Fukushima update - 01/02/2014

Fukushima News 1/2/14: Nuclear Expert: Fukushima Reactor Cores Melted Into The Ground

Nuclear Expert: Fukushima reactor cores melted right down into the ground — That radioactive material is getting washed out into Pacific Ocean (AUDIO)
http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-fuk...
Japan to set new policy for nuclear waste disposal

The Japanese government plans to revise a basic policy for disposing of nuclear waste so that it can play a more active role in selecting disposal sites.
The industry ministry says starting early this year it will act on proposals submitted in November by a panel of experts.

The government plans to store highly-radioactive waste from nuclear power plants deep underground. It has been asking local governments to come up with candidate sites under a law that came into effect in 2000.

But no municipalities have stepped forward, and the government has still not secured any candidate sites.
Nuclear plants unlikely to resume operations soon
Officials with the Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan say no nuclear plants are likely to resume operations in the near future.

They set new safety standards last July following the 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi. The guidelines call on operators to prepare for severe accidents and to reinforce facilities to make them earthquake-resistant.

Seven utilities have applied for safety screenings for 9 plants so they can restart operations.
Annual New Year sit-in held in Nagasaki

A group of atomic bomb survivors and other citizens have staged an annual New Year's Day sit-in in Nagasaki, calling for the elimination of nuclear arms.

About 60 people took part in the event at the city's Peace Park on Wednesday.
Speaking at the rally, 91-year-old former Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima said helping create a peaceful world is the duty of Japan which inflicted damage and pain against the people of Asian nations during World War Two.
Japan-U.S. Decommissioning and Remediation Fukushima Recovery Forum Tokyo, Japan 
February 18-19, 2014
http://cryptome.org/2013/12/ita-13-12...
BBC Interview: "News about Fukushima... keeps getting worse" — Japan Professor: "Rash of disease" in Fukushima children, rate of cancer in thyroid up to "dozens of times higher than usual" — Expert: Forcible radiation exposure by gov't (AUDIO)
http://enenews.com/japan-professor-ra...
Gundersen: Very visible steam at Fukushima Unit 3 is from constant radioactive releases — Coming from hot rubble, not related to new explosion
http://enenews.com/gundersen-very-vis...
Officials: Unprecedented disease outbreak to blame for dozens of bald eagles deaths — "A major development.. really kind of undocumented" — Concern virus may have mutated — Brains hemorrhaging, immune systems not fighting it off, why are they now more susceptible? (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/officials-unpreced...
#Fukushima I NPP Reactor 3: Debris Removal from Spent Fuel Pool Has Started
http://ex-skf.blogspot.ca/2014/01/fuk...
Fukushima ghost towns struggle to recover amid high radiation levels
Post-tsunami reconstruction and radiation cleanup could take 10 years, but officials say something has been permanently lost
http://www.theguardian.com/environmen...
Cesium-137 deposition and contamination of Japanese soils due to the Fukushima nuclear accident
http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19...
Uranium - the 'demon metal' that threatens us all
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news...
Nuclear Waste Disposal Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PT3G3...

09:39 PM EST on January 2nd, 2014 | 21 comments

Top Russian Nuclear Official: Fukushima catastrophe matched our worst-case scenario — U.S. Gov’t Email: Radiation release thought to be 500 times higher than we calculated

01:34 PM EST on January 2nd, 2014 | 165 comments

Wall St. Journal: Plutonium levels 1,000 times normal on seafloor 50 miles from San Francisco — Expert Appalled: Major nuclear dump offshore is a threat to health — Around 50,000 containers of radioactive waste in globally significant ecosystem

10:12 AM EST on January 2nd, 2014 | 189 comments

Nuclear Expert: Fukushima reactor cores melted right down into the ground — That radioactive material is getting washed out into Pacific Ocean (AUDIO)

08:50 PM EST on January 1st, 2014 | 170 comments

BBC Interview: “News about Fukushima… keeps getting worse” — Japan Professor: “Rash of disease” in Fukushima children, rate of cancer in thyroid up to “dozens of times higher than usual” — Expert: Forcible radiation exposure by gov’t (AUDIO)

04:21 PM EST on January 1st, 2014 | 213 comments

Gundersen: Very visible steam at Fukushima Unit 3 is from constant radioactive releases — Coming from hot rubble, not related to new explosion

01:56 PM EST on January 1st, 2014 | 67 comments

Officials: Unprecedented disease outbreak to blame for dozens of bald eagles deaths — “A major development.. really kind of undocumented” — Concern virus may have mutated — Brains hemorrhaging, immune systems not fighting it off, why are they now more susceptible? (VIDEO)

#Fukushima I NPP Reactor 3: Debris Removal from Spent Fuel Pool Has Started

Ex-SKF,

1 January, 2014

There were a few news outlets in late November and early December last year that reported TEPCO would start removing the debris from the Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in mid December. Hardly anyone paid attention. (No one probably thought it was possible.) Then there was no news of it actually starting.

Well, news or not, the work started on December 17, 2013. That information was shared at the meeting on December 26, 2013 on "Roadmap to Decommissioning", which was available via live feed on the net. However, unless you are one of the dwindling number of reporters and net citizens who continue to follow the accident by attending/watching such meetings, you wouldn't know.

I didn't know because I couldn't watch the whole meeting and didn't take a look at the entire document that contained the information until now.

There is no photos or videos posted at TEPCO's site (in the Photos and Videos Library).

From the 242-page document presented at the December 26, 2013 meeting of "Roadmap to Decommissioning" (pages 152-158):

The slide says:

In order to remove fuel assemblies from the Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool, removal of large-size debris in the Spent Fuel Pool started (December 17).

Reinforcing bars and deck plates that won't interfere with the Fuel Handling Machine [number 8 in the 3-D model] will be removed by the first half of February 2014.

The incident that caused the video camera to drop into the pool has been investigated and the countermeasures put in place.

The order of large-size debris removal:

0. Measures to prevent [additional] debris from falling into the pool (by covering with liners)
1. Remove reinforcing bars, deck plates (1->2->3) - Current work
2. Remove masts, trusses (4, 5, 6, 7)
3. Remove the Fuel Handling Machine (8)
4. Remove the end-track on the west side of the Fuel Handling Machine (4)
5. Remove debris from the cask area (10)

Enlarged images:

3-D debris map from a different angle, and the location of the video camera that dropped into the pool in November last year:

Kyodo News reminded readers on its 12/2/2013 article that there are 52 new (not irradiated) fuel assemblies and 514 spent fuel assemblies in the Reactor 3 spent fuel pool.

Kyodo also reports that two cranes will be used, and up to 11 monitoring cameras will be used. All the work will be done by remote-controlled vehicles and equipment. No information whether the human workers are to be posted near the work for further safety monitoring.

All of the MOX fuel that TEPCO had at the plant was in the reactor itself at the time of the accident.