Radioactive fish and the NRDC

The NRDC posted a blog outlying the risk of eating fish caught off the coast of Japan and stated that;

To keep the risk below 1×10-5 the consumer must limit his/her dietary intake to less than 10,000 Bq of cesium-137.  Therefore this risk limit would be reached after eating about 0.7 kg of fish meat. While this is a conservative estimate of what is required to achieve a low risk, one could make a good case for quarantining fishing off the Japanese coast near Fukushima, which of course is what the Japanese government has done.

The risk would increase as more fish is eaten.  The article goes on to say that the risk is much lower than fish caught off the coast of the US, but there are also reports of tuna found off the coast of California having low but detectable levels of  cesium 134.   The article goes on to say that the plume of radioactive material has not yet gotten to the West Coast.  So, there is not a problem now, but it may well be coming.

Finally, the article says that the calculations are confounded by all the other radioactivity from the atomic bomb tests.   The point is often made that the levels are not significant compared to back ground levels.  Since many radioactive nucleotides have long half lives, then the back ground level of radiation may well be rising.  I  have not seen any information about “normal” back ground levels of radiation taken back in 1944, before the “dawning” of the nuclear age.

Related articles

• Fukushima Radiation Risks from Eating Fish (switchboard.nrdc.org)
• 28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima (silverdoctors.com)
• If you like fish then you better know your radiation…….. (lifehardcore.wordpress.com)

Marketing the Fukushima brand

There is a recent report that the UN is helping to improve the Fukushima brand.

TOKYO, Oct. 23 (Kyodo) — The Japanese government is hoping that UNESCO’s likely registration of Japanese food as cultural heritage will help ease safety concerns over the country’s foodstuffs resulting from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, its top spokesman said Wednesday.  “We will make efforts to win understanding for various foods, including fish caught by people in Fukushima Prefecture, who have been suffering from baseless rumors” as a result of the nuclear crisis, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

As everyone knows, creating the proper image for your product is so important.    If the brand is suffering, turn the problem over to marketing.   UNESCO is such a well known, trusted brand.  There is no need to be scientific or accurate.

Related articles

• SKorea bans fish from NE Japan on radiation fears (bigstory.ap.org)
• Japan hopes UNESCO will help cover up radiation concerns (nuclear-news.net)
• Japan hopes UNESCO listing of food culture to ease radiation concern (english.kyodonews.jp)

Clean-up at Fukushima more difficult than anticipated

In a recent report in BBC the officials announced that:

On Monday Japan’s environment ministry acknowledged the decontamination of towns around the plant is proving much more complicated than originally thought.  Tens of thousands of workers are engaged in the massive clean-up effort, removing millions of tonnes of topsoil and vegetation. But in the most highly contaminated areas work is yet to begin.  The government’s latest prediction is that residents will be able to return home by 2017.

But the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says many have already decided they will never go back.

With the passage of time the projects that were initially undertaken are more complex than thought.   There is a lot of talk as to where to put the water, but where are they going to put all of this earth?

Related articles

• Fukushima clean-up delayed until 2017 (radionz.co.nz)
• Japan extends Fukushima clean-up (updatednews.ca)

Where is the money to clean up Fukushima?

The Washington Post recently reported on the excess of water at Fukushima.   There had been a plan to keep the ground water out of the plant, but:

Tepco also declined a June 2011 request from Mabuchi, the lawmaker and adviser to the prime minister, to build a special wall extending 100 feet underground around the reactor and turbine buildings, sealing them off from the groundwater flow. Tepco initially agreed to the project, Mabuchi said, but backed out because of concerns about the estimated cost of 100 ­billion yen, or $1 billion.    “We are already in a very severe financial situation,” Tepco wrote to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in a letter shared with The Washington Post. “And by taking on an additional 100 billion yen, the market could evaluate that we are one step closer to insolvency. That is something we’d like to avoid.”

The report says that containing the contaminated water is the biggest problem and goes on to say that:

Some activists say Tepco should be allowed to go bankrupt, with the government taking full control of the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning. But bankruptcy would cause “just one more disaster,” this one economic, said Mana Nakazora, a Tokyo-based chief credit analyst at BNP Paribas. Bankruptcy might have been conceivable in the months immediately after the disaster, but Tepco has since been kept afloat with emergency loans from banks and cash injections from the government — debts that, if not paid, would rock Japan’s financial system.

