Growing exposure problems at Fukushima

[robdogbucky]

And other updates:


Growing exposure problems at Fukushima

The health and labor ministry says six other workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have received radiation doses above the allowable emergency level.

Tokyo Electric Power Company reported to the health ministry on Monday on the results of the latest checks of workers at the power plant.

The ministry says the provisional amount of radiation exposure was up to 497 millisieverts for each of six TEPCO male employees. The maximum allowable dose was formerly 100 millisieverts, but it was raised to 250 after the crisis started.

One of the men was working in the control center, while the other five were performing maintenance work...

Monday, June 13, 2011 20:57 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/13_29.html


Fukushima already ten times worse than Chernobyl in ocean waters, suggests data
Saturday, June 11, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

NaturalNews) Recent readings taken roughly 19 miles out to sea from the Fukushima nuclear power facility in Japan have revealed radioisotope levels ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas after the massive Chernobyl disaster. Because Fukushima is much closer to water than the Chernobyl plant is, the ongoing fallout there is shaping up to be far worse than Chernobyl, at least as far as the world's oceans are concerned, and time will tell just how devastating this massive disaster will be on the entire world as radiation continues to circulate around the globe.

"Given that the Fukushima nuclear power plant is on the ocean, and with leaks and runoff directly to the ocean, the impacts on the ocean will exceed those of Chernobyl, which was hundreds of miles from any sea," said Ken Buessler, Senior Scientist in Marine Chemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, several months back. Since that time, it has been revealed that Fukushima reactors 1, 2, and 3 have all experienced "melt-throughs," which are considered to be the worst possible outcome in a nuclear disaster (http://www.naturalnews.com/032657_F...).

Various atomic experts are now in agreement that the unfolding situation in Japan truly is "as serious as it gets in a nuclear disaster." Even the Japanese government itself is now admitting the grave reality of the situation, having recently announced it will submit a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) explaining the details of the melt-throughs, which basically mean that radioactive fuel appears to have burned through the outer containment vessels of the reactors and have gone directly into bare earth.

"Dangerous levels of radioactive iodine and cesium have already contaminated the sea, the soil, groundwater, and the air," said reporter Mark Willacy of the Australian Broadcast Corporation in a recent Lateline interview (http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/cont...). "This week plutonium was detected for the first time outside the stricken plant, and Strontium-90, known as a bone seeker because it can cause bone cancer and Leukemia, has now been found as far away as 60 kilometers (37+ miles) from the facility."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032678_Fukushima_ocean.html#ixzz1PAKFCuMo






Monday, June 13, 2011

Fukushima set to test water treatment system
Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday it will start testing Tuesday a troubled new system to treat highly radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after its test run was delayed due to piping problems.

If the test run goes well, the utility wants to fully start the equipment to decontaminate radioactive water by the end of this week — two to three days behind the originally scheduled date of Wednesday, Tepco said.

On Sunday, the utility said its preparations for a test-run of a newly installed equipment to absorb cesium hit a snag again as the piping in the equipment developed by Kurion Inc. of the United States may be clogged. On Friday, water leaks were also found on the equipment...

...But Tepco's initial target to put the water-decontamination system in full operation from mid-June will be inevitably delayed, increasing the risk of flooding all available storage tanks at the plant.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110613x1.html




Excessive levels of strontium detected in seawater

Radioactive strontium that exceeds the government-set safety level was detected for the first time in sea water in the inlet next to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, reported that strontinum-90, at a level 53 times higher than the safety standard was detected in samples taken from inside an inlet used exclusively by the nuclear plant, on May 16.

TEPCO also said that strontinum-90 was detected at a level 170 times higher than the standard in samples also taken on May 16, near the water intakes outside reactor number 2. At the reactor number 3 water intakes, the level was 240 times higher than the legal safety limit...

...TEPCO announced that strontium-90 was also detected for the first time in ground water near the reactors' buildings...

Monday, June 13, 2011 06:03 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/13_02.html



Expert: Closer watch on marine life necessary

Professor Takashi Ishimaru of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology says the results were expected because smaller amounts of radioactive strontium have already been detected in the sea both near Fukushima Prefecture and farther away.

Although the level of strontium exceeds the government set-safety level, Ishimaru said on Sunday that the impact on the human body should be minimal because the amount is not much larger than that of cesium detected at the same time.

Strontium has properties similar to those of calcium. Ishimaru added further examination should be carried out to find whether the substance is accumulating in fish bones and other marine life.

Monday, June 13, 2011 06:03 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/13_03.html




METI tried to gain influence over Fukushima panel.

BY SHINJI MURAMATSU STAFF WRITER
2011/06/12

A push by bureaucrats associated with the nuclear industry to increase their influence over the government-appointed panel investigating the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was rebuffed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

The Kan Cabinet decided May 24 to establish the panel to investigate the nuclear disaster and placed it under the Cabinet Secretariat. That decision limited the influence of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which oversees nuclear policy and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

But, on June 6, the nuclear establishment pushed back. The National Policy Unit, which is part of the Cabinet Secretariat but is made up of bureaucrats from the various central government ministries, produced a document titled "Regarding a revolutionary energy and environment strategy."

