Fukushima headlines 10-29-2013.

More random stories concerning Fukushima:

Tepco Full Ordinary black 110 billion yen over the word

Tepco has made a PROFIT of 110 billion yen over the last six months. This is while they are cutting costs at Fukushima Daiichi by reducing pay, failing to hire new workers, which has led to a shortage of workers which they have already admitted has resulted in further radioactive contamination of the environment. Looks like Tepco execs have earned a bonus!

The rise in the 45 000 Becquerel tank leak near drainage ditch

Radiation in a ditch near the storage tanks was measured at 45,000 Bq/liter of all-beta (including strontium-90) on Oct. 27. This is 20 times larger than the amount measured on the 26th.

TEPCO to boost shale gas purchase

Tepco is increasing the purchases of fracked natural gas from the US. Fracking is devastating areas across the US, especially in Pennsylvania and New York, by polluting water supplies with radioactive isotopes and other toxic materials. According to this article by Chris Busby, fracking not only releases “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material” like uranium-238, radon-222, radon-226, bismuth-214, lead-210, and polonium-210, but frackers are using shaped charges made out of depleted uranium to get the gas out.

So these areas suffer radioactive contamination of their water supplies. But it’s all about achieving energy independence, right? No, they are shipping the gas to Tepco in Japan. Tepco irradiates us with Fukushima, and then turns around and irradiates us with fracking. And making profits out of it.

The US is being exploited for its natural resources like any third world colonial country, with no regard for its citizens whatsoever. The cretins in the White House and on Capitol Hill are all for this.

Physician: The high radiation doses, the plume from Fukushima crossing ocean, likely to hit coast of Canada and Northwestern US in early 2014 — California impacted later in year — People don’t know how to stop situation at plant, it’s a global public health catastrophe (AUDIO)

Helen Caldicott says the ocean radiation plume from Fukushima will hit California next year. But it’s here already. From 28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima:

1. Polar bears, seals and walruses along the Alaska coastline are suffering from fur loss and open sores…
2. There is an epidemic of sea lion deaths along the California coastline…
3. Along the Pacific coast of Canada and the Alaska coastline, the population of sockeye salmon is at a historic low. Many are blaming Fukushima.
4. Something is causing fish all along the west coast of Canada to bleed from their gills, bellies and eyeballs.
5. A vast field of radioactive debris from Fukushima that is approximately the size of California has crossed the Pacific Ocean and is starting to collide with the west coast.

Et cetera et cetera. Caldicott is behind the curve and waffling, as usual.

Cesium near Fukushima reported to be many times higher than claimed by Tepco — Levels rising further away from plant — Professor: After quake as big as last week there’s concern about stuff breaking and leakage getting worse

There was a sizeable earthquake off Fukushima last week. An atmospheric radioactive plume on the way from that, as usual.

‘Nuclear Slaves’ at Fukushima: Workers have debts paid off, forced to stay as ‘indentured servants’ — Foreign workers may soon be needed at plant, official reveals

Slaves rounded up and sacrificed to the nuclear god. This will be happening for centuries, in the unlikely event that humans will last that long.

US Gov’t: Plutonium is from Fukushima reactors, not fuel pools — Experts: Plutonium needs to be in U.N. assessment of radioactive releases

What about the plutonium from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool. The pool had its walls break, went dry, and the fuel burned in 2011. Hatrick Penry has an excellent article about this issue from the NRC transcripts. Substantially the same story had been reported in the media at that time. From the Fukushima Timeline:

Date: March 14 Monday
Time: 3/14-10:22AM Event: Unit 4 fire Event: Dangerous radiation levels. Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, says: “As of 10.22am, we are talking about radiation levels that can damage human health.” “The further you can get away from the plant, the safer it is.” Mr Edano said that the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex was currently on fire

Time: 11:39 02:39 NHK reports that the fire at the No. 4 reactor will carry the radiation up to 18 miles away. Anyone within 18 miles of the plant should brush themselves down thoroughly – hair, clothes, skin – before going inside. Once inside, wash thoroughly. Shut the windows and turn off air conditioning

Date: March 15, 2011 Tuesday
Time: 3/15-5:40 to 6:00 AM Event: Unit 4 Explosion
a loud explosion was heard from within the power station. Afterwards, it was confirmed that the 4th floor rooftop area of the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building had sustained damage. ” link The event is not caught on camera. The black roof surface is in place, but will be blown off by March 17. Unit 4 isn’t even operating, it is only storing “warm” fuel in its storage pool, but there is no power for cooling.

