Thousands evacuate as Fukishima nuclear emergency is declared

[Peter Lemkin]

Happy 25th Anniversary of Chernobyl today! Hard to say why that reactor spent fuel pool is a greater problem,......as they ain't tellin' much...but I could speculate that the cladding of zirconium has reacted and been lost; that the salt in the salt water [so long used for cooling] could have corroded metal and/or deposited out - leaving it difficult for the water to circulate; and many other things are possible. That whole plant is a literal time-bomb!....for an EVEN larger disaster than the large disaster now. NB - that level of radiation given in the article, alone, is alarming!!!

[Magda Hassan]

Crowdsourcing Japan's radiation levels
A group of motivated individuals have come together to create a community approach to gathering radiation data in Japan.
D. Parvaz Last Modified: 26 Apr 2011 13:44

TEPCO executives bow to evacuees in Koriyama to apologise for the accident at their company's Fukushima plant [AFP]There is a certain element of helplessness to living in northeast Japan right now.
It isn't just dealing with the images

and reality

of the large-scale catastrophe in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami
It's not even the electrical outages, the disrupted train services or the very real fear that another big earthquake

one as massive as the magnitude 9.0 temblor that wiped out entire coastal communities

is imminent.
It's the fear of radiation, invisible, odourless and potentially deadly, leaking out of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and entering their bodies via contaminated air, food and water.
The only way to get any peace of mind is to get accurate, timely information on radiation levels (which can also fluctuate) and therein, as the Bard would say, lies the rub, because said information is far from accessible.
TEPCO released a rather visually complicated map of radiation zones within the Daiichi plant on NHK state TV
Toshikatsu Watanabe, who lives in Koriyama, around 60km away from the damaged plant, is worried and didn't "expect he would ever be at risk".
Watanabe said he has "respect for the local government", but said the national government didn't "provide enough information".
So concerned are people about radiation that Watanabe said he feels conspicuous when he drives his car

with its Fukushima license plates

to neighbouring prefectures. No one says anything to him, but he knows what they're thinking: That he might live in a contaminated zone.
Further disconcerting is what Watanabe said he's observed

people coming up from Tokyo, taking measurements and leaving.
"But they leave without sharing what they've learnt

we don't know what they've found, they don't share the data with us," said Watanabe.
The elements of anger and mistrust, aimed at the national government and the company operating the unstable nuclear plant, is wearing at the fabric of Japanese society

one based on keeping calm and maintaining the wa (or harmony).
To that end, various groups are posting radiation measurements, but despite best intentions, the information is piecemeal and not exactly easy to understand.
Given that radiation levels 1,600 times higher than normal levels have been detected about 20km from the plant, the zone in which the Japanese government on Friday formally advised residents to leave due to threat of long-term radiation, it's clear that need for clear and plentiful information is as urgent.
More info = Better info
The disaster in Japan has kicked all sorts of activists into high gear

volunteers helping people clear out their tsunami-battered homes, green energy proponents picketing the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and a bunch of DYI-ers who are roaming Japan with hand-made Geiger counters (a hand-held device used to measureradiation), recording radiation levels. You read that last part correctly.
"We were getting frustrated with what was being reported in the media, what was being released by TEPCO, what was being released by the government," said Sean Bonner, co-founder of Safecast.org, which is currently partially self-funded, partially funded via a Kickstarter fundraiser.
"The information was just kind of unreliable, not updated frequently, no way to fact-check it... So, we just started thinking: What happens if we go get numbers ourselves? Like, is that an option?"
Apparently so.
Out of thin air, a group of folks based in the US and Japan created a network that distributes Geiger counters to teams of people who record radiation levels in a consistent manner and upload it all to the Safecast site.
Mapped out with radiation readings gathered from other sources, Bonner said Safecast hopes to "paint a more reliable picture of what was going on".
Safecast currently has around 30 Geiger counters out in the field, they have ordered the parts to build another 300, and Bonner said their plan is to have 600 units collecting data within six months.
While he wishes for a shorter timeline, the fact is, Geiger counters are in demand at the moment.
"If we wanted to buy 600 right this minute, we couldn't do it."
Real and present danger
Perhaps the Safecast project might sound a little crazy and ill-advised (a ragtag group of techies zigzagging around the area around a nuclear disaster some have compared to Chernobyl). But the outcome is pretty empowering.
Bonner said that one of the members of HackerSpace, a collective involved with Safecast, has family just outside the initial evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture.
"They were told that the their area was safe, and so the guys from Tokyo HackerSpace took a Geiger counter and drove up there," said Bonner.
"And they're farmers, organic farmers, and they're in this area that they were told was okay, but the numbers were off the charts

