Flooding in the U.S. Northeast Forces Mass Evacuations

Pennsylvania rivers turn toxic after flooding swamps 10 sewage processing plants

The White House Declares states of emergency in New York and Pennsylvania

Virginia Governor declares a state of emergency as  flooding prompts mass evacuations in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia, killing at least 6 people.

READ THIS FIRST

Continued hacking and content censorship

In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.

FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

WordPress is HACKING this blog!

WordPress Continues to Hack Fire-Earth, Affiliated Blogs

The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!

Disaster Calendar 2011 – September 9

[September 9, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,650 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Northeast, USA. Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have dumped more than 12 inches of rain  in parts of New York and Pennsylvania since Monday, submerging small towns along the Susquehanna River near Wilkes-Barre.
• Earlier, NWS issued flood warnings for Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of  Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Flash flood watches were also issued for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.
• The White House Declared states of emergency in New York and Pennsylvania.
• Virginia Governor declared a state of emergency as  flooding prompts mass evacuations in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia, killing at least 6 people.
• More than 130,000 people were evacuated from flooded areas, and at least 6 were reported killed as a result of flooding, including three in Pennsylvania.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett warned residents to avoid floodwater because 10 sewage treatment plants were submerged releasing their loads into the rivers and turning the water toxic.
• Floodwater from Chenango and Susquehanna rivers spilled over dikes in Binghamton, N.Y., submerging streets, said a report.
• New York Gov. Cuomo surveyed the damage which  “included thousands of destroyed homes and businesses,” the Press & Sun Bulletin said.
• The town of West Pittston in Pennsylvania was almost entirely submerged.

Other Major Incidents

• West Coast, USA (and Mexico). A massive blackout affected at least 5 million residents in Arizona, southern California and Mexico.
• The blackout knocked out about 4,300 megawatts of power, creating havoc on roads and forcing trains and flights to be cancelled.
• In San Diego, 2 sewage pumps failed due to the blackout, contaminating a lagoon and a river feeding into San Diego Bay and prompting the officials to close nearby beaches, reports said.
• Economic losses from the blackout could be as high as $118 million, according to estimates by the National University System Institute for Policy Research, a report said.
• Fukushima, Japan. Radioactive material released into the sea at Fukushima NPP following the triple core meltdown is at plant were at least three times the amount declared by Tokyo Electric Power Co, Japanese researchers reported.
• TEPCO had reported that 4,720 trillion becquerels of cesium-137 and iodine-131 were released into the Pacific Ocean between March 21 and April 30, but researchers at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) say the amount was 15,000 trillion becquerels (terabecquerels).
• Texas, USA. BEAR CREEK (#536), Cass County. Satellite images show about 40,000 acres have burned. “The 40,000-acre Bear Creek Fire in Cass County has exhibited extreme fire behavior for the past few days… The fire is burning very actively in heavy timber and is threatening numerous houses.”  At least 8 homes have been destroyed so far.
• Fire Management Details(Texas Forest Service, TFS)
  • Date: Friday, September 9, 2011
  • National Preparedness Level: 3
  • Southern Area Preparedness Level: 4
  • TFS Preparedness Level: 5
• Fire Stats
  • Total Number of Fires YTD: ~ 19,557 4,376
  • Acres burned: ~ 3,669,801 ["That's roughly the size of Connecticut." Rick Perry said.]
  • Structures Destroyed by Fire: 4,376 units [FEWW Estimate: ~5,300]
  • Fires in the past 7 days: TFS has responded to 186 fires for 156,517 acres. “Fire departments reported 266 fires for 6,206 acres in the online fire reporting database.” TFS reported.

YTD Fire Stats. Source: TFS

Related Links

• Mega Heatwaves Could Kill Tens of Thousands in the U.S. FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• U.S. Disaster Losses Mounting
• 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season: AAA  FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• U.S. back-to-back disasters phase has begun
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities EDRO Forecast
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

Japan’s Fukushima Nuke Plant Still Leaking

Radioactive water leaking from Fukushima NPP

Some 15 tons of radioactive water have leaked from a storage tank at the stricken Fukushima NPP, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported.

The plant operators, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), continue to accumulate large volumes of radioactive contaminated water after being used to cool the melting reactors.

Meantime, TEPCO’s majority institutional shareholders have nixed a motion by a large number of individual shareholders to abandon nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima plant’s triple core meltdown.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• France (855)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast. (Last UPDATED: June 26, 2011)

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Fukushima NPP: “There must be a large leak”

High levels of radiation detected near Fukushima Reactor 1

Water level in Reactor 1 reactor vessel has dropped 5 meters below operating level

TEPCO technicians at Fukushima Nuclear Plant discovered earlier today that water level in the Reactor 1 pressure vessel had dropped 5 meters below the designated operating level, or  more than one meter below the base of the uranium fuel rods, indicating a large volume of water was leaking into the containment building.

