Fukushima Radiation Spikes To Lethal Levels And It’s Headed Our Way
NBC News is reporting that the level of radiation issuing from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has spiked to lethal levels. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said that the readings were discovered on Saturday at four new locations. The leaks are near the joints of storage tanks holding the contaminated water used to cool the reactor rods in the damaged facility. One of the readings reached 1,800 millisieverts per hour. That level is considered lethal enough to kill an exposed person in four hours. Previous readings taken from the same tank registered 100 millisieverts per hour. Readings at other locations register 70 to 230 millisieverts per hour.
To put it in perspective, the average American receives 6.2 millisieverts of radiation per year and the allowable amount for Japanese nuclear workers is limited to 50 per year.
Now here’s the rub: A TEPCO spokesperson said they are investigating the cause and that one factor that played a part in the disparity of readings is that previous measuring instruments were only capable of measuring up to 100 millisieverts, while the new instrument, which measured the spike, can measure up to 10,000 millisieverts. So, in effect, the radiation issuing from the damaged storage tanks may have been, and mostly likely has been, higher than the levels previously reported by TEPCO, all because the instruments used for measuring were limited in scope.
This is yet another example of the unbelievably inept and deceptive practices of TEPCO in an attempt to make an unparalleled disaster seem less than the ongoing catastrophe it really is. It is also a damning indictment of the Japanese government, which must have been aware of this and kept silent, or worse, has been so out of the loop that it was clueless.
TEPCO is preparing to remove 400 tons of spent fuel rods from damaged reactor building number 4. Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted before and the operation is fraught with danger. More than 1,300 used rod assemblies need to be removed from a building that is close to collapse from the damage inflicted by the March 11, 2011 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami that followed. The radiation contained in those rods is equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the bombing of Hiroshima.
The removal operation is due to begin in November. Due to the damage to the building, the operation, which is one usually done by computers, must be done manually. If an assembly breaks, gets too close to an adjacent bundle or gets stuck, the resulting disaster would be worse than the one already in progress.
Removal of spent fuel rods involves pulling the assemblies from the racks in which they are stored and inserting them into a heavy steel chamber. The entire procedure takes place under water. The steel chamber, which acts as a shield to the radiation emanating from the rods, is then transported to the plant’s common storage pool in a building that is undamaged.
Independent consultants Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt in their World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013 said,
“Full release of the Unit-4 spent fuel pool, without any containment or control, could cause by far the most serious radiological disaster to date.”
Despite all of their previous failures to contain the radiation at the power plant, despite all of the falsehoods delivered to the press and to the government, TEPCO believes the operation can be carried out safely.
Meanwhile, a separate report from NBC says that a radioactive plume of water will likely reach the coastal waters north of Oregon and into Canada some time in early 2014 and peak in 2016. The plume has three sources: radioactive particles from the atmosphere that have fallen into the ocean, contaminated water that was released from the plant in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, and contaminated water leached from tainted soil.
Researchers tell us that the cesium-137 will be diluted to the point where it poses no hazard to human beings. The radiation is expected to measure 10-30 becquerels of cesium-137 per cubic meter in those northern regions. The California coast is expected to get a lower dose of 10-20 becquerels per cubic meter from 2016 to 2025.
A large portion of the plume won’t reach U.S. waters anytime soon. Instead the majority of the cesium-137 that is being measured will remain in the North Pacific gyre, in what has come to be known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Eventually, models show that about 25 percent of the radioactivity released in the initial accident will escape the North Pacific gyre and travel to the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean over the next twenty to thirty years.
The report keeps stressing that the cesium will be diluted, that it will pose no threat to human beings. But one has to ask: If radioactive water is being pumped into the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day (and it is), and that continues unabated for years (which it already has and continues as I sit here and write this), and containment is at least a year away (which is an optimistic and most likely unattainable objective), and nothing else goes wrong (which, at this point, seems like a pipe dream), how can anyone say with any confidence that the radiation exposure will cause no harm to human beings? How about the fish in the ocean that are a part of our food chain? How about all the other elements present in that contaminated water? What about strontium 90? What about plutonium, which is one of the most toxic substances in the entire universe? Both of those elements were released in the disaster and both accumulate in the bones.
Some have branded me an alarmist. Well, quite frankly, I AM alarmed. We are currently living in the shadow of a nuclear incident like nothing this planet has ever experienced. So far, two and a half years after the incident the radiation from that accident is uncontained, and we are now finding out that the levels first reported were just a fiction manufactured by TEPCO, a company that has proven itself to be unreliable and totally ineffective in handling a disaster that is, arguably, beyond comprehension.
It is easy to say there is no threat when the threat won’t show up for a decade or more in the form of epidemics of cancer among human beings. With all that we’ve dumped into the ocean, don’t be surprised to start hearing about, or perhaps even seeing, aquatic life washed ashore with evidence of radiological disorders. It is coming. The only question is when.
