#Radioactive Japan: National Government Extensively Monitors North Korean Nuclear Testing, Releases SPEEDI, WSPEEDI Data Right Away

This is hilarious and infuriating at the same time.

The Japanese government HID the simulation data of SPEEDI and WSPEEDI from the citizens right after the March 11, 2011 start of the nuclear accident, because, as they put it, "(It's so bad that) we can't release it to the general public." Hardly anyone in Japan knew about WSPEEDI until Professor Toshiso Kosako tearfully spoke about it during his resignation press conference at the end of April 2011 and urged the government to disclose it. It wasn't until May 2011 that Ministry of Education very quietly posted the SPEEDI data and WSPEEDI data on its website, without any fanfare.

But as soon as bad and evil North Korea detonated a nuke bomb underground, all government agencies are on top of each other trying to outdo others in disclosing their latest measurements and forecasts. They include Japan Meteorological Agency which banned the agency's researchers to make any radiation measurements or say anything about radiation publicly right after the start of the nuclear accident.

Here's Ministry of Education, extremely quickly releasing (2/12/2013) the WSPEEDI simulation result from the possible fallout (what a joke) from the nuclear testing, using iodine-131 and assuming there was a release (which is very unlikely). The top is for surface level, the bottom is for an altitude of 1,000 meters.

In the meantime, the pork-cutlet-over-curry-rice prime minister believes it is within the definition of "self defense" to attack military installations of a hostile foreign nation and that it is allowed by the current Constitution.

All major news outlets in Japan are busy making a big deal out of the North Korean bomb testing, without shame. They believe Obama's State of the Union address mentioned the incident in a big way.

(Dooon't stop, believin'...hooold on, to that feelin'...)

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WSPEEDI Simulation Showed 10 Terabecquerels/Hour Iodine-131 in Chiba on March 15 Last Year, Data Still Not Disclosed

10 terabequerels = 10,000,000,000,000 becquerels.

The system also calculated the amount of radioactive cesium to be 1 terabecquerels/hour each for cesium-134 and cesium 137. And the Japanese government is still sitting on the data.

WSPEEDI simulation system can predict the dispersion of radioactive materials in the hemisphere, in 3D.

From what Jiji Tsushin reports, the WSPEEDI simulation was done on March 15 upon request from the Ministry of Education and Science. For whatever reason, the Ministry decided to not announce it (for that matter, not let anyone know about it, till April 3, 2012).

On the very next day, on March 16, the Ministry announced that SPEEDI and WSPEEDI would now be the responsibilities of the Nuclear Safety Commission, and instructed the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to send the data to the Commission, who either sat on it or didn't even know they were now in charge of SPEEDI/WSPEEDI.

There is another interesting bit of information in the Jiji article below. The simulation was ordered by the Ministry of Education, and one of the parameters was that radioactive materials were released at about 9PM on March 14, 2011. That's about the time (9:18PM to be exact) when 2 safety relief valves were opened in Reactor 2, probably releasing a large amount of radioactive materials through a breach in the Suppression Chamber, according to the research paper by Fumiya Tanabe of Sociotechnical Systems Safety Research Institute.

If that's the case, the government must have known that the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber had already failed, and opening the safety relief valves would release a large amount of radioactive materials from the breach. So they ordered the WSPEEDI simulation specifying the time of the release at 9PM on March 14.

Jiji Tsushin (4/3/2012):

千葉で「ヨウ素１０兆ベクレル」未公表＝昨年３月、世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩ試算

WSPEEDI Simulation last March: 10 terabecquerels[/hour] of radioactive iodine in Chiba, data not disclosed yet

　東京電力福島第１原発事故で、昨年３月１５日、放射性物質の拡散予測データ「世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩ」の試算結果で、千葉市内でヨウ素の濃度が毎時１０兆ベクレルという高い値が出ていたにもかかわらず、文部科学省と原子力安全委員会の間で十分な連携が取られず、現在も公表されていないことが３日、分かった。

On March 15 last year after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident started, the WSPEEDI simulation of the dispersion of radioactive materials predicted the very high density for radioactive iodine in Chiba City in Chiba, at 10 terabequerels per hour. However, there was no effective communication between the Ministry of Education and Science and the Nuclear Safety Commission, and the data has still not been disclosed.

