Japan Fukushima Nuclear Timeline | Arthur's Anydex: The Index of Anything

Introduction

This is information and articles about the 2011 Japan / Fukushima Nuclear Accident placed on a timeline by date JST: Japan Standard Time: UT + 9:00

This file has newest entries
Part 1 from start of earthquake crisis to May
March 11, 2011 day 1

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@@Contents

Gunderson: Unit 3 was prompt criticality explosion in the fuel pool.

Date: October 17, 2001

Fukushima Radiation Release Falls to 100 Million Becquerels/Hour

Date: October 11, 2011

Date: October 6, 2011

Date: October 3, 2011

TEPCO ESTIMATED 9 AND 16 METER TSUNAMI IN 2008 BUT USED 2002 5.7 FIGURE

In the spring of 2008, TEPCO estimated that a 15.7-meter tsunami could hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in the future, which was about the size of the March 11 tsunami.

The utility came up with another estimate in December that year, modeled on the Jogan tsunami that hit northern Japan in 869. This estimate was 9.2 meters.

the estimates were "conceptual ones and were unsuitable to be used as bases for tsunami measurements."

The draft defended a 2002 estimate made by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, which envisaged a 5.7-meter tsunami hitting the power plant. TEPCO adopted this estimate in taking measures against tsunami at the power plant.

The draft said this estimate was "based on the latest scientific findings, which have been recognized academically."

"It was impossible for TEPCO to estimate the size of the [March 11] tsunami," the draft concluded.

Date: October 1, 2011

Date: September 30, 2011

http://atomicinsights.com/2011/09/visual-inspection-of-massive-damage-at-north-anna-nuclear-plant-look-closely.html
Visual inspection of massive damage at North Anna nuclear plant (look closely) by Rod Adams on September 20, 2011 CBS TV 6, one of the television stations closest to the North Anna nuclear power station was allowed to take a tour to see the massive damage caused by one of the largest earthquakes that has ever occurred in the US east of the Mississippi River. Caution – the video you are about to see has some very disturbing images and might make you rethink your position on nuclear energy

Frank Daulton Phd, an american professor teaching near Kyoto Japan reports that high levels of radiation are being found as far away as a Kyoto and beyond. He has been doing his own measuring and says the reason why people who measure themselves are finding higher levels of radiation is because official government readings are coming from atop government buildings 20 to 30 meters off the ground. He also reports that he is sending is family to live outside Japan, and that many others are doing the same. According to his story the "Radiation Evacuees" have already quietly started their exodus. You can read the rest of what he had to say here: www.earthfiles.com Japan's 3/11 Radiation Refugees Linda Moulton Howe

Date: September 28, 2011

All 3 Reactors below 100C for "cold shutdown"

Fukushima Desolation Worst Since Nagasaki as Residents Flee By Yuriy Humber, Yuji Okada and Stuart Biggs - Sep 27, 2011 1:30 AM PT . \clip\2011\09\fukudesolation.txt

Takako Harada, 80, returned to an evacuated area of Iitate village to retrieve her car. Beside her house is an empty cattle pen, the 100 cows slaughtered on government order after radiation from the March 11 atomic disaster saturated the area, forcing 160,000 people to move away and leaving some places uninhabitable for two decades or more.

Fukushima prefecture welcomed 56 million domestic and overseas visitors in 2009, equal to 44 percent of Japan’s population. ... The area’s biggest festival, Soma Noma Oi, a re-enactment of samurai battles, attracted 200,000 visitors last year. This year 37,000 came. Of the 300 horses typically used in the event, 100 were drowned in the tsunami and another 100 were evacuated due to radiation, Tajino said. Minami Soma resident Miyaguchi, 54, lost his home and parents in the tsunami. He quit his job at Tokyo Electric, leaving him unemployed and housed in an evacuation center. Still, he has no plans to move away. “Most people who wanted to move away have done so, but I can’t live in big cities like Tokyo,” he said, declining to give his first name

Fukushima and the Battle for Truth Sept 27, 2011 Center for Research on Globalization by Paul Zimmerman Fukushima's nuclear disaster is a nightmare. Ghostly releases of radioactivity haunt the Japanese countryside. Lives, once safe, are now beset by an ineffable scourge promising vile illness and death. Large sectors of the population ...

To offer a second example, a number of prestigious institutions have published disinformation on the hazards to health of depleted uranium weapons. These include WHO, IAEA, the European Commission, the Royal Society in the U.K., the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in the U.S., the Rand Corporation, and the Health Physics Society [10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. All concluded that weaponized uranium creates no adverse health effects when internalized by soldiers on the battlefield and downwind populations.

The tacit mandate of these organizations is to support nuclear weapons programs and the nuclear industry, and they do so by publishing fraudulent scientific studies that downplay the hazards to health of radioactive material released into the environment. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and other UN organizations jointly published Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts [7]. This study is routinely cited as proof that Chernobyl had little impact on public health. It concluded that only twenty-eight first responders died from acute radiation syndrome and 4,000 children developed thyroid cancer, fifteen of whom died by 2002. In addition, it estimated that an additional 4,000 fatal cancers might arise in the overall population. This sanitized version of the catastrophe was reached by the devious method of consulting only 350 sources of information, mostly published in English, while ignoring 30,000 publications and 170,000 sources of information available in languages other than English [8]. A summary of this large body of literature, published as Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature, concluded that radiation-induced casualties approached 980,000 [9].

Date: September 19, 2011

Fukushima Disaster Documentary: Is Nuclear Power Safe? Chernobyl, and Thorium 16 Sept 11

Documentary covering Fukushima, Chernobyl, and alternative nuclear power generation including Thorium. BBC Horizon. Broadcast 14 september 2011

Notes: goddard responds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4YJfwF1MQ

upheaval of 178,000 lives
nobody died
inexpensive reliable energy
containment largely worked
no associated health risks so far

what level is safe?

3 tons of nuclear fuel released at chernobyl killed
workers outright 

what of general population

expected many types of cancer
more thyroid cancer
no confirm increase in any other 
kind of cancer in general 
population 

pathologies of thyroid gland
2000-2500 on register


the thyroids were removed and 
studied here. 

radioactive iodine had been 
taken out and then it had caused 
tumours

how many deaths? 

deaths 0-18 was 7

incredible survival rate
15 deaths of 

99.5% survival rate

across other areas added in 
15 deaths 6,000 case of cancer
population of 6 million


they are lower than almost 
anyone expected

"in preference to the 
radioactive form"

tens or hundreds of thousands of 
cases that seems to be purely a 
myth.

the effects of low-level 
radiation. 

radiation is all around us. 

all contain c14

banana cake potassium

constant background radiation 
that does us no harm at all.

claim is that any dose above 
background can cause damage 

claim is that there is a 
straight line, remains consensus 

different theory.

