Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Japan's Idea of Decontamination: Give Manual to Citizens and Let Them Do It

So the vast tract of East Japan has been contaminated with radioactive materials that came out of nuclear fuel rods that were melted down (and through and possibly out), and many areas are more contaminated than the radiation control area of a nuclear power plant which requires strict control and decontamination by nuclear professionals in case of an accident.

So what have the affected municipalities done? Fukushima Prefecture already has a handbook for citizens on how to decontaminate. The national government has promised it will come up with a plan. (It reminds me of "Blackadder" - where Baldrick always say to Blackadder at the very last moment, "I have a cunning plan ..." which is not cunning and usually very bad or useless or both to say the least.)

That national plan may be something like the one that has been apparently released by the Japanese Society of Radiation Safety Management, and it relies on the citizens' effort to locate the high radiation "hot spots" and decontaminate using the household cleaning tools and materials, as if radioactive cesium and strontium and plutonium and cobalt should be no different from dirt and rust.

One great thing about this citizen decon idea is that it won't cost much at all to the national government, other than some support money given to neighborhood associations.

Asahi Shinbun (8/31/2011) reports:

個人の住宅周辺で特に放射線量が高い「ホットスポット」の見つけ方と、効果的な除染法について、日本放射線安全管理学会がマニュアルをまとめた。雨どいの下など、放射性物質が集まりやすい場所を紹介。放射性物質が飛散しない除染法なども説明している。

The Japanese Society of Radiation Safety Management has created a manual on how to find "hot spots" in and around one's home and how to decontaminate effectively. The manual shows the locations where radioactive materials tend to accumulate, such as under the rain gutters, and explains the methods of decontamination that do not spread radioactive materials.

 ホットスポットは、雨どい▽側溝▽排水溝▽マンホール周辺▽水たまりの乾燥跡▽さびた鉄材▽切り株や木材▽草木やこけの表面▽枯れ葉や土がたまった場所――などに多く見つかる。

[According to the manual,] hot spots are often found at rain gutters, side drains, manholes, locations where there were water puddles, rusted metals, tree stumps and lumber, surface of grass, trees and moss, pile of fallen leaves and dirt.

 雨どいや屋根の材質がさびたトタンや凹凸が激しい瓦の場合、セシウムが吸着しやすい。ちりや枯れ葉を掃除して集めると、線量が数十倍になることもある。

Cesium tends to adhere to the rain gutters, rusted tin roofs, and roofing tiles with uneven surface. If one sweeps dust and fallen leaves and collect them, the radiation level may jump significantly.

 家庭菜園で、3月中旬~下旬以降に枯れ葉などですき込み作業をした場合は、作物への放射性物質の移行に注意が必要という。

If dead leaves were plowed into the home garden after mid March, one should be aware that radioactive materials may have moved to the plants.

 屋根や雨どいを除染する場合はブラシを用い、汚れが落ちにくい場合は重曹水や酢を2~3倍に薄めた水を少しかけてこする。さびた部分は、オレンジクリーナーやクレンザーなどを使うと効果的だという。

According to the manual, one should use a brush to decontaminate the roof and rain gutters. If the dirt doesn't come off easily, one may wet the surface a little with water with baking soda or with vinegar and scrub. Cleanser is effective on rusty parts.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vinegar is OK and cheap. As everybody knows, it can help to remove calcium stains, thus it can also help to remove caesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr). If you want to use a better tool, I would recommend to use Citric acid (dissolved in water of course). It is also relatively cheap, available in normal supermarkets (usually close to the cake section) and its potency to bind Cs and Sr is much higher.

Good luck and do not forget to wear gloves and a mask and clothes that you can dispose. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

The problem with decontamination is in many areas it won't be a one time operation it will be a constant battle of reemergence. Haphazard decontamination is also know in some circles as Recontamination. Washing contamination into surface waters can cause problems for people who rely on it for their use. There are also some surfaces that won't easily come clean because of ionic bonding. Remember early in the disaster the Japanese were having problems cleaning certain surfaces on their helicopters because of ionic bonding issues. I have a feeling without some cunning stunts on the national level this is do nothing feel good busy work. If cleaning up a nuclear disaster was as simple as some vinegar and elbow grease Europe wouldn't still be monitoring food and land 25 years later.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon 10:24pm, they indeed need tons of luck...

@anon 12:24am, my thinking exactly. The government needs to show that they are doing something, or actually know something.

Anonymous said...