The unit, which is heavily influenced by METI officials when considering matters related to energy policy, proposed placing the accident panel as well as the Japan Atomic Energy Commission under the guidance of an energy and environment committee to be established under the Council on the Realization of the New Growth Strategy...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106110149.html




TEPCO releases photo showing damage to No. 4 reactor building

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has released a photograph showing the damaged inside of the building housing the No. 4 reactor at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

In the photo, which was released on June 11, the pipes and walls near a power generator inside the structure are charred black, and rubble covers the floor.

Earlier the company had released footage showing work to remotely measure the temperature of the pool for spent fuel at the No. 4 reactor, but the latest photo marks the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami for the company to release a picture showing the inside of the reactor building.

The No. 4 reactor was hit by a hydrogen explosion on March 15, as well as fires on two occasions. The generator in the structure was used for a reactor recirculation pump and is thought to be the source of the fires.

(Mainichi Japan) June 13, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110613p2a00m0na003000c.html

[robdogbucky]

1. Fukushima disaster drives into Ukraine

Published: 13 June, 2011, 08:31

The Fukushima nuclear crisis has sent the motor industry into turmoil. Officials say all Japanese vehicles are thoroughly checked for radiation before shipment, but reports suggest that contaminated cars could still find their way into the market.

­Alla Belaya, a car owner from Odessa, has been contemplating changing her car for months. A fan of Japanese vehicles, she wanted to upgrade her off-roader to a newer model. But her car-dealing friend said it was not the right time.


“I was told privately that all new Japanese cars are radioactive, because of the Fukushima disaster. The shipment was supposedly blocked by the authorities at Odessa’s harbor, but unofficial dealers bribed them and got these cars onto the streets. He said if I want to have babies in the future, I should abstain from buying a car like that now,” says Alla Belaya.


Ilyichyovsk harbor, a port in Southern Ukraine, receives 80,000 new cars a month and at least a third of them come from Japan...


...Besides, if everything were all right with the cars, then why would car dealers – both official and not – firmly refuse to comment on the allegations? Experts say this is because they are protecting their business. Moreover, the sale of contaminated steel is not something new for Ukraine...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=439




Radioactive Containers Likely Left Japan Before Contamination Checks Began

Five shipping containers detained in Rotterdam after testing positive for radiation probably left Japan before a screening program started, the Asian nation’s transport ministry said.

Japanese authorities officially began scanning cargo boxes for radiation on April 28 because of concerns about leaks from a nuclear plant crippled by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

“Japanese cargo owners have been screening containers before shipping them, so contamination should be rare,” said Hatsuho Tanaka, general affairs chief at the Japan Shipowners’ Association. “It’s possible that containers could get some contamination from the air or rain at sea.”

From Bloomberg

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/05/radioactive-containers-likely-left-japan-before-contamination-checks-began/



Japanese Containers Test Positive for Radiation on Arrival in Rotterdam

Dutch authorities have found traces of radiation on 19 containers originating from Japan, two months after an earthquake and tsunami there caused leaks from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

Five of the containers, scanned on arrival at the Port of Rotterdam, were quarantined because the level of contamination was above the permissible threshold, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said on its website today. The other 14 boxes were cleared after further inspection, it said.

Scans of the ship’s superstructure at sea failed to reveal contamination, which was detected when the containers were screened in Rotterdam.

Read more at Bloomberg

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/05/japanese-containers-test-positive-for-radiation-on-arrival-in-rotterdam/



Radioactive cars from Japan arrive in Chilean port

The Associated Press reports that:

Chile says the radioactivity was found in 21 of nearly 2,500 cars that arrived in Iquique aboard the Hyundai 106 cargo ship. About a hundred port workers have protested, saying their health was at risk.

But the Chilean deputy treasury secretary said Monday that the Chilean nuclear commission has confirmed that the radioactivity is too low to cause damage to humans. He says the cars will be hosed down on board and any radioactivity will be contained inside inside the ship. (More at Associated Press)

Workers were concerned and asked for testing, said Moises Chavez, a spokesman for the stevedores.

The 83 workers who had contact with the vehicles ‘were tested by customs at their request,’ the customs dirctor said, adding that none of them showed any ill effects. (More at AFP)

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/05/radioactive-cars-from-japan-arrive-in-chilean-port/



Excess Radiation Detected in Imported Japanese Cars at Vladivostok Port

Twenty cars shipped from Japan were held at Vladivostok port in Russia’s Far East after tests showed they had excessive radiation, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Tuesday.

The report said the cars, aboard the “Asian Ice” ship, had radiation 1.5 to two times the normal level.

This is the first large shipment of radioactive cars from Japan detected. The used cars that do not meet the safety norms will likely be shipped back to Japan, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the Emergency Ministry said radiation in the Far East of Russia ranged from 5 to 15 micro-roentgens per hour.

http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/04/excess-radiation-detected-in-imported-japanese-cars-at-vladivostok-port/



Hi ho!


Tick tock

[MoonRiver]

2. We've been boycotting everything Japanese because of whaling.

Now there is another reason. Plus, Japan absolutely cannot be trusted to tell the truth. That country's pathological lying rivals Casey Anthony's.

[mopinko]

4. made in japan will become an epitaph again

at least for as long we don't ALL get sick and die.

[yodermon]

3. I & family are going to Seoul in 1 month.. should i rethink this...