Low doses may not be harmful at 
all.

they live in constant fear of what the radiation might have done to them.

specializes in counseling was 9

depressed moods 

worry for the future

suicidal thoughts

anxiety

alchohol abuse

of all evacuees, about 
70% anxiety anddepression

40% alchoholism 

her own patients

mental health is largest problem

fear of radiation 
stress of evacuation

Jim Al-Khalili

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201109130229

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? Posted on September 26, 2011 by Andrea Sella
http://solarsaddle.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/fukushima-is-nuclear-power-safe/
A psychologist who, as a child was exposed to the radiation from the accident, and who now works specifically with other victims points out that the vast majority of medical problems in the region are ones of mental health; the fear of radiation taking its toll on the population. This is borne out by the statistics -while some 3-4,000 childhood cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed in the years after the accident, in part a consequence of the slowness of the authorities to issue iodine tablets to the population, only seven of these patients died. A more than 99% survival rate. It is a stunning conclusion, and that can be verified by looking at the reports from UNSCEAR and from the Chernobyl Forum. The mental health consequences have been very severe and compounded by the huge political and economic changes in the Ukraine and Byelorussia over the same time period. So there is a paradox – that few of the catastrophic predictions made at the time of the accident have come to pass. Yet the legacy, for local people and further afield in Europe remains one of fear and suspicion, hence the immediate, knee-jerk referendum in Italy, for example, to abandon all nuclear projects, while in Germany Angela Merkel brought forward the date for decommissioning of existing stations

Date: September 4, 2011

Date: September 3, 2011

Date: September 2, 2001

90% Of Japan’s Nuclear Reactors Will Be Offline As of Sunday JST 90% of Japan’s nuclear reactors will be offline. Shikoku Electric will shut down the #1 reactor at their Ikata power plant. Earlier this year the power companies in Japan claimed there would be widespread blackouts across Japan without nuclear power. The people called their bluff, even during a very hot summer the blackouts didn’t appear. People and corporations took conservation seriously and met the challenge. With 90% of the reactors offline does Japan really need nuclear power after all? http://houseoffoust.com/group/?p=2801

Date: August 30, 2011

Date: August 29, 2011

NEARBY TOWNS FAR EXCEED CHERNOBYL, JAPAN STANDARDS FOR RADIATION
nhk: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_31.html
Aug 29 2011 "High radiation levels on land near Fukushima plant" 29.5 million beq of cesium / sq meter in Okuma hundreds of meters from plant, IAEA standard is 10M, Chernobyl was .55M, and has found land similar to Chernobyl outside the no-entry radius.

WORKERS ENTER DAINI CONTAINMENT
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_16.html
Investigating damage as pressure and increased unusually, tsunami damaged seawater cooling

RICE SHIPMENTS FROM FUKUSHIMA
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_15.html
early harvest rice is offered, only one site had cesium in it, offered for local sale

Date: August 28, 2011

..the spent fuel has not suffered much damage. However, removing it will require repairing and reinstalling cranes to hoist the fuel rods out

The breached reactor core is a bigger problem. It is believed that raising water levels inside the reactor has been difficult because of a hole in the bottom of the vessel. It will be necessary to plug the hole, and continue filling the vessel with water while extracting the melted fuel. How to fill the vessel with water is still being debated. If the reactor can be filled with water, steps taken after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident can serve as a guide because in that case, in which approximately 50 percent of the core had melted, workers were able to fill the reactor with water and remove the fuel within.

removal of spent fuel from the containment pools will begin about five years after the crisis, and about 10 years in the case of melted fuel from the reactor core.

Date: August 27, 2011

Date: August 22, 2011

Date: August 20, 2011

http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/fukushima-early-stage-china-syndrome-global-media-blackout
Fukushima early stage China Syndrome 'clearly a concern': Expert Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner August 20, 2011 - "This accident is clearly more seriously out of control than they are willing to admit," Gunter said. Fuel fragments found over one and a half miles away from the facility did not come from explosions from the spent fuel pools. according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." "They were ejected from the nuclear core from the beginning."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110820/fukushima-japan-tsunami-earthquake-radiation-fears
Fukushima: Radiation reports overshadow progress at plant 45 percent of children living up to 30 miles from the Fukushima plant tested positive for radiation exposure. Sunflowers are seen in the tsunami-hit field in Natori, in Miyagi prefecture on July 15, 2011. Japan has launched a campaign to grow ..

Date: August 18, 2011

Date: Aug 17, 2011

Probe finds TEPCO failed to predict hydrogen explosion at Fukushima

did not prepare instruction manual for venting on power loss
blast at 3:36 PM was not anticipated or even imagined
workers had to examine blueprints to determine venting
had to hunt down batteries (from cars in lot?)
equipment delivered to no.2 and soccer site where workers housed by mistake
"The TEPCO headquarters didn't extend sufficient support to us,"
top officials with the plant failed to notice the isolation condenser (IC), necessary to cool down the core of the No. 1 reactor in case of emergency, had stopped working, and considered countermeasures on the assumption that the IC was functioning properly.

Date: Aug 14, 2011

Date: July 31, 2011

Date: July 20, 2011

Date: July 19, 2011

BBC: Japan bans Fukushima beef exports over contamination fears

Ex Japanese Nuclear Regulator Blames Radioactive Animal Feed on "Black Rain" its also about the radioactive straw the cattle eat that was grown elsewhere". Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima is highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, which is an indication that radiation has contaminated large portions of Northern Japan. More than half a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of straw are comparable to Chernobyl levels.

Chris Busby reports on uranium plutonium found in car air filters in Japan 1 - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16057578
2 - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16056589
3 - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16058549

Date: July 5, 2011

NPR What Went Wrong In Fukushima: The Human Factor by RICHARD HARRIS Japanese do not have realistic trainers, pulled batteries out of cars to make instruments work

Date: June 27, 2011 Monday

Angry shareholders fail to close TEPCO nuclear reactors One attendee suggested the board “jump into the reactors and die,” before being forced by security guards to sit down. Another said the board would have been forced to perform ritual disembowelment had they lived in an era when such actions were deemed necessary to preserve honour. The Fukushima disaster has erased close to 90 percent of the value of TEPCO stock, once considered a safe investment...rejected the call to close all its nuclear plants which generate nearly a third of the company’s electricity
Regulator confident in nuclear plant flood-protections By Michael Avok "The water levels look to be at a place where the plants can deal with it," Jaczko said. "The risk is really very low that something could go wrong.
Missouri River soaks Nebraska nuclear plant, but it's no FukushimaMuch of the grounds at Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska are under two feet of water from the rising Missouri River. But the plant's critical systems sit six feet above the flood's expected crest....the Missouri River is predicted to crest Wednesday at 33 feet above flood stage – some six feet below the level critical buildings at the plant were designed to handle. That flood crest would put the flood level roughly half an inch higher than it is currently... dry patch remaining is the plant's switch yard.... concrete levee. But that barrier has sprung leaks, prompting plant operators to shift to diesel generators for onsite power. .

Date: June 26, 2011 Sunday
- TEPCO failed to report possible hydrogen explosion
- Aquaberm fails at Ft Calhoun, but operations "unaffected"
Date: June 24, 2011 Friday
Special report: Japan's "throwaway" nuclear workers At Fukushima in 1997, Japanese safety rules were applied in a way that set very low radiation exposure limits on a daily basis, Fujii said. That was a prudent step, safety experts say, but it severely limited what Japanese workers could do on a single shift and increased costs. The workaround was to bring in foreign workers who would absorb a full-year's allowable dose of radiation of between 20 millisieverts and 25 millisieverts in just a few days. "We brought in workers from Southeast Asia and Saudi Arabia who had experience building oil tankers. They took a heavier dose of radiation than Japanese workers could have," said Fujii, adding that American workers were also hired.
```
300 millisieverts of radiation per hour were detected in the No. 3
reactor building at 1:17 p.m. on March 13, a day before the explosion.

A report written at 2:07 p.m. also stated there was a strong
possibility that hydrogen had accumulated in the No. 3 reactor
building.

At 5:20 a.m. on March 14, TEPCO's head office ordered officials at the
nuclear power plant to again check hydrogen concentrations in the No.
3 reactor building, a document revealed.

The documents indicate hydrogen was being produced because the fuel
rods were exposed to air after the earthquake and tsunami destroyed
the cooling system.

However, TEPCO did not report these findings to NISA or local
governments.
```
Date: June 21, 2011 Wednesday
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/21/fukushima-still-a-ticking-time-bomb/
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110622p2g00m0dm022000c.html Cumulative radiation reaches as high as 82 millisieverts TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Cumulative radiation outside the 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the past three months has reached as high as 82 millisieverts, more than four times the yardstick of 20 millisieverts a year, a science ministry estimate showed Tuesday. of 160 monitoring sites in the designated areas outside the no-entry zone, 23 registered radiation levels exceeding 20 millisieverts over the three-month period,
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110622p2a00m0na004000c.html 'You try living in Fukushima,' governor tells TEPCO president in verbal dressing-down Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato, left, delivers a harsh rebuke to TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu, center, and Managing Director Toshio Nishizawa at the Fukushima Prefectural Office on June 21. (Mainichi) FUKUSHIMA -- Prefectural Gov. Yuhei Sato tore into the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, "You will understand nothing about what's really going on just by visiting for two or three hours," Sato told TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu and his projected successor Toshio Nishizawa during a meeting in the governor's office in the Fukushima Prefectural Office on June 21. "You try living in Fukushima for 100 days or so.

