http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/04/former-us-nrc-chairman-gregory-jaczko.html
( Cuts off " we didn't know " , " who could have known " excuses..... )
From New York Times (4/8/2013), right after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission effectively shelved the idea of filtered vent:
From the beginning of the news of this leak, scientifically-minded people that I follow on Twitter have been talking about the difference in the amount of waste water that is supposed to be in each pond and the amount the same water in each pond as measured by TEPCO every day since the first news of the leak, with spreadsheets and charts. Now the MSM is finally getting wiser.
TEPCO's reassurance is that it is within the tolerance of the measuring equipment.
From Kyodo News (4/18/2013):
Meanwhile in one of the most contaminated towns and villages in Fukushima after the nuclear accident more than two years ago, officials have just launched a new program to encourage children to receive annual health checkups.
If a child undergoes one annual health checkup, he/she will receive 10,000 yen (these days it's close to US$100) worth of book coupons (gift certificates for books).
If a child happens to have evacuated from the village and does not go to the village schools (temporarily re-located to Fukushima City and Kawamata-machi, both contaminated to lesser degrees than this particular village), oh well that's too bad, his/her coupon value will be only 5,000 yen.
The officials openly admit the scheme is to incentivize people with children to come back to the village.
What's the name of the village?
Iitate-mura, with extremely high levels of iodine-131 and several thousand becquerels/kg of neptunium right after the March 2011 accident, and which, thanks to the very politically savvy mayor, has managed to keep the businesses and factories inside the village operating despite the village having been designated as "planned evacuation zone".
From Fukushima Minpo reporting as if it's a good thing (4/18/2013; part):
( Cuts off " we didn't know " , " who could have known " excuses..... )
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
Former US NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko: "All 104 nuclear power reactors now in operation in the United States have a safety problem that cannot be fixed"
From New York Times (4/8/2013), right after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission effectively shelved the idea of filtered vent:
Ex-Regulator Says Reactors Are Flawed
WASHINGTON — All 104 nuclear power reactors now in operation in the United States have a safety problem that cannot be fixed and they should be replaced with newer technology, the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Monday. Shutting them all down at once is not practical, he said, but he supports phasing them out rather than trying to extend their lives.
The position of the former chairman, Gregory B. Jaczko, is not unusual in that various anti-nuclear groups take the same stance. But it is highly unusual for a former head of the nuclear commission to so bluntly criticize an industry whose safety he was previously in charge of ensuring.
Asked why he did not make these points when he was chairman, Dr. Jaczko said in an interview after his remarks, “I didn’t really come to it until recently.”
“I was just thinking about the issues more, and watching as the industry and the regulators and the whole nuclear safety community continues to try to figure out how to address these very, very difficult problems,” which were made more evident by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, he said.“Continuing to put Band-Aid on Band-Aid is not going to fix the problem.”
Dr. Jaczko made his remarks at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington in a session about the Fukushima accident. Dr. Jaczko said that many American reactors that had received permission from the nuclear commission to operate for 20 years beyond their initial 40-year licenses probably would not last that long. He also rejected as unfeasible changes proposed by the commission that would allow reactor owners to apply for a second 20-year extension, meaning that some reactors would run for a total of 80 years.
Dr. Jaczko cited a well-known characteristic of nuclear reactor fuel to continue to generate copious amounts of heat after a chain reaction is shut down. That “decay heat” is what led to the Fukushima meltdowns. The solution, he said, was probably smaller reactors in which the heat could not push the temperature to the fuel’s melting point.
The nuclear industry disagreed with Dr. Jaczko’s assessment. “U.S. nuclear energy facilities are operating safely,” said Marvin S. Fertel, the president and chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade association. “That was the case prior to Greg Jaczko’s tenure as Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman. It was the case during his tenure as N.R.C. chairman, as acknowledged by the N.R.C.’s special Fukushima response task force and evidenced by a multitude of safety and performance indicators. It is still the case today.”
