Fukushima

[blackchisel97]

130 million Bq of cesium has leaked to Tokyo bay in Yokohama

Source - Iori Mochizuki

Radioactive garbage can be treated as normal garbage if it’s less than 8,000 Bq/kg.
Yokohama city deposits incinerated ash of normal garbage at the final disposal site of Minami Honmoku.

It is a part of Tokyo bay, incinerated ash is used to fill the sea.
Yokohama city government was supposed to filter the water when it overflows from inside of the site to Tokyo bay with zeolite.
However, they quit using it last November. Yokohama city councilor, who found this out assumes Yokohama city is trying to hide the contamination level because if they use zeolite, they can measure how much it is contaminated. 　They have already deposited incinerator fly ash to the sea, which is the most contaminated and the cesium contained in incinerator fly ash is very water solubility.
Last June, the maximum radiation level of fly ash was 2,400 Bq/Kg.

However, the zeolite was contaminated as 5,000 Bq/Kg though it was used only for 26 days.
There were 5,500 Kg of zeolite to filter, so the total cesium amount was 5,000 Bq/Kg×5,500Kg=27,500,000Bq.
It means, it would have filtered 100 million Bq per day.
They stopped using it since 11/1/2011, about 130,000,000 Bq of cesium has already leaked to Tokyo bay.

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[blackchisel97]

Gov’t trying to avoid mass panic

Author: Yuri Kageyama
Date: March 07, 2012 03:31 AM EST

[...] a sense of unease pervades the residents of Fukushima [City, population 300,000, 60km from meltdowns]. Some have moved away. Everyone else knows they are living with an invisible enemy. [...]

It hasn't helped that the government has given only the most optimistic scenarios of the risks to avoid mass panic.

Public skepticism of government assurances grew when the man appointed as health adviser for Fukushima prefecture, Shunichi Yama****a, repeatedly said exposure to 100 millisieverts of radiation a year was safe. [...]

At area hospitals, thousands of people are on waiting lists to get their radiation levels measured with whole-body counters. One child at Minami Soma Hospital, southeast of Fukushima, was found with 2,653 becquerels of radioactive cesium. [...]

Noteworthy Quotes

"The government spokesman keeps saying there are no IMMEDIATE health effects. He's not talking about 10 years or 20 years later. He must think the people of Fukushima are fools. It's not really OK to live here. But we live here." -48-year-old nursery school worker Yoshiko Ota, of Fukushima City (40 miles or 60 kilometers away from meltdows)
"Government officials should all come live in Fukushima for several years and bring their families. They're all staying in places where it's safe. We're being told to get radiated and drop dead." -Kouta Miyazaki
"People are scared to death -- They are thinking, 'Tell me. Is it good or bad?' We can't tell them. ... Life is risky" -Wolfgang Weiss, chairman of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, which is studying Fukushima
"Studies have found that cancer risks rise at an annual exposure of 100 millsieverts or above but aren't statistically detectable at lower levels. Below 100, experts can't say for sure whether it's safe, just that a link to cancer can't be proven" -AP
"We are defining policies to live and coexist with radiation" -Date Mayor Shouji Nishida

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[blackchisel97]

Strange phenomenon..

Title: USNRC Emergency Operations Center Status Update
Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Date: March 12, 2011
Link: http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1122/ML11229A190.pdf

Earthquake / Tsunami Status Update Compiled by Executive Briefing Team

Status of Japanese Facilities

(This information is compiled from available sources, including press releases by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)).

At 0136 EST on March 12, 2011, a “vertical earthquake” resulted in an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1.

Other units at Fukushima Daiichi and units at other sites were not impacted by this earthquake.

Explosion occurred at Unit 1 following 0136 EST (March 12, 2011) earthquake.
This explosion was due to hydrogen.
[IMG][/IMG]


"So, the fuel melting towards the center of the Earth is caused by a down earthquake"?



Title: The Fallout: TEPCO: ‘We are very sorry’
Source: NBC
Date: March 7, 2012

NBC: Some say Chernobyl proved you can't clean up radiation contamination. Once you create an exclusion zone it will remain closed for decades. [...]

Tepco: What I can say now is we are very sorry [...]

