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

2 years after Fukushima, Japan's nuclear lobby bounces back

TOKYO — The crowds of anti-nuclear protesters have dwindled since Japan’s “Summer of Discontent” last year, and a new government is keen to revive the country’s atomic energy industry, but Morishi Izumita says he is not about to throw in the towel.

“We can’t give up. I’m here every week,” said 64-year-old Izumita, one of hundreds gathered outside the prime minister’s office one Friday nearly two years after a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

“We need to be out here protesting. Not giving up is the important thing,” he added, as other activists banged on drums and chanted “Stop nuclear power, protect our children.”
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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yeah, read the same bullshit.. strange stance from a county with 4 melt downs 24/7 and a missing robot becuase nobody can get near it................


where's wally?


Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 03/09/2013 08:39 AM

Redacted version of Mitsubishi root cause analysis of San Onofre replacement steam generators released

This week, a redacted version of a root cause analysis performed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of the San Onfore Unit 2 and Unit 3 replacement steam generators was released publicly for the first time.  The report reads more like an apology than an analysis.

Southern California Edison, the utility which operates the San Onofre nuclear power station, had a strict list of requirements for MHI during the design and manufacturing process, specifically created in order that the utility might justify not allowing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve the designs and regulate the replacement process, by using the justifications allowed in 10 C.F.R 50.59[1] to claim that it was a “like for like” exchange.  Most of these restrictions limited the external physical changes to a minimum by ordering MHI to design replacement steam generators which would fit within the same physical space, rather than inhibit multiple changes from being made to internal components.  There is an age-old axiom about what kinds of beauty are only skin deep.
[link to enformable.com]

The report:
[link to www.scribd.com]
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Concerns grow over Russian nuclear plant safety

Reports of serious operational damage at a Russian nuclear plant near the Finnish border are causing concern among Finnish nuclear safety officials and environmental activists. Getting Russia to close its old Chernobyl-type plants would likely require international pressure and international funding.

According to reports, swelling and cracking of the reactor's graphite moderator have been observed in the Sosnovy Bor plant, about 200 kilometres from the Finnish border. Nuclear safety experts in Finland see this as a potentially dangerous development.
[link to yle.fi]
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“Tepco must surrender” — Official admits: We caused the accident at Fukushima Daiichi, I am very sorry (VIDEO)
[link to enenews.com]
[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Fukushima Workers: Smoke was pouring out of Unit 1 before tsunami hit — “No doubt” quake crippled reactors — Could torpedo Japan’s attempts to restart nuclear plants (VIDEO)
[link to enenews.com]

[snip]

[...] Several of the workers also said the plant’s No 1 reactor was critically damaged by the quake even before the tsunami hit – a revelation that, if proven, would torpedo Japan’s attempts to swiftly restart its 50 stalled nuclear reactors. [...]

Mr Watanabe said although TEPCO was denying it, he had to admit the plant was damaged by the quake.

Gundersen: “I repeat, significant new material will be presented” at Fukushima symposium — Live stream starts Monday 9a ET
[link to enenews.com]

[snip]

The ‘Symposium on the Medical and Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident’ begins Monday March 11th at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City.

Video: Quake shifted Fukushima underground water and pushed it to surface all at once — Still gushing out 18 months later
[link to enenews.com]

[link to www.youtube.com]

Sounds familiar..



Water is both the savior and the bane at Fukushima No. 1
[link to www.japantimes.co.jp]

[snip]

Water is perpetually needed to keep the melted fuel cool, but the meltdowns burned holes in three of the six reactors, allowing water to leak into the basements of the containment buildings after being tainted with deadly amounts of radioactivity. This was exacerbated by hydrogen explosions, which possibly cracked the containment vessels and ripped the buildings housing the reactors apart.

“The work to decommission the plant is still in the beginning stage. We have to overcome many hurdles, such as taking care of the massive amounts of contaminated water, finding the source of leaks in the containment vessels and recovering the melted fuel rods,” said plant manager Takeshi Takahashi, 55, at a Feb. 28 news conference in Fukushima.

