Unit No. 4 wall bulging — Local deformation confirmed

26.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

Tepco announced that the wall on the west side of reactor 4 building bulged. Also, the reactor 4 building is leaning to North West. They surveyed from 5/17 to 5/25/2012. From their survey, the corner of south west come out 33mm at 13m hight from the ground.

 

 

On the west side of the outer wall surface in the measurement, local deformation is confirmed, the trend of deformation. To confirm, measurements were performed in the vicinity. May 25 carried out.

Measurement result (Measurement points – Horizontal difference)

1 – 6mm
2 – 10mm
3 – 7mm
4 – 23mm
5 – 33mm
6 – 22mm

Bulge of the outer wall of the west side was found to be localized.

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/05/west-side-of-the-reactor4-building-bulged/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29

Einsortiert unter:Danger, Fukushima

Tepco estimates total cesium-137 release from Fukushima at 360,000 terabecquerels — 4 times higher than Chernobyl’s 85,000 terabecquerels

25.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has estimated the total amount of radioactive substances discharged from its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant measured 760,000 terabecquerels, 1.6 times the estimate released by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in February. One terabecquerel is equal to 1 trillion becquerels. TEPCO will include the estimate in a final report to be compiled by an in-house accident investigation committee in June. The firm has also begun explaining how it arrived at the figure to local governments in Fukushima Prefecture. There are two ways to estimate the amount of discharged radioactive substances. One way is to base calculations on the degree of damage to the reactor core. The other is to reverse calculate based on the density of radioactive substances found in the atmosphere and seawater. As a result, there will be differences in estimates depending on how the figures were obtained. NISA released an estimate of 770,000 terabecquerels in June last year, and another estimate of 480,000 terabecquerels in February. The Cabinet Office’s Nuclear Safety Commission released an estimate of 570,000 terabecquerels in August last year. TEPCO combined the two methods and repeated its calculations under different conditions.

It reached a final estimate of 400,000 terabecquerels of iodine-131 and 360,000 terabecquerels of cesium-137. The amount of cesium 137 was 85,000 terabecquerels in the Chernobyl accident.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120523005514.htm

http://enenews.com/just-in-tepco-estimates-total-cesium-137-release-from-fukushima-at-360000-terabecquerels-4-times-higher-than-chernobyls-85000-terabecquerels

 

 

Einsortiert unter:Accident, Consequences, Fukushima, Radiation

Children in Fukushima

25.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

The number of deaths due to “cardiovascular diseases” in Fukushima has doubled. (This number includes cardiovascular deaths of children with congenital heart abnormalities.) This has not been seen in other prefectures which suffered damages from the earthquake/tsunami disaster. There are also increases in infectious diseases, cancer and leukemia, and pneumonia.

Total number of pediatric deaths (ages 1 to 19) due to illnesses in Fukushima, from March through November of 2010 (blue) vs. 2011 (pink) — “It has increased by a factor of 1.5 times, but pediatric deaths due to illnesses come in small numbers to begin with, so the absolute number is too small to determine if this is an “unusual phenomenon.” Similar changes can be seen considerably in past statistics or other prefectures.”

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Month-to-month changes in the number of pediatric deaths (ages 1 to 19) in Fukushima from March through November of 2010 (blue) and 2011 (pink)

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The number of pediatric deaths (ages 1 to 19) due to illnesses classified by the specific cause of deaths in Fukushima from March through November of 2010 (blue) and 2011 (pink)

Source of data: http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/NewList.do?tid=000001028897

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Danger, Fukushima

Move south of equator if Unit 4 fuel pool goes dry

05.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

Arnie Gundersen Interview
KGO Radio’s Pat Thurston
April 15, 2012

 

“There’s more cesium in that [Unit 4] fuel pool than in all 800 nuclear bombs exploded above ground…

But of course it would happen all at once.

It would certainly destroy Japan as a functioning country…

Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there.”

http://enenews.com/gundersen-move-south-equator-unit-4-fuel-pool-dry-lesson-like-cesium-all-800-nuclear-bombs-dropped-earth-except-all-video

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Danger, Fukushima, Radiation

Urgent Request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

05.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

An Urgent Request on UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel

Recently, former diplomats and experts both in Japan and abroad stressed the extremely risky condition of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool and this is being widely reported by world media. Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), who is one of the best-known experts on spent nuclear fuel, stated that in Unit 4 there is spent nuclear fuel which contains Cesium-137 (Cs-137) that is equivalent to 10 times the amount that was released at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Thus, if an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.

Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies at the Fukushima Daiichi plant sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with roughly 85 times more long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl.

Nuclear experts from the US and Japan such as Arnie Gundersen, Robert Alvarez, Hiroaki Koide, Masashi Goto, and Mitsuhei Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, and, Akio Matsumura, a former UN diplomat, have continually warned against the high risk of the Fukushima Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.

