Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Japanese Government's Report to IAEA on Fukushima I Nuke Plant Accident

It is written as if the accident is long over and now irrelevant.

I'm reading it now. It looks like the IAEA report to the Japanese government, and it also looks like the presentation that one of the government's favorite nuclear scholars at Tokyo University made in late May (h/t helios).

Why do I get this suspicion that all three were written by the same set of people?

The most hilarious part of the report to me is the "lessons learned" section. Before they "learn the lessons", they'd better stop these reactors from spreading further radiation, FIRST.

The Japanese government report to the IAEA (in English):

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/kan/topics/201106/iaea_houkokusho_e.html

The IAEA report to the Japanese government:

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kinkyu_img/20110601_01.pdf

Professor Naoto Sekimura's presentation on May 26 to the US Academy of Sciences in Washington DC :

http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/nrsb/miscellaneous/SekimuraPresentation.pdf

8 comments:

Oops said...

I can't even bring myself to read it....

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

"Lessons Learned" are generally the "public burned" it is nucspeak for "who could have known". Some people neglect to remember these lessons were never supposed to be something the nuclear industry would ever force the public to "learn". Unfortunately I doubt "school" is out nor will it be out for years to come.

"Why do I get this suspicion that all three were written by the same set of people?"

The reason the IAEA report reads like a nuclear industry PR fluff piece is because the IAEA is entirely dependent on the Nation they report on for information. The IAEA isn't allowed to conduct independent testing or research to verify Japan's claims in an accident. If Japan says they did a good job informing the public and conducting evacuations then that is what happened. It doesn't matter if Japanese officials are publicly apologizing everyday for their inadequate response the IAEA turns a blind eye to that because that is their job. You'll notice the IAEA didn't ask any of the evacuees/guinea pigs their opinion on the nuclear disaster response.

Anonymous said...

After the Tokai criticality in 1999, Japan "invited" the IAEA to investigate. Evidently they did a better job than JCO/Sumitomo would have liked - they both had their offices raided!

This time they waited a while longer.

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Actually Japan still controlled all the information in the Tokimura accident. The IAEA relied on Japan's version of the story and they had nothing to do with the raid.

The IAEA immediately made contact with the Japanese authorities in order to obtain authoritative information and to follow the situation closely, which it did through its Emergency Response Unit - which was established to fulfill the IAEA's obligations under the relevant international Conventions - throughout the day and last night as the situation evolved. It should be noted that the information was provided by Japan on a voluntary basis and not pursuant to the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, which in the view of the Japanese authorities was not triggered. All indications thus far suggest that the accident was due primarily to human error."

"If requested, the IAEA stands ready to provide assistance to the Japanese Government and also to perform an evaluation with the co-operation of the Japanese authorities once the situation permits".

"The IAEA has been notified that Japan has given a provisional rating for the accident of level 4 on the IAEA's International Nuclear Event Scale [pdf], which runs from 0 to 7. It has also been informed that the Japanese authorities at this time are carrying out measurements of the level of radioactivity in the vicinity of the facility."

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/1999/prn1299.shtml

"On October 6, 1999, according to Kyodo News Agency, the Science and Technology Agency has decided to revoke the business license of JCO Co., due to the "seriousness of the accident". According to Reuters, on October 6, 1999, a police spokesman said that about 200 investigators raided JCO's headquarters in Tokyo and its office in Tokai-mura, searching for causes and responsibilities for the accident. It has been reported that STA and the Ibaraki Prefecture Police are involved in the investigations"

http://www.klimaatkeuze.nl/wise/monitor/519/5091

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Well some of the big nuclear players can see the IAEA luster as a nuclear watchdog is tarnished. People might get the idea that the IAEA is a nuclear apology club if they don't say something (under their breath). Notice the three countries don't go out of their way to be named. We can assume one of them is Germany but who are the other two?

IAEA Draws Fire Over Japan Crisis

"Officials in three Western countries are attempting to sideline the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from international nuclear safety discussions amid their growing concerns about the U.N. nuclear agency's handling of Japan's atomic crisis, say officials familiar with the matter.

Senior nuclear-affairs officials from the three nations in recent weeks have quietly criticized the IAEA for failing to provide quick and accurate analysis of the danger posed by the accident at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant."

"the diplomats from three G-8 countries—a group composed of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S.—have questioned the IAEA's ability to serve as a global nuclear safety watchdog and its ability to handle a nuclear disaster, particularly when most of its resources are dedicated to promoting peaceful use of nuclear energy, a mandate from its founding in 1957."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576371781243470772.html

Anonymous said...

"Senior diplomats from three G-8 countries, however, say the scheduling conflicts aren't an accident. "The schedule decision was made to prevent Mr. Amano from attending, and to lower the IAEA's profile on the safety issue," one official said of the Paris meeting."

Scheduling conflicts are, of course, an outrage in a disaster this large. Added to the list of outrages arising from this event.

""The U.S. does view the IAEA as the appropriate venue to discuss nuclear safety," U.S. ambassador to the IAEA Glyn Davies said"

Once these types have reduced a disaster to "appropriate venues", by now we should expect Ms. Davies and Hillary Clinton to go for a photo shoot swim between Daiichi and Daiini.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of information control,

hovering drone flights cover reactor 3 for 30 seconds,
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/inside-the-drone-missions-to-fukushima/237981/

"It was a process that Welch's team repeated time and again during their 18 days in Japan, each of them taking turns piloting the vehicles.
Unfortunately, Welch couldn't share the specifics of the missions his team flew. The cone of secrecy around Fukushima extends far and wide. We don't get to know where they launched from or what their camera targets were. He couldn't discuss whether their operations center had a roof over it or not, or whether it was a tent. We don't even know how many flights they made, though he confirmed it was "a bunch."

thanks to poster Analog on market-ticker.org thread,

http://tickerforum.org/akcs-www?post=182121&page=329#new

I would like to take this opportunity to urge Mr.Denninger of above, ^, to dismount his uranium-powered unicorn and decry publicly the secrecy surrounding what info TEPCO has possessed all along. I would do that there on his forum, but why bother when he has stated many times that prompt banning is certain for "fear-mongering". In that spirit, I'll rib him further. How's that Gulf seafood doing these days?

There 'ya go. Still think dumping large quantities of highly radioactive water in the ocean .. was not a disaster?

Anonymous said...

This would be a fine rebuttal to the jimstonefreelance theory.

Presumably Jihye Park, a doctoral student in geodetic science at Ohio State University, would make known widely if there'd been an atomic blast on March 11th.

jim stone should contact Jihye Park as Japan is rife with GPS stations.

GPS Stations Can Detect Clandestine Nuclear Tests
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110607164230.htm

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