Source: Bloomberg
Date: Aug 24, 2011 12:25 AM CT
by: Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada
Japan will more than triple the number of regions it checks for airborne radiation as more contaminated “hot spots” are discovered far from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power station.
The government said it will increase radiation monitoring by helicopter to 22 prefectures from the six closest to the plant, which began spewing radiation after an earthquake and tsunami struck the station in March. The plan comes after radioactive waste more than double the regulatory limit was found 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the plant this week.
Authorities have refused to give a cumulative figure for radiation released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant after estimating in June that fallout in the six days following the quake was equal to 15 percent of total radiation released in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The authorities have been too slow to widen airborne radiation testing, said Tetsuo Ito, the head of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research Institute in Osaka.
“The government should have expanded the monitoring area by helicopters much earlier to ease concerns among the public,” Ito said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Officials on Aug. 12 found compost in a kindergarten yard in Tokamachi city, Niigata prefecture containing radioactive cesium measuring 27,000 becquerels per kilogram, Kenichiro Kasuga, an official at the city’s disaster prevention department, said by phone.
...
Read full article here
Provide radiation related news regarding the Japan Fukushima nuclear plant disaster and global radiation levels and environmental contamination.
Salvation Army Japan Disaster Relief
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
8/23/2011 Quake sensors removed around Virginia nuke plant due to budget cuts
Source: The Raw Story
Date: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 -- 3:52 pm
by:
A nuclear power plant that was shut down after an earthquake struck central Virginia Tuesday had seismographs removed in 1990s due to budget cuts.
U.S. nuclear officials said that the North Anna Power Station, which has two nuclear reactors, had lost offsite power and was using diesel generators to maintain cooling operations after an 5.9 earthquake hit the region.
The North Anna plant, which was near the epicenter of Tuesday's quake, is reportedly located on a fault line.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rates the plant as the seventh most likely to receive core damage from a quake. But they say the chances of that are only 1 in 22,727.
According to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory (VTSO) removed all seismographs from around the plant in the 1990s due to budget cuts.
In February, Dominion Virginia Power confirmed its commitment to add a third reactor to the plant.
"While Dominion has not decided on the schedule to build the unit, the company will continue to move forward with the federal combined operating license process and preliminary site development work," Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II said in a statement.
Update: Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Senior Scholar Bob Alvarez told the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) that the North Anna plant was built to withstand a 5.9-6.1 quake.
Date: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 -- 3:52 pm
by:
A nuclear power plant that was shut down after an earthquake struck central Virginia Tuesday had seismographs removed in 1990s due to budget cuts.
U.S. nuclear officials said that the North Anna Power Station, which has two nuclear reactors, had lost offsite power and was using diesel generators to maintain cooling operations after an 5.9 earthquake hit the region.
The North Anna plant, which was near the epicenter of Tuesday's quake, is reportedly located on a fault line.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rates the plant as the seventh most likely to receive core damage from a quake. But they say the chances of that are only 1 in 22,727.
According to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory (VTSO) removed all seismographs from around the plant in the 1990s due to budget cuts.
In February, Dominion Virginia Power confirmed its commitment to add a third reactor to the plant.
"While Dominion has not decided on the schedule to build the unit, the company will continue to move forward with the federal combined operating license process and preliminary site development work," Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II said in a statement.
Update: Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Senior Scholar Bob Alvarez told the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) that the North Anna plant was built to withstand a 5.9-6.1 quake.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
8/23/2011 Moody's downgrades Japan's debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2
Source: NHK World
Date: 8/23/2011 (Wednesday, August 24, 2011 10:22 +0900 (JST))
US credit agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Japan's debt by one notch, on concerns over the country's worsening fiscal situation.
Moody's cut Japan's government bond rating on Wednesday to "Double A 3" from "Double A 2".
The new rating ranks Japanese debt at the same level as that of countries like China and Chile.
The agency says it made the downgrade because the effects of the March disaster and resulting power shortages are slowing Japan's economic growth.
It added that the country has failed to hammer out viable plans for reforming its social security and tax system.
Without a clear direction, Moody's says, Japan's economy will deteriorate further.
But the agency notes that Japan has the largest external assets among advanced economies. It says the country will continue to win the trust of the market as long as it manages to improve its fiscal condition.
On the downgrade, Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he will not comment on a private-sector agency's assessment. But he said that going by recent bond auctions, the market's trust in Japanese government bonds remains firm.
Date: 8/23/2011 (Wednesday, August 24, 2011 10:22 +0900 (JST))
US credit agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Japan's debt by one notch, on concerns over the country's worsening fiscal situation.
