Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

A quick update from NEI, to catch everyone up on the two days I was missing in action:

Monday Update




From NEI’s Japan micro-site:

Some Evacuated Areas Around Fukushima Daiichi to Remain Off-Limits for Extended Period

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues

• Some areas within the 12.5-mile exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility are to remain off-limits to evacuated residents for “a long time,” Japan’s government said. Officials had planned to allow residents eventually to return to their homes once the reactors are stabilized, but a government task force said that some areas likely will remain contaminated beyond that period and that exclusion orders will remain in force.

• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the commissioners would be able to vote as early as next month on the first of two reports it requested from staff recommending actions based on the agency’s near-term task force report on the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The first paper, due Sept. 9, will recommend immediate actions to be taken by industry based on the task force’s recommendations. The second paper, due Oct. 9, will prioritize the task force’s recommendations and recommend “other actions” based on public and staff input.

Plant Status

• Tokyo Electric Power Co. said its continued efforts to stabilize cooling for the Fukushima Daiichi reactors are “beginning to bear fruit,” with all 19 thermometers in reactor 1 now reading below 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures for reactors 2 and 3 are still above boiling. There was no fuel in reactor 4 at the time of the accident.

Media Highlights

• The Chinese government’s State Oceanic Administration says it will “strengthen its monitoring for radioactive substances” in the ocean near the Fukushima Daiichi reactor and in the East China Sea to gauge the effect of radiation releases on the marine environment and marine food sources.

• An editorial in Yomiuri Shimbun says that Japanese people need to be better educated about radiation and its effects. For information on radiation, see NEI’s Safety First website.

Upcoming Events

• The NRC’s full Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards will hold a public meeting Sept. 8 to review the agency’s near-term task force report on the events at Fukushima.

Also, here on the east coast, there was just an earthquake of level 5.8 on the Richter scale, centered in Virginia. The nuclear plant nearest the epicenter shut down; the rest of the east coast plants are doing just fine.

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/...e-of-2011.html

Dominion Virginia Power shut down its two North Anna reactors as a result of the earthquake, according to the the company.

The earthquake was felt at the North Anna Power Station and the reactor operators, following procedures, shut down the reactors," said company spokesman Jim Norvelle. "It was a manual shutdown."

The plant declared an alert, the second lowest level of emergency declaration, a commission spokesman said.

Diesel generators were running immediately. 29 minutes ago, it was reported on Twitter:

@PlattsPower: #PJM says #grid service has been restored to Dominion's #North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia after a temporary cut due to #earthquake.

.

and 51 minutes ago:

RT: MatthewDalyWDC: Spokesman for Dominion says no damage reported at North Anna Power Station near the epicenter of Va. #earthquake

[jcoates]

Well that was interesting. I live in DC and felt our quake pretty strongly in my apartment. Lasted about 20 seconds. No damage in my neighborhood that I can see which is surprising considering the buildings where I live were built largely around WWII. But sadly the National Cathedral suffered damage to its spires and there has been damage reported on local news in some of the VA suburbs including many cars destroyed by falling debris. The town at the epicenter suffered the collapse of the roof of its town hall.

[dorispulaski]

NHK AUGUST 23

●Aerial radiation survey planned in 22 prefectures

Japan's science ministry is conducting an extensive aerial survey to see how radiation has spread from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The ministry plans to measure gamma ray radiation at altitudes of 150 to 300 meters and recalibrate the readings to estimate levels of radioactive substances closer to the ground.

The survey will start by October in 22 prefectures ranging from Aomori in the northeast to Aichi in central Japan.

Among the 22, Fukushima and 3 other prefectures have already finished the survey. Three others have begun or are due to begin the operation in August. The remaining 15, including Tokyo, will follow suit in September. The science ministry has acquired additional equipment to enable it to work quickly, as winter snow could hamper accurate monitoring. All the prefectures are due to complete the survey by the end of the year.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:10 +0900 (JST)

●New case of cattle fed radioactive hay confirmed
Fukushima in northern Japan says cattle shipped from a farm in the prefecture
were highly likely to have been fed hay contaminated with radioactive cesium.
3
The prefecture reported the results of its investigation to the national government on Monday in connection with new reports of contaminated beef found at a food processor.

It launched its investigation on Friday, just after beef from 12 head of cattle shipped from a farmer in April was found to contain radioactive cesium at twice the government safety standard.

In response, the national government immediately put off lifting a ban on shipments of beef and cattle from the prefecture.

Fukushima says the farmer told it that he had kept imported hay in his cattle barn with no side walls before he evacuated in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

It says the farmer fed his cattle the hay a week later when a very high level of atmospheric radiation was still detected. The prefecture concluded that the hay had been contaminated with atmospheric radioactive cesium.

Fukushima plans to ask the government to lift the shipment ban as soon as possible, saying the government did so for cattle fed contaminated rice straw from other prefectures last week.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:10 +0900 (JST)

●Radiation concern prompts review of school routes
Fukushima City says it will ask 80 percent of the city's elementary and junior high schools to review students' commuting routes due to higher than benchmark radiation levels.

The city is located about 60 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In July, all its 72 elementary and junior high schools measured radiation levels 50 centimeters above the surface of roads used daily by
their students.

City authorities say 59 of the schools, or 80 percent, detected one microsievert of radiation per hour or higher. 9 school routes measured 3 microsieverts per hour or more, with the highest reading topping 8 microsieverts.

One microsievert is the benchmark the government uses to determine whether top soil at school playgrounds should be removed with state subsidies.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 10:25 +0900 (JST)

Less nuclear = more natural gas. That's the tradeoff.

●Another reactor is taken offline in Japan
Another nuclear reactor has gone offline for regular inspections in Japan. Three-quarters of the country's reactors are now out of service, putting a strain on power supplies.

Tokyo Electric Power Company halted operations of the No.7 reactor at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture early Tuesday. The regular checkup normally lasts about 3 months.

TEPCO operates 17 reactors, including those at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant. But only 2 are now in operation. Across Japan, 40 reactors are out of service, or three-quarters of the total.

TEPCO says it can keep power output unchanged by installing additional gas turbines at thermal power plants.

The governor of Niigata has said he won't even consider allowing TEPCO's idle reactors to start up until an investigation into the Fukushima nuclear accident has been concluded.

The central government has meanwhile ordered utilities to carry out rigorous safety tests on all halted reactors, in response to the Fukushima accident.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 09:11 +0900 (JST)

But has the central government yet defined what those safety tests are??




AUGUST 21st NHK

Always have the guy who is leaving office explain the unpleasant and the unexplainable:

●Evacuation orders to remain in effect

The government has decided to have Prime Minister Naoto Kan explain to municipalities near the Fukushima Daiichi plant that exclusion orders in some areas will remain in effect due to high levels of radiation.

The government had planned to consider lifting exclusion orders within 20 kilometers from the plant after cold shutdown of the reactors has been achieved. However, it has decided to keep off-limits the areas where it is not safe for people to return home for a long time.

Areas subject to the measure are those quite close to the plant and where radiation levels remain very high.

The government will arrange for Kan to explain to affected municipalities that exclusion orders will likely remain in effect for a long time and about how the government will support the former residents.

