This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Fukushima Spews More Radiation … Due to Tepco’s Carelessness
Power was lost to the cooling systems to virtually all of the spent fuel pools at Fukushima for more than a day.
Some of these fuel pools have lost containment, and are arguably the top short-term threat to humanity … and America’s national security.
The loss of cooling increased the radiation output from the pools. And the loss of power was due to carelessness by the operator of the Fukushima reactors. As nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen notes:
Is TEPCO doing an adequate job of keeping the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power site safe?
We don’t think so.
***
To have such a massive power failure last almost 24 hours is unconscionable. Because this problem lasted almost one day, and because several cooling systems were simultaneously disabled, Fairewinds believes that a common electrical component is the equipment that failed, likely a junction box or a transformer. Nuclear plants are supposed to be built to be single failure proof, meaning that if one component fails the systems still remain operational via other equipment. The loss of spent fuel pool cooling simultaneously in three nuclear reactors means that a common mode failure, or worse yet a single failure, was somehow allowed to occur in TEPCO’s jury-rigged design. This simply should never happen.
TEPCO claims that there was no radiation release from this recent power failure, but that is a scientific impossibility. When power is lost in a spent fuel pool, the radioactive fuel rods heat the pools up. As the pools heat up, evaporation increases resulting in a white “smoke” (steam). That steam is radioactive, containing some of the radiation that was previously in the pool. As the water warms up, radiation releases will increase.
***
Yesterday’s power loss is further proof that the conditions at Fukushima Daiichi are still unstable, despite what TEPCO and the Japanese and US governments say.
The New York Times wrote:
The latest problem raised new fears about the continuing vulnerability of the plant, which suffered a triple meltdown two years ago and still relies on makeshift equipment.
***
The latest troubles also underscore the continuing worries about the safety of the plant…. In particular, experts have warned that the makeshift cooling systems could be knocked out by another large earthquake.
***
With the company as the only source of information, it was impossible to independently assess the conditions at the plant, which sits in a contaminated zone that is closed to the public.
Indeed, Yomiuri Shimbun reports that :
Monday’s power outage at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant highlighted the utility’s management defects at the crippled facility….
TEPCO officials inspected the temporary power distribution panels ….
Source: Tepco
[The] power panel in question … was exposed to the weather while left on the back of the vehicle.
***
Prof. Masanori Aritomi of Tokyo Institute of Technology said, “Due to the recent strong wind, seawater and sand from the nearby beach might have been blown into the power panel.”
“Salt in the sand and seawater could have caused the power panel to short out,” the reactor engineering expert added.
***
TEPCO was in fact aware of the vulnerability of the temporary power panel that had been exposed to the elements.
Tepco admitted mismanagement to Yomiuri Shimbun:
This is the first time that operation of the cooling system was halted for such a long time at several core facilities all together. If you say we were complacent about making our decision and dealing with the situation, I can’t deny that.
In related news, Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day, the reactors have lost containment, and groundwater is flooding into the stricken reactors (delaying clean-up).
And in news which may or may not be related: “A historic number of sea lions is washing up in Southern California — Has reached ‘epidemic proportions’ — Center declares state of emergency — Feds: ‘There’s something going on oceanographically’.” See this and this for possible background on how this might be related to Fukushima.
»
- advertisements -
There are whole cities and towns that use evaporative condensation to purify raw sewage, and pipe it back into their drinking water, untreated in any further way (other than prosaic chlorination) as potable pure drinking water. Far cleaner than if you put it though a whole series of most fine filters.
Do your home work and stop talking nonsense.
Element, I agree with you basically. Radioactive water is generally contaminated with Tritium which means Tritiated water. Tritium will distill just as normal or heavy water. You don't want to drink it distilled or not. However, tritium is generally dilutable, non-toxic, and seldom dangerous.
Yes, it has a 12.6 year half-life and it leaves the body very quickly, so is very unlikely to have time to decay inside you.
That is why if you are stuck in a desert you should never drink your pee but let it evaporate, catch the steam and drink that. Desalinization of sea water also works that way often.
I suppose it is possible that some of the hydrogen in the water in those cooling ponds can be converted into tritium by neutron capture, but as it would take the capture of TWO stray neutrons by ONE single proton (hydrogen nucleus) to produce an atom of tritium, I suspect that any resultant amount of tritium by this process would be miniscule at best.
But aside from water incorporating tritium atoms, it is impossible for water itself to be radioactive, as the only known radioactive isotopes of oxygen have half-lives on the order of seconds. Radioactivity is not cooties on an atomic level.
My reading suggests tritium is created in nuclear reactors as a by-product and intentionally for production because it's used in nuclear weapons and for more commercial purposes such as night sights, etc.