Date: June 17, 2011 Friday
ex-skf on Tepco blaming workers for exposure They were working, eating, sleeping in the central control room for the Reactors 3 and 4 until 4PM on March 13, with dust masks and no potassium iodide. 25 page report http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/betu11_j/images/110617w.pdf in japanese
```
•On March 12, long before the Reactor 1 building blew off (3:36PM),
the radiation level started to go up as indicated by the exhaust pipe
monitoring at the central control room, around 5:04AM.

•The manager in charge of the shift at that time instructed the
workers to wear dust masks inside the control room, and charcoal masks
when going outside.

•The 2 workers followed the instruction and were wearing dust masks.
Dust masks cannot filter out radioactive iodine, and charcoal filters
may have become less effective as they were used for extended period
of time until the fresh supply could be delivered.
```
Date: June 16, 2011 Thursday
Spiking conspiracy theories about Ft. Calhoun NPP Although water from the Missouri is higher than the plant now; the vital area of the plant is surrounded by a 2,000-foot long berm that takes the protective level up about six feet -- to 1,010 feet or five feet above the river level. As of J10 AM June 16, the water is at 1,005 feet.
a lot of planes and news helicopters were flying over the reactor and some were coming in quite low. Here’s what the NRC’s spokesman said about it “After last week’s Alert, and with all the interest in flooding on the Missouri, news helicopters began flying near the plant. We understand that the plant owner contacted the FAA and asked them to remind pilots of the basic NOTAM is still in effect. As far as we can tell that had zero to do with the plant operations and everything to do with assisting in flood relief.”
Rumor: Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is at a Level 4 emergency or level 4 alert.
- This terminology is not accurate, and is not how emergencies at nuclear power plants are classified.
- Fort Calhoun Station (FCS) declared a Notification of Unusual Event (NOUE) on June 6. A NOUE is the least-serious of four emergency classifications established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- FCS declared a NOUE because the Missouri River was projected to reach 1,004 feet above mean sea level. (It reached that height on June 9.)
- The FCS plant’s reactor has been in cold shut down for a planned refueling outage since April 9. It will remain in that condition until the river recedes.
- The reactor and spent-fuel pool are in a normal, stable condition and are both protected; there has been no release of radioactivity and none is expected.
Rumor: A no-fly zone was set up around Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station because of a release of radiation, similar to what happened with the Fukushima reactors in Japan.
- There has been no release of radioactivity at Fort Calhoun Station due to the flooding and none is expected.
- The flight restrictions were set up by the FAA as a result of Missouri river flooding.
- OPPD’s extensive, preplanned actions to protect the FCS reactor and spent-fuel pool from the floodwaters have been effective.
- The reactor is housed in a watertight containment building, and is in a normal and safe “cold shutdown” condition, covered by more than 23 feet of purified reactor coolant water.
- In addition, OPPD has installed Aqua Dams® and other berms around such vital equipment and buildings at the FCS site.
Rumor: Because of a fire at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station on June 7, the plant’s spent-fuel pool was in danger of boiling and releasing radioactivity.
- There was no such imminent danger with the Fort Calhoun Station spent-fuel pool.
- Due to a fire in an electrical switchgear room at FCS on the morning of June 7, the plant temporarily lost power to a pump that cools the spent-fuel pool.
- The fire-suppression system in that switchgear room operated as designed, extinguishing the fire quickly.
- FCS plant operators switched the spent-fuel pool cooling system to an installed backup pump about 90 minutes after the loss of power.
- During the interruption of cooling, temperature of the pool increased a few degrees, but the pool was never in danger of boiling.
- Due to this situation, FCS declared an Alert at about 9:40 a.m. on June 7.
- An alert is the second-least-serious of four emergency classifications established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- At about 1:15 p.m. on June 7, FCS operators declared they had taken all appropriate measures to safely return to the previously declared Notification of Unusual Event emergency classification. (See first item above.)
Date: June 14, 2011 Tuesday
88 HRS (3 DAYS) FOR FUEL POOL TO BOIL
Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station Flooding risk flood assessment performed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2010 indicated that the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station, "did not have adequate procedures to protect the intake structure and auxiliary building against external flooding events."[6] The assessment also indicated that the facility was not adequately prepared for a "worst-case" flooding scenario. A number of potential flood water penetration points were discovered that could have impacted the raw feed water supply to the cooling system, the axilliary water supply and main switchgear (electrical) room. By early 2011, corrective measures had been implemented.[6]
Events On June 6, 2011 the Omaha Public Power District, as required by Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines, declared a level 1 anomaly (minimal level incident on a 1-4 scale) due to flooding of the Missouri River.[7] The Missouri River is above flood stage and is expected to rise further and remain above flood stage for several weeks to a month. Contractors have been busy installing sandbags and earthen berms to protect the facility from flooding.[7] According to officials, the plant was built to withstand a 500 year flooding event and though by June 14, 2011, much of the facility was surrounded by the swollen Missouri River, Omaha Public Power District officals were confident that enough redundancies were in place to ensure adequate safety.[8] On June 7, 2011, an electrical component in a switcher room caused a small fire with poisonous gases and Halon extinguisher activation which forced a partial evacuation.[9] The fire was no longer active when the fire brigade arrived and according to officials, the public was never in any danger, however in response, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared an alert, which is a level 2 incident.[10] The fire impacted a pump which is used to recirculate coolant water through the spent fuel pool. The pump was offline for an hour but backup equipment wasn't needed as estimated time to boiling temperature was 88,3 hours.[11] The evacuation was the first at the facility since 1992, when 20,000 US gallons (76,000 l; 17,000 imp gal) of coolant leaked into a containment building from the reactor.[12][13]
Ft. Calhoun Flood DefensesThe Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Facility is an island right now but it is one that authorities say is going to stay dry. They say they have a number of redundant features to protect the facility from flood waters that include the aqua dam, earthen berms and sandbags.
the facility was built to withstand a 500-year flood event and Hanson says there are feet of protection between the Missouri and the important structures on site' ...the containment building has been flooded by OPPD in order to cool the fuel rods.
Radioactive material in sludge at 16 prefectures NHK Jun 14 NHK has found through interviews that at least 22 of Japan's 47 prefectures have been testing sludge for radioactive material. 16 of them, ranging from Hokkaido to Osaka, have actually detected radioactive substances. The level of radioactive cesium was highest in Fukushima city, at 447,000 becquerels per kilogram. This was followed by Tokyo at 55,000 becquerels and Maebashi, north of Tokyo, at 42,800 becquerels Japan has had no safety guidelines for contaminated sludge, which is a new problem. Last month, the government decided on an emergency measure to incinerate and store sludge that's been found to contain 100,000 becquerels or more of radioactive materials

Date: June 12, 2011 Monday
NHK workers find damaged pipes unit 4
Fairewinds on hot particles Hot particles are hard to detect, 10-20 per day in Tokyo, 5 per day in Seattle, 30-40 times that in Fukushima

Date: June 10, 2011
Kaku at CNN Jun 10 Utility was told by government to flood with seawater. Kindergarteners with dose meters. Head of utility was AWOL. Lied about core meltdown. We similated on cmputers to figure out how much was released.
Dam Danger, Flooding and Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant by Adept2u Dams upstream are in danger of catastrophic failure

