Inside The Dead Zone

Nov 12th, 2011

Coming just on the heels of  reports that iodine-131 is being detected across Europe, this news seemed worth passing along.

Via RT:

"Japan has opened the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to journalists for the first time since the disaster of last March. RT has obtained a video of the inside of the crippled complex.

On Saturday, representatives of the Japanese and international media – more than 30 reporters, photographers and cameramen – were taken on a tour of the facility which was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

Despite TEPCO’s assurances that the radiation leaks pose much less danger now, the visitors had to wear a full set of protective gear during the tour."

They have rendered a vast swath of their country uninhabitable. Think that word over. Uninhabitable. How long until we have our own? It's anyone's guess.

That said, try and picture this scene in Ohio. Or Illinois. Or California. Ask yourself, is it worth it?

Totally Random Let's All Stay Sane Moment

May 6th, 2011

Meet Toyama Koichi. He is actually running for Governor of Tokyo Prefecture.

Michio Kaku On Yesterday's Confusion

March 28th, 2011 12:39pm CST
If you can give to support relief efforts in Japan, please do so by clicking HERE

Michio Kaku, writing for Big Think, dissects yesterday's confusion at the Fukushima complex which we reported HERE and HERE.

"First, workers at Unit 2 were astonished to find that radiation levels in the water were extremely high. This prompted them to evacuate the site immediately. Second, they rushed out so fast that they did not do a second measurement of the water. Third, the first readings were slightly incorrect. The workers got iodine-134 (with a half-life of 53 minutes) confused with iodine-131 (with a half-life of 8 days). Also, cesium-137 was also found in the water (with a half - life of about 30 years). Fourth, by confusing the two, they also go the wrong level of radioactivity. They found more iodine-134 that was actually present in the water. The shorter the half-life, the more radioactive an isotope is - the longer the half-life, the less the radioactivity. So their calibration of iodine-134 was incorrect, yielding thefalse number of 10 million. Fifth, the utility did not send in another crew to check the measurements, so they got their calibration wrong, but they went public with this incorrect number."

The money quote from his piece comes next:

"The main point, however, from the workers perspective, is that radiation levels are 1,000 milliseverts/hour. That does not change at all with this new calibration. This means that workers will come down with radiation sickness with only 15 min. of exposure. Some workers will die after 6 hours of exposure."

New Video Of The Damaged Reactors

March 28th, 2011 11:25AM CST
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This just in from CNN:

"Three types of plutonium have turned up amid the radioactive contamination on the grounds of the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, its owner reported Monday.
 
The plutonium is a byproduct of nuclear reactions that is also part of the fuel mix at the damaged No. 3 reactor.
 
It was found in soil at five different points inside the plant grounds, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said late Monday."

Fukushima Continues...

March 28th, 2011

If you can give to support relief efforts in Japan, please do so by either clicking HERE or by texting any of the resources below the post.

From Kyodo news comes confirmation that yesterday's reported radiation readings were off by a factor of 100. This does not make us feel any better.

"The plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said early Monday that the concentration of radioactive substances of a pool at the No. 2 reactor was 100,000 times higher than usual for water in a reactor core, correcting its earlier analysis of 10 million times higher.
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a press conference that the highly radioactive water found at the basement of the No. 2 reactor's turbine building is ''believed to have temporarily had contact with fuel rods (in the reactor's core) that have partially melted.''
 
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, a government panel, said Monday in its recommendations to Prime Minister Naoto Kan that highly radioactive water in the No. 2 reactor's containment vessel could have directly leaked, raising concerns that polluted water could spread to the building's underground and to the sea.
 
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said Monday radioactive iodine-131 at a concentration 1,150 times the maximum allowable level was detected Sunday in a seawater sample taken around 1.5 kilometers north of the drainage outlets of the troubled No. 1-4 reactors."

In other news, there has been a dust-up between the Japanese government and Greenpeace over the groups calls for broader evacuations.

The American Red Cross: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.

Convoy of Hope: Text TSUNAMI to 50555 to give $10.

