Radiation

Japan Radioactivity Forecast System Down

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– Radioactivity forecast system down (NHK):

A computer system that forecasts the spread of radioactivity has not been working due to malfunctioning monitoring posts around a troubled nuclear power plant in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says it does not know when the system will be back in operation.

The system, called SPEEDI, predicts how radioactive substances will spread in case of radiation leakage from nuclear power plants, based on measurements taken at various locations, prevailing winds and other weather conditions.

SPEEDI data are intended to be used to draw up evacuation plans for residents around power plants in case of accidents.

The system is monitored at government offices, including the industry ministry and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in Tokyo.

Italy Bans Japanese Food Imports In Wake Of Nuclear Radiation

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– Italy bans Japanese food imports in wake of nuclear radiation (Monsters and Critics):

Rome – Italy has banned the import of food products from Japan due to concern that they may be contaminated by nuclear radiation, Health Ministry officials confirmed Wednesday.

The announcement was first made by Italian Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio during a Tuesday late-night television chat-show.

Read moreItaly Bans Japanese Food Imports In Wake Of Nuclear Radiation

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!)

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Don’t miss:

– Israeli Nuclear Expert Accuses Japan Of Downplaying Danger Nuclear Calamity: ‘If there is fallout of plutonium oxide, a most toxic substance that they use in the reactor that exploded, no one will be able to set foot on the site for thousands of years’

Flashback:

– Japan’s Deadly Game of Nuclear Roulette (Must-Read!):

However, many of those reactors have been negligently sited on active faults, particularly in the subduction zone along the Pacific coast, where major earthquakes of magnitude 7-8 or more on the Richter scale occur frequently. The periodicity of major earthquakes in Japan is less than 10 years. There is almost no geologic setting in the world more dangerous for nuclear power than Japan — the third-ranked country in the world for nuclear reactors.

“I think the situation right now is very scary,” says Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a seismologist and professor at Kobe University. “It’s like a kamikaze terrorist wrapped in bombs just waiting to explode.”

When reading the following article keep this fact in mind …

Gamma radiation measurements – on which all those low health risk statements were based – do NOT take into account radiation from alpha-emitting radionuclides such as uranium and plutonium!!!

… and also remember that the fuel rods may have already burned:

– Continuing problems raise fears of greater radiation threat (CNN):

High temperatures inside the building that houses the plant’s No. 4 reactor may have caused fuel rods sitting in a pool to ignite or explode, the plant’s owner said.

CNN has changed the article, but you can still see that this exact phrase has been used in the article here.

Here is why Japan’s nuclear disaster could get (much) worse than Chernobyl


Chernobyl

GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Daiichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 9.1 earthquake and a hugh tsunami.

The company may escape tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in liability from this continuing disaster, which could still result in a catastrophic total meltdown of one or more of the reactors (as of this writing three of the reactors are reported to have suffered explosions and partial meltdowns, and all could potentially become more serious total meltdowns with a rupture of the reactor container), thanks to Japanese law, which makes the operator–in this case Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) liable. But if it were found that it was design flaws by GE that caused the problem, presumably TEPCO or the Japanese government could pursue GE for damages.

In fact, the design of these facilities–a design which, it should be noted, was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont–appear to have included serious flaws, from a safety perspective.

The drawings of the plants in question, called Mark I systems, provide no way for venting hydrogen gas from the containment buildings, despite the fact that one of the first things that happens in the event of a cooling failure is the massive production of hydrogen gas by the exposed fuel rods in the core. This is why three of the nuclear generator buildings at Fukushima Daiichi have exploded with tremendous force blasting off the roof and walls of the structures, and damaging control equipment needed to control the reactors.

One would have thought that design engineers at GE would have thought about that possibility, and provided venting systems for any hydrogen gas being vented in an emergency into the building. But no. They didn’t.

There is a worse problem though. Probably in an effort to keep the problem of nuclear waste hidden from the public, these plants feature huge pools of water up in the higher level of the containment building above the reactors, which hold and store the spent fuel rods from the reactor. These rods are still “hot” but besides the uranium fuel pellets, they also contain the highly radioactive and potentially biologically active decay products of the fission process–particularly radioactive Cesium 137, Iodine 131 and Strontium 90. (Some of GE’s plants in the US feature this same design. The two GE Peach Bottom reactors near me, for example, each have two spent fuel tanks sitting above their reactors.)

As Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton, has written, if these waste containers, euphemistically called “ponds,” were to be damaged in an explosion and lose their cooling and radiation-shielding water, they could burst into flame from the resulting burning of the highly flammable zirconium cladding of the fuel rods, blasting perhaps three to nine times as much of these materials into the air as was released by the Chernobyl reactor disaster. (And that’s if just one reactor blows!) Each pool, Alvarez says, generally contains five to ten times as much nuclear material as the reactors themselves. Alvarez cites a 1997 Nuclear Regulatory Commission study that predicted that a waste pool fire could render a 188-square-mile area “uninhabitable” and do $59 billion worth of damage (but that was 13 years ago).

