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Two from Fukushima Diary.. The Good News? Ok, the kind-of Good News?
[Reactor4] Debris removal was finished, fuel will be taken out soon.
Following up this article..[LIVE] Tepco is removing the upper part of reactor4
Tepco finished the debris removal of SFP4. Now the PCV and SFP4 are completely exposed outside.
They are going to take out 2 of the new fuel assemblies soon.[Link]
So.. Only 1551 fuel assemblies to go? This comment is also.. Troubling..
look, I have photos of SFP4 in the top part of reactor 4 building from last year – IT IS GONE.. Spent Fuel Pool Four is no longer part of the building. We can clearly see the top of the reactor (big yellow dome)but where is the fuel pool which should be ABOVE the reactor ???Where is SFP 4 ??
Huh.
Not so good news: Survey robot died in reactor 3
Related to this article..Robot destroyed within 2 hours in reactor 2
Survey runner robot stopped on the radiation measurement of torus room in reactor3.
From 11:00 to 15:00 of 7/11/2012, Tepco was taking radiation, visual and “sound” data in torus room of reactor3 by using a robot. The atmospheric dose was 360 mSv/h.
Human worker opened the door of the torus room to let the robot enter, it went around clockwise, but the communication was interrupted at the manhole located at the South-East of torus room.
The robot is cabled, Tepco hasn’t verify the cause yet. They only assume the cable might have been damaged on the way. Tepco can’t take the robot back either because the radiation level is too high.
The robot sent radiation and visual data until it stopped but because the sound data is recorded in it, it can’t be obtained until they get the robot back. They were planning to detect the water leaking point by recording the sound data.
They recorded the sound data when they conducted robot survey in torus room of reactor2 as well, but because the alarm of survey meter was too noisy, they couldn’t hear the sound of water flow.
I'd still like to know the circumstances around TEPCO busting ass to clean up Reactor4 much faster than scheduled. As with all things Fukushima, the bad news still outweighs the good.
From Fukushima Diary. The Japanese are waking up and finding their voice. 45 thousand people came out for the last demonstration, 11 thousand the time before. Let's go!-Ja-pan!! Excerpts, with photos at the link:
The organizer states 200,000 people joined the demonstration. People who joined commented it was more than 4 times as before. Last time, 45,000 people joined.
Actually, most of the people collected information from the internet to join the demonstration, it was very difficult to count how many people took part in.
It's kind of hard for the Japanese media to ignore 200 thousand of their fellow screaming countrymen, isn't it?
If we have yet to invent technologies that can effectively demolish, decontaminate, and contain nuclear disasters, shouldn't we admit that nuclear power is beyond our scope of control? Accordingly, shouldn't we be working on those technologies before we build any more reactors or utilize this Pandora's Box of death? Don't forget: It's all done to boil water. Terra Daily, via The Extinction Protocol:
June 28, 2012 – JAPAN – TEPCO, the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said Wednesday record amounts of radiation had been detected in the basement of reactor number 1, further hampering clean-up operations. TEPCO took samples from the basement after lowering a camera and surveying instruments through a drain hole in the basement ceiling. Radiation levels above radioactive water in the basement reached up to 10,300 millisievert an hour, a dose that will kill humans within a short time after making them sick within minutes. The annual allowed dose for workers at the stricken site is reached in only 20 seconds. “Workers cannot enter the site and we must use robots for the demolition,” said TEPCO. The Fukushima operator said that radiation levels were 10 times higher than those recorded at the plant’s two other crippled reactors, number two and three. This was due to the poor state of the nuclear fuel in the reactor compared to that in the two others. The meltdown at the core of three of Fukushima’s six reactors occurred after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and ensuing massive tsunami shut off the power supply and cooling system. Demolition of the three reactors as well as the plant’s number 4 unit is expected to take 40 years and will need the use of new technologies. (As yet un-invented technologies..)
40 years? Do you really think we have that much time? I doubt it.. All to boil water..
[LIVE] Tepco is removing the upper part of reactor4 Fukushima Diary seems caught off guard. He's got a live feed, if you're interested.. Demolition, or urgent deconstruction of the upper part of the Reactor building began without an announcement. This is important. Somethings happening.
After a year and a half of watching the severely understaffed workers try to stabilize three Reactors from criticality and clear debris, very little other has been done to stabilize the Reactor 4 building, until just a few weeks ago. You'd think 1551 fuel assemblies packed in a damaged Spent Fuel Pool 90 feet in the air that is a potential World-Ender would be a priority, but it has not. Again, until now.
So today TEPCO decides to bust ass on a project that was just a week ago moved up to this fall from the end of 2013, and was moved up today to.. Well, today. Ominous.
The wind is blowing directly into Tokyo, by the way..
