September 2, 2013

Sep 2, 2013 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The Nuclear Regulatory Authority says the 3/11/11 earthquake caused no damage to F. Daiichi safety systems prior to the tsunami-induced full station blackout. A draft report on the NRA’s formal investigation was released on Friday. The investigation focused on a puddle of water seen by plant workers on the 4th floor of unit #1 after the quake. A prior government investigation said it might have come from an emergency cooling system. The NRA report shows the water probably sloshed out of the 5th floor fuel storage pool during the quake and trickled down to the 4th floor. An NRA inspection team visited the 4th floor earlier this year and found no evidence of emergency cooling system damage. The team added that an emergency system leak would have released steam, not water. One critic says ruling out quake damage without checking all emergency system piping in detail is premature. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130830_31.html
  • The staff at Fukushima has found more radioactive hot spots. At least four were discovered on Sunday during the intensified inspection program for the wastewater storage tanks. One of the spots was found below a dripping pipe between two of the tanks. Inspection of the tanks revealed no leaks at the seams. The leakage rate from the pipe was about one drop every 90 seconds. The drip was stopped with absorbing material wrapped in plastic tape. The highest of the new readings was 1,800 millisieverts per hour of Beta radiation, but it was not the spot below the pipe-drip. If the 1,800 mSv/hr were Gamma radiation, it could kill a person exposed for four or more hours. Since it is Beta radiation at an energy level which cannot penetrate through clothing or skin, the measured activity is not deadly. Three new hot spots cannot be attributed to tank leaks because there is no indication of outflows and the water levels in the nearby tanks have not dropped.  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130901_08.html — http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/01/national/tepco-reports-leaking-pipe-four-hot-spots/#.UiNNeevD8dU
  • NRA Chair Shunichi Tanaka says they might lower the INES crisis declaration. He feels last week’s upgrade to INES level-3 may have been premature. He said, “We don’t think the [tank] leak was exactly 300 tons. It could be much more or much less. 300 tons is a huge amount. If workers patrolled twice a day without noticing it leaking, I don’t understand. It wouldn’t be desirable, but we would have to change the rating if the leak turns out to be much smaller.” Mr. Tanaka also took the opportunity to show his distrust of Tepco, “I have not been convinced with the data from Tepco. We need to collect more to make our own judgment.” http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/08/28/fukushima-watch-authority-chairman-not-convinced-level-3-needed/
  • Japan is being criticized by foreign voices for not taking the situation at F. Daiichi seriously. The critics want Japan to bring in outside expertise to deal with the situation because the country has no experience with nuclear accident clean-up. They also feel the worst-case scenarios being posted by Tepco and Tokyo are not really worst-case. Nuclear opponent Aileen Mioko Smith of Japan’s Green Action group says, “Expertise in the areas of hydrology, reactors and civil engineering is needed. But the issue is not whether it’s domestic or international. What is needed is non-vested-interest expertise, not the IAEA, Areva (the French nuclear conglomerate) or (companies like) Bechtel.” French critic Mycle Schneider adds, “First, there are too many political and economic biases involved. Second, the complexity of the challenges are such that Japan should make sure it reaches out to the most competent individuals in water management, spent-fuel handling and storage, waste disposal, building integrity and radiation protection.” Federation of American Scientists president Charles Ferguson said, “There are concerns fish caught near the stricken nuclear reactor plant could ingest strontium-90 or cesium-137. Monitoring of fish in the surrounding waters needs to be continued. There are many scientific experts in countries like Russia and Norway who have experience in examining marine life in radioactive-contaminated waters.” Many who oppose Tokyo’s Olympic bid charge that Fukushima problems are being downplayed because nobody wants to draw international attention. Japan’s foreign minister Mitsuhei Murata, a long-time nuclear critic and opponent of Japan’s Olympic aspirations said, “The nuclear dictatorship in Japan persists. There’s an international strategy to consider that Fukushima did not happen. Japan’s media seems to be fulfilling its duty in a way that does not indispose the strong nuclear dictatorship, and has succeeded in creating a ‘business as usual’ atmosphere.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/30/national/japan-under-increasing-pressure-to-accept-outside-nuclear-help/#.UiC4MOvD8dU