NRC schematic drawing of Containment Building and Basic Internals

“There must be a large leak,” Junichi Matsumoto, a senior manager at TEPCO told a news conference.

“The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged [...] the pressure vessel itself and created a hole.”

Fukushima prefecture officials have revealed that the radiation level rose to 1,015 mircrosieverts per hour on Saturday, NHK reported.

“One hour of exposure to this amount of radiation is equivalent to the permissible amount of radiation an ordinary person receives in one year. It is about twice the level that requires power companies to notify the government of an emergency situation.” Said the report.

[Note:  Single radiation dose of 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) and above causes serious illness. See also exposure list below.]

TEPCO raised the alarm, after noticing that the water in the pressure vessel had not risen despite pumping in 150 tons of of water daily to cool the reactor core.

The technicians  have pumped a total of about 10,400 tonnes of water into the reactor so far, a report said.

TEPCO says temperatures at the bottom of the containment building are between 100 and 120 degrees Celsius, suggesting that the damaged fuel rods have melted and fallen through the reactor vessel and into the bottom of the reactor building, where they are being cooled down for now.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, France, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

The latest figures released by the authorities put the number of dead at about  12,000 with 16,000 people still listed as missing.

Related News

• Japan is shutting down 35 of its 54 reactors by late May

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts
• News Links 
• WARNING: JPTRMT1

Japan PM asks Hamaoka nuke plant to shut down

Japanese gov asks Chubu Electric Power Co to shut reactors at Hamaoka nuclear power plant near Tokyo

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has confirmed that his government asked Chubu Electric Power Co to stop all reactors at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant, pending  implementation of “safety precautions.”

Chubu Electric Power Company’s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture sits on an active seismic fault. Photo: Supplied.

Hamaoka NPP is located in Omaezak, Shizuoka Prefecture, about 200km (120 miles) south of Tokyo, an area known as the Tokai region, where Japanese seismologist believe a magnitude-8.0 or stronger earthquake could strike  within 30 years with a probability of 87 percent.

[SEE also FIRE-EARTH forecast: Global Tectonics Alert – April 9]

Incredibly, the Hamaoka plant sits on an active fault within an area where Tokai earthquake is expected to strike.

Of Hamaoka five reactors only two Nos. 4 and 5 are operating, which the government has asked the operator to shut down immediately. Reactors 1 and 2, built in the late 1970s, are being decommissioned, and Reactor 3 is offline undergoing maintenance.

“Should a serious accident unfold at the Hamaoka nuclear plant, the implications would be far-reaching as the Tokaido Shinkansen Line and the Tomei Expressway–two key transportation arteries in Honshu run within 20 kilometers of the plant.” Asahi reported.

Will the Company Comply?

“The utility’s spokesperson said that the government’s request would have major implications on the region it services because of the energy conservation measures that may have to be put in place. Chubu Electric services Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Nagano and Mie prefectures.” The report said.

“The president (of Chubu Electric) said that he wants to hold his final answer.” Japan’s industry minister has said.

In reply to the question, what if the company refuses to comply, PM Kan said: “We will talk to the company to have them understand our intent fully.”

UNBELIEVABLY,  Japan’s “prime minister is not authorized to order the shutdown of nuclear reactors.” Said the report.

Fukushima NPP

Meanwhile, a 20km (12 mile) mandatory evacuation zone remains enforced at the Fukushima power plant, keeping up to 125,000 people out of their homes, as TEPCO technicians struggle to “stabilize” the stricken nuclear plant. Explosions at the plant, which occurred after it was  struck by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami two months ago, were responsible for Japan’s worst nuclear disaster, to date.

Related Links

• Significant Earthquakes Strike PRF
• Unreported News: Motion to Dump Japan’s Nuclear Power Plants
• Global Tectonics Alert – April 9
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

• Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country

• Global Tectonics Warning – April 27
• Global Tectonics Alert
• Alaska Earthquake Forecast: Update 3

Global Disasters

• 2011 Much More Disastrous
• 2010 Disasters [Includes Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

Unreported News: Motion to Dump Japan’s Nuclear Power Plants

Posted by FIRE-EARTH  on May 3, 2011

Shut Nuclear Plants: Electric Power Co Stockholders

As of posting, NONE of the news agencies or major media in the U.S. has carried news of Japan’s electric power companies stockholders calling for closures of nuclear plants in  that country.

Shareholders of five electric power companies in Japan are demanding the utilities to decommission their nuclear power plants following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi power plant, NHK reported.

Some 400 shareholders of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima NPP, have submitted an official petition calling for the abolition of the company’s nuclear power plants.

“Shareholders of at least four other power companies—Kansai Electric, Chugoku Electric, Kyushu Electric and Tohoku Electric—have made similar proposals.” Said the report.

