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Japan
2012-03-11 Gundersen:
One Year Anniversary of Fukushima Daiichi (RT Video),
uploaded 11 March 2011 "...There is contamination out 30
km and in some areas perhaps as high as 60 km where people should
not ever return. In addition, I was just in Tokyo and took five
samples, and those five samples were high enough to qualify
as radioactive waste here in North America."
2011-03-11 (for this day)
One year after catastrophe, Fukushima remains a threat
by Charlotte Boitiaux, france24.com, first published 6 March,
last updated 14 March
 While
the Japanese authorities promise to get residents of Fukushima
prefecture home “as soon as possible”, the crippled
nuclear plant remains a danger zone. Two specialists tell FRANCE
24 why it could still explode.
One
year after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was crippled
by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the surrounding area remains
highly radioactive. The looming anniversary of the catastrophe
has pushed TEPCO, the plant’s disgraced operators, to
admit that the situation is still hazardous. Plant director
Takeshi Takahashi said last week that the company was doing
“the best it could” in order to allow local residents
to move back “as quickly as possible”. But he also
admitted that while the station had reached “cold shutdown
conditions", or a constant temperature of -100°C, it
was still "rather fragile".
As
Europe’s biggest nuclear producer, France has closely
monitored the Japanese disaster. Two French specialists decode
Takahashi’s statement.
"Reactors
are still in meltdown"
Stéphane
Lhomme, head of the French anti-nuclear organisation l’Observatoire
nucléaire, says that TEPCO is seriously playing down
potential dangers. “Their declarations are over-confident,
and moreover, simply not true,” he told FRANCE 24. “The
plant is neither stable nor fragile.” Lhomme describes
the current situation as “catastrophic. Even if the thermal
power in the four damaged reactors has been considerably reduced,
they are still in meltdown and therefore still noxious.”
Speaking with an alarmed tone, he says “of course the
global situation is slightly better than it was a year ago.
But the corium, a lava-like fuel-containing material that lies
at the bottom of the containers, remains a real problem.”
Lhomme
argues that at several thousand degrees, this molten lava could
break through the cask at any point and destroy the concrete
beneath the container, reaching soil and water located beneath
the surface. “If it comes into contact with water, the
corium would spark a series of massive vapour cloud explosions,”
warns Lhomme...
...“It’s
going to take around
30 years to completely decommission the site and ensure
it’s non-hazardous,” explains Stéphane Lhomme.
“After that, it will be even longer before the locals
can return.” Lhomme says that the equivalent of 408 million-billion
radioactive Becquerel particles lie within 30 kilometres of
the plant, which itself remains a wasteland...
2012-03-11 (for this date) Writer:
Science websites “actively contributed to biased misinformation”
on Fukushima — Reporting leaves impression it’s
over and under control — Public will only be “informed”
in order to avoid panic, enenews.com. 13 March
2012
Title:
Japanese
Nuclear Reactor Future: Another High Tech Sarcophagus?
Source:
Science 2.0
Author:
Sascha Vongehr
Date:
March 11th 2012
....The
Fukushima plant will have to be treated similar to the reactor
site in Chernobyl. The blocks may have to be similarly encapsulated
to become concrete tombs. However, Chernobyl’s metal and
concrete sarcophagus, officially known as “the shelter
object”, has shown that concrete entombing is not a long
term solution; it leaked after just 20 years. Thus, it may well
be that the Japanese will straightaway do what is now undertaken
in Chernobyl: A gigantic, 1.4 billion dollar high tech sarcophagus
that promises to stay for about 100 years before the next replacement
will be necessary...
It
is made from metal arches higher than the Statue of Liberty
and can slide over the length of three football fields, the
largest moveable structure ever. Under such a roof, robotic
cranes could dismantle the remains without further distributing
highly radioactive dust. Scientific American had a piece
about this project, the scale of which is impressive and makes
you understand why pro-nuclear energy advocates refuse to count
such to the costs of nuclear energy...
