaminated with radioactive cesium isotopes, which apparently came from the troubled Fukushima Dai-1 nuclear plant.

[link to spectrum.ieee.org]

Nuclear Energy Institute Report on Japan's Nuclear Reactors, August 26, 2011 .

Plant Status

Work continues on construction of a cover for the damaged unit 1 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. Initial preparations began in May, and construction of the steel frame started earlier this month. Reference 2 of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s updated roadmap to recovery at the facility, released Aug. 17, includes several graphics showing progress on the installation and an image of what it will look like when completed. See pages 18 and 19.

[link to www.enewspf.com]

Earthquake Triggers Reactor-Design Review

Automatic Disconnect From the Grid Didn't Need to Occur, Experts Say, Noting Safeguards Tailored for Western Temblors.

Nuclear experts likely will reassess the design of dozens of U.S. reactors in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake in Virginia that drew scrutiny when the plant temporarily lost electricity from the grid—the result of construction geared for the kind of temblor that hits Western parts of the U.S., not the East.

[link to online.wsj.com]

Way to keep this thread going Waterbug..........



This is not going away anytime soon.......

NRC inspectors head to nuclear power plants in path of Irene

[link to www.cnn.com]

Fire forces nuclear workers to stay inside at INL


Workers at the Idaho National Laboratory were allowed back outside this morning after a wildfire approached the complex that stores spent nuclear fuel.



Read more: [link to voices.idahostatesman.com]

Indian Point Prepares for Shut Down in Case of 100 MPH Winds

If winds reach up to 100 mph within 320 miles from Buchanan the power plant will be ready to shut down.

[link to ossining.patch.com]

The last couple of days ; 22% of the Cenium-137 settled on land with wide spread release of radioactive isotopes, 13% iodine-131 released fallen in the same area and the rest they believe has fallen in the ocean Daily News (Japan)