Strong Earthquake Strikes Japan Trench, E of Fukushima

KAT – 334G

M6.0 quake strikes 250km E of Namie, Fukushima, Japan

Earthquake Details:

Magnitude: 6.0 mww [USGS]
Location: 37.485°N, 143.954°E
Depth: 10.0 km
Time: 2017-10-06
07:59:33.110 (UTC)

 

Fukushima: 6 Years of Catastrophe and Counting

Unending Nightmare: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Key Facts and Figures as Fukushima Disaster Enters 7th Year

• 3 Reactor core meltdowns continue releasing radioactive nanoparticles into the environment.
• Contaminated water is still leaking continuously into the Pacific ocean
• Partially decontaminated water is being dumped into the ocean.

<span “>Contaminated Water
Tepco injects a total of 252m³ of water each day into reactors 1, 2 and 3 to cool the corium.http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu17_e/images/170217e0101.pdf.

The strongly contaminated water infiltrates basements under the reactor and turbine buildings where it mixes with the ground water that floods those areas.

Tepco is also pumping an additional 135 m³ of contaminated water and 62 m³ of groundwater into the basements of the reactors and turbine buildings daily, in addition to the water injected for cooling. A total of 197 m³ is accumulated daily in tanks after treatment. It is more when it is raining, and more still during the typhoons. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170213_01-e.pdfTepco

To keep about 2 million cubic meters of contaminated and processed water and hundreds of tons of sludge, Tepco has erected about 1,000 shoddily constructed holding tanks hat occupy almost the entire plant site. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu17_e/images/170217e0101.pdf 

Since March 2016, Tepco has been trying to freeze the ground around the stricken reactors to reduce infiltration and dispersal of radioactive water, but this has proved far less effective than expected. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170209_02-e.pdf

Full article is posted at https://nuclear-news.net/tag/6-years-anniversary/

 

Massive Radiation at Fukushima Reactor ‘Blinds’ Cleaner Robot

Decommissioning of Nuclear Reactors at Fukushima a Pipe Dream?

TEPCO sent a remote-controlled cleaning robot inside the crippled reactor no. 2 at Fukushima nuclear plant, but was forced to withdraw it on Thursday before it could complete its mission because of camera damage most likely caused by high radiation levels of about 650 Sieverts per hour, according to the operator.

TEPCO managers insist that despite the dangerously high figures, radiation is contained inside the reactor unit and is not leaking out.

The operator has not yet established the exact location, condition and quantity of melted fuel and the nature of structural damage in the three stricken reactors.

Three reactors were critically damaged and suffered meltdown in March 2011, after a mega [KSFA] earthquake and tsunami hit the area.

• Additional details are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Related Links

• Scale of potential catastrophe at Fukushima could dwarf a limited nuclear war: 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP

‘Fukushima Catastrophe Ongoing: Leakage continues on a daily basis’

Radiation at Fukushima rising to highest level since 2011 meltdown

“[…] recent measurements showing 53,000 Rem per hour (deadly to humans within a minute or less, at close range, in the absence of radiation shielding), or higher, radiation dose rates in the melted down Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan.”

Emergency storage tanks contain “800,000 tons of highly radioactive water … because every day they pour a hundred tons of water on each of these three melted down cores and sometimes they lose those tanks. They leak, they overflow, so it is an ongoing catastrophe,” says Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste monitor at Beyond Nuclear,

“There are many shoes that could still drop at Fukushima Daiichi. One of the ones is the high radioactive waste storage pools that aren’t even inside radiological containment. They don’t have all of that spent nuclear fuel transferred to a safer location in a couple of the units still. If something were to go wrong with that – those would be open air releases of very high-level radioactivity.

“The prime minister at the time the catastrophe began, Kan, had a contingency plan to evacuate all of Northeast Japan – up to 50 million people. It was predominantly because of those storage pools. We’re still in that predicament- if one of those pools were to go up in flames. As Tokyo plans to host the 2020 Olympics and bring in many millions of extra people into this already densely populated area –it is not a good idea.”

More information is available at:

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/japan/2017/2/6/fukushima-catastrophe-ongoing-leakage-on-a-daily-basis.html

See also previous blog entries on Fukushima catastrophe.

Powerful Earthquake Strikes Fukushima Coast, Japan

M7.3 quake generates tsunami waves of up to 1.8m*

Major tsunami warnings have been downgraded to tsunami advisories.

Earthquake Details [JMA]
Magnitude: 7.3
Coordinates: 37.3N, 141.6E
Region: FUKUSHIMA COAST (Offshore), Japan
Depth: 10km
Time: 2016-11-21 20:59:49 UTC

*Tsunami Heights at MIYAGI and FUKUSHIMA Prefectures UNKNOWN/ UNDECLARED, as of posting.

• Further details and analysis available from FIRE-EARTH Pulsars.

