Source: The Japan Times
Date: Monday, June 27, 2011 JST
Kyodo
More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday.
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Provide radiation related news regarding the Japan Fukushima nuclear plant disaster and global radiation levels and environmental contamination.
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Sunday, June 26, 2011
6/26/2011 Berm fails causing temporary electricity outage at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station
Date: 6/26/2011
According to the AP one of the berms holding back flood waters at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station failed at 1:30 AM Sunday (June 26, 2011):
For further reading: another article from CNBC, or this article from Omaha World Herald.
Sources:
[1] Flood berm collapsed at Nebraska nuclear plant, AP via Action 3 News
[2] Flood berm collapses at Nebraska nuclear plant, AP via Victoria Advocate
[3] Flood berm bursts at Nebraska nuclear plant, CNN news wire
According to the AP one of the berms holding back flood waters at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station failed at 1:30 AM Sunday (June 26, 2011):
...This resulted in backup generators being temporarily used to power both the already shut down main reactor (having been shut down since April) and spent fuel cooling systems, as the main power was cut. Quoting a second AP article:
The 2,000-foot berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing the swollen river to surround two buildings at the plant. The NRC says those buildings are designed to handle flooding up to 1014 feet above sea level. The river is at 1006.3 feet and isn't forecast to exceed 1008 feet.[1]
...
...According to CNN news wire the berm was punctured by machinery:
The berm's collapse didn't affect the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent fuel pool cooling, but the power supply was cut after water surrounded the main electrical transformers, the NRC said. Emergency generators powered the plant until an off-site power supply was connected Sunday afternoon, according to OPPD.[2]
...
...In this case there was not any lengthy electrical outage as the power was diverted immediately to working backup generators and reconnected promptly from the outside. Unfortunately, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant once battery backup systems were exhausted, the diesel generators had been damaged and made non-functional by the tsunami. No external power was able to be brought in to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant until the cores had already melted.
Some sort of machinery came in contact with the berm, puncturing it and causing the berm to deflate, said Mike Jones, a spokesman for the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), which owns the Fort Calhoun plant.[3]
...
For further reading: another article from CNBC, or this article from Omaha World Herald.
Sources:
[1] Flood berm collapsed at Nebraska nuclear plant, AP via Action 3 News
[2] Flood berm collapses at Nebraska nuclear plant, AP via Victoria Advocate
[3] Flood berm bursts at Nebraska nuclear plant, CNN news wire
6/26/2011 TEPCO ready to try again with water decontamination system
Source: Japan Today
Date: Jun. 27, 2011 - 05:29AM JST
TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Sunday that it plans to start full-scale operations of its system to decontaminate highly radioactive water at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex on Monday.
The system has been experiencing a number of glitches since last week. TEPCO said it had replaced the chemicals in the absorption equipment and made the necessary repairs.
Goshi Hosono, director of the government’s nuclear crisis task force, said the system has met operational requirements and had decontaminated nearly 5,000 tons of tainted water in test runs on Saturday.
Workers have cooled the reactors and spent fuel by pumping in fresh water, which becomes contaminated with radiation. About 110,000 tons of tainted water have accumulated, and it could start overflowing in early July unless workers get a trouble-plagued water treatment system working properly.
The system became fully operational a week ago but shut down after a few hours when one of the radiation absorbing cartridges reached its limit much more quickly than expected.
Hosono told NHK that one problem is that heavy rain due to the rainy season might increase the amount of contaminated water.
Date: Jun. 27, 2011 - 05:29AM JST
TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Sunday that it plans to start full-scale operations of its system to decontaminate highly radioactive water at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex on Monday.
The system has been experiencing a number of glitches since last week. TEPCO said it had replaced the chemicals in the absorption equipment and made the necessary repairs.
Goshi Hosono, director of the government’s nuclear crisis task force, said the system has met operational requirements and had decontaminated nearly 5,000 tons of tainted water in test runs on Saturday.
Workers have cooled the reactors and spent fuel by pumping in fresh water, which becomes contaminated with radiation. About 110,000 tons of tainted water have accumulated, and it could start overflowing in early July unless workers get a trouble-plagued water treatment system working properly.
The system became fully operational a week ago but shut down after a few hours when one of the radiation absorbing cartridges reached its limit much more quickly than expected.
Hosono told NHK that one problem is that heavy rain due to the rainy season might increase the amount of contaminated water.
6/25/2011 Radiation measured in the waters and air (Fukushima Plant)
Source: NHK Science and Culture
Date: 6/25/2011
Radiation measured in the waters and air near the No.1 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (Source: Tokyo Electric Power Co. TEPCO)
In the event the seawater contains more than two nuclides, the density of each nuclide is scaled against its allowable limit. Thereafter the sum of the scaled densities of all nuclides is gauged against 1.