...The
next incident will come along, and it will be much the same
again, just perhaps much less lucky. Downplaying by politicians
and the involved industries will happen. Leaks, whether they
are oil ones or radioactive, will be kept secret again, monitors
taken off line, the public will be as always only "informed"
in order to avoid panic and any appearance of being not in full
control. Evacuations and vital help like the distribution of
Potassium Iodide for example will likely come too late. A growing
minority among the public knows this, they know that they are
cheated every time by withholding even lightly bad news that
could help them to make informed decisions. Panic should not
surprise anybody. It is simply being responsible for your family
if you assume the worst. Since scientists are directly involved,
the public trust in science drops along with that for politicians.
2012-03-11 Fukushima
Anniversary: Theatre of the Absurd posted by Joy
Thomson, enformable.com, majiasblog.blogspot.com.
It’s
the 1-year anniversary of the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.
For more than a week I’ve struggled to find something
to say about it that hasn’t already been said a hundred
times in a hundred ways. I kept drawing a blank, even as the
noise level coming from industry apologists and their willing
partners in the media rose over the past week to a deafening
level. There’s some truly appalling stuff making the rounds
that would be hilarious if it were being presented with a straight
face by Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central. But
these people are serious, hence my title: Theatre of the Absurd...
..Of
particular merit for absurdity was this aside from Wald’s
NYT bit of fluff:
Not
that the additional radiation exposure won’t induce
a few extra cases of cancer, the experts said, but these will
be indistinguishable from the background rate of cancer, which
will eventually strike about 41 out of every 100 people.
Really?
Why, just last year about this time the average lifetime cancer
rate in Japan was hovering around 33 out of 100. Now it’s
to go to 41 out of 100 according to the HPS? I’ve got
news for these sub-geniuses: that’s not a “minor”
increase. 41%… 41%… where had I seen that figure
before? Oh, yeah. It was under the heading of Health
Effects of Nuclear Testing from way back during the height
of the bad old Cold War…
In
1980, People magazine revealed some consequences of continental
nuclear testing for American citizens. The magazine disclosed
that of some 220 cast and crew who filmed a 1956 film, The
Conqueror with an unheard of 41 percent morbidity rate. Of
these, forty-six had died of cancer by 1980. Among the victims
were John Wayne and Susan Hayward, the stars of the film.
Seems
that a 41% cancer morbidity rate is no longer so “unheard
of.”
This
PR Campaign to Save The Nuclear Renaissance would be downright
depressing if a survey last week hadn’t demonstrated that
more
than half of Americans are now firmly against nuclear power.
The Japanese are even less impressed with nukes. The last two
plants still operating will go down this summer, and the Japanese
people may wake up the next day to find they didn’t really
need nukes in the first place...
2012-03-12 Interesting
Fukushima Video from March 10 2012, majiasblog.blogspot.com.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmAyKbx_Lds&feature=youtube
2012-03-12 Miles
O’Brien Interview: Gov’t should apologize and evacuate
citizens right away — Mayor: Decontamination is impossible,
but should be done anyway (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Report:
Mayor says Tokyo citizens were irradiated -NHK,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Sickened
Minamisoma woman’s blog shut down — Recently featured
on major news network, by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Gundersen
on CTV: The country of Japan is contaminated — “Just
routine checking an area here and there” in Tokyo found
all samples to be radioactive waste (VIDEO), by
ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Gundersen
on RT: All 5 samples I took in Tokyo qualified as radioactive
waste — People should never return to some areas 60km
from Fukushima (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Tepco
checking debris fallen to bottom of Reactor No. 4 — May
move control rods — ROV to be sent into Spent Fuel Pool,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Nuclear
Expert: Fukushima 10 times worse than Chernobyl,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 ‘Fukushima
Fifty’ workers speak out: If you blamed Tepco for symptoms,
told not to come back — 5,000 CPM internal radiation —
“None of them trust anything TEPCO or gov’t says”
-Asahi, by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 “The
smoke — It’s black” murmered Prime Minister