And there's this..
Experts warn of nuclear fire at Fukushima Audio post from ABC News. Released earlier today, before deconstruction.
Holy shit! What the fuck is going on at Fukushima? Godlike Productions. The first page of this thread overstates the doom(for the moment), but the thread itself has some good sources. Like this one.
One note: During this thread, the appearance of demolition/construction men on the upper levels of 4 are called out as evidence that this whole thing is a hoax(As the radioactive threat is not real, and this all has been a cover up for Something Else..). Not quite. Reactors 1,2, and 3 had meltdowns, and 4 was damaged in an explosion, but the Reactor itself was shut down. The primary danger of Reactor 4 has always been the Spent Fuel Pool, not overwhelming radiation like the first three.
Any accident involving Reactor 4's Spent Fuel Pool could be catastrophic. I wish the men dismantling this potentially world ending time bomb nimble-ness, efficiency, and the utmost of safety! No pressure, fellas: The fate of the world's on your shoulders; that's all..
Fuel assembly removal was slated for late 2013. Now they're moving it up by one year? I wonder what factors changed their risk assessment and resulting actions? Japan Today. Excerpts:
Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will begin removing fuel rods from a damaged reactors a year ahead of schedule, a government minister said Thursday, a move to address concerns about the risk of a new quake that could cause a further accident and scatter more radioactive debris.
“We would like to start taking out undamaged fuel this year. Preparation is now under way,” Japan’s nuclear crisis minister, Goshi Hosono, told Reuters in an interview.
“Doing it quickly is important. But we also have to make sure those workers out there, who are struggling under harsh conditions, will not be endangered by trying to move things fast.” (Fast, like the earthquake happened 15 months ago and we're just now getting around to dealing with Reactor 4's Spent Fuel Pool fast? That fast?)
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), operator of the plant, had said in April it aimed to begin removing the fuel rods from the No. 4 reactor at the end of next year.
That would have left large quantities of radioactive fuel rods outside the protection of strong containment vessels for two and a half years after the accident.
Experts say the fuel rods, now covered only by water and a white plastic tarp, could present a risk of a knock-on accident if the reactor building collapsed or the water supply used to keep the rods cool were disrupted by another earthquake.
Some 1,535 fuel assemblies—enough uranium fuel rods to power three reactors—are being stored in a pool atop the mangled No. 4 reactor building. The reactor, which was shut down for maintenance at the time of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was badly damaged by a series of powerful explosions that followed the disaster as power was cut off to the plant.
Hosono said last month during a visit to the Fukushima plant that he expected workers to begin removing fuel from the No. 4 reactor’s storage pool next year.
Work began in April to raise what amounts to a giant tent over the building to keep radioactive dust from scattering during the transport of the fuel rods.
TEPCO says its analysis shows the No.4 reactor building would hold up in a strong earthquake. But Japanese safety regulators ordered TEPCO to recheck its findings last month after measurements showed one of the walls of the reactor building was buckling out by about 3 centimeters.
This rescheduling and actual start of fuel assembly removal is really fast action coming from TEPCO. Alarmingly fast. This situation bears watching..
Subtitled: A Local Problem for Japan or a Global Mega Crisis? Holophi. Just The Abstract as excerpt, as this is a long read:
Extreme opinions are being voiced about the risk of global catastrophe resulting from a possible collapse of the Fukushima Daiichi unit 4 spent fuel pool. These claims are appearing mostly among the public through Internet media and other non-‐official channels. Officials sources remain largely mute on the subject or downplay the risks. This report provides an approximate bounding of the risks using available data. The results of this analysis suggest that a nominal release of 10% of the SFP 4 inventory of cesium and strontium would represent 3-‐10 times the March 2011 release amounts, substantially increasing risk levels in Japan and impacting marine life. Release of 100% of the SFP 4 inventory, or 30-‐100 times the March 2011 release amounts, could result in significant global impact.
Holophi's analysis is not necessarily a doomsday scenario globally, but even in the best of Reactor 4 collapse scenarios, even if the Spent Fuel has cooled to prevent a radiological fire as opposed to a major heat release, any event spells massive contamination for the great majority of Japan, and possibly globally. Holophi's modeling is based on quantity approximations of SFP 4's fuel assemblies and their relative remaining heat. They also note there's no accurate way to approximate a collapse scenario of the pool and how these 1331 to 1535 fuel assemblies will fall the 30 meters to the ground. Yeah, our Best and Brightest were so sure nothing bad would ever happen to their precious Reactors that they built the highly dangerous Spent Fuel Pool 90 feet above the ground. Nice..
