5/26/2011 | Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS

Source: Fairewinds Associates
Date: 5/26/2011
by: Arnie Gundersen

Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) held a special ACRS meeting Thursday May 26, 2011 on the current status of Fukushima. Arnie Gundersen was invited to speak for 5 minutes concerning the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident as it pertains to the 23 Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors (BWR's) in the US and containment integrity. Mr. Gundersen was the first engineer to brief the NRC on the implication of Main Steam Isolation Valve (MSIV) Leakage in 1974, and he has been studying containment integrity since 1972. The NRC has constantly maintained in all of its calculations and reviews that there is zero probability of a containment leaking. For more than six years, in testimony and in correspondence with the NRC, Mr. Gundersen has disputed the NRC's stand that containment systems simply do not and cannot leak. The events at Fukushima have proven that Gundersen was correct. The explosions at Fukushima show that Mark 1 containments will lose their integrity and release huge amounts of radiation, as Mr. Gundersen has been telling the NRC for many years.

5/26/2011 | Is Fukushima now ten Chernobyls into the sea?

Source: OpEd News
Date: May 26, 2011
by: Harvey Wasserman

New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl.
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5/28/2011 JST | Tainted water ills 'massive' IAEA team visits plant; utility slammed for not disclosing info

Source: Bloomberg via The Japan Times
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2011 JST

As a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was visiting the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Friday, academics warned that Tokyo Electric Power Co. has failed to disclose the scale of radiation leaks and faces a "massive problem" with contaminated water.
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5/27/2011 | Suit seeks permanent shutdown of Japan's Hamaoka nuclear plant

Source: Reuters
Date: Fri May 27, 2011 10:46am EDT

(Reuters) - Japan's Chubu Electric Power Co said on Friday that a lawsuit seeking a permanent shutdown of its Hamaoka nuclear plant had been filed by residents who live near the controversial facility south of Tokyo.
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5/28/2011 JST | Prefectures to demand ¥10 billion from Tepco

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2011 JST

Kyodo

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. — Councils comprising agricultural and dairy cooperatives and local governments in Fukushima and four other prefectures near the crippled No. 1 nuclear plant will seek more than ¥10 billion in damages from Tokyo Electric Power Co., according to recent announcements.
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5/28/2011 JST | Experts: Leave radiation checks to us

Soure: The Japan Times
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2011
by: MINORU MATSUTANI Staff writer

Laypersons just spread fear with inaccurate readings, they say
Measuring radiation levels accurately is difficult for laypersons and they shouldn't panic if their devices show much higher levels than the figures announced by the government, radiation experts say.
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5/27/2011 | Fukushima kids' limit: 1 millisievert

Source: The Japan Times
Date: 5/27/2011
by: MIZUHO AOKI and REIJI YOSHIDA Staff writers

The education ministry said Friday it has set a new nonbinding target to reduce radiation exposure of Fukushima Prefecture students while they are at school to 1 millisievert or less a year.
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5/27/2011 | Fire at another TEPCO nuclear plant in NE Japan

Source: AP
Date: 5/27/2011

TOKYO - THE operator of Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear power complex says a fire broke out at another of its plants, but that it was quickly extinguished and there were no fears of a radiation leak.


Mr Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co, said a fire broke out Friday at a building at the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant. The complex is located about 12kme south of Tepco's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

Mr Iwamoto said the fire was extinguished within minutes, and that the company was investigating the cause. No one was injured.


Tepco spokesman Naoyuki Matsumoto says there was no fear of a radiation leak due to the fire.
March's massive earthquake and tsunami crippled Fukushima Daiichi and caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.