The government's nuclear accident task force indicated on August 9 that some areas are likely to be too contaminated for people to return home for a long time. It plans to work with local municipalities to decide on long-term measures and plans for reconstruction.
Sunday, August 21, 2011 16:44 +0900 (JST)
End

It sounds like No1 is effectively in a state of cold shutdown. Certainly it has survived any number of aftershocks and a typhoon, so the proviso of not only being below 100 C, but also of surviving emergencies has been met, I'd think:

●TEPCO: No1 reactor temperature down

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says all thermometers at the troubled No.1 reactor has registered temperatures lower than 100 degrees Celsius.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Saturday that all 19 thermometers at the No.1 reactor showed readings below 100 degrees as of 11 PM on Friday. It added the stable condition was unchanged 12 hours later.
As part of its effort to bring the plant under control, TEPCO has been working to achieve cold shutdown of reactors No.1, 2 and 3. The reactors' temperatures should continuously remain below 100 degrees.

TEPCO says its efforts to cool down the reactors are beginning to bear fruit. But in order to actually achieve cold shutdown, the utility firm has to accomplish other goals, one being able to maintain stable conditions even if an emergency occurs.

TEPCO also said the 2 other reactors remained higher than the 100-degree benchmark, as of 11 AM on Saturday.
The 3 reactors were in operation when the March earthquake and tsunami struck the plant.
Sunday, August 21, 2011 08:58 +0900 (JST)

●New system improves Fukushima decontamination

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has succeeded in increasing the capacity of a water decontamination system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by 1.5 times. The utility began to use a Japanese-made system on Thursday along with a French-made system to remove radioactive substances from water. The water is then being injected back into the reactors to cool them.

TEPCO decided to introduce the new system as the existing decontamination system was plagued with problems, and the foreign-made components repeatedly clogged up. The firm tested the performance of the new equipment for 2 days by running the contaminated water through it after the water had gone through the existing device.

Full-fledged operation of the new system alone began on Friday night. TEPCO says the decontamination level using both systems has been increased by 1.5 times to 70 tons per hour from the original 45 tons. The system's operating rate has been only 69 percent of full capacity, far below the initial target of 90 percent. The firm hopes the new addition will boost the capacity and help achieve stable circulatory cooling of the reactors.
Sunday, August 21, 2011 01:59 +0900 (JST)

●More contaminated cows from Fukushima
Beef from 5 more cows from a Fukushima farm has been found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium in excess of the government-set safety limit. The revelation by Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday followed reports one day
earlier that beef from 4 cows from the same farm had been found to contain radioactive cesium twice the safety standard. This prompted the central government on Friday to put off lifting a shipment ban on Fukushima beef. Fukushima authorities say the 9 cows were among a total of over 200 head of cattle shipped from the farm and slaughtered at a facility in Yokohama city between the March 11th nuclear accident and April. The meat of the 9 had been stored by a food producer.

The farm reportedly denied giving the cows rice straw suspected of being contaminated with radioactive cesium. It stated it fed them imported hay that had been stored at another farm. The local authorities are investigating to find out how the beef came to be contaminated.
Sunday, August 21, 2011 08:58 +0900 (JST)

[dorispulaski]

It doesn't look like anything dramatically new in radioactive material releases has gone on at Daiichi. These are the kind of readings we have been seeing for some time, since the short lived isotopes have already disappeared, things are changing very slowly. What we are seeing now is the decay of Cesium 137 and Cesium 134. Real changes are due to Cesium 134, primarily, as it has a half life of 2 years, vs. 29 plus years for cesium 137, and changes in the wind, and the effect of rain.

From what I can get about this business with the cracks and the steam, it appears to have arisen from a blog reporter who claimed to have received a letter an unnamed source who claimed to have read a letter from an unnamed worker at the Fukushima plant which said there were cracks and steam around August 15th. (Reminiscent of the old film, "The China Syndrome".) This report was picked up by the anti-nuclear groups and has been zinging around the internet. However, I haven't been able to find it in a believable report with some kind of concrete sourcing, and since it is a week later, I'd expect to see some effects in measurements somewhere if there were some new source of radioactive steam at the plant. I'd also expect to see a report in The Guardian or the NYT by this time, given that neither paper can be described as 'pro nuclear' by any stretch of the imagination.

Here's the video link for watching the plant live yourself:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/f1-np/camera/index-e.html


Daiichi, 9:00 PM JST August 23rd
8 Peripheral measurement points ( 5, 22, 14, 13, 15, 35, 105 82 ) microSieverts per hour
Main Office Building 311 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 12 microSieverts per hour
Main Gate 31 microSieverts per hour

Daini, 9:00 PM JST August 23rd
7 peripheral points ( 1.8, 1.3, 1.8, 1.6, 1.5, 0.9, 1.1 ) microSieverts per hour

Unit 1 87.4 C
Unit 2 114.8 C
Unit 3 107.3 C
(The reduced flow from 9.0 cubic meters per hour to 7.0 cubic meters per hour is responsible for the slight rise in temperature for Unit 3). TEPCO is balancing the trade off between trying to control the amount of radioactive water on site by decreasing the amount of water injected and yet trying to cool Units 2 & 3 below 100C.


http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...10823_03-e.pdf
This appears to be a report about a radioactive hot spot in a pipe. It doesn't however, have anything to do with steam releases or cracks in the ground, or for that matter, cracks in the pipe.

The report may be in aid of discussing a new survey map, compiled on August 22nd. If so, I expect to hear more details in a day or two.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...20110822-e.pdf

The more TEPCO measures areas they haven't measured, the more hot spots they find, of course.


TEPCO STATUS August 23 3:00 PM JST

-At 10:00 am on Aug 23, 2011 we recommenced transferring accumulated water on the basement of unit 6 turbine building to temporary tank.

--At around 12:30 pm on August 23, we confirmed water leakage (almost one drop/ 30 seconds) from the hoses of primary system of cyclic cooling facility for the fuel spent pool within Unit 4 Waste Treatment Facility and we are receiving the leaking water with a saucer. We are planning replacement of the hose and other measures. As for the cyclic cooling, we are continuing it for the spent fuel spent pool.

Unit 3
Water is currently injected at approx. 7 m3/h through reactor feed water system piping arrangement.

I'm glad to hear the government has a plan now. The plan sounds rather basic, and doesn't deal with the problem of radioactive material getting concentrated in waste treatment plants and storm sewers. However, everything they are doing will be of some help. Frankly, if I were being repatriated to my house, I'd rent a power washer to wash the house myself and clean my drainpipes in any case.

Govt compiles Fukushima decontamination plan

The Japanese government has compiled a basic plan to decontaminate areas in Fukushima Prefecture, contaminated with radioactivity by the accident at a nuclear plant in the prefecture.

The government said on Tuesday that it plans to cut the contamination levels in residential areas in the prefecture by almost half over the next 2 years.

The plan will include concrete methods for carrying out decontamination.

Under the plan, the decontamination of houses will be achieved by measures including the cleaning of drainpipes from the roof to the ground, and the pruning and weeding of gardens.

It also says that houses in areas contaminated with high levels of radiation require the high-pressure washing of roofs and the elimination of surface soil in gardens.

The plan also states that joints in asphalt roads must be rinsed, and mud in roadside ditches removed.

Branches of trees on the street must be trimmed and dead leaves disposed of.

The government is due to decide on the plan on Friday.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 07:05 +0900 (JST)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...10823_01-e.pdf
The above is the press handout they are discussing.

TEPCO to directly pour water to No.3 reactor fuel

Tokyo Electric Power Company will try a new process to cool down the No.3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by injecting water directly onto the facility's fuel starting on Friday.

