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Japan
2011-10-30 Recriticality?
Iodine-131 detected in rice samples from late October by
ENENEWS Admin
 Oct.
30 — Iodine-131 was detected in several samples of rice
from late October, according
to the results of the Citizen’s
Radioactivity Measuring Station, a private institution.
Other
recent iodine-131 detections include:
* Recriticality?
Major Japan paper reports on detection of iodine-131 in Tokyo,
Kawasaki – From Oct. 18
* “Recriticality
may be happening continuously” — Iodine-131 detected
in Nagasaki, Miyagi (CHARTS) -From Oct. 3
Because
of the relatively short half-life of Iodine-131, Fukushima
Diary says, “This may prove Fukushima went back to
recriticality state in September.”
Some
results from the CRMS’s recent
rice tests
2011-10-31 Eye
swelling a symptom of thyroid disorder — I often hear
how childrens’ eyes become swollen after being in radiation-contaminated
sandboxes, says Japanese organizer… Remember the kitten?
(VIDEO), by Enenews Admin
2011-10-31 Chernobyl
Expert says of Japan: “Everywhere I go, I hear stories
similar to the Chernobyl cases” (VIDEO),
by Enenews Admin
2011-10-31 Radiation
Exposure to the Population in Japan After the Earthquake (PDF)
by Marco Kaltofen
Conclusions
Circular
evacuation zones were not protective; some evacuees moved to
greater contamintion.
• Air now cleaner, but dusts remobilize cesium.
• Cs-134 and Cs-137 nearly ubiquitous in Fukushima Prefecture
and detectable throughout Tokyo; Co-60 found in dusts from
northern Japan.
• US samples had only two isolated Cs-134 and Cs-137
detections in soil; Am-241 found offsite only in one Tokyoarea
dust sample; I-131 has decayed.
2011-11-02 (for this day) Tepco
blames ‘spontaneous’ and ‘natural’ nuclear
fission for radioactive xenon… What about the 14,000%
increase in Krypton-85? by ENENEWS Admin, published
November 3, 2011
Tepco:
Xenon At Fukushima Not Result Of “Critical” Nuclear
Reaction, Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2011 at 11:13
pm ET:
“Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) said Thursday the detection of
radioactive xenon at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant,
indicating recent nuclear fission, was not the result of a sustained
nuclear chain reaction known as a criticality, as feared, but
a case of ‘spontaneous’ fission, Kyodo News reported.”
[...]
“The
utility known as Tepco has been analyzing the phenomenon”
[...]
Xenon
at Fukushima Isn’t From Critical Reaction, Tepco Says,
Bloomberg, November 3 at 11:14 pm ET:
[...]
“The discovery of xenon, announced yesterday, at the plant
was caused by “natural” nuclear fission, Junichi
Matsumoto, a general manager at the company known as Tepco,
said today at a press briefing in Tokyo.” [...]
AS
EX-SKF noted, the xenon increase in recent days has been
relatively minor.
Rather
it is the 140-fold
increase in Krypton-85 over the past day that needs to be
addressed by Tepco and the Japan gov’t.
h/t
Anonymous tip
2011-11-02 Fukushima:
“Far From Any Stable Shutdown”, washingtonsblog.com
Fukushima:
Further Away From a Stable Shutdown Than Japanese Claimed
Radioactive
xenon has been detected at the Fukushima nuclear plant, indicating
that nuclear reactions are still occurring.
BusinessWeek
notes that the Japanese
government has confirmed the existence of radioactive xenon:
The
detection of xenon, which is associated with nuclear fission,
was confirmed today by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the
country’s atomic regulator said.
NHK
reports:
The
operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
says it found in the facility’s No.2 reactor radioactive
substances that could have resulted from continuous nuclear
fission.
The
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Wednesday
that it detected xenon-133 and xenon-135 in gas taken from
the reactor’s containment vessel on the previous day.
The substances were reportedly in concentrations of 6 to more
than 10 parts per million becquerels per cubic centimeter.
Xenon-135
was also detected in gas samples collected on Wednesday.
Radioactive
xenon is produced during nuclear fission.
The
half-life of xenon-133 is 5 days, and that of xenon-135 is
9 hours.
***
The
utility also says it wants to take a close look at the situation
of the plant’s No.1 and 3 reactors.
