Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 2779

NRC spat is over Fukushima www.lasvegassun.com
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 12:59:55 PM

@lillymunster But The Wall Street Journal is American based. Try Facebook. It should give you full access. I use Facebook for nearly everything on the web nowadays including Scribble.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 1:00:17 PM

Aaaaagh! Why are media outlets quoting USA Today like it speaks for the US??
mdn.mainichi.jp english.kyodonews.jp Both articles quote that editorial like it is official US policy
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:04:14 PM

NPR article on cold shutdown www.npr.org
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:07:14 PM

Interim storage facility to be built in Futuba. Does not say if it will just store waste from the plant or all the debris from the countryside www.upi.com
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:08:53 PM

"Why is Bill Gates selling nuclear tech to China?" www.washingtonpost.com

I nice read.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 1:13:02 PM

Paper collecting holiday messages for Fukushima children www.prnewswire.com

Radiation dose varies with evacuation pattern www.yomiuri.co.jp
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:15:28 PM

@Pedro Jesus I think the WP article misses an important point. The US tolerance for new nuclear technology. Despite aggressive pushes by the nuke industry it doesn't have strong approval from the public. I think part of the mentality is let China take the risk, if it actually works and is proven safe then people in the US might open up to it. The tolerance for safety and financial risk in the US right now is pretty low.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:18:53 PM

Nebraska congressman promotes bill that would limit NRC emergency authority www.omaha.com
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:23:27 PM

Angels Shiga is now working with the Hoshi family to identify and rescue dogs & cats in the evac zone. This should help improve the rescue rate. Another pair of dogs (mom & pup) were rescued yesterday.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 1:34:31 PM

@lillymunster Very good point there. But this technology Mr Gates and his peers advocate is not meant for developed countries, in my opinion. It is not a energy technology for the unforeseen future, it is more a mid term alternative for developing economies/industries, providing power while keeping emissions under control. I see it as a compromise, a way of tackling the nuclear waste and the global warming problems. We all envision a brilliant future without nuclear power, but until we reach that goal we still have to tackle another bigger problem on the short term - global warming. This specific technology allegedly provides a affordable way of producing electric energy by using nuclear waste as fuel. This specific 4th generation reactor design cannot self-sustain fission, thus preventing the risk of nuclear accidents. It can buy Humanity some time until we develop better, cleaner and more efficient ways of producing electricity from non-fossil sources. These are the principal prerogatives of the new design, however the fundamental question remains unanswered: will it ever work?
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 1:57:54 PM

@Pedro Jesus in the US nuclear power fans are using it as an excuse to justify the existing nuclear power infrastructure and a long term dependence on nukes in general as an energy policy.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:01:37 PM

@lillymunster Sure but they're missing the point. Developed countries should look beyond the mid term; the only viable long term solution we have so far is renewable energy. That is, until nuclear fusion energy, if ever, becomes a viable alternative, which according to the most optimistic estimates won't happen before the second half of the century.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:05:33 PM

@Pedro Jesus true. We should be looking at better efficiency and renewables. At least in the US we have lots of unused potential. They state that 20% (or less) of US power is generated by nuclear power. There were also claims that moving away from incandescent lighting would cut residential electricity usage 20%. That shows how easy efficiency at least on the residential side could be achieved. We have power utilities complaining that usage is down and they want to make up the loss in profits by raising rates. The commercial power use could easily but lowered. Some companies have had energy audits by consultants that found major improvements by changing how they do their processes or adding self generated renewables on site. One company I remembered was cooling water in one part of a factory for whatever processes they used and heating it in another but it wasn't a logical fashion. They changed the water routes to take advantage of existing hot/cold properties and took some extra heating/cooling out of the process and saved them a ton of money on power.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:12:25 PM

Having said that, German E-on ( www.eon.com ) is bidding for a share at Portuguese EDP ( www.eco.edp.pt ) (which is being privatised) against a Chinese power company whose name I can't recall. A final decision will be reached in the next weeks. E.on's bid, although financially inferior to their Chinese counterparts, comes with the promise of R&D investments in the renewable energy area, a very promising scenario considering EDP is among the most successful power companies in the world in that department and holding a fair share of the Brazilian energy market.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:13:12 PM

@lillymunster what i learned from the nuke abolition debate here, is that germany (and other countries probably as well) constantly produces 30% more energy than the highest peak consumption. it is an emergency reserve that is generated and never used. it would be intelligent to store the energy instead of doing nothing.
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:16:09 PM