Date: June 8, 2011
'Ten years' for Fukushima lessons
BBC News
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News Learning all lessons from the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station could take a decade, according to France's top nuclear safety officer. But all nuclear countries should carry out ...
See all stories on this topic »
Despite Radiation, Some Japanese Villagers Stay Put
NPR
7:00 pm ET Nisaka Mieko gathers chives, which have been contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident. She says she may lose $25000 in crops, and hopes to plant some of the seeds next year. Nisaka Mieko gathers chives, ...
See all stories on this topic » Berlin bets big on renewable energy
Financial Times
By Sylvia Pfeifer in London and Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin Germany's decision to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022 in the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan has brought about one of the biggest gambles ever made by an advanced industrial ...
See all stories on this topic »
US NRC Chairman Urges Fukushima Lessons Must Be Quickly Learnt
Wall Street Journal
Speaking during a press conference on the sides of a Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-led forum on the Fukushima accident, Jackzo noted he disagreed with his peers on the matter as the head of France's nuclear safety body ...
See all stories on this topic »WellWise Features Informative Series on Fukushima Radiation
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
In a special four-part series, "Fukushima in our Food," nonprofit WellWise.org blogger Steve Hoffman, a widely recognized expert on organics, sustainability and the natural products industry, outlines the extent of the problem of radiation from the ...
See all stories on this topic »
'IAEA downplayed Fukushima disaster'
Press TV
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is a whitewash. Speaking at a Tuesday news conference in Tehran, the president said radioactive releases from the ...
See all stories on this topic »

Press TV
Parliament takes first step in nuclear opt-out
swissinfo.ch
Those unwilling to agree to a political sea change after the disaster at the Japanese nuclear power plant of Fukushima were ignoring reality, they said. “There is a world before Fukushima and a world after Fukushima,” said Roberto Schmidt of the ...
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swissinfo.ch Energy Ministers Agree on Tougher Nuclear Safety Tests
Voice of America
France, which hosted the Paris meeting - and is a leading producer of nuclear power - has proposed global nuclear safety standards following the March accident at Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant. Experts like Gregory Jaczko, ...
See all stories on this topic »Antinuclear group to hold 1st of annual meetings in Fukushima
IBNLive.com
PTI | 02:06 PM,Jun 08,2011 Tokyo, Jun 8 (Kyodo) A Japanese group working for the elimination of nuclear weapons will convene the first of its annual meetings this summer in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power ...
See all stories on this topic »
MEPs to debate nuclear stress tests
European Parliament (press release)
All 143 nuclear power plants in the EU will be re-assessed from 1 June, as agreed in March by European leaders following the nuclear tragedy in Fukushima, Japan. The test criteria cover potential threats like earthquakes, flood, human error and plane ...
See all stories on this topic »

Fukushima: New Report Suggests Fuel Burned Through Vessels ...
By Krista Mahr
Summer has arrived in Japan. The pink cherry blossoms that offered some aesthetic respite from the destruction in the weeks after March 11 are long gone, and the heat —and all of the attendant challenges of living long-term with a ...
Ecocentric
Hot Particles from Fukushima? The average person breathes in about ...
By Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert
Hot Particles from Fukushima? The average person breathes in about 5 of these a day on America's West Coast. Posted on June 8, 2011 by maxkeiser| Leave a comment. Share this: Share this page via Email · Share this page via Stumble Upon ...
Max Keiser Video: Fuji TV Covers Independent Radiation Survey in Fukushima (1 ...
By Rick
I joined an independent radiation survey in Fukushima City on 17-18 May… Fukushima City streets, schools and houses, 60 km away from the melting-down site, are full of “micro-hotspots” of radioactive concentration and people, ...
Fukushima Update

Date: June 7, 2011
PBS Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: 'a Failure of Regulation, not Operation' Melted down within 5 hours. James Acton
CNN's John King interviews Arnie Gundersen about the Hot Particles discovered in Japan and the US. Seattle 5 hot particles a day. They can cause cancer but difficult to impossible to detect. Advising washing vegetables. You just can't run from the particles in the air. March you could see the steam, now you can't see it. Still emitting radioactive gases and liquid. Until it stops boiling....
wsj: Japan Concedes Severity of Blast Japan disclosed Monday that its nuclear accident was more severe in its first days than it had previously admitted—casting new light on how Tokyo's early handling of the disaster briefly sent its relations with the U.S. into one of the tensest periods in years.
.. revealed an apparent leak in the lid of Reactor No. 2's containment vessel. That container was a crucial barrier between the overheating nuclear fuel rods at the reactor and the outside world, and the new information suggests radioactive substances were surging through holes that were collectively the size of a business card.
US told military to pull out, NRC was confident of fuel damage based on observed high radiation levels. US ambassador made around the clock phone calls to Japanese officials, and then called cabinet level officials. US Navy ran its own simulatons of the plume based on data collected by Navy planes with detectors. On March 14, navy moved ships after detecing low-level radiation 100 mi north of the plant. US thought there was no water in unit 4, but Japanese found water though damaged and leaking radiation
"In those early hours, they didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation," said one U.S. official in Tokyo. "In the beginning, they weren't taking any suggestions from us at all."
One U.S. official says Mr. Campbell told Mr. Fujisaki that "the survival of your nation" was at stake.
Mr. Fujisaki recalls the sticking point was that information wasn't coming quickly enough from the stricken plant. He said Japan appreciated the U.S. help and quickly worked to take advantage of it. On March 18, NRC experts in Tokyo finally got their first meeting with Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco. But instead of being taken to the second floor "war room" Tepco had set up to deal with the nuclear crisis, they were ushered into a conference room on another floor and introduced to two low-level employees. "Tepco [had] seemed to make no preparation. It was just chaos," said Mr. Nagashima, the ruling-party lawmaker.
Japan Raises Estimate of Initial Radiation Release By MITSURU OBE Tepco said the reactor core at Unit No. 1 completely melted away and dropped to the bottom of the reactor 15 hours after the plant lost electricity for essential cooling operations. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency ?NISA? was established on January 6, 2001 as part of a reorganization of central government ministries. Our mission is to ensure the safety of the people's livelihoods through the regulation of the energy industry and related industries. NISA said the core melted and dropped to the bottom in just five hours into the crisis, or by 8 p.m. of March 11, citing a spike in pressure inside the containment vessel. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said on Monday that it believes reactor cores at some of the units at the complex melted much faster than the plant operator previously suggested, citing recent evidence that initial efforts to inject seawater water into the reactors failed to cool the fuel rods as intended.
The new estimate now brings NISA's estimate more in line with that of another government watchdog, the Nuclear Safety Commission, which has projected the total radiation release at 630,000 terabecquerels
Virgil Cihla wrote:
Will someone explain to me why the word disaster applies to this incident?
How many humans died of radiation?
How many humans have been hospitalized due to radiation?
How many humans have any physical scar, burn or irritation as a result of the radiation?
Seems to me, the only disaster here is economic. Is the media calling the investors loss a disaster?
June 7, 2011 GSDF colonel recounts fearing for life in Fukushima reactor blast Kyodo
```
A Ground Self-Defense Force officer who was nearly killed by one of
the hydrogen explosions... "I thought that if it was a bad blast, we
would not survive it," said Col. Shinji Iwakuma, leader of the GSDF's
Central Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapon Defense Unit.  The March 14
blast at the No. 3 reactor injured four of Iwakuma's men just as the
six-member team was preparing to spray water onto the crippled reactor

experienced in dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Iwakuma, 49, said that a mission requiring the cooling of an out of control reactor was an "unforeseen" scenario

headed out to the No. 3 reactor with five men in three vehicles, was
about to open the door of his car when the hydrogen explosion occurred
at 11:01 a.m.

The thundering explosion and accompanying blast wave sent concrete and
radioactive debris soaring about 70 meters into the air, obscuring his
view in a cloud of gray dust, the colonel said.

"I think the debris fell for several dozen seconds, but it felt like
it was for a very long time," Iwakuma said.

After managing to get out of his car, he noticed that his men were
injured, dragging their legs or holding their arms tightly.

The dosimeter they had with them was giving off readings of about 20
millisieverts at the time. (how much after the explosion??)

.. was not informed of possibility of explosion... "would be reluctant
to send my men there"
```
Date: June 6, 2011
SMALL AMOUNTS OF FRESH PLUTONIUM DETECTED BUT LESS THAN BOMB TEST http://www.panorientnews.com/en/news.php?k=983
`Lower than Average`` Plutonium Detected Outside Fukushima Nuclear Plant Monday, June 6, 2011 Tokyo- (PanOrient News) A small amount of plutonium believed to have been emitted from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been detected in soil outside the plant.. is lower than the average level of plutonium observed in Japan following past bomb nuclear tests abroad.
Would a little American nuclear emergency make you look up? We're having one Daily KOS - Ft Calhoun nuclear plant declares emergency because of flood, inadequate plan for flooding
Japan Times June 6, 2011: Plutonium found in soil at Okuma Tests show that plutonium found in Okuma about 1.7 km from the plant's front gate was probably from the plant based on isotope ratios found. Plutonium found on the plant site earlier was thought to have been from fallout from bomb tests long ago. Soil samples were collected before April 22.
hattip: http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2011/06/fukushima-3-explodes-reported-metallic.html
Date: June 4, 2011
Radioactive debris at Fukushima plant An arrow shows a concrete fragment (just a tiny hand sized piece) q with radiation measurements of 950 millisieverts per hour in a location west of the building housing the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima Prefecture in this handout photo taken on June 4, 2011. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Co.) (Kyodo)

