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Excerpts from The Mainichi:
Before her retirement in 2000 from the University of Bremen in Germany, Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake had been an experimental physicist who some 30 years ago had analyzed data on nuclear bomb survivors and warned of the dangers of low-level and internal exposure to radiation. Since 2004, she has been the chair of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR), a Belgium-based civic organization founded in 1997 independent of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and various governments. In 2003 and 2010, the ECRR released recommendations on radiation risk assessment methods.
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Mainichi: Some people claim that the stress from worrying about radiation is a much bigger health hazard than radiation itself, while others express concern over the effect that extreme reactions can have on economic activity. What are your thoughts on that?
Schmitz-Feuerhake: The argument that panic is a bigger health hazard than radiation is one that's used all the time. The same argument was used in Germany after the Chernobyl accident, but it's one that lacks a scientific basis.
Isn't people's health, including that of unborn children, more important than economic activity? Of course, it's not good to panic without any information. We must measure radiation levels in our environment and food, and get a grasp on our individual levels of exposure. Based on that, we must try to learn what the information means.
Mainichi: How would you evaluate the way the Japanese government has handled the crisis?
Schmitz-Feuerhake: I praise the government for designating the area within a 20-kilometer radius from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as a no-entry zone. That it set annual radiation levels of 20 millisieverts as a standard for evacuation is understandable for a government that was unprepared for a large-scale nuclear disaster. But it's being grossly irresponsible by reactivating nuclear reactors and trying to shift the public's attention towards "recovery."
With the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and past atmospheric nuclear tests, the total volume of radioactive material released was clear. In the case of the Fukushima crisis, however, we still don't know how much radioactive material has been released. Nuclear fuel that far exceeds the nuclear bombs in both quality and quantity remain in very vulnerable conditions, and it's unclear whether it will be possible to retrieve them safely in the future. While the amount of radioactive material being released may be far less than immediately after the disaster began, the reactors still continue to release these materials. The government needs to recognize the gravity of this situation.
It might help if other governments(Any Other Government) step up and say something.. Anything.. But we all know that won't happen, either. Nobody has any suggestions, any directives, or any volunteers for cleanup, for that matter. The global non-reaction to this ongoing crisis remains the most stunning aspect of the last 17 months. It's quiet; Too quiet. Deadly quiet, to be exact..
Ooh. The odds of Godzilla attacking Los Angeles as opposed to Tokyo have increased! ENEWS. Excerpts:
[...]
In the following years, the tracer cloud continuously expands laterally, with maximum concentrations in its central part heading east. While the northern portion is gradually invading the Bering Sea, the main tracer patch reaches the coastal waters of North America after 5–6 years, with maximum relative concentrations ( > 1 × 10−4) covering a broad swath of the eastern North Pacific between Vancouver Island and Baja California. Simultaneously some fraction of the southern rim of the tracer cloud becomes entrained in the North Equatorial Current (NEC), resulting in a westward extending wedge around 20°N that skirts the northern shores of the Hawaiian Archipelago. After 10 years the concentrations become nearly homogeneous over the whole Pacific, with higher values in the east, extending along the North American coast with a maximum (~1 × 10−4) off Baja California. The southern portion of the tracer cloud is carried westward by the NEC across the subtropical Pacific, leading to increasing concentrations in the Kuroshio regime again.
[...]
Region I = Western Pacific
With caution given to the various idealizations (unknown actual oceanic state during release, unknown release area, no biological effects included, see section 3.4), the following conclusions may be drawn. (i) Dilution due to swift horizontal and vertical dispersion in the vicinity of the energetic Kuroshio regime leads to a rapid decrease of radioactivity levels during the first 2 years, with a decline of near-surface peak concentrations to values around 10 Bq m−3 (based on a total input of 10 PBq). The strong lateral dispersion, related to the vigorous eddy fields in the mid-latitude western Pacific, appears significantly under-estimated in the non-eddying (0.5°) model version. (ii) The subsequent pace of dilution is strongly reduced, owing to the eastward advection of the main tracer cloud towards the much less energetic areas of the central and eastern North Pacific. (iii) The magnitude of additional peak radioactivity should drop to values comparable to the pre-Fukushima levels after 6–9 years (i.e. total peak concentrations would then have declined below twice pre-Fukushima levels). (iv) By then the tracer cloud will span almost the entire North Pacific, with peak concentrations off the North American coast an order-of-magnitude higher than in the western Pacific.