Pripyat: 16 Years a City, 30 Years a Ghost Town

30th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970 to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. By the time it was evacuated, on April 27, 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster, the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union had a population of about 49,400.

Chernobyl NPP, [The V. I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station] was commissioned in 1970. The first reactor came online in 1977, followed by Reactor No. 2 (1978), No. 3 (1981), and No. 4 (1983). Between them, the four reactors were producing about 10 percent of Ukraine’s electricity before the core meltdown.

A power surge blew the roof off the reactor No. 4, releasing radioactive clouds across Eastern Europe, and leaving entire regions in three countries—Ukraine, Russia and Belarus—unlivable.

The explosion has so far claimed at least a million lives, and counting.

Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant underwent a core meltdown [center] in 1986 with disastrous consequences. The radionuclide levels still exceed the normal background in 60 Ukrainian towns and villages. This image was taken by authorities in the former Soviet Union.

The radiation contaminated 50,000 square kilometers of land across 12 regions in Ukraine, and forced hundreds of villages to be relocated. In neighboring Belarus 20 percent of the entire country’s land area was also contaminated.

The radionuclide levels still exceed the normal background in 60 Ukrainian towns and villages.

Today, a second casing is being built to contain the radiation, which is still being emitted by the reactor because the old sarcophagus is crumbling.

Never Ending Nightmare at

“In mid-February [2013,] a 600-square-meter section of the roof at the Chernobyl site collapsed, sparking fears of another disaster. The collapse occurred 70 meters above the sarcophagus that contains the radiation from the damaged No. 4 reactor,” said a report.

Experts estimate that 200 tons of radioactive corium [a molten, lava-like mixture of nuclear reactor core materials, containing nuclear fuel, fission products, control rods, structural materials and other substances found in a reactor core,] several dozen tons of highly contaminated dust and 16 tons of uranium and plutonium remain under the existing sarcophagus that covers the disaster stricken power plant.

Birth defects and cancer were the norm for many years following the Chernobyl disaster.  By the time  residents of Pripyat 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.

1 Million Killed in Chernobyl Disaster

“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 within Western Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.”

Related Links

• 29th Anniversary of Chernobyl NPP Disaster April 26, 2015
• Chernobyl Ecological Disaster 28 Years On April 23, 2014
• Japan Renews Nuke Ambitions Despite Fukushima, Common Sense December 14, 2013
• Chernobyl legacy to linger long after most humans have gone April 26, 2012
• Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment May 6, 2011
• Chernobyl nuclear disaster: 25th anniversary April 26, 2011
• Chernobyl: The Day After April 27, 2010
• Chernobyl: A Night to Remember! April 27, 2009

 

M5.0 Quake Strikes Planet of the Abes

Strong tremors reportedly felt at  Fukushima triple meltdowns site

Magnitude: 5.0Mw [USGS/EHP]
Location: 38.316°N, 141.877°E; depth=44.9 km (27.9 mi)
Time: 2016-02-24 16:10:50 (UTC)
Nearby Cities:

• 51km (32mi) ESE of Ishinomaki, Japan
• 59km (37mi) ESE of Yamoto, Japan
• 69km (43mi) ESE of Wakuya, Japan
• 71km (44mi) E of Matsushima, Japan
• 350km (217mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

Another Nuclear Reactor in Japan Leaking Radioactive Water

Takahama nuclear power plant west of Tokyo leaks radioactive water

A pressurized water reactor (PWR) at Japan’s Takahama nuclear power plant, located in Fukui Prefecture, about 120km northwest of Osaka metropolitan area (pop: ~ 19 million) and 380km west of Tokyo, is leaking radioactive water.

The reactor would have been the fourth resume operation after the the nationwide shutdown of nuclear power stations that followed the triple  meltdown at Fukushima in March 2011.

At least 34 liters of radioactive water (about 64,000 becquerels of radioactivity) have escaped Takahama’s reactor No. 4, said the plant operator, Kansai Electric Power.

Unit 3 was restarted January 29, 2016, despite strong objections by various rights groups. “Restart of the Takahama plant is a human rights injustice toward children and those with handicaps,” said Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the antinuclear group Green Action.

“There is no evacuation plan in place for the tens of thousands of people with special needs — inpatients and outpatients at hospitals and various facilities, those in day care, and those with handicaps living at home. When others can flee, there are no vehicles to transport these people nor medical care prepared at the evacuation site.”

[More than 180,000 people live in 12 towns and cities within 30km radius of the leaky reactor, in Fukui, Kyoto and Shiga prefectures.]

The government introduced additional “safety measures” soon after the Fukushima disasters; however, reactors that didn’t meet the new safety standards were somehow made exempt from the regulation, and allowed to restart.

In April 2015, the Fukui District Court overturned an earlier decision approving the restart the of Takahama reactors 3 and 4 and ordered them to remain offline due to “safety concerns.” The court ruled that guidelines issued by Japan’s governmental Nuclear Regulation Authority.