Kan after Reactor No. 3 exploded, by ENENews.com
2012-03-12 Nursery
School Teacher: Tepco worker told us to flee large city 60km
from meltdowns — “He suggested maybe we would be
affected physically by radiation”, by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Study
claims Tokyo newborns had ‘safe’ 1,140 microsievert
thyroid dose — Only counted food and water — Did
not include inhaled radioactivity — Did not include first
10 days when iodine and other short-lived isotopes peaked,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Asahi:
Multiple hospitals refuse to treat man who evacuated elderly
from highly radioactive area — “Physical condition
gradually deteriorated” — Maxed out radiation detector,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Chernobyl
Expert: Fukushima’s final toll will be worse — Multiple
facilities, longer duration, population far more dense
(RADIO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Science
Writer: Science websites “actively contributed to biased
misinformation” on Fukushima — Reporting leaves
impression it’s over and under control — Public
will only be “informed” in order to avoid panic,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Fukushima
Worker: “There is radiation that is coming from the ground”
— “There are no rights being observed at the moment”
(VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-13 Study
claims Tokyo newborns had ‘safe’ 1,140 microsievert
thyroid dose — Only counted food and water — Did
not include inhaled radioactivity — Did not include first
10 days when iodine and other short-lived isotopes peaked,
enenews.com
2012-03-14 Japan
Gov’t: “More shakes may follow over the next week
or so” — Powerful quake in Chiba/Ibaraki an aftershock
of M9.0 on 3/11, by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 M5.0
hits Chiba/Tokyo region — 17 aftershocks above M3.0 in
area over last 10 hours since intense quake, by
ENENews.com
2012-03-14 Nuclear
Insider: Surprise at how much cesium is moving through environment
— Crops with no direct contact to Fukushima fallout still
highly contaminated (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 Gov’t:
Highest plutonium concentration found almost 20km away from
Fukushima plant, by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 More:
10 quakes in Chiba during last 90 minutes — Most recent
is M4.5 intensity 3, by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 Intense
M6.1 in Chiba with multiple aftershocks — Fukushima hit
with M4.6 — Began with M6.8 off northeast Japan four hours
ago (MAPS), by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 Tsunami
warning issued after M6.8 quake hits off northeast Japan (MAP),
by ENENews.com
2012-03-14
Watch: Alpha radiation detected 50km south of Fukushima
in Iwaki City — Up to 1,000 times more dangerous than
beta or gamma equivalent (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-14
Report: There are no sparrows, says birdwatcher in Nagoya —
“Downtown area was void of any form of birds”,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-14 Nuclear
Insider: Surprise at how much cesium is moving through environment
— Crops with no direct contact to Fukushima fallout still
highly contaminated (VIDEO), enenews.com.
2012-03-15 Kyodo:
Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 visibility deteriorating — Major
drop over past month — No where near what’s needed
“to work at removing nuclear fuel”,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-15 Radio:
“Something new in the history of medicine is happening
at Fukushima” says physician — 30% of children tested
had thyroid lumps — “Now that’s really early,
that’s within the first year, that’s unheard of”
(AUDIO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-15 Author,
farmer expose manipulation of radiation data — “Employees
wash monitoring post by high-pressure water and changed the
whole soil”, by ENENews.com
2012-03-15
Tepco Survey: 160 milliSv/h from water in Reactor No. 2 —
Paint color “may have changed due to accident”,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-15 Kyodo:
Criminal complaint to be filed against top gov’t and Tepco
officials — Says failures left many exposed to radiation
— Assemblyman: “Nonsense that nobody has been held
criminally responsible for causing a major nuclear accident”,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-15 NHK:
Radiation levels too high for humans to continue at Reactors
No. 2 and 3 — Workers must repair damage to suppression
chambers (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-15 Radio:
“Something new in the history of medicine is happening
at Fukushima” says physician — 30% of children tested
had thyroid lumps — “Now that’s really early,
that’s within the first year, that’s unheard of”
(AUDIO), enenews.com.