The absolute best case scenario is that SFP 4's fuel assembly removal will take place (Starting in Late 2013) before another earthquake, explosion, or another variant event completely destroys Reactor 4. Remember, this analysis doesn't include data regarding Reactors 1, 2, 3, or any combination event thereof. The overall outlook for Fukushima is still bleak/dire to catastrophic.
Super crazy doesn't bluff. Coincidence; or The Walking Dead? The Question remains: What's causing this particular version of ultra-violent lunacy? The Raw Story. The Whole Story:
Police on Sunday responded to call from someone saying 43-year-old Wayne Carter was threatening to hurt himself with a 12-inch knife.
When police arrived at the residence, the man yelled at the officers and stabbed himself. As police entered, he threw pieces of his own body at them and threatened them with his knife.
When pepper-spray had no effect on Carter, police retreated and called the SWAT team, who subdued him with beanbag projectiles. (There's that adrenalized, super human strength again, resistant to police efforts to subdue him.)
“The scene was a bloody mess,” a police official told Cliffview Pilot. “The SWAT team members had to be decontaminated due to the amount of blood.”
Carter reportedly damaged a major stomach artery and had more than 50 stab wounds.
Police are awaiting the results of a blood test to determine if Carter had ingested any psychoactive substances.
Further confirmation that everyone is losing their damn minds. Bath salts? Lame. All of the sudden people are skipping over "violently crazy," to "blood-drenched crazy," from bath salts? Naw..
Yes, at the moment, these incidents are anecdotal. If more incidents occur, and a trend develops, the question remains: What is it that is not only flipping these people's switches, but completely overloading their systems? Even by 2012's insane-society-standards, these two events (Miami Cannibal Zombie included) are shocking for the singular, vicious delirium exhibited by both attackers.
Bad-Case scenario: This is just a symptom of Modern Society. People make chemicals (by accident or for profit) that shouldn't be ingested, but people ingest them anyway. These events are coincidental, but could foreshadow future events on a much larger scale. Psychoactive drug users as "Berserkers," stoking fear, wreaking havoc, always unexpected. Always. Dis-topian, much?
Badder-Case scenario: This seems to be a distinct new level of violent behavior. A definite step downward towards chaos. We are just now in the early moments of this new behavioral stage. Each new manifestation will be more shocking than the last.
Worst-Case scenario: Zombies have been created, and they thrive under intense radioactive contamination. Fukushima makes them stronger.
Best-Case scenario: Reality IS a computer simulation! Hooray!
Yeah; I'm only half-kidding about this one..
What I'm not kidding about: The feeling of intensifying dread. It's going to be a long, hot summer, here in Universe B. Turbulence approaches..
I'm sure everything will be all right. Are we still on for sushi? San Francisco Gate, via The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:
For the first time, scientists have detected radioactivity in fish that have migrated into California waters from the ocean off Japan, where radiation contaminated the sea after explosions tore through the Fukushima nuclear reactors last year.
Radioactive cesium was detected in samples of highly prized Pacific bluefin tuna, but it is well below levels considered unsafe for humans, the scientists say.
The evidence is "unequivocal" that the tuna - caught off San Diego a year ago - were contaminated with radiation from Japan's nuclear disaster, the researchers said.
Virtually all bluefin tuna on the market in the United States is either farmed or caught far from the Fukushima area, so American consumers should not be affected by radiation contamination in their fish, seafood distributors say. The migratory bluefin studied by the researchers were all caught by sport fishermen and were not headed for the market.
And:
The finding was wholly unexpected, Madigan said. It came about when he was researching the migratory patterns of bluefin tuna as part of a broader study of Pacific fish migration.
Madigan had collected samples of muscle tissue from 15 2-year-old tuna given to him by San Diego fishermen in August, and when tests detected radioactivity in one sample he sent all 15 samples to Fisher in Long Island, he said.
The young tuna, averaging about 13 pounds apiece, were found to be contaminated with two radioactive forms of the element cesium. Isotopes called cesium-134 and cesium-137 do not exist in nature but are produced only in nuclear explosions such as the weapons tests of the Cold War era.
Before the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, low levels of the radioactive cesium-137 , which decays to harmlessness only over thousands of years, had been measured in Japanese waters, while the shorter-lived cesium-134 was undetectable, the scientists said. That difference, they said, was crucial in concluding that the radioactive contamination was linked to the Fukushima disaster.
Increased concentrations of radioactivity contaminated nearly 60,000 square miles of the ocean off Japan after workers at Fukushima pumped thousands of tons of seawater over reactors last year to prevent a complete meltdown of the reactor cores.
As with previous estimates about everything regarding Fukushima, the 60 thousand square mile contamination zone is most likely a vast under-estimation, and that estimate will be revised upward.
EX-SKF. Click the link and check out the pictures, now over a year into this bullshit. As the article says, "It's so slow that nothing seems to have been happening."
