Fukushima Daiichi To Cost Citizens Another $83 Billion
The Japanese government plans to cover the costs of the Fukushima disaster including evacuee compensation and decommissioning of the plant site with a new public cost of $83 billion dollars. This includes a plan to make all electricity providers and consumers chip in to cover the costs of decommissioning other nuclear plants around Japan. This is not included in the $83 billion dollar estimate. The plans require approvals of the Diet but clearly show the massive … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Daiichi Floods, Shows Lack Of Preparedness
News reports indicated that groundwater at Fukushima Daiichi had risen so high it broke the surface and flowed into the port as a recent typhoon passed through the area. The general issue of rising groundwater has been the subject of much discussion between TEPCO and Japan’s nuclear regulator (NRA). As TEPCO prepared to close the steel sea wall and freeze the underground frozen wall, NRA stopped the process for a review of the potential for … Read entire article »
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90000 Still In Temporary Housing After Fukushima Disaster
The reporting out of Japan doesn’t define who is still homeless due to the nuclear disaster and who is still unable to return home due to the tsunami damage. 45,832 people still live in the tiny prefabricated temporary housing units. Others live in apartment buildings and other residential locations deemed “temporary” housing by the government. Some of the delay has been the slow construction of new public housing developments that were supposed to give residents … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Vent Tower 1-2 Water Drain Sampling Results
TEPCO has successfully obtained a sample and water depth for the sump drain connected to the unit 1-2 vent tower. They found 60cm of water in the 100 cm deep container. The water sample tested as follows: beta radiation: 60,000,000 bq/liter Cesium 134: 8,300,000 bq/liter Cesium 137: 52,000,000 bq/liter These readings are among the higher ranges of contaminated water found around the plant. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 1 Cover Being Removed, What Happens Next
Asahi Shimbun is reporting that work has begun to remove the cover from Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1. The cover has been in place since early in 2011 to prevent the release of radioactive substances and contaminated dust. The cover must be removed before work can begin to remove the collapsed roof structure and clean debris off of the refueling floor. This work has been highly problematic due to concerns the dust and fine debris on … Read entire article »
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A Fukushima Update; September 7, 2016
A number of individual events have taken place related to the disaster. They are worth noting but didn’t warrant their own post. Moody’s is reporting that TEPCO’s credit rating is dependent on them explaining how they will fund the massive ongoing clean up at Fukushima Daiichi. They cited the potential to restart reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa may help improve their credit rating, but the disaster will continue to weigh on their business until they provide some … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 2 Containment Inspection To Happen Early 2017
Asahi Shimbun is reporting that TEPCO has announced they would begin the robotic containment inspection of unit 2′s containment in early 2017. This work has been delayed after they found high levels of radiation from leaks around the CRD hatch where they planned to put the robot into containment. Work has been underway to decontaminate the area. It has not been documented, if they have found a way to inspect inside the hatch penetration tube. Alternatively … Read entire article »
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The Big Job To Sample Water At A Fukushima Vent Stack
The effort to deal with the unit 1-2 vent stack has grown in complexity. TEPCO claims in this new work that the radiation levels near the tower are so high that it is complicating work. A mock up facility was built to practice the work before the actual on site work took place. The goal of this latest work is to determine the water level in the sump, the water composition and to collect the sump … Read entire article »
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Typhoon Melts Two Sections Of Fukushima Ice Wall
Asahi Shimbun reported that two sections of the underground ice wall at Fukushima Daiichi have thawed and failed two sections. TEPCO also admitted that this caused contaminated water to reach the area past the wall near the sea. 740 tons of groundwater were pumped out of the reactor block area yet the groundwater level increased 7cm due to the extreme rainfall. TEPCO had not published any reports to their public system by the time Asahi Shimbun … Read entire article »
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Japan Is NOT Trying To Restart Fukushima Daiichi
A factually incorrect article published at OilPrice.com (Update: they have corrected the erroneous claim about restarting Fukushima Daiichi but left a photo of Fukushima Daiichi on their somewhat corrected story a copy of the original version can be found here) has begun propagating across the internet. TEPCO is NOT trying to restart reactors at Fukushima Daiichi. “Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc.’s (TEPCO) plan to restart the defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant has an increased chance of being implemented … Read entire article »