The utility has been pouring 7 tons of water from outside the No.3 reactor every hour.

But this process has been producing a massive amount of high-level radioactive water.

TEPCO said on Monday that injecting cooling water through pipes situated above the fuel would be a more efficient operation.

The utility hopes this new process will reduce the amount of radioactive water produced.

The operator says it will check the effectiveness of the new system by monitoring the temperature levels.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 07:04 +0900 (JST)

And presumably the text of this bill are now available since it has been passed by the lower house. If as described, the net result will probably be more expensive electricity.

Lower House passes a bill on renewable energy

Japan's Lower House unanimously passed a bill on renewable energy on Tuesday. The bill is now in the Upper House.

The bill requires power utilities to buy all the electricity generated by natural energies such as solar and wind power for a certain period of time. The purchase prices will be set by the government.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has made the enactment of the bill a condition for his resignation.

The bill was passed after revisions were made at its Lower House committee. They include establishment of a third party organization to decide on fair purchase prices.

Deliberations on the bill are expected to begin in the Upper House on Wednesday, with possible enactment by Friday.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 16:03 +0900 (JST)

[dorispulaski]

More about the Japanese Political Situation

.


Kan: Cabinet will resign next Tuesday

Prime Minister Naoto Kan says that his Cabinet will resign en masse next Tuesday following the Democratic Party's leadership election, if the Diet enacts a bill on renewable energy as expected on Friday.

The bill is the last one of 3 conditions cited by Kan for his resignation.

At an informal Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Kan said he wants his ministers to be prepared because things will proceed as planned if there are no special changes in the political situation.

Kan said sooner or later, his Cabinet will be succeeded by the next, and there will be more than clerical affairs to tend to.

He also said that vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries of each ministry should hand over their duties from the viewpoint of managing and overseeing their offices.

The prime minister instructed the ministers to be prepared so that outstanding problems and affairs are properly handed over.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:45 +0900 (JST)

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO STATUS, AUGUST 25, 3:00 PM JST
Unit 1 87.7 C
Unit 2 115.2 C
Unit 3 108.4 C

- At around 11:30 am on August 25, we found spurts of liquid from the gap of debris when removal work of debris near main transformer of Unit 3. When we closely checked the spurts, we confirmed that there was damage at the oil pipeline for cooling the transformer and the liquid was the insulation oil contained in the transformer. The oil leakage is currently almost stopped. The details are under investigation.

- At 4:19 pm on August 18, we transferred accumulated water from the turbine building of Unit 2 to Central Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility. At 10:03 am on August 25, we stopped the transfer to Central Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility and switched to Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building (High Temperature Incinerator Building).

At 9:30 am on August 24, we started transfer of accumulated water from the turbine building of Unit 3 to Process Main Building in Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility

at 9:30 am on August 24, we stopped transferring to Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building (High Temperature Incinerator Building) and changed the transfer to Process Main Building in Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility by two transfer pumps.


- At 9:39 am on August 21, we started transfer of accumulated water from the turbine building of Unit 3 to Miscellaneous Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building (High Temperature Incinerator Building), but temporarily suspended the transfer and confirmed the system structure. On August 23, we started two transfer pumps and started transferring to Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building (High Temperature Incinerator Building) and Process Main Building in Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility. Then at 9:30 am on August 24, we stopped transferring to Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building (High Temperature Incinerator Building) and changed the transfer to Process Main Building in Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility by two transfer pumps.

- At approximately 4:00 pm August 23, 2011, we confirmed that Water Desalination 1B (Type of Reverse Osmosis Membrane) had stopped. We adjusted a water flow rate control device and at 6:20 pm on the same day, we restarted the facility.

-At 10:00 am on August 23, we resumed transferring the accumulated water on the basement of Unit 6 turbine building to the temporary tank. At 4:00 pm on August 24, we finished it.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...10824_01-e.pdf
TEPCO has added more points for measuring the density of radioactive dust in the air at Daiichi. Above is a map.
Points have been added at the Megafloat, 2 to 3 km offshore, and at the south breakwater.
They are also collecting dust from the top of Reactor 3. Here's a photo.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/11031...s/110825_1.jpg

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1082505-e.html

We have been paying out "Additional Temporary Compensation" to the people forced to evacuate due to the accident based on application for the damage and loss concerning the evacuation (already announced on July 5), and in addition we have newly decided to pay to the people who lived in the area that a local government demanded the residents to evacuate temporarily.

NHK NEWS

Apparently, even within his party, Kan's policies for handling the "nuclear accident" were controversial. See the bolded statement in the report below.

[b]9 candidates to vie for DPJ presidency[/b[
Campaign staff of candidates in the ruling Democratic Party's leadership election have gathered at a party meeting to learn about election procedures.

The campaign for party president will be announced on Saturday after the Diet passes 2 key bills on Friday.

On Thursday, staff of 9 candidates including former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda attended the meeting at party headquarters.

The chairman of the party's central election committee Issei Koga noted pending issues such as the March 11th disaster.

He said so he would like a proper election that revives the party and prevents the creation of a political vacuum.

398 party legislators with voting rights will cast their ballots for party president next Monday.

Separately, former Democratic Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told followers that they need not necessarily choose from among those named.

He said the new administration must greatly change Japan's handling of the nuclear accident, and urged them to find the most appropriate person to do so.
Thursday, August 25, 2011 15:05 +0900 (JST)

It's good that ability to handle of the "nuclear accident" is being considered as part of the qualification for party president.

All bans on cattle shipments to be lifted
The Japanese government has decided to lift all the remaining bans on shipments of beef cattle after ensuring that sufficient radiation tests will be conducted.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the senior vice ministers for agriculture and health decided on Thursday morning to allow Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi prefectures to resume shipments of cattle.

The chief cabinet secretary is to announce the decision in the afternoon.

The bans have been in place in the 3 prefectures plus Miyagi since July 19 after radioactive cesium exceeding government safety levels was detected in beef from cattle which had been fed contaminated rice straw.

The ban in Miyagi was lifted on August 19 and with the latest decision, beef will be distributed from all areas in the country.
Thursday, August 25, 2011 12:06 +0900 (JST)

This article points out to me a flaw in how this sort of stuff was handled in Japan. Although the government maintains a scientific office on tsunamis and another on nuclear regulation, the onus for calculating risks is put on the several power companies, TEPCO included. In the US, risk calculations are done by scientists working for the NRC, not for the power companies. In the case of things nuclear, the power companies have the expertise to handle the calculations, but there is a conflict of interest, so that it is in the public interest for a non-power company center of expertise to make these calculations.
In the case of tsunami predictions, the situation is even more questionable. TEPCO is not a tsunami-expert company. It is inappropriate for them to be supposed to be responsible for predicting tsunamis. It should have been the government doing that, or having one of the universities have a contract with the government for doing that. The article shows the bad outcome of the policy: TEPCO got the right answer, but did not trust the model, exactly because it is not tsunami-expert company, while the government did not even try.

TEPCO predicted 10m tsunami before disaster
Japan's nuclear regulator says the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant predicted an over 10-meter-high tsunami in 2008, but failed to report its prediction to the government until just before the March 11th disaster.

A spokesperson for the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told reporters on Wednesday that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, reported the prediction to the agency on March 7th.

TEPCO says it made the estimation in 2008 when calculating the maximum tsunami height in the event of a very powerful earthquake near the plant.

The maximum possible wave height originally assumed by TEPCO when it designed the plant was 5.7 meters.