　文科省や安全委によると、世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩは放出される放射性物質の拡散状況を半地球規模で予測するシステム。日本原子力研究開発機構が同システムを運用しており、昨年３月も文科省の依頼を受け、試算を行っていた。

According to the Ministry of Education and the Nuclear Safety Commission, the WSPEEDI system is capable of simulating the dispersion of radioactive materials emitted on a hemispheric scale. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) operates the system, and it was conducting the calculations upon request from the Ministry of Education in March last year.

　それによると、福島第１原発から昨年３月１４日午後９時ごろに放出された放射性物質が拡散した結果、千葉市内で同１５日午前６～７時、ヨウ素の濃度は毎時１０兆ベクレル、セシウム１３４、１３７もそれぞれ同１兆ベクレルと推計された。

According to the calculations, as the result of radioactive materials released from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant at about 9PM on March 14, 2011 and dispersed, Chiba City would have 10 terabequerels/hour radioactive iodine (I-131) between 6AM and 7AM, and 1 terabequerel/hour of cesium-134 and 1 terabequerel/hour of cesium-137.

　この試算データの評価について、文科省は安全委の担当と判断し、同１６日に安全委へデータを送るよう同機構に指示した。同機構はメールに添付して送信したが、安全委は重要情報と認識せず、放置したという。同様にデータを受け取っていた文科省も、安全委に公表するよう連絡しなかった。

The Ministry of Education then decided that the Nuclear Safety Commission should be in charge of evaluating this data, and instructed JAEA to send the data to the Nuclear Safety Commission on the next day, March 16. JAEA sent the data as email attachments to the Nuclear Safety Commission, but the Commission didn't see the data as important, and didn't do anything. The Ministry of Education, who had received the data, did not contact the Commission and tell them the data should be made public.

I think the Ministry of Education got scared, seeing the data.

They didn't want to be the one to handle such "hot" data. So they passed it on to the Nuclear Safety Commission under Dr. Haruki Madarame, who was apparently so overwhelmed by the nuclear disaster and missing sleep that he doesn't even remember what he was doing or saying in the first 1 week of the accident.

What a luck that Japan had, having these people in the government.

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#Fukushima Nuke Accident: WSPEEDI Shows Tokyo Was Under Radioactive Plume on March 15

Japan's ever-sneaky Ministry of Education and Science again quietly released 3 sets of simulation maps of WSPEEDI without any press release nor any explanation; this time it was the simulations that they did on March 15. The Reactor 3 that used MOX fuel blew up on March 14 at 11:01AM JST.

Last time, the Ministry put out on May 10 the WSPEEDI simulation done on March 25. That simulation, if disclosed in a timely manner, may have prevented many, many children from developing thyroid cancer in the future.

One set of the maps is about krypton-85 surface concentration. The maps show the band extending well beyond Tokyo and Kanagawa.

That at least proves one thing, that Tokyo and Kanagawa were probably bombarded with radioactive materials on March 15. I remember seeing posts in Japanese message boards that day and afterwards saying people had a metallic taste in their mouth that day, that people started to have nosebleed and fell ill. Both were attacked and dismissed as "malicious rumors".

All the government needed to do was to warm people in Tokyo and Kanto area that day to skip work and school. Shut the doors and windows and stay indoors.

When Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University testified on May 23 in a government committee (Upper House, government oversight committee), the data he said he had been told by his superior not to publish was the data of radiation in Tokyo on March 15.

But why were the government experts interested in krypton-85? What does krypton-85 represent? And iodine-129? (The simulation maps are only about krypton-85; they are still sitting on iodine-129 maps or any other maps of other nuclides.)

From the WSPEEDI March 15 simulations on krypton-85 (original in Japanese):

Simulation basis:
Types of radioactive materials released: Kr-85, I-129, Cs-137
Amount of radioactive materials released: 1Bq/h
Location of release: Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, east longitude 141.0356 north latitude 37.4217
Height released: 120 meters (at the height of the stack)
Duration: continuous since March 15 1:00AM

(There are 6 more maps at the link.)

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Ministry of Education Quietly Released WSPEEDI Simulation, It Shows Very High Organ Dose of Iodine-131 for Infants in Wide Area

I mentioned the system called the WSPEEDI simulation system in passing when I wrote about SPEEDI data for the early period of the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident (March 11 onward).

When Professor Kosako resigned from his post as PM special advisor in protest of the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children, he called for the release of WSPEEDI, which can cover much wider area ("several thousand kilometers", according to Professor Kosako).

Well well. The Ministry of Education very quietly put the WSPEEDI simulation data on their webpage for SPEEDI data list on May 10, without any fanfare, without any media (I mean MSM) coverage.

