Meltdown Threat at a Sixth Fukushima Reactor

A 6th Reactor at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Faces Core Meltdown

Pressure buildup has reached a critical level in a sixth reactor at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has said in a statement.

Authorities are pumping in massive amounts of seawater to cool down all the reactors at the two Fukushima plants.

Radiation has reportedly been detected outside more than one reactor unit as a total of 6 reactors are either undergoing at least partial meltdown, or face the eminent threat of  explosion or meltdown

Meanwhile, Japan govt has mobilized a rescue team consisting of more than 100,000 personnel to assist victims of the deadly earthquake and tsunami.

According to the latest NHK news bulletin, the rescue and recovery teams in Miyagi prefecture have recovered  another 200 bodies. The official death toll currently stands at more than 1,000, with another 1,000 reported as missing,  but the total could reach into many thousands, possibly tens of thousands.

A video of the first explosion at Fukushima Plant No. 1

Comment by an Expert

“An early tipoff that Japanese authorities felt that events at Fukushima were very serious was the ordering of an evacuation within a couple of hours of the earthquake.  Though the area was small and the evacuation was called ‘precautionary,’ the fact is that ordering several thousand more people into motion during the immediate aftermath of a major earthquake and tsunami is something that no government would do if it could possibly help it.” Said a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Peter Bradford.

Trying to avert multiple core meltdown

Tokyo Electric Power Co is planning to vent more steam from the core containment units to reduce the danger of explosion and core meltdown, but that entails releasing even more radiation into the environment.

Power Shortages

Several areas near the quake area have been without electricity [as well as water, gas and phone services] since the megaquake struck two days ago.

Tokyo electricity is currently buying power from western Japan districts, and people have been asked to conserve electricity.

Mounting Aftershocks

A total of 170 significant aftershocks (≥5.0) have now struck near the east coat of Honshu, mostly close to the Mega Quake’s epicenter.

The Sinking Land

The land in many areas of Miyagi prefecture has sunk by about 70cm, trapping water brought in buy the deadly tsunami waves.

Radiation Leak at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

BREAKING NEWS

Radiation Leak Confirmed at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No. 1 Following Sendai Mega Quake

Fukushima Reactor No. 2 Threatens to Leak

Nuclear reactor No. 1

Japanese authorities have confirmed radiation leak at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No. 1, and have evacuated people living with a 10-km radius of the reactor.

Nuclear reactor No. 2

They now fear radiation leak at the Plant’s Reactor No. 2, and have evacuated people living within a 3-km radius  of that reactor. They have also put on evacuation notice everyone living within a 10-km radius of the reactor

Background

• Threat of Nuclear Leak at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Posted by feww on March 11, 2011

Related Links

• JAPAN MEGA QUAKE UPDATE #2
• JAPAN M8.9 MEGA QUAKE UPDATE
• MEGA QUAKE STRIKES NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU

• Tectonics Update – March 10
• Japan 7.2 Quake Strikes Off the Coast of Honshu
• Honshu Earthquake Warning

Threat of Nuclear Leak at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

BREAKING NEWS:

Radioactive Leak Threatens Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

The authorities have evacuated everyone living within a 3-km radius of the Fukushima Nuclear power plant because the battery used for one of the reactor’s emergency cooling system is running out, NHK has said.

Other residents living within the 3 to 10 km radius of the plant have been advised to stay indoors  and remain calm, while they await further instruction.

A nuclear leak is likely to occur, if the main cooling system fails to restart before the battery runs out.

Th e reactor was shut down after the magnitude 8.9 Mega Quake struck offshore east of the city Sendai, Japan earlier today.

Fukushima nuclear power plant, located in the town of Okuma in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, is one of the largest nuclear plants in the world, with 8 separate reactor units.

Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Creative Commons. Image by KEI.

Sendai Mega Quake Update:

The estimated death toll in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture (state) from the mega quake and tsunami has reached at least 300. Authorities say about 300 people have drowned, NHK reported.

Related Links

• JAPAN MEGA QUAKE UPDATE #2
• JAPAN M8.9 MEGA QUAKE UPDATE
• MEGA QUAKE STRIKES NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU

• Tectonics Update – March 10
• Japan 7.2 Quake Strikes Off the Coast of Honshu
• Honshu Earthquake Warning

Chernobyl: A Night to Remember!

Image of the Day: Memorial for firefighters who died from the Chernobyl meltdown

A man holds a candle at a memorial dedicated to firefighters who died from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, during a night service in the city of Slavutych, Ukraine April 26, 2009. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• All is NOT Well at Chernobyl

All is NOT Well at Chernobyl

Chernobyl Spin Nuked

Anyone who tells you animal populations are rebounding around the the Chernobyl, all is well at the site of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant which underwent a meltdown in 1986, and that nuclear energy is green and safe, is either a pathological liar, or has a personal stake in the industry. FEWW

Chernobyl animals worse affected than thought: study

Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:01pm EDT
By Nick Vinocur

LONDON (Reuters) – Radiation has affected animals living near the site of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster far more than was previously thought, a study showed Wednesday, challenging beliefs that local wildlife was on the rebound.

The study showed that numbers of bumble-bees, butterflies, spiders, grasshoppers and other invertebrates were lower in contaminated sites than other areas because of high levels of radiation left over from the blast more than 20 years ago.

The findings challenge earlier research that suggested animal populations were rebounding around the site of the Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine, which forced thousands to abandon their homes and evacuate the area.

Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant underwent a core meltdown [center] in 1986 with disastrous consequences. This image was taken by authorities in the former Soviet Union.

Estimates of the number of deaths directly related to the accident vary. The World Health Organization estimates the figure at 9,000 while the environmental group Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000.

“We were amazed to see that there had been no studies on this subject,” Anders Moller, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, who led the study, said in telephone interview.

“Ours was the first study to focus on the abundance of animal populations.”

Researchers said they had compared animal populations in radioactive areas with less contaminated plots and found that some were nearly completed depleted of animal life.

“There are areas with an abundance of 100 animals per square meter,” Moller said. “And then there are areas with less than one specimen per square meter on average; the same goes for all groups of species.”

The researchers also found that animals living near the Chernobyl reactor — which was covered in a protective shell after it exploded in April 1986 — had more deformities, including discoloration and stunted limbs, than normal.

“Usually (deformed) animals get eaten quickly, as it’s hard to escape if your wings are not the same length,” Moller said. “In this case we found a high incidence of deformed animals.”

The findings challenge the view of Chernobyl as ecologically sound, despite the fact that Ukrainian officials have turned it into a nature reserve, with wolves, bison and bears.

Earlier research into the area ignored the fact that animal populations had grown unimpeded in the absence of humans for many years after the blast, Moller said.

“We wanted to ask the question: Are there more or fewer animals in the contaminated areas? Clearly there were fewer,” said Moller, who has worked on Chernobyl since 1991.

While researchers focused on the 30 kilometer radius around the Chernobyl reactor, the fallout from the explosion covered a vast swathe of Eastern Europe, including parts of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The findings probably apply to those areas as well, Moller said, adding that any decontamination effort was unlikely due to the extent of the fallout. Copyright Reuters.