Fukushima – It Only Gets Worse
In an unsurprising but clearly disturbing revelation, Global Research is reporting that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima is uncontainable. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced that 300 tons of radioactive groundwater is flowing daily into the Pacific Ocean and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Furthermore, despite Tokyo Electric Power’s (TEPCO) previous statement that things were contained, it is suspected that the leaks have been ongoing since the disaster occurred in March 2011.
Since the onset of the disaster, it is estimated that 20 to 40 trillion radioactive tritium bequerels have leaked into the Pacific Ocean. More dangerous but as yet unmeasured amounts of cesium and strontium have leaked and continue to leak into the Pacific and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Nothing. This makes Chernobyl pale in comparison.
Three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant went into meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami hit, and a fourth reactor was severely damaged. The fourth contains tons of highly radioactive water. If another large earthquake or natural disaster occurs, the impacted structural integrity of the reactor will almost certainly fail, the fuel rods will most likely catch fire and radioactive emissions will be released, adding to an already catastrophic situation.
Make no mistake. This is a global disaster. Just because you don’t live in Japan is no reason to feel safe from the effects of the ongoing crisis. With the unprecedented and uncontainable amount of radioactive contamination flowing daily into the ocean, there is no way it can all be dispersed. According to the report in Global Research, the contaminants, particularly strontium, bioaccumulates in algae and in fish. Strontium-90 acts like calcium, going straight to the bone. The food chain is being affected and there is no stopping it.
Iodine-129, one of the other radioactive isotopes spewing from the damaged nuclear facility, has a half-life of 15.7 million years. That’s way worse than the half-life of strontium-90, which is a mere 28.8 years. But when you’re talking about poisoning the Pacific Ocean what’s a few million years? At this rate, we won’t have to worry about the next few million years. The effects of this ongoing tragedy will overcome us before the strontium is rendered harmless.
National Geographic reports that scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmounth and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute estimate the contamination could reach the western coast of North America in three to five years. That may have been optimistic. Already, newborns living in Hawaii and along the west coast of the United States, as well as Alaska and British Columbia, have shown an alarming rate of hypothyroidism. This is just the beginning. Who knows where it will end.
The future of the entire planet is at stake and that is not an empty statement. In our hubris, we have believed that we could solve any problem, master any situation, but now we are bearing witness to the folly of that overblown opinion of ourselves. And yet, there are still those who tout the benefits of nuclear power. They call it “clean” energy. I include our president in that group. What is clean about an energy source that can poison an entire planet? The Fukushima plant was “safe” and the nuclear plant at San Onofre California has been deemed ‘safe.” All the nuclear facilities around the world have been pronounced “safe.” There is nothing safe about a nuclear plant in an earthquake zone. Or a tsunami zone. Or a tornado zone. Or an area attractive to terrorists. Natural disasters happen and there is nothing we can do about them. What we can do is insure that a natural disaster or a terrorist attack doesn’t cause another man-made disaster that becomes uncontrollable.
The only questions that remain are these: Do we have the will to do away with nuclear power altogether? Is it already too late?
More Leaks Reported At Crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
NBC News is reporting that earlier this week, Japan’s national nuclear regulator announced it was set to raise the warning level to “serious” on the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The final decision on whether to increase the level from 1 to 3 on a scale of 7 would be deferred to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
The move is in response to the latest revelation that 300 tons of radioactive water has leaked into the ground from storage tanks along the hillside section of the plant. This comes on the heels of the Japanese government’s disclosure that 300 tons of contaminated water has been leaking daily into the ocean since the onset of the disaster in March of 2011.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) General Manager Masayuji Ono told reporters, “We believe it (the storage tank) is still leaking at this moment.”
Today the Associated Press is reporting that a huge underground reservoir of contaminated water beneath the Fukushima plant has been leaking since the earthquake and tsunami, and is creeping towards the Pacific Ocean at the rate of 13 feet every 30 days.
It seems that each day brings new reports of new leaks occurring at the destroyed nuclear power plant. TEPCO has announced a number of plans to contain the leaks, including injecting chemicals into the ground between a contaminated well outside of reactor number 2 and the ocean, erecting an underground barrier, constructing an underground wall to surround the crippled reactor andbuilding frozen walls – upside down comb-shaped sticks that refrigerate surrounding soils – into the ground around the reactors. This frozen wall concept has yet to be tested and even if proved to be effective, would not be completed for at least another two years. The construction of an offshore steel wall to contain the contaminated water has begun.
In the meantime, 350 of the 1,000 steel storage tanks for contaminated water that surround the Fukushima plant and hold nearly 300,000 tons of partially treated water have rubber seams that were intended to last for only five years. According to Shinji Kinjo, a regulatory official in charge of the Fukushima disaster, the tanks were built in a rush to respond to the catastrophe and lacked adequate quality tests. Workers spotted two more questionable tanks during an inspection on Thursday.
The contamination of the seawater off the coast of Japan has raised questions regarding the safety of the seafood from the region. Fisheries near the damaged plant are closed.
Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has traveled on several occasions to Japan to measure contamination levels.
“When we measure the isotopes in the ocean, we can’t say if they are coming from the tanks or from the reactor buildings or some cooling water that was used in 2011, but there has been a measurable release of these isotopes since the very beginning.”
He goes on to say that contamination levels have dropped, citing the levels of cesium 137 contamination is “about 1,000 times less” in 2013 than it was in 2011. However, he added that the makeup of the isotopes in the water has changed and the presence of strontium 90 has increased. Strontium 90 is absorbed into the bone, replacing calcium.
Buesseler said “The levels (of radioactive material) have not been high enough to cause mutations or mortality…but if we consume seafood that is grown in these contaminated waters, then there is a slight increase in cancer risk.”
A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that bluefin tuna spawned bear the Fukushima reactor and caught in San Diego exhibited radioactivity well below the level associated with risks to health.
Buesseler said, “I’m not concerned about the people on (the U.S. Pacific) coast. I am concerned for Japan with this continued leakage, especially if the isotope character changes and it becomes a strontium problem.”
I am the first to admit that I am not a scientist, but it seems to me that if the continued leakage of radioactive waste cannot be contained, all bets are off. There is only so much the earth can absorb before effects of the radiation are felt, not only in Japan, but around the globe.
Fukushima: 15000 Times As Deadly As Hiroshima?
Last month, I reported on additional radiation leaks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. In that article I also wrote about the upcoming plans to remove fuel rods from heavily damaged reactor building number 4.
Image credit: Fukushima nuclear power plant via Wikimedia Commons
TEPCO is preparing to remove 400 tons of spent fuel rods from damaged reactor building number 4. Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted before and the operation is fraught with danger. More than 1,300 used rod assemblies need to be removed from a building that is close to collapse from the damage inflicted by the March 11, 2011 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami that followed. The radiation contained in those rods is equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the bombing of Hiroshima.The removal operation is due to begin in November. Due to the damage to the building, the operation, which is one usually done by computers, must be done manually. If an assembly breaks, gets too close to an adjacent bundle or gets stuck, the resulting disaster would be worse than the one already in progress.Removal of spent fuel rods involves pulling the assemblies from the racks in which they are stored and inserting them into a heavy steel chamber. The entire procedure takes place under water. The steel chamber, which acts as a shield to the radiation emanating from the rods, is then transported to the plant’s common storage pool in a building that is undamaged.
No matter what your position on nuclear power, I think it can be agreed by all that this is a problem that could very easily turn into a disaster that affects the entire world. Are you willing to leave the fate of the world in the hands of Tokyo Electric Company, a company that has proven itself to be beyond incompetent? Watch this video and then take action HERE.
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Ann Werner is a blogger and the author ofCRAZY and Dreams and Nightmares. You can view her work at ARK Stories.
Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Caught Off California Coast Every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has shown to be contaminated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.
Over a year ago, in May of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported on a Stanford University study. Daniel Madigan, a marine ecologist who led the study, was quoted as saying, “The tuna packaged it up (the radiation) and brought it across the world’s largest ocean. We were definitely surprised to see it at all and even more surprised to see it in every one we measured.”
Another member of the study group, Marine biologist Nicholas Fisher at Stony Brook University in New York State reported, “We found that absolutely every one of them had comparable concentrations of cesium 134 and cesium 137.”
That was over a year ago. The fish that were tested had relatively little exposure to the radioactive waste being dumped into the ocean following the nuclear melt-through that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March of 2011. Since that time, the flow of radioactive contaminants dumping into the ocean has continued unabated. Fish arriving at this juncture have been swimming in contaminants for all of their lives.
Radioactive cesium doesn’t sink to the sea floor, so fish swim through it and ingest it through their gills or by eating organisms that have already ingested it. It is a compound that does occur naturally in nature, however, the levels of cesium found in the tuna in 2012 had levels 3 percent higher than is usual. Measurements for this year haven’t been made available, or at least none that I have been able to find. I went looking for the effects of ingesting cesium. This is what I found:
The half life of cesium 134 is 2.0652 years. For cesium 137, the half life is 30.17 years.
The Fukushima disaster is an ongoing battle with no signs that humans are gaining the upper hand. The only good news to come out of Japan has later been proven to be false and was nothing more than attempts by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to mislead the public and lull them into a sense of security while the company searched vainly for ways to contain the accident. This incident makes Three Mile Island and Chernobyl pale in comparison. Those were nuclear meltdowns. A nuclear melt-through poses a much more serious problem and is one that modern technology doesn’t have the tools to address. Two and a half years later and the contaminants are still flowing into the ocean and will continue to for the foreseeable future.
The FDA assures us that our food supply is safe, that the levels of radiation found in fish samples are within safe limits for consumption. But one has to question if this is true and, if it is true now, will it remain true? Is this, like the statements issued from TEPCO, another attempt to quell a public backlash in the face of an unprecedented event that, as yet, has no solution and no end in sight?
As for me, fish is off the menu.
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