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New Fukushima Daiichi Detailed Plant Map
We have added a new detailed map of the Fukushima Daiichi plant as a permanent reference source on our website. The map from TEPCO includes most buildings, storage sites and canals at the plant along with some photos to document what those facilities look like. This is useful for trying to identify the location of certain equipment or the proximity of equipment to other parts of the plant. There is also a list of the … Read entire article »
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Veneer Peels Off Fukushima Disaster
The carefully crafted veneer of recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster by the government is peeling in many ways. Protesters who have been camped out in front of the METI agency office since 2011 were told by a court to pay about $240,000 for their protest. The encampment has been a thorn in the side of the agency who was without a way to disperse the group of protesters and no interest in hearing their … Read entire article »
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Oil Leak In Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 Spent Fuel Pool
An oil leak occurred in the spent fuel pool of unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi today as work was under way to remove parts of the fuel handling machine. The fuel crane fell into the spent fuel pool during the massive explosion at unit 3. TEPCO has been taking the crane out in sections. Oil from the crane leaked into the pool as a section was removed. The cooling loop for the spent fuel pool … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Under Fire For Leaks At Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO has again been receiving growing criticism over their handling of contaminated water at the plant. The first leak, from a series of drainage canals that route from up on the hill where the tank farms reside down to the port has been under increased scrutiny by Japan’s NRA. It appears that heightened oversight of this first leak may have led to the admission of the second leak where contaminated water from unit 2′s roofs was … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Daiichi Another Leak, Known Since April 2014
TEPCO has admitted a second leak to the sea this week. Unit 2′s roof and downspouts have been draining directly out to sea since the disaster. TEPCO admits they have known about the highly contaminated leak since at least April of 2014. Water found on unit 2′s roofs was highly radioactive with 52,000 bq/liter on one roof TEPCO did attempt to manage this by throwing down bags of zeolite at the downspout entrance and again at … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo.org Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 Extended Report 2015
SimplyInfo.org Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 Report 2015 By The SimplyInfo Research Team Dean Wilkie – Author Edano San - Author Peter Melzer PhD – Author Nancy Foust - Editor February 23, 2015 During the early events of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster unit 2 was given little attention in public facing information. It also appears that many of the outcomes from unit 2 may have been credited as being caused by other units a the plant or considered of unknown origin. Unit 2 may … Read entire article »
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Leak At Fukushima Daiichi Reaches Port
A contaminated water leak into the drainage ditches up on the hill was found to have at least in part reached the port. The leak was first reported over the weekend when an alarm on the drainage ditches went off. The series of drainage ditches up on the hill were concreted, valves were installed and the entire system was routed to the port after earlier leaks were found to be running out to sea. This work … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Daiichi Chills Out
TEPCO released two photos of the newly installed refrigeration unit for the underground frozen wall at Fukushima Daiichi. No other information was provided with these two photos of the new facility. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this … Read entire article »
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2014 Fukushima Fallout Maps Published
Japan’s NRA published new fallout maps. The first one is the current radiation levels in the evacuation zone but does not include all of the outlying areas that are contaminated. The second is fallout maps 2011 to 2014 that show some reductions in contamination but that significant contamination still exists. These new maps do not include contamination further from the evacuation zone. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Roadmap Update Shows Changes At Disaster Site
METI released a new roadmap document for Fukushima Daiichi. Most of it is repeats of old information. There were a few new pieces of information. The frozen wall is expected to have actual freezing operations start by the end of March 2015. They did not say how long total completion would take. The existing Kurion and Sarry cesium filtration systems have had the ability to now filter out strontium 90 added to their capabilities. These systems are still … Read entire article »
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Thousands Of Cracks Found In Belgian Reactors, Other Reactors Could Have The Same Flaw
Greenpeace is reporting the new round of inspections on two reactors in Belgium found thousands of additional cracks in the reactor vessels. 13,047 cracks in Doel 3 3,149 in Tihange 2 Initial inspections thought the cracks were possibly due to the manufacturing process at the foundry that made the steel vessels. This same foundry made a number of US reactor vessels still in operation. Even the Belgian nuclear regulator is calling for an international response to this risk and suggested all nuclear reactors should be checked for this kind of aging flaw. Our previous research found 22 reactors worldwide that could have this same manufacturing flaw. The Belgian regulator is considering ALL nuclear reactors should be investigated to see if the problem is more widespread beyond this group of vessels. These US vessels are known … Read entire article »
