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Fukushima

Boric Acid to be Poured into Fukushima Daiichi Reator 3

After several months of spewing radiation all over northern Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Company is finally going to use boric acid on one of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

Actually TEPCo is pouring a borci acid/water mix into the spent fuel pool above Reactor 3.  By Monday evening, 27 June 2011, they will have used 90 tons of the mixture.

What is happening in the fuel pool is that radioactive concrete debris, from the hydrogen explosions, were stored in the fuel pool.  TEPCo has discovered that calcium hydrate from the concrete debris has made the water highly corrosive, increasing the chances of structural failure of the fuel pool.  They fear the racks holding the spent fuel rods will collapse, causing the rods to crash into each other, thus causing “re-criticality”.

 

Fukushima

Doctors say don’t eat Japanese vegetables, they’re radioactive!

A group of doctors tested people living in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan.  That’s where the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is.  They discovered people living outside the evacuation zones are internally contaminated with radiation.

The doctors tested people in two cities; Iitate Village and Kawamata Town.  They are about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the nuclear plant.  They tested their urine, to check for internal radiation contamination.  They found the people have three times what is considered normal exposure for one year.

The doctors are telling the people of Fukushima Prefecture to stop eating the locally grown vegetables.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo shuts off wrong valves!

Yesterday I speculated that Tokyo Electric Power Company probably installed their water radiation filters backwards.  Today NHK reporting that incorrect settings of the system are the cause of TEPCo’s problems.

At least twice TEPCo had to stop their decontamination of water, at Fukushima Daiichi, because they were getting the reverse effect; an increase in radiation levels in the water.  Another time they stopped because they broke a water pump.

It turns out all those problems were caused by the incorrect setting of valves.  The result was that less than half of the filter chambers were being used.  TEPCo blames their throwaway workers for misunderstanding the “open” and “shut” indicators on the U.S. designed system!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: 6 out of 10 towns got no Nuclear evacuation order after 11 March!

10 cities around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were supposed to get evacuation orders immediately after the nuclear disaster, following the 11 March 2011 natural disasters.  Only four of those cities got the evacuation order.

The national government of Japan, and the prefectural government of Fukushima have apologized for the break down in communication.

Also, Tokyo Electric Power Company was responsible for notifying five nearby cities/towns of the nuclear disaster, but evidence shows that was a major ‘F’ up.  One town got 80 faxes of the notification, while another town got zero notification!

This major breakdown in communication, by TEPCo and government,  resulted in massive confusion about what people were supposed to do.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Radiation decontamination fails for the third time, reactor temperatures rising!

For the third time Tokyo Electric Power Company stopped decontamination of radioactive water at Fukushima Daiichi.  This time radiation levels on the outflow side of the massive water filter skyrocketed, instead of going down.

The idea is that water coming out of the decontamination unit would have less radiation.  The opposite is happening.  When TEPCo re-started the operation on Tuesday radiation levels were at 3 millisieverts per hour, by Wednesday, 22 June 2011, the levels hit 15 millisieverts per hour.

The result is that not only has decontamination efforts stopped, but TEPCo says it can not inject anymore water to cool reactors, for fear of massive flooding of contaminated water out of the reactors (even more than what is leaking out now).  Already the temperatures in Reactor 3 are rising.

Japanese media says the water decontamination unit was designed in the United States.  Could it be possible that the decontamination chambers are backwards?  Don’t laugh, here in Idaho in the late 1990s, on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation boil order after boil order were being issued.  Finally, after tribal officials investigated their new water treatment system, it was discovered that all the filters were in backwards.

Fukushima, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radioactive Tritium leaking from U.S. nuclear reactors

A year long study of U.S. government documents, by the Associated Press, has revealed that radioactive tritium is leaking into groundwater.

Documents show that at least 48 nuclear plants in the U.S. have, or are, leaking tritium.  Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen.  The report comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At least 37 of those leaks exceeded government safe levels for drinking water.