You can find the simulation model video here.
As one ENEWS commenter stated, this study is based on a one time event, as opposed to ongoing radioactive release, which is what is happening. The saturation levels are worthless, but see how it spreads? That's the takeaway, here..
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.
Nice.. Fukushima Diary:
This tweet grabbed my attention.
In Fukushima, NTV reports radiation level on weather forecast like precipitation.
Look at this carefully. It’s weather forecast, but not precipitation. This is how Fukushima is at this moment.
I'm sure this is nothing. If it was, wouldn't American media be reporting this too, as opposed to what Brad Pitt's dumbass mom says?
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..
This really is a shame, isn't it? Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:
There was no media coverage about the demonstration, only NHK reported but it was told to be only 400 people, where it was 11,000 people.[LINK]
However, major foreign media covered the demonstration, they are the only source for Japanese to know what is happening in their own country.
【BBC】Japan PM Noda orders nuclear reactors back online
And: (There's video at the link, too)
Japan approves two reactor restarts, more seen ahead
By Linda Sieg and Kiyoshi Takenaka
TOKYO
Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:52am EDT
(Reuters) – Japan on Saturday approved the resumption of nuclear power operations at two reactors despite mass public opposition, the first to come back on line after they were all shut down following the Fukushima crisis.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, his popularity ratings sagging, had backed the restarts for some time. He announced the government’s decision at a meeting with key ministers, giving the go-ahead to two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Co at Ohi in western Japan.
The decision, despite public concerns over safety after the big earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, could open the door to more restarts among Japan’s 50 nuclear power reactors.
“There is no such thing as a perfect score when it comes to disaster prevention steps,” Trade Minister Yukio Edano told a news conference after the announcement.
“But, based on what we learned from the Fukushima accident, those measures that need to be taken urgently have been addressed, and the level of safety has been considerably enhanced (at the Ohi plant),” he said.
All's well, everyone's safe, so start those reactors back up, boys! The latest models show Fukushima is almost directly in Typhoon Guchol's path. If Guchol's a direct hit, wouldn't that be a PR Nightmare /Radiological Catastrophe /Human Cataclysm?
Timing really is everything, right?
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.
You're cute; I'm gonna call you Blinky! Coming to a downscale restaurant near you.. Fukushima Diary. Excerpts(and video):
Mr. Homma [Twitter], a Japanese fisher in South Chiba talked on a Ustream radio on 6/2/2012. He has been fishing offshore of Chiba cape and Tokyo Bay for 4 years and a half.
He talked, he fished deformed fish at least twice a week.
Especially, deformation of fish living in or on seabed can be observed frequently, such as flatfish.
Deformed Japanese sea bass and Japanese amberjack, which are on the top of the food chain can be seen often too.
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He also states, those deformed fish are highly contaminated. He measured near 700 Bq/Kg from bass last Monday.
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When fish is distributed, the name of fishing port is concealed. He warns his friends about fish from Kanto area, but because a lot of people live on fishing, he can not announce the details of the problem.
From his explanation, deformed fish are sold unusually discounted. Discount Sushi bars called Kaitenzushi buy them to serve.
Image of Kaitenzushi. (Conveyer belt Sushi bar) Kaiten means rotate. Sushi is rotating on the belt and guests pick up and eat them. Because the Sushi is not fresh in the system, it is known to be cheap Sushi restaurants.
Mr. Homma is afraid of being fired, but he doesn’t want to conceal the actual situation.
He commented, we must face the truth.
This fish tastes like purple! Maybe the ever optimistic Japanese will create new recipes around these new types of "nature's bounty." Pass the wasabi, please! I want superpowers!
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..
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.
Brave, or Stupid? East Asian leaders meet in Fukushima
File Under: "Since we're not doing anything else to help.." UN chief launches study of nuclear accident
The United Nations will undertake a systemwide study on the implications of the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.
Several agencies will prepare a report addressing the effects of nuclear safety in areas including environment, health and food security. It is to be presented at a high-level meeting on nuclear safety and security on Sept. 22 during the General Assembly in New York.
The U.N.'s on it. Stop worrying..
Katsushika Toukyou radiation dose experts remeasured five times the government announced Google translate via Rense. Rough translation. Here's the most coherent excerpts:
April 19, the Ministry of Education, the provisional measure of radiation dose on the playground when school "20 mSv per year" have been established. In contrast, "Japan Medical Association" is May 12, "for a child, there should be more careful for the country as a" reduction of the number, the opinion announced more restrictive standards that call for .