Bloomberg
writes:
“Given
the signs, it’s certain that fission is occurring,”
Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tepco who regularly
talks to the media, told reporters in Tokyo today. There’s
been no large-scale or sustained criticality and no increase
in radiation, he said.
***
It’s
possible there are similar reactions occurring in the No.
1 and No. 3 reactors, the other cores damaged at the station,
Matsumoto said.
“Melted
fuel in the No. 2 reactor may have undergone a sustained process
of nuclear fission or re-criticality,” Tetsuo
Ito, the head of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research
Institute, said by phone. “The nuclear fission should
be containable by injecting boron into the reactor to absorb
neutrons.”
Bellona
points
out:
According
to Bellona physicist and executive director, Nils Bøhmer,
and Dr Komei Hosokawa, head of the Department of Environmental
and Social Research at Japan’s Kyoto Seika University
… The presence of these gasses indicated fresh nuclear
fission taking place in the hot debris of the melted fuel
rods at the bottom of the container….
“This
clear indication that a nuclear chain reaction is going on
in one the reactors is a very bad sign. TEPCO had said that
the situation would be stable within nine months after the
accident,” said Bøhmer.
“Any
on-going uncontrolled chain-reaction is not an indication
of a stable rector, and we could face a much longer period
of instability until the reactors are safe,” he said.
A
TEPCO official has confirmed a so-called “partial re-criticality”
incident in reactor No 2, said Hosokawa in the information
he forwarded to Bellona. Hosokawa said the term “partial
re-criticality was “a new vague word for [TEPCO’s]
spin practice.”
Other
radioactive gasses detected at the reactor, said Hosokawa,
included Xenon-131m and Krypton-85, which are likely remnants
of the chain reactions that occurred immediately after the
earthquake and tsunami.
However,
Ex-SKF reports
– based on a handout
from Tepco – that there was a “100-Fold Increase
in Krypton-85 from November 1” to November 2nd.
EneNews
notes
the significance of Krytpon-85:
According
to a study
published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity,
“Krypton-85 is the best indicator for clandestine plutonium
separations” when conducting wide-area atmospheric monitoring.
Also,
EX-SKF writes, “According to wiki, ‘About three
atoms of krypton-85 are produced for every 1000 fissions (i.e.
it has a fission yield of 0.3%)’.
Bellona
also writes:
Japanese
nuclear authorities … say the chain reactions will not
affect the projected shut-own schedule. Currently the temperature
at the hot zones of the reactors is been sustained at below
100 degrees Celsius by seawater constantly being pumped in.
Hosokawa,
however, strongly disagreed, citing the apparent present condition
of the nuclear fuel in reactor No 2, if not others.
“TEPCO
so far claimed that the melted-down uranium had formed an
oval shape with a cooled-down crust. Their roadmap for the
“cold shutdown, if ever, is based on this condition,”
said Hosokawa. “Now that they propose a quite different
view regarding the condition of nuclear fuel, the roadmap
vision [for shutdown] cannot be intact.”
Indeed,
we’ve been reporting for months that nuclear
reactions are probably still continuing at Fukushima (as
have Fairewinds, Ene
and Ex-SKF.)
The
New York Times points
out:
The
unexpected bursts — something akin to flare-ups after
a major fire … threaten to increase the amount of dangerous
radioactive elements leaking from the complex and complicate
cleanup efforts, raising startling questions about
how much remains uncertain at the plant….
The
plant’s owner admitted for the first time that fuel
deep inside three stricken plants was probably continuing
to experience bursts of fission.
***
It
is impossible to determine exactly what state the fuel is
in, given that even an intact reactor can offer only limited
gauges in the form of temperature, pressure readings and neutron
flow, but not visual observation. That lack of clarity is
one of the most resonant lessons of the Fukushima disaster,
where those trying to guide the response and assess the danger
operated by what amounted to educated guesswork.
In
reactors of the design used at Fukushima, that chain reaction
is normally stopped when the operator gives a command to insert
control rods, which rise up from the bottom of the core and
separate the fuel assemblies. But when the cores of three
reactors at Fukushima melted, a large part of the fuel presumably
formed a jumbled mass in the bottom of the vessel, and without
a strict gridlike geometry, the control rods cannot be inserted.
Some of the fuel has escaped the vessel, experts believe,
and is in spaces underneath, where there is no way to use
control rods to interrupt the flow of neutrons.
***
The
three reactors — together with spent fuel rods stored
at a fourth damaged reactor — have been leaking radioactive
material since the initial disaster, and new episodes
of fission would only increase their dangers.
