Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 1740

TEPCO working to prevent overflow of toxic water "The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is striving to prevent highly radioactive water from overflowing the facility amid delays in restarting a key water decontamination system." www3.nhk.or.jp
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 6:51:23 AM

To some, the repetition of soothing claims sounds like a well-rehearsed song and dance. Alternative news websites, chatroom boards, blogs and local coffee shop conversations are rife with claims that U.S. government agencies are whitewashing catastrophically dangerous levels of radiation.

"The truth," said James T. Powell, "is probably somewhere in between." Powell, executive director of local watchdog organization, Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, believes the alarmists' theories about government conspiracies and EPA cover-ups are unfounded. With six Department of Environmental Quality stations in Idaho alone and hundreds of radiation monitors stationed around the country, inspected by thousands of state and federal employees, there is simply no way the numbers could be falsified. And he doesn't think the levels seen so far are particularly dangerous.

But he is troubled that the EPA has taken as few samples as it has. A RadNet surveillance of radiation in precipitation, drinking water, milk and air cartridges, instituted in the wake of the nuclear event, was halted in Idaho due, the EPA website claims, to "a thorough data review showing declining radiation levels in these samples."

The problem with this explanation is that Idaho radiation levels were not declining when RadNet monitoring stopped reporting samples April 14. Boise's first precipitation sample, collected March 22, measured I-131 (a radioactive isotope of iodine) levels at 242 pCi/l (picocuries, or units of radioactivity, per liter). That is about 80 times the legal drinking water limits, the highest levels of rainwater radiation seen in the nation at any time since the Fukushima disaster. Since I-131 has a short half-life, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said we could expect those levels to decrease quickly.

But, five days later, I-131 had not decreased. Two more samples were taken March 27. The sample recorded on the EPA's more accessible public site showed, in fact, a 60 percent increase, with I-131 measuring in at 390 pCi/l. A second sample, found through an in-depth search of EPA online records, yielded I-131 concentrations of 422 pCi/l. After that, no samples were recorded on the EPA site. And we can't expect an update any time soon - RadNet monitors were shipped out of Boise Tuesday.

www.tetonvalleynews.net
by bo 6/24/2011 6:52:25 AM

Shared liability for the people, but limited liability for the corporations. Let's put that in perspective. I go to Vegas and if I lose you pay, but if I win I keep the profits. I would spend a lot of time in Vegas if it worked that way.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:01:25 AM

@Ralph Unger that's why J. Edgar Hoover kept going to the track. That aside, this "ethic" is working to destroy many countries.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:02:54 AM

You can see the huge crane behind #1 now on the TBS cam.
by wtm 6/24/2011 7:03:44 AM

Let the Nuke industry "cover their bets" (get insurance) and there would not be a nuke plant on this planet.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:04:32 AM

Additionally, let them pay to decommission the plants they profit from for decades, and similarly there would not be a nuke plant on this planet.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:05:56 AM

But the added mess is the reprocessing , which would be a good thing but the new fuel can be used to make bombs so we store it. There would be much less waste if we re-used the fuel, but thoughts of terrorism (and laws) keep us from doing that.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:10:40 AM

It's like the space shuttle, a re-usable craft that cost as much to maintain (re-furbish) as to build a new rocket.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:11:49 AM

Good idea, bad application of the technology.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:12:37 AM

Nuclear power and nuclear weapons are inseparable.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:15:55 AM

Not true Bo, they could be if they started from scratch on the nuke tech.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:16:36 AM

Well, we're stuck in this world instead.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:17:13 AM

Using lower energy nuke materials to make a plant would make them safer and not have a potential for weapons.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:17:53 AM

YOKOHAMA, June 24 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A beach in the city of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture became the first in eastern Japan to open to swimmers Friday amid fears about radiation and tsunami in the wake of the March earthquake-tsunami disaster and the continuing nuclear crisis in northeastern Japan.

The prefectural government says it has detected no radioactive materials in regular monitoring of seawater at 25 locations since May, and is trying to reassure swimmers that local beaches are safe by releasing the data on its website.

But a city official said that may not be enough to assuage the concerns of parents of small children. "We cannot say how many visitors will come this year until we actually see them," the official said.

The beach, which gets about 300,000 to 400,000 visitors in usual years, had about 700,000 last summer due to the scorching heat.

