Information on Aspects Related to the Fukushima Nuclear Reactors Three Years after the Accident
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 17 Mar 2014
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
March 2014 – Three years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, occurred on 11 March 2011, which caused the fatal damage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the most serious nuclear power accident since the Chernobyl disaster.
A great amount of information on “Fukushima” has been released since the day of the accident. The information below is only a few pieces of them, published or broadcasted by Japanese mass media in March 2014.
1. Contaminated Water:
Cesium 134:
The limit of the amount of cesium 134 per liter of the water in the soil, according to the nuclear regulation of the Japanese government, is 60 becquerels, whereas 12,000,000 (= twelve million) becquerels of cesium 134 per litter were detected in the water taken from the site of Fukushima nuclear reactors on 14 January 2014.
Cesium 137:
The limit of the amount of cesium 137 per liter of the water in the soil, according to the nuclear regulation of the Japanese government, is 90 becqurels, whereas 30,000,000 (= thirty million) becqurels of cesium 137 per liter were detected in the water taken from the site of the Fukushima nuclear reactors on 14 January 2014.
(Source: Page 5 of the separate supplement to the 11 March 2014 issue of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.)
2. The Amount of Water Highly Contaminated with Radioactivity at the Site of the Fukushima Nuclear Reactors:
a) 118,375 cubic meters in 2012 (one year after the accident).
b) 268,650 cubic meters in 2013 (two years after the accident).
c) 431,424 cubic meters in 2014 (three years after the accident).
The amount of the highly contaminated water (HCW), leaking from the three Fukushima nuclear reactors that melted down just after the Earthquake, has been cumulative. Currently, the amount of the leaking water is constantly increasing 400 tons a day. There is no end of the leaking of HCW in sight. TEPCO or Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the Fukushima nuclear plant, estimates that it might take 30 – 40 years to stop leaking HCW from the reactors.
TEPCO has been storing the contaminated water in water tanks, each of which is capable of storing one thousand tons of water. The electric company has been preparing one water tank every two days. So far, more than one thousand water tanks have already been filled with the highly contaminated water.
In addition to the above mentioned highly contaminated water, “extremely highly contaminated water (EHCW)” is stored at the site of the Fukushima nuclear reactors; 72,400 cubic meters of EHCW in the reactor buildings and turbine buildings, and 18,230 cubic meters of EHCW in the waste material processing building.
The contaminated water might spread out in the soil of the region, and some amount of the water might flow into the Pacific Ocean.
(Source: Pages 4 and 5 of the separate supplement to the 11 March 2014 issue of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.)
3. The Number of Evacuees and Displaced Persons:
a) The total number of the evacuees and displaced persons in all the relevant regions (due to loss of their houses caused by the Earthquake on 11 March 2011 and/or the danger of the radioactivity contamination after the Earthquake): Approximately 267,000 people and displaced persons as of March 2014.
b) The number of the evacuees and displaced persons in Fukushima Prefecture: Approximately 135,000 people as of March 2014.
(Source: Page 1 of the 13th edition of the 11 March 2014 issue of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.)
4. Concealment and Whistle-Blowing:
On 3 July 2000, a letter was delivered to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry or MITI (later, renamed as the Ministry of Economy and Industry or MEI) of the Japanese government. The sender of the letter was Kei Sugaoka, former nuclear engineer/inspector of General Electric (GE). The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor was manufactured by GE.
The letter informed that there were six cracks inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor and that both TEPCO and GE were hiding the fact. A sight-inspection datasheet report of the Daiichi reactor was attached to that letter. The letter, with an illustration of the steam dryer that was installed inside the nuclear reactor, delivered detailed information on the cracks, including their positions and lengths. The former nuclear engineer/inspector of GE wrote in the letter that GE, instructed by the executives of TEPCO, had edited the inspection video in order not to appear the cracks in the video recording. The video was prepared for MITI.
Upon receiving the letter, MITI contacted TEPCO to inquire about the information on the cracks, but this Company denied the information.
In 2001, the newly founded Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Japanese government requested GE to inspect the Fukushima Daiichi and other nuclear reactors. When NISA requested GE to submit the inspection report in January 2002, TEPCO disagreed that GE would submit the report to NISA. Two months later, on 8 March 2002, the inspection report was submitted to NISA at last.
As NISA examined the report, 29 problems, including cracks and other troubles, were identified, not only in the Fukushima Daiichi but also in thirteen other nuclear reactors in Japan.
(Source: “The Promethean Trap”, Nos. 849 and 851, on page 3 in the 13th edition of the 4 and 6 March 2014 issues of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.)
5. A Senior Couple’s Case:
The wife was 100 years old and her husband, 99 years old, in March 2011 when the explosion and melting down of the Fukushima nuclear plant occurred. Their house, located only a few miles away from the nuclear reactors, has remained intact even after the Fukushima Earthquake. (= the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011.)
Unfortunately, this senior couple has not been allowed to return to their home because of high rate of contamination of radioactivity in and around the site of their house since the explosion of the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011. They are evacuees, among 135,000 evacuees in Fukushima Prefecture. This couple is staying at their son’s house now.
These two elderly people are the ones who have survived the ages of World War I, of World War II, and of the Cold War to this date, the 21st Century. At the final phase of their lives, the husband and wife encountered one of the most serious ordeals in their lives.
The husband, to be 102 years old this year, says, “I am not sure how many years I will actually be able to live more, but now I have a new reason to live more. That is, I am determined to live until the (complete) abolition of the nuclear power plant system.”
(Source: NHK TV program, entitled, “NHK Special”, broadcasted on 8 March 2014.)
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 17 Mar 2014.
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