The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. – Benjamin Franklin
– Fukushima Operator Begins Pumping out Radioactive Groundwater (RIA Novosti, April 9, 2014):
MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) – Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has begun pumping out groundwater from the Fukushima nuclear plant to prevent further radiocative leaks, media reported Wednesday.
The pumped out water is later expected to be dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
Read moreTEPCO Begins Pumping Out Radioactive Groundwater From Fukushima Nuke Plant
– Only a third of nuclear reactors may be restarted (Japan Times, April 2, 2014):
Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all of Japan’s nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive atomic power as a core part of the nation’s energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online.
Fewer than one-third, and at most about two-thirds, of the reactors will pass today’s more stringent safety checks and clear the other seismological, economic, logistical and political hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis shows..
Hokkaido Electric Power Co., facing a third year of financial losses, is seeking a capital infusion from a state-owned lender, which would make it the second utility after Tokyo Electric Power Co., whose Fukushima No. 1 plant suffered three core meltdowns, to get a government bailout since the March 2011 disaster started.
– Fishermen give Tepco green light (Japan Times, April 2, 2014):
A federation of fisheries cooperatives in Fukushima Prefecture on March 25 accepted the so-called underground bypass plan by Tokyo Electric Power Co. to release groundwater into the sea to prevent it from flowing into the basements of the reactor buildings of its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Two days later, a similar organization in Ibaraki Prefecture also accepted the plan, whose ultimate purpose is to reduce the amount of water radioactively contaminated by the plant.
From the article:
“The one glimmer of hope is the experts’ prediction that these children will not develop thyroid cancer, the way many did with Chernobyl levels of radiation.”
These children are developing thyroid cancer much faster than the children in Chernobyl:
– Thyroid Cancer Rates On The Rise In Japanese Children, Experts Warn Residents To Evacuate
– Thyroid Cancers Surge Among Fukushima Youths
– Fukushima: 27 Children Have Developed Thyroid Cancer … So Far!
– Fukushima Government Forced To Reveal Children’s Thyroid Gland Tests (The Mainichi)
– Over 44% Of Fukushima Children Have Thyroid Abnormalities
– Seven More Fukushima Children Suspected To Have Thyroid Cancer
– WHO: Fukushima Workers Had Over 10 SIEVERTS Thyroid Dose
– ‘Many People From Even Tokyo Have Thyroid Problems Already’
– Fukushima: More Then 42% of Children Have Thyroid Nodules Or Cysts (German TV Video, Nov 18, 2012):
More than 42% of 57,000 tested children have nodules or cyst, reports Dr. Suzuki who leads the examinations. In Chernobyl they found only 0.1 – 1%.
Flashback:
And by now “the one glimmer of hope” should be … gone.
An employee (C) of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) measures using a dosimeter at the central operating control room of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at TEPCO’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at Fukushima prefecture March 10, 2014. (Reuters / Koji Sasahara / Pool)
– 3 years on: Contaminated Fukushima water may be dumped as problems mount (RT, March 11, 2014):
Contaminated water at the battered Fukushima plant has taken precedence over everything else. As the larger cleanup effort continues and storage space for the water is rapidly running out, scientists suggest dumping it into the Pacific Ocean.
The plant’s chief, Akira Ono, has testified to the seriousness of the situation during a Monday visit by international media, saying that “the most pressing issue for us is the contaminated water, rather than decommissioning. Unless we resolve the problem, fear of the community continues and the evacuees cannot return home,” the AP cited him as saying.
Read more3 Years On: TEPCO Wants To Dump Radioactive Fukushima Water Into Pacific As Problems Mount
– 15,000 Fukushima workers receive large doses of radiation over 3 years (Voice of Russia, March 10, 2014):
About 15,000 workers engaged in various operations at Japan’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have received large doses of radiation of up to 5 millisieverts per year over the past three years, the Asahi newspaper reports.
That’s five times more than the existing norm of 1 millisieverts per year.
