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

There is no way in hell that Japan should ever use nuclear power again. All the plants should be decommissioned and every reactor dismantled.

This is merely common sense. No argument can change that fact.

~
bug

yeah why not.. our children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children, if they are around might see some kinda forward cleaning attempt....

rock on Japan..... and I loved seafood..... and anything above and beyond the bio-accumulative food chain as well....

Fifteen 'Near-Misses' at U.S. Nuclear Plants in 2011
[link to www.ens-newswire.com]

[snip]

Many of these 15 "near misses" occurred because reactor owners either tolerated known safety problems or took inadequate measures to correct them, Lochbaum finds.

More technical, but just as troubling is the problem with "component design basis inspections."

"While it was good that the NRC identified these problems, each CDBI audits only a very small sample of possible trouble spots," writes Lochbaum.

For example, the CDBI at the Harris nuclear plant in North Carolina examined just 31 safety-related items among literally thousands of candidates. That audit found 10 problems.

~

10 out of 31...



This article is scary.
I think it is a matter of when, not if.
Unless serious and immediate changes are made
in the way nuclear power is administered and regulated
we are about to have a rude awakening.

Words on a piece of paper are not going to
stop it. Somebody with some clout in DC is going to
have to champion these issues and get the exposure
needed to affect change.

~
bug

You're probably right but I think at least 10-15 reactors will be restarted during this year. The amount of money invested in the reactors is enormous and they are not going to throw it away. The Japanese economy/industry need power and they will get it. Common sense and big money doesn't always walk hand in hand...
.

Oh they will. By hook or by crook.

~
b

on my close inspection via a ubiquitous outsource and word of mouth and some nicely drawn hand sketches, i, as a tepco senior nuclear engineer subcontracted for analysis, have made a leggo version of the type III reactors; stress tested them with my child and deemed the safe as they were held together with duct tape and super glue. they are safe to reopen and moreover, to be re-licensed for a further 20 years beyond the design decommissioning date;

USS Ronald Reagan measured 0.6 mR/hr direct gamma shine from clouds 130 miles from Fukushima Daiichi
[link to enformable.com]

Can't pretend I understand all of this but after the other military articles it makes me a bit pissed. Bug will probably be the only one to understand this: It makes me feel ornery and mean. Might have to change my name to Bodine!

Last Edited by Southern OR on 03/01/2012 11:09 PM

That was the day reactor 3 melted down. Reactor 1 had melted down the day before. Tepco had been venting on and off because the pressure was so high. Then it exploded. More venting after that.

MR. TRAUTMAN: 7.5 times 10 to the minus 9 th microcuries per milliliter, air sample.

MR. VIRGILIO: Okay.

MR. TRAUTMAN: At –

MALE PARTICIPANT: Do you have a time on that?

MR. TRAUTMAN: Oh — yes, I have got to go determine — I have a 1300 but that must be local time. Do you remember — when you passed those were those local time sir? You didn’t pass that. Okay.

from wiki
Sunday, 13 March 02:42: The high pressure coolant injection system for reactor 3 stops and, shortly thereafter, the water level within the reactor starts falling.[18]
07:00 (approximate): The water level in reactor 3 reaches the top of the fuel.[18]
09:00: Core damage starts occurring in reactor 3.[18]
A partial meltdown was reported to be possible at unit 3.[19] At 13:00 JST reactors 1 and 3 are vented to release overpressure and then re-filled with water and boric acid for cooling, and to inhibit further nuclear reactions


~

.6 mR is the average annual dose for the public from a pressurized water reactor. They were getting an annual dose every hour topside, from 130 miles away.


7.5 times 10 to the minus 9 th microcuries per milliliter, air sample.

.0000000075 microcuries to the 1/1000th liter

.0000075 micro to the liter

~
b

It's snowing in Fukushima. It IS snow, isn't it?

Will it glow in the dark?

cam:
[link to www.tepco.co.jp]

Big flakes, it's almost pretty if you don't think about it.

The area looks different from what I remember.

It's usually night time when I check the cam, so I couldn't see how things seem to have... shifted.

Interesting.

Think of gamma like a bright ball of light inside a dark sphere holding cell:

bright light = radiation
holding sphere = containment vessel

then think of putting a pin prick in the sphere in a dark room.

you would see the light from the prick, and marking a spot on the wall.

gamma ray on clouds.

as we know, you cannot see it without specialised equipment.

this is why fukushima is so scary, remove the containment sphere and the light shines everywhere......

Reactor buildings are hidden by thick smoke

Following up this article..Thick smoke from Fukushima plants again

The “night smoke” has become thicker than ever. You can’t even see the reactor buildings.

At this moment, the weather is sunny, it’s not raining or snowing.

JNN ‘s camera was working at the beginning. The smoke may look like it’s from around reactor 4.

[link to fukushima-diary.com]

+ I went looking at cams and they are all off line!

Something is up with this !

