Is Fukushima About to Blow?

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
5,846
478
83
Vancouver-by-the-Sea
So as predicted exactly SFA happened, the world didn't end in a blaze of light in fact things have gone on pretty much as always.

The smug self satisfied cynics like myself were right and the hysteria addicted dimwits that pollute this planet with their chronic small mindedness are as pathetic as ever-addicted as they are to the smell of their own sh!t soaked panties.
 

Angstrom

Hall of Fame Member
May 8, 2011
10,659
0
36
maybe we should just let it leak for the next 60 years. Ya that's a great idea.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
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Japan marks 12 years from tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
Published Mar 11, 2023 • 3 minute read

TOKYO — Japan on Saturday marked the 12th anniversary of the massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster with a minute of silence, as concerns grew ahead of the planned release of the treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and the government’s return to nuclear energy.


The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that ravaged large parts of Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, left more than 22,000 people dead, including about 3,700 whose subsequent deaths were linked to the disaster.


A moment of silence was observed nationwide at 2:46 p.m., the moment the earthquake struck.

Some residents in the tsunami-hit northern prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi walked down to the coast to pray for their loved ones and the 2,519 whose remains were never found.

In Tomioka, one of the Fukushima towns where initial searches had to be abandoned due to radiation, firefighters and police use sticks and a hoe to rake through the coastline looking for the possible remains of the victims or their belongings.


At an elementary school in Sendai, in Miyagi prefecture north of Fukushima, participants released hundreds of colorful balloons in memory of the lives lost.

In Tokyo, dozens of people gathered at an anniversary event in a downtown park, and anti-nuclear activists staged a rally.

The earthquake and tsunami that slammed into the coastal Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant destroyed its power and cooling functions, triggering meltdowns in three of its six reactors. They spewed massive amounts of radiation that caused tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.

Over 160,000 people had left at one point, and about 30,000 are still unable to return due to long-term radiation effects or health concerns. Many of the evacuees have already resettled elsewhere, and most affected towns have seen significant population declines over the past decade.


At a ceremony, Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori said decontamination and reconstruction had made progress, but “we still face many difficult problems.” He said many people were still leaving and the prefecture was burdened with the plant cleanup and rumors about the effects of the upcoming release of the treated water.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, and the government are making final preparations to release into the sea more than 1.3 million tons of treated radioactive water, beginning in coming months.

The government says the controlled release of the water after treatment to safe levels over several decades is safe, but many residents as well as neighbours China and South Korea and Pacific island nations are opposed to it. Fishing communities are particularly concerned about the reputation of local fish and their still recovering business.


In his speech last week, Uchibori urged the government to do utmost to prevent negative rumors about the water release from further damaging Fukushima’s image.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida renewed his pledge to support the ongoing reconstruction efforts.

“The discharge of the treated water is a step that cannot be delayed,” Kishida told reporters after the ceremony. He repeated an earlier pledge that “a release will not be carried out without understanding of the stakeholders.”

Kishida’s government has reversed a nuclear phase-out policy that was adopted following the 2011 disaster, and instead is pushing a plan to maximize the use of nuclear energy to address energy supply concerns triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine while meeting decarbonization requirements.

Uchibori’s goal is to bolster the renewable energy supply to 100% of the Fukushima prefectural needs by 2040. He said last week that while the energy policy is the central government’s mandate, he wants it to remember that Fukushima continues to suffer from the nuclear disaster.
 

Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
2,645
1,583
113
If they used coal, we would not have this problem. Now, they want to dump poisoned water where my dinner swims.
 

Wise

Electoral Member
Mar 3, 2019
273
22
18
"Levels of radiation leaking into seawater at the Unit 2 reactor were 100,000 times above normal, and the airborne radiation measured 4-times higher than government limits." - I never heard about this in newspapers. I think it is ok, not too bad. Probably still normal.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
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Regulators begin final safety inspection before treated Fukushima wastewater is released into sea
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
Published Jun 28, 2023 • 2 minute read

TOKYO — Japanese regulators began a final inspection Wednesday before treated radioactive wastewater is released from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.