US Senator Roy Wyden, after his visit to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 6 April, 2012, issued a press release on 16 April, pointing out the catastrophic risk of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4, calling for urgent US government intervention. Senator Wyden also sent a letter to Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan’s Ambassador to the United States, requesting Japan to accept international assistance to tackle the crisis.

We Japanese civil organizations express our deepest concern that our government does not inform its citizens about the extent of risk of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. Given the fact that collapse of this pool could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences with worldwide implications, what the Japanese government should be doing as a responsible member of the international community is to avoid any further disaster by mobilizing all the wisdom and the means available in order to stabilize this spent nuclear fuel. It is clearly evident that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool is no longer a Japanese issue but an international issue with potentially serious consequences. Therefore, it is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to come. We herewith make our urgent request to you as follows:

1. The United Nations should organize a Nuclear Security Summit to take up the crucial problem of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.

2. The United Nations should establish an independent assessment team on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and coordinate international assistance in order to stabilize the unit’s spent nuclear fuel and prevent radiological consequences with potentially catastrophic consequences.

30 April 2012
Shut Tomari (Japan)
1-2, 6-4 Higashisapporo, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo 003-0006 Japan
TEL: +81-90-26951937 FAX:+81-11-826-3796 email: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp

Green Action (Japan)
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel: +81-75-701-7223 Fax: +81-75-702-1952 email: info@greenaction-japan.org

Endorsed by:
Hiroaki Koide Kyoto University Nuclear Reactor Research Institute (Japan)
Mitsuhei Murata Former ambassador to Switzerland and to Senegal
Board member, Global System and Ethics Society (Japan)
Akio Matsumura Former United Nations diplomat
Robert Alvarez Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, D.C. (USA)

Masashi Goto Former Nuclear Plant Engineer (Japan)

Signing organizations: 72 Japanese organizations have signed this petition (as of 30 April 2012)
1. Shut Tomari, Hokkaido
2. Green Action, Kyoto
3. Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo
4. Osaka Group against Mihama・Ooi・Takahama Nuclear Power, Osaka
5. Aging Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Group, Tokyo
6. Stop Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant!, Shizuoka
7. Espace des Femmes, Hokkaido
8. “Let’s learn Pluthermal” Shiribeshi Citizen’s Network, Hokkaido
9. Hairo Action Fukushima, Fukushima and Evacuation Areas in Japan
10. STOP MOX! Fukushima, Fukusima
11. Fukushima Moonlight, Fukuoka
12. Yawatahama Women’s Group to Protect Children from Nuclear Power Plant, Ehime
13. Ikata People Against Mox, Ehime
14. We Do Not Want Plutonium! , Tokyo
15. Genkai Nuclear Power Pluthermal Trial Support Group, Fukuoka
16. Genkai Nuclear Power Pluthermal Trial support Group, Fukuona
17. Pluthermal and 100 Years of Saga Prefecture Group, Saga
18. No Nuclear Plants! Yamaguchi Network, Yamaguchi
19. Food Policy Center・Vision21
20. Genpatsu Yamenkai, Fukuoka
21. Japan Environmental Law Lawyers Association （JELF）
22. Nonviolent Direct Action Network (HANET)
23. Anti-Nuclear-Power and Nuclear Fuels Reprocessing Protest Advertising Group, Tokyo
24. Kochi Green Citizen’s Network, Kochi
25. Kaku-no-Gomi Campaign, Chubu, Nagoya, Aichi
26. Aloha from Hawaii
27. Tohoku Asia Information Center, Hiroshima
28. No-Nukes Citizen’s Network, Tokushima
29. No-nukes Net Kushiro, Hokkaido
30. Fukushima Meeting for Environment, Human Rights and Peace, Fukushima
31. FoE (Friends of the Earth Japan), Tokyo
32. Citizen’s Group on Nuclear Waste, Horonobe, Hokkaido
33. Team From Now On, Hokkaido
34. No Nukes! Protect Children from Radioactivity
35. Concerned Citizens for Children’s Human Rights, Ehime
36. Protect the Sea of Sanriku from Radioactivity, Iwate
37. Iwate Organic Farming Study Group, Iwate
38. Dandelion House, Tokyo
39. Decommission All Nuclear Power! Women’s Group for Protection of Kariwa Village, Niigata
40. Sapporo Shoku Machi Network, Hokkaido
41. Citizens Wind for Peace, Tokyo
42. Together with the Earth NPO, Osaka
43. Kawauchi Tsuyukusa Group, Kagoshima
44. Group against Construction of Kawaunchi Nuclear Plant, Kagoshima
45. Hassei Group against Ikata Nuclear Plant, Ehime
46. For Citizen’s Autonomy, Hokkaido
47. No-Nukes Women Group・Hokkaido, Hokkaido
48. Hokkaido Peace Net, Hokkaido
49. Future for Fukushima Children, Hokkaido
50. Good Bye Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Project, Niigata
51. Weaving A Better Future Mothers’ Group
52. Group Aozora MeeMee
53. Mothers and Fathers’No-Nukes Declaration 2011
54. Southern Osaka Network for Protection from Radioactivity, Osaka
55. Kansai Network on Protection of Children from Radioactivity, Kansai
56. Journey To the Future
57. Morinokoya
58. Kaburaya
59. Nishiyashiki
60. Dandelion Fortress, Fukuoka
61. Dohatsuten Wo Tsuku Kai, Fukuoka
62. Global Ethics Association
63. Buppouzan Zenngennji
64. STOP Nuclear Plants BEFORE Huge Quake Strikes！
65. Lee Group to Prevent Earthquake Disaster and Nuclear Accident
66. Rokkasho Village・ Home of Flowers and Herbs, Aomori
67. Anti-TEPCO-Nuclear-Power Consumers Group, Tokyo
68. Miyazu Mitsubati Project, Kyoto
69. Citizen’s Plaza, Minoh , Osaka
70. Monoh Citizen’s Group on Good Bye Nuclear Power, Osaka
71. Campaign Fukuoka against Nuclear and Uranium Weapons, Fukuoka
72. Seeking for Japan-US Security Treaty Termination Notice, Tokyo

