Fukushima Daiichi updates
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TEPCO starts ventilating No. 2 reactor to lower radiation levels
…If airborne radioactive materials are fully removed after running the equipment for three days, the utility known as TEPCO plans to open the doors of the reactor building and begin work inside the unit.
Fat fucking chance of that, but then again since when are news reports scientifically accurate.. Lower the radiation levels, sure, “fully remove” is propaganda, plain and simple…
Highly radioactive materials and high humidity inside the building have prevented workers from entering the site to check measuring gauges and conduct piping work, hampering efforts by the utility to eventually bring the reactor to a stable cold shutdown.
I do feel for these guys as one of the worst things is being on supplied air in a fully impervious bunny suit when it’s hot and humid. Let’s hope that the powers at be are investing in some good cooling vests especially as I’d expect that there will be at least three decon stations to get out of there are working.
U.S. research institute conducts marine survey around Fukushima
…An international team of experts led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution began on June 4 the 15-day survey… The Japanese government granted authorization to a U.S. request for conducting the survey… but has not disclosed the matter as the study will be conducted by the United States…
The team… will collect seawater and marine organisms and measure the ocean current while navigating in waters off the plant. The samples will be analyzed for radioactive substances… to ‘‘learn how much contamination was released into the ocean (and) its potential impact on marine life and human health,’’ the institution said in a news release early this month.
An official of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said, ‘‘Japanese researchers are also involved in this survey. We hope to be able to share the results.
As I’m not at all attuned to Japanese politics, I’m not sure if the last quote means what it would mean here “We’ll disclose the information promptly if it meets our political needs. Otherwise we will bury it and not respond to FOIA or other requests until well after it’s no longer relevant or newsworthy.”
Water treatment system testing at Fukushima plant hits snag again
(TEPCO’s) preparations to begin testing a newly installed radioactive water treatment system at its troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant hit a snag again as the piping may be clogged…
The utility initially planned to begin the tests for the system… last Friday, but postponed it because water leaks were found in the equipment that day…
The firm said the quantity of water that was run through the system during the preparations decreased while it was going through an adsorption device… indicating the possibility that the piping or other parts may be clogged…
Good luck to them, I hope that this is just the problems you’d expect when trying to quickly engineer a treatment system for a FUBAR situation.
Ex-adviser criticizes gov’t for worsening local residents’ radiation exposure (emphasis mine)
Toshiso Kosako, professor on radiation safety at the University of Tokyo’s graduate school, said in the report submitted to Prime Minister Naoto Kan just before he stepped down as adviser in late April that the government had failed to make efficient use of forecasts on the spread of radioactive substances from the Fukushima plant.
In criticizing the government’s impromptu handling of the crisis in its early stages… cited a lack of leadership at the premier’s office and the Nuclear Safety Commission’s uncooperative attitude toward the adviser’s team.
He said the government had delayed the release of forecasts on the spread of radiation from the Fukushima plant…
The report said the adviser’s team gave more than 60 pieces of technical advice but the government failed to make use of most of them promptly and effectively.
I think by now it’s pretty obvious that the Japanese Premier’s Office and Nuclear Safety Commission were unprepared/overwhelmed, incompetent, “in the pocket” of utility, or all of the above.
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