The agency says it ordered the company to submit a detailed report as quickly as it could and suggested the need to reform the facilities when the company provided the prediction.

The agency's official in charge of nuclear disasters, Yoshinori Moriyama, says it takes seriously its failure to fully predict the possibility of a major tsunami before the disaster.

TEPCO says it didn't mean to disclose the assessment since it was a tentative calculation for research purposes based on a simulation.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 20:07 +0900 (JST)

It's situations like this in Japan that causes the IAEA to want to make direct safety checks itself.

IAEA wants safety checks in nuclear energy states

The International Atomic Energy Agency seeks to carry out safety checks in all member countries with nuclear power plants within three years.

The IAEA has been working on an action plan to improve global nuclear safety since the crisis began at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March.

The latest draft compiled earlier this week says the nuclear watchdog wants to carry out safety checks in every member country with nuclear power within three years.

The draft also plans to check whether member states planning to build new plants have appropriate reactor designs and safety measures based on the requests of each country to the IAEA.
An earlier draft of the action plan included the IAEA's assessments of safety measures taken by nuclear regulators at 10-year intervals.

The latest draft plan will be discussed at a meeting of the IAEA board of governors next month, before it is presented to the general conference that begins on September 19th.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 21:34 +0900 (JST)

Ultimately, I think that tightening limits just because you can is a self-defeating policy. It raises more fears than it allays. It's particularly ill advised since the government is tacitly saying the level is safe, since children are to be allowed to go outdoors if the level is exceeded. Either the level is safe, and it should be left as it is, or it's not safe, and the level should be lowered and action (like keeping the children inside) should be taken if it is exceeded. No one is kept safer by this action, and distrust in the whole policy is probably raised.

Radiation limits to be tightened at schools
The Japanese government will tighten radiation exposure limits for children at schools in Fukushima Prefecture.

The education ministry says it will lower the threshold for cumulative external radiation permitted at schools and kindergartens to a maximum annual exposure of one millisievert. The figure translates to less than one microsievert per hour.

The previous standards of a maximum 20 millisieverts per year and 3.8 microsieverts per hour were set in April following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The ministry says the subsequent removal of topsoil from playgrounds has pushed radiation readings at all schools below the 3.8 benchmark.

It says it will not require schools to keep children indoors even if radiation levels exceed the new limits, but recommends that they be promptly decontaminated if they go outside.

The ministry is to inform Fukushima Prefecture of its decision to change standards on Friday.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 13:30 +0900 (JST)

NHK is just reporting this:

Virginia nuclear power plant on alert
Tuesday's magnitude-5.8 earthquake in the US state of Virginia has cut electricity to a nuclear power plant, prompting it to be placed on alert status.

The two-reactor North Anna Power Station, located about 24 kilometers from the quake's epicenter, shut down automatically after the power loss.

The alert status is the second-lowest of four emergency classifications set by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The watchdog said the shutdown is safe and poses no risk, as power is being provided by three of four emergency diesel generators and the plant's cooling system is operating properly.

The commission continues to monitor the situation as one of the generators stopped working due to a coolant leak.

The US East Coast rarely has earthquakes. Tuesday's quake was the first with a magnitude of more than 5.0 in Virginia since 1897.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 16:41 +0900 (JST)

However, here in the US, we have heard that:
The Alert at the North Anna Nuclear Plant has ended
Dominion has announced the end of the alert status at North Anna after having started one reactor coolant pump at each of the two nuclear plants at that site.

If you watched this program on NHK, chances are you don't know that there were errors in it. TEPCO reports:

Corrections and Clarification of a news report program, "ETV Special" by NHK, broadcasted on August 14
August 16, 2011, TEPCO

NHK TV program regarding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station reported contents that are incorrect and could cause misunderstandings. We hereby provide facts below.

1. Changing location of the emergency diesel generators into the basement
The program reported that TEPCO had moved emergency diesel generators from the 1st floor in the turbine building to the 1st basement. However, the emergency generators have been located in the 1st basement since commencement of commercial operation started, and we have not change these locations.

2. Picture of the top of the primary containment vessel used for the proof of the influence of hydrogen explosion
In the program, a picture and narration of the top of the primary containment vessel were used to explain the influence of the hydrogen explosion of Unit 1. However, this picture was not the PCV of Unit 1 but of Unit 4, which was under refueling outage, and therefore the picture and narration is incorrect. That is to say, this top part of the PCV was what we had detached in order to replace core shroud and reactor internal components.

3. Claim on the PCV ventilation has no filtration
In the program, it was mentioned several times that there were no filters in the primary containment vessel ventilation line. However, boiling water reactors that we operate use "wetwell vent", which has scrubbing effect to mitigate emission of radioactive materials at the comparative level to the filters. That is to say, in principle, our venting procedure uses the water in the suppression chamber as filteration and we have prepared and added the necessary equipment and procedures for accident management measures. Although a document that reads "wetwell vent" was shown in the program, NHK ignored this.
In the United States, the above-mentioned "wetwell" ventilation is adopted for boiling water reactors.

And there is a film out there about problems with media coverage in the UK. You should be aware that media coverage there was princely compared to media coverage in the US. The interesting bits occur after the 9th minute in this 38 minute film. There is an interview with Fiona Fox, the woman who is the Director of the Science Media Center, an organization that assembles experts for news shows and newspapers.
http://www.worldbytes.org/after-fuku...e-fear-factor/
Fiona Fox, Science Media Center in the UK wrote this on a UK Journalism blog on March 24th, which is how the film makers knew she would interesting to interview on the subject of the media treatment of the Fukushima nuclear accident and the tsunami.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/blog...o-meltdo.shtml

[lowtherlore]

The following links are two recent RT interviews with experts.

Fukushima is out of control and TEPCO updates are totally unreliable:

Chernobyl-like radiation found in Tokyo

Cracks and steams are signs of melted-down nuclear fuel mass escaping both the sealed metal vessel and the outer concrete containment into the earth, rendering the container temperature readings (published by TEPCO) irrelevant:

Signs of radioactive materials escaping from the reactor containment

What’s the point in updating the bogus numbers published by TEPCO and the Japanese government? It took them more than two months before admitting the melt-down of the fuel rods had occurred, when there had been unmistakable signs of a melt-down detected from the beginning of the crisis. If I were a Japanese, I would believe them rather than TEPCO or the Japanese government.

Judging by the developments so far and some anecdotal happenings relating to the Japanese handling of this crisis, my prediction is that the Japanese government will not hesitate in (literally) rationing the radioactive contaminants throughout Japan by distributing the contaminated materials including soil and sludge, and to the rest of the world by releasing the highly radioactive contaminated water into the ocean, because: (1) they would want to minimize the statistical correlation between the Fukushima accident and the inevitable future outbreaks of the related human diseases and casualties; (2) they (Japanese policy makers and bureaucrats in Tokyo) would not be happy to be exposed to greater health problems/hazards than those living farther away from Tohoku or Kanto regions do.

[dorispulaski]

We're preparing for hurricane Irene here in southeastern Connecticut. I'm checking that the sump pumps in the cellar work. We're in a low lying area, and almost assuredly my cellar will flood. We've pulled the skiff out of the water, and generally checked to be sure everything around the house is storm ready, including moving indoors all small items that might turn into projectiles in a high wind. We're under a state of emergency here, so everyone is scrambling.

