Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO issued further info about the workers sent to the hospital:

- On March 24th, it was confirmed that 3 workers from cooperative companies who were in charge of cable laying work in the 1st floor and the underground floor of turbine building were exposed to the radiation dose of more than 170 mSv. 2 of them were confirmed that their leg skin were contaminated. Although they were decontaminated, since it is judged that there is possibility of beta ray burn injury, they were transferred to Fukushima Medical University Hospital. After medical examination at Fukushima Medical University Hospital, they will be transferred to National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture today (March 25) and stay for around four days to survey the situation. Inspection result of the water that the workers stepped in will be announced when it is reported.

And in case you've yearned to see how US Spent Fuel pools look:

NEI has put up two videos

Fuel Assemblies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp7jAhMIWD8

US Spent Fuel Pools
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO-daVysLH8

[Olympia]

Golly, if ever there were an incentive to give up butter, it's reading what a cardiac catheterization costs in millirems! It makes me want to become a vegan.

Doris, I hope you're reading frivolous things as well as all this material. While I'm sure you're finding it helpful to immerse yourself in the details--and we're certainly glad to have such an expert informant helping us through it!--the stress can build up in you. This is a tough time for anyone with links to the situation. Make sure you're eating, sleeping, and rocking on.

[dorispulaski]

Too much eating and not enough sleeping mostly

As to reading, after I finished "Wormwood Forest" and have started on "Power to Save the World" by Gwyneth Cravens, a very good book, very pertinent reading right now.

As to the cardiac cath, the health consequences of "low dose" radiation (and yes people argue about what dose is "low dose") are a "hot" topic of discussion, and not just now, among people interested in having more and having less nuclear power, and among health professionals that fall on either side of that debate. Most people these days end up with their biggest doses from medical procedures, and that will be true in Japan, because other than the workers at the plant, no one has gotten anything but a very small dose, as the surrounding people were evacuated well in advance of any release of radiation or radioactive materials.

Cardiac cath is a lot less than what people receive for radiation therapy (I had radiation therapy for uterine cancer back in 2000)

Everyone agrees that a "large dose" is catastrophic, and causes death. However, after that there are people who believe any dose may be harmful (and I hope they never need a cardiac cath), those that believe small doses actually improve health, those that believe doses below a certain threshold cause no problems, and a few other even strager theories.

There are several groups of people whose long term health have been followed:

Women who used to paint the numbers on radium watch and alarm clock faces. In fact many of them used to lick their brushes to get a finer point. The last of them recently died at 100.

A group of men in the US who ingested massive doses of plutonium in the 1950's, from one of the US national labs, and who call themselves the UPPU club (If you have had a high dose of plutonium (chemical symbol Pu), it is excreted in your urine.) The survivors are in their 80's.

The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 2006, when Cravens wrote her book, about 40% of them were still alive.

The people who actively worked at the effort to clean up after Chernobyl were followed very closely, and areas affected by Chernobyl, (although that is significantly more difficult). Many of the people who cleaned up have better health than the average for the areas in which they live, mostly because they get lots of medical checkups compared to other people living in the region. People's ability to withstand radiation varies greatly.

Radiation is most destructive to fast growing tissue in your body, which is why it is disruptive to cancer, and why it is much more dangerous for babies and children than for adults.

The cancers most closely associated with it are thyroid (mostly avoidable with iodine tablets, and generally curable.)

The overall five-year relative thyroid cancer survival rate from 1995-2001 was 96.6 percent. The five-year relative survival rates by race and sex were:

•94.4 percent for Caucasian men
•97.7 percent for Caucasian women
•89.2 percent for African American men
•95.4 percent for African American women.

And of course, better if you are diagnosed early than late.

The other cancers most closely associated with radiation are blood cancers, including the different forms of leukemia. In the 1960's, this was considered a quick death sentence. Survival rates are now 85% for children and 50% for adults.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukemia

As Cravens cites in her book, explaining the difficulties of doing statistics on the subject of large scale radiation exposure, like Chernobyl, looking at the population of New York City, even if you accept that some 5000 odd additional cancers might develop in a situation that she cites, that is hard to tell when the same population has more than 1,000,000 cancer cases from other causes.