If we live long enough to write about this in future history books, I wonder how TEPCO's unfailing ineptitude will be treated. Hopefully, harshly, but without the sentence, "By the time the world became fed up with TEPCO and Japan's incompetence handling this global nuclear crisis, it was too late; the damage was done." And yet, I know it's already too late..
SFP4 over 55℃. Coolant system is still stopped. 10 hours started awhile ago, by the way.. Fukushima Diary. Excerpts: (The little squares are a missing font that indicate Celsius..)
Though Tepco stopped the water leakage, coolant system is still not back on. At the moment, they can’t estimate when they can recover it. Also, they estimated the temperature increases at 0.5℃/h, it’s increasing at over 1℃/h. It went up by 22℃ within 18 hours. Currently the temperature of SFP is 55℃.(10:00 JST) The safety limit is 65℃. At this pace, it will reach 65℃ about in 10 hours.
Please remember that nuclear energy containment temperatures must be tightly controlled to remain safe. A 22 degree Celsius rise IS NOT STABLE and IS VERY DANGEROUS. This has been a recurring problem at Fukushima. Unless TEPCO gets its shit together pronto, there will be fireworks; and soon. Radioactive, Extinction Level fireworks.
Prayers to your appropriate deity might be wise right now.. Atheists, just cross your fingers, as nothing else regarding TEPCO seems to help. Also: Helpful aliens? Right now might be a good time to jump into Earth's affairs--You have my permission!
UPDATE:
Probably coolant system of SFP recovered So things have "probably" stabilized.. For now..
The Dangerous Myths of Fukushima Counterpunch. Excerpts:
The myth that Fukushima radiation levels were too low to harm humans persists, a year after the meltdown. A March 2, 2012 New York Times article quoted Vanderbilt University professor John Boice: “there’s no opportunity for conducting epidemiological studies that have any chance for success – the doses are just too low.” Wolfgang Weiss of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation also recently said doses observed in screening of Japanese people “are very low.”
Views like these are political, not scientific, virtually identical to what the nuclear industry cheerleaders claim.
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But just one year after Fukushima, the “no harm” mantra is now being crowded by evidence – evidence to the contrary.
First, estimates of releases have soared. The first reports issued by the Japanese government stated that emissions equaled 10% of 1986 Chernobyl emissions. A few weeks later, they doubled that estimate to 20%. By October 2011, an article in the journal Nature estimated Fukushima emissions to be more than double that of Chernobyl.
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Where did the radioactive particles and gases go? Officials from national meteorological agencies in countries like France and Austria followed the plume, and made colorful maps available on the Internet. Within six days of the meltdowns, the plume had reached the U.S., and within 18 days, it had circled the Northern Hemisphere.
How much radiation entered the U.S. environment? A July 2011 journal article by officials at Pacific Northwest National Lab in eastern Washington State measured airborne radioactive Xenon-133 up to 40,000 times greater than normal in the weeks following the fallout. Xenon-133 is a gas that travels rapidly and does not enter the body, but signals that other, more dangerous types of radioactive chemicals will follow.
A February 2012 journal article by the U.S. Geological Survey looked at radioactive Iodine-131 that entered soil from rainfall, and found levels hundreds of times above normal in places like Portland OR, Fresno CA, and Denver CO. The same places also had the highest levels of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 in the U.S. While elevated radiation levels were found in all parts of the country, it appears that the West Coast and Rocky Mountain states received the greatest amounts of Fukushima fallout.
L.A. Times: Speculation that “supercritical fission event” occurred at Fukushima reactor irradiating plutonium, says nuclear expert — Explosion so massive investigators found fuel rod fragments a mile away ENews. Excerpts:
Robert Alvarez, a former senior policy adviser in the U.S. Energy Department
"They were irradiating plutonium in Unit 3, which experienced the biggest explosion"
The explosion was so massive that investigators found fuel rod fragments a mile away, leading to speculation that a supercritical fission event may have also occurred.
Much remains unknown one year after the disaster.
Authorities can't say exactly where breaches occurred in the reactor vessels and spent fuel pools that caused contaminated water to flood the plant's lower levels.
The last two excerpts within the article might be misinformation.. The commentors in the following section seem to think so! Plutonium 241 release at 1/10,000 of Chernobyl? Uh-huh.. Uh-huh..
"Planetary Genocide": Fukushima One Year Later : The Poisoning of Planet Earth Global Research via Before It's News. Excerpts:
Early on, even essential radioactive monitoring was shut down. In May 2011, the prestigious Norsk Institute’s online site was blocked from the US. They had been monitoring on a daily basis the worldwide radioactive contamination to which we were all –and continue to be– exposed. Conveniently, any early radiation monitoring in the US was inconsistent, with numerous sites supposedly not working for one or another reason. Then the so-called “acceptable” radiation levels in food were raised in the US and EU:
..
