In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S.

By HIROKO TABUCHI, KEITH BRADSHER and MATTHEW L. WALD

TOKYO — Emergency vents that American officials have said would prevent devastating hydrogen explosions at nuclear plants in the United States were put to the test in Japan — and failed to work, according to experts and officials with the company that operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The failure of the vents calls into question the safety of similar nuclear power plants in the United States and Japan. After the venting failed at the Fukushima plant, the hydrogen gas fueled explosions that spewed radioactive materials into the atmosphere, reaching levels about 10 percent of estimated emissions at Chernobyl, according to Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency.

Venting was critical to relieving pressure that was building up inside several reactors after the March 11 tsunami knocked out the plant’s crucial cooling systems. Without flowing water to cool the reactors’ cores, they had begun to dangerously overheat.

American officials had said early on that reactors in the United States would be safe from such disasters because they were equipped with new, stronger venting systems. But Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, now says that Fukushima Daiichi had installed the same vents years ago.

MORE...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/world/asia/18japan.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

is it time for us to go uh oh? Or are we now in the new and improved spin cycle

Workers enter No.2 reactor building

Workers have entered the No.2 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since an explosion there on March 15th. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, sent 4 workers into the building on Wednesday morning to check radiation levels and other conditions.

The utility says data on radiation levels in the building are necessary to proceed with a revised plan the firm announced on Tuesday to circulate water leaked from containment vessels back into reactors as coolant.

TEPCO says the maximum radiation level in the building was 50 millisieverts per hour, and that the workers' exposure was between 3 and 4 millisieverts, which the firm says is not high. But it says the workers had to leave the building in 14 minutes because it filled with steam.

The utility plans to begin operating an air cooling system at the reactor possibly this month, to lower the temperature in a pool for spent nuclear fuel that's believed to be one source of the steam. Tokyo Electric senior official Junichi Matsumoto said steam is building up in the facility because its roof remains intact, unlike the plant's No.1 and 3 units. He said the steam could be reduced by cooling the pool...

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 18:47 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_29.html


"...left because it filled with steam." Hmmmmmmmm.


Radioactive material detected in grass in Miyagi

A radioactive substance exceeding the legal limit has been detected in pasture grass in Miyagi Prefecture, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture in which the damaged nuclear plant is located.

1,530 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram were found in a sample collected last Wednesday from a farm operated by the southern town of Marumori. The figure exceeds 5 times the legal limit of 300 becquerels.

350 becquerels of cesium were also detected in a sample from a prefectural farm in the northern city of Osaki.

Miyagi prefectural government has asked about 6,000 livestock farmers across the prefecture not to feed pasture grass to livestock and not to put cattle out on grazing land. This is the first time radioactivity exceeding the legal limit has been found in grass or vegetables in the prefecture...

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 20:34 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_35.html


"...Miyagi Prefecture, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture..."

Anyone know how far away from the plant this might be?



• TEPCO discovery of Fukushima sediment contamination in areas identified by Greenpeace
Blogpost by Phil Radford - May 3, 2011 at 13:57

• TEPCO, the owners of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, just announced that they found contamination levels 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal in sediment from the Fukushima coast.

TEPCO did the sediment testing late last week—in areas Greenpeace identified for testing in our research plan—after we were denied permission to research inside Japan's 12 mile territorial waters.

The buzz around Japanese Twitter has been saying that Greenpeace is the reason why the authorities have actually done this research...

"Our flag ship the Rainbow Warrior is already doing what it can to monitor marine contamination based on the very limited permission granted by the Government for areas outside the 12 mile territorial limit. We had previously identified the newly declared contaminated areas as areas at risk, and stand ready to assist within the 12 mile limit to provide independent monitoring and advice to the Japanese public."

"It has been noted by many that the authorities only surveyed the area as a result of our request and the pressure that "Our flag ship the Rainbow Warrior is already doing what it can to monitor marine contamination based on the very limited permission granted by the Government for areas outside the 12 mile territorial limit. We had previously identified the newly declared contaminated areas as areas at risk, and stand ready to assist within the 12 mile limit to provide independent monitoring and advice to the Japanese public..."

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/tepco-discovery-of-fukushima-sediment-contami/blog/34549



• Seaweed contamination cause for concern in Japan
Blogpost by Jess Miller - May 13, 2011 at 8:13

• Initial findings from the Rainbow Warrior radiation sampling team working off the coast of Japan are in and the news is not good.

The results showed levels of contamination far beyond allowed limits for seaweed. Contaminated seaweed could become a threat as fishermen along the coast will begin harvesting the seaweed to sell for public consumption in the coming weeks. As both TEPCO’s sediment samples and our own preliminary research shows, radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood, yet the authorities are still doing the very little to protect public health. We are calling on the authorities to start comprehensive radiation testing of seaweed along the Fukushima coast.

We are also now conducting detailed analysis of fish, seawater, and seaweed collected outside of Japan’s 12 mile territorial waters, as well as fish, shellfish and seaweed samples collected from the Fukushima coast. Selections of samples have been sent to independent laboratories for further analysis. Watch this space for full results in the next week.

Take action right now and tell the President that taxpayers should not take on the risk of building new nuclear plants.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/seaweed-contamination-cause-for-concern-in-ja/blog/34740


Thursday, May 19, 2011


Release of radioactive water made at request of U.S.: Cabinet adviser
Kyodo

SEOUL — Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata, who serves as a special adviser to the Cabinet, claimed in a recent lecture given in Seoul that the dumping of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean followed a "strong request" from the United States, a person who attended the lecture said Wednesday.

The release of the water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last month generated anxiety about the possible spread of radioactive contamination from the seaside power station.

The Japanese government had apparently given its permission for the release of the water after receiving a report from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Hirata's remarks, made Tuesday, that the release was not carried out based on Tokyo's independent judgment but rather on a request from Washington is likely to ignite a debate…

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110519a3.html


Hmmmmmm?


Just some more EEBC on a rainy Wednesday morning on the west coast.


rdb

from the article:

"But a redesign of the venting system itself might also be necessary.

The design is the result of conflicting schools of thought among United States nuclear officials, said Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at several American nuclear power plants.

Mr. Friedlander said, referring to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: “You have the N.R.C. containment isolation guys who want containment closed, always, under every conceivable accident scenario, and then you’ve got the reactor safety guys who need containment to be vented under severe accident scenarios. It is a very controversial system.”


-------- LAME