2012-03-15 NHK:
Radiation levels too high for humans to continue at Reactors
No. 2 and 3 — Workers must repair damage to suppression
chambers (VIDEO), enenews.com.
2012-03-15 2
Other Reasons Why Municipalities in Japan Want Disaster Debris,
ex-skf.blogspot.com.
The
first and foremost is a fat subsidy they will get from the national
government (which is beyond broke, so it will tax the citizens
today and for the foreseeable future) for saying yes to having
the disaster debris contaminated with radioactive materials
and toxic chemicals shipped to their cities and towns to burn
and bury the resulting ashes.
But
it is slowly emerging that there are equally short-term, other
reasons these local politicians and bureaucrats want the contaminated
debris.
1. The incinerators, if they are state-of-the-art, need
more garbage even to operate, so the disaster debris is god-sent;
2. The incinerators, if not state-of-the-art, badly need upgrading
or even building new ones (or so they say), and by saying
yes to the debris the municipalities will get the subsidy
from the national government for the upgrade or building new
ones.
2012-03-15 Kyodo:
Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 visibility deteriorating — Major
drop over past month — No where near what’s needed
“to work at removing nuclear fuel, ”
enenews.com.
2012-03-15 Plutonium:
Not Our Friend, majiasblog.blogspot.com
My
son's biology told me yesterday that she has a favorite element,
gene, etc. Her enthusiasm is good for the kids and makes the
material more interesting.
Unfortunately,
we may be getting to experience more of plutonium. I've pasted
in the original post plus a brief update:
Today's
news:
Enenews
reports "Gov’t: Highest plutonium concentration found
almost 20km away from Fukushima plant"
Enenews
got this tidbit from an article published in Asahi: "Fukushima
contamination is much less extensive than Chernobyl"
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201203140034
I
hope that most readers read with some skepticism the title of
the Asahi article.
I
certainly regard with skepticism the Japanese Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology report that Fukushima
produced less radiation than Chernobyl, particularly since Fukushima
is STILL producing radiation.
Furthermore,
if the recently declassified NRC commentary on Fukushima is
correct, then lots of plutonium were involved because spent
fuel pools 3 and 4 were reported to have been destroyed in that
report.
Below
find my post on plutonium found in Japan from June
Plutonium
Found in Japan: Plutonium Keeps on Giving Even When You're Dead
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110606x2.html
(hat
tip zerohedge http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-finds-plutonium-one-mile-away-fukushima-doubles-radiation-leak-estimate#comment-1345527
and
enews http://enenews.com/first-time-plutonium-has-been-reported-outside-of-fukushima-plant
)
Monday,
June 6, 2011
Plutonium
found in soil at Okuma
Kyodo
"Plutonium
that is believed to have come from the crippled Fukushima No.
1 power plant has been detected in the town of Okuma about 1.7
km away from the plant's front gate, a Kanazawa University researcher
said Sunday."
Majia
Here: let us take a look at plutonium using the US Government
Profile of its Toxicity...
"If
plutonium were to enter your lungs today, much of the plutonium
would still be in your body 30-50 years later”
“The
isotope 239Pu was first used in fission weapons beginning in
1945 and is produced during the bombardment of uranium (235U)
by neutrons in nuclear reactors. Approximately one-third of
the total energy produced in a typical commercial nuclear power
plant comes from the fission of 239Pu produced from 235U”…
Approximately 1,855 metric tons of plutonium was estimated to
exist worldwide at the end of 2003; most of which was found
in spent fuel from nuclear power plants.
Atmospheric
testing of nuclear weapons, which ended in 1980, is the source
of most of the plutonium in the environment worldwide, which
released approximately 10,000 kilograms of plutonium. Trace
amounts of plutonium (including 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, and 241Pu)
are found worldwide, mostly due to fallout from atmospheric
nuclear testing…
Plutonium
released to the atmosphere reaches the earth's surface through
wet and dry deposition to the soil and surface water. Once in
these media, soluble plutonium can sorb to soil and sediment
particles or bioaccumulate in terrestrial and aquatic food chains….