Moody's cut Japan's government bond rating on Wednesday to "Double A 3" from "Double A 2".
The new rating ranks Japanese debt at the same level as that of countries like China and Chile.
The agency says it made the downgrade because the effects of the March disaster and resulting power shortages are slowing Japan's economic growth.
It added that the country has failed to hammer out viable plans for reforming its social security and tax system.
Without a clear direction, Moody's says, Japan's economy will deteriorate further.
But the agency notes that Japan has the largest external assets among advanced economies. It says the country will continue to win the trust of the market as long as it manages to improve its fiscal condition.
On the downgrade, Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he will not comment on a private-sector agency's assessment. But he said that going by recent bond auctions, the market's trust in Japanese government bonds remains firm.
8/23/2011 Virginia nuclear plant shut down by quake
Source: CNN
Date: 8/23/2011
(CNN) -- Tuesday's Virginia earthquake triggered the shutdown of a nearby nuclear power plant and spurred declarations of "unusual events" at plants as far away as Michigan, U.S. authorities reported.
Dominion Virginia Power said both reactors at its North Anna plant, less than 20 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude-5.8 quake, shut down after the first tremors. Amanda Reidelbach, an emergency management spokeswoman for Louisa County, said the plant vented steam, but there was no release of radioactive material.
David Heacock, the utility's chief nuclear officer, said the plant was operating on emergency power and the units were safely deactivated.
"The plants are designed for this kind of a seismic event," Heacock said. "There is no apparent damage to anything at the plant right now."
Heacock said the plant had four diesel generators supplying backup power and that those generators had three days of fuel. However, off-site electric power was expected to be restored later Tuesday, he said.
Dominion Virginia said reactors at its other nuclear station, the Surry plant near Newport News, were still running.
The North Anna plant is about 50 miles northwest of Richmond and about 90 miles southwest of Washington. Operators declared an alert -- the second-lowest level of emergency reporting under U.S. nuclear regulations -- after the quake struck shortly before 2 p.m., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
Twelve other plants in six states issued an "unusual event" declaration, the lowest level of emergency notice, according to the NRC. They included the Shearon Harris plant in North Carolina; the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland; Pennsylvania's Susquehanna, Three Mile Island, Limerick and Peach Bottom plants; the Oyster Creek, Hope Creek and Salem plants in New Jersey; and the D.C. Cook and Palisades plants in Michigan.
"All these plants continue to operate while plant personnel examine their sites," the NRC said.
CNN's Emily Smith, Jeanne Meserve, Scott Bronstein and Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report.
Date: 8/23/2011
(CNN) -- Tuesday's Virginia earthquake triggered the shutdown of a nearby nuclear power plant and spurred declarations of "unusual events" at plants as far away as Michigan, U.S. authorities reported.
Dominion Virginia Power said both reactors at its North Anna plant, less than 20 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude-5.8 quake, shut down after the first tremors. Amanda Reidelbach, an emergency management spokeswoman for Louisa County, said the plant vented steam, but there was no release of radioactive material.
David Heacock, the utility's chief nuclear officer, said the plant was operating on emergency power and the units were safely deactivated.
"The plants are designed for this kind of a seismic event," Heacock said. "There is no apparent damage to anything at the plant right now."
Heacock said the plant had four diesel generators supplying backup power and that those generators had three days of fuel. However, off-site electric power was expected to be restored later Tuesday, he said.
Dominion Virginia said reactors at its other nuclear station, the Surry plant near Newport News, were still running.
The North Anna plant is about 50 miles northwest of Richmond and about 90 miles southwest of Washington. Operators declared an alert -- the second-lowest level of emergency reporting under U.S. nuclear regulations -- after the quake struck shortly before 2 p.m., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
Twelve other plants in six states issued an "unusual event" declaration, the lowest level of emergency notice, according to the NRC. They included the Shearon Harris plant in North Carolina; the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland; Pennsylvania's Susquehanna, Three Mile Island, Limerick and Peach Bottom plants; the Oyster Creek, Hope Creek and Salem plants in New Jersey; and the D.C. Cook and Palisades plants in Michigan.
"All these plants continue to operate while plant personnel examine their sites," the NRC said.
CNN's Emily Smith, Jeanne Meserve, Scott Bronstein and Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report.
8/23/2011 M5.9 earthquake causes North Anna Nuclear Generating Station shutdown
CNBC (host Bill Griffith) reports that the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station has shutdown automatically due to the magnitude 5.9 earthquake with its epicenter at Mineral, Virginia. The nuclear power plant is located about 10 miles Northeast of the epicenter of the quake and is running on backup diesel generators (presumably after losing external power!) per CNBC host Mandy Drury. Dominion Resources stock took a hit after the quake, which CNBC host Brian Sullivan mulls over. Was it a pre-packaged black box algorithm? I have parsed together some video clips of the CNBC coverage with the relevant sound bytes related to the nuclear plant.