And the excessive number cancers started appearing some five years after Hiroshima/Nagasaki, so this is something that does not appear at once. If any of the workers at Daiichi gets cancer due to radiation exposure, it will be after a number of more years of medical research have improved survival rates still further. And you may be sure, those plant workers' health will be tracked, as the Hiroshima/Nagasaki survivors were tracked.

TEPCO has more info about the radiation exposure of the two men who were sent to the hospital:

It appears they continued working, even though their dosimeter alarms went off, and stayed standing in the puddle for three hours. They were decontaminated by "laundering", which is typical.

The puddle has been analyzed.

Radiation dose rate of surface of the water is approximately 400 mSv/hr.

Result of gamma-ray nuclide analyses based on sampling of puddle

Name of nuclide Concentration (Bequerel / cubic centimeter)

Cobalt 60 Conc 700
Technetium 99m Conc 2,500
Iodine 131 Conc 1,200
Cesium 134 Conc 1,800
Cesium 136 Conc 23,000
Cesium 137 Conc 180,000
Barium 140 Conc 52,000
Lanthanum 140 Conc 9,400
Cerium 144 Conc 220,000

Total dose 390,000

We are assessing radiation dose of 2 worker's leg skin by beta ray.

We guess that this incident was caused because the workers regarded radiation dose of working area as low from survey result of radiation dose on March 23 and continued working without recognizing change of working conditions of the day although alarm of their dosemeter rang.

We thoroughly instruct our employees and workers of cooperative companies to recognize alarm of their dosemeter and evacuate when the alarm rings.

More detail on the scale of pumping sea water to reactors and spent fuel pools:

*In total 13 fire engines are lent for spraying water to the spent fuel pools and water injection to the nuclear reactors by various regional fire departments* as well as Tokyo Fire Department. Also, instruction regarding the setting and operation of large scale decontamination system was provided.

Radiation measurements at Daini are still declining slowly at Meauring Point 4 and at the Daiichi Main gate

8.9 microSieverts/hour at 3:00 PM, March 25, Daina MP4
202.5 microSieverts/hour at 3:30 PM, March 25, Daiichi Main Gate

[dorispulaski]

JAIF has translated the noon March 25th NHK news on Daiichi

Status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station as of 12:00, March 25,
2011
Here is information regarding the status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station from the news reports aired by NHK last night and in this morning on March 25.

l The work to recover external AC power for units-1, 2, 3 and 4 is in progress. External AC power to the main control room at unit-2 will be available today. According to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the reactor surface temperature at unit-1 increased to approx. 400 degrees C once (design assumption maximum 302 degrees C). Now it dropped to 204.5 degrees C (as of 06:00 on March 25). Meanwhile, in the turbine building at unit-3, drainage work is also in progress. (10:45, March 25)

l On March 24, 2 workers, who were working to lay electrical cables in turbine building at unit-3, were sent to the hospital. TEPCO suspected that the nuclear fuel in the reactor or spent nuclear fuel at the pool was damaged and water contaminated with high radioactivity was leaked to the workspace. Further investigation is now carrying on. These 2 workers were not wearing boots. Another worker wearing boots is safe. (07:15, March 25)

l As for the coolant of reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, TEPCO would like to switch from seawater to fresh water as fast as possible. The first switch will be carried out at unit 3. (04:30, March 25)

l Ministry of Defense announced that the Self-Defense Force helicopter measured the surface temperatures of Fukushima Daiichi units-1, 2, 3 and 4 from the air by using infrared rays and found that the temperature of each units are below 20 degrees C.
Unit-1:17 degrees C;
Unit-2: 13 degrees C;
Unit-3: 11 degrees C;
Unit-4: 17 degrees C (as of the morning on March 24).
Especially, the surface temperature of the spent fuel pool at unit-3 dropped significantly to 31 degrees C, compared to 56 degrees C on the previous day. (21:15, March 24)

[dorispulaski]

And JAIF has produced the following report, from their "Atoms in Japan" newsletter

http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/aij/me...011-03-25a.pdf

Lights Back On in Central Control Room at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3
after External Electricity Reconnected (as of March 23)

As seawater injection continued to the spent fuel pool at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, owned and operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), a temporary cable for external power was connected, making electricity again available to Units 1 through 6. Test runs of each item of the electrical and other equipment will now be carried out, with recovery work to proceed as expeditiously as possible.