Another nuclear scientist agrees with Alvarez, quoted in an article in the Christian Science Monitor:

“There should be much more attention paid to the spent-fuel pools,” says Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear engineer and president of the anti-nuclear power Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. “If there’s a complete loss of containment [and thus the water inside], it can catch fire. There’s a huge amount of radioactivity inside – far more than is inside the reactors. The damaged reactors are less likely to spread the same vast amounts of radiation that Chernobyl did, but a spent-fuel pool fire could very well produce damage similar to or even greater than Chernobyl.”

Adding to that worry, Alvarez says photos of Reactor 3 seem to show white steam rising from the damaged facility, from a location where the spent fuel pond would likely be.

But it gets worse. According to news reports, the Reactor 3 unit was being fueled with MOX, a controversial mixed oxides fuel rod, which includes, in addition to uranium, a significant amount of plutonium–a far more dangerous element both chemically as a toxin, and in terms of its radioactivity.

You have to ask, what kind of numbskull would put the waste “pond” for spend fuel right above the reactor of a nuclear plant, thus insuring that in the event of a meltdown, not only would the core of the reactor blow up into the environment, but also all of the spent fuel from prior years?

Read moreJapan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!)

Israeli Nuclear Expert Accuses Japan Of Downplaying Danger Nuclear Calamity: ‘If there is fallout of plutonium oxide, a most toxic substance that they use in the reactor that exploded, no one will be able to set foot on the site for thousands of years’

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Third blast at Fukushima Daiichi plant

Tel Aviv – An Israeli nuclear expert has accused Japan of downplaying the danger of a nuclear calamity in the region of its quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant.

‘If there is fallout of plutonium oxide, a most toxic substance that they use in the reactor that exploded, no one will be able to set foot on the site for thousands of years,’ said Uzi Even, one of Israel’s most prominent nuclear scientists, who worked at the country’s Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert.

‘The Japanese aren’t telling the truth because of shame,’ he told the Ma’ariv daily.

The Israeli chemistry professor believed the Japanese government was hiding facts.

Read moreIsraeli Nuclear Expert Accuses Japan Of Downplaying Danger Nuclear Calamity: ‘If there is fallout of plutonium oxide, a most toxic substance that they use in the reactor that exploded, no one will be able to set foot on the site for thousands of years’

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Officials: Nuclear leaks now dangerous, situation nearing severity of Chernobyl – Tokyo residents flee – America on radiation alert: Experts warn fallout may reach US – US Military warns on radiation risk – IAEA: Main vessel of reactor plant may be damaged – Now Worse Than A Meltdown

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Third explosion rocks the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

– Japan officials: Stay indoors, nuclear leaks now dangerous (Christian Science Monitor):

Japan officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that ‘radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere’ after a fire broke out in a storage pond for spent fuel at nuclear reactor damaged by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.

Japanese officials are now ordering 140,000 people living near nuclear power plants damaged by Friday’s 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami to stay indoors and seal their doors and windows.

– Official: Japan’s nuclear situation nearing severity of Chernobyl (CNN):

(CNN) — The explosion Tuesday at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has elevated the situation there to a “serious accident” on a level just below Chernobyl, a French nuclear official said, referring to an international scale that rates the severity of such incidents.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale — or INES — goes from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a “major accident” in which there’s been a large release of radioactive material and there will be widespread health and environmental effects.

“It’s clear we are at Level 6, that’s to say we’re at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl,” Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France’s nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.

– Panicked residents start to flee Tokyo as radiation levels rise after THIRD blast at stricken nuclear power plant (Daily Mail):

* Radiation leaking directly into the air from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
* Power station has now suffered three reactor explosions and one fire
* One reactor core ‘exposed to the atmosphere’ through crack in containment wall
* Radiation levels up to ten times higher than normal in Tokyo
* Mass exodus as thousands residents flee towns close to reactor
* Experts warn of cancer risk
* Japan seeks help from U.S. to spray water on over-heating reactors from helicopters

Scores of terrified residents began to flee Tokyo today as a nuclear power plant destroyed by the tsunami threatened to send a cloud of radioactive dust across Japan.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant suffered a third reactor explosion last night, another reactor on the site caught fire – and officials today announced the wall of one reactor was cracked.

Radiation levels have soared acoss the country as radioactive material spewed directly into the atmosphere while emergency crews fought to avoid a catastrophic meltdown.

Levels of radiation were ten times higher than normal in the capital today, as experts warned that people in Japan could face an increased cancer risk even if the crisis does not deteriorate.

– America on radiation alert: Japan faces world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl as experts warn fallout may reach U.S. (Daily Mail):

  • California ‘monitoring situation closely’ amid dramatic escalation of disaster
  • Japan’s nuclear crisis now appears worse than the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 – but not yet as bad as Chernobyl in 1986
  • Japan PM tells people within 19 miles of plant to stay indoors as radiation reaches levels that could impact human heath
  • Radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within hours – and radiation levels are already rising in city
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits it is ‘quite possible’ radiation could reach the U.S.
  • ‘Worst-case scenario’ could see 30,000ft winds sending nuclear cloud across Pacific – possibly hitting by Tuesday night

Fears that America could be hit by the nuclear fallout from the Japan earthquake have dramatically increased as workers prepared to abandon a reactor crippled by the earthquake and tsunami last night in the face of what is set to become the world’s second worst nuclear disaster – topped only by Chernobyl.

