GreenWatch

The nuclear power reactor on the east coast of Japan dubbed Fukushima Daiichi has been out of commission for six years. The reactor complex was part of the damage done by a combination of strong earthquake and destructive tsunami that slammed into the beachfront installation. Radiation is still escaping. In February, a probe was sent into one of the wrecked reactor containers. It recorded a reading of 530 Sieverts. This is more than seven times the previous high level taken in 2012 of 73 Sieverts. An exposure to one Sievert is enough to make a person sick and 5 Sieverts is enough to kill. A spokesperson for the clean up operation mused that the high reading might be due to a difference in the sampling technique. The person did offer that the probe observed a hole in the metal grating below the containment vessel and opined that the melted nuclear fuel may have run through it. Dark lumps observed by the probe might be remains of nuclear fuel rods. The clean up of the de...

B.. McPherson How many nuclear power stations are near Japan's volcanoes? Japan currently has 48 nuclear reactors that were designed to produce electricity. Since the destruction of the Fukushima Daiichi complex more than three years ago due to earthquake and tsunami damage, all the other plants have been shut pending thorough safety checks. On September 27 a volcanic peak, Mount Ontake, unexpectedly erupted killing at least 31 people who were hiking on the slopes. More people may have been killed and buried in the ash. You may well ask what these people were doing on an active volcano. They were assured that Mt. Ontake was safe because the seismic sensors placed on the mountain showed no activity. There are 110 active volcanoes in Japan. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority(NRA) has recently given a nuclear facility at Sendai a safety pass – July 16, 2014. Objections raised by those opposed to the reopening of the nuclear stations based partly on its proximity to an...

B. McPherson Basically, Japan has this radioactive mess and doesn't know how to clean it up. The nuclear power station at Fukushima Daiichi disaster has faded from the front pages, elbowed aside by new disasters, wars and disease but it is still festering on the coast of Japan. The nuclear power station was devastated three years ago when a one-two punch of earthquake and tsunami hit it. The privately owned electrical company Tokyo Electric Power Company has been pilloried ever since for their failure to fully disclose the extent of the danger to the workers in the plant and to those in the surrounding areas. A judicial panel has requested that an indictment proceed against three former executives of TEPCO – chairman and two vice-presidents – for their failure to act to mitigate the damages resulting from the radioactive releases. The cleanup of the radioactive site has been a litany of worker exposures, shoddy work, repeated releases of radiation and rumours ...

B. McPherson This is not the latest release of tonnes of radioactive water, nor will it be the last. The Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan continues to bleed radiation into the Pacific Ocean. In spite of assurances from the top politicians and TEPCO executives, the situation at the wrecked electrical plant is still not under control. Mistakes and coverups continue to shake the public’s faith in their proclamations. President Abe, in the frenzy to obtain rights to the 2020 Olympic extravaganza assured the selection committee that the situation in Fukushima was under control. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe touched on the Fukushima problem in Tokyo’s final presentation and said the government would never put Tokyo in harm’s way, saying, “The situation is under control. Tokyo 2020 will offer guaranteed delivery.” The Japan Times The short reply to that is, it is not. Now the people tasked with the multi-year clean-up are admitting it publicly. The manager of the proj...

B. McPherson For those returning to the hot zone the prospect of radiation trumps the "cages". A little over three years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was wrecked, 350 people have been allowed to return to Tamura City. It lies within the 20km exclusion zone. The refugees have been assured that the area is safe for habitation. The former residents, 80 000 of them, have been assured of many things since the explosions at the electrical facility spread radioactivity over the area. The Japanese government has joined with the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to reassure people of their quick responses to the dangers of radiation and their quick and efficient response to safety issues. However over the past three years, the facts have often been contrary to the official stories. This excerpt from Fukushima Update says it as well as anyone can: Because we all know TEPCO would never misreport the radiation surrounding Fukushima. Oh wait:...

B. McPherson Three years later. Still believe those who say the atom is friendly? Fukushima Prefecture marks its third anniversary of its wreck on March 11 th . For the victims of the tsunami and nuclear disaster this is a sad occasion.  Thousands of people were affected by the horrendous tsunami that roared over the Japanese coast following a massive earthquake. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was wrecked and is still spewing radioactive materials into the air, soil and water. The treatment of the people affected by this disaster has been poor and it’s about to get worse. The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has announced that 30 000 displaced people will be moved back to the exclusion zone and the reactors restarted within two years. In spite of heroics by the staff of the crippled reactor complex the effort to clean up the radioactive soil and stop further escape of toxic particles it remains a dangerously polluting sore. The company responsible...

