November 13, 2014

Nov 13, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tepco embraces Woods Hole Oceanographic’s (WHOI) report on Pacific Ocean Cesium content. WHOI says the waters off the coast of North America show very little Cs-134, the isotope used to identify radioactivity from the Fukushima accident. The research group says the concentrations are “well below what is thought to be of human health or fisheries concern.” WHOI researcher, Ken Buesseler says the levels have no impact on the human body, or and shellfish. The analyzed activity of less than 2 Bq/m3 is more than 1,000 times lower than drinking water limits established by the US EPA. (aside – Who drinks seawater? – end aside) Buesseler added that someone swimming in the water would be exposed to radioactivity “1,000 times less than a single dental X-ray. It will not deter me from swimming in the Pacific,” and Cesium “does not bio-accumulate [in fish and shellfish] the way many other elements do, like mercury.” http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2014/1243939_5892.html
  • The question of where land-deposited Cesium is going, may have been answered. University of Tokyo’s Toshihiro Kogure and his team studied soil samples from Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture. They found that most of the deposited Cesium was contained in the soil’s black mica. Mica is a common mineral found in most types of rock. Granite in Fukushima prefecture contains the mineral, and tiny pieces flake off from weathering. Kogure’s study identifies that much, if not most of the radioactive Cesium is trapped in the mica and may spur ideas on how to remove it. The team says they don’t know why the Mica entraps the Cesium. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141111_09.html
  • More post-accident transcripts have been released by Tokyo. Unlike the release of Masoa Yoshida’s and Naoto Kan’s testimonies last summer, there has been very little Press about the latest releases in Japan. On Wednesday, the government disclosed another 56 testimonies taken by the Diet’s independent nuclear accident investigation panel (NAIIC). Tokyo has now released 75 testimonies, but roughly 700 continue to be sequestered. One of the latest released testimonies comes from Manabu Terata, aide to then-PM Naoto Kan. Terata mostly parroted his boss’ rationale for Kan’s infamous invasion of F. Daiichi the morning of March 12, 2014. Terata said Kan’s move was ill-advised, but in keeping with his character. He added that he wasn’t optimistic about what kind of impact the visit would have on emergency actions at the plant. Terata also said, “[Kan] appeared to be quite menacing, and he was speaking in an extremely harsh tone of voice.” Another testimony, by Hidehiko Nishiyama of NISA, concerned whether or not he said anything about meltdown early-on in the crisis, “There was no denying the possibility of meltdowns occurring there, but I did not use words such as meltdown.” Another testimony, this time made by Atsuo Tamura of the Science and Technology Ministry who was sent to Fukushima Prefecture, says, “I was convinced [the facility’s] reactor cores had been damaged, judging from the fact that, even prior to March 12, high concentrations of iodine and cesium had been detected [around the nuclear facility].” http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001716505 (comment – So, who ordered meltdown to be a forbidden topic at press conferences? I’ve repeatedly reported that it was Naoto Kan who ordered Tepco to stop speaking about meltdown on March 12, and have all press statements cleared by his cabinet before release. Now, the non-transparency plot thickens. It wasn’t only Tepco that was withholding the information (as all antinuclear sources allege), but it was government spokespersons, as well. Only one person could have muzzled everyone – Kan!!)
  • Japan’s nuke watchdog will consider a formal public objection to the Sendai station restarts. The document was signed by 1,400 citizens from across Japan, roughly .001% of the country’s population. The objection contains the usual antinuclear complaints, including insufficient safety systems to protect against worst-case earthquakes, inability to confirm that emergency evacuation plans will actually work to protect the public, and restarting at this point-in-time is unacceptably hasty. The NRA says they will consider the objection. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141112_29.html
  • Kansai Electric is set to apply for licensing extensions on two units. Two Pressurized Water Reactors at Takamara station are approaching their politics-based 40 year lifetimes. One will be 40 by the end of the week, the other next November. KEPCO plans to ask for the allowed 20 year extensions. The company expects high returns on the money it will invest to meet the new regulations for extended licensing. Tokyo says it will allow the 20-year extension on conditions that plant operators conduct special inspections and upgrade safety measures. KEPCO is the first utility to announce plans for extensions, pursuant to Tokyo’s October request that companies decide on either lifetime extension or commitment to decommissioning for seven units approaching age 40. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141113p2a00m0na001000c.html
  • Fukushima farmers continue to suffer from consumer radiophobia. Date City farmers produced 210,000 shipping-bags of rice this year, all of which met the Prefecture’s self-imposed 60 Becquerels/kg limit. The national standard is 100 Bq/kg. Regardless, market sales lag pre-accident levels by hundreds of millions USD. Another item, dried persimmons, has had a more difficult time. Although last year’s fruit met the local standard, drying concentrated radioactive isotopes by up to a factor of five and kept the item from being sold. None of fruit from the area’s 250,000 trees could be marketed. But, this year some of the dried persimmons have met the standard. Only time will tell if consumer radiophobia will hurt sales. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclearwatch/20141112.html