Japanese Nuclear Crisis Situation

economy will be screwed

To the Eu's the fumes wont reach you guys, but the food you buy might. Ex. if it land on the ocean and you like fish, you better stop now lol. Or if you eat grains, bread, it might land on your table.

also i got an update

March 17 (12:15 pm)

(As a result of several messages asking questions concerning issues and subjects that have not been addressed in this web page on the accident itself, another page will be added to this site later today, entitled “Fukushima Q & A”. )

The risk of further melting in the three damaged fuel cells at Fukushima (Units 1, 2, & 3) has again been reduced by the natural process of radioactive decay. Decay heat levels are much lower than yesterday. Some time between tomorrow evening (Friday, March 18) and Monday morning (March 21), the rate of heat production in the fuel cells will be too low for either partial or severe meltage to occur in addition to what seems to have already occurred. In addition to this good news, it is now known that emergency crews have been working diligently for several days to re-connect the Fukushima power plant complex to the electrical transmission system undamaged by the tsunami. It is expected that full electrical supplies to some or all of the Fukushima units will happen sometime later today. Once this happens and emergency reactor cooling systems are re-energized, the crisis will be effectively at an end.

Unfortunately, this will not put an end to the news media broadcasting that a potential meltdown may still be possible. Such flawed scare-mongering will continue for months, if not longer, based on the news media's record with Three Mile Island in 1979. Now that the unethical prophets of nuclear doom (such as Amory Lovins) have entered into the rhetorical fray, the popular press will be inundated with exaggerations of risk, outright confabulatory scenarios of nuclear power plant holocaust, and perpetual appeals to the incorrect notion that there is no safe level of radiation exposure.

Two more items of good news have just been reported –

1.

Helicopter pilots flying over Unit No. 3, in order to drop thousands of gallons of water into the evaporating spent fuel pool, have discovered that the pool were not dry, and it seems the spent fuel cells stored in it have not been uncovered. Regardless, the water drops by helicopter will continue until electrical power is restored to the power plant complex and cooling systems are operating. Speculations broadcast by the news media that the pool was dry have been proven false. What's disappointing is that some officials in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have stated that the pool is in-fact dry. Do they have a highly-confident view of the situation half a world away? No! But, it seems the Hiroshima Syndrome has permeated into the mental judgment centers of these NRC officials, who should be intimately aware (from TMI and Chernobyl) that one must never speculate. Information from “officials” must have a high degree of confidence before being transmitted. Anything less is unacceptable and ought to result in some sort of penalization, if time demonstrates that these speculations were unfounded.
2.

The number of employees at Fukushima working feverishly to restore electrical power to their stricken systems, while at the same time keeping the reactors and spent fuel pools cooled, is 180. Reports of there being but 50 workers still on the Fukushima site, and that all of them were briefly evacuated due to potentially deadly radiation exposure, turns out to have been false. But, these flawed reports did contain a kernel of truth. The 180 employees work in crews of 50, alternating their emergency work periods with periods of rest and recovery from their exhausting efforts. At one point, the off-duty staff (not the 50 on-duty) were taken several kilometers from the plant complex as a precaution to avoid radiation exposure which might happen during the off-duty period. Off duty exposure would reduce the limit on how much exposure staff might receive while on-duty, and limit their emergency efforts. This is standard health physics procedure. If not working, don't open yourself to exposure. Prudent and logical. Regardless, the plant was never completely evacuated.

What ought to be most upsetting to the public is what has been a subtle but significant shift in news media coverage of the situation in Japan. As of this entry, the Fukushima accident has literally replaced the real disaster of the earthquake and tsunami as the top news story. This is nothing less than heinous! Yes, the accident situation at Fukushima is serious, but literally thousands of times less significant, real or imagined, than the actual disaster affecting all of Japan. More than 5,000 known dead...thousands upon thousands of additional dead that have yet to be accounted for...hundreds of thousands of people homeless and hungry...millions of other Japanese suffering at an unspeakable level...all due to the quake and tsunami. Not one bit of this nation-wide societal horror is actually due to the Fukushima accident! Yet, Fukushima reigns supreme in the eyes of the popular press. Again, the news media is “merely” doing what it believes to be correct. This false perception is entirely the result of the Hiroshima Syndrome...the phobic state of fear caused by confusion between reactors and bombs, confusion between fallout and radiation itself, and the widespread belief that there is no safe level of radiation exposure. If the myriad of misconceptions that fuel the Hiroshima Syndrome were replaced by correct, realistic understanding, Fukushima would still be a news story but would never be reported in a fashion that makes it seem more important than the true disaster in Japan.

