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Fukushima becomes Chernobyl two

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Fukushima becomes Chernobyl two

To date, the accident at the plant, which followed a 9.0 magnitude earthquake as a 15-meter tsunami on March 11, which knocked out all of its back up power, is said to have released as much radiation that which resulted from Chernobyl.

According to international scientific groups monitoring radiation around the world, the Fukushima reactors are emitting nuclear toxins at levels approaching those seen in the "aftermath" of Chernobyl, said reports on Thursday.
Specifically, the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics of Vienna, Austria, which has a worldwide monitoring system for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty reported that, “Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986.”

“Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl,” the Austrian institute concluded, according to New Scientist.

There was speculation earlier this week that the accident at Fukushima Daiichi would be upgraded from a Level 5 on the seven point International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) to a Level 6, one step below Chernobyl’s scale-topping Level 7. Japan, however, has yet to issue a new level for the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe.
Fukushima and Chernobyl

Of primary difference between the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters is that Chernobyl housed 180 tons of spent nuclear fuel onsite, where Fukushima houses 1760 tons in storage pools, many of which have all but emptied of water due to fires and possible leaks due to reactor building explosions. Of special concern at Fukushima Daiichi is the spent fuel pool atop reactor No 4, which has suffered numerous fires and is thought to be drained of water that evaporated in radioactive steam.

The Chernobyl disaster also began with an explosion where Fukushima Daiichi is a smoldering cauldron of toxins that have been picked up as far away from the plant as Boston.

“This is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,” wrote New Scientist commentator Michael Collins.

While world governments scramble to say these trace amounts of radioactive iodine-131and caesium-137 in the atmosphere pose no threat to human health, Russian environmentalists are quick to dump cold water on that notion.
Environmentalists: measured radiation has no connection to amount of radioactive material in the air

“Years ago, John Gofman, one of the most eminent scientists in the sphere of studying the effects of the impact of small doses of radiation on health proved that safe doses of radiation do not exist,” Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of Ecodefence said in a commentary aired yesterday on Ekho Moskvy radio.

“That is to say that any radiation will be dangerous to someone. Weak concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 do not justify announcements that there is no health risks. If there are radioactive particles in the atmosphere, then they can be ingested by someone,” who may contract cancer, he said.
He added that there was no precise way of determining who would be at risk for cancer, but that pregnant women, children in uterus, children below age three and the elderly are especially vulnerable.
Dangers from radioactive iodine will cease some 80 days after it has been released into the atmosphere, meaning 80 days after radioactive emissions cease at Fukushima Daiichi, Slivyak said. Hazards from caesium-137, however will linger for 300 years, he said.
Japanese nuclear industry author Hiroshe Takashi agreed with Slivyak’s assessment in an interview earlier this week with Counterpunch, saying that comparing radiation released at Fukushima Daiichi to CT scans and x-rays was useless. He also said the system for measuring radiation in the atmosphere was grossly flawed.
“When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children,” said Takashi.

“Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments,” he said, adding “What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material.

The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics pointed out that radioactive isotopes left airborne by Chernobyl are still causing thyroid cancer worldwide.

“While in the body the isotopes' radioactive emissions can do significant damage, mainly to DNA. Children who ingest iodine-131 can develop thyroid cancer 10 or more years later,” said the institute, according to New Scientist. “A study published in the US last week found that iodine-131 from Chernobyl is still causing new cases of thyroid cancer to appear at an undiminished rate in the most heavily affected regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.”

Plutonium finds pile on more hazards

Still longer will be the hazards from plutonium that Japanese officials have been finding in soil samples at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The plutonium is thought to be coming from reactor No 3, which burns mixed uranium and plutonium oxide fuel. Plutonium is also a byproduct in spent nuclear fuel, and Fukushima Daiichi’s spent nuclear fuel pools have suffered from water losses and fires.

In typical circumstances, plutonium does not go airborne. But in catastrophic conditions like Chernobyl and Fukushima, plutonium ends up in the environment and remains toxic for hundreds and thousands of years.
On Monday, TEPCO officials announced they had found isotopes of plutonium 238, 239 and 240 in soil samples taken on March 21 and 22 from five locations at the plant. One sample of plutonium 238, according to TEPCO, was measured at 0.54 Bequerel per kilogram of soil, and the mix of plutonium 239 and 240 in two other samples measured 1.2 Bequerel per kilogram. The data do not make clear how dense the contamination by alpha isotopes is and how many Becquerel are measured in a square meter.
Also in question is whether plutonium is spreading to the environment from the damaged reactors by steam or leaks, or both, or from the spent fuel storage pools.
The plutonium finds signal another dangerous turn of events. Sedentary plutonium oxide soon becomes soluble and it can be expected that it will not remain within the confines of the Fukushima Daiichi plant for long, nuclear experts said.
Yukiya Edano, chief Secretary of the Japanese cabinet said that the plutonium leaks confirm fuel melts.
“It is likely that the appearance of the plutonium is a result of the situation of the fuel rods. They may be partially melting,” Edano told reporters.
Panic in Russia’s Far East

