Fukushima update: Recovery efforts stalled, as hotspot concerns grow

After an eventful recent few days at the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant, which I've reported on here, and here last night --see "Radioactivity spreads in Japan", today has seen few major developments, and the situation remains very serious. The detection of radioactive hotspots outside of the evacuation zone is a growing concern, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) tonight confirming hotspots Northwest of the plant where radioactivity is so high as to require urgent evacuation of people in the area.

Meanwhile, authorities trying to bring the reactors at the Fukushima Daichii plant under control are still battling with the same problems that since the weekend have prevented them from even beginning the critical task of reestablishing electrical supplies to the coolant systems of the plant's reactors 1 to 3. The basements of the reactors have been flooded with radioactive water, which in reactor 2 is so radioactive – with a dose rate of 1000mSv/h – that a few hours exposure would deliver a lethal dose. The problem is that while electricity has been restored to the control rooms, the cabling that needs to be connected to get electricity to, and restart, the reactors coolant systems, is in these basements. So workers are first having to pump out and clean out the basements before work on trying to stabilize the reactors can proceed.

Efforts are also being hampered by problems on other new fronts at the plant. As I reported yesterday in Nature, radioactive water has been found in trenches, outside of the reactor buildings, and less than 70 metres from the sea shore, raising the spectre of serious contamination of the sea and groundwater in the area. The dose rates at the trench adjacent to reactor 2 is also at a potentially lethal 1000mSv/h. The trenches in question are not what most people might think of as trenches; they are several metres wide and up to 15m deep, and they are filled to the brim. Workers are trying to pump the contaminated water from the trenches, and from the basement, into holding tanks, but may soon run out of space, and so the idea is being floated of digging a new containment vessel. To add to their worries, very low levels of plutonium have been found in the soil.





more

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/03/fukushima_update_against_the_o_1.html

http://www.slideshare.net/energy/ams-data-march29final

and the dry fuel pool at No. 4

I just read in the New York Times that the Cesium levels in the soil around the plant, and also
25 miles miles outside of the plant, are double the numbers that were found at Chernobyl.

However, officials refuse to evacuate beyond 18 miles of the plant.

That sounds incredibly grim.

I've noticed that the comments sections for these Japanese/radiation stories have been
turned off. Too bad, because I gleaned so much information from experts who were chiming
in in the comments.

I'll post the link to the NYTimes article about the cesium levels-- (found it after digging. not on the front page, of course!
It was in the "World" section. The Times states that this article is on page 10 of the print edition. Page 10?? Unbelievable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/world/asia/01clean.html?ref=world

From the article:
On Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said a soil sample from Iitate, a village of 7,000 people about 25 miles northwest of the plant, showed very high concentrations of cesium 137 — an isotope that produces harmful gamma rays, accumulates in the food chain and persists in the environment for hundreds of years.

The cesium levels were about double the minimums found in the area declared uninhabitable around the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, raising the question whether the evacuation zones around Fukushima should be extended beyond the current 18 miles. On Thursday, the Japanese government said it had no plans to expand the zone.

Each time they extend the zone out a kilometer the area of the ring they need to evacuate grows.

For example extending a 20-km exclusion zone out by 1 km requires the evacuation of 129 square kilometers. To extend a 50 km zone by 1 km requires the evacuation of 320 square kilometers. Japan has an average population density of 350 people per square kilometer, but in this area it will probably be over 1000, so as you push the zone out further and further you have to move huge numbers of people.

To extend the current 20 km zone out to 50 km would require the movement of 5 to 6 million people. How and where to?

It's no wonder that official Japanese radiation figures outside the zone are hard to come by.

...expanding those evacuation zones.

The presence of Cesium would surely warrant evacuation would it not? That stuff will kill you and
it sticks around for 30 years. The area around Chernobyl that had Cesium in the dirt, is still an
uninhabitable dead zone.

So, the Japanese have found Cesium 25 miles out. The evacuation zone is only 18 miles out. As you
said, a serious problem.

I think they're totally avoiding increasing that evacuation zone, for the reasons you said. As the
zone grows larger, they have to put people somewhere, but where? The population becomes more dense
and more urban, the further you get from the plant.

Plus, when you keep expanding the evacuation zone, that's a telltale marker that identifies this
as a huge catastrophe of epic proportions. They don't want it labeled that way right now. I think
these decisions are not being made only by the Japanese. I think Big Energy--from around the globe,
and especially the USA is dictating how this plays out from a PR perspective.

How much longer can they play these games?

They put out the fires by smothering it with sand. That stopped the fallout from spreading.

Then there was a race to stop the corium from burning down into the water table, but that worked out ok. The corium melted and mixed with sand. The sand acted as a moderator and it solidified in the basement.