Let's assume the scaled density of I-131 is 0.20 times the limit and that of Cs-134 is 0.70 times the limit and that of Cs-137 is 0.60 times the limit, for example. In this case, the sum of the scaled densities of I-131 and Cs-134 and Cs-137 becomes 1.50 times the limit. This means the radioactive material in the seawater exceeds the allowable limit.
Date: 6/25/2011
Radiation measured in the waters and air near the No.1 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (Source: Tokyo Electric Power Co. TEPCO)
| MAP http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/genpatsu-fukushima/houshasen/index2.html |
| 【No.1 Plant : Radioactive substances detected in the waters 】 |
【A】 From samples collected 30 meters north of the outlets of the Unit 5-6 at 09:25 June 24. |
| Iodine 131: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 134: 0.023 Bq/cc (0.38 times the limit) |
| Cesium 137: 0.020 Bq/cc (0.22 times the limit) |
| 【B】 From samples collected 330 meters south of the outlets of the Unit 1-4 at 09:10 June 24. |
| Iodine 131: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 134: 0.019 Bq/cc (0.32 times the limit) |
| Cesium 137: 0.025 Bq/cc (0.28 times the limit) |
| 【No.2 Plant : Radioactive substances detected in the waters 】 |
【C】 From samples collected near the outlets of the Unit 3-4 at 08:30 June 24. 10km south of the No.1 Plant |
| Iodine 131: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 134: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 137: ND (--- times the limit) |
| 【D】 From samples collected 7km south of the outlets of the Unit 1-2 at 08:00 June 24. 16km south of the No.1 Plant |
| Iodine 131: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 134: ND (--- times the limit) |
| Cesium 137: ND (--- times the limit) |
| the limit : the limit set for water outside the environmental monitoring area |
| 【No.1 Plant : Air dose 】 |
| ▼southern side of The main office: 500 meters north-west of the Unit 2 . |
| 342 μSv/h Time:09:00 June 25,2011 Winds: south-southeasterly 1.5 m/s |
| ▼the Main Gate : 1,000 meters west of the Unit 2 . |
| 27.8μSv/h Time:09:00 June 25, 2011 Winds:south-southeasterly 1.5 m/s |
| There was no neutron dose detected. |
In the event the seawater contains more than two nuclides, the density of each nuclide is scaled against its allowable limit. Thereafter the sum of the scaled densities of all nuclides is gauged against 1.
Let's assume the scaled density of I-131 is 0.20 times the limit and that of Cs-134 is 0.70 times the limit and that of Cs-137 is 0.60 times the limit, for example. In this case, the sum of the scaled densities of I-131 and Cs-134 and Cs-137 becomes 1.50 times the limit. This means the radioactive material in the seawater exceeds the allowable limit.
6/26/2011 TEPCO failed to report possible hydrogen explosion
Source: Asahi.com
Date: 6/26/2011
Date: 6/26/2011
 Smoke rises from the No. 3 reactor at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant which exploded in March. (Asahi Shimbun) | Tokyo Electric Power Co. knew there could be an explosion at the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant the day before it happened, but didn't report the possibility to authorities. The failure to notify the central and local governments was revealed in reports submitted by TEPCO to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The reports were made available on NISA's website June 24. ... Read full article here |
6/24/2011 Fukushima Meltdown Mitigation Aims to Prevent Radioactive Flood
Source: Scientific American
Date: June 24, 2011
by: David Biello
Three months after its meltdown, the stricken nuclear power plant continues to struggle to cool its nuclear fuel--and cope with growing amounts of radioactive cooling water
Date: June 24, 2011
by: David Biello
Three months after its meltdown, the stricken nuclear power plant continues to struggle to cool its nuclear fuel--and cope with growing amounts of radioactive cooling water
| More than three months after a powerful earthquake and 14-meter-high tsunami struck Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains flooded with a salty mix of ocean and fresh water that is contaminated with the radioactive residue of three reactors and four spent fuel pools' worth of nuclear fuel. Every day an additional 500 metric tons of seawater is poured onto the still hot nuclear fuel in the stricken reactors and fuel pools. More than 100,000 metric tons of such water now sits in the basement and trenches of the reactors—or evaporates inside the hot reactor buildings, making for a radioactive onsen (hot bath). ... Read full article here |   HOLDING TANKS: Tanks hold some of the radioactive water overflowing from cooling efforts at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Image: Courtesy of TEPCO |
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