Nuclear Meltdown Watch

[hanshan]

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pics from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15705651


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[hanshan]

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http://enenews.com/just-in-harmless-xenon-cloud-is-known-to-cause-dramatic-increase-in-lung-cancer-bombards-people-with-gamma-rays-turns-into-cesium-xenon-release-at-fukushima-most-ever-2-5-times-chernoby

Published: November 14th, 2011 at 05:07 AM EDT | EMAIL ARTICLE
By ENENEWS STAFF
21 COMMENTS

‘Harmless’ Xenon cloud is known to cause dramatic increase in lung cancer — Bombards humans with very powerful x-rays — Turns into cesium — Xenon from Fukushima most ever, 2.5 times Chernobyl (VIDEO)

Date Aired: Nov. 11, 2011

Description: This week, Dr. Caldicott once again chats with Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear energy consultant with Fairewinds Associates, about the ongoing situation at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. [...]

Excerpts

At ~20:00 in

The xenon cloud bombards people with external gamma rays which are really powerful x-rays… as they decay, they turn into iodine, cesium.
Dramatic increase, a measurable statistically meaningful increase in lung cancer in people that were in that cloud [during Three Mile Island]. That shows up about 3-5 years after the accident.
Most, if not all, reports on this subject did not mention that xenon posed a health risk. In fact, it was the opposite:

“Xenon 133 has a half life of 5.2 days and is relatively harmless, Tetsuo Ito, the head of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research Institute, said by phone.” -Bloomberg
“Xenon itself is harmless as it’s not absorbed by organisms or by the environment, and is dispersed in the atmosphere.” -Nature.com

Download or listen to the program here: http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5219

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[hanshan]

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cryptome has some great pictures:

http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-111211/daiichi-111211.htm



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[hanshan]

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here's a sobering model:

http://australiancannonball.com/2011/11/14/fukushima-radioactive-ocean-impact-map-11-11-11-update/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fukushima-radioactive-ocean-impact-map-11-11-11-update

Australian Cannonball Nuclear News

kushima Radioactive Ocean Impact Map – 11.11.11 update

Nov
14
2011

Description

The dispersal model is ASR’s Pol3DD. The model is forced by hydrodynamic data from the HYCOM/NCODA system which provides on a weekly basis, daily oceanic current in the world ocean. The resolution in this part of the Pacific Ocean is around 8km x 8km cells. We are treating only the sea surface currents. Particles in the model are continuously released near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant since March 11th. The dispersal model keeps a trace of their visits in the model cells. The results here are expressed in number of visit per surface area of material which has been in contact at least once with the highly concentrated radioactive water.

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[hanshan]

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http://enenews.com/japan-radiation-expert-plutonium-238-inside-reactors-fukushima-after-explosions-misleading-media-stay-close

Published: October 31st, 2011 at 07:55 AM EDT | EMAIL ARTICLE
By ENENEWS STAFF

Japan radiation expert: Plutonium-238 from inside reactors went far from Fukushima after explosions — ‘Misleading’ media said it would stay close by



Mainichi has a report featuring radiochemical expert Michiaki Furukawa, professor emeritus at Nagoya University:

He says that some reports about plutonium have been misleading.
“When the disaster first happened, there were media reports saying ‘plutonium won’t make it far because it’s a large and heavy element,’ but no one who’s done serious research in environmental radioactivity would say such a thing.”
“At the very least, plutonium-238 had to have come from the explosions (at the plant). The plutonium that had heated up inside the reactors turned into fine particles when it came in contact with water, and was dispersed with the water vapor released in the explosions.
Yet, Furukawa says, “Since the plutonium takes the form of particles — unlike the gaseous radioactive iodine — it probably didn’t fly 100 kilometers.”

