Category Archives: Fukushima

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: UN says radiation exposure worse than first reported!

13 October 2013 (05:10 UTC-07 Tango)/08 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/21 Mehr 1392/09 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Recently, Tokyo Electric Power Company reported detecting cesium in the Pacific Ocean, in an area previously free of the isotope!

For the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reported that the initial radiation exposure to humans around Fukushima Daiichi, back in 2011, was at least 20% higher than what TEPCo and the Japanese government reported!

The report stated that “…severe core damage to three of the six nuclear reactors…resulted in the release, over a prolonged period, of very large
amounts of radioactive material into the environment.”

The UNSCEAR investigation discovered that TEPCo and the Japanese government was not able to directly measure certain isotopes, such as radioactive iodine and cesium, in their radiation exposure assessments.  The thousands of employees at Fukushima Daiichi suffered the highest radiation contamination, higher than what the official Japanese government reports say.

The major problem with the Japanese reports of exposure levels is that they are purely “estimates”.  The UNSCEAR pointed out that there were no direct radiation measuring available at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, and therefore corporate and government officials based exposure on “various models”.

(as I wrote back in 2011, they were guessing!)

The UNSCEAR added that “…low-level releases into the ocean were still ongoing in May 2013.”

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: Contracted “throwaway” workers burning out! Being blamed for leaks!

09 October 2013 (12:17 UTC-07 Tango)/04 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/17 Mehr 1392/05 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

“…..if even the workers who are risking their lives are demoralized and have no trust in TEPCo…….why should the Japanese citizens or international public at large have any confidence in the Japanese government or TEPCo?”–Dave Lochbaum, UCS Nuclear Safety Project

Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority is blaming crashing worker morale for increasing radiation leaks. However, that low worker morale can be traced right to Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the elitist attitude of the entire nuclear industry in Japan (remember, an elitist Bilderberger recently took over TEPCo’s public relations and safety operations: “..radiation is scary. It’s like magic, it’s mystical…”-Lady Barbara Judge).

The majority of TEPCo’s workers at the melting down Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant are contracted and subcontracted, with little or no training.  I’ve seen documentaries that show that some subcontracted nuke workers, in Japan, are paid even less than the standard minimum wage with no benefits, many never finished high school.  It’s like running your nuclear power factory with illegal migrant farm workers.

In June 2011, Reuters revealed that Japan’s nuke industry workers are considered the lowest of the low, even an ‘untouchable’ class in Japan known as “throwaways” by their elitist employers: “This is an unfortunate thing to say, but the nuclear industry has long relied on people at the lowest level of Japanese society.”-Fujii Kazunori, retired nuclear project manager

Back in August 2012, the Japanese Labor Ministry warned there were not enough “qualified” nuclear plant workers in Japan.

Just last month, the Japanese Health Ministry reported that white blood cell counts for workers at Fukushima Daiichi were up.  That’s an indicator of cancer. And in the past three months there’s been increasing incidents were workers were contaminated directly with radioactive water.

Gee, I wounder why workers at Fukushima Daiichi are so demoralized?

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: Incompetent untrained workers spill 37 million becquerels of beta radiation!

09 October 2013 (01:13 UTC-07 Tango)/04 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/17 Mehr 1392/05 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, report that workers removing pipes, removed the wrong pipe and spilled hundreds of tons of water contaminated with 37-million becquerels per liter of beta radiation!

Six workers are contaminated and are under medical observation.

It was also discovered that gaps in the bolt together water storage tanks, that are leaking hundreds of tons of contaminated water, are the result of major corrosion caused by radiation.  Inspectors believe that contaminated water leaking around the bolts caused the corrosion.

 

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: New 200-thousand becquerel leak blamed on continued comedy of errors by TEPCo! Local government taking matter into their own hands!

03 October 2013 (11:51 UTC-07 Tango)/28 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/11 Mehr 1392/29 Ren-Xu (8th month) 4711

On 02 October 2013 another contaminated water storage tank, at Fukushima Daiichi, overflowed water containing 200-thousand becquerels of beta radiation per liter!  TEPCo officials say the water got into the Pacific Ocean.  The Japanese government’s safe limit for radioactive water being released into the ocean is 30 becquerels per liter.

Continued incompetence on the part of Tokyo Electric Power Company, and its subcontractors, is being blamed for the most recent radiation leaks into the Pacific Ocean.

It turns out that the contaminated water storage tanks are not only built with bolt together panels that did not seal properly, and not only were they built on the hill upstream of the reactors, and not only do the majority of tanks lack gauges to measure water levels, but some of the tanks are tilted!

Yesterday’s 200-thousand bq leak occurred in one of five tanks that are connected by pipes.  The tanks are built on a slope.  One of the tanks is set lower than the others, and is tilted.  This is the tank that overflowed.

It is also becoming clear that the geniuses at TEPCo never took into account that they would have to deal with rain and groundwater (and snow) exacerbating the radiation contamination problem from the ongoing slow burn melt downs.  They’ve admitted that their contracted employees are spending a lot of unexpected time dealing with rain and groundwater issues.

