May 4, 2015

May 4, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • A new robot will inspect inside F. Daiichi unit #2 RPV pedestal this summer. It will be about 22 inches long and a width and height of about 4 inches. This will allow it to be inserted through a pipe that leads through the Primary Containment and into the Reactor Pressure Vessel pedestal. Once inside, its rear portion will flip up, giving it the appearance of a scorpion. The upper portion will hold a light and camera, and the lower part another light. It will also have temperature and radiation monitors. It is hoped the device will be able to show the underside of the RPV and determine whether or not vessel integrity has been compromised. Radiation levels are expected to be about 100 sieverts/hour, ten times higher than those registered inside unit #1 PCV, so the new robot will be designed to work in a radiation field up to 1000 Sv/hr. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002126853
  • The source of the Tokyo park radioactive hotspot has been identified. It was a 4mm by 4mm capsule of Radium. The Japan Radioisotope Association identified the radioactive material as Radium-226, and resembles sources were once used for calibrating monitoring devices. The capsule’s integrity was not compromised, so there is no possibility of soil contamination. The small Tomisha Ward Park, Tokyo, was closed on April 23rd to facilitate investigation of a significant high radiation hot spot near playground equipment. A local counseling service provided support to worried parents. A lump of compacted ground material was removed and the radiation field literally vanished. The park was reopened on April 26th. However, very few parents have allowed their children to play there out of fear of radiation somehow being residual. Tokyo officials are now running detailed scans of all other city parks to see if there are other similar situations. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002123554 [Comment – the paranoia displayed by worried parents shows two things. First, unbridled fear of radiation is a wide-spread psychological issue in Japan. Second, ignorance of what radiation is, what it can do, and (most importantly) what it cannot do, is just as common. Unless radioactive material is leaking, there will be no residual once the source is removed. Plus, all forms of radiation (except neutron) cannot make the surroundings radioactive. These facts ought to be stressed, and stressed continually, by Japan’s government and scientific community in order to quell unfounded fears.]
  • A small leak from an older F. Daiichi wastewater storage tank was found. On Friday, Tepco said a small puddle of water was seen emanating from beneath a storage tank. The wet patch measured roughly 8 inches by eight inches. The water was immediately surrounded with sandbags, but subsequent inspection showed the puddle was not getting any bigger. Tepco reports the volume of liquid in the puddle was less than half a liter. The water contained about 2.4×108 Becquerels per liter of beta activity. The tank is an older bolted-together type which is being phased out.  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150501_01-e.pdf
  • Iitate village delays its repopulation date to 2017. The municipality stretches from 30 to, 40 kilometers, northwest of F. Daiichi, at the farthest extent of the Tokyo-mandated exclusion zone. The entire town population has been evacuated for four years. The village office in Fukushima City had previously planned to begin repopulation in the least restrictive locations in March, 2016. However, they now only plan to move their administrative functions at that time. The return of residents is being delayed to 2017 to further decontaminate farmland and roads. This will allow all residents to return, except for the few locations that Tokyo deems “difficult-to-return” zones.  http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=501
  • Lawson convenience stores to hire voluntary Fukushima evacuees at its outlets. The program is for those who now live outside of Fukushima Prefecture, the large majority of which are voluntary evacuees. The company will also offer future employment to those who take advantage of the program and subsequently return home. One Lawson official said, “People can acquire job skills while working at a Lawson outlet in evacuation and take advantage of their expertise by continuing to work at a Lawson store near their homes after their return.” The program is intended to help financially-strapped evacuees who left Fukushima Prefecture in 2011 who fled of their own initiative. The program will also be offered to quake/tsunami refugees from Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate Prefectures. The chain has about 12,000 stores in Japan, but has recently experienced a worker shortage. It is estimated that 46,000 evacuees live outside of Fukushima. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201505030022
  • A Kobe University professor says earthquakes from the Nanking Trough have not been considered for the Sendai nukes to be restarted later this summer. Seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi says he correctly forecasted the type of earthquake-spawned accident experienced at Fukushima Daiichi, and his warning this time should be taken seriously. He told the Press, “I don’t want to experience that again, warning about a disaster and then seeing it take place and causing so much damage. Taking the Nankai Trough earthquake into account is indispensable” in modeling the dangers facing the Sendai station. Ishibashi adds that by not considering that a Nanking-epicenter quake could last ten times longer than NRA projections, the statement that the agency is the world’s most stringent nuclear regulator is simply not true. NRA Chair Shunichi Tanaka said, “Professor Ishibashi has his own opinions,” that differ from the expert teams used by the agency. In response, Ishibashi said, “The NRA certainly seems to be feeling the pressure from the current [government] administration.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/01/national/nras-approval-sendai-nuclear-plant-ignores-nankai-quake-risk-seismologist-warns/#.VUTmoKMcQdV