GoJ knew about contam in northern Miyagi. Withheld info. Rice straw grown there fed to cattle, now 1500 contam cattle confrm sold as beef. Rice farmer said he thought his whole are was beyond the hazard area. Fair enough–Govt told him it was.
So the cattle fed that rice draw are a result of the Govt withholding that info.
Fukushima has been another TEPCO cover-up of a radioactive disaster since before the tsunami hit, and their slow, incomplete notifications have enticed regulators and the government as a whole to go along with it. A price will be paid.
After the Japanese government forced TEPCO to release hundreds of pages of documents relating to the accident in May, Bloomberg reported on May 19 that a radiation alarm went off 1.5 kilometers from the number one reactor on March 11 at 3:29 p.m., minutes before the tsunami reached the plant.
via Meltdown: What Really Happened at Fukushima? – Global – The Atlantic Wire.
[This is an amazing story by Jake Adelstein whose ability to wring truth from stones in Japan is legendary, and David McNeill, of whom I … Continue reading
This is a good article on some of the electricity-conserving measures ravaging the lives of workers in Japan and the productivity thereby lost. I have no criticism (shockah!), as this is a healthy response to an awful set of circumstances. There a few good answers, and plenty of worse ones. I think Japan’s approach is right on the mark with power-savings.
I worry a little about some of the numerical targets, in that a company which never gave a damn about saving power can easily generate a 15% reduction year-to-year for 2011, whereas a “green” plant will be hard pressed to improve what they were already doing. I hope that penalties (which are expected to be fierce) will be assessed with an eye toward that fact, but as … Continue reading
The news gets worse and better.
About 15 metric tons of water with a low level of radiation leaked from a storage tank at the plant on the Pacific coast, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it was investigating the cause of the leak which was later repaired.
via Radioactive water leaks from Japan’s damaged plant | Reuters.
If my math is right (I don’t have my Fukushima cheat sheet with me), this is less than one hour’s worth of water throughput, and it is lightly contaminated, not heavily. That’s not good, but it’s a lot better than it could be.
And, the decontamination machinery which was abruptly stopped after running only an hour and a half … Continue reading
TEPCO hosted a record-breaking shareholders’ meeting, not only becoming he longest, but perhaps the most contentious in living memory.
“I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the trouble and fear that we have brought to our shareholders, and to society,” said the chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, at a tightly guarded Tokyo hotel.
“We will do our utmost to bring the accident to a resolution and to work toward our mission of providing a stable source of electricity,” he said.
Some investors refused to be placated. “Go jump into a reactor and die!” one elderly man shouted at the row of executives present, before being escorted out by attendants.
At one point, when Mr. Katsumata tried to wrap up a question-and-answer session, angry shareholders rushed the stage. The … Continue reading
I’ll just summarize the gist of my cooling idea: Combined evap and recirc as poor man’s external primary/secondary loop. At this point, this proposal is only viable if the current filtration process fails either in part or in whole.
[ UPDATE: It has failed again
“At the Fukushima plant, meanwhile, recovery efforts have been slow and perilous. A circulation system that would allow the plant’s reactors to re-use cooling water — which officials have called an important step toward resolving the crisis — was started up Monday but shut down just 1.5 hours later.
The system was designed to reduce the amount of contaminated runoff from the reactors, which are being kept cool with water. Tokyo Electric officials have said that 110,000 tons of … Continue reading
I’m no expert, but it may make sense to evaporate rather than purify our way toward a reduced bulk of heavily contaminated water.
TEPCO set up a water-purifying rig and had planned to replace the filters about once a month, based on expected radiation levels. About a week ago, they fired it up and five hours later, they shut it down with filters at 110% of the limit. Perhaps purifying the water is not an appropriate measure right now.
Here’s an overview of my proposal: Take hot water from containment and flash it with a mild vacuum. Draw off the fairly clean steam, and condense it elsewhere. Return the remainder to containment. This reduces the bulk of heavily contaminated water while slightly increasing its concentration. … Continue reading
Sounds like a prelude to dropping more bad news. Hard to tell if this is spin or whitewash.
DATE, Fukushima–Many residents in Date and Minami-Soma, both in Fukushima Prefecture, have been confused by a newly announced government plan to designate specific points from which residents would be advised to leave if the annual accumulated radiation there exceeds 20 millisieverts.
The article goes on to describe a system wherein people beyond the existing evacuation zones may or may not be told that they should evacuate but don’t have to, depending upon whether or not the radiation rises in their area. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
Off the top of my head, the possibilities for radiation rising later include:
The broad strokes are known, while the details are sketchy. The cover-up consists of TEPCO and the government issuing a steady stream of tut-tuts and there-theres trying to reassure a populace being poisoned that there’s nothing wrong, or not much, or it’s getting better, or whatever the feel-good phrase of the day is.
The government has been honest in some refreshing ways, but don’t expect cheerleading for only lying part of the time. There’s a certain amount of half-full, half-empty debate as to how lucky we are that certain aspects of this disaster may have prevented or limited certain other aspects. That’s great, but with how difficult it is to get straight facts from TEPCO and the government of Japan (which our acronym-loving government refers to as GOJ), … Continue reading
Another fire at a Japanese nuclear plant. Don’t worry, though:
TEPCO spokesman Naoyuki Matsumoto says there’s no fear of a radiation leak due to the fire.
Thank Heavens TEPCO is here to announce that everything is under control, and that there is nothing to worry about. Especially radiation. Whew.
And those of us who criticize, rather than fellate, traditional Japanese management practices are still wa-a-ay off base. Probably just racists. Not a management-improving thought in our empty heads.
Note that I am not criticizing the fact that there was a fire. Accidents happen, and while not at all desirable, are still “in bounds” for management. I am criticizing the fact the TEPCO has zero credibility left, after decades of consistently lying and covering up problems … Continue reading
