Published: July 20th, 2011 at 2:39 pm ET
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Expert: Risks remain at Fukushima Daiichi plant, NHK, July 20, 2011:
A nuclear expert has warned that radiation could still be released from Fukushima
An expert says that radiation could be released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in about 2 and half days if the injection of cooling water into reactors is halted for any reason.Masanori Naito, director in charge of nuclear safety analysis at the Institute of Applied Energy, was speaking to NHK about the revised plan to bring the troubled plant under control. [...]
Naito says nuclear fuel levels at the plant have dropped below one-tenth of what they were immediately after the accident, but warns of remaining risks.
He says the government and TEPCO should explain these risks to nearby residents [...]
Watch video here.
Published: July 20th, 2011 at 2:39 pm ET
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They should explain the Risks to the World. Then the World should deliver an Ultimatum to Japan.
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government will never spend money (check rad counts) to get itself sued (by its people).
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They have to stop LIEING first !
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Government to People: Because of this radiation exposure, you will die a painful, horrible death in about 10-20 years from now.
People to Government: ? [What would be your appropriate answer?]
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Well, I’m not sure that my answer would qualify as being ‘appropriate’.
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@calimum well not said!!
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FDA and others that are PIAD to protect us aren’t, if they allowed iradiated beef or tea or any other we don’t know abouy yet, maybe mushrooms ?
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I see that you are serious, so your death will be (what would your appropriate answer be?). :>) Only those with children may answer this question.
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Indians and the US can have a joint venture on enjoyable use of living energy. See http://www.econvergence.net/ This is infinitely more efficient and infinitely healthier and safer than nuclear power programmes. They can also collaborate on sarcophaging all nuclear reactors and uranium mines on a war footing. See in this connection how and why of using living energy in an enjoyable way: http://isothermalengines.blogspot.com/
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This article makes no sense:
“Naito says nuclear fuel levels at the plant have dropped below one-tenth of what they were immediately after the accident, but warns of remaining risks.”
There is exactly as much fuel in there as there was immediately after the accident (except for the potential corium blown over the countryside, of course). Perhaps he meant radiation levels? Or an accidental admission of ocean dumping?
All the articles are unclear, filled with contradictions and clearly just plain lies.
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faraway fan –
if you read this article again and in conjunction with the recent article (about 4 or 5 articles ago): “US advice….etc..” which basically says (reading between the US’s diplomatic lines) get out now or find yourself a safe place – then it makes complete sense. I suspect the nitrogen trick at unit 3 is not working (that’s my hunch) and I say this because TEPCO gave that 17th July deadline for it to work and on 16th they said it wasn’t working – I think a BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! could be coming . . .
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farawayfan quoted article:
“Naito says nuclear fuel levels at the plant have dropped below one-tenth of what they were immediately after the accident, but warns of remaining risks.”
You read that right, they have taken 9/10 of the fuel and dropped them below the sea…
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Maybe he meant tha the nuclear fuel levels have dropped to 10% of what they were, leaving out the words “inside the containment vessel”. The other 90% is in the environment……. somewhere
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Does anyone have an update on the typhoon status? My understanding is that the winds will be redirecting the fallout towards Tokyo instead of out to the ocean. If so, we may see Tokyo readings off the charts. How much longer can the Japanese government and Tepco hide the true nature of this calamity?
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Japan Winds link
http://www.weather-report.jp/com/home/kishomap/fusoku/japan.html
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noho bear, typhoon was downgraded to tropical storm on 19th
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follow-up on farawyfan’s comment and general question for board..
how are the reactors able to be cooled if there was a melt-down, melt-through, and melt-out?
where is the nuclear fuel?
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i think tepco are reffering to the containment core…anything that has left the building is not resonsibility of tepco and therefore is not measured… nice little get around that! at least the PR(stands for public radiation) company(who shall remain nameless?) knows what its doing if the scientists do not!! :/
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to arclight
even Arnie Gundersen, in his most recent update from Fairewinds..seemed to suggest that the reactor fuel to some extent is contained..a picture was shown which clearly did not suggest that the molten fuel to be floating around the “bottom” of the plant
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i am not so sure they know for sure, but sure we can hope hes right.. i think FP4 is his main concern…confirmation of the coriums position (however many there are now?) will come later…issues around recriticality might show that the corium movement has not finished yet and also we are aware of some possible fracturing of the mudstone!..but you make a good point given the info we have and i will bow to your statement unless there is new data to show the position of the molten coriums at basement level or below or indeed both (lava will find all possible channels)! my point about the pr company stands though, they run the manipulation and censorship of the medias! thanks for being analytical though, thats really important if we want to be taken seriously.. peace
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carbonflow, from what Arnie says the nuclear fuel must be now eating its way through last defence – the concrete bowls at the bottom of the reactors – these concrete bowls were not in the original designs – but fortunately somebody in Japan had the bright idea to have them installed as an extra precaution -
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Is there a chance that freezing temps. by winter might help cool off these melts??!!
