{"id":5021,"date":"2013-08-06T16:34:35","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T20:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2013-08-06T16:36:53","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T20:36:53","slug":"news-media-finally-reporting-fukushima-leaking-radioactive-water-into-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/news-media-finally-reporting-fukushima-leaking-radioactive-water-into-ocean.html","title":{"rendered":"News media finally reporting Fukushima leaking radioactive water into ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nIt’s not just a storage tank, either; radioactive water has been leaking\r\nfor more than two years, from the broken reactor buildings into groundwater and the Pacific Ocean.\r\nIt’s not just a local Japanese problem: Fukushima is here. \r\n

\r\nThe cautious version, by Antoni Slodkowski and Mari Saito, Reuters, today,\r\n\r\nRadioactive water seeping into Pacific from Fukushima is ’emergency,’ official says<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nHighly radioactive water \r\nseeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant<\/a>\r\n is creating an “emergency” that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said Monday.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThis contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority task force, told Reuters.<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCountermeasures planned by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) are only a temporary solution, he said.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nVOA News, also today, admits leaks have been going on for more than two years\r\nand nobody knows how to stop them,\r\n\r\nFukushima Operator Under Fire for Radioactive Leaks<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nRianne Teule, a nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace International,\r\nsays the issue is a serious environmental concern.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Most of all it proves TEPCO is incapable of dealing with this\r\nsituation and that the Japanese authorities should really step in\r\nand ensure that proper action is taken to stop the leaks,” said\r\nTeule.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBut it is not clear what other actions TEPCO could take at this\r\npoint. Former Nuclear power plant designer Masashi Goto worked on\r\nseveral projects with TEPCO.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The situation is already beyond what Tepco can handle,” said Goto.\r\n“If it were possible to take proper measures, they would have done\r\nit already right? It’s not as if Tepco is refusing to do what they\r\ncan. They are doing everything they can but there are no perfect\r\nsolutions.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nTEPCO said recently that between 20 to 40 trillion becquerels of\r\nradioactive tritium is estimated to have leaked into the ocean since\r\nthe earthquake and tsunami of 2011. It is the first time the company\r\nhas acknowledged that contaminated water is leaking into the sea.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTEPCO admitted\r\n\r\nmore than a month ago<\/a>\r\nthat Fukushima was leaking radioactive water into the ocean.\r\nThe real news is the mainstream news media have finally started\r\nwriting about it.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMari Yamaguchi\r\nwrote for Huffpo 22 July 2013,\r\n\r\nFukushima Plant Admits Radioactive Water Leaked To Sea<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nCompany spokesman Masayuki Ono told a regular news conference that\r\nplant officials have come to believe that radioactive water that\r\nleaked from the wrecked reactors is likely to have seeped into the\r\nunderground water system and escaped into sea.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nNuclear officials and experts have suspected a leak from the\r\nFukushima Dai-ichi since early in the crisis. Japan’s nuclear\r\nwatchdog said two weeks ago a leak was highly suspected and ordered\r\nTEPCO to examine the problem.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nTEPCO had persistently denied contaminated water reached the sea,\r\ndespite spikes in radiation levels in underground and sea water\r\nsamples taken at the plant. The utility first acknowledged an\r\nabnormal increase in radioactive cesium levels in an observation\r\nwell near the coast in May and has since monitored water samples.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“We are very sorry for causing concerns. We have made efforts not to\r\ncause any leak to the outside, but we might have failed to do so,”\r\nhe said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOno said the radioactive elements detected in water samples are\r\nbelieved to largely come from initial leaks that have remained since\r\nearlier in the crisis. He said the leak has stayed near the plant\r\ninside the bay, and officials believe very little has spread further\r\ninto the Pacific Ocean.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMarine biologists have warned that the radioactive water may be\r\nleaking continuously into the sea from the underground, citing high\r\nradioactivity in fish samples taken near the plant.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOno said that an estimated 1,972 plant workers, or 10 percent of\r\nthose checked, had thyroid exposure doses exceeding 100\r\nmillisieverts—a threshold for increased risk of developing\r\ncancer—instead of the 178 based on checks of 522 workers\r\nreported to the World Health Organization last year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\nMasuyuki Ono a few days before that claiming there was no radiation\r\nspike at Fukushima despite steam rising from reactor 3,\r\nby Agence France-Presse, 18 July 2013,\r\n\r\nNo radiation spike at Fukushima despite steam: TEPCO<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nWho you gonna believe? TEPCO, or your lying cameras and radioactive\r\nfish and workers?\r\n

