Tag Archives: radiation

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Idahoans exposed to radioactive Plutonium

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced that on November 8, seventeen employees were exposed to plutonium.  At least six show signs of contamination.

It happened inside the decommissioned Zero Power Physics Reactor.  A container containing plutonium was opened by the workers.

The employees went through decontamination procedures, and are being checked at the INL’s Central Facilities Medical Center.

The INL is run by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance.

This is the second ‘event’ this year involving radioactive material from the INL.    In January, 2011, an employee was nearly exposed to a full years worth of radiation, after a miscalculation as to the amount of radiation the worker would be exposed to for a specific task.

Also, in September, 2011, a small container was found on an Idaho Falls street, it was labeled as containing radioactive Iodine 131.  The INL was called in to investigate. They claim the container was empty and not radioactive. They discovered it was used for medical purposes.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

March 11 Tsunami debris, including waterborne radioactive contamination, will reach U.S. in 4 months, EPA to begin monitoring

November8, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will begin monitoring for at least three million tons of tsunami debris, due to hit Hawaii by March 2012.

Debris has already reached 900 kilometers (559 miles) west of the Midway Islands.  Scientists are warning that the debris (not to mention debris contaminated with radiation) will affect ecosystems, and tourism.

Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies made the official estimate of three million tons of debris, and we all know how the Japanese government underestimates things!  The flotsam will hit the west coast of North America by the end of 2012.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo retracts Fukushima melt down claim!

On 02 November 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company said Reactor 2 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was in melt down, again. Now they changed their mind!

TEPCo now says the level of xenon radiation they detected is too low to be from spontaneous fission.  Can these guys get anything right?

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Government Incompetence: Japan will now study 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident

In a classic example of too little too late, Japan will now spend big money to study the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident!

Japan will expand its Ukrainian embassy staff to include two nuclear specialists and three translators.  The staff will also be equipped with gear for dealing with radiation.  They will interview Ukrainian and former Soviet officials, and residents about the effects of radiation contamination, and how to deal with a nuclear disaster.

The Japanese government said they will spend about U.S.$2 million on the project.  You’d think a country that got so involved with nuclear power would have included, as part of its nuclear disaster preparedness, a detailed study of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima Reactor 2 going Critical, TEPCo pouring Boric Acid into reactor!

02 November 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that melt down has re-started in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2.

TEPCo detected radioactive xenon-133 and xenon-135, in the reactor’s containment vessel on 02 November.  They are produced during nuclear fission.  TEPCo poured a boric acid solution into Reactor 2 to suppress the nuclear fission (melt down).

Analysts are speculating that the other reactors at Fukushima Daiichi could also go critical.  Professor Okamoto Koji, of the University of Tokyo Graduate School, says the presence of xenon in the reactors leaves open the possibility that localized and temporary fission could still occur.

TEPCo claims that using the boric acid has cooled down the reactor.

 

 

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More radiation in Yokohama, this time school lunches!

Shiitake mushrooms used in school lunches have tested positive for 350 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium.  That’s below the government limit of 500 becquerels, but Yokohama school officials are getting rid of them anyway.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At a Ibaraki Prefecture mushroom farm, 830 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium were found on the mushrooms there.  The farm is about 170 km (106 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Earlier in the week mushrooms in Chiba Prefecture were found to be contaminated with cesium, higher then the government safe limits.  Clearly, after almost seven months, radiation is still spreading from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radioactive Strontium found on Yokohama roof tops!

Yokohama City officials are testing their soil for strontium, after a private testing firm said they found high levels of strontium on some roof tops.

The company said they detected 195 becquerels of strontium per kilogram, more than six times the government safety limit.  Yokohama has already suffered cesium levels at 80 times the government limits.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Once again, Plutonium contamination found in Japan, this time outside the Fukushima Daiichi compound!

30 September 2011, for the first time since the March nuclear disaster, the Japanese government has found plutonium contamination outside the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant compound.

There have been at least three other times plutonium was found. A couple of times it was found within the perimeter of the nuclear plant’s compound, but, in June a university team found plutonium outside the Fukushima Daiichi compound.

This latest (government confirmed) plutonium contamination was found 45 km (28 miles) outside the nuclear plant.  It was detected in samples taken from six locations in the towns of Futaba, Namie and Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture, all northwest of the nuclear plant.

The isotopes included plutonium 238, 239 and 240.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese officials decide to check beer & wine for radiation!

27 September 2011, Japan’s National Tax Agency has just now realized that all alcoholic drinks coming from the Fukushima area are probably contaminated with radiation.  Even so, testing on beer, wine/sake will not take place until next month!

Mandatory testing will be done at all beverage factories within 150 km (93 miles) of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Random testing will take place at factories outside the 150 kilometer radius.

Along with the national government, six major cities, including Tokyo, will test water meant for use in making beer and wine.

Rice and barely, used in beer and sake, have already tested positive for cesium contamination.

Fukushima

Typhoon Roke comes ashore, heading for direct hit on damaged nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi, 4 dead!

21 September 2011, Typhoon Roke is moving up the Pacific coastline of Japan, after coming ashore south of Tokyo at Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Sustanted winds are 144 km (89.4 miles) per hour, with gusts up to 155 km (96 miles) per hour recorded at Hachioji City, near Tokyo.

During the past 24 hours, more than 400 millimeters (15.74 inches) of rain has fallen in Tokai region and Yamanashi Prefecture, and more than 200 mm (7.87 inches) of rain fell in northeastern Japan.

At least four people have died, three are missing.  More evacuation orders have been given to at least a half million more people.

The damaged nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi, has escaped typhoon damage from previous storms, but Roke looks like it will make a direct hit.

Roke is moving fast and should be approaching the northeastern Honshu prefecture of Fukushima. Already 200 mm of rain has fallen in Fukushima since September 20.  The nuclear plant is already flooding with rain water.

Work to stop the further spread of radiation, like the steel wall around the ocean intakes, and specially treated tarps over the exploded reactor buildings, has been halted.  Tokyo Electric says their workers have tied down everything they could think of that might get blown away.

TEPCo says reactor 1 and 2 have rain water pouring in from the roofs, and Reactor 6 basement is totally flooded.  TEPCo officials insist that none of the radioactive water will leak out.  Yeah right, how many times now have they made such promises?