So, what is not monitored, or where the radiation rates are manipulated, then no one –government officials and corporations– can ever be held accountable, nor can increased death rates, diabetes, stillbirths, birth defects ever be attributed to this catastrophic planetary event.
When have we ever been told the truth about our life-long systemic radiation poisoning? For decades, we have been uninformed experimental laboratory rats since before the Manhattan Project. There never were any ethical or precautionary considerations. Greed and secret agendas trumped everything else.
With various half-lives –some eons-long– of numerous radioactive components, the human race and every other living creature on our planet is on its way to extinction, due to the known sterilization effects of radiation. Here is a short list of the half-life of five of the radioactive isotopes that are and will continue to poison all of our children, and us, ad infinitum, in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink and in which we bathe:
Cesium 137: 30 years
Plutonium 239: 24,000 years
Strontium 90: 29 years [mimics calcium in the body]
Uranium 235: 700-million years
Iodine 131: 8 days [absorbed into the thyroid and gives heavy radiation dose. Also goes into the soil, passed onto us through cow’s milk.]
..
Any reasonable safety precautions or realistic evacuations never took place at Fukushima or elsewhere. In addition, a collection of 40-years worth of 600,000 spent fuel rods posed an immediate HazMat threat that never went away. The water poured over them evaporated into radioactive steam to go directly into our planet’s atmosphere and the tons of sea water sprayed on the entire nuclear conflagration were criminally dumped into the Pacific Ocean. Again, because it was not monitored, we will never know how many millions of tons of radioactive water were dumped into the Pacific Ocean. The entire web of ocean life then was irreversibly contaminated with radioactive nuclear waste and detritus, as the ocean currents carried this nightmare to the west coast shores of North America (California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver).
..
While hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions?) will develop various radiation-related illnesses (cancers and diabetes, as well as radiation-induced miscarriages, stillbirths and birth deformities) over the next decades, the coffers of the medical profession, pharmaceutical companies, and nuclear industry will be bursting with profits. The 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl continues its deathly impact –and that was only one reactor.(2) Fukushima had six reactors.
Most Important Video of the Year? Asahi TV: “Unbelievable” — If Unit 4 pool gets a crack from quake and leaks, it would be end for Tokyo -Expert — Doesn’t have to be large tremor, already shaken many times You don't really need to watch the video or even read the excerpts from ENews. Just re-read the previous three sentences.
All of Western US and most of East Coast, Midwest, Canada covered with airborne particles at various altitudes on March 20, Fukushima plume model shows — Based solely on Reactor No. 1 explosion (PHOTO)
Look at the plume simulations for March 20th. March 22nd was the first day I can remember a Metallic taste to the air. I was jogging, and in SW Missouri, it was drizzling. I knew, just knew my imagination was getting the best of me. Again, I second guessed my intuition. I guess it really doesn't matter now, does it? The damage continues to be done, and it continues to be Too Late. Happy Anniversary, everyone!
Timely. And by "Timely," I mean just in time for the one year anniversary of the Birth of Nuclear Godzilla! CBS News. Truly awesome excerpts:
The one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan is less than two weeks away, but details about the nuclear meltdown that happened that tragic day are just beginning to emerge. (Just. Beginning.)
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CBS News correspondent Lucy Craft reported that in the hours after the tsunami struck the nuclear plant, Japanese officials huddled in an emergency bunker struggled to grasp the size of the catastrophe.
"As we listened to our top nuclear experts, we politicians had no idea what they were talking about. Was anyone going to suffer radiation contamination? Would this be another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island? No one could give us a straight answer," Fukuyama recalled in the report.
After 300 interviews with officials and nuclear experts, the report said government was partially at fault for not having an emergency plan if a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the country.
However, investigators concluded the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric, was to blame for the majority of the problems. "They were astonishingly unprepared for this nuclear accident," lead investigator Youichi Funabash told CBS News.
It seems that Tokyo Electric was unprepared for a power failure. Without electricity, the cores of the reactor couldn't stay cool, and it triggered explosions and meltdowns. (It's excellent that TEPCO didn't know this, but the rest of us were forewarned simply by watching Simpsons episodes..)
And:
"Terrified doesn't begin to describe how we felt," Fukuyama told investigators months after the scare. A "no go" zone still remains around the plant because radiation levels are too high. Clean up at the plant is estimated to take 40 years. (This is still a conservative estimate, btw..)
"When we learned the reactors had in fact melted down, I was overwhelmed, by our inability," he added. Oh, Mr. Fukuyama, we're all overwhelmed by your, TEPCO's, and Japan's inabilities..
