January 22, 2015

Jan 22, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Two workers died Tuesday at Fukushima Daiichi and F. Daini, respectively. Both were “cooperative” staff, and not working for either Tepco or contractor companies. Cooperatives are worker-owned and operated groups specializing in various job classifications. At F. Daiichi, the fatality was a man sealing the top of a 10 meter-high rainwater storage tank and fell to the ground. At F. Daini, the death was a man inspecting a concentration apparatus on the 5th floor of a waste treatment building. Tepco says he was fatally injured when the apparatus unexpectedly rotated and impinged on his head. Neither man was found to have any bodily contamination. F. Daiichi chief Akira Ono said, “We will do our utmost to prevent such accidents and to steadily proceed with the decommissioning work.” http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150120p2g00m0dm064000c.html — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html The link to Tepco’s F. Daiichi Press release is http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1247504_6844.html and an image of the storage tank from which he fell can be found here http://photo.tepco.co.jp/library/150120_01/150120_02.jpg. The link to Tepco’s F. Daini Press release is http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1247513_6844.html and a Press handout can be found here http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150120_01-e.pdf
  • Japan’s nuke watchdog calls for the release of wastewaters containing Tritium. On Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said Tepco can release fully-treated wastewater to the sea. NRA chair Shunichi Tanaka suggested the death on Tuesday at F. Daiichi shows that continually adding more and more storage tanks for essentially harmless waters has become a danger, “Tokyo Electric Power must consider whether it (storing the water) is really necessary. It is surely harmful if it leads to the death of workers.” However, a Tepco spokesperson says the company is not considering making the releases. The agency wants Tepco to set a firm timetable for the releases. The treated waters have been stripped of all radionuclides except biologically-innocuous Tritium; a naturally-occurring isotope of Hydrogen. More than a year ago, the IAEA made the same recommendation, but Tepco and the NRA have dragged their feet on discharging the harmless waters. Tepco also says they will not do it without approval from local officials and fishermen. One Kyoto University professor says the long-term effects of Tritium on animal genetics are not known, thus detailed monitoring of the sea-life during the releases should be performed to detect “worrisome signals”. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/01/21/fukushima-watch-regulator-calls-on-tepco-to-discharge-tritium-water/
  • The NRA has also approved Tepco’s plan to release decontaminated groundwater to the Pacific Ocean. Tepco wants to install drainage pipes around the buildings of F. Daiichi units #1 through #4, in order to pump it out and run it through the multiple decontamination systems now in operation. Conditions for the release are Cesium below 1 Becquerel per liter, Beta emitters less than 3 Bq/l, and Tritium below 1,500 Bq/l. Tepco says they will not actually make sea releases without approval by local residents. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201501220054  Several Japanese news outlets have reported on this, and some are purporting that the waters are toxic. Kyodo News and Mainichi Shimbun both call it a “plan to dump toxic groundwater”.  http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/01/332592.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150121p2g00m0dm071000c.html
  • Prosecutors will not indict Tepco executives over the Fukushima accident. This is the second time a non-indictment decision has been rendered on the suit. A claim of death and injury was filed more than 2 years ago by thousands of plaintiffs, but the suit was dismissed in September of 2013. A citizen’s panel, the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, said in July 2014 that the three men should be indicted, arguing that they could have avoided or diminished the accident by installing switch boards and power generators on higher ground, and waterproofing the plant buildings. In addition to the former TEPCO executives, the prosecutor’s office interviewed experts on tsunami, plant engineering, and other fields. The office concluded that even if added measures had been taken, the tsunami’s damage would not have been averted. The case’s dismissal will probably not be the end of it. Plaintiff leader Ruiko Muto said that she intends to file yet another call for a second citizen’s group review. If the second citizen’s group calls for indictment, the court will be forced to appoint independent attorneys from outside the prosecutor’s office to try the case.  http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150122p2a00m0na001000c.html — http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/01/23/fukushima-watch-prosecutors-again-decline-to-indict-ex-tepco-executives/