The inspection began a day after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings installed the last piece of equipment needed for the release — the outlet of the undersea tunnel dug to discharge the wastewater 1 kilometre (a thousand yards) offshore.


TEPCO said the Nuclear Regulation Authority inspectors will examine the equipment related to the treated water discharge and its safety systems during three days of inspections through Friday. The permit for releasing the water could be issued about a week later, and TEPCO could start discharging the water soon after, though an exact date has not been decided.

The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing groups concerned about safety and reputational damage. The government and TEPCO promised in 2015 not to release the water without consent from the fishing groups, but many in the fishing community say the plan was pushed regardless. Neighbouring South Korea, China and some Pacific Island nations have also raised safety concerns.


Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Wednesday that the government “abides by its policy of not carrying out a release without the understanding” of fishing groups in Fukushima. He said the government will continue to communicate closely with them and others involved, while ensuring safety and addressing the issue of reputational damage. Fishing groups fear the wastewater release will cause consumers to stop buying seafood from the area.

Government and utility officials say the wastewater, currently stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant, must be removed to prevent any accidental leaks and to make room for the plant’s decommissioning. They say the treated but still slightly radioactive water will be diluted to levels safer than international standards and will be released gradually into the ocean over decades, making it harmless to people and marine life.


Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to radionuclides is unknown and the release should be delayed. Others say the release plan is safe but call for more transparency, including allowing outside scientists to join in sampling and monitoring the release.

Japan has sought support from the International Atomic Energy Agency to gain credibility and ensure that safety measures meet international standards. IAEA has dispatched several missions to Japan since early 2022, and its final evaluation report is expected soon, though the organization has no power to stop the plan. IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi is expected to visit Japan in early July to meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and visit the plant.

A massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and their cooling water to be contaminated and leak continuously. The water is collected, treated and stored in the tanks, which will reach their capacity in early 2024.
 

55Mercury

rigid member
May 31, 2007
4,272
988
113
I wonder how many TEPCO employees or contractors have died before their time in these past dozen years.

Though I don't expect we'll ever hear about it.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,004
113
Fukushima residents are cautious after the wrecked nuclear plant began releasing treated wastewater
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 6 minute read

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were mixed amid uncertainty over how seafood consumers will respond to the release of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.


The plant, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, began sending the treated water into the Pacific on Thursday despite protests at home and in nearby countries that are adding political and diplomatic pressures to the economic worries.


Hideaki Igari, a middleman at the Numanouchi fishing port, said the price of larger flounder, Fukushima’s signature fish known as Joban-mono, was more than 10% lower at the Friday morning auction, the first since the water release began. Prices of some average-size flounder rose, but presumably due to a limited catch, says Igari. Others fell.

It was a relatively calm market reaction to the water release. But, Igari said, “we still have to see how it goes next week.”


The decadeslong release has been strongly opposed by fishing groups and criticized by neighboring countries. China immediately banned imports of seafood from Japan in response, adding to worries in the fisheries community and related businesses.

In Seoul on Saturday, thousands of South Koreans took to the streets to condemn the release of wastewater and to criticize the South Korean government for endorsing the plan. The protesters called on Japan to store radioactive water in tanks instead of releasing it into the Pacific Ocean.

A citizens’ radiation testing center in Japan said it’s getting inquiries and expects more people might bring in food, water and other samples as radiation data is now a key barometer for what to eat.


Japanese fishing groups fear the release will do more harm to the reputation of seafood from the Fukushima area. They are still striving to repair the damage to their businesses from the meltdown at the power plant after the earthquake and tsunami.

“We now have this water after all these years of struggle when the fish market price is finally becoming stable,” Igari said after Friday’s auction. “Fisheries people fear that prices of the fish they catch for their living may crash again, and worry about their future living.”

The Japanese government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the water must be released to make way for the facility’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks of insufficiently treated water. Much of tank-held water still contains radioactive materials exceeding releasable levels.


Some wastewater at the plant is recycled as coolant after treatment, and the rest is stored in around 1,000 tanks, which are filled to 98% of their 1.37 million-ton capacity. The tanks cover much of the complex and must be cleared out to make room for new facilities needed for the decommissioning process, officials say.