The article puts the cost of clean up to be $100 billion over 40 years.   No one wants to pay for this.   TEPCO cannot, because they do not have the money.   The government does not want to pick up the tab, because the  public will be upset.   It seems that it is now very difficult to say that nuclear energy is affordable.

Related articles

• Toxic water stymies cleanup at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant (stripes.com)
• Radioactive ground water under Fukushima nears sea (bigstory.ap.org)
• Fukushima overwhelmed with radioactive water (aljazeera.com)
• Melted Fuel Sank Into Ground Under Fukushima Reactors – Irradiated Groundwater Continously Flowing Into Ocean … It’s Too Late To Do Anything About This (infiniteunknown.net)

Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold after typhoon at Fukushima

Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day: Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1 — The Japan Times.

Immediately after the typhoon the reports said that there was no damage.   Now,, radioactive strontium is being found in the ditches near leaky tanks.  The article says heavy rains from the typhoon washed water into the ditch.   This was  not the classic wind related damage, but rather the storm water raising the  water levels in an area already saturated, from the ground flow and the  water being  added to keep the reactor cool, with its core sinking into the earth.

Related articles

• Tepco admits “radiation levels in groundwater are soaring” at Fukushima – “Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day” (VIDEO) (enenews.com)
• Huge spike in groundwater radiation under Fukushima nuclear reactor No 1 (nuclear-news.net)
• Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1 (rinf.com)
• TV: “Typhoon appears to have affected Fukushima Daiichi plant” – Giant spike in radioactivity after #Wipha – Suspected of causing high levels of strontium to flow into Pacific (VIDEO) (enenews.com)

VSNAP takes a nap

Earlier this week the VSNAP (Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Board) met to discuss the future of Vermont Yankee.     Dr. Bill Irwin displayed a stunning attention to detail, and spent the begging of the meeting correcting the previous minutes, offering grammatical and punctuation corrections to the minutes, while never discussing the substance of the minutes.    Then one panel member gave a long talk about the treachery of Entergy; they would make good eye contact and shake hands, but never put anything into writing.  Finally, they debated whether to send a message to the Public Safety Committee, supporting SAFSTOR as part of the decommissioning rather than DECON.   According to the NRC, it is up to to owner to decide which method to use.  In SAFSTOR there is timely progression to storage of the nuclear rods in concrete caskets; in DECON the nuclear rods may be left in wet storage for 50 years before they progress further.  After a lengthy discussion, the motion did not carry.   There was a concern that any resolution with teeth would be offensive to Entergy.

I had an opportunity to ask questions.   Vermont Yankee is a LLC, limited liability corporation.   VY has about $500 million for decommissioning.  If the decommissioning comes in under budget, there is no problem.  However, if there are cost overruns  , can VY declare bankruptcy and leave the state.   The answer is yes, they can leave, and there is no law to stop them.

Related articles

• Shumlin fights for Vermont’s space in Texas radioactive waste dump (vtdigger.org)
• State weighs what conditions to place on Vermont Yankee closing (vtdigger.org)

A bad day at the office, Fukushima

The Guardian reported on morale of the workers  at Fukushima.   The article is worth reading in full, but I will offer a brief quote:

Shigemura is most concerned about the 70% of Tepco workers at Fukushima Daiichi who were also forced to evacuate their homes by the meltdown. They have yet to come to terms with that loss and many live away from their families in makeshift accommodation near the plant.

“They were traumatised by the tsunami and the reactor explosions and had no idea how much they had been irradiated,” Shigemura said. “That was the acute effect but now they are suffering from the chronic effects, such as depression, loss of motivation and issues with alcohol.”

The more experienced workers have reached their limit of radiation exposure, and may not work.  New workers come.   Everyone is in protective gear, which minimizes human contact.  No family contact at the end of the day.  The crisis has been going on for years.     Mistakes are being made and make the news.   What a terrible place to work.    The workers must be torn between the responsibility of trying to save the world and the realization of how overwhelming the task is.