The identification of caesium and iodine isotopes across Russia has caused alarm, especially in Russia’s Far East regions of Primorye and Kamchatka that border on the Sea of Japan. Russian radiation officials who took measurements of radioactivity in the air near Vladivostok between March 26 and March 29 confirm that it has come from Fukushima Daiichi, but again insist that the levels pose no risk to human health, the Russian daily Kommersant, reported.

Reluctant to believe official reports, however, residents have stormed local pharmacies for potassium iodide, a prophylactic to protect against thyroid cancer after radiation exposure.

The “Chicago” pharmacy chain told the paper that it had sold out of all iodine containing medications. Other drug stores have raised the price of iodine medications over the past five days by $9 to $35, an outrageously high sum for the area. Tablets of iodine have begun to show up on eBay where they are being auctioned off for $15 per tablet, with entire packages of the medication going for $2500.

The spread of radioactivity continues

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that current data indicates radionuclides are falling on 17 prefectures of Japan.

In seven of these prefectures, the daily fallout consists of iodine-131 of less than 500 Becquerel per square meter and caesium-137 of less than 100 Bequerel per square meter. This concerns only daily levels, and the concentrations of iodine and caesium will only increase.

The IAEA said on March 26 that the biggest quantity of radionuclides had hit the Yamagata prefecture with 7500 Becquerel per square meter of iodine-131 and 1200 Becqerel per square meter of caesium-137.

The UN nuclear agency also said that 30 kilometer to 40 kilometer band around the plant is contaminated with radionuclides measuring 0.03 to 3.1 megaBecquerel, representing a major spike.
Contamination at sea

The contamination does not stop on land. At the beginning of the week TEPCO and Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) publicized their measurements of contaminated seawater near the plant, which stand on the coast. At 330 meters, concentrations of radionuclides by dozens, hundreds and thousands of times exceeded norms. Measurements of iodine-131 reached 50 Becquerel per cubic centimeter, or 1250 times normal; caesium-134 hit 7 Becquerel per cubic centimeter, exceeding norms by 117 times; caesium-137 was found in concentrations of 7.2 Becquerel per cubic centimeter, outdoing norms by 79.6 times. The radionuclides are a result of regular dumps in the ocean carried out by Fukushima Daiichi and leaks of contaminated water from the crippled reactors as well as the spent fuel storage pools.

The nuclear crisis in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami should serve as a warning for India, which has been ‘following the dictates of the U.S.' in the nuclear deal, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan said on Thursday.

Addressing an election meeting here in support of G. Krishnaprasad, the Left Democratic Front's candidate for Haripad, Mr. Bardhan said the safety of nuclear plants was a major concern, not only in India but across the world. When the United Progressive Alliance government tried to push through the deal with the U.S., the Left parties, then supporting the government from outside, opposed it for this very same reason.

Compared with Japan, India was weaker in revival and survival skills and vulnerable to such disasters, he said. Even the public now realized what the Left had meant, but not the Congress-led government.

Mr. Bardhan said the Left could not influence the government's economic and foreign policies, especially after it withdrew support to the ruling coalition and its strength in Parliament dwindled. But the results were evident. The price rise situation was only getting worse, with the UPA ignoring all the suggestions of the Left to tackle it. India was now the largest buyer of weapons from the U.S. and even Israel.

The UPA was silent on the Libyan crisis too: the U.S. was acting as if it were trying to rescue democracy in that country, even while massacring thousands of innocents, he said. Col. Muammar Qadhafi was a “stooge” of the U.S. When the U.S. felt that Libya was slipping out of its hands, it launched the attack.

Mr. Bardhan said the United Democratic Front in Kerala was caught in an internal turmoil, with its own members leveling allegations against one another. Even Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala was now embroiled in a controversy after using a helicopter during campaign.

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Made-in-India reactors easier to regulate, says Jairam Ramesh

The Hindu, India (4/1/2011)

India's nuclear power growth must come from home-made heavy water reactors rather than foreign reactors using a variety of technologies in order to avoid Fukushima-style meltdowns, according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, Mr. Ramesh communicated the concerns of his Ministry regarding the safety of nuclear power as well as the public perception of that safety.

