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

Chairman of Tepco Panel: “Future surprises” are in store at Fukushima plant — Everyone should be prepared for that! (VIDEO)

[link to enenews.com]

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Dale Klein, the chairman of an advisory panel to Tokyo Electric Power Co. and a former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tells us the radioactive water leaking into the ocean is not harmful or highly radioactive because cesium and strontium blends in with the soil and does not move or spread rapidly!

Then he goes on to tell us it will go on for 20 years or more and expect more leaks and problems.

I trust you Dale. You look honest.

He's full of shit.

The Fukushima Radiation Leak Is Equal To 76 Million Bananas
Says Tim Worstall from Forbes

[link to www.forbes.com]

Disinformation.

Forgive the pun..

Apples and oranges.

Bananas pass right through the body, quickly. Very little effect.
Radionuclides.. not so much.



Fake Science Alert: Fukushima Radiation Can’t Be Compared to Bananas or X-Rays
[link to www.washingtonsblog.com]

The human body is born with potassium-40 [the type of radiation found in bananas] in its tissues and it is the most common radionuclide in human tissues and in food. We evolved in the presence of potassium-40 and our bodies have well-developed repair mechanisms to respond to its effects. The concentration of potassium-40 in the human body is constant and not affected by concentrations in the environment.

It follows that the additional radiation exposure due to eating a banana lasts only for a few hours after ingestion, namely the time it takes for the normal potassium contents of the body to be restored by the kidneys.

For you, Fishy.


NASA’s All Sky Fireball Network
[link to fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov]

Colorado’s richest oil field buried in flood waters, 1,000s of wells and sites affected — Official: “Scale is unprecedented… We will have to deal with environmental contamination” — Chemist: “It’s new territory” — Scientist: “Major public health risks” from contaminated water, sediment (PHOTOS)
[link to enenews.com]
Denver Post, Sept. 16, 2013 (h/t Anonymous tip): Colorado’s richest oil field — the Denver-Julesburg Basin — is buried in flood waters raising operational and environmental concerns [...] Thousands of wells and operating sites have been impacted [...] “The scale is unprecedented,” said Mike King, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “We will have to deal with environmental contamination from whatever source.” The basin, one of the most promising onshore oil plays [...] The major public health risks will come from contaminated water and sediments, said Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, a Natural Resources Defense Council staff scientist. [...] There are more than 20,000 wells in the DJ-Basin and surrounding areas and 3,200 permits for open pits in Weld County, according to state data. [...]

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I believe this phenomenon will affect more nuclear plants, as we observed at Ft. Calhoun.



[link to www.upi.com]
Atmospheric "rivers" of moisture flowing above the oceans have caused heavy rainfall and flooding in places such as California and Britain, researchers say.
These "rivers," unknown just 20 years ago, could become more common -- and more severe -- as global temperatures rise, they said.

Atmospheric rivers are up to 180 miles wide and can be as long as 1,200 miles, flowing invisibly more than a mile above the surface of the ocean.
One such atmospheric river is believed to have been behind the violent flooding that hit Cumbria in Britain in 2009, scientists said.

They calculated at its peak it was transporting almost 300,000 tons of moisture every second; by comparison, the River Thames carries about 65 tons of water through London in the same amount of time.

Gundersen: They’ve admitted that all the boron has disintegrated in between spent fuel at Fukushima — It can cause a nuclear chain reaction if rods get too close together in pool (AUDIO)
[link to enenews.com]

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Energy Education:

Tokyo Electric has admitted that the boron between these fuel cells — there’s a boron wafer in between the fuel to prevent something called an inadvertent criticality, you can have a nuclear chain reaction in the fuel pool, and that’s not a good thing — but they’ve admitted that all the boron has disintegrated.

So the only thing preventing a chain reaction from occurring […] in the fuel racks themselves, is the fact they put all sorts of boron in the water.

But if the rods get too close to each other, they can still fire up again and create a chain reaction in the nuclear fuel pool.