B. McPherson How many of these children will develop cancers? Tokyo Electric Power Company continues to bob and weave around the truth of what is really happening at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power station. Since the disastrous tsunami , explosion and meltdown of the power station, the for-profit electrical company has played fast and loose. February 6 th they revealed that radioactive levels of water on the seaward side of the ruined reactors were one thousand times higher than allowed. They had the readings last July, but did not reveal them because the Stronium 90 count read 900 000 becquerels per litre and they thought that too high so they retested the water, found it really was five million and kept it quiet for seven months. Since the disastrous earthquake hit Japan in 2011 crippling the nuclear power station, a litany of coverups and missteps has continued. Little attention has been paid to the real human cost of the wrecked plant. Perhaps the most pathetic ...

B. McPherson The wrecked Fukushima power plant in Japan is continuing to contaminate the environment with radioactive materials. High levels of tritium and strontium-90 have been detected in the groundwater beneath reactor 2. Tepco officials are maintaining their record of incompetence and obfuscation by speculating that the high levels likely leaked via the turbine building. The ground water levels of strontium-90 have increased 100x since December 2012(measurments taken in May). Strontium-90 is a dangerous radioactive element that the body incorporates in the same way as it incorporates calcium. It was prevalent in the atmosphere during the post WWII Cold War, when many nations were doing nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere. The half-life for strontium-90 is 28 years, so it continues to release radiation for many years. Tepco is now partially owned by the Japanese government. In a clever way to spread the costs of the attempted cleanup, the Japanese governmen...

B. McPherson When the nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daiichi failed during the earthquake and tsunami in April of 2011, it was thought at first, that a sincere effort on the part of TEPCO and the Japanese government would be made to clean up the mess as best they could. Unfortunately that has not been the case. From the very beginning of the crisis, it looks as if company executives were emphasizing saving face more than reacting to the crisis. As radiation leaked over the nearby residents, the true extent of the danger was minimized.  A series of accidents at the wrecked plant might have been laughable if not for their dire consequences. Huge amounts of radioactive water leaked into the Pacific Ocean. Fuel rods remain in danger of ignition   when power to cooling fails. Rats electrocuted themselves shutting off electricity. Evacuees have been moved out of the worst contaminated areas now, but are awaiting compensation for the loss of their farms and homes...

B. McPherson The latest bad news coming from the crippled nuclear power complex in Fukushima is that the underground storage ponds for radioactive waste are leaking into the surrounding ground. Those in charge of trying to clean up the facility issued a statement about the leaks. “We have yet to grasp the cause of the leaks. But we will strengthen monitoring activities so as to prevent the water from flowing into the sea,” he said. “We want to transfer the contaminated water from the underground reservoirs as soon as possible.” JapanToday I don’t know about you, but it’s sounding as if TEPCO president   Naomi Hirose doesn’t really know what he is doing over there. It has been over two years since the power plant was hit with an earthquake and massive tsunami. It seems that the aftermath reads like a litany of coverups and mishaps. Radioactive material has been buried in playgrounds. In the past week, a rat managed to short circuit a switching station shut...

By B. McPherson The news from Japan makes one wonder where the truth lies. Perhaps we should wonder where the lies are rather than hope for truth from the authorities at TEPCO. Since the earthquake and tsunami in March that devastated large areas of Japan and wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the world has been receiving evasive answers about the extent of the damage to the reactors and the amount of radioactive material spewed into the environment. …. Today Japan Today has news of a new radioactive leak from the crippled power plant. While authorities speaking for TEPCO have assured the public that there is no danger from today’s leak, they are taking measures to damp down the radiation by spraying water and boric acid onto the failed reactor container. Junichi Matsumoto is quoted: “Given the signs, it's certain that fission is occurring,” Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tepco who regularly talks to the media, told reporters in Tokyo today. BusinessWe...

By B. McPherson The catastrophe that hit Japan this last March continues. The combination of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation has made 2011 a most deadly year for the Japanese. New figures being released show that the radiation release from nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi was probably twice as high as initially thought. Apparently, the Japanese government failed to measure the amount of radioactive particles that were released into and over the ocean, only taking into consideration that which fell on the surrounding land. “ Andreas Stohl, of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, said measurements taken from a global network of sensors showed that the plant had released 36,000 terabecquerels of caesium-137 between 11 March and 20 April. ” The Guardian UK New figures being made public show that there was a massive release of cesium 137 into the ocean. This element is radioactive and takes 30 years for half of it to decay to a non-radioactive substance. This constitutes ...