Japan radioactive water leaking

[figgy]

Watching news this morning.

 

The Fukushima Neuclear plant was on, a leaking water storage tank has leaked 300 ton of highly radioactive water into the ground.

 

At first they were saying its only 100 miliseiverts an hour now they are saying its 18 times higher and would kill a person not protected by a suit in four hours.

 

Probably no big deal with the amount the plant leaked when three reactors melted.

But 300 hundred tonnes is no small amount and how can they get the levels of radiation so wrong.

 

How safe is neuclear power in some of these countries.

 

Always thought of Japan as on top of the game.

 

Figgy

[maxus77]

a couple of other forums im on have got this down as a huge cover up for sometime with lots of reports and further info being talked about for months, if this is true then disgraceful

[maxus77]

Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'


Faulty seals on the storage tanks at Fukushima are said to be the source of the most recent leak



A nuclear expert has told the BBC that he believes the current water leaks at Fukushima are much worse than the authorities have stated.
Mycle Schneider is an independent consultant who has previously advised the French and German governments.
He says water is leaking out all over the site and there are no accurate figures for radiation levels.
Meanwhile the chairman of Japan's nuclear authority said that he feared there would be further leaks.
The ongoing problems at the Fukushima plant increased in recent days when the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) admitted that around 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank on the site.


Moment of crisis

The Japanese nuclear energy watchdog raised the incident level from one to three on the international scale that measures the severity of atomic accidents.


This was an acknowledgement that the power station was in its greatest crisis since the reactors melted down after the tsunami in 2011.
But some nuclear experts are concerned that the problem is a good deal worse than either Tepco or the Japanese government are willing to admit.
They are worried about the enormous quantities of water, used to cool the reactor cores, which are now being stored on site.
Some 1,000 tanks have been built to hold the water. But these are believed to be at around 85% of their capacity and every day an extra 400 tonnes of water are being added.
"The quantities of water they are dealing with are absolutely gigantic," said Mycle Schneider, who has consulted widely for a variety of organisations and countries on nuclear issues.
"What is the worse is the water leakage everywhere else - not just from the tanks. It is leaking out from the basements, it is leaking out from the cracks all over the place. Nobody can measure that.



Satellite images show how the number of water storage tanks has increased in the past two years.

The tanks store contaminated water that has been used to cool the reactors.

"It is much worse than we have been led to believe, much worse," said Mr Schneider, who is lead author for the World Nuclear Industry status reports.
At news conference, the head of Japan's nuclear regulation authority Shunichi Tanaka appeared to give credence to Mr Schneider's concerns, saying that he feared there would be further leaks.
``We should assume that what has happened once could happen again, and prepare for more. We are in a situation where there is no time to waste," he told reporters.
The lack of clarity about the water situation and the continued attempts by Tepco to deny that water was leaking into the sea has irritated many researchers.
Dr Ken Buesseler is a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has examined the waters around Fukushima.
"It is not over yet by a long shot, Chernobyl was in many ways a one week fire-explosive event, nothing with the potential of this right on the ocean."
"We've been saying since 2011 that the reactor site is still leaking whether that's the buildings and the ground water or these new tank releases. There's no way to really contain all of this radioactive water on site."
"Once it gets into the ground water, like a river flowing to the sea, you can't really stop a ground water flow. You can pump out water, but how many tanks can you keep putting on site?"
Several scientists also raised concerns about the vulnerability of the huge amount of stored water on site to another earthquake.




Water from the storage tanks has seeped into the groundwater and then into the sea. Efforts to use a chemical barrier to prevent sea contamination have not worked.


New health concerns

The storage problems are compounded by the ingress of ground water, running down from the surrounding hills. It mixes with radioactive water leaking out of the basements of the reactors and then some of it leaches into the sea, despite the best efforts of Tepco to stem the flow.
Some of the radioactive elements like caesium that are contained in the water can be filtered by the earth. Others are managing to get through and this worries watching experts.
"Our biggest concern right now is if some of the other isotopes such as strontium 90 which tend to be more mobile, get through these sediments in the ground water," said Dr Buesseler.
"They are entering the oceans at levels that then will accumulate in seafood and will cause new health concerns."
There are also worries about the spent nuclear fuel rods that are being cooled and stored in water pools on site. Mycle Schneider says these contain far more radioactive caesium than was emitted during the explosion at Chernobyl.
"There is absolutely no guarantee that there isn't a crack in the walls of the spent fuel pools. If salt water gets in, the steel bars would be corroded. It would basically explode the walls, and you cannot see that; you can't get close enough to the pools," he said.
The "worsening situation" at Fukushima has prompted a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland to call for the withdrawal of Tokyo's Olympic bid.
In a letter to the UN secretary general, Mitsuhei Murata says the official radiation figures published by Tepco cannot be trusted. He says he is extremely worried about the lack of a sense of crisis in Japan and abroad.
This view is shared by Mycle Schneider, who is calling for an international taskforce for Fukushima.
"The Japanese have a problem asking for help. It is a big mistake; they badly need it."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779561

[ack-ack]

Sounds like a case of national pride getting in the way of progress once again. It was the same with the Ruskies when Kursk went down.

[Kes]

Sounds like a case of national pride getting in the way of progress once again. It was the same with the Ruskies when Kursk went down.

Or maybe they like the Godzilla movies ?