The move follows a similar action by a group of 232 shareholders of Tohoku Electric company who submitted a motion on Monday calling for the company to abolish its nuclear power plants, Japan’s JiJi press reported.

The group argued that the risks of operating nuclear power plants far outweigh the full extent of liabilities that any single company could afford, and urged the company to decommission its nuclear power plants and to withdraw its investment in the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, the report said.

“The power companies are expected to examine the proposals and submit them to a vote at their annual shareholders’ meeting. The meetings are typically held by the end of June.” NHK reported.

Related Links

• Shut Nuclear Plants: Electric Power Co Stockholders

Shut Nuclear Plants: Electric Power Co Stockholders

Japan’s Electric Power Companies Shareholders Call for Nuclear Plant Closures

Shareholders of five electric power companies in Japan are demanding the utilities to decommission their nuclear power plants following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi power plant, NHK reported.

Reactor 3 at TEPCO’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi NPP is seen in this frame grab  from a video clip shot by an unmanned helicopter on April 10, 2011. Image by TEPCO/Handout

Some 400 shareholders of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima NPP, have submitted an official petition calling for the abolition of the company’s nuclear power plants.

“Shareholders of at least four other power companies—Kansai Electric, Chugoku Electric, Kyushu Electric and Tohoku Electric—have made similar proposals.” Said the report.

The move follows a similar action by a group of 232 shareholders of Tohoku Electric company who submitted a motion on Monday calling for the company to abolish its nuclear power plants, Japan’s JiJi press reported.

The group argued that the risks of operating nuclear power plants far outweigh the full extent of liabilities that any single company could afford, and urged the company to decommission its nuclear power plants and to withdraw its investment in the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, the report said.

“The power companies are expected to examine the proposals and submit them to a vote at their annual shareholders’ meeting. The meetings are typically held by the end of June.” NHK reported.

Death Toll from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 

Meanwhile, Japanese authorities released that following data for the numbers dead or missing in the March 11 Mega quake that struck Tohoku region in northeastern Japan:

• Total number of people dead or missing:  25,536
• Confirmed dead in 12 prefectures:  14,728*
• Number of victims identified so far: 12,509 (Source: NHK)

*The figure includes victims of two deadly aftershocks on April 7th and 11th.

Related News Links

• Tokyo Electric may face $25 billion in liabilities: report

Related Links

• EQJP
• JAPAN MUST DECOMMISSION ALL NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS NOW ! 

Japan nuclear disaster to last nine more months

NEW LEAKS MAY BE RAISING RADIATION in SEA

Nuclear disaster at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant may continue for another nine months: TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant Fukushima Dai-ichi says it planned to reduce radiation leaks in 3 months and to cool the reactors within another six months, NHK reported. 

“This is the biggest crisis since the founding of our company,” TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said at a a news conference.

“Getting the nuclear plant under control, and the financial problems associated with that.” He added

“How we can overcome these problems is a difficult matter.”

The conference was broadcast by NHK amid reports that radiation levels in the seawater near Reactor 2 had risen to 6,500 times the legal limit on Friday, about 6 times higher than Thursday’s reading. TEPCO fears that the rise may be due to new leaks.

On April 12, Japanese authorities raised the measure of severity of the Fukushima NPP disaster to the maximum level of 7 on INES. (See below for details.)

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)

The INES, a logarithmic scale, which was introduced in 1990 by the IAEA to enable prompt communication, classifies the intensity of nuclear incidents as follows:

7 – Major Accident [Chernobyl disaster, criticality accident, April 1986]

6 – Serious Accident [e.g., Kyshtym incident, Mayak, former Soviet Union, steam explosion released up to 80 tons of highly radioactive material into the atmosphere, September 1957. ]

5 – Accident With Wider Consequences [e.g., Three Mile Island accident  Pen State, U.S., partial meltdown release radioactive gases  into the environment, March 1979.]

4 – Accident With Local Consequences [e.g., Sellafield, UK, at least 5 incidents reported between 1955 to 1979]

3 – Serious Incident [e.g., Vandellos NPP, Spain, fire destroyed control systems; the reactor was shut down, July1989]

2 – Incident [e.g., Forsmark NPP, Sweden, a backup generator failed, July 2006]

1 – Anomaly [e.g., TNPC, France, 1,600 gallons of water containing 75 kilograms (170 lb) of uranium leaked into the environment,  July 2008]

0 – Deviation (No Safety Significance) [e.g., Atucha, Argentina - Reactor shutdown caused by tritium increase in reactor encasement, December 2006.]

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REVISED AND POSTED AT

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country

on April 18, 2011

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast.

Japan’s Triple Disaster: Human Cost

• Official Death Toll: ~ 14,000
• Missing:  ~ 14,000
• Homeless: At least 155,000
• Others: In addition to the above, an unknown number of people in remote areas may have perished, but no records are available as of posting.

