Monday, August 19, 2013

Fukushima contamination updates - August 19 - 20 , 2013...... " Water World 2013 " - Fukushima Bay Tritium measurments hit highest ever as Tepco admits to 40 Trillion Becquerels have spilled ( who knows what the true numbers might be ? ) As the reality that Fukushima is the world worst nuclear disaster admitted to so far , Rube Goldberg schemes to keep things together for a day / week / month longer falling to the wayside.....Grim reality that Tepco flying / lying in the dark slowly utterd out loud ( that's when you know there's no hope really - the truth is slowly being vocalized ) ......

August 20th ....... All hell breaking loose.....

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-radioactive-puddle-leakage-710/

( So , how many of these tanks might be leaking and when might Tepco release those facts ? 300 tons of highly radioactive water released and this is just a level one event ? )


Another tank with highly radioactive water at the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant has leaked, reported operator TEPCO. The contaminated water contains an unprecedented 80 million Becquerels of radiation per liter. The norm is a mere 150 Bq.
A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Tuesday that 300 tons of highly radioactive water has leaked from a stainless steel tank on the territory of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. 
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has classified the leak as a Level One incident, the second lowest on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) for radiological releases, a spokesman informed Reuters.
The incident is the first Level One since the actual catastrophe at Fukushima in March 2011 when Japanese authorities issued an INES rating.
Level One means that the incident is classified as anomalous situation that exceeds limits of safe functioning of an installation. The most dangerous, Level Seven, has only been applied twice: for the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 and the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima plant itself.
Workers carry out a radiation screening on a bus for a media tour at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Reuters / Issei Kato)
Workers carry out a radiation screening on a bus for a media tour at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Reuters / Issei Kato)

Release of radioactive energy is measured in Becquerels, i.e. radioactive decay collision events per second happening in a certain volume of material. The internationally accepted normal radioactivity level is 150 Becquerels.
According to TEPCO’s own measurements the puddle that formed around the damaged tank is emitting radiation of 100 Millisieverts per hour, as a probe has been taken about half a meter from the water, reported Kyodo News. 
A dose rate measured in Sieverts indicates how much radiation a person would receive standing near the source of radiation.
A typical release of radiation is generally taken for 1 Millisievert per year, but exposure limits for the nuclear industry personnel are much higher. Still, an hour near that puddle of radioactive water is equivalent to five years of total radiation exposure – even for TEPCO staff deployed at the Fukushima site.
TEPCO has to keep the melted uranium fuel rods of three destroyed reactors awash with water using a jerry-rigged system only to keep the melted debris cool and relatively stable. To establish a closed cycle of the process, the operator stores huge amounts of radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear facility.
It is believed that overall there are more than 350,000 tons of radioactive water stored at the Fukushima plant in special tanks and the drainage system, and without special protection in the basements of the devastated facility. At the beginning of 2013, TEPCO drained most of the basement galleries, pumping radioactive water into newly delivered tanks.
Tanks of radiation-contaminated water are seen at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Reuters / Kyodo)
Tanks of radiation-contaminated water are seen at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Reuters / Kyodo)

TEPCO insists that since the tanks are located on elevated ground some 500 meters from the seashore, the puddle from the damaged tank has not escaped into the Pacific Ocean. Still, the level of contaminated water in the tank continues to lower, the company stated.
At the same time the ruined reactors of the Fukushima nuclear facility are located practically on the coast. And while the melted cores of the three destroyed reactors have burnt through the concrete basement of the reactor zone, radioactive water is soaking down into soil, eventually getting into the Pacific Ocean – a fact confirmed by radiation samples.
Leakage of radiation-contaminated water has been the major threat to Japan’s population and environment from the very beginning of the Fukushima disaster. But until recently TEPCO has been flatly denying that radioactive waste is escaping into the Pacific. 
Only in late July the company acknowledged the fact that contaminated water is escaping from basements and trenches of the Fukushima plant into the ocean.
Japanese authorities have demanded that TEPCO take immediate measures to stop radioactive leakage into the ocean. 
After Fukushima disaster practically all Japanese nuclear power plants were taken out of service for safety checks. So far only two out of total 50 Japanese nuclear power plants have returned to service. 












Energy news blogspot....


Fukushima Governor: This is a national emergency — Massive radioactive leak causes top officials to hold emergency meeting — Tepco: Leakage believed to be continuing Tuesday

‘Growing Alarm’: 25 trillion becquerels of Fukushima radioactive material leaks into ground — Kyodo News Advisory: Exact source of extreme contamination unknown; Tank missing 300,000 liters (VIDEO)

Officials: ‘Nuclear Fuel Material’ or the like leaked during today’s Level 1 event near Unit 4 at Fukushima plant — “We will explain this incident in the press conference” (MAP)

NHK: Level 1 nuclear incident today at Fukushima plant — “Extremely high radiation levels” found leaking near Unit 4 (VIDEO)


Fukushima diary blogspot....


Fukushima worker “300m3 of leaked water went to the radio relay station area” / Worst place to flow to

Following up this article..[Tank leakage] 300m3, 24,000,000,000,000 Bq of β nuclide released / still keeps leaking [URL]   The Fukushima worker Happy11311 commented on Twitter that the extremely contaminated 300m3 of leaked water went to the radio relay station area, where is the worst place the water can go to.   <Translate> The contaminated water [...]