“The new regulations are not reasonable, therefore there is no need to study whether the Takahama plant satisfies them. There is little rational basis for saying that an earthquake with a magnitude that exceeds the safety standard will not occur. It is an optimistic view,” ruled the local judge.

The court also rejected an appeal by Kansai Electric Company in May, 2015.

Map of Japan’s Nuclear Power Plants. Click image to enlarge.

Unsurprisingly, influential members of Japan’s “fifth Column”, which support the Abe government and the nuclear mafia, namely a former Tokyo high court judge and current Chou Law School Professor Jun Masuda, as well as Japan’s newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, heavily criticized the presiding Judge Hideaki Higuchi.

Masuda said: “It seems the judge has already had the idea of demanding absolute safety from the beginning. Judges are not experts on nuclear power plants, so it is imperative that they humbly pay attention to scientific knowledge. I doubt the presiding judge took that into consideration.”

The reactionary newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun pinioned: “We have no choice but to call it an irrational decision,” and, “Such a stance seeking zero risk is unrealistic.”

Abe’s government overrode the judge’s ruling and ordered the reactors’ restart.

Hundreds of Bags Containing Fukushima Radioactive Waste Swept Away by Severe Floods

Floods submerge seven radioactive waste storage sites for Fukushima meltdowns

Seven storage sites holding radioactive waste from Fukushima triple meltdowns were submerged by torrential rain in eastern Japan on Sept. 11, according to local reports.

“The temporary storage sites, located in Kawamata, Naraha and other municipalities near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, store soil, grass and other radiation-tainted waste generated by decontamination work due to the 2011 triple meltdown,” said Asahi Shimbun.

Floodwater washed away 82 bags containing radioactive waste, said the Environment Ministry on Friday, local media reported.

Additionally, at least 341 waste bags containing radioactive substances from Fukushima nuclear decontamination work have been swept into local rivers, the Nikko Municipal Government has announced.

Seventeen of the bags, each with a capacity of 1 cubic meter, were recovered empty. The contaminated soil and weeds inside the bags had been lost, said Nikko city officials.

Last week, more than 400 bags containing radioactive waste were washed away from the village of Iitate, said local media. Some 171 bags were later retrieved.

The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, contaminated rainwater from the drainage system that encircles the reactor buildings spilled into the ocean on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, said.

“Due to typhoon no.18 (Etau), heavy rain caused Fukushima Daiichi K drainage rainwater to overflow to the sea, on September 9th and 11th,” said Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

Three Significant Earthquakes Rattle Fukushima Nuke Plant

Earthquakes strike near Fukushima NPP

The largest of the three quakes, measuring 5.2Mw, scored 4 on the local seismic intensity scale of 7 close to the Fukushima Daiichi  NPP.

M 5.2 earthquake strikes SSW of Fukushima, Japan
Location: 36.497°N, 140.595°E
Depth: 44.3 km
Time: 2015-08-06 09:22:28 UTC
Nearby Cities:

4km (2mi) NE of Funaishikawa, Japan
12km (7mi) SSW of Hitachi, Japan
12km (7mi) NNE of Hitachi-Naka, Japan
13km (8mi) NNE of Katsuta, Japan
121km (75mi) NE of Tokyo, Japan

M 5.0 earthquake strikes east of Fukushima, Japan
Location: 37.521°N 141.503°E
Depth: 39.0 km
Time: 2015-08-05 11:56:09 UTC
Nearby Cities:

44km (27mi) E of Namie, Japan
75km (47mi) NE of Iwaki, Japan
78km (48mi) SE of Marumori, Japan
80km (50mi) SE of Watari, Japan
259km (161mi) NE of Tokyo, Japan

M 5.0 earthquake strikes offshore east of Fukushima, Japan
Location: 37.780°N 141.539°E
Depth: 50.7 km
Time: 2015-08-03 05:30:12 UTC
Nearby Cities:

57km (35mi) NE of Namie, Japan
66km (41mi) ESE of Watari, Japan
69km (43mi) ESE of Iwanuma, Japan
69km (43mi) ESE of Kakuda, Japan
284km (176mi) NE of Tokyo, Japan

[Source: USGS/EHP]

Disasters Displace 3 Percent of World Population in 7 Years

One person displaced by a disaster every second, while one in every 122 humans is a refugee!

An estimated one person has been displaced by a disaster every second since 2008, with 19.3 million people forced to flee their homes in 2014 alone.

In 2014, 17.5 million people were forced to flee their homes due to disasters caused by extreme  weather events such as storms and flooding, while 1.7 million by geophysical hazards, especially earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, said  the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in its global report released this week.