Date: May 27, 2011
```
GREEN CAROUSEL ON WATERFALL UNIT 3 VISIBLE
BTW that's the clearest shot of unit 3 from that angle yet. why in the
blazes can't they get pictures that clear from day 1???? 

See attached picture, you can almost make out what the green thing on
top of the waterfall is. It looks circular, perhaps that carousel
gizmo for attaching the screws on the rpv cap? That would mean the
refueling platform is between the cranes. I checked the pool wall
video again, in that one still shot it looks like a round yellow
reactor cap, but in your video, I think you can see that it is flat,
and you can see where the bottom meets the back side. Perhaps that
still is another shot with the gate blow away by a hydrogen
explosion??

On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Ian Goddard wrote:

A classic photo for the Atomic Cult scrapbook...
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110527_3.jpg
IAEA team at Unit 3 .... smile everyone !
```
Date: May 26, 2011
Arnie Gunderson on containment leakage
- Beaver Valley hole in side of containment.
- Fitzpatrick crack in the side of the containment
- Millstone - smallest containment for power 4:01
NRC still believes zero chance of containment leak

Unit 1 was melting down before the tsunami
4:47 We now know Fukushima 1 failed because of the earthquake, not the tsunami. It was leaking and in the middle of a meltdown before the tsunami even hit

5:02 we also know from another report that's on the website by Siemens that unit four's fuel pool cracked from the earthquake, not from the tsunami. Well what that means is that
Date: May 25, 2011
TEPCO probes into possible leak at Fukushima Wast water plant water level had dropped by 4.8 centimeters over a 20-hour period, meaning some 57 tons of water has been lost.

Date: May 25, 2011
High levels of cesium detected above No.1 reactor The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the density of radioactive cesium above the No.1 reactor is 18 times the permissible level for the edge of the plant's compound. On Sunday, Tokyo Electric Power Company began measuring the density of radioactive elements above the No.1 and No.4 reactors. ..instruments attached to the crane pumps TEPCO detected 360 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic meter above the No.1 reactor, where most of the fuel rods are believed to have melted. The amount is 18 times the allowable limit for the plant's perimeter. The firm also discovered 7.5 times the limit of cesium-134 above the No.4 reactor, which has no fuel in its core. The substance is believed to have come from the fuel storage pool and the neighboring No.3 reactor. TEPCO says it will measure the levels of radioactive elements above the No.2 and No.3 reactors. It also plans to cover the reactor buildings with polyester sheets to prevent the further dispersal of radioactive materials into the air. Wednesday, May 25, 2011 07:48 +0900 (JST)
Two damaged reactors may have holes in their containment vessels: TEPCO data
At least two reactors at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant may have holes in their containment vessels, according to a report released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on May 24... The report revealed for the first time the possibility of the No. 1 and 2 reactors having a hole about 7 centimeters in diameter and multiple holes about 10 centimeters in diameter in their respective containment vessels. TEPCO said the damage caused by meltdowns to the pressure vessels of the No. 2 and 3 reactors was "limited." But experts had questioned the status of their pressure vessels as well as their containment vessels because highly contaminated radioactive water was leaked into their turbine building
At around 8 p.m. on March 14, about 77 hours after the March 11 earthquake, the reactor core of the No. 2 reactor started to get damaged, the TEPCO report said. At about 9 a.m. on March 13, the core of the No. 3 reactor had started sustaining damage, it said. TEPCO concluded that either about half of the fuel had fallen onto the bottoms of the pressure vessels of the two reactors while the other half had remained where it should be, or most of the fuel had melted and dropped to the bottoms of the pressure vessels. TEPCO, however, tends to believe that most of the fuel actually dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessels. Meltdowns had occurred at the No. 2 reactor at around 8 p.m. on March 15, about 101 hours after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, and at the No. 3 reactor at around 3 a.m. on March 14, about 60 hours after the earthquake, TEPCO said in the repor

