Fukushima

More quakes hit Fukushima

• Official: We ordered workers to evacuate areas after M6.8 hit by nuclear plant
• Expert: Typhoon causing increased radioactive runoff into ocean? Storm passed over epicenter of quakes
• Another typhoon developing in same area as Neoguri
• Japan urged to monitor progress

ENENews,

11 July, 2014

Bloomberg: [Tepco] crews prepared for strong winds and heavy rains at its wrecked Fukushima atomic plant [...] The storm was skirting Japan’s eastern coast [...] offshore wind speeds in Fukushima could reach 61 kilometers an hour, the JMA said. [...] The Fukushima Dai-Ichi station’s reactor buildings are strong enough to withstand storm winds and rains, [Tepco] said in an e-mailed statement. Equipment being used for the plant’s decommissioning was being secured ahead of the storm, the company said. Crews have also built high dams around storage tanks holding contaminated water as an extra precaution against leaks, site superintendent Akira Ono said in the statement.

AFP: [...] workers were bracing for the storm. “We are tying up cables and hoses… and making sure cranes and booms don’t fall,” a company spokesman said. “We will also beef up patrols in areas where water could flow in.”

Kathryn Higley, Oregon St. Univ. nuclear engineering dept.: Radioactive Runoff [...] While the downpour may increase the amount of radioactive runoff from the plant into the ocean, it will be offset by dilution from off-shore rains [...] “There may be a flushing of contaminated soils and sediments from rivers and streams out into the ocean, but I wouldn’t anticipate any increased dose effects,” Higley said [...]

AFP: A minor tsunami hit Japan’s Miyagi prefecture early on Saturday after a strong 6.8-magnitude quake jolted the northeastern Pacific coast, prompting advisories for regions including around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. A tsunami of 20 centimetres was observed at 5.12am local time in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. [...] “We have not seen any damage or any change in radiation gauges after the quake,” said TEPCO spokesman Masahiro Asaoka. “Today’s operation has yet to start but we ordered workers to evacuate to high places,” Asaoka said.

Weather Channel: Tropical Storm Nine is churning in the western Pacific Ocean, not far from where Super Typhoon Negouri first developed. [...] This system is expected to strengthen to a typhoon this weekend [...] intensifying, possibly rapidly, into early next week [...] The key uncertainty in the track is [...] a weak southward dip in the jet stream [...] that would bend Rammasun northward [...] It is far too early to determine the exact path [...]

Bloomberg: [Jim Andrews, AccuWeather] said the depression may grow into a typhoon and move northward next week. He said Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea should monitor its progress.

Watch The Weather Channel’s broadcast here

Fukushima update from 24 hours ago