Japan upgrades Fukushima radiation leak to level three 'serious incident'

[midas]

Aug 28, 2013

*Foreign script edited out*

PRESS CONFERENCE Hirohiko Izumida Governor of Niigata Prefecture

The Speech and Q&A in Japanese with English interpretation

Hirohiko Izumida, Governor of Niigata Prefecture: Tepco on either the 12th of March or on the 11th of March had already anticipated a meltdown to occur.

For example, there should be soul-searching in regard to Fukushima, and it should be made clear as to who gave the instructions to tell lies for a period of two months. And it is necessary to do this for them to regain credibility, and yet there is no one that has been able to talk about this.

In other words, it doesn’t mean that a person had to go to the No. 2 reactor to look at the high doses, but rather normally it should have been explained that there were reasons why lies had to be told but now what is going to be carried out from here onwards so that lies will no longer be conveyed.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Scott
Foreign language edited out

[F430murci]

About time.

TOKYO - Japan vowed quick, decisive action, including the use of public funds, to tackle the worsening problem of contaminated water pouring from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, as the authorities step in to help the facility's embattled operator.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/02/20288594-japan-vows-quick-action-on-fukushima-as-tainted-water-crisis-deepens?lite

[midas]

It will not be under control, it’s estimated between 40 and 100 years from now.

if there is another earthquake the serious one 6, 7, 8, or 9 magnitude, that would rattle all these tanks — 1,060 tanks — it would rattle the damaged cores, spent fuel whose structures have already weakened, yes that’s a potential very, very serious threat if another strong earthquake hits the same area again.

It looks like foreign help is being invited now to come and deal with this ?they are facing a huge problem — difficult, a very difficult problem to solve and I don’t know how much bright new ideas they might throw in, it’s yet unknown.

Scary situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMT7adkD3GI

[NeverSure]

NOW they are going to invite other countries to help. NOW the government will offer public funds to help.

If they allow other countries to help, the truth will come out and it looks as if that truth will be very bad. Two years wasted with untold environmental damage.

[F430murci]

Japanese to encircle Fukushima with frozen earth The Japanese government is pledging $500 million to build a wall of frozen earth around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has been leaking radioactive water since it was damaged in the 2011 tsunami.

http://www.today.com/video/today/52910759/#52910759

[midas]

Japanese to encircle Fukushima with frozen earth The Japanese government is pledging $500 million to build a wall of frozen earth around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has been leaking radioactive water since it was damaged in the 2011 tsunami.

http://www.today.com/video/today/52910759/#52910759

Not so good when you read the fine print and it won't be ready for 2 more years

Some experts are still skeptical about the technology and say the running costs would be a huge burden.

Atsunao Marui, an underground water expert at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, said a frozen wall could be water-tight but is normally intended for use for a couple of years and is not proven for long-term use as planned in the outline. The decommissioning process is expected to take about 40 years.

"We still need a few layers of safety backups in case it fails," Marui told the Associated Press. "Plus the frozen wall won't be ready for another two years, which means contaminated water would continue to leak out."

Marui said additional measures should be taken to stop contaminated water from keep traveling under the seabed during that time and leak further out in the sea.

http://www.9news.com/news/world/353476/347/Japan-to-fund-ice-wall-to-stop-reactor-leaks

[midas]

The leakage of water from these cores is bad enough but the most dangerous thing is the cooling pool of unit 4. Now it is terribly dangerous because the entire hot core of reactor 4 had been removed and put in this cooling pool shortly before the tsunami. So, there was a hot core in this cooling pool the entire superstructure building was blown off in a hydrogen explosion.

The entire area is weakened and there is a great risk of an aftershock. Now this pool contains something on the order of 400.000 kg of hot plutonium. So, the thing that people should be aware of is that TEPCO is going to begin attempting to remove these rods from this pool to some other type of storage. This has never been done with plutonium rods that have been out of a core for such a short period of time.

There is a great danger of a thermonuclear reaction if these rods become exposed to the air and the cooling pool itself is just barely containing the temperature levels of the core as it is.

