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Unit 2: More Sensors Rising, Not A Repeat From Yesterday Or The Day Before…

February 22nd, 2012 | Add a Comment

[Translate] The RPV bellows sensor is up to 105c. It was at 66.6c yesterday and has been steadily climbing all day. The containment drywell HVH sensor has also begun to climb and is at 45c up from 38.5c yesterday. The CRD housing is also staying elevated and is at 229c. TEPCO has been flagging sensors as failed but these readings seem to indicate a pattern of some sort still going on in the reactor. The three sensors showing elevated temps are in distributed areas. The CRD being the bottom of the reactor vessel, the drywell HVH being in the lower bulb of containment and the RPV bellows being up by the reactor top cap. All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was … Read entire article »

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Woods Hole: Radiation Found 400 Miles Off Japan Coast, Cesium High But Below Safety Levels

[Translate] Members of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute presented some of their findings from their research expedition in the Pacific. The expedition looked for signs of radiation contamination from Fukushima and tried to determine concentrations and flow patterns. Levels jumped from 10-1000 time pre-disaster levels in an area between 20-400 miles from the plant. Representatives from Woods Hole said the levels even though elevated were not above “legal health limits” but didn’t elaborate what the limit was or who was setting that limit. Ken Buessler from Woods Hole made this statement about the contamination into the Pacific “We’re not over the hump” yet in terms of radioactive contamination of the ocean because of continued leakage from the plant, The article … Read entire article »

Don’t Test? No Problem! More Strategic Denial At The Expense Of Fukushima’s Children

[Translate] This is a pattern we have seen both in and outside of Japan since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis began. If you don’t test for radiation you can pretend no problem exists. Only this time it is over proper additional thyroid screening for exposed children in Fukushima.  Japan’s NSC told the Emergency Response Headquarters, the group managing the health screenings at Fukushima University, to do additional screening on any children found to be near exposure limits. Initial thyroid testing was done with basic equipment. Some children were found to have higher levels. One child had  a .1 microsievert thyroid reading. The NSC expected that child to be additionally screened and instructed the ERS to do so. Instead … Read entire article »

Unit 2: New Sensor Getting Hot, Some Details

[Translate] Along with the CRD sensor at unit 2 that has been trending up for days, now the RPV bellows air valve sensor is trending up.  This sensor is up high on the RPV cap, far away from the hot fuel. It appears to be an unusual one to “fail” as TEPCO has been quick to label it.  Peter Melzer explains what this new heat up may mean: “The bellows thermometer is near the flange of the rpv cap. This means that 1) it is difficult to conceive that the high readings are caused by damage and 2) superheated steam must be gathering under the cap. I did not recognize much steam on the endoscopy exploration, but … Read entire article »

Unit 2: More Rising Temps And Other Curiosities

[Translate] Unit 2 is seeing more temperatures rise. The CRD (control rod drive) housing has been on the rise at 233.1c and now the RPV bellows air valve is climbing. The RPV bellows air valve now sits at 66.6c, up 24 degrees since the last reading. The RPV bellows air valve sits high in the containment vessel. TEPCO has declared many of the gauges at unit 2 as faulty, but they appear to be showing patterns within the reactor. Hydrogen levels at unit 2 are also on the rise. The most recent reading is at .08%. This is higher than recent days but well below the concentrations needed for an explosion. Some of the commentary out of the press … Read entire article »

Plutonium & A Fukushima Mothers Fears

[Translate] SimplyInfo.org member Peter Melzer details the findings of plutonium around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and their relation to the accident. Read the entire article here on Peter’s Blog.   All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. If you wish to reuse any of our content please contact us first to obtain permission. View our copyright page for more information about permissible use. If you are viewing this content on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org it is likely being plagiarized, please let us know. Share this:FacebookEmailPrint … Read entire article »

Fukushima Residents Exposure Results Only Tells Fraction Of The Story

[Translate] Reports came out this week about the results of a Fukushima Prefecture radiation survey of residents. The survey didn’t actually scan or test people for exposure, it was a set of questions about people’s location and activities compared against the SPEEDI data that the government possessed but did not give to the public when they needed it most to avoid exposure. These surveys only estimate external exposure and do not estimate internal exposure. Many people in Fukushima have been trying to get whole body counter scans but a lack of machines and a lack of government cooperation has meant that many go un-scanned not knowing their real exposure level and risk. The survey estimates that 40% of … Read entire article »