…
In case you want to take a look at working conditions and how Fukushima workers are treated and ‘selected’:
– Anonymous Senior Tepco Employee: No one knows what to do at Fukushima, it’s impossible to fix — Reactors not under control — “We just can’t deal with the melted fuel” (ENENews, March 10, 2014):
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Matthew Carney, Mar. 10, 2014: A nuclear industry insider has told the ABC that the situation at the stricken Fukushima reactor is still not under control […] At the risk of losing his job if his identity is revealed, a senior TEPCO staffer, who has worked at the Fukushima plant for more than 20 years, says the situation at the reactor is not under control and no-one knows how to fix the problem. […] The whistleblower says mistakes are made weekly, and contaminated water leaks into the Pacific Ocean every day. […] The insider says the damaged reactors can never be decontaminated and that people should not be moved back into the no-go zone, a 20-kilometre exclusion area around Fukushima.
– Japanese Prime Minister Had to Fly In to Fukushima In the Middle of the Night to Get the Scoop from Low-Level Nuclear Workers … Because Tepco Wouldn’t Tell Him the Truth (Washington’s Blog, Feb 28, 2014):
Tepco Wouldn’t Even Tell the Truth to the Japanese Leader
In this 27-second video, Amy Goodman summarizes her interview with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan:
We just came from Tokyo. We broadcast for three days from Japan. And we’re going to play the interview I did with the former prime minister, the one in charge at the time [of the Fukushima disaster], Naoto Kan. He said it was extremely difficult to get a straight answer from TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, that ran the plants, and he had to fly in. He figured the only place he could get a straight, nonpolitical answer—he flew in the middle of the night to the plant to talk to the workers to figure out whether he had to evacuate 50 million people in Tokyo.
This is not the first time Tepco has been less than honest:
NPR’s ‘Weekend Edition’, Feb. 15, 2014: The cleanup at the crippled nuclear reactor at Fukushima, Japan has been plagued by problems. Contaminated water has leaked into the ocean, radiation levels are higher than originally announced and the Japanese public is suspicious that [TEPCO] isn’t telling the whole story. >> Listen to the broadcast here
NPR, Feb. 15, 2014: Some critics say that TEPCO can’t be trusted and that the world’s largest nuclear accident is still waiting to happen at Fukushima, such as an accidental nuclear reaction […] TEPCO dismisses predictions like this as alarmist. Japanese themselves are highly divided on the issue […] shutting down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will go on for a long time. TEPCO predicts it could last 30 or 40 years. Others say that estimate is blindly optimistic.
Read moreDeliberate Cover-Up Of Japan Public’s Exposure To Fukushima Radiation
– Tepco mis-analyzed 167 samples since 311/ Correct readings can be over 10 times much as wrong ones (Fukushima Diary, Feb 16, 2014):
Following up this article.. [Wrong analysis for 2.5 years] Tepco “All the radiation analysts were outsourced staff. No Tepco employee in Lab.” [URL]
The wrongly analyzed samples are up to 167, Tepco announced in their press conference of 2/14/2014.
They were stating all the nuclides might have been underestimated including Strontium-90, but they re-stated actually it was only all ? nuclide to have been underestimated.
Among 20,866 samples to detect all ? nuclide from 311 to October of 2013, 0.8% of the samples were analyzed in the wrong manner.
However, they commented the correct reading may be over 10 times much as originally announced data.
For example, last July they measured 5,000,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 from the groundwater taken in the seaside of reactor2. (cf, 5,000,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 measured from groundwater last July / Tepco not announced for half a year [URL 2]
From this sample, they also measured 900,000,000 Bq/m3 of all ? nuclide. The correct reading can be over 9,000,000,000 Bq/m3 with 166 other samples.
New TEPCO Report Shows Damage to Unit 3 Fuel Pool MUCH Worse Than That at Unit 4 from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.