…Most
of the body burden of plutonium resides in the skeleton and
liver, and following inhalation exposures, in the lung and lung-associated
lymph nodes. As a result, these tissues receive relatively high
radiation doses following exposures to plutonium. Radiation-induced
toxicity to these tissues has been documented in human epidemiological
studies and in animal models…
Possible
associations between exposure to plutonium and mortality have
been examined in studies of workers at the U.S. plutonium production
and/or processing facilities (Hanford, Los Alamos, Rocky Flats),
as well as facilities in Russia (e.g., Mayak) and the United
Kingdom (e.g., Sellafield). The Mayak studies provide relatively
strong evidence for an association between cancer mortality
(bone, liver, lung) and exposure to plutonium….
Read
More About the Fun Effects of http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp143.pdf
Majia
Here: Additionally, the health effects of plutonium were also
studied through the deliberate contamination of people with
plutonium by our oh-so-concerned-about-our-welfare-government
Read
The Plutonium Files
http://www.amazon.com/Plutonium-Files-Americas-Medical-Experiments/dp/0385314027
2012-03-16 Kyodo:
U.S. eyed blasting hole in Fukushima reactor with military explosives
— Reflected sense of alarm within gov’t over cooling
failure, by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 Hydrogen
levels nearly double at Reactor No. 2 in recent days,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 WATCH:
Radioactive plume map shows Fukushima contamination heading
toward Hawaii (VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 Nuke
crisis far from under control as TEPCO's 'inadequate predictions'
continue, mdn.mainichi.jp. (h / t Mainichi
reporter tours Fukushima: Shocking, Dangerous — Certain
that crisis far from over — Media inspection limited due
to “high radiation levels”, enenews.com,
16 March 2012)
The
crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is far from over.
I became certain of this when the power plant was opened to
the media on Feb. 20, and witnessed the reality of what was
going on inside. This, despite the government's declaration
just two months prior, that the reactors had achieved a "cold
shutdown" state, bringing the crisis "under control."
The
invitation for journalists to inspect the plant in February
was no doubt intended to drive home the impression that the
disaster had indeed been resolved. However, the key element
in the cooling system now in place appeared unstable and hastily
thrown together, and high radiation levels were detected inside
the plant. The plant was far from being "normal" or
"under control"...
....When
we arrived at the waterfront, where the plant's No. 1-4 reactors
are located, a nearby building's blown-out windows -- the result
of a hydrogen explosion at the neighboring No. 1 reactor --
jumped out at us. The alarms on the radiation dosimeters we
were wearing started going off, and an official from plant operator
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) accompanying us yelled out,
"100 microsieverts (0.1 millisieverts per hour)!"
Radiation
levels inside the plant have dropped from those detected immediately
after the crisis began. However, close to the No. 3 reactor,
which still has the highest radiation levels inside the plant,
the figure can reach 1.5 millisieverts. In other words, the
amount of radiation one is exposed to by being near the No.
3 reactor for just one hour is equivalent to what a Japanese
resident is exposed to in a whole year from background radiation.
The
No. 4 reactor has relatively low radiation levels, and atop
a hill some 300 meters southwest of it, we got out of our buses
for 15 minutes. We could see several people working on the fourth
and fifth floors of the No. 4 reactor building. The No. 3 reactor
building was still just a tangle of steel from the reactor building's
frame....
2012-03-16 Professor
Yukio Hayakawa Takes a Walk in Fukushima City,
ex-skf.blogspot.com.
...armed
with 4 different radiation survey meters. One of the reasons
he went to Fukushima was apparently to test the survey meters
and compare the readings. The entire walk took 7 hours yesterday,
says Hayakawa in his tweet, nothing compared to mountain climbing.