they were high. And then 10 days later, that area was evacuated as well."
Watanabe, himself in the advertising business, also said that he appreciates the additional data for that very reason.
[B]Safecast measures radiation on Geiger counters - this one taken at a school 60 km away from the nuclear plant
[/B]"The farmers are very worried about their crops

they want to sell produce and get the economy going, but currently, because there's no data or no system to check, they can't export their goods the way they used to."
Another highly vulnerable group are pregnant women, such as Rie Knowles, who lives in Tokyo. Told she should not drink tap water

at least for a time

and not much else, Knowles, who was in her 26th week of pregnancy when the earthquake hit, was left to seek information hither and thither.
"Most of the information I received was from TV and web discussion boards," said Knowles.
"There was also a lot of keitai (cellphone) e-mail from friends circulating rumours. We started to notice that there was bad information going around that way after about 2 days, but by then the TV information had improved."
But then, information reported was also confusing, and most people, including Knowles, who were not sure how worried they should be when they heard that radiation levels in a particular area was 10 times the normal levels.
The general sense people have is that "the information we are given is not the whole picture. Many times we see TEPCO say 'there is no evidence of X', only to find out later that it is because they have not done any checking for X," said Knowles.
In her 32nd week of pregnancy at the time of this interview, Knowles said she's checking Safecast for radiation readings allows her to "relax a little", although she's still avoiding vegetables and milk while sticking to bottled water, which remains in short supply.
The power of the crowd
While Safecast takes pains to make clear that it in no way is trying to undermine the efforts of the Japanese government in terms of trying to keep a handle on radiation levels, it's also quite clear that if all was well, their project would not be needed.
"The measurements that the government gives, we don't know what they measure or how it's measured, if you don't have that information, it's very difficult to put it into context," said Pieter Franken, the Japan representative for Safecast.
"We don't even know if they're measuring inside or outside the building."
Franken also points out that many of the experts offering analysis on the topic of radiation seem to give contradictory information.
"It's a highly politicised topic," said Franken.
Yet, people need to know if where they're living and what they're eating is safe. While Fukushima Prefecture is doing what it can

giving hourly updates for 35 different points of the prefecture, Franken points out that there are around 800 elementary schools in the prefecture.
"The idea is to use the power of the crowd to get lots of data points," said Franken.
"The quality will sort itself out, as we get a much bigger sample size."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2...79927.html

[Ed Jewett]

Independent scientist Leuren Moret, whose 2004 landmark article in the Japan Times [see http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/f...523x2.html unmasked lies and distortions by government and company officials that led to the construction of nuclear power plants in seismically dangerous areas, has declared in an exclusive 65-minute video interview [ see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WxmeOqYt...r_embedded ] with Alfred Lambremont Webre that the "Japan earthquake and "accidents" at the Fukushima's 6 nuclear power plant units starting March 11, 2011 are in fact deliberate acts of tectonic nuclear warfare, carried out against the populations and ecology of Japan and the nations of the Northern Hemisphere, including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

You can read a summary of the Alfred Lambremont Webre's interview with Lauren Moret by clicking here.

http://aircrap.org/scientist-leuren-more...re/331159/

In parallel: [url]http://truth11.com/2011/03/24/haarp-japan-scientist-leuren-moret-japan-earthquake-and-nuclear-"accident"-are-tectonic-nuclear-warfare-video-japan-not-natural-earthquake-initiated-by-external-energy/[/url]

See also especially http://www.whale.to/a/moret_h.html which is an extended grouping of links.

http://www.suesupriano.com/audio/LeurenMoret.mp3

[Ed Jewett]

Chernobyl: Consequences of the catastrophe 25 years later
28-04-2011

by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., and Alexey V. Yablokov, Ph.D.