“Re-criticality
would produce more harmful radioactive material, and because
the reactors are damaged, there would be a danger of a leak,”
said Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University’s
Research Reactor Institute, whose prescient warnings about
nuclear safety have won him respect in Japan.
Mr.
Koide holds that the nuclear fuel at the three reactors probably
melted through containments and into the ground, raising the
possibility of contaminated groundwater. If much
of the fuel was indeed in the ground early in the crisis,
the “feed and bleed” strategy initially taken
by Tokyo Electric — where workers pumped cooling water
into the reactors, producing hundreds of tons of radioactive
runoff — would have prevented fuel still in the reactor
from boiling itself dry and melting, but would not have done
anything to reduce danger from fuel already in the soil —
if it got that far.
***
Tokyo
Electric does not deny the possibility that the fuel may have
burrowed into the ground, but its officials say that “most”
of the fuel likely remains within the reactor, albeit slumped
at the bottom in a molten mass.
But
even in their most dire assessments, some experts had not
expected even bursts of re-criticality to occur, because it
was unlikely that the fuel would melt in just the right way
— and that another ingredient, water, would be present
in just the right amounts — to allow for any nuclear
reaction. If episodes of fission at Fukushima were
confirmed, Mr. Koide said, “our entire understanding
of nuclear safety would be turned on its head.”
Some
nuclear experts have debated for months whether nuclear reactions
might be continuing, either in the fuel inside the reactors,
or in the spent fuel pools at the plant. They have pointed,
for example, to the continued reports of short-lived iodine
in the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 3.
A
former nuclear engineer with three decades of experience at
a major engineering firm … who has worked at all three
nuclear power complexes operated by Tokyo Electric …
said that tiny fuel pellets could have been carried to different
parts of the plant, like the spaces under the reactor during
attempts to vent them in the early days. That would explain
several cases of lethally high radiation readings found outside
the reactor cores.
“If
the fuel is still inside the reactor core, that’s one
thing,” he said. But if the fuel has been dispersed
more widely, then we are far from any stable shutdown.”
Hopefully,
nuclear
expert Paul Gunter’s fear that we face a “China
Syndrome” – where the fuel from the reactor cores
at Fukushima have melted through the container vessels, into
the ground, and are hitting groundwater and creating highly-radioactive
steam – will turn out to be overblown (even though
NHK and Tepco have allegedly confirmed that steam
was escaping from underground back in June, something Fukushima
workers have alleged for
some time):
2011-11-02 Nuclear
Reactions Have Restarted at Fukushima, washingtonsblog.com
Fission
Has Restarted at Fukushima
I
have reported for months that nuclear
reactions are probably still continuing at Fukushima.
This
has been confirmed today.
Here
are headlines from today courtesy of EneNews (click through
to read source material):
Actually,
“inside the reactor” could be a misnomer. As I noted
last month:
New
thermal images released by Tepco appear to confirm that the
radioactive cores are not within the containment vessels.
In
related news:
2011-11-02 Trying
to Post Power Points on Fukushima and Radiation,
majiasblog.blogspot.com/.
I
have 3 powerpoints but I have to figure out how to post them.
I
think I can do it through Academia.Edu
http://asu.academia.edu/majianadesan
[Editor's
Note: Dr. Nadesan has posted two impressive and well-researched
power point presentations on the Fukushima crisis, listed on
an overview page of her works Here.
Click on the following titles to see each PowerPoint:
a)
Radiation
and Fukushima Power Point I: Introduction to Radiation and
Early Days of the Crisis
b)
Fukushima
and Radiation Power Point II]
I've
posted (hopefully accessible) my first power point, which provides
background information about radiation and human health AND
addresses the Fukushima plant disaster in the first four months.
I
have second and third powerpoints that will go up also when
I am sure this works and I have time to post them.
The
second one covers the current admission by Tepco that Fukushima
is still fissioning.
Tepco
only admits this now, Nov 1 after months of fissioning because
the radiation levels are rising so much.
And
it is possible that an explosion is imminent.
However,
a number of people point out that radiation levels rising from
microsieverts to millisieverts in such a short time means that
even without an explosion we're going to be subject to higher
and potentially still higher radiation.
What
happens to life under those conditions?"
2011-11-02
New
fission raises “startling questions” says NYT —
Koide: Harmful radioactive material in danger of leaking after
a re-criticality by ENENEWS Admin
Nov.
