APNews: Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl

[SpacePenguin]

Significantly above background levels? And worse than regular air travel or living at altitude and getting more cosmic rays?

Significantly above? Hot particles aren't going to show up in monitoring, outside of air filter testing. But no, the overall levels of Gamma radiation on a geiger aren't going to show much higher, except when it rains....they do tend to spike a little then.

Worse than air travel? Most of the stuff from open air testing is still at high altitudes, and it's been joined by Fukushima isotopes. I'd say air travel is far more dangerous than being on the ground.

High altitude? Yes, I'd say the risk for someone on the west coast would be higher than someone living on a mountain farther east.

There, I answered your questions to the best of my knowledge. But, really, all three depend on who you ask.Most of the focus in environmental science is more geared towards weather patterns and wildlife habitats than anything to do with the subject of nuclear fallout. Most nuclear physicists work for the nuke industry, so they can't be trusted. Stands to reason, I suppose.

One thing I will agree with, is that toxins are everywhere. In cigarette smoke, in plastics, on store receipts. You definitely have a point there.

---------- Post added May-30th-2012 at 11:56 AM ----------

Dude. I've worn radiation detectors for the part of my life when I worked in nuclear research lab. How about you answer the question? Your single particle from Fukushima is a threat when you consider all the other sources including Polonium 210 (emits alpha particles) which is ingested every time you are anywhere near someone who has smoked, including outside?

Polonium is pretty scary stuff, no doubt. The only thing to ease my concern is the 138 day half-life, but to a smoker, that isn't all that much a factor. I'm not going to downplay the risks from it. Actually I'd say both Fukushima and it deserve much more attention than they get.

[Sikbug]

I recently moved back to Tokyo, the people here seem to not be too worried about it unless they have kids. I will say this, if another very large quake hits, I'm leaving Tokyo and never coming back, from what I understand the plant in fukushima will basically make Tokyo unlivable if the building at reactor #4 gets shook up bad. We had a 5.2 the night before last and I was running for the door until it stopped lol.

[China]

Temperature climbing in No. 4 reactor's pool after cooling system knocked out

The cooling system of the spent-fuel pool in reactor 4 at the Fukushima No. 1 plant automatically suspended operations Saturday and the water temperature is starting to rise, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The utility has been unable to activate a backup cooling system for the pool since operations halted at around 6.25 a.m., and is looking into the causes, Tepco officials said later in the day.

The pool's water temperature stood at around 31 degrees Celsius when the cooling system ceased functioning and was increasing by 0.26 degree per hour late Saturday afternoon, according to the officials.

If Tepco remains unable to start up the system or its backup, the temperature could reach 65 degrees by Tuesday morning — the maximum limit specified by safety regulations.

No leakage of contaminated water from the reactor has been detected so far, Tepco said.

The No. 4 reactor's cooling system previously shut down June 4.

[Sikbug]

And on top of that, they restarted one of the other plants to try and stop the black outs for the summer. I'm still deciding if I should leave at the end of July or stay longer, going to be watching this one closely.

[China]

Rat Chase Again Bedevils Fukushima Nuclear Plant

TOKYO — Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant who were installing wire nets Friday to keep rats away from a vital cooling system instead tripped up that system, causing it to fail for the second time in weeks.

The spent fuel pool at the site’s No. 3 reactor went without fresh cooling water for almost three hours Friday afternoon, said the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as Tepco.

Cooling was restored by late evening on Friday, and there was no imminent danger to the 566 nuclear fuel rods stored in the pool, according to Tepco. It would have taken at least two weeks for the pool to have risen above the safe level of 149 degrees Fahrenheit, Tepco said.

Still, the recent power failures have raised concerns over continued vulnerabilities at the plant two years after a large earthquake and tsunami knocked out its vital cooling systems, triggering multiple fuel meltdowns and forcing the evacuation of 160,000 people.

The debris-strewn plant still relies on makeshift cooling systems, some of which were hastily put together in the accident’s frantic aftermath. The spent fuel pools, which hold far more radioactive material than the reactor cores, have been a particular source of concern.

A blackout disabled cooling at four fuel pools last month, an incident the company blamed on a rat that may have gnawed on power cables and triggered a short circuit. The rat died, and engineers later found its scorched body in a damaged switchboard.

Click on the link for the full article

[mcsluggo]

they released a picture of the culprit.....

[China]

Damaged Nuclear Plant in Japan Leaks Toxic Water

TOKYO — Tens of thousands of gallons of radioactive water leaked from a large underground storage pool at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, and thousands more gallons could seep out before the faulty pool can be emptied, the plant’s operator said Saturday. About 120 tons, or almost 32,000 gallons, of highly contaminated water appeared to have breached the inner protective lining of the pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company. It was unclear how much of the water had made it through two additional layers of lining to reach soil, but radiation levels outside the pool have risen, a sign that some water is getting out, said the company, known as Tepco.

The leak highlights the daunting challenge of what to do with the huge amounts of contaminated water created by makeshift cooling systems at the plant, after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out its regular cooling systems two years ago in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Since then, Tepco has essentially been pouring water onto the damaged reactor cores and storage ponds to keep them from overheating.

As it is used for cooling, the water becomes so contaminated that it must be safely stored at the plant. Tepco said it was already storing more than a quarter-million tons of radioactive water in hundreds of large silver or blue tanks that seem to fill every available space at the plant, or in underground pools like the leaking one. With the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant likely to take decades, Tepco has said it expects the amount of radioactive water to keep growing, and possibly more than double within three years. The company has said it is building more storage space and new filtering facilities to clean the water.

