Fukushima timeline | Radioactive news December 2011

New Containment Flaw Identified in the BWR Mark 1 from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Source: fairewinds.com

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, has paid approximately 229.2 billion yen in damages to victims so far, a company executive said.

webmasters comment:

Article fails to provide sufficient data. It is quite possible that 47% of the applicants were denied compensation.

Source: mdn.mainichi.jp

While the Rest of the World Is Abandoning Unsafe Nuclear Designs, America Will Build New Unsafe Reactors

The geniuses at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have given the green light for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. … which don’t include safety upgrades which were demonstrated vital by the Fukushima meltdown.

Source: washingtonsblog.com

70.6 degrees Celsius at 5AM on February 9, 67.9 degrees Celsius twelve hours later at 5PM.

TEPCO's thinking on this: It will go down eventually, someday. (Seriously.)

From TEPCO's reference data sheet on Reactor 2 RPV temperatures as of February 9, from February 8:

Source: ex-skf.blogspot.com

webmasters comment:

note comment at 6.20

Source: tokyobrowntabby

Source: MOXNEWSd0tCOM

Source: rumorecurioso

FUKUSHIMA--The Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant was "near meltdown" after being hit by tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, according to the head of the plant.

The No. 2 plant, on the border of Naraha and Tomioka towns in Fukushima Prefecture, was opened to the media Wednesday for the first time since the disaster. It is 12 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which suffered a meltdown. Both facilities are operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Source: yomiuri.co.jp

Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)--A group of citizens said Thursday that it has collected some 250,000 signatures in Tokyo, enough to call for an ordinance for a referendum on whether to keep using nuclear power.

Source: jen.jiji.com

Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501>said Thursday that the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, the only remaining active reactor for the firm, will undergo regular checkups from March 26.

Source: jen.jiji.com

Tokyo, Feb. 10 (Jiji Press)--Japanese industry minister Yukio Edano indicated Friday that he will not approve the same day additional financial aid of 690 billion yen to beleaguered Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501>.

Source: jen.jiji.com

WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)--February 9 - The following statement was released this afternoon by Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear in response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision:

An NRC license does not guarantee ultimate project success. Atomic reactors have been NRC licensed and then nearly, or even entirely, constructed, and still blocked from operating.

Two reactors at Midland, Michigan were almost completely constructed when watchdogs proved they were sinking into the ground like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They were then cancelled, at a loss of billions of dollars.

Source: enewspf.com

A Meltdown was Averted … This Time

The San Onofre nuclear power plant leaked radioactive gas last week when steam generating tubes ruptured. Indeed, hundreds of tubes at the San Onofre nuclear plant are experiencing problems.

(To add insult to injury, a worker also fell into a nuclear refueling pool at San Onofre. He may have swallowed fuel particles in radioactive water.)

James Chambers – a licensed nuclear reactor operator and whistleblower from San Onofre – says that the tube rupture was very significant.

Nuclear activist Kevin Kamps says that there were a number of tube ruptures at San Onofre, which could have led to a cascade failure and a meltdown.

webmasters comment:

check out the thom hartmann vid in the article.

Source: globalresearch.ca

Bird populations in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture appear to be more whacked by the effects of low-level radiation than expected—based on responses by the same species around Chernobyl after that nuclear power plant disaster. This according to a new paper in the science journal Environmental Pollution.

Source: motherjones.com

What GAO Found

For the 52 NNSA identified limitations for all weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, 86 percent fall into six types: detonation safety under abnormal conditions, weapon reliability, weapon delivery, more frequent replacement of limited life components, nuclear yield, and worker safety. Some DOD officials expressed concern over the impact that certain weapon limitations have on weapon operation, maintenance, and war planning. According to DOD officials, current DOD mitigation actions, as well as the successful completion of ongoing and planned NNSA efforts, should address most limitations for which the officials raised concerns. DOD officials stated that the current stockpile allows sufficient flexibility to mitigate limitations. However, they told GAO that there may be less flexibility in the future as the stockpile continues to age and decreases in size. For each weapon system, NNSA provides DOD with guidance containing additional information on nuclear weapon limitations. However, GAO found that this guidance does not cover all limitations and some DOD officials said that it may not provide them with relevant information for some limitations. Specifically, the guidance addresses approximately 60 percent of all limitations but does not include limitations based on certain weapon components. In addition, one senior DOD official stated that the guidance did not help clarify the potential impact that a particular limitation may have on weapon operation and maintenance. The applicable military service is now conducting its own analysis of this limitation’s potential impact. Furthermore, the national laboratories identified four existing weapon limitations (8 percent of all limitations) that are no longer valid because, among other reasons, corrective action to address the limitations is complete. In addition, it is uncertain if an ongoing DOD and NNSA review of nuclear weapon military requirements will be used to eliminate limitations based on potentially outdated military requirements

Source: cryptome.org/

Source: cryptome.org

Source: MsMilkytheclown

Source: connectingdots1

At the high-brilliance synchrotron light source PETRA III, a team of DESY scientists headed by Dr. Ralf Röhlsberger has succeeded in making atomic nuclei transparent with the help of X-ray light. At the same time they have also discovered a new way to realize an optically controlled light switch that can be used to manipulate light with light, an important ingredient for efficient future quantum computers.

Source: physorg.com

Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Co. intends to offer sizable compensation packages to owners of homes in areas heavily contaminated by radioactive material following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a TEPCO executive said Thursday. Homes, land and other property will be treated as being entirely lost if they are in areas where annual cumulative radiation doses are estimated to exceed 50 millisieverts, TEPCO Managing Director Naomi Hirose said.

webmasters comment:

We are sorry, your house only shows 48 milisieverts per year sir...

Source: jen.jiji.com