Date: May 25, 2011
Japan plant damage even wider Fuel probably melted in 3 units, operator admits By Hiroko Tabuchi New York Times / May 25, 2011 it was possible the pressure vessels in the three stricken reactors, which house the uranium fuel rods, had been breached as well. But most of the fuel remained inside the vessels, the company said — far from a more severe nuclear meltdown in which molten fuel penetrates the ground, a calamity known as the “China Syndrome.
fuel at one of the reactors, Unit 1, probably melted and fell to the bottom of the reactor’s inner pressure vessel.
data showed that damage to Unit 2 began three days after the quake, when its backup cooling system failed, with most fuel rods eventually melting and collecting at the bottom of the pressure vessel. At Unit 3, fuel rods showed signs of damage by the afternoon of March 13.
comment: Cores have mealted, containment vessles cracked and leaking with no easy fix. Many more workers will die working on this mess. On todays news our government has deemed the storage of spent fuel rods at nuke plants in the US is deadly dangerous. Before the disaster the US nuke industry was telling us we were safe and there is nothing to worry about.
```
Earthquake may have damaged unit 3 cooling system before tsunami: 
Unit
3 cooling pipe, before the tsunami or earthquake damage The
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 in the earthquake
devastated Toukyoudenryoku East, that there is a suspicion of
corruption in the system plumbing emergency core cooling, TEPCO was
found from the analysis of 24 published. TEPCO "tsunami significantly
longer than expected," has been blamed for the accident, the analysis
is correct, there is a possibility that the earthquake has damaged
critical equipment before the arrival of the tsunami.

The potential for damage, according to the analysis, to avoid becoming
overheated state water burning nuclear fuel, emergency core cooling
system to keep water reactor (ECCS) one. "High-pressure injection
system," he called the cooling system. Since water vapor is the main
power source of nuclear fuel waste heat, moving without power.

According to TEPCO, the No. 3 there are no external power after the
tsunami of March 11, the reactor was cooled by another device, a mere
12 noon the next day. The high-pressure injection system and switch to
alternative cooling methods to sense the water level drop, once the
water level recovery. After closing the valves can no longer necessary
to run the batteries run out. We're going to water down again, massive
meltdown (the meltdown), led to.

High-pressure injection system during operation of the pressure in the
reactor pressure vessel until it was about 75 atm, 10 atm down to
about six hours. Normally, a rapid pressure drop is hard to believe so
far, TEPCO analysis assumes there is damage to lower pressure to send
water vapor pipe somewhere. The results agreed with actual
measurements of pressure change that could have happened out of steam
leakage from pipes.

According to provisional figures released by TEPCO on the magnitude of
the earthquake shaking at Unit 3, the shaking subsided, but the
assumption of vertical guidance based on seismic, horizontal shaking
slightly exceeded expectations.

ECCS high-pressure injection system, starting with the highest rank
has been positioned in the severity of the national seismic
guidelines, Osaka University Professor Keiji Miyazaki (Nuclear
Engineering) is a likely cause of the earthquake damage pointed out
that high. High-pressure injection system piping in the building has
been through "The tsunami destroyed by a direct hit is unlikely" he
said.

3 No. 1 is no longer continuous cooling core emergency generator is
damaged in the tsunami, there was massive release of radioactive
materials is also behind the explosion of hydrogen recovery. TEPCO has
acknowledged that the lack of tsunami countermeasures, as there have
been problems with anti-earthquake measures.

Meanwhile, deputy head of the nuclear location of the Tokyo Electric
Power Matsumoto Zyuniti at a press conference, "doubting the
possibility of malfunction of the pressure gauge," he said, had
damaged the pipes and the idea of ??not always showing. (Akira Migaku
Komiyama, Sugimoto Takashi)

nhk version: that piping in an emergency cooling mechanism, known as a
high-pressure coolant injection system, may have been damaged by the
earthquake. The system is designed to maintain the water level inside
the reactor vessel during an emergency.

The system is known to have automatically switched on shortly after
noon on March 12th.

Pressure inside the reactor, which was 75 atmospheric pressure,
plunged to about 10 atmospheric pressure over the next six hours.

Tokyo Electric says the drop in pressure is consistent with analysis
which assumes the piping system had been damaged.

tepco refuses to confirm, however, that the key piping system was
damaged by the quake, and suggests that it is possible a gauge
malfunction may be to blame

 May 25, 2011 18:46 +0900 (JST)
```
Date: May 24, 2011
Rense shows audio interview: Fukushima Report: Tom Burnett on 5/24/2011 audio link Fire and smoke from reactor buildings. Reactor 4 pool was cracked in earthquake, they pump water in, leakage causes fuel and melting perhaps onto floor of reactor building, smoke coming from bottom of the building, flames from base of unit 2, not welding
foust: 5.24.2011 - GE BWR6 Manual and GE BWR Technical Manual
Earthquake damaged unit 3 cooling system Coverage from JNI team 5/23-24

5/24 Earthquake may have damaged unit 3 cooling system h/t by procrastinator john
According to the Asahi Shinbun (Japanese) the pipes in the cooling system of unit 3 may have been damaged by the earthquake, before the tsunami struck. From the article:
According to TEPCO, after external power was lost due to the tsunami on March 11, at unit 3 another system [other than the Emergency Core Cooling System] cooled the reactor, but around noon on the 12th it stopped functioning. When they switched to using the high-pressure system after a drop in water level was detected the water level [in the reactor] rose for a time. Later, when battery power was used up, a valve needed to operate the system no longer could be opened or closed. The water level began dropping again and a major meltdown occurred.
During the operation of the high-pressure system, the pressure had been around 75 bars inside the reactor pressure vessel but dropped to 10 bars in about 6 hours. Normally it would be difficult to explain such a rapid loss of pressure and TEPCO hypothesized that the pressure may have dropped because of damage somewhere in the pipes that circulate steam. The outcome was that the change in pressure roughly matched the level that was actually measured, so it is believed that steam may have leaked from the pipes.

Date: May 23, 2011
JAIF earthquake report
Rense audo program: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/663/955/Fukushima_Update_Report_Interview:_Yoichi_Shimatsu_5_23_and_Tom_Burnett_5_24.html
Comment: not as bad as some other conspiracy stuff on Rense
- Global recession, govt wants banks to lose before reparations, bad credit
- shortage of vegetables across Asia destroyed by radiation
- Calfornia got most of radiation plume, not WA OR
- Yochi thinks Unit 4 must have been operating some hush-hush military
- Where they ship the debris?
- We will not test our tea leaves
- Tokyo producing radioactive sewage
- People moving away from Tokyo
Japan Update: Yoichi Shimatsu on 5/23/2011 audio link Rense
foust 5.23.2011 - Work begins to shore up unit 4 fuel pool
foust 5.23.2011 - Fire spotted at reactor 3
Gunderson: 100% of BWR Mk1 vents failed

The Implications of the Fukushima Accident on the World's Operating Reactors from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
ex-skf blog: Mainichi English: US Researcher Says Fukushima Reactor Had Meltdown 3.5 Hours after Cooling System Collapsed. A US researcher Chris Allison did the simulation of one of the Fukushima reactors (Reactor 1) and concluded that the meltdown occurred 3.5 hours after the cooling system stopped. It was reported to the IAEA in late March. So they all knew, except for the hapless citizens of Japan and the rest of the world. Or they say "Oh we didn't know for sure until May 15 when TEPCO finally announced it," like Japan's PM Kan has said.
Here's the summary of the simulation by Allison, as described in the Mainichi English article:
- 1. The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) fails;
- 2. 50 minutes later: reactor core starts to melt;
- 3. 1 hour 20 minutes later: control rods and other pipes inside the RPV start to melt;
- 4. 3 hours 20 minutes later: most of the melted jumble ("corium") drops to the bottom of RPV;
- 5. 4 hours 20 minutes later: temperature at the bottom of the RPV reaches 1,642 degrees Celsius, damaging the RPV stainless steel lining [melting point of stainless steel is 1,510 degrees Celsius].
It is not clear from the TEPCO's log on the day exactly when the emergency core cooling system failed. After the earthquake on March 11 at 2:46PM JST, the ECCS for the Reactor 1 started to operate at 2:52PM JST, but failed only after 10 minutes. And that was before the tsunami arrived at about 3:30PM JST. Attempts were made to restart the ECCS until 1:48AM JST on March 12, when the pump that feeds water to the ECCS broke. (From the summary at Yomiuri Shinbun, 5/16/2011.)
Fukushima: The Future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades Pessimistic blog

Date: May 22, 2011
foust: 5.22.2011 - Land at Daiichi had major shift, causing buildings and towers to skew.
Tepco Gamma Ray Camera large equipment service entrance to south side airlock Unit 1

YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE REACTOR MANHOLE COVER IS GONE: Name: Marc I've found some really cool treasures of close up pictures and technical evaluations on the reactor #3 damages. In the pics, you can clearly see the cement reactor service floor cover is gone. This is the 30 foot diameter cover that rests atop the Primary containment cap and the top of the RPV. I've also prepped a collection of ideas and links since TEPCO started admitting core meltdown (100%) in unit #1 and likely the same in Reactors 2 and 3.
HOUSEOFFOUST PUBLISHES LIKELY REFUELING FLOOR LAYOUT:
This is an updated estimate of the layout of reactors 3 and 4. It is based on existing and some new photo evidence.
The drawing is a very rough draft, not to scale and placement is not exact but it will give a better idea where
things are. I have also included images below the drawing to help show how I developed the map.

1. Spent fuel pool. We have a number of images of 3 and 4 that show the rough location of the fuel pool. #3 we can see the inner
wall clearly. On 4 we can see into the pool from the end of the building. The location of the refueling crane on #4 also gives some
ideas of the general location. There are also a number of images of the SFP from before the quake.

