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

Not as bad as it sounds...

Initial reaction to radioactive leak in question

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency says negligence in radiation checks caused a delay in reporting nuclear leakage at its laboratory in Tokai Village in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.

The accident occurred around noon on Thursday, when a piece of equipment malfunctioned while researchers were bombarding gold with proton beams to generate elementary particles.

The accident created an unexpected amount of radioactive substances. At least 6 workers, aged between 22 and 45, were exposed.

The agency became aware that the facility had been contaminated with radioactive substances around 5 PM on that day, but it only carried out simple tests to measure nuclear substances on the researchers' clothes, and allowed them go home.

It was not until Friday morning that the agency offered internal radiation checks. It has found that the 6 received internal doses of up to 1.6 millisieverts.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Singh keen to sign nuclear pact with Japan

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his desire for an early signing of a civil nuclear pact with Japan.

Singh spoke to NHK and other Japanese media in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of his visit to Japan starting on Monday.

He spoke about India's plan to invest 1 trillion dollars in infrastructure development over a 5-year period, and said he hopes Japanese industries will play an important role.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Ban urges DPRK to rejoin nuclear talks

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is welcoming the possibility of North Korea rejoining talks on its nuclear development.

Ban spoke to NHK following reports in Chinese media that North Korea's special envoy hinted that his country may return to the 6-party talks during a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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More about the Tokaimura accident... no big deal, only 1.6 mSv ... not much to write home about but anyway an accident...

4 researchers exposed to radiation at Tokaimura lab

TOKYO — Four researchers were exposed to radiation in an accident at a nuclear physics laboratory this week, officials said Saturday.

The accident occurred on Thursday at a laboratory in Tokaimura, Ibrakai Prefecture, 120 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) said.

The researchers were carrying out an experiment to generate particles by firing a proton beam at gold when the accident happened, it said.

There was no widespread radiation leak and none of the researchers required medical attention.

The four researchers were exposed to up to 1.6 millisieverts of radiation, the agency said.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Another one about the "accident"... nothing to worry about, not even for the people involved... move on...

Radiation leak reported day after incident at Ibaraki laboratory

Radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere Thursday outside the controlled area at one of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's nuclear physics laboratories in Ibaraki Prefecture and 55 people at the facility may have been exposed to radiation, officials said Saturday.

The JAEA said six people were confirmed to have been exposed by Saturday night and a quick checkup suggested possible exposure of 24 others.

The highest radiation dose detected was 1.6 millisieverts, compared with the annual exposure limit for nuclear facility workers of 50 millisieverts, the Nuclear Regulation Authority's secretariat said Saturday. None of the 55 researchers and others who were engaged in experiments and other work at the laboratory were taken to the hospital, it said.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Not the best source but anyway...

Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah

Disaster is about to strike in western Kentucky, a full-blown nuclear catastrophe involving hundreds of tons of enriched uranium tainted with plutonium, technetium, arsenic, beryllium and a toxic chemical brew. But this nuke calamity will be no fluke. It’s been foreseen, planned, even programmed, the result of an atomic extortion game played out between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the most failed American experiment in privatization, the company that has run the Paducah plant into the poisoned ground, USEC Inc.

As now scheduled, main power to the gargantuan gaseous diffusion uranium plant at Paducah, Kentucky, will be cut at midnight on May 31, just nine days from now—cut because USEC has terminated its power contract with TVA as of that time [“USEC Ceases Buying Power,” Paducah Sun, April 19, page 1] and because DOE can’t pick up the bill.

DOE is five months away from the start of 2014 spending authority, needed to fund clean power-down at Paducah. Meanwhile, USEC’s total market capitalization has declined to about $45 million, not enough to meet minimum listing requirements for the New York Stock Exchange, pay off the company’s staggering debts or retain its operating licenses under financial capacity requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it can’t safely be shut down—a lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky.
[link to ecowatch.com]
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Excellent article in the Japan Times,

pretty much validates almost everything we have been discussing here about the work force, @happy and other things...

[link to www.japantoday.com]

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 05/25/2013 08:38 PM

Cancer chart

[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au]

Read the final comment from the Fukushima medical fraternity...

[snipped from FB]

[snip]

On 4/10/2013, high level of radiation was measured in the park of north part of Hitachi city Ibaraki.

It is assumed that radioactive material is accumulated with the water. The radiation level was up to 5.3μSv/h on the ground.

