Nuclear Meltdown Watch

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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby PufPuf93 » Mon Dec 19, 2016 10:22 pm

seemslikeadream » Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:21 am wrote:
Research: Fukushima radiation reaches U.S. shores for first time
By Allen Cone | Dec. 12, 2016 at 6:21 AM

Members of Japan's Ground Self Defense Force decontaminate at the city office of Tomioka Machi, 5 1/2 miles from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on December 8, 2011. The earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011. For the first time, radiation reached North America earlier this year. File photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
WOOD HOLE, Mass., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- For the first time since the nuclear disaster in 2011, radiation from Japan's Fukushima plant has reached the West Coast of the United States, according to a New England researcher.

It's a minuscule amount -- less than one-thousandth the standard for drinking water or a dental X-ray. But it's notable considering the amount was detected 5,000 miles from Japan five years after the disaster.

From his lab another 3,000 miles east in Massachusetts, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution chemical oceanographer Ken Buesseler discovered samples of seawater taken in January and February from Tillamook Bay and Gold Beach in central Oregon contain radiation unique to the power plants. It wasn't until last week that it was reported by a media outlet, the Statesman Journal, which serves the Oregon area where the samples were found.

"Not to downplay it, but the levels we are seeing are quite low," Buesseler told UPI.

He said it wouldn't stop him from eating seafood or swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

Massive amounts of contaminated water were released from the March 2011 meltdown of three power plants after the 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Radiation was released to the air that fell into the sea.

U.S. federal agencies don't monitor the radiation levels in seawater.

So, Buesseler launched a crowd-funded, citizen-science seawater sampling project.

He tracks radiation across the Pacific Ocean sent to him by West Coast volunteers and scientists aboard research cruises. Then he analyzes samples.

Personally, Buessler has made seven trips to Japan to study radiation levels.

The Oregon samples were the first time cesium-134 -- which is a "fingerprint" to the Japanese plant -- was detected on U.S. shores.

Buesseler's most recent samples off the West Coast also show higher levels of cesium-137, another Fukushima isotope than previously was present in the world's oceans because of nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.

"You can't ever have a radioactive-free ocean," he said. "You have nuclear disasters like this one, testing and naturally occurring radioactivity."

Cesium-134 was also been detected for the first in a Canadian salmon as part of the Fukushima InFORM project, led by University of Victoria chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen. Buesseler's group recently teamed up with InFORM.

Buesseler's team in February 2015 found Cesium-134 in a sample of seawater from a dock on Vancouver Island, B.C., marking the first landfall in North America from the disaster,

"Even if the levels were twice as high, you could still swim in the ocean for six hours every day for a year and receive a dose more than a thousand times less than a single dental X-ray," Buesseler told the Statesman Journal at the time. "While that's not zero, that's a very low risk."

Buesseler is not really interested in the levels, but in seeing how they vary in terms of distance and time from where the radiation was dispersed.

"As a scientist, I want to see how quickly ocean current mixes," he said. "Models are not my specialty."

The ocean patterns could help determine where the radiation is headed if there is another disaster.

Earlier this year, Japan and Russia announced they would team up to study the effects of radiation on the DNA of future generations.

The Japanese government is still dealing with the environmental and economic consequences of the disaster. Koyodo News reported last month the cost of terminating the nuclear power station nearly doubled from the country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to about $178.14 billion. Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc.'s compensation payments are to increase from $48.1 billion to $71.3 billion. Decontamination costs will double to $44.5 billion, according to the report.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016/12/ ... 481288714/


This is a strange story. If one does a quick internet search now, one gets this story of Fukushima radiation arriving on the US west coast in minor amount and negligible effect. My mind went all Mandela Effect. I thought that radiation had arrived several years ago from ocean currents and that radiation in clouds had reached the USA west coast in a matter of weeks.

However look at this article from several years ago which states that radiation reached the west coast from ocean currents in 2013:

New study reveals Fukushima radiation reached U.S. coast far sooner than previously believed, as cesium levels reach record high off Western shores

Written By: Greg White January 11, 2016

Last December, scientists detected the highest levels of radiation from the Fukushima disaster taken to date, off the coast of California. Now, researchers have released the results of a new study on just how long it took those radioactive particles to plague American shores.

According to the report of Canadian researchers in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, it took approximately 2.1 years for cesium-134 and cesium-137 from the Fukushima disaster to navigate across the Pacific Ocean and bombard the West Coast. During that time, a spike in beached marine life began to infest California’s shores. Meanwhile, the mainstream media’s coverage of the disaster fell virtually silent, claiming radiation levels did not pose a threat to public health.(1)

Cesium-134 has a half-life of about two years, whereas cesium 137- has a half-life of a little over 30 years. These radioactive elements did exist in the environment prior to the advent of nuclear weapons and, eventually, the nuclear tests and accidents that followed.(2)

“We had a situation where the radioactive tracer was deposited at a very specific location off the coast of Japan at a very specific time,” said John Smith of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, who authored the study.(1)

“It was kind of like a dye experiment,” he added. “And it is unambiguous — you either see the signal or you don’t, and when you see it you know exactly what you are measuring,” he added.(1)

Fukushima radiation reaches British Columbia less than two years after disaster

Smith and his team first started collecting samples of ocean water as far as 930 miles off the coastline of British Columbia in June 2011, three months after the Fukushima catastrophe. They then collected samples from the same sites every June until 2013.(1)

The samples taken in 2011 showed no traces of cesium from the Fukushima disaster. By 2012, however, traces of radiation were detected in the westernmost sampling site. By June 2013, the radiation had reached Canada’s continental shelf, note the researchers.(1)

A Becquerel (Bq) is the number of radioactive decay events per second for every 260 gallons of water. The amount of radiation detected by the researchers was relatively small, below 1 Bq per cubic meter. That level is at least 1,000 times lower than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows in public drinking water.(1)
The research reveals that radiation from the Fukushima disaster was able to spread out across the ocean far quicker than previous estimates suggest. Many figures indicated it would take at least four years for radiation to reach the West Coast, and it’s by no means dying down.