There are billion micrograms in a kilogram and there are 400.000 hot kilograms in this pool. So, if these rods combust, if the set of rods begins a thermonuclear reaction, it will vaporize the water in the pool and the entire pool can become an uncontrolled nuclear reaction open to the air. These particles will be spread through the northern hemisphere.This is perhaps the greatest threat humanity has ever faced

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_03/Japan-to-spend-500m-on-water-leaks-at-Fukushima-3258/

[boomerangutang]

If it weren't all so dire, I'd have to chuckle at nuclear power boosters who have always said, "Nuclear power is low-cost."

Even Thailand's EGAT still claims that in their official literature. On top of that, they all claim (with a straight face, I presume), that nuclear is emission-free, with has no greenhouse gases. Even without major failures like Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear has emissions and greenhouse gases. I could elaborate, but I'll assume you can connect the dots. There are so many major drawbacks with nuclear, even without major breaches, that I'm aghast that nuclear is still seriously proposed by utilities and others.

[Gulfsailor]

If it weren't all so dire, I'd have to chuckle at nuclear power boosters who have always said, "Nuclear power is low-cost."

Even Thailand's EGAT still claims that in their official literature. On top of that, they all claim (with a straight face, I presume), that nuclear is emission-free, with has no greenhouse gases. Even without major failures like Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear has emissions and greenhouse gases. I could elaborate, but I'll assume you can connect the dots. There are so many major drawbacks with nuclear, even without major breaches, that I'm aghast that nuclear is still seriously proposed by utilities and others.

Nuclear power plants are machines designed to enrich uranium and create plutonium to be used in atomic bombs. Lots of heat and thus electricity is just a byproduct of this process. This side effect is used to have the masses accept the technology.

[midas]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume they will use cranes when they start removing the spent fuel rods in November?

So let's hope this kind of thing doesn't happen with that exercise-see the video at 1.37 min

Edited September 6, 2013 by midas

[Gulfsailor]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume they will use cranes when they start removing the spent fuel rods in November?

So let's hope this kind of thing doesn't happen with that exercise-see the video at 1.37 min

According to Tepco the crane showed a crack and so it was lowered deliberately. Please note that your video is in super fast forward. Actual 'collapse' lasted well over a minute, so Tepco statement could be true. Personally I think the whole thing was about to fall over due to ground subsidence and that's why they lowered the thing and moved it later.

[midas]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume they will use cranes when they start removing the spent fuel rods in November?

So let's hope this kind of thing doesn't happen with that exercise-see the video at 1.37 min

According to Tepco the crane showed a crack and so it was lowered deliberately. Please note that your video is in super fast forward. Actual 'collapse' lasted well over a minute, so Tepco statement could be true. Personally I think the whole thing was about to fall over due to ground subsidence and that's why they lowered the thing and moved it later.

" According to Tepco "

At this stage anyone who would trust TEPCO to even give them the right time of day would have to be extremely naïve

TEPCO lied over cracks at nuke plants Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) repeatedly lied when the government questioned the firm about cracks at its nuclear power plants, sources said Tuesday.

http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2002/09/03/tepco-lied-over.html

Edited September 6, 2013 by Scott

[boomerangutang]

Japanese to encircle Fukushima with frozen earth The Japanese government is pledging $500 million to build a wall of frozen earth around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has been leaking radioactive water since it was damaged in the 2011 tsunami.

http://www.today.com/video/today/52910759/#52910759

If there is moving water under the plant, such as springs (which has been alluded to prior), then it's doubtful that any amount of artificial freezing will stem its movement. After a billion dollars spent, and they realize that, what are they going to propose: freezing a cubic Km of earth under the plant? The mind boggles.

[Gulfsailor]

Japanese to encircle Fukushima with frozen earth The Japanese government is pledging $500 million to build a wall of frozen earth around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has been leaking radioactive water since it was damaged in the 2011 tsunami.

http://www.today.com/video/today/52910759/#52910759

If there is moving water under the plant, such as springs (which has been alluded to prior), then it's doubtful that any amount of artificial freezing will stem its movement. After a billion dollars spent, and they realize that, what are they going to propose: freezing a cubic Km of earth under the plant? The mind boggles.