Regarding the four metric ton water leak on 01 October; not only has TEPCo revised the radiation levels upward, but now they say it was closer to five metric tons spilled.  TEPCo officials are also blaming their contracted (and inadequately trained) employees.  They say the employees misunderstood their instructions and pumped the contaminated rainwater into storage tanks that were too small.

The prefectural government of Fukushima is so fed up with TEPCo’s lack of progress and honesty, as well as being fed up with the failed state national government, that they are taking radiation matter into their own hands.

Governor Sato Yuhei says they will conduct their own radiation monitoring of the Pacific Ocean.  The decision was made at an emergency meeting, and will start today.  They suspect that a large drainage pipe is flowing highly radioactive water into the ocean.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: TEPCo revises radiation levels, upward! TEPCo tries Red Herring trick?

02 October 2013 (12:01 UTC-07 Tango)/27 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/10 Mehr 1392/28 Ren-Xu (8th month) 4711

Tokyo Electric Power Company has revised leaked radiation levels, reported just yesterday.  TEPCo reported that in September at least four metric tons of highly contaminated rainwater overflowed from a storage tank, into the ocean.  They initially reported the radiation levels at 160 becquerels per liter, which is five times the government limits for discharging radioactive water into the Pacific.

Turns out that was the level of radiation outside the storage tank immediately after the rain storms hit.  TEPCo is now reporting that the storage tank itself contains 390 becquerels per liter of radiation, mostly strontium!    TEPCo officials say they don’t understand what caused the drastic increase in radiation levels.

This revelation comes after TEPCo asked Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority to approve the restart of reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture.  NRA officials responded by implying that TEPCo was trying a Red Herring tactic to distract from the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

TEPCo officials claimed they had “learned hard lessons” from Fukushima Daiichi, but government NRA officials think otherwise.  NRA Chairman Tanaka Shunichi said TEPCo demonstrated insufficient knowledge of radioactive materials, and was being irresponsible in asking for restart of its other nuke reactors.

 

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: More radiation pours into the Pacific, decontamination begins more than two years later!

01 October 2013 (12:31 UTC-07 Tango)/26 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/09 Mehr 1392/27 Ren-Xu (8th month) 4711

Government agencies have finally begun decontamination of areas around Fukushima Daiichi, more than two years after the melt downs began!

Japanese government officials said radiation levels were too high to begin decontamination efforts sooner!  Some areas of seven municipalities have been hit with so much radiation that nobody can live there.  Radiation levels are reported, by government agencies, to be at least 50 millisieverts per hour!

However, the decontamination efforts beginning now are considered a test, as officials don’t really know if decontamination of plants, soil and buildings will be successful.  A district leader in the city of Namie does not think decontamination will be successful.  He said radiation levels have remained unchanged in the no-go areas since April 2011.  He has been taking his own radiation readings every month since the melt downs began.

Tokyo Electric Power Company revealed that in September at least four metric tons of contaminated rainwater spilled into the ocean.  TEPCo says workers were pumping the contaminated rainwater into a storage tank when it overflowed.  It turns out the tank was already full.

The rainwater contained 160 becquerels per liter of radiation, which is five times the Japanese government safe limits for dumping contaminated water into the ocean!  Keep in mind there is no possible way for TEPCo to catch and store all the rain that hits the radioactive Fukushima Daiichi nuke facility, and it runs off into the Pacific Ocean.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: IAEA implies Japan ignoring international nuclear safety standards!

27 September 2013 (21:56 UTC-07 Tango 26 September 2013)/22 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/05 Mehr 1392/23 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

“It is not sufficient, even if Japan says ‘We have been monitoring levels of sea water radioactivity…..’ It’s crucial for Japan to conform to the international standards and cooperate with international bodies….”-Amano Yukiya, International Atomic Energy Agency, 26 September 2013

Inspectors from the IAEA will begin conducting their own radiation testing at the melting down Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant within a few weeks.

Also, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority gave the IAEA a report titled F1 Issues as of 24 September 2013.  Reports say it downplays any concerns about radiation contamination.

Obviously Amano’s statement above suggest the IAEA doesn’t trust official reports from the Japanese government or TEPCo.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: TEPCo admits radioactive silt barriers failed!

26 September 2013 (02:51 UTC-07 Tango)/21 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/04 Mehr 1392/22 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

Tokyo Electric Power Company has admitted that one reason radiation is getting into the Pacific Ocean, is that their silt fence barriers keep failing.  Today, the radioactive silt barrier failed near Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactors 5 and 6.

This is not the first time, TEPCo revealed another barrier failed five months ago.

What TEPCo calls silt fences are underwater barriers meant to contain silt contaminated with radiation from spreading into the Pacific Ocean.

TEPCo officials blame strong waves for repeatedly breaching the barriers.

Silt fences are typical of construction sites that need to protect areas of water, sometimes called filter fences.  However, experiences with silt barriers show they do not last long and fail for a variety of reasons.   One source even pointed out that silt fences do not work well in strong currents.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: TEPCo ignored warning from U.S., blames investors! Radioactive waste piling up, will kill you in 20 seconds!!! White blood cell counts are up!