Yesterday, it's almost as if it was looking like fog exept the weather was sunny and now it is worse !

They just had 2 small tremors !

[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

This one is still up !

[link to www.tepco.co.jp]

I don’t believe it is fog. I checked Intellicast and no fog is forecasted, no marine warnings- the video clearly shows the “smoke” blowing INTO the Reactor area. During the recent reporter visit there was mention of an onsite Incinerator to burn general garbage generated from workers. I wonder if the Incinerator is located behind the Tepco Cam and what we saw was incinerator smoke. ??

The blue glow... I think it's :theglow:
Won't show on my posts.

~
b

~

The thing is, it's hard to imagine a locale with more variables. Volcanic island, surrounded by ocean, changing weather patterns. If you were lying about something, and you wanted to hide your activities, you couldn't ask for a better place, especially at night. Fog, steam, smoke, lights, mirrors.... presto, change-o.

I stopped watching the live[yeah, right]cams when Tepco took them over.

~
b

Scientists: Far more cesium released than previously believed
[link to ajw.asahi.com]

[snip]

A mind-boggling 40,000 trillion becquerels of radioactive cesium, or twice the amount previously thought, may have spewed from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after the March 11 disaster, scientists say.

While the latest study said 15-20 quadrillion becquerels of cesium-137 was released into the atmosphere, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency estimated the amount at 8.8 quadrillion becquerels. Similar data released by other researchers both in Japan and overseas ranged between 7 quadrillion and 35 quadrillion becquerels.


~

Eyewitness videos reveal secrets of Japan's tsunami

Footage of Japan's devastating inundation is providing vital information that will help engineers prepare for the next big one

THE world looked on in horror a year ago, as news agencies broadcast eyewitness videos of Japan's devastating tsunami. Now researchers have used two of these videos to provide new insight into the raging currents involved. This sort of information is crucial to authorities in tsunami-prone zones worldwide as they reconsider their plans in the wake of a disaster that saw almost 20,000 people swept to their deaths.

The engineers behind the analysis are now calling for video cameras to be routinely deployed for tsunami monitoring. "We have the technology: security cameras," says Costas Synolakis at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "All we have to do is point them in the right direction...

More:
[link to www.newscientist.com]

A new nightmare: Radioactive ash has nowhere to go
[link to ajw.asahi.com]

[snip]

Many of 32 municipal governments and wider-area administrative organizations in seven eastern prefectures that operate waste incinerators are at their wits' end, an Asahi Shimbun survey has found.

In total, these local authorities store more than 35,000 tons of incinerator ash.


~


Hmmm. Wonder how much radioactive smoke is generated while creating 35,000 tons of ash?

Damn.

~
b

[snip]

Footage of Japan's devastating inundation is providing vital information that will help engineers prepare for the next big one

THE world looked on in horror a year ago, as news agencies broadcast eyewitness videos of Japan's devastating tsunami. Now researchers have used two of these videos to provide new insight into the raging currents involved. This sort of information is crucial to authorities in tsunami-prone zones worldwide as they reconsider their plans in the wake of a disaster that saw almost 20,000 people swept to their deaths.

~

Failed Fukushima offsite center shown to media
A nuclear emergency response center that proved useless during the Fukushima nuclear disaster was shown to the media for the first time since March 11th last year.

The facility, called an "offsite center," is located about 5 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

It was supposed to serve as a frontline base for central and local government officials to gather information and lead evacuation efforts. Officials from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power were also due to work from the center.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

French nuclear giant Areva reports massive loss
French nuclear energy giant Areva suffered a massive loss in 2011.

This reflects how difficult a year it has been for the world's nuclear industry after the accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last March.

Areva announced on Thursday that its losses last year reached 2.4 billion euros, or about 3.2 billion dollars.

Areva says the production of plutonium-mixed fuel for Japan have also stalled since the March 11th disaster.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Ah, the glow! Thanks for the explanation. I was having a hard time getting my brain to wrap around the details.

So you all are saying that WASN'T snow falling???

Seriously..what were those white flakes covering everything.. for hours?

I didn't see it.
Could have been.
It was snowing a week ago.

~

[snip]
It's 10 below zero as the world's driest snow drifts to earth as feathery flakes on Japan's northern island, Hokkaido.

Jet-black clouds laden with freeze-dried snow from the Siberian steppe roll across the East Sea/Sea of Japan and sprinkle their light and dry cargo like icing sugar on a tea cake.

This northern hemisphere winter has generated record snowfalls the biggest dumps in more than 60 years. Snow has paralysed cities across Europe and North America. And while the national guard has been scrambled to dig Hokkaido's old folks out of their snowed-in homes, Japan will never let the coldest season spoil a good party.

[link to www.stuff.co.nz]

~

Thank you!

That's the most poetic weather summary I've ever read.

Glad those were probably snowflakes.

Reminded me of falling ash from the furnaces at Auschwitz.