ScribbleLive

Where is all that Fukushima radiation going, and why does it matter? from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Fairewinds’ founder Maggie Gundersen interviews environmental scientist and professional engineer Marco Kaltofen about his ongoing analysis of radioactive fallout from Fukushima.
www.americanpendulum.com

Japan Risks Chernobyl-Like ‘Dead Zone’ as Fukushima Soil Radiation Soars May 29, 2011 10:19 PM PT
Radioactive soil in pockets of areas near Japan’s crippled nuclear plant have reached the same level as Chernobyl, where a “dead zone” remains 25 years after the reactor in the former Soviet Union exploded.
Soil samples in areas outside the 20-kilometer (12 miles) exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant measured more than 1.48 million becquerels a square meter, the standard used for evacuating residents after the Chernobyl accident, Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, said in a research report published May 24 and given to the government. www.bloomberg.com

Great posts Panser, TY the info is valuable to me, I'll be doing an interview on friday with a epidemiologist who studied the effects of radiation at TMI. Night

@Veenie Ah well. If embedding wmv is important, we'll find a plug for it.

Anyone have 3D glasses ?
Please check on otjher site

@radioguy No man, it WORKED ! trying to see if i can upload differe3nt formatr

I am now stuck, trying to get Videos converted to small enough file size so i can try different extensions....what a pain

Morning @all. I'm puzzled if #5 is dependent on a single pump to cool both reactor and SFP =- isn't #5 'undamaged'? The whole of Fukushima is still in the most precarious state.

Interesting how attributions like "Tepco believes" are now appearing in the Japanese press.

Work suspended at Fukushima plant due to hard rain
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has suspended some of its outdoor work due to heavy rain and strong winds caused by a tropical storm.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says it is watching closely to ensure that contaminated water in reactor buildings and elsewhere do not flow outside as the water levels have been rising because of the rain.
It has been raining since Sunday in the areas around the Fukushima plant.
The utility has stopped spraying chemicals to prevent radioactive dust from spreading. It is also considering suspending work to remove debris.
It has piled up sandbags to prevent rain from getting inside electrical facility buildings to ensure the reactor cooling systems continue to function.
TEPCO has also secured a giant storage barge that was deployed to contain contaminated water to a quay.
Monday, May 30, 2011 12:51 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

Fukushima reactor had meltdown 3.5 hours after cooling system collapsed: U.S. researcher
A meltdown occurred at one of the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant three and a half hours after its cooling system started malfunctioning, according to the result of a simulation using "severe accident" analyzing software developed by the Idaho National Laboratory.
Chris Allison, who had actually developed the analysis and simulation software, reported the result to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in late March. It was only May 15 when Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted for the first time that a meltdown had occurred at the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
According to Allison's report obtained by the Mainichi, the simulation was based on basic data on light-water nuclear reactors at the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Mexico that are about the same size as that of the No. 1, 2, and 3 reactors in Fukushima.
According to the simulation, the reactor core started melting about 50 minutes after the emergency core cooling system of the No. 1 reactor stopped functioning and the injection of water into the reactor pressure vessel came to a halt. About an hour and 20 minutes later, the control rod and pipes used to gauge neutrons started melting and falling onto the bottom of the pressure vessel. After about three hours and 20 minutes, most of the melted fuel had piled up on the bottom of the pressure vessel. At the four hour and 20 minute mark, the temperature of the bottom of the pressure vessel had risen to 1,642 degrees Celsius, close to the melting point for the stainless steel lining, probably damaging the pressure vessel.
TEPCO, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, had tried to fill the containment vessel of the No. 1 reactor with water, but it decided to abandon the plan after it discovered that a meltdown had occurred at the reactor.
Masanori Naito, director in charge of safety analysis at the Institute of Applied Energy, said, "TEPCO could have conducted similar analysis at an early stage and assumed the meltdown had occurred. TEPCO should have prepared other cooling methods besides the method of filling the reactor with water."
mdn.mainichi.jp

Radioactive level up again at reactor water intake
The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has detected higher levels of radioactive materials in seawater samples taken near the water intake at one of the reactors.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 24 becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 per cubic centimeter in samples collected near the water intake for the Number 2 reactor on Saturday.
The figure is 600 times higher than the national limit, though levels at the spot had been falling. A day earlier, a level 130 times the limit was detected.
TEPCO says the level of radioactive cesium is also rising at that spot, though the level of that substance had been falling, too.
The samples were taken at the same site where iodine-131 at a level 7.5 million times the limit was detected on April 2nd.
TEPCO says the reason for the upward trend is not yet clear, and that it will monitor the situation closely.
Radioactivity levels have been falling at other spots, such as offshore areas and the water intake at the Number 3 reactor.
Monday, May 30, 2011 06:05 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

@elaine - funny coincidence how much bad news leaks/escapes over weekends in Tepcoland.

And now what?
Workers can't enter into #2, because of high radiaton level (two times high as on #1 before purification).
The high humidity means an air purification unit cannot be used to lower the level of radioactivity.
TEPCO don't know what to do.

@estacion - considering the number of conflicting versions of events that comes out of Tepco I think the plural is appropriate!

Hi bo, get fun at BCN!
@elaine: let me hurry up the thing a bit :)

TEPCO believes stabilizing Fukushima reactors by year-end impossible

TOKYO, May 30, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is coming to the view that it will be impossible to stabilize the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by the end of this year, senior company officials said Sunday, possibly affecting the timing for the government to consider the return of evacuees to their homes near the plant.

The revelation that meltdowns had occurred at the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors at the plant, most likely with breaches to pressure vessels encasing nuclear fuel, has led the officials to believe that ''there will be a major delay to work'' to contain the situation, one of them said.

The plant operator, known as TEPCO, announced on April 17 its road map for bringing the troubled reactors at the plant into a stably cooled condition called ''cold shutdown'' in six to nine months.
english.kyodonews.jp

ten years - that's my estimation.