Build a large spaceship to drag planet further away from the sun. Then everything will be frozen. Problem solved!! :-)

[jackr]

Build a large spaceship to drag planet further away from the sun. Then everything will be frozen. Problem solved!! :-)

You'd be better off using that spaceship to get away from Japan.

[midas]

Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator and engineer: Fukushima Unit 4, the plans are in November to start removing the fuel. The question is always, ‘What’s going to keep the fuel sub-critical as you’re withdrawing it from the pool?’ That hasn’t been answered to my satisfaction yet because — although there are a lot of spent fuel assemblies in there which could achieve criticality — there are also 200 new fuel assemblies which have equivalent to a full tank of gas, let’s call it that. Those are the ones most likely to go critical first. [...]

Keep batteries fresh in your rad monitor, because you’re going to need to know what’s going on when they drop some fuel. [...]

Some pictures that were released recently show that a lot of fuel is damaged, so when they go ahead and put the grapple on it, and they pull it up, it’s going to fall apart. The boreflex has been eaten away; it doesn’t take saltwater very good.

archives2013.gcnlive.com/Archives2013/aug13/Nutrimedical/0815133.mp3

[webfact]

TEPCO releases video of groundwater entering crippled Fukushima

For the first time, Tokyo Electric released video footage of groundwater flowing into the Unit 1 turbine building. Currently, it is estimated that groundwater flows into the reactor buildings at a rate of over 400 tons per day. Everyday contaminated groundwater also continues to flows directly into the Pacific Ocean, and no one knows when those leaks will be under control. (VIDEO)

For many in Japan and around the world, confidence in the current approach to mitigate and protect against nuclear disasters is severely lacking. Japan and TEPCO have been slow to respond to, and exhibited a nature to keep hidden, continuous threats from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Many experts have criticized Japan’s lack of willingness to bring in international aid to help the response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster over the past two and a half years. The utility and many Japanese officials have seemed to desire to show that the nuclear disaster is under control, as the radiation levels around the plant, and in the ocean which it was constructed next to, continue to spike to record highs.

But as officials in Tokyo are hoping that the disaster will not affect Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic bid, radiation levels around storage tanks used to store thousands of tons of radioactive water on-site at Fukushima Daiichi have been rising to over 2,200 millisieverts (2.2 sieverts) per hour.

On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric found high levels of radioactive materials in groundwater samples gathered from a monitoring well over thirty feet away from a storage tank which leaked contaminated water last month. The groundwater sample was pumped from over 20 feet underground and was still found to contain 650 becquerels per liter of radioactive materials, including strontium.

Full story: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_07/TEPCO-releases-video-of-groundwater-entering-crippled-Fukushima-3581/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-09-07

[boomerangutang]

I'm rooting for Madrid to win the Olympic bid. I fave fond memories of residing there during my late teens and early 20's, and would relish an added reason to return.

This talk about moving fuel rods at Fukushima: are the spent rods or new? (no double meaning intended). Sounds like all sorts of new infrastructure will need to (and continue to) be built in that compound.

Near Sacramento, a coon's age ago, the residents there voted to shut down Rancho Seco nuclear power plant - and the plant was still functional at the time. The alleged reason: some of the plant's workers were caught smoking pot. Anyhow, I bet Sacramentans are sorely glad they shut that thing down. Meanwhile, China is building nuke plants like there's no tomorrow. Too bad Japan is downwind. Of course, Chinese officials are saying nothing can go wrong, but officials always say that .....until the shit hits the fan. Even if things were to go terribly wrong in China, don't count on Chinese press to tell us about it. It will be farang who will break the news, and Chinese officialdom will reluctantly and belatedly 'fess up later.

[boomerangutang]

Tokyo gets the Olympics. Ok, let's hope there isn't another tsunami or earthquake or other calamity ......leading up to, or during the games.

[Scott]

Bill Maher had an entire segment on the radiation leak on "Real Time."

He seems to think this should be a much bigger story in the news than it is.