Pretty compelling evidence for allowing private sector industries to regulate themselves, no? For my radioactive superpowers, I'd like invisibility, the power to fly, or to be impervious to bullets and explosions, please!
An old fault line reactivates almost right underneath Fukushima? Not awesome. Really Not Awesome, considering Reactors 2 and 4 seem to be much worse than thought. The only ingredient missing for Catastrophe is a 7.0 or greater quake. According to the article, there's a 70 percent chance of that happening this year, and a 98 percent chance of that happening in the next three years.
Not If. Only When.
Reactor 2 seems to be in trouble; again.. E News (via Rense).. Excerpts:
[Masanori Naito, director in charge of nuclear safety analysis at the Institute of Applied Energy] presumes portion of the fuel which had been recorded before the board of the mesh condition which supports the fuel and dissolved fell to the bottom of the reactor, local like the hill, because accumulating, the calorific value (temperature) increased, with.
Bad Babelfish translation, but Big Picture? Problems. Nuclear Problems. Lots of 'em.
Integrity of Reactor No. 4 building a major concern among experts — Collapse of spent fuel pool could be even worse than 3 reactor meltdowns E News. Excerpts:
Again with the Babelfish translation, but you'll get it..
[...] TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto [...] said officials are investigating the cause of that leak, but that it was unlikely the pipe had been loosened by the many aftershocks that have hit the plant.
The structural integrity of the damaged Unit 4 reactor building has long been a major concern among experts because a collapse of its spent fuel cooling pool could cause a disaster worse than the three reactor meltdowns. [...]
Aside from the multiple meltdowns that have already happened..
Bird numbers plummet around stricken Fukushima plant Harbinger of The Future. The Independent. Excerpts:
Researchers working around Japan's disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.
In the first major study of the impact of the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the researchers, from Japan, the US and Denmark, said their analysis of 14 species of bird common to Fukushima and Chernobyl, the Ukrainian city which suffered a similar nuclear meltdown, showed the effect on abundance is worse in the Japanese disaster zone.
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Many species show "dramatically" elevated DNA mutation rates, developmental abnormalities and extinctions, they add, while insect life has been significantly reduced.
Thankfully, no one will notice until they get HUGE and start attacking humans.
"Backup" Tokyo (Capital of Japan) to Be Considered Somewhere in Japan to Preserve Government Functions in Case of Disaster Ex-SKF. Excerpts:
Democratic Party of Japan will hold the first meeting of "the working group for backing up the core functions of the capital" (headed by Sumio Mabuchi. It is to prepare for the case of Tokyo devastated by an epicentral earthquake. The focus will be whether the group designates a location to temporarily move the function of the Prime Minister's Official Residence and the central government ministries. The group will submit the report to the government by the end of March.
The expert committee at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation started the discussion on backup functions of the capital last December, in light of the March 11, 2011 earthquake/tsunami. The committee says it won't specify the location [to which the functions will be moved], but heated campaigns to become a "backup" capital have already started among locations including Hokkaido, Osaka, and Fukuoka City.
Well, even after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, they still do not (or cannot) say they should consider a potential nuclear disaster when planning a backup capital. If they do consider, there may be nowhere in Japan that's suitable.
Pardon my pessimism, but isn't this talk a bit late? Really late?
US ex-diplomat pulls no punches on Japan Google. Wait; Google? Excerpts:
..Maher's main thesis is that Japan -- which has had six new prime ministers since 2006 -- has been crippled by a failure of its politicians to accept responsibility and, hence, to make hard decisions.
Maher pointed to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was devastated by the March 11 tsunami, and dismissed the government's declaration last month that it had stabilized the leaking reactors.
"It's not stable," Maher said recently at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "Tokyo is safe, but Fukushima Daiichi is in really bad shape."
And:
Maher said that the US government was privately terrified over the unfolding crisis. He accused Japan's then prime minister, Naoto Kan, of evading responsibility and trying to pass the problem over to the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co.
"I remember sitting on a task force many a time thinking, 'Who the hell is in control in Japan?' The government's not doing anything. Kan made one trip and flew up and got in the way and came back," Maher said.
Maher said that he watched in horror as he saw television footage of a sole helicopter dropping water on the stricken plant.
"Is that the best Japan can do?" Maher said.
Dire, Catastrophic, or Pre-Apocalyptic? We're one big earthquake or explosion from finding out. Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
A Japanese journalist (a former secretary of Japanese prime minister) tweeted about reactor 4.
More people are concerned about the situation of reactor 4.
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A Tepco manager from engineering department showed this map of the fifth top floor of reactor 4. This is confidential.
When 311 happened, it (Reactor 4)was in periodic checkup, large cranes or other heavy facilities were gathered too much. The weight constitution is inverse pyramid, very unstable and dangerous.