Time: 3/15-9:38AM Unit 4 fire reported as flames break out on fourth level of building.

time 3/15-5:40AM event: Explosion Unit 4 blows out walls
Japan Nuclear Watch, Wed. am JST: New Fire and Explosion at Unit 4 Fuel Pond By: Scarecrow Tuesday March 15, 2011 2:25 pm About 5:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, their time, officials reported a fire and explosion that blew a hole about 8 meters wide in the walls of the Unit 4 building. The location corresponds to the 4th floor area where the spent fuel storage pools are located. There is reportedly a hole in the building roof, as a result of yesterday’s explosion and fire, and authorities considered using helicopters to dump or inject water from the roof. However the hole is apparently not near enough to the fuel rod pools to make an aerial drop effective.

Time: 3/15-6:12AM Event: Unit 4 ezplosion shows up on seismometer
the panel studied a seismometer at the plant and found only one explosion tremor recorded at 6:12 a.m. that day. Based on analysis of the tremor, the panel concluded that the explosion occurred at the No. 4 reactor.

Date: 3/15/2011 Time 12:12J 03:12U To recap, here is the latest AFP update: Edano later said there was also an explosion which started a fire at the number-four reactor. Although the number-four reactor was shut for maintenance when the quake and tsunami struck last Friday, “spent nuclear fuel in the reactor heated up, creating hydrogen and triggered a hydrogen explosion”. He said radioactive substances were leaked along with the hydrogen.

22.49U New reports from Sky saying that the “new” fire at reactor 4 took hold because the first fire (and explosion) from Tuesday morning local time was never properly extinguished. AP reports: Utility says new fire at Japan nuclear reactor erupted because first one was not extinguished.

21.40U Japan’s nuclear safety committee say radiation levels of 400 millisieverts an hour had been recorded near Fukushima’s No.4 reactor earlier today. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer. The workers who have stayed behind to cool the reactors are being hailed as heroes. (10 sieverts of radiation is now common at the plant, 25 times the level in March 2011.)

Date: March 16 Wednesday
The National Police Agency is considering using a special water cannon truck held by the Metropolitan Police Department to cool a pool storing spent fuel rods at the troubled No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, police sources said Wednesday. The operation could start as early as Wednesday night, they said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released data showing that on Tuesday and Wednesday, the temperature in pond 4 was 84C – way above normal, and about 25C higher than the equivalent ponds in buildings 5 and 6. What made the situation concerning the fuel pond in building 4 seem particularly serious was Wednesday’s statement from Tepco saying: “The possibility of re-criticality is not zero”. This meant that in the company’s view, it was possible that enough fissile uranium was present in the cooling pond in enough density to form a critical mass

Event: Japan and US nuclear agencies believe Unit 4 pool may be dry: Japan Unit-4 Pool’s Heat Exceeded Three-Times Normal, IAEA Says By Jonathan Tirone – Mar 18, 2011 2:40 AM PT Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said yesterday there is a possibility there’s no water at the cooling pool. If exposed to air, the fuel rods could decay, catch fire and spew radioactive materials into the air. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said in Congressional testimony March 16 that unit had no water in its cooling pool, which sits in a side chamber above the reactor’s core. A hydrogen explosion inside the core’s containment chamber may have drained the pool, which is supposed to keep radiation in check by covering the rods with 15 meters of water.

Date: April 25, 2011 Monday

Something Odd Is Happening at Reactor Number 4
NHK reports:
The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is
carefully monitoring the situation at the Number 4 spent fuel pool,
where the water temperature is rising despite increased injections of
cooling water.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says it will inject 210 tons
of water into the pool on Monday, after finding on Sunday evening that
the temperature in the pool had risen to 81 degrees Celsius.

On Friday, TEPCO found that the pool’s temperature had reached 91
degrees, so it began injecting 2 to 3 times the amount of water.

The Number 4 spent fuel pool stores 1,535 fuel rods, the most at the
nuclear complex.

Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen notes that the spent fuel rods in
reactor number 4 have no water, and the rods are exposed:

I could go on, but the point is that the fuel rods burned, and large amounts of the contents of Unit 4 SFP went into the atmosphere. The heat would have turned large amounts of the fuel that is left into goop which leaked out onto the reactor building floor. This may have burned through the floor into the ground, or stayed on the floor, and the groundwater which is rising to the surface is mixing with it and causing radioactive runoff into the ocean.

The whole issue of removing fuel rods from #4 is a farce. Anything still left in there is goop. Don’t believe the photos and videos of this pool, they could have come from any nuclear plant.