Damage at the number two reactor at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex is worse than thought, the Japanese government admitted tonight, sparking fears for human health both in Japan and the U.S.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has admitted it is ‘quite possible’ the fallout could reach America.

– US Military warns on Japan radiation risk (Reuters via Jerusalem Post):

IAEA says main vessel of atom plant may be damaged; French Nuclear Authority says crises ranks 6 out of 7 on INES scale of nuclear accidents.

WASHINGTON – The US Navy on Tuesday recommended personnel and families stationed at two bases in Japan take precautions after detecting low-levels of radioactivity, including limiting outdoor activities.

“These measures are strictly precautionary in nature. We do not expect that any United States federal radiation exposure limits will be exceeded even if no precautionary measures are taken,” the Seventh Fleet said in a statement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi unit 2 “may have affected the integrity of its primary containment vessel.”

The IAEA said primary containment vessels of units 1 and 3 appeared intact despite explosions there. It said units at the Fukushima Daini, Onagawa, and Tokai nuclear power plants were in a safe and stable condition.

On a scale of one to seven, Japan’s current nuclear crisis in Fukushima is equivalent to a number six on the INES’s scale of nuclear accidents the French Nuclear Safety Authority said. In comparison, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was a seven.

– Japan faces “apocalyptic” disaster as radiation spills from stricken nuclear plant (Mirror):

As the danger rating at the plant was upgraded from five to six out of seven, Europe’s energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said: “There is talk of an apocalypse and I think the word is particularly well chosen.

“Practically everything is out of control. I cannot exclude the worst in the hours and days to come.”

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan admitted perilous levels of radiation were leaking from the power station.

At one point it soared to 400 times the annual legal limit.

Mr Kan said on TV: “Radiation has spread from the reactors and the reading seems high. There is a very high risk of further radioactive material coming out.

– Fire at Japan nuclear reactor heightens radiation (Reuters)

Now that is horrible news …

– Continuing problems raise fears of greater radiation threat (CNN):

High temperatures inside the building that houses the plant’s No. 4 reactor may have caused fuel rods sitting in a pool to ignite or explode, the plant’s owner said.

– Fuel-cooling pools add to Japan worries (Times of India):

If any of the spent fuel rods in the pools do indeed catch fire, nuclear experts say, the high heat would loft the radiation in clouds that would spread the radioactivity. “It’s worse than a meltdown,” said David A Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The reactor is inside thick walls, and the spent fuel of Reactors 1 and 3 is out in the open.”

… further explained in greater detail here:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!)

– Israeli Nuclear Expert Accuses Japan Of Downplaying Danger Nuclear Calamity: ‘If there is fallout of plutonium oxide, a most toxic substance that they use in the reactor that exploded, no one will be able to set foot on the site for thousands of years’

Japan: Panic Buying, Evacuations In Tokyo, Power Supply Shortages To Continue For Months

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– Panic Buying Adds To Shortages After Japan Quake (NPR):

Canned goods, batteries, bread and bottled water have vanished from store shelves and long lines of cars circle gas stations, as Japan grapples with a new risk set off by last week’s earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis: panic-buying.

Far outside the disaster zone, stores are running out of necessities, raising government fears that hoarding may hurt the delivery of emergency food aid to those who really need it.

“The situation is hysterical,” said Tomonao Matsuo, spokesman for instant noodle maker Nissin Foods, which donated a million items including its “Cup Noodles” for disaster relief. “People feel safer just by buying Cup Noodles.”

– Japan power gap could sap recovery (Reuters):

“We think power supply shortages and rations are likely to continue in TEPCO’s supply area for months rather than weeks,” the analysts wrote in a note to clients.

– Radiation fears spark panic buying, evacuations in Tokyo (Reuters):

TOKYO (Reuters) – Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday after a rise in radioactive levels around an earthquake-hit nuclear power plant north of the city, causing some to leave the capital or stock up on food and supplies.

Embassies advised staff to leave affected areas, tourists cut short vacations and some multinational companies told staff to move from Tokyo out after low levels of radiation were detected in one of the world’s biggest and most densely populated cities.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistory, 24-hour general store in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reported visited the shop.

Read moreJapan: Panic Buying, Evacuations In Tokyo, Power Supply Shortages To Continue For Months

Japan In Meltdown: THIRD Reactor Blast Hits Nuclear Plant – Confirmed: Radiation ‘Has Been Released Into The Atmosphere’

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Fight for control: A third explosion rocks the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant last night where engineers are struggling to avoid a nuclear catastrophe

– Japan earthquake and tsunami: Meltdown as 3rd reactor blast hits nuclear plant (Daily Mail):

  • Radiation leaking directly into the air from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
  • Explosion at Number Two reactor follows blasts at One and Three
  • Radiation levels rise around Tokyo – readings up to ten times higher than normal 15 miles from capital
  • Fire breaks out at Number Four reactor
  • Fears for residents yet to make it outside 19-mile exclusion zone
  • Stock markets in chaos as Nikkei plummets 10.5% in one day

There was growing panic in Japan today as a third massive explosion and a fire at a nuclear power station hit by the tsunami pushed the country to the brink of catastrophe.