Some previous reports, however, appear to refute Furakawa’s claim:

Takashi: Plutonium evaporated and spread around as gas after Fukushima meltdowns
"Very high concentrations" of hot particles in Pacific NW during April, May -- Includes plutonium and americium (AUDIO)
Nuclear expert says Americium has been found in New England -- Element even heavier than Uranium (VIDEO)
Neutron ray measured in Tokyo -- Uranium-235 found in Chiba -- Can't be detected by most geiger counters (PHOTO & VIDEO)
Uranium-234 detected in Hawaii, Southern California, and Seattle
Also in the Mainichi article, Hiroshi Ishihara, who heads the Medical Treatment for the High Dose Exposure Research Group at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Chiba, speaks about plutonium:]

He says that “inhaling 910 becquerels or more of plutonium-238 is believed to slightly raise the possibility of cancer.”
He adds that this will equal a cumulative radiation exposure of 100 millisieverts in 50 years… just from the plutonium-238.
“Even if one were to have inhaled plutonium soon after the explosions took place, it’s hard to think that the amount was enough to have any effects health-wise.”
Even the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan disagrees, saying “We do not take the position that plutonium is safe in amounts up to 910 becquerels.”

Read More: Unknowns about radioactive materials warrant vigilance amid delayed gov’t action

h/t Anonymous tip

[hanshan]

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http://enenews.com/former-tepco-employee-plutonium-uranium-all-blown-reactor-3-ordinary-explosion-govt-concealing-truth-video

ublished: November 12th, 2011 at 08:55 AM EDT | EMAIL ARTICLE
By ENENEWS STAFF
71 COMMENTS


Former Tepco employee: Plutonium and uranium in Reactor No. 3 has all been blown out — This was no ordinary explosion — Gov’t is concealing truth

Uploaded by: 007bratsche

Upload date: Oct. 31, 2011

Description: This report was broadcasted on October, 18 and 24 by the german TV-station WDR. WDR is a part of the public channel ARD. Their Japan-correspondent went to Minamisoma for a week and talked to people there about their lives after the Fukushima catastrophe. Thanks to sievert311 and tokyobrowntabby who told me about this report! Please forgive if I wrote wrong some names; I could only refer to the audio…

Excerpt at 3:50 into program

And then Mr. Haneda tells us he used to work for TEPCO, the nuclear power plant operator. He was at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, when the accident took place.

“Unit 3, Fukushima – this was no ordinary explosion. There has been a chain reaction of uranium and plutonium. That’s all been blown out. But no one does measurements. I believe the government does not want to have them done. Not only Tepco is lying – even our government is concealing the truth.”

A chain reaction of uranium and plutonium, if that’s true: it would be something like an atomic bomb explosion.

Watch full video here (embedding disabled): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3z0rC5Ua_w&

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[seemslikeadream]

Japan’s Nuclear Radiation and the Pentagon’s Free Medical Clinics in Kauai: Connection?
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 1:19pm.

Guest Commentary

JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Climate change produced Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Although the corporate media and the U.S. government have swept the Fukushima nuclear disaster under the proverbial censorship rug, it's important to remember that an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and the ensuing 50-foot high tsunami wave led to a meltdown of three of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. Japan's nuclear regulatory agency reported that 31 radioactive isotopes were released. In contrast, 16 radioactive isotopes were released from the A-bomb that hit Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945. The agency also reported that radioactive cesium released was almost 170 times the amount of the A-bomb, and that the release of radioactive Iodine-131 and Strontium-90 was about two to three times the level of the A-bomb. And that information doesn't include the unknown deadly amount of radioactive water from the Fukushima plants that are being perpetually dumped into the Pacific Ocean since the meltdowns occurred last March 2011.

Terming Fukushima Japan's "second massive nuclear disaster," novelist Haruki Murakami said "this time no one dropped a bomb on us" but instead "we set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives. While we are the victims, we are also the perpetrators. We must fix our eyes on this fact," he continued. "If we fail to do so, we will inevitably repeat the same mistake again, somewhere else." Indeed, a recent report revealed that radiation is being detected across Europe. "Anywhere spent nuclear fuel is handled, there is a chance that... iodine-131 will escape into the environment," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says on its website.

Speaking as a part-time resident of Kauai, we've been immensely concerned about radiation plumes blowing over from Japan. If the government has been monitoring radiation levels, then that critical information has been concealed from the public.

Last week, an article appeared in the Kauai Garden Island news that caught my attention. Why is the Pentagon involved in providing free health care clinics, up to 350 clinical and non-clinical medical personnel, for Kauai's residents, the north island closest to Japan? Is the Pentagon concerned about radioactive cesium plumes carried by the wind currents across the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima's nuclear meltdowns?

Since when has the Pentagon cared about providing free health care, and why are the clinics under the control of the military, and why only on Kauai?