The atmospheric dose was up to 1.6 μSv/h at about 1m above the ground.

On 4/8/2013, Fukushima Diary reported this article. “[Video] Am-241 measured in the atmosphere in Hitachi city Ibaraki, 100 km from Fukushima nuclear plant [URL]“.

[end snip]

[link to fukushima-diary.com]

HAZMAT in Japan on Saturday, 25 May, 2013 at 06:47 (06:47 AM) UTC.
Description
Japan's Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that radioactive substances were released on Thursday at one of the country's nuclear physics laboratories in the Ibaraki Prefecture, a central region on the main island of Honshu with an eastern coastline. JAEA reports that 10 researchers working at the laboratory may have been exposed to radiation, though it did not believe radiation would affect the area beyond the accelerator laboratory. Ibaraki is located south of Fukushima Prefecture, the region most severely affected by a 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant. It is located some 100 kilometers north of Tokyo.

[link to hisz.rsoe.hu]

Fukushima Prefecture's population grows for first time since nuclear accident
The population of Fukushima Prefecture increased over the previous month for the first time since the 2011 nuclear disaster, prefecture authorities said May 24.

As of May 1, the population had increased by 746 over the previous month.

The prefecture hosts the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and large numbers of people evacuated after the accident triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

An official said the population increase is a sign that the exodus caused by the accident is coming to an end.

Source: [link to ajw.asahi.com]

WTF?...

Farmers resume planting rice near crippled Fukushima site

TOKYO — Farmers have resumed planting rice for market only 15 kilometers from Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

It was the first time since the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster that farmers have gone inside the former 20-kilometer “no-go” zone around the doomed plant to sow rice intended for sale.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant struggles to keep staff

TOKYO — Keeping the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in stable condition requires a cast of thousands. Increasingly the plant’s operator is struggling to find enough workers, a trend that many expect to worsen and hamper progress in the decades-long effort to safely decommission it.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the utility that runs the Fukushima Daiichi plant that melted down in March 2011 after being hit by a tsunami, is finding that it can barely meet the headcount of workers required to keep the three broken reactors cool while fighting power outages and leaks of tons of radiated water, said current and former nuclear plant workers and others familiar with the situation at Fukushima.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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33 people exposed to leaked radiation in nuclear lab accident: gov't

Physical exams of people working at the site of a nuclear laboratory accident confirmed an additional 24 people were exposed to leaked radioactive substances, raising the total number of exposed staff to 30, the state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday.

Of 55 people engaged in the troubled experiment at the JAEA's nuclear physics laboratories in Ibaraki Prefecture, 19 did not suffer any exposure, and six others have yet to be examined, the agency said.

The highest radiation dose was 1.7 millisieverts, compared with the annual exposure limit for nuclear facility workers in Japan of 50 millisieverts.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Scientists?... maybe, but not the brightest ones...

Alarm disregarded, radiation level unchecked

According to a follow-up report on a radiation exposure accident last week, researchers at the Japanese laboratory went on with their work even after an alarm went off to report an equipment malfunction.

When the alarm went off, the equipment automatically stopped. But the scientists reset the alarm and resumed the experiment without looking into the cause.

The radiation level within the facility rose after about 90 minutes. The researchers temporarily stopped the experiment and turned on exhaust fans.

When the radiation level dropped, the work resumed.
The researchers finally stopped the experiment after 4:00 PM when the level rose further.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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We went to Crescent City, CA yesterday and spent the night. They are still rebuilding after the Tsunami damage to the port. The locals are in a serious recession, so many empty buildings and boarded up space. The docks are working on rebuilding, but money for that is a huge issue.

And your Measurements?

Never ask a girl about her measurements, age or weight!


(Just joking... I understand that you're asking for SOR's radioactive measurements.)
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KEPCO to apply for resumption of 2 reactors

A Japanese nuclear power plant operator says it will ask for permission to restart 2 of its reactors once the government introduces new safety guidelines in July.

The president of Kansai Electric Power Company, Makoto Yagi, on Monday said his firm intends to apply for permission to restart the Number 3 and 4 reactors at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture.

KEPCO is seeking the resumption as soon as possible as it has already implemented an electricity price hike on the basis of future earnings from the nuclear reactors.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Operation up in air at nuclear fuel recycle plant

All pre-startup tests at a nuclear fuel recycle plant in northern Japan have been completed. But it is unclear when the facility will be put to commercial use.