[fl206]

Looks like the original report of 100mS was because the equipment couldn't measure any higher value!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23918882

[overandunder2012]

theres going to be some weird fish around there

[Footu]

I always wondered when Chernobyl went up and radiation dust fell all over Scotland and Wales so we got told the sheep weren't edible and some fields were no good for grazing, why doesn't it filter though to the water table? What would a Geiger counter do near a bottle of highland spring?

 

How far will the Japan incident affect?

Edited September 3, 2013 by Footu

[kdubya]

Oh well been reading this thread with interest so here goes for a little education, first off the report by Mycle Schneider (post 3) needs putting into context by the realisation that Mycle Schneider is an anti nuclear campaigner so no vested interest there then eh?

 

but worse is the FACT that the media have once again shown their true colours in that they are not giving out information they are in fact giving out deliberate misinformation purely with the intent to scare.

 

Yes the water leaking is giving off 1800mSv/hr but it is BETA that that is being omitted, this will be given a "dose equivalent" rating which would be 70 micrometer the media know this as they were given the information from tepco,but they deliberately as said failed to point that out the dose equivalent bit? beta travels only several feet and can be stopped with thin aluminium or plastic, and even @1800 mSv/hr you would not die from standing next to it for 4 hours as you would if it was gamma.

 

fukishima is not to be taken lightly and lessons need and are being learned from it but to deliberately misinform in the name of sensationalism (weapons of mass destruction anyone) is yet another media low.

 

oh and as I don't want to get into any stupid argument this is the only post I will add to this thread.

 

KW

[maxus77]

more info if relevant not read it yet

 

$470m for 'ice wall'



Joanna Gosling explains where the leaks are coming from

Japan is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into building a frozen wall around the Fukushima nuclear plant to stop leaks of radioactive water.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said an estimated 47bn yen ($473m, £304m) would be allocated.
The leaks were getting worse and the government "felt it was essential to become involved to the greatest extent possible", Mr Suga said.
The plant was crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The disaster knocked out cooling systems to the reactors, three of which melted down.
Water is now being pumped in to cool the reactors, but storing the resultant large quantities of radioactive water has proved a challenge for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco).

'Closely watching'

Under the government plan, a wall of frozen earth will be created around the reactors using pipes filled with coolant to prevent groundwater coming into contact with contaminated water being used to cool fuel rods.




Water treatment systems will also be upgraded to tackle the build-up of contaminated water, officials said.


Dr Tatsujiro Suzuki, vice chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, told the BBC that the situation at the nuclear power plant was an "unprecedented crisis" and that it was "getting worse".
He said the plan to freeze the ground around the site was "challenging", and a permanent solution was needed.
The technique has only been used on a small scale to control pollution before but not with radioactive contamination, he added.
The damage to the plant has necessitated the constant pumping of water to cool the reactors - a process which creates an extra 400 tonnes of contaminated water every day.
That water is being stored in temporary tanks at the site. Last month Tepco said that 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water had leaked from one of the tanks, in the most serious incident to date.



Satellite images show how the number of water storage tanks has increased in the past two years.

The tanks store contaminated water that has been used to cool the reactors.

But in recent months there have also been leaks from pipes and there are concerns that water is seeping from damaged reactor buildings into the ground.
Last month, Japan's nuclear regulator classified the severity level of radioactive water leak issues at Fukushima as a three on the seven-point International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (Ines).
The triple meltdown at Fukushima two years ago was classed as a level seven incident, one of only two nuclear events ever rated that highly - along with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union.
"The world is closely watching whether we can dismantle the (Fukushima) plant, including the issue of contaminated water," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"The government is determined to work hard to resolve the issue."
The funding pledge comes days before a decision is due on the host nation for the 2020 summer Olympic Games, for which Tokyo is a candidate.
Meanwhile, one of Japan's only two nuclear reactors still online was shut down on Tuesday for mandatory inspections.
The shutdown of Kansai Electric's Oi Unit 3 reactor will leave the plant's Unit 4 reactor the only one still functioning in Japan. Unit 4 must also be taken offline later this month for routine assessment.
Restarting Japan's other nuclear reactors remains a highly controversial issue, but the government is working to get this done to fill an energy gap.


Water from the storage tanks has seeped into the groundwater and then into the sea. Efforts to use a chemical barrier to prevent sea contamination have not worked.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940214

Edited September 3, 2013 by maxus77

[figgy]

Not looking good is it.

 

Hope they sort it out.

 

Figgy

[holly]

Oh well been reading this thread with interest so here goes for a little education, first off the report by Mycle Schneider (post 3) needs putting into context by the realisation that Mycle Schneider is an anti nuclear campaigner so no vested interest there then eh?

 

but worse is the FACT that the media have once again shown their true colours in that they are not giving out information they are in fact giving out deliberate misinformation purely with the intent to scare.

 

Yes the water leaking is giving off 1800mSv/hr but it is BETA that that is being omitted, this will be given a "dose equivalent" rating which would be 70 micrometer the media know this as they were given the information from tepco,but they deliberately as said failed to point that out the dose equivalent bit? beta travels only several feet and can be stopped with thin aluminium or plastic, and even @1800 mSv/hr you would not die from standing next to it for 4 hours as you would if it was gamma.

 

fukishima is not to be taken lightly and lessons need and are being learned from it but to deliberately misinform in the name of sensationalism (weapons of mass destruction anyone) is yet another media low.

 

oh and as I don't want to get into any stupid argument this is the only post I will add to this thread.

 

KW