September 14, 2015

Sep 14, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Fukushima nursing home evacuations were riskier than F. Daiichi’s radiation. A scientific study published Friday says the evacuations posed a far-greater health risk to patients than the radiation they would have received had they stayed put. University of Tokyo researcher Masaharu Tsubokura said the study should be used as a resource in evacuation planning at all nuke plants, “The study shows that, in preparing for nuclear disasters, evacuation-tied risks need to be reduced through detailed planning in advance.” The study compared the risks of 191 residents and 184 staffers at three nursing homes between 20 and 30 km from F. Daiichi. All residents said they wanted to be evacuated because they feared radiation. A lack of medical resources caused deaths during the evacuation that would not have happened if they were not moved. The researchers calculated the “loss of life expectancy” under several scenarios: the next-day evacuation (which happened), evacuation three months later, and non-evacuation scenarios with hypothetical first-year radiation exposures of 20 and 100 millisieverts. The next-day evacuation was 400 times riskier than the other options. The study is published in the highly-respected PLOS ONE journal. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/12/national/science-health/nursing-home-evacuation-fukushima-accident-higher-radiation-risk-study/#.VfQXDpDosdV — http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0137906
  • The first release of F. Daiichi groundwater happened earlier today. 850 tons of the harmless waters were discharged to the sea. Last year, a total of 4,000 tons had been “pumped up”, purified by the multi-stage treatment system (ALPS), and stored while awaiting approval for release by local officials and fearful fisheries. The released waters contained radioactivity well-below Tepco’s self-imposed limits. The limits are ridiculous considering they are less than international drinking water standards. Regardless, local officials and the fishermen are holding their breath in case something goes wrong. The remaining 3,150 tons from last year will be released over the next few days. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150914_22.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150914p2a00m0na019000c.html  (Comment – Channel News Asia (CNA) reported on the release, including quotes by American Dr. Dale Klein. In an interview with AFP, Klein said, “The risk that you run is that you have all these tanks full of water. The longer you store the water, the more likely you are going to have (an) uncontrolled release.” This was used as evidence for the following CNA blurb… “Dale Klein…said other highly radioactive water used to cool the reactors four years ago and which is still kept in tanks in the plant could be dangerous.” (emphasis added) He never actually says this – CNA does. Klein’s statement is taken entirely out of context and a retraction seems to be in order. Regardless, CNA ignores the fact that all of the currently stored ~700,000 tons have been run through ALPS, are no longer highly contaminated, and are not hypothetically dangerous. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/fukushima-dumps-first/2125676.html )
  • Rural contaminated waste bags were washed into two Fukushima Rivers. Flooding due to recent torrential rains that hit Japan’s main island, Honshu, reportedly caused nearly 300 large contaminated debris bags to be flushed into the Niida and Hiso Rivers. They were being kept temporarily near the rivers, awaiting transfer to other storage sites. By this morning, decontamination workers recovered at least 170 of the bags. Environment Ministry officials say they will continue retrieval of the remaining bags and check as to whether any more had been washed away. The ministry added that none of the recovered bags had opened and spilled their contents, thus the impact on the environment has been minimal.   http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html  — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150912p2a00m0na010000c.html — http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509140069 Update 9/15/15 – On Tuesday 9/15, the ministry said the total number of bags swept away has been increased to 395, with half of them torn and many completely empty. Minister Yoshio Mochizuki said the contents of the torn bags had quite low radioactivity and there should be a very low possibility of environmental impact. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html (Comment – The flooding in northern Japan has killed at least seven people, with more than 25 missing. Japan Today’s report on this tragedy is buried at the end of its article on the waste bags being washed into the rivers. The news outlet obviously believes the hypothetical risks of these bags is more newsworthy than the aaftermath of the flooding catastrophe. This is deplorable on the part of Japan Today. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/bags-containing-radioactive-waster-swept-away-by-floods?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2015-09-14_AM)
  • A typhoon’s causes intermittent mildly-contaminated releases. Torrential rains from Typhoon Etau caused small, sporadic releases to the sea on Sept. 9, but the water was only slightly radioactive and monitoring reveals negligible environmental impact. The run-off is from surface drains; none of which runs through the highly-contaminated buildings of units #1 through #4. The September 9th drainage exceeded the ditch transfer pump capacity on two occasions in the early morning, ending at 4:24am. On July 11th, brief overflows occurred three times, ending at 7:07am. The total volume of the releases cannot be measured due to their brevity and intermittency. The highest total radioactivity in the ditch was on the 9th at 1650 Becquerels per liter, dropping off there-after. The activity was 1280 Bq/l on Saturday. However, the near-outlet sampling point along the shoreline showed nothing detectible through the period. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1259822_6844.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/k_drainage_15091101-j.pdf — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/south_discharge_15091001-e.pdf — http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/south_discharge_15091301-j.pdf
  • Nearly 70,000 tsunami/quake refugees live in deteriorating temporary shelters. The prefabricated units were designed to last two years, but are now more than four years old. The governments of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures said they would have permanent relocation facilities for everyone by 2013, but as yet it has not happened. After the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, all evacuees were relocated into 25,000 permanent housing units by 2000. However, the natural disaster of 2011 has witnessed only 11,000 units completed. Nearly another 30,000 need to be built, but finding available higher-ground locations near the swept-away communities has been difficult. Many of those still in the temporary units are elderly and low-income residents who cannot find affordable housing on their own. Nearly 200,000 are still listed as quake/tsunami evacuees. On a related note, new totals for the dead and missing from the quake/tsunami have been released. The new total is 21,955, a 3,500 increase from 3 years ago. The jump is due to disaster-related mortality since 3/11/11. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201509120035
  • Fuel has been loaded into Sendai unit #2. The four day process of placing 157 fuel bundles into the reactor vessel began on Friday and was completed earlier today. The unit has been off-line since September of 2011 due to the prolonged nuclear moratorium, and subsequent upgrading of emergency systems to meet Japan’s new regulatory requirements. The core has been empty since February, 2013. Kyushu Electric Co. says no problems occurred during the fuel loading. The company plans to restart the unit in mid-October. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150914_12.html
  • Trace remains of ancient tsunamis have been found near the Higashidori nuclear station, Aomori Prefecture. A Tohoku University team says the geologic evidence is for two locations, one 800 years old and the other 2,000 years old. The 2,000 year-old location indicates a 10 meter high surge, and the 800 year old evidence points to perhaps a 15 meter high swell. Tohoku Electric Co. says they are already building a sixteen meter high break wall. The research team says they cannot determine if the new evidence is related to already-known tsunamis of the past. Higashidori unit #1 began commercial operation in 2005. Unit #2 began construction in 2010. Tepco began building a third unit at the site in December, 2011. Tohoku Electric seeks to restart unit #1. http://www.4-traders.com/TOHOKU-ELECTRIC-POWER-CO-6491246/news/Tohoku-Electric-Power–Trace-of-higher-than-estimated-tsunami-found-near-nuclear-plant-21027490/