\r\nHow bad is it?\r\nWashington’s Blog already did the math back on 6 April 2013,\r\n\r\n#Fukushima: Massive Leaks and Radioactive Fallout Continuing On a Daily Basis\u2026For Years On End<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nJapanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to \r\n93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium<\/a> into the ocean \r\neach day<\/em>. How much radiation is this?<\/p>\r\n

\r\nA quick calculation shows that it is about ten thousand times\r\nless than the amounts released by Chernobyl\r\n\r\nduring the actual fire<\/a>\r\nat the Russian nuclear plant.\r\nBut the Chernobyl fire only last 10 days \u2026 \r\nand the Fukushima release has been ongoing for more than \r\n2 years<\/em> so far<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIndeed, Fukushima has already spewed much more radioactive\r\ncesium<\/a>\r\nand \r\niodine<\/a> than Chernobyl. The amount of radioactive cesium released\r\nby Fukushima was some\r\n\r\n20-30 times higher<\/a>\r\nthan initially admitted.<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFukushima also pumped out huge amounts of radioactive\r\n\r\niodine 129<\/a>\r\n— which has a half-life of \r\n15.7 \r\nmillion<\/em> years<\/a>.\r\nFukushima has also dumped up to\r\n\r\n900 \r\ntrillion<\/em>\r\n becquerels of radioactive strontium-90<\/a>\r\n— which is a powerful internal emitter which \r\nmimics calcium and collects in our bones<\/a>\r\n— into the ocean. And the amount of radioactive fuel at Fukushima \r\ndwarfs Chernobyl<\/a>\r\n… and so could keep leaking for decades, centuries or millenia.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nTEPCO graphics of the Fukushima plants even appear to show water\r\n\r\ndirectly flowing<\/a>\r\n from the plant to the ocean. See this and \r\nthis<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe bottom line is that the reactors have\r\n lost containment<\/a>. There are not\r\n\u201csome leaks\u201d<\/em> at Fukushima.\r\n\u201cLeaks\u201d<\/em> imply that the reactor cores are\r\nsafely in their containment buildings, and there is a small\r\nhole or two which need to be plugged. But scientists \r\ndon\u2019t even know where the cores of the reactors are<\/a>.\r\nThat\u2019s not leaking. That\u2019s \r\neven worse than a total meltdown<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSo what are the consequences for people living outside of Fukushima itself?<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWell, you don’t even have to imagine this happening on the Savannah River\r\nor on the Altamaha River (Plant Hatch 1 and 2 are the same GE Mark I reactor\r\nmodels as Fukushima).\r\nIf you believe this guff from the NBC News article, I’ve got a bridge to sell you:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nEric Norman, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of\r\nCalifornia, Berkeley, said the latest leak was not a concern.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The Pacific Ocean is an enormous place,” said Norman, who found\r\nradiation from the Fukushima nuclear power in California rainwater,\r\nmilk and plants soon after the earthquake and tsunami. “There’s a\r\nlot of material between us and Japan. No matter what happens in\r\nFukushima, it’s not going to be a problem over here.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nWinds flow around the world.\r\nCurrents flow across the Pacific Ocean.\r\nFish swim.\r\n

\r\nBjorn Carey wrote for Stanford Report 4 March 2013,\r\n\r\nStanford scientist uses Fukushima radiation to reveal swimming secrets of Pacific bluefin tuna<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nLast May, scientists reported that 15 Pacific bluefin tuna caught in\r\nCalifornia in the months after the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima\r\nDai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2011 contained trace amounts of\r\nradiation. It was the first evidence of migrating animals\r\ntransporting radioactive materials across the ocean, and the\r\nresearchers suggested it could provide a means for tracking the\r\nfish’s annual migrations.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nNow, nearly two years after the plant discharged radioactive\r\nmaterials into the ocean, follow-up research led by a biology PhD\r\ncandidate at Stanford finds that young Pacific bluefin tuna are\r\nstill arriving in California carrying two of Fukushima’s signature\r\nradioisotopes, cesium-134 and cesium-137.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nFukushima is Here.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s not just a storage tank, either; radioactive water has been leaking for more than two years, from the broken reactor buildings into groundwater and the Pacific Ocean. It’s not just a local Japanese problem: Fukushima is here. The cautious version, by Antoni Slodkowski and Mari Saito, Reuters, today, Radioactive water seeping into Pacific from […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[50,2,104,73],"tags":[6773,8722,113,167,8701,8699,111,876,8702,620,12,7,8737,6772,8731,6],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epa","category-government","category-nuclear","category-safety","tag-currents","tag-epa","tag-fish","tag-fukushima","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-groundwater","tag-health","tag-lake","tag-leak","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-nuclear","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-safety","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1iZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5024,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions\/5024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}