Authorities say the wastewater after treatment and dilution is safer than international standards require, and that its environmental impact will be negligible. On Friday, the first seawater samples collected after the release were significantly below the legally releasable levels, the power company said.

But, having suffered a series of accidental and intended releases of contaminated water from the plant early in the disaster, hard feelings and distrust of the government and TEPCO run deep in Fukushima — especially in the fishing community.


TEPCO says the release will take 30 years, or until the end of the plant decommissioning. People fear that could mean a tough future for youths in the fishing town, where many businesses are family-run.

Fukushima’s current catch already is only about one-fifth its pre-disaster level due to a decline in the number of fishers and decreased catch sizes.

The government has allocated 80 billion yen ($550 million) to support fisheries and seafood processing, and to combat potential reputation damage by sponsoring campaigns to promote Fukushima’s Joban-mono and processed seafood. TEPCO has promised to deal with reputational damage claims, and those hurt by China’s export ban.

Tetsu Nozaki, head of the Fukushima prefectural fisheries cooperatives, said in a statement that worries of the fishing community will continue for as long as the water is released.


“Our only wish is to continue fishing for generations in our home town, like we used to before the accident,” Nozaki said.

Fish prices largely depend on the sentiment of wholesalers and consumers in the Tokyo region, where large portions of the Fukushima catch goes.

At the Friday auction at the Numanouchi port, the price for flounder was down from its usual level of about 3,500 yen ($24) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) to around 3,000 yen ($20), said Igari, the middleman.

“I suspect the result is because of the start of the treated water release from the Fukushima Daiichi and fear about its impact,” he said.

Igari said the discharge is discouraging but hopes careful testing can prove the safety of their fish. “From the consumers’ point of view about food safety at home, I think the best barometer is data,” he said.


At Mother’s Radiation Lab Fukushima in Iwaki, a citizens’ testing center known as Tarachine, tests were being conducted on water samples, including on tritium levels for seawater that the lab collected from just off the Fukushima Daiichi plant before the release.

Lab director Ai Kimura said anyone can bring in food, water or even soil, though the lab has big backlogs because testing take time.

She joined the lab after regretting she might not have fully protected her daughters because of the lack of information and knowledge earlier in the disaster. She says having independent test results is important not because of distrust of government data, but because “we learned over the past 12 years the importance of testing in order to get data” on what mothers want to know for serving safe and healthy food to their children and families.


Kimura said people have different views about safety — some are fine with government standards, others want them to be as close to zero as possible.

“It’s very difficult to make everyone feel safe. … That’s why we conduct testing so we can visualize data on food from different places and help people have more options to make a decision,” she said.

Kimura said the lab’s testing has shown Fukushima fish to be safe over the past few years, and she happily eats local fish.

“It’s totally fine to eat fish that does not contain radiation,” she said.

But now the treated wastewater release will bring new questions, she said.

Aeon, a major supermarket chain that has been testing cesium and iodine levels in fish, announced plans to also test for tritium, a radionuclide inseparable from water.


Katsumasa Okawa, a fish store and restaurant operator who was at one of his four shops Thursday, said customers were sparse after the plant started its final steps of the treated water release at 1 p.m. and media reports covered the development.

But on Friday, he said, his Yamako seafood restaurant next to Iwaki’s main train station seemed to be doing business as usual, with customers coming in and out during lunchtime.

Okawa said he’s been looking forward to the wastewater draining as a big step toward decommissioning the nuclear plant. “I feel more at ease thinking those tanks will finally go away.”

Okawa, who said he did voluntary testing of his products for a number of years after the disaster, is worried about returning to the days of radiation testing and data as a benchmark of what to eat.

“I think too much testing data only triggers concerns,” he said. “I’m confident about what I sell and I will just keep up the work.”

Some people say they want to eat good fish and not worry.

Bus driver Hideki Tanaka, on vacation and fishing at another Iwaki port of Onagawa, said he hoped to catch horse mackerel.

“If you worry too much, you can’t eat fish from anywhere,” he said.
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,543
6,923
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B.C.
Fukushima residents are cautious after the wrecked nuclear plant began releasing treated wastewater
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
Published Aug 26, 2023 • 6 minute read

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were mixed amid uncertainty over how seafood consumers will respond to the release of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.