The government was forced to to order 140,000 residents to seal themselves indoors today as more radioactive material was released into the atmosphere by the third explosion at the plant in four days and the fire at another reactor.

Radioactive material is leaking ‘directly’ into the air from the stricken plant at a rate of 400 milliseverts per hour, according to The International Atomic Energy Agency.  Anyone exposed to over 100 millisieverts a year risks cancer.

Radiation levels were rising around Tokyo this morning, with readings up to ten times higher than normal in Chiba – 15 miles from the capital.

Read moreJapan In Meltdown: THIRD Reactor Blast Hits Nuclear Plant – Confirmed: Radiation ‘Has Been Released Into The Atmosphere’

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Japan braces for potential radiation catastrophe – Radiation hits dangerous levels at Japan plant control room – Japan’s PM warns of dangerous radiation levels

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– Japan braces for potential radiation catastrophe (Reuters):

(Reuters) – Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating toward Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility — a population of 140,000 — to remain indoors amid the world’s most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

– Radiation hits dangerous levels at Japan plant control room (Reuters)

TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) – Radiation levels at the No. 4 reactor of Japan’s earthquake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant had become too high on Tuesday to conduct normal work from its control room, Kyodo news agency said.

Workers cannot stay long and are going in and out of the control room as well as monitoring from a different place, Kyodo said.

Japan is facing a potential catastrophe after the nuclear plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating towards Tokyo.

– Japan’s PM warns of dangerous radiation levels (CBC):

Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly earthquake and tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan’s northeastern coast.

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Tokyo Radiation Levels 23 Times Normal: Officials – Residents Warned To Stay Inside After Radiation Level Soar Near Japanese Nuclear Plant

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The Japanese government knew that the reactors were in partial meltdown right after the Tsunami hit, says the former editor of the Japan Times.

Watch these two videos to learn more:

– Japan: Full Core Meltdown Will Send Radiation Over United States

– Japan And US Try To Coverup Nuclear Catastrophe

You cannot trust the Japanese government or any other government.

Especially an uninformed government:

– Japan PM Naoto Kan to Tokyo Electric Power Company: ‘What the hell’s going on?’ (Kyodo – Reuters)

 

– Tokyo radiation levels 23 times normal: officials (MarketWatch):

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Radiation levels in Tokyo surged to 23 times normal on Tuesday, according to reports that cited readings released by the Tokyo metropolitan government. Radiation levels of .809 micro severts were recorded in central Tokyo at 10.00 a.m. local time (9.00 p.m. U.S. Eastern time), reports said. Southerly winds are believed to be pushing a radioactive plume from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which lies about 150 miles north of Tokyo.

– Tokyo Metropolitan Govt: Central Tokyo Radiation Level 0.809 Micro Severts As Of 0100 GMT (CNBC Twitter)

– More News at CNBC Twitter

– Residents warned to stay inside after radiation level soar near Japanese nuclear plant (AP):

SOMA, Japan — Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan’s northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world’s third-largest economy.

Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a storage pond and that “radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.” Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool, where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, might be boiling.

“We cannot deny the possibility of water boiling” in the pool, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with the economy ministry, which oversees nuclear safety.

– Japan In Meltdown: THIRD Reactor Blast Hits Nuclear Plant – Confirmed: Radiation ‘Has Been Released Into The Atmosphere’ (Daily Mail)

Japan: Workers Evacuated From Nuke Reactor – Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant highly likely – Radiation Levels Shoot Up After Nuke Plant Blast – New hydrogen explosion rocks stricken reactor

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An official scans a man and a child for radiation at an emergency center in Koriyama, Japan, on Monday, March 14, 2011.

– Radiation shoots up after nuke plant blast (NEWS.com.au):

THE radiation level at Japan’s troubled nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture shot up to 8217 micro sievert per hour temporarily this morning after an explosion was heard at its No.2 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

Kyodo news agency reported the level as of 8.31pm local time was more than eight times the 1000 micro sievert level to which people are usually exposed in one year.

– Japan’s TEPCO evacuates staff from nuke reactor (ABS CBN News):

TOKYO – Workers have been evacuated from the number-two reactor at Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant after it was hit by an explosion Tuesday, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman said.

A TEPCO spokesman earlier said there was a huge explosion between 6:00 am (2100 GMT Monday) and 6:15 am at the number-two reactor of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

The government also reported apparent damage to part of the container shielding the same reactor at Fukushima 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, although it was unclear whether this resulted from the blast.

– Japan earthquake: Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant highly likely (Herald Sun):

UPDATE 11.07am: A THIRD explosion in four days has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant in Japan.

The blast this morning at Dai-ichi Unit 2 follows two hydrogen explosions at the plant – at Unit 1 and Unit 3 – as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.

Water levels have dropped precipitously inside Unit 2, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing Unit 3.

The latest explosion was heard at 6.10am (8.10am AEDT), a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety Agency said.

The plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), said the explosion occurred near the suppression pool in the reactor’s containment vessel.

