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

Wow...a picture is worth more than a thousand words.

WOW

Is Post-Fukushima Japan Safe for Tourists?

(snip)
Equally worrisome is food safety. Japan has yet to establish a centralized system for detecting radiation in food products, leaving the job to local authorities and the farmers themselves. Foods like spinach, mushrooms, tea, bamboo shoots, milk and plums as far as 220 miles (350 km) from Fukushima have been contaminated with iodine and radioactive cesium, which can damage cells and lead to an increased risk of cancer. Seafood is also a major concern. In July, the waters near the Fukushima reactors were found to contain 30 times the allowable safety level of cesium-134. On Monday, however, a government official tried to prove that water collected from the basement of the crippled reactors was now safe by drinking a glass of it live on Japanese television.

Compounding the confusion over food safety was a government announcement on Oct. 28 that it would raise the allowable amount of radiation in food products — with no clear explanation why. The decision has worried experts who say that food contaminated with radiation poses a greater health risk than environmental exposure. The Tokyo government is no longer taking any chances. On Tuesday it began a large-scale radiation-monitoring program of food products in shops, which it says it will continue through March.



Read more: [link to www.time.com]

On PBS NewsHour tonight, a report I helped the program's science correspondent Miles O'Brien produce about the challenge people in Japan face of finding and sharing reliable data about radiation contamination, after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

[link to boingboing.net]

Lest we forget.. from May.

........................................


Under new guidelines, Japanese children are allowed to be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously permissible.

The new regulation means children can now be exposed to as much radiation as a German nuclear worker.

The government says it had no choice but to raise the legal exposure limit, saying about three-quarters of the schools in Fukushima have radiation levels above the old safety level of one millisievert.

The vast majority of schools would have closed, putting the education of hundreds of thousands of children on hold.

[link to www.abc.net.au]


- Yeah.....because a kid getting an education is more important than a kid being exposed to radiation. WTF?

Report Gives New Details of Chaos at Stricken Plant

Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 was stuck in darkness, and everyone on site feared that the reactor core was damaged. It was the day after a huge earthquake and a towering tsunami devastated the plant, and the workers for Tokyo Electric Power Company knew they were the only hope for halting an unfolding nuclear disaster.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

Japan opens Fukushima reactors to outside eyes

Japan will take a group of journalists inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time on Saturday, stepping up its efforts to prove to the world it is on top of the disaster.

More than 30 reporters, photographers and cameramen are to go on a tour of the facility in Japan's northeast that sparked the biggest nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago and forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

Despite a series of setbacks, including the revelation last week that spontaneous fission had been detected inside a reactor that was supposed to be all but extinct, the government and plant operator TEPCO say they remain on track for a cold shutdown by the end of the year.

[link to www.google.com]


- They are delusional.
~

Delusional, yes. Pretty sure they make a pill for that now days. I cannot fathom how they can say cold shutdown remains on track ~ unless they mean to continue with the FUBAR track.

if all the fuel has left the building cold shutdown is achieved.
sounds like tepco thinking to me.

INPO (Institute of Nuclear Power Operations) report on Fukushima

"Special Report on the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station"

PDF/104 pages/2MB
[link to cryptome.org]

.

i wonder who drew the short straw........

So much for inside the reactors. How about a report from Tepco on what's going on under them.
~

Gonna be hard to take photos when you can't tear your eyes away from the dosimeter.
~

but they all get free drinking water and a seafood buffette and local produce smorgasboard....

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 11/12/2011 12:55 PM

This little field trip could turn into a media propaganda blitz... or it could be a media disaster for Japan if something bad happens while they're there. I don't think they'll try the water, 'tho.
I would imagine Tepco will keep them away from hotspots, but who knows? Shit happens.
~

So... if I'm a correspondent for a media outlet and my boss says, "Dude, you need to get to Fuku and do a 'live to tape' spot from inside the plant. Leave now."

