Source: AFP
Date: 7/5/2011
TOKYO — Soil radiation in a city 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Japan's stricken nuclear plant is above levels that prompted resettlement after the Chernobyl disaster, citizens' groups said Tuesday.
The survey of four locations in Fukushima city, outside the nuclear evacuation zone, showed that all soil samples contained caesium exceeding Japan's legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kilogram (4,500 per pound), they said.
The highest level was 46,540 becquerels per kilogram, and the three other readings were between 16,290 and 19,220 becquerels per kilogram, they said.
The citizens' groups -- the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation and five other non-governmental organisations -- have called for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from the town.
The highest reading in the city of 290,000 people far exceeded the level that triggered compulsory resettlement ordered by Soviet authorities following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, they said.
Kobe University radiation expert professor Tomoya Yamauchi conducted the survey on June 26 following a request from the groups.
"Soil contamination is spreading in the city," Yamauchi said in a statement. "Children are playing with the soil, meaning they are playing with high levels of radioactive substances. Evacuation must be conducted as soon as possible."
The coastal Fukushima Daiichi plant has been spewing radiation since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling systems.
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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Tuesday, July 5, 2011
7/5/2011 Tonight's Comedy Hour Punchline: Japan To Stress Test Nuclear Plants
Source: ZeroHedge
Date: 07/05/2011 20:51 -0400
by: Tyler Durden
Just when one thinks news can't get any more... what's the right word here... here it comes. Per Reuters, Japan has decided to justify the credibility of its nukes, by, get this, performing stress tests. "Japan's trade minister Banri Kaieda said the government would conduct stress tests on all nuclear power reactors in Japan, Jiji news agency reported on Wednesday. The minister also said he would ensure there were no problems with power supplies, Jiji reported." Where does one start here: that the ECB is not the one conducting the tests - after all who has more expertise with stress tests... Or that the tests come after the biggest nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl: after all what's the downside - one more Fukushima and Japan would convert into the Prypiat level from Call of Duty... Or that the tests will just accidentally forget to test for such 60 sigma events as earthquakes or tsunamis... Or that the announcement comes a day after the Japanese reconstruction minister quit after a week on the job... Or that the ECB will announce it will accept Japan's nukes as collateral until at least 10 major networks show footage of a mushroom cloud.... Or that ISDA will shortly determine that another nuclear explosion is not really a nuclear explosion and that all CDS against nuclear explosions will be null and void as soon as there is an actual explosion... Or that Tim Geithner is currently in Tokyo explaining there is nothing more credible than a stress tested nuke... Or that Basel VIIIXLC will find a NPP safe if its ratio of gamma to alpha radiation is more than 1 megaroentgen, promptly followed by Jamie Dimon bitching to BOJ president Shirakawa that 1 megaroentgen is too much to demand from Fukushima Street.... And it continues. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Date: 07/05/2011 20:51 -0400
by: Tyler Durden
Just when one thinks news can't get any more... what's the right word here... here it comes. Per Reuters, Japan has decided to justify the credibility of its nukes, by, get this, performing stress tests. "Japan's trade minister Banri Kaieda said the government would conduct stress tests on all nuclear power reactors in Japan, Jiji news agency reported on Wednesday. The minister also said he would ensure there were no problems with power supplies, Jiji reported." Where does one start here: that the ECB is not the one conducting the tests - after all who has more expertise with stress tests... Or that the tests come after the biggest nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl: after all what's the downside - one more Fukushima and Japan would convert into the Prypiat level from Call of Duty... Or that the tests will just accidentally forget to test for such 60 sigma events as earthquakes or tsunamis... Or that the announcement comes a day after the Japanese reconstruction minister quit after a week on the job... Or that the ECB will announce it will accept Japan's nukes as collateral until at least 10 major networks show footage of a mushroom cloud.... Or that ISDA will shortly determine that another nuclear explosion is not really a nuclear explosion and that all CDS against nuclear explosions will be null and void as soon as there is an actual explosion... Or that Tim Geithner is currently in Tokyo explaining there is nothing more credible than a stress tested nuke... Or that Basel VIIIXLC will find a NPP safe if its ratio of gamma to alpha radiation is more than 1 megaroentgen, promptly followed by Jamie Dimon bitching to BOJ president Shirakawa that 1 megaroentgen is too much to demand from Fukushima Street.... And it continues. Etc. Etc. Etc.