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…as in frozen ground and temperatures might finally harden the corium for good??….
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@ alasanon,
These corium’s are as hot as the SUN, they will not be affected by even 0 degress !
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It’s easy to cool a reactor when the fuel is molten granola scattered who knows where, but certainly nowhere near the gauges.
Oh, and saying temps are around 100C while also saying they have to inject nitrogen to prevent a hydrogen ka-boom is oxymoronic, as even with cladding catalysation you won’t get much hydrogen below hundreds of degrees C….IMO.
I like arclight’s comment on the corium only being their responsibility while it’s in the reactor…
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“Molten granola”…..great term.
Corium is a product of nuclear fission..
..and does not represent the current state of all the nuclear fuel.
An earlier.. more active fission is occurring.
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Oh they can cool the reactors….because there’s no fuel in ‘em!
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http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110720/wl_asia_afp/japanweathertyphoon
Moving on out to the eastern waters…
Tokyo getting winds from the Fukushima Daiichi direction:
http://www.weather-report.jp/com/home/kishomap/fusoku/japan.html
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Sickputer, interesting maps on that site – under the Disaster banner only 11 green areas left in Japan out of 50 or so – the others all being red or orange – I wonder what it means?
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Wind speeds.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/radioactive-cows-are-latest-tepco-beef-2011-07-20?link=mw_home_kiosk
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I don’t think winter temps will help much as the bottom of the reactor (melt-down) or somewhere under ground (melt-through) could easily be below the frost line. Being located right on the ocean, the ground there probably doesn’t freeze too well anyhow. They have already admitted to ‘melt through’. Cooling the containment and talking about it like it is some sort of major acheivment is like dumping a raging charcoal grill out onto your deck and saying, ‘the grill itself is now cool to the touch’, as you deck and home burn down…..
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I think it would be easier to transform the burning corium to a hardened status with the cold weather in Russia… It seemed like that helped conclude the crisis there…Even just a few ambient degrees colder should help efforts and require less water, I hope!!..
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alanson
“I think it would be easier to transform the burning corium to a hardened status with the cold weather in Russia”
Even if “a few ambient degrees colder should help” (which it wouldn’t) how do you suggest getting it there?
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FYI, I didn’t start this thing, so DON’T get snotty with ME! What is it with all you people on the West Coast–all a bunch of snots? Maybe you’re getting what you deserve?? The attitude of some of you people is so annoying! Maybe you’ll have to give up your ritzy houses & overpaid jobs & come down to the real world! Sorry, party’s over! For the nice people on the west coast, please excuse me.
How do you know it wouldn’t help?? The goal is to keep the plants/fuel rods cool, in addition to hoping that the corium masses cool under the optimum conditions, wherever they are. It’s just a hopeful theory, but maybe a few freezing days and months of fall and winter weather could contribute to those objectives. I would think naturally freezing weather would do a lot more than sprinkling water, anyway!…
Unless you’re cheering for the worst..I’ll take any hope we can get!
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Iokay5, sorry to go off on you! Some things about this whole situation get annoying!…and I’m tired of naysayers.
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annoying ? it’s a life changer !
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Excellent analogy StPaulScout
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It’s unfortunate because ever since the earthquake and tsunami, I’ve been hearing conflicting reports about the damage that was done and how much radiation has leaked. It’s like they’re trying to cover up the severity of the situation. I wish governments would be more honest to the people to know exactly what to expect. It’s sad, because if it is a lot worse than they are saying, something like this may happen to them. That’s a link to an article about someone that lived through Chernobyl.
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interesting article! bit concerned about this page though!
http://www.bitmeintheass.com/2011/03/gypsy-hell/
being part pavee i didnt know i could do that stuff…lets give it a try….i curse tepco!!……….ah” my spiriy guide tells me it appears another romany sort beat me to it lol!
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“It’s like they’re trying to cover up the severity of the situation.”
You have to love first time posters who don’t even read the material on the site.
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They have been doing this all along, lie after lie found out !
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And they are sentening millions to a early death !
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Article on Arnie Gundersen [1995]:
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/nyregion/paying-the-price-for-blowing-the-whistle.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm
- was posted in the general thread by NoNukes.
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More insight in this article as well:
http://www.fairewinds.com/content/blowing-whistle-vermont-yankee-burlington-free-press-feb-16-2010
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..and this video:
Why Nuclear Power Plants are a bad idea Pt.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWVM0L6cCvk
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This video is Arnie Gundersen talking in July, 2009 about why [centralized] nuclear plants are a bad idea.