[Tank leakage] 300m3, 24,000,000,000,000 Bq of β nuclide released / still keeps leaking

Following up this article..Fukushima worker “Expiration date for use of the contaminated tanks is coming.” [URL]   Tepco held an extraordinary press conference for the leakage on 8/20/2013. From their announcement, one of the tanks (No.5) lost 1/3 of the stocked water, which is approx. 300 tones. Most of the leaked water has travelled out [...]






http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-19/tritium-measurement-fukushima-bay-highest-ever-tepco-admits-40-trillion-becquerels-h


Tritium Measurement In Fukushima Bay Highest Ever As TEPCO Admits 40 Trillion Becquerels Have Spilled Into Pacific

Tyler Durden's picture




Over the weekend we posted an in-depth narrative of what may happen in a theoreticalworst case scenario in Fukushima, one in which the government continues to do nothing and pretends all is well, and where the end casualties are millions of innocent Japanese (and other) citizens, whose only crime is believing their government. Sadly, with every passing day the theoretical is becoming all too real, and moments ago reality struck again, when the Nikkei newspaper reported that readings of tritium in seawater taken from the bay near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has shown 4700 becquerels per liter.
This was the highest tritium level in the measurement history.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has detected the highest radiation level in seawater collected in the harbor of the crippled nuclear plant in the past 15 days, Nikkei reports.

TEPCO said the highest radiation level was detected near reactor 1. Previous measurements showed tritium levels at 3800 becquerels per liter near reactor 1, and 2600 becquerels per liter near reactor 2. The concentration of tritium in the harbor’s seawater has been continuously rising since May, according to Nikkei. 

Also on Monday, a leak of highly contaminated water was discovered from a drain valve of a tank dike located on the premises of the nuclear plant, according to Fukushima’s operator responsible for the clean-up.

The level of radiation at the site was estimated at 100 millisieverts per hour, while the safe level of radiation is 1-13 millisieverts per year, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.  The plant’s operator is currently investigating reasons for the leak, TEPCO said in a statement.
We don't know if simply raising the "safety threshold" again will do it this time, but we do know that trillions of becquerels flowing into the Pacific is a lot to quite a lot:
Earlier, Tepco admitted that an estimated 20 to 40 trillion becquerels of tritium may have flowed into the Pacific Ocean since the nuclear disaster.
Tritium, which slowly but surely is making its way to the United States. But one can't blame TEPCO of doing nothing. Oh wait. One can.
Protective barriers installed to prevent the flow of toxic water into the ocean have failed to do so. The level of contaminated water has already risen to 60cm above the barriers, which has been a major cause of the daily leak of toxic substances, TEPCO admitted.

Japan’s Ministry of Industry recently estimated that around  300 tons of contaminated groundwater has been seeping into the Pacific Ocean on a daily basis. TEPCO has promised to reinforce protective shields to keep radioactive leaks at bay.
And if that fails, TEPCO will simply "freeze" the exploded nuclear reactor in an inverted igloo in its latest idiotic MacGuyverian contraption, one which unlike Hollywood, does not have a happy ending when everything goes up, quite literally, in radioactive smoke again.


FROM ENERGY NEWS....




Radio: Fukushima may be eclipsing Chernobyl as worst nuclear disaster in history… It’s like a time bomb — They really need to seal off underground (AUDIO)


Fukushima Mystery? TV: Japan expert says radiation levels in ocean too high to be explained by groundwater flow alone — Must be coming from “other contamination routes” entering Pacific — “Devastating impact” to come? (VIDEO)

NHK: Fukushima workers irradiated — Radiation alarm sounds — “No immediate signs of illness” (VIDEO)

Wall St. Journal: Unknown where Fukushima’s nuclear fuel went; Even if found, they don’t know how to get it out — RT: No one knows where the three 100-ton blobs are




FROM FUKUSHIMA DIARY



Tepco doesn’t analyze groundwater deeper than 16m underground / Tepco “No reason not to do it”

In the press conference of 8/19/2013, Tepco commented they don’t make an observation hole deeper than 16m underground, but they don’t have a reason not to make one. Having the contamination level increasing in the Pacific, Tepco made borings in the seaside of Fukushima nuclear plant area in order to analyze the groundwater. However, they [...]

[Dust alarm] High level of Cs-134/137 detected / Still under mask wearing order

Following up this article..Fukushima worker “Dust monitoring alarm went off possibly due to nitrogen gas injection to reactor2&3″ [URL]     By the dust sampling analysis from 9:50 to 10:10 (20 mins), Tepco detected high level of Cesium-134/137. Cs-134 : 2.6 × 10^2 Bq/m3 Cs-137 : 5.8 × 10^2 Bq/m3   The alarm goes off when [...]

Fukushima worker “Expiration date for use of the contaminated tanks is coming.”

Following up this article..Another leakage of contaminated water tank / 100 mSv/h on the surface [URL]   The Fukushima worker Happy11311 commented on Twitter that the leakage might be caused by the heat and the thermal expansion of the bolts.He concluded the expiration date for use of the tanks may be coming.   <Translate> I think [...]

Another leakage of contaminated water tank / 100 mSv/h on the surface

According to Tepco, contaminated water was found leaking from a tank at 10:40 AM of 8/19/2013. It was in the area called H4, but it is not specified which tank is leaking. Approx. 90,000 cm3 of retained water leaked out of the local dam. Tepco states probably it didn’t reach the sea. The radioactive concentration [...]

No comments:

Post a Comment