At 10:45 p.m. on March 22, lights came back on in the Central Control Room in Unit 3.

At Units 5 and 6, meanwhile, all power has been switched to external sources, with a
water feeding line having been added to the water-injection line to the reactor pressure
vessel in Unit 1.

Earlier, on March 21, the Japanese government held a joint meeting – the 13th meeting
of the Tohoku Region Pacific Ocean Offshore Earthquake Emergency Response Headquarters and the 11th meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters - at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Tokyo. In his remarks, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that there was “now light at the end of the tunnel in this critical situation,” thanks to the strenuous efforts of the many people involved. He thereby showed his recognition that progress, though little and slow, was being made.

On the morning of March 17, six days after the government had issued declaration of nuclear emergency, Self-Defense Force (SDF) helicopters dropped water four times at the Unit 3 of Fukushima Daiichi, the reactor building of which had shown white smoke belching the previous day. Thereafter, water injection began to be carried on the ground by various parties: SDF fire trucks, police water-cannon trucks, high-pressure watercannon trucks provided by U.S. Forces, special fire trucks of the Tokyo Fire Department’s Hyper-Rescue Team, and others. Unit 3 received most of the injection. By 10:00 a.m. on March 23, the amount of water injected into Unit 3 had reached 3,900 tons.

In the cooling operations at the spent fuel pools – another key to containing the damage – a special vehicle (concrete-pumping truck with 50-meter-long arm, normally part of construction work) was used at Unit 4 on March 22, in addition to the fire trucks of the SDF and that provided by U.S. Forces.

Regarding the restoration of external electric power at Units 5 and 6, where states of cold shutdown had been achieved on March 20, the power was switched from emergency diesel generators to an external source on March 21 and 22, respectively. Electricity was restored at Unit 2 on March 21 and at Unit 4 on March 22. At Unit 3, where gray smoke emerging on March 21 was a cause for fresh concern, lights were restored in the Central Control Room. At Unit 1, which is receiving electricity from Unit 2, equipment is currently being checked. Excluding Unit 4, which was not in operation when the earthquake occurred, Units 1 through 3, with their fuel assemblies loaded in their cores, must still achieve cold shutdown. Injections of seawater are continuing at those reactors.

25 March 2011

At the start of the joint meeting on March 21, Prime Minister Kan expressed his recognition that “truly life-risking efforts are enabling the situation at Fukushima Daiichi to move forward.” Heroic work by the SDF and Tokyo Fire Department has delivered 3,000 tons of water to the reactors, primarily Unit 3, and recovery of power has made significant progress primarily at Units 1 and 2. Although we have not escaped this critical situation, there is now “light at the end of the tunnel,” according to the Prime Minister.

Describing the Fukushima NPS accident as one of the worst in Japan’s history, the prime minister said “we still must bring it under control before it causes enormous damage.” He said that the SDF, TEPCO, the Tokyo Fire Department and other firefighting parties were doing everything in their power. He urged them to continue, and to “provide even greater help.”

At the end, the Prime Minister raised his voice when saying, “We must make a visionary restoration plan. We must realize a society where people feel that Japanese communities have improved and become more vigorous after overcoming this unprecedented natural disaster – communities in which they can live again with peace of mind.”
Editor: Mio Kimuro, JAIF

[dorispulaski]

NEI has their evening report up

UPDATE AS OF 7 P.M. EDT, MARCH 24
Restoration of electric power at reactors 1, 2 and 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has led to the reconnection of important reactor instrumentation, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Cooling water continues to be injected into reactors 1, 2 and 3. Reactors 5 and 6 at Fukushima Daiichi remain safely shut down. Both reactors were undergoing maintenance at the time of the earthquake.

