June 12, 2014

Jun 12, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Decontamination continues to significantly reduce radiation levels inside the F. Daiichi exclusion zone. Six locations where “experimental” decontamination has occurred were the focus of a new monitoring survey. Communities where estimated annual exposures were greater than 50 millisieverts per year are now at 20-50% of pre-decontamination levels. 50 mSv/yr and above is politically considered unsuitable for living. In Futaba Town, measurements near public buildings vary between 26 and 40 mSv/yr, which is 20-30% of the estimated levels three years ago. In Namie Town, residential districts vary between 29 and 75 mSv/yr, which is 40-50% of the values originally projected. Thus, test decontamination efforts inside these highly contaminated areas have had considerable success. Tokyo will now consider whether or not to begin full-scale decontamination inside the “unsuitable for living” zones after polling evacuees concerning their intent to return home. NHK World; Radiation levels remain high in unlivable areas; June 10, 2014
  • Rice farming is now allowed in six formerly restricted communities near F. Daiichi. Soon after the 2011 accident, farming was restricted in 12 municipalities due to radiation concerns, plus farmers in other communities voluntarily suspended rice growing. The restrictions were lifted this spring in half of the communities, totaling 5,200 hectares of potential rice crops. However, only about 2% of the farmers have resumed rice planting. Some local officials say insufficient decontamination in fields and possible contamination in water supplies are two prominent complaints from those who are reluctant to return to their fields. The community with the highest resumption rate is Minamisoma at 3.4%. This is followed by Tomioka at 0.2%, Namie and Okuma at 0.1% and Katsurao at 0.06%. No-one in Futaba has taken advantage of the restrictions being lifted. NHK World; Resumption of rice farming slow in Fukushima; June 11, 2014
  • Nuclear opponents say one of the new watchdog commissioners is a proponent of nuclear power and unacceptable. The lower house of Japan’s Diet approved the candidacy of two commissioners to replace the ones who will be leaving later this year. One of the two stepping down is a fierce critic of nuclear energy because of earthquake concerns. Thus, opponents of the move say the Nuclear Regulation Authority will lose its appearance as an independent regulator. The replacement candidate causing the protest is Satoru Tanaka, a nuclear engineering professor in Tokyo. Tanaka has received about $100,000 (USD) over the past three years in research grants from nuclear utilities, which critics feel makes him unacceptable. Tomoko Abe, an anti-nuclear lawmaker said, “Bringing someone like Tanaka on as a regulator changes the fundamental role of the NRA. This nomination could undermine the very role of the regulator.” To the contrary, industry analysts say any nuclear expert in Japan receives funding from the nuclear community. Hideyuki Ban of Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center responds, “But it is a matter of the degree of money you receive,” implying that Tanaka got too much money to be trusted. Activists had hoped Kazuhiko Shimazaki would remain. The government says he and Kenzo Oshima wanted to leave at the end of their two-year terms. NRA Chair Shunichi Tanaka is no relation to the candidate under fire. http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/independence-of-japans-nuclear-regulator-questioned-after-shakeup
  • The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that the risk of a spent fuel pool (SFP) fire is miniscule. In fact, the risk of fire vanishes a few months after spent fuel is removed from a BWR and placed in a pool. The reason is the on-going nature of ever-diminishing radioactive decay. The NRC adds three important findings of their recently-completed several-year study. First, SFPs are built to safety levels far beyond design criteria, are “robust” and will survive “seismic forces greater than the maximum earthquake reasonably expected”. They cite what happened with Fukushima Daiichi which “did not result in any spent fuel pool leaks”. Second, “Spent fuel is only susceptible to a radiological release within a few months after the fuel is moved from the reactor to the spent fuel pool. After that time the spent fuel is coolable by air…” Plus, the likelihood of a radiological release from the spent fuel after the analyzed severe earthquake is about one in ten million per year. Thirdly, even if there was an early radiological release, the risk to the public would be negligible. These important findings show that continued concern about spent fuel transfers at Fukushima Daiichi leading to apocalyptic catastrophe is groundless. The NRC Commissioners approved the findings by a 4-1 vote. It is not surprising that professional American antinukes such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Union of Concerned Scientists insist that the NRC analysis is incomplete, that there are scenarios which were ignored, and there are hidden consequences that were not addressed. http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2014/06/10/spent-fuel-pool-fire-risk-goes-to-zero-a-few-months-after-reactor-shutdown/ — http://atomicinsights.com/improvements-spent-fuel-pool-modeling/  (Comment – I wish to thank Rod Adams at Atomic Insights for writing the above-linked editorials, from which my summation was taken.)
  • Minority shareholders of Japan’s nuclear utilities want a withdrawal from nuke power. Although submissions were given to each individual utility, it seems likely this was jointly planned because they were tendered simultaneously. The action comes before the June 26 shareholder’s meetings to be held by all companies. It is unlikely that the submissions will lead to policy changes with any of the nine utilities because the signatories represent a very small fraction of total shares in each case. The submittal made to Tepco said the company should not plan on restarting any of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units, but rather decline resumption of operations “based on the assumption that all nuclear power plants will not be restarted”. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201406120042 (Comment – Soon after 3/11/11, Japanese antinuclear groups asked their followers to buy shares in the nation’s nuke utilities for the purpose of making the antinuclear view known to mainstream investors. This tactic has been part-and-parcel to antinuclear strategy around the world since the American Three Mile Island incident in 1979. By owning a few shares, activists have the right to file “no-nukes” proposals for shareowner meetings, but no one in their right mind would expect minority opinions of this low magnitude to have any actual impact. Rather, this is little more than a ploy to garner Press coverage from sympathetic news media outlets, in this case the continually nuclear-critical Asahi Shimbun.)