If the Pentagon suddenly converged near your hometown and a certain "Col. Jerry Arends, director of the Innovative Readiness Training Medical Deployments, declared that "This service is for all the people living in your city. There is no eligibility requirement. It's offered through a joint venture of the Department of Health office and the military, residents in need of free medical attention will be the beneficiary of this exercise," wouldn't you be a little concerned or curious? My guess is that you too would meet such a declaration from our wonderful, trustworthy and altruistic Pentagon officials with a healthy dose of skepticism and I might add alarm.

Speaking of alarm in regard to radiation leaks, last week the Lihue Kauai airport was shut down due to a possible radiation leak from the imaging screening booth. The general public was adamantly opposed to using image scanners for airport security checks, but the Obama White House ignored the public's concern over the health risks of being exposed to radiation, or possible radiation leaks, and quickly deployed the scanners in 2007 to airports around the country. Frequent flyers viewed the scanner booths as a health hazard more than a privacy issue, and for good reason. This is what can happen at any given time:

Radiation feared in Airport shutdown

"Mysterious emissions caused the Lihu'e Airport to shut down for a few hours Thursday evening and sent several Transportation Security Administration staff to Wilcox Memorial Hospital emergency room...at least one person who was working at the airport Thursday suspects the culprit was a radiation leak in one of the TSA screening booths... The worker was concerned that he, his co-workers and the thousands of passengers who went through the same booth Thursday could have been exposed to unsafe radiation levels....the TSA workers at the main checkpoint experienced dizziness, nausea, headache, throwing up and a chemical taste in their mouths."

As novelist Haruki Murakami said "we set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives."

Actually, we didn't make this happen. The big utility lobbyists that pay off our politicians are destroying our lands and our lives. When President Obama says nuclear power is safe, it doesn't automatically make them safe. TEPCO Tokyo Electric Power Company owners, engineers and Japan's leaders also said that Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants are safe. Northern Japan is now uninhabitable and will be a toxic dead zone for hundreds of years. We don't know the extent of food and land contamination from the radiation. No doubt, cancer is going to be the number one killer in Japan. Was it worth it to risk so much when our energy could have been provided easily and safely with wind and solar power from the get-go?

The good news is that California is moving away from nuclear and oil and paving the way to constructing the largest solar energy farms in the country.

After years of planning, SunPower is now building its revolutionary California Valley Solar Ranch. Solar panels will provide enough energy for 100,000 homes. There are several such solar ranch projects in the works for Californians. Europe's leaders are now turning to solar energy. Germany is perhaps the most progressive country to supply solar energy to date, which ends the view that they won't function in cold and cloudy weather. China has become the leading producers of solar energy panels. The oil and coal companies can no longer keep them down, any more than they can hold back the auto industry from making electric and hydrogen fueled vehicles.

As for jobs, the SunPower Project will also generate money for the local economy, which proves that safe environmental solutions are good for the economy. Intelligent CEOs understand that what's good for the planet is also good for the economy.

"There's over $315 million going into the local economy from this project and it's all happening now," said Tom Werner, the CEO of SunPower. According to SunPower, the project will create 350 construction jobs so far.

The global community of scientists warned us about the catastrophic consequences of climate change, produced from dirty energy sources that in turn produce the "greenhouse effect" of trapped C02 emissions. Climate change is the reason why thousands of people, including OWS protesters, are opposing the Keystone Trans-Canada project that would pipe dirty tar sands oil from Canada down to the Gulf and once refined and used for fuel would increase climate change disasters in ways that we can't begin to imagine.

We can no longer afford to destroy our planet and our lives with industrial energy produced by nuclear, oil, coal, and the natural gas process of hydraulic fracturing, (see Josh Fox's Save the Delaware River video) which poisons our water and creates earthquakes. Between BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst oil disaster in history, and Fukushima's nuclear meltdowns, the evidence is more than "in". We don't need any more evidence to make the case!

[hanshan]

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the dissembling is unconscionable

http://enenews.com/just-in-americium-241-and-plutonium-detected-in-all-soil-samples-off-fukushima-coast-tepco-says-not-caused-by-meltdowns

Published: November 15th, 2011 at 08:53 AM EDT | EMAIL ARTICLE
By ENENEWS STAFF
79 COMMENTS

Americium-241 and Plutonium detected in ALL 9 soil samples off Fukushima coast — Tepco says NOT caused by meltdowns

Press Release (Nov 15,2011)

We had been studying to implement sampling surveys on the ocean soil, completed preparations and conducted the surveys on April 29, 2011. (Previously announced on May 3, 2011)

We conducted analysis for americium as well as curium because plutonium and uranium were detected from the ocean soil* sampled on September 8, 9, 12, 13, 15 and 25. As a result, Americium 241 was detected as shown in the appendix.

