Fukushima update - 10/10//2013

Fukushima radiation levels hit 2-year high

Seawater just outside one of Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors registered radiation levels on Wednesday 13 times the previous day’s reading, the operator of the crippled nuclear plant said on Thursday.

RT,

10 October, 2013

Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said combined Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 readings just outside the damaged No. 2 reactor jumped to 1,200 becquerels per liter on Wednesday, the highest levels recorded since late 2011.

Regulatory limits for Cesium, which emits powerful gamma radiation and is potentially fatal to humans, is 90 bq/liter for Cesium-137 and 60 bq/liter for Cesium-134.

A TEPCO spokesman said the sudden spike in radiation was caused by construction work near the No. 2 building, Reuters reported.

News of the spike in radiation levels is the latest setback this week for TEPCO, which has been harshly criticized for its handling of the nuclear disaster in the wake of the massive quake and tsunami that hit the power station in March 2011, triggering three reactor meltdowns.

On Wednesday, six workers were exposed to radiation after a pipe connected to a contaminated water treatment system was mistakenly detached. Reuters estimates that at least 7 tons of water escaped the system.

Earlier, a worker accidentally switched off a water pump used to channel water into the reactor building.

Crews are using chemicals to fortify the soil around the Fukushima reactor buildings - hundreds of meters from the port entrance that connects to the Pacific Ocean - to prevent contaminated water from flowing into the ocean. The pressure from injecting chemicals into the ground forced contaminated soil out into the port area, the spokesman said.

AFP Photo / Nuclear Regulation Authority

TEPCO also said Cesium-137 readings just outside the silt fence next to the No.2 reactor increased to160 bq/liter, a number that exceeds the regulatory limit and almost double the previous day's reading.

Radiation from radioactive water leaking from the plant is mostly confined to the harbor around the facility, officials have said.

TEPCO, which is using hundreds of tons of water in an effort to keep the reactors from overheating, has struggled to contain the buildup of radioactive water at the plant.

The accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, situated 220 km (130 miles) from Tokyo, are fueling doubts over TEPCO’s abilities to oversee a hugely complicated cleanup that is expected to take decades.

Last week, the beleaguered Japanese energy company said 430 liters (113 gallons) of contaminated water had leaked from a storage tank at Fukushima and probably flowed to the ocean.

Meanwhile, Japanese officials have said there is no environmental threat to other countries as radiation will be diluted by the sea.

Tokyo, despite lingering concerns over the long-term safety situation at Fukushima, was selected last month to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

In September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the International Olympic Committee that problems at Fukushima were "under control" and any contamination is limited to the harbor next to the crippled plant.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority last week ordered TEPCO to hire additional workers and report within a week on its cleanup progress.

Abe declared on Sunday that the country would be grateful for any help from abroad to contain the crisis.

Highest radiation level seen in 2 years near Fukushima reactor — Surges more than 1,000% over previous day

ENENews,

10 October, 2013

Jiji Press, Oct. 10, 2013: Radioactive cesium levels have surged 13 times in the bay of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in northeastern Japan [...] Seawater sampled near a water intake of the No. 2 reactor on Wednesday contained 1,200 becquerels per liter of radioactive cesium, up from 90 becquerels the previous day, TEPCO said. [...]

Reuters, Oct. 10, 2013: Radiation levels in seawater just outside one of the damaged Fukushima reactors spiked this week to the highest level in two years, the operator of the crippled Japanese nuclear plant said on Thursday. [...] In the latest incident, a worker on Wednesday mistakenly detached a pipe connected to a treatment system, releasing seven tonnes of highly radioactive water. [...] The pressure from pumping chemicals into the ground pushed some contaminated soil out into the port area, the spokesman said.

Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report, Oct. 10, 2013: [...] On October 9, we found a significant increase in the measurement results of cesium 134 and 137 sampled inside the silt fence of the water intake for Unit 2 [...] Cesium 134: 370Bq/L; Cesium 137: 830Bq/L [...]Measurement results on October 8: Cesium 134: 26Bq/L; Cesium 137: 64Bq/L [...]It is assumed that the ground improvement work administrated near the water intake for Unit 2 (where high concentration contaminated water leaked two years ago) has some influence on the increase in the measurement results this time. We continue to watch the situation. [...]

See also: AP: Experts fear giant underground reservoir of extremely contaminated water on verge of entering Pacific at Fukushima -- In contact with melted nuclear fuel? A race against the clock -- Nobody knows when this will end

‘Immediate Release’: 1,400 Bq/m³ of radioactive cesium in ocean off Fukushima Daiichi

• Highest reading to date, had not been detected previously at location
• “Suggests that toxic water leaks at plant have not been contained” (PHOTO)

ENENews,

10 October, 2013

TEPCO- Oct. 10, 2013: Immediate release: A sampling result 1km Offshore Fukushima Daiichi[...] The company started monitoring seawater at the area (1km east of the site’s port entrance) from August 14 [...] At the point in question, where monitoring results of Cesium 137 were below detection limits until the day before, 1.4Bq/L [1,400 Bq/m3] of Cesium 137 was detected in water sampled on October 8 [...]

Kyodo News, Oct. 10, 2013: Radioactive cesium detected in waters off Fukushima nuclear plant [...] Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Thursday that 1.4 becquerels per liter [1,400 becquerels per cubic meter] of radioactive cesium-137 had been detected in a seawater sample recently taken around 1 kilometer from the power plant. [...] the reading suggests that toxic water leaks at the Daiichi plant have not been contained within a small area near the facility. The utility, known as TEPCO, said it had immediately filed a report with the central government [...]

*1 cubic meter = 1,000 liters

Also from today: Highest radiation level seen in 2 years near Fukushima reactor -- Surges more than 1,000% over previous day

Pro-Nuclear Expert: Typhoon collapsing Fukushima fuel pool “a very real concern

I don’t know what it is they’re doing about that” (AUDIO)

ENENews,

10 October, 2013

Title: Dr. Andrew Karam – Fukushima/Yucca Mountain
Source: Art Bell’s ‘Dark Matter’
Date: Oct. 9, 2013

At 49:45 in

Art Bell, host: I’m thinking of the possibility of a typhoon […] Japan gets hit by them all the time. If so, my concern would be a typhoon comes along and [the No. 4 spent fuel pool at Fukushima] collapses and then we have all this airborne radiation, or is that just a silly thing to worry about?

Andrew Karam, Ph.D., radiation safety professional: No, that’s a very real concern. I do not know what it is that they’re doing about that. But the way that something like that could happen would be if it were to collapse, lose its cooling water and before they could start to cool it again, if the temperature increased to the point where the spent fuel were to melt, you could start releasing some of the more volatile radionuclides […] That’s a plausible scenario.

Bell: I’m sorry to hear that.

Karam: I don’t know how likely it is, but it’s something that could happen.

Bell: Well, apparently the structure is not sound at all, because they keep saying they’re worried about it collapsing. And as far as typhoons are concerned, they definitely come along — so that’s fairly plausible, actually, in my opinion.

Karam: […] I could say it’s plausible, but I wouldn’t want to quote you odds.

Pro-Nuclear Expert: Melted nuclear fuel cores could end up in Pacific Ocean from quake

They’d still be underwater and cooled, though we certainly don’t want to see that happen 

ENENews,

10 October, 2013

Title: Dr. Andrew Karam – Fukushima/Yucca Mountain
Source: Art Bell’s ‘Dark Matter’
Date: Oct. 9, 2013

At 2:24:20 in

Andrew Karam, Ph.D., radiation safety professional: What I mean when I say they probably won’t get washed into the ocean — I’m kind of picturing the entire core being sucked out to sea, and being deposited in one mass out in the ocean. So that probably won’t happen.

Art Bell, host: Probably won’t. But you know doctor, you’ve got to consider when this earthquake occurred, there are actually parts of Japan that have been moved from above sea level to actually below sea level, so that when high tide comes in they flood every day. So, something that can move the land like that, you have to think it’s a lot of power.

Karam: And that’s a good point. I hadn’t really thought about that part of it. You’re right, an earthquake could shift the land, so that it would be underwater and become part of the bottom of the bay instead of part of shoreline. If that were to happen, I guess the flippant answer is they would still be underwater, so they’d still be cool. A little bit less flippant is it would make it possible to wash a lot more radioactivity out into the ocean, and that’s something that we certainly do not want to see happen.

Bell: Rather not, yes.

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The only solution to Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster is unspeakable

Los Alamos National Laboratory Readies for Oct. 18 Shutdown

Abby Martin speaks to Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, about the deteriorating state of the 50 year old Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the dangers of the facility no longer being able to process its radioactive waste.

Los Alamos National Laboratory will shut down by Friday, Oct. 18, if a federal budget resolution cannot be reached.

In a memo to LANL employees on Wednesday, obtained by Albuquerque Business First, LANL director Charlie McMillan said the lab will "complete the transition to closure as of the end of business on Friday, October 18," because of the partial federal shutdown.
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