Related Links

• Global Tectonics Alert – April 9
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Hydrogen Building Up at Reactor 1, Fukushima NPP

UPDATED at 13:00UTC

Will the Scope of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Widen?

Based on the information available, FIRE-EARTH believes there’s a strong probability that the extent of Fukushima nuclear disaster could widen to directly impact large population centers in Japan up to a 250 – 300km radius of the plant, which includes Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

The reactor vessel or sections of its attachments in one or more of the severely damaged reactors at the plant could explode releasing humongous amounts of radiation into the environment [Probability ≥66% as of posting,] dwarfing the Chernobyl disaster by a massive factor.

-

Hydrogen gas may be accumulating in Reactor 1 at Fukushima NPP: TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said it may have to inject nitrogen gas into Reactor 1 at the stricken Fukushima NPP to prevent a possible explosion from hydrogen buildup, NHK reported.

According to another report, TEPCO is preparing to also pump nitrogen into Reactors 2 and 3.

Buildup of hydrogen gas in three of the reactors at Fukushima NPP caused several explosions following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami which crippled the plant on March 11.

Injection of nitrogen gas is meant to dilute the amount of oxygen and hydrogen gasses and prevent them from reaching critical concentration levels, 5 and 4 percent respectively, at which an explosion occurs. 

Meanwhile TEPCO announced that it had stopped the flow of highly radioactive water into the ocean from a cracked concrete duct near Reactor No. 2 , using a sodium-silicate compound as a sealant.

Remembering Chernobyl Victims

The sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is seen behind a building decorated with a graffiti in the abandoned city of Prypiat April 4, 2011. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia will mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear reactor explosion in Chernobyl, the place where the world’s worst civil nuclear accident took place, on April 26. Engineers are still struggling to regain control of damaged reactors at the Fuskushima plant after last month’s earthquake and tsunami, in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, with the government urging the operator of the plant to act faster to stop radiation spreading. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich. Image may be subject to copyright. Reuters images …

Related Links

• UPDATE: Japan Nuclear Disaster [April 5]

• Fukushima Radiation Leak NOT Fixed
• Radiation Leak Found at Fukushima
• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – Apr 1

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – March 31
• Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update – March 30
• Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants
• FUKUSHIMA NPP: No 4 REACTOR ON FIRE, NEW EXPLOSION ROCKS No 2

• M6.4 Shock Strikes Off Fukushima Coast
• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING
  Large Earthquake Could Strike Tokyo Area – Megaqauke measuring up to 9.2Mw could strike Tokyo / Chiba Area:  FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes
  As Many as 4 Large Earthquakes [Megaquakes measuring ≥8.0] Could  Strike Japan Region by 2015

• M6.5 Aftershock Strikes Offshore Miyagi
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

UPDATE: Japan Nuclear Disaster

UPDATE 12:00UTC

TEPCO has revealed that it had found radioactive iodine-131 at 7.5 million times the legal limit in seawater samples taken on Saturday near the stricken Fukushima NPP.

Samples taken on Monday showed the radioactive level at 5 million times the legal limit. The new samples also  contained radioactive cesium-137  at 1.1 million times the legal limit, the company said.

Why have oceans if you couldn’t…

Japan to dump 11,500 tons of “low-contaminated water” into the Pacific ocean

Workers at Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP have begun dumping “low-radioactive” water  into the ocean allegedly to free up  storage room for  more highly radioactive water.

TEPCO says they are dumping 11,500 tons of radioactive-water, currently held at the crippled Fukushima NPP storage facilities, into the Pacific ocean so that the more radioactive-water that is leaking from Reactor 2 can be stored in its place.

Does that mean when even more highly radioactive water is found at the site they can dump the second load into the ocean?

Meanwhile in Germany…

“A decision has been taken to shut down eight plants before the end of this year and they definitely won’t be reactivated. And the remaining nine will be shut down by the end of the decade,” a German deputy environment minister, told Reuters on Monday.

“Japan has shown that even if there is a miniscule occurrence, the residual risk is too high to justify the continuation of nuclear power [...] It is better to go for other energy services in a civilized country,” Juergen Becker said.

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

*Note:  Radiation dose of about 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) cause serious illness.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

Related News Links

• Japan to dump 11,500 tons low-radioactive water
• Japan seeks Russian help to end nuclear crisis

Fire-Earth Links

• Fukushima Radiation Leak NOT Fixed
• Radiation Leak Found at Fukushima
• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – Apr 1

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – March 31
• Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update – March 30
• Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants
• FUKUSHIMA NPP: No 4 REACTOR ON FIRE, NEW EXPLOSION ROCKS No 2

• M6.4 Shock Strikes Off Fukushima Coast
• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING
  Large Earthquake Could Strike Tokyo Area – Megaqauke measuring up to 9.2Mw could strike Tokyo / Chiba Area:  FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes
  As Many as 4 Large Earthquakes [Megaquakes measuring ≥8.0] Could  Strike Japan Region by 2015

• M6.5 Aftershock Strikes Offshore Miyagi
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Fukushima Radiation Leak NOT Fixed

Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – April 3

Radioactive contaminated water still leaking into the ocean at a rate of about 2 liters per second: TEPCO

More than7 tons  of radioactive water is leaking into the ocean every hour, Tokyo Electric Company said, NHK reported.

