IAEA ineffective, or corrupt to the core?

Sent by a reader… edited by FEWW-JMC

“Atoms for Peace”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set up in 1957 supposedly to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to prevent its use for military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It’s based in Vienna, and has “Regional Safeguards Offices,” one in Toronto and the other in Tokyo. The IAEA also has liaison offices both in New York City,  and in Geneva. Additionally, it has three laboratories in Vienna, Seibersdorf, and Monaco.

Despite being established independently of the United Nations through a separate international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the “Atoms for Peace” reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

The organization describes itself as follows:

The IAEA is widely known as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization within the United Nations family. Set up in 1957 as the world’s center for cooperation in the nuclear field, the Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies.

How Safe are the Nuclear Power Plants in Japan?

Japan sits near major tectonic plate boundaries, in a volcanic zone situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has had a long history of seismic activity, with powerful, destructive earthquakes that often result in tsunamis.

If there were a 101 on where not to build your nuclear power plants, Japan would fill all criteria as the experts’ top choice for the most dangerous example.

Yet the crowded country of 130 million has 54 nuclear reactors.

On 11 March 2011, Japan experienced the strongest and most destructive earthquake in its history, followed by a deadly tsunami. The magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake generated a tsunami about 14 meters high. The quake and tsunami, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, including some measuring 7.0Mw or larger, killed thousands of people, razing entire towns and villages, destroying or damaging more than 120,000 buildings. The giant tsunami also crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi I nuclear power plant, resulting in a nuclear disaster with multiple core meltdowns and large scale radioactive fallout.

• If the IAEA was effective, it would have shut down all nuclear power plants in Japan, long before the Fukushima meltdowns, to prevent such disasters.

• If the IAEA was NOT corrupt, it would have permanently shut down all nuclear power plants in Japan after Fukushima meltdowns, to prevent repeat disasters.

Meanwhile, back in Japan…

IAEA Begins Evaluating Japan’s Alleged Efforts on making Nuclear Power Plants Safe (!)

On Monday, IAEA began evaluating Japanese government’s alleged improvement work on ensuring “safety” of nuclear power plants, according to a report.

“A group of experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began on Monday its planned assessment of the Japanese government’s efforts to ensure safe use of nuclear power plants.”

“This mission will assess the new regulatory framework established in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi [disaster,]” Philippe Jamet, the IAEA delegation’s head, told reporters.

“The IAEA mission to Japan includes representatives from 24 countries, according to the organization’s website. They are expected to visit nuclear facilities to inspect the infrastructure, to meet with representatives of the Japanese nuclear power industry. The mission will end on January 22. Based on the results, the IAEA will produce a report on the country’s nuclear safety,” the report said.

WE WILL SEE!

First Cancer Case Linked to Fukushima Triple Meltdown

Over 21,000 Fukushima NPP workers exposed to illegal radiation levels: Report

A worker involved in clean-up operations at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant may have developed cancer as a result, Japanese health authorities have revealed.

The plant, severely damaged by a mega earthquake and subsequent tsunami on 11 March 2011, underwent a triple meltdown, releasing massive quantities of radiation to the environment.

The victim, a man in his late 30s, reportedly worked at the crippled plant for more than a year and is now suffering from leukemia.

He was exposed to a total of 19.8 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation, including 15.7 millisieverts at the Fukushima plant, according to NHK.

“While the causal link between his exposure to radiation and his illness is unclear, we certified him from the standpoint of worker compensation,” a health ministry official was reported as saying.

Several other workers at the planet, who have also developed cancer are yet to be assessed by the health authorities.

Former plant manager Masao Yoshida died of esophageal cancer two years ago; however, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has denied liability.

Workers who develop cancer more than a year after they have been exposed to annual radiation of 5 milliseverts are entitled to compensation.

More than 45,000 people have worked on the clean up at the crippled Fukushima plant, and about half of them have been exposed to annual radiation levels of [at least] 5 millisieverts, NHK quoted officials as saying.

