8/11/2011 M6.0 quake jolts Fukushima, no tsunami warning issued

Source: The Mainichi Daily News
Date: Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 18:22:04 UTC

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted Fukushima Prefecture early Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued.

The 3:22 a.m. quake measured lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Tomioka in the prefecture, where Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant is located, according to the agency. The utility company said the temblor caused no fresh abnormalities either at the Daini plant or the nearby crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The quake also registered 4 on the Japanese scale in several other parts of the prefecture as well as in parts of Miyagi, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, the agency said.

According to local firefighters in Fukushima Prefecture, a 45-year-old man fell off a bed at his home in Koriyama, sustaining minor injuries to his head.

Some sections of the Joban Expressway and Banetsu Expressway were closed to traffic after the quake, the Japan Road Traffic Information Center said.

The focus of the quake was off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of about 50 kilometers, according to the agency.

(Mainichi Japan) August 12, 2011
Editor's Note: Click here for USGS report details. See map of quake below.

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

8/12/2011 Hundreds Rally in New York City to Shut Down Indian Point

Source: Greenpeace
Date: August 12, 2011 at 13:03
by: Canem Ozyildirim

This post from Greenpeace volunteer Mandy Grzymala follows yesterday’s rally in New York City to shut down Indian Point Nuclear plant
This afternoon, Dag Hammarskjolf Plaza is filled with hundreds of protestors supporting the closure of Indian Point Nuclear Plant in memory of the Fukushima disaster. Greenpeace partnered with NYPIRG, gathered supporters, and broadcast our message against the relicensing of Indian Point for another twenty years. With more supporters arriving every minute, the call to “Shut It Down!” has begun to grow.
Five months since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we turn a cautious eye to Indian Point Nuclear Plant (one of the oldest and most dangerous nuclear plants in our country) and its location on two major fault lines. A mere 35 miles north of New York City, it would be impossible to evacuate the 20 million people who live and work within a 50-mile radius.

photo by Palzom Pradhan
Speakers include notable figures such as Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and ex-Congressman and musician John Hall. “Indian Point would never be built today,” remarks Congressman Nadler. “If the risks are too great to build it today, why are we considering relicensing it?” With Indian Point relicensing currently being debated, this crowd at Dag Hammarskjolf Plaza builds the movement to shut the old and dangerous plant down.

Greenpeace continues to push for a complete shut down of Indian Point Nuclear Plant and it is crucial to continue to fight against the relicensing of the facility. We thank Governor Cuomo for his good work to shut down Indian Point and urge Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to join the effort.
See more about the rally at New York 1 News.

Editor's Note: See below for map of Indian Point.

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8/12/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2 Back Online

Source: WSYR Channel 9 (ABC affiliate)
Date: 8/12 10:16 pm

Scriba (WSYR-TV) -- The Nine Mile Nuclear Plant's unit two is back up and running. The plant needed to be shut down twice this week because of leaks, but Friday night all the repairs were complete.

Inspections have assured that there are no other issues and the unit is back up to about 24 percent power.

It will take a little more time to get the unit back up to 100 percent.

Representatives say the leaks were never a risk to the public, or to plant employees.

Editor's Note: See also "Nine Mile Point 2 back to making power, officials say" from Syracuse.com for additional details. For previous developments see "8/6/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 2 Shut Down Due to Water Leak".

8/12/2011 (Video) America's Nuclear Nightmare

Source: The Young Turks
Date: 8/12/2011

A Rolling Stone article by Jeff Goodell shares shocking facts about the dangerous state of many nuclear power plants and lack of oversight in America. Is a Fukushima type meltdown inevitable in the United Sates? Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss.

8/12/2011 Japan to Set Up New Nuclear Watchdog

Source: AFP via Discovery News
Date: Fri Aug 12, 2011 06:31 AM ET

People take part in an anti-nuclear power march on the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing on August 6, 2011 in Hiroshima, Japan.

THE GIST

• A new Nuclear Safety Agency will be housed under the environment ministry.
• The existing Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been heavily criticized.

