#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Suppression Chambers of Reactors 1 and 3 May Be Also Broken

Not just the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2, as even TEPCO admits is broken from unknown causes.

From Nihon Television News 24 (12/7/2011):

福島第一原子力発電所の事故で撮影された水素爆発の瞬間の映像を分析したところ、１号機、３号機ともに原子炉格納容器の圧力抑制室が破損している可能性のあることがわかった。

Analysis of the hydrogen explosions at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident has revealed the possibility that the Suppression Chambers of Reactors 1 and 3 are damaged.

　これは、秋田県立大学・鶴田俊教授が７日、横浜市で開かれたシンポジウムで発表したもの。鶴田教授が分析した結果、１号機だけでなく３号機についても、爆発の際に核分裂生成物を含んだ飽和水蒸気とみられるものが建屋の外に出ていることがわかったという。このことから鶴田教授は、水素爆発によって原子炉格納容器の圧力抑制室が損傷している可能性が高いと分析している。

Professor Takashi Tsuruda of Akita Prefectural University reported in a symposium [Combustion Symposium] held in Yokohama City on December 7. According to the analysis by Professor Tsuruda, something that appears to be saturated steam that contains fission products is observed to escape from the reactor building after the explosions of Reactor 1 and Reactor 3. From this, Professor Tsuruda has concluded that the Suppression Chambers [for these reactors] are likely to have been damaged by the hydrogen explosions.

　鶴田教授「これだけの大量の水がある所といえば、格納容器の圧力抑制室の水くらいしか考えにくいだろう」

Professor Tsuruda says, "The water in the Suppression Chambers is the most likely source of this much water."

　鶴田教授は、爆発の詳しい状況を調べるために再現実験が必要だと述べている。

He says a simulation experiment would be necessary to further examine the explosions.

From his profile, Professor Tsuruda's specialty is reaction chemistry, and the study of combustion in particular.

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Professor Yukio Hayakawa of Gunma University Is Under Attack

from his own university.

He was reprimanded by the university president for his "insensitive and inappropriate" remarks about "disaster victims" in Fukushima on his Twitter and blog, and is threatened with "disciplinary measures" that include termination from his position.

There are four types of "disciplinary measures" for public employees like Hayakawa: termination, suspension without pay, pay cut, and reprimand. He already got the last one.

He is the one who put out the radiation contour map from the very early days of the disaster. He is very much politically incorrect, not afraid to say things as they are.

Professor Hayakawa tweeted the entire reprimand live, after warning the university that he was tweeting live.

Hayakawa decided to hold a press conference this afternoon (December 8), changed his mind and decided to have an open lecture instead and booked the classroom. The school disallowed his booking, because the reservation didn't go through the proper channel. So he decided to have an open house in his office.

Then the head of the department came and forbid him to have an open house in his own office, but somehow that must have gotten resolved, and Professor is speaking with the media.

Tokyo Shinbun, Kyodo News, Yomiuri, TBS, and IWJ (Yasumi Iwakami) are there right now, live on USTREAM, here.

(And here's the link to the video recorded live.)

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#Radioactive Debris: New Osaka Governor to Citizens - "Don't Interrupt!"

47-year-old Ichiro Matsui is the newly elected governor of Osaka Prefecture who is all for accepting the disaster (and radioactive) debris from Tohoku. He convened the first meeting of experts to decide on the guidelines for accepting the debris, but the meeting was "rudely", according to him, interrupted by the citizens who don't want any radioactive debris to be burned and buried in Osaka. The meeting was canceled after one hour.

The governor was so incensed at this inappropriate behavior by the citizens who were supposed to just observe the meeting that he decided to keep the citizens in a separate room next time and make them watch the live feed of the meeting so that they don't interrupt the meeting with their silly questions about radiation.

The ex-governor of Osaka, 42-year-old Toru Hashimoto, is also very eager to accept debris. Now that he has become the new mayor of Osaka City, he and Matsui (they are of the same party called Osaka Restoration Association) want to push hard for the radioactive debris brought to Osaka. Pesky citizens be damned.

Will Osaka people put up with this? (Well, enough people voted for this guy, so maybe they will.)

(Here's the picture of the powerful duo. Governor Matsui is on the left, ex-Governor Hashimoto is on the right. He looks so youthful that I've started to think he hasn't graduated from the middle school yet.)

From Sankei Shinbun Western Japan edition (12/7/2011):

東日本大震災で発生した災害廃棄物の受け入れをめぐり、７日に開かれた大阪府内で処理する際の指針を検討する府の専門家会議が、放射性物質の影響を懸念して反対する傍聴者からの発言が相次いだため紛糾し、開始から約１時間で中止を余儀なくされた。同日、受け入れを前向きに検討する意向を示した松井一郎知事は「科学的知見を検討する会議の進行を妨げるのはいかがなものか」と不快感を示し、次回から別室でのモニター傍聴に切り替える方針を示した。

Regarding the acceptance of disaster debris from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami, the Osaka prefectural government held a meeting on December 7 of experts to decide on the guidelines of debris disposal within the prefecture. But the meeting was disrupted from the citizens who were observing the meeting and spoke up against the acceptance due to the concern for the effect of radioactive materials, and it had to be abandoned after about one hour. Governor Ichiro Matsui, who has already expressed willingness to accept the debris, was very displeased, and said "I don't think it was appropriate for [these people] to interrupt the meeting that discussed scientific knowledge. He plans to have the citizens observe the meeting in a different room via the [live] monitor.

　府によると、会議では受け入れに反対する傍聴者の市民らから「本当に健康被害が出ないのか」などと本来認められていない発言が相次いだ。座長の山本孝夫・大阪大大学院教授らは議事の進行が困難と判断し、打ち切りを決めたという。

According to the prefectural government, citizens who were against accepting the debris spoke up one after another, asking to know whether there would really be no damage to health. Remarks from the observers are not allowed. Professor Takao Yamamoto of Osaka University, who was the chairman of the meeting, and others decided that the meeting couldn't proceed in an orderly way, and canceled the meeting.

