Friday 9 August 2013

Fukushima


Tongue-in-cheek comments -

Tepco: "300 tons of radioactive water a day into the Pacific. Or maybe it's 400. Nothing is real, however. It's all conjecture."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: "Tepco and the government has admittedly fucked up and kept secrets for the past two years. Trust me, however, because I'm pro-business and I am now the government. As in the Superman movie, we're going to create an Ice Fortress. If that doesn't work, we'll use Kryptonite. If none of those two options work, I'll make use of Halliburton. Oh, and I want to start-up all the rest of our country's nukes as soon as the good people of Japan let me."
M.G


Japanese government to help halt nuke leak
Radioactive water is seeping past barriers



8 August


TOKYO – The government said it will step in and take “firm measures” to combat leaks of radioactive water at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant, including possibly funding a costly containment project.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after the operator of the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi plant said some of the water was seeping over or around an underground barrier it created by injecting chemicals into the soil that solidified into a wall.

There is heightened concern among the public, particularly about the contaminated water problem,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a government nuclear disaster response meeting at his office. “This is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed. The government will step in to take firm measures.”

The latest problem involves water that accumulated over the last month since the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., began creating the chemical barrier to stop underground leaks after detecting radiation spikes in water samples in May.

Government officials said Wednesday that an estimated 300 tons of radioactive water has been leaking into the sea each day since early in the crisis, which was caused by the March, 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.

Since a major leak occurred from a maintenance pit a month after three reactors at the plant melted following the disasters, TEPCO had denied any further leaks of radioactive water into the sea, despite repeated warnings by experts, until finally acknowledging them last month.

The underground barrier on the coastal embankment has slowed the leaks somewhat, but has caused underground water to swell. To prevent an overflow above the surface, which is feared to happen within weeks, TEPCO will start pumping out about 100 tons of underground water from coastal observation wells this week. Later this month, TEPCO will remove old contaminated water from trenches near the coast – a time bomb that it had left untouched despite repeated prodding from the government.

Shinji Kinjo, an official at the Nuclear Regulation Authority, said faster-than-expected swelling of the underground water following the installation of the chemical barriers accelerated the emergency caused by TEPCO’s delays.

Alarmed by the leaks, a fisheries cooperative in nearby Iwaki city decided to indefinitely postpone a test catch planned for September.

Government officials said Wednesday they were considering funding a separate, multibillion-dollar project to surround the reactor buildings with a wall of frozen ground to block underground water from entering the contaminated buildings. The project, announced in May, is scheduled for completion in July 2015.

Similar methods have been used to build tunnels, but building a wall that surrounds four reactor buildings and their related facilities is “unprecedented anywhere in the world,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. “We believe it is necessary that the country steps forward to support its construction,” he said.


Abe Joins Greenpeace in Signal Tepco Not Up to Cleanup
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an unlikely companion with environment protection campaigner Greenpeace as both indicated Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) isn’t up to the task of containing the Fukushima nuclear disaster.



7 August, 2013

Greenpeace’s comments were blunt, Abe’s less so, though they both agreed on the seriousness of revelations that radioactive groundwater is gushing into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled coastal atomic station north of Tokyo.


At least 300 tons of water laced with strontium and other radioactive particles is getting into the ocean each day, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at a briefing in Tokyo yesterday. The leaks may have been happening for two years, though not at the same rate, said Tatsuya Shinkawa, who heads a division at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy helping handle the accident.

The worsening leaks of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear plant prove Tepco is incapable of dealing with the disaster,” Greenpeace International said in a statement, referring to Tokyo Electric. “Japan’s authorities must now step in and ensure action is finally taken to stop the leaks.”

Abe did just that yesterday, telling a ministerial meeting the government will draw up a strategy to tackle the problem.

It is an urgent problem,” Abe said. “We will not leave this to Tepco.”
Back Burner?

Activist groups in Japan will be pressing a similar case today in a meeting with the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The groups include citizen activists from Fukushima, where as many as 160,000 people had to evacuate to escape airborne radiation when buildings exploded and reactors melted down at the atomic station in March, 2011.

The activist groups argue the NRA is dedicating its already slim resources to checking that applications by utilities to restart reactors closed for inspections after Fukushima comply with new safety standards, Kyoto-based organizer Green Action said in a release.

The bulk of the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s human resources is being used to examine electric utility nuclear power plant restart applications,” Green Action director Aileen Mioko Smith said in the release. Dealing with the Fukushima accident is on the “back-burner at the NRA.”

Not Fast

All but two of Japan’s 50 reactors are idled for safety checks after Fukushima. The NRA, which was set up after the disaster to independently review the nuclear industry, has accepted applications from three utilities for safety inspections at four separate plants.

The regulator has also indicated growing alarm about the water leaks.

Radioactive water leaks are getting out of control and “creating a state of emergency,” said Shinji Kinjo, citing comments made by NRA Chairman Shinichi Tanaka in a meeting last week. Kinjo leads a Fukushima disaster task force for the regulator.

More funds will be made available to help stem the flow of contaminated water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday.

I believe Tepco is doing all it can,” Suga said. “But from the point of view of those in the disaster zone and the people of Japan, it does not seem to be progressing very fast.”

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