nuke.news

he Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in no condition to restart and is most likely to be decommissioned as it has caused many critical problems since a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, the top government spokesman suggested Sunday. ''Looking at the situation objectively, (the answer to the question of) whether it can be operated again is clear,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference, when asked whether the government plans to close the plant once its overheating reactors are brought under control. It is the first time that a senior government official has mentioned about the likelihood of it being decommissioned.

Pressure within the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was rising at one point and Tepco considered releasing more radioactive gas into the environment to avert serious damage to the containment vessel, the nuclear safety agency said Sunday afternoon. However, officials later said the pressure in the vessel, which houses lethal radioactive materials, had stabilized. They said they would observe the situation carefully and "not immediately" take the risky measure.

Frantic efforts to cool down the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's overheating reactors and spent fuel rods are continuing, as workers rush to prevent highly toxic radiation from being released into the atmosphere. Below are questions and answers regarding the stricken reactors and spent fuel pools: What is the current situation?

Two out of the six damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station are now under control in a state known as "cold shutdown" after engineers restored emergency water pumps using diesel generators. The reactors, Nos. 5 and 6, had already been shut down before last week's historic earthquake and tsunami, posing less of a risk than the other reactors at the plant. But their cooling systems were knocked out, and the fuel rods left inside the reactor started to heat up, together with spent fuel rods stored in a separate storage pool. "We are getting closer to bringing the situation under control," Tetsuro Fukuyama, the deputy chief cabinet secretary, said of the entire plant late Sunday. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, had appeared to suffer a serious setback as officials said that pressure buildup at the ravaged No. 3 reactor would require the venting of radioactive gases. The reactor contains a highly toxic fuel that includes reclaimed plutonium. This announcement came after an all-out mission Saturday to cool the reactor by firefighters, who doused the it with 2,400 tons of water over 14 hours.

This Greenpeace briefing serves to provide analysis and advice of the risks and potential health impacts following releases of radioactivity from Japan's Fukushima 1/Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Terminology Dose = total amount of radioactivity absorbed by the body over a certain period. Measuring units: − microSievert (µSv) − milliSievert (1 mSv = 1000 uSv) − Sievert (1 Sv = 1000 mSv). Dose rate = the amount of radioactivity absorbed per hour, expressed in − micro Sievert per hour (µSv/h) − milli Sievert per hour (mSv/h =1000 µSv/h)

There is a time and a place for everything, and in the nuclear industry's case, worrying about PR right now, is a bad, bad idea. Well, let's put it simply: it is extremely bad PR. In a time when they should be worrying about putting an end to the disaster in Japan, and saving the lives whose ruin they caused in the first place, some nuclear power industry experts are more worried about winning the PR war. Tim Probert, Deputy Editor of Power Engineering International magazine, editor for Power Engineering International and conference director for Nuclear Power Europe, is the public face of the industry in many ways, and his latest editorial Fukushima: The nuclear power industry must win the PR war is indicative of what is wrong with this industry to begin with.

This is the Japanese website (MEXT) that has posted all of the radiation release reports being made in Japan... Reports are all PDF files.

Green Audit's founders were Chris Busby Patrick Adams and Molly Scott Cato. Patrick Adams left the operation in 1995 to become a farmer in Devon. Chris has a first-class Honours degree in Chemistry from London University and a PhD in chemical physics from the University of Kent. He is Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk and a member of the UK Department of Health Committee Examining Radiation Risk for Internal Emitters (CERRIE) (www.cerrie.org). He also sits on the UK Ministry of Defence Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (www.duob.org) and in National Speaker on Science and Technology for the Green Party of England and Wales. Chris is a fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine. He is also scientific advisor of the Low level Radiation Campaign (www.llrc.org) which he helped to set up in 1995.

Here's the official US site on what to do on radiation. Fairly comprehensive...

The March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan has led to a major, still evolving crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power facility. UCS is providing information and analysis about the crisis and what is happening on the ground, as well as its broader implications for nuclear power safety and the future of nuclear power. Click the links below for timely information.

FUKUSHIMA--Strong horizontal jolts dislodged ceiling pipes and massive amounts of water started flooding out--this was the frightening scene experienced by a worker who was in the building housing the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant when the earthquake hit Friday. His tale told to The Yomiuri Shimbun sheds light on the heavy initial damage the quake caused inside the building. The man works for a company contracted by Tokyo Electric Power Co. to handle inspections and maintenance of the reactor in Fukushima Prefecture. He had occasionally worked at the plant since last summer.

FUKUSHIMA--Strong horizontal jolts dislodged ceiling pipes and massive amounts of water started flooding out--this was the frightening scene experienced by a worker who was in the building housing the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant when the earthquake hit Friday. His tale told to The Yomiuri Shimbun sheds light on the heavy initial damage the quake caused inside the building. The man works for a company contracted by Tokyo Electric Power Co. to handle inspections and maintenance of the reactor in Fukushima Prefecture. He had occasionally worked at the plant since last summer.

Fourteen elderly hospital patients died north of Tokyo after they were evacuated from the radiation risk zone as Japan's humanitarian mission struggles to cope with the scale of the disaster.

Ths is a brief timeline of Japan's history of nuclear problems

This web page has the official reports on the radiation readings around the Fukushima evacuation area.

The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan's atomic power industry. The destruction caused by last week's 9.0 earthquake and tsunami comes less than four years after a 6.8 quake shut the world's biggest atomic plant, also run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. In 2002 and 2007, revelations the utility had faked repair records forced the resignation of the company's chairman and president, and a three-week shutdown of all 17 of its reactors. With almost no oil or gas reserves of its own, nuclear power has been a national priority for Japan since the end of World War II, a conflict the country fought partly to secure oil supplies. Japan has 54 operating nuclear reactors -- more than any other country except the U.S. and France -- to power its industries, pitting economic demands against safety concerns in the world's most earthquake-prone country.

Radiation exposure is measured by the amount of energy deposited in people's bodies. High dose (10 rad or more in a short time (minutes) could affect some workers in accident situations. Early symptoms of radiation sickness hours to one week (more that 1 gray or 100 rads): nausea and vomiting, diarrhea. Later symptoms of radiation sickness: dizziness and disorientation, hair loss, bloody vomit and stools, infections, poor wound healing, low blood pressure.

As the world collectively holds its breath to see how the Fukushima crisis plays out (the quote of the day has got to be: "The worst-case scenario doesn't bear mentioning and the best-case scenario keeps getting worse...") there's a positive story which is not yet being reported. Despite assertions by its detractors that wind energy would not survive an earthquake or tsunami the Japanese wind industry is still functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima crisis.

Latest radiation readings We created this page with the clear intention of informing you of vital information which we explain here and in related posts. Due to the high volume of visitors, most of whom have very valid and urgent questions, we are unable to answer each question. We will be preparing an FAQ section but in the meantime PLEASE READ THROUGH THE COMMENTS TO SEE IF YOUR QUESTION HAS BEEN ANSWERED AND READ THE VAST AMOUNT OF INFORMATION ON ENVIROREPORTER.COM AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA WEBSITES.