Press Allowed In Fukushima Daiichi Again, Minimal Coverage Or Questions

[Translate] TEPCO did another tour of Fukushima Daiichi for the press. This time they allowed some smaller media outlets and online reporters in. Radiation on site was measured by reporters as 200 uSv/h inside the bus near the turbine building side of unit 3. TEPCO staff said some areas near there register 1500 uSv/h. The NHK reporter cited 50 uSv/h on the hill far away from the reactors.  The Guardian found 102 uSv/h on that same hill. The Guardian did run a brief article that mentions reporters did repeatedly try to get answers about unit 2′s heat up and the continued boron injections but this was stonewalled by the plant manager. There is also a mention that during the … Read entire article »

NRC Assisted German Private Sector Nuclear Industry In Fighting German Government Shutdowns

[Translate] Enformable has been working on an ongoing investigation of the NRC’s actions in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In part of this research they pointed out the NRC’s actions related to Germany’s decision to phase out their nuclear power program. The German nuclear industry group GRS went to both the NRC and the NEA (a US nuclear industry group) and asked them for help in lobbying to combat the German governments plan to phase out nuclear power. This action by the NRC to try to manipulate and work against the plans of another countries government appears to not just be way outside of their jurisdiction but completely outside of their mandate. The NRC is quick to try to remind … Read entire article »

Kan: Human Error Caused Fukushima

[Translate] Former Prime Minister Kan has been making the international rounds talking to various groups and the media about the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Kan blames much of the disaster on the decision to build the Fukushima Daiichi plant at such a low elevation. Even back in the 1950′s they knew historically high tsunamis were possible in the area. Developers seemed to either ignore the issue or grossly underestimated the potential risk. This is not a uniquely Japan problem. The same mentality appears to have existed in the US during the same era. Building Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant on the floodplain of the Missouri River was a similarly short sighted idea of the time. As was building the … Read entire article »

TWO: Takahama Unit 3 To Shut Down Tuesday

[Translate] Kansai Electric announced Friday that Takahama Unit 3 will shut down for maintenance this Tuesday. This leaves Kashiwasaki-Kariwa unit 6 and Hokkaido Electric’s Tomari 3 still operating in Japan. Those two reactors are to shut down for maintenance in March and April respectively. Currently no reactors have been restarted since the March 11 disaster. All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. If you wish to reuse any of our content please contact us first to obtain permission. View our copyright page for more information about permissible use. If you are viewing this content on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org … Read entire article »

Politics Prevents Children From Being Screened For Radiation Exposure

[Translate] Political infighting is causing a shortage of testing equipment in Fukushima. One specific incident is Minamisoma Municipal Hospital. The hospital can screen 110 children per day with the current equipment they have. There is a widespread shortage of whole body counting scanners in the region. Some other cities and private medical facilities have given up and started the search to obtain equipment through other means. The lack of scanners was understandable soon after the disaster. Almost a year later and delays being caused by politics is simply wrong. Currently of the small number of children screened in Minamisoma, 51% have shown with internal cesium contamination.  This is higher than in other areas around the region and … Read entire article »

Unit 2 Update: CRD Sensor at 200, TEPCO Still Acts Like There Is A Problem

[Translate] The CRD (control rod drive) sensor is sitting at about 200c currently.  Hydrogen is at .06%, up from .04% but still very low and well below the ranges that could cause an explosion. Feed water spray is at 7.6 and core spray at 10 m3/h. These are in the higher range of where they have been pumping in water indicating TEPCO still considers there a problem at unit 2 even though yesterday they tried to re-declare cold shutdown and that the entire incident is bad sensors rather than temperature increases in the fuel. Yesterday TEPCO also announced they were decreasing water flow at unit 3 to compensate for increased water at unit 2. So far temperatures … Read entire article »