  • The NRA sys they may allow reducing the cooling flow to the three damaged cores at F. Daiichi. Decay heat production has lowered considerably since March, 2011, and the reduced cooling flows should not be a problem. The change could also lower the build-up of contaminated wastewater. The suggestion was made by Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa on Saturday. He also said the use of air-cooling equipment for the damaged cores might be possible. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013083001001
  • Japanese experts say Tepco took emergency power supplies at F. Daiichi for granted. The Atomic Energy Society of Japan has posted an outline of their up-coming Fukushima accident study. It concludes that the accident was caused by a “fundamental fallacy” that “all functions (at the plant) presupposed the presence of power sources.” Specifically, the systems needed to remove decay heat from the reactor cores following automatic shutdowns. “The disaster could have been averted if measures against the tsunami and severe accidents had properly been implemented,” the report says, adding, “Experts had been withdrawn in their own narrow fields of expertise and overlooked safety as a system.” The study does praise the plant staff efforts to try and mitigate the situation by saying “…overall their responses were above regular standards.” http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130902p2a00m0na008000c.html
  • Tohoku fishermen continue to blast Tepco for supposedly ruining their business. Hiroshi Kishi, head of JF Zengyoren, a federation of over 1,000 national fisheries, said his members “have no faith in TEPCO’s ability to control F. Daiichi. We think your company’s management of contaminated water has collapsed,” he said. “We are extremely worried as it’s creating an immeasurable impact on our country’s fishing industry and will continue to do so in the future.” In response, NRA Chair Tanaka said, “We are not in a situation at all that marine resources are showing radioactivity.” http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-president-apologizes-to-fukushima-fishermen  Before the current contaminated water issues at F. Daiichi, sampling results of fish caught off Fukushima Prefecture showed promising results. In order to reduce rumors, the Fisheries had set a self-imposed limit of 50 Becquerels per kilogram, half of the national standard. Of the 170 types of fish tested, 42 were above the self-imposed limit and 15 species show next to nothing. Nobuyuki Hatta of the Prefecture’s Fisheries Research Center said the trend was positive, but the recent contamination concerns have forced the fishermen to delay their running sample catches. However, Hatta said he expects fishing to resume later this month. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/30/national/fukushima-fishermen-cant-catch-a-break/#.UiHSH-vD8dU
  • Agneta Rising, Director General of the World Nuclear Association says “In Japan we have seen a nuclear incident turn into a communication disaster. Mistakes in applying and interpreting the INES scale have given it an exaggerated central role in coverage of nuclear safety.” The WNA posting explains that the tank leak at F. Daiichi was “cleaned up in a matter of days” and news out of Japan has been “badly confused”. Rising added, “This cannot continue: if it is to have any role in public communication, INES must only be used in conjunction with plain-language explanations of the public implications – if any – of an incident.” The IAEA supports the WNA position. In a document given to the NRA, the IAEA cautions that “Frequent changes of rating will not help communicate the actual situation in a clear manner”, referring to the upgrade from level-1 to level-3 and the speculation by the NRA that they may have to downgrade. For the complete posting…  http://www.world-nuclear.org/WNA/About-the-WNA/Announcements/#.UiCVHOvD8dV
  • People returning to their homes surrounding F. Daiichi are being given dosimeters to monitor radiation exposure. The Environment Ministry has requested about $8.5 billion to support the repopulation of the former evacuation zones. It is estimated that as many as 34,000 evacuees from the mandated zones will qualify for the support. The dosimeter portion of the requested funds will be $27.5 million. The rest of the money is intended to pay for decontamination of those areas not yet ready for repopulation and facilities for the storage of radioactive soils. On August 1, returning residents of Tamura’s Miyakoji District were issued the dosimeters. http://japandailypress.com/fukushima-returnees-to-begin-receiving-radiation-dosimeters-from-environment-ministry-3135003/
  • The geology under the operating Oi nuke station has been judged non-seismic. A team of NRA-sponsored experts have been studying the situation since November. They pored over the data supplied by plant-operator Kansai Electric and made their own inspections to see if the company’s information was valid. The team said there is no evidence of recent geologic movement and that movement in the future is unlikely. Commissioner Kunihiko Shimazaki said a formal report on the investigation is forthcoming. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130902_39.html