Begin with ministry standards, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) issued on March 21 that "as a reference level after the convergence of an emergency like this, from 1 to 20 mSv / year in the range of You can also think "It's based on a statement that the ministry of 1 to 20, is taking its maximum value.
Humidity, heat, radiation in reactor buildings Video or article from NHK via Rense.
At the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, high radiation levels and humidity in the reactor buildings are hampering efforts to stabilize the reactors. The utility urgently needs to improve conditions so that people can work in the buildings.
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At the No.2 reactor they found peak radiation levels of 50 millisieverts per hour. They also experienced high humidity and intense heat, which limited the work there only to 15 minutes.
At the No.3 building the team detected 160 to 170 millisieverts of radiation per hour near a pipe connected to the reactor. The pipe was to be used to inject nitrogen to prevent a hydrogen explosion.
The KBS photographing supervision and others of earthquake disaster collection of data and being bombed allowable limit it exceeds Another rough translation..
The Seoul 11 day combined news>Photographing supervision and others of the KBS image production bureau which undertook the collection of data of the east Japanese large earthquake disaster which occurs in March, the radiation dose which exceeds reference level having been bombed you understood to 11 days.
Having been exposed 11 days, the team all had radiation levels exceeding the allowable limit. And this is day what again/ 71? Is that right? That's pretty far away from 11, don't you think?
Giant barge arrives at Fukushima plant to store radioactive water
A giant water-storage barge has arrived at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to store highly radioactive waste water from the basement of a reactor building, Kyodo news reported on Saturday.
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Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will use the 136-meter-long, 46-meter-wide Megafloat as a storage site for contaminated waste water leaked from reactor buildings.
And:
TEPCO engineers have been pouring water into the reactors water to cool them in a bid to gain access to reactor buildings to restore the damaged cooling systems.
They have now scrapped the plan and are trying to create a cooling system by circulating the water which is already in the reactors.
Couple things, here.. I'm really hoping this is a temporary situation.. The idea of storing radioactive water in a barge On The Water is bothersome. Sure, nothing will happen, right?
How much water will can this barge contain? No mention in the article.
And:
Re-circulating the existing radioactive water? Aren't there still leaks they haven't found? .
Atmosphere Above Japan Heated Rapidly Before M9 Earthquake Wow.. From Technology Review, via Godlike Productions. Excerpts:
Geologists have long puzzled over anecdotal reports of strange atmospheric phenomena in the days before big earthquakes. But good data to back up these stories has been hard to come by.
In recent years, however, various teams have set up atmospheric monitoring stations in earthquake zones and a number of satellites are capable of sending back data about the state of the upper atmosphere and the ionosphere during an earthquake.
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Today, Dimitar Ouzounov at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland and a few buddies present the data from the Great Tohoku earthquake which devastated Japan on 11 March. Their results, although preliminary, are eye-opening.
They say that before the M9 earthquake, the total electron content of the ionosphere increased dramatically over the epicentre, reaching a maximum three days before the quake struck.
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It certainly makes sense that the lithosphere, atmosphere and ionosphere are coupled in a way that can be measured when one of them is perturbed. The question is to what extent the new evidence backs up this idea.
Maybe "Earthquake Weather" is a reality? Maybe also.. Might this be a limited hangout explanation obfuscating the influence of HAARP? Note that none of these three phenomena preclude the other, and any combination of all three could be the closest to reality.
Melted fuel in Reactor No. 3 appears to have burned through pressure vessel — Loaded with rods containing plutonium Energy News, via Godlike Productions. Excerpts:
From Meltdowns also likely occurred at No. 2, No. 3 reactors of Fukushima plant, Asahi Shinbun, May 18, 2011:
Ex-SKF via Rense. Excerpts:
And like the No. 1 reactor, the melted fuel appears to have created holes in the pressure vessel of the No. 3 reactor, according to the data of Tokyo Electric Power Co. released May 16. [...]
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According to the data, the pressure in the pressure vessel of the No. 2 reactor dropped at 6:43 p.m. on March 15. A similar drop in pressure also took place at the No. 3 reactor at 11:50 p.m. on March 16.
