[ RadSafe ] FW: June 9 - 4:15 p.m. EDT - CNSC information update regarding the Japanese nuclear facilities

[Matt sargent]

-----Original Message-----
From: info at cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca [mailto:info at cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca] 
Sent: June 9, 2011 2:29 PM
To: matts at irss.ca
Subject: June 9 - 4:15 p.m. EDT - CNSC information update regarding the Japanese nuclear facilities

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is making final preparations to activate special purification equipment to treat radioactive waste water at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. TEPCO recently tested equipment that will remove radioactive substances from water. TEPCO expects the system to decontaminate about 1,200 tons of water daily before it is transferred to temporary storage tanks on the Daiichi site.

TEPCO workers have completed removal of radioactive debris outside the Unit 3 reactor building as part of a clean-up and stabilization plan started last month. TEPCO plans to inject nitrogen gas into the Unit 3 reactor containment vessel to prevent additional hydrogen explosions. The utility will also install a circulatory cooling system at the Unit 3 reactor. High radiation levels detected near the entrance to the Unit delayed this work last month. TEPCO personnel will soon enter the building to check for debris inside and monitor radiation levels.

CNN reports that Japan’s Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters said June 6 that the organization’s latest evaluation indicates that reactor units 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear Power station had experienced full meltdowns in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. 

Energy officials and ministers from over 30 countries attended talks on nuclear safety hosted by the French government in Paris this week. The officials have agreed to strengthen cooperation in the case of a nuclear accident through the creation of cross-border response teams, on the grounds that radiation crosses borders when an accident occurs. Participants were split, however, over the extent to which countries could inspect neighbour’s nuclear safety measures. Countries abandoning nuclear energy, like Switzerland, advocated scrutiny into neighbouring countries’ safety systems. Pro-nuclear countries, such as India, are opposed to a mandatory inspection system. The Paris talks are being held in advance of a high-level International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference that starts in Vienna on June 20.
The Government of Japan’s report to the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety – “The Accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations” can be accessed at the following link: (http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/kan/topics/201106/iaea_houkokusho_e.html) Please note that the report is available only in English.

The IAEA board has agreed that the Agency will study the long-term effects of the spillage of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi site on the maritime environment in the Pacific. Australia, South Korea and Indonesia will lead the study into possible sea pollution in the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea The survey team will collect samples of radioactive substances in sea water and compare them to data collected before the nuclear accident in Fukushima. The study begins in July and will last four years.

Find out more:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/updates/march-11-2011-japan-earthquake.cfm

For all the latest CNSC news, visit the CNSC's homepage at http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/
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