[F430murci]

Bill Maher had an entire segment on the radiation leak on "Real Time."

He seems to think this should be a much bigger story in the news than it is.

I am bothered by the seemingly apathetic or lackadaisical approach here. Perhaps it is not as bad as I fear based on my lack of knowledge and facts, but it sure does seem like bug deal. If this really could threaten food supply in Pacific, what percentage of world's food source could be impacted? At least move that crap inland and let it melt down rather than melt down and contaminate the frickin Pacific Ocean.

[midas]

Just since last Sunday there has been 30-fold increase in tritium but no one can explain why

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says that it found sharply rising tritium levels at a monitoring well near a wastewater storage tank.Tokyo Electric Power Company says the level of radioactive tritium at one of the wells rose to 130,000 becquerels per liter on Thursday. That’s more than twice the government-set level for its release into the sea. [...]

http://enenews.com/nhk-worrying-discovery-at-fukushima-plant-radioactivity-level-sharply-rising-30-times-higher-than-sundays-measurement

Dr Helen Caldicott in a recent new interview explains the significance of tritium

Water in the bay beside Fukushima is highly contaminated with tritium, which is constantly increasing in concentration and now measures 4,700 Becquerels per liter - the highest level ever recorded in seawater. Furthermore a total of 20 to 40 trillion Becquerels of tritium have now been discharged into the Pacific Ocean –a Becquerel is one disintegration of radiation per second. Tritium is radioactive hydrogen, H3. It combines with oxygen to form tritiated water HTO, which is very dangerous. It emits an electron, or beta particle which, if lodged in the body, is very energetic.

Tritium combines within the DNA molecule inducing mutations. In numerous animal experiments tritium causes birth defects, cancers of various organs including brain and ovaries, and it induces testicular atrophy and mental retardation at surprisingly low doses. Tritium is organically taken up in food and is concentrated in fish, vegetables, and other food groups, and it remains radioactive for over 120 years. Ingestion of contaminated food causes 10 percent to combine in the human body where it can remain for many years continuously irradiating cells.

http://rt.com/op-edge/fukushima-catastrophe-health-japan-803/

Edited September 14, 2013 by midas

[Gulfsailor]

Bill Maher had an entire segment on the radiation leak on "Real Time."

He seems to think this should be a much bigger story in the news than it is.

I am bothered by the seemingly apathetic or lackadaisical approach here. Perhaps it is not as bad as I fear based on my lack of knowledge and facts, but it sure does seem like bug deal. If this really could threaten food supply in Pacific, what percentage of world's food source could be impacted? At least move that crap inland and let it melt down rather than melt down and contaminate the frickin Pacific Ocean.

If it only it were as easy as lifting the coriums out of the buildings. First they can be as hot as 2300 degrees Celsius. So only Tungsten metal equipment would not melt. Secondly the radiation is enormous. People would die in seconds when they get close, and cameras is minutes. But most important they don't know (or won't say) where the coriums are. Lots of recent news about abnormal amounts if radiated groundwater (more than would could flow through the buildings) does suggest though that at least some coriums have experienced a melt through, meaning they melted through the steel containment vessel and through the meters thick concrete under layer. If that's the case they could be several kilometres down into the earth's crust, irradiating an aquifer that runs under the plant and enters the ocean a little offshore. Would also explain the much higher then expected radiation levels in the ocean outside the harbour.

I think Japan is just hoping the coriums melt through until they hit magma in the mantle. Then the magma will be pushed up into the hole made by corium and there it hardens into rock and closes it all off. Just hope that they move quickly enough through the aquifer, because if too much steam is generated down there you will get a super pressure resulting in a giant blow out, sending the coriums miles up into the atmosphere.

[F430murci]

Bill Maher had an entire segment on the radiation leak on "Real Time."

He seems to think this should be a much bigger story in the news than it is.

I am bothered by the seemingly apathetic or lackadaisical approach here. Perhaps it is not as bad as I fear based on my lack of knowledge and facts, but it sure does seem like bug deal. If this really could threaten food supply in Pacific, what percentage of world's food source could be impacted? At least move that crap inland and let it melt down rather than melt down and contaminate the frickin Pacific Ocean.