Description:
As the eyes of the world have been focused on the Unit 4’s removal of spent fuel,
TEPCO released a report entitled, TEPCO’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Roadmap, that contained some astounding information regarding Unit 3. Follow Fairewinds Energy’s Arnie Gundersen as he shows you the 35-ton refueling bridge that fell in the Unit 3 spent fuel pool during the Unit 3 detonation explosion. Do the math. The bottom line here is that TEPCO has just acknowledged that at least 50-tons of rubble has fallen on top of and into the spent fuel pool in Unit 3. What does this 50-ton pile of debris mean to the Unit 3 spent fuel pool and its cleanup?Please support our work, so we can continue to bring you breaking nuclear news: fairewinds.org/donate/
Please also support my work here at Infinite Unknown.
– Record-high 10 Million Bq/liter of strontium-90 & beta emitters finally revealed in Fukushima plant groundwater — 1,000% more than Tepco has claimed for last 6 months (ENENews, Feb 6, 2014):
Jiji Press, Feb. 6, 2014: TEPCO Corrects Last Summer’s Water Pollution Data to Record High […] Samples collected from an observation well close to the sea in early July contained a record 5 million becquerels of strontium-90 per liter of groundwater, the company said. When TEPCO announced the original data that month, the firm said the total amount of radioactive materials emitting beta particles, including strontium-90, was 900,000 becquerels […] the total amount of beta particle-emitting materials […] are likely to be around 10 million becquerels, far higher than the previous record high of 3.1 million becquerels for the well.
Kyodo News, Feb. 6, 2014: Record-high strontium-90 in past Fukushima plant groundwater sample — [TEPCO] said Thursday that a groundwater sample taken from a well at the site in July last year contained a record-high 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive strontium-90.[…] TEPCO official said that “all beta radiation could have been 10 million becquerels in total.”
Kyodo News, Jan. 30, 2014: Fukushima No. 2 reactor suppression pool may have 3-cm hole — The suppression pool connected to the No. 2 reactor at the disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have a 3-centimeter hole through which highly radioactive water is leaking out, the plant operator said Thursday. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said data gathered by a robot this month near the doughnut-shaped suppression pool at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor’s primary containment vessel indicated that the structure is damaged somewhere. […] TEPCO estimated the damaged section could be 8 to 9 square cm in size. If it were a hole, it is expected to be between 3.2 and 3.6 cm in diameter.
A previous estimation by Japan government experts determined there was a hole over 30 times larger: 300 square centimeter hole in Reactor No. 2 pressure suppression pool: NISA analysis
– Radiation at Fukushima well hits ‘record high’ (RT, Jan 18, 2014):
A record high level of beta rays released from radioactive strontium-90 has been detected at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant beneath the No. 2 reactor’s well facing the ocean, according to the facility’s operator.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) measured the amount of beta ray-emitting radioactivity at more than 2.7 million becquerels per liter, Fukushima’s operator said as reported in Japanese media. The measurements were taken on Thursday.
– Former Prime Minister of Japan: We’ve been lied to, nuclear experts lying to us… They’ve been telling a pack of lies — Governor: Tepco needs to reveal who gave orders to lie about Fukushima meltdowns (VIDEO) (ENENews, Jan 16, 2014):
Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 12, 2014 (h/t Anonymous tip): ‘We’ve been lied to,’ said ex-Prime Minister Koizumi […] “This is not an interview,” the acquaintance stressed, reminding me that [Junichiro] Koizumi has not granted a single request for an interview or TV appearance since he stepped down as prime minister.[…] I asked him, “What was the biggest reason for your change of heart?” […] “Denjiren (the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan) has been telling a pack of lies,” he began. “When experts say nuclear power generation is safe and doesn’t cost much and this is the only way to go if we want to stop relying on coal, well, we believe them. But they’ve been lying to us for years. […] we certainly had no idea how difficult it is to control nuclear energy.” “You felt you were taken for a ride?” I ventured. “That’s it. Exactly,” he replied. Wow. So, he switched sides when he realized he had been deceived by bureaucrats and nuclear experts. […] here was a man who held Japan’s highest political office for five and a half years, lamenting now–and openly admitting–that he’d been lied to. When you think about it, Japan is really a dreadful country where critical information is deliberately withheld from the prime minister who determines the fate of the country, and even he is made to believe the “myth” of nuclear safety.