The highest record of radiation taken to date was discovered 1,600 miles west of San Francisco late last year. The amount of radioactive cesium detected in the samples was 11 Bq per cubic meter of seawater (264 gallons), which is 50 percent higher than other samples taken across the coast.(2)

No safe levels of cesium-134 or cesium-137

Although this is the highest sample taken to date, it is still 500 times lower than U.S. government safety limits for drinking water, which says more about government safety standards than it does about the purity of the water. In fact, ironically, following the Fukushima disaster, the federal government actually increased the amount of radiation permitted in citizens’ drinking water.(2)

Remember, there are no “safe” levels of radiation. Even small amounts of radiation can have an accumulative affect overtime, which can cause an onslaught of health problems in the long-term.

“[Cesium] levels in the eastern North Pacific from Fukushima inputs will probably return eastern North Pacific concentrations to the fallout levels that prevailed during the 1980s but does not represent a threat to human health or the environment,” the authors of the recent study wrote.(1)

Computer models and samples collected thus far predict that radiation levels off the coast of British Columbia will peak in 2016 and remain below 5 Bq per cubic meter.

Sources include:
(1) TechTimes.com
(2) FukushimaWatch.com

http://fukushimawatch.com/2016-01-11-ne ... hores.html
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Feb 03, 2017 12:51 pm

Fukushima nuclear reactor radiation at highest level since 2011 meltdown
Extraordinary readings pile pressure on operator Tepco in its efforts to decommission nuclear power station

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Friday 3 February 2017 05.19 EST Last modified on Friday 3 February 2017 09.02 EST

Radiation levels inside a damaged reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station are at their highest since the plant suffered a triple meltdown almost six years ago.

The facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said atmospheric readings as high as 530 sieverts an hour had been recorded inside the containment vessel of reactor No 2, one of three reactors that experienced a meltdown when the plant was crippled by a huge tsunami that struck the north-east coast of Japan in March 2011.

The extraordinary radiation readings highlight the scale of the task confronting thousands of workers, as pressure builds on Tepco to begin decommissioning the plant – a process that is expected to take about four decades.

The recent reading, described by some experts as “unimaginable”, is far higher than the previous record of 73 sieverts an hour in that part of the reactor.

A single dose of one sievert is enough to cause radiation sickness and nausea; 5 sieverts would kill half those exposed to it within a month, and a single dose of 10 sieverts would prove fatal within weeks.

Tepco also said image analysis had revealed a hole in metal grating beneath the same reactor’s pressure vessel. The one-metre-wide hole was probably created by nuclear fuel that melted and then penetrated the vessel after the tsunami knocked out Fukushima Daiichi’s back-up cooling system.

“It may have been caused by nuclear fuel that would have melted and made a hole in the vessel, but it is only a hypothesis at this stage,” Tepco’s spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi told AFP.

“We believe the captured images offer very useful information, but we still need to investigate given that it is very difficult to assume the actual condition inside.”

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The presence of dangerously high radiation will complicate efforts to safely dismantle the plant.

A remote-controlled robot that Tepco intends to send into the No 2 reactor’s containment vessel is designed to withstand exposure to a total of 1,000 sieverts, meaning it would survive for less than two hours before malfunctioning.

The firm said radiation was not leaking outside the reactor, adding that the robot would still prove useful since it would move from one spot to the other and encounter radiation of varying levels.

Tepco and its network of partner companies at Fukushima Daiichi have yet to identify the location and condition of melted fuel in the three most seriously damaged reactors. Removing it safely represents a challenge unprecedented in the history of nuclear power.

Quantities of melted fuel are believed to have accumulated at the bottom of the damaged reactors’ containment vessels, but dangerously high radiation has prevented engineers from accurately gauging the state of the fuel deposits.

Earlier this week, the utility released images of dark lumps found beneath reactor No 2 that it believes could be melted uranium fuel rods – the first such discovery since the disaster.

In December, the government said the estimated cost of decommissioning the plant and decontaminating the surrounding area, as well as paying compensation and storing radioactive waste, had risen to 21.5tn yen (£150bn), nearly double an estimate released in 2013.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... 1-meltdown
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Iamwhomiam » Fri Feb 03, 2017 2:16 pm

^^^^ I don't know how they could tell that this incredibly high reading was the highest since the tsunami. I've been under the impression that the readings were so high that no sensor was available that could survive long enough to take an accurate reading.

Closer to home we face threats from at least two nuclear power plants, Indian Point in NY and Pilgrim in Massachusetts, as both are old and should be decommissioned. NY has others of concern, Fitzpatrick, due to its age, especially.

NRC email: Pilgrim plant 'overwhelmed'

Tuesday
Posted Dec 6, 2016 at 6:51 PM
Updated Dec 7, 2016 at 6:31 AM
By Christine Legere

Image

PLYMOUTH - In an in-house email sent Monday to Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, the leader of a federal inspection team currently scouring equipment, procedures and staff performance at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station says inspectors are struggling to interpret just what they are seeing at the troubled plant.

While employees show a lot of positive energy, "it appears many staff across the site may not have the standards to know what 'good' actually is," wrote Donald Jackson, chief of operations at the NRC's Northeast region and team leader. "The plant seems overwhelmed just trying to run the station."

The email containing the status report was mistakenly sent to Diane Turco, co-founder of the activist group Cape Downwinders, who forwarded the document to the Times.

On Jackson's list of findings to date are failure of plant workers to follow established industry procedures, broken equipment that never gets properly fixed, lack of required expertise among plant experts, failure of some staff to understand their roles and responsibilities, and a team of employees who appear to be struggling with keeping the nuclear plant running.

Other comments from Jackson include:

- While cooperative, plant operators are "very disjointed in their ability to populate meetings and answer questions. Staffing problems seem to impact how fast the licensee can respond."

- "The engineering group appears unprepared to answer all of the questions being posed by the team." That fact, Jackson said, leads him to question their level of knowledge.

- "The corrective actions in the recovery plan seem to have been hastily developed and implemented, and some have been circumvented as they were deemed too hard to complete. We are observing current indications of a safety culture problem that a bunch of talking probably won't fix."

- Recurring problems with the emergency diesel generators at the plant highlight "poor engineering expertise, no communication with the shift manager and poor corrective action."