Radiation dose rates inside the containment vessels of reactors 1 and 2 have decreased slightly, IAEA said.

External power has been reconnected to the common used fuel storage pool at the plant and cooling started on March 24 at 5:05 a.m. EDT, according to Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. About 60 percent of the used uranium fuel rods at Fukushima plant are stored at this facility.

Radiation Monitoring Continues
Air samples collected at on-site monitors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant March 19-23 show that only iodine-131 was found to be in excess of Japanese government limits. Radiation dose rates measured on site March 21-23 have decreased from 193 millirem to 21 millirem per hour. Radiation dose rates at the plant's site boundary ranged from 1 millirem to 3 millirem per hour on Thursday.

At distances between 34 and 73 kilometers to the west of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the dose rate ranged from .06 millirem to .69 millirem per hour.

Considerable variation in the levels of reported iodine-131 and cesium-137 continues in 10 prefectures, IAEA said. Food, milk and drinking water sampling has been most thorough and extensive in the Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, IAEA said.

Seawater samples collected at several points 30 kilometers from the coastline near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found measurable concentrations of iodine-131 and cesium-137, IAEA said. The iodine concentrations were at or above Japanese regulatory limits. The cesium levels were well below those limits.

For more information on iodine-131, see NEI's fact sheet Health Impacts of Iodine-131.

[dorispulaski]

IAEA has the following daily status:

Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update (25 March 2011, 05.15 UTC)
Update on Conditions of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

At Unit 1 workers have advanced the restoration of off-site electricity and lighting in the Unit's main control room was recovered as of 24 March, 11:30 UTC. They are now checking the availability of the cooling system.

While the pressure in the reactor vessel remains high, Japanese authorities are reporting that it has stabilized.

At Unit 2 engineers are working for the recovery of lighting in the main control room, and the instrumentation and cooling systems.

At Unit 3, around 120 tonnes of seawater was injected in the spent fuel pool via the cooling and purification line. The operation was carried out between 23 March, 20:35 UTC and 24 March, 07:05 UTC.

Work was under way for the recovery of the instruments and cooling systems. However, it had to be suspended because three workers were exposed to elevated levels of radiation on 24 March.

At Unit 4, the spent fuel pool was sprayed with around 150 tonnes of water using concrete pump truck. The operation was carried out between 24 March, 05:36 UTC and 06:30 UTC of the same day.

At Units 5 and 6, repair of the temporary pump for Residual Heat Removal (RHR) was completed as of 24 March, 07:14 UTC, and cooling started again 21 minutes later.

At the Common Spent Fuel, the power supply was restored as of 24 March, 06:37 UTC and cooling started again 28 minutes later. Work is now under way for the recovery of the lighting and instrumentation systems.

As of 24 March, 09:40 UTC, the water temperature of the pool was around 73 °C.

As of 24 March, 10:30 UTC workers continue to inject seawater into the reactor pressure vessels of Units 1, 2 and 3 and are preparing to inject pure water.

The IAEA also reports on the workers who were sent to the hospital, and adds this info:

As of 24 March, 19:30 Japan time, the number of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found to have received more than 100 millisieverts of radiation dose totalled 17 including the three contract workers. The remaining fourteen are TEPCO's employees.

100 milliSieverts is 10 mrem, the amount of one chest xray. Each worker has a dosimeter, which records what dose he has received. So the above is actually good news, that it is not worse.

The reason the worker with boots had no problem was that beta radiation is stopped by clothing. The two workers without boots had the water on their bare skin.

[dorispulaski]

Veen Oui YOKOSUKA, Japan (Mar. 25, 2011) - Barge YOGN-115, carrying 1.04 million litres (275,000 gallons) of fresh water, departs Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) to support cooling efforts at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. CFAY port operations cleaned and filled two barges, totaling nearly 1.89 million litres (500,000 gallons) of fresh water. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Mikey Mulcare)

The above from IAEA's facebook, which I thought was interesting.

[dorispulaski]

There are of course, concerns about where the radioactive water in the basement of Unit 3 came from.