It’s not just tritium that’s leaking from U.S. nuclear reactors; cesium and strontium are also leaking.

Strontium 90 was found leaking at Indian Point nuke plant north of New york City.

Cesium 137 leaked from Fort Calhoun nuke plant in Nebraska.  By the way, that reactor was just shut down because the Missouri River is flooding it.

There’s much more about the leaks from U.S. nuke plants in the AP report.  Maybe this explains the increase in cancer rates over the past decades?

Like I said before: Everyone living near nuclear reactors in the United States should make plans to get away.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Once again, TEPCo stops radiation decontamination

For the second time Tokyo Electric Power Company has stopped decontamination of water at it’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, this time they broke a water pump.

The first time was because the radiation levels were much higher than first thought, and the water decontamination system wasn’t set up to handle it.  This time TEPCo officials think it’s because they tried to force too much water through, and broke a water pump.

Fukushima, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: U.S. Nuclear Reactors disasters waiting to happen

The Associated Press spent a year going over government documents concerning the safety of U.S. nuke plants; the conclusion is that a disaster of epic proportions is very likely.

The reason is that U.S. officials, like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have been relaxing safety standards just so the aging nuclear reactors could be re-licensed.  In other words, what the AP found was that if today’s U.S. nuclear reactors were required to meet 1970s safety standards, most would fail.  The most common problem at the nuclear plants are leaking valves.

Recently, one Senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander, tried to say the U.S. nuclear industry had a record of safe operations.  However, the NRC, even with it’s relaxed safety standards, has filed more than 200 safety alerts since 2005.  In 2008 the NRC admitted that 70% of potentially dangerous situations resulted from relaxing of standards in order to get the plants re-licensed.

Another surprising find, the Associated Press noted that not a single serious investigation into the safety of nuclear plants has been officially undertaken, not even by the NRC.  It appears what government, and the nuke industry corporations have been doing, is trying to find ways to re-license reactors without meeting safety standards!

Here’s the modus operandi of U.S. government, and the corporations running the nuke plants:  Old parts fail causing accidents, or jeopardizing re-licensing.  Instead of ‘coming up to compliance’, corporations work with government agencies to ‘dumb down’ existing safety regulations.

Another revelation: Most U.S. nuclear plants were supposed to be replaced with brand new plants, once their original 40 year licenses expired.  That never happened.

What’s the motivation behind the scandal?  Billions and billions of dollars being made by providing almost 20% of the United State’s electricity, using outdated and cheaply maintained nuke plants.

There is so much more in the AP report.  Everyone living near nuclear reactors in the United States should make plans to get away.

Fukushima, U.S.

Missouri River causes “unusual event” at U.S. Nuclear Plants

The Cooper Nuclear Station, in Nebraska, is flooded.  The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, also in Nebraska, has been shut down.

By Sunday, 19 June 2011, several levees failed along the Missouri River, causing nuke plant operators to issue a “Notification of unusual event.” A ‘notification’ is the lowest of four emergency classifications developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Reuters reported that officials will shut down the Cooper nuclear plant if flood levels hit 13.9 meters (45.5 feet).  Other reports say the Fort Calhoun plant was shut down.  Heavy rain in the Rocky Mountains could keep the Missouri River high until August.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: 125 exposed workers still not tested for radiation!

The Japanese Health and Labor Ministry reports that Tokyo Electric Power Company still has 125 workers that are waiting to be tested for radiation.  Those workers were present when reactor buildings exploded after the 11 March 2011 disasters.

Despite the government’s complaints about TEPCo dragging its feet on testing employees, TEPCo claims they’ve tested 1,100 workers, so far.  My experience in the military tells me TEPCo could have gotten that many workers tested in a day, so why has it taken them three plus months?

TEPCo is reporting that several more workers have tested positive for levels of radiation exposure above government limits.  The latest worker, to test positive for contamination, was exposed to 335 millisieverts per hour of radiation.