Fukushima may release more radiation than Chernobyl: TEPCO

[bananas]

Just noticed this at http://enenews.com/fukushima-release-radiation-chernobyl-tepco from May 19:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-19/fukushima-may-have-leaked-radiation-before-quake.html

Japan’s Fukushima Reactor May Have Leaked Radiation Before Tsunami Struck
By Yuji Okada, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Shunichi Ozasa - Thu May 19 10:21:12 GMT 2011

<snip>

The station, which has experienced hundreds of aftershocks since March 11, may release more radiation than Chernobyl before the crisis is contained, Tepco officials have said.

<snip>

So we can stop calling people "scaremongers".

[TheWraith]

1. We can when they're scaremongering.

Or in this case, citing a "quote" from anonymous sources, with no indication of the context, nor for the fact that said possibility is ridiculously remote. Kind of like saying that Afghanistan "may" result in World War III. :eyes:

[bananas]

3. BusinessWeek is also carrying the article, both include the names of the reporters and editors.

Of course if any pro-nukes contact them and ask for more information, the pro-nukes will ask leading questions and spin the the response.

Standard PR damage control is to dribble out the information so that it becomes "old news" and gets less attention, and to downplay everything. We've seen that over and over with Fukushima, which should have been rated INES level 7 immediately, etc, etc.

Here are excerpts of both articles with names and contact info for the reporters and editors included:

Here is the BusinessWeek article:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-19/fukushima-station-may-have-leaked-radiation-before-tsunami.html

Fukushima Station May Have Leaked Radiation Before Tsunami
May 19, 2011, 6:44 AM EDT
By Yuji Okada, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Shunichi Ozasa
(Updates with comment in fifth paragraph.)

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- A radiation alarm went off at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima nuclear power plant before the tsunami hit on March 11, suggesting that contrary to earlier assumptions the reactors were damaged by the earthquake that spawned the wall of water.

A monitoring post on the perimeter of the plant about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the No. 1 reactor went off at 3:29 p.m., minutes before the station was overwhelmed by the tsunami that knocked out backup power that kept reactor cooling systems running, according to documents supplied by the company. The monitor was set to go off at high levels of radiation, an official said.

<snip>

Officials at the company, known as Tepco, had earlier said the plant stood up to the magnitude-9 quake and was crippled by the tsunami that followed, causing the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. The early radiation alarm has implications for other reactors in Japan, one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world, because safety upgrades ordered by the government since March 11 have focused on the threat from tsunamis.

<snip>

Japan’s government in April raised the severity rating of the Fukushima crisis to the highest on an international scale, the same level as the Chernobyl disaster. The station, which has experienced hundreds of aftershocks since March 11, may release more radiation than Chernobyl before the crisis is contained, Tepco officials have said.

--With assistance from Michio Nakayama, Taku Kato and Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo and Shelley Smith in Hong Kong. Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Peter Langan

To contact the reporters on this story: Yuji Okada in Tokyo at [e-mail]; Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at [e-mail]; 小笹俊一 in Tokyo at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at [e-mail] -0- May/19/2011 10:21 GMT

Here's the Bloomberg story from the OP, it has the same names and contacts as BusinessWeek:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-19/fukushima-may-have-leaked-radiation-before-quake.html

Japan’s Fukushima Reactor May Have Leaked Radiation Before Tsunami Struck
By Yuji Okada, Tsuyoshi Inajima and Shunichi Ozasa - Thu May 19 10:21:12 GMT 2011

A radiation alarm went off at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima nuclear power plant before the tsunami hit on March 11, suggesting that contrary to earlier assumptions the reactors were damaged by the earthquake that spawned the wall of water.

A monitoring post on the perimeter of the plant about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the No. 1 reactor went off at 3:29 p.m., minutes before the station was overwhelmed by the tsunami that knocked out backup power that kept reactor cooling systems running, according to documents supplied by the company. The monitor was set to go off at high levels of radiation, an official said.

<snip>

Officials at the company, known as Tepco, had earlier said the plant stood up to the magnitude-9 quake and was crippled by the tsunami that followed, causing the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. The early radiation alarm has implications for other reactors in Japan, one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world, because safety upgrades ordered by the government since March 11 have focused on the threat from tsunamis.

