April 17, 2014

Apr 17, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Contaminated equipment washing water has overflowed inside its storage facility. While cleansing a tank from the advanced water decontamination system, ALPS, F. Daiichi workers found water building up outside the washing area. It is estimated that about seven tons of water contaminated by from cleaning the tank overflowed from the containment area, but all of it is confined within the ALPS facility. Tepco estimates the volume of overflow is about 1 ton (1,000 liters). The water contains 6,700 Becquerels per liter of Cesium-137 and a total of 3.8 million Bq/liter of Beta-emitting isotopes. The cause of the incident is being investigated. This did not affect operation of the one ALPS unit operating at the time of the discovery. NHK World; Radioactive water overflows at treatment facility; April 17, 2014
  • The water pumped to a wrong building has been returned to its system source. Last Friday, Tepco staff thought the water was being pumped to an intended storage building, but the level in that structure actually went down. This indicated the water was going somewhere else. It turned out that four pumps were running that were not supposed to be used during the transfer. About 200 tons of wastewater was incorrectly sent to the incinerator workshop basement instead of the main processing building. The reason these four pumps were running has yet to be determined. No wastewater was lost to the outside environment. Tuesday morning, the company said they are pumping the water in the incinerator basement back to its original location in the waste bunker building. NHK World; TEPCO pumping back contaminated water; April 15, 2014
  • Japan’s Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) has posted the reasons why the 3/11/11 tsunami did not cause accidents at three other nuke sites. The three stations are Onagawa (Miyagi Prefecture), Tokai Daini (Ibaraki Prefecture) and Fukushima Daini (10 km south of Fukushima Daiichi). The main reason they escaped the fate of F. Daiichi was because at least one off-site power source and two or more emergency diesels remained intact at each station after the tsunami hit. Thus, none of the three had a complete, prolonged electrical blackout. Onagawa station was in cold shutdown less than 10 hours after the tsunami hit, Tokai Daini just after midnight on March 15, and F. Daini at 7:15am on March 15. For more complete details, click the following link… (JAIF has deleted the page for reasons unknown)
  • The Asahi Shimbun continues to treat innocuous radiation exposure levels as biologically significant. Japan’s second-largest newspaper now reports that critical radiation exposure estimates for residents returning to their homes was withheld for six months, allegedly to not inhibit people from repopulating the Miyakoji district of Tamura City. Some of the 43 locations surveyed were also in the communities of Kawauchi and Iitate. Decontamination is complete in Kawauchi and repopulation is expected in the near future. The report released by the Cabinet Office on April 15 shows no estimated exposures in excess of 20 millisieverts per year (the criterion for repopulation), but slightly more than half of the monitored locations were in excess of the long-term goal of 1 mSv/yr the Asahi seems to feel should be the repopulation criterion. The government says releasing the data had nothing to do with Miyakoji’s repopulation and the delay in releasing the data gathered last July was because of a disparity between actual readings and estimated exposures taken from monitors carried in aircraft. Tokyo wanted to have the disparity studied by University experts before making the data public. The Asahi tacitly accuses Tokyo of a cover-up because the results were not released before Miyakoji was repopulated. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201404160056  (Comment – this issue was first reported in the Mainichi Shimbun late in March and summarized in our March 27 update. For additional information please go to the “Fukushima Updates #68” which can be accessed through the sitemap at the bottom of this page.)
  • Two former Japanese PMs continue their antinuclear crusade. Undeterred by a crushing election defeat in January, Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi say they will create a new antinuclear political group with the goal of ending nuclear power in Japan and replacing them with energy efficiency and renewables. They plan to kick it off May 7th with a convention in Tokyo. It is believed the meeting will be entitled “the conference for promoting renewables”. The group itself has yet to be named. Hosokawa and Koizumi will oppose all reactor restarts and promote all local election candidates willing to join their antinuclear bandwagon. They are currently planning town meetings in Niigata, Aomori and Kagoshima Prefectures. Hosokawa said, “I want to support efforts to build the local economy without reliance on nuclear power.” The two PMs also plan on backing an antinuclear candidate for the Fukushima gubernatorial election later this year. In January, Hosokawa placed a distant third (out of ~15 candidates) in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, garnering less than 20% of the ballots cast. The platform was almost entirely antinuclear. An official from Japan’s ruling LDP party says the group should not have significant impact, “They no longer have any clout to significantly sway public opinion.” It is believed the group will first to try and stop the restarts of the two Sendai nuke units in Kagoshima Prefecture, anticipated for later this summer. The Sendai units are expected to be the first nukes restarted under the new Nuclear Regulation Authority rules. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201404150059