Japan Atomic Energy Commission - Fukushima an unprecedented, and deepening, crisis

[JohnyCanuck]

As reported by ABC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in the audio of a morning radio show at the link below.

Authorities begin Fukushima cleanup
Monday 18 November 2013 6:35AM
Japanese authorities will today begin removing highly radioactive fuel from one the Fukushima nuclear plant's damaged reactor buildings.

The Japan Atomic Energy Commission has described Fukushima as an unprecedented, and deepening, crisis, with the 160,000 people evacuated from the area unlikely to ever return home.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/authorities-begin-fukushima-cleanup/5098120

[tblue37]

1. I get sick every time I think of this--so I try not to think about it, since there

is nothing at all that I can do about it!

[RobertEarl]

4. Me too, tblue

I get sick thinking about this. There is nothing we can do about Fukushima except be aware of what can happen so that we don't get surprised.

Part of that awareness is becoming active to make sure our government doesn't push it all under the rug. If they can, they will do nothing to prepare for any increase in radiation.

There are many actions that can be taken to be prepared for an increase in radiation: medical, food source, and shelter actions.

Then there is the fact that we have 30 Fukushima type reactors in the US that are all susceptible to similar outcomes as Fukushima. We need, as a country, to begin eliminating that possibility. Even the last head of the government commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - NRC, has gone on record as stating that these plants are unsafe and must be closed down ASAP. He ought to know and he knew he had to speak up, so he did. And they ran him out of office!

It is our duty to make sure people know of the dangers, and to make sure we safely close and secure our own Fukushima type nuclear power plants. That is what we can do.

[Bennyboy]

2. Cross Posted here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4049008

trying to make a compilation of all stories Fukushima. So this means that they are, as I type, removing the fuel rods.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. If 3 spent fuel assemblies at reactor #4 being damaged was bad news...

because the damaged assemblies significantly increases the risk of another catastrophe occurring when removing the spent reactor #4 fuel from the "temporary" storage pool (perched 100ft in the air) to a safer and more secure location - How does a total of 80 damaged spent fuel assemblies across the entire plant complex sound?

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Admits Total 80 Spent Fuel Assemblies Had Damages Before the Nuclear Accident, 70 of Them in Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool

According to Kahoku Shinpo, a Fukushima local paper, TEPCO admitted on November 15, 2013 that there are 70 fuel assemblies with damaged fuel rods in the Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool, located on the operating floor (top floor) of the reactor building whose air radiation levels are measured in millisievert/hour and sievert/hour (first floor).

There are also three such fuel assemblies in the Reactor 2 SFP, and four of them in the Reactor 3 SFP.

Total 80 spent fuel assemblies in the SFPs in Reactors 1 - 4 are damaged.

The damages had been there long before the March 11, 2011 accident, and TEPCO claims it properly notified the national government as they discovered the damages. But the company has come clean in public only now.

Kahoku Shinpo article below suggests that the oldest of such damaged fuels may have been there for 40 years in the Reactor 1 Spent Fuel Pool. (Reactor 1 started generating electricity in 1971.)

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/11/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-tepco-admits.html

[RobertEarl]

5. Only been 31 months

And the Japanese Atomic Authorities are finally admitting the Truth.

Since day one, on March 11, 2011, or 3/11 as it is known, some people have been saying that this was an unprecedented, and deepening crisis.

They were told that it was nothing to worry about and the Japanese would fix it all up like new in short time. Gawd, how I wish those deniers had been correct.

But they were all wrong and even now the highest of the high in Japan have quit their denials. Just 31 months later. The coverups are over. There will be no sweeping this under the rug any longer.

Time now to prepare. And realize the forces that tried hard to sweep it under the rug are liars and don't care about people. The whole damned bunch of them. They lied about Chernobyl, TMI and Fukushima.

The next words out of their mouths should be that they are for closing all nuke plants down, or you can count on their words being lies.

Note that the last two leaders of Japan have both stated that nuke plants must be closed down; everyone and anyone who says otherwise is a damned liar.

[Katashi_itto]

6. It's going to get much much worse. This is just the beginning.

If you live on the West Coast, think about moving.

[tblue37]

7. I live in eastern Kansas--Lawrence. I am glad to be half a continent away from the West Coast.

Sad that some of our most reliably liberal populations are at risk.

[Katashi_itto]

8. Agree!

[Bonobo]

9. Interesting.

An OP with no information at all at the link gets 10 recs, but I post a thread wishing for a successful outcome and I expect it will get no support.

A visitor from space would surely come to the logical conclusion that few here actually wish for a successful outcome of this difficult task.