More experts citing cracked cooling pipe at unit 1 as cause of unit 1 rapid meltdown. Rough translation:

　Meanwhile, earlier this month are summarized in the Nuclear Safety Institute is an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of infrastructure ministry, "IC Behavior Analysis Unit 1 reactor in operation", the measured values of pressure and water level in the reactor during operation of the IC and simulation results for cracked • Three hundred square centimeters of the pipe through which cooling water recirculation system and IC "There is no significant difference," concluded. Dive and water pressure, it can be explained by crack pipes • Three hundred square centimeters. • Three hundred square centimeters from the crack, a leak of seven tons per hour of water. www.tokyo-np.co.jp
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:16:27 PM

@lillymunster Would you believe me if I told you I haven't used incandescent light bulbs for well over 10 years now? It is actually very hard to find incandescent light bulbs for sale anywhere around here. EDP estimates that changing home appliances to class A++ and using eco light bulbs can reduce home power consumption by over 30%. I've run a simulation on their website about disconnecting some appliances instead of letting them on stand-by and that alone can save up to 60€ per year on the electricity bill. There are plenty of ways to tackle the energy problem.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:18:04 PM

@Edano TEPCO et al were over estimating power need in Japan all summer. It seems pointless to actually operate way over capacity vs. having additional capacity available on stand by.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:18:40 PM

60€ amounts to about a month's electricity bill, btw.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:19:43 PM

@Pedro Jesus We have maybe 4 incandescent bulbs left in the house and that is only because they were here when we moved in and have not burned out because those lights are rarely used. Everything else is CFL or Halogen. We may start moving to more LED lights as better ones are finally coming to market.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:20:46 PM

@Edano That is a huge issue. Electric energy storage is outrageously expensive. The solution, I think, is upgrading efficiency management but we are very far from achieving satisfactory results.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:22:53 PM

@lillymunster I usually use Philips eco light bulbs. They are, I've found throughout years of experimenting, the most cost effective ones. Not surprisingly, they are Made in PRC.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:25:33 PM

@Pedro Jesus we have tried different ones. So far Sylvania have lasted longer. We have had lots of CFLs fail and a few halogens. I need to see if we can get Phillips around here..
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:26:43 PM

Maximum 40 yrs estimated to finish scrapping Fukushima reactors

TOKYO, Dec. 15, Kyodo

The government and the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant expect it could take up to 40 years to complete the process of scrapping the plant's crippled reactors, government sources said Thursday.

The estimate is expected to be included in a new work schedule for decommissioning the reactors, to be unveiled as soon as next week, after the government announces Friday that a stable state known as ''cold shutdown'' has now been achieved at the plant, they said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will hold a press conference from 6 p.m. Friday on the plant situation, according to the prime minister's office.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., more commonly known as TEPCO, have sought to achieve a cold shutdown by year-end. Cold shutdown is defined as a condition in which the bottom part of a reactor pressure vessel is kept below 100 C, and radiation exposure caused by the release of radioactive substances is being significantly held down.

According to some government officials, the plant is considered to have cleared the conditions for a cold shutdown. The temperature of the pressure vessels of the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors, whose nuclear fuel is believed to have fully or partially melted, currently stand at around 38-68 C and the amount of radioactive substances released from the reactors remains below the government-set target limit of 1 millisievert per year, they said.

The government's nuclear safety agency has confirmed that the condition of the plant can be kept safe over the next three years or so, as TEPCO expects even in the event of another natural disaster multiple backups for a water circulation system to keep the reactors cool.

The planned announcement Friday of the cold shutdown is expected to lead the government to consider scaling back evacuation zones around the plant, the sources said.

According to a draft work schedule related to decommissioning, the utility aims to start removing the nuclear fuel stored in the spent fuel pools of the Nos. 1 to 4 units within two years and the melted fuel from the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors within 10 years.

Priority would be placed on the removal of the fuel stored in the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 unit where the outer wall of the building housing the reactor has been severely damaged by a hydrogen explosion and many bundles of fuel are stored.

The situation of the No. 4 unit is different from those of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors in that all of the fuel was in the spent fuel pool at the time of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami due to maintenance work.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:29:20 PM

U.S. official shows readiness to help Japan scrap crippled reactors

TOKYO, Dec. 15, Kyodo

Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman expressed readiness Thursday to offer cooperation to Japan over its efforts to decommission the crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and decontaminate the land around the plant.