The report argues that these drivers are increasing the number of people becoming displaced, and the risk that their displacement becomes a long-term problem. Today, the likelihood of being displaced by a disaster is 60% higher than it was four decades ago, and an analysis of 34 cases reveals that disaster displacement can last for up to 26 years.

People in both rich and poor countries can be caught in protracted, or long-term, displacement. In the US, over 56,000 people are still in need of housing assistance following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and 230,000 people have been unable to establish new homes in Japan following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.

Disasters displaced more than 19.3 million people in 100 countries last year, according to the NRC report.

• Since 2008, an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced by disasters each year—equivalent to one person displaced every second.
• Asia, home to 60% of the world’s population, and with 16.7 million people displaced, accounted for 87 per cent of the global total in 2014.
• China, India and the Philippines experienced the highest levels of displacement in absolute terms, both in 2014 and for the 2008 to 2014 period.
• Displacements of fewer than 100,000 people made up 95.4 per cent of the events recorded in 2014, but only 17 percent of the total number displaced.
• Disasters caused by extreme weather events accounted for 86 percent of all displacements  in the 7-year report period (2008 to 2014), with the remaining 14 percent being due to geophysical events, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
• In 2014, Europe experienced double its average level of displacement for the past seven years. 190,000 people were displaced in 2014, mostly by flood disasters in the Balkans.

Via NRC/ IDMC. Japan’s triple disasters, Tōhoku earthquake, the massive tsunami and the nuclear meltdowns, forced more than 470,000 people to flee their homes, and four years later about 230,000 are still displaced. [The monkey government of warmongering Shinzo Abe is more interested in throwing obscene amounts of money at the arms industry, instead of building new homes for its displaced and traumatized people.] “The mental and physical health of IDPs has also deteriorated. A 2015 survey of evacuees revealed that many from both inside and outside official evacuation zones were suffering from sleeping disorders, anxiety, loneliness and depression. Fukushima is the only prefecture where the number of deaths resulting from health issues and suicides related to the disaster has exceeded the toll from the direct impacts of the earthquake and tsunami.”

World at War: One in Every 122 Humans is a Refugee

UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report: World at War, released on June 18, 2015 said that worldwide displacement in 2014 was at the highest level ever recorded.

An astounding 59.5 million people, a population the size of Canada and Australia combined, were forcibly displaced at the end of 2014, compared to 51.2 million a year earlier and 37.5 million ten years ago.

M4.0 Quake Strikes near Fremont, California

Earthquake rattles Fremont, California

Centered at 37.581°N, 121.977°W, some 3km  NNE of Fremont, the quake struck at a depth of 8.1 km, reported USGS/EHP.

The event was followed by two aftershocks measuring 2.7 and 2,6Mw.

Fremont is the 4th largest city [pop: 235,000] in the San Francisco Bay area.

EQ Details
Magnitude: 4.4Mw
Location: 37.581°N, 121.977°W; depth=8.1 km (5.0 mi)
Date/Time: 2015-07-21 at 09:41:14 (UTC)
Nearby Cities:

• 3km (2mi) NNE of Fremont, California
• 4km (2mi) ESE of Union City, California
• 7km (4mi) NE of Newark, California
• 12km (7mi) SW of Pleasanton, California
• 118km (73mi) SSW of Sacramento, California

Other Significant Earthquakes

M5.0 shakes Fukushima Nuke Plant

EQ Details ( Japan weather agency)
Magnitude: 5.0Mw
Location: 7.8N, 141.7E; depth=60 km (Offshore Fukushima prefecture)
Time/Date:  09:17 UTC  July 21, 2015

Strong Earthquake Rattles Planet of the Abes

M 6.8 quake strikes SE of Ofunato, Japan

Centered at 38.902°N, 142.032°E the quake struck at a depth of 38.9 km (24.1 mi), USGS/EHP reported.

This quake did NOT generate a pacific-wide destructive tsunami. No significant aftershock reported, as of posting.

EQ Details

• Magnitude: 6.8Mw [Magnitude as reported by the local weather agency, JMA: 6.6Mw]
• Location: 38.902°N 142.032°E
• Depth: 38.9 kmime: 2015-05-12 21:12:58 UTC
• Nearby Cities
  • 33km (21mi) SE of Ofunato, Japan
  • 42km (26mi) SSE of Kamaishi, Japan
  • 52km (32mi) SSE of Otsuchi, Japan
  • 63km (39mi) SE of Tono, Japan
  • 412km (256mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

The quake registered  up to ‘Upper 5′ on Japan’s seismicity scale of 1 to 7, and ‘Lower 5’ near Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for California and Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on California seismicity to protest Internet censorship, Google’s manipulation of information, theft of FIRE-EARTH intellectual property and other reasons, as stated earlier on the blog.

The Team has suspended its research also on Japan seismicity due to the resurgence of militarism in that country and other reasons that have also been stated previously.