As if the damage above ground isn’t enough to worry about, the 9 -magnitude earthquake apparently cracked the walls of the plant, allowing about 400 tons of groundwater to seep into the buildings and mix with the tainted coolant water. Tepco has controlled the coolant volume to ensure the inflow of groundwater is stronger, which will help keep it in the buildings.

I don´t think that you are right,
maybe you should try to research a bid before you add something which is wrong.

There are not 4 Meltdowns and the Japanese People do much more than you do in Australia.

The Japanese on the Street and in front of the Residence showing their Names and risk
their Career for their opinion against Nuclear Energy and how the Government handle the situation,
this is a lot and honourable!

It is more than unfair to blame this People there,
they are not really responsible
but maybe you need someone to blame
because it is easy for you!


Nuclear waste disposal in Australia
Terry Krieg from Port Lincoln in South Australia is a retired geology and geography teacher and a member of the Australian Nuclear Forum. He suggests that there are enormous environmental and economic opportunities for Australia in burying and removing the world's nuclear waste from the environment forever and argues that this can be done safely.

Broadcast:
Sunday 10 March 2013 7:45AM
[link to www.abc.net.au]


Fukushima deletes radiation data needed for exposure assessment

The prefectural government deleted radiation data that it gathered at an evacuation shelter near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant shortly after the disaster broke out, it has been learned.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government explained that it wrote over the data without saving it. It failed to report the case to the national government.

The move has made it impossible for the prefectural government to assess how much radiation residents near the nuclear power station were exposed to shortly after the accident -- although such assessment is required under national government guidelines.

It was earlier learned that the prefectural government's analysis of data from radiation monitoring posts was delayed until September last year, and was not reflected in final reports compiled by the government and Diet's respective nuclear disaster investigation committees.

The latest revelations could influence discussions by a Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) panel on measures to improve methods for monitoring radiation doses in the event of an emergency at an atomic power station.

At around 3 a.m. on March 12, 2011, the day after the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear crisis, the Fukushima Prefectural Government instructed the nuclear plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), to dispatch employees to accompany prefectural officials for emergency monitoring of radiation, according to the prefecture and TEPCO. The order was issued during a meeting of an accident task force in the town of Okuma in accordance with the prefecture's regional disaster-prevention plan, which was worked out within the framework of the national government's guidelines.

At least three people clad in radiation suits, including prefectural government officials, headed to Okuma Junior High School, about five kilometers west of the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, on a TEPCO bus carrying a portable dosimeter and dust collectors, among other equipment. They arrived at the school at around 5 a.m., and installed the devices near the school's gymnasium, where about 100 local residents were taking shelter.

the whole story:
[link to mainichi.jp]

wow, lucky they had rad suits... obviously thought the children were safe is school uniform and bobby socks.......



Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 03/09/2013 11:01 PM

Japan to expand offshore wind power generation

Japan's environment minister says the government plans to expand offshore wind power generation capacity to 40 times the current level over the next 7 years.

Nobuteru Ishihara visited an offshore site for experimental wind power generation and observed a 60-meter tall wind turbine with 3 rotating blades.

The environment ministry installed the turbine one kilometer off Kabashima Island near the western coast of Nagasaki Prefecture. It's the first floating wind turbine operating in Japan.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Anti-nuclear power protests staged in Europe

People opposed to nuclear energy are staging demonstrations in Europe ahead of March 11th, the 2nd anniversary of the nuclear accident in Japan.

In Germany, protesters rallied at 4 locations on Saturday. They demanded an immediate halt to the country's 9 nuclear reactors that are still operational. The government plans to close all nuclear plants by 2022.

Organizers say a total of 28,000 people took part in the demonstrations.

In Paris, about 20,000 demonstrators formed a human chain.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Flooding complicates clean-up at Fukushima plant

TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co is struggling to stop groundwater flooding into damaged reactors at its wrecked Fukushima plant and it may take four years to fix the problem, possibly delaying the removal of melted uranium fuel.

A March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling equipment at the company’s Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo. More than 160,000 people were forced from their homes.