After that, what will be, will be. If I lose power for an extended time, chances are I won't be posting tsunami and nuclear updates-my ISP is my cable company. Chances are, that we will be asked to evacuate. A sound truck will be run through the area, making a loud announcement. However, this is the US. As the South Carolina governor said on Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning, a "Mandatory Evacuation" isn't really mandatory. No one will remove you from your house. However, all police, fire and ambulance personnel will not go to your house if you have a problem. You are on your own.

And our local nuclear plant, Millstone in Niantic, Connecticut, is preparing just as we are.
http://www.theday.com/article/20110826/BIZ02/308269824

Millstone, NRC have backup plan in place

By Patricia Daddona
Publication: The Day
Published 08/26/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 08/26/2011 12:35 AM

Waterford - Millstone Power Station and the federal inspectors monitoring the nuclear reactors here are using their own meteorologists to pinpoint the likely time frame and wind speed of Hurricane Irene.
While Dominion, the owner of the two operating and one closed reactor here on Long Island Sound, won't share tailored forecasts, Brian Haagensen, an inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission stationed here, did.

As of Thursday morning, Tropics Watch informed the NRC inspectors that it expected maximum sustained wind speeds of 65 to 80 mph, with gusts up to 104 mph, arriving onsite around 11 p.m. Sunday, he said. That generally fits the profile of a category 1 hurricane, the least damaging type, but these forecasts change constantly and are updated continually, Haagensen said.

"The people in the region are looking at this hour by hour," he said. "There are inherent unknowns in all this stuff."

Ken Holt, the Dominion spokesman, said the Richmond, Va.,-based parent company's two in-house meteorologists are "monitoring Irene right now and looking at its impact on any Dominion properties. (They provide) the most up-to-date information that we can have."

In the meantime, Dominion will beef up staffing beyond the minimum weekend level, "so if the storm gets worse, there are people here who are ready to respond," Holt said. "We'll have two shifts and we have facilities here where people can stay and sleep and get a shower if at the end of the shift it's not safe to leave."

Besides Haagensen, two other NRC inspectors who work regularly at the site will be in the area Saturday and Sunday, ready to respond, with help from others.

"The three of us will be in the area and (on site) over various times over the weekend," Haagensen said. "Two more - one from the (NRC) regional office and one from another plant - will augment (coverage at) our plant should we need it. Between the five of us, we'll set up a rotation: Two people, one in each control room on site, during the storm, and people in before and after the storm passes."
Dominion has also taken a number of steps to ensure safe operations, or if need be, safe shutdowns, as they conservatively plan for a worst-case scenario.

"We've rescheduled maintenance activities for the weekend," Holt said. "We are ensuring there are no projectiles or any materials left outside that are not strapped down. We're looking at staffing for the weekend, bringing more people in. We're ready, we're prepared."
As the storm gets closer, Dominion will also evaluate shutting the reactors down "if we need to," Holt said.

In light of the impact of the tsunami on Japan's Fukushima plants, the threat of a loss of offsite power is perhaps the biggest concern at Millstone and any other reactors in the path of the hurricane, including Dominion's two North Anna reactors in Mineral, Va., and its counterparts at nearby Surry.
North Anna this week lost offsite power during the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the Northeast, but most of its backup generators kicked in as designed.

At Millstone, two emergency diesel generators at each reactor, Unit 2 and Unit 3, are stored in areas not prone to flooding: in concrete buildings with flood barriers on the doors, Holt said. There is a diesel generator at Unit 1, the closed reactor, to supply electricity to the spent fuel pool there. And there are two extra backups: a station blackout diesel and a security diesel generator, he said.
p.daddona@theday.com

[dorispulaski]

Hurricane Irene has not arrived yet, so I can issue another report.

AUGUST 27 10 AM JST

TEPCO STATUS

- At 2:21 pm on August 26, cesium absorption instruments stopped automatically due to the overload of transfer pump (A) for cesium absorption treated water. However, water injection to the reactor is continued. At 4:54 pm we resumed the instruments by switching to transfer pump (B) for cesium absorption treated water. At 5:45, it reached normal volume of flow.

- At 10:00 am on August 26, we resumed transferring accumulated water at basement of the Turbine Building of Unit 6 to temporary tanks. At 4:00 pm, it reached normal volume of flow.

- At 2:40 on August 26, a worker from a partner company (contractor) was injured while engaged in a preparatory work to remove debris accumulated on Reactor Building, Unit 3. At 4:05 pm, after medically examining and treating at Emergency Medicare Room of Units 5 & 6, we ambulanced him to J Village. At 5:32 pm, he was sent to Fukushima Rosai Hospital, and was diagnosed "a fractured second finger", but not radioactively contaminated.


-At 10:00 am on August 26, we resumed transferring accumulated water at basement of the turbine building of unit 6 to temporary tanks.

At around 11:30 am on August 25, we found spurts of liquid from the gap of debris when removal work of debris near main transformer of Unit 3. When we closely checked the spurts, we confirmed that there was damage at the oil pipeline for cooling the transformer and the liquid was the insulation oil contained in the transformer. After that, we confirmed the oil leakage stopped at 6:10 pm on the same day. The cause was assumed that an oil pipeline for cooling was damaged by accidental removal of an oil pipeline for radiator of the transformer during the removal work of debris. We will confirm conditions of the inside of oil protection walls and underground tanks.

- At 10:03 am on August 26, we started transfer of accumulated water from the turbine building of Unit 6 to temporary tanks.

Residents near nuclear plants make temporary return
Local residents whose homes are within 3 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant returned home on Friday for the first time since the accident in March.

[]bThe government permitted residents of Futaba Town and Okuma Town in Fukushima Prefecture to temporarily return home on Friday because radiation levels in these areas have stabilized.[/b]

Since May, residents living between 3 and 20 kilometers from the plant have been allowed to make home visits, but those living within 3 kilometers of the plant had not.

A 20-kilometer area around the plant has been designated a no-go zone.

On Friday morning, 117 people from 64 households in Futaba Town gathered outside the no-go zone and put on protective suits before riding buses to their destinations. Also making the trip were 33 family members and officials from a home for the elderly requiring special care in Okuma Town.

The group stayed for about 2 hours to collect necessary belongings before returning in the afternoon.
Friday, August 26, 2011 14:06 +0900 (JST)

Auction of Miyagi beef resumes
Auctions of beef from Miyagi Prefecture resumed on Friday, one week after the Japanese government lifted a ban on shipment of beef cattle from the prefecture. The ban was imposed because of fears of radioactive contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The government lifted the ban on Miyagi beef cattle on August 19th, saying that sufficient measures had been put in place to ensure its safety. A similar ban on beef cattle from Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi prefectures was lifted on Thursday.

The ban on beef cattle from Miyagi had been imposed on July 28th after radioactive cesium exceeding the government's safety limit was detected in meat from cattle fed with contaminated rice straw.

The beef auctions resumed at a wholesale market in Sendai City, the capital of Miyagi prefecture.

Before the start of the bidding, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai handed Sendai's vice mayor a document attesting to the safety of the beef from all 90 heads of cattle.

Sendai City decided to independently test all beef sold at its wholesale market. But due to limits of its testing capacity, the city says it can only handle around 90 heads of cattle a day, roughly 60 percent of the amount that was being traded before the ban.
Friday, August 26, 2011 14:32 +0900 (JST)

Hokkaido Elec. Power Co. to probe e-mail deception
Hokkaido Electric Power Company admits that it urged employees to attend a symposium and express views in support of one of its nuclear energy projects.