Noting that weapons production efforts during the Cold War era have left the United States with a ''significant nuclear cleanup legacy,'' including high-level waste and contaminated soil, Poneman said in a speech in Tokyo that his country has ''unique capabilities and skills that are immediately applicable to Japan.''

He touched on an environmental cleanup project taking place at the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, where nuclear waste was generated in the process of producing plutonium for atomic weapons associated with the U.S. defense program during World War II and throughout the Cold War.

Plutonium from Hanford is also known to have been used in an atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945.

Separately meeting media at the U.S. Embassy in Japan in Tokyo, he also said he wants to invite Japanese experts to Hanford in February to hold discussions on radioactive liquid waste issues and added that the United States ''has been very closely engaged, and will remain engaged'' in the course of Japan's efforts to cope with the Fukushima plant.

Struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the Fukushima nuclear plant located on the Pacific coast in northeastern Japan lost nearly all of its power sources and consequently the ability to cool the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors and spent fuel pools.

The government has said the three reactors at the plant suffered meltdowns.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:31:03 PM

IAEA conveys grave concern over unreported nuclear substances from Japan

TOKYO, Dec. 15, Kyodo

The International Atomic Energy Agency has conveyed to Japan its grave concern over not being informed about nuclear substances found in the waste of domestic facilities subject to IAEA inspections, government officials said Thursday.

The IAEA expressed this to Japan in February and has made a rare request to also examine waste that is usually not subject to its inspections, the officials said.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology subsequently conducted a probe of 262 facilities nationwide and discovered more large quantities of unaccounted-for nuclear material.

In October last year, large quantities of unreported highly enriched uranium and plutonium were found in the nuclear waste at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Oarai Research and Development Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, the officials said.

The IAEA took up the matter in talks with the government in February.

The waste was disposed of before Japan's safeguard agreement with the IAEA came into force in 1977.

To alleviate the IAEA's concerns, the science ministry conducted a probe in August of nuclear energy facilities subject to the IAEA's safeguard program, and in an interim report given to the IAEA said large quantities of unaccounted for nuclear substances had been found in other facilities.

The IAEA is currently discussing with the government how they can verify the findings in the report and say the outcome is valid.

Under its safeguard system, the IAEA promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the prevention of nuclear material being used in weapons. It verifies declarations made by nations about their nuclear materials and activities.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:32:25 PM

@lillymunster Philips warrants their eco light bulbs for 6 years. If it burns before that time you can get a brand new one from the shop cost free, providing you remember to keep the receipt. They usually last between 5 to 7 years so I haven't bought that many. Other brands I've tried, although cheaper, won't last longer than 3 years. Considering the longevity and also the quality of the emitted light, the Philips' have, so far, been my favourite.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:33:39 PM

GSDF nearly completes cleanup at Fukushima municipal gov't offices

TOKYO, Dec. 15, Kyodo

Ground Self-Defense Force troops have almost completed an operation from Dec. 7 to decontaminate local government office buildings of four municipalities around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, GSDF Gen. Eiji Kimizuka said Thursday.

The cleanup operation has been completed in the towns of Namie and Naraha and the village of Iitate, while decontamination work in the town of Tomioka is expected to finish Friday, Kimizuka told a press conference.

The work has been conducted to prepare operational bases for a full-fledged cleanup that will start next year as a nuclear decontamination law goes into effect in January.

As soon as the cleanup operation is completed, the Environment Ministry will measure radiation levels at the local government office buildings and allow their use by local officials if the levels are below the government-set limit.

Kimizuka, who inspected the Tomioka town office earlier in the day, said the cleanup operation involved a huge amount of work including the removal of water and gravel from ponds and the scrubbing of rubber lining sheets.

About 900 GSDF troops have been cleaning the buildings with high-pressure water sprayers and metal brushes, scraping off topsoil on their premises with heavy machinery and shovels.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:34:33 PM

@Edano That answers one of my questions earlier. Mitsubishi is still on the run to win the decommissioning contract.
by Pedro Jesus 12/15/2011 2:36:22 PM

UPDATE1: Scrapping Fukushima reactors estimated to take up to 40 years

TOKYO, Dec. 15, Kyodo

The government and the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant expect it could take up to 40 years to complete the process of scrapping the plant's crippled reactors, government sources said Thursday.