Read moreJapan: Workers Evacuated From Nuke Reactor – Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant highly likely – Radiation Levels Shoot Up After Nuke Plant Blast – New hydrogen explosion rocks stricken reactor

Japan Aftershock Map – 405 Aftershocks So Far – Aftershocks Will Likely Include At Least One Measuring 8 And 10 Of Magnitude 7, Says JPL Geophysicist Andrea Donnellan

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For Japan, it’s nowhere near over, at least if the Pasadena Jet Propulsion Laboratory (creator of such brainiac things as the Mars rovers) is correct.

While Japan has experienced numerous magnitude 5 and 6 aftershocks (405 in total to be precise), the big ones are still to come: “Japan’s largest quake on record, which hurled a 7-meter (23-foot) wave landward after one plate slid beneath another off the coast of Sendai, had an 8.9 magnitude.

The aftershocks will likely include at least one measuring 8 and 10 of magnitude 7, JPL geophysicist Andrea Donnellan said.

All are many times larger than the 6.3-level New Zealand quake in February that leveled the Christchurch business district and killed 160.”

Should we get more 8+ earthquakes, the likelihood of further tsunamis unfortunately jumps exponentially. And while scientists have long been expecting “the Big One” to hit Los Angeles so far without success, unfortunately carrying over that logic to Japan is more than naive.

(Click on image to go to the USGS aftershock map.)

More from BusinessWeek on predicting earthquakes:

Pressure levels changed on the undersea plates extending 500 kilometers to the east and west of the epicenter, likely provoking aftershocks “for a long time,” said Eric Fielding, a principal scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Pasadena, California, research group is using data from Japan to help scientists forecast follow-on shifts in crustal plates.

Read moreJapan Aftershock Map – 405 Aftershocks So Far – Aftershocks Will Likely Include At Least One Measuring 8 And 10 Of Magnitude 7, Says JPL Geophysicist Andrea Donnellan

Japanese Official: 2 Nuclear Reactors May Be In Meltdown

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See also:

– Meltdown Threat: Nuclear Expert John Large Says Japan Is ‘Preparing For Worst Case Scenario’ (ITN NEWS)

“The bottom line is that we just don’t know what’s going to happen in the next couple of days and, frankly, neither do the people who run the system,” added Dr. Ira Helfand, a member of the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility.


A medical worker checks the radiation levels of a resident in Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture.

Tokyo (CNN) — While saying there are no indications yet of dangerously high radiation levels in the atmosphere, a Japanese government official said Sunday that there is a “possibility of a meltdown” at two of the country’s nuclear reactors.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that officials still do not know if there have been meltdowns in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi’s nuclear facility in northeast Japan. But as they attempt to cool down radioactive material and release pressure inside the reactors, he said authorities were working under the presumption that such meltdowns have taken place.

“We do believe that there is a possibility that meltdown has occurred. It is inside the reactor. We can’t see. However, we are assuming that a meltdown has occurred,” he said of the No. 1 reactor. “And with reactor No. 3, we are also assuming that the possibility of a meltdown as we carry out measures.”

A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release.

Read moreJapanese Official: 2 Nuclear Reactors May Be In Meltdown

Japan Now Assumes ‘Possibility Of A Meltdown’ – Official Says 2nd Blast Possible – French Urged To Leave Tokyo – Fukushima Fallout: Next Few Days Critical – 140000 Evacuated From Radioactive Danger Zone – Nuclear Crisis Worsens As Country Braces For 2nd Huge Earthquake

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Officials in protective gear at the the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

– Japan now assumes ‘possibility of a meltdown’ at troubled reactors (Christian Science Monitor)

At a Sunday morning press briefing, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said experts were “assuming the possibility of a meltdown” at the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima I plant, about 150 miles north of Tokyo, as well as at its No. 1 reactor.

– Workers scramble to cool reactors; official says 2nd blast possible (CNN):

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said an explosion could take place in the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.

“There is a possibility that the third reactor may have hydrogen gas that is accumulating in the reactor (that) may potentially cause an explosion,” he said.

– Amid nuke crisis, French urged to leave Tokyo (AP):

The French Embassy urged its citizens Sunday to leave the area around Tokyo — 170 miles (270 kilometers) from Fukushima Dai-ichi — in case the crisis deepened and a “radioactive plume” headed for the area around the capital. The statement acknowledged that the possibility was looking unlikely.

– 140000 evacuated from Japan’s radioactive danger zone (The Australian)

– Fukushima Fallout: Next Few Days Critical (Sky News):

They say advanced Japanese engineering at the 40-year-old facility will avoid a Chernobyl-style disaster, but any radiation leak could have disastrous long-term consequences.

During Friday’s megaquake most of Japan’s nuclear power reactors did shut down as planned, but at Fukushima the system failed – leaving its reactors at risk.

A blast at the plant’s number one reactor destroyed part of the building but did not prompt a major radiation leak.

Experts have warned there could be a second explosion at the plant’s number three reactor.

– Japan nuclear crisis worsens as country braces for second huge earthquake (Guardian):

The threat of further seismic shifts and tsunami is far from over. As rescue teams from more than 70 countries and tens of thousands of Japanese troops descended on the disaster zone, meteorological agency officials warned there was a 70% chance of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake striking the region in the next three days. “There will be many aftershocks in multiple locations. We have to brace ourselves for aftershocks of magnitude 5 or even magnitude 6,” an agency official said.