Meanwhile, NOT on the fifth floor, Reactor 4 is cracked, so we've got that to look forward to..
More vegetables are deformed from stress Fukushima Diary. Delicious pictures featured at the link. Dig in!
It's a dream apartment. What's the catch? Radioactive Apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, Measuring 1.2 Microsievert/Hr Inside Ex-SKF. Excerpts:
Relatively high levels of radiation have been detected from the concrete in an apartment building in Nihonmatsu City [in Fukushima Prefecture]. The Ministry of the Environment suspects that radioactive materials were in the concrete, and is investigating.
The apartment was built in September last year in Nihonmatsu City. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the glass badge worn by a student who lives in the apartment registered 3-month cumulative radiation exposure of 1.5 millisievert on December 27, prompting the city to survey the surrounding area.
The survey found 1.4 microsievert/hour from the concrete foundation of the apartment, and 1.2 microsievert/hour inside the apartment. The Ministry of the Environment thinks the apartment was built using concrete with radioactive materials, and is asking the building contractor for details.
I wonder if it is just concrete.
If you recall, 446,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the sewage sludge in Fukushima City on May 8, 2011. The sludge had been sold to cement companies until the detection at Koriyama City on April 30, when 26,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from their sewage sludge. In the case of Koriyama City, over 900 tonnes of this radioactive sludge had been sold to one cement company (Sumitomo Osaka Cement) alone.
If the surface radiation level of the concrete is 1.4 microsievert/hour, I believe the concrete has at least 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in it, if the radiation measurements of sludge and rooftop sediment are any indication.
No security deposit and the first three months free? I'll take it!
Question: Is it still "News" if it's nine months old? NRC March Email: “The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there”
From: Boska, John
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:31 AM
To: Guzman, Richard
Cc: Pickett, Douglas
Subject: Developments in Japan
Importance: High
Rich, please review and comment, for distribution to our branch.
In a briefing with Joe Giitter that just ended, we were informed that the situation is now much worse in Japan. The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there. There were a large number of fuel assemblies in the pool, and the fuel may no longer be intact. The radiation levels are increasing so much that it may prove difficult to work on the other 5 reactors at the site, which could lead to more fuel damage and releases. [...]
The answer? Yes. Yes it is still news, and catastrophic to boot..
Breaking News: Possible rapid increase of temperature at Reactor 2 Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
One of the heat gauges at or near the bottom of the container vessel of reactor 2 measured heat over 100.
According to the explanation of Tepco, it’s the gauge of the equipment for moving control rod.
17:00 1/12: 48.4
23:00 1/12: 102.3
5:00 1/13: 116.4
Because the gauge at the bottom of the vessel measures 48, Tepco still asserts it’s in the state of cold shutdown. They assert it’s not because the fuel has moved or recriticality happened, only because the gauge was broken.
Broken temperature gauge. Check. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to Keep Shopping so the terrorists won't win and our economy won't sink. So.. Who's gonna win that Super Bowl?
Short answer? The slow motion nightmare continues to unfold. Have you noticed an uptick of "allergies," "colds," "I feel like shit!," "I don't know what this is, but I just don't feel right" creeping up in your everyday conversations? I have. If you haven't been paying attention; start. The minor precursor effects have already started..
TEPCO: Reactor may have gone critical NHK. Excerpts:
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.
Children and the elderly will begin to show effects first..
Smaller increase in children's weight in Fukushima NHK. Excerpts:
A survey shows that some children in Fukushima Prefecture have smaller average weight gains this year compared to the year before. A pediatrician says the results indicate the negative effects of the nuclear plant accident in March.
Doctor Shintaro Kikuchi tracked the weights of 245 children aged from 4 to 6 in 2 kindergartens in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. The results show an average weight increase of 0.81 kilograms over the past year through June. The increase for children in the same age group the previous year was 3.1 kilograms.
The average increase for children aged 5 to 6 in the survey was 0.84 kilograms. But a nationwide health ministry survey conducted last year for children of the same age group showed an average gain of 1.8 kilograms.
Shilling has its price.. From Ex-SKF. Excerpts:
No, not in a young child in a high radiation spot that is often talked about on Twitter. A 63-year-old TV newscaster has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is now hospitalized, getting ready for chemo. He felt a strange lump in his neck on October 28, he says. (Various news sources including: Zakzak 11/7/2011, Yomiuri Shinbun 11/6/2011)
In his morning program on Fuji TV he's been promoting Fukushima produce by eating them in the show. He also happened to be in Fukushima in March 15. Just a coincidence. Never mind that ALL is predominant in small children, and an adult case is one in 100,000 annually in Japan.