　府でのがれきの受け入れは、前知事の橋下徹・次期大阪市長が５月府議会で表明。松井知事も「安全性が確認されれば、困っている被災者のためにも受け入れるべきだ」としている。

Acceptance of disaster debris in Osaka was first expressed in May in the prefectural assemby by the then-governor and soon-to-be mayor of Osaka City Toru Hashimoto. Governor Matsui also says, "If the safety is confirmed, we should accept the debris to help the victims of the disaster."

　同会議で議論されている処理指針の骨子では、放射性セシウムの濃度が１キロ当たり２００ベクレルのがれきの山を被災地で選別し、破砕した上でコンテナに密閉し、船で大阪まで輸送。陸揚げ後、放射性物質が外部へ飛散しない設備を整えた民間業者の施設でさらに選別・破砕し、市町村や民間の焼却施設へ運搬、焼却灰の埋め立てに際してはセシウム濃度が国の基準の４分の１以下であることを確認する案が示されている。

According to the guidelines for processing the debris that are to be discussed in the meeting, the debris with the density of radioactive cesium of 200 becquerels/kg will be first sorted and crushed in the disaster areas, then it will be put in sealed containers and brought to Osaka by ship. After landing in Osaka, the debris will be further sorted and crushed by private companies that has the facilities to prevent the escape of radioactive materials. Then it will be transported to municipal and private waste processing plants and burned. Before burying the ashes, the density of radioactive cesium is to be measured and it should be less than one-quarter of the national safety limit.

　府は、年内に処理指針を策定し、被災県や焼却施設を持つ府内の市町村と、受け入れに向けた調整を始める予定だった。しかし、府にこれまで寄せられた意見１万件超のほとんどは反対意見で、７日の会議中止と合わせ、年内の指針策定は難しい情勢だという。

The Osaka government had planned to decide on the guidelines before the end of this year, and to start negotiation with the disaster-hit prefectures and with the municipalities in Osaka that have incineration plants. However, almost all of 10,000 messages received at the government are against accepting the debris. Coupled with the cancellation of the meeting on December 7, it looks difficult to decide on the guidelines before the end of this year.

Just like Tokyo. Osaka will burn the radioactive debris in the municipal incineration plants all over Osaka. These criminal people are duly elected. Viva democracy.

Debris with 200 becquerels/kg of cesium will burn to produce ashes that may have 6600 becquerels/kg of cesium (33 times concentration). I don't know what national standard they are talking about, but assuming it is 8000 becquerels/kg that is decreed "safe" for burying in the landfill by the Ministry of [Destruction of] the Environment, Osaka's ashes will be too radioactive to bury with abandon. Well I suppose they can simply mix and match and burn to lower the radioactivity.

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Japan Railway Pushes Tohoku as Must-Go-Now-Or-Never Travel Destination

One of my twitter followers from France sent me a link to a French blogpost titled "Christmas in Fukushima".

JR (Japan Railway) apparently has a special PR blitz that pushes Tohoku - Yamagata, Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima as travel destination. It has launched a TV commercial featuring young women having a good time traveling in the region.

The color scheme of the ad seems intentionally "dated" - it has a 1930's look to me. The first ad has a woman posing as if she was either shielding her eyes or saluting military-style.

The ad is for Fukushima Prefecture, and it says: "I'm coming, Tohoku" (in a diction used predominantly by men, colloquial, slightly vulgar); and "Nothing will happen unless I go there." (Hmmm, is it alluding to the decon volunteer work in high radiation areas in Fukushima?)

The second ad says: "If I don't go to Tohoku now, when would I go?" (i.e. "It's now or never" or "This is the best time to go.")

At JR East's website, you can download an ad poster for your favorite prefecture in Tohoku.

As the French blog points out, the ostensible (or "tatemae") reason for the PR blitz is to commemorate the 1 year anniversary of Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train) between Tokyo and Aomori), while the real reason is likely to be to prop up the sagging ticket sales and "help" the tourism industry in the disaster-affected area.

I personally do not think JR should be promoting tourism using young women in an area severely affected by the fallout from the nuclear plant accident. I don't think young women like those in the TV ad below should be in Fukushima for fun, but it's just me. Learned experts clearly have different opinions (here and here).

(H/T Aizen Kaguya)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 220 Tonnes, not 45, of Strontium-Contaminated Water?

If you look at the photos released so far by TEPCO (see my posts here and here) while being told only 45 tonnes of treated water leaked from the evaporative condensation apparatus (desalination) at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and that only 150 liters (about 40 gallons) of it leaked into the ocean, and wonder "45 tonnes? 150 liters? The numbers look too low", you may be right.

The amount of water leaked from the apparatus may be 220 tonnes, not 45 tonnes as widely reported. In this case, one of the first reports by Asahi Shinbun (print/digital print version) may have gotten it right. 45 tonnes just inside the building that houses this apparatus.

Let's do some recalculations. 150 liters of the treated water that have leaked into the ocean, according to TEPCO, had 26,000,000,000 becquerels (26 billion becquerels) of radioactive materials (cesium, strontium, etc.). If 750 liters leaked instead (using the ratio of 220 tonnes to 45 tonnes), 130 billion becquerels. If one tonne (1000 liters) leaked, about 173 billion becquerels.

The first news of an event in this nuclear disaster has often proven to be right, just like the March 12 announcement by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency that there may have been a core meltdown at Fukushima. (That spokesman was replaced the next day of course.)

Anyway, here's Asahi Shinbun's report at 10:47PM on December 4, 2011 (print/digital print version):

東京電力は４日、福島第一原発にたまる高濃度放射能汚染水を処理する施設から、水が４５トン漏れているのが見つかったと発表した。処理後の水だが基 準を大幅に上回る濃度の放射性物質を含み、漏れた総量は最大２２０トンと見積もられ、一部が海に流出した可能性がある。東電は原子炉の冷温停止状態を達成 間近としてきたが、一方で復旧作業にはなお手を焼いていることを示している。

TEPCO announced on December 4 that 45 tonnes of water was found leaked at a facility to treat the highly contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The water has been treated, but it contains radioactive materials that far exceed the level allowed by law. The total amount of the water leaked is estimated to be 220 tonnes maximum, and part of it may have leaked into the ocean. TEPCO has said that "cold shutdown" of the reactors will be achieved soon, but this incident shows that there are problems in the restoration work.

　原子炉の冷却水を処理して再利用する循環注水冷却システムで起きた水漏れでは、過去最大の量。漏れた水のセシウム濃度は１リットルあたり４万５千ベクレ ルで、原子炉等規制法が定める海水での濃度の基準の約３００倍。ストロンチウムの濃度は測定に時間がかかるので結果が出ていないが、これまでのデータから 分析すると、濃度は１リットルあたり１億ベクレル前後、基準の１００万倍あるとみられる。

This is the largest leak from the circulatory water injection and cooling system since the system started [in June]. The density of radioactive cesium in the water is 45,000 becquerels/liter, 300 times the density allowed by law for the water to be released into the ocean. The density of radioactive strontium is not yet available, as it takes time to measure. But judging from the previous data, it is considered to be 100 million becquerels/liter, 1 million times the density allowed by law.

　装置の運転は止めたが、処理後の水がタンクに１万トン以上あるため、原子炉への注水は続けており、東電は「冷温停止には影響しない」としている。

TEPCO has stopped the operation of the apparatus, but the injection of water into the reactors continue, as there are more than 10,000 tonnes of treated water in the storage tanks. TEPCO says, "It won't affect the cold shutdown."

　東電によると、４日午前１１時半ごろ、下請け企業の作業員が、汚染水を淡水化する装置から水が漏れているのを見つけた。処理水が漏れ出て周囲に４５トン たまり、たまった水が床近くのひび割れから外に出て側溝に流れ込んでいるのが確認された。水漏れは土嚢（どのう）でせき止めた。

According to TEPCO, a worker at an affiliated company [subcontractor] found the leak from the apparatus that desalinate the water at about 11:30AM on December 4. 45 tonnes of the treated water leaked from the apparatus, and the water was found leaking from cracks in the [concrete] near the floor into the side drains outside. The leaks were stopped by sandbags.

The worker who tweets from Fuku-I sort of confirms the story with his tweet on December 7:

"It looks like 220 tonnes, not 45 tonnes, that leaked.."

(H/T Lena for Asahi article)

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The American Spectator Magazine: "Let the People of Fukushima Go Home and Get Back to Work"

In an article written by Dr. Theodore Rockwell and posted on December 6, 2011, the conservative monthly magazine says "Let the People of Fukushima Go Home and Get Back to Work: The science doesn't support the panic".

For a moment, I thought I was reading Professor Wade Allison of Oxford University.

I couldn't get past the 2nd paragraph, though. I started laughing hysterically when I read:

"other people are living carefree in places like Norway, Brazil, Iran, India where folks have lived normal lives for countless generations with radiation levels as much as a hundred times greater than the forbidden areas of the Fukushima homes."

A hundred times greater??

The author of the article is saying people have lived happily in those areas with radiation levels exceeding 90 sieverts per year, then. That should be news to those people.

In a location in Okuma-machi, within 3 kilometers from the stricken plant, the air radiation level at 1 meter off the ground was 103.66 microsieverts/hour according to the measurement conducted by the town on September 13 and 14. The cumulative annual radiation exposure, if simply multiplying this number by 24 (per day) and then by 365, would be 908 millisieverts.

The author also seems to think nothing of the fact that people in Fukushima have lived there for generations with a low radiation level. The national average for Japan was 1.4 - 1.5 millisievert per year.

Not to mention that many "good people" in those high-radiation 20-kilometer radius areas in Fukushima DO NOT want to go back.

I became fearful that Dr. Rockwell might soon launch into radioactive potassium in bananas, so I stopped reading. But here it is, for your perusal.

From The American Spectator (12/6/2011):

The front-page story in the Washington Post on Sunday November 20 vividly portrayed the horrors of the evacuated zones around Fukushima with unforgettable imagery. A natural reaction is to call for more restrictive safety measures. But one point was not made clear: No one, not one single person, has received a life-altering injury from radiation since the disaster started unfolding last March. The atrocities described are caused by the application of international radiation standards that are set at levels far below where science shows adverse health effects occur, and by the fear of radiation that policy creates and nurtures. Once again, fear of radiation does more harm that the radiation itself.

The reality is that, while some people in the Fukushima housing area are wearing cumbersome rad-con suits, filtered gas-masks, gloves and booties, and putting the same on their children, other people are living carefree in places like Norway, Brazil, Iran, India where folks have lived normal lives for countless generations with radiation levels as much as a hundred times greater than the forbidden areas of the Fukushima homes.

The use of inappropriate radiation standards is not an abstract issue. People around Fukushima are being told they cannot return home for an indeterminate period -- perhaps years. And efforts to decontaminate their home sites to these standards may include stripping off all the rich top-soil and calling it RadWaste. People who were evacuated have been reduced to economic poverty, clinical depression, and even suicide.

There is good scientific evidence that, except for some hot spots, the radiation levels at these home-sites are not life-threatening. The current restrictions are based on a misguided desire to be "prudent." No matter how well intended, this "prudence" is cruelly destructive. Many radiation protectionists, such as Myron Pollycove, MD, former special assistant to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dr. Jerry Cuttler, former President of the Canadian Nuclear Society, and Abel Gonzales of Brazil, vice-chair of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, are beginning to feel unhappy about the harm their rules have caused and are joining in the cry for quick action as the Japanese head into winter.

In 2002, U.S. Regulatory Report NCRP-136 examined the question of establishing permissible radiation limits. After looking at the data, it concluded that most people who get a small dose of nuclear radiation are not harmed by it, and in fact are benefited. That's what the science said: Most people would benefit by receiving more radiation, within the hormetic range. "Benefit" means the incidence of cancer and genetic damage would be less than it would be without the additional radiation.

But curiously, the report's final conclusion was just the opposite. It recommended that our regulations should be based on the unsupported premise that any amount of radiation, no matter how small, should be considered harmful. It justified that recommendation as "conservative" or "prudent." Let's think about that. Why is it prudent do just the opposite of what the science indicates? Why is exaggerating a panicky situation considered prudent? I've never seen a good answer to that.

Last month, British radiation expert Wade Allison, author of Radiation and Reason, addressed the people on Japanese television. He proposed that radiation limits be set the same way other such limits are set -- not by seeing how little we can obtain, but what is the maximum we can tolerate, including a generous safety factor. The answer he gets is about 1,000 times the current "permissible limit."

Who gave the radiation police the right to give their particular concern priority over all other considerations? That question is not limited to Japan. A proposed European Community directive dated 17 Oct 2011 notes that the doses of radiation being regulated are small compared to doses people receive in the normal course of living. Instead of reaching the common-sense conclusion that they should therefore stop trying to regulate harmless doses of radiation, they decided they have to regulate Nature! They want us to wage an endless war against our naturally radioactive planet, when there is good evidence that without radiation, Life withers and dies.

Few if any people decide where to live, or how to live, on the basis of radiation level. There is no reason that they should start doing so now. Let the good people of Fukushima return home and get on with their lives!

Oh I see. The author does quote Dr. Allison.

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#Radioactive Baby Formula from Meiji: "No Effect on Health", Ministry of Health Assures Parents

The Ministry of Health and Labor, one of whose mandates is to protect consumers, quoted from Asahi Shinbun (12/6/2011), in a typical bureaucratic convolution:

３０ベクレルを検出した粉ミルクの安全性について担当者は「飲む際にはさらに薄まる。健康への影響はないと言える」と話している。

The person in charge [at the Ministry of Health and Labor] says about the safety of the powdered milk that has been found with 30 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium], "It will be further diluted when consumed. It can be said that there will be no effect on health."

Oh is that so? Are you sure?

Here's a log-scale chart of daily radioactive cesium intake from 1974 to 2002 per person in Japan. A slight spike after the Chernobyl accident, but it has been the steady trend downward from max 1 becquerel/person/day in 1974 to max 0.1 becquerel/person/day, with minimum close to 0.01 becquerel/person/day. (The chart is from @tomynyo.)

A 6-month old baby drinks 4 cans of powdered milk per month, I was told. The net weight of a can of Meiji Step milk is 850 grams, so the baby would consume 3.4 kilograms (850 grams x 4) of the powdered milk per month. 3.4 kilograms of the powdered milk would contain 102 becquerels of radioactive cesium (30 becquerels/kg x 3.4). The baby would be fed with 3.4 becquerels of radioactive cesium per day.

That would be 34 to 340 times more than the pre-Fukushima accident level of radioactive cesium intake per person per day.

But bureaucrats at the Ministry of Health are confident. No effect on health. One expert chimes in with his tweet, saying "We shouldn't be hurting the feelings of mothers who have fed their babies with this formula by making a big deal out of it. We shouldn't make them feel worried or regret". He continues by implying the amount of radioactive cesium is too small to cause any effect.

(UPDATE: Infants at one nursery school in Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture have been fed with this contaminated milk, according to the city. If you read Japanese, here's the link to Yomiuri Shinbun Tochigi local version.)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Amount of Strontium in Leaked Water, per TEPCO

Here you go (and AP, and Washington Post, and...).

From TEPCO's December 6 press release page:

150 liters of this radioactive strontium-rich water leaked into the ocean from the evaporative condensation apparatus (part of the contaminated water treatment system), via the regular drains.

Density:

• Strontium-89: 74,000 becquerels/cubic centimeter

• Strontium-90: 100,000 becquerels/cubic centimeter

Total amount of radioactive materials (including cesium) that leaked into the ocean this time: 26,000,000,000 becquerels, or 26 billion becquerels.

TEPCO says it is 12% of "annual discharge target control of radioactive liquid waste" at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. That's one way of putting it. Another way is that it is only a fraction of what has already been discharged, to the tune of between 4,700 terabecquerels (TEPCO estimate so far, though the company was to recalculate by the end of November; did it?) and 27,100 terabecquerels (France's IRSN estimate), and these numbers do not include strontium.

In the press release appendix below, the numbers in ( ) is the total amount of these radionuclides that flowed into the ocean.

For my previous post on this topic, go here and here (more pics).

By the way, the numbers for strontium and other beta nuclides in the contaminated/treated water were released on November 18 by TEPCO. The mention of radioactive strontium was made during the press conference on December 4.

(I guess foreign news correspondents do not attend TEPCO/government press conference any more.)

TEPCO's pic of the big puddle, taken on December 4. See the regular drain to the left:

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Radioactive Baby Formula: 30.8 Becquerels/Kg of Cesium from Powdered Milk by Meiji

The manufacturer will replace 400,000 cans of its baby formula free of charge.

The brand that radioactive cesium has been found is "Meiji Step", a formula designed for infants 9 months and older.

As the article by Sponichi below states, Meiji is the largest manufacturer of baby formulas with 40% market share. Meiji did its own testing and disclosed the number. Will other makers follow suit?

From Sponichi Annex (12/6/2011):

食品大手の明治（東京）が製造、販売する粉ミルク「明治ステップ」から、最大で１キログラム当たり３０・８ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたことが６日、同社の調査で分かった。詳しい混入経緯は不明だが、同社は東京電力福島第１原発事故に伴うものとみている。

"Meiji Step", a baby formula manufactured and sold by Meiji (headquartered in Tokyo), one of the largest food manufacturers in Japan, has been found with the maximum 30.8 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium by the company's testing. It is not known how radioactive cesium was mixed in, but the company thinks it is due to the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

　厚生労働省によると、原発事故後に粉ミルクからセシウムが検出されたのは初めて。明治は約４０万缶を対象に、無償交換する方針。

According to the Ministry of Health and Labor, it is the first time that radioactive cesium is found in the baby formula, after the nuclear plant accident. Meiji will replace about 400,000 cans free of charge.

　国が定める粉ミルクの暫定基準値（１キログラム当たり２００ベクレル）は下回っている。乳児は大人より放射性物質の影響を受けやすいとの指摘があり、厚労省は近く新たに「乳児用食品」の基準値を設定する方針を決めている。

The level of radioactive cesium is below the provisional safety limit by the national government for baby formula (200 becquerels/kg). It has been pointed out that infants are more susceptible to the effect of radioactive materials than adults, and the Ministry of Health and Labor is to set the new standard for "baby foods".

　明治によると、セシウムが検出されたのは賞味期限が２０１２年１０月４日、同２１日、同２２日、同２４日の製品。日付は缶の底に記されている。

According to Meiji, the effective dates of the baby formula that has been found with radioactive cesium are: October 4, October 21, October 22, and October 24, 2012. The effective date is on the bottom of the can.

　明治は国内の粉ミルク販売シェア約４割の最大手。

Meiji is the largest manufacturer of baby formulas in Japan, with about 40% market share.

Additional information from Nikkei Shinbun (12/6/2011):

同社によると、無償交換する40万缶は、埼玉県春日部市の工場で３月14～20日に牛乳を乾燥させる工程を経た製品。原料の牛乳には、３月11日以前に加工された北海道産などを使用していた。同社は、大量の空気を当てる過程で、東京電力福島第１原子力発電所事故で放出された大気中の放射性セシウムが混ざったとみている。

According to Meiji, 400,000 cans of the formula were processed in Meiji's factory in Kasukabe City in Saitama Prefecture, whereby the milk was dried between March 14 to 20. The raw milk came from Hokkaido, which was processed before March 11. The company thinks that during the process to air the milk to dry, airborne radioactive cesium released from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident was mixed in.

So, Meiji was manufacturing powdered milk in the worst possible period. March 14 was when Reactor 3 blew up. Reactor 4 blew up (or made a loud noise and smoke was observed, according to TEPCO) the next day, and something really bad happened in the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2, though no one says what it was. And still unexplained events happened on March 20 that spiked the radiation levels all over Tohoku and Kanto. And the company was airing the raw milk, without knowing the radioactive plume was hitting wide areas in eastern Japan.

The government knew. Many nuclear experts and researchers knew. No one bothered to tell the public. Some were threatened with termination or end of their careers. Some say they feared for widespread panic. Yet others were just collecting data so that they would be able to publish in a prestigious magazine several months later.

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TEPCO's Solution to Leaking Strontium-Contaminated Water: Sandbags

Actually, I don't know if there's anything else I could expect from a company that used bath salts as tracer and newspaper and sawdust to stop the water leak back in April.

The next task would be to mop up the water that's sitting inside the building for the evaporative condensation apparatus with diapers and make Packbots pick up the diapers after they soak up water with 100,000 becquerels/cubic centimeter of strontium.

As far as I know, this building for the apparatus was built recently. But the side of the concrete foundation has already cracked? Some workmanship.

Here are TEPCO's pictures of the leak, from "Photos for Press" on December 4 and 5:

Inside the facility:


Photos of the leaks:




Sandbags that stopped the leak:

Oh look! TEPCO is way ahead of me. Inside the sandbagged area, they have already put down what looks like sheets of water-absorbing polymer. In a very hasty, haphazard way. I guess you don't want to stay near 110 millisieverts/hour beta radiation very long.

(P.S. Ahhh nice to be having fast DSL again, even if I had to buy a new modem/router because the power surge after the power restoration killed the old ones.)

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University Researchers: Let's Dump Contaminated Soil into the Ocean!

Scholars who participated in the Ministry of Education's radiation mapping are proposing dumping the contaminated soil removed as the result of utterly useless "decontamination" efforts into the depth of the Pacific Ocean, 2000 meters deep.

(Along with some Russian nuclear subs, I guess.)

The researchers will propose their plan to the government as a practical solution to literally mountains of soil contaminated with cesium, plutonium, tellurium, radioactive silver, strontium...

And don't worry, the researchers did propose putting the soil in containers first.

Asahi Shinbun (12/5/2011) reports:

東京電力福島第一原発の事故で放射能に汚染された土を海に捨てる案が、一部の研究者の間で浮上している。除染のために削り取った土の保管・処分場所を確保することが難しいからだ。世論や国際社会の反発は必至だが、現実的な対応策の一つとして政府への提言を目指す。

An idea has surfaced among researchers to dump the soil contaminated by the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident into the ocean, as it is difficult to secure the storage space to store the soil removed in decontamination efforts. The idea will certainly be greeted with strong criticism from the public both domestic and international, but the researchers plan to propose it to the national government as one of the practical solutions.

　除染は、被曝（ひばく）線量が年１ミリシーベルト以上の地域は国の責任で行う。土壌を削り取り、各市町村の仮置き場に保管した後、福島県内につくる中間貯蔵施設に運ぶ方針だ。県内だけで１５００万～３１００万立方メートルの汚染土が出る見込み。最終処分の方法が決まらなければ恒久的に置かれることになりかねず、用地確保の見通しは立っていない。

Decontamination is the responsibility of the national government in the areas where the annual cumulative radiation exposure would exceed 1 millisievert. The plan is to scrape off the top soil, store it in the temporary storage areas in the affected municipalities, and then transport it to an intermediary storage facility to be built somewhere in Fukushima Prefecture. It is expected that 15 to 31 million cubic meters of contaminated soil will be removed within the prefecture. If the final disposal plan remains undecided, the intermediary storage could become permanent. The government hasn't secured the land to create the intermediary storage facility.

　こうした現状を踏まえ、文部科学省の土壌汚染マップ作成に携わった大阪大核物理研究センターの谷畑勇夫教授、中井浩二・元東京理科大教授らのグループが３日、大阪大で開かれた研究会で、深海への処分を提案した。海水で腐食せず高い水圧に耐えられる容器に汚染土を入れ、日本近海の水深２千メートル以下に沈める方法が最適とした。

Considering this situation, a group of researchers who participated in the soil contamination mapping by the Ministry of Education and Science, including Professor Isao Tanihata of Osaka University Research Center for Nuclear Physics and Professor Koji Nakai of Tokyo University of Science, proposed the deep sea solution in a workshop held on December 3 at Osaka University. The best method, according to the group, would be to put the contaminated soil in containers that would withstand corrosion and high water pressure, and sink the containers in the coastal water more than 2000 meters deep.

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AP Artricle on Fuku-I 45-Tonne Water Leak (No Mention of Strontium)

AP decided to focus only on relatively small numbers for radioactive cesium in the 45 tonnes of water that was found leaking from the evaporative condensation apparatus at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on Sunday.

No mention of strontium, 100,000 becquerels/cubic centimeter or 100 million becquerels/liter, anywhere.

From AP via Washington Post (12/5/2011):

TOKYO — Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.

The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year’s end.

pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.

TEPCO estimated about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.

Officials were checking whether any water had reached the nearby ocean.

The leakage of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean in the weeks after the March 11 accident caused widespread concern that seafood in the coastal waters would be contaminated.

The pooled water around the purification device was measured Sunday at 16,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-134, and 29,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-137, TEPCO said. That’s 270 times and 322 times higher, respectively, than government safety limits, according to the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo.

Cesium-137 is dangerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radiation. The half-life of cesium-134 is about two years, while the half-life of cesium-137 is about 30 years.

TEPCO is using the purification devices to decontaminate water that has been cooling the reactors. Three of the plant’s reactor cores mostly melted down when the March 11 tsunami knocked out the plant’s cooling system.

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#Radiation in Japan: 17.9 Becquerels/kg of Cesium from School Lunch Milk

Despite the protest from the milk industry and the milk distributors, Chiyoda-ku, one of the 23 Special Wards in Tokyo, conducted the analysis of the food served in the school lunches at elementary schools, middle schools, kindergartens and nursery schools in the ward.

At one private nursery school, 17.9 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected.

Chiyoda-ku's result is here.

Chiyoda-ku measured the entire cooked lunch at each school. It is not known if this radioactive milk was already served and consumed when they tested.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 45 Tonnes of Treated Water May Have Leaked to the Ocean

While that may not much (45 tonnes), the water may contain extremely high levels of beta-nuclides like strontium; according to TEPCO, the density of strontium could be as high as 100,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter. That's 100 million becquerels per liter.

The leak was found at the post-Kurion/SARRY treatment facility that condenses the treated water (TEPCO calls it "evaporative condensation apparatus).

Here's TEPCO's handout for the press on December 4, 2011.

Here's from Yomiuri Shinbun (12/4/2011; since I'm at the terminal in the public library I cannot quote the original Japanese as it won't allow copying. But Yomiuri Shinbun tends to retain the link for a long time):

TEPCO announced on December 4 that about 45 tonnes of contaminated water leaked at the water treatment facility at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and part of the water has leaked outside the facility.

The water may have gone into the drains and leaked into the ocean, according to TEPCO, but "It would be a small amount even if the water had leaked, and very little effect [on marine life]", says the company.

The leak was found at the evaporative condensation facility, which the water goes after being treated to remove radioactive cesium [Kurion and SARRY]. The leaked water is 5 centimeter deep inside the facility. On the surface of the water, the radiation level measuring gamma rays is 1.8 millisievert/hr, but it is 110 millisieverts/hr measuring beta rays. In order to mop up the water in the facility, the workers would have to do it without coming in contact with the water to avoid exposure to beta-ray radiation.

According to TEPCO, 100,000 becquerels/cubic centimeter of strontium, a beta nuclide, may be in the water. The level is 100,000 to 1 million times the safety limit for seawater.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Denies Damage by Earthquake in Interim Accident Report, Insists No Explosion in Reactor 2

without giving even a speculation as to why then Reactor 2 released the largest amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

On December 2, TEPCO issued the interim report on the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident which was compiled by the company and supposedly vetted by the experts outside the company.

As the hurricane-force wind knocked out power lines and telephone lines in my neighborhood, my DSL line's dead, and I cannot see the large files like PDF files that TEPCO dumped on their website.

So my knowledge of the content right now is limited to what people who (had to) read these files have said so far. Links are in Japanese.

Here's one from Mainichi Shinbun (12/2/2011):

東京電力は２日、福島第１原発事故の社内調査委員会（委員長・山崎雅男副社長）の中間報告書を公表した。地震による配管など主要設備の損傷を改めて否定し、想定外の津波で全電源が喪失し、原子炉を冷却できなかったことが事故の原因と結論づけた。山崎副社長は会見で「国と一体となって安全対策を実施してきた」と繰り返し強調した。来年６月をめどに最終報告をまとめる。

TEPCO disclosed the interim report on the internal investigation (headed by Vice President Masao Yamasaki) of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The company again denied the damage of the main facilities at the plant including pipes due to the earthquake, and concluded that the tsunami that exceeded the expectation causing the station blackout was the reason why the cooling of the reactors failed, which caused the accident. Vice President Yamasaki emphasized again that the company "has been one with the national government in carrying out safety measures". The final report is expected by June next year.

　社内事故調査は政府の「事故調査・検証委員会」とは別に、東電が今年６月に始めた。

TEPCO's internal investigation is separate from the national government's investigation committee. TEPCO started the investigation this June.

　報告書はＡ４判で１３０ページ。津波対策について、東電は０８年には明治三陸沖地震（１８９６年）と貞観津波（８６９年）のモデルを使って津波水位を最大１０．２メートルと試算したが、「具体的根拠のない仮定」と判断し、対策に反映させなかったと従来の主張を繰り返した。今回、同原発を襲った地震については、「政府の地震本部の見解に基づく地震より、広範囲を震源域とする巨大地震」などと認定。「想定した前提を大きく外れる事態で、結果として事故拡大を防止できなかった」とした。

The report is in 130 pages in A4 size paper. As to the countermeasures for tsunami, TEPCO simply repeated what it had said before; that the company calculated the maximum tsunami height to be 10.2 meters based on the earthquakes/tsunamis in 1896 and 869, but dismissed its own calculation as "baseless assumption" and did not use it in countermeasures. As to the earthquake, it was "a huge earthquake that exceeded the area specified by the government's earthquake countermeasures headquarters", and "the situation exceeded the expectation, and as the result the company couldn't prevent the accident from getting worse", TEPCO says.

　地震の影響について、原子炉のデータなどから、配管や冷却装置など主要設備に損傷はないと評価。津波で非常用発電機が浸水するなどして使えず、散乱するがれきで１～３号機の注水作業が難航したことなどから「津波の浸水で多重の安全機能を同時に失ったことで発生し、長時間の電源喪失と除熱機能の喪失が要因」と断定した。

As to the effect of the earthquake, TEPCO concluded that there was no damage to the main facilities such as pipes and cooling mechanisms, based on the reactor data. Emergency diesel generators couldn't be used because of tsunami, and the cooling operation of Reactors 1, 2 and 3 was made difficult by the debris from tsunami, and the accident was "caused by the simultaneous loss of multi-layered safety functions because of tsunami water, and loss of electricity and loss of cooling for a long period of time were the factors, says TEPCO.

　水素爆発については、１、３号機の各建屋にどう水素が流出したかは不明だが、格納容器のふたなどの結合部分から漏れ出た可能性を指摘。２号機では爆発はなく、４号機の爆発音を誤認したと推定した。

As to the hydrogen explosions, it is unknown how hydrogen gas spread in the reactor buildings of Reactors 1 and 3, the company says, but it is possible that leak may have been from the flange of the Containment Vessels. TEPCO also says there was no explosion in Reactor 2; it was just mistaking the sound of Reactor 4 explosion.

　今後の対策として、建屋や重要機器の浸水防止や電源喪失時の炉心損傷防止などに重点を置くとした。

For future countermeasures, TEPCO will put emphasis on the prevention of water leakage into the buildings and into important equipment, and on the prevention of the fuel core damage during the power outage.

Huh? It was a huge, mega earthquake that exceeded anyone's expectation and TEPCO admits it couldn't do anything to contain the accident, and yet there was no damage from the earthquake?

While the Mainichi reporter only parrots what TEPCO told the media, a more thinking person says the following about non-exploding Reactor 2, from a post in the news bulletin board called "Asyura" (quick translation, subject to revision later):

東電が公表した「福島原子力事故調査報告書（中間報告書）」がメディアで断片的に扱われているが、あまりにひどい内容に愕然とさせられる。

"Fukushima Nuclear Accident Investigation Report (Interim Report)", as published by TEPCO, is reported in the media in a piecemeal fashion. But I am appalled at this shoddy report.

　政府（保安院・経産省）も事前に報告を受けているはずで、このような杜撰な事故調査報告書の公表を許した政府にもあきれかえる。

The national government (NISA/Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) must have been notified beforehand. I am also appalled at the government that allowed TEPCO to announce such shoddy accident report.

　デタラメさを指摘したい点はテンコ盛りだが、なによりゲンナリしたのは、号機単位で最大量の放射性物質を大気中に放出した２号機の圧力抑制室（Ｓ／Ｃ）に関する“調査報告”である。

There are so many things that I want to point out as false, but one of the most disgusting one is the "investigation report" on the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2, which released the largest amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

... (first point is not covered here; the following is his second point) ...

【引用】
Quote [from the report]

「　２号機については、４号機の爆発音に前後して発生した圧力抑制室の圧力指示値が０MPa［abs］に低下したため、２号機の圧力抑制室付近で爆発的な事象が発生した可能性があると誤って認識したものと考えられる。

As to Reactor 2, the pressure gauge of the Suppression Chamber dropped to 0 MPa [abs], which coincided with the explosive noise in Reactor 4. This explosive noise in Reactor 4 was misunderstood as some explosive event near the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber.

　圧力抑制室の損傷は大気開放を意味するため、絶対圧力で０MPa［abs］というのは物理的にはあり得ないが、計器誤差まで考慮し、何らかの損傷が発生して圧力抑制室の圧力が低下した可能性は否定できない」

A damage to the Suppression Chamber would mean it would be open to the atmosphere, so 0 MPa [as] is not technically possible. However, considering the possibility of the instrument error, we cannot deny that there was some kind of damage to the Suppression Chamber that caused the pressure to drop."

「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高いと考えられる」

"It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)."


【コメント】
My comments

　言語明瞭だが意味不明の代表例のような文章で、実に回りくどく、言っていることはわかるが、何を言いたいのかがまるでわからない説明である。

The sentences are typical of those where the individual words used are clear but together they don't make sense. Very circumlocutory, you understand the language but you cannot tell what they want to say.

　後からいろいろな事実が出てきても、枝野流にそんなことは言っていないと強弁する意図が見え見えである。

Intention is clear to me. Just like [former Chief Cabinet Secretary] Edano, TEPCO is going to say "We didn't say that", even after the facts will have come in.

　腐敗しきった東電は、恥ず知らずなことに、Ｓ／Ｃが損壊したという表現を一切使わず、「圧力抑制室の圧力指示値が０MPa［abs］に低下した」事象に問題をすり替えている。

The totally corrupt TEPCO, shamelessly, never uses the expression that indicates the Suppression Chamber was damaged; instead it talks about the event whereby "the pressure gauge of the Suppression Chamber dropped to 0 MPa [abs]".