Japan will set up a new nuclear regulator under the environment ministry in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, in a bid to give the watchdog more teeth, media reported Friday.
...
Read full article here

8/11/2011 Clusterfukushima

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 8/11/2011

There have been a cluster of earthquakes near Fukushima. Just today, there was another 6.0 earthquake.
There have been a cluster of meltdowns at Fukushima. For example, Asahi reports today:

A second meltdown likely occurred in the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a scenario that could hinder the current strategy to end the crisis, a scientist said.
In that meltdown, 10 days after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the fuel may have leaked to the surrounding containment vessel, according to a report by Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at what was then the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute.
***
Under Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s road map to deal with its crippled nuclear plant, reducing temperatures at the bottom of the core pressure vessel is one objective for bringing the accident under control. But if the fuel burned through the pressure vessel surrounding the No. 3 reactor and dropped into the containment vessel, that plan would be affected.
***
Around 11 a.m. on March 14, the reactor building was hit by a large hydrogen explosion that was likely caused by a core meltdown, which led to fuel falling to the bottom of the pressure vessel.
***
Tanabe also estimates that the second meltdown led to the release of large amounts of radioactive materials, and that much of the fuel fell through the pressure vessel to the surrounding containment vessel.
***
Kunihisa Soda, a former commissioner at the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan who is a specialist on severe accidents at nuclear plants, said the possibility of a second meltdown could not be ruled out.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen notes that there are currently lethal radiation levels at Fukushima, that even higher measurements are to still come, and that the nuclear core has leaked out and is on floor like a pancake working its way down.
NHK notes that scientists have found radiation levels in Japan higher than any found in the contaminated zone in Chernobyl called Red Forest:



And nuclear regulators only thought about worst case scenarios involving a single nuclear plant. They totally ignored the fact that power loss to complexes of nuclear reactors - like the cluster of 6 reactors at Fukushima - could lead to multiple simultaneous meltdowns.
And then there's a cluster of cover ups.
As the New York Times reports:

“From the 12th to the 15th we were in a location with one of the highest levels of radiation,” said Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie, which is about five miles from the nuclear plant. He and thousands from Namie now live in temporary housing in another town, Nihonmatsu. “We are extremely worried about internal exposure to radiation.”
The withholding of information, he said, was akin to “murder.”
In interviews and public statements, some current and former government officials have admitted that Japanese authorities engaged in a pattern of withholding damaging information and denying facts of the nuclear disaster — in order, some of them said, to limit the size of costly and disruptive evacuations in land-scarce Japan and to avoid public questioning of the politically powerful nuclear industry. As the nuclear plant continues to release radiation, some of which has slipped into the nation’s food supply, public anger is growing at what many here see as an official campaign to play down the scope of the accident and the potential health risks.
Seiki Soramoto, a lawmaker and former nuclear engineer to whom Prime Minister Naoto Kan turned for advice during the crisis, blamed the government for withholding forecasts from the computer system, known as the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, or Speedi.
“In the end, it was the prime minister’s office that hid the Speedi data,” he said. “Because they didn’t have the knowledge to know what the data meant, and thus they did not know what to say to the public, they thought only of their own safety, and decided it was easier just not to announce it.”
***
Meltdowns at three of Fukushima Daiichi’s six reactors went officially unacknowledged for months. In one of the most damning admissions, nuclear regulators said in early June that inspectors had found tellurium 132, which experts call telltale evidence of reactor meltdowns, a day after the tsunami — but did not tell the public for nearly three months. For months after the disaster, the government flip-flopped on the level of radiation permissible on school grounds, causing continuing confusion and anguish about the safety of schoolchildren here in Fukushima.
***
The timing of many admissions ... suggested to critics that Japan’s nuclear establishment was coming clean only because it could no longer hide the scope of the accident.

The mayor of Namie also said the government's justifications for withholding information are nonsensical.
And in related news:

• ABC: Japan’s nuclear agency hides children’s radiation results

• Public anger “exploding” as Japanese discover more about government downplaying spread of Fukushima radiation, health dangers

• TEPCO funds chair/professsorship at MIT — Nuclear researcher: “Nuclear researchers have a stake in reassuring the pubic that nothing bad is happening”

• Panel: Nuke plant operator behind fake email campaign also destroyed documents sought by investigators about public support for MOX fuel

It's a clusterfukushima.

8/10/2011 Radiation Deception Continues

Source: Dr. Sircus' Blog
Date: 8/10/2011

Plants are dying in the middle of central Tokyo and it could be because of the increase in radiation. One irony of the radioactive fallout from Fukushima is that people in Japan are starting to pay more attention to nature. The picture above was taken on the sidewalk of Hakusan Dori in Bunkyo-ku in Tokyo, and was uploaded on July 30. The air radiation in Bunkyo-ku has been higher than the official Tokyo number (measured in Shinjuku-ku, western central Tokyo), along with several other eastern “ku” (special wards of Tokyo). The person who took the picture says, “About 30% of azaleas on the sidewalk are completely dead. Ginkgo leaves are browning.”
...
Read full article here

8/11/2011 Schools in Fukushima clearing radioactive dirt, but nowhere to dump it

Source: Asahi Japan Watch
Date: August 11, 2011

Part of the school grounds at the Kashima Elementary School in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, exposed a hole dug to a depth of 1.5 meters on Aug. 10. Surface soil removed will be buried in the hole by the end of the summer vacation. (Kengo Hiyoshi)

Nearly 600 schools and other child-related facilities in Fukushima Prefecture have started or soon will start removing ground soil contaminated by radioactive fallout at their facilities, an Asahi Shimbun survey shows.
...
Read full article here

6/17/2011 (Video) Fallout!

Source: 60 Minutes Australia
Date: 6/17/2011

Hint: Click CC button on video for English transcript
When Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake and tsunami back in March, we told ourselves the worst was behind us.
Tens of thousands dead, an economy shattered, whole communities razed.
Surely the Japanese had suffered enough.
But all these weeks later, the crisis is far from over.
The crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is still leaking and, judging from the experience at Chernobyl, Japan's recovery won't be measured in years, but centuries.

8/11/2011 Japan's nuclear agency hides radiation results

Source: ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Date: August 11, 2011 19:10:43
by: North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Health specialists say the commission fears a negative public reaction to children's exposure to radiation from the crippled Fukushima plant.

Japan's nuclear watchdog has denied public access to the results of thyroid check-ups for more than 1,000 Fukushima children exposed to radiation.
...
Read full article here

8/6/2011 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 2 Shut Down Due to Water Leak

Nine Mile Point Unit 2 Shut Down Satruday 8/6/2011

On Saturday 8/6/2011 an emergency level event was issued by operators of the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station. The Notification of Unusual Event (NOUE), or least severe of four emergency classifications, was registered with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding leakage in the Unit 2 drywell containment of greater than 10 gallons/minute. Here is an excerpt of the event text as it appears on the NRC site:

UNUSUAL EVENT AND PLANT SHUTDOWN DUE TO DRYWELL UNIDENTIFIED LEAKAGE GREATER THAN 10 GPM

"At 0152 [EDT], Nine Mile Point Unit 2 received red alarms for containment monitoring cabinets 10A and 10B along with a rise in drywell floor drain leakage and drywell pressure.

"At 0205 [EDT], Nine Mile Point Unit 2 entered technical specification action statement (TS 3.4.5 B) due to unidentified leakage rise of greater than 2 gpm within 24 hours.

"At 0217 EDT, the control room commenced power reduction to mitigate the rise in drywell leakage and drywell pressure.

"At 0322 EDT, Nine Mile Point Unit 2 declared an Unusual Event (EAL 2.1.1) due to unidentified drywell leakage greater than 10 gpm. Actual drywell floor drain leakage reached 11.3 gpm.

"The cause of the rise in unidentified leakage is unknown at this time.

"At 0345 EDT, Nine Mile Point Unit 2 has commenced a plant shutdown."

The licensee has notified State and local authorities. The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified.

On the same day, the event was terminated (e.g. emergency cleared) after readings returned back to normal after steps to power down the reactor began.  The operator (Constellation Energy Nuclear Group) continued with  power down procedures after the emergency had been cleared to facilitate drywell inspections and repairs.

According the following Reuters article dated 8/9/2011, a spokesperson for Constellation said that the repairs to Unit 2 had been completed and that workers were doing "post maintenance testing":

NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy Nuclear Group
completed the repairs on the 1,148-megawatt Unit 2 at the Nine Mile Point
nuclear power plant in New York and were doing post maintenance testing, a
spokeswoman for the plant said Tuesday.

She could not say when the unit, which shut over the weekend, would
return to service.

Electricity traders guessed it would restart over the next day or so.

...

Apparently the Unit 2 reactor was restarted but had to be shut down again Thursday morning (8/11/2011) due to a different leak in a feedwater pump.


Map:

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

8/8/8/2011 Breaking News: A Tokyo citizen turned out to be internally exposed

Source: Fukushima Diary
Date: 8/8/2011
by: Mochizuki

A man from Tokyo went to Hokkaido for sightseeing.
He had a whole body counter check to see if he’s taken radioactive particles into his body.

The result was “positive”.

Cesium137 ; 868bq
Cesium134 ; 6373bq

The doctor asked him if he went to Fukushima,he replied no.

He normally spent days in Tokyo.

Now it’s pretty rational to think most of the other people are equally dosed.

The doctor added,
There are too little sample of low dose symptoms,so even if you have cancer in the future,
maybe it’s hard to prove it has something to do with Fukushima.

This is how “our” government is going to abandon us.

We are the people ,of the government,by the government,for the government.