The neighboring city of Kamakura, which is slated to open three local beaches a week later, has mapped out an emergency evacuation plan for beachgoers, who totaled about 950,000 last year, and conducted disaster drills with beach service staffers to prepare for the event of a tsunami coinciding with power outages as seen in the March 11 disaster.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:18:24 AM

I like this design from the Chinese. "China's HTR-10, a 10 MWt high-temperature gas-cooled experimental reactor at the Institute of Nuclear & New Energy Technology (INET) at Tsinghua University north of Beijing started up in 2000 and reached full power in 2003. It has its fuel as a 'pebble bed' (27,000 elements) of oxide fuel with average burn-up of 80 GWday/t U. Each pebble fuel element has 5g of uranium enriched to 17% in around 8300 TRISO-coated particles. The reactor operates at 700°C (potentially 900°C) and has broad research purposes. Eventually it will be coupled to a gas turbine, but meanwhile it has been driving a steam turbine.

In 2004, the small HTR-10 reactor was subject to an extreme test of its safety when the helium circulator was deliberately shut off without the reactor being shut down. The temperature increased steadily, but the physics of the fuel meant that the reaction progressively diminished and eventually died away over three hours. At this stage a balance between decay heat in the core and heat dissipation through the steel reactor wall was achieved, the temperature never exceeded a safe 1600°C, and there was no fuel failure. This was one of six safety demonstration tests conducted then. The high surface area relative to volume, and the low power density in the core, will also be features of the full-scale units (which are nevertheless much smaller than most light water types)." www.world-nuclear.org
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:20:11 AM

And the HTR-PM.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:20:44 AM

I'm no scientists, but I have heard that design poo-poo'ed several times here on the list. Not in a position to comment myself on the design, but anytime you create waste that must be dealt with for longer than civilization has existed, you are asking for trouble.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:21:44 AM

You make a good point, but the waste should be fuel in the future.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:22:32 AM

In a perfect world, they would throw away some slightly hot lead when they are done.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:23:24 AM

Well, with a nice bottle of wine and a cool breeze, I can believe myself to be in a perfect world for at least a few minutes!
by bo 6/24/2011 7:24:14 AM

I have not a good breeze, but I can turn on the fan.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:24:53 AM

Huge infestation of June-bugs as we finally got rain here after 4 months of drought.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:25:31 AM

Ah June-bugs. You would think that something that flies would be able to see and steer, but alas, there are June-bugs.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:26:23 AM

As they spend 99% of their lives underground, it is no wonder that they do not fly well.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:27:43 AM

Wow, I didn't know that. I suppose that explains a lot.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:28:07 AM

They are the white grubs you might find in your garden while turning the soil.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:28:45 AM

With the blue butts.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:29:04 AM

Ah. I just think of them as the things that fly into me!
by bo 6/24/2011 7:30:01 AM

Like butterfly's and moths, some of the erratic flight might be to avoid predation.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:30:43 AM

A butterfly flies like a spas, but can also fly well enough to suck nectar.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:31:25 AM

If I could fly, it would be as a spas, but I still wouldn't be able to suck nectar.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:32:19 AM

Morning @all - @bo we won't be putting that to the test...
by hudebnik 6/24/2011 7:36:52 AM

Here's an interesting report about problems at a French nuclear plant not far from the UK. Hope the google tx works translate.google.co.uk
by hudebnik 6/24/2011 7:37:50 AM

I used to suck nectar when I was a kid, pull the flower leafs out and suck the center.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:38:10 AM

@hudebnik good morning, and what a relief. Except for the nectar part.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:38:17 AM

@bo - amber nectar maybe?
by hudebnik 6/24/2011 7:38:59 AM

Hibiscus mostly IIRC.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:39:27 AM

Now, if I did that, I would have many angry plant owners running after me with spatula's or worse.
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:40:40 AM

Belgian ale would do fine.
by bo 6/24/2011 7:40:42 AM

The French plant story is v. relevant to the UK as Paluel and Gravelines are on the channel coast, from where the prevailing wind blows to the UK most of the time, and between them have 10 reactors. Yes, 10.
by hudebnik 6/24/2011 7:40:51 AM

Oh I forgot to add the French nuclear fuel reprocessing centre is there as well, at Cap de la Hague on the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula.
by hudebnik 6/24/2011 7:42:07 AM

First in Libya and first in reprocessing! Prove your tech and it might sell. That is why they were the first in Libya. And in Fukushima with MOX?
by Ralph Unger 6/24/2011 7:43:24 AM