So, let me get this straight...one PRIVATE CORPORATION can set up a nuclear power plant for profit--without receiving public consent--then, THE GOVERNMENT approves this, with safety regulation violations...then, when there is an accident the PRIVATE COMPANY AND GOVERNMENT DO NOT EVACUATE PEOPLE TO SAFE PLACES, THEY WITHHOLD INFORMATION (FROM SPEEDI) AND CAUSE PEOPLE TO BE IRRADIATED IN THEIR OWN HOUSES OR IN NEW EVACUATION ZONES...then, the people must lose EVERYTHING--homes, jobs, pets, possessions, food, their health and possibly their lives--and the PRIVATE COMPANY AND GOVERNMENT shut down media reports about the truth, then tell people to eat radiated food, then give only a tiny fraction of people a few hundred dollars and maybe a gymnasium to live in, indefinitely...the PRIVATE COMPANY AND GOVERNMENT have NO SOLUTION TO STOP RADIATION...they hold BULLSHIT MEETINGS that amount to, "WE DON"T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THOSE, WHOSE LIVES WE DESTROYED"...THE GOVERNMENT AND NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CIRCULATES MORE PROPAGANDA ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL NUCLEAR POWER IS and besides, they claim, they *don't have the money* to stop using these plants...even though everyone knew building nuclear plants on faultlines, in an earthquake prone country was a bad idea...and now...NOW, the people must DECONTAMINATE THEIR OWN PROPERTIES, WHICH HAVE RADIONUCLIDES--FROM THE PRIVATE COMPANY'S AND GOVERNMENT'S NEGLIGENCE??? Okay, these people in power need to be yanked from their homes and thrown in jail--immediately. THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE SUED, TEPCO NEEDS TO BE STRIPPED OF ALL ASSETS...THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS NEED TO BE FOUND, TRIED AND GIVEN THE DEATH PENALTY--IF IT LEGALLY EXISTS IN JAPAN. INTERNATIONALLY, THIS GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE COMPANY NEED TO BE SUED--for contaminating North America. NOT ONE PENNY SHOULD BE LEFT IN ONE TEPCO EXECUTIVES' POCKET, WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE DONE WITH THEM. There is no excuse for this at all. ROUND UP THE CULPRITS. IT"S TIME FOR JUSTICE.

Anonymous said...

It's the blind leading the blind,where are the free issue geiger counters?

You know,so the washy-washy people have some indication of what they are doing.

It's not much to provide every household with an instrument for measuring surface contamination,if it were rifles there wouldn't be a problem.

the voice in your head said...

Anon 2:46 AM,

Yes, you got that straight.

Richard said...

ANON-AUGUST 31, 2011 2:46 AM

That rant is exactly it.

The culprits are not just current tepco and government people.. the execs have been getting masses of money for decades - they have retired, but have profited at the demise of japan and possibly the northern hemisphere.

This disaster couldn't have happened any where worse then japan, the people are to timid to revolt .. soon .. they may not even have the strength to dig their own graves.


How will MILLIONS be fed and housed when all crops are poison or dead. I dread the anniversary of fukushima, although I wonder if the mainstream media will be able to hide the destruction and death by then.

Japan is doomed. And probably the rest of the world. Who will take the millions of irradiated japanese evacuees and feed and house and heel them ?

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:46

Brilliant summation.

It does seem as though the government and TEPCO are one and the same, rather than separate entities. And quite likely, the Japanese govt./TEPCO is controlled by an even larger entity. Many powerful groups, secretly and silently, are pulling the strings of the world.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 2:46

No criminals will be brought to justice because that would require the other criminals in power to indite them. Unfortunately for Japan they are too deep in their enforced addiction to nuclear power, everybody's hand is in their neighbor's pocket. TEPCO is the fourth largest electric utility in the world as far as Japan is concerned they are too big to fail. This is the same reason BP was allowed to get away with the Gulf oil spill. BP stock is directly tied to a majority of the UK pension funds and their failure would be the financial ruin of all of the UK. The financial health of TEPCO directly effects the entire country that is why the JGOV was falling all over itself to prop up TEPCO's stock every time it got near zero. Corporations have learned to entwine their fates to the nations they do business in to protect their activities. The simple fact is to punish TEPCO is to punish the Japanese bond market and pensioners.

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Japan_moves_to_secure_too_big_to_fail_TEPCO_999.html

Anonymous said...

Human sacrifices to save the bond market.

We are no different than ancient "primitive" civilizations.

And sadly, the world stock and bonds markets will collapse anyway; those pensions are a plastic carrot at the end of a disintegrating stick.

Anonymous said...

Well, in the mean time...consequences should be delivered to those responsible for this Fukushima atrocity.

Bruce Hayden said...

Isn't globalism wonderful?The New World Order is a death cult as many have recognized for many years.

Anonymous said...

need boric acid, its very cheap from midWest USA& its loaded with Boron

Anonymous said...

Call it whatever you like...the point is specifically-->TEPCO and Japan's Government should be held responsible.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 4:35

I call it reality, who got punished for letting 9/11 happen, who got punished for the fiasco of Katrina, who got punished for Wall Street's world shattering implosion a few years ago and who got punished for the Gulf oil spill?