And some sources state that tritium cannot be 'cleaned' from water by distillation. So if you have an unknown environment and unknown reactions taking place in those buildings then there would be no guarantee that radioactivity, even miniscule amounts, is not being released into the atmosphere.
There has been a huge effort to clean the waste water at Fukishima via RO and filtration, but if distillation is such a perfect solution, why is it not being employed?
Element's comments remind me of the absolutism applied by AGW proponents who insist that the 'science is in' and therefore irrefutable. What I think it shows is that we don't know as much as we think we know, and getting proven wrong can be dangerous...
Krispy, don't focus on me debunking it, which is sound.
You didn't question what Gundersen claimed in that comment.
Ask yourself why you didn't?
So do you think he's right, or is he doing what I've pointed-out?
If he is, what do you make of him saying that? And don't mistake my being pissed off at him for being puritanical or prescriptive, the guy disgusts me because I know he lied, and I know that he knows that he's making myths to deceive people. To me he's a scumbag - open and shut case.
Wolves in sheep's clothing. ;)
I expected that you'd respond in kind.
"containing some of the radiation that was previously in the pool" which is the exact quote from his blog. And while you allow that "As I said above, ALMOST ALL contaminants are removed" you cannot, and no one can, say with perfect accuracy that ALL contamination has been removed. You admit the same but continue to rant about his statement without absolute proof it isn't true other than the basis of a process which you claim by conventional science proves that it's an impossibility(which it actually does not).
You push your opinion of what is fact but you cannot say with absolute certainty that there are no radioactive components being bled into the atmosphere by any means. I'm not so much defending AG as pissing in the face of useless posters claiming their 'science' is the end-all-be-all' because they say so. Get off your fucking toadstool and go smoke/drink/pop something and quit haunting ZH articles with your useless over-posting. You're like Flak on AGW; a useless opinion in a world of opinions, who's opinion matters more to them than any other opinated asshole's opinion in the world matters to anyone. Get over yourself.
PS. I lived within a short distance of 3MI when it all went down. Years later, after everyone was assured that nothing untoward had occurred, quite a few things were being 're-stated' regarding whether there was anything to worry about. To this day I wonder whether my father's decision to take us 30+ miles further away for a month was beneficial to us. I do know that he worked/lived the remaining 25+ years of his life within spitting distance of 3MI until he died of cancer...that is a fact.
What the fuck's wrong with you? There's no data! There's no radioactive vapor! Its a fantasy-reality that sidled into your head via an audio/video.
He has no basis to claim a radioactive cloud is emanating from the SFPs.
Sorry bud, that does actually matter. But if you love getting served BS as news, chow-down.
He is trying to raise baseless public fears that there is a new radioactive cloud.
There isn't any we know of, but you're ok with defending that too.
I don't need your recommendations and I wont be taking them of course. Though I will be out of here for a couple of weeks, so that will ease your opinion-stress levels, and you can get back to your comfort-zone. LOL
BTW, Flak is going to be devastated, he's always spoken highly of you, you're gonna hurt him man ... me, I'll get over it. :D
hey crispy .. fuck you! ... nah, just kidding mate, you're ok, you can hate on me, I've definitely been hammering zh too much, but only because I'm going to some remote area bush work Monday for a couple of weeks so over-doing it with the Cyprus snafu. Loved it too zh fucking rocks. But have fun you lucky crispy criticizer. :-D
You have responded to two of my comments and, yet, neither or your responses are directed to what I wrote. You are flitting around here like a six-year-old who has to tell everyone that he no longer wets his bed at night. Me thinks you protest too much. Either that or you are simply a piss-poor salesman for the safety of nuclear radiation because you do not direct yourself to people's perception, only insult their limited knowledge.
Already explained. There is no new wave of radiation as Gundersen falsely claimed.
You seem to want to talk about other things and making some spin, IN YOUR REPLY TO ME.
I am not answering your question, you commented on what I said up the thread, so I'm staying on topic of what I said.
No, you are pounding your point at every opportunity. We get it, you think Gundersen is a hack. But whatever useful information you would like to spread is lost in your acerbic and insulting language. Stop being a jackass and people might take what you say more seriously.
Sorry, I'm going to call FACTS as I see them. If you want to substitute a preference for style-over-substance to salve an ego, this is not kindergarten this is about telling the truth - I did, Gundersen didn't.
People can face the facts or reject them, whatever ... cus dah pwesentation woz not 2 my likings.
Your problem.
LOL. I've just enjoyed getting you to respond so much. What's even more enjoyable is to see how much Gundersen has gotten under your skin. Rage like yours does not come from watching his videos. Careful lest that vein sticking out on your temple goes POP.
So you admit you're a disingenuous baiting little troll - noted.