Editor's note: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists asked Dr. Sherman, recognized worldwide for her expertise on Chernobyl, to write this article last year, then rejected it just before deadline, probably considering it too alarming. In it, she reports the widespread expectation of another nuclear power plant failure and the catastrophic consequences. Now, a few months later, the world commemorates the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl while watching the Fukushima meltdown.


http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.co...ars-later/

[Jan Klimkowski]

So, what's really going on?

Radiation adviser to Kan to quit over gov't nuke crisis response

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant told the prime minister's office Friday he will resign in protest over what he called the government's impromptu handling of the crisis.

"The government has belittled laws and taken measures only for the present moment, resulting in delays in bringing the situation under control," Toshiso Kosako, professor on antiradiation safety measures at the University of Tokyo's graduate school, told a news conference.

After the March 11 quake and tsunami triggered the country's worst nuclear accident, Kosako assumed the post on March 16 with the duty of advising Kan on matters related to nuclear power plants and radiation.

It is extremely rare for an intellectual adviser appointed by the prime minister to resign in protest at measures the government has taken.

He told the news conference at the Diet building it is problematic for the government to have delayed the release of forecasts on the spread of radiation from the Fukushima plant, done by the Nuclear Safety Technology Center's computer system, called the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, or SPEEDI.

He also blasted the government for hiking the upper limit for emergency workers seeking to bring the crippled plant under control to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts after the crisis broke out.

"The prime minister's office and administrative organizations have made impromptu policy decisions, like playing a whack-a-mole game, ignoring proper procedures," the radiation expert said.

He also urged the government to stiffen guidelines on upper limits on radiation levels the education ministry recently announced as allowable levels for primary school grounds in Fukushima Prefecture, where the radiation-leaking plant is located.

The guidelines announced by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology "are inconsistent with internationally commonsensical figures and they were determined by the administration to serve its interests," he said.

(Mainichi Japan) April 30, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/2011...8000c.html

[Magda Hassan]

A vote of no confidence in the government.

[Peter Lemkin]

50 uS/hr as seen on the meter above a few posts at 60km is a very high level for that distance! Radiation can be very patchy, but it is a very ominous sign!!!! The Japanese officials are not informing the Public with the facts. I hear that some have taken it upon themselves to go around, take radiation readings and are posting them on a few websites; trying to create a radiation map. Radiation meters in Japan are worth more than gold and almost impossible to obtain now.....not surprisingly. If I lived there, I'd want two.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is printing at a ridiculous and, of course, completely unsustainable and unrepayable, rate.

Via Zero Hedge:

While it will not surprise anyone that Japan, which for the past 3 decades has been a monetary policy basket case caught in what bankers like calling a deflationary spiral (yet which others like Sean Corrigan merely define as prices re-indexing to a fair value absent endless cheap credit crutches), has constantly had to resort to a record loose monetary policy coupled with endless episodes of quantitative easing, some may not know that over the past month Japan has seen its current account balance swell by $250 billion, or nearly half the entire Fed QE2 monetization mandate. And as the BOJ continues to disclose the full extent of the Japanese economic devastation following March 11, we are confident that very soon the most recent episode of Japanese "printing" will surpass the $600 billion that the Fed is injecting into the US economy (in addition to the roughly $250 billion in Treasury bonds monetized by the BOJ each year): an amount roughly 5 times greater than America's when expressed as a ratio of GDP. It is thus no surprise then that Bernanke does not seem too concerned with the purported end of QE after all money printing is merely moving from developed world point A to developed world point B. And thanks to monetary linkages of "globalization" all this brand new money will once again find its way into speculative assets, and thus, Fed mandate #3 favorite - Russell 2000. Below we provide a closer look at what exactly the current and future, Japanese QEasing will look like.

