Nuclear accident follows Japanese earthqauke

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Mar 2011, 21:24

Here's a remarkable children's version of Fukushima news, thanks to the Guardian, which provides an explanation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/20 ... ma-cartoon

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 24 Mar 2011, 21:50

biffvernon wrote:Here's a remarkable children's version of Fukushima news, thanks to the Guardian, which provides an explanation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/20 ... ma-cartoon

But poo is useful stuff that makes things grow better (and not glow in the dark)!

Is there any sign of Godzilla yet?

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 25 Mar 2011, 06:01

The Guardian - 25/03/11

Japan nuclear plant workers in hospital after radiation exposure

Three cable-layers at Fukushima power plant exposed to high levels of radiation after stepping into contaminated water.

Article continues ...

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 25 Mar 2011, 15:04

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/ ... PK20110325

Plant workers suffer 'radiation burns'.

Evacuation zone 'expanded to 30km radius'

radiation 10,000 time background levels.

Reactor 3 feared to have cracked core, exposing (broken?) plutonium fuel rods to the atmosphere

Emergency re-graded back up to level 6 (different news site).

Post by **clv101** » 25 Mar 2011, 16:17

The situation there seems as bad as ever.

Here's a cheery song: http://seizetheday.org/music.cfm?albumID=6&trackID=71

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 25 Mar 2011, 18:47

The Guardian - 25/03/11

Japanese nuclear officials fear crack in reactor core

Possible damage at Fukushima nuclear power plant could cause leak of high levels of radiation.

Article continues ...

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Mar 2011, 20:30

clv101 wrote:The situation there seems as bad as ever.

Here's a cheery song: http://seizetheday.org/music.cfm?albumID=6&trackID=71

Some quite witty lyrics in there

Japan's Primeminister Naoto Kan said: “The situation today at the Fukushima D ai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant. We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care.”

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 26 Mar 2011, 07:39

This mornings top story on Japan from the BBC:

Levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are 1,250 times higher than the safety limit, officials say.

The readings were taken about 300m (984ft) offshore. It is feared the radiation could be seeping into groundwater from one of the reactors.

But the radiation will no longer be a risk after eight days, officials say.

There are areas of radioactive water in four of the reactors at the plant, and two workers are in hospital.

The plant's operator says the core of one of the six reactors may have been damaged.

It has announced that fresh water rather than seawater will now be used to cool the damaged reactors, in the hope that this will be more effective.

"But the radiation will no longer be a risk after eight days, officials say."
Eh? Iodine 131 may have a half life of about eight days but that is by no means the same as "will no longer be a risk after eight days".
Doh.

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 26 Mar 2011, 08:14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine-131

Iodine-131 (131I), also called radioiodine (though many other radioactive isotopes of this element are known), is an important radioisotope of iodine. It has a radioactive decay half life of about eight days. Its uses are mostly medical and pharmaceutical. It also plays a role as a major radioactive hazard present in nuclear fission products, and was a significant contributor to the health effects from open-air atomic bomb testing in the 1950s, and from the Chernobyl disaster. This is because I-131 is a major uranium, plutonium and indirectly thorium fission product, comprising nearly 3% of the total products of fission.

Good news!

Due to its mode of beta decay, iodine-131 is notable for causing mutation and death in cells which it penetrates, and other cells up to several millimeters away. For this reason, high doses of the isotope are sometimes paradoxically less dangerous than low doses, since they tend to kill thyroid tissues which would otherwise become cancerous as a result of the radiation.[citation needed] Thus, iodine-131 is increasingly not employed in small doses in medical use, but increasingly used only in large and maximal treatment doses, as a way of killing targeted tissues. This is known as "therapeutic use."[citation needed]

No word yet of caesium-137 being found in the sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137

Caesium-137 (Cs-137) is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed as a fission product by nuclear fission.

It has a half-life of about 30.17 years, and decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium-137

Caesium-137 is water-soluble, and the biological behavior of caesium is similar to that of potassium and rubidium. After entering the body, caesium gets more or less uniformly distributed through the body, with higher concentration in muscle tissues and lower in bones. The biological half-life of caesium is rather short at about 70 days.[5]

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 26 Mar 2011, 09:43

Here is today's Bbc report. In the video "the levels of caesium are nearly 80 times higher than they should be". What that "should be" level is is not stated - could be natural level, could be safety level.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12869184

This is doing very bad things for the Japanese food industry. Who will buy imported Japanese food now? Will the Japanese themselves trust any of their home-grown food or seafood? Here is a map of the extent of the evacuation zones.