Unit 2: TEPCO Re-declares Cold Shutdown, Data Says Otherwise

[Translate] TEPCO re-declared cold shutdown on unit 2 today. Data we are seeing seems to not support this claim. The CRD housing sensor is still unusually high at 193.1c. This sensor began heating up again as problems progressed at unit 2.  The lower RPV sensor that caused all the concern in the first place is now giving strange readings indicating it has failed in some manner. It read as -3.5c this morning. TEPCO is calling unit 2′s torus radiation sensor a failed instrument but it has been elevated during this time period of other oddities at unit 2. This indicates that something may be going on in that region.  Pressures have been steady and hydrogen concentrations have … Read entire article »

Unit 2 Sensors Change, High Radiation Readings Around Japan

[Translate] Radiation levels around Tokyo increased on Feb. 14th and in western Japan Feb 15th.  Temperatures in unit 2 were about 220c early morning Feb 16 (JST). As of 11am (JST) the sensor suddenly dropped into single digits indicating some sort of failure.  As of this morning our graphs showed the CRD housing up to 178.6c and the RPV drain pipe top at 2.6c. The CRD has been at a steady increase in temperature. The radiation increases around Japan indicate some sort of problem. Confirmation on the accurate temperatures inside unit 2 are continuing to be elusive. We will post updates as things change. All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original … Read entire article »

Mystery High Radiation Black Substance In Minamisoma, Some Theories

[Translate] Locals have been finding a crushed black substance scattered mostly on roads in Minamisoma. It has very high radiation levels. The radiation level in one of these spots was 295 uSv/h. This translates to 2.8 Sv/year of exposure. This is high enough to cause acute radiation sickness symptoms after 6 months of consistent exposure. Exactly what this high radiation “stuff” being found on the roads is the big question. How it got there and what it is plays a big part in eradicating the risk. These images show the black substance on the road and a comparison photo of black volcanic rock. The two substances show a great resemblance.    The lava rock material itself referred to as “tuff” … Read entire article »

US Disinformation On Germany’s Energy Situation

[Translate] Two major US news outlets (AFP and Forbes) recently promoted stories claiming Germany restarted their closed nuclear reactors, was buying power from France and was “destabilizing”  power grids all across Europe. Bellona pointed out the impossibility of this as Germany can not just turn back on their reactors. The incorrect articles claimed the “grid operators” turned the nuclear reactors back on when the reality is that they no longer have operating licenses and would require extensive government approval to restart. Reuters was one of the few agencies to get the story correct. Germany manged their own power needs and exported power to nuclear dependent France. Germany did restart an idled coal plant but didn’t experience the considerable … Read entire article »

The Failure At Fukushima City

[Translate] In the early days of the disaster we saw increasing radiation levels 60km away in Fukushima City. March 26 = 4.15 uSv March 25 = 3.98 uSv March 24 =  4.92 uSv March 23 =   6.85 uSv March 21 =  7.51 uSv March 17 = .012 mSv/h  By comparison a rate of .5 uSv/h required evacuation after Chernobyl. Fukushima City has never been evacuated.  The city has over 290,000 people. There has been speculation that the size of the city had something to do with why it was not evacuated. Greenpeace has continued to document high radiation levels and hot spots in Fukushima City. By June radiation began showing up in the urine of children from Fukushima City. As of September of 2011 … Read entire article »

Other Reactors In Japan Barely Survived Tsunami, Risked Meltdowns

[Translate] Fukushima Daiichi wasn’t the only nuclear power plant in Japan to struggle during the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Fukushima Daini now says that they barely averted a meltdown there. The seawater pumps that create the cooling loop for the plant were damaged in the tsunami. Daini manged to keep one power line operating, this allowed staff to monitor the reactors. Units at Daini still went high in pressure causing at least one unit to crack the containment vessel. Had it not been for the massive accident at Daiichi people would likely be still talking about the critical near miss at Daini. The tsunami also caused problems at the Tokai nuclear power plant and their number … Read entire article »

Unit 2 Update: Temps High, Nuclides Showing Up

[Translate] Temperatures still running around 250 degrees in unit 2 at the “0″ position temp gauge. NISA has instructed TEPCO to find a way to confirm the temperature inside unit 2 in that area after TEPCO claimed the sensor had failed. Cesium is showing up at the knock out panel of unit 2 and in the gas handling system. The filters for unit 2 are showing various nuclides in detectable amounts. Prefecture monitoring stations around Fukushima are not showing any considerable increases today in radiation.       All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. If you wish to reuse any of our content please contact … Read entire article »

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