But, the Hiroshima Syndrome does not only infect the rational judgment of the new media. As related previously, and explained in detail through the topic pages of this website, the Hiroshima Syndrome is a global affliction affecting everyone.* Not only the public-at-large, but also those charged with overseeing nuclear operations in governments around the world, including the NRC in America. Unquestionably, the single aspect of the Hiroshima Syndrome most responsible for this horrific folly is the mythic no-safe-level notion incessantly applied to radiation exposure. This issue has been mentioned previously in previous updates (below), and is addressed more fully through the course of this website. Simply put, low level and moderate level exposures to radiation are not in the least harmful, do not produce a cumulative risk of getting cancer at some moment in the future, in fact such exposure improves human health! The long term health effects of public exposure to radiation from nuclear accidents is very well understood, due to three decades of detailed public record-keeping after TMI and 25 years of similar cognizance by the World health Organization at Chernobyl. Please...please...please search out the topic of “radiation hormesis” on any search engine. Take the time to understand the truth. Then you will fully comprehend the high degree of correctness in what follows...

All of the Japanese government's and Japanese electric utility's orders for people living between 3 and 20 kilometers from Fukushima to stay indoors and seal their homes, is ridiculous. The American government's suggestion to have American citizens evacuate Japan is unwarranted by real world evidence, and therefore is an ethically unconscionable act. Both of these actions are based entirely on the no-safe-level myth, amplified by the desire to cater to the public's phobic fears concerning radiation exposure as a result of the Hiroshima Syndrome. These actions promise the most votes and politically drive government actions. Votes depend on catering to widespread public beliefs. Using the scientifically correct hormesis model for radiation exposure and possible health effects thereof, none of these official orders would be warranted...and no-one would be placed into any sort of health risk as a result.

In addition, and what contributes to making this all seem prudent in the public mind, are wildly incorrect radiation exposure levels alleged to be deadly and existent at Fukushima. First, the highest reported radiation level detected at Fukushima has been 400 millisieverts, outdoors at a location where no one was at. This high dose reading lasted for less than an hour, and maybe but a few minutes. Regardless, no one received this dose.

Second, the “deadly” exposure level most commonly broadcast since yesterday is 5000 millisieverts. This is a gross confabulation with the units of radiation being used, and a total lack of understanding concerning any and all risk-assessment data. All reputable reports identify actual exposures to the public, that might be right next door to the plant, are in the microsievert range (everyone has been evacuated out to 3 kilometers, so there's really no-one "next door"). This is a unit designation 1000 times smaller than a millisievert. Radiation hormesis data demonstrates that the “threshold” of possible negative health effects is in excess of 1,000,000 microsieverts. In fact, LD-1 (toxic dose level for 1% of the exposed population) on the seriously flawed Linear, No Threshold model (no-safe-level) is also 1,000,000 microsieverts. In both models, the statistical threshold of any exposed person actually dying is in excess of 1,500,000 microsieverts. 5000 millisievert exposure is 5,000,000 microsieverts, a public exposure level which has only ever realistically existed at Hiroshima in 1945, and could possibly be deadly to more than 50% of those exposed. Once again, the Hiroshima Syndrome raises its ugly psychological head.

*Does this include me? Of course! I've been spending every available waking hour trying to assemble the most reliable and correct information concerning Fukushima since the tsunami hit the Japanese coast. I have been doing this as a public service. I receive no compensation for my efforts.

found on
http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/fukushima-accident-updates.html

Dont like fish anyway. But the whole world has to be carefull now.. Evrything gets made in China/Japan. They are also looking really carefully if the things they sell are fine and not infected

about the map u got for radiaton flow...is dat considering only one wind directions?