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Those declines were apparently the result of holes made in the pressure vessels. [...] it appears that melted nuclear fuel formed new holes in the pressure vessels. [...]
No. 3 reactor… is the only one at the site loaded with a mixed fuel known as mox, for mixed oxide, which includes reclaimed plutonium. -NYTimes
Asian Stocks Increase on Takeover Speculation, Tokyo Electric Nuclear Plan File Under: Financial Happy Talk, meaning nothing..
Asian stocks rose, driving a regional benchmark index higher for the first time in five days, amid improved earnings and merger-and-acquisition speculation. Tokyo Electric Power Co. gained after it presented a plan for stabilizing a stricken nuclear-power plant.
Take Two: Japan business pessimism eases: Reuters Tankan Sheesh. Reuters. Excerpts:
Japanese corporate pessimism eased in May in a sign the economy may have started bottoming out two months after the March 11 earthquake, a Reuters poll showed, but companies remain cautious over the outlook as supply bottlenecks keep constraining output.
The monthly poll, which has a 95 percent correlation with the Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly tankan survey, marked the first improvement in corporate confidence since the quake, supporting the view that the central bank will keep its policy unchanged when it meets this week.
“Situation at Fukushima out of control” Video from Russia Today, via Rense.
Video: Fukushima Daiichi, The Inside View From The Wall Street Journal. Excerpts:
Tokyo Electric Power Co. Tuesday released a 13-minute video of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – one of the longest clips that reveals a glimpse of the work taking place inside the troubled facility.
The silent reel, shot on May 6, shows workers spraying parts of the damaged reactors and suiting up in protective gear in the specially constructed earthquake-resistant emergency headquarters located several hundred meters from the reactors.
Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University: "Melted Core Outside the Containment Vessel"
Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute is quoted by Mainichi Shinbun as saying that the melted core of the Reactor 1 is not just out of the Reactor Pressure Vessel but out of the Containment Vessel.
And:
From Mainichi Shinbun, Koide's comments only (5/16/2011):
According to TEPCO, the data analysis shows that damage to the RPV is not extensive. However, Koide thinks "The RPV has been completely damaged, the melted core bore a hole at the bottom of the Containment Vessel, causing the large amount of contaminated water to leak into the ground beneath the reactor building."
Scientists Will Track Fukushima Radiation To Study Ocean Currents Forbes, via Rense.
Oceanographers know that the Kuroshio current sweeps west from Japan to the Central Pacific and then toward the U.S. West Coast, but they’re less certain how it behaves after it branches toward Alaska and California.
Radiation still leaking into the sea from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant will help them document the ocean’s circulatory system.
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Scientists have predicted that Fukushima’s longer living isotopes—such as cesium-137, with a half-life of 30 years—will reach Hawaii in about a year and the coast of California in two to three years. By that time, the isotopes should be significantly diluted from mixing with ocean water. (Sure. Even though we have no realistic estimation of this event's duration, McMahon states the radiation will be "significantly diluted" by mixing with the ocean. This is true, by definition. Will the water be safe? Hell no..)
Radioactivity at intake of No.3 reactor rises NHK via Rense. Excerpts:
Radioactive materials in the ocean near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant rose to 3,300 times the legal limit on Sunday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says it measured 200 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter on Sunday morning near the water intake of the No. 3 reactor. The level was higher than on the previous day, when it was 2,300 times the legal limit.
220 becquerels of cesium-137 per cubic centimeter was also detected. At 2,400 times the legal limit, the level exceeded the one found the day before.
On Wednesday, highly radioactive water was found leaking into the ocean from a pit located near the water intake of the No. 3 reactor. 32,000 times the legal limit of cesium-134 was detected there.
Was Fukushima a China Syndrome? From Time(!). Hey, thanks for showing up--Two months later.. Excerpts:
The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn't burn "all the way through to China" it could enter the soil and water table and cause huge contamination in the crops and drinking water around the power plant. It's a nightmare scenario, the stuff of movies. And it might just have happened at Fukushima.
Forensic Medical Global Analysis Of Fukushima Daiichi Crisis From Rense. Excerpts:
The shroud of mystery is dropping and the horror of all three reactors having a complete core breach, reactor cooling pool to Unit 4 blown sky-high and Arne Gundersen analysis of MOX Unit 3 cooling pool going hypercritical with a hydrogen trigger nuclear explosion. Up to 50 km away from the plant debris with highly radioactive soil has been revealed. The Pacific Ocean is a TEPCO Fukushima dumping ground, with the Humbolt or Black Current carrying toxic death to Alaska, Canada, Washington, Oregon, California and Baja California.