If it only it were as easy as lifting the coriums out of the buildings. First they can be as hot as 2300 degrees Celsius. So only Tungsten metal equipment would not melt. Secondly the radiation is enormous. People would die in seconds when they get close, and cameras is minutes. But most important they don't know (or won't say) where the coriums are. Lots of recent news about abnormal amounts if radiated groundwater (more than would could flow through the buildings) does suggest though that at least some coriums have experienced a melt through, meaning they melted through the steel containment vessel and through the meters thick concrete under layer. If that's the case they could be several kilometres down into the earth's crust, irradiating an aquifer that runs under the plant and enters the ocean a little offshore. Would also explain the much higher then expected radiation levels in the ocean outside the harbour.

I think Japan is just hoping the coriums melt through until they hit magma in the mantle. Then the magma will be pushed up into the hole made by corium and there it hardens into rock and closes it all off. Just hope that they move quickly enough through the aquifer, because if too much steam is generated down there you will get a super pressure resulting in a giant blow out, sending the coriums miles up into the atmosphere.

I by no means am even close to an expert on any of these matters, but I do get that and have thought about the points you raise. Could they somehow try and contain the rods in temporary cooling chambers, left them and move them? I thought perhaps robotic, but people may just have to find some chronically ill people that are willing to go out as world heroes. I dunno. I did hear that an unprotected human would die within 4 hours if close to building.

[Gulfsailor]

Bill Maher had an entire segment on the radiation leak on "Real Time."

He seems to think this should be a much bigger story in the news than it is.

I am bothered by the seemingly apathetic or lackadaisical approach here. Perhaps it is not as bad as I fear based on my lack of knowledge and facts, but it sure does seem like bug deal. If this really could threaten food supply in Pacific, what percentage of world's food source could be impacted? At least move that crap inland and let it melt down rather than melt down and contaminate the frickin Pacific Ocean.

If it only it were as easy as lifting the coriums out of the buildings. First they can be as hot as 2300 degrees Celsius. So only Tungsten metal equipment would not melt. Secondly the radiation is enormous. People would die in seconds when they get close, and cameras is minutes. But most important they don't know (or won't say) where the coriums are. Lots of recent news about abnormal amounts if radiated groundwater (more than would could flow through the buildings) does suggest though that at least some coriums have experienced a melt through, meaning they melted through the steel containment vessel and through the meters thick concrete under layer. If that's the case they could be several kilometres down into the earth's crust, irradiating an aquifer that runs under the plant and enters the ocean a little offshore. Would also explain the much higher then expected radiation levels in the ocean outside the harbour.

I think Japan is just hoping the coriums melt through until they hit magma in the mantle. Then the magma will be pushed up into the hole made by corium and there it hardens into rock and closes it all off. Just hope that they move quickly enough through the aquifer, because if too much steam is generated down there you will get a super pressure resulting in a giant blow out, sending the coriums miles up into the atmosphere.

I by no means am even close to an expert on any of these matters, but I do get that and have thought about the points you raise. Could they somehow try and contain the rods in temporary cooling chambers, left them and move them? I thought perhaps robotic, but people may just have to find some chronically ill people that are willing to go out as world heroes. I dunno. I did hear that an unprotected human would die within 4 hours if close to building.

Rods (used and new) are stored in the spent fuel pools. Removing those is an entire different (albeit also very big) problem. The coriums inside the reactors melted down. That means control rods are gone and fuel rods and containment materials all melted into one large superhot blob, weighing several tons. They could built a tungsten barge (will it float?), and use a giant vacuum pump connected to a tungsten pipe to suck the coriums out of the buildings/ground. Now we are talking uncharted technology and billions upon billions of dollars. And then you need to tow the barge to the Mariana Trench and let it go down. I say let it sink into the ground, and prey!

[F430murci]

I am bothered by the seemingly apathetic or lackadaisical approach here. Perhaps it is not as bad as I fear based on my lack of knowledge and facts, but it sure does seem like bug deal. If this really could threaten food supply in Pacific, what percentage of world's food source could be impacted? At least move that crap inland and let it melt down rather than melt down and contaminate the frickin Pacific Ocean.