He argues that Indian regulators have expertise in Indian-made reactors and recommends that it is best to stick to what they know best.

In the wake of the tsunami that ravaged the Japanese coast and forced several Japanese nuclear power plants into crisis mode last month, fresh questions are being raised about the safety and environmental clearance issued to the French-built reactors to be set up at Jaitapur on the Konkan coast.

“In the post-Japan scenario, it is clear that regulation is key to our credibility and enhancing public confidence and trust in the nuclear program,” Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, he pointed out that India seems to be getting into a situation of enormous technological diversity in its nuclear plants. Apart from home-grown heavy water reactors, fast-breeder reactors and advanced thorium-based reactors, the country plans to import light water reactors of French, Russian, and, ultimately, American design.

The most important lesson to be learnt from Japan is the need for regulatory discipline and protocol in a nuclear program, says Mr. Ramesh. However, it is very difficult to build regulatory capability with this kind of technological diversity.

Standardize reactors

Mr. Ramesh recommends that India must standardize its reactors, opting for the current 700 MW heavy water reactor and upgrading it to a 1,000 MW capacity, as this is the type of reactor that Indian regulators have expertise in. With India's own uranium reserves doubling in the last five years, this would also be the most viable option.

One of the criticisms of the Jaitapur project has been that the French reactors use an untested design and will deliver power at an unviable cost.

Mr. Ramesh suggests that at multiple reactor sites such as Jaitapur — where six reactors will produce a total of 10,000 MW — each reactor must be given its own stand-alone support system rather than the current shared system.

This gains importance as India has limited sites which have the requisite land and water availability for a nuclear plant, even as the country aims to multiply current nuclear power capacity by ten times in the next 20 years.

He points out that setting up stand-alone support systems to ensure safety would be the job of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), not the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Mr. Ramesh urged the Prime Minister to make the AERB a completely independent and statutory authority under a separate Act of Parliament. It currently comes under the authority of the Atomic Energy Department, leading to criticism that it is not a truly independent regulator.

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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Postal Department Temporarily Suspends Mail Delivery to Tsunami Hit Japan (In Sinhala)

eThalaya, Sri Lanka (3/31/2011)

Sri Lanka Postal Department said that they have suspended delivery of all types of mail and parcels to the tsunami and earthquake affected areas in Japan.

The delivery of all kinds of mail was suspended after the Japan Postal Service requested the Sri Lanka Postal Department to suspend mail delivery to tsunami and earthquake affected areas until further notice.
However, Post Master General M.K.B. Disanayaka said the Sri Lanka Postal Department still delivers all types of mail to other areas in Japan.

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Singapore
AVA suspends fruit & vegetable imports from Shizuoka prefecture

Channel News Asia, Singapore (3/31/2011)

Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has extended its suspension of imports of fruits and vegetables from Shizuoka prefecture in quake-hit Japan.

Shizuoka is located in the Chubu Region, southwest of Tokyo.

This is the 10th prefecture to be affected by fears of radiation contamination.

The other prefectures are Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba, Ehime, Kanagawa, Tokyo and Saitama.

In a statement, the Singapore government said it is following the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant very closely.

And it is continuing its measures to safeguard Singapore from radioactive contamination.

Meanwhile, the National Environment Agency (NEA) is monitoring radiation levels in Singapore on a continuous basis.

The statement said radiation levels in Singapore remain normal, and coastal water samples tested do not show the presence of radioactive iodine and cesium.

PUB has also stepped up the daily monitoring of radioactivity level in Singapore's water supplies, including rain water in the catchments.

It said the radioactivity levels remain well within safety levels stipulated in the World Health Organization’s drinking water guidelines.

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Vietnam
Radiation reaches Vietnam, no health risk: experts

Thanhnien, Vietnam (3/31/2011)

The radiation leaking from Japan’s quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant has reached Vietnam over the past several days but the levels are so small that there is no health risk, authorities say.