The plant, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, began sending the treated water into the Pacific on Thursday despite protests at home and in nearby countries that are adding political and diplomatic pressures to the economic worries.


Hideaki Igari, a middleman at the Numanouchi fishing port, said the price of larger flounder, Fukushima’s signature fish known as Joban-mono, was more than 10% lower at the Friday morning auction, the first since the water release began. Prices of some average-size flounder rose, but presumably due to a limited catch, says Igari. Others fell.

It was a relatively calm market reaction to the water release. But, Igari said, “we still have to see how it goes next week.”


The decadeslong release has been strongly opposed by fishing groups and criticized by neighboring countries. China immediately banned imports of seafood from Japan in response, adding to worries in the fisheries community and related businesses.

In Seoul on Saturday, thousands of South Koreans took to the streets to condemn the release of wastewater and to criticize the South Korean government for endorsing the plan. The protesters called on Japan to store radioactive water in tanks instead of releasing it into the Pacific Ocean.

A citizens’ radiation testing center in Japan said it’s getting inquiries and expects more people might bring in food, water and other samples as radiation data is now a key barometer for what to eat.


Japanese fishing groups fear the release will do more harm to the reputation of seafood from the Fukushima area. They are still striving to repair the damage to their businesses from the meltdown at the power plant after the earthquake and tsunami.

“We now have this water after all these years of struggle when the fish market price is finally becoming stable,” Igari said after Friday’s auction. “Fisheries people fear that prices of the fish they catch for their living may crash again, and worry about their future living.”

The Japanese government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the water must be released to make way for the facility’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks of insufficiently treated water. Much of tank-held water still contains radioactive materials exceeding releasable levels.


Some wastewater at the plant is recycled as coolant after treatment, and the rest is stored in around 1,000 tanks, which are filled to 98% of their 1.37 million-ton capacity. The tanks cover much of the complex and must be cleared out to make room for new facilities needed for the decommissioning process, officials say.

Authorities say the wastewater after treatment and dilution is safer than international standards require, and that its environmental impact will be negligible. On Friday, the first seawater samples collected after the release were significantly below the legally releasable levels, the power company said.

But, having suffered a series of accidental and intended releases of contaminated water from the plant early in the disaster, hard feelings and distrust of the government and TEPCO run deep in Fukushima — especially in the fishing community.


TEPCO says the release will take 30 years, or until the end of the plant decommissioning. People fear that could mean a tough future for youths in the fishing town, where many businesses are family-run.

Fukushima’s current catch already is only about one-fifth its pre-disaster level due to a decline in the number of fishers and decreased catch sizes.

The government has allocated 80 billion yen ($550 million) to support fisheries and seafood processing, and to combat potential reputation damage by sponsoring campaigns to promote Fukushima’s Joban-mono and processed seafood. TEPCO has promised to deal with reputational damage claims, and those hurt by China’s export ban.

Tetsu Nozaki, head of the Fukushima prefectural fisheries cooperatives, said in a statement that worries of the fishing community will continue for as long as the water is released.


“Our only wish is to continue fishing for generations in our home town, like we used to before the accident,” Nozaki said.

Fish prices largely depend on the sentiment of wholesalers and consumers in the Tokyo region, where large portions of the Fukushima catch goes.

At the Friday auction at the Numanouchi port, the price for flounder was down from its usual level of about 3,500 yen ($24) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) to around 3,000 yen ($20), said Igari, the middleman.

“I suspect the result is because of the start of the treated water release from the Fukushima Daiichi and fear about its impact,” he said.

Igari said the discharge is discouraging but hopes careful testing can prove the safety of their fish. “From the consumers’ point of view about food safety at home, I think the best barometer is data,” he said.


At Mother’s Radiation Lab Fukushima in Iwaki, a citizens’ testing center known as Tarachine, tests were being conducted on water samples, including on tritium levels for seawater that the lab collected from just off the Fukushima Daiichi plant before the release.

Lab director Ai Kimura said anyone can bring in food, water or even soil, though the lab has big backlogs because testing take time.