Two years later, hundreds of tons of groundwater is seeping into the damaged reactor buildings every day and mixing with water still being poured on the leaking reactors through a jerry-rigged cooling system.

Dealing with the contaminated water has been especially tricky because of equipment failures and high levels of radiation.

Shunichi Suzuki, TEPCO’s general manager for research and development of Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning, said stopping the groundwater was crucial.

“Every day we have approximately 400 tons of groundwater,” Suzuki said in an interview.

TEPCO is building a bypass system to try to stop the groundwater flowing from high ground into the buildings.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Radiation halves within 80-km radius of Fukushima plant

The radiation level in areas within a 80-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant nearly halved in a 20-month period between April 2011 and November last year, a government-affiliated body said Sunday.

The level is declining steadily at a pace faster than originally forecast apparently because radioactive substances spewed after the March 2011 accident were washed away by rain, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Radiation depleted particularly rapidly in areas with lots of buildings and asphalt roads, the agency added.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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AREVA produces the first fuel assemblies for the Chinese EPR reactors

AREVA has just completed the first production campaign at its Romans plant in France of the fuel assemblies destined for the Taishan 1 EPRTM reactor.

These assemblies have been specially designed for this third-generation reactor and, as they represent an important technological advancement, will enable a significant increase in reactor performance in terms of safety and competitiveness.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Budget cuts could hamper nuclear cleanup

Federal spending cuts will slow down the cleanup of radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said.

The nation's largest environmental cleanup project is being carried out at the site of the largest U.S. plutonium production plant, which produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal from World War II until most of its reactors were shut down between 1964 and 1971.

"I'm very disturbed that at the very month that we have six new leaking tanks of radioactive material, the sequestration hits, which could result in the furlough of several thousand people," Inslee told The New York Times.

As many as 4,800 workers out of Hanford's 9,000-member cleanup work force, mostly employed by private contractors, could face layoffs beginning April 1, Department of Energy officials said.

Of about 56 million gallons' worth of radioactive waste created during Hanford's working lifetime, around 1 million gallons is believed to have leaked over time from storage tanks at the 586-square-mile site, necessitating the giant cleanup effort.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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here's related news

Japan quake i.e. Fukushima, 'heard at edge of space'.
[link to www.bbc.co.uk]

heard TWICE, allegedly

Hm.....

Climate Heat Now Exceeds Most of Past 11,300 Years
[link to ens-newswire.com]

[snip]

CORVALLIS, Oregon, March 8, 2013 (ENS) – The planet today is warmer than it has been during 70 to 80 percent of the last 11,300 years, finds a new study of ice and sediment cores from sites around the world.
Results of the study, by researchers at Oregon State University and Harvard University, are published this week in the journal “Science.”

With data from 73 ice and sediment core monitoring sites, the scientists have reconstructed Earth’s temperature history back to the end of the last Ice Age. Cores show past air temperatures as well as past sea surface temperatures.
Lead author Shaun Marcott of OSU says that previous research on past global temperature change has focused on the last 2,000 years.

“We already knew that on a global scale, Earth is warmer today than it was over much of the past 2,000 years,” Marcott says. “Now we know that it is warmer than most of the past 11,300 years.”

[snip] from that article..

Because of the way the accelerometers are arranged in Goce, it was possible to reconstruct the detection in three dimensions and so confidently trace the infrasound back to its source - the earthquake.
Goce geoid (Esa) Goce's principal objective is to make maps of the variation in the pull of gravity across the Earth

"If you have a small ripple in density, it would be hard to conclude beyond any reasonable doubt that this was due to the earthquake," explained Dr Floberghagen. "But the fact that we have a very significant density perturbation, with the shape predicted by all the acoustic models, and the fact that we picked it up again on the other side of the Earth where you would expect to find it - that's perfect."




Interesting. I assume they mean it was picked up at the antipode of the quake..


Magnetic field anomalies registered, also..
Hmm.

Anomaly disturbances of the magnetic fields before the strong earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011
[link to www.annalsofgeophysics.eu]

44 economies still ban, limit Japan food imports over radiation fears
[link to mainichi.jp]

[snip]

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 10 countries including Canada and Mexico have lifted their restrictions on purchasing foods from Japan so far but major importers such as China and South Korea maintain strict measures.

