February 20, 2014

Feb 20, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Human error appears to be the cause of the latest Fukushima waste-water spill. This morning, Tepco reported that an improper valve line-up resulted in water being pumped into an already-filled tank, located about 700 meters from the sea. The flow out of the tank and onto the surrounding ground was found late Wednesday night. Tepco estimates that 100 tons of water may have been spilled before flow was stopped and the proper valve configuration had been made. The water in the tank had come from the cesium absorption system and was analyzed at 2.3X108 Becquerels per liter for “all Beta” activity, and 9,300 Bq/liter of combined Cesium. It is unlikely that any of the contaminated water found its way to the sea because the tank is not near any of the site’s drainage ditches. Two inlet valves to the tank were found open. They should have been closed once the tank was filled. In addition, another remote-operated valve seems to have malfunctioned, which when combined with the two erroneously-open valves caused the tank to overflow. Water ran out of the tank’s upper seam and into a rainwater diversion pipe that directed the liquid to the surrounding earth. Tepco says they will investigate into the cause of the one valve’s malfunction and the reason why the two tank-inlet valves were not closed. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140220_22.html — http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2014022000480
  • As a result of last night’s spill, a local fisheries group says this is a significant mistake because it seems due to human error. Masakazu Yabuki, the head of the Fukushima Prefecture fishermen’s group, said the leak of 100 tons was not small and could cause anxiety about the safety of local fish among consumers nationwide. Another group official, Hiroyuki Sato, said human error at F. Daiichi cannot be allowed. He added that the spill will only add to the local fishermen’s distrust of Tepco and could prevent the company’s recent plans to pump uncontaminated groundwater away from the uphill side of the station and into the sea. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • The Nuclear Regulatory Authority will prioritize the order of nuke plant safety screenings. The NRA has not said why they have waited since last summer to do this. Regardless, at Wednesday’s open meeting, the agency said they decided that prioritization will speed up the screening process. The official list will take “2 to 3 weeks” to compile, possibly determined by which units were the first to have applications filed. Following the posting, the NRA will seek public opinion on the draft report for the first unit to be screened, hold public hearings in the local community and solicit opinions on the technical aspects in the report. The combined timetable will cover 6 to 7 weeks, which makes the earliest possible date for finishing the first screening to the first half of April. This moves the earliest time for the first restart to August.  http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001047224 — http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2014021900431
  • Twenty six American companies took part in a “Fukushima Recovery Forum” on Tuesday and Wednesday. The forum was jointly organized by the Japanese and US governments. It included officials from Japanese construction firms already involved with the clean-up. On Tuesday, a new underground facility for the chemical removal of radioactive substances was proposed by a company that took part in the Chernobyl recovery. In addition the American contingent felt that the use of US technology will speed up the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi. There seems to have been no follow-up article on Wednesday’s meeting. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Plans to build public residences for some Fukushima evacuees have stalled. The problem is getting contractors to submit bids on a project in Aizuwakamatsu city that meet the budget constraints of the Prefecture’s planners. Aizuwakamatsu is located about 100 kilometers west of F. Daiichi where enough property has been acquired to build the concrete complex for evacuees who wish to relocate. This is part of Fukushima’s desire to accommodate evacuees from Tomioka, Okuma, Futaba, Namie, Katsurao, and Iitate who lived in homes that will probably not be open to repopulation by 2017. The prefecture ultimately plans to build 4,890 units to house people from these and 13 other municipalities. A similar contractor problem occurred last August for a 20-unit apartment complex in Koriyama, but was resolved when the prefecture upped their base pricing. The prefecture may have to follow a similar path for Aizuwakamatsu. Fukushima Prefecture would like to have 3,700 units completed by the end of 2015, but has only been able to buy enough property for 60% of them. Officials will continue to negotiate with landowners in order to procure enough property to build all planned units. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/
  • Fukushima officials want Tokyo to improve information flow concerning F. Daiichi. The Industry Ministry convened a conference on Monday at Fukushima City comprised of local officials, educators, business leaders and other interested members of the public. Many attendees said that press statements contain too many technical terms which are not understood by the public. Others complained there is too much press about the problems at the nuke station which discourages evacuees from repopulating after their districts are re-opened. Fukushima Prefecture Vice-Governor Masao Uchibori said progress should be measured using shorter periods of time, rather than decades. Achievable goals should be set using shorter time frames to give a better impression of progress. A Minister said the government will see what it can do to satisfy the perceived needs. This was the first public meeting of a program announced last week. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140218_21.html
  • Tepco has developed a new personal dosimeter for the public. It will measure exposures 100 times lower than those currently in use. The device has a minimum detectability of .001 microsievert per hour, and can store up to 9,000 pieces of data per minute. Thus, people can follow changes in their exposures as they go about their daily activities more accurately than before. The dosimeter was jointly developed with Fuji Electric Co., which is based in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/00010202420