Feed My Starving Children: MANNA to 50555 to give $10.

GlobalGiving: Text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10.

Operation Blessing: Text BLESS to 50555 to give $10.

Project Hope: Text HEALTH to 90999 to give $10.

United Way Worldwide: Text JAPAN to 864833 to give $10.

Volunteers of America Southeast: Text VOA to 27722 to give $10.

World ReliefCorp of National Association of Evangelicals: Text WAVE to 50555 to give $10.

Scenes From Japan - Please Donate To Assist Them

March 27th, 2011

If you can give to support relief efforts in Japan, please do so by either clicking HERE or by texting any of the resources below the video:


The American Red Cross: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.
Convoy of Hope: Text TSUNAMI to 50555 to give $10.
Feed My Starving Children: MANNA to 50555 to give $10.
GlobalGiving: Text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10.
Operation Blessing: Text BLESS to 50555 to give $10.
Project Hope: Text HEALTH to 90999 to give $10.
United Way Worldwide: Text JAPAN to 864833 to give $10.
Volunteers of America Southeast: Text VOA to 27722 to give $10.
World ReliefCorp of National Association of Evangelicals: Text WAVE to 50555 to give $10.

"Nuclear Boy" - Explaining Fukushima To Children With "poop"

March 23rd, 2011
Please give to Japanese Relief HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

This is going viral. Frankly, I don't have the words. Watch for yourselves.

The Fukushima Crisis Continues...

March 23rd, 2011 5:05am CST BREAKING
Please give to Japanese Relief HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

The Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility has evacuated again as plumes of black smoke are pouring from the building that houses troubled reactor #3 itself. Radiation has reached Iceland and is expected in France soon. Japanese food products have been banned from export to the U.S. Fear continues to dominate the world’s reaction in spite of expert pronouncements that it's not the level of disaster it could have been.

Image © copyright 2011 WSJ - SOURCE

The number of dead and missing in Japan has now exceeded 24,000

Radiation Causes More U.S. Fleet Departures

March 21st, 2011 3:28pm CST

As we noted last week, major withdrawals ordered the U.S. 7th Fleet further away from Japan in light of elevated radiation detections.

Just in from Fox:

"Two US Navy ships pulled out of the base at Yokohama due to fears over rising radiation"

USS George Washington

"The USS George Washington and the USS Lassen left the base, which is located south of Tokyo, as a precautionary measure to ensure a state of readiness in the long term for the defense of Japan, The US Navy said in a statement."


The defense of Japan? If you think these assets are positioned for any other purpose than rapid readiness to combat North Korea's potential aggression, you are kidding yourself. We do not radically alter the locations of these units lightly.

The Nuclear Question

March 21st, 2011
Please give to Japanese Relief HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

By F. Grey Parker
I have received hundreds of e-mails over the last several days from readers wondering "where" I had gone and, more pointedly, why I had "stopped covering" the events at TEPCO's Fukishima Dai-Ichi and Dai-Ni facilities. I have been right here.

Let me start by saying this: I believe the concepts of nuclear power make perfect sense. Surprised? Don't be. We're dealing with provable physics. It's not subject to whim or ideology. Science does what it does.

Science is verifiable, it is repeatable and it is consistently obedient to elemental laws. What I don't believe in is man. The limits of each cannot achieve parity. Bottom line.

I oppose nuclear energy as an option more fervently now than ever before. My long-time, two-fold argument against it not only remains unchanged but has been utterly affirmed by the events in Japan. The question of workable spent fuel storage and the limits of human discipline render the pursuit of this thing we can do extremely unwise. The profit motive as we tend to demonstrate it also renders our species nearly unworthy of the knowledge itself.

The atom doesn't lie. Industrialists seeking the shortest path to the largest treasure do.

Akio Komori Director of TEPCO in Japan

TEPCO did. For decades, they institutionalized a predictable culture of venal greed that mars most huge industrial energy initiatives. Reports were altered. Corners were cut. Decisions were made to enhance profit over sustainability.