Recent Significant EQs in Japan Region

• Strong Earthquakes Strike Japan Region (near Taiwan) April 20, 2015
• Another Strong Quake Strikes NE Coast of Honshu, Japan February 21, 2015
• Powerful Earthquake Strikes East Coast of Japan February 17, 2015

M5.9 Quake Rattles Fukushima, Japan

GEOPHYSICAL HAZARDS
HEIGHTENED JAPAN SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS: 704, 703,  700, [500,] 09, 08, 07, 02
.

Significant earthquake strikes offshore Fukushima pref., Japan

Centered at 37.397°N, 141.548°E the quake struck at a depth of 36.9km (22.9mi), said USGS/EHP.

EQ Details

Magnitude: 5.9Mw
Event Time: 2014-12-20 09:29:58 UTC
Location: 37.397°N 141.548°E depth=36.9km (22.9mi)
Nearby Cities:

• 49km (30mi) E of Namie, Japan
• 70km (43mi) ENE of Iwaki
• 85km (53mi) E of Funehiki
• 89km (55mi) SE of Marumori
• 252km (157mi) NE of Tokyo

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into Fire-Earth Reports  daily @ 06:32UTC.

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FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for California and Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on California seismicity to protest Internet censorship, Google’s manipulation of information, theft of FIRE-EARTH intellectual property and other reasons, as stated earlier on the blog.

The Team has suspended its research also on Japan seismicity due to the resurgence of militarism in that country and other reasons that have also been stated previously.

Strong Quake Strikes Off the Coast of Fukushima

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

M6.8 Quake Strikes East of Iwaki, Japan

Centered at 37.0N, 142.6E the quake struck at a signature depth of10km and was felt throughout Japan’s main Island of Honshu.

The quake was followed by at least 2 aftershocks, as of posting.

EQ Details [JMA]

Magnitude: 6.8Mw
Region: Fukushima-ken Oki
Time Occurred: 04:22 JST [UTC + 9] 12 Jul 2014 (JST)
Location: 37.0N, 142.6E depth=10 km

EQ Details [USGS/EHP]

Distances:

• 129km (80mi) ESE of Namie, Japan
• 131km (81mi) E of Iwaki, Japan
• 147km (91mi) ENE of Kitaibaraki, Japan
• 151km (94mi) ENE of Takahagi, Japan
• 284km (176mi) ENE of Tokyo, Japan

EQ Location Map

Tsunami Status

No Tsunami Warnings, Advisories or Watches are in effect.

However, small tsunamis of about 20 cm were observed at several coastal locations in the northeast, said Japan’s weather agency.

Mass Evacuations

Tens of thousands of people in dozens of coastal towns and villages were evacuated fearing a repeat of March 11 tsunami that left thousands of people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

Related Earthquakes

Magnitude: 5.3Mw [USGS/EHP]
Event Time: 2014-07-11 13:11:46UTC
Location: 26.299°N 125.801°E depth=117.5km (73.0mi)
Nearby Cities:

• 174km (108mi) NNE of Hirara, Japan
• 187km (116mi) W of Itoman, Japan
• 187km (116mi) W of Tomigusuku, Japan
• 188km (117mi) W of Naha-shi, Japan
• 1,254km (779mi) S of Seoul, South Korea

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on Japan seismicity, California ditto.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into UDCCpf daily @ 06:32UTC.

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 Related Links

• Significant Quake Strikes S of Fukushima, Japan July 10, 2014
• M5.9 Quake Strikes Sick Japan July 5, 2014
• M6.2 Quake Strikes Japan Region July 1, 2014

Significant Quake Strikes S of Fukushima, Japan

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

M4.8 Quake Strikes near Daigo, Ibaraki Prefecture

Centered at 36.8N, 140.6E (36.794°N 140.440°E depth=30.8km, USGS), the quake occurred at a depth of about 10km, according to local earthquake monitors.
Nearby Cities:

8km (5mi) ENE of Daigo, Japan
27km (17mi) N of Omiya, Japan
139km (86mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on Japan seismicity, California ditto.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into UDCCpf daily @ 06:32UTC.

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 Related Links

• M5.9 Quake Strikes Sick Japan July 5, 2014
• M6.2 Quake Strikes Japan Region July 1, 2014

 

M5.9 Quake Strikes Sick Japan

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

Significant earthquake strikes near Miyako, Japan

Centered at 39.675°N 142.034°E the quake struck off Iwate Pref., near east coast of Honshu, Japan, according to USGS/EHP.

The seismicity registered up to 5 (lower) on the 7-level local scale.

Earthquake Details
Magnitude: 5.9 [GEOFON Program]
Event Time: 2014-07-04 22:42:04 UTC
Location: 39.675°N 142.034°E depth=44.9km (27.9mi)
Nearby Cities:

• 8km (5mi) ENE of Miyako, Japan
• 24km (15mi) NNE of Yamada, Japan
• 36km (22mi) NNE of Otsuchi, Japan
• 47km (29mi) NNE of Kamaishi, Japan
• 488km (303mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on Japan seismicity, California ditto.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into UDCCpf daily @ 06:32UTC.

