Fukushima Diary......
http://enenews.com/journal-fukushima-has-an-ongoing-melt-out-is-this-not-the-worst-possible-outcome-nuclear-fuel-mixing-with-groundwater-and-leaking-into-sea-disaster-never-seen-in-human-history
(UPDATE) Asahi Shinbun did an interview with Mr. Izumida (in Japanese, and inEnglish translation, 4/23/2014). He laments there is no "world-class standard" in Japanese nuclear regulation and nuclear accident preparedness. He got that right. No mention of potassium iodide pills that didn't exist but were stored in a former high school building.
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It's ironic that it happened in a prefecture whose governor, Hirohiko Izumida, has won wide followings at least among net users by presenting himself as the champion and defender of citizens against evil TEPCO over Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant.
Izumida's government did not purchase potassium iodide pills and lied about it, and received the national government subsidy for the non-existent pills.
Well, since Mr. Izumida does not want to allow TEPCO to vent even in a severe nuclear accident at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, who needs those pills? Right?
From Kyodo News (4/22/2014):
It hasn't happened for some time, this telephone game over the Fukushima nuclear accident mostly due to translation errors (intentional and unintentional). The last one I wrote about in the English blog was in September 2013, and that was about the world as we knew back then ending because of the "collapsed" exhaust stack at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
I wrote about the not-so-brilliant comment by Mr. Akira Ono, plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, in an April 19, 2014 post. He said he would make the switches for emergency temporary pumps "tamper-proof", which I argued would defeat the purpose of easy access in an emergency.
In that same post, I also noted that Reuters had two different stories to tell in its Japanese article and its English article on the same topic of contaminated water routed to wrong buildings.
And as I suspected, the Reuters English article got quoted by the US media (I haven't checked the UK media) and morphed. It will be soon imported back to Japan as "credible and reliable English-language source which would always tell the truth".
It started out as a solid, fact-based article in Japanese by Reuters Japan(4/17/2014). Mr. Ono's comment comes in the very first paragraph (English translation is mine):
This naturally invited one English-language media outlet called "nsnbc" to totally separate Mr. Ono's comment, and added some fluff on their own to create a familiar fantasy world of doom.
From nsnbc (4/19/2014):
Tepco “Total tritium in Fukushima :
3,400,000,000,000,000 Bq”/JP Gov considers to
dilute and discharge to the Pacific
Posted by Mochizuki on April 26th, 2014 · 3 Comments
The total volume of Tritium is 3,400,000,000,000,000 Bq in Fukushima plant, from the report that Tepco submitted to METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) on 4/24/2014.
This is 230 times much as the annual safety limit of 4 nuclear reactors to discharge to the sea.
Among 3,400 trillion Bq, 2,500 trillion Bq is assumed to be in the molten fuel debris.
The total Tritium volume increased by 17 trillion Bq from the estimate that Tepco released this January, which suggests the molten fuel is still releasing new Tritium when it’s cooled down.
This is beyond the removable volume at the current technology level. The task forse of METI suggested to dilute and discharge it to the Pacific as a “realistic solution”, stated it is necessary to study the “effective” way of diluting.
http://enenews.com/journal-fukushima-has-an-ongoing-melt-out-is-this-not-the-worst-possible-outcome-nuclear-fuel-mixing-with-groundwater-and-leaking-into-sea-disaster-never-seen-in-human-history
Syndic Literary Journal No. 10, by poet Taki Yuriko and translated by John Saxon, Dec. 2013:
Excerpts from ‘Fukushima has an Ongoing Melt-Out’
- On March 11, 2011, Pandora’s Box was opened.
- TEPCO reports, “1000 tons of groundwater Flow daily into the reactor structure. Half the contaminated water is Pumped into land tanks, but Half leaks out to sea”
- In short, Melted nuclear fuel has accumulated In the reactor bottom – Meltdown.
- But now it has breached the reactor bottom, Leaking out of the containment vessel – Melt-through.
- Containment vessels have at least two openings, An entrance for ground water and An exit for contaminated water. Nuclear fuel mixing With the ground water and Leaking into the sea – Melt-out!
- Is this not The worst possible outcome?
- But they deliberately hide the danger, Removing key terms from their reports.
- With the kind of disaster Never seen in human history and Imagined only in movies, Why is there no clear admission?
- The Japanese government says it can retire these plants within forty years. But only if robots can be developed in ten years To replace the human workers And determine where the problem is Inside the highly radioactive reactor. “Where the problem is?!”
- It’s the “hole” through which the Melted nuclear fuel is leaking! Why don’t they SAY THAT?!