A 20-cm crack at the bottom of a concrete duct near Reactor 2 at Fukushima NPP is releasing more than 7 tons or radioactive water into the ocean. Photo released by TEPCO.

An inlet to the damaged maintenance duct near Reactor 2. Photo released by TEPCO.

Cement mix poured to block crack in the duct. Photo released by TEPCO.

Summary of Latest Developments:

• Contaminated water in the duct is emitting more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour (100,000  millirems per hour)* of radiation into the surrounding environment.
• Seawater samples taken 330 m south of the plants on March 31 contained both radioactive iodine-131 at 4,385 times and cesium-137 at 527 times above the legal limits. Cesium-137 has a half life of 30 years and persists much longer than iodine (half-life = 8 days, see also list below).
• Workers made an unsuccessful attempt to plug the crack using concrete.
• A second attempt made earlier today to fix the crack using a mixture of a chemical polymer, sawdust and shredded newspaper also failed.
• TEPCO is preparing for a third attempt to plug the leak, using an absorbent gel which expands to contain water and is usually included in baby diapers and litter trays for pets.
• About  164,000 people are currently living in shelters
• At least 70,000 people have been evacuated from a 20 km exclusion zone of Fukushima NPP.
• Up to  140,000 people live inside the next 10 km zone, who have been urged to leave or stay indoors.
• “The impact of the nuclear crisis is expected to go on for a long time,”  Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said earlier today.

*Note:  Single radiation dose of 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) and above causes serious illness. See also exposure list below.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

The latest figures released by the authorities put the number of dead at about  12,000 with 16,000 people still listed as missing.

Related Links

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – Apr 1

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – March 31
• Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update – March 30
• Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants
• FUKUSHIMA NPP: No 4 REACTOR ON FIRE, NEW EXPLOSION ROCKS No 2

• M6.4 Shock Strikes Off Fukushima Coast
• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING
  Large Earthquake Could Strike Tokyo Area – Megaqauke measuring up to 9.2Mw could strike Tokyo / Chiba Area:  FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes
  As Many as 4 Large Earthquakes [Megaquakes measuring ≥8.0] Could  Strike Japan Region by 2015

• M6.5 Aftershock Strikes Offshore Miyagi
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Radiation Leak Found at Fukushima

Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – Apr 2

Radiation near Reactor 2 in Fukushima NPP measures 1,000 millisieverts per hour

TEPCO, operator of the crippled Fukushima NPP, has found radioactive water leaking into the sea from a cracked concrete duct near Reactor 2, NHK said.

A TEPCO employee points to the inlet of a cracked concrete duct containing power cables near Reactor 2 at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant where contaminated water,  emitting radiation at 1,000 millisieverts per hour, is  leaking into the sea, April 2, 2011. Source: TEPCO

“With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source,” said deputy head of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).

“There could be other similar cracks in the area, and we must find them as quickly as possible.”  Mr Nishiyama added.

TEPCO  is planning to pour concrete into the duct in an attempt to stop the leak, a company spokesman was quoted as saying.

The US Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, estimated on Friday that about 70% of one reactor core and 30% of another were severely damaged. However, these figures have not been confirmed by TEPCO.

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

The latest figures released by the authorities put the number of dead at about  12,000 with 16,000 people still listed as missing.

Related Links

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – Apr 1

• Japan Nuclear Disaster Update – March 31
• Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update – March 30
• Tokyo Water Radiation “TOO HIGH” for Infants
• FUKUSHIMA NPP: No 4 REACTOR ON FIRE, NEW EXPLOSION ROCKS No 2

• M6.4 Shock Strikes Off Fukushima Coast
• TOKYO AREA QUAKE WARNING
  Large Earthquake Could Strike Tokyo Area – Megaqauke measuring up to 9.2Mw could strike Tokyo / Chiba Area:  FIRE-EARTH Forecast

• FIRE-EARTH Forecasts: Japan Earthquakes
  As Many as 4 Large Earthquakes [Megaquakes measuring ≥8.0] Could  Strike Japan Region by 2015

• M6.5 Aftershock Strikes Offshore Miyagi
• Significant Seismicity in Tohoku Region, Japan
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

How Nuclear Reactors Double as Nuclear Weapons!

Japan Govt on “Maximum Alert”

The nuclear situation “continues to be unpredictable. [The government ] will tackle the problem while in a state of maximum alert,” Japan PM Naoto Kan said.