Click here for USGS Report.
Map
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map
For addition general earthquake footage:
Click here for USGS Report.
Map
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map
For addition general earthquake footage:
Monday, August 22, 2011
8/22/2011 Tokyo Soil Cesium Radiation Nearly Twice Chernobyl Dead Zone Limit – 919,100 Bq/Sq Meter Detected
Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: August 22, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Radiation soil tests from 150 sites in the Tokyo metropolitan area finds Cesium radiation up to levels limits nearly twice the Chernobyl dead zone evacuation limit of 500,000 Bq/Sq meter.
...
Read full article here
Date: August 22, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Radiation soil tests from 150 sites in the Tokyo metropolitan area finds Cesium radiation up to levels limits nearly twice the Chernobyl dead zone evacuation limit of 500,000 Bq/Sq meter.
...
Read full article here
8/22/2011 ALERT: 156 Millisieverts Per Year Radiation In Saint Loius – Levels 178 Times Background
Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: August 22, 2011 at 5:47 am
Radiation in Saint Louis spikes to 178 times background levels reading 1.786 millirems per hour, which is a dose of approximately 156.45 millisieverts per year.
...
Read full article here
Date: August 22, 2011 at 5:47 am
Radiation in Saint Louis spikes to 178 times background levels reading 1.786 millirems per hour, which is a dose of approximately 156.45 millisieverts per year.
...
Read full article here
8/21/2011 NY Times: Large Area Of Japan To Be Declared Indefinitely Uninhabitable, Perhaps For Decades
Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: 8/21/2011
In a deceitful article that downplays the extent and severity of the radiation contamination, the NY Times has announced that Japan is expected officially declare a large area of Japan surrounding Fukushima indefinitely uninhabitable, perhaps for decades.
...
Read full article here
Date: 8/21/2011
In a deceitful article that downplays the extent and severity of the radiation contamination, the NY Times has announced that Japan is expected officially declare a large area of Japan surrounding Fukushima indefinitely uninhabitable, perhaps for decades.
...
Read full article here
8/21/2011 China Syndrome
Source: Dr. Sircus' Blog
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Dr. Mark Sircus
Normally I would start an essay like this with the video below at the top, but I find it important to introduce it and the general tone this essay is going to take first. There are only two ways we learn. It’s either repetition or impact. Because the truth is getting out of hand, I am going for impact.
...
Read full article here
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Dr. Mark Sircus
The Last Parade
The China Syndrome:“A hypothetical sequence of events
following the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, in which the core
melts through its containment structure and deep into the earth.”
New Oxford American Dictionary.
following the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, in which the core
melts through its containment structure and deep into the earth.”
New Oxford American Dictionary.
Normally I would start an essay like this with the video below at the top, but I find it important to introduce it and the general tone this essay is going to take first. There are only two ways we learn. It’s either repetition or impact. Because the truth is getting out of hand, I am going for impact.
...
Read full article here
8/21/2011 New Data Supports Previous Fairewinds Analysis, as Contamination Spreads in Japan and Worldwide
Source: Fairewinds Associates via MsMilkytheclown
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Arnie Gundersen
Newly released neutron data from three University of California San Diego scientists confirms Fairewinds' April analysis that the nuclear core at Fukushima Daiichi turned on and off after TEPCO claimed its reactors had been shutdown. This periodic nuclear chain reaction (inadvertent criticality) continued to contaminate the surrounding environment and upper atmosphere with large doses of radioactivity.
In a second area of concern, Fairewinds disagrees the NRC's latest report claiming that all Fukushima spent fuel pools had no problems following the earthquake. In a new revelation, the NRC claims that the plutonium found more than 1 mile offsite actually came from inside the nuclear reactors. If such a statement were true, it indicates that the nuclear power plant containments failed and were breached with debris landing far from the power plants themselves. Such a failure of the containment system certainly necessitates a complete review of all US reactor containment design and industry assurances that containments will hold in radioactivity in the event of a nuclear accident. The evidence Fairewinds reviewed to date continues to support its April analysis that the detonation in the Unit 3 Spent Fuel pool was the cause of plutonium found off site.
Third, the burning of radioactive materials (building materials, trees, lawn grass, rice straw) by the Japanese government will cause radioactive Cesium to spread even further into areas within Japan that have been previously clean, and across the Pacific Ocean to North America.
