Fukushima’s Melted Reactors 500 Days On

The ongoing nuclear emergency continues to surpass Worst Case Scenarios.  Just what we need:  A relentless, overachieving catastrophe.  Veterans Today.  Excerpts:

Dr. Paolo Scampa, PhD, a well-known physicist in the European Union, has prepared a radioactive inventory of Fukushima Daiichi’s destroyed nuclear power plants 500 days after the meltdown of three disemboweled, mangled reactors.



The violent extinction level event occurred Mar 11, 2011. The deadly meltdown and dispersion of radioactive fuel throughout the world is on-going to this day.


Because of the nature of long-lived and short-lived radioactivity, this summation of the radioactive Fukushima inventory is valid for many years. Dr. Scampa’s inventory is current as of Friday, June 29, 2012.


There are 1,946 radioactive products produced by nuclear weapons and atomic reactors according to the Oak Ridge Nuclear Weapons Lab in America.


Fifty-five are considered to be long-lived; 898 are considered to be short-lived but last more than eight days. These nine hundred fifty-three radioactive isotopes are included in this analysis.


Nine hundred ninety-three (993) radioactive isotopes are considered dangerous and undergo radioactive decay within eight days; they are not included in this analysis.

Scampa's analysis is dry, and yet, terrifying.  Here ya go..

The three melted reactors combined in Fukushima Daichi contained 257 tons of nuclear fuel enriched to 3.7% Uranium 235 and divided into 1,496 assemblies, each about 172 kg.



Reactor No. 3 also housed 32 MOX assemblies, reportedly enriched to 6% or 330 kg of Pu239.


In addition, the storage pools of these reactors have at least 239 tonnes of fuel residing there for who knows how long (1,390 assemblies) and 31 tonnes of fresh fuel (180 assemblies).
..
The day of the earthquake their fuel was consumed according to the article cited at an average of 23.35 GWd/t at a rate of 24.07 kg/t for a total of 6.186 tonnes of fuel fissioned.

..
Overall, 9 tonnes of fuel was subjected to atomic fission or activation transformation occasioning a prodigious explosion of radioactivity and radiotoxicity which over time, is several times the amount needed to kill by internal contamination the whole human race.

..
The most remarkable of the volatile elements (elements of which the boiling point is inferior to 1,500 degrees Centigrade and escape above all the first coriums). 37,921 PBq; 1 billion Ci; 18 billion potential inhaled lethal doses.



The official report of the Japanese government to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Association] contains a hypothesis that the emanations of nuclear fuel from Fukushima Daiichi are equivalent to the ones observed at Chernobyl.

We can see by comparing the subsets of figures below that the radioactive particle emission through the air from Fukushima is not only 3.7 times higher than Chernobyl; but, more importantly, 28.3 times more radiotoxic with every breath you take.

So we got that goin' for us; which is nice..  I still can't believe no one talks about Fukushima.  The level of global denial is..  Beyond words.

7 million bats die from WNS: ‘We can’t stop this thing and its marching across the country’

Disturbing.  Bad things will happen if the bats go away..  PR Web via The Extinction Protocol.  Excerpts:

Over 7 million bats have been wiped out by a disease (WNS) that is rapidly spreading across the country. It’s an extinction of animals by disease that has no precedent in recorded history. First identified in the northeastern United States, WNS has wiped out an estimated 95% of Pennsylvania’s bat population and is quickly spreading across the country. It was most recently discovered in Missouri, Delaware and Alabama. “This is like bringing small pox to the New World. It is surely an unprecedented wildlife disaster for North America,” said Bucknell University professor Dr. DeeAnn Reeder. Reeder is one of the country’s leading experts on WNS, and one of the researchers responsible for identifying the cause of the disease in 2011. “We can’t stop this thing. It’s marching across the country and we’re going to see some extinction.”

Does it absolutely blow your mind that so many horrible catastrophes are all happening simultaneously?  Now; bats?  Good luck in your extinction-level battle for survival, my flying friends.  At the moment, the odds are not in your favor.  Here's hoping your science-friends can unlock the mystery to your demise before that demise happens, forever changing the entire Web of Life.

Innocuous Header, Ominous Implications.. (Upate, Friday, April 13, 6 p.m. Central)

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..

Fukushima One Year Later: Reactor 4 Is In Not-Awesome Shape.