Today, we reported the results to NISA and the government of Fukushima Prefecture.

We will continuously conduct the same sampling surveys.

*The results of nuclide analysis for 3 major nuclides (I-131, Cs-134, Cs-137) were previously announced on September 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 26.

Appendix: Americium and Curium analysis result in the ocean soil (PDF 16.5KB)

Via Appendix:

2. Evaluation
Detected Am-241 cannot be judged to be caused by the nuclear accident of this time for reasons below.

Detected Pu-239 and 240 are within the range of past (FY1999 to FY 2008) analysis in the sea around Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station.
Detected U-234, U-235 and U-238 are evaluated to be as same level as those exist in the natural environment
Cm-242, Cm-243 and Cm-244, the nuclides that do not naturally exist, are not detected.

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[seemslikeadream]

Japan's Radioactive Farmland Mapped

Analysis by Sarah Simpson
Mon Nov 14, 2011 06:35 PM ET

Nuclear fallout in farmland in eastern Japan is worse than expected. Now officials have a map of exactly where they should concentrate regulatory and clean-up efforts.

In July the Japanese government expanded its Fukushima Evacuation Zone and banned shipments of beef that consumed radioactive hay from the area.

But until now, officials have had to rely almost exclusively on sporadic soil samples to make such decisions.

A study released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) modeled the spread of cesium-137, a radionuclide that can persist in soils for 30 years, across much of the country. The new map defines the highest risk areas beyond Fukushima and neighboring prefectures, which were already known from soil samples to far exceed contamination limits set by Japanese law.

NEWS: Japan Soil Found Radioactive Outside Evacuation Zone

Areas hardest hit (red in the map below) are nearest the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which experienced reactor meltdowns following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.



Because cesium-137 is bound to dust and water particles in the air, it travels with the weather. The new model, which infused actual cesium-137 measurements from observatories across the country into meteorological data for the month following the accident, reveals that the areas of highest concern are northern and eastern Japan (green and blue, above).

Mountain ranges kept air masses confined in the east until most of the radiation washed out, largely shielding western parts of the country.

Two major rainstorms in the week following the disaster accounted for most of the radionuclide deposition, according to a second study in Monday's issue of PNAS. Rain on March 15 affected Fukushima prefecture, while a March 21 storm accounts for much of the fallout recorded in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures and in Tokyo.

The authors of the cesium-137 study warn that true fallout is likely to be much more variable than their new map reveals. “Even in regions where we find relatively low soil contamination levels, hot spots with high concentrations may be possible,” the authors write. Still, their hope is that it will help guide monitoring efforts in the right direction.

[seemslikeadream]

Fears of Fission Rise at Stricken Japanese Plant
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: November 2, 2011
TOKYO — Nuclear workers at the crippled Fukushima power plant raced to inject boric acid into the plant’s No. 2 reactor early Wednesday after telltale radioactive elements were detected there, and the plant’s owner admitted for the first time that fuel deep inside three stricken reactors was probably continuing to experience bursts of fission.

The unexpected bursts — something akin to flare-ups after a major fire — are extremely unlikely to presage a large-scale nuclear reaction with the resulting large-scale production of heat and radiation. But they threaten to increase the amount of dangerous radioactive elements leaking from the complex and complicate cleanup efforts.

The disclosures raise startling questions about how much remains uncertain at the plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The Japanese government has said that it aims to bring the reactors to a stable state known as a “cold shutdown” by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said that gas from Reactor No. 2 indicated the presence of radioactive xenon and other substances that could be byproducts of nuclear fission. The presence of xenon 135 in particular, which has a half-life of just nine hours, seemed to indicate that fission took place very recently.

Trade Minister Yukuo Edano censured Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, for failing to report the discovery to the prime minister’s office for hours, according to local media reports.