7/3/2011 As Missouri floods, anger spills over at Army Corps
Source: McClatchy Newspapers
Date: Sunday, July 3, 2011
by: Dave Helling and Scott Canon
Date: Sunday, July 3, 2011
by: Dave Helling and Scott Canon
Rising waters flood a farm in the spillway of Missouri farmland after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breeched the levee near Cairo, Illinois | E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/MCT
7/4/2011 Fukushima May Worsen Global Nuclear Skills Shortage, U.K. Watchdog Says
Source: Bloomberg
Date: Jul 4, 2011 6:01 PM CT
Japan’s nuclear disaster may worsen a skills shortage in the nuclear industry as regulators look for people able to carry out detailed assessments of power plants, the U.K.’s chief inspector of atomic installations said.
“There is a question about the market hardening in terms of the people with the right skills,” said Mike Weightman, who led the International Atomic Energy Agency’s fact-finding team to the Fukushima plant in Japan. Regulators “have to have the resources to keep pace with that market.”
...
Read full article here
Date: Jul 4, 2011 6:01 PM CT
Japan’s nuclear disaster may worsen a skills shortage in the nuclear industry as regulators look for people able to carry out detailed assessments of power plants, the U.K.’s chief inspector of atomic installations said.
“There is a question about the market hardening in terms of the people with the right skills,” said Mike Weightman, who led the International Atomic Energy Agency’s fact-finding team to the Fukushima plant in Japan. Regulators “have to have the resources to keep pace with that market.”
...
Read full article here
7/5/2011 Los Alamos to Resume Operations Following Fire
Source: Global Security Newswire
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is due to open on Wednesday, more than one week after a record-setting blaze in the state forced the nuclear weapons site to suspend operations, facility Director Charles McMillan said on Sunday (see GSN, July 1).
“Los Alamos National Laboratory appears to have escaped serious damage from the Las Conchas fire,” McMillan wrote in a memo to personnel. “We are grateful for the tremendous efforts of emergency responders that helped spare the lab and the town of Los Alamos. I wish to extend my deepest thanks to everyone who has helped so far, including all lab employees who have patiently persevered during this emergency.
...
Read full article here
Residents are also returning home to the town of Los Alamos as well according to KOBTV4:
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is due to open on Wednesday, more than one week after a record-setting blaze in the state forced the nuclear weapons site to suspend operations, facility Director Charles McMillan said on Sunday (see GSN, July 1).
“Los Alamos National Laboratory appears to have escaped serious damage from the Las Conchas fire,” McMillan wrote in a memo to personnel. “We are grateful for the tremendous efforts of emergency responders that helped spare the lab and the town of Los Alamos. I wish to extend my deepest thanks to everyone who has helped so far, including all lab employees who have patiently persevered during this emergency.
...
Read full article here
Residents are also returning home to the town of Los Alamos as well according to KOBTV4:
7/5/2011 45% of Kids in Fukushima Survey Had Thyroid Exposure to Radiation
Source: Qatar News Agency (QNA)
Date: 08:23 2011/07/05
Tokyo, July 05 (QNA) - Around 45% of children in Fukushima Prefecture surveyed by the local and central governments in late March experienced thyroid exposure to radiation, although in all cases in trace amounts that did not warrant further examination, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said Tuesday. The survey was conducted on 1,080 children aged 0 to 15 in Iwaki, Kawamata and Iitate on March 26-30 in light of radiation leakages from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, Japan''s News Agency "Kyodo" reported. Separately, a survey of soil at four locations in the city of Fukushima on June 26 found that all samples were contaminated with radioactive cesium, measuring 16,000 to 46,000 becquerels per kilogram and exceeding the legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kg, citizens groups involved said Tuesday. (QNA) ST/LY
Here is the corresponding story from Democracy Now:
Click here to see the full Democracy Now news report
Date: 08:23 2011/07/05
Tokyo, July 05 (QNA) - Around 45% of children in Fukushima Prefecture surveyed by the local and central governments in late March experienced thyroid exposure to radiation, although in all cases in trace amounts that did not warrant further examination, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said Tuesday. The survey was conducted on 1,080 children aged 0 to 15 in Iwaki, Kawamata and Iitate on March 26-30 in light of radiation leakages from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, Japan''s News Agency "Kyodo" reported. Separately, a survey of soil at four locations in the city of Fukushima on June 26 found that all samples were contaminated with radioactive cesium, measuring 16,000 to 46,000 becquerels per kilogram and exceeding the legal limit of 10,000 becquerels per kg, citizens groups involved said Tuesday. (QNA) ST/LY
Here is the corresponding story from Democracy Now:
Click here to see the full Democracy Now news report
7/5/2011 Fukushima residents dump radiated soil in absence of plan
Source: Reuters
Date: Tue Jul 5, 2011 1:33am GMT
by: Antoni Slodkowski
Date: Tue Jul 5, 2011 1:33am GMT
by: Antoni Slodkowski
 | FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - They scoop up soil from their gardens and dump it in holes dug out in parks and nearby forests, scrub their roofs with soap and refuse to let their children play outside. More than three months after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown at a nearby power plant, Fukushima residents are scrambling to cope with contamination on their own in the absence of a long-term plan from the government. ... Read full article here |
Monday, July 4, 2011
7/4/2011 Just when I thought Fukushima I had stabilized, 266 Sieverts/hr reactor 1 dry well!