The latest projections from the Japanese Finance Ministry regarding the fiscal year which started on April 1 make for sobering reading. They say that Japan's "public" (funded) debt will probably rise by 5.8 percent this year - to 997.7 TRILLION Yen ($US 12.2 TRILLION at current exchange rates). Should these projections be even slightly on the optimistic side - and government financial projections always are - then Japan could easily be looking at a public debt of 1,000 TRILLION Yen by March 31, 2012.

There is another way of expressing 1,000 TRILLION. It is the same as ONE QUADRILLION.

The sheer magnitude of these numbers has long been a talking point for the watchers of international finance. Now, they are becoming very nervous indeed. The OECD has recently "urged" the Japanese government to "do something" about their deficits, especially in the wake of the earthquake disaster. Noting that Japanese sovereign debt is about to hit 204 percent of GDP, they suggested that Japan's current sales tax be "at least" doubled from its present 5 percent to 10 percent. The Japanese Foreign Ministry politely declined to comment on this suggestion, contenting themselves with assuring the OECD that - "We will continue to work to maintain and secure trust in Japanese government bonds."

At this, a line from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead comes to mind: "Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?" While this has been mostly a rhetorical question over the ages, G7 central planners are set to provide a definitive answer very soon.

(and people worry about the "bubble" in precious metals)

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-r...uadrillion

[Jan Klimkowski]

The article below claims to be a translation of comments by Michio Ishikawa, who is "a strong proponent for the nuclear power generation and the nuclear industry", made on Japanese TV.

If correct, and combined with the comments from the advisor to the Japanese PM (in post #125above), it suggests that Japanese nuclear insiders know that the situation at Fukushima is far more dangerous than is being openly acknowledged, that TEPCO's current measures cannot contain the radiation, and that a catastrophe is imminent unless Japan effectively adopts a war footing to "bury" the Fukushima contamination.

Saturday, April 30, 2011
#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Ishikawa of JNTI Talks about Reactor Core Conditions

More on 77-year-old Michio Ishikawa of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute on the situation at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, as he appeared on Asahi TV on April 29.

A Todai as-hole though he may be, I started to like this guy as I watched. He didn't mince his words, and said what they are doing at Fukushima I Nuke Plant is not working. That surprised some, including the host of the show, as Ishikawa is known as a strong proponent for the nuclear power generation and the nuclear industry.

I watched the segment (video No.2 out of 11) where he discussed the situation at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, particularly about the condition of the reactor core.

Here's what I'd add to the snippets on my previous post. (My summary translation of what Mr. Ishikawa said, not literal; my comment in square bracket):

About TEPCO's "roadmap:

"I believe what they are trying to achieve after 9 months is to cool the reactor cores and solidify them so that no radioactive materials can escape. But they are just doing peripheral tricks like water entombment and nitrogen gas injection. Nitrogen gas, it's dangerous, by the way.

"What they must do is to cool the reactor cores, and there's no way around it. It has to be done somehow."

About the condition of the reactor cores:

"I believe the fuel rods are completely melted. They may already have escaped the pressure vessel. Yes, they say 55% or 30%, but I believe they are all melted down. When the fuel rods melt, they melt from the middle part on down.

(Showing the diagram) "I think the temperature inside the melted core is 2000 degrees to 2000 and several hundred degrees Celsius. A crust has formed on the surface where the water hits. Decay heat is 2000 to 3000 kilowatts, and through the cracks on the crust the radioactive materials (mostly noble gas and iodine) are escaping into the air.

"Volatile gas has almost all escaped from the reactor by now.

"The water [inside the pressure vessel] is highly contaminated with uranium, plutonium, cesium, cobalt, in the concentration we've never seen before.

"My old colleague contacted me and shared his calculation with me. At the decay heat of 2000 kilowatt... There's a substance called cobalt 60. Highly radioactive, needs 1 to 1.5 meter thick shields. It kills people at 1000 curies. He calculated that there are 10 million curies of cobalt-60 in the reactor core. If 10% of cobalt-60 in the core dissolve into water, it's 1 million curies."