Japan Times, Commentary by Prof. Christopher Hobson of Waseda University: Apr. 24, 2014: [...] many serious challenges lie ahead. There will be more leaks and problems at the No. 1 plant. There will also have to be the controlled release of contaminated water into the ocean. Public support and understanding will be needed through these difficult processes. For this to happen, Tepco needs to begin to rebuild its credibility with the public [...] Tepco’s regaining the trust of Japan’s public is just as difficult a task as resolving the technical challenges in decommissioning the plant. The only way this might happen is [...] to be more honest and transparent about the problems in Fukushima.
More from Energy News - Japan
NBC News: ‘Biblical devastation’ from Fukushima disaster, says former official — TV: “When I was mayor, I knew many people who died from heart attacks… many people in Fukushima died suddenly, even young people… Tepco employees also are dying, but everyone is keeping mum about it” (VIDEO)
Show Host: I was told not to discuss Fukushima on air, but I did anyway –”They didn’t want it talked about a lot, but eventually it became undeniable” — “World not rushing to aid Japan because nothing can be done… just getting worse and worse… it’s a horror, it’s a tragedy” (VIDEO)
Fukushima Diary .....
Fukushima plant area dose still remains
dangerously high even outside of the buildings
/ 10mSv ~ 80mSv/h
Posted by Mochizuki on April 24th, 2014 · No Comments
Following up this article.. Someone turned on 4 irrelevant pumps / 203t of 37,000,000,000 Bq/m3 contaminated water transferred to wrong place [URL]
On 4/23/2014, Tepco announced the atmospheric dose beside the issued building is 10mSv/h. The surface dose of the pipes is 80mSv/h.
The worker’s exposure dose limit is 50mSv/y. It reaches this limit only within 5 hours.
The reactor coolant water, which is extremely contaminated, is transferred to a subsidiary building near reactor4 to circulate. However on 4/13/2014, Tepco found the water was transferred to the irrelevant buildings by someone for unknown reason. Tepco is interviewing with over 90 workers but they haven’t obtained any useful information yet.
This building is likely to be leaking the highly contaminated water to underground. Tepco needs to implement the investigation all around this building, however the high level of radiation is preventing them from checking. The highest dose is 10mSv/h.
Fukushima plant area still remains dangerously contaminated. It “consumes” worker’s integral dose only to investigate the plant area outside of the crippled buildings.
Related article.. Tepco considers to track workers by location information in Fukushima plant having series of suspicious “accidents” [URL2]
[Nuclear is cheap] Tepco received “27th”
financial support from Nuclear Damage Fund /
3.7 Trillion yen so far
Posted by Mochizuki on April 23rd, 2014 · 3 Comments
On 4/23/2014, Tepco announced they received the 27th financial support from the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund.
The value of the support is 191.8 billion yen. They have received 3,687,000,000,000 yen of financial support from this fund and 120 billion yen of compensation in accordance with the “Act on Contract for Indemnification of Nuclear Damage Compensation”.
Tepco states the total of the financial support that Tepco has received so far is not sufficient to cover the compensation payouts until the end of May 2014.
The announced to the press as below.
EX SKF.......
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014
Falsification in Vogue: Niigata Prefecture Lied about Potassium Iodide Pill Purchase, Received Government Subsidy for Non-Purchase
(UPDATE) Asahi Shinbun did an interview with Mr. Izumida (in Japanese, and inEnglish translation, 4/23/2014). He laments there is no "world-class standard" in Japanese nuclear regulation and nuclear accident preparedness. He got that right. No mention of potassium iodide pills that didn't exist but were stored in a former high school building.
---------------------------
It's ironic that it happened in a prefecture whose governor, Hirohiko Izumida, has won wide followings at least among net users by presenting himself as the champion and defender of citizens against evil TEPCO over Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant.
Izumida's government did not purchase potassium iodide pills and lied about it, and received the national government subsidy for the non-existent pills.
Well, since Mr. Izumida does not want to allow TEPCO to vent even in a severe nuclear accident at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, who needs those pills? Right?
From Kyodo News (4/22/2014):
３０キロ圏内、ヨウ素剤ゼロ 柏崎刈羽、購入済み装う
No potassium iodide pills inside 30-kilometer radius of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP, [Niigata prefectural government] pretended they had purchased the pills
新潟県は２２日、東京電力柏崎刈羽原発（同県）の過酷事故に備え、２０１２年度中に同原発から１０～３０キロ圏の住民向けに配備予定だった安定ヨウ素剤約１３２万錠を、購入しないまま放置していたと発表した。
Niigata prefectural government announced on April 22 that 1.32 million potassium iodide pills to be distributed to residents during the fiscal 2012 [that ended in March 31, 2013] in areas within 10 to 30 kilometer from TEPCO Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant (in Niigata Prefecture) in preparation for a severe accident hadn't been purchased.
