Nuclear accident follows Japanese earthqauke

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 03 Apr 2011, 18:58

Tepco’s Reactors May Take 30 Years, $12 Billion to Scrap

Apparently that is the cost just for tidying up the site. It doesn't include any compensation for ruining the neighbours' livelihoods.

Post by **mikepepler** » 04 Apr 2011, 11:31

The wikipedia timeline for the nuclear disaster says that "They attempted to inject a mixture of a water absorbing polymer, sawdust and shredded paper" to plug the crack in the containment. This is getting like the Deepwater Horizon situation, when they tried pumping in shredded car tyres and golf balls! It really does feel like they desperate and have no idea what to do...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_o ... ourth_week

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 05 Apr 2011, 07:11

BBC News - 05/04/11

Officials in the Fukushima region of Japan have started an emergency programme to measure radiation levels in school playgrounds.

More than 1,400 schools and nurseries will be tested over two days amid anxiety among parents over leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Article continues ...

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:17

Tepco To Drop Plan To Add 2 Reactors At Fukushima Nuclear Plant

TOKYO (Kyodo)--The vice president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that the company will withdraw its plan to build two more reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, following its submission of the plan to the government in late March.

''We now think it is impossible to add reactors,'' Takashi Fujimoto told a television program in reference to the plan to add two more reactors to the six-reactor plant.

The plant has been crippled by a series of explosions and radiation leaks triggered by the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

TEPCO submitted the plan after the start of the nuclear crisis as it did not have enough time to revise the plan before the end of fiscal 2010 on March 31. The move angered the government of Fukushima Prefecture, where the unfolding nuclear crisis has forced residents to evacuate or stay indoors.

...article continues

Talk about glass half-full!

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:20

Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant to be offered stem cell banking

At the Fukushima nuclear plant affected by the recent earthquake in Japan, workers have been attempting to fix the damage to the reactors, despite potentially high levels of radioactive contamination. As a result, the workers may now be invited to bank their stem cells for future treatment should they become ill.

...article continues

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:23

Tokyo Elec: want to avoid rolling blackouts in summer

(Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Tuesday it wants to avoid having to impose rolling power blackouts in summer.

An earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out a big portion of the electricity supply to the Tokyo area, leaving millions to cope with rolling power blackouts last month, and worries have mounted that there will be blackouts during the summer when demand surges due to heavy use of air-conditioning.

Analysts have suggested that blackouts could ultimately cause the biggest economic damage to Japan.

The Tokyo area and regions further north make up half of the economic activity for the world's third-biggest economy, Nomura Holdings estimates.

Executive Vice President Takashi Fujimoto also said that the utility was discussing the issue of compensation for victims of the nuclear crisis with the government but no final decision had been made yet. (Reporting by Chisa Fujioka)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/ ... 2820110405

Economically speaking, it looks like TEPCO and Japan are F U C K e d.

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:28

Japan nuclear debate on safety and energy

Japan's government says it may take several more months before it is able to stop the radiation leaks from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

TEPCO, the power company that operates the plant, has come under increasing scrutiny from the Japanese public, along with other nuclear stations in the country.

While people are angry at TEPCO, the government is now forced to review its energy policy.

Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Hamaoka. (03 April 2011)

Video from Al Jazeera
The Japanese mass media is basically sponsored by TEPCO through advertising. So far, no one from the mass media has criticised TEPCO; only freelancers.

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:36

Japan's radioactive water worries S Korea

South Korea has expressed concern to Japan about the pumping of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan says it is dumping more than 11,000 tonnes of low-level radioactive water into the ocean to make space for even more contaminated run-off from water used to douse overheating fuel rods.

The government says the release is needed to stabilise the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

South Korea's embassy in Tokyo has expressed concern that the release may be in breach of international laws.

"It's the proximity between the two countries that makes Japan's release of radioactive water a pressing issue for us," an unnamed official told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the stricken plant, said the release of the water - the equivalent of more than four Olympic-sized swimming pools - would not harm marine life or seafood safety.

...article continues

And yet...

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:40

...the Japanese Government see it differently from TEPCO.

Japan eyes setting radioactive restrictions for fish

TOKYO, April 5 (Reuters) - Japan is seeking to apply the same radioactive level restrictions it sets on vegetables to fish, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Tuesday.

The decision come in the wake of tiny fish caught off Ibaraki prefecture this week with radioactive iodine and cesium above legal limits.

Edano added that Japan will continue to keep the IAEA and other countries informed on releases of radioactive water into the ocean, a measure operators at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began on Monday to make storage room for water with higher levels of radiation. (Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro and Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOil ... 2920110405

Radioactive caesium is getting very few mentions. Its occurrence found in seafood will be very worrying for the Japanese seafood industry.

2 As and a B · Post by **2 As and a B** » 05 Apr 2011, 09:45

Evacuees: Welcome to your future, neighbours of Fukushima I Dai-ichi. We hope you have a pleasant exile.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 05 Apr 2011, 13:58

A bequerell may be bugger-all but when you have 5 400 000 000 Bq/kg in the water you really shouldn't go for a swim.

Most of the world's problems can usually be solved from a safe distance in an armchair, it just being a case of getting people to behave sensibly.

Fixing this mess is a bit trickier.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 05 Apr 2011, 16:33

As far as summer electricity demand from air conditioning leading to blackouts, surely a country as self-controlled as Japan could introduce regulations to limit the use to the absolute minimum - say 28C in offices,
no air con at home except for the old and sick, etc...

Maybe it is time for some enforcsd energy conservation.

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 06 Apr 2011, 14:53

The Guardian - 06/04/11

Japanese nuclear engineers plug Fukushima leak

Workers stem flow of radioactive water into sea using mixture of sawdust, newspaper, concrete and a type of liquid glass.

Article continues ...

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 06 Apr 2011, 15:05

Here is evidence of further damage and contamination that was obvious early on but widely poo-pooed by unnamed posters

The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world ... .html?_r=1

So that is a 1km exclusion zone that is not going to be lifted in our lifetimes...

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 06 Apr 2011, 16:50

Next task is to stop further hydrogen explosions:

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Wednesday started work to inject nitrogen into one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex to reduce the potential risk of a hydrogen explosion, while it succeeded in stopping highly radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the plant earlier in the day.

Nitrogen, an inert gas, will be injected into the No. 1 reactor's containment vessel from around 1 a.m. Thursday, a process that could take several days. Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, denied during a morning press conference that there is an ''immediate danger'' of explosion.
More from Kyodo News

Something appears to have been lost in translation. The headline states Work underway to prevent explosion - er, there've been three already. Should state further explosions.
There is also another incorrect statement as quoted above - Nitrogen isn't inert as the article implies: haven't these guys heard of the nitrogen cycle