Lawyer Ito Kazuku: Please stop this kind of inhuman treatment for the people living in Fukushima [...]




And this is about ARNIE GUNDERSEN -

Title: In Historic Vote, Vermont Poised to Shut Down Lone Nuclear Reactor
Source: Democracy Now via Fairewinds
Upload Date: Feb 25, 2012

AMY GOODMAN: [...] Arnie Gundersen, your own background, how you came to be a whistleblower? You’re a nuclear engineer. You worked in Connecticut?

ARNIE GUNDERSEN: Yeah, I had — I have a bachelor’s and a master’s in nuclear. I was a licensed reactor operator, was a senior vice president of a nuclear firm. And I discovered some license violations. This is twenty years ago. I told the president about them, president of the company, and he fired me. I then contacted John Glenn and my local senator, Senator John Glenn, about the license violations. And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came in and found no violations. John Glenn then had the inspector general come in, and they found seven violations and found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had been taking illegal gratuities from my employer.

Didn’t stop there, though. I was sued for a million-and-a-half dollars by my employer, because I was slandering their reputation by writing to John Glenn. It went on for six years. And at the end, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission refused to do anything, despite what’s called a SLAPP suit, a strategic litigation against public participation. The net result of that was that we, my wife and I, took an out-of-court settlement, because the litigation would have continued on for another five years, and we got on with our lives. And I became a nuclear watchdog. And we moved from Connecticut to Vermont.

AMY GOODMAN: And here you now have become a, well, well-known nuclear consultant, executive member of the oversight panel and consultant to the Vermont legislature. When you were in Connecticut, you started to receive harassing calls as you were speaking out against the power plant there?

ARNIE GUNDERSEN: That’s — yes, that’s true. It was harassing calls, we were followed, there was private investigators that delved into our personal records. It was not a nice time. Worse, though, was the million-and-a-half-dollar lawsuit against us that ruined our credit. Our house was foreclosed on, and there was bankruptcy. It was literally designed to crush us. And it didn’t work.

AMY GOODMAN: And you were sued again by? You were sued by?

ARNIE GUNDERSEN: Oh, I was sued by the company I worked for, Nuclear Energy Services. They were the licensee, and I was the senior vice president there. And their claim was that I had defamed their reputation by talking about the license violations. And, of course, you know, Senator Glenn and his subcommittee clearly proved that I was right and that the NRC was taking illegal gratuities, so the — but it didn’t stop the process, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission refused to get involved. [...]

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[blackchisel97]

Title: Richard Engel Talks About Nuclear Disaster
Source: KULR
Date: Mar 7, 2012 at 7:06 PM MST

[...] Richard Engel is covering the story for NBC News and spoke to KULR-8 Wednesday afternoon. [...]

"It's really about the dust. I thought I was going into an area, it'd be like a big microwave oven. You'd leave glowing and there's a constant radiation level. It's not like you're entering a big x-ray machine. It's the dust. It's the particles of, in this case, radioactive cesium that were shot up into the sky and settled in lots of different places," Engel said. [...]

Read the report here Richard Engel Talks About Nuclear Disaster | KULR-8 News, Sports, Weather | - Billings, MontanaLocal Coupons | Local Top Stories

Transcript Excerpts

"Fukushima City has pockets where the radiation levels are just as high [as inside evacuation zone] but they decided they could not abandon this city of 300,000 people so they are trying to clean it up
These particles are what you have to worry about
This is what the cleanup is all about in Fukushima City, they have to remove the particles but how do you remove billions of invisible particles that are on the rooftops, on the road, gutters, in the water, in the worms, and the birds. How do you get rid of all of that stuff?
It was the only time I had seen a place on Earth that had been rendered uninhabitable for a long period of time
Cesium has a half-life of decades and it's everywhere and its like this part of the earth has been written off, excised from the planet and that was, and still is, a shocking concept to me"

According to Tepco’s announcement, tritium amount in intake is increasing.

Tepco monthly publish the data of radiation leakage to the sea water inside of intake.

"Though other nuclides, such as cesium 134 / 137 and strontium 89 / 90, are in the decreasing trend, tritium is still leaking about 3 ~ 7 times much as cesium 137".