However, there are several things to know:

It was a puddle, that was deep enough to go over someone's shoes, but not deep enough to go over the top of a pair of boots, and the workers involved stood in it for 3 hours, so it wasn't getting deeper very fast.

Unit3 is a building that has had water sprayed into it by the ton, over and over. And there have been doubts about the integrity of the suppression chamber, spent fuel pool, and the reactor pressure vessel since the explosion.

The containment vessel is a separate structure.

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/image...l-pool-820.jpg



If there were a sizable hole in the bottom of the spent fuel pool or the reactor, there would be a lot more water in the basement, in the space of 3 hours.

Furthermore, the concentration of radioactive material in the water in the puddle is higher than JAIF expects for reactor water.

JAIF says:

Radioactive fission products were detected in the pool at the work area. Their concentration was about 3.9 million Bq/cc, ten thousand times higher than the reactor water in
normal operation. NISA indicated the possible damage of the Reactor Pressure Vessel of Unit 3. With these three workers, so far seventeen workers have been exposed to more than 100 mSv of radiation.

Stuff is still going on in the other 5 units, but no workers are hauling cables through the basement of Unit 3.

<March 25th>
06:45-10:20 Water injection to SFP via reactor water clean up system started in Unit 4
10:30-12:19 Water injection to SFP via reactor water clean up system started in Unit 2
11:00 Switching the water source for injecting into RPV from seawater to freshwater was started at Unit 2 and 3. That has become ready at Unit 1.

This is not affecting radiation outside the site:

And

The Main Gate: 202.5 μSv/h at 15:30, Mar. 25

And, I suspect that what this will do is make it much harder both to cleanup and to stabilize Unit 3.

Even the TV expert says that there is very little chance of a Chernobyl event at Daiichi. The risk is to the immediate site.

[let`s talk]

http://roseparsley.iobb.net/hotart/radiation.html
Granite and marble can have natural radiation of 0.5. Both materials are very popular ones in the historical centers in Europe. So, I am immune, I guess.

[dorispulaski]

The whole of Connecticut is built on granite, and the house foundations are built out of granite. Plus we like granite counter tops there, too.

It is not uncommon for a house to fail radon tests, during the engineering inspection, when you go to sell it.

So I guess I am in the same case.

We get more radiation from our houses than from 2 nuclear plants and a fairly large number of nuclear submarines that are based there.

Meanwile, NEI has weighed in with their 9 AM EDT March 25th status:

UPDATE AS OF 9:30 A.M. EDT, MARCH 25:
Japanese officials are investigating the source of higher radiation readings at reactor 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after two workers were contaminated while laying cable in the turbine building. Tests of the water in which the workers were standing contained a concentration of radioactive material many times the level normally found in water circulating in the reactor, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

"When we looked into the composition of the water, the source...seems to be the reactor core," said NISA's Hidehiko Nishiyama. "Another possibility is the spent fuel, and we cannot rule out that possibility either."

Several possibilities could account for the presence of radioactive materials in the turbine building. Seawater sprayed onto the fuel pool area may have washed over the floor of the fuel pool area onto the turbine building and leaked through the damaged roof into the basement of that building. Other possibilities include a problem with an interconnected system to the primary containment, such as the main steam system, or a small opening in the reactor containment structure.

Japanese authorities recommended residents within 30 kilometers of the plant evacuate voluntarily, extending the recommendation from 20 kilometers. Damage to infrastructure in the area from the earthquake severely limits the ability to provide water, food and other necessary supplies to people sheltering in their homes for the coming weeks.

ETA With all ther concern about the nuclear plants, it is easy to forget that the entire area around Daiichi was devastated by a 45 foot tsunami and a Richter Level 9 earthquake.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is stepping up efforts to switch from sea water to fresh water for cooling the reactors and used fuel storage pools. The United States government has urged the switch to fresh water as soon as possible and is providing two U.S. Navy barges, each of which can carry up to 1,000 tons of water. The ships are scheduled to reach port about 60 kilometers from the Daiichi plant in about three days. Japanese workers at the site will install pipes and hoses to carry the water to the plant.

