Nuclear accident in Japan, a Japanese Chernobyl?

[Christophe]

Today it's been 2 years to the day ... is a little co-memorable press review necessary or have we already said almost everything here?

[Alain G]

Fukushima: new water leak noted, cause still unknown


The company managing the damaged Fukushima power plant, Tepco, announced Tuesday that a third, still unexplained leak of highly radioactive water had been found around an underground reservoir which, like two others, could suffer from a design defect.Show photo

The company managing the damaged Fukushima plant, Tepco, announced on Tuesday that…

The company managing the damaged Fukushima power plant, Tepco, announced Tuesday that a third, still unexplained leak of highly radioactive water had been found around an underground reservoir which, like two others, could suffer from a design flaw.

A flow of contaminated liquid was identified around tank number 1, after a similar finding near tanks 2 and 3.

"We are at the moment unable to say it is this or that," spokesman Masayuki Ono said during a press conference, indicating that several potential causes exist and that "reviews are currently in progress ".

The CEO, Naomi Hirose, and the vice-president Zengo Aizawa went to the plant during the day to observe the situation on the spot and decide on the measures to be taken.

Tepco had reported on the night of Friday to Saturday of a flow of contaminated water into the ground from a first underground storage tank. The operator estimated that about 120 tonnes of liquid would have leaked.

A similar problem was then found on another tank of the same type (60 mx 53 m and 6 m deep), out of a total of seven which are used to store highly radioactive water from the cooling of damaged reactors.

To remedy this situation, Tepco was pumping the thousands of tonnes of water from faulty tanks 2 and 3 to others, but one of these reception tanks, number 1 , is now also suspected of passing water.

Suddenly, Tepco decided to put the water in other types of tanks.

However, the quantities of water are greater than the capacities available.

Some of the water is recycled in the cooling systems, but there is a surplus of 400 tonnes per day which must be stored in a safe place after partial decontamination.

Even if Tepco considers that the water is not likely to flow into the sea, the reservoirs being located 800 meters from the ocean, these leaks are worrying even the Russian authorities.

"The situation cannot fail to worry us, given that we are next door", declared Tuesday the head of the Russian health services, Gennady Onishchenko, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

The discovery of contaminated water leaks "testifies to the fact that they cannot fix the situation."

"Since the Japanese refuse to allow foreign specialists to enter (the plant), we are having a hard time living with the situation," added Onishchenko.

Problems have multiplied in recent weeks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, endangered by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, which led the company to set up a crisis cell and the authorities to order to act quickly to calm the situation.

Friday, Tepco had notably reported an interruption of the cooling system of the spent fuel deactivation pool of reactor 3, a damage likely caused by work to prevent a recurrence of a serious blackout that occurred on March 18 and 19.

http://fr-ca.actualites.yahoo.com/fukus ... 42118.html

A surplus of 400 tonnes per day!

You haven't finished drooling!

[roy1361]

Hi,

"The Fukushima affair no longer interests anyone, but when I see this little article of the day from Swiss Teletext, I wonder if it would not be wise to take a little more interest in it ...



Worrisome, right?

[Remundo]

Worrisome, but what do you want to do about it? it's going to last like this for decades, it's folded.

[roy1361]

I agree, but I still find it unbelievable that after more than two years TEPCO is simply saying: "Not currently being able to judge whether radioactive water is flowing into the ocean or not"

Clearly they do not know anything but in addition, obviously, they do not care completely, right?

[Remundo]

in the logical sequence ...

Fukushima: phenomenal increase in radioactive cesium level

The World | 09.07.2013

The manager of the damaged Fukushima plant announced on Tuesday July 9 that he had noticed a 90-fold increase in three days in the level of radioactive cesium in a sampling well located between the reactors and the sea. This umpteenth bad discovery raises new questions about the spread of contaminated groundwater.

According to the samples taken on July 8, the groundwater at a point about 25 meters from the sea contained 9 becquerels of cesium 000 per liter and 134 becquerels of cesium 18, compared to 000 becquerels / liter and 137 becquerels / liter three days before. The multiplication factor in this short period of time is 99 times in the first case and 210 times in the second.

UNCERTAINTIES ON A POSSIBLE CONTAMINATION

"We are not yet able to say whether or not the contaminated water is flowing into the sea," Tepco told reporters. The group, however, promises to tighten controls and take steps to prevent further contamination of the neighboring Pacific Ocean.

On July 5, Tepco had already discovered in the same place a phenomenal level of other radioactive elements, in this case a quantity of strontium 90 and other elements producing beta rays, of 900 becquerels / liter. On July 000, the level of these substances was about the same, 8 becquerels / liter, several thousand times the accepted limit for seawater.

Tepco had explained that the sampling point is located where a pipe passes and where large quantities of contaminated water had been discharged the month after the nuclear disaster, that is in April 2011. This does not however explain the sudden increase amounts of cesium.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 in the northeast of the archipelago. Fuel has melted in three of the site's six reactors, resulting in the presence of numerous radioactive elements in the vicinity.

