Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers

Radioactive water may have reached the ocean, says plant operator

Water has overflowed 12 barriers around holding tanks at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and some of it may have reached the ocean, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Sunday.

“The utility says workers found water overflowing from five barriers Sunday afternoon. They found additional overflows in seven barriers Sunday evening,” reported NHK.

Although the barriers are 30 centimeter high, they already contained at least 20 centimeters of water due to earlier downpours brought by Typhoon WIPHA. The barriers overflowed after more than 100 millimeters of rain fell in four hours  Sunday afternoon. Workers can pump out the water at a rate of about 1.5 centimeters per day.

“The operator of the crippled plant also says workers released some of the water accumulated inside barriers into the ground. The utility says the water met safety standards for radioactivity set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.” said NHK.

Other Disaster News in Japan

More rain amplifies misery on Izu Oshima Island

Izu Ōshima Island is keeping its evacuation advisories in effect as town officials brace for more torrential rains that  may cause further destructive mudslides.

Officials in Ōshima have already evacuated more than 580 people and issued evacuation advisories to nearly 2,300 people in 1,200 households on the island on Saturday, reported NHK.

Massive mudslides caused by Typhoon WIPHA last week killed at least 27 people, with 19 others still missing, presumed dead. The typhoon destroyed or damaged more than 300 buildings, and overflowing rivers and mudslides continue to  close roads.

Izu Ōshima, a volcanic island in the Izu Islands, lies about 100 km south of Tokyo and is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.

Related Links

• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013

TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World

What would it take for the Asian countries most at risk from Fukushima nuclear disaster to team up and declare the Japaneses government ‘Legally Incompetent,’ on grounds of their inability to deal with an ongoing major nuclear disaster that would likely pose an existential threat to other nations in the region and beyond, and then appoint an international team of guardians and conservators to oversee the day-to-day running of the country?

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Another tank leaking toxic water at Fukushima nuclear plant: Operator

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of Japan’s nuked Fukushima nuclear power plant, said another tank holding highly radioactive coolant is leaking, and that some of the toxic liquid likely entered the Pacific Ocean.

The leaked fluid contained 200,000 becquerels per liter of beta-emitting radioactive isotopes including strontium 90, according to the company. The legal limit for strontium 90 is reportedly 30 becquerels per liter.

In August, at least 300 tons of highly toxic water escaped from one of the hastily built holding tanks. TEPCO has been pumping hundreds of tons of water a day to keep the reactors cool. The tanks are used to store the highly toxic wastewater.

On October 1,  TEPCO admitted it had found yet another leak at the plant, which caused 4 tons of radioactive water to enter the sea.

The criminally negligent government of Japan and TEPCO apparently won’t rest until the entire region, the country, the sea and all of its content, is contaminated with radiation.

This is now a matter of urgent global security, but the government in Japan has not taken any steps to address the worsening disaster.

Japan’s False Bravado

Hubris can only stem from ignorance, and it usually results in major downfalls and death. And no one could possibly know this better than the Japanese.

Yoshinoya Holdings, a Japanese fast-food chain, announced yesterday plans to grow rice and vegetables on a farm in Shirakawa, located less than 100 km (60 miles) from the nuked Fukushima power plant.

Up to quarter of a million people living nearest to Fukushima nuke plant were ordered to move out after the March 2011 mega earthquake and tsunami caused triple reactor meltdowns, contaminating the ground, water air and everything.

The government reluctantly established a 20-km compulsory evacuation zone and various voluntary evacuation zones have since been set us from site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

FIRE-EARTH experts have advised all of their colleagues and friends who live anywhere in Japan to obtain a Geiger counter and to NOT leave home without it.

What would it take for the Asian countries most at risk from Fukushima nuclear disaster to team up and declare the Japaneses government ‘Legally Incompetent,’ on grounds of their inability to deal with an ongoing major nuclear disaster that would likely pose an existential threat to other nations in the region and beyond, and then appoint an international team of guardians and conservators to oversee the day-to-day running of the country?

FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NPS Prompt Report

• Overflow of Water from the Dike of H8-South Area at Fukushima Daiichi NPS Oct 2, 2013

• Overflow of Water from the Notch Tank Which Locates at the East of the H5 Area Tank and Stores Water inside the Dike at Fukushima Daiichi NPS (Follow-up Information) Oct 1, 2013

Taiwan Nuke Plant Leaking Radioactive Water

Taiwan’s oldest nuclear plant leaking radioactive water for 3 years: Watchdog

The 35-yo Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shimen, New Taipei City, has been leaking radioactive water since 2010, according to the government’s nuclear watchdog.

Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), which operates the island’s 3 nuclear plants, has denied the leak coming from the storage pools, alleging instead that the water comes from condensation, or external cleaning.

The watchdog, Control Yuan, doesn’t buy the operator’s explanation.

“Taiwan has also had problems on what to do with its nuclear waste, which for many years was dumped on a small island off its southeast coast, to the anger of its aboriginal inhabitants,” said a report.

Taiwan has three nuke plants which include a total of 6 reactors. Nuclear power accounts for about a fifth of the island’s electricity production.

• Typhoon SOULIK, which struck Taiwan on July 13, caused a generator and turbine trip, leaving a seawater inlet blocked and damaging three fine filters as well as a traveling filter rake, said a report.

The Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District, New Taipei City, is pictured on March 15 during a media visit organized by Taiwan Power Co, which operates the nation’s nuclear power stations. Photo credit: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Summary of the report issued by Control Yuan: The plant’s reactors No. 1 and No. 2 reactors have leaked a total of 15,369.61 milliliters and 4,829.66ml of water respectively since 2010

Atomic Energy Council have repeatedly found radioactive substances, such as cesium-137, cobalt-60, manganese-54 and sodium chromate, in the leakage.

Taipower has given inconsistent explanations for the leaks and has claimed that the water was not from the spent fuel pools, which is inconsistent with the Atomic Energy Council’s findings.

The Control Yuan report also reprimanded Taipower for two other problems regarding spent fuel storage:

First: Taipower delaying for more than 10 years the construction of interim nuclear waste storage facilities, which could result in the spent fuel in the No. 1 reactor exceeding the pool’s maximum capacity in its next maintenance overhaul, which is set for November next year.

Second:  was that since Taipower says it lost a report on spent nuclear fuel storage and management that it commissioned from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the US in 1987, the evaluation process the plant’s storage technology was subjected to at the time is unknown, the report said.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

Nuclear power is harmful to the planet and all lifeforms. Any nuclear disaster striking anywhere on the planet has global implications.

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)

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)

Half-life of some radioactive elements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

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

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

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

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

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

Adults

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

Under 18

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

Fetal Exposure

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

Medical

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

Air Travel

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

Megaquake and Tsunami Death Toll

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

Related Links

• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country
• Nuclear Power
• S. Korea planning 11 additional reactors, despite  running out of nuclear waste storage capacity
• Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog August 5, 2013

Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog

EXCLUSIVE

TEPCO’s “sense of crisis is weak:”  Japan’s NRA

Highly radioactive water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking into the ocean creating an “emergency” that the operator, TEPCO, may be unable to contain, said an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog.

“This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force,” told Reuters.

Tokyo Electric Power Co’s “sense of crisis is weak,” Kinjo said. “This is why you can’t just leave it up to Tepco alone” to deal with the ongoing disaster.

“Right now, we have an emergency,” he said.

A total of up to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium may have leaked into the ocean since the disaster, said TEPCO, insisting that it was within legal limits.

• Full report is posted HERE.
• Related news link: Radioactive Fukushima groundwater rises above barrier

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)

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)

Nuclide Analysis Results of the Underground Reservoirs

• Nuclide Analysis Results of the Underground Reservoirs/Observation Holes (As of August 4) – TEPCO Website

Related Links

• Nuke Disasters
• Japan Quakes
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country
• Record High Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish March 1, 2013
• Radiation Record Broken by Fukushima Fish March 18, 2013
• Fukushima Pre-Harvested Rice Contaminated by Radiation September 24, 2011
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Also search the blog for dozens of additional entries on “Fukushima.”