[ETA The Navy guy's facebook was correct.]

When you think of the amount of devastation of Fukushima, it is amazing to think that only one person has died in the nuclear plants, and it was a guy who was up in a crane at Daina during the earthquake.

[dorispulaski]

Meanwhile TEPCO is discussing effects on people's electric bills

I have lived through a number of natural disasters (sometimes losing power for over a week), but the various electric companies have never abated one cent of a bill.

TEPCO is OK.

Press Release (Mar 25,2011)
Special Measures for the electricity bills for the customers who have suffered from the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki Earthquake (2011)


We sincerely express our best wish for all the customers who have suffered from the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki Earthquake ("Earthquake").

If requested from customers who suffered from the Earthquake in the areas where the Disaster Relief Act was applied, we will offer special measures for the electricity bills for such customers (previously announce on March 15th, 16th and 18th).

Further to the additional application of Disaster Relief Act to 4 municipalities in Chiba Prefectures, we have decided to expand areas to those we apply exceptional conditions of electricity supply (Special Measures for the customers who have seriously suffered from Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki Earthquake) to General Supply Provisions, based on a proviso of Section I of Article 21 of Electricity Business Act., have applied to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for and have acquired an additional approval. The contents are as follows.

‹Eligible Customers>
All the customers who have suffered from the Earthquake since March 11th in the areas shown below to which the Disaster Relief Act is applied in relation to the Earthquake and who applied for the special measures:

Ibaraki Prefecture; Mito city, Hitachi city, Tsuchiura city, Ishioka city, Ryugasaki city, Shimotsuma city, Joso city, Hitachiota city, Takahagi city, Kitaibaraki city, Kasama city, Toride city, Ushiku city, Tsukuba city, Hitachinaka city, Kashima city, Itako city, Hitachiomiya city, Kasumigaura city, Sakuragawa city, Kamisu city, Namegata city, Hokota city, Tsukubamirai city, Omitama city, Ibaraki town, Oarai town, Shirosato town, Tokai village, Daigo town, Ami town, Naka city, Miho village, Kawachi village, Chikusei city, Inashiki city, Tone town Tochigi Prefecture; Utsunomiya city, Oyama city, Moka city, Otawara city,Yaita city, Nasukarasuyama city, Sakura city, Nasushiobara city, Mashiko town, Motegi town, Ichikai town, Haga town, Takanezawa town, Nasu town, Nakagawa townChiba Prefecture; Asahi city, Katori city, Yamatake city, Tsukumo town, Chiba city (Mihama ward), Narashino city, Abiko city and Urayasu city, and other neighboring areas below. Ibaraki Prefecture; Bando city, Moriya city, Yachiyo town, Yuuki city, Koga city Tochigi Prefecture; Nikko city, Kanuma city, Shimotsuke city, Shioya town, Mibu town, Kaminokawa town, Tochigi city, Nogi town Chiba Prefecture; Noda city, Kashiwa city, Choshi city, Tohnosyo town, Narita city, Yachimata city, Togane city, Tomisato city, Sosa city, Sakae town, Oamishirasato town, Shibayama town, Yokoshibahikari town, Kanzaki town, Tako town, Inzai city, Chiba city (Chuo ward, Hanamigawa ward, Inage ward), Ichikawa city, Funabashi city, Yachiyo city Tokyo; Edogawa ward

‹Special Measures>
1.Deferring the due date for 1 month As to the electricity bill for February 2011 (whose due date is March 11 or afterward), March 2011, and April 2011, the due date* is deferred for 1 month.
*The due date is 30 days after the next day of meter-reading.

2.Exemption from payment for the months of no electricity use If you have been used no electricity since the occurrence of damage from the Earthquake, we do not charge any amount for the 6 month after the month when the damage of the Earthquake has risen.

3.Exemption from the payment for the construction If you have been used no electricity, terminate the contract of electricity since the occurrence of damage from the Earthquake, and applied for a new electricity contract by the end of September, 2011, basically we do not charge any amount for the construction.