China has stopped importing all kinds of food from 10 prefectures including Fukushima, which hosts the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was crippled by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, the officials said.

South Korea has suspended imports of many food items from Japan such as fish, spinach and fungi.

WSJ: Molten fuel could be outside Fukushima reactor — Experts concerned it’s not being cooled properly
[link to enenews.com]

[snip]

“The fuel may be kept cool as long as plenty of water is sprayed on it, but once the amount of water is reduced, there could be a problem,” says Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at the government’s Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Tepco says the unit is “under control.”

There is no "plenty of Water" needed,
at the moment they need only 2-4 average Bathtubs in a Hour for each Core,
this is as much as a small Family need on a Sunday!

Even when the Core is "normal" they need a few Cubics of water in a day!

Maybe Svensken know how much water is needed under normal circumstances?

@ Citizen Perth,
we know for sure that there was no Schoolgirls in their Uniform and your interpretation is as wrong as usual!

The People of that Evacuation point knew the danger very well
because many of them worked in this plants or had Family Member who done it!

Every single school in Japan is a Meeting Point in the case of a catastrophe,
only there you will find Goods like Sheets, Water, Medicine and more!

But i am nearly sure that i saw the Data from that area,
but i need my real computer for better information.

Wow, two years gone and the Plants are still there,
we did not saw more explosions, fires or reactions
like a Hydro-Caesium Explosion,
we all should be thankful because that would be the end!

Entergy Michigan Palisades reactor may have to shut by 2017

U.S. power company Entergy Corp must deal with a potential issue with the metal in the reactor vessel at its Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan by 2017 or shut the reactor, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Friday.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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Copying western technology...

China may start exporting AP1400 nuclear reactors this year and use chaep credit to lure customers

Sun Qin, the chairman of China National Nuclear Corp told China Daily in an exclusive interview, that the deals could seal should the construction of a CAP1400 reactor in China begin by the end of this year, after approval from the State Council.

The Chinese technology is attractive because of the “favorable and unconditional” credit conditions offered to other nations.

The CAP1400 reactor is based on Toshiba Corp’s Westinghouse AP1000 design. China was the first country to start construction of the so-called third generation reactor, and later increased the power it can produce from 1,000 megawatts to 1,400 megawatts with an eye toward exports.

China may account for more than half of the nuclear capacity built between 2010 and 2020 worldwide.
[link to nextbigfuture.com]
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Svensken... lol... nope, I don't know how much water they need to cool the cores...
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Fukushima Year 2
[link to www.simplyinfo.org]

and I thought they thought we had forgotten.....


oh yeah, using 'ground water for cooling'.... must taste nice.........

[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au]


AB? did you move to Germany?........

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 03/11/2013 12:43 AM

Two years after disaster, anti-nuke rallies in Tokyo still draw huge crowds
Galvanized on the eve of the second anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years, protesters turned out in full force in the Japanese capital on March 9 and 10, calling on the government to shun nuclear power.

On March 10, an estimated 40,000 protesters demonstrated around Tokyo, including in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence, ministry offices and Hibiya Park.

"It's becoming more and more important for us to protest. I do this for my children, we can't leave the mess of nuclear power behind to them," said a 32-year-old mother of two marching in front of the offices of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, chanting "Stop nuclear! Protect our children!"

"People and the media are starting to forget Fukushima and what happened there," said the woman.

Japan is still coming to terms with the disaster that ravaged its northeastern region on March 11, 2011--the earthquake and tsunami killed more than 15,000 people. Several thousand people are still unaccounted for. The disaster triggered a meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which forced 160,000 people from their homes, and many of them will never return. It also sparked an unprecedented protest movement against nuclear power.

Protesters throng Tokyo parks on national holidays and outside the Diet building every Friday evening, drawing people previously unseen at political rallies, such as salarymen and housewives.

[link to ajw.asahi.com]

Did we ever saw 40.000 People on the streets in Australia
without Free Beer and Sammiches?

Mostly stupids in Down Under