At times, immediate safety was secondary to the steady flow of favorable quips about "growth" by the CEO. These are the obvious risks when unbridled greed is improperly regulated in capital driven systems. We have dealt with this flaw in our nature in arguably every endeavor where a few sought to enhance their wealth by enticing the many.

Sometimes, though, the stakes really are just too high.

Meet "the spent fuel rod":



There is no question that the energy demands of world society are at the breaking point. But know this. The disaster of failing to meet the future has already happened. What I have described before in this space as "Hoover Dam Thinking" is no longer possible as the global economy is presently defined.

There's no easy money in it.

San Onofre Nuclear Plant, West Coast U.S.A

More to come...

Sleep tight...

Tragic Humor

March 16th, 2011
Please give to relief efforts for Japan by clicking HERE and HERE

We mustn't lose our sense of humor. No matter what happens, we must not lose our ability to laugh. Even if it is gallows humor. This didn't start out to be funny. But the observation was grimly amusing. On a whim, we happened to do a basic google search of "flights to japan" expecting there to be many stories discussing flights to Japan having been cancelled. Hmm.

To be fair, this was the result of google's infamous "sponsored" search targeting. The cheapest flight we actually found was just over 1700 dollars.

The Civilian Evacuation - Footage

March 15th, 2011 10:00pm CST

Please donate to the cause of Japanese relief by clicking HERE and HERE

Trace Radiation Far From Fukushima

March 15th, 2011 2:35pm CST

Please give to relief efforts for Japan by clicking HERE and HERE

From Sify of India reports:
"A US aircraft carrier stationed in Japan about 320 km from the troubled Fukushima nuclear  power plant has detected low levels of radiation, the US Navy said on Tuesday. The levels detected by the USS George Washington, which is docked in Yokosuka, posed no danger to the public, said Rear Admiral Richard Wren, the commander of US naval forces in Japan. Nevertheless, he urged US personnel on the base to stay indoors as much as possible

"There is no appreciable health risk, and we are being very conservative in our recommendations," he said.

Wren said the levels were less than one month's worth of natural exposure produced by the sun and other sources."

Radiation Near Reactor #3

Mar 14th, 2011 10:35pm CST

3rd Blast Confirmed, part 4

Mar 14th 2011 8:34pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.

It should be assumed at this point that the Japanese energy corporation responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex, TEPCO, is just plain covering their asses. The only recent official release at their site as of this posting doesn't reference reactor #2 in any meaningful way. Check out their public pronouncements HERE.

Linked via CRIEnglish:
"Hourly radiation was measured at 8, 217 micro sievert at the front door of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Tuesday.

 

A TEPCO official told a televised press conference that the figure was three times higher than the amount of radiation a person receives in his natural state within a year.

The rise in radiation was detected after an explosion was heard at the No. 2 reactor of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant at 6:10 a.m. Tuesday (2110 GMT Monday).

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the suppression pool of the reactor might have been damaged at No. 2 reactor.

A rise in radiation was monitored near the nuclear plant shortly after the blast, said the agency. The radiation fell to 882 micro sievert after briefly rising as high as 965.5 micro sievert, topping the legal limit of 500.

But the agency said that the radiation will not immediately affect people's health at the levels of above figures."

3rd Blast Confirmed, part 3

Mar 14th, 2011 7:56pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.

Okay. It does sound bad. But we are having a very hard time getting confirmations.

From Today Online:

"Tokyo Electric said late yesterday that a malfunctioning valve made it impossible to inject seawater into the reactor. The water levels inside its containment vessel fell and left its fuel rods exposed - perhaps completely exposed - for some hours. 

In reactor No 2, which is now the most damaged of the three at the Daiichi plant, at least parts of the fuel rods have been exposed for several hours, which also suggests that some of the fuel has begun to melt. Government and company officials said fuel melting has almost certainly occurred in that reactor, which can increase releases of radioactive material through the water and steam that escapes from the container vessel.

In a worst case scenario, the fuel pellets could also burn through the bottom of the containment vessel and radioactive material could pour out that way - often referred to as a full meltdown. 