4.Exemption from the payment for temporary construction If you applied for an contract of temporary electricity for the purpose of restore the damaged areas by the end of September, 2011, we do not charge any amount for the temporarily construction.

5.Exemption from payment of the basic fee for the broken facilities due to the Earthquake If customers' electricity facilities partly broke down due to the Earthquake, we do not charge basic fees for the broken facilities unless the facilities become in service, by the end of September 2011.
6.Exemption from the construction to install electricity meters etcetera If you apply for changing the position of an electricity meter or a service wire by the end of September 2011, basically we do not charge any amount for the first part of the construction.

[dorispulaski]

NHK's afternoon report

Status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station as of 21:00, March 25,
2011
Here is information regarding the status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station from the news reports aired by NHK in this afternoon and evening on March 25.

 Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency pointed a possibility that radioactive material from damaged fuel rods would have leaked into the environment based on the fact that water containing high amount of radioactive material was found at unit-3 on March 24. (19:18, March 25)

 The self defense force released video image of the nuclear power station taken from a helicopter. Steam rising from the spent fuel pool of the unit-3 was observed. (18:21, March 25)

 Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency ordered TEPCO take preventive step after the accident in which three workers were exposed to radiation at unit-3 on March 24. (18:50, March 25)

 It has been pointed out that the reactor will become eroded if seawater is injected continually. The self defense force and U.S forces made decision to consolidate a system to feed freshwater from a large ship of U.S forces.
(16:30, March 25)

In the afternoon status from JAIF

<March 25th>
06:45-10:20 Water injection to Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) via reactor water clean up system started in Unit 4
10:30-12:19 Water injection to SFP via reactor water clean up system started in Unit 2
11:00 Switching the water source for injecting into Reactor Pressure Vessel from seawater to freshwater was started at Unit 2 and 3. That has become ready at Unit 1.
2.

[sillylionlove]

I really think that we are not being told the whole truth about the situation. I would think that the government wouldn't want people to totally panic.

[dorispulaski]

I think we are being told the exact truth about the situation, at least as soon as the truth is known (when a thing is first discovered, "I don't know," is a true statement, for that matter).

For one thing, there are several independent groups, as well as the power companies, monitoring radioactivity in all sorts of ways all across Japan, including the IAEA, NISA, and the US government has monitoring planes over Japan, for that matter.

If they were going to lie about anything, they would have lied about the analysis of that puddle, and they would have lied when the explosion occurred between Unit 3 and Unit 4, when they said they thought there might be a "small hole" in the containment, but couldn't be sure.

The biggest lies that have gone on, have gone on in the press, where they have misrepresented stuff that is scientific fact over and over again, to the point where I want to go shoot somebody. We had people going on about the end of the world as we know it and calling for 6 Chernobyls, when the worse case scenarios for reactors with 3% uranium fuel were all modelled back in the day They even built a reactor in Idaho and let it run out of water, just to see what happened. And as it happens, you get about what you got at Three Mile Island, and what you're getting at Daiichi.

Conspiracy theories have always abounded when it comes to nuclear power, and over the years been proved eye-blinding wrong. I suppose this arose because when nuclear power was developed, it was secret-secret in both the old USSR and the USA.

If you want to see something that had a cover up, try googling Chinese wallboard or Chinese drywall in Canada-the builders of Canada association had the facts on it removed from the Vancouver paper's website, but the info is still in the news in FL.

http://www.chinese-drywall-answers.com/

Lowe's Ups Defective Drywall Settlement Offer
Facing withering criticism, Lowe’s Companies Inc. has increased its offer to settle toxic drywall lawsuits. According to ProPublica, the home improvement store chain is offering as much as $100,000 to customers who claim their homes and health sustained damages because of toxic drywall they allegedly purchased at Lowe’s.

Despite the settlement, Lowe’s continues to maintain it did not sell any Chinese-made drywall, which has been linked to corrosion and other problems seen in homes around the country. When it announced an earlier version of the settlement, the company said it “entered into this agreement as part of our commitment to serving our customers.”