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But officials of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which manages the facility, are quick to dismiss any concerns of a health threat. The Nuclear Regulation…
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), Japan's nuclear watchdog, has raised doubts about Tepco's plan to construct underground walls to prevent the contaminated water at the Fukushima No.1 plant from reaching the Pacific Ocean. The plant is located about 210km north of Tokyo.
The reason is that water in observation wells has already risen to a level higher than the top of the proposed underground walls.
According to the influential Asahi Shimbun daily, if water levels continue to rise at the present speed, the radioactive water could rise to the surface in about three weeks.
Fukushima prefecture official, who hosts plant, said consumers need not be worried by latest reports.
" Nothing has changed. All produce remains safe to eat as it must clear radiation tests mandated by the government," said Mr Isao Otomo, in response to a query from The Straits Times.
A no-go zones within 20km of the strickening plant, note - travel within the prefecture is unrestricted.
Still, The Japanese media and citizens' groups have also blasted the utility's secrecy, while foreign experts recently took it to task for its lack of transparency over radioactive leaks.
Last month, the former head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mr Dale Klein, told a nuclear reform monitoring panel here. Tepco's chief executive that " you do not know what you are doing" .
Last week, Tepco also surprised the Japanese with the revelation that between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels of tritium could have been washed out to sea from the crippled plant over a period of 26 months from June 2011 to July this year.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and normally measured in becquerels. It is dissolved in water when released from a nuclear plant.
The 40 trillion figure cited by Tepco arises from calculations which assume that 400,000 litres of water are used every day to cool the reactors and that each litre of water contains 500,000 becquerels of tritium.
Tepco, however, pointed out that the maximum estimated outflow comes to about 20 trillion becquerels of tritium a year, which is close to the normally allowed level of 22 trillion becquerels for all six reactors at the plant before the March 2011 disaster.
The problem was not the amount of tritium leaked, but that it was leaked into the sea in an uncontrolled manner, a Tepco official was reported as saying.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), Japan's nuclear watchdog, has raised doubts about Tepco's plan to construct underground walls to prevent the contaminated water at the Fukushima No.1 plant from reaching the Pacific Ocean. The plant is located about 210km north of Tokyo.
The reason is that water in observation wells has already risen to a level higher than the top of the proposed underground walls.
According to the influential Asahi Shimbun daily, if water levels continue to rise at the present speed, the radioactive water could rise to the surface in about three weeks.
Fukushima prefecture official, who hosts plant, said consumers need not be worried by latest reports.
" Nothing has changed. All produce remains safe to eat as it must clear radiation tests mandated by the government," said Mr Isao Otomo, in response to a query from The Straits Times.
A no-go zones within 20km of the strickening plant, note - travel within the prefecture is unrestricted.
Still, The Japanese media and citizens' groups have also blasted the utility's secrecy, while foreign experts recently took it to task for its lack of transparency over radioactive leaks.
Last month, the former head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mr Dale Klein, told a nuclear reform monitoring panel here. Tepco's chief executive that " you do not know what you are doing" .
Last week, Tepco also surprised the Japanese with the revelation that between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels of tritium could have been washed out to sea from the crippled plant over a period of 26 months from June 2011 to July this year.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and normally measured in becquerels. It is dissolved in water when released from a nuclear plant.
The 40 trillion figure cited by Tepco arises from calculations which assume that 400,000 litres of water are used every day to cool the reactors and that each litre of water contains 500,000 becquerels of tritium.
Tepco, however, pointed out that the maximum estimated outflow comes to about 20 trillion becquerels of tritium a year, which is close to the normally allowed level of 22 trillion becquerels for all six reactors at the plant before the March 2011 disaster.
The problem was not the amount of tritium leaked, but that it was leaked into the sea in an uncontrolled manner, a Tepco official was reported as saying.
teeth53 ( Date: 04-Aug-2013 22:19) Posted:
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http://globalresearch.ca/fukushima-pacific-ocean-will-not-dilute-dumped-radioactive-water/31200
Operator of stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has been dumping thousand tons per day of radioactive water into Pacific ocean.
The reactors are “riddled with meltdown holes”, building 4 – with more radiation than all nuclear bombs ever dropped or tested – is missing entire walls, and building 3 is a pile of rubble.
Whole complex is leaking like a sieve, and the rivers of water pumped in, the reactors everyday just pouring into the ocean (Faithfully everyday).