Ha.. They lost credibility with me a couple of years ago.



Tepco researcher says it’s “impossible” to contain radioactive waste water leaking from Fukushima plant — “Japanese gov’t has lost all credibility”
[link to enenews.com]

Korea Times, Sept. 17, 2013: Japan is pushing back hard on Korea’s import ban on fisheries products from Fukushima and adjacent prefectures [...] As most Koreans see it, however, Tokyo’s move is little more than the proverbial “audacity of a thief.” [...] Tokyo is taking issue with Seoul’s move to protect the health and lives of its own citizens [...] Seoul is advised to bring this issue to the World Health Organization, as Tokyo has not even done its minimal duty of informing its neighbors of what should be warranted information affecting the latter’s health. [...] Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s misleading statements that Tokyo was in full control of the situation [were] later contradicted by none other than Japanese experts. [...]

Japan presses S.Korea to lift fisheries import ban

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the government is continuing to press South Korea to lift its ban on imports of marine products from 8 prefectures, including Fukushima.

South Korea imposed the ban on September 9th, citing leaks of contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Suga told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday that a senior Fisheries Agency representative conveyed to South Korean officials the latest information on measures against water leaks and other safety steps being taken.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Dosimeters for evacuees returning to zones

The Japanese government will ask residents of some areas of Fukushima Prefecture to help it track radiation levels.

Officials plan to hand out dosimeters to people returning to their homes near the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant once the evacuation order is lifted.

Environment Ministry officials say they will collect the residents' radiation data to find ways to help reduce exposure.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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TEPCO: 1,130 tons of water released onto ground

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has released more than 1,100 tons of rainwater that had pooled inside barriers around wastewater storage tanks.

Heavy rain lashed the plant on Sunday and Monday due to the effects of a severe tropical storm.

Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters on Tuesday that workers discharged 1,130 tons of water from 7 sections onto nearby soil to prevent it from overflowing.

TEPCO officials say workers released the water onto the ground and not into drainage ditches that lead to the sea, so they cannot say how much may have leaked into the ocean.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Guinea pigs...

Leakage prevention specs explained to bidders

Japanese government officials have held a briefing for potential bidders on projects to deal with the massive buildup of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Groundwater is flowing into the plant's compound, increasing the amount of contaminated water accumulating at the site.

The industry ministry on Tuesday gathered more than 30 general contractors and other companies aiming to win contracts for the projects.

They told the firms that they need equipment that can treat 500 tons of water a day. It has to drastically cut levels of 62 types of radioactive materials in the water and reduce the amount of radioactive waste to one-fifth compared to current amounts.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Funny guy...

Motegi: Fukushima situation under control

Japan's industry minister has emphasized that the situation of radioactive water leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is under control.

Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters on Tuesday that individual events should not be mixed up with the entire situation.

Motegi was responding to criticism that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's view of the situation contradicts that of the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Japan wants to consider lowering nuclear dependence: Motegi

JAPAN-NUCLEAR/ (URGENT) — Japan’s trade minister said on Tuesday the government would like to consider lowering the dependence on nuclear power 2 1/2 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant in northeast Japan.

“We will keep the technology and personnel related to nuclear power and they must contribute to the world, but we would like to consider ways to lower our dependence on nuclear power,” said Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Power loss at Taiwan nuclear power plant blamed on human negligence

The operator of one of Taiwan's three nuclear power plant was unaware of power loss in one of its offsite power systems for nearly three months, the Atomic Energy Council said Tuesday.

Teng Wen-chu, an official of the government agency responsible for nuclear safety and regulations, told Kyodo News the backup power source of the Unit 2 reactor at the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant at Hengchun in southernmost Taiwan was unavailable between April 8 and July 1.

"Taipower was unaware of the loss of power for 84 days," he said, referring to Taiwan Power Co., the operator of the island's three nuclear plants.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Queensland aims to resume uranium mining

The government of the Australian state of Queensland has released a plan to resume uranium mining as early as next year.