Here is an expert that has NO inside knowledge, but look what headline Reuters has created:

– Partial nuclear meltdown “no disaster,”: expert (Reuters):

“I think nobody can say at this time whether there is a small melting of any fuel elements or something like that. You have to inspect it afterwards,” he told Reuters by phone.

But a partial meltdown “is not a disaster” and a complete meltdown is not likely, he said, suggesting he believed Japanese authorities were succeeding in cooling down the reactors even though the systems for doing this failed after the quake hit.

“I only see they are trying to cool the reactor, that is the main task, and they are trying to get cooling water from the sea,” Engel said, stressing he did not have first-hand information about events at the Fukushima facility.

“I think (He does not know!) they will be able to manage it … When the (reactor) containment is intact only a small amount of radioactivity can go out, like in Three Mile Island,” he said referring to the 1979 nuclear accident in the United States.

TSA Body Scanners Show Radiation Levels 10 Times Higher Than Expected

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Don’t miss:

– Inside TSA Body Scanners: How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart Human DNA

– Review of the TSA X-ray backscatter body scanner safety report: hide your kids, hide your wife

– Dr. Russell Blaylock: Body Scanners More Dangerous Than Feds Admit

– Airport Body Scanners: Why You should REJECT ‘Routine’ NON-Diagnostic X-ray

– How Body Scanner Terahertz Waves Can Tear Apart DNA

– Full-Body Scanners Emitting ‘High-Energy’ Radiation Increase Cancer Risk

– US prisoners forced to submit to radiation experiments for private foreign companies

TSA to retest airport body scanners for radiation

The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation – 247 machines at 38 airports – after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

The TSA says that the records reflect math mistakes and that all the machines are safe. Indeed, even the highest readings listed on some of the records – the numbers that the TSA says were mistakes – appear to be many times less than what the agency says a person absorbs through one day of natural background radiation.

Even so, the TSA has ordered the new tests out of “an abundance of caution to reassure the public,” spokesman Nicholas Kimball says. The tests will be finished by the end of the month, and the results will be released “as they are completed,” the agency said on its website.

Read moreTSA Body Scanners Show Radiation Levels 10 Times Higher Than Expected

Japanese Official: Meltdown May Be Occurring At Nuclear Plant – IAEA: Japan May Hand Out Iodine Near Nuclear Plants – US Nuclear Experts Worry About Possible Japan Reactor Meltdown

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– Japan nuclear blast could be more deadly than Chernobyl, experts fear (Ha’aretz)

– Another Japan nuclear reactor fails (Los Angeles Times):

A third reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant loses its emergency cooling capacity, bringing to six the number of reactors that have failed at the two Fukushima nuclear power plants since the earthquake and tsunami.

– Radiation levels rise above limit at quake-hit plant: Kyodo (Reuters)

– IAEA: Japan may hand out iodine near nuclear plants (Reuters):

VIENNA (Reuters) – Japanese authorities have told the U.N.’s atomic watchdog they are making preparations to distribute iodine to people living near nuclear power plants affected by Friday’s earthquake, the Vienna-based agency said.

Iodine can be used to help protect against thyroid cancer in the case of radioactive exposure in a nuclear accident.

After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, thousands of cases of thyroid cancer were reported in children and adolescents who were exposed at the time of the accident. More cases are expected.

In Japan Saturday, radiation leaked from a damaged nuclear reactor after an explosion blew the roof off in the wake of the massive earthquake, but the government insisted that radiation levels were low.

Japan’s Jiji news agency later said three workers suffered radiation exposure near the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear body, said Japanese authorities had informed it of the explosion and that they were “assessing the condition of the reactor core.”

Japan expanded the evacuation zone around the plant, Fukushima Daiichi, and also that of the nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.

“The authorities also say they are making preparations to distribute iodine to residents in the area of both the plants,” the IAEA said in a statement.

“The IAEA has reiterated its offer of technical assistance to Japan, should the government request this,” it said.

– US Nuclear Experts Worry About Possible Japan Reactor Meltdown (Voice of America)

Meltdown may be occurring at nuclear plant, Japanese official says

‘There is a possibility, we see the possibility of a meltdown,’ an official with Japan’s nuclear agency says in an interview with CNN, adding that he is basing this on radioactivity measurements near the plant Saturday night. But the Japanese ambassasdor to the U.S. tells CNN that there’s no evidence of a meltdown.

A meltdown may be occurring at one of the reactors at an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant in northeast Japan, a government official told CNN Sunday morning Japan time.

“There is a possibility, we see the possibility of a meltdown,” said Toshihiro Bannai, director of the international affairs office of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety, in a telephone interview with CNN from the agency’s Tokyo headquarters. “At this point, we have still not confirmed that there is an actual meltdown, but there is a possibility.”

Bannai said engineers have been unable to get close enough to the reactor’s core to know what’s going on, and that he based his conclusion on radioactive cesium and iodine measured in the air near the plant Saturday night.