Source The World

[Alain G]

Fukushima: new incident and vapor still visible




The cooling system of an undamaged reactor at the damaged Fukushima plant temporarily shutdown on Thursday and steam is still visible above the building of another affected unit, the operator of the atomic complex said. .

The cooling system of reactor number 6, a little away from the four destroyed by the tsunami and the subsequent explosions, stopped at around 10:16 local time (01:16 GMT) during a test of the emergency generator. It was put back into service a little after noon (03 GMT), Tepco said in emails.

The glitches are daily at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, endangered by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011 in the northeast of the archipelago.

Some 3.000 technicians and workers are fighting on the site to prepare for its dismantling but are constantly confronted with the occurrence of numerous damages in places inaccessible due to radioactivity.

In addition to leaks of highly contaminated water that pollute the neighboring Pacific Ocean, unexplained vapor has been intermittently escaping for a week from the top of the ripped building of Reactor 3.

"It was still visible on Thursday around 13:00 p.m. (04:00 GMT)," a Tepco spokesperson told AFP.

The company claims that the parameters measured show that there is no overheating in the reactor which would explain this vapor, the origin of which remains unknown.

These fumes were initially seen on Thursday July 18 via a camera, apparently near an equipment storage pool on the 5th and last level of the reactor building number 3.

Reactor 3 is one of three at the plant (out of six) in which nuclear fuel melted after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. It is probably the most damaged of all, because it also suffered a hydrogen explosion which blew the roof of the building in mid-March 2011, leaving part of the installations in the air and heaps of trash.

There is also a very high level of radioactivity near this reactor which operated on MOX (mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides) which makes human intervention impossible.

These serial incidents are a reminder that the situation remains unstable in this endangered plant, even if it is considered to be under control since December 2011, when the authorities decreed that the six reactors were in a so-called "cold shutdown" state.

http://fr-ca.actualites.yahoo.com/fukus ... 01474.html

We're not done drooling

[Remundo]

and eat it too

[chevesne51]

+1:

source

More than two years after the Fukushima disaster, the multinational Tepco, in charge of the plant, is caught up in revelations as to the real effects of the radiation on the site's employees. The timing is bad, to say the least, as the Japanese Prime Minister strives to praise the merits of nuclear power for Japan's economic future.

Has the nuclear disaster in March 2011 in Japan been stirring up in the once ubiquitous and omnipotent nuclear industry since then? but also among government agencies that helped and supported her. However, the latter continue to remain discreet and to minimize the consequences of the triple explosion of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Latest revelation to date: the number of workers who developed cancers - induced by the inhalation of radioactive substances which affected their thyroid gland in the first times after the disaster - is in fact eleven times higher than that announced in December.

It is not 178 employees, as claimed by the multinational TEPCO, bailed out and partly controlled by the state, but 1973 employees who have reported cancer, according to information learned by Asahi Shimbun.

Despite its former prestige and power, hiccups and the unexpected have accumulated for TEPCO, leaving the operator in turmoil. For example, in mid-March, TEPCO revealed that a month earlier, a fish with a rate of 740 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilo was found near the power station. This is 000 times the official limit imposed by government food safety rules, a level never measured by TEPCO. The previous record recorded by the company on a fish amounted to 7 becquerels. And say that they are part of the food chain�

Earlier in the week, researchers established that several wolves caught off the coast of Hitachi, a city some 1 km from the power plant? not far from Tokyo? had a cesium level of 037 becquerels per kilo, more than 10 times the official limit set by the authorities responsible for food safety. It is the first time since April 2011 that such levels of contamination have been recorded in the region. The researchers admitted that they had no idea what could explain the increase in this level, more than two years after the accident.

Unfortunately, the levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in the groundwater beneath the power plant began to increase in early July. Measured on July 8, radioactivity levels were 90 times higher than those recorded three days earlier and exceeded the authorized limit for groundwater by 200 times. TEPCO was embarrassed. "We don't know if radioactive water is pouring into the sea," said a member of the company.

On June 19, TEPCO had already admitted that the content of strontium-90 in groundwater increased by more than 100 times between December and May, strontium was a very toxic derivative resulting from the fission of uranium and plutonium; and that the level of tritium, a less dangerous radioactive agent, had increased by 17 times. When cesium levels peaked at the start of the month, TEPCO conceded at the same time that the level of tritium in the sea had reached 2 becquerels per liter, the highest rate ever detected, double the rate measured two weeks ago.

All this came at a very bad time: TEPCO cools the reactors with a continuous flow of water - 400 tonnes of cubic meters of water per day? and then stores the contaminated water in tanks installed on site. But some of them with cracks allowed some of the water to escape, the result of shoddy work. In addition, TEPCO cannot build infinite tanks in order to store an endless stream of water. The multinational is therefore seeking authorization to discharge the contaminated water into the Pacific. At least everything that hasn't spilled into it yet.