Jackson states the inspection team is "struggling to figure out what all of this means."

Turco said the information "confirms what we have known all along. Pilgrim is a recipe for catastrophe."

"The email preliminary report proves the NRC goal to 'arrest declining performance' is not happening at all," continued Turco. "Mr. Jackson deserves credit for his candor on the documented dangers the continued operation of Pilgrim presents. Now he needs to lead the way to revoke the operating license."

Read the email:
https://www.scribd.com/document/333450010/Email-from-Nuclear-Regulatory-Commission-leader#from_embed

Patrick O'Brien, spokesman for Entergy Corp., Pilgrim's owner-operator, wrote in an email that the ongoing inspection "is the next step in Pilgrim's process toward a return to industry excellence."

"We have worked hard to address the issues that led to station performance decline and look forward to demonstrating to the NRC that we have made significant progress in these areas through the inspection process," O'Brien wrote. "Until the results of the 95003 Phase "C" inspection and the confirmatory action letter are released, we will not comment on the inspection."

The inspection, which will temporarily break off at the end of this week and finish with a week in mid-January, is the final of three conducted over the last year. It is required because of Pilgrim's standing as one of the worst performing plants in the nation.

Read our special report about Pilgrim

Federal regulators have conducted only 12 such inspections since the oversight process started in 2000. Of those 12 reactors requiring closer scrutiny based on poor performance, five are owned by Louisiana-based Entergy.

"This internal NRC assessment mistakenly made public speaks to a corporate culture of recklessly gambling with public safety," wrote Downwinder activisit William Maurer to the Times. "Governor Baker doesn't have to assume anything now, here it is in black and white from the NRC who he has deferred to."

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that Pilgrim operators "do Band-Aid fixes but don't figure out what's really wrong," when equipment fails. "That's just not the way other plants do business."

Lochbuaum also sent an email to Jackson after reading the team leader's inspection update. "We appreciate the status update and look forward to the final inspection report reflecting these findings (i.e., not being whitewashed)," he wrote.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan dodged the issues listed in the email, saying it was still in the early stages of this final inspection at Pilgrim. "To what extent, if any, these observations factor into our final determinations on Entergy's progress in improving the plant's performance would be difficult, if not impossible, to predict at this point," Sheehan wrote. "It's important to point out that our inspectors continuously evaluate plant safety as issues are identified and Pilgrim remains safe based on what we have seen thus far."

U.S. nuclear power plants:
Click pins for data, enlarge for better views -
Purple pins: Multiple units | Red pins: Single unit

- Visit link below to view map -

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20161206/nrc-email-pilgrim-plant-overwhelmed

---------------------

Staff ‘Overwhelmed’ at Nuclear Plant, but U.S. Won’t Shut It

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE FEB. 1, 2017

Image
Diane Turco, the director of Cape Downwinders, which is opposed to the Pilgrim nuclear plant, speaking at a public hearing on Tuesday.
Credit M. Scott Brauer for The New York Times

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — One by one, ordinary residents confronted the federal regulators, telling them during a three-hour meeting Tuesday night that the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station here was not safe and should be shut down.

Their chief piece of evidence? An internal email written Dec. 6 by the leader of a federal inspection team and sent accidentally — thanks to autofill in the “to” line — to Diane Turco, a citizen activist opposed to the plant.

The email outlined a host of problems at the aging plant, 40 miles southeast of Boston, including that the plant managers seemed “overwhelmed just trying to run the station.”

Ms. Turco immediately forwarded the email to The Cape Cod Times, which ran an article (pasted above -Iam) that set off alarm bells across the state and reignited residents’ long-simmering worries about the plant, which has been classified by federal regulators as one of the three worst-performing of the nation’s 99 nuclear plants.

The email — and the debate that has followed — have forced a painful reckoning here in Plymouth, where many residents have been supportive of the plant, which has long provided this historic town with high-paying jobs, a boon to the tax base and contributions to charities.

Finally, after weeks of escalating concerns, officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to meet with the residents and several elected officials here on Tuesday night.

The meeting drew 300 people in a snowstorm to a nondescript hotel ballroom, where many were armed with neon green placards saying “Shut Pilgrim Now.” The residents said they viewed the damaging email as exactly the sort of evidence they needed to finally make a substantive argument against the station.

But to the surprise of some at the meeting, the regulators acknowledged the problems. Donald Jackson, the inspector who wrote the email, discussed its main points. And the regulators said the problems raised in the message were being addressed and, most important, were not serious enough to close the plant.

“I have to have a sound technical and legal basis to do that,” Dan Dorman, the regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in an interview after the meeting.

“One of the purposes of this inspection was to dive deep into this station and see if that basis for closing was there,” he said. “And what I’m hearing right now from this team is they didn’t find it.”

In addition, he said, the commission would not intervene in the scheduled refueling of the plant, which is to take place this spring. The commission is to issue its final report in March or April and will return to Plymouth for a public meeting on March 21.

Image
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts has been classified by federal regulators as one of the three worst-performing of the nation’s 99 nuclear plants.
Credit David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images

The conclusion angered and disappointed many of the plant’s opponents, but some said on Wednesday that the regulators’ conclusion did not leave them defeated.

“It is motivating us even more,” said Ms. Turco, the inadvertent recipient of the email, who is also the director of the Cape Downwinders, a group opposed to the plant.

“We don’t know exactly what our next step is,” she said, “but we certainly aren’t going away or taking this lying down.” She said the activists intended to pressure Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, to revoke the plant’s operating license.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has classified Pilgrim, which went online in 1972, and two plants in Arkansas in a category called Column Four, one step away from being required to shut. All three are owned by Entergy Corporation, based in Louisiana.

After the meeting Tuesday night, Patrick O’Brien, a spokesman for Entergy, said, “The key for us is that the N.R.C. said the plant is safe to operate.”

The company is shutting the plant anyway by May 31, 2019, for financial reasons, Mr. O’Brien said. “With low gas prices, it’s not favorable to run a nuclear generating station and make money,” he said. But if the plant were to shut down early, Entergy would be penalized for failing to keep its commitment to contribute to the region’s electrical grid.