Officials from the utility, which covers Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, held a news conference on Friday about the 2008 symposium.

The move comes after 2 other utilities in Japan admitted using similar forums to manipulate public opinion in favor of their nuclear projects.

The symposium in Hokkaido was about a project involving plutonium-uranium oxide, or MOX, fuel at the Tomari nuclear power plant. The meeting was sponsored by the Hokkaido prefectural government and local governments of municipalities hosting the power plant.
The utility said its public relations department sent out e-mails to nuclear power-related offices asking them to have as many people as possible attend the symposium and speak in favor of the MOX project.

The company said it takes the case seriously, and that it will investigate how the public relations department came to take such action. It will also look into how many employees actually attended the symposium and the possible impact of any statements they made.
Saturday, August 27, 2011 02:16 +0900 (JST)

This, of course, was expected.

Kan announces stepping down as PM
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says he is stepping down as ruling Democratic Party President on Friday. He will also resign as Prime Minister soon.

He made the announcement at a meeting of Democratic Party lawmakers on Friday.

Kan said at the meeting that he is stepping down now that 3 key bills have been enacted. Earlier in the day, a bill authorizing the government to issue deficit-covering bonds and another promoting renewable energy passed the Diet. The 3rd key bill, a supplementary budget for this fiscal year, has already been enacted.

Kan said he will also step down as Prime Minister and have his Cabinet resign en masse once his successor as party President is elected.

Kan said he's done everything he should have done and promised to keep working hard, both as a politician and a member of Japanese society. He wants to help Japan recover from the effects of the massive quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster and to end the country's dependence on nuclear energy.

He also expressed hope that the Democratic Party will enact reforms to win public trust, ensure free debate and unite to support policy decisions.

The Democratic Party decided to hold its Presidential election on Monday, with campaigning to begin on Saturday.
Friday, August 26, 2011 15:22 +0900 (JST)

5 candidates run for DPJ presidency

The governing Democratic Party of Japan has officially launched an election campaign to choose its next leader who will succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Five candidates registered their candidacies on Saturday morning. The winner of Monday's race is certain to become the next prime minister, as the party holds a majority in the House of Representatives.

The candidates are former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara; former land and transport minister Sumio Mabuchi; Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda; Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda; and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano.

The candidates attended ceremonies of their supporters and meetings at the DPJ election committee. They will hold a joint news conference at the National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon to present their policy priorities.

The number of candidates is the largest for a Democratic Party leadership race, and the candidates took time to decide on whether they would run.

Many DPJ lawmakers, therefore, are believed to still be undecided on whom they will vote for.

The candidates will seek to gain wider support while consolidating votes of members of their factions during the 3-day campaign period.

Monday's vote will involve balloting by 398 Diet members belonging to the party.
Saturday, August 27, 2011 12:21 +0900 (JST)

Ozawa to support Kaieda in DPJ leadership race

Japan's main governing Democratic Party will kick off leadership election activities on Saturday to choose the successor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Former party president Ichiro Ozawa is supporting economy minister Banri Kaieda in the election.

Ozawa heads the Democratic Party's largest faction. He told his group's 90 lawmakers on Friday he favors Kaieda, saying that Democrats who support different policies from those of the Kan government should unite under him.

Former foreign minister Seiji Maehara is considered as the frontrunner.
Both men are at odds because Maehara defends the party's decision to suspend Ozawa's membership over a political funds scandal.

Other candidates include Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, agriculture minister Michihiko Kano and former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi.

Voting will be held on Monday. The new leader is most likely to become Japan's next prime minister to replace Kan, who has announced his resignation.
Friday, August 26, 2011 20:18 +0900 (JST)

[dorispulaski]

As to what's the point of reporting measurements-it is a bit dull, but it is exactly where truths and lies are to be found. When you study history, the truth and lies are so often in dull accounting books, not in stirring reports. Hence, when someone tells me there are suddenly cracks in the earth and steaming, first I want to know who said so first: in this case, a person who reported a letter from an unnamed worker. Then I want to know whether any measurements that are relevant changed. Is there some kind of blip upward, or an upward trend? And there isn't, either in the MEXT data, or the TEPCO data. So then I wonder whether the original report was correct.

Such an anonymous report may be true or false; it is impossible to verify without sourcing. However, if there were an extensive further release of radiation from cracks and steam, the people talking about them would be able to cite some measurements of surrounding areas that went up-instead I find TEPCO sampling air quality longer and catching dust on top of the reactors and sending it to external labs, but it appears the radioactive dust level in the air continues to trend down, as does the level of cesium in the subdrains of the reactors (where one would expect to see a problem with leakage into the subsoil from the reactor, like that Dr. Busby and Dr. Jacobs postulate .) Of course, TEPCO could be making up all those tons of data, but frankly they don't have the time, and it is too much work. Plus they would have to coordinate their lies with MEXT, which is significantly more difficult. While they might easily do something like miscalibrate, the trends would show a problem in any case.

Furthermore, back when they had the second leak of water into the ocean, it was easy to discern something might be going on before TEPCO reported the leak-since their measurements have predictive value, I continue to look at them.


In fact, all of the people involved have their own agendas, not just the Japanese government, nor the TEPCO folk, which is why I find it interesting to read both sides. I hope at some future day to be able to make some sense of the whole business..


I don't think one should uncritically believe the reports of people who are vested in creating an atmosphere of terror to further the agenda of getting rid of nuclear power, because getting rid of nuclear power has always been their goal? Their reports should be treated as critically, no more, no less, than the reports of the Japanese government and TEPCO.

Here's the same Christopher Busby speculating that Fukushima could trigger an atomic explosion, which is pretty much arrant nonsense:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0j-FHQGeEY

Busby is a well-known anti-nuclear figure and is completely honest about that particular fact; he says so in the video.

In the report lowtherlore linked, the self same Busby is talking about measurements he took inside automobile filters, not air measurements.

The business about the sulfur is bogus though-it is the manufacture of one Arnie Gundersen of Burlington, VT, a professional "expert" witness for anti-nuclear groups who was fired by a nuclear company from his sales job there back for not selling enough. He claimed that he was fired for being a whistle blower. Again it is impossible to know which story is true. However, Gundersen had invested time and money in a company to decommission nuclear plants-hence he too has a vested interest, not to mention that his current income is entirely from being a professional antinuclear witness.

As to the bit about sulfur 35, and neutrons that Dr. Busby refers to, it is a direct crib from Arnie Gundersen, who is not as honest as Dr. Busby about his motivations, and is willing to sell speculation as fact.

http://atomicinsights.com/2011/08/ar...-and-wide.html



There is one interesting point: dust in the air will concentrate in filters. And radioactive dust will too. It will also concentrate in waste treatment systems, and in fact it has.

lowtherlore, the point you make about what the Japanese government will do with radioactive materials they collect is valid. Their early order to dilute the stuff and dump it in incinerators is a bad idea on all counts. They could do what TEPCO is doing, order a water treatment system and clean the stuff out of the sludge, but so far, I see no info that they are going to do anything like that.

Another point is that there are measurements that aren't being taken that I would like to see the results of: MEXT promised a lot of measurements of strontium, and they haven't reported them, other than 3 in Namie back in March. I don't know why anti-nuclear campaigners haven't pursued that line of investigation rather than trying to make measurements of auto filters and then reporting results in tiny units to make them sound more shocking. Definitely some strontium was released by the reactor, but other than TEPCO's measurements on the ocean floor and on its own site, there has been no followup, and MEXT hasn't done it, or else hasn't reported it.

