January 20, 2014

Jan 20, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • (Updated 1/21/14) Some primary containment  (PCV) leakage has been found inside F. Daiichi unit #3. The camera on a robot being used for rubble removal revealed a foot-wide stream of water running across the surface of the Reactor building’s first floor. The liquid entered a floor drain that leads to the building basement. This may account for some of contaminated water flow into the basement of the adjacent turbine building. The specific source of the water has not been located. Tepco says it is probably water used to cool the damaged fuel inside the Reactor Pressure Vessel since the activity level is much greater than the cooling water being pumped into the Reactor Pressure Vessel, and the temperature is also higher. The leakage activity is 24 thousand Becquerels per liter of Beta emitters and 2,400 Bq/liter of Cesium isotopes 134 and 137. Also, the water’s temperature is 20oC while injected cooling water is at 7oC. The water inside the PCV’s first floor is also at 20oC. This is the second discovery of a leak out of a Primary Containment Vessel. The first was with unit #1 in November. Tepco says the search for the unit #3 leak’s source will continue. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2014/1233734_5892.html
  • 198 spent fuel bundles have been transferred out of F. Daiichi unit #4. All have been safely stored in underwater fuel racks inside the nearby common spent fuel facility. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/removal4u/index-e.html
  • The F. Daiichi Emergency Response Center was opened to the Press on January 15. There seems to have been only one major Press outlet reporting on it – The Wall Street Journal’s Japan Real Time blog. The center was undamaged on 3/11/11, and has become the command post for on-site recovery. It is staffed by about 200 blue-clad persons during regular working hours, and about 80 per shift the rest of the time. Plant Manager Akira Ono said, “Decommissioning basically begins by removing fuel rods. In that sense, I think we’ve finally taken our first step in the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi. There are still many things we need to do. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster we prioritized speed over quality…now we need to change both our approach and our equipment to facilitate our work over the next 30 to 40 years.” The remainder of the article was a re-hash of long-standing Press issues with the station.  http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/01/17/fukushima-watch-in-for-the-long-haul/
  • An important pamphlet on radiation has been posted by Robert Hargraves, entitled Radiation: The Facts. It is subtitled “Opening Eyes to the Facts”. The text immediately stresses that radiation is safe when exposure is kept within limits. It subsequently explains what radiation is, the differences between Alpha, Beta and Gamma, and, natural background. Hargraves then spends considerable time on the controversy with the Linear/No Threshold (LNT) concept used to set radiation standards, our body’s natural adaptive responses, and other interesting details. The work also covers studies concerning atomic bomb survivors, the high natural exposures with Taiwan apartment buildings, Chernobyl recovery workers, and American nuclear shipyard employees. Of course, a paragraph on Fukushima is also there. In conclusion, Hargraves asks that LNT be replaced with methodology to better reflect the latest scientific evidence and human experiences. http://home.comcast.net/~robert.hargraves/public_html/RadiationSafety26SixPage.pdf
  • Children’s teeth from Fukushima Prefecture are being checked for Strontium-90. The Fukushima Prefecture Dental Association spearheads the study, which is the first of its kind in Japan. Hokkaido and Kyushu Prefectures will conduct similar surveys to provide comparative background data. The teeth of children ages 5-15 will be analyzed. The teeth come from those extracted during regular dental visits with the consent of the parents. The results will be shared with the parents. Those teeth showing unusual radiation levels will be further analyzed for just the Sr-90 isotope. The more-detailed analysis will be run by Tohoku University, Miyagi Prefecture, which has the specialized equipment and training. The data will be collected and compiled by Ou University, Fukushima Prefecture. The study began last Thursday. The researchers hope for somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 teeth being checked over the next year. Many Fukushima parents are worried about Sr-90 ingestion in their children due to the Fukushima accident. “We’d like to provide a source of relief by disclosing the research data,” said Hitoshi Unno, 52, executive director of the dental association. Professor Noboru Takamura of Nagasaki University added, “Based on past radiation data, any detected amount would be extremely small. If that is proved by the research, people will feel relief.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/19/national/fukushima-kids-teeth-to-be-checked-for-strontium-90/#.UtvSncso4dU  comment – The above-referenced article says Sr-90 “cannot be detected by whole-body radiation counters.” This is misleading, at best. Cesium emits Beta radiation, which cannot travel far before being attenuated (radioactively eliminated). Thus, the emitted Betas themselves cannot pass through the body and be detected by WBCs. However, the Betas spawn weak Gamma radiation by interacting with surrounding atoms via a process known as Bremsstrahlung. These gammas do penetrate through tissue and can be detected by WBCs. (http://www.irpa.net/irpa9/cdrom/VOL.1/V1_49.PDF) The gammas have a specific energy signature which can be shown on the WBC printout. The resulting activity in counts per minute are then divided by 0.06 to provide a confident deduction as to the actual Sr-90 activity in the bone or teeth – end comment
