Water, Water Everywhere: Incentives and Options at #Fukushima Daiichi and Beyond

by Andrew DeWit / JapanFocus.org / August 16, 2013 / Japan’s ruined and radioactive reactor plant at Fukushima Daiichi has been an abiding source of concern among knowledgeable observers. There are a host of good reasons for this reemergence. As this Mainichi survey observes, it is now clear that several hundred tons of radiation-contaminated water is entering the ocean per day. Over the past week, it suddenly returned as an … Continue reading

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Insight: After disaster, the deadliest part of Japan’s nuclear clean-up

via Reuters.com / August 14, 2013 / The operator of Japan‘s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tons of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale. Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima 68 years ago, more than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed … Continue reading

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Workers At #Fukushima ‘Sprayed’ With Radioactive Water

via eurasiareview.com / August 12, 2013 / Ten workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant were exposed to radiation from contaminated mist, TEPCO says. Workers in the building were prohibited from using tap water, which comes from the same tainted source 10 km from the facility. Exposure levels detected by radiation monitors worn by workers were found to be as much as 10 becquerels per square centimeter – 2.5 … Continue reading

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The Post-Fukushima Nuclear Industry: A Case Study in Institutional Self-Deception

by Dennis Riches / nf2045.blogspost.com / July 30, 2013 “If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But … Continue reading

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#TEPCO’s Fantasy World

via FukuLeaks.org / August 13, 2013 / TEPCO released this unrealistic statement to the press today. The report was for their creditors. In this report TEPCO claims they plan to restart Kashiwazaki Kariwa by January and return to profitability in fiscal 2013. There are just a few things standing in their way. This does not take into account the massive amounts of money that need to be paid to the … Continue reading

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#Fukushima zone fully redesignated

via world-nuclear-news.org / August 8th, 2013 / Preparations can begin for residents to return to the town of Kawamata near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The town was the final evacuated municipality to be redesignated. Separate from the evacuation area defined by a 20 kilometre radius from Fukushima Daiichi, the area near Kawamata was evacuated once it was known that radioactive particles had been carried by the wind … Continue reading

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Unit 2 Pedestal Opening Shows Damage; First Image

via fukuleaks.org / August 12, 2013 / The image above is the first glimpse of the right side of the pedestal opening for the CRD drive. This is a location higher up in the pedestal that the reactor vessel sits on top of. TEPCO has been trying to inspect inside the pedestal to better understand the extent of the meltdown and damage inside the reactor containment. Inspections of the torus … Continue reading

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Pump and pray: #Tepco might have to pour water on #Fukushima wreckage forever

via RT.com  /  by Prof. Christopher Busby / August 9, 2013 / Fukushima is a nightmare disaster area, and no one has the slightest idea what to do. The game is to prevent the crippled nuclear plant from turning into an “open-air super reactor spectacular” which would result in a hazardous, melted catastrophe. On April 25, 2011 – one month after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant and the … Continue reading

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#Fukushima leaking radioactive water for ‘2 years’, 300 tons flowing into Pacific daily

via RT.com / August 7, 2013 / Radiation-contaminated water has been pouring into the Pacific Ocean from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the past two years, an industry ministry official told reporters on Wednesday.   A Japanese government official said an estimated 300 tons of contaminated water is leaking into the Pacific Ocean per day from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. Japanese authorities are working in crisis mode, … Continue reading

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#TEPCO discloses extent of nuclear plant leak

via ChannelNewsAsia.com / August 5, 2013 / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has given its first public estimate of the size of the leakage of radioactive tritium into the Pacific Ocean since the disaster. Between 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of the substance is estimated to have leaked into the sea since May 2011, said Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). It was the first such figure … Continue reading

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If Rokkasho Ever Becomes Operational, It Will Release 18,000 Trillion Becquerels of Tritium into the Pacific Each Year

via EX-SKF / August 5, 2013 / While the amount of tritium released from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant since May 2011, 20 to 40 trillion becquerels which TEPCO finally told Nuclear Regulatory Authority on August 2, 2013, could be an order of magnitude lower than the amount if April 2011 were included, it would pale in comparison to what Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (pictured) in Aomori Prefecture would be releasing … Continue reading

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#Fukushima radioactive groundwater rises above barrier level

via RT.com / August 3, 2013 / Radioactive groundwater at the Japanese crippled nuclear plant has risen to levels above a barrier built to try and contain it – with risks of spilling over and reaching the ocean, Japanese media report. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which is responsible for decommissioning the wrecked plant, estimated that contaminated groundwater could reach the surface within three weeks, the Asahi newspaper said. … Continue reading

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#TEPCO logs ¥437.9 billion April-June net profit

via Japan Times / August 1st, 2013 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported Wednesday a group net profit of ¥437.93 billion for the April-June quarter, but fuel costs for thermal power generation to make up for the loss of atomic energy due to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant catastrophe that started in 2011 continued to weigh heavily on the utility. The quarterly net profit compares with a loss of … Continue reading

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#Fukushima radiation levels as high as 2011

via RT.com / July 29, 2013 / Water samples taken at an underground passage below the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contain alarming levels of radiation which are comparable to those taken immediately after the catastrophe. According to a Saturday statement by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the tested water contains 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per liter, and the radioactive water is now seeping into the sea. The findings … Continue reading

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Estimated #Fukushima decontamination costs blow out to $50b

via NHK World / July 24, 2013 / Experts estimate that cleaning up radioactivity in Fukushima Prefecture would cost 50 billion dollars, more than 4 times the amount that has been earmarked. Experts from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology studied the cost of decontamination for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. They estimate that decontamination in no-entry zones will cost up to 20 billion dollars, and in … Continue reading

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TEPCO finally acknowledges #Fukushima plant leaks

via AlJazeera.com / July 23, 2013 / The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has said contaminated ground water had likely been flowing into the sea, acknowledging such a leakage for the first time. Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, also came under fire on Monday for the revelation that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposure times exceeding the threshold levels for increased cancer risks … Continue reading

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Abenomics Trumps Nuclear Issue in #Fukushima

via Wall Street Journal / July 22, 2013 / Media surveys ahead of Sunday’s upper house election show that Japanese voters are placing the economy above all other issues, including the future of nuclear energy use. That appears to be true even in the prefecture of Fukushima, home to the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was the country’s worst-ever nuclear accident.   The Liberal Democratic Party … Continue reading

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#Fukushima Cancer Risk Surges

via Times Of India / July 22, 2013 / The ongoing saga of Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan that suffered a triple meltdown in March 2011 just got dangerously murkier.  The number of workers who suffered cancer-inducing radiation doses is not 178, but 1,978, Asahi Shimbun reported on Friday. That’s eleven times more than admitted by Tepco, the owner of the plant last December. After much international pressure, Tepco had … Continue reading

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