2 — Unexpected bursts of fission “threaten
to increase the amount of dangerous radioactive elements leaking
from the complex and complicate cleanup efforts, raising startling
questions about how much remains uncertain at the plant”
in Fukushima, reports
the New York Times.
“The
three reactors — together with spent fuel rods stored
at a fourth damaged reactor — have been leaking radioactive
material since the initial disaster, and new episodes of fission
would only increase their dangers.”
According
to Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University’s
Research Reactor Institute, “Re-criticality would produce
more harmful radioactive material, and because the reactors
are damaged, there would be a danger of a leak.”
2011-11-02 NYTimes:
For first time Tepco admits “fuel deep inside 3 stricken
plants probably continuing to experience bursts of fission”
— Fission at Reactors 1 and 3 also? by ENENEWS
Admin
2011-11-02 Krypton-85
up over 14,000% in one day at Reactor No. 2 — Kr-85 used
to detect “plutonium separations” by
ENENEWS Admin
Nov.
2 — “There was a “100-Fold Increase
in Krypton-85 from November 1,” reports EX-SKF.
From
TEPCO’s
Nov. 2 press materials:
Comparison
of testing done on Nov. 1 and Nov.
2 in Reactor No. 2's primary containment vessel
Krypton-85
went from .0036 Bq/cm³ (3.6 x 10-³) to 0.53 Bq/cm³
(5.3 x 10-¹).
That
is an increase of over 14,000% in one day.
One
might wonder why Krypton-85 was chosen as an isotope to test
for, when its half life is over 10 years.
 |
Kr-85
on Nov. 1 @ .0036 Bq/cm³
|
|
Kr-85
on Nov. 2 @ 0.53 Bq/cm³ |
This
would seem to make it not the best indicator of recent criticality
because it lasts much longer than, for example, xenon-133, xenon-135
and iodine-131.
However,
according to a study
published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity,
“Krypton-85 is the best indicator for clandestine
plutonium separations” when conducting wide-area
atmospheric monitoring.
Also,
EX-SKF writes, “According to wiki, ‘About three
atoms of krypton-85 are produced for every 1000 fissions (i.e.
it has a fission yield of 0.3%)’. It sure looks like a
nuclear chain reaction happening, i.e. re-criticality, the possibility
of which TEPCO’s Matsumoto
has already admitted.”
2011-11-02 NHK:
“Alarming Readings” — TEPCO asking Japan gov’t
for help because a “different substance” may have
been detected, in addition to xenon (VIDEO) by
ENENEWS
2011-11-02
TEPCO: Either neutrons
caused “chain reaction” OR a criticality due to
increased water injection by ENENEWS Admin
2011-11-02 Fukushima
Fissioning, majiasblog.blogspot.com
The
news is circulating ever more widely that Fukushima is fissioning.
http://enenews.com/very-bad-sign-partial-criticality-tepco-spin-could-face-longer-period-instability-reactors-safe-roadmap-be-intact
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/radioactive-gas-associated-with-fission-reported-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant#comments
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LU10Q56KLVS101-25B42PBBAAGTL9H5JPAVA41NPT
Of
course, this is not really new information: fissioning has been
continuous in an on-off cycle for months.
Potrblog
offers an explanation of that process here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DKFmiUI-5g&feature=channel_video_title
An
older but helpful discussion of the state of the reactors is
available here: http://theinternationalperspective.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/
Still,
I am very concerned about the sudden flurry of media interest
in the Fukushima story.
Speculation exists that the incredibly high reading found in
Tokyo of 40,000 microsieverts an hour (40 millisieverts an hour)
might have been caused by an underground nuclear explosion
http://enenews.com/kyodo-confirms-radiation-40000-microsieverts-hour-tokyo-supermarket-other-spots-property-100-microsieverts-hour
No
one in the blogosphere knows for sure what is happening, but
we do know that something alarming must have occurred to force
Tepco to rupture their narrative of "all is well and cold
shutdown is near."
I
will post any information I glean but keep in mind that misinformation
has been the name of the game played by Tepco and the Japanese,
US, and Canadian governments.
2011-11-03 New
Potrblog Report, majiasblog.blogspot.com
Precipitation
samples measured 59 and then 190 times background (depending
upon the absorption thickness of the paper towel). http://pissinontheroses.blogspot.com/
Potrblog
believes Tepco has lost control of the situation at Fukushima
and is unable to control the fissioning, which they believe
could escalate into an explosion.