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We had a flurry of concern early, but now the sound of a slumbering population is deafening with apathy and fanciful thoughts that all is well in our air, food, water and we should listen to the EPA. Now, the radiation on my North County, San Diego, CA, Inspector PLUS shows daily waves of radiation with CPM climbing and falling over hours with low 20s to middle 50s when it rains, mists or just when a new cloud of nanoparticles arrives fresh from the inept exploits of TEPCO in Northern Japan.
The new enervated Tepco Sentaku Magazine via Godlike Productions. Further evidence as to TEPCO's and the Japanese Government's homicidal negligence towards the rest of the World. Thanks, jerks.. Excerpts:
With the onset of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis following the March 11 Tohoku-Pacific earthquake, radioactive substances continue to seep into the sea, air and soil. Residents within a designated proximity of the plant will likely have to live away from their homes a long time. The prospect of the situation returning to normal is nowhere in sight.
Although the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator of the ill-fated plant, have worked out plans to pay compensation to victims of the crisis, it appears they are interested less in protecting people from radiation than in preserving the existing semi-monopolistic system of the power industry and in enabling the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan to survive.
Tepco is now attempting to divert public opinion away from its responsibility for the nuclear crisis to the need to secure a stable supply of electricity. Shortly after its Fukushima power station was damaged, the company announced that it would have to impose "planned rolling power outages" to make up for reduced power generation.
By emphasizing that abandoning nuclear power generation would lead to prolonged outages, Tepco sought to convince the public that it is better to rely on nuclear power generation than endure power outages and that it is time to help Tepco with public funds. This is an ultimate form of defiance by Tepco.
Industrial circles, especially manufacturing, were thrown into a panic by the government's plan to make it mandatory for major electric power users to reduce consumption by 25 percent this summer. This could be a matter of life and death for manufacturers whose activities are already hindered by the disruption of production at component suppliers located in areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. This fear has served to change the attitude of the business community from one of criticizing Tepco to seeking stable power supply.
Japan keeps Fukushima shutdown target despite setbacks
Japan on Tuesday will unveil new plans to contain the crisis at a crippled nuclear plant after admitting it faced more serious challenges than first disclosed, but was expected to stick to a timetable for bringing the reactors under control by January.
More than two months after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, officials say the risk of another explosion at the Fukushima plant has declined but each step toward taking control has been matched by new setbacks. The crisis has also prompted a blank-slate review of Japan's national energy policy.
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Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said the timetable would be unchanged and other officials have sketched out the new methods which would in particular focus on how to clean up the large amount of water contaminated by radiation.
The timetable for taking control of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis has been politically charged and faced skepticism from the start.
Japan widens evacuation outside plant zone Dawn.com/World. Excerpts:
TOKYO: Japan on Sunday started the first evacuations of homes outside a government exclusion zone after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled one of the country`s nuclear power plants.
Some 4,000 residents of Iidate-mura village as well as 1,100 people in Kawamata-cho town, in the quake-hit northeast, began the phased relocations to public housing, hotels and other facilities in nearby cities.
Their communities are outside the 20-kilometre radius from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, officially designated as an area of forced evacuation due to health risks from the radiation seeping from the ageing and damaged plant.
The government told people in communities such as Iidate-mura they had to leave, but authorities are unlikely to punish those who choose to stay.
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Although Iidate-mura and Kawamata-cho are 30 kilometres away from the plant, they have consistently received high amounts of radioactive materials due to wind patterns.
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in Perspective From Scoop/NZ. Excerpts:
First I want to present this report, produced by the New York Academy of Sciences, a report on Chernobyl. It can be downloaded.(2) They translated 5,000 articles from Russian for the first time into English. It seems that nearly a million people have already died as a result of Chernobyl, despite what the WH0(3) says and the IAEA.(4) This is one of the most monstrous cover-ups in the history of medicine. Because everybody should know about this.
Then we extrapolate through to Japan. Japan is by orders of magnitude many times worse than Chernobyl. Never in my life did I think that six nuclear reactors would be at risk.(5) I knew that three GE engineers who helped design these Mark I GE reactors, resigned because they knew they were dangerous.(6)
So Japan built them on an earthquake fault. The reactors partially withstood the earthquake, but the external electricity supply was cut off, and the electricity supplies the cooling water, a million gallons a minute, to each of those six reactors. Without the cooling water, the water [level] falls, and the rods are so hot they melt, like at Three Mile Island, and at Chernobyl.