Dang Thanh Luong, vice director of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety under the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the ionizing radiation, iodine-131, was detected in the air in Hanoi on March 28.
“The iodine-131 level was 500,000 times below the level deemed safe and it will not affect human health,” he told Thanh Nien.
According to a statement by the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute released on March 29, the radioiodine has been found in the atmosphere by monitoring stations in Lang Son and Hanoi in the north, Lam Dong in the Central Highlands and Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
S

atellite images on March 30 showed that the plume from Japan’s nuclear power plant was located at sea and yet to spread to Vietnam, the institute said.
However, iodine-131 could spread in the air even faster than the radiation plume, as has happened in Russia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Germany, where radiation detecting stations found its presence while the plume was still far away, the institute said.
Iodine-131 can cause mutation and death in cells that it penetrates, and in other cells up to several millimeters away. Exposure to I-131 may increase a person's risk of developing thyroid cancer.
Tran Dai Phuc, a nuclear expert who has worked in the sector for the past 45 years, said that the levels of radiation in Vietnam are far below the safe level and residents should not be overanxious.
Phuc’s reassurance came after residents expressed fears that rains over the past days in Hanoi could be radioactive and affect human health.
Nguyen Nhi Dien, director of the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute in Lam Dong Province, said that radiation levels are expected to become even lower in the coming days because iodine-131 is relatively short-lived, with an eight day half-life.
Meanwhile, international experts have said that critically damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant are still leaking radioactive pollution into the air, and probably into the soil and sea.
Tests have shown "a very high concentration - equivalent to a dose of 1,000 millisieverts (mSv) per hour - in reactor 2, and 750 mSv in reactor 3," AFP cited France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) as saying on March 28.
"Someone who stands next to such water will, within 15 minutes, absorb the maximum dose a nuclear facility worker in Japan is allowed to take in during an entire year," or 250 mSv, said Thierry Charles, head of France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).
Even the 250 mSv limit - set at the outset of the Fukushimia crisis – is two-and-a-half times the earlier, long-standing ceiling.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), acknowledged on March 28 for the first time that highly radioactive water has leaked from the buildings housing both of these reactors, and has already reached the Pacific Ocean.
Traces of radiation had in fact drifted all the way to the US, with rainwater in Ohio found to have been contaminated the same day.
People and governments living in countries neighboring Japan had already taken a range of precautionary measures as they watched the crisis escalate.
Authorities across the region began testing Japanese food imports for radiation, while some vegetables grown near Fukushima were banned altogether.
Travelers returning from Japan were also screened at some airports for radiation.
Safety First
Amidst rising concerns over nuclear safety following the Fukushima incident, the Vietnamese Government presented to the National Assembly a report on plans to build a nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan on Tuesday, March 29.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said the government has assigned the Ministry of Science and Technology to coordinate with the Ninh Thuan administration and prepare a plan to deal with possible problems at the future plant, based on experiences from other countries and guidance from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Electricity of Vietnam, the national power utility, has been tasked with preparing detailed rescue plans, the report said.
“Besides following strictly the process of construction, operation and maintenance to ensure absolute safety, there will be personnel trained to cope with any problems that occur,” Nhan said.

The Fukushima incident would be taken as a lesson while constructing the nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan, he added.

The Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant project is expected to begin in the third quarter this year with a feasibility study and an approval application for its location. A contractor will be chosen in February 2014 and the ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for December 2014.
The first reactor is to go operational in 2020 and the second in 2021.
Construction of the Ninh Thuan 2 Nuclear Power Plant is expected to break ground in May 2015 and its two reactors to begin operations in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Uong Chu Luu, deputy chairman of the National Assembly, said that the plants must use the latest technology to ensure absolute safety.

“The government has to conduct a thorough research study on impacts of seismic fault lines and structure, climate change and sea level increases at the places designated for the plants,” he said, adding that the government must also report to the National Assembly before construction of the first reactor begins.
In another action aimed at ensuring nuclear safety, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on March 25 approved a plan proposed by the Ministry of Public Security on “execution of security measures in the atomic energy sector.”
The plan includes a VND40 billion (US$1.9 million) investment in building a legal system, infrastructure and human resources in maintaining atomic energy security, VND200 billion ($9.57 million) for activities to prevent, detect and handle violations, and another VND60 billion ($2.87 million) for building security infrastructure at the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plants.

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Vietnam to maintain radiation check on foods from Japan

Saigon, Vietnam (3/31/2011)

Vietnam will test all imported foodstuffs from Japan, following the announcement by the Japanese Ministry of Health that vegetables and products from areas near the Fukushima nuclear plant may be contaminated.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development made this announcement on March 30. Vietnam has recently enhanced its import restrictions adding additional caution to the country’s existing import controls. These controls will prevent the entry of certain foods from affected areas of Japan.
Relevant agencies under the ministry, will quarantine most of the containers from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma for radiation tests. Should these responsible agencies discover any contamination in the foodstuffs, they will re-export them.
The relevant agencies are currently keeping 396.27 kilograms of imported aquatic products in harbors for radiation testing.
Containers arriving via Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat Airport, Hai Phong and Sai Gon harbors will be subjected to radiation checks. However, Vietnam has not detected any Japanese contaminated food so far.

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