2. Reactor Well
We have some rough glimpses of the area where the well is from fly over images. This interior image from before the
quake tells where the well is quite clearly.

Date: May 21, 2011
foust: 5.21.2011 - Major steam and smoke incident again, check videos for 521
Nuclear plant workers suffer internal radiation exposure after visiting Fukushima Nuclear plant workers suffer internal radiation exposure after visiting Fukushima The government has discovered thousands of cases of workers at nuclear power plants outside Fukushima Prefecture suffering from internal exposure to radiation after they visited the prefecture, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Most of the workers who had internal exposure to radiation visited Fukushima after the nuclear crisis broke out following the March 11 quake and tsunami, and apparently inhaled radioactive substances scattered by hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant... total of 4,956 cases of workers suffering from internal exposure to radiation at nuclear power plants in the country excluding the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and 4,766 of them involved workers originally from Fukushima
... data from power companies across the country that measured the workers' internal exposure to radiation with "whole-body counters" and recorded levels of 1,500 counts per minute (cpm) or higher. In 1,193 cases, workers had internal exposure to radiation of more than 10,000 cpm. Those workers had apparently returned to their homes near the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant or had moved to other nuclear power plants from the Fukushima No. 1 and 2 nuclear power plants.
..On March 23, he underwent a test at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant that showed his internal exposure to radiation had reached 5,000 cpm. He was thus instructed by the company to remain on standby. The radiation reading dropped below 1,500 cpm two days later, and then he returned to work.
Internal exposure to radiation lasts longer and carries more risks than external exposure. People are deemed to have had internal exposure if whole-body counters detect over 1,500 cpm of radiation from them

Date: May 19, 2011
See April 28 for Discovery Nuclear Nightmare: Japan in Crisis
foust 5.19.2011 - Visible radiation seen at reactor 2

Date: may 18, 2011
In Japan Reactor Failings, Danger Signs for the U.S. By HIROKO TABUCHI, KEITH BRADSHER and MATTHEW L. WALD Published: May 17, 2011 | interactive Just 12 hours after the quake, the pressure inside Reactor No. 1 had reached roughly twice the maximum pressure the unit had been designed to withstand, raising fears that the vessels that house fuel rods would rupture, setting a possible meltdown in motion. With the pressure high, pumping in additional cooling water also was not possible. The government became rattled enough that it ordered Tokyo Electric to begin venting. But even then, Tokyo Electric’s executives continued to deliberate, according to a person close to government efforts to bring the reactors under control. The exchanges became so heated, the person said, that the company’s nuclear chief, Vice President Sakae Muto, and the stricken plant’s director, Masao Yoshida, engaged in a “shouting match” — a rarity in reserved Japan. Mr. Yoshida wanted to vent as soon as possible, but Mr. Muto was skeptical whether venting would work, the person said, requesting anonymity because he is still an adviser to the government and is not permitted to comment publicly. “There was hesitation, arguments and sheer confusion over what to do,” he said.
The executives did not give the order to begin venting until Saturday — more than 17 hours after the tsunami struck and 6 hours after the government order to vent.
.... The venting system is designed to be operated from the control room, but operators’ attempts to turn it on failed, most likely because the power to open critical valves was out. The valves are designed so they can also be opened manually, but by that time, workers found radiation levels near the venting system at Reactor No. 1 were already too high to approach, according to Tokyo Electric’s records.
At Reactor No. 2, workers tried to manually open the safety valves, but pressure did not fall inside the reactor, making it unclear whether venting was successful, the records show. At Reactor No. 3, workers tried seven times to manually open the valve, but it kept closing, the records say.
foust 5.18.2011 - translated TEPCO document shows their new water system plan

Daiichi Nuclear Restoration as of 06 May 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Company has released videos of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. A clip taken on May 6th shows dents in a tank that supplies water to a reactor suppression pool. An overturned car is lying near the tank. Another video shows an oil tank that was swept by tsunami and landed near the plant's headquarters about 500 kilometers from the Number 1 reactor. Most of the windows in the building are broken and documents are scattered around an office. The mess is believed to have caused by hydrogen explosions that occurred in the early days of the nuclear crisis. Other footage shows workers closing a dormitory entrance door to prevent the entry of radioactive substances. The workers decontaminate their protective gear and line up to carry supplies into the building. Another video captures a vehicle spraying green agents to prevent the dispersal of radioactive materials. It also shows workers putting radioactive debris into a container for removal. Another clip shows hoses being used to inject water into reactors. The orange one is for reactor 1, the yellow one for reactor 2 and the green one for reactor 3.

Date: May 17, 2011
Q&A With a Former Fukushima Dai-1 Plant Manager POSTED BY: ELIZA STRICKLAND / TUE, MAY 17, 2011
Tsuneo Futami felt the ground tremble under his feet on 11 March, his first thoughts were for his family--he hastily got his grandson out of the house. Futami started working at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) in 1967, and worked his way up to become manager of the nuclear generation department before taking charge of Fukushima Dai-1. He is now a professor at Tokai University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and he has lectured on reactor engineering and crisis management. He spoke to IEEE Spectrum about his experiences as plant manager, and about his assessment of TEPCO's response to the current crisis.
I was informed the maximum tsunami at the Fukushima Dai-1 site might be 10 meters. The turbine buildings and the reactors were built 10 meters above the sea level, so it is beyond my imagination that seawater flowed into the turbine buildings of all units, and that facilities on the basement floor were flooded.
I could not have imagined that all electricity including battery power for units 1 through 4 would be completely lost at the same time, and would not be restored for more than 9 days
I thought that major equipment like the condensate water pumps and the residual heat removal sea water pumps, which are on the ground lower than 10 meters above the sea level, must be damaged. That sent a chill down my spine. However I could not imagine that both the diesel generators and the power centers in the turbine buildings were completely covered with seawater by a tsunami that was over 14 meters high.
I was fighting against stress corrosion cracking of internal components in the reactor pressure vessels. Those components are highly radioactive and are inside the reactor pressure vessels. However it was necessary to work inside the reactor pressure vessels in order to replace a component called a shroud, although we used remote and automatic equipment as much as possible. I led the shroud replacement program of unit 1, 2, 3 and 5 and completed the world’s first shroud replacement in 1998. Stress corrosion cracking is an aging problem.
all diesel generators and power centers were covered with seawater, and that the heat removal seawater system was completely lost. Under these circumstances, I am convinced that no one could have prevented similar damages.
TEPCO’s standard layout has the turbine buildings on the sea side and reactor buildings on the mountain side. The turbine buildings have big shutters where we carry in or carry out heavy components. The shutters are facing the sea. The huge tsunami on 11 March broke the shutters and large amounts of seawater flowed into the turbine buildings where the emergency diesel generators and power centers are installed. Judging from that situations, I think it would have been very difficult to find a way to prevent the partial melting of fuel.
. I am sure that Japanese nuclear power plants will become safe enough by modifications and countermeasures against tsunami based on the lessons learned on 3-11.
Boiling water reactors use the steam produced in the reactor core directly to rotate the turbine, so all the equipment in the turbine system has radioactivity. In a normal case, that level of radiation is very low, so you don’t worry about it. But in the Fukushima emergency, the higher radioactivity spread in the turbine building. In the case of a pressurized water reactor, they use clean steam produced in steam generator—so the turbine building is not a radiation control area.
the strength of spent fuel pools’ reinforced concrete. Usually we have to keep the temperature inside the spent fuel pools under 65 degrees Celsius or so. A high temperature decreases the strength of reinforced concrete. Also the hydrogen explosions may have damaged the integrity of the concrete structures of the spent fuel pools. I’m worried about that. If the spent fuel pools collapse, large amount of radioactive materials in the spent fuel will be released into the air, and a large amount of radioactive water will be released at the same time.