The Fukushima Daini nuclear plant (Fukushima II) is within the 20km evacuation zone. It is still shut down but there must be workers on site so I wonder what radiation doses they are being exposed to there.

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:48

The Guardian - 27/03/11

Radiation fears grow for low-paid heroes battling disaster

Safeguards at nuclear plant have failed emergency crews, and trust in the Japanese authorities is fading.

Article continues ...

Post by **clv101** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:53

The situation there seems a lot worse than the press releases are suggesting:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7706#comment-782817

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:06

The following is the status of each of six nuclear reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant as of 9 a.m., Japan time.

The company pumped fresh water into No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 reactors, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. The external power supply has been restored for all six reactors as of March 22, according to Tokyo Electric Power.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a “certain level of progress” has been made while speaking on an NHK television program today.

No. 1: Contaminated water in the turbine structure contains 10,000 times the radiation of regular cooling water, NHK said. The company has started removing contaminated water from the basement of the turbine building and will prepare more pumps to drain the water, the agency said. The unit has been damaged since a March 12 hydrogen explosion destroyed the building’s walls. The seriousness of the reactor’s threat to safety is rated level five on an international scale of 1-7.

No. 2: Contaminated water in the turbine structure contains 10 million times more radiation than normal cooling water, NHK said. The company plans to remove contaminated water as early as today, the agency said. The company plans to start using freshwater on fuel pool from March 28, the agency said. The containment chamber may have been damaged in a March 15 explosion, and a power cable was reconnected to the unit on March 19. The reactor is rated a level-five threat.

No. 3: Contaminated water in the turbine structure contains 10,000 times the normal radiation, NHK said. The company is considering ways to remove the contaminated water, the agency said. A March 14 explosion damaged the unit’s fuel cover. The reactor is rated a level-five threat.

No. 4: The company plans to spray water in the spent-fuel cooling pool this afternoon, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. The agency said on March 17 there may be no water in the pool. It’s rated at three on the threat level. This reactor was undergoing maintenance when the earthquake hit.

No. 5: The unit was idle for maintenance before the earthquake.

No. 6: The reactor achieved cold shutdown at 7:27 p.m. on March 20 when the temperature fell below 100 degrees Celsius, the company said. A backup generator was fixed March 19, according to a company press release. The unit was idle for maintenance before the earthquake.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Chu in Osaka at Kchu2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Teo Chian Wei in Osaka at cwteo@bloomberg.net; Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-2 ... table.html

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:14

Japanese Plant's Plutonium Containment Vessel May Have Ruptured

Japanese Self-Defense Force officers in radiation-protection suits hold a blue sheet over patients who were exposed to high levels of radiation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as they are transferred to a hospital on March 25.

The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has admitted there may be damage to the protective containment vessel around the most dangerous fuel rods in the complex -- the plutonium fuel rods in reactor No. 3.

The admission comes after Japan's government announced that workers who suffered burns while trying to cool the crippled No. 3 reactor were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than expected.

The evidence has raised fears that the crucial containment vessel had, indeed, ruptured in the 9.0 magnitude earthquake of March 11 or subsequent explosions after a tsunami knocked out the cooling systems of the six reactors there.

Officials have previously said that small explosions at the reactor could have damaged it, but the high seepage of radiation could imply worse damage than previously believed.

Nevertheless, there are conflicting views on the source of high radiation A Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official, Hidehiko Nishiyama, said the radiation could be leakage from pipes or valves during venting operations.

Nishiyama said there was "no data suggesting a crack" in the containment vessel.

"Currently, there is a high possibility that the third reactor's fuel rods are damaged and that is where we think [the radioactive water] came from," he said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami alone topped 10,000 today -- and there is little hope of finding alive another 17,500 people listed as missing.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/japan_nucl ... 36785.html

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:38

The denial of problem has been the salient feature of the whole affair; George Monbiot, the whole nuclear industry, Tepco etc. Only the Austrian arms control treaty monitors seem to be objective. They've been very lucky that the winds have been blowing the radioactive plume out to sea for almost all the time.

One has to wonder when the decision to abandon control and repair is taken and they start pouring concrete instead of water.

The latest animation shows more coloured in yellow than before and its not all at sea.