<snip>

Japan’s government in April raised the severity rating of the Fukushima crisis to the highest on an international scale, the same level as the Chernobyl disaster. The station, which has experienced hundreds of aftershocks since March 11, may release more radiation than Chernobyl before the crisis is contained, Tepco officials have said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yuji Okada in Tokyo at [e-mail]; Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at [e-mail]; 小笹俊一 in Tokyo at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at [e-mail]

[madokie]

6. You are wrong at ever turn

I've yet to read a factual thing you've written.

[meow mix]

9. that must be why it says "ignored"

:rofl:

[CJvR]

2. Well...

...Fukushima probably contains more radiation than Cherobyl so it is a theoretic possibility. Now all that is needed is a chain of events that will allow that radioactivity to escape, something to do what the earthquake, aftershocks, tsunami and explosions couldn't do

[bananas]

4. 'This Is A Ticking Time Bomb!' Michio Kaku cuts through the double-talk - May 13 CNN

It was posted in the video forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x583800
tick tick tick ...

[intaglio]

10. Not "probably" it does contain more radioactive nuclear material

than Chernobyl.

It is currently releasing radiation into the ground and sea water and a much smaller proportion directly into the atmosphere. The total amount of radioactive material released has exceeded that released by Chernobyl

Tepco has admitted that containment is known to be breached at 2 reactors.

Meltdown at Reactor 1 began at the time of the earthquake and before the tsunami. Fuel pool cracking occurred at the time of the earthquake not during the tsunami.

There is now a typhoon or severe tropical storm approaching, which will mean a storm surge, and I believe Tepco has admitted that the plant is not prepared for that event.

[nonperson]

5. "So we can stop calling people "scaremongers"

No. We're still scaremongers for telling the truth because we're ignorant and we don't know enough about how nuclear power plants work to make any educated comment on the possible outcome of multiple exploding nuke plants and even if we were right from the very beginning and TEPCO and all the nuclear proponent liars and excuse makers were completely wrong we still just did it to scare people and therefore we don't even get to say "I TOLD YOU SO."

[madokie]

7. I can stand up here and say I told you so and I do and did

from day one here in the E/E forum I've been saying its only a matter of time before something like this happens. No matter what caused it its still catastrophic and if we weren't using fission to boil water to make steam to drive the generators that supply our electrical power this never would have happened. Oh but we have to use nuclear power because of the rise in CO2, well we weren't in that position when they first started using splitting of the atom. Theres alternates and that where we should have been going not to this nuclear energy that has the potential to destroy so much and for years to come too.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[intaglio]

11. "Third largest earthquake in world history"?

The 3rd largest earthquake in the past 60 years. Recorded history has a lot of hugely destructive earthquakes whose sizes are "guesstimates" and which will probably re-examined in the light of the Tohoku event. The Cretan earthquake of 365 was probably larger - Crete is known to have been uplifted by 9 meters; the Sicilian earthquake of 1169 is reckoned as a 10; the Candlemass earthquake in Catalonia anywhere between 8 and 11; the Sumatran 'quake of 1833 up to 9.2;

And now
Chile, 1960 mag. 9.5
Good Friday Earthquake, Alaska, 1964 mag. 9.2
Indian Ocean 'Quake (Sumatran-Andaman earthquake), 2004 mag. 9.1 - 9.3.

Now to the rancid meat of your post. Self fulfilling prophecy, how neat that sounds, how convenient. "Anti-nukers" banding together with corrupt politicians to delay the building of shiny, sparkley nuclear plants by insisting on adequate surveys, enhanced building standards, proper evacuation procedures and all because plants might fail. How foolish of them!

The fact that lawmakers and regulators threw money, favours and tax-breaks at the developers of nuclear plant is beneath your notice. Subsidy and preferential treatment of nuclear plant continues to this day but that is beside the point because in your distorted and perverted world-view we must have nuclear plants.

Never mind that General Electric thinks that Solar will be competitive with nuclear as early as 2015, and that offshore wind is already competitive as long as it receives the same tax-breaks. No we must have that wonderful blue Cherenkhov radiation to light our homes

:puke: