Fukushima update - 02/19/2014

CSI: Fukushima

CSI: Fukushima from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

TEPCO is behaving as though it is the victim of the largest industrial accident in the history of time rather than the perpetrator. Fairewinds Energy Education's Arnie Gundersen analyzes new leaks at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 and discusses TEPCO's negligence in not applying engineering rigor to its analysis of the leaks.

Link to Fairewinds Speech at the New York Academy of Medicine: bit.ly/1lnUCEa

100 tons of toxic water leaked at Fukushima plant

Around 100 tons of highly radioactive water leaked from one of the tanks at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Thursday.

RT,

20 February, 2014

The water reportedly spilled beyond the barrier that is set up to block it from flowing out of tanks.

A process to stop the radioactive leak is underway. The spill is said to contain 230 million becquerels per liter of strontium and other beta ray-emitting radioactive substances.

TEPCO believes the leakage has not reached the adjacent sea, as no drain was found.

The leak was discovered by workers on patrol at around 11:25 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

06:31 PM EST on February 19th, 2014 | 106 comments

Airborne plutonium detected outside troubled U.S. nuclear facility — Expert: ‘Radiation event’ appears to have occurred, leading to a release; “Levels are highest ever detected” around site

03:50 PM EST on February 19th, 2014 | 47 comments

Record level of Cobalt-60 detected in groundwater at Fukushima — Hundreds of times above any measurement ever published for underground water (MAP)

11:38 AM EST on February 19th, 2014 | 61 comments

Study: Daily release from Fukushima of 100+ Quadrillion becquerels of cesium-137 early on in crisis “seems reasonable” — Chernobyl total release was ~70 Quadrillion Bq of cs-137

09:37 AM EST on February 19th, 2014 | 203 comments

Nun sentenced to years in prison for nuclear site sabotage — Sister Rice pleads with judge to give her life behind bars, “Greatest honor you could give me” — Yale scholar mentions her along with Gandhi, MLK — TV: Highly unusual hearing, judge repeatedly says how much sway they have to affect change

11:14 PM EST on February 18th, 2014 | 82 comments

Gov’t map shows highest radiation levels were directly over Salt Lake City, Utah and surrounding area on March 20, 2011 — Most intense concentration of anywhere in world, including Fukushima (GRAPHIC)

08:21 PM EST on February 18th, 2014 | 42 comments

TV: Bald eagles dying at rate “much higher than normal” and it’s not from West Nile virus as previously claimed — Now around 60 dead in Utah since December — “We feel helpless, we don’t have a lot of answers” (VIDEO)

04:11 PM EST on February 18th, 2014 | 155 comments

Anonymous U.S. Gov’t Nuclear Expert: Fukushima radiation levels were “astronomical… nothing containing release of radioactivity, it’s an unmitigated, unshielded number” — Monitor detected 100,000 Sv/hr

12:34 PM EST on February 18th, 2014 | 117 comments

NBC: ‘Bizarre’ cluster of severe birth defects haunts experts in Pacific Northwest — “I definitely believe something is going on… Maybe it just hit once and blew through” — Officials refused to say how many new cases in 2013 — County on border of most polluted nuclear site in Hemisphere

10:34 AM EST on February 18th, 2014 | 106 comments

LA Times: Expert says ‘radiological process’ may have forced material out of container at US nuclear site, “Could be a mess”; Officials saying little about extent of problem — Levels remain too high to let in non-essential personnel — Air monitors not allowed to collect filters

02:13 PM EST on February 17th, 2014 | 251 comments

CNN: Alarm due to radiation spike brings ’1st-of-its-kind’ response at US nuclear site — Inspections cancelled, no one able to enter facility due to ‘high radiation’ levels — Reuters: Plans got called off over ‘safety thing’ — Gov’t: ‘Pretty sure’ we know where leak is — Local TV calls it ‘emergency’ (VIDEO)

10:29 AM EST on February 17th, 2014 | 93 comments

New Forecast Released: ‘Most’ Fukushima nuclear particles will move east across Pacific — Narrow line of radioactive pollutants to make it all the way across ocean this year — Uses decades of data (GRAPHIC)

08:27 PM EST on February 16th, 2014 | 135 comments

CBS Video – Cousteau warns Californians about Fukushima plume: It could be dangerous, keeping eye on reports; I’m not touching bluefin tuna, I’m done due to pollution — Leaders “worried about radiation… personally reluctant to eat fish”; Calling for systematic tests in Pacific

05:45 PM EST on February 16th, 2014 | 101 comments

Alarm after ‘unusually high’ radiation levels at U.S. nuclear site — Gov’t: “We’ve never seen a level like we are seeing… I can’t tell you the amount” — Could be Plutonium — ‘Unclear’ how much radiation released — Unprecedented event (VIDEO)

11:16 AM EST on February 16th, 2014 | 187 comments

Gov’t Report: Plutonium releases from Fukushima a major concern — ‘Uncertainty’ over how far molten fuel has eaten through “what remained of primary containment”

Fukushima News 2/19/14: 

US to Support Fukushima 

Recovery; Additional Survey 

On Faults Takes 6 Months