June 19, 2014

Jun 19, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • F. Daiichi’s hi-tech wastewater treatment system (ALPS) will resume full operation. ALPS has been plagued by a series of problems since its test-operation period began last year. There are three parallel lines of operation, but technical issues have kept one or more streams off-line much of the time. Occasionally, all three lines have been down. Tepco now feels that the prior issues have been resolved and a final simultaneous test run of all three streams is scheduled to begin Sunday. ALPS will remove all radioactive isotopes from the wastewater except for biologically-innocuous Tritium. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2014/06/296706.html
  • The unused fuel bundles in unit#4 fuel pool will be temporarily transferred to unit #6 pool. Currently, 180 unused bundles remain in the unit #4 pool. It is planned that they will not be removed until all spent (used/irradiated) bundles have been transferred. As part of the fuel relocation, Tepco had planned on placing some of the much-older bundles in the Common Facility pool in dry casks to make room for all unit #4 bundles. However, a delay in confirmation of dry cask safety has prevented Tepco from fulfilling this strategy. The company will apply for the plan’s modification with the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Unit #6 sits several meters higher in elevation than the four damaged lower-level units at F. Daiichi, was off-line on 3/11/11, and avoided an accident. Tepco hopes the amended plan will be approved so they can begin the transfer in November. http://fukushimaupdate.com/tepco-to-transfer-unused-fuel-rods-to-new-location/
  • The freezing of equipment tunnels for unit #2 hasn’t gone as planned. In April, sub-cooled chemicals were piped through tunnel waters to begin freezing. However, the temperature cannot be lowered enough to freeze the contents. Tepco believes equipment in the tunnels may be keeping the coolant from spreading evenly. They plan to better-control currents in the tunnel and add more coolant pipes, if needed. The plan was to freeze the tunnels by the end of the month and clear the contents later this summer. This is not part of the “ice wall” Tepco is building around the units #1 through #4 basements to stem the inflow of groundwater. Several Japanese and international news outlets have confused the tunnel with the ice wall. The difficulties with freezing the contaminated trench water is not a setback in development of the ice wall, of which construction is proceeding as planned. It is hoped that the tunnels for all four units will be dried and sealed by the end of the year. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2014/1237950_5892.html
  • Japan’s government awarded another $80 million (USD) to Fukushima for reconstruction. The Reconstruction Agency says that the money will be spent across 16 municipalities for public rental housing for returning evacuees, plus the recovery of farming and industrial activities. The grant is part of a $1.6 billion fund intended to jump-start local repopulation after living restrictions are lifted. Minister Takumi Nemoto says the agency will continue to give necessary aid for reconstruction. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140617_18.html
  • Many quake/tsunami refugees have abandoned hope to rebuild their homes. The number of pending requests to rebuild on government-reclaimed land in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures has dropped more than 20% in the last 15 months. One municipality experienced an 80% drop-off. Of the more than 25,000 stand-alone residences planned to replace the homes destroyed or swept away on 3/11/11, the number has plummeted to a bit less than 20,000. Many former homeowners are tired of waiting for the government to fulfill the plans. Instead, they are moving into disaster recovery housing complexes or leaving their communities to look for rental property. Local governments planned to help disaster victims rebuild their homes through collective relocation of communities to higher ground, and/or raising the ground level in devastated shoreline areas. Iwate University professor Junichi Hirota said, “The longer the decisions on relocation sites and land reclamation are delayed, the larger the number of disaster victims who will abandon their efforts to rebuild their homes will be.” http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140619p2a00m0na010000c.html
  • The NRA has posted the latest results of ocean monitoring. The data covers the coastline of Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi Prefectures, out to about 300 kilometers off-shore. Nearly all locations show undetectable levels of radioactive Cesium, Strontium, and Plutonium. None of the sites have levels in excess of national standards. http://radioactivity.nsr.go.jp/en/contents/9000/8534/24/Sea_Area_Monitoring_20140617.pdf
  • No active faults exist under or near the Hamaoka nuclear station. Chubu Electric Company has completed extensive investigations into the geologic anomalies associated with Hamaoka, and found none of them to be seismically active. The results of the study have been submitted to the NRA. Chubu Electric applied for a safety review by the NRA in February. Hamaoka received major Press coverage soon after the Fukushima accident when then-PM Naoto Kan ordered it shuttered because of his concerns about the station being located at the potential epicenter of an 8.0 Richter-scale earthquake. Kan based his shut-down order on Tokyo seismologist Shinichi Sakai’s prediction of a 70% chance of “the big one” happening by the end of 2015. Subsequently, other seismologists have said an off-shore subduction zone, the Nankin Trough, will likely produce a major quake in the next 30 years. The Trough is about 100 kilometers off-shore from Hamaoka, which is located nearly 200 kilometers south of Tokyo. However, the trough runs less than 50 kilometers off-shore from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Regardless, Hamaoka has severely beefed up its quake and tsunami protective measures to meet or exceed worst-case scenarios.  However, the NRA asked that the anomalies under and near the nuke plant be analyzed for seismic activity indications. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2014/06/296722.html
  • Jiji Press continues to promote Fukushima groundwater fears. Jiji says the situation at F. Daiichi is “far from being under control…the source of contamination remains unclear and new record levels of radioactive substances have been detected in groundwater taken at a number of measuring points on the ocean side of the plant’s No. 1 to No. 4 reactors.” However, Jiji conveniently ignores two important facts. First, the entire shoreline along the four units has been robustly barricaded deep within the earth, effectively stanching contaminated flow into the harbor. Second, all seawater testing done by the NRA shows that there is nothing going into the Pacific (see above). Jiji is shamelessly reporting in a fashion clearly intended to perpetuate pre-existing levels of fear, uncertainty and doubt.  http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2014061800727