M5.9 quake shakes Fukushima Pref., vicinity in eastern Japan

[FourScore]

Source: Kyodo News

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 shook Fukushima Prefecture and its vicinity in eastern Japan on Sunday night, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued.

The 11:04 p.m. temblor measured lower 5 on the Japanese intensity scale of 7 in the towns of Naraha and Tomioka in the prefecture, according to the agency.

It registered 4 on the Japanese scale in some areas of Fukushima, Miyagi, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures.

Read more: http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/04/150176.html

[freefall]

1. Fukushima may not be on the front pages anymore

but the news is not encouraging:

Fukushima Radiation Reaches Robot-Killing High
March 30, 2012
http://climatecrocks.com/2012/03/30/fukushima-radiation-reaches-robot-killing-high/

Fukushima radiation detected 400 miles away in Pacific Ocean at levels 1,000 times higher than previous readings
2/25/2012
http://www.naturalnews.com/035065_Fukushima_radiation_Pacific_Ocean.html

Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US
www.fairewinds.com
US NRC Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC March 13 to March 15
"While traveling in Japan several weeks ago, Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen took soil samples in Tokyo public parks, playgrounds, and rooftop gardens. All the samples would be considered nuclear waste if found here in the US. This level of contamination is currently being discovered throughout Japan. At the US NRC Regulatory Information Conference in Washington, DC March 13 to March 15, the NRC's Chairman, Dr. Gregory Jaczko emphasized his concern that the NRC and the nuclear industry presently do not consider the costs of mass evacuations and radioactive contamination in their cost benefit analysis used to license nuclear power plants. Furthermore, Fairewinds believes that evacuation costs near a US nuclear plant could easily exceed one trillion dollars and contaminated land would be uninhabitable for generations."

Japan experts warn of future risk of giant tsunami
April 1, 2012
http://www.dawn.com/2012/04/01/japan-experts-warn-of-future-risk-of-giant-tsunami.html

It may be April Fools Day but the above information is no joke.

[Sabriel]

3. That ocean reading was almost a year ago

Why nothing new to report? What is it now?

[freefall]

9. Ooops!

Below is a link to hopefully more recent info.

I looked around a little on Sunday after reading your post, Sabriel, but didn't find much.

Started a new job on Monday a.m. and haven't had much time for the internet since then. However, this morning there is an article on CommonDreams that looks like it may have good info (mostly through links) on this topic.

Am rushing to get to work (Yeah!) and haven't had time to check it out yet.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/03-2

I wish I could say happy reading but I have a feeling it's not going to be.

freefall

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Given the RPV melted through, and some or most of the fuel fell to the bottom of the containment...

why is it that some insist the radiation levels inside the containment are somehow surprising? The fuel is all over the fucking place in there. No shit it's radioactive. It's one decimal place sieverts per hour less than similar distances from the core of Chernobyl a year after the each accident, so hey, there's some good news for you. It's LESS radioactive, and the bulk of that fuel is still inside the containment, and the coolant (which is lower than expected) is still at ~50 degrees.

[patrice]

2. Can a melt-down like this actually trigger an earth-quake?

[sakabatou]

5. I don't know

If anyone can find any research on it, it'd help.

[Posteritatis]

6. No. (nt)

[AtheistCrusader]

8. No.

The fuel hasn't even left the containment. The containment is leaking radioactive water, yes, but the fuel is still inside. Didn't go anywhere. (Some of the fuel in the storage ponds may have gone somewhere, but it didn't go down, it may have gone airborne with the explosions.)

[dipsydoodle]

4. When the Mayor of Hiroshima

said "what the fuck was that" I think he alluded to the bang : no mention of an earthquake. I would doubt if there was a melt down it would penetrate a mile so of rock.