[He's an old-timer so he's used to curie instead of becquerel as a unit. 1 curie equals 3.7 x 10^10 becquerels (37,000,000,000 becquerels or 37 gigabecquerels).
10 million curies equals 370,000 terabecquerels, and 1 million curies equals 37,000 terabecquerels. I used this conversion table. Tell me I'm wrong! Cobalt-60 alone would make a Level 7 disaster...]

"They (TEPCO) want to circulate this highly contaminated water to cool the reactor core. Even if they are able to set up the circulation system, it will be a very difficult task to shield the radiation. It will be a very difficult work to build the system, but it has to be done.

"It is imperative to know the current condition of the reactor cores. It is my assumption [that the cores have melted], but wait one day, and we have water more contaminated with radioactive materials. This is a war, and we need to build a "bridgehead" at the reactor itself instead of fooling around with the turbine buildings or transporting contaminated water."

[As Ishikawa explains, a notable opponent of nuclear power, Tetsunari Iida (executive director of the Institute of Sustainable Energy Policy and Kyoto University graduate majoring in nuclear science) nods in deep agreement.]

About "war" at Fukushima I Nuke Plant:

"Take the debris clean-up job for example. They are picking up the debris and putting them in containers, as if this is the peacetime normal operation. This is a war. They should dig a hole somewhere and bury the radioactive debris and clean up later. What's important is to clear the site, using the emergency measures. Build a bridgehead to the reactor.

"The line of command is not clear, whether it is the government, TEPCO, or Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

"Look squarely at the reactors and find out the true situation. [Trying to do something with] the turbine buildings is nothing but a caricature [a joke, a manga, a diversion]."

The show's host says "But wait a minute, Mr. Ishikawa, you are a proponent of nuclear power and we expected to hear from you that everything is going well at Fukushima..."

Mr. Ishikawa answers, "Well, if I'm allowed to tell a lie..."

Now, Mr. Tetsunari Iida speaks, agreeing to Mr. Ishikawa's "war" analogy:

"I totally agree with Mr. Ishikawa's assessment of the plant, and that this is a war. The government simply orders TEPCO to "do it". But it is like the Imperial General Headquarters (大本営) on the eve of the Sea of Japan Naval Battle during the Russo-Japanese War [in 1905] ordering merchant ship TEPCO to attack [the imperial Russian navy].

"The government should appoint a commander. TEPCO has a limit as a private business. No one knows what to do. We have to seek the advice from the best and the brightest in the world."

Mr. Hasegawa of Chunichi Shinbun jumps in, and says "We took the numbers from the government like 30% core melt as true, and went from there. But then Mr. Ishikawa says it's a total melt."

Then, Kohei Otsuka, the Vice Minister of Health and Welfare and politician from the ruling party (DPJ), sitting right next to Mr. Ishikawa, butts in, and warns everyone:

"Since none of us knows for sure the condition of the reactor cores, we shouldn't speculate on a national TV."

Mr. Hasegawa overrides the politician, and says "The real problem is that what no one knows is presented to us every day as if it is a fact, like 30% core melt in the chart."

Hahahahahahahahaha.

I wish Mr. Ishikawa had punched the light-weight politician in the face. At least he should have laughed at him.

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukus...-jnti.html

[Magda Hassan]

Visually, Reactor No. 4 'leaning to the right' --4 reactors all still emitting 'significant amounts of radiation into the environment' --Radioactive sludge in sewage system in nearby city 10 May 2011 In a release of information tonight, the Japanese government has confirmed that work was started yesterday to 'shore up the structure of the building,' and 'specifically the upper floor.' Spent fuel pool is kept in Reactor No. 4. Fuel rods from three to four reactors are stored in No. 4, and 'this part of the building is beginning to lean.' Because of the explosion of Reactor No. 3, there are some questions about the structural integrity of the building of Reactor No. 4. (Video, RT interview with Dr. Robert Jacobs, Hiroshima Peace Institute)