At this time, the wind is blowing east for the Japanese, that's West for us In the US.

ahh in dat case should india be the safest?

Stop panicking, me and spor should be panicking. Not you guys.

If this gets bad, it will effect everyone in the world, no place is safe.

There's two sides to this whole thing. Some are saying that the situation is getting better and that others are scare mongering. And some say the situation is getting worse considering they have to fly water over the reactor to cool it.

I haven't read or watched anything today because I've been out doing St Patricks day shit. I'm going back out again in a little bit but I wanted to come on and check for updates and maybe catch a half an hour of CNN and see if anything new came up.

Although, this morning I did hear that IAEA stated the power in reactor 2 was back on. And TEPCO said it wasn't and that was misinformation.

Saw this a second ago too before I came on the forum.

Small amounts of radiation headed for California, but no health risk seen
Very low levels of radioactive isotopes from the damaged Japanese nuclear plant are expected to reach California as soon as Friday, but experts say the amount will be well within safe limits. A network of radiation monitors is keeping close watch.

Well, we'll see on Friday I guess if a small amount is able to travel to california.

 

And basically the situation is still pretty much the same since yesterday, with the exception of the laying of power cables for reactor 2 to in an attempt to get it back online.

So here's the current situation via the IAEA website.

The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants remains very serious, but there has been no significant worsening since yesterday.

The current situation at Units 1, 2 and 3, whose cores have suffered damage, appears to be relatively stable. Sea water is being injected into all three units using fire extinguishing hoses. Containment pressures are fluctuating.

Military helicopters carried out four water drops over Unit 3.

Unit 4 remains a major safety concern. No information is available on the level of water in the spent fuel pool. No water temperature indication from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool has been received since 14 March, when the temperature was 84 °C. No roof is in place.

The water levels in the reactor pressure vessels of Units 5 and 6 have been declining.

Hey spor thanks for that link, i saw that on the news, but i didn't listen so i been trying to find the live feed for that radiation monitor.

Also i found a radiation monitor for your city.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-radiation-monitor---boulder-city-nv-las-vegas

hope it helps.

Update, 18-Mar-2011, 1430 UTC

Japan’s nuclear safety agency: Raised the rating of the nuclear accident from 4 to 5 on a 7-level international scale.

Level 5 definition: Severe damage to a reactor core, release of large quantities of radiation with a high probability of “significant” public exposure or several deaths from radiation.

Tokyo Electric Power Company: Possibility of “recriticality,” in which fission would resume if fuel rods melted and the uranium pellets slumped into a jumble together on the floor of a storage pool or reactor core. (Spraying pure water on the uranium under these conditions can actually accelerate fission)

Los Angeles Times: Damage to the floor or sides of the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4, making it extremely hard to refill the pool with water. Rip in the stainless steel lining of the pool at Reactor No. 4 and the concrete base underneath.

NKH World: Outside power source is unlikely to be available at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for some time. It will take some time to confirm the safety of the damaged facilities.

AP: from ‘diplomat official’, Radioactive fallout has reached California but the first readings are far below levels that could pose a health hazard.

A Los Angeles Geiger counter, privately owned, is presently fluctuating around 50 CPM, peaking at 70 CPM


Remember 130 CPM means serious health risk.

Wow i cant describe how i feel after listening to this women speak.

She saids, radiation is good for you, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Dumb woman.

^living example of dumb blonde hahahahah

See I heard the overall rating was a 6 out of 7. Not a 5. Because these are the individual ratings.

They assess core damage at the Fukushima Daiichi 1, 2 and 3 reactor Units, caused by the loss of all cooling function, as 5 on the INES scale.

The situation at Unit 4, where cooling and water supply in the spent fuel pool have been lost, is rated 3 by the Japanese authorities.

At the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, the loss of cooling functions in Units 1, 2 and 4 has also been rated as 3. All reactor Units at Fukushima Daini are now in a cold shut down condition.



So, about the tear in the fuel pool. All the other sites I read said that there has been no information released about them. Can you send me a link to that LA Times article?