I would seriously have to say, "Adios, amigo. Get someone else."
~

In review:

- Is that before or after Kan ordered them to stay and deal with it as they were planning to abandon the plant?
~

yeah read that one bug..... what HEROES... like the same as hold the line and no retreat shit.. you know yer fucked....
general is skipping into he's chopper and bugging out

8) Mmm. Thank you.
~

(snip)
Hydrogen generated from the damaged fuel in the reactors accumulated in the reactor buildingseither during venting operations or from other leaksand ignited, producing explosions in the Unit 1 and Unit 3 reactor buildings and significantly complicating the response. The hydrogen generated in Unit 3 may have migrated into the Unit 4 reactor building, resulting in a subsequent explosion and damage. The loss of primary and secondary containment integrity resulted in ground-level releases of radioactive material. Following the explosion in Unit 4 and the abnormal indications on Unit 2 on the fourth day of the event, the site superintendent directed that all nonessential personnel temporarily evacuate, leaving approximately 70 people on site to manage the event.
During releases, dose rates as high as 1,193 millirem per hour (mrem/hr) (11.93 mSv/hr) were measured at the site boundary, approximately 0.6 miles (1 km) from units 14.

The
windows for the emergency response center had to be covered with lead shielding to reduce dose rates in the center. Organized off-site radiation surveys began on March 16. Radiation levels off site at that time ranged from 0.1 mrem/hr (1 μSv/hr) to 20 mrem/hr (200 μSv/hr). Thirty-seven miles (60 km) northwest of the station, the dose rate was 0.8 mrem/hr (8 μSv/hr). Water and soil samples indicated the presence of strontium, iodine, and cesium. Food and water restrictions were implemented in some areas as a result of radioactivity. People within the 12.4 miles (20 km) surrounding the station were evacuated, and those living up to 18.6 miles (30 km) away were directed to shelter inside their homes as the releases of radioactive gases and materials increased as the event progressed and more fuel damage occurred. Potassium iodide tablets and powder were distributed to local governments beginning March 21. Because the evacuations had already been completed, however, the potassium iodide was not issued to the population.
Radiation surveys of the on-site areas surrounding units 13 showed dose rates as high as 13 rem/hr (0.13 Sv/hr) in areas around units 2 and 3. More detailed surveys performed over the following weeks discovered localized dose rates greater than 1,000 rem/hr (10 Sv/hr) around equipment and debris outside units 1 and 3.
Some personnel who responded to the event received high doses of radiation. Two control room operators received the highest dosesa calculated internal and external dose of 67.8 rem (0.678 Sv) and 64.3 rem (0.643 Sv). The majority of dose received by these workers was internal (85-87 percent). Potassium iodide was provided to some station personnel on March 13. As of the end of March, approximately 100 workers had received doses of greater than 10 rem (0.1 Sv).
~

(snip)
At 1536, an explosion occurred in the Unit 1 reactor building. This explosion was most likely caused by the buildup of hydrogen that had been generated in the Unit 1 reactor core and leaked into the reactor building. The explosion injured five workers, and debris from the explosion struck and damaged the cables and mobile generator that had been installed to provide power to the standby liquid control pumps. The debris also damaged the hoses that had been staged to inject seawater into Unit 1 and Unit 2. Fieldwork was suspended as workers were evacuated to the Emergency Response Center for accountability. Some of the debris was also highly contaminated, resulting in elevated dose rates and contamination levels around the site. As a result, workers were now required to wear additional protective clothing, and stay times in the field were limited. The explosion significantly altered the response to the event and contributed to complications in stabilizing the units.
~

The Tepco Comedy of Errors


Unit 1


-At 1527 (T plus 41 minutes), the first tsunami arrived at the station. The subsequent tsunamis flooded and damaged the intake structure; and by 1537 (T plus 51 minutes), the tsunami had begun to flood the turbine building basement. The flooding wetted or submerged the emergency diesel generators and the AC and DC distribution systems, resulting in a gradual loss of all AC and DC power. Between 1537 and 1550, the loss of power caused a loss of normal control room lighting, indications, and controls. The indications for HPCI and the IC systems faded and went out. TEPCO made an emergency declaration because of the loss of all AC power and notified the government and associated authorities.
The isolation condenser was the only system available to cool the reactor; and without DC power, this system needed to be operated locally. The IC also required a source of makeup water to the condenser to continue to function beyond 8 hours. Without power, this makeup water would have to be provided using a diesel-driven fire pump. However, the operators did not immediately place the IC in service. As a result, Unit 1 had no injection or core cooling in service

-The diesel-driven fire pump was started and allowed to idle in standby, ready to provide injection into the reactor when needed. In complete darkness, operators began to align the alternative water injection valves from the fire protection system to the core spray system by manually opening the valves in the reactor building. Injection could not be achieved, however, until after the RPV was depressurized below 100 psig (0.69 MPa gauge).
Instruments and indications periodically appeared to function but would soon lose power and fail again. On one occasion, the valve position indications for the IC MO-2A and MO-3A motor-operated valves began working. The operator noticed that the valves both indicated closed. At 1818, the operator opened both valves using their main control room switches in an attempt to place the isolation condenser in service. While some steam was initially seen coming from the condenser, the steam faded. At 1825, the operator closed the MO-3A valve to remove the system from service. The reason for this action has not been determined. As a result, there was no cooling method aligned to remove decay heat from the reactor.