The Ministry released 2 simulation maps, one for March 24 and another for March 25. They are only about iodine-131.

One of the maps, "Organ dose of I-131 for infant [less than a year old]", shows that the extremely high dose along the coast of Fukushima, with the dose in the area around Fukushima I Nuke Plant over 500 millisieverts (deep pink color). I added the prefecture names:

Another map, "Surface deposition of I-131", shows a very wide area in Kanto and Tohoku in green, which indicates iodine-131 deposition of between 100,000 to 1,000,000 becquerels per square meter. In Tokyo, one green band goes over the densely populated eastern Tokyo (23 "ku" or districts) and another one goes over the middle. That pretty much corresponds with the higher air radiation level that continues in the 23 districts, particularly the eastern most districts, and the elevated level in cities like Fuchu, which sits in the middle. Again, I added the prefecture names:

So this is what TPTB wanted to hide at all cost, and released in a sneaky fashion after 2 months, and it's only about iodine-131 whose half life is 8 days. Where there's iodine-131, there's got to be cesium, but they are still mum on cesium or any other radionuclides. No WSPEEDI data from the earlier days, nor after March 25.

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Japanese Government Finally Divulges What It Has Been Hiding: SPEEDI Radiation Simulations from March 12

(UPDATE) The earliest simulation was done at 4:00PM on March 11, assuming the leak of radioactive materials started at 4:00PM. (To see the simulation, go to the bottom of the post.)

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Now, after more than 50 days and after so much contamination of soil, water, air and ocean with radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, plutonium, americium, curium, among other yet to be disclosed nuclides that have exposed the residents in Japan to heightened internal and external radiations, the Japanese government simply dumps the SPEEDI simulation data on the Ministry of Education's website.

What is, really, the point of telling us now? To say... what? They're sorry that they didn't tell you about the simulation when the radioactive materials were coming at 10,000 terabecquerels/hour and they knew it but were afraid people would freak out? I suppose the people in the administration and in the government would rather have a significant increase in cancer and other illnesses several decades down the line, because by that time they may be no longer in the government or no longer in this world.

The SPEEDI simulation data is here (in Japanese only):

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/saigaijohou/syousai/1305747.htm

The earliest simulation that has been disclosed at the site is the simulation done on March 12 for the period from 3:00AM March 12 to 3:00AM March 13. The simulation assumed the accident of the Reactor 1. At 2:48AM on March 12, the pressure inside the Pressure Vessel of the Reactor 1 rose significantly, so whoever was in charge of SPEEDI did conduct a simulation assuming the Reactor 1 would blow. Looking at the simulation, it is clear that they assumed the wind direction to be offshore (west by northwest), and most of the radioactive materials would blow over the Pacific Ocean.

However, by the next simulation for 10:00AM to 8:00PM on March 12, the prevailing wind direction forecast shifted over time from northwest to east by southeast to south, resulting in the simulation that forecasts wide dispersion of radioactive iodine inland. The simulation chart below is the internal radiation exposure at the thyroid gland of a 1-year old by inhaling radioactive iodine:

After the Reactor 1 blew up, they even created the simulation for wider area, which shows they predicted the rapid expansion of the radioactive materials well north of Minami-Soma City and reaching Soma City (0ver 40 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuke Plant), on a prevailing strong wind from the south. This is the simulation chart for the air radiation level, from 6:00PM to 8:00PM on March 12:

Prompt disclosure of such simulations could have made a huge difference. If the initial simulation when the pressure got high in the Reactor 1 of Fukushima I Nuke Plant had been disclosed, then the people in the immediate vicinity of the plant could have evacuated in a more orderly way instead of in a panic after the Reactor 1 blew up.

Professor Toshiso Kosako, who quit the job as the PM's special advisor in protest of the government response to the Fukushima I accident, said in his resignation statement that there was another program called WSPEEDI, which can cover much wider area ("several thousand kilometers", according to Professor Kosako). WSPEEDI can probably cover the entire Japan (except for outlying islands).

The Japanese government is still sitting on WSPEEDI simulations, if any exists as Professor Kosako says.

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THE EARLIEST SIMULATION DONE WAS AT 4:00PM ON MARCH 11, and that simulation is posted at the Nuclear Safety Agency's site, not at Ministry of Education site. It assumes a minor accident (because they only forecast noble gas to spread) at the Reactor 1. The simulation chart is the air radiation level from 4:00 PM to 5:00PM on March 11:

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