7/10/2011 Fukushima Finally Labeled As “New Chernobyl” — Japan Admits Cleanup Will Take Decades

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: July 10, 2011 at 11:02 am

Japan’s prime minister has finally admitted the to the reality of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, labeling the nuclear meltdowns as the new Chernobyl and admitting it will take decades before the nuclear disaster is cleaned up.

As previously reported, Japan’s new timeline for cleaning up the nuclear meltdown is at least 10 years from now and that is contingent on technology being developed within that time to allow workers to cleanup the molten fuel at the nuclear reactor.
...
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7/1/2011 (Video) Radioactive Container Truck Spewing Gamma Rays Into Traffic on I-270 in Saint Louis, Missouri

Date: 7/1/2011 upload date

The Geiger counter in the video is set to measure mR/hour (millirads/hour). Multiply the reading by 10 to get μSv/hr (microsieverts/hour). The readings in the video peak out at .320 mR/hour, or 3.2 μSv/hr. For perspective, only one Geiger counter in the collection of meters from Live Streaming Radiation Meters gets to whole numbers typically. This is the GM-fukushima meter situated in an outdoor cafe in Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan which is the closest meter in this collection to the Fukushima I nuclear power plant.

Video Description:

All Rights Reserved, (c) 2011 www.POTRBLOG.com
We got stuck next to this truck during the 7pm July 1st holiday traffic on North bound I-270, after seeing the Radioactive warning placards we pulled out the Geiger Counter and Camera. Lesson learned, AVOID RADIOACTIVE TRUCKS!

The Geiger counter samples over a 30 second moving average, updated every 3 seconds. Notice how the reading on the Geiger Counter keeps moving upwards after we pass the truck; had we stayed next to the radioactive truck the readings would have went even higher.

Pray for the truck driver; the source of gamma rays appeared to be located almost directly behind the driver. One would think that these things would be much more heavily shielded, located further away from the driver, and that such materials would be transported when other people are not on the road.
The truck exited I-270 at Lilac Ave.

7/9/2011 The Bear-trap

Source: DiaNuke.org
Date: July 10, 2011 9:10 am
by: Ray Masalas

Ray Marsalas, artist and frequent contributor at Glowing Conversations

Did you ever accidently step into a bear-trap, while walking in the woods? I’m an artist. My wife and I live in small town, Ontario, Canada. On March 11th 2011 I was happily working on a portrait of two darling young sisters, when the earth shook in Japan. I put down my brushes, and went to the computer to investigate. I haven’t been back to my portrait, yet. The Jaws of Fukushima had me. The media kept concentrating on the earthquake and Tsunami, saying very little on the condition of their reactors at several nuclear plants. It soon became apparent that the reactor:”Fukushima 1”, was in the most trouble.

The 4 explosions at the reactors and spent fuel pools came next, but we have only been shown film of reactors number 1 and number 3 exploding. Film of explosions at reactors number 2 and 4 have never been released to us “the public”. There have been problems with reactors 5 and 6, but the state of danger is unreleased. We stocked up on food, water and other supplies.
...
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7/9/2011 7.0 Magnitude earthquake hits about 130 miles east of Sendai

Date: Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 00:57:12 UTC,
         Saturday, July 09, 2011 at 07:57:12 PM (CDT) - Central Daylight (Chicago)

The USGS reports a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the eastern coast of Honshu, Japan on on July 09, 2011 at 07:57:12 PM (CDT) - Central Daylight (Chicago).

See USGS Shake Map in Google Earth

According to the shake map the severity was a level IV or "Light". As with the previous less severe 5.6 Magnitude quake on 7/7/2011 no damage was reported, although a tsunami warning was issued. Per the following AP article:

Date: Saturday Jul. 9, 2011 10:44 PM ET

TOKYO — A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Japan's northeastern coast on Sunday, prompting a tsunami warning for the area still recovering from a devastating quake and killer wave four months ago.

Residents in coastal areas were warned to evacuate, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake hit at 9:57 local time (0057 GMT), and a warning of a tsunami was issued for most of the northeastern coastline. The epicenter of the quake was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, at a depth of about 6 miles (10 kilometres).

Japanese officials predicted the quake could generate tsunami of up to 20 inches (50 centimetres), but the initial waves were only about 4 inches (10 centimetres).

Japan's northeastern coastline was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left nearly 23,000 dead or missing and touched off a nuclear crisis at a badly damaged facility in Fukushima.

Officials said there were no reports of abnormalities at the Fukushima plant caused by Sunday's quake. Airports in the area were also functioning normally.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. Dozens of strong aftershocks have been felt since the March 11 disaster, which measured a 9.0 magnitude and was the strongest in Japanese history.

Sunday's quake registered 4 on the Japanese scale of 7, meaning it was felt as moderately strong. Because of the damage from the March quake and tsunami, however, many buildings in the area are structurally weak and seawalls have been destroyed, making the region more vulnerable to relatively weaker quakes.

The earthquake caused visible shaking as per the following Reuters video:

7/9/2011 Japan says Fukushima clean-up to take 20 years

Source: RT News
Date: 7/9/2011


Japan's Prime Minister has announced that it will take up to 20 years to clean up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It's the first time the government has attempted to indicate how long the operation may take. Emergency measures are already underway to shut down the reactors to prevent further radiation leaks. The Fukushima plant was ruined when it was hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March. Thousands of people have left the area around the facility over safety fears.

7/8/2011 Request to Shut Earthquake Zone Nuclear Plants

Source: CRYPTOME
Date: 7/8/2011

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 131 (Friday, July 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 40406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17163]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 [NRC-2011-0147]


Receipt of Request for Action

    Notice is hereby given that by petition dated March 12, 2011, 
Thomas Saporito (petitioner) has requested that the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) take action to order shutdown of all ``nuclear power 
reactors in the USA [United States of America] which are known to be 
located on or near an earthquake fault-line.''
    As the basis for this request, the petitioner states that following 
an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011, in Fukushima, Japan, one 
or more nuclear power reactors there sustained significant damage which 
resulted in the release of radioactive particles into the environment, 
and that the Japanese authorities ordered a ``General Emergency 
Evacuation,'' but many Japanese citizens were not able to timely leave 
the affected area and were subject to radioactive contamination at this 
time. The petitioner further stated that many of NRC's licensees 
operate nuclear power reactors on or near earthquake fault lines and 
could, therefore, be subject to significant earthquake damage and loss-
of-coolant accidents similar to that experienced by those in Japan for 
which an on-going state of emergency continued to unfold.
    The request is being treated pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations Section 2.206 of the Commission's regulations. The 
request has been referred to the Director of the Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation (NRR). As provided by Section 2.206, appropriate 
action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable time. The NRR 
Petition Review Board (PRB) held two recorded teleconferences on April 
14 and May 25, 2011, with the petitioner, during which the petitioner 
supplemented and clarified the petition. The results of those 
discussions were considered in the PRB's determination regarding the 
petitioner's request for immediate action and in establishing the 
schedule for the review of the petition. As a result, the PRB 
acknowledged the petitioner's concern about the impact of a Fukushima-
type earthquake and tsunami on U.S. nuclear plants, noting that this 
concern is consistent with the NRC's mission of protecting public 
health and safety. Currently, the NRC's monitoring of the events that 
unfolded at Fukushima has resulted in the Commission establishing a 
senior-level task force to conduct a methodical and systematic review 
to evaluate currently available technical and operational information 
from the Fukushima events. This will allow the NRC to determine whether 
it should take certain near-term operational or regulatory actions 
potentially affecting all 104 operating reactors in the United States. 
In as much as this task force charge encompasses the petitioner's 
request, which has been interpreted by the PRB to be a determination if 
additional regulatory action is needed to protect public health and 
safety in the event of earthquake damage and loss-of-coolant accidents 
similar to those experienced by the nuclear power reactors in Japan 
resulting in dire consequences, the NRC is accepting the petition in 
part, and as described in this paragraph.
    A copy of the petition, and the transcripts of the April 14 and May 
25, 2011, teleconferences are available for inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available documents created or received 
at the NRC are accessible electronically through the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) in the NRC Library at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by 
telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of June, 2011.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-17163 Filed 7-7-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

7/8/2011 Nuclear technology is Russian priority

Source: World Nuclear News
Date: 08 July 2011

Nuclear energy has been formally recognised as a critical technology in a decree that makes nuclear development a priority for Russia. President Dmitry Medvedev signed off a list of 27 technologies as critical to Russia, including nuclear energy, the nuclear fuel cycle, safety of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel. Nuclear power, along with energy efficiency and energy conservation, appears in a list of eight priority areas for science, technology and engineering. Russian science, technology and engineering priorities must be reviewed every four years under the terms of a 2003 presidential instruction. According to RIA Novosti, Russia will allocate a budget of about 700 billion rubles (around $25 billion) for high-tech industries over the next three years.

7/8/2011 Company Finally Admits 765 KG of Uranium Burned In March 11 Oil Refinery Fire Following Japan Quake

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: July 8, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Cosmo Oil Refinery in Japan finally admits, 4 months later, that 765 KG of Uranium was burned into the atmosphere at the oil refinery fire in Japan following the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Almost 4 months after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami the Cosmo Oil Refinery finally admits that 765 KG of Uranium was burned into the atmosphere when the oil refinery caught fire.
...
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7/6/2011 Japan Sets Radiation Limits For Infant Drinks And Food More Than Twice The International Limits For Nuclear Waste

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: 7/6/2011
;
Calls grow for the resignation of a Japanese official caught lying to the public about the safety of radiation limits that have been “temporarily” increased to shockingly high levels.
...
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7/7/2011 Kyushu Electric president to resign over pro-nuke e-mails

Source: Asahi.com
Date: 7/8/2011 JST

Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu  Electric Power Co., talks to reporters at a news conference July 6. (Wataru Sekita)

Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu Electric Power Co., said July 7 that he intends to resign after the utility was found to have instructed employees to manipulate public opinion on nuclear power. Manabe said he will take responsibility for instructing employees to send "pro-nuclear power" e-mails to organizers of a public hearing broadcast on television in late June. The program was sponsored by the central government to solicit opinions from residents of Saga Prefecture on a proposal to restart two reactors at Kyushu Electric's Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture. According to Kyushu Electric, a senior company official on June 22 sent e-mails to employees and employees of subsidiaries instructing them to send messages to the program with a "pro-restarting" point of view. The e-mails were sent under the company name.

An e-mail instructing Kyushu Electric Co. and its subsidiary employees to send pro-nuclear reactor opinions to a television program (The Asahi Shimbun)

The e-mailed instructions also stated that e-mails to the program should be sent from personal accounts, not the company's, apparently to hide the fact that the senders were connected to Kyushu Electric. Manabe said he will make a final decision next week after discussing the matter with Shingo Matsuo, company chairman. ... Read full article here

7/7/2011 (Map) 5.6 Magnitude Japan Honshu Earthquake

Date: 7/7/2011 7:18 PM CST

Earthquake of 5.6 magnitude off Honshu, Japan (orange dot in map below) strikes, 14.5 miles from Fukushima II (Daini) and 21 miles from Fukushima I (Daiichi) nuclear power plants.

USGS Shake Map

According to the earthquake shake map above from the USGS the earthquake was not very serious and the AP confirms, there was no reported damage done:

...
No immediate damage or casualties were reported from the quake that struck at 3:35 a.m. Friday (1835 GMT Thursday), the USGS said. No tsunami watch was immediately issued.

The epicenter of the quake was some 51 miles (83 kilometers) southeast of Fukushima, in Honshu, Japan, the USGS said. The quake was centered some 28 miles (45 kilometers deep, the agency said.
...

7/7/2011 Tepco temporarily halts cooling at Fukushima Daini

Source: MarketWatch
Date: July 7, 2011, 11:11 a.m. EDT

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) said Thursday that it stopped the cooling system for a reactor at the Fukushima Daini power plant in Fukushima Prefecture for three and a half hours due to an electrical system problem, Kyodo News reported.

Cooling operations were suspended for the No. 1 reactor and an adjacent pool for spent nuclear fuel from around 5:30 p.m. to shortly past 9 p.m. while the operator, known as TEPCO, looked into why sparks came from a power panel at a building adjacent to that housing the reactor.

Temperatures for the reactor and the fuel storage pool are believed to have risen slightly from about 25 C to 35 C and from 26 C to 27 C, respectively, during the suspension.

The reactor and the pool must be kept cooled because nuclear fuel inside them emits heat as it decays, even though the reactor has gone offline and has been brought into a stable condition called 'cold shutdown' following the March earthquake and tsunami.

The other three reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant, located to the south of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, have also been in cold shutdown-mode since the disasters.

A plant worker found sparks coming out of a power panel in the basement of the No. 1 reactor's adjoining facility shortly after 2 p.m., prompting the company to cut power to the facility so that it could be inspected, TEPCO said.

The reactor has two sets of cooling systems for sustaining cold shutdown, but one of them has remained crippled since the tsunami in March.