The estimate is expected to be included in a new work schedule for decommissioning the reactors, to be unveiled as soon as next week, after the government announces Friday that a stable state known as ''cold shutdown'' has been achieved at the plant, they said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will hold a press conference from 6 p.m. Friday on the situation at the plant, according to the prime minister's office.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., commonly known as TEPCO, have sought to achieve a cold shutdown by year-end. Cold shutdown is defined as a condition in which the bottom part of a reactor pressure vessel is kept below 100 C, and radiation exposure caused by the release of radioactive substances is being significantly held down.

According to some government officials, the plant is considered to have cleared the conditions for a cold shutdown. The temperature of the pressure vessels of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors, the nuclear fuel of which may have fully or partially melted, currently stand at around 38-68 C and the amount of radioactive substances released from the reactors remains below the government-set target limit of 1 millisievert per year.

The government's nuclear safety agency has confirmed that the plant can be kept in a safe condition over the next three years or so, as TEPCO expects that multiple backups for a water circulation system will keep the reactors cool even in the event of another natural disaster.

According to a draft work schedule related to decommissioning, the utility aims to start removing the nuclear fuel stored in the spent fuel pools of the Nos. 1 to 4 units within two years and the melted fuel from the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors within 10 years.

Priority would be placed on the removal of the fuel stored in the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 unit where the outer wall of the building housing the reactor has been severely damaged by a hydrogen explosion and many bundles of fuel are stored.

The situation at the No. 4 unit is different from that at the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors as all of the fuel was in the spent fuel pool at the time of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami due to maintenance work.

The planned announcement Friday of the cold shutdown is expected to lead the government to consider scaling back evacuation zones around the plant, but it remains uncertain whether public concern about the plant will be alleviated by the announcement.

TEPCO reported to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Thursday that it will not, without due care or effort, dump into the Pacific Ocean low-level radioactive water stored on the plant's premises, but left open the possibility of resorting to such a measure.

TEPCO has recently touched on the idea of releasing such water into the sea after finding that the capacity of tanks storing the water may run short around next spring, triggering strong opposition from a fisheries group.

TEPCO told the agency that ''a release into the sea at this moment has not yet been decided,'' but the utility appears to be keeping alive the option of dumping water into the sea in the event it has no other options despite efforts to increase the number of storage tanks or to reduce the amount of contaminated water.

Highly radioactive water is accumulating inside the plant's reactor turbine buildings as a result of the continuing injection of water to cool the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors. The water is currently recycled as a coolant after reducing its radioactive level at a water processing facility, and the unused portion is stored in tanks.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp
by Edano 12/15/2011 2:37:29 PM

Tsunami debris is being found on US & Canada west coasts www.peninsuladailynews.com
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 2:44:59 PM

So the bad news ahead of "cold shutdown" .. The radiation readings for Fukushima from Speedi were released. Admission they screwed up evacuations for 11 days and they just shelved the idea. Admission they missed the window for protective iodine in those areas. The pipes at unit 1 broke in the quake. Admission that some areas people won't be able to return to (difficult to return zones). Did I forget any?
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:04:19 PM

@Edano, I heard back from Kyodo on a "professional" subscription. $120 USD a MONTH. Um that is a wee bit steep and that is based on us not reproducing articles and only occasionally quoting them.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:05:12 PM

We might be able to get away with a business/society limited access indivdiual account for $19 a month. I think that would give us access to the categories we usually need.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:08:25 PM

NRC in congressional hearing again right now. This one is supposed to be about Fukushima but Issa is railing about the management drama again www.c-span.org
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:14:54 PM

Bernie Sanders is blasting the NRC that the other commissioners wanted to delay Fukushima safety changes for at least 2 years because they are nuclear industry lapdogs.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:22:38 PM

Sen. Lamar Alexander blamed Fukushima on a Cyclone-Hurricane made tsunami. And said that caused the melt downs...
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:26:59 PM

"we know what happened at fukushima, we know what to do about it" Alexander
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:28:27 PM

"what we are seeing is an agency usually run by the industry now in charge by someone concerned about safety" Cant catch his name
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:29:30 PM

The Senators are still railing about the spat among the commissioners and still have not gotten to talking about Fukushima.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:45:27 PM

Every Republican Senator has gone out of their way to state that we do not have risk or problems in the US based on the Fukushima disaster including that our reactors don't have those kinds of risks. BARF.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 3:53:07 PM

Senator asks Jaczko about safety of reactors and then BWR units specifically. He was reluctant to call the BRWs totally safe and waffled on his answer.
by lillymunster 12/15/2011 4:44:18 PM