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Radiation Spike At Fukushima Daiichi Discharge Canal
A significant spike in contaminated water levels at Fukushima Daiichi in the unit 1 discharge canal was reported today. Readings between Feb 14th and Feb 18th saw a considerable jump beyond normal fluctuations for these two locations. The only new work began between the 14th and 18th is the concreting of the unit 4 seawater piping trench. It is not clear if this had any influence on the readings or if so, why it would. Feb … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Issues Empty Threat Over Nuclear Plant Shutdowns
TEPCO issued the threat of a rate hike if they were not allowed to restart their reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa. In one article TEPCO president Hirose appears to be claiming there is no other option but a rate increase due to all of their nuclear plants being shut down. But Yahoo News points out that TEPCO has turned a profit the last couple of years. Yahoo also reports that there is a sort of plan … Read entire article »
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Tuesday Earthquake Aftershock Of 3-11 Quake
Experts cited the early Tuesday 6.9 quake in Iwate Prefecture was an aftershock of the 2011 “3-11″ quake. The Tuesday quake caused a tsunami alert to be issued. The resulting tsunami was less than 1 meter. TEPCO reported that the quake had minimal impact at the Fukushima Daiichi disaster site further down the coast. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights … Read entire article »
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Face Mask Rules At Fukushima Daiichi To Be Relaxed In May
TEPCO announced that workers will be allowed to wear half masks or dust masks in more areas at Fukushima Daiichi beginning in May. Currently most areas require a full face mask. Certain areas considered less hazardous will allow workers to wear lesser mask type protection. Areas where highly contaminated water is located would still require full face masks. Additional dust monitoring is planned. TEPCO also cited the paving of parts of the plant as a partial … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Begins Concreting Unit 4 Trench At Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO has begun concreting in the seawater piping trench for unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi. The work has been on the longer term roadmap but has been moved up as similar work began last week for unit 2′s seawater piping trench. Japan’s NRA recently criticized TEPCO’s efforts, claiming that contaminated water is still leaving the plant and that it may be leaking out below the current blocking efforts. The water displaced by the concrete is … Read entire article »
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1000 Homes In Fukushima To Be Demolished
1000 homes are set to be demolished after they were previously decontaminated. Most homes had suffered significant damage due to weather and animals while the owners were evacuated. The homes were part of an initial decontamination effort. Owners opted to have them torn down due to the considerable damage. Some had also opted not to return in places like Nahara due to the radiation levels and lack of infrastructure. image credit | CS Monitor This article would … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 2 Muon Scan Scheduled For May 2015
IRID is reporting that the muon scan of unit 2 at Fukushima Daiichi will begin around May 10th of 2015. The scan of unit 1 is scheduled to begin today after equipment was brought on sight and installed earlier in the month. The scans hope to determine if any fuel remains in the reactor vessels. IRID also reports that the consider the combination of the muon scans and the upcoming robot inspections of the containment … Read entire article »
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Frozen Wall Delayed As More Concreting At Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO announced a two week delay in work to install a frozen underground wall around the leaking reactors at Fukushima Daiichi. The work has been interrupted by a sudden rush to concrete the unit 3 water handling trench. The change of plans includes what NHK described as an effort to concrete the interface areas between the buildings and the trenches in an attempt to block contaminated water flows. Earlier this year NRA stated that the plant … Read entire article »
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2nd Mobile Strontium 90 Filter System In Service At Fukushima Daiichi
A second mobile strontium 90 filtration system is in service at Fukushima Daiichi after initial testing. The portable system housed in modified shipping containers are being used to filter out strontium 90 from contaminated water sitting in tanks. The systems can remove most of the strontium 90 from the contaminated water. This considerably reduces this type of contamination and further reduces some of the risk factors involving the massive tank farms on site. TEPCO has not … Read entire article »
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NHK Report; Fukushima Meltdowns Released More Radiation Than Assumed
A recent NHK video report on the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns revealed some critical new details about the meltdowns and the extent of the releases from the plant. The report documents that the water injected into the reactors by fire engines now has a known failure rate. Before, TEPCO had admitted “most” of the sea water injected as a last ditch effort to cool the reactors didn’t make it into the reactors but instead flowed backwards into … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 1 Containment Inspection To Begin In April
