October 29, 2015

Oct 29, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • More information on Fukushima child thyroid cancers. Fukushima University’s Dr. Shinichi Suzuki presented his team’s screening results of nearly 450,000 individuals following the nuclear accident in 2011. His report was given at the 15th International Thyroid Congress and 85th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid association in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The report was loosely directed at the recent interest coverage concerning a Japanese researcher’s study claiming the increased child thyroid cancer rates in Fukushima are due to the nuke accident’s I-131 releases. Suzuki says the data does not support the new claim because the confirmed cancers thus far “appear to have occurred prior to [Fukushima] radiation exposure”. Further, the average size of the suspect thyroid tumors were significantly smaller with the post-accident screening cohort than had been the case with those screened before the Fukushima releases (1.4cm vs. 4.1cm, respectively). Plus, the average age of those from the post-accident cohort having surgery was much older than those recorded in pre-accident data (17.4 years vs. 11.9 years, respectively). If the tumors found post-accident were due to Fukushima radiation, the average age of the surgery patients should have been much, much lower. Ironically, Suzuki’s findings were supported by another Japanese specialist who made a plenary lecture comparing Fukushima to Chernobyl. Dr. Nagataki of Nagasaki University, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, and the Radiation Effects Association in Tokyo, said, “We were surprised to see so many children with thyroid cancer . We found a huge number of children [with thyroid cancer] by screening but […patient] ages were very different [from Chernobyl].” He added that “We did not find regional differences in the prevalence of thyroid cancer within Fukushima Prefecture” which should have been the case due to the wide range of contamination levels across the region. http://www.cancernetwork.com/ata-2015-thyroid-cancer/role-fukushima-radiation-unclear-pediatric-thyroid-cancers
  • Japan’s nuke watchdog chief says F. Daiichi recriticality is “physically impossible”. During his visit to Minamisoma City, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka made what appears to be the first official confirmation of the obvious, “Recriticality is physically impossible.” It seems this was meant to show that there will be no further production and release of additional fission products, which appears to have been Tokyo’s reason for the prolonged living restrictions. However, when City Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai asked what residents could regard as safe radiation exposure, Tanaka hedged his answer, “We can’t say what amount will be good. It will depend on the residents’ way of thinking.” (Aside – this shows that Tanaka is a confirmed advocate of the no-safe-level of exposure assumption. End aside…) http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=585
  • More on the impermeable seaside wall… F. Daiichi staff finished sealing the 780 meter long barrier on Monday, October 26th. Soon thereafter, groundwater levels began to rise behind the wall, demonstrating the high integrity of the project. This confirmed that the concrete sealant between the steel piles is doing its job very well. http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/tepco-completes-seaside-shielding-wall-at-fukushima-daiichi-greatly-reducing-risk-of-contaminated-water-leakage/
  • A new robot will be used to decontaminate high, hard-to-reach places at F. Daiichi. The device stands about two meters tall when fully contracted, but can extend itself upwards to about eight meters (~25 feet) for cleaning the upper reaches of the spacious rooms inside reactor buildings 1, 2, & 3. The robot will be deployed in mid-November on the first floor of unit #3. Ground-level decontamination of the first floor has been on-going using other robots, but the too-high spots on top of piping and/or equipment enclosures could not be reached. Thus, the new robot was built. It is felt that 70% of the existing radiation field is due to this hard-to-reach contamination. The first floor radiation level is 125 millisieverts per hour. Tepco would like to lower this to about 3 mSv/hr before letting people enter to perform work. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151029p2a00m0na011000c.html
  • The Asahi Shimbun says only about 15% Of Tomioka and Okuma Town’s evacuees want to return home. 51% of Tomioka’s estranged residents say do not want to go home any more, as do 64% of Okuma’s evacuees. Both town pools show a small increase in the percentage refusing to return since last year’s poll. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201510280056 (Comment – Tokyo and Tepco have been patient with confirmed repopulation dissenters for long enough. Each of them gets more than $7,500 a month in compensation, plus much more than that every month if the family owns its home, and more still if they own a business. That means that the typical family of four, with home ownership, gets ~$50,000 per month. If Dad runs a business on the property, the monthly stipend swells even more. Two years ago, the Asahi estimated that the typical family had already received $2 million. This has probably more than doubled if we factor in the $800/month mental anguish payments for each evacuee, grandfathered back to April 2011. If a family says it will not ever return home – no matter what – all payments should immediately stop! The intent of compensation was to tide the evacuees over until they returned home. More than half repeatedly say they will never go home, even if Tokyo says they can. As I stated in my initial rant about this more than 2 years ago, being a nuke accident evacuee is big business. If they have no intention to go back, cut them off!!)
  • Japan’s antinuclear ex-PMs continue their no-nuke crusade. This time, Junichiro Koizumi and Morihiro Hosokawa visited Hakodate, Hokkaido Prefecture, to echo their long-held antinuclear opinions with a new audience. Koizumi said, “We reaffirmed that Hakodate has the core problems of Japan’s nuclear power issue.” Hakodate filed a suit against Oma nuke plant’s construction in April, 2014. The case has not been decided. Oma is in Aomori Prefecture across the Tsugaru Strait from Hakodate. Because the nearest extent of the town’s official border is 23 kilometers from Oma, the Mayor and other officials feel they should have more say in the plant’s safety because they will be required to draw up evacuation plans. (Aside – It doesn’t matter that such plans would be used for much-more-likely situations such as tsunamis, typhoons, and or blizzards. The town should be held accountable for any future injuries or deaths caused by natural calamities due to their refusal to create evacuation plans, and the two PMs for aiding and abetting.) http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/29/national/koizumi-hosokawa-head-hakodate-help-city-fight-mox-nuke-plant-across-strait/#.VjIbDpDosdU — http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/10/381685.html