21 August 2013 (16:20 UTC-07 Tango)/14 Shawwal 1434/30 Mordad 1392/15 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has responded to Japan’s request for help regarding the expanding nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi!
The IAEA says it is ready to help. The IAEA has offered help before, but it wasn’t until after the 19 August leak that Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority finally asked for help.
21 August 2013 (16:09 UTC-07 Tango)/14 Shawwal 1434/30 Mordad 1392/15 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
“If a leak occurred in one tank, we should assume that the same thing could happen at other tanks as well.”-Tanaka Shunichi, Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA)
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) has revealed yet another radiation leak pouring into the Pacific Ocean! The new leak was found in a runoff ditch about 50 meters (164 feet) from a contaminated water storage tank farm (complex), located on a hillside. This is not in connection to the discovery on 19 August of a massive leak coming from the Reactor 4 tank farm. TEPCo admits that this new leak is draining into the Pacific Ocean. The water tested at six millisieverts per hour of radiation.
In another example of corporate incompetence, TEPCo admitted they have not been monitoring leaking contaminated water storage tanks at the Reactor 4 tank farm! Awhile back they knew about 350 1-thousand metric tons capacity tanks were leaking, but they dealt with it by building a short retaining wall around the tank farm, and then they basically forgot about it!
That is until 19 August when underpaid and undertrained workers discovered a 300 metric tons leak outside of the retaining wall! Now workers, under guidance of the NRA, have confirmed at least four of the 1-thousand metric tons capacity tanks are leaking!
“The water is believed to contain thousands of trillions of becquerels of radioactive substances.”-NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has now declared the leaking storage tanks near the GE designed Reactor 4 to be a Level Three Incident, which is considered a “Serious incident” on the zero to seven level international Nuclear Event Standard. The NRA is now asking the International Atomic Energy Agency for help!
The contamination detected on 19 August was at 100 millisieverts per hour! The safe limits for nuclear industry workers in Japan are set at 50 millisieverts per year!
Here’s some more examples of incompetence: Many of the water tanks have no way of gauging how much water is in them, which would make it easier to know if they were leaking, and by how much! The tanks are not welded, they consist of steel panels that are bolted together! Realize that TEPCo simply built a retaining wall around the tank farm, because they knew the tanks were leaking, another question is how much of that leaked water held withing the retaining wall has seeped into the ground, and for how long?
In a bid to gain some confidence, TEPCo officials announced that their Vice President, Aizawa Zengo, will take direct command of the ongoing nuke disaster. Aizawa’s office will be moved to Fukushima Daiichi.
21 August 2013 (23:16 UTC-07 Tango 20 August 2013)/14 Shawwal 1434/30 Mordad 1392/15 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
“The water is believed to contain thousands of trillions of becquerels of radioactive substances.”-NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
At least 18 children in Fukushima Prefecture now have thyroid cancer caused by radiation contamination! 25 children shows signs of cancer! The Prefecture is conducting its own medical exams of children, because the Japanese right winger government refuses to do so.
So far 210-thousand children have been tested. Thyroid cancer can result from long term exposure to radiation, which builds up in the thyroid especially in children. This is yet another sign that the GE designed disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi are still spewing deadly radiation.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has now declared the leaking storage tanks at Fukushima Daiichi to be a Level Three Incident, which is considered a “Serious incident” on the zero to seven level international Nuclear Event Standard.
Levels one thru three are considered “incidents”, levels four thru seven are “accidents”. The tanks have leaked at least 300 metric tons of highly contaminated water. The contamination detected on 19 August was at 100 millisieverts per hour! The safe limits for nuclear industry workers in Japan are set at 50 millisieverts per year!
Japan’s NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) has also reported that the NRA is now asking the International Atomic Energy Agency for help!
A nuclear analyst in Tokyo (interviewed on Iranian TV) stated that a Level Three Incident means that anyone exposed to the contamination could become severely sick within 12 hours.
20 August 2013 (13:37 UTC-07 Tango)/13 Shawwal 1434/29 Mordad 1392/14 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
A Republic of Korea (RoK, aka South Korea) airline infamous for runway accidents, Asiana Airlines, has canceled all flights to Fukushima Prefecture from now until October. They blame the ongoing radiation leaks from Fukushima Daiichi.
A woman, whose husband died while working on the damaged nuclear plant, is suing after failing to get compensation for his death. In February 2012 a regional labor standards inspection office declared the death work related and that compensation to the window was in order. The nuclear facility also lacks proper medical facilities, according to the inspection report. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) and two subcontractors have so far refused to compensate.