Dr. Jaczko resigned as chairman last summer after months of conflict with his four colleagues on the commission. He often voted in the minority on various safety questions, advocated more vigorous safety improvements, and was regarded with deep suspicion by the nuclear industry. A former aide to the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, he was appointed at Mr. Reid’s instigation and was instrumental in slowing progress on a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles from Las Vegas.
Dr. Jaczko visited Fukushima last summer. Maybe it was that visit that influenced him. If you haven't seen the NHK documentary of that visit, see my post from December 30, 2012. In the documentary, he seemed to be genuinely touched by the devastation in Namie-machi, and by the people's lives destroyed by the nuclear accident.
News from Radioactive Japan....
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-case-of-disappearing-600-tonnes-of.html
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013
The Case of Disappearing 600 Tonnes of Extremely Radioactive Waste Water at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant
From the beginning of the news of this leak, scientifically-minded people that I follow on Twitter have been talking about the difference in the amount of waste water that is supposed to be in each pond and the amount the same water in each pond as measured by TEPCO every day since the first news of the leak, with spreadsheets and charts. Now the MSM is finally getting wiser.
TEPCO's reassurance is that it is within the tolerance of the measuring equipment.
From Kyodo News (4/18/2013):
福島原発、汚染水６百トン消える 東電は大量漏えいを否定
600 tonnes of contaminated water disappeared from Fukushima I Nuke Plant, but TEPCO denies massive leak
東京電力福島第１原発の地下貯水槽から放射性物質に汚染された水が相次いで漏れた問題で、東電は地下貯水槽にあった汚染水の総量を現在約２万３千トンとしているが、漏えいを最初に確認した直後に示した総量は約２万３６００トンだった。約６００トンがどこかに消えたことになるが、東電は「計測機器の誤差の範囲」と説明している。
Waste water highly contaminated with radioactive materials has leaked from the in-the-ground water storage ponds at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. TEPCO currently puts the total amount of waste water that was stored in the ponds at 23,000 tonnes. However, the amount was 23,600 tonnes when TEPCO announced the first leak. 600 tonnes of water seems to be missing, but TEPCO says "It is within the tolerance of the measuring equipment."
どこかの貯水槽から大量に水が流出した可能性はないのか。東電は「外部に流出した明確な兆候はない」と、大量漏えいを否定している。
Isn't there a possibility that a large amount of water leaked from one of the ponds? TEPCO says "There is no clear sign of water having leaked outside", and denies there has been a massive leak.
One of the people I follow (Kontan_Bigcat) on Twitter has been saying the leak may be as much as 460 tonnes as of April 9, with 130 terabequerels of all beta. From histweet on April 9, 2013:
The top brown line is the total of the Ponds 1, 2 and 6, which was 13,093 tonnes on April 6 but 12,629 on April 9.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/04/radioactive-japan-one-of-most.html
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013
#Radioactive Japan: One of the Most Contaminated Villages and Towns in #Fukushima Lures Children Back with $100 Book Coupons
Meanwhile in one of the most contaminated towns and villages in Fukushima after the nuclear accident more than two years ago, officials have just launched a new program to encourage children to receive annual health checkups.
If a child undergoes one annual health checkup, he/she will receive 10,000 yen (these days it's close to US$100) worth of book coupons (gift certificates for books).
If a child happens to have evacuated from the village and does not go to the village schools (temporarily re-located to Fukushima City and Kawamata-machi, both contaminated to lesser degrees than this particular village), oh well that's too bad, his/her coupon value will be only 5,000 yen.
The officials openly admit the scheme is to incentivize people with children to come back to the village.
What's the name of the village?
Iitate-mura, with extremely high levels of iodine-131 and several thousand becquerels/kg of neptunium right after the March 2011 accident, and which, thanks to the very politically savvy mayor, has managed to keep the businesses and factories inside the village operating despite the village having been designated as "planned evacuation zone".
