Showing posts with label 3/11 nuclear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3/11 nuclear. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Japan Times: “Alarming estimate of cancer fatalities… 1 million extra deaths”

The second part of that headline:  "Nobody mentions krypton and xenon that poured from Fukushima plant, says Gundersen — 2-3 times greater than Chernobyl"  Japan Times via Enenews:
[...]

Experts waved away fears about radiation, cabinet ministers scoffed at comparisons to Chernobyl, and the word “meltdown” itself was effectively scoured from the media.

Some observers, however, were quick to hit the panic button. One of the best known was U.S. antinuclear campaigner Arnie Gundersen, who predicted that the disaster would lead to 1 million extra deaths from cancer.
[...]
Gundersen, a nuclear engineer, says [the official release amount is] an underestimate. He puts the release of cesium at about half that of Chernobyl, and says little attention has been paid to radioactive gases, Xenon and Krypton, which poured out of the No. 1 plant in quantities “two to three times” greater than the 1986 Ukraine meltdown. He is sticking to his original alarming estimate of cancer fatalities.
[...]
Gundersen bases much of his assessment of Fukushima on what he learned from America’s worst nuclear accident, the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. As an expert witness during the probe that followed, Gundersen said the official estimate of radioactive releases there was also much too low. “You have to remember, we don’t know how much radiation was released. It’s guys like me who have to calculate it.” His assessment upped the official radiation figure for the accident by five times. “I’m dead sure that’s too low,” he says, adding that he believes the true figure could be 15 times higher than the industry estimate.
[...]
He cites the work of Steve Wing, an epidemiologist who says he has tracked 10,000 extra deaths from lung cancer in the first six to seven years after the accident.

“The same gases (Xenon and Krypton) that caused those cancers leaked out of the containment vessel at the Daiichi (No. 1) plant,” he says. “Nobody is talking about it.” He says the gases quickly disperse and are notoriously hard to measure. Other emissions are more straightforward. Plutonium is heavy and does not widely disperse. Cesium is relatively easy to track.
[...]
Future overheard statement heard just about anywhere in the world:  "Nobody told me Fukushima was this serious!  Why didn't anybody do anything?"    "No;  Lots of experts said Fukushima was serious.  You just didn't listen.  .. And now we're all dead.  The End!"

Monday, June 18, 2012

Chin Up, Fukushima: At Least A Super-Typhoon Isn't Barreling Directly Towards You!

Models for Typhoon Guchol have tracked significantly west, so that's great news!  Now the only thing we have to worry about regarding Fukushima is..  Everything else.  Here's the roundup..

Report: Algae is bio-concentrating radioactive material in Japan cities — Sucking in radiation from walls and asphalt — Strontium may be absorbed most.

Local Official: Radiation dose is increasing with rainfall around Fukushima plant — “I don’t expect level of contamination will decrease this year”





“Oh, very high!!” NHK: Serious radioactivity accumulation causing hotspots in center of large city(Koriyama) up to 300,000 Bq/kg (VIDEO)

(Now They Tell Us) "Miscommunication" Prevented Radiation Monitoring on March 12 Last Year





Happy Summer, everyone!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Fukushima Triple Shot Is Not A Drink..

1.  Mystery Continues: Professor theorizes black substance on roads is actually radioactive particles — “Phenomenon occurs even in regular soil containing no cyanobacteria” — All roadside dirt can have high radiation, regardless of color.  Enenews  Excerpts:


There are two major theories on why the cyanobacteria in the black soil has such high levels of radiation, but nothing has been confirmed.



One theory posits that the radiation becomes concentrated in the cyanobacteria. There is scientific evidence that cyanobacteria absorbs cesium, but confirmation has yet to be made on whether such radiation concentration has occurred in the cyanobacteria found in the black soil samples.


Hayakawa’s theory is that the high radiation levels are due to radioactive cesium from the Fukushima nuclear accident that was pushed by rain and wind and accumulated along roads. He believes that the phenomenon occurs even in regular soil containing no cyanobacteria.


According to Hayakawa’s theory, all dirt along roads is capable of recording high radiation levels, regardless of the color of the soil.


2.  Good news/Bad news:  Tepco: New 60-ton cover on top of Unit No. 4 fuel pool installed (PHOTOS) /[JNN live camera] Red light between reactor 4 and 3


3.  BREAKING: Typhoon Guchol to cross Tokyo and then on to Fukushima - this could be it!  Maybe..  This is a good thread to refer back to, as they'll keep up with the typhoon's direction until it hits Tokyo and Fukushima, or veers off onto another course in real time.  Remember, this is a model, but couple the storm's potential with this little nugget:  Fukushima worker “Tepco is having difficulty to increase tanks because of poor ground”  Fukushima Diary.  Excerpts:


Related to this article..Possible uneven settlement of reactor 4



Tepco postponed the construction to increase tanks for the contaminated water.


They were planning to start the construction in July but it will be postponed to August.
Tepco explains it is for the construction scheduling and there is still enough capacity of the tank, but actual Fukushima worker, Happy11311 tweeted like this below

I think the construction of the new tanks is behind the schedule and it’s not for what Tepco explained. I think that’s because of the ground. They are taking time to build the base of the tanks.



Typhoon-style rain on already unstable ground will make the ground more or less stable?