Mainichi Expert Sr. Writer: Gov’t sources say No. 4 pool a grave concern — Storage pool barely intact — We have no time to humor senseless thinking of those who downplay the risks  This is happening now:  A continual erosion of the building's integrity.  Mainichi Daily News.  Excerpts:


[...] One of the biggest issues that we face is the possibility that the spent nuclear fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant will collapse. This is something that experts from both within and outside Japan have pointed out since the massive quake struck. [...] not only independent experts, but also sources within the government say that it’s a grave concern.



(...)The storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building has a total of 1,535 fuel rods, or 460 tons of nuclear fuel, in it. The 7-story building itself has suffered great damage, with the storage pool barely intact on the building’s third and fourth floors. The roof has been blown away. If the storage pool breaks and runs dry, the nuclear fuel inside will overheat and explode, causing a massive amount of radioactive substances to spread over a wide area. Both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and French nuclear energy company Areva have warned about this risk.


(...)A report released in February by the Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident stated that the storage pool of the plant’s No. 4 reactor has clearly been shown to be “the weakest link” in the parallel, chain-reaction crises of the nuclear disaster. The worse-case scenario drawn up by the government includes not only the collapse of the No. 4 reactor pool, but the disintegration of spent fuel rods from all the plant’s other reactors. If this were to happen, residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area would be forced to evacuate.
And:
“Because sea water was being pumped into the reactor, the soundness of the structure (concrete corrosion and deterioration) was questionable. There also were doubts about the calculations made on earthquake resistance as well,” (Emphasis author)said one government source familiar with what took place at the time. “[...] fuel rod removal will take three years. Will the structure remain standing for that long? Burying the reactor in a concrete grave is like building a dam, and therefore expensive. I think that it was because TEPCO’s general shareholders’ meeting was coming up (in June 2011) that the company tried to keep expenses low.” [...]


That's some pretty awesome short-term, Bottom-Line thinking, yeah?  Is killing your customer base a very sound business strategy?  Fukushima is perilously close to becoming an Undisputed Global Event (If Reactor 4's Spent Fuel Pool does indeed go, believe me, You Will Know..), yet won't drop the cash needed to reign in this Catastrophe of Unknown and Unimaginable Magnitude.  So it's a good bet that something horrible will happen, as really, it's already happening..  Already.

Why should you care?  If you're in the Midwestern United States, chew on this:  Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is at 37 Degrees North Latitude.  Kansas City, Missouri is at 39 Degrees North Latitude.  I have said this before, but on the good chance you haven't seen it before:  The United States is, globally, downwind from Fukushima.  And it's not like the earthquakes have stopped, either.  And it's not like there's some freak storm coming in from the Sea of Japan..  Wait; There is?  My mistake.. 

(Updated) Japan Meteorological Agency's Highly Unusual Storm Warning on TV: "Don't Go Outside"  EX-SKF.  Don't forget to watch the wind direction video!  Excerpts:

The warning comes from the government agency that prohibited its own researchers from disclosing any information regarding the dispersion of radioactive materials right after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. Many on Twitter are saying, "Why didn't they say the same thing on March 15 and 21 last year and warn us about radioactive plumes from Fukushima?"



Well, the answer is easy. Because issuing warnings about radioactive material dispersions was not in their job description. It still isn't.


Anyway, a highly unusual low is about to sweep through entire Japan from the Japan Sea side, and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) decided to hold a press conference which was broadcasted on TV to warn people in the evening of April 4.
And:
Mr. Uchida said, "The wind speed in Kanto is expected to be 25 meters per second, which is almost like a typhoon wind. We expect the wind to be stronger than in the last weekend. In particular, from 6PM to 9PM, it is possible that the wind will be so strong that people may get knocked down by the wind. Transportation may be affected as it may be dangerous to drive a car. So tomorrow, take ample precaution by going home earlier than usual, or by not going out unless it is necessary to do so."


Side Note:  If Tokyo is irradiated, I say we give Japan Detroit.  The Japanese bring the revenue, the people, and the technology to rejuvenate Detroit.  They remake the city in their technological image.  The Japanese find Safe Haven.  And Detroit rises again.  I like that scenario..  The whole Detroit metro area looking like present day Hiroshima..

Powered by alternative energies, of course..  That's a nice pipe dream, right?

The Freshness, Brought To You By The Sisters Of Sorcha Faal..

Rip In ‘Space-Time Vortex’ Over Russian City Shocks Scientists  Ahh.. That's the good stuff..