Nobody! The people in charge don't punish themselves for epic failure instead they pat each other on the back and say, "heck of a good job" now on to the next crisis. As far as the ruling elites are concerned guilty parties are punished with a revolving door hiring policy shared between industry and the agencies that are supposed to be regulating them. If anyone ever does actually get punished it is some lower level peon poster child like Bernie Madoff. Every major financial institution was guilty of the same crime as Madoff, only on a much broader scale the reason they were ignored is because they are "too big to fail". If every major financial institution was brought to justice the dollar would have totally collapsed back then.

Shoulda, woulda but there isn't much coulda because the Japanese people would have to screw themselves (even more than they are now) to punish TEPCO. Would you and just about everyone you know be willing to totally trash your pension to make a point? Greed truly is man's downfall and the nuclear ponzi scheme is a perfect example in action. As for those responsible in government who is going to charge them and bring them to justice? The Japanese were misled by their government as to how the war was going during WWII, how many of those people were brought to justice? None, the only people brought to justice were a few class "A" war criminals most of the people in question were given back their assets and companies after the war and left in charge.

Look, I agree with the sentiment the guilty should always be held responsible for their crimes but the reality is they very rarely are. The sad truth is most high level criminals are richly rewarded for their efforts with a minor few being publicly slapped on the wrist from time to time.

Anonymous said...

In reply to anonymous (August 31, 2011 11:34 AM...let me get this straight...)

You forgot the most important part of the puzzle (your rant)...if only the US with their HAARP weapon hadn't caused the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in the first place, the Japanese wouldn't be in the dire circumstances their in. Oh well, the Russians have finally had it with Washington/NATO aggression in the Middle East. Libya was the last straw as evidenced by the earthquake in DC-Virginia and hurricane Irene last week. This was only a warning. Next time they'll put New York City 30 feet underwater. What goes around comes around. Who needs nukes when you have weather weapons that can wipe out the entire coast line of a country in 30 minutes...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3fsl9Utd8s...I guess the nuke power plants in Virginia were just in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Anonymous said...

Yawn...we are way off-topic, people. What is this...counter propaganda from the nuclear industry, trying to make this discussion thread look "conspiracy theory-ish?" Look talk about what you want...a.) TEPCO and the Japanese government CAN be brought to justice...anger and lawsuits are already starting to boil over... b.)when people get sick, this demand for justice will increase...disrupt all you want...no amount of money will protect these people from global condemnation...even other rich bureaucrats must eat, drink and breath these radionuclides--and EVERYONE IS PISSED.

Anonymous said...

Shit corruption and death...NO CONSPIRACY THEORY...THIS WAS NO NATURAL DISASTER!! Weather weapons are being tested and used all over the world by those countries who have them...there is a major natural disaster - earthquake/flood/huricane/tsunami - happening every other day someplace in the world...TEPCO and the Japanese Government are small players in the scheme of world events...this is no counter propaganda...f*ck the nuke power industry too!

Anonymous said...

Better to stick to topic: TEPCO AND JAPAN'S GOVERNMENT MUST PAY. If you keep harping on HAARP...it just looks like you are a disruptor, trying to take the focus off the real issue--> Nuclear power must go.

Anonymous said...

HAARP is total BS everybody knows the weather is controlled by Big foot and the Loch Ness monster in conjunction with the intergalactic UFO confederacy. HAARP can't even remove a simple Chupacabras infestation, it can barely interact with a chemtrail for Christ sakes.

Anonymous said...

"HAARP is total BS everybody knows the weather is controlled by Big foot and the Loch Ness monster in conjunction with the intergalactic UFO confederacy. HAARP can't even remove a simple Chupacabras infestation, it can barely interact with a chemtrail for Christ sakes."

Fuck yourself and get off this blog--little bitch to the nuclear industry...you aren't even a clever "disruptor..."

Only a person who supports the nuclear industry would take the time to try and sway off topic, repeatedly. Who else would bother to read this blog, if it were not people who take this situation seriously?-->>Troll assholes who try to portray anyone who questions Japan's government, TEPCO or the nuclear industry as a bunch of "HAARP conspiracy thinkers" and attempt to cause confusion.

Japan's government lied to their citizens. This was documented by cabinet members who resigned from their positions and became whistle blowers. No "conspiracy theory" there. Pure fact.

TEPCO lied to everyone--both, Japan's government and TEPCO, withheld information of a computer simulation called SPEEDI--which caused citizens to be radiated. This was admitted, again, by government officials. Nothing "speculative" about it. Sorry.

The only people who "dwell on HAARP" or "make fun of HAARP" are people who wish to take the focus of these facts:

The nuclear industry must be dismantled. Nuclear power plants must be decommissioned. Our food chain cannot support radionuclides, indefinitely, poisoning our soil.

Cry all you want, little distracting troll. No one is listening to anything except the obvious truth:

The nuclear industry's days are numbered...just ask Germany.

Anonymous said...

Disruptor--^

This person is trying to take the focus off the real subject...that the nuclear industry is on it's way out...just ask Germany.

No "conspiracy theory" or "speculation" about that.
Sorry.

Bye, bye TEPCO and nuclear energy...we'll see your executives in handcuffs.

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