From Fukushima Minpo reporting as if it's a good thing (4/18/2013; part):
スタンプで受診率向上へ 飯舘村 内部被ばく、甲状腺検査 中学生以下図書カードに交換
Collect the stamps: Iitate-mura to give book coupons to children in middle schools and younger to boost the participation rate for internal radiation exposure [WBC] tests and thyroid tests
東京電力福島第一原発事故で全村避難した飯舘村は１７日、村の幼稚園児から中学生までの子ども全員に毎年、内部被ばく検査と甲状腺検査を受けることを促す「全までいっ子内部被ばく・甲状腺検査事業」を開始した。受診するとスタンプがたまり、図書カードと交換できる。受診率の低下が背景にあり、園児や児童・生徒に受診を習慣化させたい考えだ。
Iitate-mura, whose residents have evacuated from the village because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, started a new program on April 17 to urge children in the village from kindergarteners to middle schoolers to get tested for internal radiation exposure and thyroid every year. If children get tested, they will be given a stamp, which will be exchanged with book coupons. The project is in response to the lower participation rate, and [the village officials] want these children to make it a habit to be tested.
村が打ち出した内部被ばく・甲状腺検査事業は、福島市のあづま脳神経外科病院で年１回、両検査を受けるとスタンプが１個もらえる。スタンプは１個１万円分の図書カードに交換でき、卒園・卒業時にスタンプ数に応じた図書カードが交付される。幼稚園や学校が病院での検査を学校行事として計画する。
The program will give one stamp to a child if the child receives both internal radiation check and thyroid test once a year at Azuma Neurosurgical Hospital in Fukushima City. One stamp can be exchanged for book coupons worth 10,000 yen, and at graduation from kindergartens and schools children will be given the book coupons depending on the number of stamps they will have accumulated. [The village] kindergarten and schools will plan the tests at the hospital as school events.
避難のため村の幼稚園や学校から転校した子どもも対象だが、１スタンプで交換できるのは５千円分の図書カード。福島市飯野町にある村の幼稚園と中学校、川俣町にある村の小学校に戻ってもらう狙いもある。
The program also covers children who have transferred to other schools after they evacuated from the village. However, for them, one stamp is exchangeable for book coupons worth 5,000 yen. One of the program's aims is to have them come back to the village kindergarten and middle school in Iino-machi in Fukushima City, and the village elementary school in Kawamata-machi.
村は子どもの健康管理のため、年１回の内部被ばくと甲状腺の検査受診を求めているが、一度受診するとその後は受診しない子どもが増えている。受診者のほとんどが問題のない数値だったため、定期的な受診に結び付いていない、と村は分析している。
The village officials want children to undergo annual internal radiation testing and thyroid testing, but an increasing number of children have stopped taking these tests after the initial tests. The officials believe that since the initial test results for most children were not in the range that would cause alarm they haven't led to regular checkups.
Testing at a neurosurgical hospital? I checked the website of Azuma Neurosurgical Hospital. They do have pediatrics as one of their specialties but the doctor in charge of the pediatrics section is a surgeon specialized in cardiology. There is no thyroid specialist, or for that matter, radiation specialist.
The hospital has Fastscan by Camberra.
From Camberra's website about Fastscan:
The hospital has Fastscan by Camberra.
From Camberra's website about Fastscan:
The Fastscan whole body counter is designed to quickly and accurately monitor people for internal contamination of radionuclides with energies between 300 keV to 1.8 MeV. The FASTSCAN system uses large area sodium iodide detectors and CANBERRA's Apex-InVivo™ and Genie™ software to achieve low minimum detectable activities with count times as fast as one minute. It is intended for use in power plants and other facilities where the possible contamination spectra are well known and uncomplicated.
That doesn't seem to fit the situation in Fukushima and Tohoku/Kanto regions affected by the nuclear accident.
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