[ RadSafe ] request for the information log (or whatever) for the releases from Japan power plant
Jaro Franta
jaro-10kbq at sympatico.ca
Sat Mar 12 16:42:21 CST 2011
Fukushima is roughly similar, just an older design -- see NEI illustration
here:
http://www.nei.org/filefolder/BoilingWaterReactorDesign_3.jpg
Some interesting comments here (remembering that several injuries and one
death occurred at TEPCO's plants as a direct result of the earthquake....)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_zrOW6JJ0
I'm a bit puzzled why the shelter (building) over the containment didn't
have blow-out panels, like modern turbine buildings (which also can have
dangerous amounts of hydrogen), to avoid the sort of destruction seen on the
Japanese video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KzABEkkc10
Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Stewart Farber
Sent: March-12-11 4:40 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] request for the information log (or whatever) for
the releases from Japan power plant
An interesting link is shown below which shows an analysis by Bechtel of the
Japanese reactor containment at their Advanced Boiling Water Reactors
[ABWR]. It
does not show a date so I am not clear if it specifically shows the
Fukushima
containment. At this point it seems most likely from the confusing info
getting
out that the structure which exploded due to vented hydrogen was the reactor
building, not the reactor containment. The integral reactor containment is a
very rugged structure with walls about 6 feet thick, and a reactor mat that
is
even thicker. See:
<http://www.iasmirt.org/iasmirt-3/SMiRT10/DC_250322>
Does anyone know if the report above, and diagram of a Japanese ABWR applies
to
a plant like Fukushima?
As was seen at TMI, after the partial core melt, almost all the core melt
radioactivity was retained in containment, bound up by passive
physical/chemical reactions with concrete --not retained as a result of
engineered, active safety systems.
Some general news reports today have told people near Fukushima to "cover
their
mouths". Perhaps some of the media should do the same until they get actual
facts. I've heard or read many news reports saying Fukushima power plant was
40
years old. The oldest plant in the complex was started up in 1982 -28
years
ago. Not a big point, but the media should at least be able to get the plant
age
right. If they can't do that, what should be trusted from their reports?
To get an extreme anti-nuclear activist European take on the accident [from
someone who is billed by some of his supporter sites as "the greatest
nuclear
expert in the world"] see the statement issued earlier today by :Prof. Bruce
Busby. It is an "interesting" read as to the tactics being used to exploit
the
accident. You might enjoy reading the GreenAudit group statement below.
Busby
writes:
"This is a potenbtial [sic] Chernobyl level event and must be seen as
extremely
serious."
Busby, a well-established Cassandra, is advising people [even on the West
Coast
of the US] to rush out and get geiger counters and take shelter if
radiation
levels with their geiger counters increase to 300 nSv/hr [30 micro-R/hr]
or
about 2 -3 times normal background at sea level from terrestrial gamma and
cosmic radiation.
For point of reference to the insignificance of the minor radiation levels
at
which Busby is recommending protective actions, I've done radiation surveys
all
over Boston, MA many years ago which show ambient background levels at many
locations of about 250 nSv/hr due to the use of granite in construction
there.
Levels like those Busby is recommending protective actions [in nanoSv/hr]
were
measured in my survey at:
--South Station central train station: 270 nanoSv/hr
--Christian Science Church: 250
--Bunker Hill Monument: 240
--State House Steps: 160
--Park Street Church: 180
The above exposure rates will not have changed much [ :-) ] in the 34 years
since I did the Boston survey, since the dose rates are due to the U-238
decay
series [ 4.5 billion year half-life] and Th-232 decay series [ 14 billion
year
half life].
I wrote an op-ed column in the Boston Globe about the above Boston radiation
survey in Dec. 1976 which I can supply to interested parties as a pdf if
they
are interested.
I wrote this op-ed as a followup to the MA State Police foolishly running
around
South Boston with Civil Defense Geiger counters looking for a 1 micro-Curie
[
37,000 Bq] Co-57 check source which had been in a tool box stolen from a
medical
service tech's truck which had disappeared. The local Health Department had
put
out reports that anyone handling this "COBALT" radioactive [exempt Co-57
check
source mind you ] source would get " radiation sickness and radiation
burns".