AP is reporting that Fukushima Daiichi unit 1 will get the first of three anticipated containment inspections in early April of this year. Hitachi showed off the shape changing robot to the press this week. The robot will be used once at unit 1 then stored in a shielded box. Hitachi is expecting to use a slightly different robot for the inspection of each unit but didn’t say what those differences would be. This upcoming inspection … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Begins Concreting Unit 3 Trench
TEPCO concreted the unit 3 trench in some unannounced work at Fukushima Daiichi. The unit 2 cable trench had been previously concreted in. Japan’s NRA had recently announced they assume the plant is still leaking out to sea, possibly beneath the wall blocking efforts at the plant. This effort to concrete in the unit 3 trench had not been previously announced and the area had not had any unusually high levels of contamination compared to … Read entire article »
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Japan Nuclear Safety: 4000 Falsified Safety Checks & Alarm Ignored For 1 Year
JAEA ignored an alarm on a radioactive liquid waste tank for a year, allowing the waste to leak. The incident happened at the materials testing reactor in Ibaraki. NRA called the JAEA dysfunctional. NRA also found that the Onagawa nuclear plant had over 4000 improper entries into inspection records at their #2 reactor. These included incorrect equipment information and even entries for equipment that didn’t exist. The company has not begun similar reviews for the … Read entire article »
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New Study Finds Fukushima Food Contamination Underestimates Strontium 90
A new study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology looked at governmental food testing in Japan. The study reviewed foods testing for cesium 137 contamination and also strontium 90 contamination. Official assumptions had been than there was a set ratio of cesium 137 to strontium 90 across all foods. What was found is that over time the ratio of strontium 90 in foods had increased. This makes the standard assumed ratio being used incorrect. … Read entire article »
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Muon Scans Begin At Fukushima Daiichi
Muon scans have begun at Fukushima Daiichi for the unit 1 reactor. The set of three self contained boxes has been installed at unit 1 of Fukushima Daiichi and will run for about a month before results could be known. The project was initially conceived by scientists at Los Alamos national lab in the US. The project is currently being run by Toshiba and coordinated by IRID. After initial test runs at a research reactor facility in … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Will Not Meet Frozen Wall Deadline At Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO has disclosed that they will not meet a deadline to have a portion of the frozen wall project done at Fukushima Daiichi. This follows the admission that contaminated water response work was also falling behind schedule. A partial excuse for the delay was the work stoppage after two workers died in a week at the plants in Fukushima prefecture. This may not be the sole reason as other work as been falling behind since … Read entire article »
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US – India Nuclear Liability Deal Explained
The US and India have signed a nuclear power deal that drastically changes the liability of the industry that wants to build new reactors in India. Our infographic covers the main points about this unusual new deal. The deal seems to benefit not just US private industry but the same private industry in Japan. The entire agreement should raise some serious questions about why both the US and Japanese governments have been so keen to put … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Says Safety Upgraded At Fukushima Plants After Two Deaths
TEPCO says they responded to the deaths of two workers by stopping work and reviewing safety at the plants. This was TEPCO’s response: TEPCO’s response is obviously superficial. It seems to lack any serious analysis of the work processes and management at the plant that are the root cause of the many accidents that have injured or killed workers in the last year. The responses themselves are all quite temporary in nature. It was also reported … Read entire article »
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Japan NRA Admits Fukushima Daiichi Still Leaking Into Pacific
The head of Japan’s NRA stated that the contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi is continuing to seep into the ground and leak out to sea. “We must find the cause of the contamination . . . and put the highest priority on implementing countermeasures,” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka told a meeting of the body’s commissioners after they had examined recent studies carried out on groundwater samples at the plant that detected high levels of cesium, tritium … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo.org Fukushima & Nuclear News Roundup, Jan 26, 2015
Kagoshima residents drop restart lawsuit on the Sendai nuclear plant after power company threatens harassment lawsuit http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/18/national/some-residents-drop-petition-to-halt-restart-of-sendai-reactors-in-kagoshima/#.VL0k9EfF_Cs TEPCO blames increase in worker injuries and deaths on workers. Govt. officials and workers cite issues such as the inability to communicate while wearing face masks and the large volume of untrained workers being brought in. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201501210064 TEPCO has stopped work at Daiichi and Daini to investigate causes of worker deaths http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/22/national/tepco-suspends-fukushima-no-1-cleanup-to-probe-fatal-accidents/#.VMEoL0fF_Cs Energy experts point out the poor decision making of Japan’s government on an energy future http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/01/24/environment/words-wise-energy-future/#.VMRr4EfF_Cs METI published a new radiation map using a monitoring car to take readings in the Fukushima evacuation zone http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuclear/pdf/141226/monitor00_all_R19n.pdf A citizens group in Fukushima expressed their outrage that prosecutors again failed to indict TEPCO executives for their role in the nuclear disaster http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150122_33.html Radiation in rice lowered to below govt. limit but still may contain radioactive contamination http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/18/national/all-2014-fukushima-rice-cleared-radiation-tests-thanks-to-fertilizer/#.VLv38EfF_Cs Government … Read entire article »
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Bizarre Nuclear Evacuation Drill Held In Kyushu Japan
A drill was held that included three prefectures near the Genkai nuclear plant. The drill included a scenario where the plant had a power loss and coolant water leak. The NHK report didn’t specify to what extent the actual damage to the plant was considered to be for this drill. The scenario from the description sounds nothing like the extent seen at the Fukushima disaster in 2011 where large amounts of infrastructure were wiped out … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Gains Permission To Dump Contaminated Water Into Ocean
TEPCO has gained approval to dump contaminated groundwater into the ocean. The water is being pumped up from the subdrain pits around the reactor buildings. News reports cited that “most” of the radiation would be removed. NHK’s report clarifies that they will only remove most of the cesium before dumping it into the ocean. TEPCO’s own testing shows that the water does have significant amounts of beta radiation and tritium. Some wells were quite high … Read entire article »
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Ceiling Collapse In Wipp Underground Nuclear Storage Site
An 8 by 8 foot section of ceiling in the panel 3 access drift has collapsed at WIPP. The area of the collapse is also in the contaminated areas of the mine. Officials announced it today but the collapse happened January 15th. A larger problem was admitted earlier this month. WIPP contractors had been saying that doing ceiling bolting activities were their priority, even above dealing with the at risk storage rooms and unstable barrels in room 6 and 7. Seven ceiling areas were found to be unsafe and are now labeled as restricted. The effort to try to resume ceiling bolting activities was also stymied earlier this month when an oversight inspection found errors in the estimates for running the needed machinery with the air handling system in filtration mode. … Read entire article »
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3rd Worker Injury In Two Days At TEPCO Nuclear Plants
After two workers were injured then died of their injuries, TEPCO has admitted a third incident that lead to serious injuries. A worker at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant fell down a shaft in the turbine building. TEPCO reported that the worker has been hospitalized but described his injuries as scratches. http://www.tepco.co.jp/kk-np/data/publication/pdf/2014/27011901.pdf This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content … Read entire article »
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2nd Fukushima Worker Dies In 2 Days
A second worker has died in the last two days. The second death happened at the Fukushima Daini plant. The worker in his 40′s was inspecting a piece of equipment in the waste handling building when it rotated, crushing his head. He is the third worker to die at TEPCO’s Fukushima plants in less than a year. TEPCO has been criticized repeatedly for the poor oversight and horrible labor conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi site. TEPCO handout of the incident: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150120_02-j.pdf This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this page on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org (or … Read entire article »
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Worker Who Fell Into Tank At Fukushima Daiichi Has Died.
The worker who fell into an empty tank under construction at Fukushima Daiichi has died from his injuries. We reported earlier today on the initial accident where the workers injuries were outlined by TEPCO. The male worker in his 50′s was not named and the specific cause of his death due to his injuries was not mentioned This is the second worker to die in less than a year and is among a growing number of injuries at the plant. TEPCO does not release the names of injured workers citing privacy concerns. If anyone sees the name of the worker who lost his life published in the press, please let us know. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 … Read entire article »
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Worker Seriously Injured In Tanks At Fukushima Daiichi
A 50 year old worker at the plant sustained serious injuries yesterday when he fell into a empty tank. The worker sustained a number of injuries from his fall. Left pneumothorax, left 4-5_6 rib fractures, sciatica right side, Fractures, unstable pelvic fracture, left thigh, trochanter The worker was responsive but unable to move when they evacuated him from the work area. The hospital helicopter was unable to transport him due to bad weather but was eventually taken by ambulance to the hospital in Iwaki. TEPCO has been criticized recently by the press for … Read entire article »
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The Ongoing Human Impact From Fukushima Daiichi
A number of events have transpired in the last week as the disaster continues to evolve even years later. The town of Futaba, one of two towns that host the remains of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has agreed to allow the town to be used as a “temporary” nuclear waste dump. Radiation levels continue to be extremely high in the town leaving most to assume they can never return. There is still a challenge as … Read entire article »
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