Read moreJapanese Official: Meltdown May Be Occurring At Nuclear Plant – IAEA: Japan May Hand Out Iodine Near Nuclear Plants – US Nuclear Experts Worry About Possible Japan Reactor Meltdown

Japan: Radiation Leak: Shades of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl? – Nuclear Agency Reports Emergency At Another Reactor – Ministers Ignored Safety Warnings Over Nuclear Reactors – Fear Of Nuclear Meltdown After Explosion at Fukushima Reactor – Evacuees Scanned For Radiation Exposure

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– Japan’s radiation leak: Shades of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl? (Christian Science Monitor)

– Japan nuclear agency reports emergency at another reactor (Los Angeles Times)

– Japan struggles with nuclear reactors in wake of quake (CNN)

– Exodus near Japan nuclear plant (BBC News)

– Japan’s TEPCO preparing to release radiation from second reactor (Reuters)

– Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant faces new reactor problem (Reuters)

– Sea water applied to quell damage at Japan nuclear reactor (Monsters and Critics)

– Official: 2 Japanese plants struggling to cool radioactive material (CNN)

– Japan earthquake: Officials say nuclear catastrophe averted (Christian Science Monitor)

–  Japan ministers ignored safety warnings over nuclear reactors (Guardian):

Nuclear power plants in Japan have a “fundamental vulnerability” to major earthquakes, Katsuhiko said in 2007. The government, the power industry and the academic community had seriously underestimated the potential risks posed by major quakes.Katsuhiko, who is professor of urban safety at Kobe University, has highlighted three incidents at reactors between 2005 and 2007. Atomic plants at Onagawa, Shika and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa were all struck by earthquakes that triggered tremors stronger than those to which the reactor had been designed to survive.

– Japan fears nuclear meltdown after explosion at Fukushima reactor (Guardian):

Physicists feared second explosion would create radioactive cloud as residents panicked, jamming city’s exit roads.

– Japan earthquake: nuclear disaster feared after power plant ‘explosion’ (Telegraph)

– Tokyo Electric Power loses control of pressure at 2nd nuclear plant (Reuters):

(Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power said it had lost its ability to control pressure in some of the reactors of a second nuclear power plant at its quake-hit Fukushima facility in northeastern Japan.

Pressure is stable inside the reactors but rising in the containment vessels, a spokesman said, although he did not know if there would be a need to release pressure at the plant at this point, which would involve a release of radiation. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Edmund Klamann)

– World watches nervously as Japan struggles with nuclear reactors (CNN)

– Japan quake live blog: People being tested for radiation exposure (CNN)

– Nervous Japan quake evacuees scanned for radiation exposure (Reuters)

Japan: Fallout Map From Destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

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Update 7:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Multiple Times Worse than Chernobyl

– TEPCO Director Weeps After Finally Admitting The Truth About Fukushima Disaster: Radiation Leak Is Serious Enough To Kill People

Update 6:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: US Calls Radiation Levels ‘Extremely High’ – Fuel Pool Has Burned Dry At The No. 4 Reactor, Leaving Fuel Rods Stored There Exposed And Bleeding Radiation

Update 5:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Radiation Levels 6,600 Times Normal 20km Away from Fukushima Nuclear Plant

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: French minister: ‘Let’s not beat about the bush, they’ve essentially lost control’ – Radiation Levels Stop Military Helicopters From Dumping Water

– Japan Radioactivity Forecast System Down

Update 4:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!)

As Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton, has written, if these waste containers, euphemistically called “ponds,” were to be damaged in an explosion and lose their cooling and radiation-shielding water, they could burst into flame from the resulting burning of the highly flammable zirconium cladding of the fuel rods, blasting perhaps three to nine times as much of these materials into the air as was released by the Chernobyl reactor disaster. (And that’s if just one reactor blows!)

Update 3 (12:30 AM on 15th March 2011):

– Japan In Meltdown: THIRD Reactor Blast Hits Nuclear Plant – Confirmed: Radiation ‘Has Been Released Into The Atmosphere’

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Japan braces for potential radiation catastrophe – Radiation hits dangerous levels at Japan plant control room – Japan’s PM warns of dangerous radiation levels

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Tokyo Radiation Levels 23 Times Normal: Officials – Residents Warned To Stay Inside After Radiation Level Soar Near Japanese Nuclear Plant

Update 2:

Here is another (supposedly) official map circling the Internet:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

In the news:

– Japanese Nuclear Crisis Escalates After Third Nuclear Reactor Went Into Meltdown

– Japan Now Assumes ‘Possibility Of A Meltdown’ – Official Says 2nd Blast Possible – French Urged To Leave Tokyo – Fukushima Fallout: Next Few Days Critical – 140000 Evacuated From Radioactive Danger Zone – Nuclear Crisis Worsens As Country Braces For 2nd Huge Earthquake

Update 1:

– Japan Nuclear Possible Fallout Map Labeled As Hoax (???):

UPDATED ! No official link-back can be found to the Japan fallout forecast map. (The graphic has been removed, but it can be seen by clicking on the preceding link.) Further research indicates that the graphic was a hoax. Nevertheless, the direction indicated on the map is consistent with the Pacific Ocean jet stream.

