Friday, July 12, 2013

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Groundwater Contamination: Now It is New Observation Hole No.1-3, Showing 92,000 Bq/L All-Beta


You can read all the posts about groundwater contamination discovery of June-July 2013, at this link. The link is also in the right column of the blog.

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The entire Japan is too obsessed with the Upper House Election and not many are paying attention enough to appreciate the clever spin that TEPCO's PR puts in the press release.

TEPCO dug up a new observation hole, No.1-3, after No.1-2 started to show high tritium and all-beta and No.1 was about to be plugged. The first sample from the new hole was drawn on July 12, 2013, and TEPCO announced the result on July 12.

From TEPCO's email notice for the press, 7/12/2013:

地下水観測孔№1-3の全ベータの測定結果は、近傍にある地下水観測孔№1-2(地下水観測孔№1の南側)の前日データと比較して10分の1程度の放射能濃度でした。

The result of all-beta measurement of the sample from the groundwater observation hole No.1-3 showed about one-tenths of radioactivity compared to the result of the sample from the nearby observation hole No.1-2 (south of the observation hole No.1) from the previous day.

<地下水観測孔№1-3(新規)>Groundwater observation hole No.1-3 (New)
・7月12日採取分: Sample collected on July 12

セシウム134 Cs-134 ND(0.66 Bq/L)
セシウム137 Cs-137 1.4 Bq/L
全ベータ all-beta 92,000 Bq/L


WHY DOES TEPCO COMPARE IT TO THE HOLE NO.1-2, whose sample was found with 890,000 Bq/L of all-beta on July 11, 2013?

Because the company can then claim the hole No.1-3 had only about one-tenths of all-beta compared to the hole No.1-2. One-tenths, nothing to worry about.

What TEPCO does not say and does not show in the email notice is this (from TEPCO's earlier email notice on July 12, 2013):

All-beta from the observation hole No.1 on July 11: 1,600 Bq/L


All-beta in the sample from the hole No.1-3 is thus 57.5 times as much as that from the hole No.1.

TEPCO's PR wouldn't want to emphasize that, would it?

And speaking of spin, the title of the series of email notices regarding the groundwater contamination along the seawall, east of the turbine buildings, is:

福島第一原子力発電所における港湾内海水のトリチウム測定結果について

Result of measuring tritium in seawater inside the harbor at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant


It is outright false, as the email notices are about groundwater samples from the observation holes dug in the space between the turbine buildings and seawall, and NOT the seawater, and the measurements are on gamma nuclides, all-beta including strontium, and tritium.

TEPCO's English notice title is just as deceptive:

Tritium Density Result of Water Quality Survey inside the Port of Fukushima Daiichi NPS


Just by looking at the titles, I didn't realize these notices were about groundwater samples along the turbine buildings until one day I followed the link in the TEPCO Nuclear's tweet about groundwater samples.

4 comments:

netudiant said...

Not good.
The game plan had been, afaik, to keep the water level inside the complex low enough that the ground water flow would be into the plant, not out from it.
That seems no longer to be the case. Possibly the flow of cooling water has been reduced as the sites cool or maybe there is too little space to store treated water. In any case, the site is evidently gradually becoming more uniformly contaminated, from below the ground up.
Current plans call for a multi decade effort to restore the site, but do not factor in this reality.

Anonymous said...

As someone living a short distance away from all of this mess, I would like someone with some expertise to answer me one simple question: Is the recent upsurge in radiation due to the cores having completely melted through the containment structure and entered the ground under the building?

IntelAgent said...

Yes

Anonymous said...

IntelAgent, can you elaborate?

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