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1 Billion USD Lawsuit Over Hitachi Fukushima Cleanup Contracts
Purolite company based in the US has sued Hitachi for 1 billion USD in a US court over theft of intellectual property. The suit alleges that Hitachi signed on to a joint venture to develop contaminated water systems for Fukushima Daiichi back in 2011 or 2012. Once Hitachi had the proprietary technical information from Purolite they signed on to work on the project with AVANtech, also a US company, according to the allegation in the … Read entire article »
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Typhoon Lionrock Targets Fukushima Daiichi
Typhoon Lionrock has strengthened and changed course. Current predictions as of today shows it hitting the Tohoku coast as a category 1 typhoon. The center of the predicted path is around Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Fukushima Prefecture and Fukushima Daiichi are within the predicted path zone. Even if it doesn’t directly hit Fukushima Daiichi, outer bands could still cause significant problems. High winds could damage contaminated water tanks in the process of being disassembled or assembled on … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Seafood Smuggling Ring Busted In China
5000 tons of Fukushima fish, scallops and king crab are estimated to have been smuggled out of Japan in the last two years into markets in China, and possibly beyond. The estimated value of the illegal seafood is 34.7 million USD. The products were picked up in Hokkaido, sent to Vietnam for repackaging to remove evidence that they came from Fukushima Prefecture, then shipped to China and sold. It is unlikely any of these products were … Read entire article »
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GONE: Fukushima Hospital Patient Vanished In Disaster
Some time between March 14 and 16, at the height of the disaster she went missing. Most of the staff had fled after evacuations were ordered as the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi melted down. Staff last saw her March 14th. When the SDF arrived two days later to evacuate the remaining patients at Futaba Hospital in Okuma she was not among them. Subsequent searches never found the 88 year old woman, known to have dementia. Those involved … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Suffers Wrath of Kan
TEPCO lost 750,000 customers and has seen their profits drop by 37% in their newest financial reports. This is a combination of national rate adjustments that lowered power rates the utility can charge customers and the deregulation of Japan’s electric utilities. PM Naoto Kan negotiated a new law as part of his being pushed out of office back in 2011. The law deregulated electricity markets in Japan, freeing up consumers to pick their power utility. The … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Frozen Wall Sees Small Progress From Concrete Addition
The newest frozen wall report documented the process of injecting concrete into the areas experiencing freezing problems along the sea front sections of the wall. Phase 1 is completed and phase 2 is underway. Some sections have seen slight improvement since the concrete injection began. TEPCO considers the problem to be fast moving groundwater on either end of the reactor blocks. We have not completely ruled out the potential for higher temperatures in those waters … Read entire article »
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Fukushima R&D To Weld Containment Equipment Hatch Closed
From the IRID 2015 report, there is a research plan to weld shut the containment equipment hatches from the inside. This would be done by drilling a hole and inserting a welding arm. This tactic likely came about due to the leaking hatch at unit 3. Our reporting on that problem can be found here. This method of sealing the equipment hatches would be required if they plan to flood the containment vessel as part of … Read entire article »
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Something Incredible Found In Fukushima Muon Scan
As we process the information released related to the second muon scan of Fukushima Daiichi unit 2 a number of interesting things have been found. This however, was a surprise. SimplyInfo.org research team member Peter Melzer used an image analysis program to refine the image published by IRID & TEPCO. Image J software was used to do an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis. This refinement showed something quite different than TEPCO’s original image. “FFT analysis revealed … Read entire article »
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Another Worker Drops Dead At Fukushima Daiichi
A worker has died at Fukushima Daiichi. The report (machine translated below) indicates he was found dead around 10:39 in the morning. So it would be unlikely he was leaving work for the day. The weather recently has been somewhat warm but not extremely hot. Some of the early cases of workers dropping dead or falling ill at the plant were considered heat related. After this some heat related counter measures were put in place. … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 2 Muon Scan Not So Conclusive
TEPCO and IRID released a set of reports on the muon scan of unit 2. This is a follow up report to the preliminary scan results in June. A claim is made in the new report that the majority of the melted fuel is in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel but this claim is questionable upon our further review of the reports. You can find our previous reporting on the unit 2 muon scans … Read entire article »
