October 20, 2014

Oct 20, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • More than 99% of unit #4’s used fuel bundles have been removed from the damaged building’s fuel pool. As of 10/19/14, the staff at Fukushima Daiichi has safely moved 1342 (87.5%) of unit #4’s 1533 stored fuel bundles to the ground-level common storage facility without incident. Only 11 (<1%) of the original 1331 used (irradiated) bundles remain to be transferred. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision/index-e.html
  • The percentage of evacuees refusing to go home continues to rise. The Reconstruction Agency says the number of dissents to repopulation has risen to almost half in the communities of Namie and Tomioka. This is an 11 point increase from last year for Namie and a 3 point upsurge for Tomioka. Officials say it seems that some of last year’s “undecided” have made up their minds. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Additional decontamination has begun in Kawauchi village. The specific locations are inside the district Tokyo says is safe for repopulation. The reason for the added cleaning is due to many residents are hesitating because radiation is still detectible, even though exposures will be considerably lower than Japan’s standard for repopulation. Tokyo has identified 23 specific locations for the additional work. Removing top-soils at two vacant houses on Friday lowered exposure 90%, and is now is about a third of a microsievert per hour. This equates to about 3 millisieverts per year which is a typical natural exposure level in the United States. Unbridled fear of radiation, no matter the level, is costing Japan time and money, as well as delaying Fukushima recovery. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141017_29.html
  • Nuclear volcano-phobia is supported by a Tokyo volcanologist. University of Tokyo professor emeritus Toshitsugu Fujii heads a government panel looking into the risks of volcanic activity with respect to nukes. He says it is impossible to predict when volcanoes will erupt, thus it makes no sense to operate nukes near them, “It is simply impossible to predict an eruption over the next 30 to 40 years. The level of predictability is extremely limited… Scientifically, they’re [Sendai station nukes] not safe. If they still need to be restarted despite uncertainties and risks that remain, it’s for political reasons, not because they’re safe, and you should be honest about that.” Sendai is 40 kilometers from the nearest volcano, but Fujii says that an eruption in the far-distant past hadlava flows of 145 kilometers. He said a pyroclastic flow from Mount Sakurajima, an active volcano that is part of the larger Aira Cauldron, could easily hit Sendai station. Fujii feels the impact of the resulting speculated nuclear accident would cause greater problems than the volcanic eruption itself. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/expert-says-2-sendai-reactors-in-danger-from-active-volcano?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2014-10-18_AM
  • Satsumasendai city approves the Sendai Station restart. Most of the city assembly’s special panel on the issue favored the restart because of a sluggish economy due to the nuke moratorium. Some were opposed because they felt NRA regulations cannot guarantee there will never be a nuke accident. The panel debated petitions both favoring and disapproving resumption of operations. The ten dissident petitions were rejected and the favorable petition was adopted. The full assembly is expected to adopt the positive petition as early as next week. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Tepco shows its advanced ALPS system to the Press. ALPS is the multi-nuclide removal system that has already successfully treated more than 130,000 tons of wastewater at F. Daiichi. However, the processed water contains detectible levels of five isotopes, including Strontium-90. Fear of Sr-90 has supplanted fear of radioactive Cesium in the Japanese Press over the past several months. The new ALPS equipment will remove all five of the niggling isotopes. In addition, the existing system’s absorption materials are being replaced with resins that will be just as effective. None of the ALPS systems can remove radioactive Hydrogen (Tritium), which is biologically innocuous but will undoubtedly be the main radiophobic concern at some point in the future. Regardless, the total daily purification capacity will be more than 2,000 tons per day when all of them are working in unison. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141017p2a00m0na007000c.html
  • Greenpeace says electrical distribution problems due to renewable feed-ins are merely a utility company ploy to restart nukes. Greenpeace campaigner Hisayo Takada says, “It sounds inconsistent that a power company says it plans to restart a nuclear plant on the one hand, and on the other says it does not want solar power because there is not enough demand.” He adds that there is no way to verify the power company claims, so they can hide the truth, “If a utility says it can’t transmit solar power on its grid, currently no one can verify the claim because the grid system is a closed box to outsiders.” Hikaru Hiranuma, research fellow at the Tokyo Foundation, agrees with Greenpeace, saying that utilities should not be allowed to control electricity distribution, “[Utilities] can set up barriers to new entrants to the power market, by, for example charging for transmission and imposing penalties for unstable electricity supply. The causes of the emerging problem is not the [Feed In Tariff], but utilities’ failure to prepare for growth in solar power… which raises a question about the utilities’ suitability as business entities.” http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/green-power-floods-japan-grid-as-premium-prices-bite?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2014-10-19_AM