And strontium is in my opinion significantly more worrisome than cesium 137.


Here in the US, Brown's Ferry shut down properly and restarted following our biggest ever tornado. Turkey Point survived Hurricane Andrew without problems. Waterford had no problems with Hurricane Katrina, Fort Calhoun has had no problems following flood, although it will not be restarted till fall. All the east coast plants are fine following the recent East Coast earthquake, including ones in Virginia. Dr. Jacobs' point that reactors are somehow fragile does not seem all that credible to me.

[Olympia]

Good luck in the hurricane, Doris! We'll hope that it weakens as it travels along.

I hope the new head of state is better able to deal with the current situation in Japan. I noticed that he was resigning the other day.

Interesting that Japan let the power company do all the evaluation. This is why when people talk about "too much" government regulation in this country, I disagree with them. When money is involved, it's always better to have an outside party doing the examination.

[dorispulaski]

Thank you for the good wishes. We are staying in the house, but keeping a close eye on the height of the storm surge. If it looks to be a problem, we'll be off to our son's house. As of 5 PM, we have fog, no wind, and the storm still hasn't gotten out of NC or VA. The track shows the center hitting NY, NY.

[Olympia]

Your point about statistics and measurements telling the story is indeed true, Doris. Somewhere I read about the "laundry list" theory of historical studies. Find their laundry lists, the crops they raised, their account ledgers, and you'll know them better. I remember the first time this was driven home to me. I was looking up a population chart of Southeast Asia to use in a math problem greater numbers. I found the population of Cambodia, which at that point was under 10 million. Then I looked down the chart, and there was the population of neighboring Vietnam: around 70 million. Right there, in those statistics, was the explanation for the historic aggression between Vietnam and Cambodia. Vietnam had people, and Cambodia had land.

I hope Long Island Sound is kind to you and yours. I think Irene is moving away north, but there's still the possibility of flooding in river areas, not to mention downed power lines and trees coming down in residual winds. Stay strong and safe, everyone in the area!

[dorispulaski]

We're still getting things back to normal following Hurricane Irene here in CT, but I want to get a status up on Japan, and things nuclear worldwide, because things have definitely been happening. It is so nice to have electricity back--especially the ability to have hot showers.

There were some 12 nuclear plants in the area affected by Irene. None of them had any significant problems. One of the Calvert Cliff reactors shut down, as it was supposed to do, when an aluminum panel hit a transformer. The resultant "explosion" without fire caused the shut down.

The State of Vermont has had some of the most sustained problems with Irene due to extreme flooding. Over 11 towns are cut off and food is being brought in by the National Guard, but Vermont Yankee nuclear was placed well above any flood effects of the Connecticut River, and has operated at 100% throughout the flooding. On the other hand, propane tanks torn from houses are floating down the Ottaqueechee River and have collected in Queechee Gorge where they are leaking and causing a risk of a real explosion. You can see a video of them here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=jcJFyUQr_mI
They look like a fleet of mini-submarines floating by.


August 30th 3:00 PM JST TEPCO Status DAICHI

*At 9:31 am, August 30, we stopped transfer of accumulated water from the vertical shaft of turbine building of unit 2 to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Miscellaneous Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building [High Temperature Incinerator Building]) and started transfer of accumulated water to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building) at 9:39 am.

*At 9:46 am, August 30, we stopped transfer of accumulated water from the basement of turbine building of unit 3 to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building) and at 9:54 am, we started transfer of accumulated water to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Miscellaneous Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building [High Temperature Incinerator Building]).

*In order to modify the software, at 3:32 am on August 30, we stopped the evaporative concentration apparatus 2A. At 4:16 am, we stopped the evaporative concentration apparatus 2B. After that, at 7:09 am on the same day, we stopped the desalination facility (RO) 1A. At 7:16 am, we stopped the desalination facility (RO) 2. We started the desalination facility (RO) 1A at 12:28 pm, and the desalination facility (RO) 2 at 12:42 pm on the same day.

and August 29th:

*At 11:45 pm on August 27, we stopped Water Desalination 1A (Type of Reverse Osmosis Membrane) because its filter needs to be replaced. At 10:54 am on August 28, we restarted the operation after changing the filter.

*From 8:10 am to 2:25 pm on August 28, we conducted dust sampling at the upper part of reactor building of Unit 3 using a large crane vehicle.

DAINI had some news, too.

- *At 12:59 pm on August 30, while operating High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling System*1 and High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling Sea Water System*2 in order to adjust the water quality in High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling System, the motor of High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling Sea Water System Pump stopped. Later, we confirmed a defect in insulation resistance at the site. As Unit 2 is in cold shutdown and necessary functions of water injection are secured, it satisfies obligations under the safety provisions for security management.

*1 High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling System One of the emergency core cooling systems. In case the water level in the reactor decreases abnormally, the system operates to cool the facilities to inject water into the reactor.

*2 High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling Sea Water System A system to cool High Pressure Core Spray Component Cooling System by exchanging heat with sea water.

[/quote]




NHK

If you recall, Iitate Village was the area outside of the evacuation zone with the most contamination by radioactive substances, and was evacuated later than the original evacuation.

Paddy decontamination method tested
Japanese researchers have begun testing a method for removing radioactive substances from paddies in an evacuation zone near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The National Agriculture and Food Research organization is conducting the test in Iitate Village, more than 30 kilometers northwest of the troubled plant, at the request of the government.

On Tuesday, the researchers used a power shovel at a paddy to break up about 3 centimeters of surface soil that had been hardened with a solidifier. The soil was then collected using a vacuum hose.

The researchers are to check the remaining soil for radiation to determine the effectiveness of the method.

Before the test, the level of radioactivity at the paddy was 12,000 becquerels per kilogram of soil, or more than double the limit at which planting is prohibited.

The head of the researchers said they will analyze data from the test to determine whether the method can be used to help resume farming in the area.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 18:22 +0900 (JST)

I wish they would report the result, not just the test.

The large increase in the number of staff handling claims has to be an improvement.

TEPCO announces standards for compensation

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, has announced new standards for compensating those affected by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

TEPCO on Tuesday announced the standards based on midterm guidelines compiled by a government panel on August 5th.

The standards cover damage inflicted from March 11th to August 31st.

The compensation includes that for travel expenses up to about 65 dollars per trip per person for government-ordered evacuations within Fukushima Prefecture. Lodging fees up to about 104 dollars a night for such evacuations are also covered.
The utility says it could compensate beyond the standards in some cases.

The company is also to provide to evacuees compensation of about 1,300 dollars a month for mental suffering, as well as that for medical fees for injuries and illnesses caused by evacuations. Income lost due to evacuations is also to be covered.

The utility is to finish procedures for current tentative payments on September 11th and start sending out new application forms on September 12th, with the aim of starting payments as soon as early October.

TEPCO is also to fully compensate farmers, fishermen and small and medium-sized businesses for damage, including harm due to rumors. The firm is to send necessary forms in September.

TEPCO has already paid about half of what farmers have claimed in provisional compensation.

The utility did not disclose an estimate of the total compensation that the new standards entail.

TEPCO is expected to carry out full-fledged compensation procedures with the help of a government-backed entity.

