July 2, 2015

Jul 2, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The radioactive water has been removed from the unit #2 equipment tunnels. The tunnels have been slowly filled with cement that sets up and hardens under water, and the displaced water has been t and stored. The removed liquids were run through the Multi-nuclide Removal Facility (ALPS) just like any other contaminated waters. Also, the unit #3 tunnel water removal project nears completion, with Tepco’s graphic depiction showing that three vertical shafts remain to be filled. The unit #2 tunnels had 4,160 tons of the contaminated water in them, and unit #3’s had 5,440 tons. Tepco estimates that about 10,000 tons has flowed through the tunnels since the accident. The Tepco graphic indicates that a much shorter tunnel system for unit #4, which held 690 tons, was completely filled by the end of April. At this point, 93% of all tunnel waters have been removed. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1253974_6844.html — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150630_01-e.pdf
  • A “scorpion” robot will examine inside the unit #2 primary containment vessel. It will be used to identify fallen objects and possible damage inside the PCV. The robot is about 21 inches long, 3.5 inches tall, and 3.5 inches wide. It weighs about 11 pounds. The name “scorpion” comes from the robot’s ability to raise its lights and cameras on an arm from the rear of the device. When the arm is fully extended, it resembles a scorpion. Unlike the previous snake-like robots used to study inside the unit #1 PCV, this “scorpion” is built to be self-righting, in case it tips over as it traverses the inner PCV. It is planned to make entry through a piping penetration before the end of August.  http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/toshiba-and-irid-develop-small-robot-to-investigate-fukushima-daiichi-2-pcv-interior/ Unfortunately, the Press inside and outside Japan make the false speculation that the robot is intended to find melted fuel “in the pressure vessel”. This will not be possible since such an inspection would have to be inside the thick concrete “pedestal” supporting the reactor itself. The “scorpion” will only inspect outside the pedestal. Is the Press setting up yet another “failure” agenda when the robot doesn’t see any melted fuel? Only time will tell. Here’s an example of such incorrect reporting from the New York Times… http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/30/world/asia/ap-as-japan-nuclear-robot.html?_r=0
  • British nuclear energy expert Malcolm Grimston says Fukushima’s evacuation was not justified. In an August 2014 report, Grimston said, “…the irrational prevention of people from returning to their homes in areas where there was hardly any contamination, turned it [the Fukushima accident] into a serious human tragedy.” He adds, “Ironically, one suspects that the irrational exclusion was adopted in an attempt to reassure people. In reality, there is a demonstrable, dangerous but almost invisible myth that one should ‘err on the side of caution’ in radiological protection. Any action that is not justified on health grounds – let’s say any exclusion from an area which is safer than living in London or Tokyo with all their air pollution – will do more harm than good.” Grimston is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology. His paper, “Fukushima: The Response was Worse than the event” was published in the Journal of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Vol. 57. Here’s the summation Grimston wrote for World Nuclear News, August 26, 2014… http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/e-what-was-deadly-at-fukushima-2608141.html
  • A Tohoku professor is studying slaughtered animals from the Fukushima evacuation zone. Manabu Fukumoto has been examining blood and other remains from domestic cows and pigs, plus wild animals hunted down inside the no-go zone. Over the past four years, he has checked 300 cows, 60 pigs, and 200 monkeys. He explains his reasoning, “Studying animals that lived in areas with high levels of radioactive material will help shed light on how radiation affects people… In fact, they provide us with a wealth of information,” Fukumoto said. He is convinced that “this is the quickest way to resolve questions regarding long-term radiation exposure.” It should be noted that the Press report suggests the reason why this type of research is happening is because “much remains unknown about the long-term health effects of the radioactive substances released.” http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002159008
  • Rural radioactive waste will be removed from five Fukushima schools. The Environment Ministry says the materials produced by decontamination efforts at the schools will be moved to the new interim storage facility in July, when students will be off on summer holiday. Officials at the schools have been pressuring the removal of the packaged materials in order to ease student’s concerns. The five schools are elementary schools Kaoru, Asaka Daini, and Takakura in Koriyama, plus Yashirogawa in Tanagura and Yamashiraishi in Asakawa. The materials at the Koriyama schools are buried, and the two other schools have the wastes in bags stacked at various locations on their respective properties. All waste should be gone by the time schools reopen in late August. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=527
  • Koori students plant grass seedlings to revive their decontaminated schoolyard. The Danzaki Elementary School schoolyard was turned into a lawn under the Fukushima Prefecture’s Utsukushima Green Project in June, 2010. But, when radiation levels increased after the nuclear accident, the upper layer of soil was removed. The stripped underlying soil has remained barren until now. Parents wanted it green again, and the Japan Football Association supplied the seedlings to make it happen. About 350 pupils, parents and guardians, local residents, teachers and others took part the planting. Koori is located just north of Fukushima City, more than 60 kilometers from F. Daiichi.  http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=529
  • Tepco is ordered to compensate a suicide victim’s wife more than $200,000. Kiichi Isozaki of Namie committed suicide in July 2011. He and his wife fled to Koriyama on March 12, 2011, after the Prime Minister ordered an evacuation out to 10 kilometers from F. Daiichi. They stayed in a high school gymnasium, but later moved to another city when Kiichi said he was having trouble sleeping. He left his apartment on July 23, 2011, and was later found dead in an Iitate river. The suit filed by wife Eiko asked for more than $700,000 in damages. The Fukushima District court ruled that the suicide was not the only possible stressor leading to the suicide because he was a diabetic and had been forced to take early retirement before the accident. But the court ruled that the nuke evacuation caused loss of “foundation of his life”, and was 60% responsible for him taking his own life. This is the second suicide-related damages that have been awarded by the Fukushima court. Last August, they awarded $400,000 to the husband of a woman who burned herself to death. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201506300079 — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150630p2g00m0dm070000c.html
  • The IAEA is reviewing the safety of the world’s largest nuclear power station. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, Niigata Prefecture, is owned by Tepco. The company needs one or more of the units restarted to recoup at least part of their Fukushima accident losses caused. The International Atomic Energy Agency has sent in a 12 member team to assess the station’s safety level now that most of the upgrades mandated by the Nuclear Regulation Authority have been made. The initial inspections were of the new emergency vehicles, filtered venting technology for depressurization during a prolonged emergency, and the new 15-meter-high break-wall surrounding the station. The team’s report is expected in about three months. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150630_32.html — http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/2015/201506-e/150630-01e.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150701p2g00m0dm082000c.html