So the emergency diesel generators, which are as large as a house, got destroyed by the tsunami, so there is no way to keep the water circulating in the reactors.(7) Also, on the roofs of the reactors, not within the containment vessel, are cooling pools. Every year they remove about thirty tons of the most radioactive rods that you can possibly imagine.(8) Each one is twelve feet long and half an inch thick. It gives out so much radiation, that if you stand next to it for a couple of minutes, you'll die. Not drop dead. Remember Litvinenko, the Russian, who got poisoned by polonium?(9) You'll die like that, with your hair falling out, and bleeding with massive infection, like AIDS patients die.
And [the spent fuel rods] are thermally hot, so they have to be put in a big pool, and continually cooled. The pool has really no roof.
There have been three hydrogen explosions, blowing off the roof of the building, not the containment vessel of the core, but the roof. And exposing the cooling pool.(10) Two of the cooling pools are dry. They have no water in them. Meaning that the nuclear fuel rods are covered with a material called zirconium. When zirconium is exposed to air, it burns, it ignites. Two of the cooling pools at this moment are burning. In the cooling pools are many times, like 10 to 20 times more radiation than in each reactor core. In each reactor core is as much long-lived radiation as would be produced by a thousand Hiroshima-sized bombs. We are dealing with diabolical energy.
Plutonium detected in rice paddy by a food manufacturer more than 50 kms away from Fukushima power plant: Physics Forums via Rense. Excerpts:
Additionally, a certain food manufacturing company conducted a survey by themselves. In a rice field is more than 50kms away from the Fukushima power plant, it was found that there was very high radiation that is very different to what the government released.
High density plutonium is in the rice field that was mentioned previously.
According to this food manufacturing company, they currently don't announce these results due to the large influence* that this rice field has high concentration of plutonium.
* Note: It is not mentioned what the influence is but it implies they do not currently release the information as it may have an impact on the media/public.
Mitsubishi Electric net profit drops by 75.5% to $94 million in March quarter The Economic Times. Excerpts:
TOKYO: Japan's Mitsubishi Electric said Monday its net profit plunged 75.5 percent to 7.6 billion yen ($94 million) in the quarter to March in the wake of a massive quake and tsunami.
Its operating profit for the quarter edged upward to 41.2 billion yen from 39.9 billion yen as sales remained unchanged at 1.04 trillion yen, the electronics manufacturer said.
"Due to the Great Eastern Japan Disaster, operations at some of our plants came to a halt, while planned blackouts lowered the operating rate," Mitsubishi said.
The reverberations will continue for years.
Cores Damaged at Three Reactors The Picture becomes clearer, sadly.. The Wall Street Journal. Excerpts:
TOKYO—Substantial damage to the fuel cores at two additional reactors of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has taken place, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday, further complicating the already daunting task of bringing them to a safe shutdown while avoiding the release of high levels of radioactivity. The revelation followed an acknowledgment on Thursday that a similar meltdown of the core took place at unit No. 1.
Workers also found that the No. 1 unit's reactor building is flooded in the basement, reinforcing the suspicion that the containment vessel is damaged and leaking highly radioactive water.
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The operator, known as Tepco, said the No. 1 unit lost its reactor core 16 hours after the plant was struck by a magnitude-9 earthquake and a giant tsunami on the afternoon of March 11.
The pressure vessel a cylindrical steel container that holds nuclear fuel, "is likely to be damaged and leaking water at units Nos. 2 and 3," said Junichi Matsumoto, Tepco spokesman on nuclear issues, in a news briefing Sunday.
He also said there could be far less cooling water in the pressure vessels of Nos. 2 and 3, indicating there are holes at the bottom of these vessels, with thousands of tons of water pumped into these reactors mostly leaking out.
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Tepco found the basement of the unit No. 1 reactor building flooded with 4.2 meters of water. It isn't clear where the water came from, but leaks are suspected in pipes running in and out of the containment vessel, a beaker-shaped steel structure that holds the pressure vessel.
The water flooding the basement is believed to be highly radioactive. Workers were unable to observe the flooding situation because of strong radiation coming out of the water, Tepco said.
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