Date: 7/4/2011
I was reading the Lucas Whitefield Hixson news site via the RadiationNews™ Google gadget when I saw his report on Fukushima Daiichi reactor I dry well. Just when I thought TEPCO was making progress in stabilizing Fukushima I the radiation spikes again, this time to all time highs. As the measurement device is labeled as "Defective meter" perhaps we can pray it is an erroneous measurement? Below is a screen grab which shows the latest data plot is from 7/3/2011 (Sunday JST):
I was reading the Lucas Whitefield Hixson news site via the RadiationNews™ Google gadget when I saw his report on Fukushima Daiichi reactor I dry well. Just when I thought TEPCO was making progress in stabilizing Fukushima I the radiation spikes again, this time to all time highs. As the measurement device is labeled as "Defective meter" perhaps we can pray it is an erroneous measurement? Below is a screen grab which shows the latest data plot is from 7/3/2011 (Sunday JST):
Click here for live reading
Location: Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Date: Mar 15, 2011 (Tuesday) - 03 July 2011 (Sun) The latest: D / W: two hundred sixty-six Sv / h , S / C: 0.769 Sv / h Situation Defective meter
Date D / W S / C 7 / 03 266 0.769 7 / 02 42.0 0.770 7 / 01 34.2 0.773 6 / 30 43.2 0.775 6 / 29 33.8 0.775 6 / 28 35.4 0.764 6 / 27 51.0 0.793 6 / 26 35.0 0.798 6 / 24 41.6 0.801 6 / 23 54.3 0.803 6 / 04 250.0 0.889 6 / 03 222.0 0.898 6 / 02 209.0 0.909 6 / 01 185.0 0.919 5 / 31 59.0 0.928 5 / 30 41.8 0.936 5 / 29 225 0.944 5 / 28 215 0.950 5 / 27 63.8 0.959 5 / 26 43.7 0.958 5 / 25 215 0.987 5 / 24 192 0.997 5 / 23 201 1.01 
NISA plant parameters have been published (when the reactor), the amount of nuclear radiation has been graphed.
You can check the daily water temperature, pressure and radiation dose of No. 1-5, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power reactors.
As soon as the data is published and updated as the graph.
No. 4 spent fuel pool temperature for a value other than not being published, not a graph.
Meaning of the terms in the chart below. D / W stands for ... well dry. Containment vessel to the body. S / C ... stands for the suppression chamber. To the pressure suppression chamber.
※ The value of the graph shows the maximum absolute value of the day.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
7/3/2011 TEPCO makes progress on cooling/water treatment system
Date: 7/3/2011
There does seem to be some progress made on TEPCO's cooling/water treatment system. According to the Daily Yomiuri, on Saturday the system was run and has decontaminated 3,580 tons of radioactive water, enough to provide 10 days worth of cooling.[1] Another sign of progress is that the cooling system is able to work off of decontaminated water in a closed loop, without requiring 2-3 tons of fresh water per hour being pumped in (sourced externally) as was previously required when the cooling system first started operating on June 27, 2011.[1, 2]
There does seem to be some progress made on TEPCO's cooling/water treatment system. According to the Daily Yomiuri, on Saturday the system was run and has decontaminated 3,580 tons of radioactive water, enough to provide 10 days worth of cooling.[1] Another sign of progress is that the cooling system is able to work off of decontaminated water in a closed loop, without requiring 2-3 tons of fresh water per hour being pumped in (sourced externally) as was previously required when the cooling system first started operating on June 27, 2011.[1, 2]
| Also a broken hose with a large hole has been replaced which allows the resumption of reactor #5's cooling, which had been halted to do the repair.[3] NHK World: TEPCO improves circulation cooling system [2] When examining the right sidebar of the EX-SKF blog, where EX-SKF tracks the millimeters from the top of radioactive water drainage ditches to the water level, the distance from the top of the water to the top of the ditches is increasing, which means the amount of contaminated water pooling at Fukushima Daiichi is getting lower: another good sign. Sources: [1] TEPCO in water purification push, Daily Yomiuri [2] TEPCO improves circulation cooling system, NHK World [3] Cooling resumes at Fukushima No.5 reactor, NHK World | EX-SKF Sidebar  |
7/2/2011 Fukushima Update–Lies, Damned Lies and the Big Lie.
