June 20, 2013

Jun 20, 2013 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Strontium-90 has been discovered in one of F. Daiichi’s numerous groundwater piezometers. An above-standard level of Tritium was also found in the well-water. This story has exploded across the Japanese Press and broadcast by several international Press outlets. The most-often used headline in Japan has been “High levels of toxic strontium found in Fukushima groundwater”, as well as Reuters and the ABC News. The Strontium’s radiological concentration is one Becquerel per milliliter, and the Tritium is at 500 Bq/ml. The Strontium concentration is 30 times Japan’s national standard, and the Tritium about 8 times the limit. The “well” from which the sample was taken is very near the basement wall of unit #2. Tepco believes the contamination is residual from the water that poured into a nearby cable trench from the basement in April of 2011. Strontium levels have increased in the well’s water by a factor of 100 since December, 2012. The leak was sealed but much of the leaked, highly-contaminated water found its way into the surrounding soil. The “well” is about 30 meters from the shoreline and none of the other piezometers have shown any Strontium or Tritium, thus Tepco believes none of the material is getting into the sea. Tepco spokesperson Toshihiko Fukuda said, “The density of radioactive material in the seawater is within the fluctuation range of the past. We don’t think (contaminated water) leaked into the sea.”However, the controversy over whether or not Tepco should pump groundwater to the sea and reduce the voluminous seepage into the building basements has been amplified. A Nagoya University Chemist, Michiaki Furukawa, said, “This contaminated water should not be released to the ocean. They have to keep it somewhere so that it can’t escape outside the plant. Tepco needs to carry out more regular testing in specific areas and disclose everything they find.”  Tepco says they will build a protective barrier to insure the material does not reach the sea. One waterproofing material mentioned is “liquid glass”. Construction will begin later this month and take about 90 days to complete. Comment – this has been carried by nearly all Japanese news media outlets, with some highly frightening commentary added concerning Strontium-90. The following URLs include one relatively rational report (NHK), two articles of the scare-mongering nature (Japan Times and Japan Daily Press) and one of the international reports (ABC News).  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130619_18.html — http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/20/national/strontium-in-groundwater-at-no-1-soars/#.UcH6IuvD8dV — http://japandailypress.com/high-levels-of-toxic-strontium-found-in-fukushima-groundwater-1930883 — http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-19/strontium-found-in-fukushima-groundwater/4766302
  • More detail on the NRA rejection of earthquake damage at F. Daiichi. This announcement denied the speculation drawn by the Diet’s investigative committee (NAIIC) last summer. The NAIIC said emergency cooling pipes on the Isolation Condenser, located on the fourth floor of unit #1, may have cracked and initiated the nuclear accident before the tsunami hit. The NAIIC based this on testimony by a few workers who saw water leaking down walls near the IC components. The NRA inspection has verified Tepco’s claim that the moisture came from the spent fuel pool on the fifth floor when water sloshed out due to the violent shaking of the quake. The NRA added that due to the nature of the IC system, cracked piping would have resulted in a steam leak, not water. The IC condensers receive steam from the reactor vessel during an accident condition and cool it back into water. The unit #1 IC system ceased functioning early into the accident, fueling conjecture that a pipe break may have caused its failure. No Japanese critics challenged the NRA judgment, but a few said the cause of the water sloshing out of the SFP needs further investigation. The NRA plans on another inspection later this summer concerning the possible cause of the hydrogen explosion with unit #4, which was shut down and defueled at the time of the accident. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130618_36.html — http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/18/national/nra-denies-311-quake-damaged-condenser-pipes-at-fukushima-no-1-2/#.UcBW9-vD8dU
  • The new water leak reported this past Monday was actually a discoloration found in a drip pan below a storage tank. The brownish discoloration is similar to a rust spot caused by dirty water. Discolored condensation coated the bottom of the tank above the drip pan and may have been the reason for the drip-spot. One water droplet reading 4,300 counts per minute was sitting in the discoloration. A bucket was placed under the suspected drip-point. After 16 hours, 370 milliliters of water was collected in the bucket reading 5.8 Becquerels per milliliter Cesium-134&137 and 6,700 Bq/ml total Beta radiation. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/index-e.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2013/images/handouts_130617_02-e.pdf
  • Units at six nuclear power stations will apply for restart as soon as the new regulations take effect on July 8. All power systems at the six locations are Pressurized Water Reactors. The damaged units at Fukushima Daiichi are Boiling Water Reactors. The plants are Tomari in Hokkaido, Oi and Takahama in Fukui Prefecture, Ikata in Ehime Prefecture, Genkai in Saga Prefecture and Sendai in Kagoshima Prefecture. BWR units will not be among the first wave of restart applications because they must add hardened, filtered venting technology to depressurize their containments during a severe accident like F. Daiichi. PWR containments are several times larger in volume and the likelihood of accident venting is much less than with smaller BWR containments. PWRs will eventually have filtered venting systems, but a grace period of 5 years will be granted for them. Regardless, the NRA will have three teams of inspectors dedicated to making sure all new regulations are met before restarts will be allowed. The NRA says it will probably take six months to screen each of the applications for restart. Federation of Electric Power Companies Chairman Makoto Yagi said, “We’ve been already making necessary preparations and plan to file for screening as soon as we’re ready. We hope [the watchdog] efficiently makes screenings and a judgment for restart so that applications won’t be on hold for a long time.” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said, “I think we now have a framework that is up to international standards.” Critics say the new requirements have loopholes to make things easier for restarts, including five-year grace periods for PWR containment vents and the construction of emergency management command centers at each plant site. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130618_29.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130620p2a00m0na012000c.html
  • The new nuclear emergency response center in Tokyo has opened. The NRA unveiled it for the Press today. The new facility is a significant upgrade from the small, inadequate one that existed during the F. Daiichi accident. The new facility covers more than 6,300 square feet in area, has real-time radiological monitoring for all nukes and their surrounding areas, links to all nuke command centers, links to the Prime Minister and local governments, and full video conferencing. During the opening ceremony, reporters witnessed a video conference with the Oi emergency command center. Oi units 3&4 are the only nukes currently operating in Japan. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130620_24.html
  • Forbes columnist James Conca has posted an Op-ed piece concerning the more than 50,000 Fukushima refugees. He argues that if it were not for fear of radiation, most of them would already be back home. Conca asks, “Can we please stop scaring the Japanese people now? Can we let them relax and stop hurting themselves with stress that really is causing health effects? Can we let them rebuild their lives the way they should have been able after any huge disaster like the tsunami?… The situation in Japan [needs] to be re-evaluated and people allowed to return to most areas below reasonable radiation levels, levels in which many of us elsewhere in the world live… Instead, the Japanese people are being held in a horrible limbo, kept in fear by ideologues who care more about closing nuke plants than in the lives of these refugees.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/06/18/fukushima-2-25-the-humanitarian-crisis/