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 Related Links

• M6.2 Quake Strikes Japan Region July 1, 2014

M5.8 Strikes Fukushima, Japan

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

A Quake Dedicated to Japan’s PM Abe Shakes Entire Eastern Honshu

Centered at 37.1N, 141.2E, the quake registered “4” on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7 in many parts of Fukushima, Ibaraki and Miyagi prefectures.

The criminal Japanese authorities and their low-life police force have been warned against stepping out of line!

EQ Details
Magnitude: 5.8Mw
Centered at: 37.1N, 141.2E
Depth: 50km
Time: 05:14JST, 16 Jun 2014

The quake was preceded by a magnitude 5.6 event that occurred about 2 hours earlier off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture (36.6N, 141.9E; depth=10km), reported JMA.

Source and Copyright: Japan Meteorological Agency

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on Japan seismicity, California ditto.

1.1 Tons of Radioactive Water Leaks from Fukushima

NOTE: Many of the links posted below have previously been blocked or buried by Google, WordPress and others.

SNAFU IN JAPAN
CRIMINAL INCOMPETENCE AT FUKUSHIMA
“COSMIC-LEVEL” RADIATION LEAKS
ENVIRONMENTAL HOLOCAUST
CRIMES AGAINST NATURE
.

Massive leak occurs in a treatment system at Fukushima nuclear plant: TEPCO

The criminally negligent operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has admitted that yet another major setback has plagued a key system used to decontaminate highly-radioactive water.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says about 1,100 liters of radioactive water overflowed into a barrier inside the ALPS building.

The water was used to wash contaminated equipment and overflowed from  a storage facility on Wednesday.

Comedy of Deadly Errors

The workers discovered the leak while cleaning a tank used for filtering radioactive substances from water. The tank is on one of the 3 separate stages  of the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, local media reported TEPCO as saying.

The operator says the water contains more than 3.8 million becquerels of beta ray emitting materials including strontium and 6,700 becquerels of cesium 137.

On Tuesday, TEPCO reported that 203 tons of highly contaminated radioactive water had been pumped into a basement area at the Fukushima between April 10-13.

The building is neither a storage area nor a processing facility. The pumps  had diverted the contaminated water to the wrong building, the  company said.

TEPCO says it found four pumps operating at the location that were not even meant to be used.

[The deadly water may have been pumped intentionally by operators, sources suggest. Editor]

The water contained radioactive cesium decaying at a rate of 37 million becquerels per liter.

Highly contaminated water leaked from yet another  storage tank at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan.  Handout photo released by TEPCO on February 20.

On October 18, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima

On November 7, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

• Scale of potential catastrophe at Fukushima could dwarf a limited nuclear war.

On January 13, 2014 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

THE TEPCO REPORT, QUOTED BY JAPAN’S ASAHI SHIMBUN, MAY BE SERIOUSLY FLAWED.

ACCORDING TO http://new.atmc.jp/ THE RADIATION LEVEL AT OR NEAR FUKUSHIMA PLANT IS ≥ 40 MICROSIEVERT PER HOUR (OR ~ 350 mSv/yr)

NOTES:

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

2. Average background radiation in the US is about 3 mS/yr. [Ironically, the average background radiation in many parts of Japan is about 1mS/yr, or a third of that in the U.S.]

3. 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.”

100 tons of highly radioactive water leaking here, 200 tons leaking there, and soon we’ll be talking big contamination!!! 

Related Links

• Record-high Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima NPP February 20, 2014

For earlier links search:

• Radiation Levels at Fukushima Hugely Underestimated: TEPCO February 8, 2014
• Look for the Cracks!  January 21, 2014
• “Radioactive River” Flowing at Fukushima No. 3 Reactor January 20, 2014
• 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
• Record Outdoor Radiation Level Detected at Nuked Fukushima Plant December 9, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013

 

Who’s Next?

THE NEXT NUCLEAR DISASTER COULD OCCUR ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures  calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011 still hold!

• 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)

Japan’s Nuclear Facilities. Copyright © Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA, Japan). All Rights Reserved.

Global Map of Nuclear Power Plants

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)

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The Internet Mafia has previously censored Public Health Emergency, global health warnings and any and ALL information posted on this blog concerning nuclear disasters, nuclear energy and the global nuclear mafia. The cabal have specifically blocked or buried blog entries on Fukushima Daiichi NPP.