And finally, the Japanese government has yet to grasp the severity of the contamination within Japan, and therefore has not developed a coherent plan mitigate the accident and remediate the environment. Without a cohesive plan to deal with this ongoing problem of large scale radioactive contamination, the radioactivity will continue to spread throughout Japan and around the globe further exacerbating the problem and raising costs astronomically.
Editor's Note: Below are links to the recent reports sited by Arnie Gundersen in his video.
[1] Evidence of Neutron Leakage at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant From Measurements of Radioactive 35S in California
[2] Briefing on the Task Force Review of NRC Processes and Regulations Following the Events in Japan
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Arnie Gundersen
Newly released neutron data from three University of California San Diego scientists confirms Fairewinds' April analysis that the nuclear core at Fukushima Daiichi turned on and off after TEPCO claimed its reactors had been shutdown. This periodic nuclear chain reaction (inadvertent criticality) continued to contaminate the surrounding environment and upper atmosphere with large doses of radioactivity.
In a second area of concern, Fairewinds disagrees the NRC's latest report claiming that all Fukushima spent fuel pools had no problems following the earthquake. In a new revelation, the NRC claims that the plutonium found more than 1 mile offsite actually came from inside the nuclear reactors. If such a statement were true, it indicates that the nuclear power plant containments failed and were breached with debris landing far from the power plants themselves. Such a failure of the containment system certainly necessitates a complete review of all US reactor containment design and industry assurances that containments will hold in radioactivity in the event of a nuclear accident. The evidence Fairewinds reviewed to date continues to support its April analysis that the detonation in the Unit 3 Spent Fuel pool was the cause of plutonium found off site.
Third, the burning of radioactive materials (building materials, trees, lawn grass, rice straw) by the Japanese government will cause radioactive Cesium to spread even further into areas within Japan that have been previously clean, and across the Pacific Ocean to North America.
And finally, the Japanese government has yet to grasp the severity of the contamination within Japan, and therefore has not developed a coherent plan mitigate the accident and remediate the environment. Without a cohesive plan to deal with this ongoing problem of large scale radioactive contamination, the radioactivity will continue to spread throughout Japan and around the globe further exacerbating the problem and raising costs astronomically.
Editor's Note: Below are links to the recent reports sited by Arnie Gundersen in his video.
[1] Evidence of Neutron Leakage at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant From Measurements of Radioactive 35S in California
[2] Briefing on the Task Force Review of NRC Processes and Regulations Following the Events in Japan
Sunday, August 21, 2011
8/21/2011 [Inside Fukushima plant]
Source: Fukushima Diary
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Mochizuki
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Mochizuki
A young journalist went inside of the Fukushima plant getting disguised as an actual worker.
1) There is no ID check to get in.
2) They pay you 10,000JPY per 1mSv exposure. so if you are exposed to 10mSv in total,you are paid 100,000JPY.
3) The contract was 70,000JPY per day but it was actually about 13,000JPY.
4) Workers are really demotivated.Some of them are disaster refugees. They can’t help working there to earn the living.
5) He took pictures inside,he will publish them later.
6) There are at least 6 layers of sub-contract companies.The lowest level of the workers come and leave only for one day.However,nobody checks it.
7) Because of (6),workers don’t know each other.
There is no Geiger counter in the facility. They hang a sheet of paper to show “the current” radiation level ,which is hand writing,at cafeteria,but it was still “April”.(He went there in August.)
http://www.videonews.com/special-report/031040/002026.php
1) There is no ID check to get in.
2) They pay you 10,000JPY per 1mSv exposure. so if you are exposed to 10mSv in total,you are paid 100,000JPY.
3) The contract was 70,000JPY per day but it was actually about 13,000JPY.
4) Workers are really demotivated.Some of them are disaster refugees. They can’t help working there to earn the living.
5) He took pictures inside,he will publish them later.
6) There are at least 6 layers of sub-contract companies.The lowest level of the workers come and leave only for one day.However,nobody checks it.
7) Because of (6),workers don’t know each other.
There is no Geiger counter in the facility. They hang a sheet of paper to show “the current” radiation level ,which is hand writing,at cafeteria,but it was still “April”.(He went there in August.)http://www.videonews.com/special-report/031040/002026.php
8/20/2011 Fukushima radioactive seawater plume spreading across entire Pacific Ocean
Source: dutchsinse
Date: 8/20/2011
Plume dispersion map shown in video: http://www.xydo.com/toolbar/27327691-asr_ltd_-_fukushima_radioactive_seawater_plume_dispersal_simulation
Date: 8/20/2011
Plume dispersion map shown in video: http://www.xydo.com/toolbar/27327691-asr_ltd_-_fukushima_radioactive_seawater_plume_dispersal_simulation
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