Sounds like something we could read from some of today's anti-nuclear
activisits
or today's press reports. The State Police in 1976 sealed off a square mile
of
S. Boston while they ran around with geiger counters and routine gm probes
looking for a 1 micro-Ci button source. I'll leave it to you to calculate
the
trivial rad exposure from a 1 micro-Curie [37,000 Bq] Co-57 check source at
2
or 3 feet, and to see how useless it would be to quickly sweep by it at
waist
height looking for it. I called the Boston Globe reporter involved after
this
foolish column ran and he scoffed at running any correction. I then spoke to
the
Globe ombudsman who gave me an op-ed column to state my position about the
event.
I've also done similar sensitive High Pressure Ionization Chamber radiation
surveys for an insurance company in 1981 around Harrisburg, PA and the
nuclear
station after the accident at TMI. By far, the highest radiation levels of
about
300 nSv/hr [ 30 uR/hr] were, similar to Boston, seen on the steps of the
Harrisburg State Capitol steps due to granite use in their construction, and
in
the court room where various trials about the TMI accident were to be held
due
to natural radioactivity in granite.
When Busby, the Scientific Secretary of GreenAudit.com warns people to take
shelter at only 300 nanoSv/hr it would seem that he has never heard of radon
daughter washout during rainfall when the background rad gamma levels can
easily
increase by factors of 2 or more. Oh well, the more things change, the more
they stay the same.
===================================
CHRIS BUSBY ISSUED STATEMENT ON JAPANESE ACCIDENT - AM EST March 12, 2011
Urgent : 12th March 2011; London
Alert: the potential health consequences of the explosion
at the Fukushima reactor in Japan
Joint Press Statement from the Low Level Radiation Campaign
and the European Committee on Radiation Risk
The evidence is now overwhelming that there has been a significant explosion
accident at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant following the loss of
coolant
to the
reactor. The reactor is of the Boiling Water type, which is the same type as
the
Chernobyl reactor. The detection of high levels of radioactivity and of
Caesium-137
near the plant makes it clear that fission radionuclides are being released
to
the
atmosphere.
The quantity of radioactivity, which has been or will be released is not yet
known. However it should be appreciated as a matter of extreme urgency that
the
health consequences of exposure to this type of radiation is extremely
serious
and that
the level of exposure cannot be accurately assessed by making radiation
measurements based on absorbed dose. The authorities are already, and will
continue
to, downplay the potential risks on the basis of a false radiation risk
model,
that of the
International Commission on Radiological Protection. This is an exact
replication of
the responses to the similar Chernobyl explosion and is driven by the bias
in
these
agencies and authorities towards nuclear energy. The radionuclides released
in
the
Chernobyl accident are the same radionuclides being released from the
Fukushima
plant. The effects of the Chernobyl accident radioactivity releases have
been
seen to
be devastating and continue to affect the health of the exposed populations
as
far
away from Chernobyl as Europe and the USA. The reason that Geiger absorbed
dose
type of readings (milliSieverts) cannot be employed as measures of risk is
that
these
kinds of radioactive substances act from within the body or by binding to
DNA,
thus
the dose to the local tissue or DNA can be enormous whilst the average dose
recorded
by the Geiger counter may be quite low or even barely detectable.
If significant amounts of radioactivity from the Fukushima plume approach
populated centres in any country (e.g. the western USA) the advice from the
European Committee on Radiation Risk Action Team [NOTE: THIS IS THE
ANTI-NUCLEAR
ACTIVIST GROUP ISSUING THIS STATEMENT] is as follows:
1. Do not believe the assurances of the radiation protection advisors
working
for the
government. They are false, biased and based on an obsolete model. This is a
potenbtial Chernobyl level event and must be seen as extremely serious.
2. Try to obtain if possible a Geiger Counter or similar radiation detector
or
readings
from someone who owns one. If the readings increase to more that twice the
normal
background in your area or to a level of more than 300nSv/h (300nGy/h) then:
3. Get away as soon as possible to a clean area or if not possible stay
indoors
and keep
all the doors and windows closed for at as long as the radiation levels are
higher than
normal. Try to keep the house sealed as far as possible.