While Australia has the world's largest known reserves of uranium, it accounts for only 11 percent of global output. The economic value of uranium in Queensland is considered to be about $18 billion, Australia's Courier-Mail newspaper reports.

Even after Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, 66 nuclear reactors are under construction worldwide, two-thirds of them in Asia.

Queensland's last uranium mine, the Mary Kathleen, closed in 1982. The Queensland government banned uranium mining seven years later.

Queensland Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said Thursday the state government has accepted the determination by an independent committee that, with some adaptations, uranium mining could resume under existing industry regulation and radiation safety systems.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Japanese ministers miss the point at Fukushima Daiichi

Seemingly, all TEPCO has been doing for the last two and a half years is storing contaminated water in tanks, with no real solution to the problem reached. What the Japanese government is doing is ensuring people in Japan and around the world that Japanese water and food are safe to eat and drink, and that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster will not affect the 2020 Toyko Olympics. One thing neither Japan nor TEPCO are doing is keeping Japanese citizens or the international community promptly and accurately informed and up-to-date of the contaminated water leaks.
[link to enformable.com]
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Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to Hold Hearing Oct. 16 in Houston on Proposed New South Texas Project Reactors

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hold a hearing Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Houston, concerning a challenge to the Combined License application for two new nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project site near Bay City, Texas. The ASLB is the independent body within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that conducts adjudicatory hearings and renders decisions on legal challenges to licensing actions.

This hearing involves Nuclear Innovation North America’s application to build two Advanced Boiling-Water Reactors at the South Texas Project site. The hearing will examine whether the applicant’s planned corporate governing structure and financing comply with the NRC’s rules prohibiting foreign ownership, control and domination. Documents related to the South Texas Project application are available on the NRC website.

Documents regarding this board’s proceeding are available on the NRC’s Electronic Hearing Docket by clicking on the folder entitled “South_Texas_52-012&013-COL” on the left side of the page. More information about the role of the ASLB in the licensing process is available on the NRC website.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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Bill Maher on HBO: Fukushima “should be page 1 of the newspaper every day” — I used to be on the fence about nuclear power, I’m not anymore — If the world is going to invade a country that’s poisoning us, it should be Japan not Syria (VIDEO)
[link to enenews.com]

Doom remains on...

(Sorry to say)

Gundersen: Fukushima reactor buildings essentially now sitting in mud — Soil could ‘disappear’ during quake and bring structures down with it; That can result from what Tepco’s doing to groundwater (AUDIO)
[link to enenews.com]

Senior Scientist on HBO: I’d worry about swimming in Hawaii’s ocean starting in 2015 due to Fukushima plume — Maher: You’re scaring me; Radioactive dangers from Japan are coming to a beach near you (VIDEO)
[link to enenews.com]

NPR: How can Fukushima’s molten fuel be contained so it stops contaminating the planet? Nuclear Expert: There’s no way to get at molten fuel… I’ve not seen a solution to this (AUDIO)
[link to enenews.com]

Crack found over 200 feet above ground at Unit 1 & 2 exhaust stack — Fukushima Worker: May be more difficult to deal with than contaminated water

[link to enenews.com]

Tepco ‘Promt Report’: ‘Fracture-like’ traces found on steel bracings at Fukushima Units 1 and 2 exhaust stack — High radiation dose rate in area, had measured over 10 sieverts/hr — Press conference to explain incident (PHOTO)

[link to enenews.com]

so, they're going to have another nuclear explosion just
like they did back in March 2011?

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Thread: Fukushima Conspiracy Theory (TPTB double crossed?)

Visitors to Japan hit highest total for August

More travelers are visiting Japan after the government eased visa requirements for some Asian nations. A weaker yen has also encouraged visitors.

Officials at the Japan National Tourism Organization said on Wednesday an estimated 906,700 people came to the country in August for business or pleasure. The number is the largest for August.

That's up 17.1 percent in a monthly year-on-year comparison, and the 3rd highest figure ever for a monthly total.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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