期限の１３年３月末までに調達できるめどがたたず、担当職員が手続きを中断。書類に「購入済み」と記入したため、周囲もチェックできず、国の交付金約８００万円が支払われていた。
The government employee in charge stopped the purchasing process when there was no prospect of procuring the pills by the end of March in 2013. The employee wrote "already purchased" in the document, and no one verified it. The subsidy of about 8 million yen (US$80,000) from the national government was paid based on the document.
購入予定だったヨウ素剤は、防災用倉庫として使っている旧興農館高校（新潟市）に配備したとして、事務処理されていた。県医務薬事課は「速やかに調達したい」としている。
The [phantom] potassium iodide pills that were supposed to have been purchased were "stored" at a former high school building in Niigata City which is now used as a disaster prevention warehouse, according to the paperwork. The medical and pharmaceutical section of the prefectural government says they intend to procure as quickly as possible.
Like that 30-year-old so-called researcher, this hapless government employee should have held a press conference and declared,
"Potassium iodide pills exist! Potassium iodide pills are the truth! I have seen them 200 times!"
and all would have been forgiven.
With teary eyes of course. Water-proof mascara and eyeliner, if available.
With teary eyes of course. Water-proof mascara and eyeliner, if available.
MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014
Telephone Game for N+1 Time: From #Fukushima I NNP "Not Sufficiently Managed" to "Out of Control" in Three Simple Steps
It hasn't happened for some time, this telephone game over the Fukushima nuclear accident mostly due to translation errors (intentional and unintentional). The last one I wrote about in the English blog was in September 2013, and that was about the world as we knew back then ending because of the "collapsed" exhaust stack at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
I wrote about the not-so-brilliant comment by Mr. Akira Ono, plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, in an April 19, 2014 post. He said he would make the switches for emergency temporary pumps "tamper-proof", which I argued would defeat the purpose of easy access in an emergency.
In that same post, I also noted that Reuters had two different stories to tell in its Japanese article and its English article on the same topic of contaminated water routed to wrong buildings.
And as I suspected, the Reuters English article got quoted by the US media (I haven't checked the UK media) and morphed. It will be soon imported back to Japan as "credible and reliable English-language source which would always tell the truth".
It started out as a solid, fact-based article in Japanese by Reuters Japan(4/17/2014). Mr. Ono's comment comes in the very first paragraph (English translation is mine):
福島第１原発、汚染水の誤移送は「管理に不備」＝小野所長
Routing contaminated water to wrong buildings at Fukushima I Nuclear Power plant is due to "insufficient management", says Plant Manager Ono
福島第１原子力発電所の小野明所長は１５日の記者団とのやりとりで、約２０３トンの汚染水が本来とは別の建屋に誤って移送されたトラブルについて「恥ずかしい話。十分に管理できていない」などと語り、態勢の不備を認めた。調査を進め対策を講じるとしている。
Mr. Akira Ono, plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, spoke with the press on April 15 and commented on the problem of about 203 tonnes of contaminated water having been routed to wrong buildings, saying "I am ashamed. We haven't been able to sufficiently manage the plant (or we haven't been able to manage the plant as sufficiently as we would like)," admitting to inadequacy of the plant management. He said [the company] will investigate and come up with countermeasures.
Then, when the article was translated into English and arranged for English-speaking readers, three things happened.
First, the article title and the opening paragraph dropped the mention of routing water to wrong buildings and associated Mr. Ono's comment with contaminated water management in general.
Second, Mr. Ono's comment was translated incorrectly - even if it is not technically wrong, that's not what Japanese would understand hearing Mr. Ono.
Third, Mr. Ono's comment was severed from the context; then the context - that Mr. Ono was speaking about the particular incidence of routing water to wrong buildings - was placed after Mr. Ono's comment.
And this is the end result, also by Reuters but in English (4/17/2014; emphasis is mine):
First, the article title and the opening paragraph dropped the mention of routing water to wrong buildings and associated Mr. Ono's comment with contaminated water management in general.
Second, Mr. Ono's comment was translated incorrectly - even if it is not technically wrong, that's not what Japanese would understand hearing Mr. Ono.