"There is a possibility that the fuel rods are heating up and starting to melt," said a Tokyo Electric spokesman late last night, in a news conference televised on public broadcaster NHK. "It is our understanding that we have possible damage to the fuel rods."

The extreme challenge of managing reactor No 2 came as officials were still struggling to keep the cores of two other reactors, No 1 and No 3, covered with seawater. There was no immediate indication that either of those two reactors had experienced a crisis as serious as that at No 2.

By last night, officials said that radiation readings around the plant reached 3,130 micro Sievert - the highest yet detected at the Daiichi facility since the quake and six times the legal limit.

A Tokyo Electric official had then described the situation as improving. "We do not feel that a critical event is imminent," he told a press conference.

Industry executives in America who were in touch with their counterparts in Japan last night grew increasingly alarmed about the risks posed by the No 2 reactor. 

"They're basically in a full-scale panic" among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do."

3rd Blast Confirmed, Cont...

Mar 14th, 2011 7:45pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.

The London Telegraph is reporting this more frightening detail:

"The government also reported apparent damage to part of the container shielding the same reactor at Fukushima 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, although it was unclear whether this resulted from the blast. 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters the suppression pool of the number-two nuclear reactor appeared to have been damaged.

This is the bottom part of the container, which holds water used to cool it down and control air pressure inside."

3rd Blast Confirmed

Mar 14th, 2011 7:38pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.

As we were beginning to fear earlier, the attempts to fully stabilize reactor #2 at Fukushima Dai-Ichi have been unsuccessful.

From The Age:

 "A third explosion in four days has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. The blast on Tuesday at Dai-ichi Unit 2 follows two hydrogen explosions at the plant - at Unit 1 and Unit 3 - as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.Water levels have dropped precipitously inside Unit 2, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing Unit 3.

The latest explosion was heard at 6.10am on Tuesday (8.10am AEDT), a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety Agency said at a news conference.

The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power, said the explosion occurred near the suppression pool in the reactor's containment vessel. The pool was later found to have a defect.

International scientists have said there are serious dangers but not at the level of the 1986 blast in Chernobyl."

First Coast via USA Today reports:

"At a news conference Monday afternoon, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, John Roos, said U.S. experts are working closely with Japan and that staff from the Department of Energy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are consulting with the nation. The staff includes experts in boiling-water nuclear plants, the type used at Fukushima.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said there is no danger of radiation drifting as far as the West Coast of the United States.Four nuclear plants in northeastern Japan have reported damage. Operators lost the ability to cool the three reactors at Dai-ichi and three more at another nearby complex using usual procedures, after the quake knocked out power and the tsunami swamped backup generators."

Is Containment Holding?

Mar 14th, 2011 2:32pm CST

Please donate to the efforts for relief in Japan HERE and HERE.

While many experts continue to reassure us that the critical core containment structures involved in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex are not breached, the latest pronouncements from NISA don't make me feel any better. From The Guardian:

"On Monday evening, Ryohei Shiomi, an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), said reactors 1 and 3 appeared stable for the time being, but that reactor two, where fuel rods were most exposed, was still a concern. "Unit 2 now requires all our effort and attention," he said.

 

The day began with an orange flash and a violent blast that destroyed most of the containment building around reactor 3, with debris falling back inside and onto the structure housing the reactor. The blast was caused by a buildup of hydrogen that was produced when superheated steam in the core reacted with the zirconium alloy cladding that surrounds the reactor's fuel rods.

 

Tepco said 11 people were injured in the accident, one seriously. A similar explosion blew the top off the reactor 1 building on Saturday morning.

 

Despite earlier assurances from Tepco that the steel containment vessels surrounding the reactors were undamaged in both explosions, Naoki Kumagai, a Nisa official, said "It's impossible to say whether there has or has not been damage."

Beckwatch - Japan Nuclear Crisis Edition

Mar 14th, 2011

For the record, Glenn, those of us of good conscience are concerned about the ongoing crisis in Japan's nuclear facilities because we are human beings. Also, for the record, I do not disseminate "propaganda from George Soros."