This is what underlies the revelation recognizing that TEPCO's assertion last December, that the company claimed that only 178 employees had a level of radioactivity above the maximum authorized of 100 millisieverts? their rates having increased to 11 millisieverts? was a lie.

TEPCO did not even bother to study the matter. Despite warnings by international experts about the risks of radiation exposure, the company has not opened any investigation into the radioactive doses in the thyroid glands. It was not until international pressure was applied that such an initiative was finally launched. After finally collecting data on 522 employees? of the 19 who have worked at the plant since it was commissioned, of which 592 have often been hired by unscrupulous employers and subcontractors. The results were transmitted to WHO last year, so TEPCO still refused to reveal them publicly, at least not before WHO declared its intention to publish them. This therefore explains the announcement made last December.

However, no one believed the results. The UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Nuclear Radiation has questioned the reliability of the data; and the Japanese Minister of Health urged TEPCO to review the presentation of its data. Which she did in the end. According to Asahi Shimbun:

“TEPCO and its partner companies have not only reassessed the interpretations made of the tests on the doses of radioactive elements contained in the thyroid glands, but have also measured these doses when the amount of radioactive iodine in the body was zero. These estimates were based on the amounts of cesium inhaled, the ratio of iodine to cesium breathed into the air during their workdays, and other data. The latest study found that these doses exceeded the 100 millisieverts threshold in 1973 employees. "

How long has TEPCO dragged its feet? While most exposures took place in the early days after the disaster, TEPCO took 28 months to admit that almost 2 of its employees developed cancer as a result of the radioactive doses in their thyroid glands. The employees themselves told Asahi Shimbun that TEPCO "had disclosed little, if any, information" on the matter.

When the time came to act, TEPCO did everything it could to help these employees. "We will help financially and psychologically all workers who need annual thyroid gland tests when they have levels above 100 millisieverts," said a communications officer. "We have already identified those who are eligible for these controls."

True to its reputation as an omniscient company, TEPCO was not aware of the number of workers who had undergone examinations. And what would have happened if anomalies had been detected during exams? TEPCO has not communicated on the matter. In concert with TEPCO, the Minister of Health himself did not verify the radioactive doses contained in the employees' thyroid glands; it would be up to TEPCO to do so, on a "voluntary basis".

Some workers have complained that TEPCO did not carefully explain the risks of radiation to the thyroid glands; and certain employees recruited by subcontractors reported never having been informed of the radiation doses, or even of the existence of such tests.

In July, Masao Yoshida, the director of the plant, died of esophageal cancer at the age of 58. He stayed at the plant for nine months after the accident, doing everything possible to minimize the risks and prevent overheating of the reactors. It also succeeds in preventing an even greater disaster from happening. He resigned in December 2011, after being hospitalized for his declared cancer. TEPCO, suddenly once again omniscient and faithful to the practices of the atomic industry, announced that his death was in no way linked to radiation. As in all similar cases, no one can prove otherwise; it is impossible to determine what exactly caused everyone's cancer? a pretext behind which the nuclear industry is hiding.

"Who can believe such an enterprise? "Said Hirohiko Izumida, the governor of Niigata prefecture, following the decision taken on July 2 by TEPCO management to reopen two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant, located in his prefecture, despite a survey showing that only 27% of the prefecture's residents supported this decision. "There is no worse contempt for the inhabitants of the region than that," laments the governor.

On July 17, researchers from Tokyo Woman's Christian University presented a new study to the office of the cabinet of the Atomic Energy Commission. Among all the results, the study reveals that 87% of Japanese people want Japan to get out of nuclear power, either by abandoning it as soon as possible (33%) or gradually (54%). And a good third think that the information communicated by the government on nuclear remained the least reliable.

But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a staunch supporter of the nuclear industry (although his views are not shared by everyone in his household). Restoring the glory of the nuclear industry is one of the priorities to be made possible with Abenomics? despite the fact that the true cost of nuclear power will weigh heavily on the future of the Japanese economy, and therefore on future generations.

We keep being told that this type of nuclear disaster is very rare. But when they do happen, their cost is extremely high. So high that the French government, while these estimates were starting to rise, preferred to keep them secret. The report was nonetheless leaked: the total cost, in the long term, of such a disaster in a sparsely populated environment, could cost nearly three times the GDP of France�

[Christophe]

I do not know if this video, from March 2012, had already been posted here (otherwise better 2 times than ...) this is the course of the disaster explained by IRSN

This film details the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011.

It explains the functioning of boiling water reactors operated in Japan, details the accident scenario and presents the emergency interventions carried out during the crisis and since.

For more information: http://www.irsn.fr/fuku-lecons/