Tritium is beta nuclide. It acts exactly like H2O, you can never filter it out. It’s in tap water, shower, and rain, etc.
Though massive amount of tritium is assumed to have leaked, nobody has measured it from food, environment, and even from urine.
Even if you take care about cesium in food, you can’t escape from tritium.

Japanese seefood -

Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Korea announced contaminated Japanese sea food is increasing.

From last April to the end of 2011, they measured cesium from 21 imported sea food (148.8 tones) from Japan, but it’s already 32 imported sea food (881.3 tones) from the beginning of 2012 to 3/2/2012. Most of them are mackerel and Alaska pollack.

The highest reading was 97.9 Bq/Kg from pollock but because they were all under the Korean safety limit, all of them have been distributed in Korean market.

JP Gov distributes money for the local governments to accept radioactive debris

Japanese prime minister Noda talked on Nihon TV, Japanese government is going to pay money for local governments to accept radioactive debris.

Japanese government is going to distribute radioactive debris even to the local governments which don’t even have proper facility to process it, so the government is planning to pay them money to enhance the disposal field.
To reassure the citizens, Japanese government is also planning to pay for the measurement of radiation level of the radioactive debris.

On 3/6/2012, Mr. Matsumoto, the city mayor of Omura Nagasaki announced they are going to “consider” accepting radioactive debris. He is also planning to enhance disposal field if they can accept the radioactive debris.
Now it’s likely that North Kyushu area will be contaminated as well.

Radioactive wind from Fukushima is predicted to hit Tokyo on 3/9/2012 from the data of meteorological bureau.

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[blackchisel97]

Radioactive pollen..

March is the peak of hay fever season in Japan. And this year it brings a new twist: radioactivity in pollen.

SOURCE: European Pressphoto Agency via WSJ

A year after meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant blew radioactive particles over much of northeastern Japan, some of that contamination is being re-dispersed by trees. [...]

Sugi are everywhere in Japan, growing especially thickly in the hills and mountains of eastern Japan. Between February and May, the tiny cones on the ends of the sugi branches release their pollen spores in massive clouds, which can waft more than 100 miles [...]

The problem this year is the radioactive cesium spewed out after the Fukushima accident, which researchers last summer found collecting inside sugi needles, though they’re still not sure how it got there. [...]

Although the survey did find some extremely high levels – especially from sugi in the town of Namie in Fukushima, inside the no-go zone – the Forestry Agency concluded that by the time the pollen got through the noses of the populace, the level of exposure would be very low. [...] - Of course, nothing to worry about. Business as usual...

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[blackchisel97]

“Unbelievable”

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...

Expert Warns: Leakage of Water from the Unit 4 SFP Will Mean "THE END" (Mar. 8, 2012) - YouTube

You may think it's "already one year" [since the accident] but it's actually "still only one year."

True cause of the Fukushima Daiichi accident still hasn't been identified.

[...]

Still, they are talking about resuming the operation of nuclear plants.

[...]

But is the accident over? Is it really over? For example, Unit 4. In fact, Dr. Koide of Kyoto University is worried about it most.

The present conditions of Unit 4 are like this. You see, almost no walls. They were blown off, and honestly speaking, the Unit 4 is a wreck. A wreck.

[...]

Now, what if an earthquake occurred right now and the water in the pool started to leak?

I asked this question to Dr. Koide. Please watch this video.

[...]

If a large aftershock occurred and the wall here collapsed, the water in the pool would leak out and the spent fuel would not be cooled any more. Then, they would start to melt, probably completely. And huge amount of radiation contained in the spend fuel would be released outside, with no walls to block it.

We'll never know when an earthquake comes.

[...]

the fuel rods, which are probably damaged to some degree

[...]

What if a destructive earthquake occurred during those years?

That would be the end. The end? Yes.

You see, that would be the end.

Unbelievable...unbelievable.

This is a serious problem.

TEPCO knows dealing with this problem is most important for now.

[...]

So if a large earthquake should occur from now until that January...

No, it doesn't have to be large. Unit 4 has been shaken many times already.

If the pool got cracks after another earthquake and the water started to leak out, Dr. Koide said that would be the end.

The end for a wide area including Tokyo.