Plutonium Detected Outside Fukushima NPP

Traces of highly radiative plutonium have been detected in soil outside Fukushima NPP in half dozen locations, NHK quoted Japanese officials as saying.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said  the radioactive traces may have come from the plutonium fuel in the damaged reactors. But they said the levels present were too small to pose a health risk.

Plutonium-239, the primary fissile isotope used as reactor fuel and for the production of nuclear weapons, is a reactor bred, highly radioactive heavy metal with a half-life of about 24,200 years.

Photo shows part of the wreckage caused by several explosions at Reactor No. 4, Fukushima Daiichi NPP, March 27, 2011. Source: Japan Ground Self-Defence Force/ via Kyodo/ via Reuters.

TEPCO said Monday that water found in a utility tunnel outside  Reactor 2 was highly contaminated, emitting more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radioactive Iodine in Massachusetts

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine-131 believed  to have originated from the quake-and-tsunami stricken Fukushima NPP have been detected in rainwater samples in Massachusetts, Reuters quoted state officials as saying.

The findings are consistent with similar occurrences in California, Ohio, Washington state and Pennsylvania, but do not pose  any threat to drinking supplies, according to public health officials.

“The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation,” said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner.

“We will carefully monitor the drinking water as we exercise an abundance of caution,” he added.

Radio-active iodine has a short life of only 8 days and should not pose any risk to human health at the current levels detected in the U.S.

Related Links

• Japan Nuclear Emergency – Update 28 March
• Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: Worst of its Triple Disasters
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Japan Nuclear Emergency – Update 28 March

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Japan’s nuclear watchdog has reported that the level of radiation detected  near reactor 2 was 1,000 millisieverts an hour (100,000 millirems per hour).

Japan’s nuclear safety officials have since confirmed that the radiation inside Reactor 2 was caused by a partial meltdown of fuel rods.

TEPCO says the radiation in Reactor 2, which was earlier reported at 10 million times the normal, was actually 100,000 the operating level.

Meanwhile, Japan’s nuclear safety agency has dismissed as unreliable a report by Greenpeace that radiation levels of up to 10 microsieverts per hour had been detected 40 km (25 miles) NW of the nuclear plant.

Fukushima NPP. Workers are seen outside the heavily damaged Reactor 4 on March 22, 2011. Photo by TEPCO, via Reuters.

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (eg. Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

The latest figures released by the authorities put the number of dead at just over 11,000, with about 17,400 people still listed as missing.

Related Links

• Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: Worst of its Triple Disasters
• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History

Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: Worst of its Triple Disasters

Submitted by a reader, with additional materials added by FIRE-EARTH

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, the Third of Japan’s Triple Disasters, Could Prove to Be its Worst

Potentially deadly levels of radiation have been detected in water at the earthquake-and-tsunami-stricken Fukushima NPP.

Fukushima NPP 1. (L-R) Reactors 1 to 4. Image dated March 18, 2011. Credit: Digital Globe.

The amount of radioactive iodine detected in water at Reactor 2 was more than 1,000 millisieverts an hour, or 10 million times higher than when reactor operates normally, said the plant operator TEPCO.

The IAEA boss, Yukiya Amano, has warned that the nuclear crisis could continue for many weeks, even months. “This is a very serious accident by all standards,” NY Times quoted him as saying.

Radioactivity in seawater near the plant jumped to 1,850 times the normal up from 1,250 on Saturday, said Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Fukushima Disaster: Will it Become Much Worse than Chernobyl?

The Chernobyl nuclear plant reactor was destroyed when two explosions blew away its roof exposing the core on April 26, 1986. A large plume of radioactive materials escaped into the atmosphere covering large regions in the former Soviet Union, Europe and across much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Ukrainian city of Chernobyl had managed to live for 793 years… that is until the Chernobyl nuclear power plant underwent a core meltdown on April 26, 1986 at about 1:00am local time. This image was taken by authorities in the former Soviet Union

Birth defects and cancer were the norm for many years following the Chernobyl disaster.  By the time  residents of Pripyat, a town located near the plant, were ordered to evacuate, about two days after the Chernobyl core meltdown had occurred, many had already been exposed to varying doses of radiation poisoning.

Fukushima NPP is said to contain about 4,277 tons of nuclear fuel, about 24 times as much as Chernobyl (~ 180 tons).

“The Fukushima Dai-ichi site has a considerable number of fuel rods on hand, according to information provided Thursday by Toyko Electric Power Co., which owns the atomic complex: There are 3,400 tons of fuel in seven spent fuel pools within the six-reactor plant, including one joint pool storing very old fuel from units 3 and 4. There are 877 tons in five of the reactor cores. Officials have said that the fuel in Unit 4′s reactor vessel was transferred to its spent fuel pool when the unit was temporarily shut in November.” AP reported.