Most people assume, ocean will dilute the radiation from Fukushima enough that any radiation reaching the West Coast of the U.S. will be low.
Just as we noted 2 days after the earthquake hit that the jet stream might carry radiation to the U.S. by wind – we are now warning that ocean currents might carry more radiation to the at least some portions of the West Coast of North America than is assumed.
Here is what the North Pacific Gyre looks like:
West Coast of North America … and some of it is radioactive
Indeed, an island of Japanese debris the size of California is hitting the...In addition to radioactive debris, MIT says seawater which is itself radioactive may begin hitting Tepco Dumps 11,500 Tons of Radioactive Water Into the Pacific
the West Coast within 5 years. Given that the debris is hitting faster than predicted, it is possible that the radioactive seawater will as well...
Related content:
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Fukushima dumping of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean violates international law
The mass dumping of highly radioactive water (measured at 7.5 million times the normal allowed levels) into the Pacific Ocean is not just an environmental disaster it’s also a violation of international law. The Convention on the Prevention of Marine… -
Fukushima: Towards the Formation of a Radioactive Graveyard in the Pacific Ocean?
Floating Radioactive Debris Reaching Hawaii Sooner Than Expected -
Radioactive Fish in the USA?
The FDA says it won’t monitor radiation in fish on the West Coast of the U.S. As the Anchorage Daily News notes:
North Pacific fish are so unlikely to be contaminated by radioactive material from the crippled nuclear plant.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2011/2011-03-24-01.html
Radioactivity Contaminates Tokyo Vegetable, Water in Six Prefectures
TOKYO - March 24, 2011 Radiation above the legal limit has been detected in a vegetable grown in Tokyo, Japan's health ministry said. This is the first time that elevated levels of radioactive cesium have been found in a Tokyo vegetable since the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began spewing radioactivity into Japan's air, water and soil.
The nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power was damaged during the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Loss of power to the plant and failure of emergency backup generators caused loss of cooling water to the nuclear fuel in four of the plant's six reactors. Several explosions of radioactive hydrogen gas and two fires in spent fuel pools released radiation over a wide area.
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Komatsuna, or mustard spinach, is the type of vegetable found to be contaminated. (Photo by Takeshi Iwamoto) |
The health ministry says radioactive cesium was detected in a leafy vegetable called komatsuna, or mustard spinach, sampled from a research field in Edogawa ward on Wednesday. The contaminated vegetable is not for sale in markets.
The health ministry says that level of radioactivity would not have an adverse effect on health, even if the vegetable was eaten.
Tokyo Metropolitan Got has lifted its advice against giving tap water to infants in Tokyo's 23 wards and 5 adjacent cities.
Governments of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama and Tochigi prefectures have detected more than 100 becquerels of iodine per liter of water, above the safety level for infants under 12 months.
The water is considered to be safe for adults to drink.
TEPCO, which has faced frequent criticism for downplaying dangers and not being forthcoming about problems at the site, revised its method of estimating the level of radiation exposure among workers earlier this month.
TEPCO reported to World Health Organization in December that only 178 workers...at the plant were believed to have received radiation doses to their thyroid glands above 100 millisieverts.
teeth53 ( Date: 25-May-2013 18:24) Posted:
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NewsOnJapan.com /
It is the first time Japan. 
Mutated veggies due to Fukushima fallout?
Images of deformed vegetables from Japan with tumour-like growths emerge online. Fukushima fallout?
Japan's Nuclear Options
Several companies applied to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority on July 8 for permission to restart a total of 10 nuclear reactors in the country. Despite widespread apprehension in Japan about nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster in 2011 that led to the shutdown of all of the country's 54 nuclear reactors, the plan to restart the reactors may succeed for a few reasons.
The reactors are located in four different prefectures and are all on the less densely populated west coast, which is also less vulnerable to tsunamis than the east coast. Additionally, their type and age will likely make it easier for the reactors to pass newly established safety standards. Finally, unlike much of the rest of the country, the local governments in the prefectures housing the plants that applied for restart are either neutral or pro-nuclear power.
Nuclear power remains the most immediate solution to reduce Japan's expensive energy imports, and these reactors could offer the country a chance to slowly bring nuclear power back online.
However, even these plants will have to deal with new, lengthy safety inspections, and they will likely not restart until 2014 at the earliest -- and then only if they do not face major opposition at the local level.