Driving Ms. Turco and other critics is the fear of an accident that, according to a 2006 study done for the state attorney general, could have the potential to contaminate millions of residents from Boston to Providence, R.I., cause 24,000 latent cancers in the region and result in $488 billion in damages.

Mr. Jackson, the inspector who wrote the errant email, said it was “a snapshot in time,” taken during the first week of a three-week inspection. In explaining his comment about plant workers being “overwhelmed,” he said that his team had shown up with 20 inspectors instead of the usual three or four, and that they had made many demands on the plant workers.

“I didn’t mean to leave the impression that operators in the control room were overwhelmed,” he said. There was a lot of confusion in that first week, he said, but eventually things settled down.

While the inspection is continuing, he said he expected the final report to find between 10 and 15 violations. “It’s clear they are a Column Four performer,” he said, “but we did determine that the plant is operating safely now.”

Dave Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, who has worked in the industry but is now advising the activists, said he thought the regulators’ conclusions were “reasonable,” but he faulted them for failing to fully explain their thinking.

“The N.R.C. didn’t do a good job of explaining why a troubled plant can still be operating safely,” he said.

Jess Bidgood contributed reporting from Boston.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby PufPuf93 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 3:21 pm

That sounds like from bad to worse in Fukushima when clean up was already projected to take 40 years and the methodology under development.

The nuclear power plants developed after WWII are going to long be thorns to the planet and humanity regardless of global warming, wars, and whatever is in store.

The power plants are probably at some point in time going to be targets of war and terrorism.

The Pilgrim plant in one of nearly 100 in the USA, many prone to the same sort of failure as Fukushima.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Iamwhomiam » Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:51 pm

Very true, PufPuf. Better we get them all decommissioned before all wind up melting down, which they will if ever there's a global event that collapses our economies, like nuclear war.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby chump » Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:22 pm

Consider the source, but it might make some sense that next they'll acknowledge or not that the nuclear container core number 2 is out of control, and that another catastrophe shall ensue...


http://www.healthnutnews.com/breaking-f ... radiation/

... Radiation levels inside a damaged reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station are at their highest since the plant suffered a triple meltdown almost six years ago.

The facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said atmospheric readings as high as 530 sieverts an hour had been recorded inside the containment vessel of reactor No 2,…

The recent reading, described by some experts as “unimaginable”, is far higher than the previous record of 73 sieverts an hour in that part of the reactor.

A single dose of one sievert is enough to cause radiation sickness and nausea; 5 sieverts would kill half those exposed to it within a month, and a single dose of 10 sieverts would prove fatal within weeks.

Tepco also said image analysis had revealed a hole in metal grating beneath the same reactor’s pressure vessel. The one-metre-wide hole was probably created by nuclear fuel that melted and then penetrated the vessel after the tsunami knocked out Fukushima Daiichi’s back-up cooling system.

Official reports are not saying that the core has escaped the containment vessel and are claiming that no radiation has escaped the reactor, but later in the article admit that they don’t really know where the core is. If it is true that radiation levels are rising, that is probably not a good thing...



-------------------------



A possibly pertinent commm-ment to consider:

coco • 5 hours ago

After the Fukushima disaster I bought a GEIGER COUNTER and took it on my flights from HongKong to Germany. Usually there was a radiation on 12.000 meter altitude for about 8 hours of maximum 3,6 Millisievert. At home in HongKong we had 0,336 . Since a few month the radiation level rise up to 5,6 while flying from Hk to Germany and return. The GEIGER made terrible alarm and I was not able to switch off the alarm and had to cover it up with cushions.
I talked to several Purser and explained to them that they might be in danger while flying weekly such distance and altitude. They explained that they have an " radiation account" and they get informed when there is a dangerous amount piling up.
I was asking how do they measure ? Answer was they take average amounts from "experience".
There is NO Geiger counter on flights to measure the ACTUAL radiation. There are NO MEASURES to protect the crews and the passengers in case of sudden high radiation.
There is no program to detox radiation for crews.

I am very concerned about the rising radiation levels up in the air.
For both, the crews and the passengers.

Beside the " Fume Events" which is already very very concerning we have the Radiation.
Its time to talk about the dangers of flying and travelling.
Its time to pressure the airlines to install measures and filters, its time to voice out !!!!!!
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby crikkett » Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:52 am

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/r ... 5b1f592259

Same info, mainstream source
Radiation In Fukushima Is Now At ‘Unimaginable’ Levels
Readings over 100x the lethal dose were detected.
06/02/2017 12:32
2.9k
Thomas Tamblyn
Technology editor, Huffington Post UK

Radiation levels have been detected at the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant that are being described by some experts as “unimaginable”.

According to the Japan Times Tepco, the company that ran Fukushima, detected atmospheric radiation levels of 530 sieverts an hour.


HANDOUT VIA GETTY IMAGES
TEPCO presumes the nuclear fuel melted down at the accident six year ago and spilled through the grating, the radiation level inside is estimated 530 sieverts.
- ADVERTISEMENT -

That’s 100s of times more than a lethal dose for humans and even brief exposure would be fatal.

This will be a major blow to the operator which faces a cleanup that some say could take almost 40 years to complete.

To put that figure into context, just 1 sievert is enough to cause nausea and radiation sickness while 5 sieverts would kill half of those exposed within less than a month.

In fact, the recordings are so high that Tepco’s newly designed robot would last just two hours before its equipment failed.


KAZUHIRO NOGI VIA GETTY IMAGES
This robot will be remotely operated as it is inserted into the reactor at the Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1. to examine the state of fuel melted from the core.
The astronomical readings were measured by one of its robots which was also able to capture the first clear images of the containment vessel from the crippled reactor 2.

Tepco believes that the hole could have been caused when fuel escaped the pressure vessel after the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 caused a blackout that disabled the plant’s ability to cool its own reactors.


KYODO KYODO / REUTERS
The resulting nuclear disaster at Fukushima led to a 20km evacuation radius being placed around the site. Over 100,000 people were evacuated and have yet to return to their homes.

