Radioactive tritium leaks found at 48 US nuke sites

Source: AP via MSNBC
Date: ???
by: JEFF DONN

'You got pipes that have been buried underground for 30 or 40 years, and they've never been inspected', whistleblower says

BRACEVILLE, Ill. — Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.
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Addition: Local news report on Braidwood, IL nuclear plant which had pipes leaking tritium.

6/22/2011 | TEPCO restarts Fukushima Daiichi water treatment but tests show underperformance

TEPCO has continued tested it's radioactive water treatment system at Fukushima Daiichi but discovered that the subsystems were not performing up to expectations. Per the EX-SKF blog expectations were for a 1/1,000,000 reduction in radioactive materials overall after filtering, but only a 1/18,400 decrease was actually achieved. The under-performance was noticed in the Kurion treatment subsystem, as well as the Areva (French) subsystem which both did not perform up to expectations.

The latest estimate for the amount of water pooled at the Fukushima Daiichi complex is estimated at more than 110,000 tons. Per TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto 1700 tons of water have been treated so far. The processing rate at which TEPCO wants to run the water treatment system is 50 tons/hour. Assuming 24 hour nonstop operation, 1200 tons/day of radioactive water could be theoretically processed at this rate.  Approximately 500 tons a day of water is injected in to Fukushima Daiichi per the JAIF (Japan Atomic Industry Forum, Inc.) Earthquake Report for June 22, 2011.

In order to decrease the rate at which the radioactive water is building up TEPCO has reduced the amount of water being poured in to reactors 1 (-.5 tons/hr), 2 (-.5 tons/hr) and 3 (-1 tons/hour) while carefully monitoring the heat level of the reactors. The #3 reactor did experience a heat rise per TEPCO who are monitoring closely without increasing the water poured in to the reactor. The water flow in the #1 and #2 reactors will be reduced by another -.5 tons/hr.

The right sidebar of the EX-SKF blog shows the number of millimeters left to the top of the water ditches for reactors 2 and 3 if you are interested in imminent overflow.

6/22/2011 | TEPCO can't find 69 plant workers for radiation checks

Source: asahi.com
Date: 6/22/2011

The whereabouts of 69 people who had worked at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant remain unknown, including 30 who have not even been identified, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said June 20.
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6/23/2011 AST | Japan issues tsunami advisory after strong 6.7-magnitude quake

Source: NewsCore via thetelegraph.com.au
Date: June 23, 2011 8:21AM (Australia time)

A TSUNAMI advisory was issued for part of Japan's north-east coast after a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck offshore this morning local time, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The meteorological agency said today the latest jolt hit at 6.51am (7.51am AEST) about 50km off the east coast of Miyako, Iwate prefecture, at a depth of 20km in the Pacific.

The north-east coast of Japan's main Honshu island was ravaged by a 9.0 magnitude quake and monster tsunami on March 11, which left more 23,000 people dead or missing.

The disasters also crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggering the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl in 1986 and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to leave their homes.

If there is a tsunami, its height is only expected to be around 1.6 feet (0.5m), and it would likely affect coastal regions of Iwate prefecture, the JMA said.

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There were no immediate reports of damage.

- with Agence-France Presse

6/22/2011 | Newspaper Reports Massive Fukushima Nuclear Radiation Testing Blackout In Canda

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: June 22, 2011 at 11:33 am

Following recent reports of radiation saturation doubling private companies, government agencies and universities in Canada are refusing to get involved in Fukushima nuclear radiation fallout testing at any level.
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