People living outside the no go radiation dead zone around Fukushima Daiichi are now suing the Japanese government. Last year the government passed a law that said people living outside the no go zone are being affected by the radiation and deserve government medical, housing and other aid. This because radiation levels outside the no go zone are still too high to be safe. So far the government has not lived up to its own law!
Prefectural Governor, Satō Yūhei, continues his demands on the Japanese government to get serious about stopping the ongoing massive radiation leaks at Fukushima Daiichi.
Once again, Japanese officials are turning to Ukraine for advise on dealing with nuclear disasters. The entombed Chernobyl nuke plant is located in Ukraine. This time Japan is asking Ukraine to help launch a satellite to monitor the spread of airborne radiation from Fukushima Daiichi. This is a sign to be concerned as Japaneses officials say the satellite will monitor the effects of radiation contamination on vegetation over a large area. It must be big if they think the contamination can be seen from about 800km (about 500 miles) above Earth! (most observation satellites orbit at altitudes between 480 to 970 kilometers)
20 August 2013 (21:16 UTC-07 Tango 19 August 2013)/13 Shawwal 1434/29 Mordad 1392/14 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
The Republic of Korea (RoK, aka South Korea) is demanding the government of Japan reveal the truth about what’s going on with the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. RoK also wants disclosure on the damage being done to the environment.
This demand comes as Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) revealed more and increasing radiation leaks!
After two incidents in a little more than a week saw 12 workers contaminated with dangerous levels of radiation, while standing at a bus stop, TEPCo officials are now realizing there must be an airborne leak of radiation. In both cases radiation sensors sounded an alarm, meaning there was radiation in the air. In the first incident TEPCo blamed a water mister, but that was turned off before the second incident. The level of airborne radiation was five times more than TEPCo’s own safety standards!
In another case, someone left a check valve open on a retaining wall. The retaining wall was built around above ground contaminated water storage tanks near Reactor 4, which are leaking. Over the weekend it was discovered the open check valve was pouring out highly contaminated water, at least 300 tons worth! The water contains 100 millisieverts per hour of radiation. The safe limits for nuclear industry workers in Japan are set at 50 millisieverts per year!
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has declared the leaking storage tanks to be a Level One incident, which is considered an “incident-anomaly” on the zero to seven level international standard. The NRA has ordered TEPCo to conduct soil sampling.
Levels one thru three are considered “incidents”, levels four thru seven are “accidents”.
19 August 2013 (03:34 UTC-07 Tango)/12 Shawwal 1434/28 Mordad 1392/13 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
Two more workers at Fukushima Daiichi have been contaminated with three times the safe limit of radiation set by their employer Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo).
The workers were standing at a bus station when radiation alarms went off. It’s the same bus station where ten employees were contaminated last week. Last week’s event was blamed on water spraying from cooling misters, but those misters have since been turned off.
The bus stop is located in front of a building that is being prepped for the decommissioning of the melted down GE designed reactors. TEPCo has, yet again, another mystery source of radiation to investigate.
12 August 2013 (13:28 UTC-07 Tango)/05 Shawwal 1434/21 Mordad 1392/06 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
Confusing reports about ten workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. The workers were tested for contamination after radiation sensors at a bus stop went off. Their hands and heads were contaminated with 19 becquerels per square centimeter of radiation. Five times more than Tokyo Electric’s (TEPCo) own safety standards!
Some reports, in western main stream news media, say the workers were contaminated by radioactive dust, but that’s not what is being reported in Japan.
Japanese news media (and some U.S. media) reporting the workers were contaminated by a cooling mister located at the bus stop. TEPCo installed misters at the bus stop, and other locations, to help keep workers cool during summer. The misters use water collected from a local lake, located 10km (6 miles) from the nuke plant. The same lake water is used for toilets and faucets. TEPCo says they don’t know how the water got contaminated. Perhaps the water in the lake is contaminated, just as several independent studies warned?
08 August 2013 (22:12 UTC-07 Tango 07 August 2013)/01 Shawwal 1434/17 Mordad 1392/02 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
A new study backs claims made in January, about a Death River created by the GE designed disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.
In January citizens groups reported that canal water in Fukushima City tested for as much as 515,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium! (as I’ve said before: Holy crap retiring Popeman, the official safe limit is only 100 becquerels per kilogram!!!)
That water comes from the Abukuma River. The mouth of the river, on the Pacific Ocean, is 70km (43 miles) north of Fukushima Daiichi! Citizens took maters into their own hands to do radioactive testing, because the government ordered a halt to all such ‘official’ testing shortly after the March 2011 meltdowns. (this is why the main streamer news media didn’t report any ‘official’ radiation contamination figures)
Not only is radiation from the river getting into local canals used for farming, it then pours into the Pacific.