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nice find!
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Thx for great links, PU239.
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One thing to keep in mind is that the Japanese Government and TEPCO by association has already stated that they will ONLY release information at such times that they feel the Japanese public has been ‘softened up’ and is ready to ‘handle’ it. No stretch of the imagination to conclude that there will be info that they NEVER release, regardless of how bad things get. They will simply lie and deny, then lie and deny some more, then lie and deny some more, forever…….
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“….the Japanese Government and TEPCO by association has already stated that they will ONLY release information at such times that they feel the Japanese public has been ‘softened up’ and is ready to ‘handle’ it.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM
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If the Japanese people truly cared, they would have been in the streets by now demanding the government resign.
Look at the Greeks, or the French, or the Argentines…and they were only protesting about money. Maybe people will only go in the streets to protest about money.
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If the wind is blowing towards Tokyo does that also mean it is blowing towards the PNW too?
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I would guess that the Jet Stream always blows towards the Pacific NW while smaller intermittent winds can blow in any direction they like around Japan.
If the wind is blowing towards Tokyo, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that wind will reach the Pacific NW, it might be just one arm of a typhoon spiral that peters out in that area.
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OMG !! SEE this map !!
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_06.html
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Here’s the eggheads discussing corium, concrete containment…feed and bleed. Pretty good stuff you can glean out of the thread. I had read it before, but it takes a second time to make sense out of the dross.
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4808
I think there are some good guesses about what is going on in the containment basement. Don’t forget the corium at 1 and 2 is probably twice as large as at Chernobyl, maybe 3 also.
So when you look at how the jet fuel fire at World Trade Tower 6 melted concrete and steel like butter, then you know this nuclear fireball will do the same if they don’t keep feeding and bleeding it with water.
Another large earthquake finishing off the walls could really foul up the equation. I think if I were in charge I would have been already working on the underground wall Arnie mentioned months ago as well as reinforcing all the walls of all the reactors. To do that they would need suicide workers and lots of money and Tepco hasn’t proven they have the stomach for either option.
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He also suggested a zeolite-filled trench around the plant to mitigate releases to the ocean.
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Opinion polls show more Japanese agree with Hatsui in demanding a future less reliant on atomic power, a pillar of energy policy for five decades.
“If these plants were safe, they would have built them near population centers,” Hatsui said. “We’re not sure what is the best alternative, but we know that we don’t want nuclear power.”
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110720n2.html
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Kyushu Electric president offers to resign
Seems that email scandal came back to bite him…
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20110720p2g00m0bu060000c.html
FUKUOKA (Kyodo) — Kyushu Electric Power Co. President Toshio Manabe offered to resign Wednesday over a scandal involving e-mails sent to a TV program in an attempt to clear the way to restart nuclear reactors.
….
The utility said 141 people who were its employees or employed by affiliated companies sent pro-nuclear comments to the local program, aired June 26, via e-mail and fax as a result of the campaign.
“The campaign runs counter to common sense or ethics in society,” Manabe told the Diet meeting.
hahaha! What? Who’s society…
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Here is my write in for pres, in 2012
There is Only One Side to the Nuclear Debate
http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/07/the-nuclear-debate/
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Japan’s nuclear gypsies: a day in the life
By Justin McCurry | Wednesday, July 20, 2011
IWAKI-YUMOTO, Japan — Most residents of Iwaki-Yumoto are still fast asleep when the first stirrings of human activity join the din of crows picking through garbage bags.
The men who emerge from their hostels and inns, blinking when confronted by the dazzling early-morning sun, say little as they board waiting buses, the only traffic around at 6 a.m. in this hot-spring town of 30,000 people, located just 30 miles from the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
Within a couple of hours they will be doing jobs that few others would be prepared to even consider; yet it is to the hundreds of workers in Iwaki-Yumoto to whom Japan is looking to help solve the worst nuclear accident in its history.
In addition to 373 staff employed by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is teeming with 2,529 contract workers, all braving dangerously high radiation on …
SCARY STUFF and family’s worrie… Read More…
http://www.minnpost.com/globalpost/2011/07/20/30169/japans_nuclear_gypsies_a_day_in_the_life
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Send the TEPCO executives to the site.
Their office should be moved there.
That might move them to build the containment areas that Arnold Gundersen said they should have done months ago and money would no longer be a problem.
You do know that they refused to build it because it would cost too much?
With their own rear ends literally on the line, the cost would somehow become affordable.
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thank you xdrfox…. as far as the eggheads — the transcript of the NRC conference on fukushima is very very interesting — its linked to from fairewinds — arnold gundersen was given a paltry five minutes at the end… (brb with link)
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