Source: The Paltry Sapien
Date: 7/2/2011
by: Matthew Payne
Baby Being Checked out for Radiation (c/o The Guardian)
UPDATE (7/3): The post below discusses what I see as the all-pervading mendacity surrounding the Fukushima accident, but The Atlantic Wire has an extremely important story, based on eye-witness interviews, that finally breaks TEPC0′s and the various governments’ blockades on what precipitated the accident (h/t to Joieau at Daily Kos for highlighting this story). We now know the standard story, that of a recovering plant being knocked out by tsunami wave taking out its emergency electrical generators, is the biggest lie. As the authors of the piece, Jake Adelstein and David McNeill note the truth may have been something very different:
Read full article here
Date: 7/2/2011
by: Matthew Payne
Baby Being Checked out for Radiation (c/o The Guardian)
UPDATE (7/3): The post below discusses what I see as the all-pervading mendacity surrounding the Fukushima accident, but The Atlantic Wire has an extremely important story, based on eye-witness interviews, that finally breaks TEPC0′s and the various governments’ blockades on what precipitated the accident (h/t to Joieau at Daily Kos for highlighting this story). We now know the standard story, that of a recovering plant being knocked out by tsunami wave taking out its emergency electrical generators, is the biggest lie. As the authors of the piece, Jake Adelstein and David McNeill note the truth may have been something very different:
But what if recirculation pipes and cooling pipes, burst, snapped, leaked, and broke completely after the earthquake — long before the tidal wave reached the facilities, long before the electricity went out?...
Read full article here
7/2/2011 Los Alamos lab prepares to reopen as fire threat eases
Source: Reuters
Date: Sat Jul 2, 2011 5:42pm EDT
(Reuters) - The Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory has ended a state of emergency and was taking small steps on Saturday toward reopening as the threat from a record New Mexico wildfire subsided.
But highlighting the need for continued vigilance, a squirrel sparked a small blaze on lab property on Saturday when it touched a transformer. That fire, which measured about an acre, was quickly extinguished, the lab said in a statement.
...
Read full article here
Editor's Note: TA-53 (Technical Area 53) is where the squirrel mentioned above blew out the transformer, causing an electrical fire. TA-53 is outside any of the affected areas as shown in the MODIS or GOES fire detection maps provided by the USDA Forest Service.
Below is a map showing the Technical Areas and Material Disposal Areas together:
Date: Sat Jul 2, 2011 5:42pm EDT
(Reuters) - The Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory has ended a state of emergency and was taking small steps on Saturday toward reopening as the threat from a record New Mexico wildfire subsided.
But highlighting the need for continued vigilance, a squirrel sparked a small blaze on lab property on Saturday when it touched a transformer. That fire, which measured about an acre, was quickly extinguished, the lab said in a statement.
...
Read full article here
Editor's Note: TA-53 (Technical Area 53) is where the squirrel mentioned above blew out the transformer, causing an electrical fire. TA-53 is outside any of the affected areas as shown in the MODIS or GOES fire detection maps provided by the USDA Forest Service.
Below is a map showing the Technical Areas and Material Disposal Areas together:
7/2/2011 Japanese Youth Show Signs Of Radiation Exposure
Source: care2 (make a difference)
Date: July 2, 2011 6:30 pm
by: by Beth Buczynski
Test results show that children living in Fukushima city during the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear fallout may suffer from internal radiation exposure.
It is known that the Fukushima power plant, which is still under repair, sprang several radioactive leaks during the natural disasters, contaminating both sea and tap water, as well as soil of surrounding farm areas. Produce and milk exports were both halted in the weeks following the crisis for fear of spreading contaminated foods.
...
Read full article here
Date: July 2, 2011 6:30 pm
by: by Beth Buczynski
It is known that the Fukushima power plant, which is still under repair, sprang several radioactive leaks during the natural disasters, contaminating both sea and tap water, as well as soil of surrounding farm areas. Produce and milk exports were both halted in the weeks following the crisis for fear of spreading contaminated foods.
...
Read full article here
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