Source:
Xinhua News ChinaBEIJING, May 17 (Xinhuanet)
The operator of the Fukushima Nuclear plant, TEPCO, says it's trying to determine whether the facility was actually damaged by the earthquake on March 11th, rather than the resulting tsunami.
TEPCO also says fuel rods in the facility's number one reactor have completely melted down. A spokesman for TEPCO has outlined a new analysis of the crisis.
A review of data suggests the number 1 reactor's fuel rods were fully exposed within five hours of the quake, causing them to heat rapidly. By the next morning - just 16 hours later - the rods had largely melted down. If the new data analysis is correct, it means the facility was mainly damaged by the quake itself - NOT the resulting tsunami, as previously thought................"
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Read more:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-05/17/c_13878946.htm
http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2011/05/they_lied_about_fukushima_ther.php?utm_source=networkbanner&utm_medium=link“They Lied About Fukushima — There’s a Shock”"So it turns out that there *was* a meltdown around reactor #1. Quite a lot of people suspected this from the visual evidence, but TEPCO and the Japanese government denied, denied, denied. Accusations that those arguing for a meltdown were all internet conspiracy theorists (which also occurred early in the Katrina disaster as well, and in other instances) were used to discredit people who argued that a meltdown had, in fact occurred.
This is a useful thing to know, because it gives you a sense of the dynamic being built up between governments and ordinary people as things become less stable on the world scene. On the one hand, extreme events are more common due to climate change, lack of ability to maintain infrastructure, etc… On the other hand, the idea that there is a coherence to these events, and that historically it is risky to trust official versions is maligned as conspiracy theorism. <...>"
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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20110516a1.htmlReport: Obama administration urged Japan Prime Minister’s government “to take steps to prevent a further decline in Tepco stock” (Japan Times) snip
"If worse comes to worst, Tepco share certificates would become worthless sheets of paper for 600,000 shareholders as well as for many corporate pension funds that have included Tepco stock in their portfolios. The steep drop in Tepco's stock price has already dealt a blow to investment funds in the United States. Nearly 20 percent of its stock is held by non-Japanese investors. This has reportedly led the Obama administration to urge the Kan government to take steps to prevent a further decline in Tepco stock.
Tepco is now attempting to divert public opinion away from its responsibility for the nuclear crisis to the need to secure a stable supply of electricity. Shortly after its Fukushima power station was damaged, the company announced that it would have to impose "planned rolling power outages" to make up for reduced power generation................................"
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This is an abridged translation of an article from the May issue of Sentaku, a monthly magazine covering Japanese political, social and economic issues.
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double-sourced
http://lucaswhitefieldhixson.blogspot.com/2011/05/fukushima-diagnosed-with-potential.htmlFukushima Diagnosed With Potential "China Syndrome""The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn't burn "all the way through to China" it could enter the soil and water table and cause huge contamination in the crops and drinking water around the power plant. It's a nightmare scenario,the stuff of movies. And it might just have happened at Fukushima.
Last week, plant operator Tepco sent engineers in to recalibrate water level gauges in reactor number 1. They made an alarming discovery: virtually all the fuel in the core had melted down. That means that the zirconium alloy tubes that hold the uranium fuel and the fuel itself lies in a clump---either at the bottom of the pressure vessel, or in the basement below or possibly even outside the containment building. Engineers don't know for sure, though current temperature readings suggest that fission inside the reactor core has definitely ceased for good (i.e. there will be no further melting).
Anecdotal evidence doesn't bode well for how far the fuel melted: Tepco has been pumping thousands of tons of water onto reactor 1 to try to cool it—yet the water level in the containment vessel is too low to run an emergency cooling system. That means the water is escaping somewhere on a course cut by molten fuel--probably into the basement of the reactor building, though it's also possible it melted through everything into the earth........."
