April 10, 2014

Apr 10, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Industry Minister says F. Daiichi groundwater releases should begin next month. Toshimitsu Motegi said that since the local Fisheries have agreed to the releases, the “pumping up” of groundwater into storage tanks can begin immediately. The waters will be tested extensively before actual release can happen. The testing is time consuming because some of the radionuclides must be analyzed over extended periods in order to provide confident results at the extremely low levels desired. Tepco has said they will not release unless the waters are below 1 Becquerel per liter of Cs-134 and Cs-137, 5 Bq/liter of “all beta” activity, and 1,500 Bq/liter of Tritium. All of these self-imposed limits are at least 10 times less than national drinking water standards. Testing will also be done by a third party in parallel with Tepco’s staff at F. Daiichi. The water will be removed from 12 wells drilled between the nearby mountains and the damaged buildings at F. Daiichi. Initially, the amount of water to be “pumped up” should lower the groundwater level in the land-side earth by one meter. Tepco will then be able to gauge the effect it will have on seepage into the contaminated building basements of units #1 through #4.  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140408_25.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140409p2g00m0dm060000c.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2014/1235426_5892.html
  • The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy posted its latest progress report on Fukushima site recovery. Topics in the report are testing of the preliminary frozen earth shield walls, status of the ALPS multi-nuclide removal system, spent fuel bundle transfer out of unit #4, and accident debris removal. http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1396864614P.pdf
  • Severe radiophobia and distrust of the government made a Fukushima family take extreme measures to keep their daughter from the exposure she fears. Thirteen-year-old Kokoro Kamiyama had developed nosebleeds, grown pale and lethargic, and skipped school over anxiety about radiation exposure. She said she was discriminated against by other children who accused her of being radioactive. Her older brother and grandparents thought she was being ridiculous, but her parents eventually decided to send her away. Much of Kokoro’s anxiety seems based on her mother, Yukie, who kept telling her daughter not to believe the government and that no-one really knows the real risks of low level exposure. Yukie still says, “The low-dose radiation is continuing. There is no precedent. We don’t know what effect that will have on our children. I didn’t really believe things are as safe as the government is telling us.” The Mayor of the Nagano ski town Matsumoto had offered to take in children like Kokoro and educate them. Kokoro is one of eight that have been moved to Matsumoto this month to start the new school year. The project is the brainchild of Mayor Akira Sugenoya, a doctor who performed many thyroid-cancer surgeries in Belarus after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The Hiroshi Ueki family is also making use of the opportunity. Hiroshi moved his wife and two children to Matsumoto when he became overseer of the project. He says, “The bottom line is: No one knows for sure. What we do know is that the cases of cancer are up, and so naturally we are worried.” Recently, the National Council for Child Health and Development found that one child in four who suffered from the quake/tsunami disaster of 3/11/11 has clinically-diagnosable mental health problems. However, it seems the Matsumoto project is only for the children of Fukushima evacuees. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-children-start-school-in-nagano?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2014-04-08_AM
  • Many of the evacuees from the newly-unrestricted Miyakoji district are staying away. Twenty-six of the 117 affected families have either returned or are planning on going home. These are mostly elderly people. Most of those reluctant to return are younger families with children or unmarried adults. Some who are not planning to return cite radiation fears and distrust of the situation at F. Daiichi. Others say the reason is a lack of jobs and too little operating infrastructure. One mother named Masumi has moved to Koriyama, which is outside the exclusion zone. She says, “We cannot return to the Miyakoji area. There are few jobs available.” She also commented on the $9,000 lump-sum payment for each returning person designed to stimulate repopulation, “The lump-sum payment won’t lead to future security. It would be much easier to find work in Koriyama, where there are many prospective employers.” http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201404090045  (Comment – The Asahi article says there are 800,000 remaining Fukushima refugees, but the actual number is more like 80,000. Is this a typo? Also, the Asahi article makes it seem the only compensation evacuees get is $1,000 per month. This contradicts the Asahi report of October 26th that says the typical family of four gets $30,000 per month in compensation. It also contradicts Tepco’s weekly financial postings on compensation and the more than $1 billion per month in subsidies paid to Tepco by the government to cover the pay-outs. The $1,000 per month compensation is for mental anguish due to the Tokyo-mandated evacuation, per person, in addition to what was already being paid out. This brings the average monthly income per family to about $34,000.)
  • The reason for the latest problem with the ALPS water purifying system is resin failure. About 6 centimeters of compacted resin “chipped off” from one of the filter beds and allowed contaminated water to bypass it. This raised the system outlet contamination level into the millions of Becquerels per liter range. The resin material will be removed and tested. The same materials in the other two operating ALPS systems will also be examined. NHK World; Defect found in water treatment system; April 9, 2014  (Comment – the normally objective NHK World says there is now no prospect of bringing the system into full operation. This seems to be purely speculative and taints the news outlet’s repute.)
  • A filtered vent system at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station has been tested. The system will strip airborne radioactive materials from depressurization venting should there be an over-pressure condition inside the unit #7 containment. The venting systems at F. Daiichi were not filtered. If they were, the resulting off-site contamination levels would have been greatly reduced and tens of thousands of people would probably not have been forced to evacuate by the government. The test ran nitrogen gas through the system and demonstrated that it flowed as per design. The filtering cylinder in the system measures 8 meters by 4 meters. NHK World; TEPCO tests filtered vent at nuclear plant; April 9, 2014
  • The Sendai nuclear plants could restart this summer. Kyushu Electric Co. says they will submit the supplementary documents requested by the Nuclear Regulation Authority later this month. The NRA plans to subsequently write a draft report and seek public opinion over the month following Kyushu’s submittal. Barring unforeseen delays, the official approval for restart could be issued by late June, opening the possibility of restarting both Sendai nukes in the summer. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2014041000520
  • Radiophobic American sailors have again filed for damages from Tepco. This time it includes 79 persons who want a combined $1 billion. Last year’s initial suit was thrown out of court in San Diego because the allegations of a conspiracy between Tepco and the US Navy were unfounded. The new suit filed in San Diego only names Tepco as culpable. Allegedly, the company lied about conditions at F. Daiichi causing the USS Ronald Reagan to be “blanketed” in high levels of radiation. The Associated Press speculates this has caused “dozens of cancers and a child being born with birth defects.” Tepco has filed a motion to dismiss the suit and has responded that the US Navy would never have relied on a foreign utility to determine the safety of its sailors, “It’s wholly implausible that military commanders in charge of thousands of personnel and armed with some of the world’s most sophisticated equipment, relied instead only on the press releases and public statements of a foreign electric utility company.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/08/national/u-s-sailors-sue-tepco-for-1-billion-over-alleged-radiation-exposure/#.U0PsxqNOUdU