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AFP:
Powerful Typhoon Wipha heads for Fukushima, Tepco bracing ‘inflows
of water’
- Experts: Huge flood potential for area around plant
- Forecast to grow and strengthen, up to 40-foot waves off Japan coast
14
October, 2013
Kyodo
News, Oct. 15,
2013 at 8:46a JST: Typhoon Wipha, the 26th typhoon of the year, was
traveling northward around 260 km east of Minamidaito at a speed of
25 kph as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to [Japan's Meteorological
Agency]. It had an atmospheric pressure at its center of 940
hectopascals and was packing winds of up to 216 kph.
AFP, Oct. 15, 2013 at 12:00a ET: Strong typhoon heads for Japan’s nuclear plant [...] A powerful typhoon was closing in on Japan on Tuesday, heading towards the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of up to 144 kilometres per hour near its centre, was in the Pacific south of Japan early this morning. It has been forecast to reach an area off the Tokyo metropolitan area by early Wednesday and then head toward the coast of Fukushima [...] TEPCO says it is bracing for the winds after a series of leaks of radiation-polluted water. “We are making preparations for proper management of contaminated water… we will patrol places that could have inflows of water (from the storm),” a company spokesman said. […]
AFP, Oct. 15, 2013 at 12:00a ET: Strong typhoon heads for Japan’s nuclear plant [...] A powerful typhoon was closing in on Japan on Tuesday, heading towards the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of up to 144 kilometres per hour near its centre, was in the Pacific south of Japan early this morning. It has been forecast to reach an area off the Tokyo metropolitan area by early Wednesday and then head toward the coast of Fukushima [...] TEPCO says it is bracing for the winds after a series of leaks of radiation-polluted water. “We are making preparations for proper management of contaminated water… we will patrol places that could have inflows of water (from the storm),” a company spokesman said. […]
Kitsap
Sun,
Oct. 14, 2013: [...] a hybrid storm, with characteristics of both a
tropical storm and an extratropical system [...] similar to some of
the features that Hurricane Sandy had [...] Wipha could bring an
expanded area of high winds and pounding surf along with several
inches of rain to [...] the vulnerable nuclear plant [...] Ryan Maue,
a meteorologist at WeatherBell Analytics [...] told Climate Central
that the storm poses a “huge flood potential” for the Fukushima
area. [...] “Wipha is extra-large size-wise,” Maue said,
predicting it will grow and strengthen as it makes its closest pass
to Japan [...] A major storm with high surf, strong winds, and heavy
rainfall likely would complicate cleanup efforts, or possibly pose an
even greater danger to the facility. [...] hybrid storm systems
may not be good news for Tokyo and Fukushima [...] can cause storms
to intensify and expand in size, resulting in a broader wind field
and a higher potential for storm surge. Computer models show the
potential for 40-foot waves off the coast of Japan [...]
“It’s
Madness”: Doctors in Japan helping perpetuate Fukushima cover-up
- Patients
not being told their illnesses are from exposure to radioactive
contamination
-
Scientific reports showing radiation health damage to humans are forbidden to be published
At
3:30 in
Arnie
Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer:
We’re seeing scientist after scientist here at Fairewinds writing
to us saying that they’ve got good science and they’re being
ostracized in Japan and being forbidden for publishing scientific
reports that show radiation health damage to Japanese people. So
basically the government is sitting on the scientific community and
preventing goods science from being done. Same as the doctors, the
doctors have contacted us as well. They say they’ve been told not
to tell their patients that their illness is radiation induced. So
these guys have an oath as a doctor to be honest with their patients,
and yet they’re basically ignoring their own oath and helping
perpetuate a cover-up in the Japanese government. […]
Host:
From where I sit, what you just described is madness essentially.
Gundersen:
From where I sit it’s madness too. That’s the problem in Japan
right now, is that nobody is willing to admit that the path they have
chosen to take for the last two and a half years is crazy.