(He's a volcanologist.)
4.164
microsieverts/hour on the "black dust" - roadside
sediment of soil and organic materials. (It is not just in Minami
Soma City, where the highest radioactive cesium density in the
"black dust" so far is 3.43
million becquerels/kg.)
Over
10 microsieverts/hour (all his survey meters went overscale)
at the rain gutter.
2.3
microsieverts/hour on the lawn in front of the City Hall, 1.5
microsievert/hour 1 meter off the lawn.
For
detailed locations and measurements, see his blog
post (in Japanese).
2012-03-16 One
Municipality After Another Says YES to Disaster Debris Contaminated
with Radioactive Materials, ex-skf.blogspot.com
[Ed. Note: Debris incineration has already been in full force
in the Tokyo area for many months. It is suicidal because it
remobilizes radation, some of which gets into the jet stream
and comes to America. Japanese claims that they can filter the
smoke is probably overblown. The Japanese have a hard time shaking
their debris incineration custom under new circumstances].
The
likes of Mr.
Blustein must be so happy to see the "kizuna"
(it's actually the rope that ties down the cattle or domestic
animals) restored at least among petty politicians and bureaucrats
in cities, towns, and villages as far away as Okinawa and Hokkaido,
even as the "selfish" and "irrational" residents
who will have to pay taxes to have the debris burn in their
midst are against it.
In
anywhere else in the world, these debris would be considered
"low-level radioactive waste" and would be strictly
controlled.
The
municipalities that suddenly "capitulated" this week,
particularly on March 16 when Prime Minister Noda formally issued
the request
to accept the debris to municipalities who haven't said yes
to the debris, are too numerous to list. Even the last true
"opposition" since the March 11, 2011 disaster, Japanese
Communist Party, sided with the majority demanding the municipal
governments of Niigata City in Niigata Prefecture and Kiryu
City in Gunma Prefecture to accept the disaster debris from
Miyagi and Iwate.
Money
really does speak. Hop on the bandwagon. Local politicians have
the local waste management industry lobby to please...
...Now
what? I wonder what the residents of Japan are going to do now,
if anything at all. They have protested, packed the "explanation"
meetings which were nothing but a sham to keep up the appearance
of "democracy", collected signatures to oppose acceptance
and tried educating the fellow citizens and a few politicians
who would listen. The politicians and bureaucrats and industry
will just do it anyway.
2012-03-16 NHK:
Large volume of unidentified floating white matter seen in No.
4 reactor and spent fuel pool — Tepco to investigate where
it came from (VIDEOS), by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 NYTimes
in ’93: Worst type of reactor accident is nuclear fuel
melting, burning through vessel and reactor basement, then into
earth, by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 Mainichi
reporter tours Fukushima: Shocking, Dangerous — Certain
that crisis far from over — Media inspection limited due
to “high radiation levels”, by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 Radioactive
rabbit found 100km from Fukushima — Contamination limit
exceeded — Yamagata gov’t warns against eating,
by ENENews.com
2012-03-16 Fukushima
Report reveals fire created “8 square meter hole in the
wall” at Reactor No. 4, by ENENews.com
2012-03-17 Report:
Radioactive “black dust” in Fukushima City, 60km
from meltdowns — “It is not just in Minami Soma
City” (PHOTO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-17 Analysis:
Melted fuel completely penetrated concrete in under 15 hours
at GE Mark I — Shows little decline in speed
(CHART), by ENENews.com
2012-03-17 CBS:
“The worst case scenario was happening” at Fukushima
— Cores may have burned into earth, releasing untold amounts
of radiation if not for sea water injection — You really
won’t know what happened until you see inside, says NRC
(VIDEO), by ENENews.com
2012-03-17 Interim
Report: Tepco prepared to airdrop ice into Reactor No. 1 Spent
Fuel Pool — 3.5 tons brought to Fukushima,
by ENENews.com
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patterns used by "