Oh my, and they are talking about resuming nuclear plant operation.

I think resuming the operation is out of the question at least until the results from the investigation by NAIIC come out.

[...]

I want them to let us vote again.

They talk about resuming the operation after gaining understanding from local communities. But for this issue, I think the whole country of Japan, or the whole area including the neighboring countries, is a "local community" that would be affected. We should keep in mind that it's not only the sites of the plants that should be considered as "local communities."

We should recognize the accident is far from over and the crisis is still ongoing.

Yes. And excuse me, I have a correction to make. Retrieving the fuel rods is planned to start not from January, but from...when? December next year? (Yes.)

December next year? No kidding!

Sorry, I took a too-favorable view.

The members of the Diet who want to resume, I want them to resign.

We need to reconsider this issue.

I want to know the exact names of the members of the Diet who want to resume, and ask them for their opinions.[...]

Highest Radiation in L.A. Air Yet » EnviroReporter.com

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[blackchisel97]

Top Investigative Reporter: “They made it up” — Fukushima emergency generators were not destroyed by tsunami

Title: Greg Palast - The Lies and Fraud Behind Nuclear Plants
Upload Date: March 6, 2012

At 7:45 in

A tsunami crashed through and destroyed the emergency diesel generators at Fukushima, that's why it melted down, who could have expected that?
Except its not true.
Go and look at Google Earth and see where the generators are. They were no more wet than the washroom here at 80 St. Marks.
I wouldn't go in barefoot, but you don't need a swimming suit.
They made it up
Why did they fail?
The answer was they commit suicide
Emergency diesel generators taken off of old cruise ships.

Title: Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants
Source: Greg Palast
Date: March 14, 2011

I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations. [...]

These safety back-up systems are the 'EDGs' in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because "it was on fire." [...]

Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels, "Snap, Crackle and Pop."

(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)

Greg Palast - The Lies and Fraud Behind Nuclear Plants - YouTube

Title: Fukushima Survivor: 'I've Hardly Smiled This Whole Year'
Source: BURN: An Energy Journal via PBS NewsHour
Author: American Public Media
Date: Mar 9, 2012

Carl Pillitteri was one of 38 Americans at the Fukushima plant when the earthquake hit. Describing the "demonic" sounds he heard and the pit of fear he felt inside the turbine building that day, Pillteri [sic] recently spoke with Alex Chadwick, the host of the new American Public Media series "BURN: An Energy Journal."

Transcript Excerpts

[...] CARL PILLITTERI, Nuclear Technician: The entire building was moving. And then I remember praying aloud for everyone, for all of us, just praying aloud. And I'm thinking that we're going to perish inside this turbine building. And I can still hear the turbine making its most unwelcome sounds in front of us there.

ALEX CHADWICK, American Public Media: Can you describe what the sounds were like coming out of the earth?

CARL PILLITTERI: They were almost demonic in the way they sounded. You know, it's just -- and I don't know what was generating these sounds, if it was the earth itself, or the building being flexed, or moved, or the upheaval of the building.

ALEX CHADWICK: And it s still going on, the shaking, the jolting is still going on.

CARL PILLITTERI: On the unit one turbine deck was the only time I thought I might perish. I had gotten to a point where I had surrendered. And that surrender was -- you know, I remember asking to make it quick.

[...]

CARL PILLITTERI: The morning of the 13th, when we all woke up from our first night's sleep in the hotel there in Tokyo, I came down to the lobby and I saw one table with co-workers at it. And I said, I think I have been traumatized. And I'm sure the way I sounded, you know, made my point. And Butch to the right of me burst into tears, a full-grown man. Danny, to the left of me, chokes up. And that morning breakfast breakdown was when I realized, yeah, this was more than I bargained for on March 11. [...]

Fukushima Survivor: 'I've Hardly Smiled This Whole Year' - YouTube

Title: TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility
Source: THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN
Uploaded by: ugayaunviersity
Date: March 8, 2012

Title: TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility
Source: THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN
Uploaded by: ugayaunviersity
Date: March 8, 2012

Dr. Eiichi Yamaguchi, Chairman of Fukushima Project & Professor, Doshisha University
Morinosuke KAWAGUCHI, Associate Director, Arthur D. Little (Japan), Inc

"TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility", by The FUKUSHIMA Project

With the one year anniversary of the March 11 disaster coming up, what did we really find out, and what can we learn? Did TEPCO make a criminal error on their decisions in the first few days dealing with the biggest nuclear power disaster in 25 years?

