Wednesday 2 October 2013

Fukushima update 10/01/2013

Nuclear Engineer: Japan's PM "Lying to the Japanese People" About Safety of Fukushima


Arnie Gundersen: Japan's PM claims Fukushima is safe but the nuclear disaster is underfunded and lacks transparency, causing the public to remain in the dark





Thousands in Japan reported to be suffering massive and recurring nosebleeds in recent days

1 October, 2013


Title: Over 3,000 ppl mostly of age under 30 are suffering from recurring massive nosebleeding in Japan
Source: Takahiro Katsumi (Foreign Policy Aide to Senator Tadashi Inuzuka, a member of the House of Councillors of the Japanese National Diet -Source)
Date: Updated Oct. 1, 2013 
h/t Anonymous tips

FACT: Over 5,000 ppl were reported of tweeting “nosebleed”hanaji) over the past two-day period from 9/22-9/23 http://togetter.com/li/567445
FACT: Over 3,000 ppl were reported of tweeting “can’t stop my nosebleed” (hanaji ga tomaranai) during the week of 9/20-9/30 (as of 12am 10/01/2013 JST) http://togetter.com/li/568710
FACT: Over 2,500 ppl were reported of tweeting “I’m nosebleeding” (hanaji ga deta) during the short days of 9/28-9/30 (as of 12 am 10/01/2013 JST) http://togetter.com/li/570016

[...] WHAT YOU CAN DO:
For Japanese Facebook and Twitter users, I’ve been asking for assistance to help spread the survey to as much of the affected people as possible using the list shown above. For users overseas, I would like to ask the following: Help me create a database out of this massive list; Help me find reliable statistics on nosebleeding in general vis-a-vis abnormal nosebleeding; and Help me devise a way to bring in the international civic community’s attention on the matter.
Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen, Oct. 1, 2013 (At 5:10 in): The problem right now is that Japanese researchers are afraid to tell the truth. We’ve got doctors calling us at Fairewinds saying, “We know our patients have radiation illness and the hospital isn’t allowing us to tell the patients that.” [...] So the last piece of this is transparency. And frankly if you leave it to the Japanese government we’re never going to get transparency. We’ve got get the people involved with an oversight panel made up of civilians who have nothing to gain, or nothing to lose from telling the truth.

Weekly Asahi: 70% of children tested in Kanto (Includes Tokyo) have radioactive cesium in their urine -Journalist #Fukushima

Title: Slight rise in birth defects in post-meltdown Japan; more study needed
Source: Jake Adelstein
Date: Sept. 26, 2013

[...] This week the Weekly Asahi (週刊朝日)published a report that in urine samples from children living in Kanto, 70% of those tested, contained cesium, a radioactive element that results in internal exposure [...]


Richard Polhill @richardpolhill                                                         28 Sep
@jakeadelstein Some really tasty with fermented rice. Yum.





@richardpolhill Cesium is the new Ajinomoto (味の素)for Tokyo dwellers. According the Shukan Asahi, 70% of the kids in Kanto love it.
3 RETWEETS



Radioactive Spill’ at Fukushima: Tons seeping into ground
‘Widespread structural problems’ indicated with tanks — Nitrogen injection for preventing explosions at reactors temporarily halted


1 October, 2013

Voice of America, Oct. 1, 2013: Another Radioactive Spill Reported at Fukushima Nuclear Plant [...] The cleanup effort at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered another setback Tuesday when workers spilled four tons of radioactive water into the soil. [...] TEPCO said on Tuesday that the accident occurred during the transfer of polluted rain water from one of the plant’s concrete gutters to an empty storage tank. […]

Reuters, Oct. 1, 2013: Tokyo Electric says contaminated water leaked at Fukushima [...] [Tepco] found high levels of radiation just above the ground near other tanks, suggesting widespread structural problems with the tanks. Tepco’s stock, which was up in the morning, fell after the utility announced the latest problem with water storage, closing down 4.1 percent. [...]
AFP, Oct. 1, 2013: Four tons of radioactive water spilled in Fukushima [...] Workers were pumping rain water that was trapped in a concrete gutter into an empty 12-tonne tank that sat on open soil, said a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO). “Work crew started operating the pump around 10:38 am. At 11:50 am, they found water was spilling from the manhole on top of the tank,” the spokesman said. [...] “The water itself was rain water. But it was from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and could contain radioactive materials,” he said, adding: “The water seeped into the ground”.
Reuters, Oct. 1, 2013: [...] Earlier on Tuesday, Tepco said one of three units for injecting nitrogen into the damaged reactors shut down due to a worker mishandling the equipment, but was restarted later. Tepco injects nitrogen into the reactors to prevent explosions similar to those that rocked the site in the early days of the disaster.


4 tons of possibly contaminated water leaks at crippled Fukushima plant
Four tons of possibly contaminated rainwater has leaked during a transfer of radioactive water between tank holding areas at Fukushima, the operator of disaster stricken Japan’s nuclear plant said.


RT,
1 October, 2013



A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said heavy rain during a recent typhoon has flooded one of the tank holding areas. It stores excess water which has been flushed over damaged reactors to keep them cool, Reuters reports. 

After tests last month showed the rainwater contained 160 becquerels per liter of radiation, a relatively low level, the Fukushima operator decided to transfer the water to another holding area for tanks, he said.

One of the workers found the leak during the transfer, with the water being absorbed into the ground. TEPCO estimated the amount of leaked water at around 4 tons, the spokesman added.

The company has been pumping hundreds of tons of water on a daily basis over the Fukushima reactors to keep them cool, with radioactive wastewater then being stored in underground tanks.

In August, TEPCO said at least one of those hastily built tanks has leaked around 300 tons of radioactive water. High levels of radiation were also found just above the ground, suggesting widespread structural problems with the tanks.

Fukushima is likely to face more heavy rain in the next few days, with another storm expected to hit Japan on Wednesday, the forecast by US Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. 
Reuters / Pool

Reuters / Pool

Meanwhile, South Korean Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Yoon Jin-sook has slammed Japan and TEPCO for earlier attempts to downplay and cover up the facts of contaminated water leaks at the crippled nuclear facility.

She said Tokyo’s “absurd” actions have affected the South Korean fishermen, adding that it was the country’s duty to inform its neighbors that it was planning to contaminate the ocean by releasing hundreds of tons of radioactive water into it.

We wondered if we had to protect such immoral people under diplomatic protocols, and so we did it [by placing an import ban on Japanese fishery products] as soon as we could,” Yoon is cited as saying by Japanese Daily Press. “We did not know that Japan would let the contaminated water leak. We thought ‘this cannot be allowed while our people’s fears were growing.’”

In September, South Korea has introduced an import ban on all fishery products from eight Japanese prefectures near Fukushima due to possible health risks to the country’s consumers.

TEPCO had recently reversed its denials and confirmed reports that Fukushima is leaking radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. The operator plans to allocate around $500 million towards purifying the radioactive water and freezing the soil around the station in order to cope with the leaks.

The Fukushima plant has suffered triple nuclear meltdowns and hydrogen explosions since it was hit by an earthquake, followed by a tsunami, in March 2011. 



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