March 30, 2012

Mar 30, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Radioactive Cesium concentrations in the air within 20km of F. Daiichi are all below the national standard. Monitoring between March 18th and 25th throughout the no-go zone revealed that the air’s Cesium level is below 20 Becquerels per cubic meter. (JAIF)
  • A NY Times article speculates the condition of F. Daiichi unit #2 may be far worse than previously thought. The article says the lower-than-anticipated water level inside the unit #2 primary containment vessel (Drywell) might mean the melted fuel in the reactor itself (RPV) is not covered and is in danger of heating up. It further alleges that some of the water being pumped into the RPV is flowing into the ground water and from there into the sea. (News on Japan) [comment – The NY Times article literally drips with wild, exaggerated speculations and should not be given credibility. Reporting on it because it is scary is deplorable.]
  • The new national standards for Cesium in foods will take effect on April 1st. The old limit on Cesium was 500 Becquerels per kilogram and the new standard will be 100 Becquerels. Fukushima farmers hope this will ease concerns about the safety of their foodstuffs and begin to reverse last year’s rumor-based consumer avoidance of their fruits and vegetables. However, many Fukushima farmers aren’t so sure. They fear that any detectable levels of Cesium will drive business away, no matter how low the limits might be. The rumors about Fukushima foods being unsafe will persist. “The level of cesium in rice produced in 2011 was below what we could test, but there was no pick-up in sales,” said 58-year-old Masahiro Ito, a Fukushima Prefecture farmer. The local fishing industry will also be affected by the new rule because testing shows that 30% of fish caught off the Tohoku shores exceed the 100 Becquerel limit. “If cesium levels in fish in Ibaraki and Miyagi exceed the new standard, then the resumption of fishing in Fukushima could be a way off,” said Kenji Nakada, of the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations. But, even the new standard is not trusted by some fishery organizations. The fishery oassociation in Ibaraki Prefecture has arbitrarily lowered their standard to 50 Becquerels. “The reason we introduced a standard tougher than the government’s one was because our destiny lies in delivering safe fish to consumers,” says organization head Isao Ono. However, another insider with the organization says the move “has had a fairly big financial impact.” (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • The soils removed for recent decontamination inside the no-go zone are being stored at the locations where they were generated. The problem of what to do with the material is mounting because there is no place else to put it. 13 out of 25 local governments that are engaged in decontamination work have set up local storage sites for removed soil. Contaminated soil removed from public spaces had been left at 947 locations including schools and nurseries, 541 parks, as well as houses and business establishments. Local officials want to know what to do next. “We haven’t been able to reach an agreement with local residents over where to set up temporary storage (for removed soil),” said an official in charge of decontamination work. (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • Japan is burning more Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and oil than any time since 2008 to offset the idling of nukes. Japan imported more than 71 million tons of LNG last year. As a result the cost of LNG has risen 16%. According to Deutsche Bank, Japan can meet up to 60% of its minimum electrical needs through the use of LNG. However, it is unrealistic to think that all LNG-powered plants will constantly work at 100% capacity. Some LNG power plants are being reopened after extended periods of shut-down, while others were never designed to work continuously at full power. As a result, Japan is stepping up the operation of oil-fired units. Japan’s crude oil consumption rose 118% last year, and will increase further this year due to the additional shuttering of nukes since January 1st. At the end of the year, Japan was importing 135,000 barrels of crude oil per day, more than a 400% increase from 2010. Demand has further risen more than 175% over the first two months of 2012. But the future looks bleak as far as energy availability goes. While the increased LNG and crude oil burning is meeting Japan’s current needs, if this summer’s demand equals last summer’s, Japan will run into significant shortages. Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of Facts Global Energy Inc. (GEYI), said in an interview, “They are going to have a major crisis if the nuclear plants don’t restart.” He also says, “The cost of generating electricity from oil is so far above that of nuclear that at some point, the economics are likely to become a more important consideration in the ongoing political debate in Japan over whether… to start returning idle nuclear capacity to the grid.” Currently, Japan is paying $126 per barrel for crude oil, but forecasts indicate that could rise to ~$150 per barrel this coming summer. (Bloomberg)
  • The Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) has tried to explain that Oi units #3&4 are safe to operate, but the governors of Shiga and Kyoto Prefectures aren’t buying it. Prefectural officials were briefed on the results of the Oi stress tests on Thursday. It seems the attempt did next to nothing. Governor Keiji Yamada of Kyoto says he needs more assurances, so he cannot approve the Oi unit’s restart until its safety is guaranteed. Governor Yukiko Kada of Shiga demanded a complete explanation on the causes of the Fukushima accident and the new safety measures spawned by lessons learned from the accident. (NHK World)
  • Okuma Mayor Toshitsuna Watanabe announced he wants his entire town designated as being “unlikely to return”. Okuma is the first municipality in the no-go zone to ask that its entire area be labeled as such. Over 90 percent of Okuma residents lived in areas that the national government plans to designate as zones where they are unlikely to be able to return in the near future. As such, the mayor wants the entire town so-designated. (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • Former-P.M. Naoto Kan says he has sufficient support in the DPJ (Japan’s ruling party) to launch a campaign for complete elimination of nukes from Japan. ”Thinking about the future of Japan…why don’t we seek a society that does not rely on nuclear power? This group is intended to properly discuss the time frame for realizing that goal,” Kan told reporters. The article points out that Kan did not become anti-nuclear because of Fukushima, but his efforts to end Japan’s use of nuclear power date back to before he was in office. Only around 25 lawmakers, mainly those close to Kan such as former Justice Minister Satsuki Eda, attended the gathering. This indicates that Kan’s support in the DPJ is minimal. (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • A scandalous scare story has swept the Press outside of Japan. A notorious anti-nuclear consultant has claimed the soils found in Tokyo would have to be handled as nuclear waste in America. However, his claims have been challenged by the chief Health Physicist at America’s Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), Ralph Anderson. Anderson says the levels reported by anti-nuke luminary Arnie Gundersen in no way qualify as nuclear waste, and the levels of radioactivity reported by Gundersen are too low to worry about. NEI also states the laboratory report on Gundersen’s soil samples has not been released, so there was no peer review on the data itself or Gundersen’s arbitrary conclusion. NEI takes issue with the news source broadcasting the scare-story, the Associated Press, “If a radiation protection professional with 40 years of experience in our industry wasn’t able to verify Mr. Gundersen’s claims, then how was your reporter able to do that?” In fact, AP publishing the article contravenes their own “Statement of News Values and Principles” by posting the story. NEI argues AP should publish a correction to be posted by every AP affiliate in the world. (NEI Nuclear Notes – http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/nei-questions-associated-press.html )