Japan Nuclear Crisis: Operator Of Damaged Plant Suspends Clean-Up Due To Rising Radiation Levels

TOKYO, Jun 18 (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, said on Saturday it had suspended an operation to clean up radioactive water only hours after it had begun as radiation levels rose faster than expected.

"The level of radiation at a machine to absorb caesium has risen faster than our initial projections," said a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co .

The plan had got underway on Friday after being delayed by a series of glitches.

Officials had said earlier this week that large and growing pools of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were in danger of spilling into the sea within a week unless action was taken quickly.

Tepco has pumped massive amounts of water to cool three reactors at the plant that went into meltdown after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disabled cooling systems.

But managing the radioactive water has become a major headache as the plant runs out of places to keep it. Around 110,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water is stored at the plant.

(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano, Tokyo bureau [phone]; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[scoobydoo52476]

08:06 AM on 07/03/2011

90% of what i have in my home is made in another country. i can remember a time when every thing was made in this country. the unions have a strangle hold on the companys here. a man that sweeps floors at Fords makes $20hr..............unions drove business away from the usa to china, japan, and evey frecken country you can think of.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

11:12 AM on 06/22/2011

DEEPWATER SAYS TELL THE WORLD :: HERE'S THE PROOF OF THE 2ND BP OIL WELL
http://tinyurl.com/64f7leu

[NoMoreNukes2012]

10:18 AM on 06/22/2011

Radiation map from inside two (if the figures are even real).
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_110622_02-e.pdf

[NoMoreNukes2012]

10:09 AM on 06/22/2011

Reactor No. 2 basement filled with radioactive “rust red” colored water measuring 430 millisieverts per hour at surface (PHOTO)
http://enenews.com/reactor-2-basement-filled-rust-red-colored-water-measuring-430-millisieverts-hour-surface-photo
Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor 2 Radiation at 430 Millisieverts/Hr, EX-SKF, June 21, 2011
Seems Arnie was correct about the accelerated oxidisation. I wonder if anyone has done any modelling on this sludge, how it’s reacting with the various components, the fuel assemblies etc.
h/t enenews poster

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:47 AM on 06/22/2011

From CaptD other thread:
List of accidents in U.S. Quite a list - amazing you don't hear or see THAT mentioned much
http://www.lutins.org/nukes.html

[mrJJ]

09:45 AM on 06/22/2011

It appears that the combined Kyurion and Areva water decontamination systems are not going to work as the engineers and scientists had hoped they would..

Waiting on an official English translation..

米社装置の汚染水処理、目標のわずか２０分の１

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:56 AM on 06/22/2011

When are we ever going to get any good news? This is terrible. I was hoping that process would work. Good grief.

[mrJJ]

10:12 AM on 06/22/2011

process is working... but acording to the article it is NOT reducing the radionuclide levels to the levels that the engineers and scientists had expected ... Translation is fubarred..

http://tinyurl.com/3apqpog

[mutantchickenlegs]

09:39 AM on 06/22/2011

Having troubles posting, spread this around if you can.

"Rains in the Midwest have been torrential this month and one thing that nobody expected is for the Missouri River to pose a threat to nuclear reactors just outside of Omaha, Nebraska. The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a state of emergency as flood waters continue to rise and invade both the Calhoun and Cooper Nuclear Stations. When the waters crest, more than 10 feet of water is expected to be inside the reactors."

http://www.ecanadanow.com/world/us-world/2011/06/22/missouri-river-flooding-reeks-havoc/

[NoMoreNukes2012]

10:01 AM on 06/22/2011

TY mutantmonkey...I mean chickenlegs. I spread it. FAVED

[mutantchickenlegs]

11:10 AM on 06/22/2011

TY out at the edge of civilazation, 408/409's website too busy. Don't know if it's my iffy service or HuffPo. Oh well, from what I'm seeing not a lot of new comments on other stories.
But, getting a lot of gold in my pans, so not all that big of a deal in a way.Will try to send some stuff here and let you repost. Already closed the wind'ers but had a good tritium study. Back in a minute (hopefully)

[mutantchickenlegs]

11:18 AM on 06/22/2011

"Not only does the organically bound tritium remain in the body for a longer period of
time, it also has been shown to be potentially more hazardous than free-water tritium by as much
as a factor of 2 (Straume and Carsten 1993; Balonov et al. 1993). The relative biological
effectiveness of tritium bound to organic molecules is higher than HTO due to its ability in some
cases to become incorporated into the DNA, allowing more direct impact of the beta-particle
energy on the DNA molecule and introducing potential chemical damage caused by the presence
of 3He at the site of the decayed tritium atom. Tritiated thymadine, for example, is incorporated
specifically into the DNA of proliferating cells (NCRP 1979). Thus, the fraction of total tritium
in the body that is organically bound is of importance for dosimetric (and microdosimetric)
purposes, relative to impacts estimated when modeling tritium solely as HTO."

