Friday, April 15, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: PM Assistant Admits to the Truth One Month After the Accident

Found in the tweets by (in Japanese):

Prime Minister's Assistant Hosono live on BS Asahi. He said from March 11 to March 22 hardly any of the [radiation] monitoring posts were working, and they were using data from remote observation points to guess the radiation level at the plant. In other words, the government and TEPCO were insisting on safety without any solid data.

細野総理補佐官、BS朝日に生出演。3/11から3/22までは、モニタリングポストが殆どが機能せず。遠方の観測データのみ原発自体の放射線を推定していたことを発言。政府・東電は確たるデータなしに安全を強調していた。 

"BS" stands for "Broadcasting Satellite", although I wouldn't blame you for thinking about something else.

And this BS coming out of Mr. Hosono (from Casey's tweet), more than 1 month since it happened:

"After the explosion of Reactor 1, we [the government, TEPCO] wanted to prevent hydrogen explosions but had no means of doing so. We thought it [hydrogen] leaked from the Containment Vessel and it was the core meltdown, but we just didn't feel like announcing that."

1号機が爆発後、水素爆発を防ごうとしたが手立てがなかった。格納容器からの漏れでありメルトダウンと考えていたが、そう積極的に発表する気分にはなれなかった。  

So, I ask again: who's been spreading baseless "rumors", or 風評 (wind rumors)?

Oh by the way, speaking of the core meltdown, NISA spokesman Koichiro Nakamura was replaced after he spoke of the possibility of the core meltdown in Reactor 1 in his press conference on March 12, at the express and angry demand from the Prime Minister himself. (News Post Seven, in Japanese)

Prime Minister Kan is considering naming Mr. Goshi Hosono as Minister in charge of dealing with the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a common feature with just about every nuclear accident that makes it into the public awareness. Key radiation monitors in the US RADNET system were "out of service" during the initial Fukushima plume. What about all the downwind islands across the Pacific that have received various concentration of the plume? What levels have they been exposed to whatever they are I'm sure they are "safe". The EPA had days of notice to make sure everything was in order for the coming plume but they still blew it. The Canadian government was refusing to test at all.

The release at TMI was guessed at because the radiation detection system conveniently went down right before the main release. This kind of thing goes hand and hand with TEPCO not having enough dosimeters for their workers and survey meters that can only register a fraction of the probable radiation field. Japan has a huge nuclear infrastructure they absolutely have thousands and thousands of dosimeter in their country yet the French and Americans have to donate them? The same can be said for the "over 1,000 milli-sievert" as an "official" maximum number. There are cheap portable survey meters that can read 100,000 milli-sievert from a distance (CD-V718). They could know the exact intensity of the radiation if they really wanted to but then there would be a true record that they couldn't fudge in the future. To tell you the truth I'd bet there are accurate numbers hidden somewhere. It is absolutely unconscionable that the nuclear industry isn't required by strict international law to completely and accurately quantify their emissions during a crisis. There is no excuse for the paucity of data other than the obvious "you don't ask questions you don't want answers to".

Anonymous said...

Radiation never kills anybody ... well except this guy.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd4pqg_radiation-scrap-metal-death-in-indi_news

Didier Louvat, a nuclear waste specialist with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or I.A.E.A., said the Mayapuri case was the most serious global instance of radiation exposure since 2006. He said the I.A.E.A.’s nuclear safety review in 2009 found 196 nuclear or radiological “events,” including those involving scrap, compared with 140 in 2007.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/world/asia/24india.html

Maybe you already own something made of radioactive scrap.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,607840,00.html

Anonymous said...

Story Published: Apr 16, 2011 at 10:46 AM PDT

"TOKYO (AP) — Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The government said Saturday that radioactivity in the seawater has risen again in recent days. The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold."

http://www.komonews.com/news/national/119975469.html

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