Also, this proved those assholes wrong who said the radiation will be soooooo diluted by the time it reaches North America. Yeah, I wished I was wrong but I wasn't. One explosion was able to jettison radioactive particles into the pacific jet stream. And based off one explosion that only released some radiation, it was not diluted enough and still brought 50 - 70 CPMS to California. ONE SMALL EXPLOSION. If those reactors face meltdown this just proves the dilution over the pacific ocean will not be enough.

This shit is creepy.

http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/pet-shield.htm

it is indeed, but hey, w.e u gotta do to survive

Update, 19-Mar-2011, 0030 UTC

TEPCO has connected an external power line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied. Another 5,000 feet of cable are being laid inside the complex before engineers try to crank up the coolers at reactor No.2, followed by numbers 1, 3 and 4 this weekend. Outside of TEPCO, high skepticism remains whether or not the plants cooling apparatus will still function after the disaster. If not, there is an option of last resort under consideration to bury the Fukushima plant in sand and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release.

No additional facts regarding radiation levels or the current state of meltdown. The various media have not reported anything new on this during today except for the electrical line that is underway.

Unit 1

Coolant within Unit 1 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. High pressure within the reactor's containment led operators to vent gas from the containment. Later, an explosion destroyed the outer shell of the reactor building above the containment on 12 March.

There are no indications of problems with either the reactor pressure vessel or the primary containment vessel.

Efforts to pump seawater into the reactor core are continuing.

On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 5 to this unit. Further information on the ratings and the INES scale.

Unit 2

Coolant within Unit 2 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. Following an explosion on 15 March, Japanese officials expressed concerns that the reactor's containment may not be fully intact. NISA officials reported on 18 March that white smoke continues to emerge from the building.

Unit 3

Coolant within Unit 3 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. High pressure within the reactor's containment led operators to vent gas from the containment. Later, an explosion destroyed the outer shell of the reactor building above the containment on 14 March.

Following the explosion, Japanese officials expressed concerns that the reactor's containment may not be fully intact. NISA officials reported on 18 March that white smoke continues to emerge from the building.

Efforts to pump seawater into the reactor core are continuing.

Of additional concern at Unit 3 is the condition of the spent fuel pool in the building. There are indications that there are inadequate cooling water level in the pool, and Japanese authorities have addressed the problem by dropping water from helicopters into the building and spraying water from trucks. On 18 March, Japanese Self Defence Forces used seven fire trucks to continue spraying efforts. There is no data on the temperature of the water in the pool.

On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 5 to this unit.

Unit 4

All fuel had been removed from the reactor core for routine maintenance before the earthquake and placed into the spent fuel pool. A portion of the building's outer shell was damaged by the explosion at Unit 3 on 14 March, and there have been two reported fires - possibly including one in the spent fuel pool on 15 March -- that extinguished spontaneously, although smoke remained visible on 18 March.

Authorities remain concerned about the condition of the spent fuel pool.

On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 4 to this site.

Unit 5 and 6

Shut down before the earthquake, there are no immediate concerns about these reactors' cores or containment. Instrumentation from both spent fuel pools, however, has shown gradually increasing temperatures. Officials have configured two diesel generators at Unit 6 to power water circulation in the spent fuel pools and cores of Units 5 and 6.

Workers have opened holes in the roofs of both buildings to prevent the possible accumulation of hydrogen, which is suspected of causing explosions at other units.

Restoration of Grid

Progress has been achieved in restoring external power to the nuclear power plant, although it remains uncertain when full power will be available.

Evacuation

Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi has been successfully completed. Japanese authorities have also advised people living within 30 kilometres of the plant to remain inside.

Iodine

On 16 March, Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission recommended local authorities to instruct evacuees leaving the 20-kilometre area to ingest stable (not radioactive) iodine. The pills and syrup (for children) had been prepositioned at evacuation centers. The order recommended taking a single dose, with an amount dependent on age:
Baby 12.5 mg
1 mo.-3 yrs. 25mg
3-13 yrs. 38mg
13-40 yrs. 76mg
40+ yrs. Not necessary

Radiation Measurements

Radiation levels near Fukushima Daiichi and beyond have elevated since the reactor damage began. However, dose rates in Tokyo and other areas outside the 30-kilometre zone remain far from levels which would require any protective action. In other words they are not dangerous to human health.

