Tag Archives: GE

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese government focusing all resources on Fukushima, is this a case of too little too late?

Almost four months after the world’s worst nuclear accident, is the Japanese government finally taking serious action in Fukushima Prefecture?

On 04 July 2011, the Japanese government announced they will take over all radiation monitoring in Fukushima, including the monitoring being done by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

This comes after growing complaints by residents of Fukushima Prefecture, that the government wasn’t doing enough.  Already several cities have begun their own decontamination efforts.  One city, Date, said they were going to bill the government and TEPCo.

Residents are also upset about the government’s targeted evacuations.  They’re based on radiation levels, however there are different groups taking those readings, and it’s confusing residents.

Before the government decision to take over radiation monitoring, testing was being done by local governments, independent groups, universities and Tokyo Electric.  Residents felt it was about time for some standardization.

The Japanese central government will use their monitoring data to determine future evacuations.

Fukushima

National Government Incompetence: City 124 miles away from Fukushima contaminated, residents will conduct self monitoring

A group of residents of the city of Moriya say they will begin monitoring radiation levels, because the central government can not.

Moriya is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, yet it is showing some of the highest radiation levels in the area.

Residents say when they approached the central Japanese government with their concerns, they were told their government was being overwhelmed by the nuclear crisis, and did not have the man power to conduct the radiation monitoring in their area!

Fukushima

National Government Incompetence: Japanese city will decontaminate self, will send TEPCo & the national government the bill

The city of Date, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, will undergo intensive decontamination.  This announcement comes after the central Japanese government announced the evacuation of 113 more households.

City officials, and residents, are not happy with the central government’s targeted evacuations.  Many residents want a mass evacuation, because radiation levels are on the increase all over the city.

To try and alleviate the concerns of the people living in Date, city officials have decided to undertake decontamination efforts, on their own.  They claim they will decontaminate every building and home in the city.  They also claim they will decontaminate the surrounding mountain sides.

How are they going to pay for it?  No worries, they plan on sending Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the central Japanese government, a huge bill.

Fukushima

Japanese children contaminated with Cesium 134!

A group of concerned parents, not happy with government response, formed an organization called The Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation.  They took urine samples from 10 kids, from elementary to high school age, and had a French company test them.

The result showed that all the kids are internally contaminated with cesium 134.  An eight year old girl has 1.13 becquerels of cesium-134 per liter.  The children live in Fukushima City, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation says this is proof that radiation is continuing to be emitted by the damaged nuke plant, and it is spreading.

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Nuclear agency spokesman fired for creating a sex scandal during Japan’s nuclear crisis

Nishiyama Hidehiko, spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, has been removed from his job.  It turns out that while the Japanese people were looking to the government for information on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Nishiyama was having an affair with a young woman.

A Japanese magazine broke the story.  The woman said Nishiyama was worried about loosing his hair and thought “vigorous sex” would prevent it.  He apologized for the media finding out about his affar, and said: “I am sorry if this gave any misperceptions or concerns that I have been laying down on the job.”

I think he should have said something other than “…laying down on the job”.  Talk about ‘fiddling’ while Rome burns!

 

Fukushima

Radiation evacuations expanded!

About 90 households have been told they need to leave, because of increasing radiation levels.  The evacuation affects three districts in the city of Date.  The city is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The Japanese government is trying to minimize mass evacuations by testing each residential property when radiation levels near unsafe limits.  The government explained the new evacuation determination to about 400 people in the affected districts.  If a residential property is determined unsafe then the people living there will evacuate, the government promises to provide support to them.

Most of the people at the meeting basically said they think they should just mass evacuate all the families, after all what if you live in a house next to another house that’s just been evacuated, but you’re told you’re going to stay?  The increasing, and spreading radiation levels shows that Fukushima Daiichi is still spewing radiation into the air.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo still can’t get its water decontamination system to work

For at least the third time Tokyo Electric Power Company had to stop water decontamination at Fukushima Daiichi, this time because pipes were leaking.

You might not think that’s such a big deal, but how does one ton of radioactive water leaking out within two minutes sound?  That’s what happened. But to make that worse it didn’t have to happen.  Turns out that TEPCo decided to skip what should have been a routine check of pipe fittings before starting the decontamination.  According to an NHK report, four kilometers (8 miles) of pipe were loose (that’s how you dump one ton of water in two minutes).

Fukushima

Radioactive Cesium still being found at Japanese waste incenerators!

A few months ago it was reported that waste incinerators (which is how Japan handles its trash) were finding high levels of radiation in the ash of the burned trash.  The disaster at Fukushima Daiichi was blamed.

Today, waste incinerators as far south as Tokyo are still emitting cesium through their exhaust stacks.  One incinerator in Edogawa ward registered 9,740 becquerels of cesium per kilogram!  The incinerator handles only household trash.  This is an indicator that cesium is still being spewed into the air, and it’s settling as far south as Tokyo.

Fukushima

Strontium 90 found in Pacific seabed!

For the first time strontium 89 and 90 have been found on the seabed near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company tested the soil at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, on 02 and 03 June 2011, at locations 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the nuke plant.

While this is the first time strontium has been found in the seabed, it is not the first time it’s been found in the water.

 

Fukushima, U.S.

Corporate & Government Incompetence: Nebraska flood knocks out power to Nuclear Plant, no thanks to workers not paying attention

26 June 2011, an accident at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant resulting in the expanding Missouri River flooding into the compound.  The water hit the nuke plant’s electrical transformers, cutting off power.

Electricity is still needed to keep the spent fuel pools cool.  Plant officials say they are now running on back up generators.

Forth Calhoun officials ordered the installation of a water filled artificial levee (berm).  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not approve the artificial levee.  At about 1:25 am, 26 June, workers broke the water filled berm, allowing the Missouri River to flood in.

This natural disaster is the latest bad news for the Fort Calhoun nuke plant.  In April plans to refuel its reactors were halted, over concerns of flooding by the Missouri River.  Then, on 07 June, a fire broke out in one of the reactor control rooms.  An inspection two years ago revealed that plant operators were not properly prepared for a flood.