What about the media? Did the international media damage Japan's reputation with their overreaction to the unfolding events? And should the Japanese media have done more to counter the factually incorrect coverage?

FUKUSHIMA Project, a grass-roots investigation committee, which is composed of a group of academics and professionals, conducted a private investigation into TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant accident, and concluded that they could prove the cause of the accident was a criminal error on the part of TEPCO's technology management in the first days of the accident.

The group also looked into the media coverage of the crisis, and believes that some international media's coverage in the first two weeks of the crisis contributed to the tarnishing reputation of the "Japan Brand". At the same time, with Japanese media's "poor coverage", they missed the chance to counter with "defensive coverage".

FUKUSHIMA Project has published their report, "Fukushima Report: The Essentials of the Power Plant Accident" in January this year in Japanese, while they are searching for a publisher for their English edition, they will come to FCCJ to talk about their findings.

Professor Eiichi Yamaguchi, born in 1955, received his Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in Physics from the University of Tokyo. After working at NTT and several distinguished laboratories, he was appointed as a professor of Doshisha University in 2003.

Morinosuke Kawaguchi, born in 1961, is an Associate Director for Arthur D. Little (Japan), Inc. He received Bachelors degree in applied chemistry from Keio University, and a Master's degree in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before joining Arthur D. Little, he worked at the Kansai Research Institute. He was also previously an engineer for 15 years at Hitachi Co. Ltd.

3/8/2012[1 /5] TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility - YouTube
3/8/2012[2 /5] TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility - YouTube
3/8/2012[3 /5] TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility - YouTube
3/8/2012[4 /5] TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility - YouTube
3/8/2012[5 /5] TEPCO's Criminal Error and The Media's Responsibility - YouTube

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[blackchisel97]

Fukushima Fifty’ workers speak out

Title: REMEMBERING 3/11: Fukushima workers brave radiation for 1,000 yen an hour
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Author: SOPHIE KNIGHT
Date: March 10, 2012

[...] the world’s eyes turned briefly on the “Fukushima 50,” [...] Little has been heard from those men—who actually numbered more than fifty—or those that took their places in the following months. Most have been reluctant to speak to the media for fear of losing their jobs.

Three workers, however, did agree to speak to The Asahi Shimbun AJW after being introduced by Masayoshi Hisada, the author of a recently published book about their experiences, “Young Nuclear Outlaws.”

All grew up close to the Fukushima plant and started working there in their late teens or early 20s. [...]

X-rays, Rocks, Air Travel, Cartoons… Sound Familiar?

All three say that they have become desensitized to the risks of radiation exposure after years of work in the nuclear industry. The training they received from TEPCO played down the risks with cartoons of doses received from flights, x-rays and rocks and made no mention of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union.

“After working in this job for 10 years you become anesthetized to words like ‘exposure,’ or ‘contamination’,” said Kenichi

5,000 CPM Internally

[Kenichi's] internal radiation exposure has been measured at 5,000 counts per minute, or around five times the upper range for an average person. “I sometimes think maybe I shouldn’t get married and I won’t be able to have kids.”

Daily Dose of 18+ millisieverts through Fall

Kenichi says he was receiving around 18 to 20 millisieverts a day in the fall, according to his dosimeter. That has now fallen to around 0.08 millisievert.

Symptoms?

Many fainted from heatstroke, but Kenichi notes that if they had to go home they would not be paid. Those who blamed the plant’s operators for their symptoms were told not to come back the next day.

Meltdown Progression

Having worked in the industry for over 10 years, Kenichi and Tatsuo were much more aware of what was happening at the plant than the general public, who were reliant on information released by TEPCO and the government.

Kenichi predicted that the reactors would melt down in strict number order, from the No. 1 reactor upward, as the cooling system runs from the first to the sixth reactor. Hisada, the former editor of Jitsuwa Knuckles, a monthly magazine focusing on Japan’s seamy underbelly, heard the same prediction from a worker he knew on March 12.