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 or 10,000 µSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in microsieverts per year (µSv/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  3,000
• Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 4,000

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 3,000 microsieverts per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 50,000 µSv (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 3,000 µSv

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person’s age multiplied by 10 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 30,000µSv
• Annual total dose: 50,000µSv

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 3,000µSv (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 5,000µSv

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  500 µSv per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 20µSv

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 120µSv

*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 Links (Latest)

• The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake – Third Anniversary March 11, 2014

• Nuked Fukushima Plant: New High Radiation Areas Found August 22, 2013
• Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant August 21, 2013
• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013
• Japan Underestimating Nuclear Fallout Risks: U.N. November 27, 2012
• Chernobyl legacy to linger long after most humans have gone April 26, 2012

Radiation Levels at Fukushima Hugely Underestimated: TEPCO

NOTE: Many of the links posted below have previously been blocked or buried by Google, WordPress and others

“NEVER-ENDING” NUCLEAR DISASTER
.

TEPCO admits serious flaws in its Fukushima radiation readings

The operator of the nuked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said it will review its radiation data because their initial readings may be seriously flawed.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says it detected radiation levels of 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive strontium in groundwater samples collected last July from one of its wells near the ocean.

The radioactivity level is more than 160,000 times the regulatory maximum  for radioactive wastewater allowed to be released into the sea.

A team [of well-paid observers]  from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) holding hands singing kumbaya at Fukushima, December 2013. “The team has praised Japan for making progress in stabilizing the Fukushima nuclear plant,” reported BBC. Image IAEA handout via Reuters/BBC.

Based on the latest admission, TEPCO now estimates with that level of radioactive strontium present, the count for beta-emitting radioactive substances must be 10 million becquerels per liter, or 11 times their initial estimate of 900,000 becquerels per liter, reported NHK.

The plant operator attributes the error to incorrect measuring methods that were in place until last October.

TEPCO says it will review other data acquired using the old, improper method, including the radiation level of more than 300 tons of toxic waste water that leaked from a storage tank in August 2013.

The initial reading for the leaked radioactive water showed up to 80-million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting substances, including strontium, said the report.

On October 18, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima

On November 7, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

• Scale of potential catastrophe at Fukushima could dwarf a limited nuclear war.

On January 13, 2014 FIRE-EARTH said [but was censored by Google, WordPress and others]:

THE TEPCO REPORT, QUOTED BY JAPAN’S ASAHI SHIMBUN, MAY BE SERIOUSLY FLAWED.

ACCORDING TO http://new.atmc.jp/ THE RADIATION LEVEL AT OR NEAR FUKUSHIMA PLANT IS ≥ 40 MICROSIEVERT PER HOUR (OR ~ 350 mSv/yr)

NOTES:

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

2. Average background radiation in the US is about 3 mS/yr.]

3. 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.”

Related Links

• Look for the Cracks!  January 21, 2014
• “Radioactive River” Flowing at Fukushima No. 3 Reactor January 20, 2014
• 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
• Record Outdoor Radiation Level Detected at Nuked Fukushima Plant December 9, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013

For additional links to the never-ending nuclear disaster at Fukushima, search blog content, where they have not been hacked.

Look for the Cracks!

NOTE: At least two of the links posted below have previously been censored by Google and WordPress

ONGOING NUCLEAR DISASTER
.

Fukushima Farce: Look for the cracks and ya shall find them at the and of the brook!

A day or so after FIRE-EARTH Editor suggested radioactive leaks inside the No. 3 reactor building most probably came from cracks in the containment vessel, the plant operator TEPCO says they suspect the leak originates from around an opening in the containment vessel which connects to a steam pipe.

TEPCO says the area around the opening had previously been sealed with resin, but the substance likely deteriorated after being exposed to the heat from the melted fuel and salt from sea water poured into the vessels immediately after the disaster to cool down the chamber.

Technicians are now planning to locate the racks in the containment vessel and seal them, TEPCO said. [DO NOT use the same type of resin!!! Editor.]

Once they have sealed the cracks, they can refill the vessel with water and remove the melted fuel, at least in theory.

However, they cannot enter the reactor building without being exposed to cosmic levels of radiation.

On October 18, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [and Google/Wordpress censored]: Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima

On November 7, 2013 FIRE-EARTH said [and Google/Wordpress censored]: Scale of potential catastrophe at Fukushima could dwarf a limited nuclear war.

Related Links

• “Radioactive River” Flowing at Fukushima No. 3 Reactor January 20, 2014

• 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
• Record Outdoor Radiation Level Detected at Nuked Fukushima Plant December 9, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013

For additional links to the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima, search blog content.

Fukushima Radiation Level 8 Times Govt Standard: TEPCO

Radiation Level at Fukushima Rises to 8*mSv/yr: Report

NOTE: THE TEPCO REPORT, QUOTED BY JAPAN’S ASAHI SHIMBUN MAY BE SERIOUSLY FLAWED.