Click on the link for the full article

[Zguy28]

Damaged Nuclear Plant in Japan Leaks Toxic Water

TOKYO — Tens of thousands of gallons of radioactive water leaked from a large underground storage pool at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, and thousands more gallons could seep out before the faulty pool can be emptied, the plant’s operator said Saturday. About 120 tons, or almost 32,000 gallons, of highly contaminated water appeared to have breached the inner protective lining of the pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company. It was unclear how much of the water had made it through two additional layers of lining to reach soil, but radiation levels outside the pool have risen, a sign that some water is getting out, said the company, known as Tepco.

The leak highlights the daunting challenge of what to do with the huge amounts of contaminated water created by makeshift cooling systems at the plant, after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out its regular cooling systems two years ago in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Since then, Tepco has essentially been pouring water onto the damaged reactor cores and storage ponds to keep them from overheating.

As it is used for cooling, the water becomes so contaminated that it must be safely stored at the plant. Tepco said it was already storing more than a quarter-million tons of radioactive water in hundreds of large silver or blue tanks that seem to fill every available space at the plant, or in underground pools like the leaking one. With the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant likely to take decades, Tepco has said it expects the amount of radioactive water to keep growing, and possibly more than double within three years. The company has said it is building more storage space and new filtering facilities to clean the water.

Click on the link for the full article

How the heck do you clean the water?

[Corcaigh]

How the heck do you clean the water?

Reverse osmosis is one method, similar to desalination. The radioactive particles typically would be much larger and if you force the liquid through the right kind of membrane the water passes through but the larger elements and material is left behind.

[China]

Japan Govt: About 300 Tons of Contaminated Water Flowing Into Ocean From Fukushima Plant Daily

 

TOKYO--Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may be leaking around 300 metric tons of radioactively contaminated water into the ocean every day, a government official said Wednesday.

The estimate is the government's first attempt to quantify the seriousness of the situation, after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power
Co. disclosed spiking levels of radiation in groundwater at the site in recent months. It comes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said earlier in the day that the government will take a more proactive role in trying to prevent that radioactive water from flowing into the ocean.

...

Until recently, Tepco had said that it was keeping radioactive water contained to the site, and was largely successful in preventing it from flowing into the ocean. Japanese nuclear regulators recently disputed that claim, and Tepco recently also admitted it was likely that some of the contaminated water was leaking into the sea - though it didn't know how much.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[More Complete]

So is it still safe to eat seafood?

[Chew]

So is it still safe to eat seafood?

[War Paint]

[More Complete]

Lol. In all seriousness, 300 tons a day is nothing to sneeze at. Apparently it has been leaking for years and TEPCO is just now admitting it.

[Kindred]

It's only a matter of time before Godzilla. 

[China]

Fukushima Operator Dumps 1,000 Tons Of Polluted Water In Sea

 

The operator of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it dumped more than 1,000 tons of polluted water into the sea after a typhoon raked the facility.

 

Typhoon Man-yi smashed into Japan on Monday, bringing with it heavy rain that caused flooding in some parts of the country, including the ancient city of Kyoto.

 

The rain also lashed near the broken plant run by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), swamping enclosure walls around clusters of water tanks containing toxic water that was used to cool broken reactors.

 

Some of the tanks were earlier found to be leaking contaminated water. "Workers measured the radioactive levels of the water collected in the enclosure walls, pumping it back into tanks when the levels were high," said a TEPCO official.

 

"Once finding it was mostly rain water they released it from the enclosure, because there is a limit on how much water we can store."

 

The utility said about 1,130 tons of water with low levels of radiation -- below the 30 becquerels of strontium per litre safety limit imposed by Japanese authorities -- were released into the ground.

    

But the company also said at one site where water was found contaminated beyond the safety limit workers could not start the water pump quick enough in the torrential rain, and toxic water had leaked from the enclosure for several minutes.

 

Click on the link for the full article

                                   

[Koolblue13]

It's only a matter of time before Godzilla. 

eventually, there will be a godzilla related bump to this thread. I hope so anyway.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

eventually, there will be a godzilla related bump to this thread. I hope so anyway.

 

The bumps when the world has completely gone to hell will be great 

[BraunMan92]

Isn't anybody else more concerned that they are dumping radioactive water or radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean ?

 

They wouldn't do that.

[Koolblue13]

The bumps when the world has completely gone to hell will be great 

we might not be able to drink the water or eat the food, but as long as there's wifi and working light switches well make it through

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

we might not be able to drink the water or eat the food, but as long as there's wifi and working light switches well make it through

 

Don't forget celebrity news!

[Koolblue13]

Don't forget celebrity news!

when godzilla comes, im gonna sit back with a 12 pack of canned fresh air and a aluminum pouch of preservative rich food stuff I printed on my 3D printer and bitter sweetly mention I told you so on Facebook.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

when godzilla comes, im gonna sit back with a 12 pack of canned fresh air and a aluminum pouch of preservative rich food stuff I printed on my 3D printer and bitter sweetly mention I told you so on Facebook.

 

 

I'll block you as a precautionary measure.

[Mr. Sinister]

Forget Godzilla, I'm awaiting the moment when people start to report sightings of radioactive Samurai Zombies.

[China]

Forget Godzilla, I'm awaiting the moment when people start to report sightings of radioactive Samurai Zombies.

 

OK, here's the first report: