#Japan's Nuclear Safety Committee Chairman: #Radioactive Fallout May Be Severe Enough to Cause Internal Radiation Exposure in Some Locations

"Now they're telling us" Part II. (Part I is my previous post, about Reactor 1 potential meltdown.) Government kills, by not sharing information. I'm sure the Committee kept refining and refining their simulation without telling anyone outside their Committee so when they presented it was neat and perfect. That's how these bureaucrats are.

From Asahi Shinbun (in Japanese, ink added; 11:34PM JST 3/23/2011), reporting the same press conference that Yomiuri Shinbun was reporting on:

Japan's Nuclear Safety Committee announced for the first time its simulation based on the SPEEDI [System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, collected by Japan's Ministry of Education and Science] data as to the radiation level and the radioactive material fallout following the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. According to the simulation, in the most extreme case where radioactive iodine spreads from the Plant toward northwest and south it is possible to have internal radiation exposure of the thyroid gland exceeding 100 milli-sievert in 12 days, even outside the 30-kilometer evacuation zone.

The Committee calculated the internal radiation exposure of the thyroid gland of a one year old child, considered the most vulnerable to radioactive iodine, under the extreme condition that the child has been outside from 6AM on March 12 till midnight on March 24. The Committee calculated the possible amount of radioactive iodine that has been released, based on the monitoring data from various cities and towns.

According to the calculation, the area where one (a 1-year-old child) would suffer 100 milli-sievert irradiation if stayed outdoors all day everyday for 12 days included Minami-Soma City, Iidate Village, Kawamata-cho (the last two produced vegetables with high radioactive iodine and cesium concentration) which are located northeast from the Plant, and Iwaki City, which is located south. 100 milli-sievert is the level where the decision is made whether potassium iodide should be administered. If indoors, the level would drop to 1/4 to 1/10.

Committee Chairman Haruki Madarame and his officials told the press that they assumed the extreme case in their simulation, and that there was no need for any immediate action.

The committee started to collect SPEEDI data on March 16, and started to do the simulation on March 20 when the wind turned inland.

The red dot in the middle is Fukushima I Nuke Plant. The red dot to the south of the first one is Fukushima II Nuke Plant. The dotted circle indicates the 30-kilometer evacuation zone (20-kilometer evacuation zone, and 20-30 kilometer "stay indoors" zone).

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Nuclear Safety Committee Chairman Suggests Possibility of Reactor 1 Core Meltdown and Desctruction of RPV

Now they're telling us...

Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese, link added; 1:21AM JST 3/24/2011):

Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Committee [link is in Japanese; their last update on their English site update was in February] which advises the Japanese government on the safety regulations for the nuclear power industry in Japan, spoke for the first time on March 23 evening since the earthquake that triggered the nuclear accident at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Asked about the damage to the Reactors at Fukushima I Plant, the chairman said, "(After the hydrogen explosion), the fuel rods in the Reactor No.1 are assumed to have melted to a significant degree. Compared to the Reactors No.2 and 3, the situation in the Reactor No.1 is the most severe." The temperature and the pressure of the reactor core continue to rise abnormally, and the situation is getting very dangerous. He disclosed "We are considering releasing the valve to let the steam out of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) in order to prevent the destruction [of the RPV]."

The fuel rods in the Reactors No.1, 2, 3 have been exposed, and the operation to pour sea water into the reactor cores continues. On March 32, The Reactor No.1's core temperature rose to 400-degree Celsius, exceeding the design temperature (302-degree Celsius), but the successive pouring of water has since lowered the temperature. However, the pressure continues to build inside [the RPV]. Chairman Madarame said they will decide on March 24 whether to release the steam from the RPV.

Mr. Madarame is another graduate from the nation's elite Tokyo University. At least he majored in nuclear science.

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