The developments added to disquiet over how information related to the disaster has been handled. For almost two months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out vital cooling systems, setting the stage for disaster, both company and government officials declared it was unlikely that any meltdowns had occurred. They finally conceded that melted fuel had likely breached containments in three reactors, and that it was likely pooled at the bottom of the vessels.

A 12-mile exclusion zone is still in effect around the plant. More than 80,000 households were displaced.

On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric said that the amount of xenon detected was small, and there was no rise in temperature, pressure or radiation levels at the reactor. Researchers were double-checking the data to make sure there were no errors, the company said. Experts concurred that it was possible that Tokyo Electric had made a simple error in its measurements.

But the urgent injection of boric acid underscored that the company was operating on the assumption that the measurements were valid. A naturally occurring element, boron, soaks up the neutrons released when an atom is split so that those neutrons cannot go on to split other atoms when material “goes critical” in the process of fission. Nuclear power plants harness the energy released in the form of heat to produce electricity.

It is impossible to determine exactly what state the fuel is in, given that even an intact reactor can offer only gauges for temperature, pressure and neutron flow, not visual observation. That lack of clarity is one of the most resonant lessons of the Fukushima disaster, when those trying to guide the response and assess the danger had to operate by what amounted to educated guesswork.

In reactors of the design used at Fukushima, the nuclear chain reaction is normally stopped when the operator gives a command to insert control rods, which rise up from the bottom of the core and separate the fuel assemblies. But the fuel in the cores of the three reactors is presumably a haphazard mass, without a strict gridlike geometry, so control rods cannot be inserted. Further, some experts believe some of the fuel has escaped the vessels and is in spaces underneath.

The jumble of material and conditions in the damaged reactors seem very unlikely to be able to produce sustained fission, but some experts have long suspected intermittent criticalities. In other accidents, nuclear material has burst into fission, but the released energy then rearranges the damaged fuel into a configuration that no longer support fission. Gradually, the material re-forms in a way to support another burst.

On Wednesday, Junichi Matsumoto, a Tokyo Electric spokesman, acknowledged episodes of fission, saying at a news conference: “There is a possibility that certain conditions came together temporarily that were conducive to re-criticality,” and that the measurements indicated a burst that occurred at a slightly higher rate than prior cases.

“It’s not that we’ve had zero fission until now,” Mr. Matsumoto said. “But at this point, we do not think there is a large-scale and self-sustained re-criticality.”

Mr. Matsumoto said detailed measurements had not yet been taken at the two other severely damaged reactors on the Fukushima site, but acknowledged the possibility of episodes of fission there, too. The three reactors — and spent fuel rods stored at a fourth damaged reactor — have been leaking radioactive material since the initial disaster. New episodes of fission would only increase their dangers.

“Re-criticality would produce more harmful radioactive material, and because the reactors are damaged, there would be a danger of a leak,” said Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, whose prescient warnings about nuclear safety have won him respect in Japan.

Mr. Koide holds that the nuclear fuel at the three reactors probably melted through containments and into the ground, raising the possibility of contaminated groundwater. If much of the fuel was indeed in the ground early in the crisis, the “feed and bleed” strategy initially taken by Tokyo Electric — pumping cooling water into the reactors, producing hundreds of tons of radioactive runoff — would have done little to help. Workers have now put in place a circulating cooling system that recycles water, which results in less runoff.

Tokyo Electric does not deny that the fuel may have burrowed into the ground, but its officials say that “most” is likely to remain within the reactor, albeit slumped at the bottom in a molten mass.

Some experts had not expected even bursts of re-criticality to occur, because it was unlikely that the fuel would melt in just the right way — and that another ingredient, water, would be present in just the right amounts — to allow for any nuclear reaction. If episodes of fission at Fukushima were confirmed, Mr. Koide said, “our entire understanding of nuclear safety would be turned on its head.”

Other nuclear experts have debated for months whether nuclear reactions might be continuing, either in the fuel inside the reactors, or in the spent fuel pools at the plant. They have pointed, for example, to the continued reports of short-lived iodine in the spent fuel pool by Reactor No..3.

A former nuclear engineer with three decades of experience at a major engineering firm said that sustained re-criticality remained highly unlikely. But his main concern was that officials could not pinpoint the exact location of the nuclear fuel — which would greatly complicate the cleanup.