ACCORDING TO http://new.atmc.jp/ THE RADIATION LEVEL AT OR NEAR FUKUSHIMA PLANT IS ≥ 40 MICROSIEVERT PER HOUR (OR ~ 350 mSv/yr)

Radiation levels near the boundary of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have increased to 8 millisievert per year, or eight times the government standard, said Tokyo Electric Power Co. said, Asahi Shimbun quotyed the operator TEPCO as saying.

Following the discovery of leaks from the underground waste storage tanks in April,  TEPCO transferred the radioactive wastewater to hastily built storage tanks near the plant’s southern boundary, company officials said.

TEPCO says the main reason for the dramatic increase in the radiation levels are the X-rays emitted by the radioactive water held in the notorious storage tanks.

However, the background radiation level had already reached 7.8 millisievert per year in May 2013, according to the report.

The No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, March 15, 2011. Source:  TEPCO handout.

TEPCO says the X-rays are released when beta rays from radioactive strontium and other substances in the water react with iron and other elements in the storage tank containers.

It’s true that high energy beta particles released from radioactive substances can give off bremsstrahlung x-rays when they decelerate during electromagnetic interactions as they pass through matter; however, most beta particles can be stopped by just  a few millimeter of aluminum.

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.)

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

*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

• 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 Renews Nuke Ambitions Despite Fukushima, Common Sense

Japan should embrace nuclear power: Government panel

“Nuclear energy is an important and fundamental base energy source that will support the stability of energy demand and supply,” the panel wrote in its report.

The panel is headed by the honorary chairman of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, Japan’s largest steel maker and one of its heaviest energy consumers, said a report.

Unsurprisingly, the panel’s recommendations are driven by economic incentives alone and have no base in science or reason in common sense.

If Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remains in power his government would almost certainly heed the panel’s advice and expand Japan’s reliance on nuclear energy, despite widespread anti-nuclear sentiment after the 2011 Fukushima triple meltdown.

Ironically, the previous government of the Democratic Party of Japan, decided to abandon to abandon nuclear power following a recommendation from a similar panel.

Nuclear reactors in Japan, one of the world’s most seismic prone countries, provided about a third of electricity before the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe.

Prior to the Fukushima incident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, the government had considered boosting the contribution of nuclear energy to over 50 percent.

Enough said!

CJ Recommendation

The decision by the government to reactivate Japan’s idled reactors would justify any and all future defensive measures taken by nature to neutralize the additional threats, recommends CJ panel.

Record Outdoor Radiation Level Detected at Nuked Fukushima Plant

Record 25 sieverts per hour detected at Fukushima No. 1 reactor: TEPCO

Radiation was detected in an area near a steel pipe that connects reactor buildings and could kill a person in 20 minutes, if exposed, local media reported.

The highest radiation level [so far] was detected at an outdoor location at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor on Dec. 6, said Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant’s operator and the utility responsible for the clean-up of the crippled nuclear plant.

The reading of 25 sieverts per hour was taken on steel piping near an exhaust stack for the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, TEPCO reported.

An exhaust stack sits between the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, March 15, 2011. Source:  TEPCO handout.

In an earlier report, the utility announced high radiation levels of at least 10 sieverts per hour were found on the piping outside the reactor.

“TEPCO measured airborne radiation at eight locations around the piping to calculate surface radiation on two spots with particularly high readings, and found about 25 sieverts per hour and about 15 sieverts per hour, the company said,” local media reported.

Radioactive materials separated from melted fuel may have entered the pipes during venting shortly after the plant was “nuked” in March 2011 and remained there, said a TEPCO official.

The catastrophic mega earthquake that struck the Tōhoku region on March 11, 2011 triggered a major tsunami that inflicted massive damage along Japan’s east coast, paralyzing the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) nuclear plant and causing triple meltdown with large-scale radioactive fallout.

More than 400 tons of contaminated water is being produced and stored in hastily prepared, unsuitable containers at the site each day.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proposed last week to consider dumping toxic water into the ocean.

“Regarding the growing amounts of contaminated water at the site, TEPCO should… examine all options for its further management, including the possibility of resuming controlled discharges (into the ocean) in compliance with authorized (!) limits,” said the IAEA in a statement.

Two-thirds of evacuees from Fukushima towns won’t be returning home

A survey conducted in October by  Reconstruction Agency showed that 67.1 percent of respondents from Okuma and 64.7 percent from Futaba  had decided not to return home. The latest figures were up from 42.3 percent and 30.4 percent, respectively from a January survey, which used slightly different wording, said Asahi-Shimbun.

The towns of Okuma and Futaba were turned into ghost town following the mass evacuations that ensued the Fukushima reactor  meltdowns.

At least 73  percent of respondents from Okuma said radiation levelshad   not fallen, while 68 percent of Futaba evacuees said it would take too long before they could return to their hometown.

“The survey covered the heads of 5,043 households in Okuma and of 3,394 households in Futaba,” said the report.

Related Links

• 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 hacked, search blog content.