– Sickened Fukushima Worker: “Tepco is God… we are slaves” — Employees beaten, threatened with death for speaking out (VIDEO) (ENENews, Jan 14, 2014):
America Tonight, Al Jazeera America, Jan. 7, 2014:
Part I at 3:45 in
Anonymous Fukushima worker ‘Tanaka’: “My job was to help workers remove their gear when they came back from dealing with contaminated water and debris, and to check them with a Geiger counter for contamination […] We used to wear charcoal filters, but because of the cost cuts, we got dust filters, like those you’d buy at a convenient store. Tepco employees wore charcoal filters in all locations. […] Tepco is God, the main contractors are kings, and we are slaves. […]
– Official: Tepco has failed at Fukushima, no progress made — Tepco to change name, start new business — Tepco demands nuclear workers return payments, anger passed tipping point (ENENews, Jan 11, 2014):
Mainichi, Jan. 9, 2014: [TEPCO] plans to create a new brand name under which the utility will sell electricity in regions outside its own service area across the country as part of efforts to boost its earnings, it has been learned. […] TEPCO made the decision apparently because the beleaguered utility thought that clients could accept the service more easily if it were provided under a brand name other than TEPCO […] One of the main reasons why TEPCO is rushing to enter into the business of selling electricity throughout the country is that unless it boosts its earnings by increasing the number of its clients, it will not be able to secure enough funds to cover the costs of dealing with the Fukushima nuclear accident […]
– Radiation jumps around Fukushima plant — Now ~1,000% previous levels — Tepco kept strontium-90 data secret for months — Officials knew of increase but ‘too busy’ to do anything — Gov’t holds Friday meeting about what can be done (ENENews, Jan 10, 2014):
Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 10, 2014 (emphasis added): [TEPCO] withheld 140 measurements of radioactive strontium levels taken in groundwater and the port of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant between June and November last year. […] strontium levels exceeded the all-beta readings in some instances, leading the utility to decide they were “wrong” and to withhold them from public releases, TEPCO officials said Jan. 8. Previously, TEPCO officials said they had not released the data because the numbers were not confirmed. Company officials on Jan. 8 insisted the utility had no intention to conceal information. […]
Al Jazeera America, Jan. 8, 2014 (Emphasis Added): After years of denial, TEPCO admitted in the fall that contaminated groundwater is flowing into the Pacific […] It’s this deluge of radioactive water that worries many Americans. […] all bets are off if TEPCO doesn’t come up with a long-term strategy to plug the leaking plant. […] Pacific wasteland […] TEPCO plans to […] install a new system to deal with the contaminated water. There’s still uncertainty, though, about whether some of this tainted water will end up in the Pacific. […] The question is whether the water will truly be decontaminated to a safe level. If TEPCO’s latest strategy fails, it’s possible that the more dangerous forms of radiation won’t get filtered out.
– TV: Fukushima plant “an undefused bomb for decades to come” — Japan Journalist: They only have the vaguest idea of what happened to 100s of tons of molten fuel — An ongoing crisis on edge of disaster (ENENews, Jan 9, 2014):
Al Jazeera America, Jan. 8, 2014: Is Fukushima at risk for another nuclear disaster? At the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, is struggling to contain the ongoing nuclear disaster. […] Fukushima Daiichi itself will remain on the edge of disaster — an undefused bomb for decades to come. “The government said it will take 30 to 40 years to decommission the plant, so there’s always the potential for another problem to come up,” [David McNeill, a journalist who has lived in Japan since 2000 and has been covering the Fukushima disaster from March 2011] said. “And that’s what keeps some people awake at night.”
More from Journalist David McNeill:
Tokyo is doomed. (Links are down below.)
Scholars at Harvard, Interview with Hisashi Shoji of Fukushima Prefecture, K. Lee Lerner, Apr. 7, 2013: Hisashi Shoji drives a taxi in areas just outside the Fukushima exclusion zone. […] Shoji isn’t allowed to live in his home located about 40km from the power plant […] Shoji says he stopped believing media reports long ago, and that he distrusts local media as much as the national press. “They are all pretty much the same. It’s hard to trust anything in the media […] They don’t report the truth.”