Only 13 nuclear workers have ever been granted compensation for work-related cancer in plants other than Fukushima.

The highest dose of radiation received so far by a worker responding to the Fukushima emergency was 670 mSv, while estimated maximum dose to evacuees who lived closest to the Fukushima plant was 70 mSv.

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
1mSv = 0.1 rem
1mSv = 100 millirems (mrem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US): 300 (3 mS/yr)
• Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 400 (4 mS/yr)

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.) – millirems per year

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year, or 3 mSv/yr) 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

Space Travel

• 6 months stay on the International Space Station: 8,000 millirems
• 260-day trip to Mars: 36,000 millirems
• Maximum allowed radiation exposure for astronauts over their career: 100,000 millirems (1 Sv)

*Notes:

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

2. The average annual radiation dose per person in the U.S. is currently 620 millirem (6.2 mSv), according to EPA. “Half of our average dose comes from natural background sources: cosmic radiation from space, naturally occurring radioactive minerals in the ground and in your body, and from the radioactive gases radon and thoron, which are created when other naturally occurring elements undergo radioactive decay. Another 48 percent of our dose comes from medical diagnostics and treatments.”

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 Links

• Fukushima Radiation Level 8 Times Govt Standard: TEPCO January 13, 2014
• Record Radiation Detected at Fukushima [AGAIN] December 22, 2013
• Japan Renews Nuke Ambitions Despite Fukushima, Common Sense December 14, 2013

• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers Posted on October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• Overflow of Water from the Dike of H8-South Area at Fukushima Daiichi NPS Oct 2, 2013

• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013
• Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant August 21, 2013
• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013

For earlier links, where they have not been removed or hacked, search blog content.

Japan Underestimating Nuclear Fallout Risks: U.N.

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,201 Days Left 

[November 27, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,201 Days Left to the most Fateful Day in Human History
• Symbolic countdown to the ‘worst day’ in human history began on May 15, 2011 ...

.

Global Disasters/ Significant Events

When was the last time Japan cared about its victims?

Japanese government has adopted overly optimistic views of radiation risks and has conducted only limited health checks after the core meltdowns at multiple reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Anand Grover, a UN special rapporteur on the right to health, who is charged with investigating Japan’s handling of the health risks from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

• More than 2 million people lived in the Fukushima area surrounding the power plant, but only a quarter of them have been tested for radiation effects so far.

• The U.N. official said the health tests should cover “all radiation-affected zones” because the impact of radiation affected large areas far beyond Fukushima’s borders.

• “The scope of the survey is unfortunately narrow as they draw on the limited lessons from the Chernobyl accident and ignore epidemiological studies that point to cancer as well as other diseases in low-dosage radiation,” Grover said.

• According to some studies there’s no clear evidence that radiation exposures of up to 100 millisieverts per year pose higher cancer risks, he said. “But that is controversial. And there are a lot of studies which indicate otherwise. The government need not say which is right. The government has to err on the side of caution and be inclusive,” he said.

• “They draw on the limited lessons from the Chernobyl accident and ignore epidemiological studies that point to cancer as well as other diseases in low-dosage radiation,” Grover said.

• The cumulative radiation exposure from Fukushima in towns around the disaster stricken power plant was between 43 and 122 millisieverts, according to a report by World Health Organization (WHO), which “leaked” to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper over the weekend.

Korea

South Korean nuclear regulators have reportedly discovered about a thousand more fake parts supplied for their nuclear plants with bogus quality certificates.

• Earlier this month, eight companies were found to have submitted 60 fake  certificates that covered more than 7,000 parts mostly used in the two reactors that were shut, said a report.

• S. Korean government is planning an additional 11 nuclear reactors, to add to its existing fleet of 23, reports said. 

• About 12,500 tons of nuclear waste filled more than 70 percent of the country’s  storage capacity at reactors, as of June 2012.