Thankfully there have been no recorded deaths as a result of the disaster, but with radiation levels seemingly only increasing Tepco faces an extremely slow and cautious 40 years.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Joao » Wed Feb 08, 2017 3:33 pm

crikkett » Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:52 am wrote:http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/radiation-in-fukushima-is-now-at-unimaginable-levels_uk_58986173e4b0505b1f592259
Radiation In Fukushima Is Now At ‘Unimaginable’ Levels

Anyone aware if more specific information has been made public about these "unimaginable" levels of radiation?

Ionizing radiation comes in several forms (viz., UV / X / gamma-rays and alpha / beta / neutron particles), the proportions of which can be used to determine what's going on.

It's been a while since I studied nuclear chemistry but I'm challenged to see how radiation levels could spike this dramatically unless fission is continuing in the melted core(s). Not sure how that could be possible after 6 years, but uncontrolled, open air fission would be bad news.

Generating power through fission is evil and insane, but the processes are still subject to scientific understanding. As that article omits any specifics beyond "holy fucking shit" and some sievert count mumbo jumbo, it seems its primary intent is not to rationally inform but to spread dumbed-down terror propaganda. A better article would seek to clarify what could be going on and what might be done about it.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby chump » Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:38 pm

Anybody got a geiger counter? Now that mainstream news is sorta reporting "unimaginable levels of radiation...", I'm sure we can expect to be thoroughly confused as to what is actually happening at Fukushima. I read somewhere, and it wouldn't surprise me, that TEPCO has been dumping radioactive water into the ocean, and in the air for years and years. I've read enough about a few of those Superfund sites, and about Rocky Flats and Ft Carson to understand that the governments, militaries and corporations who control these toxic facilities will lie to public to save some bucks.



Image


Highest radiation reading since 3/11 detected at Fukushima No. 1 reactor



--------------------------------------------------





http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/0 ... JntgPI6Zdw

Tepco to send sediment-cleaning robot into stricken Fukushima reactor

JIJI

Feb 7, 2017


FUKUSHIMA – Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Monday that it will use a robot cleaner to remove sediment inside reactor 2 at its disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The move is designed to make a full-fledged investigation into the reactor by another robot with cameras and dosimeters easier.

The robot cleaner, to be placed in the reactor on Tuesday, will jet high-pressure water to remove sediment in the way of the investigative robot.

The sediment may contain melted nuclear fuel in addition to corrosive coating materials.

The robot cleaner will blow away sediment with water at pressures of some 7.5 megapascals and remove remaining fragments with a device similar in shape to a snowplow.

With cameras on its back and front, the robot cleaner will record the inside of reactor 2 where meltdown took place following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Radiation levels will be estimated from the recorded images.



------------------------------




http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=16094


No, Fukushima Daiichi Did Not See A Radiation Spike
February 4, 2017 Nancy Foust 0 Comment

rsz_u2_scope_inspection_1_2017There have been news reports going around claiming there were “spikes” of radiation at Fukushima Daiichi and attributing this to some new event at the plant. An article claiming a radiation spike at the plant by Popular Mechanics was later edited after they were informed of the actual situation at the plant site.
Others claimed this was the highest reading ever at the plant such as this one at The Guardian: “Fukushima nuclear reactor radiation at highest level since 2011 meltdown”

This is not the case.

The cause of confusion appears to be the translation of initial reporting from Kyodo News, also published at Japan Times. The headline calls it “the highest radiation reading since 3-11”. This new reading is the highest of the handful of readings taken in high radiation areas between 2012 and 2017, nothing more. It does not denote an increase of any kind. The confusing quote from Japan Times below:

“The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown in March 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. said. Tepco said on Thursday that the blazing radiation reading was taken near the entrance to the space just below the pressure vessel, which contains the reactor core. The high figure indicates that some of the melted fuel that escaped the pressure vessel is nearby.”

This first sentence is extremely misleading in a number of ways. “Has reached a maximum” has given some readers an assumption that this reading is higher than previous readings for this location. That is not true. This is the first reading ever taken in the pedestal under the reactor vessel of unit 2. You have to have previous readings to claim this one is higher than previous readings. Since there are no previous readings there is no way to claim this is some form of an increase, a “spike” in radiation or in some way higher than before. This also would not be the highest reading since the meltdowns. Higher readings obviously took place, without some method of comprehensive recording there is no data of that to compare the new reading to. Ambiguous wordings seem to have led to a game of telephone where this morphed into rumors of a new problem at the plant.

Radiation levels in the pedestal during the meltdowns and subsequent weeks after would have been considerably higher. This 530 sieverts/hr reading is actually much lower than we expected to be found in the pedestal region, even this long after the initial meltdown. Our 2012 calculation of radiation levels inside the pedestal area where this 530 sievert/hr reading was estimated this week, was 5 gigasieverts/hr in 2012.

It is important to remember that accurate radiation readings inside the reactor buildings or in some of the more dangerous areas of the plant were minimal, spotty or non existent during the meltdowns and even years after. Many attempts to obtain readings simply maxed out the equipment being used. This new 530 sievert reading is the highest post accident reading they have obtained but very few readings have even been attempted in the dangerous areas of the reactor buildings over the last 5+ years. This is the only pedestal region reading obtained in any of the 3 reactors to date.

NHK gives a much more concise report of what was found.

“Tokyo Electric Power Company conducted an inspection inside the containment vessel of the plant’s No.2 reactor last month using a remote-controlled camera, as part of a survey to scrap the reactor. An analysis of the images found that the radiation was up to 530 sieverts per hour at a concrete cylinder supporting the reactor. The level is enough to be lethal to a human within a short period of time, despite a possible error margin of up to 30 percent. A survey conducted 1 year after the nuclear accident at a different part inside the same containment vessel logged 73 sieverts per hour. In the latest estimation inside the vessel, the area near its opening logged 50 sieverts per hour at maximum.”

NHK cites the reading and how it was obtained. The language chosen here cites the reading as being “up to 530 sieverts”. This is because the reading is a rough guess obtained by the interference on the camera and has a considerable margin of error.