20 September 2013 (15:18 UTC-07 Tango)/15 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/29 Shahrivar 1392/16 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

“Prime Minister Abe announced in Buenos Aries that the situation at Fukushima Daiichi was under control, but that’s not necessarily the case…”-Inose Naoki, Governor of Tokyo Metro

A Japanese official has countered the Prime Minister’s claim that the nuke disaster is under control (this is the second time that’s happened).  Neo-imperialist Abe Shinzo made that statement to convince Olympic games officials to select Tokyo for future Olympic event.  The new Governor of Tokyo Metro, Inose Naoki, has stated that the nuke disaster is not under control!  This seems hypocritical because the same politician was supporting the Prime Minister, and blasting negative news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi, right up ’till Tokyo was selected for the 2020 Olympic games.  Now it seems Inose is doing a one-80.

An NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) report says radioactive waste in Japan has increased to the point that exposure can kill a human in 20 seconds!  The toxicity of the waste will remain deadly for thousands of years. What’s surprising is that nuclear plant dense Japan has no way to safely store the waste!

The Japanese Ministry of Industry is proposing an elaborate underground storage system, that allows the deadly waste to be retrieved, if needed.  However, the Science Council of Japan countered, pointing out that Japan has many earthquakes and volcanic activity, making it risky to store nuke waste underground.  On 19 September 2013, a 5.9 quake hit the Fukushima Prefecture.

Currently all of Japan’s nuke plants are shut down, because of earthquake fears, damage or required maintenance.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is now stating that there is at least 455-thousand metric tons of contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi site.  That water is in storage tanks, flooded in the reactor buildings and in the underground tunnels.  But wait, there’s more!  That amount increases by 400 metric tons every day!

Recently groundwater that was supposed to be clear of radiation, because it was upstream of the reactors, tested positive for radiation contamination.  This is probably due to the fact that the waste water storage tanks are located upstream and uphill from the reactors, and they are leaking into the ground thus contaminating the groundwater before it reaches the reactors.

It was just announced that the cause for the leaking storage tanks are lose bolts.  Of note is that the new tanks are already showing corrosion, due to radiation.

It was revealed that U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned the Japanese government of massive groundwater contamination, two years ago!  TEPCo officials blew off the warning, saying investors would not be willing to spend the massive amounts of money to stop such contamination!!!

The Health Ministry of Japan has revealed that health problems for nuclear industry workers has jumped since the March 2011 melt downs.  For the first time the Health Ministry has evaluated the physical exams of 67-hundred workers.   They noted a 3.23% increase in workers with elevated white blood cell counts, compared to exams done prior to the 2011 disaster.  Health officials point out that they need to do a more comprehensive study, because the nuclear industry in Japan has a high rate of employee turnover.

The reason for the high turnover can be explained by a June 2011, Reuters report.  Most of the nuclear industry workers in Japan are considered “throwaway” workers.  The report showed that nuclear disaster in Japan was a given, because many employees are not trained, and because they are treated badly.

Most contracted nuke industry workers in Japan are people with the least amount of education or training: “This is an unfortunate thing to say, but the nuclear industry has long relied on people at the lowest level of Japanese society.”-Fujii Kazunori, retired nuclear project manager

Fujii also said most contracted workers are exposed to radiation limits beyond official safe limits, and if you are a foreign employee it’s even worse: “We brought in workers from Southeast Asia and Saudi Arabia….They took a heavier dose of radiation than Japanese workers could have.”

And that included exposing workers from the United States to high levels of radiation.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: More explosions were possible! Vent pipe used to avert explosions now damaged! TEPCo reneges on promise because of cost overruns!

19 September 2013 (20:26 UTC-07 Tango 18 September 2013)/14 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/28 Shahrivar 1392/15 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

Tokyo Electric Power Company revealed that more melt down related explosions could have occurred in 2011, if it had not been for venting of the damaged reactor containment vessels.  Now one of those massive vent pipes could be damaged.

Workers say they’ve found cracks in the support bracing for the 120 meters (393 feet) tall pipe.  The pipe is located between Reactor 1 and Reactor 2 buildings.

They suspect an earthquake last year caused the damage and are concerned another earthquake could bring it down.  It is difficult to inspect the structure closely because it is emitting 10 sieverts per hour of radiation!  According to the International Commission on Radiological Protection, exposure to just one sievert per hour can increase the chance of developing cancer by  5.5%.

Also, the anti-imperialist Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) revealed that TEPCo failed to fulfill its promise to build shield walls around the GE designed reactors.

In 2011 the DPJ was in charge of Japan’s government.  They revealed on 18 September 2013 that TEPCo promised to build barrier walls, but then ran into financial trouble.  TEPCo officials told the DPJ they could not build the walls because it would cost at least $1 billion USD.  Current DPJ officials say TEPCo also asked the DPJ to keep their failure to keep its promise a secret!