The engineer, who has worked at all three nuclear power complexes operated by Tokyo Electric, spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be identified by his former employers. He said that tiny fuel pellets could have been carried to different parts of the plant, like the spaces under the reactor, during attempts to vent them in the early days. That would explain several cases of lethally high radiation readings found outside the reactor cores.

“If the fuel is still inside the reactor core, that’s one thing,” he said. “But if the fuel has been dispersed more widely, then we are far from any stable shutdown.”

The developments added to the disquiet over handling of information related to the disaster. For almost two months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, disaster, both company and government officials declared it was unlikely any meltdown had occurred at all at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex, finally conceding that the fuel had indeed slumped and had likely breached containments in three reactors.

The amount of detected xenon was small, and there was no rise in temperature, pressure or radiation levels at the reactor, Tokyo Electric said. Researchers were double-checking the data to make sure there were no errors, the company said. Experts concurred that it was possible that Tokyo Electric had made a simple error in its measurements.

But the urgent injection of boric acid underscored that the company was operating on the assumption that the measurements were valid. A naturally occurring element, boron soaks up the neutrons released when an atom is split so that those neutrons cannot go on to split other atoms in the process of fission. Nuclear power plants harness the energy released in the form of heat to produce electricity.

It is impossible to determine exactly what state the fuel is in, given that even an intact reactor can offer only limited gauges in the form of temperature, pressure readings and neutron flow, but not visual observation. That lack of clarity is one of the most resonant lessons of the Fukushima disaster, where those trying to guide the response and assess the danger operated by what amounted to educated guesswork.

In reactors of the design used at Fukushima, that chain reaction is normally stopped when the operator gives a command to insert control rods, which rise up from the bottom of the core and separate the fuel assemblies. But when the cores of three reactors at Fukushima melted, a large part of the fuel presumably formed a jumbled mass in the bottom of the vessel, and without a strict gridlike geometry, the control rods cannot be inserted. Some of the fuel has escaped the vessel, experts believe, and is in spaces underneath, where there is no way to use control rods to interrupt the flow of neutrons.

The jumble of material and conditions had seemed very unlikely to be able to produce sustained fission, but intermittent criticalities have long been suspected.

Junichi Matsumoto, a Tokyo Electric spokesman, acknowledged episodes of fission, telling a news conference: “There is a possibility that certain conditions came together temporarily that were conducive to re-criticality,” and that the measurements indicated a burst that occurred at a slightly higher rate than prior cases. “It’s not that we’ve had zero fission until now,” Mr. Matsumoto said. “But at this point, we do not think there is a large-scale and self-sustained re-criticality.”

A criticality could produce energy that would rearrange the wrecked fuel into a configuration that would no longer support fission, but gradually the material could come together in a form that would support a new burst of fission. That has been the case in previous so-called inadvertent criticalities in other accidents.

He said detailed measurements had not yet been taken at two other severely damaged reactors on the Fukushima site, but acknowledged the possibility of episodes of fission there too. The Fukushima complex, about 160 miles from Tokyo, was struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which knocked out vital cooling systems and caused the nuclear fuel at three of the plant’s six reactors to melt, with radiation leaks and releases whose damage is still being calculated. A 12-mile exclusion zone is still in effect around the plant. Over 80,000 households were displaced.

The three reactors — together with spent fuel rods stored at a fourth damaged reactor — have been leaking radioactive material since the initial disaster, and new episodes of fission would only increase their dangers.

“Re-criticality would produce more harmful radioactive material, and because the reactors are damaged, there would be a danger of a leak,” said Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, whose prescient warnings about nuclear safety have won him respect in Japan.

Mr. Koide holds that the nuclear fuel at the three reactors probably melted through containments and into the ground, raising the possibility of contaminated groundwater. If much of the fuel was indeed in the ground early in the crisis, the “feed and bleed” strategy initially taken by Tokyo Electric — where workers pumped cooling water into the reactors, producing hundreds of tons of radioactive runoff — would have prevented fuel still in the reactor from boiling itself dry and melting, but would not have done anything to reduce danger from fuel already in the soil — if it got that far. Workers have now put in place a circulating cooling system that recycles water, which results in less runoff.

Tokyo Electric does not deny the possibility that the fuel may have burrowed into the ground, but its officials say that “most” of the fuel likely remains within the reactor, albeit slumped at the bottom in a molten mass.

