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!

Explosion Rocks Doel Nuclear Power Plant in Belgium

Fire reported at Doel nuclear power plant

An explosion occurred Saturday night at Reactor 1 of Doel nuclear power plant (NPP) located in northern Belgium, local media reported.

The 40-year-old unit, the oldest in the country, is one of 4 reactors at the plant and has a name-plate capacity of 454Mw.

Belgium’s other NPP, Tihange, houses 3 reactor units that began operating commercially between 1975 and 1985.

Following an incident at Doel in August 2012, cracks were discovered at the reactor pressure vessel of the No 3 reactor,  sparking international inspections of similar vessels manufactured by the now-bankrupt Dutch firm Rotterdam Drydock Company, said a report.

“The discovery of the cracks at Doel’s Unit 3 by the use of a new ultrasound measuring technique, sent a nervous ripple through the international nuclear industry.

“Rotterdam Drydock Company had sold 21 reactor vessels to nuclear power plants in the US, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK,” Associated Press belatedly reported.

At least 9 million people live within a 75 km radius of Doel, and 5.76 million others live within a similar distance from Tihange NPP.

There was no reliable details available concerning the latest incident at Doel, as of posting.

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

S. Korea: Nuclear Waste Storage Facility Reaching Full Capacity

DISASTER CALENDAR SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,208 Days Left 

[November 20, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,208 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

S. Korea planning 11 additional reactors, despite  running out of nuclear waste storage capacity

Undeterred by its worst nuclear crisis ever over forged safety certificates, and seemingly unfazed by such trivial details as running out of nuclear waste storage space, 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.

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