The Incident: A meltdown of the reactor’s core in the Chernobyl power plant killed thirty people in 1986. About 135,000 people were evacuated. It is believed that about one hundred times more radiation was released in the accident than by the atom bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Legacy: More than 4000 cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed among children and adolescents between 1992 to 2002 in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Victims under 14 years were most severely affected by the elevated concentrations of radioiodine found in milk.

Incidents of skin lesions, respiratory ailments, infertility and birth defects were readily found among the more than five million people who inhabit the affected areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine for many years following the accident.

The Poisoned land. Up to 5 million people continue to live on radioactive contaminated land. About 85% of the children who live in contaminated areas of Belarus today are ill, a near 6-fold increase compared to the time before the explosion (15%), according to The Belarusian National Academy of Sciences.

Disputed Facts: The above facts, however, have been disputed by a number of individuals including the author of a recent WHO report, and the retired “nukophile” British academic, James Lovelack. Local and international experts, however, have dismissed the WHO report findings. A UN report released in 2005 estimated the number of victims at just 4,000. Their figure is hotly disputed  by NGOs and independent experts.

“A report by Alexey Yablokov, Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko which appeared in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science showed that by 2004, there were 985,000 additional deaths worldwide caused by the nuclear disaster, including 212,000 of them within Western Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.”

Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere

Consequences of the Catastrophe. Authors  Alexey Yablokov (Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow), Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko ( Institute of Radiation Safety, Minsk, Belarus) studies about 5,000 reports and scientific  papers mostly published in Slavic languages and compiled their finding in the  book “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment,” which was published last year on the 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor core meltdown.

“For the past 23 years, it has been clear that there is a danger greater than nuclear weapons concealed within nuclear power. Emissions from this one reactor exceeded a hundred-fold the radioactive contamination of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” They wrote.

“No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe,” the authors said. “Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere.”

According to the book, a total of about 830,000 people, referred to as the “liquidators,” were responsible for various emergency works at the Chernobyl site including fire extinguishing, decontamination and cleanup.

The authors say between 112,000 and 125,000 of the  liquidators had died by 2005.  The authors also estimate that between 1986 and 2004 some 985,000 people died as a result of Chernobyl fallout {2011 estimates are well over a million deaths.]

“Official discussions from the International Atomic Energy Agency and associated United Nations’ agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl Forum reports) have largely downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern European scientific literature and consequently have erred by not including these assessments.” The authors said last year.

Chernobyl and Other Nuclear Stats

• More than 95% of the radioactive material (180 metric tons with a radioactivity of about 18 million curies) still remains inside the Chernobyl reactor.
• The  core meltdown at Chernobyl was said to have released radiation estimated at 50 million curies. Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations said in 1995 that the meltdown had released about 140 million curies. [Researchers Alexey Yablokov, Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko say the radiation released from Chernobyl may have been up to 10 billion curies. In comparison, the Hiroshima bomb released about 3 million curies.]
• Immediately after the accident, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness, and 31 died within the first 90 days of the disaster.
• About 135,000 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the plant, including 50,000 from the town of Pripyat.
• The Academy’s  estimate for the number of casualties  are more than 90,000 deaths and more than a quarter of a million cancer cases.
• The Ukrainian National Commission for Radiation Protection calculates the number of radiation casualties at half a million  deaths so far.
• In a book published by the New York Academy of Sciences last year on the 24th anniversary of the reactor core meltdown, the researchers maintain that about one million people have died from exposure to radiation released by the Chernobyl reactor so far [as of 2010.]
• “In the former Soviet Union at least 9 million people have been effected by the accident; 2.5 million in Belarus; 3.5 million in Ukraine; and 3 million in Russia. In total over 160 000 Km2 are contaminated in the three republics.” source
• Some 441 commercial nuclear power reactors are  operating in 31 countries ( total capacity of 376 gigawatts) each of which is potentially as lethal as Chernobyl, if not worse. [This item, updated here, was written before the Fukushima nuclear disaster began unfolding.]
• An estimated 56 countries operate more than 250 research reactors.
• At least 220 nuclear reactors power military ships and submarines.

Related Links:

• Chernobyl: A Night to Remember!
• All is NOT Well at Chernobyl
• Indian Power Workers Drink Radioactive Water
• Obama Goes Nuclear!
• World’s Worst Polluted Places
• Three Mile Island Cats Have 9 Lives, Too?
• French Nuke Waste Plagues Siberia

References:

• Present Status of Childhood Thyroid Carcinoma in Belarus following the Chernobyl Accident

Japan’s Triple Disaster Update Mar 20

UPDATED 12:00UTC

TEPCO FALSIFIED SAFETY RECORDS

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) the operator of Fukushima Daiichi NPP has admitted faking repair reports.

TEPCO submitted a report to the Japan’s nuclear watchdog on 28 February, 11 days before the Tohoku Megaquake, admitting it had not  inspected 33 pieces of equipment in the plant’s six reactors.