I
lack the scientific knowledge or expertise to evalaute Potrblog's
comments and analysis.
However,
the stories being reported at Enenews (as it follows the Japanese
media) are increasingly strange and disturbing http://enenews.com/just-in-japan-times-it-is-now-a-grave-situation-at-fukushima-plutonium-fission-mentioned-for-first-time-criticality-is-very-likely-to-have-occurred/comment-page-1#comment-151241
I
do understand that we are most definitely in unchartered territory
and it is hostile to life.
I
watched a NOVA special on the fabric of the universe tonight.
Last night I read the comments made at Ex-SKF about what is
going on with the coriums.
It
seems clear to me after watching and reading that physicists
do not understand fully what is going on at Fukushima because
this is, in fact, unprecedented (Chernobyl was “contained”
in days) and every time physicists have an opportunity to study
matter in new environments (e.g., particle accelerators) they
learn new and surprising things about how matter and energy
behave.
Worse,
in addition to not understanding what surprises await us, it
seems from the comments at Ex-SKF and Enenews that even the
most technologically inclined among us (not me) do not know
how to contain this MONSTER on earth.|
We
have truly opened Pandora’s box.
I
think the Japanese government and Tepco are frightened now.
I am.
We
are humbled by our misguided arrogance."
2011-11-03 Boric
acid apparently not working to stop chain fission reactions
because Xenon is still being detected — Tepco says this
is reason why they claim ‘spontaneous’ fission,
not sustained criticality by ENENEWS Admin, Fukushima
xenon from spontaneous decay, World Nuclear News*, November
3, 2011 at 10:30 am ET:
Excerpt
“Tepco
said it considered the source of the xenon to be spontaneous
fission on those grounds that it had injected boric acid to
the reactor vessel to reduce the likelihood of chain fission
reactions but was still able to detect xenon.”
*World
Nuclear News “is supported administratively and with technical
advice by the World Nuclear Association”; The WNA
is “supporting a fast-globalizing nuclear industry”
2011-11-03 Japan
Times: It is now a “grave situation” at Fukushima
— “Plutonium fission” mentioned for first
time — “Criticality is very likely to have occurred”
by ENENEWS Admin, November 3, 2011
Nov.
3, 8:30 pm ET (Emphasis Added) — A report
published at 8:30 pm ET by the Japan Times calls on Tepco
and the Japan gov’t to “find out true reactor
conditions” at Fukushima.
Tepco
announced Wednesday that, according to the Times, “There
is the possibility that criticality, a sustained
nuclear chain reaction, had occurred ‘temporarily’
and ‘locally’ in the No. 2 reactor.”
During
it’s testing, Tepco has detected xenon-133 and -135, “Products
of uranium or plutonium fission.”
The
half life of xenon-135 is about 9 hours, therefore, “Criticality
is very likely to have occurred just before the gases were analyzed,”
reports the Times.
“Clearly
the reactor has not yet been stabilized,” and, according
to the Times, “The fact that Tepco cannot deny
the possibility of criticality irrespective of its
scale is a grave situation.”
And
the article notes, “Conditions are similar in
the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reactors.”
Now
is the time to get “serious” writes The Times:
* “Tepco should make serious efforts
to accurately grasp the conditions of nuclear fuel inside
the reactors.”
* “Tepco and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
should take a serious view of the fact that radioactive
xenon pointing to criticality was detected from the
No. 2 reactor. What happened in it can happen in the Nos.
1 and 3 reactors.”
2011-11-05 (for this day) Busby:
On-going fission is occurring at Fukushima — Either a
recent “enriched uranium fission” or an “explosive
criticality” by ENENEWS Admin, published
November 6, 2011
Nov.
6 — Radiation expert Christopher Busby’s paper,
The significance
of Xenon isotope ratios in the Fukushima catastrophe, was
posted by Mochizuki on Nov. 5.
He
says the activity ratio for xenon isotopes reported by TEPCO
can only result from:
1)
“An enriched Uranium fission having occurred about 50
hours before the samples were measured”
Or
2)
“An explosive criticality which occurred 60 hours before
the measurements”
“What
these results confirm is that there is on-going fission occurring
at the site,” concludes Busby.
h/t
Fukushima
Diary via Chemfood, Arclight
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patterns used by "