She joined the lab after regretting she might not have fully protected her daughters because of the lack of information and knowledge earlier in the disaster. She says having independent test results is important not because of distrust of government data, but because “we learned over the past 12 years the importance of testing in order to get data” on what mothers want to know for serving safe and healthy food to their children and families.


Kimura said people have different views about safety — some are fine with government standards, others want them to be as close to zero as possible.

“It’s very difficult to make everyone feel safe. … That’s why we conduct testing so we can visualize data on food from different places and help people have more options to make a decision,” she said.

Kimura said the lab’s testing has shown Fukushima fish to be safe over the past few years, and she happily eats local fish.

“It’s totally fine to eat fish that does not contain radiation,” she said.

But now the treated wastewater release will bring new questions, she said.

Aeon, a major supermarket chain that has been testing cesium and iodine levels in fish, announced plans to also test for tritium, a radionuclide inseparable from water.


Katsumasa Okawa, a fish store and restaurant operator who was at one of his four shops Thursday, said customers were sparse after the plant started its final steps of the treated water release at 1 p.m. and media reports covered the development.

But on Friday, he said, his Yamako seafood restaurant next to Iwaki’s main train station seemed to be doing business as usual, with customers coming in and out during lunchtime.

Okawa said he’s been looking forward to the wastewater draining as a big step toward decommissioning the nuclear plant. “I feel more at ease thinking those tanks will finally go away.”

Okawa, who said he did voluntary testing of his products for a number of years after the disaster, is worried about returning to the days of radiation testing and data as a benchmark of what to eat.

“I think too much testing data only triggers concerns,” he said. “I’m confident about what I sell and I will just keep up the work.”

Some people say they want to eat good fish and not worry.

Bus driver Hideki Tanaka, on vacation and fishing at another Iwaki port of Onagawa, said he hoped to catch horse mackerel.

“If you worry too much, you can’t eat fish from anywhere,” he said.
Frankin fish
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,004
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Fukushima nuclear plant starts 2nd release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mari Yamaguchi
Published Oct 05, 2023 • 2 minute read

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said it began releasing a second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea on Thursday after the first round of discharges ended smoothly.


Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said workers activated pumps to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean through an undersea tunnel for an offshore release.


The wastewater discharges, which are expected to continue for decades, have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people staged protest rallies. China banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood producers and exporters.

The plant’s first wastewater release began Aug. 24 and ended Sept. 11. During that release, TEPCO said it discharged 7,800 tons of treated water from 10 tanks. In the second discharge, TEPCO plans to release another 7,800 tons of treated water into the Pacific Ocean over 17 days.


“So far, we are strictly following the procedures and everything is moving smoothly as planned,” said TEPCO spokesperson Keisuke Matsuo. He pledged to safely carry out the second round of release while closely monitoring data from seawater samples taken from multiple locations off the plant.

About 1.34 million tons of radioactive wastewater is stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant. It has accumulated since the plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

TEPCO and the government say discharging the water into the sea is unavoidable because the tanks will reach capacity early next year and space at the plant will be needed for its decommissioning, which is expected to take decades.

They say the water is treated to reduce radioactive materials to safe levels, and then is diluted with seawater by hundreds of times to make it much safer than international standards.


Some scientists say, however, that the continuing release of low-level radioactive materials is unprecedented and needs to be monitored closely.

Japan’s government has set up a relief fund to help find new markets and reduce the impact of China’s seafood ban. Measures also include the temporary purchase, freezing and storage of seafood and promotion of seafood sales at home.

Cabinet ministers have traveled to Fukushima to sample local seafood and promote its safety.

TEPCO is tasked with providing compensation for reputational damage to the region’s seafood caused by the wastewater release. It started accepting applications this week and immediately received hundreds of inquiries. Most of the damage claims are linked to China’s seafood ban and excess supply at home causing price declines, TEPCO said.

Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita promoted Japanese scallops at a food fair in Malaysia on Wednesday on the sidelines of a regional farm ministers’ meeting.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has reviewed the safety of the wastewater release and concluded that if carried out as planned, it would have a negligible impact on the environment, marine life and human health.