JP Gov officially admitted that Japanese food is harmful Fukushima Diary. Excerpts plus bonus follow up information regarding the previous newscaster in question. Bonus bonus: Now chilling photos of newscaster eating irradiated food. I bet the other news gals are a bit freaked out right now..
Since 311, every time it turned out a kind of food is contaminated, they made “safety” limit, such as 500 Bq/Kg for vegetables, and allowed them to distribute.
However, at today’s meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee, Edano former chief cabinet secretary, current minister of Economy, Trade and Industry admitted that it is harmful for your health if you keep having it for one year.
Edano former chief cabinet secretary is famous for his trade mark phrase, “In short term,it is not harmful”.
He was even called “Short term fraud” by some people.
It is not a small number of people who trusted his word and didn’t evacuate or kept eating food under the “safety limit”. (In other words, LOTS of people trusted him.)
At today’s meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee, he “explained”.
He held 39 press conferences in the first 2 weeks after 311.
BUT he said “In short term, it is not harmful” ONLY 7 times.
OF those, 5 “In short term, it is not harmful”s were for food and drink.
By this he “meant”, you will be sick if you keep having it for one year, but if you have it once or twice, it doesn’t hurt your body.
Japanese emperor to be admitted to the hospital on bronchitis fears Radiation cares not of your position in life.. The China Post. Excerpts:
Japanese Emperor Akihito is due to be hospitalized on Sunday with a cold, fever and symptoms of bronchitis, Kyodo news agency reported, citing the Imperial Household Agency.
Akihito, who will turn 78 next month, will be admitted to the University of Tokyo Hospital as a precaution because the fever worsened the bronchitis symptoms and he appeared fatigued and has lost some resistance to fight his illness, Kyodo said.
And:
Five days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's northeast, Akihito made a rare public televised address and in April traveled to the disaster-struck area with Empress Michiko, 77.
Still think this is a Japanese problem? California nuke plant detected 4,000% more iodine-131 than UC Berkeley during Fukushima peak
Highest detection of iodine-131 was March 23, 2011 @ 4.3e-06 Bq/liter (0.0000043 Bq/liter of iodine-131) -Source
The Diablo Canyon iodine-131 peak was 0.000188 Bq/liter of iodine-131, or 43.7 times higher than the 0.0000043 Bq/liter peak observed by UC Berkeley.
This was MARCH 23. November 11 marks Eight Months of essentially non-stop nuclear disbursement. I wonder what those levels are now?
Look after yourself Fukushima Diary. Short answer? Start taking Calcium and Magnesium. Especially Calcium.
Scientist Marco Kaltofen Presents Data Confirming Hot Particles Latest video from Arnie Gundersen and Fairewinds. Don't have six minutes? Here's the beef:
Now Mr. Kaltofen did not just look at Japan. He set up monitoring stations in the United States as well. Two of the three monitoring stations in the United States did show hot particles in the air in April. Since then, there have not been any hot particles. But in April, it is clear that, at the worst of the accident, hot particles were wafted across the Pacific and deposited in Seattle and in Boston at least. There is also data that indicates contamination on the ground in the Cascades, which are a mountain range right up against the Pacific Ocean.
So I think we have two problems here. In Japan, there is a personal health issue and what that means is that individuals have received enough radiation that there is going to be a statistically meaningful increase in cancers in Tokyo and especially in Fukushima Prefecture.
In the United States, it is a different story. It is a public health issue and not a personal health issue. What that means is that we will never know who is the individual who got cancer from Fukushima. But we can be sure that the radiation did reach here and that there will be an increase in cancers, especially on the West Coast where the Rocky Mountains stopped most of the radiation and deposited it on the ground.
The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit Japan Times. Excerpts:
There is an axiom in Japanese: uso mo hōben — "lying is also a means to an end." It sums up the general attitude in Japan of tolerance of — even justification for — not telling the truth.
First — defining "telling the truth" as divulging the truth (not a lie), the whole truth (full disclosure) and nothing but the truth (uncompounded with lies) — consider how lies are deployed in everyday personal interactions.
Let's start with good old tatemae (charitably translated as "pretense"). By basically saying something you think the listener wants to hear, tatemae is, essentially, lying. That becomes clearer when the term is contrasted with its antonym, honne, one's "true feelings and intentions."
..
Now extrapolate. What becomes of a society that sees lying as a justifiably institutionalized practice? Things break down. If everyone is expected to lie, who or what can you trust?
And:
..Radiation has no media cycle. It lingers and poisons the land and food chain. Statistics may be obfuscated or suppressed as usual. But radiation's half-life is longer than the typical attention span or sustainable degree of public outrage.
As the public — possibly worldwide — sickens over time, the truth will leak out.
Our near-term and long-term future? Bleak.
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