At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, radiation levels spiked three times since the earthquake, but have stabilized since 16 March at levels which are, although significantly higher than the normal levels, within the range that allows workers to continue onsite recovery measures.
Fukushima Daiichi Summary Table - Units 1-6


Check here and scroll down for the chat on each reactors current status

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

Giant "Common" Nuclear Waste Storage Pond to All Six Fukushima Daiichi Reactors Has Been Without Cooling

There is yet another surprise at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex.

The long awaited arrival of electrical power to Tokyo Electric Power Company's devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station has yet another vital task to perform: restore cooling to an independent large scale common nuclear waste storage pond for all six nuclear units that has received no attention since loss of electricity following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.

According to Yomiuri Shimbun news service (March 18, 2011), the giant common "spent" fuel storage pond has also been without cooling since the tsunami. The pool is not to be in any rated containment structure which is a concern if hydrogen gas generation leads to another explosion. The shared nuclear waste fuel assembly pool building is about 50 meters (150 feet) west of the now extremely radioactive Daiichi Unit 4. The common fuel pool facility has a total capacity of 6,800 highly irradiated fuel assemblies. According to TEPCO documentation from November 2010, the storage pool was at 90% capacity in March 2010 with 6,291 nuclear waste assemblies.

The large scale pool measures approximately 38 feet wide, 92 feet long and 35 feet deep. Highly radioactive nuclear waste assemblies that have cooledbeen allowed to cool down in the six reactors' roof top storage ponds have been transfered and stored here since 1997. From this pool, some of the fuel has been loaded into more secure dry cask storage units awaiting shipment to the Rokkasho nuclear waste reprocessing facility.

According to Yomiuri Shimbun, TEPCO authoriities have not been able to approach the largest nuclear waste storage facility at the complex because of high radiation levels emitting from Units 3 and 4. AS a result, it was reported that TEPCO has not been able to check the giant cooling pond's temperature and water level. However, TEPCO officials reassures that this nuclear waste also stored outside of a containment facility consists of the "coolest" assemblies in wet storage onsite.

However, even after two decades, a single used fuel assembly from a typical Boiling Water Reactor will emit over 3,000 BTU/hr.

Update, 20-Mar-2011, 0100 UTC

The surface winds in the Fukushima region are shifting and beginning to blow from the north in some areas. As a result, radiation levels are currently high in ‘lbaraki’, which is located about 100 miles SSW of Fukushima and is registering 8 times above normal.

Firefighters ended their 13-hour water spraying operation to cool the No.3 reactor and its fuel pool using an unmanned vehicle spraying seawater being pumped through a half-mile of hose.

10 Firetrucks and Japan’s Defense Forces have begun new spraying on No. 4 fuel rod pool.

Work ongoing to reconnect power, beginning with No. 2, which they hope to use as a distribution point to the others. Questions remain as to the damage of the cooling systems.

Radiation levels on the west coast U.S. remain negligible as measured by the EPA and their RadNet Air Monitoring stations.

They're saying Power is Back on at Reactor 2 now. We'll see what's up tomorrow when I wake up. This wouldn't be the first false alarm of getting the power back up.

Yeah everything seems getting back to normal.

I hope they aren't lying.

The power at number 2 at least. There's a lot of extensive damage waiting to be heard from the functioning equipment.

its gonna dilute if it going over pacific. Well dats wat they said

Then how did one minimal explosion cause elevated radiation levels in California?

Anyways. Small update, Power is back up at reactors 1, 2, 5 and 6. Although these were the reactors of least concern. 3 and 4 are still too radioactive to get next to and the cooling pools for reactor 4 and the large scale on containing the 6,000 + rods is still an issue of large concern.

Even with the power up there is still no guarantee the cooling systems will be able to start. Although having the power back up at these reactors is definitely a step in the right direction.