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http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/05/16/was-fukushima-a-china-syndrome/Time.com: China Syndrome “might just have happened at Fukushima” — Molten fuel may have “melted through everything into the earth”snip
"Meanwhile, around 5,000 residents in two towns, Kawamata and Iitate, some 30 km from the power plant—well beyond the the 20 km exclusion zone--were evacuated on Monday. More evacuations are expected in the coming days as Tepco continues to struggle with the crisis. Around 3,400 cows, 31,500 pigs and 630,000 chickens will soon be slaughtered inside the Fukushima exclusion zone as feeding them has proven to be impossible.
It's difficult to say for sure just how bad things are at the plant itself—high radioactive levels mean that engineers can't get close to the reactor cores themselves and can only make inferences, deductions and guesses about the extent of the damage. As Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic has pointed out, we've faced this uncertainty—and troubling surprises— before. Eight months after the Three Mile Island accident, "an Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist declared, 'Little, if any, fuel melting occurred, even though the reactor core was uncovered. The safety systems functioned reliably.' A few years later, robotic sorties into the area revealed that half the core -- not 'little, if any' -- had melted down."
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http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525Cesium-137 rising in samples of strawberries, kale, and grass from Northern California"Radionuclides, once deposited by rainwater or air onto the ground, will find their way through the ecosystem. We are already tracking its path from rainwater to creek runoff to tap water, but we would also like to monitor how much these isotopes that make their way into our food. For example, how much gets taken up by the grass and eventually winds up in our milk?
We have been collecting produce that is as local as possible to test for the radioactive isotopes. We might expect different kinds of plants to take up different quantities of cesium and iodine, so we are trying to measure as many different plants and fruits as we are able to. So far, we have measured grass, wild mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, cilantro, kale, and arugula. We have also measured local topsoil. As of 5/2, we will begin reporting on seaweed from the Northern California coast..........."
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source: various local organic farms
Strawberries Sample 6 Data
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4011Cilantro Sample 1 Data
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2542Kale Sample 6 Data
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4008-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110517p2a00m0na006000c.htmlJapan gov’t “alarmed” by high levels of radioactive cesium detected outside of Tokyo in tea leaves picked May 15"MITO -- Higher levels of radioactive cesium than the national provisional limit were detected in green tea leaves harvested in Daigo and Sakai in northern Ibaraki Prefecture, the prefectural government announced May 16.
The government said radioactive cesium of 894 becquerels per kilogram was detected in green tea leaves picked May 15 in Sakai and that of 570 becquerels per kilogram in Daigo in green tea leaves picked May 14, compared with the official interim limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram. The prefectural government ordered the two towns May 16 to halt shipments of green tea leaves.
Meanwhile, radioactive cesium of 3 becquerels was detected in the hot extracts of green tea in Sakai and 30 becquerels in Daigo against the provisional limit of 200 becquerels for drinking water under the Food Sanitation Law.
Green tea in Sakai and Daigo bears the brand names of Sashima tea and Okukuji tea, respectively."
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http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/05/17/scientists-will-use-fukushima-radiation-to-study-ocean-currents/Scientists ‘interested’ in learning more about Technetium-99 releases from Fukushima Scientists Will Track Fukushima Radiation To Study Ocean Currents (Forbes.com)snip
<...> Scientists still don’t know the full content of the release that reached the ocean. The Japanese regularly test the seawater only for Iodine-131 and for two isotopes of cesium.
They have not tested for other radioactive isotopes that interest oceanographers, such as tritium and strontium, which was detected in Hawaii. Tokyo Electric Power Company conducted one seawater test for plutonium, which had been found in soil around the plant, and reported it non-detectable.
Scientists from the International Atomic Energy Agency are also interested in learning more about releases of Technetium-99, which has a half life of 210,000 years, and Iodine-129, which has a half life of 14 million years. The Japanese have released no information about those isotopes. <...>
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703509104576325110776621604.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_News_BlogsModuleWSJ says “meltdown” at Reactors No. 2 and 3snip
Substantial damage to the fuel cores at two additional reactors of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has taken place, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday, further complicating the already daunting task of bringing them to a safe shutdown while avoiding the release of high levels of radioactivity. The revelation followed an acknowledgment on Thursday that a similar meltdown of the core took place at unit No. 1. <...>"
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