The other two readings they mention are also important. Both readings were taken in the main containment vessel of unit 2. The 2012 reading was 73 sieverts/hour. The 2017 reading was 50 sieverts/hour. These two readings are lower than the 530 sievert reading because they are further away from the reactor vessel and the potential location of the melted fuel. Instead of showing an increase in radiation between 2012 and 2017 these show a decrease. If there had been some sort of radiation increase or “spike” in the pedestal region this new reading in the main containment area would have gone up rather than down.

This diagram taken from the TEPCO handouts further down in this report shows TEPCO citing the previous 2012 reading as outside the pedestal. We have marked the rough location of the 530 sievert reading.

u2_diagram_radreading
This diagram from previous investigative work and TEPCO’s reported data from 2012 shows where in containment the 73 sievert (actually 72.9) reading was found at location 1-d. The pedestal area can be seen off to the right.

NHK also confirms this is data collected from scheduled investigative work, not from some new event or emergency at the plant as TEPCO also clearly documents in these handouts:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima- ... 2_01-e.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima- ... 0_02-e.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima- ... 0_01-e.pdf

The next steps at the plant will be review of these new findings and what changes may need to be made for future investigative work to determine where the melted fuel is at. As the above information clearly documents there is no new event at Fukushima Daiichi. Nothing has “spiked” or changed and has actually decreased based on the data.



--------------------------------




http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=16105

Fukushima Unit 2 New Radiation Readings From TEPCO

February 6, 2017
Nancy Foust

u2_containment_rads_2_2017web

TEPCO has provided more information on the exact location and nature of these radiation readings provided to the press late last week. The high reading originally ascribed to the pedestal opening is actually part way down the CRD rail and slightly above it, putting it in the containment structure. They also identify the 50 sievert reading as actually being 30 sieverts and roughly in the same location as the 72.9 sievert reading from 2012.

TEPCO also confirms that all of these new readings are only camera based estimates. The reading in the pedestal opening was the lowest at 20 sieverts. This is in the region where corium residue was found along with a hole melted in the metal floor grate. The diagram below shows the reading locations using a number and the list to the upper left shows the corresponding number with the radiation estimate for that location.

u2_containment_rads_2_2017

This 530 sievert reading that has caused so much commotion seems a bit of an anomaly. All of these new readings were taken with the scope camera and could be subject to error. The lowest reading being in the pedestal where melted fuel and a hole in the floor grate were found is unusual and unexpected. TEPCO & IRID appear to understand this and have developed a new plan that appears to be ready to resolve this question.

It appears the focus now may be to put the Scorpion robot onto the CRD rail to take readings. There has not been confirmation that they still plan to put it into the pedestal region as originally planned. The pedestal floor grate being heavily damaged and covered in what appears to be melted fuel and other materials may make it impossible to drive the robot in that area.



This CRD focused work would allow Scorpion to both take images in multiple directions and use the on board radiation sensor to take accurate radiation readings along the rail. Those readings would confirm or rule out the estimates taken with a camera. It should also be able to confirm if there is a high radiation location along the CRD rail near where this 530 sievert estimate was made.

The new plan to clean the CRD rail can be seen in the diagram below. It is worth noting that TEPCO/IRID stated that the Scorpion robot can only operate for 2 hours in a high radiation area of 530 sieverts. If the levels are more along the planned radiation levels of 72 sieverts, the robot would have 10 hours of operational time. The new readings minus the 530 reading seem to indicate lower radiation levels. If this is true they may be able to operate the Scorpion robot for both a mission on the CRD rail and a limited mission into the damaged pedestal.


Image


TEPCO/IRID have not set a date for this work. It should be possible to do it relatively soon as it doesn’t require significant additional planning.


=================



http://www.labnews.co.uk/news/carbon-ba ... 8-02-2017/

Carbon based filters offer hope for Fukushima clean up

in Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, News February 8, 2017 0 Bookmark

Researchers from Russia and the US have discovered a method to extract radioactive elements from contaminated water.

This finding offers hope of purifying vast amounts of radioactive water stored after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant accident by using oxidatively modified carbon (OMC). The treated carbon is both inexpensive and highly efficient at absorbing radioactive metal cations.

Team leader Professor James Tour, from Rice University, said: “Just passing contaminated water through OMC filters will extract the radioactive elements and permit safe discharge to the ocean. This could be a major advance for the clean-up effort at Fukushima.”

The researchers believe OMC can also trap common radioactive elements found during oil extraction, such as uranium, thorium, radium, caesium and strontium. It is formed from two natural types of carbon – C-seal F, an inexpensive, coke-derived powder and shungite, found mainly in Russia.

Rice University had been involved in previous research published in Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, that demonstrated the removal of radionuclides using graphene oxide, but this new research suggests OMC is much more cost-effective.

Professor Tour said: “In the second study, we learned we can move from graphene oxide, which remains more expensive and harder to make, to really cheap oxidised coke and related carbons to trap these elements. Carbon that has captured the elements can be burned in a nuclear incinerator, leaving only a very small amount of radioactive ash that’s much easier to store.”

OMC1 – produced from coke – was found to be better at removing both caesium and strontium at contaminated water than OMC2 – produced from shungite. More than 80% of caesium and more than 60% of strontium was removed in 100ml radioactive water when filtered by 800mg of OMC1. When combined with OMC2 and used in column filter tests, more than 90% of both caesium and strontium from 100ml of contaminated water, was absorbed in a single pass.

The study was published in Carbon.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby 82_28 » Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:55 pm

Advice. Just start on a moderate regimen of smoking. I don't know if it works but I hear it is true. Mucus blocks radiation and etc from hitting the tissue. Then you spit it out. As with anything I have no idea. But I have spoken to a couple of doctors where I have brought this up and they agree but would lose their jobs due to dogma. I guess it's just getting your lungs to produce more shit than normal. I don't know whether it is gross or good. Probably both.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Pele'sDaughter » Thu Feb 09, 2017 9:14 am

I'd suggest that marijuana is more effective at this and it's certainly more pleasant than tobacco, imho. :wink
Don't believe anything they say.
And at the same time,
Don't believe that they say anything without a reason.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Iamwhomiam » Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:07 pm

82, that is terrible advice to offer anyone! And totally untrue! I think those doctors were appeasing you. Saliva doesn't inhibit radiation from harming you. Only exposure to alpha particles does our skin block. But if we ingested the source of the alpha radiation, it would surely kill us quickly.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Iamwhomiam » Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:27 pm

Cleaner robot pulled from Fukushima reactor due to radiation

Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Updated 11:30 am, Thursday, February 9, 2017

Image

Image

Image

TOKYO (AP) — A remote-controlled cleaning robot sent into a damaged reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant had to be removed Thursday before it completed its work because of camera problems most likely caused by high radiation levels.