Japan Nuclear Fuel owns the facility in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture. The company says it has successfully completed all necessary tests to start running the facility.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Nuclear regulator: Radiation leak at INES Level 1

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has tentatively given a recent radiation leak at a research laboratory a Level 1 rating. The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale for accidents ranges from zero to 7.

The NRA announced the rating on Monday. It said the operator of the facility lacked a safety culture.

The leak occurred last Thursday at a laboratory of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo. At least 30 people were exposed to radiation.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Tochigi mayors oppose nuclear waste site proposal

Japan's government has met more opposition from local municipalities over a proposal on final disposal sites for radioactive waste from the Fukushima nuclear accident 2 years ago.

The Environment Ministry on Monday held the second meeting of mayors in Tochigi Prefecture, which neighbors Fukushima Prefecture, to explain new guidelines for selecting disposal sites for contaminated mud and incinerator ash.

But some mayors said obtaining local consent is difficult due to ongoing insufficient explanations from the central government about its basic policy for building such facilities.

Others said final disposal sites should be positioned around the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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End of the line for Tsuruga reactor
The Nuclear Regulation Authority on May 22 accepted its five-member expert panel’s report that the D-1 fracture zone of pebbles and sediment running beneath the No. 2 reactor at Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture is an active fault.

JAPC has long contended that the zone is not an active fault. But given the NRA’s position, it will likely have no other choice but to give up on restarting the reactor and to decommission it.

The NRA has not only refuted the company’s contention but also demonstrated that the safety check done by the now-defunct Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the trade and industry ministry was shoddy. The NRA’s conclusion has shown that it will give priority to nuclear power plant safety over profitability and will not approve nuclear power plant operations if there is even the slightest chance of danger.

The NRA faithfully followed the lesson from the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe: that even the smallest possibility of an accident must be eliminated. It should maintain this position even in the face of pressure from the government and the power industry. The power industry should learn from the Fukushima disaster and not ignore any potential dangers however small.

Source: [link to www.japantimes.co.jp]

Now extend that integrity to the world..

Hi bug!,

Good to "see" you again. How are you?

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Panel reopens debates on nuclear waste disposal

A Japanese government panel has resumed discussions to review policy on disposing of high-level nuclear waste.

The government enacted a law in 2000 to bury vitrified waste deep underground. But the plan has been stalled amid objections from local authorities. The Science Council of Japan last year recommended overhauling the policy.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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S.Korean reactors shut down over fake certificates

South Korea's nuclear regulators have shut down 2 reactors amid revelations they used cables supplied with fake safety certificates.

The South's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said control signal cables for 4 reactors had failed to meet safety standards in performance tests, but the body that carried out the tests had forged their safety certificates. The plants are in Busan and Gyeongju.

The commission ordered 2 of the reactors shut down, and all the cables replaced. The other 2 were not in operation.

South Koreans were outraged last year by revelations that parts supplied with fake documents were being used in reactors.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Nuclear operators seeking authorization to restart

Four Japanese nuclear plant operators have said they will apply to restart reactors once the government introduces new safety guidelines in July.

NHK interviewed personnel on Monday from 10 utilities across the country.

Officials at Kansai Electric Power Company and Kyushu Electric Power Company each said they plan to apply to restart 2 reactors.

Shikoku Electric Power Company personnel said they will ask to put one reactor online. Hokkaido Electric Power Company officials said they aim to restart 3.

All the reactors are pressurized-water reactors, distinct from the boiling-water type used at the defunct Fukushima Daiichi plant.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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All no-entry zones in Fukushima now revised

The boundaries of the last remaining no-entry zone near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant have been revised, giving former residents access to at least part of their community.

The town of Futaba co-hosts the Fukushima Daiichi power plant that suffered a meltdown accident in the March 2011 quake and tsunami. All of the townspeople have been forced to evacuate.

At midnight Monday, Futaba was reorganized into 2 zones based on levels of radiation. Most of the town will remain barricaded, with residency restricted indefinitely. But for the first time since the disaster, former residents can now enter the remaining coastal area, although overnight stays remain prohibited.

The entire 20-kilometer no-entry area around the crippled nuclear plant has now been reorganized into 3 types of zones. The aim is prepare for the return of former residents in places where radiation levels are relatively low.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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