-At 0148 (T plus 11 hours), the installed diesel-driven fire pump that had been running in standby to inject into the reactor stopped operating. To restart the fire pump, workers carried diesel fuel to the pump and refilled the fuel tank, but attempts to start the engine depleted the batteries. Workers then retrieved spare batteries that were stored in an office and attached them, but the engine still would not start.

-The station had three fire engines, but only one was available to support injecting water into the Unit 1 reactor.A security gate that had lost power and would not open blocked another road that provided access to Unit 1. Workers broke a lock on the gate between units 2 and 3, allowing the fire engine to arrive at Unit 1.
Alternatives for injecting water via fire protection lines were reviewed, and additional fire engines and water transportation by the Japanese Self-Defense Force were also considered.

- to be continued

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Photos, 12 November 2011

[link to cryptome.org]

.

reactor containment vessel? what reactor containment vessel?


.. cold shut down.. no problem.. nothing to shit down.... oops .. shut down....

[link to www.simplyinfo.org]
more pics.

Great site! They really try hard to figure out the real facts verses the b.s. This is the same group from House of Foust that brought us the mocked up pics in the beginning.

Last Edited by Southern OR on 11/13/2011 10:04 PM

Hey waterbug, you getting tired?

I know its hard to keep up, its a depressing thing all round, and the news is really slow.

I just read that a robot detected something like 1.32 serviants inside reactor three.

People in Japan are starting to show signs of contamination from doing "decontamination" work. Marks on their faces, the same as hiroshima. Back then it was called something like "city entering signs" or something like that. Remembering that it was measured in only a few pounds of uranium used. As compared to what, 6000 tonnes?

Apperently the rain, sinking into the ground as it does, has taken the radioactive particles deeper into the ground, so the deeper they dig, the more the contamination. I think they are starting to realise that it is a waste of time.

I remeber that the reporters on the bus were getting something like 1000 micro's near reactor 2, know wonder they are talking about running out of workers?

Still no official word on the fate of the so called "fukushima fifty" et al...........
Time will tell...

Keep doing what your doing waterbug, it is improtant. To you, to me, and to the UNIMFORMED.

People out "there" really have no idea whats going on.

They are just wrapped up with FOX, American "politics", and basicly fuck all else. Sad really.

I have followed very closely the events of 3/11 till now, I even watched live as the tsunami came in, and remember talking to my father on the phone, and he started talking about the tsunami, I remeber saying that even as bad as it was, it was nothing compared to the nuclear disaster that was then unfolding, I explained to him how there was six reactors in meltdown, and he suddenly realised what I was on about.

When they started using the terms "uncharted waters" they really were spot on. There is heated debate amongst the scienists all over as to what is going to happen with the corium, the main thing I have been picking up is that the sheer size of melted fuel is changing the whole ballgame as to what we know happenend in chernobyl.

It changes everything when talking in terms of "atomic physics" The thermal heat ratios, the possibility of bedrock actually serving as a neutron replecter, something I have gathered means that we could actually see a thing called "super criticality" a horrifying thought.
And then there is the isotope "curium" which appaerently has the ability to reach criticality very easily compared to uranium etc.

I have found a really good resource "out there" basicly a blog that contains some really good info that you might be interested in, my home computer died last night, sigh!, yet again, so just going from memeory try, I dont know, googling "the non-battle for fukushima" should get you close.

As allways "enenews" is the best site for up to date news, that is daily. Then "radioactive chat" "australian cannonball" "simplyinfo.org" They basicly all take there news from "enenews" so..yeah...

Have fun...........

thanks for the info :) surprising how many people DON'T know.... friends and family find me boring and shrug it off.... very few people apart from here to continue the topic of epic doom.....

Most of the fallout fell into the sea.... now traveling the globe in the oceans..... fek!!!!!


[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com]

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 11/17/2011 12:28 AM