It was the first time a robot has entered the chamber inside the Unit 2 reactor since a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami critically damaged the Fukushima Da-ichi nuclear plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it was trying to inspect and clean a passage before another robot does a fuller examination to assess damage to the structure and its fuel. The second robot, known as the "scorpion," will also measure radiation and temperatures.

Thursday's problem underscores the challenges in decommissioning the wrecked nuclear plant. Inadequate cleaning, high radiation and structural damage could limit subsequent probes, and may require more radiation-resistant cameras and other equipment, TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto said.

"We will further study (Thursday's) outcome before deciding on the deployment of the scorpion," he said.

TEPCO needs to know the melted fuel's exact location and condition and other structural damage in each of the three wrecked reactors to figure out the best and safest ways to remove the fuel. It is part of the decommissioning work, which is expected to take decades.

During Thursday's cleaning mission, the robot went only part way into a space under the core that TEPCO wants to inspect closely. It crawled down the passage while peeling debris with a scraper and using water spray to blow some debris away. The dark brown deposits grew thicker and harder to remove as the robot went further.

After about two hours, the two cameras on the robot suddenly developed a lot of noise and their images quickly darkened — a sign of a problem caused by high radiation. Operators of the robot pulled it out of the chamber before completely losing control of it.

The outcome means the second robot will encounter more obstacles and have less time than expected for examination on its mission, currently planned for later this month, though Thursday's results may cause a delay.

Both of the robots are designed to withstand up to 1,000 Sieverts of radiation. The cleaner's two-hour endurance roughly matches an estimated radiation of 650 Sieverts per hour based on noise analysis of the images transmitted by the robot-mounted cameras. That's less than one-tenth of the radiation levels inside a running reactor, but still would kill a person almost instantly.

Kimoto said the noise-based radiation analysis of the Unit 2's condition showed a spike in radioactivity along a connecting bridge used to slide control rods in and out, a sign of a nearby source of high radioactivity, while levels were much lower in areas underneath the core, the opposite of what would normally be the case. He said the results are puzzling and require further analysis.

TEPCO officials said that despite the dangerously high figures, radiation is not leaking outside of the reactor.

Images recently captured from inside the chamber showed damage and structures coated with molten material, possibly mixed with melted nuclear fuel, and part of a disc platform hanging below the core that had been melted through.

___

Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Find her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi



http://www.timesunion.com/news/science/article/Cleaner-robot-pulled-from-Fukushima-reactor-due-10920014.php#photo-12341825
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby 82_28 » Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:04 pm

Radiation levels in one Fukushima reactor high enough to kill a human in two minutes

The radiation levels in Fukushima's unit two reactor are so high they could kill a human in two minutes, according to data collected by a robot.

Tokyo Electric Power, the company which operates the nuclear plant in Fukushima, carried out a robotic survey of the area around the core that melted six years ago, following the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear accident.

But the scorpion robot Sasori got stuck inside the reactor after its crawling functions failed while climbing over highly radioactive debris and had to be abandoned inside the reactor.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 87646.html

EDIT: Sorry that was basically a dupe. Anyway I just caught that as it was "trending" this morning.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:17 am

FEBRUARY 20, 2017
Fukushima: a Lurking Global Catastrophe?
by ROBERT HUNZIKER

Year over year, ever since 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown grows worse and worse, an ugly testimonial to the inherent danger of generating electricity via nuclear fission, which produces isotopes, some of the most deadly poisonous elements on the face of the planet.

Fukushima Diiachi has been, and remains, one of the world’s largest experiments, i.e., what to do when all hell breaks lose aka The China Syndrome. “Scientists still don’t have all the information they need for a cleanup that the government estimates will take four decades and cost ¥8 trillion. It is not yet known if the fuel melted into or through the containment vessel’s concrete floor, and determining the fuel’s radioactivity and location is crucial to inventing the technology to remove the melted fuel,” (Emi Urabe, Fukushima Fuel-Removal Quest Leaves Trail of Dead Robots, The Japan Times, Feb. 17, 2017).

As it happens, “”inventing technology” is experimental stage stuff. Still, there are several knowledgeable sources that believe the corium, or melted core, will never be recovered. Then what?

According to a recent article, “Potential Global Catastrophe of the Reactor No. 2 at Fukushima Daiichi,” d/d Feb. 11, 2017 by Dr. Shuzo Takemoto, professor, Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University: The Fukushima nuclear facility is a global threat on level of a major catastrophe.

Meanwhile, the Abe administration dresses up Fukushima Prefecture for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, necessitating a big fat question: Who in their right mind would hold Olympics in the neighborhood of three out-of-control nuclear meltdowns that could get worse, worse, and still worse? After all, that’s the pattern over the past 5 years; it gets worse and worse. Dismally, nobody can possibly know how much worse by 2020. Not knowing is the main concern about holding Olympics in the backyard of a nuclear disaster zone, especially as nobody knows what’s happening. Nevertheless and resolutely, according to PM Abe and the IOC, the games go on.

Along the way, it’s taken Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) nearly six years to finally get an official reading of radiation levels of the meltdown but in only one unit. Analysis of Unit #2 shows radiation levels off-the-charts at 530 Sieverts, or enough to kill within minutes, illustrative of why it is likely impossible to decommission units 1, 2, and 3. No human can withstand that exposure and given enough time, frizzled robots are as dead as a doornail.

“A short-term, whole-body dose of over 10 sieverts would cause immediate illness and subsequent death within a few weeks, according to the World Nuclear Association” (Emi Urabe, Fukushima Fuel-Removal Quest Leaves Trail of Dead Robots, The Japan Times, Feb. 17, 2017).

