- Two more “trenches” at F. Daiichi contain high levels of radioactivity, specifically the seawater intake cabling tunnels for units #2. The waters in the unit #2 tunnel has 340 million Becquerels per liter of total cesium activity at one meter depth, and then increases to 950 Bq/liter at a depth of 13 meters. The stratification of activity indicates that the water has been relatively stagnant for a long time. Regardless, the company feels that a leak from the tunnel into the enclosed port (quay) has been possible through the pump room for the unit #2 intake. The unit #3 tunnel waters contain 39 million Bq/liter at a depth of 1 meter and 36 million Bq/liter at a 13 meter depth, indicating a process at work in the tunnel to keep the Cesium from stratifying. On July 11, Tepco said a leak into the quay from the unit #3 tunnel was possible. Regardless, samples of seawater taken outside the quay show no detectible activity, which indicates that the inner port’s break-walls and silt dam are preventing contamination from reaching the Pacific Ocean. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2013/images/trench02_13080101-e.pdf — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2013/images/2tb-east_13080101-e.pdf
- Tepco has been criticized for not immediately reporting changes in groundwater levels at F. Daiichi. Last weekend, staff at the power station noticed groundwater level in near-shore wells had increased as much as 2.5 meters above the “normal” benchmark. However, this change was not shared with the Nuclear Regulatory Authority until Monday (7/29) when Tepco met with the agency to discuss measures for keeping contaminated groundwater contained. NRA chair Shunichi Tanaka was unhappy with the delay in making the report, and said, “TEPCO has no sense of crisis at all. When something unexpected happens, we can only take stopgap measures, which shows how unstable Fukushima Dai-ichi still is.” Tepco feels the increased groundwater levels may be due to their recent solidification of the earth down to 16 meters within the embankment. However, solidifying the top 2 meters of the ground is difficult because the soil is not compressed like the deeper material. The water level in one well increased to above the point of full solidification, so Tepco says it is possible that some contaminated outflow to the sea is still possible. However, the greater volume of the water in the earth seems effectively blocked. Regardless, most of Japan’s Press is calling Tepco’s effort to block the groundwater’s movement a failure. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013073100625 — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130801_05.html
- Prior to Monday’s meeting, the NRA announced it is increasing their inspection staff at F. Daiichi. The watchdog agency will send two teams to the nuke station to study the contamination and its possible impact on the oceanic ecosystem. One NRA official said, “We still don’t know the root cause of the problems as they are more complicated than initially thought.” The teams are made up of experts from the NRA, Tepco and a government research institute. http://japandailypress.com/japans-nuclear-watchdog-to-beef-up-monitoring-at-fukushima-3033113/ — http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/nuclear-watchdog-to-beef-up-fukushima-monitoring-team
- Fukushima Prefecture will increase their frequency of seawater sampling around F. Daiichi. Until now, two sites have been sampled and analyzed every 3 months as a check on Tepco’s sampling. The prefecture will increase the number of sampling locations to six and test them all on a monthly basis. Fukushima’s chief of radiation monitoring, Shunji Watanabe, says this is because oceanic contamination might be occurring and the prefecture wants to conduct its own testing. He added the results of the first series of tests, run yesterday, will be posted as soon as possible. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130731_34.html
- Niigata’s governor continues to try and stop Tepco restarts. Revitalization Minister Akira Amari has met with governor Hirohiko Izumida to explain that Tepco’s plan to apply for safety checks at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units #5&7 and the decision to restart are separate issues. Izumida isn’t buying it. He feels it is too soon after the Fukushima accident to even consider restarting other nukes owned by Tepco. The governor doesn’t believe anything Tepco says, “I hope the company will sincerely handle the matter and stop dodging and whitewashing issues.” The governor also told Amari he feels the safety checks under the new regulations are unsatisfactory in many ways. He insists that no-one in Tokyo is listening to him when he criticizes the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and their new rules. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013073000468 — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130730_29.html
- Tourists are slowly returning to Fukushima Prefecture. A typical number of tourists before 3/11/11 were about 58 million per year. It dropped to less than 34 million visitors in 2011, but rose to 45 million in 2012. A prefectural official said tourism has “steadily recovered due to restoration of tourist facilities and declining misinformation about the nuclear power plant accident.” The region inside the Fukushima exclusion zone has had virtually no tourist activity, of course, and is a major reason why the entire prefecture’s visitor activity continues to lag behind that of 2010. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/07/238296.html
- More than a third of the federal money for Tohoku recovery was not used last year. Of the $97 billion allocated to the region, $34 billion remained on the books at the end of the year. Of the $47 billion designated for the rebuilding of roads, sea-side embankments and community relocation, more than $20 billion was not used. Reasons include difficulty in coordinating planning between federal and local governments, a shortage of workers and a lack of sufficient materials. Out of $6.6 billion intended for rural decontamination, $4.5 billion was unused. The reason for this is said to be local opposition to establishing storage sites for contaminated soils and leaves. The unused monies will be shifted into the 2013 recovery budget. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130731p2g00m0dm048000c.html
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A panel of international experts says the geologic anomaly under the Tsuruga nuke station is not seismically active. The group includes Neil Chapman, a professor at the University of Sheffield in Britain, and Kelvin Berryman, a geologist at GNS Science of New Zealand. The panel’s posted summary includes the statement, “There is clear evidence that…the faults (in question) at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant are not active.” This contradicts Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority which said the geologic seam under the station’s unit #2 was seismically active back in May. At the same time, Japan Atomic Power Company said that there is no chance of a meltdown even if the fault goes active and the unit’s spent fuel pool was completely drained. In addition, the highest temperatures fuel bundles in the drained pool would ever reach is hundreds of degrees Celsius below the point of a fuel pool “meltdown”. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/08/238876.html — http://japandailypress.com/tsuruga-nuclear-power-plant-insists-safety-albeit-nras-warning-0133212/
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