“Information travels fast in these circles,” Hisada says. “The workers knew because they’ve been working in the same place for so long.”

None of them trust anything TEPCO or the government says.

Nuclear, the Attractive Alternative

The workers see themselves more as “outlaws,” as Hisada calls them, than heroes; estranged from society since a young age, when they started causing trouble and were involved in crime, they say work in the nuclear industry was an attractive alternative.

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[blackchisel97]

serious movement

Time: 18:09 JST 14 Mar 2012
Location: 40.7N 145.2E
Depth: 10 km
Magnitude: 6.8

Happening Now: Intense M6.1 in Chiba with multiple aftershocks — Fukushima hit with M4.6 — Began with M6.8 off northeast Japan four hours ago.
Tsunami warning has been issued. No reports of damages to nuclear plants.

Just checked both the Tepco livecam and the JNN livecam due to the recent quake. Tepco cam was streaming daylight video.. and the JNN cam was streaming nighttime vid.. Makes you wonder what are they willing to show us (again).

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Title: The Cost of Fear: The Framing of a Fukushima Report
Source: NPR Ombudsman
Author: Edward Schumacher-Matos
Date: March 15, 2012

[...] Some listeners contacted us following the segment to question why Harris would, in their words, “downplay” the dangers radiation exposure had on the public. In particular, Chris McCarthy, a physics professor at San Francisco State University, questioned how Harris could focus his report on the seemingly less-serious problem of trauma in light of a report in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by nuclear expert Frank N. von Hippel, a professor at Princeton, who wrote that “one might expect around 1,000 extra cancer deaths related to the Fukushima Daiichi accident.”

Nuclear power leaves many of us feeling uncomfortable. You can’t see it being generated, and you can’t see the deadly radiation it can produce. At the same, a nuclear explosion can be so awesomely destructive. At least these were my feelings when as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer I covered the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1972 [see below] in Pennsylvania. These same fears seem to drive opponents to nuclear power, as well as a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists.

Von Hippel and McCarthy come with considerable credentials, and so we asked [NPR's Richard] Harris to respond. His comments demonstrate the care he took in framing this particular report.

From Harris: [...]
I talked to Robert Gale and John Boice about the two workers who got reddening on their legs after exposure to excess radiation. (Contaminated water got into their boots). Gale had examined the workers and said the dose caused a localized reaction but is not high enough to pose an ongoing health risk to the workers. (That issue was trimmed from my story as I edited it down for time). [...]

Can we have faith in the NRC when just today at the NRC hearings:
—–> Commissioner Magwood said with Fukushima, there are "…no expected fatalities resulting from the nuclear incident."
—–> Commissioner Ostendorff said there were no deaths from radiation exposure from nuclear power plants in the U.S.

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[blackchisel97]

Geiger Counter Readings
Security Tokyo
March 25, 2012

Radiation dose tripled at Adachi-ku in Tokyo

3/25/12 at 00:00 @ 0.09 microSv/h
3/25/12 at 00:30 @ 0.28 microSv/h

Radiation dose doubled at Shinagawa-ku in Tokyo around the same time.

Title: Earthquake Information
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency
Date: March 25, 2012

22:22 JST 25 Mar 2012 Fukushima-ken Oki M5.2

Another quake hits Fukushima at same location and depth.

Title: Japan: “Hurry up! Restart the Oi nuclear power plants!”
Date: Mar 24, 2012
From 2:24 – 3:33 in

Speaking to Haruki Madarame, Chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan: “If today’s meeting is about safety please answer my question.” -

Japan: "Hurry up! Restart the Oi nuclear power plants!" - YouTube

Also good material -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGsYdDpUSzg

[blackchisel97]

Title: M6.4 quake shakes Iwate, Miyagi in Japan’s northeast
Source: Kyodo
Date: 7:16am ET 27 March 2012

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 shook northeastern Japan, centering on Iwate and Miyagi prefectures [...]

The 8 p.m. temblor measured lower 5 on the Japanese intensity scale of 7 in locations such as a wide area of Iwate and northern Miyagi [...]