Earlier today, a suspicious map circulated on the Internet, forecasting possible nuclear fallout from the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion spreading radiation to the West Coast of the United States within 6 to 10 days time.

The suspicious map, bearing the logo of Australian Radiation Services, indicated that exposure to radiation following a likely nuclear fallout from the nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, could read the West Coast of the United States within 6 to 10 days time.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Japan: Following Core Meltdown, Reactor One At Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Explodes (Video)

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Update:

– Fukushima Explosion Update: Core Presumed Intact As Sea Water Used To Bring Temperature Down, Radiation Level At 1015 Microsieverts/Hour:

The damage control to the Fukushima explosion reported earlier is coming fast and furious. According to CNN, “the explosion at an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor’s temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday. The next step for workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant will be to flood the reactor containment structure with sea water to bring the reactor’s temperature down to safe levels, he said. The effort is expected to take two days.” While the government is trying to play down the threat from the explosion, it has nonetheless double the evacuation zone radius from 10 to 20 kilometers: “Radiation levels have fallen since the explosion and there is no immediate danger, Edano said. But authorities were nevertheless expanding the evacuation to include a radius of 20 kilometers (about 12.5 miles) around the plant. The evacuation previously reached out to 10 kilometers.” Next steps are to flood the reactor with salt water. NHK reports: “The TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture is believed to be exploded, and in order to prevent corruption, the containment vessel will be filled with sea water to cool containers and vehicles used by the SDF pump I. According to the Ministry of Defense, work will begin at 8:00 pm, and that it expected to end around 1:00 am on March 13 (or roughly 11 am Eastern).” And while containment efforts peak, the radiation level is reported to be in the range of 1015 microsieverts / hr. In the meantime, confusion in Japan is pervasive as up to a million people are without power. And while we hope the outcome of the Fukushima situation will be prompt and favorable, the economic devastation to the country will be pervasive for weeks to come.

A before and after picture, showing the loss of Reactor 1

From BBC:

There has been an explosion at a Japanese nuclear power plant that was hit by Friday’s devastating earthquake.

Pictures show a blast at the Fukushima plant and initial reports say several workers were injured.

Read moreJapan: Following Core Meltdown, Reactor One At Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Explodes (Video)

Japan: Winds Will Blow Radiation To Pacific

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FAVOURABLE winds will blow pollution from a Japanese nuclear plant out over the Pacific Ocean, the French Nuclear Safety Authority said.

“The wind direction for the time being seems to point the (nuclear) pollution towards the Pacific,” Andre-Claude Lacoste said after the blast at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in the north of the country.

The explosion at the ageing plant raised fears of a possible meltdown a day after the facility’s cooling system was damaged in Japan’s massive earthquake on Friday.

“Apparently the situation is serious,” Lacoste said, adding that his team was receiving incomplete information from Japan because of the number of people tied up with managing the crisis.

Read moreJapan: Winds Will Blow Radiation To Pacific

Japan: Radiation Levels Surge Outside Two Nuclear Plants After 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake

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Video: Here

TOKYO, Japan – Japanese government officials say there was shaking and a trail of white smoke at a nuclear plant in the area devastated by a massive earthquake.

Fukushima Prefecture official Masato Abe says the cause is still under investigation, and it was unclear whether there was an explosion.

Another official said the utility that runs the Fukushima Daiichi plant is reporting Saturday that several workers may have been injured.

One reactor at the plant is facing a possible meltdown after its cooling system was knocked out.

Japan launched a massive military rescue operation Saturday after a giant, quake-fed tsunami killed hundreds of people and turned the northeastern coast into a swampy wasteland.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said 50,000 troops would join rescue and recovery efforts following Friday’s 8.9-magnitude quake that unleashed one of the greatest disasters Japan has witnessed — a 23-foot tsunami that washed far inland over fields, smashing towns, airports and highways in its way.

Read moreJapan: Radiation Levels Surge Outside Two Nuclear Plants After 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake

Japan Fears Nuclear Plant Meltdown, Admits Partial Core Exposure Just Before Explosion

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Blast reported at nuclear plant amid worries that quake-hit reactor can no longer cool radioactive substances.

Radiation has leaked from a Japanese nuclear reactor and authorities say there is a possibility of a meltdown at a plant about 250km north of the capital, Tokyo.

But the government insisted on Saturday that radiation levels have reduced since pressure built rapidly last night near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where five reactors were earlier under a state of emergency.

The cooling system of the plant was damaged in the massive earthquake that struck northeastern Japan and triggered a tsunami, killing hundreds of people.

An explosion at the nuclear facility tore down the walls of one building on Saturday, leaving smoke billowing out. But authorities said the explosion did not affect the reactor core container.

However, local media reported that three workers have suffered radiation exposure.

“We are now trying to analyse what is behind the explosion,” Yukio Edano, a government spokesman, said. “We ask everyone to take action to secure safety.

“We’ve confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged. The explosion didn’t occur inside the reactor container. As such there was no large amount of radiation leakage outside, so we’d like everyone to respond calmly.”

Read moreJapan Fears Nuclear Plant Meltdown, Admits Partial Core Exposure Just Before Explosion