The number of personnel dealing with compensation matters is to be increased 5-fold to 6,500, to ensure a quick and fair response.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 20:06 +0900 (JST)

Details from TEPCO
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1083007-e.html

They have found active faults, but the original fault has provided tremors in excess of 7.0 that the damaged plant has weathered without further disaster. The same should be true of other faults.

TEPCO finds possibly active faults near Fukushima
Tokyo Electric Power Company suspects there are 5 active faults near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that could affect the crippled plant if they cause a tremor.

TEPCO made the discovery after the Japanese government requested utilities and nuclear agencies to reexamine faults around nuclear plants.

The directive followed a strong earthquake on April 11th from a fault thought to be inactive, 50 kilometers from the Fukushima plant.

TEPCO said on Tuesday that geological deformations were observed for the first time at 5 faults, suggesting they are active.

The utility will continue drilling to investigate the conditions, though the firm believes any tremors would be within the quake-resistance standard.

Besides TEPCO, two nuclear agencies reported 9 faults near their nuclear facilities in Ibaraki Prefecture that could be active.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 06:16 +0900 (JST)

This link should have a link to the TEPCO report
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1083002-e.html

The following article is good news, and signals an end to one of the conditions of an emergency.

Radiation limit to be lowered for Fukushima staff

Japan's health ministry will restore the cumulative radiation exposure limit for emergency workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the original 100 millisieverts this autumn. The current limit is 250 milisieverts.

The ministry raised the exposure limit soon after the nuclear accident in March to secure enough time for workers at the plant to bring the situation under control.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa said he wants to return the legal limit to the previous level by autumn.

The ministry says 103 workers who started at the plant just after the accident have been exposed to cumulative radiation of more than 100 millisieverts.

But it says all staff who began work from April on have been exposed to less than 100 millisieverts.

Based on the reduced exposure, the ministry has concluded that there is no longer a need to maintain the higher provisional radiation limit.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 13:52 +0900 (JST)

The new prime minister is Noda. His cabinet will be finalized on Friday.

Noda to set Cabinet by Friday
New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has decided the key posts in his ruling Democratic Party, and plans to inaugurate his cabinet as early as Friday.

Noda was elected Prime Minister by the Diet on Tuesday.

He then offered the influential post of DPJ Secretary General to Azuma Koshiishi, who is close to party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Noda picked former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara as party policy chief, and Hirofumi Hirano to handle Diet affairs. Hirano is former Chief Cabinet Secretary.

DPJ members of both houses of the Diet will confirm the appointments at a meeting on Wednesday.

The new Prime Minister told reporters on Tuesday that he would fill key positions in a way that unifies the party and shows his commitment to work for the Japanese people.

By choosing Koshiishi as Secretary General, Noda has given one of the party's most powerful positions to a rival Ozawa-faction member.

On the formation of his cabinet, Noda said his priority is party unity. He is considering creating a minister exclusively for administrative reform, in order to slash budget spending.

Noda wants to ready his cabinet to address immediate issues such as the nuclear crisis in Fukushima and reconstruction of the disaster-hit areas. He has also pledged to tackle the strong yen and deflation.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 07:17 +0900 (JST)

The BBC is reporting

Unlike Mr Kan, he wants Japan's halted nuclear reactors to be restarted and has not backed his call for a nuclear-free Japan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14705394

Banri Kaieda, Economy, Trade and Industry minister under PM Kan, was the main competitor for Noda for PM. It is not clear whether Kaieda will be involved in Noda's cabinet.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110828003072.htm

Kaieda mentioned a time frame for restart of the 24 reactors that are down due to normal refueling in the above article in the DailyYomiuri on line:

At Saturday's press conference, Kaieda said electric power companies are expected to submit the results of their first-stage stress tests to the agency in September, and it will take two to three months for the agency and the commission to assess the findings.
As a result, Kaieda said he expects the restart of the suspended nuclear power plants to begin "just before the year ends."
The agency has said it will take "several months" for it and the commission to finish assessing the results of the stress tests, and declined to comment whether the suspended nuclear reactors will be restarted this year.
Among the 25 nuclear reactors under suspension due to periodic checkups, stress tests have begun at the Shika nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor in Ishikawa Prefecture; the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors at Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture; and the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture. The other nuclear reactors undergoing stress tests have not been officially announced, but the results of first-stage stress tests on the Tomari nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor in Hokkaido are expected to be submitted to the agency in September

And the Daily Yomiuri reports this:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20110830dy05.htm
Soil measurements of cesium were taken throughout the area around Fukushima Daiichi and some 34 samples showed levels of contamination higher than what the USSR used to trigger evacuations around Chernobyl.

The ministry checked soil contamination levels in about 2,200 locations around the nuclear plant.

This link shows a map:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/photo/DY...02245413L0.jpg
It should be remembered that Cesium 134 has a half life of about 2 years, and thus decays away much sooner than Cesium 137 which has a half life of about 30 years.




Some older news that interested me that was posted while I had no internet service, due to hurricane Irene.

New plan for evacuation zone created
Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission has decided to create a new plan for evacuation zones for people living near a nuclear power plant in the event of an accident.

Under current government guidelines, an evacuation zone is based on the predicted amount of radioactive substances released from a troubled plant and weather conditions.

But under the new plan, an evacuation zone will be declared immediately after an accident without waiting for data.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's standard sets the zone with a radius of 3 to 5 kilometers from a plant.

Following the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident in March, it took almost 5 hours for the government to issue the first evacuation order after it received reports on the matter.

The commission is also considering setting an evacuation zone according to the size and number of reactors involved in an emergency. In Fukushima, the evacuation area exceeded the 10-kilometer radius from the plant which was initially projected by the government.
Sunday, August 28, 2011 11:00 +0900 (JST)

This is part of the generally decreasing trend in the ocean everywhere. It has been some time since any sizable amount of radioactive cesium or iodine has been found in sea water anywhere except in the Fukushima Daiichi inner harbor. However, the seawater in that inner harbor still has cesium 137 and cesium 134-just in smaller amounts, and occasionally one or more sites will not have it detected. Some of the cesium has decayed radioactively, some has settled to the bottom and bonded to silt on the sea bottom, and some has been removed by TEPCO's ocean water system. Some is still there, regardless of this report.

No cesium detected in seawater near No.3 reactor
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says no radioactive cesium was detected in seawater around the No.3 reactor on Saturday. This was the first time the substance was not detected since the monitoring began.

Cesium levels around the No.2 reactor were down slightly from those detected on the previous day.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, monitors the concentration of radioactive substances in seawater near the water intakes of the plant and offshore.

Seawater collected near the water intake of the No.2 reactor on Saturday recorded 0.077 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter, which is 1.3 times higher than the government-set safety limit.

It also contained 0.075 becquerels of cesium-137, or 0.83 times the limit. Both figures were slightly down from the levels found on the previous day.

In April, the level of cesium-137 in seawater near the water intake of the No.2 reactor was found to be 1.1 million times the safety limit. Since then, the density has declined, and recently is leveling out.

Seawater sampled near the water intake of the No.3 reactor did not contain any cesium-134 or cesium-137.

No radioactive materials were found in seawater taken from 7 locations along the coast and offshore.
Monday, August 29, 2011 05:40 +0900 (JST)

[Olympia]

Great to see you back, Doris.

Yes, Vermont is simply tragic. I didn't realize about the propane tanks. Having always lived in a city, I'm not really aware of how people supply their utilities when they're farther out in the ex-urbs. As if they didn't have enough else to deal with!