Reference
1. http://bousai.tenki.jp/bousai/earthquake/seismicity_map/?area_type=japan_detail&recent_type=100days
2. http://jp.reuters.com/article/jp_quake/idJP2011040401000586
3. http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2012/4/16/japanese-diplomat-matsumura-warns-of-fukushima-daiichi-unit.html
4. http://jp.wsj.com/japanrealtime/blog/archives/10616/
5. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/04/17/fukushima-daiichis-achilles-heel-unit-4s-spent-fuel/
6. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/the-largest-short-term-threat-to-humanity-the-fuel-pools-of-fukushima.html
7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/the-fukushima-nuclear-dis_b_1444146.html
8. http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/after-tour-of-fukushima-nuclear-power-station-wyden-says-situation-worse-than-reported
9. http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/video-and-audio/view/wyden-discusses-a-recent-onsite-tour-of-fukushima-japan-and-recovery-efforts
10. http://akiomatsumura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/corrected-Mitsuhei-Murata-Fukushima-Dai-Ichi-Cesium-137-04-03-2012.pdf
11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bq81boQL_Y
12. http://akiomatsumura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Letter-to-Prime-Minister-Noda-by-Amb-Murata.pdf

http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/2012/05/01/an-urgent-request-on-un-intervention-to-stabilize-the-fukushima-unit-4-spent-nuclear-fuel/

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Danger, Fukushima, Politics, Radiation

Japan shutting down last commercial nuclear reactor

o5.05.2012

Susanne Gerber

Japan’s electricity will be nuclear-free for the first time in 42 years this Saturday when the country’s last operating commercial reactor is shut down for regular inspections.

Officials at Hokkaido Electric Power Company say they will begin reducing the power output of the Number 3 reactor at the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant at about 5 PM. They plan to stop the reactor’s generator at about 11 PM and complete the shutdown at about 2 AM on Sunday.

Power companies have submitted the results of stress tests on 19 offline reactors to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency as part of steps to restart the reactors.

Central government officials say two offline reactors at the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture meet new safety requirements. They’re trying to get people who live nearby to agree to a restart.

But there’s no prospect of a restart of any of the country’s 50 commercial reactors.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120505_04.html

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Fukushima, Politics

A Medium Sized ‘Nuclear War’

24.04.2012

Susanne Gerber

On the website of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at University of Berkley i found this anonymous posting from 2012/3/11

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4608

“More synthetic radio-nuclides have entered the global biosphere from Fukushima than from all other nuclear ‘accidents’ and atmospheric atomic detonations combined; the ionizing radiation levels from Fukushima could more accurately be compared to that from a medium sized ‘nuclear war’. That nuclear weapons are described in terms of ‘mega-tons’ instead of ‘mega-Curies’ is part of the massive on-going deception surrounding all-things-nuclear since the days of Eisenhower and the AEC’s ‘peaceful atom’ propaganda campaign. All honest scientists, including Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, knew from day one that ionizing radiation is the ultimate biological weapon, and this is how these susbstances are being used today. ONE spent fuel rod from even a non-MOX reactor contains more than enough plutonium to kill every human being on Earth. Tens or hundreds of thousands of these BURNED UP within a few days of Fukushima’s onset last March.”