　２号機Ｓ／Ｃに関して重要なことは、「圧力計」の値ではなく、穴が開いて膨大な放射能が大気中にばらまかれるに至った原因である。

What's most important in the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber is not the number on the pressure gauge but how it broke and released a large amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

　原因が爆発ではないのなら、何によってＳ／Ｃに穴が開いたのかを説明するのが事故調査の基本である。

If it was not an explosion, then what caused a hole in the Suppression Chamber? The accident investigation should address that point.

　肝心なＳ／Ｃに穴が開いたのかどうかという“重要問題”には言及せず、圧力計が絶対値で０気圧を示したワケをあれこれ書いているのだ。

Skirting the "important issue" of what caused a hole in the Suppression Chamber, TEPCO writes about various reasons why the pressure gauge showed 0 pressure.

　事実が明らかになったときの予防線のように、「何らかの損傷が発生して圧力抑制室の圧力が低下した可能性は否定できない」と書きながら、次の段落では、「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高いと考えられる」と書いている。

After writing "...we cannot deny that there was some kind of damage to the Suppression Chamber that caused the pressure to drop", as if to make excuse when the truth finally comes out, TEPCO writes in the next paragraph "It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)".

　損傷と圧力計をごちゃ混ぜに書くことで、読者がなんとなく意味がある説明のように錯誤してくれるのを期待しているようだ。
「何らかの損傷が発生」する度合いが高ければ、Ｓ／Ｃが損壊し圧力が低下するだけでなく、圧力計まで壊れることだってあるだろう。

To write about the Suppression Chamber damage and the pressure gauge together, it is as if TEPCO was hoping that readers would somehow make sense of TEPCO's explanation. But I think it is possible that the pressure gauge could have been broken if the likelihood of "some kind of damage" occuring was high, not just damage to the Suppression Chamber that dropped the pressure.

　「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高い」と書いているが、急激に圧力計の値が低下したのだから“故障していた”という表現は微妙におかしい。

TEPCO writes "It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)". But if the pressure gauge suddenly dropped, the expression that "the pressure gauge was broken" doesn't quite make sense.

　可能性としては、４号機の爆発とほとんど同じタイミングで２号機の圧力抑制室の圧力計が故障したという“偶然”であろう。東電は本気でそのように考えているのだろうか？

One possibility is that the pressure gauge of Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber "happened to break" at the same time as the explosion in Reactor 4. Does TEPCO seriously believe in that kind of possibility?

　最後に、ＲＣＩＣの停止で原子炉水位が低下し炉心溶融まで始まるという危機的な状態に陥った２号機には夜を徹して対策チームが対応にあたっていたはずである。

Lastly, Reactor 2 was in a dangerous situation after the RCIC stopped, the water level inside the reactor dropping and core meltdown starting. A team of workers was working all night to avert a disaster.

　４号機で爆発が起きたのは４階か５階と言われている。
　２号機で何かが壊れたような“大きな音”がしたとしたらＳ／Ｃのある地下である。

It is said that the explosion in Reactor 4 was either on the 4th floor or the 5th floor. If there was a "big noise" in Reactor 2 as if something was broken, it must have been the basement where the Suppression Chamber is.

　体感も含めてだが、２号機で事故対応に当たっていた人たちは、４、５階で起きた爆発音と地下で起きた“大きな音”の違いさえわからないと東電は主張したいのだろうか。

Is TEPCO insisting that workers at Reactor 2 couldn't tell the explosion noise on the 4th or 5th floor [of Reactor 4] from a "big noise" in the basement of Reactor 2?

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Yet More #Radioactive Rice from Fukushima, From Watari District of Fukushima City

Watari District of Fukushima City (60 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuke Plant) is one of the most contaminated districts in Fukushima City, even though the city flatly refuses to even temporarily evacuate some of the residents because the city (or volunteers, rather) will "decontaminate".

Following Onami District, Watari District has now been found with rice with radioactive cesium that exceeds the national provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg.

Watari District of Fukushima City is where Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University found that "decontamination" didn't decontaminate at all, and in locations it increased the radiation.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12/3/2011), who tries to tell the readers it may still be OK once the rice is milled:

福島市大波地区や福島県伊達市で収穫された玄米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが見つかった問題で、同県は２日、福島市渡利地区の稲作農家３戸が収穫した玄米からも、規制値を超えるセシウムが検出されたと発表した。

Onami District of Fukushima City and Date City in Fukushima Prefecture have been found with rice with radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional limit (500 becquerels/kg). Now, the prefectural government announced on December 2 that the rice harvested at 3 farms in Watari District of Fukushima City was also found with radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional limit.

　政府は週明けにも、渡利地区などのコメを出荷停止対象とする方針を固めた。

The national government plans to order the rice in Watari District not to be shipped.

　県によると、渡利地区の４７戸の稲作農家のうち、今回、２５戸を調査。その結果、３戸が生産した３袋（９０キロ・グラム）の玄米から、１キロ・グラムあたりそれぞれ５１０ベクレル、５５０ベクレル、５９０ベクレルのセシウムが検出された。農家３戸が生産した６５袋分（約２トン）はいずれも自宅で保管されており、市場に流通していない。玄米は精米すると放射線量が半分から３分の１程度に下がるという。

According to the Fukushima prefectural government, 25 farms out of 47 farms in Watari District were tested. From 3 bags (30 kilograms each, total 90 kilogram) from 3 farms tested 510 becquerels/kg, 550 becquerels/kg, and 590 becquerels/kg respectively. The three farms harvested 65 bags total (about 2 tonnes), which are stored at the farms and not sold in the market. Once milled, radioactive materials in rice are supposed to drop to half or one-third.

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OT: I'm Back On Line...

After over 32 hours of no power thanks to multiple trees fallen over the power line along the way. Boy that was quite a wind - a hurricane-class wind on otherwise sunny warm day...

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