Title: Fukushima No. 2 reactor radiation level up to 73 sieverts per hour
Source: Kyodo News
Date: 20:11 27 March

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Tuesday that the radiation level inside the crippled No. 2 reactor stood at an extremely high level between 31.1 and 72.9 sieverts per hour, underscoring the existence of radioactive substances from the melted fuel inside the structure. [...]

The highest radiation level was measured at about 4 meters from the bottom and about 1 meter away from the vessel’s interior wall.

Title: New probe finds worse damage at Fukushima reactor
Source: The Associated Press
Date: 8:41 a.m. Tuesday, March 27, 2012

[Tepco ...] found fatal radiation levels and hardly any cooling water inside one of the reactors, renewing concerns about the plant’s stability.

[Tepco ...] detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the No. 2 reactor’s contain chamber, suggesting challenges ahead in shutting down the facility.

[...] containment vessel had cooling water up to only about 60 centimeters (2 feet) from the bottom, far below the 10 meters (yards) estimated when the government declared the plant’s stability in December. [...]

In this level of radiation, human starts vomiting within a minute and dies within 8 minutes. It is impossible to have human work inside of container vessel.
Actually, Tepco did not intend to watch the fuel debris in this endoscope operation. Tepco is assuming that the fuel is in pedestal, which is separated from where they checked with endoscope this time with concrete wall.

To see where Tepco assumes the fuel debris is, they have to put the camera under the pressure vessel, surrounded by the concrete of pedestal. About this potential attempt, actual Fukushima worker Happy11311 tweeted like this below.

The highest reading of 73 Sv/h was lower than I thought, but no one can get close to there. Probably it is higher than 1000Sv/h inside or in front of the entrance of the pedestal. The endoscope used this time can’t resist the radiation of higher than 1000Sv/h so it would be over scale.

The fuel debris has not been checked yet, but this operation made it clear that it would take considerable amount of time to fill container vessel with water as Tepco is planning, or it would be simply impossible. and they are planning to take out the fuel in 10 years but it would take way more than 10 years. I don’t know how long it takes.

81 Bq/Kg of cesium from citrus in Chiba
Posted by Mochizuki on March 26th, 2012

Chiba local city government published the measuring data of citrus produced in Chiba.

For some reason, they picked up only 11 samples for 3 different kinds of fruits, and they measured cesium from 3 of them.

However, because it’s under the new safety limit of 100 Bq/Kg, those products will be distributed to the market.

(Cesium 134, Cesium 137, Bq/Kg)

Chinese citron Kimitsu shi 26, 30
Sweet Watson Pomelo Kimitsu shi 36, 45
Chinese citron Futtsu shi ND (<20), 24


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[blackchisel97]

Radiation Inside Fukushima Reactor So High That New Machines Must Be Designed to Monitor It
March 28, 2012
Source: Washington Post

One of Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and hardly any water to cool it, according to an internal examination Tuesday that renews doubts about the plant’s stability.

A tool equipped with a tiny video camera, a thermometer, a dosimeter and a water gauge was used to assess damage inside the No. 2 reactor’s containment chamber for the second time since the tsunami swept into the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant a year ago. The probe done in January failed to find the water surface and provided only images showing steam, unidentified parts and rusty metal surfaces scarred by exposure to radiation, heat and humidity.

The data collected from the probes showed the damage from the disaster was so severe, the plant operator will have to develop special equipment and technology to tolerate the harsh environment and decommission the plant, a process expected to last decades.

Tuesday’s examination with an industrial endoscope detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the chamber. Plant officials previously said more than half of melted fuel has breached the core and dropped to the floor of the primary containment vessel, some of it splashing against the wall or the floor.

Particles from melted fuel have probably sent radiation levels up to dangerously high 70 sieverts per hour inside the container, said Junichi Matsumoto, spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co.

“It’s extremely high,” he said, adding that an endoscope would last only 14 hours in that condition. “We have to develop equipment that can tolerate high radiation” when locating and removing melted fuel during the decommissioning.

The probe also found the containment vessel — a beaker-shaped container enclosing the core — had cooling water up to only 60 centimeters (2 feet) from the bottom, far below the 10 meters (yards) estimated when the government declared the plant stable in December.

