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Posted on 11/03/2011 10:15:51 AM PDT by bananaman22
Japan’s six reactor Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex has inadvertently become the world’s bell-weather poster child for the inherent risks of nuclear power ever since the 11 March Tohoku offshore earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, triggered a devastating tsunami that effectively destroyed the complex.
Ever since, specialists have wrangled about how damaging the consequences of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami actually were, not only for the facility but the rest of the world.
The Fukushima Daichi complex was one of the 25 largest nuclear power stations in the world and the Fukushima I reactor was the first GE designed nuclear plant to be constructed and run entirely by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO.
Needless to say, in the aftermath of the disaster, both TEPCO and the Japanese government were at pains to minimize the disaster’s consequences, hardly surprising given the country’s densely populated regions.
But now, an independent study has effectively demolished TEPCO and the Japanese government’s carefully constructed minimalist scenario. Mainichi news agency reported that France’s l’Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, or IRSN) has issued a recent report stating that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 that entered the Pacific after 11 March was probably nearly 30 times the amount stated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. in May.
According to IRSN, the amount of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 that flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant between March 21 and mid-July reached an estimated 27.1 quadrillion becquerels.
Why should this matter? Aren’t the Japanese authorities on top of the issue?
Cesium-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness and even death at sufficient doses. It can contaminate food and water and, if ingested, gets distributed around the body, where it builds up in soft tissues, such as muscles. Over time, it is expelled from the body in urine.
And where might tingested cesium-137 come from? Full article at: New International Report Shreds Japan's Carefully Constructed Fukushima Scenario
Not just those two. Correct me if I'm wrong, but NBC and MSNBC haven't been running with a lot of coverage on this story. Gee, I wonder why....
Not really "inherent risks". First, the plant is a very old design -- most modern plants couldn't have the same problem. Second, there was the basic flaw of location, which allowed their desiel generators to be flooded, knocking out the backup systems.
Third, there were problems with the management at the plant, problems that are not "inherent" in nuclear power, although some of the problems may be inherent in the japaneese culture.
If a writer is going to use bellwhether in an article, shouldn’t he spell it correctly? I can’t read past things like that, so I have no idea what the article is about. Sorry.
Cesium is not an issue. Half of what it has been released has a relatively short half life, 5 years, and the Pacific is a very big ocean in which the rest will be dispersed.
Yea, I have to agree.
Most people don’t even know what the “whether” in “bellwhether” is.
Actually, I misspelled it as well. It is “wether” — as in “neutered sheep” or a “former ram.”
In looking back on the incident, I see a lot more problems in the Japanese culture than in the technology.
The plant’s design limits were exceeded for both the size of the seismic input as well as the wave that washed over the plant. Now, people in Japan can argue the point whether modern engineering staffs ignored historical tsunami information, which BTW was evidenced in written accounts from the past as well as stone markets in some prefectures that said “Build no lower than this marker” and so on. Modern people of all cultures have a way of dismissing the past datapoints because they weren’t gathered with three decimal places of precision.
But the cultural failures in the management of TEPCO as well as the Japanese government shows far larger issues, IMO. The “need” for consensus really obliterated leadership here. In emergencies, there has to be leadership. Lots of people end up running in circles, screaming and losing their heads. Someone has to man up and say “We’re going this way, follow me.” Japanese culture doesn’t support that trait too well, and if there was a place where it was needed, it was a disaster like this one.
I will NB that there is no URL or link to the actual report...
Plus, the amount they list is 27.1 x 1015 Bq. One Curie is 3.7 x 1010 Bq. Something doesn't add up, but they sure like those scary BIG numbers.
Caesium-134 has a half-life of 2.0652 years...
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