• S. Korea’s four nuclear power plant complexes, which provide onsite storage facility for spent fuel and other radioactive waste, will run out of waste storage space by as early as 2016, said a report.

• South Korea is slightly larger than Indiana, and has a population of more than 50 million.

• More than half of South Korea’s population, and about 1/3 of a million international residents, live in the Seoul metropolitan area.

See also

• S. Korea: Nuclear Waste Storage Facility Reaching Full Capacity Posted on November 20, 2012

Related Links

• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country
• Nuclear Power

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

GLOBAL WARNING

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

The Silent Summer in Fukushima

No Birds, Bees or Even Cicadas

Fukushima’s native fauna have all but disappeared

[August 17, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,673 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

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 – August 17 Entry

• Fukushima, Japan. A number of colleagues who recently visited Fukushima, Japan have confirmed that the native fauna including birds, bees, the ubiquitous cicadas and crickets, and all other summer insects normally found in abundance throughout the Japan Region, have all but disappeared from a vast area surrounding the Fukushima Dai-Ich Nuclear Power Plant.
•  In a move reminiscent of the war atrocities committed by the old, evil empire against own nationals, Japanese government is coercing electricians throughout the country to “volunteer” for work at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ich NPP, informed sources say.  They are told, “if you consider yourself Japanese, then you must do your bit for the country by working at the nuclear plant,” or words to that effect.
• Each technician is expected to work 3 to 4 hours a day for about 4 weeks before the accumulated levels of radiation exposure would exceed the “danger limits.”
• Time and time again, the Japanese elite have demonstrated that they are incapable of running their national affairs without hurting own subjects, or harming people in other countries.
• Sindh Province, Pakistan. The government has declared southern Pakistani province of Sindh a disaster area following widespread flooding caused by monsoon rains. About 150 villages have so far been inundated seriously affecting at least a quarter of a million people, reports said.
• Louisiana, USA.The St. Tammany Parish has declared a State of Emergency following large scale fish kill in the Pearl River Basin, a report said. The authorities have discovered “tens of thousands of dead fish and other river animals” in a section of the river that covers St. Tammany and Washington parishes and part of neighboring Mississippi.
• “The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is advising residents not to swim, wade, fish or come in contact with waterways in the Pearl River watershed, including its tributaries.”

Related Links

• WARNING: About 20 percent of the world population could perish by 2016
• WARNING: JPTRMT1
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

• WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs

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

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

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

Meltdown Confirmed at Fukushima Nuke Power Reactors

NUKE PLANTS IN QUAKE ZONES: EXPLOSIVE MIX!

BREAKING NEWS

Massive Explosion at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, Core Meltdown Occurring: Scientists

The explosion tore down the walls of a unit within the Fukushima power plant Saturday as a large plume of smoke poured out.  Several workers were reported injured, and Japanese officials said a reactor core meltdown was likely to occur.

Independent scientists have since confirmed that, based on the available evidence, reactor core meltdown must be occurring.

The pressure in the reactor had built up to more than twice the normal level, after the shutdown of cooling systems caused by the Sendai Mega Quake and its ensuing Tsunami. The Plant is now venting “radioactive vapors,”  Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said in a statement. Radioactive iodine and caesium has been detected outside the No. 1 one reactor of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 1 plant, the agency said, adding that the uranium fuel rods inside the reactor may have begun melting.

Radioactive steam has been allowed to escape from a number of the reactors at the two Fukushima plants  in order to relieve the huge pressure that has built up inside the cores.

Tens of thousands of people living within the 20-km radius of the No. 1 plant and 10-km radius of No.2 plant  have now been evacuated.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency at the two Fukushima nuclear power plants.

As many as 300 people have received varying degrees of radiation, including 60 students at high school in Fukushima located about 3.5km from Plant No. 1, who were waiting to be evacuated.

The reactor core meltdown is feared to be “much worse” than the Three-Mile Island incident.

Background

• Radiation Leak at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Posted by feww on March 12, 2011
• 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