  • Residents of Fukushima Prefecture’s Odaka district have approved rural low level waste storage. The Environment Ministry can store wastes produced in Minamisoma and other locations from inside the government mandated exclusion zone. The facility will accept material from about 40% of the exclusion zone. The facility will sit on a 50 hectare tract of Oya Katakusa, Odaka, Okada and Tsukabara municipalities. The property will be purchased from the relevant landowners. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=292
  • Tohoku Electric Co. says the geologic anomalies near the Higashidori station are not seismic. The new study began in December after the Nuclear Regulation Authority decided the anomalies were active faults. The utility says the folds in the bedrock show no traces of destruction in the substratum. In fact, there is no evidence of the distortions being the result of earthquakes, but rather they seem to be due to other geological processes, such as the rock being formed out of ancient saturated soils. In addition, some of the distortions claimed by the NRA could not be confirmed. Thus, there is no evidence of seismic movement in the last 130,000 years, the upper temporal criterion for judging an anomaly to be seismic. The NRA says it will file a final report after they analyze four rounds of field surveys, including the Tohoku Electric findings. Unit #1 is currently idled and unit #2 is under construction. Unit #2 was being built prior to 3/11/11, so it can be finished under NRA regulations. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Tokyo gubernatorial candidate and former PM Morihiro Hosokawa firmly opposes nuke restarts. His senior advisor, Shusei Tanaka, says that if Hosokawa wins the election, “Japan will never be able to restart nuclear reactors. No restart of reactors means ‘zero’ nuclear power generation.” Hosokawa said, “I’m concerned that the issue of nuclear power determines the nation’s fate.” Hosokawa is supported by another former PM, Junichiro Koizumi, who has openly politicked his belief that no nukes should be restarted. The LDP, Japan’s ruling party, acknowledges the Hosokawa/Koizumi tandem is a political force of some merit, but one senior LDP member of the Tokyo assembly said, “Mr. Hosokawa is past tense, but we have to watch out for Mr. Koizumi, who is still very popular.” The reason for the “past tense” phrase for Hosokawa is because his term as Prime Minister ended in scandal. Hosokawa allegedly borrowed $1 million “off-the-books” from Sagawa Express Company in 1982, but it was not made public until 1994 in the midst of his brief term as PM (9 months). Since then, he has been biding his time by making pottery. Another reason for the LDP not being very concerned is his statement posted in a book published by Akira Ikegami, last year. Hosogawa said Japan would be praised around the world if Prime Minister Abe would give up on hosting the 2020 Olympics. This was a very unpopular thing to say and the LDP feels the Tokyo electorate will not easily forget. Hosogawa seems to feel that Tokyo’s 50.1% ownership of Tepco can be used to stop nuclear generation in Japan, although how this could happen is unclear. Plus, his stance is sure to alienate business and industry, homeowners already burdened with inflated electric bills due to the nuke moratorium, energy security, and Japan’s inability to meet greenhouse gas emission goals. LDP candidate Yoichi Masuzoe continues to be the leading candidate. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/18/national/hosokawa-eyes-no-nukes-by-2020/#.UtqEWMso4dU — http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000953765
  • A newspaper study shows a third of Japan’s local assemblies want an end to nukes. All have submitted statement on their position to the Diet (congress) in Tokyo. Most of the dissenting assemblies are not from prefectures that host nuclear plants. For example, Koichi municipal assembly in Koichi Prefecture, which borders Ikata that is home to the Ikata nuclear station. Their statement calls for a “review of dependence on nuclear power plants whose safety is not established.” Fukaya municipal assembly in Saitama Prefecture demanded an “immediate halt to nuclear power generation.” The study was run by the Asahi Shimbun, a long-standing opponent to nuclear power plants. The article provides no data on similar municipal action from prefectures containing nuclear facilities. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201401190021