Third, Mr. Ono's comment was severed from the context; then the context - that Mr. Ono was speaking about the particular incidence of routing water to wrong buildings - was placed after Mr. Ono's comment.
And this is the end result, also by Reuters but in English (4/17/2014; emphasis is mine):
Manager at Japan's Fukushima plant admits radioactive water "embarrassing"
The manager of the Fukushima nuclear power plant admits to embarrassment that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water, eight months after Japan's prime minister told the world the matter was resolved.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant's operator, has been fighting a daily battle against contaminated water since Fukushima was wrecked by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government pledged half a billion dollars last year to tackle the issue, but progress has been limited.
"It's embarrassing to admit, but there are certain parts of the site where we don't have full control," Akira Ono told reporters touring the plant this week.
He was referring to the latest blunder at the plant: channeling contaminated water to the wrong building.
This naturally invited one English-language media outlet called "nsnbc" to totally separate Mr. Ono's comment, and added some fluff on their own to create a familiar fantasy world of doom.
From nsnbc (4/19/2014):
TEPCO’s Fukushima Manager: “Embarrassing, but we don’t have control”
TEPCO’s manager of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP), Akira Ono, has begun to come clean on contamination control at the site. Akaira Ono broke the iron discipline admitting that it is embarrassing, but TEPCO’s attempts to plug the leaks of radioactive water have failed. But have Ono and TEPCO really begun to come clean? The site is so volatile that an earthquake could force TEPCO to abandon the site and a meltdown of tons of spent fuel rods.
Making that statement, the manager of what, arguably, is the world’s most hazardous work site, the Fukushima Daiichi manager contradicted last year’s statements by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that the situation at the nuclear power plant was under control. Talking to journalists, Akira Ono said:
“It is embarrassing to admit it, but there are certain parts of the site where we don’t have full control”.
Then finally, "I am ashamed, we haven't been able to sufficiently manage the plant" turned "embarrassing...we don't have full control" turned "we don't have control" has turned into "out of control" today.
From Zero Hedge (4/21/2014; emphasis is mine):
From Zero Hedge (4/21/2014; emphasis is mine):
Fukushima Manager Admits Water Woes "Out Of Control", Refutes Lies By PM Abe
...As Japan Times reports, the manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has embarrassingly admitted that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water.
Zero Hedge quotes Japan Times, which is the Reuters English article.
At any moment now, I am fully expecting a tweet in Japanese proclaiming "See, the plant is totally out of control! It's all in the English language media! They must be right! We aren't told the truth!"
(The last I heard, the truth is STAP cells , which Ms. Obokata encountered more than 200 times. Maybe TEPCO needs to hire Ms. Obokata as a spokeswoman who would exclaim, with tears in her eyes with full makeup and neatly curled tresses, "The plant is under control! It's the truth! I've seen it 200 times!" Maybe male journalists would then flock to her defense...)
At any moment now, I am fully expecting a tweet in Japanese proclaiming "See, the plant is totally out of control! It's all in the English language media! They must be right! We aren't told the truth!"
(The last I heard, the truth is STAP cells , which Ms. Obokata encountered more than 200 times. Maybe TEPCO needs to hire Ms. Obokata as a spokeswoman who would exclaim, with tears in her eyes with full makeup and neatly curled tresses, "The plant is under control! It's the truth! I've seen it 200 times!" Maybe male journalists would then flock to her defense...)
Good morning, seems like Kiev backed off the military operation but there may be more pushing on the sanction front. I would prefer to see an economic war, I think the west loses that kind of war pretty quickly. Things do seem to be coming to a head over there.
ReplyDeleteGood WIIP and Fukushima updates, crazy times we live in. Seems like a MST3000 movie, just waiting on the monster.
Have a great day.
Oh and I was amazed with the PM smackdown yesterday too. Along with all the other amazing crap :)
DeleteMorning Kev - On Ukraine , the 48 hours threat was silly , but I would expect additional sanctions shortly. We get closer to May 11 , 2014 as each day passes and we shall see what's on the limb for the lizard then.
DeleteFukushima really can be described as a situation where every day a major accident ( major release of radiation ) occurs and this will continue for hundreds of years. WIPP doesn't get much attention but it's a real bad deal. Naturally none of our useless Congress critters have set down Hearings to get to the heart of the matter.
PM smack down was a good one ( but so was the reversal ! ) Both gold and silver hit their lows around 8am and then buying stepped in ( Putin's views on the Ukraine situation had an impact . ) Just another day around the manipulation way !
Another Banker took a dive - up to 15 for the year , sudden banker death syndrome......
Have a great Friday !