http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~hambydm/papers/tritmod.pdf

Basically, drinking heavy water is much different then projections when you consider that the heavy hydrogen can exchange with normal hydrogens in DNA, ect and then the beta energies zap important little things like genes. Rephrase if you want. TY

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:38 AM on 06/22/2011

From June 2nd - but I must have missed it:
Mohideen cited a report by the United States-bas­ed National Academy of Sciences which said that “one out of five workers will suffer from cancer” if exposed to IAEA’s allowable levels of radiation.
http://my.news.yahoo.com/panel-admits-no-safe-radiation-level-says-cap-072734356.html

[mrJJ]

09:22 AM on 06/22/2011

Water Injections Slowed Further at Fukushima Reactors
Tokyo, June 22 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that it has further reduced the rate at which cooling water is injected into the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant by 0.5 ton per hour.
The company aims to prevent the amount of highly radioactive water from increasing at a time when the full-scale launch of a water cleanup system at the nuclear power plant has been delayed by a series of problems.
If TEPCO fails to slow the rate of water injections to cool nuclear fuel, contaminated water may flow into the sea by the end of this month. At the same time, TEPCO needs to prevent the reactors from overheating.
On Wednesday, the amount of water injected was reduced from the previous day to 3.5 tons per hour at the No. 1 reactor and to 4 tons at the No. 2 reactor. The amount at the No. 3 reactor was unchanged at 10 tons.
On Tuesday, TEPCO slowed the rate of water injections at all three reactors. The amount fell by 0.5 ton per hour to 4.0 tons at the No. 1 reactor, by 0.5 ton to 4.5 tons at the No. 2 reactor, and by one ton to 10 tons at the No. 3 reactor.

[mrJJ]

09:21 AM on 06/22/2011

Jet Stream Sends Radiation from Fukushima to Europe: Researchers
Tokyo, June 22 (Jiji Press)--Radioactive substances from a crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan were carried to Europe via the United States on a jet stream, Japanese researchers said Wednesday.
Through a computer simulation, a research group led by Toshihiko Takemura, associate professor at Kyushu University, tracked the flow of leaked radioactive substances from the plant.
The density of radioactive substances reaching the United States and Europe was 100 million times less than that around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station, the researchers said.
The effects of radioactive substances from Fukushima are limited in the United States and Europe, they said.
According to the researchers, radioactive substances rose to about 5 kilometers high when a low pressure system passed over eastern Japan on March 14-15.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:19 AM on 06/22/2011

MAP OF FUKUSHIMA COMPOUND
http://bravenewclimate.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/fukushima_daiichi_map_plan.jpg
Map showing camera angle under TEPCO live cam
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html

[mrJJ]

09:16 AM on 06/22/2011

Article title should be changed to ...."The Nuclear Spin Professors of Japan".....Additional Bio's and supporting documentation to ea of the Professors is in Japanese... use a translator program

Source: Oni Oni

Fallen Academia: Scholars Patronized by the Nuclear Power Industry and the University Reform that Buys Academia

http://onioni2.blogspot.com/2011/04/fallen-academia-scholars-patronized-by.html

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:21 AM on 06/22/2011

"So here comes my list of "Goyo Gakusha" – scholars highly patronized by the government or business industries in order to gain grants and to be famous – and they have been so audacious in spreading how not to worry about radioactive contamination or how safe to even drink Plutonium (really, he should be sued) without a tiny bit of shame!!!

Dang! Quite a list there!

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:06 AM on 06/22/2011

OT
Reject the PROTECT IP Act
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=487
The PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill that would—like its predecessor—invite Internet security risks, threaten online speech, and hamper Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this dangerous bill

[NoMoreNukes2012]

09:01 AM on 06/22/2011

3 Japan Firms to Launch Meat Biz in China
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=ind&k=2011062200814
Tokyo, June 22 (Jiji Press)--Japanese trader Mitsubishi Corp. and two group firms said Wednesday they will tie up with Chinese state-run food conglomerate COFCO Ltd. to launch meat business in the country.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

08:56 AM on 06/22/2011

Locally:
Virginia nuclear reactor shuts down — Problem detected in cooling duct
http://enenews.com/virginia-nuclear-reactor-shuts-down-problem-detected-cooling-duct