Date: May 13, 2011

At Reactor, Damage Worse Than Feared Unit at Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant Came Closer to Meltdown Than Previously Revealed; Questions Over Quake's Role

likely that the fuel rods that form the core of Reactor No. 1 had more than half melted in March,

determined that both of the vessels that surround the reactor core may be damaged, leaking water that is supposed to be keeping the core cool

didn't reach the most severe level, where fuel rods melt through those vessels and release massive amounts of radioactive material to the outside

fixed a faulty water-level gauge. They determined that the reactor's pressure vessel—the cylindrical steel container that houses the fuel rods—had only about half the level of cooling water as previously thought.

area enclosing the fuel rods wasn't mostly submerged in cooling water, as Tepco had thought, but was instead high and dry.

Whehter leaks or holes could have been caused by the 9-magnitude earthquake

U.S. nuclear experts already believed was the case—that severe core damage has occurred which allowed radioactive material to migrate outside the thick steel walls of the pressure vessel. One indication of this breakdown in normal protective barriers has been the high radiation readings in the containment area and reactor building.

Previously, Tepco officials had said they believed there had been "damage" to the fuel rods but didn't specify what that meant. On Thursday, for the first time, officials conceded that the fuel rods likely had "melted," crumbled or changed shape, and that the fuel had probably fallen from its casings.

estimate that 90% of the fuel is still in the inner pressure vessel and that there are no cracks or obvious ruptures to the outer containment vessel, where Mr. Matsumoto said the rest of the fuel is likely contained. So the risk of a large radioactive release of fuel is minimal,

temperatures in the No. 1 reactor likely rose to more than 2,000 degrees Celsius, experts have said, well above the point at which the metal casings of the fuel rods would begin to melt. The fuel pellets inside would start melting at 2,800 degrees

temperature in the pressure vessel now hovers around 100 to 120 degrees Celsius

this whole thing is BS so what if pellets fused after melting .. all it means is that they are unusable as a fuel .. and it will be a bixtch to get the mess out of the reactor .. but WHY WOULD IT RELEASE MASSIVE RADIOACTIVITY?

it was an accident, it released some radiation -- no one died .. one person gold mildly sick by getting his foot into the "hot" water -- but cold-water killed near 20,000 people -- why aren't you flailing your arms to stop the people from going to beach this summer ..

Date: May 12, 2011
- Fukushima Daiichi Update 12.05.11
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8509502/Nuclear-meltdown-at-Fukushima-plant.html

Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant

One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel.

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 2:01PM BST 12 May 2011

Engineers from the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) entered the No.1 reactor at the end of last week for the first time and saw the top five feet or so of the core's 13ft-long fuel rods had been exposed to the air and melted down.

Previously, Tepco believed that the core of the reactor was submerged in enough water to keep it stable and that only 55 per cent of the core had been damaged.

Now the company is worried that the molten pool of radioactive fuel may have burned a hole through the bottom of the containment vessel, causing water to leak.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8506488/Underwater-robot-captures-Fukushima-wreckage.html

fuel pond 3 is just wreckage explosions that followed March's devastating earthquake and tsunami have left the nuclear fuel rods inside the reactor covered in wreckage. Experts believe that the fuel rods, not visible in the clip, were left largely undamaged despite the disaster. (No way explosion that exposes reinforcement rods from concrete would be undamanaged!!)

Date: May 9, 2011
Foust picture show unit 4 leaning

Workers enter unit 1, measure high radiation levels, may need shielding for workers before they can work on installing a new cooling system since the old system does not work.

RUSSIAN SUSPECTS FUEL RODS SCATTERED ACROSS SITE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-norris-de-montaigudeadly-silence-on-fukushi_b_859241.html About Japan: the problem is that the reactor uses "dirty" fuel. It is a combination of plutonium and uranium (MOX). I suspect that the old fuel rods have bean spread out due to the explosion and the surrounding area is contaminated with plutonium which means you can never return to this place again. It is like a new Tchernobyl. Personally, I am not surprised that the authority has not informed people about this

Tepco finds lower radiation levels at Fukushima By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo Airborne radiation doses of up to 100 millisieverts – the normal annual absorption threshold for nuclear workers in Japan to absorb – per hour were detected in areas where technicians would have to perform tasks .. prime minister, on Friday asked Chubu to shut two operational reactors at Hamaoka atomic station Chubu is planning to build a new 15-metre seawall at Hamaoka to protect the plant from tsunami. It is scheduled for completion by March 2014

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/japan-nuclear-crew-may-need-lead-shields-official/story-e6frf7jx-1226052788792 ... may need to construct lead-lined tunnels to allow work... 250 max limit.. allowed 20 minutes of work before limit... have to do the work by using shielding.

Date: May 11, 2011
foust 5.11.2011 - Another steam show and earthquake UPDATED
foust 5.11.2011 - New images from late April

Date: May 10, 2011

Moscow, May 10 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Dangerous radiation level at Fukushima No. 1 reactor detected Workers spent 30 min inside the reactor after ventilators were installed to reduce radiation levels, they measured 700 millisiverts per hour. 500 may cause cancer, 1000 causes sickness, 1500 chronic sickness.

Date: May 9, 2011
foust: 5.09.2011 - New close up screen captures of Fukushima!

Date: May 8, 2011
Foust: Unit 4 is sinking

Japan Fukushima Nuclear Timeline | Arthur's Anydex: The Index of Anything

Introduction

@@Contents

@@Timeline

@@New Posts

Date: October 17, 2001

Date: October 11, 2011

Date: October 6, 2011

Date: October 3, 2011

TEPCO ESTIMATED 9 AND 16 METER TSUNAMI IN 2008 BUT USED 2002 5.7 FIGURE

Date: October 1, 2011

Date: September 30, 2011

Date: September 28, 2011

All 3 Reactors below 100C for "cold shutdown"

Date: September 19, 2011

Date: September 4, 2011

Date: September 3, 2011

Date: September 2, 2001

Date: August 30, 2011

Date: August 29, 2011

Date: August 28, 2011

Date: August 27, 2011

Date: August 22, 2011

Date: August 20, 2011

Date: August 18, 2011

Date: Aug 17, 2011

Date: Aug 14, 2011

Date: July 31, 2011

Date: July 20, 2011

Date: July 19, 2011

NPR What Went Wrong In Fukushima: The Human Factor by RICHARD HARRIS Japanese do not have realistic trainers, pulled batteries out of cars to make instruments work

Date: June 27, 2011 Monday

Date: June 26, 2011 Sunday

Date: June 24, 2011 Friday

Date: June 21, 2011 Wednesday

Date: June 17, 2011 Friday

Date: June 16, 2011 Thursday

Date: June 14, 2011 Tuesday

Date: June 12, 2011 Monday

Date: June 10, 2011

Date: June 8, 2011

Date: June 7, 2011

Date: June 6, 2011

Date: June 4, 2011

Date: May 27, 2011

Date: May 26, 2011

Unit 1 was melting down before the tsunami

Date: May 25, 2011

Date: May 25, 2011

Date: May 25, 2011

Date: May 24, 2011

Date: May 23, 2011

Date: May 22, 2011

Date: May 21, 2011

Date: May 19, 2011

Date: may 18, 2011

Daiichi Nuclear Restoration as of 06 May 2011

Date: May 17, 2011

Date: May 13, 2011

At Reactor, Damage Worse Than Feared Unit at Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant Came Closer to Meltdown Than Previously Revealed; Questions Over Quake's Role

Date: May 12, 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8509502/Nuclear-meltdown-at-Fukushima-plant.html

Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant

One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8506488/Underwater-robot-captures-Fukushima-wreckage.html

Date: May 9, 2011

Date: May 11, 2011

Date: May 10, 2011

Date: May 9, 2011

Date: May 8, 2011