4. Drink bottled water, use only tinned milk. Await further bulletins from
www.llrc.org and www.euradcom.org
Contact: Prof Chris Busby, Scientific Secretary ECRR +44 7989 428833; +44
1970
630215; Email: Mireille de Messieres: admin at greenaudit.org
Richard Bramhall, LLRC +44 1597 824771; bramhall at llrc.org
=============================================
Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Bridgeport, CT 06604
[203] 441-8433
________________________________
From: Jim Hardeman <Jim.Hardeman at dnr.state.ga.us>
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Sent: Sat, March 12, 2011 12:51:20 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] request for the information log (or whatever)
forthe
releases from Japan power plant
Folks --
Some of the best factual info at the moment is from NEI ...
See
http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/information-on-the-japanese-earthquake-and-
reactors-in-that-region
Max radiation reading reported is 11 mR/hr.
Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
4220 International Parkway, Suite 100
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675
Fax: (404) 362-2653
Personal fax: (404) 521-4485
E-mail: Jim.Hardeman at dnr.state.ga.us
>>> "Roger Helbig" <rhelbig at sfo.com> 3/12/2011 03:59 >>>
More searching - here is link to the Tokyo Electric Power Co statement
about
the six reactors at this site -
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031203-e.html
All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.
Unit 1 (shut down due to earthquake)
- Reactor was shut down and nuclear steam is cooled by the isolation
condenser.
- Currently, there is a possibility of a release of radioactive materials
due to decrease in reactor water level. Therefore, the national
government
has instructed evacuation for those local residents within 3km radius of
the periphery and indoor standby for those local residents between 3km and
10km radius of the periphery.
Unit 2 (shut down due to earthquake)
- Reactor was shut down and although nuclear steam had been cooled by the
Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, the current operating status is
unclear. However, reactor coolant level can be monitored by a temporary
power supply and the level is stable.
- Currently, there is a possibility of a release of radioactive materials
due to decrease in reactor water level. Therefore, the national
government
has instructed evacuation for those local residents within 3km radius of
the periphery and indoor standby for those local residents between 3km and
10km radius of the periphery.
Here is what NHK is reporting on their website and this ominous information
is rocketing around the world in anti-nuke circles as being "confirmation of
a meltdown" - The Nuclear & Industrial Safety Agency press release is at
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110312-4.pdf - the translation
appears a bit off and any RADSAFE members who can read Japanese characters
should probably refer to the Japanese release and perhaps improve the
translation.
Agency: Uranium fuel may be melting at reactor
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says 2 radioactive
substances, cesium and radioactive iodine, have been detected near the
Number One reactor at the Fukushima Number One nuclear power station.
The agency says this indicates that some of the metal containers of uranium
fuel may have started melting.
The substances are produced by fuel fission.
University of Tokyo Professor Naoto Sekimura says only a small part of the
fuel may have melted and leaked outside.
He called on residents near the power station to stay calm, saying that most
of the fuel remains inside the reactor, which has stopped operation and is
being cooled.
Saturday, March 12, 2011 15:26 +0900 (JST)
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Tsurikov
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:11 AM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] request for the information log (or whatever) for the
releases from Japan power plants
Dear Radsafers,
It will be very much appreciated if I could be pointed in the direction of
more or less accurate estimate of the releases from the power plants in
Japan. Naturally, not right now - when it all calms down a bit...
I already see a public hysteria stirred more and more by the mass media in
Australia - which may (and likely will) have a serious impact on the uranium
mining projects planned in my home state of Western Australia and it will
be
great to have actual real data.
On a personal note, my heart goes out to the people of Japan now... I was
in Sendai late last year and actually was both on the train and the cruise
boat that are missing now around Matsushima... God help you.
Kind regards
Nick Tsurikov
Western Australia
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings visit:
http://health.phys.iit.edu ( http://health.phys.iit.edu/ )
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings visit:
http://health.phys.iit.edu
_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://health.phys.iit.edu/radsaferules.html
For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings visit:
http://health.phys.iit.edu
More information about the RadSafe
mailing list