June 28 Fukushima updates

[robdogbucky]

Researchers discover how human cells take in nuke-crisis contaminated plutonium

A United States research has discovered how the toxic radioactive element plutonium -- detected in and around the grounds of the crisis-stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant -- is taken up by human cells.

The research team led by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in Illinois has been working on ways to stop the uptake of the synthetic element -- a byproduct of nuclear fission and also the fissile material in many nuclear warheads. However, the team has at the same time emphasized the extreme difficulty of expelling plutonium once taken up, and the necessity of preventing nuclear accidents that could introduce the element into the environment.

The researchers used special x-rays among other techniques to analyze plutonium uptake in the body. They found that the element -- which has a half-life of some 24,000 years -- was being brought into cells by binding to a protein responsible for iron uptake.

There are two binding sites for iron uptake and at least one of them must still bind to iron for the other to bring in plutonium. The process also has a preference for iron ions even in the presence of plutonium -- a preference that could lead to new plutonium poisoning treatments. The team also said, however, that complete prevention of plutonium uptake was not realistic...

(Mainichi Japan) June 28, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110628p2a00m0na006000c.html



Fukushima governor aims to abandon nuclear power generation

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) -- Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato said Monday he intends to incorporate the idea of abandoning nuclear power generation in the northeastern prefecture's blueprint for reconstruction to be drawn up by the end of July.

"I have come to believe that Fukushima Prefecture should aim to create a society that is not reliant on nuclear power," Sato told a session of the prefectural assembly.

The prefecture hosts Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which has been crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Earlier in June, a panel of experts assembled by the prefectural government presented a draft plan to the governor calling for "the creation of a safe society capable of sustainable development without relying on nuclear power."

(Mainichi Japan) June 28, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110628p2g00m0dm009000c.html




Panel says Japan must rip up its disaster plans
2011/06/28

Japan's tsunami response measures will have to be overhauled to cope with the largest tsunami that can be expected, according to a government panel.

A technical investigation panel under the Central Disaster Management Council said on June 26 that previous planning, based on more conservative estimates, was inadequate.

In the cases of the long-expected Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes, the maximum scale envisaged by tsunami response measures is the magnitude 8.6 Hoei Earthquake of 1707, which combined all the three earthquakes.

But seismologists said an offshore focal region close to a trench could move simultaneously, as occurred in the Great East Japan Earthquake, leading to a much larger catastrophe…

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106270176.html



TEPCO starts, stops recycling purified water to cool reactors
2011/06/28

Tokyo Electric Power Co. was forced to halt a system on June 27 only 90 minutes after starting that company officials hope will lead to a stable cooling of the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, as well as reducing the volume of water contaminated with radiation that is accumulating in the reactor buildings.

The system to recycle purified water began from 4:20 p.m. but was shut down shortly before 6 p.m. after a leak in the line was detected.

The startup was already 12 days later than originally scheduled, due mainly to problems in the various equipment making up the water purification system.

The system will be needed to reduce the approximately 110,000 tons of contaminated water that have accumulated in the plant grounds…

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106270159.html



TEPCO delayed disclosing rising radiation levels at plant
BY TAKASHI SUGIMOTO STAFF WRITER
2011/06/28

Tokyo Electric Power Co. saw signs that a hydrogen explosion was possible at the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant the night before the explosion occurred on March 12, but did not immediately inform the central government, according to a report published by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).

TEPCO also withheld similar information when the same buildup of hydrogen occurred in the No. 3 reactor, despite being obligated under government safety regulations.

The report says TEPCO detected 290 millisieverts of radiation per hour--a level that prohibits entry into the reactor building--at the No. 1 reactor building at 9:51 p.m. on March 11.

Such a high radiation level indicates the strong possibility of radiation and hydrogen leaks inside…

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106270160.html

[AndyTiedye]

1. Some Good News With the Iron Thing

Maybe this will help treating all the people who have been exposed to plutonium.
Even being able to purge some of it would reduce the ongoing damage it causes.

k/r

[robdogbucky]

2. 38 years of nuke profit up in smoke?

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
38 years of nuke profit up in smoke?

Kyodo


Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces a potential damages bill exceeding its profits from nuclear power generation over a 38-year period beginning in 1970, the year it opened the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 plant, according to a recent study.

Kenichi Oshima, an environmental economist and professor at Kyoto-based Ritsumeikan University, estimates that Tepco in that time earned just less than ¥4 trillion, possibly equal to or less than the amount it must pay farmers, fishermen, evacuees and others affected by the nuclear crisis.

Oshima also found that the cost of nuclear power generation is higher in Japan than that of hydraulic and thermal power, contrary to a widely disseminated government estimate.

By analyzing Tepco's financial statements, Oshima put its cumulative profits from its nuclear power business at ¥3.995 trillion between the business years of 1970 and 2007, which ended in March 2008. Tepco operates three nuclear power plants — the six-reactor Fukushima No. 1 plant, four-reactor Fukushima No. 2 plant and seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110629a2.html

[robdogbucky]

3. Kan hints at playing nuclear energy card

Kan hints at playing nuclear energy card

By NATSUKO FUKUE

Staff writer


Whether to promote nuclear power will be the most crucial issue in the next national election, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday, rekindling speculation that he may want to dissolve the Lower House over energy policy.

Kan made the comment during a meeting of Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers, many of whom were sharply critical of his changes to the Cabinet lineup on Monday.

Many DPJ members now suspect that Kan may be trying to remain in power as long as possible, and that he could dissolve the Lower House for a snap election to appeal to voters who have started calling for use of non-nuclear power in the face of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant...


..."I don't think (he will call) a snap election. There will be no time (for such an election) while victims (of the March 11 earthquake) are still suffering," he said.

During the meeting, Kan denied that he revamped the Cabinet on Monday just to remain in power longer...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110629a4.html

[robdogbucky]

4. Hosono wants to shrink evacuation zone in July

Hosono wants to shrink evacuation zone in July

Japan's newly appointed minister in charge of the nuclear disaster says he hopes to shrink the evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant by mid-July.

Goshi Hosono said in Tokyo on Tuesday that control over the facility has been improving little by little.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has said it aims to complete by July 17th the first stage of its plan to put the facility under control.

Hosono said that by then he hopes the reactor cooling system will have been stabilized and there will no longer be a risk of a hydrogen explosion. He said if that is confirmed, he wants to have some evacuees return home.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 16:13 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/28_21.html

[robdogbucky]

5. Radioactive water leaks from Japan's damaged plant

Radioactive water leaks from Japan's damaged plant

(Reuters) - Tons of radioactive water were discovered on Tuesday to have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said.

More than three months after the disaster, authorities are struggling to bring under control damaged reactors at the power plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

About 15 metric tons of water with a low level of radiation leaked from a storage tank at the plant on the Pacific coast, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it was investigating the cause of the leak which was later repaired...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE75Q1EV20110628