Not at all. I am genuinely interested in the topic. But, once the basic information was exposed in the comments, your personal vendetta against Gundersen became more interesting. You should tell everyone the back story.
As for Gundersen, he gained some credibility in the beginning by declaring that the reactors had melted down long before it was officially admitted. Did you also make that declaration or did you follow the official nuclear industry cover story. I'd also be interested in your thoughts on "cold shutdown" and where exactly you think the nuclear fuel is currently located. You know, just to round out your expertise.
I didn't need a video, I was looking at what scant data, reports and information was available, but yes, I deduced #1 reactor was kaput before it blew. Truth is I spent waaaaay more time learning about warhead design than reactor designs (as far as that information is available in the open literature - a LOT) as a function of wanting to understand matter and energy behaviors at the extremes, to apply to planetary geology. So I designed a whole string of different nukes in 3-D CAD, and each one taught me a whole lot of practical physical material considerations at high-T and high-P.
There's no back story, Gundersen is over-rated and sometimes logically wrong. I have pointed out in detail twice before (which I'm not going to re-discuss) fundamental errors of logic/argument which he got wrong or had not thought through. Both to do with the explosion in #3 reactor. That's not a problem, it's just a speculative debate.
But this time he is completely wrong, and obviously so, and there's no DATA to support what he's asserting, and he knows he has no basis for saying any such thing. It's pathetic, and I really didn't realize he was like that. He should be ashamed and taken to task directly, and I'm sure he will be.
Now behave. ;)
Now, see...was that so hard? Thanks for the more reasoned response.
The probable truth is that no one without on site data really knows what is happening at Fuku and those who are so proviledged work for TEPCO, the governments (US and Japan), or the nuclear industry and they all have interests to protect. And while outsiders can deduce from their experience and education a probable scenario, the truth will remain hidden. I don't know if Gundersen is a liar in this case or not, but I do know that the Japanese government is an admitted liar and has zero credibility. I have friends whose children have been exposed at Fuku and our first instinct is to listen to the government and TEPCO and assume they continue to lie.
Oh, and, actually, my original response ot you was for your "People are watching George" line. You will note that my first line was about who was allowed to "watch" Fukushima which you might have caught if you weren't so manic about Gundersen. I did respond to you directly and did not change the topic included in your comment.
No it was this whole post you replied to:
You did NOT quote that, And what does what I've addressed to George got to do with you?
This is why I said that you were changing the subject, and you still are - DICKHEAD!
Try decaf. Or better still, green tea.
What a load of CRAP!
When you have a financial meltdown -
Divert attention to the Nuclear meltdown!
Yah thats it. Get the public all fired up about Fuushima.
That way, they will stop focusing on Cyprus. Brilliant.
it's a clusterfuck, multiple things on multiple levels.
you could easily say the same thing about the financial meltdown being a distraction from the global mess that is fission nuclear.
back in the nineties we all said "enough". but hey, two decades and many dollars later, there was supposed to be a "nuclear renaissance".
no, this is not a diversion, this is the real thing.
Hey hello OutLookinIn, nice handle.
We are seeing all kinds of distractions from what is ongoing, aye?
Either one of these purposely and planned events could easily be a distraction from the other, or, they both might be distractions from yet other directions to remain observant and vigilant about. As we see all this coming, it should come as no surprise if one is fully aware of the magicians art of chaos creation, who creates it, why, or how they profit from it. We are all seeing so much, but the greatest of cover-ups is prolly to hide the fact that the banksters have ripped off their own skirts, and all that is shaping up most likely meant to go down the way it is shaping up to do. Oy vey, say Shalom please!
And what is going on over in the ME? Who is planing more war to yes, create even more distractions from the crashing beast that prematurely exposed itself to the shocked world? All the world needs is more warmongering in Syria, or maybe Iran. The mere fact that there is is a world wide bank run happening now is darn scary to them banksters, and this is only making things worse because they are now being self-hurried into creating more false flag events, or war more mongering to take the growing attention off the collapse of the euro. Makes one wonder how they ever got along before all this one world money god thing
All in all, please let even the most negative of comments be held as the ship is sinking. We are all One here, and each and ALL aboard the good ship Earth is an integral and important part of it, all. What effects one, effects all. That is fact. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you and yours. Be fully aware, the real Laws of the unreal universe are at Work and even more so as the quickening begins to spin faster. There is no escaping these Laws that are engraved in the stone of many histories. May each good heart show one another, good heart. Fighting amongst each other as the ship is sinking bestows upon no one any greater advantage, for all will know the meaning of out of chaos, comes new order.
The Screwie-Louie thing about it is, it is nothing new, and it is not orderly.
Pray for Cyprus.
Umm what?