If it only it were as easy as lifting the coriums out of the buildings. First they can be as hot as 2300 degrees Celsius. So only Tungsten metal equipment would not melt. Secondly the radiation is enormous. People would die in seconds when they get close, and cameras is minutes. But most important they don't know (or won't say) where the coriums are. Lots of recent news about abnormal amounts if radiated groundwater (more than would could flow through the buildings) does suggest though that at least some coriums have experienced a melt through, meaning they melted through the steel containment vessel and through the meters thick concrete under layer. If that's the case they could be several kilometres down into the earth's crust, irradiating an aquifer that runs under the plant and enters the ocean a little offshore. Would also explain the much higher then expected radiation levels in the ocean outside the harbour.

I think Japan is just hoping the coriums melt through until they hit magma in the mantle. Then the magma will be pushed up into the hole made by corium and there it hardens into rock and closes it all off. Just hope that they move quickly enough through the aquifer, because if too much steam is generated down there you will get a super pressure resulting in a giant blow out, sending the coriums miles up into the atmosphere.

I by no means am even close to an expert on any of these matters, but I do get that and have thought about the points you raise. Could they somehow try and contain the rods in temporary cooling chambers, left them and move them? I thought perhaps robotic, but people may just have to find some chronically ill people that are willing to go out as world heroes. I dunno. I did hear that an unprotected human would die within 4 hours if close to building.

Rods (used and new) are stored in the spent fuel pools. Removing those is an entire different (albeit also very big) problem. The coriums inside the reactors melted down. That means control rods are gone and fuel rods and containment materials all melted into one large superhot blob, weighing several tons. They could built a tungsten barge (will it float?), and use a giant vacuum pump connected to a tungsten pipe to suck the coriums out of the buildings/ground. Now we are talking uncharted technology and billions upon billions of dollars. And then you need to tow the barge to the Mariana Trench and let it go down. I say let it sink into the ground, and prey!

Wow. Crazy <deleted>. Hard to believe man could create such a mess that cannot be cleaned up so to speak.

Edited September 14, 2013 by F430murci

[Gulfsailor]

Man doesn't need to be able to clean it up. Nature is more than capable of doing that by itself. It's just that nature will take its time in doing so. Say a few hundred thousand years...

(Or believe the world was only created 6000 yrs ago, in which case radiation halftime calculations are all wrong, and it will only take a few hundred years for nature to deal with it :-))

[RubbaJohnny]

Another corolary must be from wealthy fish eating Japan ,that once their local fisheries are depleted they will outbid poorer neighbours for supply.

Similarly a slowing or moratorium on nuclear will increase their demand for coal,gas and oil also driving up prices and retarding the already depressed japanese economy.

A divine wind needed to suff it out ,if it is headin thru the mantel towards the core durin another large tectonic event all bets are off.

Edited September 14, 2013 by RubbaJohnny

[midas]

NHK: Severe storm is heading to Fukushima plant — Workers now scrambling to protect facility — Worried over impact of strong winds — Warning for tornadoes, landslides, high waves (VIDEO)

Weather officials say Man-yi landed in Aichi Prefecture on Monday morning and is moving north-northeast at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour.

Tropical storm moves across Japan

The storm's central atmospheric pressure is 975 hectopascals. The maximum gust speed is about 160 kilometers per hour. Winds of more than 90 kilometers per hour are blowing in parts of central and eastern Japan.

The central and western regions have so far recorded more than 550 millimeters of rain.

The weather officials had issued special warnings for Shiga, Kyoto and Fukui prefectures for the first time since they adopted the warning system in August.
The warnings for Kyoto and Fukui have been downgraded to heavy rain warnings.

https://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130916_11.html

Edited September 16, 2013 by midas

[NeverSure]

“Emergency measure” underway at Fukushima plant after typhoon — Contaminated water being pumped into Pacific

Published: September 16th, 2013 at 4:09 pm

ET By ENENews

Link

Edited September 16, 2013 by NeverSure