Although Fukushima’s similar to Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in some respects, where 1,000 square miles has been permanently sealed off, Fukushima’s different, as the Abe administration is already repopulating portions of Fukushima. If they don’t repopulate, how can the Olympics be held with food served from Fukushima and including events like baseball held in Fukushima Prefecture?

Without question, an old saw – what goes around comes around – rings true when it comes to radiation, and it should admonish (but it doesn’t phase ‘em) strident nuclear proponents, claiming Fukushima is an example of how safe nuclear power is “because there are so few, if any, deaths” (not true). As Chernobyl clearly demonstrates: Over time, radiation cumulates in bodily organs. For a real life example of how radiation devastates human bodies, consider this fact: 453,391 children with bodies ravaged, none born at the time of the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986, today receive special healthcare because of Chernobyl radiation-related medical problems like cancer, digestive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, eye disease, blood disease, congenital malformation, and genetic abnormalities. Their parents were children in the Chernobyl zone in 1986 (Source: Chernobyl’s Legacy: Kids With Bodies Ravaged by Disaster, USA Today, April 17, 2016).

Making matters worse yet, Fukushima Diiachi sets smack dab in the middle of earthquake country, which defines the boundaries of Japan. In that regard, according to Dr. Shuzo Takemoto, professor, Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University: “The problem of Unit 2… If it should encounter a big earth tremor, it will be destroyed and scatter the remaining nuclear fuel and its debris, making the Tokyo metropolitan area uninhabitable. The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 will then be utterly out of the question,” (Shuzo Takemoto, Potential Global Catastrophe of the Reactor No. 2 at Fukushima Daiichi, February 11, 2017).

Accordingly, the greater Tokyo metropolitan area remains threatened for as long as Fukushima Diiachi is out of control, which could be for generations, not years. Not only that, Gee-Whiz, what if the big one hits during the Olympics? After all, earthquakes come unannounced. Regrettably, Japan has had 564 earthquakes the past 365 days. It’s an earthquake-ridden country. Japan sits at the boundary of 4 tectonic plates shot through with faults in zigzag patterns, very lively and of even more concern, the Nankai Trough, the candidate for the big one, sits nearly directly below Tokyo. On a geological time scale, it may be due for action anytime within the next couple of decades. Fukushima Prefecture’s not that far away.

Furthermore, the Fukushima Diiachi nuclear complex is tenuous, at best: “All four buildings were structurally damaged by the original earthquake some five years ago and by the subsequent hydrogen explosions so should there be an earthquake greater than seven on the Richter scale, it is very possible that one or more of these structures could collapse, leading to a massive release of radiation as the building falls on the molten core beneath.” (Helen Caldicott: The Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Continues Unabated, Independent Australia, February 13, 2017).

Complicating matters further, the nuclear site is located at the base of a mountain range. Almost daily, water flows from the mountain range beneath the nuclear plant, liquefying the ground, a sure-fire setup for cascading buildings when the next big one hits. For over five years now, radioactive water flowing out of the power plant into the Pacific carries isotopes like cesium 134 and cesium 137, strontium 90, tritium, plutonium americium and up to 100 more isotopes, none of which are healthy for marine or human life, quite the opposite in fact as those isotopes slowly cumulate, and similar to the Daleks of Doctor Who fame (BBC science fiction series, 1963-present) “Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”

Isotopes bio-concentrate up the food chain from algae to crustaceans to small fish to big fish to bigger humans. Resultant cancer cells incubate anytime from two years to old age, leading to death. That’s what cancer does; it kills.

Still, the fact remains nobody really knows for sure how directly Fukushima Diiachi radiation affects marine life, but how could it be anything other than bad? After all, it’s a recognized fact that radiation cumulates over time; it’s tasteless, colorless, and odorless as it cumulates in the body, whether in fish or further up the food chain in humans. It travels!

An example is Cesium 137 one of the most poisonous elements on the planet. One gram of Cesium 137 the size of a dime will poison one square mile of land for hundreds of years. That’s what’s at stake at the world’s most rickety nuclear plant, and nobody can do anything about it. In fact, nobody knows what to do. They really don’t.

When faced with the prospect of not knowing what to do, why not bring on the Olympics? That’s pretty good cover for a messy situation, making it appear to hundreds of thousands of attendees, as well as the world community “all is well.” But, is it? Honestly….

The Fukushima nuclear meltdown presents a special problem for the world community. Who knows what to believe after PM Abe lied to the IOC to get the Olympics; see the following headline from Reuters News: “Abe’s Fukushima ‘Under Control’ Pledge to Secure Olympics Was a Lie: Former PM,” Reuters, Sept. 7, 2016.

“Abe gave the assurances about safety at the Fukushima plant in his September 2013 speech to the International Olympic Committee to allay concerns about awarding the Games to Tokyo. The comment met with considerable criticism at the time… Mr. Abe’s ‘under control remark, that was a lie,’ Koizumi (former PM) now 74 and his unruly mane of hair turned white, told a news conference where he repeated his opposition to nuclear power,” Ibid.

As such, a very big conundrum precedes the 2020 games: How can the world community, as well as Olympians, believe anything the Abe administration says about the safety and integrity of Fukushima?

Still, the world embraces nuclear power more so than ever before as it continues to expand and grow. Sixty reactors are currently under construction in fifteen countries. In all, 160 power reactors are in the planning stage and 300 more have been proposed. Pro-Nuke-Heads claim Fukushima proves how safe nuclear power is because there are so few, if any, deaths, as to be inconsequential. That’s a boldfaced lie.

Here’s one of several independent testimonials on deaths because of Fukushima Diiachi radiation exposure (many, many, many more testimonials are highlighted in prior articles, including USS Ronald Reagan sailors on humanitarian rescue missions at the time): “It’s a real shame that the authorities hide the truth from the whole world, from the UN. We need to admit that actually many people are dying. We are not allowed to say that, but TEPCO employees also are dying. But they keep mum about it,” Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba (Fukushima Prefecture), Fukushima Disaster: Tokyo Hides Truth as Children Die, Become Ill from Radiation – Ex-Mayor, RT News, April 21, 2014.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/20/ ... tastrophe/
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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