Related info:
– Judge Dimisses Sickened USS Ronald Reagan Crew Radiation Lawsuit
FOX5 San Diego, Dec. 19, 2013:
Kathleen Bade, FOX5 San Diego: Sailor who served on the USS Ronald Reagan claim they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation […]
Mike Seabourn, in charge of decontaminating aircraft: It hit me like a ton of bricks. I could be at about 60% power through the right side of my body — that’s arms, legs, everything.
Jaime Chambers, FOX5 San Diego: Seabourn believes he is just one of potentially thousands of US sailors who’ve been exposed to serious radiation contamination after working near the Fukushima disaster zone […] but his true concern lies with the sailors who were aboard the USS Ronald Reagan.
– Jiji: No solution seen for Fukushima’s radioactive water — Kyodo: Toxic ocean leakage to go on into 2020s — Experts: “High potential for marine life and human health effects through ingestion over generations” (ENENews, Dec 16, 2013):
Jiji Press, Dec. 16, 2013: No Solution in Sight for Fukushima N-Plant Tainted Water […] No solution is in sight as [Tepco] struggles with ever-increasing amounts of radioactive water […] The situation has improved little in the [past] six months […] very high-level radioactive water has been detected under the ground […] TEPCO detected 1.8 million becquerels of radioactive materials per liter of water collected on Thursday from an observation well some 40 meters from the seawall, the highest on record.
Kyodo News, Dec. 11, 2013: A government panel […] estimated that the utility will not be able to fully address the risks of water leaks by the end of fiscal 2020. […] “If measures are taken smoothly, a large part of the risks (posed by leaks from tanks) will be reduced around the end of fiscal 2020, but the amount of toxic water could surpass the tank storage capacity depending on the situation…and risks associated with keeping a large amount of tritium-water will remain,” the report said.
– Tepco: We should have told public this sooner… we failed to cool molten fuel after meltdowns began — Experts: Fukushima cesium release could be more than triple Chernobyl (PHOTO) (ENENews, Dec 14, 2013):
Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 14, 2013: Fire engines were used in a desperate, and ultimately futile, attempt to pump water to cool overheating reactors during the early phase of the 2011 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. According to a Dec. 13 report by the operator of the crippled facility, water was pumped in sufficient quantity to avert core meltdowns in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, but much of it strayed into irrelevant pipes and ended up elsewhere. […] water failed to cool it and the other reactors efficiently, and could not stop the core meltdowns in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. […] TEPCO officials said they knew as early as late March 2011 […] “We should have shared the finding with the public in the belief it would help promote universal safety, but failed to do so,” said [a] TEPCO Managing Executive Officer […]
– Another 20 Navy Sailors: USS Ronald Reagan crew with thyroid cancers, leukemia, brain tumors, bleeding, blindness after Fukushima disaster — Young kids developing problems — Gov’t and Tepco involved in major conspiracy (AUDIO) (ENENews, Dec 12, 2013):
Nuclear Hotseat #129, Dec. 10, 2013:
At 27:00 in
Charles Bonner, attorney representing sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan: They’re not only going to the rescue by jumping into the water and rescuing people out of the water, but they were drinking desalinated sea water, bathing in it, until finally the captain of the USS Ronald Reagan alarmed people that they were encountering high levels of radiation. As a result of this exposure, the 51 sailors that we represent right now have come down with a host of medical problems, including cancers and leukemias, all kinds of gynecological problems […] people who are going blind, pilots who had perfect eyesight but now have tumors on the brain. These service men and women are young people 21, 22, 23 years old and no one in their family had ever (inaudible) any of these kinds of illnesses before.
YouTube Added: Dec 4, 2013
Description:
Abby Martin calls out the International Atomic Energy Agency for their endorsement of the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s response to the nuclear disaster, despite the company’s gross mismanagement of disaster.