Related articles

• Fukushima nuclear power plant cleanup takes its toll on workers (theguardian.com)
• ‘Japanese government doesn’t give enough money for cleanup’ after Fukushima disaster – expert (voiceofrussia.com)
• Radiation estimates for Fukushima workers may be too low: U.N. report (english.kyodonews.jp)

Uneven enforcement at nuclear reactors

The AP reported an investigation into the US nuclear industry.  They reported

The number of safety violations at U.S. nuclear power plants varies dramatically from region to region, pointing to inconsistent enforcement in an industry now operating mostly beyond its original 40-year licenses, according to a congressional study awaiting release….Senators requested the report in reaction to the Japanese nuclear accident at Fukushima in 2011 and an Associated Press investigative series later that year about aging U.S. nuclear plants. The AP series found that federal regulators had relaxed safety rules to keep plants running beyond their initial licenses. It also reported leaks of radioactive tritium at three-quarters of plants and outdated estimates of evacuation times.

If the standards are  not being met, change the standards.

Related articles

• Ralph Nader: Atomic Energy — Unnecessary, Uneconomic, Uninsurable, Unevacuable and Unsafe (huffingtonpost.com)
• World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013 (nuclear-news.net)

NYT editorial, no nukes, 10/15/13

In an editorial today in the New York Times the editors recommended that:

“Zero nuclear plants.” With this recent call, Japan’s very popular former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, is again in the limelight…. Japan should welcome Mr. Koizumi’s intervention and begin a healthy debate on the future of nuclear power that has not occurred in the two and a half years since the Fukushima disaster….

Mr. Koizumi, whose change of views is startling, shows that there is quite a split on the issue in the political class. As a pro-growth prime minister from 2001 to 2006, he was an enthusiastic proponent of cheap and clean nuclear power. Now he declares that it is the most expensive form of energy, citing not only the many billions of dollars needed to clean up Fukushima but also the unknown cost and method of dealing with nuclear waste.

He also criticizes the current government’s assumption that nuclear power is essential for economic growth. Ever the acute reader of political moods, Mr. Koizumi argues that a zero nuclear policy could be cause for a great social movement in a country still gripped by economic gloom after 15 years of deflation….Mr. Koizumi makes a compelling argument that if the ruling Liberal Democratic Party were to announce a zero nuclear policy, “the nation could come together in the creation of a recyclable society unseen in the world,” and the public mood would rise in an instant.

It is good that the paper of record can advocate for a no-nuke policy.   My hope is that their courage about pointing out problems in Japan will give them the courage to speak out against the reactor at Indian Point, which threatens Manhattan.

Related articles

• Fukushima Politics (nytimes.com)
• Former PM Koisumi denounces nuclear energy 10/2/13 (vernonradiationsafety.wordpress.com)
• Ex-PM Koizumi raps government push for nuclear power as ‘irresponsible’ (japantimes.co.jp)
• Former Japanese PM Koizumi Calls for End to Nuclear Power (fukushimaupdate.com)

Physician conflicts in Japan10/15/13

In a recent report:

Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer: We’re seeing scientist after scientist here at Fairewinds writing to us saying that they’ve got good science and they’re being ostracized in Japan and being forbidden for publishing scientific reports that show radiation health damage to Japanese people. So basically the government is sitting on the scientific community and preventing goods science from being done. Same as the doctors, the doctors have contacted us as well. They say they’ve been told not to tell their patients that their illness is radiation induced. So these guys have an oath as a doctor to be honest with their patients, and yet they’re basically ignoring their own oath and helping perpetuate a cover-up in the Japanese government. […]

If this is true, then we no longer live in an open society, for scientific inquiry is being repressed for the sake of the corporations and the government.   Physicians’ primary responsibility should be for the patient.

Related articles

• Total Insanity: Japan Doctors Help Perpetuate Fukushima Cover-Up – Patients Not Told Illnesses Are From Exposure To Radiation (infiniteunknown.net)
• “It’s Madness”: Doctors in Japan helping perpetuate Fukushima cover-up – Patients not being told their illnesses are from exposure to radioactive contamination – Scientific reports showing radiation health damage to humans are forbidden to be published (A (enenews.com)
• AUDIO: discussion on Japan’s non reporting of stillborns and birth defects (nuclear-news.net)