Fukushima to Burn Highly-Radioactive Debris
Fukushima will start burning radioactive debris containing up to 100,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. As Mainchi notes [3]:
The state will start building storage facilities for debris generated by the March 2011 tsunami as early as May at two locations in a coastal area of Naraha town, Fukushima Prefecture, Environment Ministry and town officials said Saturday.
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About 25,000 tons of debris are expected to be brought into the facilities beginning in the summer, according to the officials.
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If more than 100,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium are found per kilogram of debris, the debris will be transferred to a medium-term storage facility to be built by the state. But if burnable debris contains 100,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium or less, it may be disposed of at a temporary incinerator to be built within the prefecture, according to the officials.
Within the 20-km-radius no-go zone spanning across Naraha and five other municipalities along the coast, debris caused by the magnitude 9.0 quake and the subsequent tsunami has amounted to an estimated 474,000 tons, much of remaining where it is.
How much radiation is that? It is a lot. Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen has said that much lower levels of cesium - 5,000-8,000 bq/kg (20 times lower than what will be allowed to be burned at Fukushima) - would be sent to a special facility in the United States and buried underground for thousands of year. See this [4] and this [5]. It is comparable to the levels of radioactivity found within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. See this [6] and this [7]. And even the Japanese - who have raised acceptable levels of radiation to absurd levels - would normally demand that material with this radioactivity be encased in cement [8] and buried:
According to plans by the Ministry of Environment, if the radioactive cesium concentration is less than 8,000 Bq/kg, then it is possible to dispose of it by burying it. Rubble that has 8,000 ~ 100,000 Bq must be encased in cement in order to prevent contact with water before being dumped. For rubble that exceeds 100,000 Bq, it must be encased in concrete walls and stored temporarily. The disposal place must be approved of by the Prefectural Governor.
In addition, some allege that debris surpassing 100,000 bq/kg of cesium will be burned, after being mixed with less-radioactive materials [9]. And many of the incinerators are located smack dab in the middle of crowded cities, and are not equipped to contain radiation [10].
Other Parts of Japan Are Also Burning Radioactive Debris
And it's not just Fukushima. Tokyo [11] and many other areas [12] in Japan are burning radioactive debris as well. And see this [13].
Burning to Continue for for Years
Mainichi reports that the radioactive debris will be burned for years ... through at least March 2014 [14].
Poisoning Other Countries
Burning radioactive debris does not destroy the radioactivity. It merely spreads it. Gundersen says that radioactivity from the burnt debris will end up not only in neighboring prefectures, but in Hawaii, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington and California [12]. Gundersen said that burning radioactive debris is basically re-creating the Fukushima disaster all over again [15], as it is releasing a huge amount of radioactivity which had settled on the ground back into the air. Steven Starr – Senior Scientist, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Director of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia [16], who has advised numerous countries on issues of nuclear non-proliferation – writes [17]:
Burning radioactive debris will only serve to further randomly spread radiation across Japan, as well as the rest of the world. Not only will this lead to more morbidity and mortality within Japan, but it will further complicate epidemiological studies of the Fukushima disaster. Raising “acceptable” levels of radioactive fallout is a false solution to a serious problem. It is possible for the government authorities to do this because radiation is invisible to us, and at lower doses, the consequences of exposure do not manifest themselves for some time . . . thus it is a poison that is easy to hide and ignore. Sadly, the children of Japan will be those most seriously affected by this man-made environmental catastrophe.
It is bad enough that radiation from Fukushima is spreading across the Pacific to the United States through air [18] and water [19], that the Japanese are underplaying the enormous threat posed by the spent fuel pools [20], and that the Japanese have engaged in a massive cover-up of the severity of the Fukushima crisis [21]. But intentionally burning radioactive debris to try to cover up the problem - and spreading radiation worldwide in the process - is an entirely separate affront. Postscript: In addition to burning radioactive debris, Japan intends to build tents over the leaking Fukushima reactors. While this sounds like a way to contain the radiation, it would actually funnel it straight up and spread it globally [22]:
My reaction [to the announcement that the Fukushima nuclear operator would build giant tents over the reactors] was hope that the tents would at least keep radiation from spreading worldwide through the air, even if they didn’t do anything to prevent contamination of Japan’s groundwater or the Pacific Ocean.
But nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen says [23] that the tents – while helping to protect workers at Fukushima – will actually increase the dispersion of radioactive gases. Specifically, Tepco will pump radiation out through stacks, which will push radiation up to a higher elevation, dispersing it even further around the world.