But even in their most dire assessments, some experts had not expected even bursts of re-criticality to occur, because it was unlikely that the fuel would melt in just the right way — and that another ingredient, water, would be present in just the right amounts — to allow for any nuclear reaction. If episodes of fission at Fukushima were confirmed, Mr. Koide said, “our entire understanding of nuclear safety would be turned on its head.”

Some nuclear experts have debated for months whether nuclear reactions might be continuing, either in the fuel inside the reactors, or in the spent fuel pools at the plant. They have pointed, for example, to the continued reports of short-lived iodine in the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 3.

A former nuclear engineer with three decades of experience at a major engineering firm, meanwhile, said that sustained re-criticality remained highly unlikely. But his main concern was that officials could not pinpoint the exact location of the nuclear fuel — which would greatly complicate the cleanup.

The engineer, who has worked at all three nuclear power complexes operated by Tokyo Electric, spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be identified by his former employers. He said that tiny fuel pellets could have been carried to different parts of the plant, like the spaces under the reactor during attempts to vent them in the early days. That would explain several cases of lethally high radiation readings found outside the reactor cores.

“If the fuel is still inside the reactor core, that’s one thing,” he said. But if the fuel has been dispersed more widely, then we are far from any stable shutdown.”

[hanshan]

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[hanshan]

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Sayonara, Japan

http://enenews.com/china-syndrome-is-inevitable-says-architect-of-fukushima-reactor-no-3-warns-of-massive-hydrovolcanic-explosion-inevitable-melted-fuel-sank-underground

China syndrome inevitable says architect of Fukushima Reactor No. 3 — Warns of massive hydrovolcanic explosion — Melted fuel inevitably sank underground

Nov. 17 interview with Uehara Haruo, former president of Saga University and architect of Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3

“He admitted Tepco’s explanation does not make sense, and that the China syndrome is inevitable.”
“He stated that considering 8 months have passed since 311 without any improvement, it is inevitable that melted fuel went out of the container vessel and sank underground.”
“If the underground water vein keeps being heated for long time, a massive hydrovolcanic explosion will be caused.”
SOURCE: news.livedoor.com (Japanese)

DATE: 2011 November 18th 19:16


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[StarmanSkye]

WoW -- The damn ARCHITECT of Reactor #3 himself is claiming a massive hydrovolcanic explosion is inevitable??!! That's horrible 'news'.

Seems some type of pro-active contingency plan should be possible -- like isolating and cutting-off the aquifier with a series of holes drilled in a perimeter-circle around each reactor, pumped-full of quick-set concrete slurry and then the water pumped-out, replaced by holes drilled and hydraulicly routed to circulate cooled boron-and-water fluid in proximity to the melted and damaged mass of corium/fuel. Sure, its a complex technological project and bound to be expensive requiring trained crews and special equipment, but what's the alternative?

'Course, TEPCO should have been shut-down and site-management given to a responsible & capable engineering and management organization capable of taking charge and willing to make every reasonable effort to safeguard the public instead of hiding information and changing standards instead of acting responsibly.

The lesson of Fukushima ought to be that corporations shouldn't be trusted with potential liabilities that exceed their on-hand resources. That's the SAME lesson we need to learn from the 'too big to fail' fraud.

So meanwhile, as corporate vulture-capitalism is killing, destroying, ruining and bankrupting the world, dumbed-down faux-patriotic stupid-and-proud-of-it idiot 'citizens' are expending vast amounts of energy and media bandwidth railing against the contrived-fake-'crises' of Communist Cuba, Socialist Venezuela, Islamafascist 'terror', Iran's nuclear non-bomb ambitions, War on Drugs and dangerous anti-Capitalist OWS tree-hugging 'hippies'.

[Nordic]

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Sayonara, Japan

http://enenews.com/china-syndrome-is-inevitable-says-architect-of-fukushima-reactor-no-3-warns-of-massive-hydrovolcanic-explosion-inevitable-melted-fuel-sank-underground

China syndrome inevitable says architect of Fukushima Reactor No. 3 — Warns of massive hydrovolcanic explosion — Melted fuel inevitably sank underground

Nov. 17 interview with Uehara Haruo, former president of Saga University and architect of Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3

“He admitted Tepco’s explanation does not make sense, and that the China syndrome is inevitable.”
“He stated that considering 8 months have passed since 311 without any improvement, it is inevitable that melted fuel went out of the container vessel and sank underground.”
“If the underground water vein keeps being heated for long time, a massive hydrovolcanic explosion will be caused.”
SOURCE: news.livedoor.com (Japanese)

DATE: 2011 November 18th 19:16


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I wonder if this is what people are sensing is coming right now. My own life is topsy turvy, everybody I know is going through a lot of high weirdness right now, and it seems like a lot of people are being compelled to get their affairs in order. People are apologizing for things from years ago, getting in touch with people they haven't spoken to in years ...