‘Long-term inspection plans and maintenance management were inadequate,’ the nuclear safety agency concluded in its follow-up report two days later.

The company also admitted that the voluntary inspections didn’t cover substantial section of the cooling systems, including water pumps and diesel generators.

In 2002, TEPCO again admitted to falsifying safety reports, prompting the nuclear safety authorities to shut down all 17 of its boiling-water reactors for  inspection, including Fukushima.

In 2007,  after an earthquake struck the Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPP, the world’s largest, TEPCO submitted false reports concerning the amount of radioactive leak.

• Another fire at TEPCO nuclear plant Posted on December 9, 2008
• Japan’s Nuclear Cowboys Posted on October 10, 2008
• Radioactive Leak at TEPCO Unit Near Tokyo Posted  on May 8, 2008

Radioactive contamination found in food products from Fukushima prefecture: Officials

Radioactive iodine has been found in milk samples and spinach produced in the Fukushima and could be harmful to human health if ingested, Japan’s science and technology ministry reported.

Minute amounts of radioactive iodine have also been detected in tap water in Tokyo and five other prefectures neighboring Fukushima: Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Chiba and Saitama.

In addition to the iodine, traces of radioactive cesium have also been found in tap water in Gunma and Tochigi prefectures, the ministry added.

The radioactive traces fall within the government safety limits, but tests don’t normally show iodine contamination, AP reported.

Radioactive iodine has a short half-life of eight days, but it can poses short-term risk to human health if ingested. It can also cause damage to the thyroid gland, IAEA health experts say.

“Progress”

“We are making progress … (however) we shouldn’t be too optimistic,” the deputy-general at Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency has said.

Fukushima Reactor 3, which contains plutonium, a highly radioactive element, has bee stabilized after being doused for a day with large volumes of  seawater.

UPDATE: Shortly after announcing Reactor 3 had been stabilized, the authorities said pressure was again building up in the reactor’s containment vessel.

Aftershocks

A magnitude 6.1 aftershock struck Ibaraki prefecture south of Fukushima on Saturday at 06:57 PM local time. However, no significant aftershocks were reported Sunday (local time), as of posting. But the “fireworks” are by no means over, FIRE-EARTH believes.

UPDATE: Magnitude 6.1 Strikes Near the East Coast of Honshu

Magnitude: 6.1
Date-Time: Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 12:03:48 UTC
Location: 39.365°N, 142.105°E
Depth: 53.1 km (33.0 miles)
Region: NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances:

• 90 km (55 miles) ESE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan
• 139 km (86 miles) SSE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan
• 162 km (100 miles) NE of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
• 458 km (284 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan

Source: USGS

RADIATION RISKS TO HEALTH

A Joint Statement from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Thyroid Association, The Endocrine Society, and the Society of Nuclear Medicine

The recent nuclear reactor accident in Japan due to the earthquake and tsunami has raised fears of radiation exposure to populations in North America from the potential plume of radioactivity crossing the Pacific Ocean. The principal radiation source of concern is radioactive iodine including iodine-131, a radioactive isotope that presents a special risk to health because iodine is concentrated in the thyroid gland and exposure of the thyroid to high levels of radioactive iodine may lead to development of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer years later. During the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in 1986, people in the surrounding region were exposed to radioactive iodine principally from intake of food and milk from contaminated farmlands. As demonstrated by the Chernobyl experience, pregnant women, fetuses, infants and children are at the highest risk for developing thyroid cancer whereas adults over age 20 are at negligible risk.

Radioiodine uptake by the thyroid can be blocked by taking potassium iodide (KI) pills or solution, most importantly in these sensitive populations. However, KI should not be taken in the absence of a clear risk of exposure to a potentially dangerous level of radioactive iodine because potassium iodide can cause allergic reactions, skin rashes, salivary gland inflammation, hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism in a small percentage of people. Since radioactive iodine decays rapidly, current estimates indicate there will not be a hazardous level of radiation reaching the United States from this accident. When an exposure does warrant KI to be taken, it should be taken as directed by physicians or public health authorities until the risk for significant exposure to radioactive iodine dissipates, but probably for no more than 1-2 weeks. With radiation accidents, the greatest risk is to populations close to the radiation source. While some radiation may be detected in the United States and its territories in the Pacific as a result of this accident, current estimates indicate that radiation amounts will be little above baseline atmospheric levels and will not be harmful to the thyroid gland or general health.

We discourage individuals needlessly purchasing or hoarding of KI in the United States. Moreover, since there is not a radiation emergency in the United States or its territories, we do not support the ingestion of KI prophylaxis at this time. Our professional societies will continue to monitor potential risks to health from this accident and will issue amended advisories as warranted.
______________________________________________________________________
For additional information, please contact Stephanie Kutler, Director of Government and Public Affairs, at skutler@endo-society.org.

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes: FIRE-EARTH Forecasts and Recent History