A new study by the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science has confirmed massive amounts of cesium build up on the bottom of the ocean floor near the nuke plant, and at the mouth of the river.
The researchers took samples as far away as 400km (249 miles) out to sea, from the nuke plant. Of course the closer they got to the reactors the higher the levels, and they found that the cesium build up is highest in the valleys on the ocean floor. They found that within 20km (12 miles) of Fukushima Daiichi, the cesium 137 levels in the ocean floor valleys was five times the levels on the peaks.
At the mouth of the Abukuma “death” River they found cesium levels two times higher than the surrounding ocean floor. This is clear proof the river is being contaminated with radiation. Remember the mouth of the river is 43 miles from Fukushima Daiichi.
Abukuma River generally flows from south to north. It begins at Mount Asashi, flows east then turns northward until it turns eastward again, through the coastal city of Iwanuma. Its Pacific mouth is south of the Sendai Airport, and just north of Lake Torinoumi. If this river is contaminated then likely so is Lake Torinoumi, and the hundreds of smaller rivers that run through the area.
An older report, when compared to the newer studies, shows radiation levels are only skyrocketing. In 2012 the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology reported extremely low levels of cesium in the Abukuma and other rivers. However, they warned “…..it is important to monitor its level in Fukushima Prefecture over time.”
In May 2013, the Japan Geoscience Union reported the results of their 2012 study, confirming that radiation levels in rivers are increasing, with help from rain water runoff: “Total radioactivity of Cs-134 and Cs-137 in river waters was 0.016-0.27 Bq/l at normal flow conditions on April 18 and June 19 in 2012, but it increased to 3.83 Bq/l in high flow conditions by heavy rains…..These results indicate that the pulse input of radiocesium associated with suspended particles from land to coastal ocean occurred by the heavy rain event.”
07 August 2013 (11:16 UTC-07 Tango)/30 Ramadan 1434/16 Mordad 1392/01 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
Because of the reality of the massive radiological disaster known as Fukushima Daiichi, the fishing industry of Iwate City has canceled next month’s test fishing.
Up ’till now, TEPCo has been lying to the fishing industry, and many fishing co-operatives were planning on resuming fishing in the next couple of months. But last month’s admission by TEPCo, that radiation is pouring into the Pacific Ocean, and the confirmation by the government, has canceled those test fishing plans.
The latest news of how bad the situation is at Fukushima Daiichi is only now hitting the fishing industry. Nozaki Tetsu, the chairman of the Fukushima fisheries federation, was questioned by local news media and said it was news to him.
It seems obvious now that almost all fishing could be halted on the Pacific side of Japan.
07 August 2013 (10:41 UTC-07 Tango)/30 Ramadan 1434/16 Mordad 1392/01 Geng-Shen (7th month) 4711
“Stabilizing the Fukushima plant is our challenge….the contaminated water is an urgent issue which has generated a great deal of public attention.”-Abe Shinzo, practitioner of the understatement, and a closet Imperialist
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has ordered the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to take control of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCo) failed efforts to control the meltdowns of at least three GE designed nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.
The order came after the Ministry conducted its own investigation, which revealed that highly radioactive water has been pouring into the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 300 tons per day!!!
The Ministry said about 1000 tons of groundwater from the hills above Fukushima Daiichi flows through the area everyday. 300 tons become irradiated as it passes through the Fukushima Daiichi ground, on its way to the ocean. Another 400 tons flood into the basements of four reactor buildings, damaged during the the 11 March 2011 quake and tsunami. TEPCo has been struggling to pump out and store that water, but, has had nothing but problems with massive leaks from the storage tanks, and the filtration systems. The Ministry said it is likely the contaminated groundwater began pouring into the Pacific just days after the meltdowns began!
For the past two and a half years TEPCo has said they didn’t know where the water was coming from!
The Ministry also estimates it will take at least 40 years to tackle the nuke disaster, at a cost of at least $11 billion (far more than what TEPCo said it would cost). Here’s the rub; there is nothing that can be immediately done to stop 300+ tons of radiation from pouring into the Pacific Ocean! This is more than incompetence, it seems almost intentional, evil!
Oh but wait, there’s more! Guess what they’re going to attempt now? They want to freeze the ground. They think that’ll stop the contaminated water from getting to the ocean. Experts have pointed out that it will be ridiculously expensive to do that, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work. A groundwater expert asked the obvious; why don’t they divert or pump out the ground water before it reaches the reactors: “It is incredibly difficult to completely block the groundwater like this. It would be better if they could pump clean water before it reaches the plant.”-Ohga Kotaro, Hokkaido University
Because the ground around Fukushima Daiichi is contaminated, the only sure thing is to divert as much groundwater as possible before it passes through the area.