Until just now I was starting to think there was a big-ass earthquake in the near future; after all I do live in southern california and we are due.

But it could be this.

[hanshan]

...

there seems to be a gee whiz tone to the following article;
hey, a nuke just blew less that 200km away. Maybe they
were expecting gold nuggets?

http://enenews.com/strontium-found-at-several-locations-in-central-tokyo-highest-radiation-of-survey-found-outside-govt-building

Strontium detected at several locations in Central Tokyo — Highest radiation of survey found outside Gov’t building


Sample Date: Oct. 6, 2011
Analysis Date: Oct. 26, 2011

Tokyo Location 1: Shrubbery in front of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Sr-89,90: 48 Bq/Kg
Cs-137: 26,826 Bq
Cs-134: 21,350 Bq
Radiation dose: 1.38 uSv/h
Tokyo Location 2: Shrubbery near Kiyosumi Shirakawa train station

Sr-89,90 : 44 Bq/ Kg
Cs-137: 10,502 Bq
Cs-134: 8,624 Bq
Radiation dose: Approx. 0.60 uSv/h – 0.74 uSv/h
Tokyo Location 3: Shrubbery in front of Yurakucho train station

Sr-89,90: 51 Bq/Kg
Cs-137:11,545 Bq
Cs-134: 9,410 Bq
Radiation dose: Approx. 0.60 uSv/h
They measured strontium at 3 locations in Tokyo (one is at METI), Fukushima Diary, November 21, 2011:

Locations picked randomly
Strontium can be scattered everywhere in Tokyo
Radioactive Strontium Found in Central Tokyo, EX-SKF, Nov. 21, 2011:

Summary of reporting by Yasumi Iwakami, independent journalist: [...]

It’s a poetic justice that the amount of radioactive cesium is the highest at METI. I hear TEPCO’s headquarter building in Tokyo also enjoys rather high radiation.

Iwakami cautions that radioactive strontium may be confirmed to have come from Fukushima only after the detailed analysis at a laboratory that can separately measure strontium-89 and strontium-90. The presence of cesium-134 seems to prove that at least radioactive cesium found in the soil samples is of Fukushima origin. [...]

the translation is a little bumpy; the sense is there:

http://enenews.com/coverup-strontium-90-detected-in-tokyo-immediately-after-quake-yet-info-never-published-was-in-setagaya-home-of-the-bottles-of-radiationradium

Coverup? Strontium-90 detected in Tokyo immediately after quake, yet info never published — Was In Setagaya, home of the bottles of radiation/radium — 250 km from meltdowns

Babelfish Translation of Nov. 2 Asahi Shimbun report:

Headline: Even immediately after the earthquake disaster and inside Tokyo minute strontium

“From in the atmosphere inside Tokyo, it was found that minute radioactive strontium is detected immediately after the March earthquake disaster.”

“It was detected with the related facility of capital inside Setagaya Ku, but as for capital “numerical value is low, the possibility of exerting influence healthily is low”, that it had not published.”

“From midst of the suspended matter of 1 cubic meter in atmosphere which at the site of the facility were picked on March 15th, strontium 90 was detected 0.01111 Becquerel.” [0.3 picocuries per meter³]

Google Translation of Nov. 2 Asahi Shimbun report:

Headline: Immediately after the earthquake, even trace amounts of strontium in Tokyo

“From the atmosphere in Tokyo found that had been detected trace amounts of radioactive strontium in March immediately after the earthquake.”

“Was detected in Setagaya Ward of the City facilities, and the “lower the number, the potential impact on health is low” were not published as.”

“Suspended solids from 1 cubic meter of air collected on March 15 at the facility site, Becquerel discovered the strontium-90 0.01111.”

If anyone is able to provide a precise translation, please leave it in the comments and it will be added to this report

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