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Pokemon Spotted At Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO has reported Pokemon have been spotted on the grounds of Fukushima Daiichi. They did not specify what ones were found on site so it remains a mystery if they would be worth catching. The company has asked Niantic to remove the creatures in the game from the disaster site to deter would be Pokemon trainers from showing up on site. They have also asked workers at the disaster site to refrain from playing the … Read entire article »
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Japan’s Business Lobby Bails On Nuclear
We have tracked this issue since 2011, but this is an unexpected turn. Japan’s business lobby(Keidanren) has been loudly pushing nuclear power. Now Reuters is reporting that another influential business lobby, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives is pushing for changes to Japan’s energy policy. They want the government to shift to more renewables and away from nuclear power. “We have a sense of crisis that Japan will become a laughing stock if we do not … Read entire article »
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What Windscale Can Tell About The Future Of Fukushima Daiichi
The decommissioning authority managing the long term response to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster site has cited three previous nuclear disasters as sources of information for planning their efforts. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Windscale. The Windscale reactor was a graphite pile weapons material reactor using highly enriched uranium unlike Fukushima Daiichi’s units that are all boiling water power reactors using low enriched uranium. Yet some of the challenges at Windscale show where technology is at currently … Read entire article »
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Radioactive “Glass” Found In Lungs Of Fukushima Workers
A study published in March of 2016 found insoluble cesium lodged in the lungs of some of the highly exposed Fukushima disaster response workers. This group of seven workers who had exposures from the initial disaster that were over 250 mSv were monitored by Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS). They found that most of the workers cesium 134 and 137 declined at an expected rate due to radioactive decay and biological half life where … Read entire article »
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NRA Tells TEPCO To Reduce Radioactive Water In Reactor Buildings At Fukushima
NRA has instructed TEPCO to deal with the radioactive water in the reactor building basements at Fukushima Daiichi. The request included reducing the radioactive contamination in the water and also the volume. The addition of more holding tanks was included in the request. NRA appears to be concerned with contaminated water leaking out of the reactor buildings or being flushed out by a tsunami at the plant. Current ground water levels around the reactor buildings had trended … Read entire article »
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Melted Fuel To Be Sampled From Fukushima Reactors Containment
A contract announcement confirms new plans for the melted reactors at Fukushima Daiichi. Efforts are underway to develop the equipment needed to retrieve corium (melted fuel) samples from inside the containment structures of units 1-3 at the plant. No solid time frame was mentioned. UK based James Fisher Nuclear secured the contract to build the retrieval equipment with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). MHI has developed a number of the larger robot platforms used for various work … Read entire article »
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NDF Tries To Walk Back Fukushima Daiichi Sarcophagus Admission
After news inadvertently leaked via NHK that the decommissioning authority (NDF) for Fukushima Daiichi was considering a Chernobyl type sarcophagus for the plant, there is now an effort by the authority to walk that back. Mayors for the impacted towns near the plant expressed obvious outrage to the media after hearing the news. This apparently caused NDF to try to do some damage control. They did confirm that this isn’t a done deal, but is an … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning Takes A Horrible Turn
NHK reports that the decommissioning authority in charge of dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster is now considering a sarcophagus to entomb the failed reactors rather than attempting to remove the melted fuel, debris and buildings. The authority told NHK they would still consider the two fuel removal techniques but they are adding the sarcophagus option to the list. They did not elaborate about why it is now being officially added to the considered … Read entire article »
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Japan’s Nuclear Industry Takes Two Major Hits
Just this week, Japan’s nuclear industry has seen two major hits to the restart plans. Anti-nuclear advocate Satoshi Mitazono was elected governor of Kagoshima Prefecture on Sunday. His opponent, the current governor had given restart approval to the Sendai nuclear plant. Mr. Mitazono ran as an independent and won with a coalition of support from multiple political parties in Japan. He is calling for a temporary suspension of Sendai nuclear plant’s operation to review the safety risks … Read entire article »
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Cat. 5 Typhoon To Hit Taiwan Soon