Einsortiert unter:Accident, Consequences, Fukushima

Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US

23.04.2010

See video here

http://www.fairewinds.org/content/tokyo-soil-samples-would-be-considered-nuclear-waste-us

While traveling in Japan several weeks ago, Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen took soil samples in Tokyo public parks, playgrounds, and rooftop gardens. All the samples would be considered nuclear waste if found here in the US. This level of contamination is currently being discovered throughout Japan. At the US NRC Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC March 13 to March 15, the NRC’s Chairman, Dr. Gregory Jaczko emphasized his concern that the NRC and the nuclear industry presently do not consider the costs of mass evacuations and radioactive contamination in their cost benefit analysis used to license nuclear power plants. Furthermore, Fairewinds believes that evacuation costs near a US nuclear plant could easily exceed one trillion dollars and contaminated land would be uninhabitable for generations.

Transcript

Arnie Gundersen: What you have just heard was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, saying that the NRC does not take in to account mass evacuations and people not getting back on their land for centuries when it does a cost benefit analysis as to whether or not a nuclear plant should be licensed.

I am Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds and today I am at the Regulatory Information Conference put on by the NRC in Washington D.C.

So today, I am in Washington D.C. Couple of weeks ago though, I was in Tokyo and when I was in Tokyo, I took some samples. Now, I did not look for the highest radiation spot. I just went around with five plastic bags and when I found an area, I just scooped up some dirt and put it in a bag. One of those samples was from a crack in the sidewalk. Another one of those samples was from a children’s playground that had been previously decontaminated. Another sample had come from some moss on the side of the road. Another sample came from the roof of an office building that I was at. And the last sample was right across the street from the main judicial center in downtown Tokyo. I brought those samples back, declared them through Customs, and sent them to the lab. And the lab determined that ALL of them would be qualified as radioactive waste here in the United States and would have to be shipped to Texas to be disposed of.

Now think about the ramifications for the nation’s capital, whether it is Tokyo or the United States. How would you like it if you went to pick your flowers and were kneeling in radioactive waste? That is what is happening in Tokyo now. And I think that is the point that Chairman Jaczko was trying to make. When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does it’s cost benefit analyses now, it does not take into account the cost to society if you have to evacuate for generations or if you have to move 100,000 people, perhaps forever.

There is a hundred miles between us and a dozen nuclear power plants here in Washington D.C. Fukushima was almost 200 miles away from Tokyo, and yet Tokyo soil in some places, the ones I just happened to find, would qualify as radioactive waste here in the United States.

How would we feel if our nation’s capital were contaminated to that degree? So I agree with Chairman Jaczko, new nukes and old nukes that are being re-licensed should include as a cost in their analysis what we have learned to be happening in Tokyo and in Japan.

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Fukushima, Politics, Radiation

Video Inside the Equipment Hatch Shield Plug of Reactor 3 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant

23.04.2012

Susanne Gerber

See video here

http://ex-skf.blogspot.de/2012/04/video-inside-equipment-hatch-shield.html

I have no idea what I am seeing here. It is supposed to be mostly the image of inside the shield plug on the Containment Vessel of Reactor 3, which TEPCO finally admitted it had been open. The camera is sometimes upside down or sideways, but we cannot complain much to the camera crew (TEPCO employees) who received 8 millisievert radiation for their 4-minute work. Radiation looks to be much higher inside the shield plug.

Last November, a Packbot was sent to wipe off the guide rails for the shield plug. The robot was finding the radiation levels to be extremely high along the rails, with the highest at 1.6 sievert/hour.

Einsortiert unter:Accident, Danger, Fukushima, Radiation

Vietnam’s Prime Minister: “I Trust Japan’s Nuclear Technology”

23.04.2010

Susanne Gerber

 

日本の原発技術を信用＝ベトナム首相

Vietnam premier trusts the Japanese technology for nuclear power plants

来日中のベトナムのグエン・タン・ズン首相は２１日、東京都内で記者会見し、原発建設で日本の協力を受けることについて、「技術を信用している。最先端の技術を使ってほしい」と歓迎する意向を示した。

Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng held a press conference in Tokyo on April 21. On the Japanese support for the nuclear power plant construction in Vietnam, the prime minister welcomed it by saying “I trust the Japanese technology. I would like to see the cutting-edge technology used [in building the plant].”

 

In return, Japan will increase the number of healthcare workers from Vietnam. (Never mind that many young people are unemployed or underemployed in Japan these days.)

There is also a non-profit organization that will bring 6,000 young Vietnamese men to Japan and have them “trained” at the nuclear power plants in Japan.

http://ex-skf.blogspot.de/2012/04/vietnams-prime-minister-i-trust-japans.html

Einsortiert unter:Consequences, Fukushima