Finding the water level was important to help locate damaged areas where radioactive water is escaping.

He said that the actual water level inside the chamber was way off the estimate, which had used data that turned out to be unreliable. But the results don’t affect the plant’s “cold shutdown status” because the water temperature was about 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), indicating the melted fuel is cooled.

Three Dai-ichi reactors had meltdowns, but the No. 2 reactor is the only one that has been examined because radiation levels inside the reactor building are relatively low and its container is designed with a convenient slot to send in the endoscope.

The exact conditions of the other two reactors, where hydrogen explosions damaged their buildings, are still unknown. Simulations have indicated that more fuel inside No. 1 has breached the core than the other two, but radiation at No. 3 remains the highest.

The high radiation levels inside the No. 2 reactor’s chamber mean it’s inaccessible to the workers, but parts of the reactor building are accessible for a few minutes at a time — with the workers wearing full protection.

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[blackchisel97]

Japan on ‘high alert’ for typhoon-class storm

Title: [Weather Alert] Japan may experience typhoon-class spring storm
Source: YokosoNews
Date: April 3, 2012

As at 11am, April 3, 2012 [...]

JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) said the heaviest time of Tokyo area maybe around the busiest commute hour around 6pm-9pm. The disruption of Tokyo’s transportation system is expected. Many people may be stuck for a few hours. [...]

Then, the storm will move to Tohoku (North Japan) [Home of Fukushima Daiichi] area. The storm would continue to bring heavy wind and storm through tomorrow morning in North Japan. [...]
According to NHK and Yomiuri, the people in Japan should be on the high alert [...]
The wind should be as strong as 25 m/sec, which is as strong as a typhoon.

Low pressure coming toward Fukushima 4/3/2012.flv - YouTube

Reports of radioactive black cyanobacteria spreading to Tokyo area

Increasing black substance in Tokyo | Fukushima Diary

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[blackchisel97]

Storm may have halted nitrogen injections @ 3 reactors

Title: Typhoon-strength storm kills two in Japan, brings chaos
Source: AFP
Date: April 3, 2012 at 6:37pm ET

A typhoon-strength storm brought travel chaos to Japan on Tuesday, as violent winds and rain killed at least two people and left tens of thousands of people stranded.

Gusts of up to 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour have been recorded in western Japan, with coastal areas likely seeing even stronger winds, Japan’s weather agency said. [...]

Forecasters said an expanding low pressure system in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) was forcing a cold front over the country, where it was bringing heavy rains and strong winds.

“This is like the core of a typhoon, but it is staying for a long time, whereas a typhoon usually moves rather quickly,” a spokesman for the Japan Meteorological Agency said, adding that it was a “rare” situation. [...]

Every particle in the dust will become an airborne again...


Nitrogen injection into damaged Fukushima reactors halts for over 2 hrs
Source: Kyodo
Date: 21:23 4 April

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Wednesday that the injection of nitrogen gas into three crippled reactors ceased for over 2 hours, although it detected no abnormalities that could raise fears of a hydrogen explosion.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the interruption occurred possibly because a filter of the supply device was clogged by dust as a result of strong winds seen from Tuesday evening.

[...] it took about an hour for workers to realize that the injection of the gas into the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors had stopped as the alarm cannot be detected at the operation center in real time. [...]


Over 100°C? New Tepco data shows temperature spiked at two gauges in Reactor No. 2 — Similar rise patterns for both charts
From pdf Report to NISA on units 1 ~ 3 thermometer reliability

(the NISA requested Tepco to write a report once a month):

Some of the thermometers not previously evaluated were found to be usable, and some were found to be broken. Some thermometers that were not connected to a digital recorder have been connected to a digital recorder.

According to the plot on page 126

Unit 2′s TE-16-114L#2 RPV BELLOWS SEAL AREA, newly connected to a digital recorder (on 8 March 2012) reached 100°C on 19 March 2012. (but it is not marked as “broken”).

TE-16-114L#1 is having a similar rising trend, reaching 83°C on 19 March 2012.

This is from last fall - 10,000 Free Flights to Japan!? |

They should offer those flights to Japanese people instead....

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