A massive category 5 typhoon is set to hit Taiwan Thursday night into Friday (Taiwan is 12+ hours on the eastern US). The storm has pressure estimates as high as were seen in hurricane Katrina. The current proximity of the storm could mean that it makes landfall as a category 4 or 5. The current path estimate puts landfall of the eye centrally upon Taiwan’s coast. This could mean that either the north or south … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo.org Chat Has Moved
The chat system has had a periodic update to a new instance of the application. The updated version can be found at chat.simplyinfo.org. You will need to re-register but can use the same username and password as on previous instances of the application. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2016 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Radioactive Glass Microparticles In Tokyo Confirm Other Findings
A new report out of a geochemistry conference in Japan gives new insight into previous research on the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. Researchers collected samples from around Tokyo for analysis. These samples consisted of air filters collected on March 15, 2011. One of the significant findings is that these microparticles were produced during the reaction when the melted fuel came in contact with the concrete in the reactor containment structure. This stage is well after the meltdown … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Disaster Costs Taxpayers $100 Billion So Far
The Financial Times reports the estimate, based on work by Ritsumeikan University professor Kenichi Oshima. This includes what taxpayers have paid through taxes or TEPCO electric bills for compensation and disaster related work to cover disaster costs. It highlights how a nuclear disaster is largely burdened back on society. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2016 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Documentary; 88 Hours Inside The Disaster
NHK is broadcasting a documentary throughout the week called 88 Hours – The Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown. It is based on the testimony and interviews with workers who were involved in the response at the plant during the first 88 hours as the meltdowns unfolded. The documentary views more like a disaster movie than a documentary yet captures the gravity of the disaster and the struggle to respond. The production relies heavily on CGI to fill … Read entire article »
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Fire At Namie Nuclear Waste Site
Loose branches and dead grass being prepared to be loaded into the iconic black bags used for nuclear soil and debris storage caught fire in Namie Fukushima. The fire burned for 5 hours on March 5th before fire fighters were able to put it out. The fire can be seen in the ANN video burning in close proximity to the large piles of black bags. No information about radiation levels or how much radiation was … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo.org Fukushima 5th Year Report
Our research team’s 5th year report on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is out. Full of technical details rarely covered by the press, the report shows the new understanding of the disaster. The social and environmental impacts are also covered in this 40 page report complete with diagrams, illustrations and images covering the past year. Read the report online or download a copy here: SimplyInfo.org Fukushima 5 Year Report This article would not be possible without the extensive … Read entire article »
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11 New Fukushima Thyroid Cancers
The Fukushima Health Survey announced they have found 11 new thyroid cancer cases in children under 18. Two were found to have nodules in the first round of screening and have since developed thyroid cancers. 19 of the 39 cancers found in the second round of screening were previously “cleared” in the first round of testing, indicating their cancers developed recently. The health survey excuse this time is that their estimates of possible exposures are lower … Read entire article »
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How The Fukushima Daiichi Sea Wall Was Damaged
TEPCO announced last week that the steel and concrete sea wall they installed and recently closed the last section of had been damaged. The wall was bowing outward due to increased groundwater pressure. A recent presentation to METI shows why. Steel pilings to close the opening near unit 4 happened around September 22. The final concrete sealing work took place around October 26th. TEPCO monitored water levels in the amount of ground water they removed from wells … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 1 Discharge Canal Begins Filtration
The discharge canal of unit 1 has been the site of ongoing high levels of contamination since the initial disaster. TEPCO began operating a portable filtration system on the canal on November 27th. This project is of interest as it had not been announced to the public prior to implementation. There have been plans in the works to install such systems to filter the port water, discharge canals were not mentioned in that preparation. TEPCO did … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Unit 3 New Hatch Investigation
TEPCO sent the small 3D printed robot equipped with a smart phone into inspect the unit 3 containment hatch a second time. Video from the robot along with video taken by a scope inserted into the space near the hatch provided a good view of the conditions in this area. It did not include radiation readings. The robot was controlled via a group of WIFI repeaters. The robot found considerable corrosion along the connection of the … Read entire article »
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