At
3:30 in
Arnie
Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer:
We’re seeing scientist after scientist here at Fairewinds writing
to us saying that they’ve got good science and they’re being
ostracized in Japan and being forbidden for publishing scientific
reports that show radiation health damage to Japanese people. So
basically the government is sitting on the scientific community and
preventing goods science from being done. Same as the doctors, the
doctors have contacted us as well. They say they’ve been told not
to tell their patients that their illness is radiation induced. So
these guys have an oath as a doctor to be honest with their patients,
and yet they’re basically ignoring their own oath and helping
perpetuate a cover-up in the Japanese government. […]
Host:
From where I sit, what you just described is madness essentially.
Gundersen:
From where I sit it’s madness too. That’s the problem in Japan
right now, is that nobody is willing to admit that the path they have
chosen to take for the last two and a half years is crazy.
Fukushima
radiation worse than feared – experts
IAEA experts are trying on the ground to sort out work to do away with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. But the situation grows increasingly tense despite all efforts by the government.
13
October, 2013
Hundreds
of tons of radioactive water leaked out of the reservoirs and reached
the subterranean waters just days ago. It may have likewise leaked
into the ocean, says an expert in nuclear physics and nuclear power
generation, Igor Ostretsov, Doctor of Engineering.
“I
am absolutely certain that the radioactive water leaks into the ocean
have never stopped, because the plant molten corium is continuously
cooled. The water used in the cooling is then stored in radioactive
water storage tanks. A lot of radioactive water has been accumulated
there to date. A lot of water is required for cooling. The tanks are
actually non-durable and often overfilled, resulting in overflows.
But this is not reported unless a pipe bursts”.
A
state of emergency should now be declared throughout the world
community. Japan needs international control, Tokyo can’t manage it
on its own. Whatever the world nations can offer to cope with the
situation should be used, or else the northern part of the Pacific
will be contaminated. Discharging radioactive water into tanks and
keeping them is pointless. Japan clearly needs an immediate
extraordinary solution.
As
of today, the radiation levels around the plant are so high that
staying there for four hours would be lethal for a person. But the
Japanese either failed or chose not to use the experience of Russian
liquidators who tackled a similar situation at the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant in 1986, says Professor of the Russian Academy of Natural
Sciences, Vladimir Kuznetsov.
“Japan
has been unsuccessfully trying to get the situation under control for
more than two years now, under the supervision of the IAEA. But the
situation is worsening by the week. Neither Japan, nor the
International Atomic Energy Agency is capable of controlling the
situation. The decisions made are known to be wrong. We had a
concrete cover for the crippled Chernobyl reactor in six months after
the accident, while in Japan they still have nothing now that two and
a half years have passed since March 11th, 2011. Background radiation
is 400 times the normal levels in towns just 10 kilometres away from
the crippled nuclear plant”.
A
complete removal of the plant equipment will take almost 50 years.
How long the rehabilitation of radiation-affected residents of the
area around the Fukushima plant may take is anyone’s guess. So far,
the locals have been facing really grave problems, the vice president
of the committee to restore the coastal area of the city of Shiogama,
Miyagi Prefecture, Toru Yabe, said in an interview with the Voice of
Russia.
“Restoration
has been very slow. Many people have been living in temporary housing
for 2.5 years now; they still have no homes of their own. They may
just as well live there for 3 or even 4 years", Toru Yabe said.
Dispelling
the myth that building nuclear power plants in seismically active
areas is safe has become an important lesson taught by the Fukushima
disaster. It has been brought home to the Japanese for dozens of
years that the situation is under control and they should have no
fears. But it turned out that the elements are unpredictable and that
humanity is defenceless against nature despite all of their
technological progress.
In
short, Professor Streltsov believes that Japan has entered the
post-Fukushima period of development, one that will be qualitatively
different in all parameters of social being. It would stand to reason
to assume that the entire world has entered a new paradigm of
development. And yet, there is no alternative to nuclear power
production due to natural resource scarcity, ecological problems
caused by hydrocarbon burning and the short payoff period of nuclear
power-generating units.
Nuclear
power plant accidents are, unfortunately, unavoidable. But proper use
of technology, due regard for the international experience and close
compliance with safety procedures can minimize the consequences and
bring fresh hope to humanity.
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