[ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] Tepco under-reported Fukushima release of plutonium - by 200 times!

[Roger Helbig]

Is there any fact in this assertion?  Since Plutonium does not boil
off, how is it supposedly released from the crippled reactor?  The
anti-nukes constantly focus on uranium and plutonium because those two
elements trigger fear in large numbers of people and they are masters
of the art of creating and manipulating fear.

Roger Helbig

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 12:05 AM
Subject: [New post] Tepco under-reported Fukushima release of
plutonium - by 200 times!
To: rwhelbig at gmail.com


Christina MacPherson posted: "New report estimates 278 trillion Bq of
plutonium released from Fukushima reactors -- Over 200 times higher
than amount reported by Tepco -- "Highly radiotoxic when incorporated
into human body" as it decays
http://enenews.com/new-report-estimates-278-trill"
Respond to this post by replying above this line

New post on nuclear-news

Tepco under-reported Fukushima release of plutonium - by 200 times!

by Christina MacPherson

New report estimates 278 trillion Bq of plutonium released from
Fukushima reactors -- Over 200 times higher than amount reported by
Tepco -- "Highly radiotoxic when incorporated into human body" as it
decays http://enenews.com/new-report-estimates-278-trillion-bq-of-plutonium-released-from-fukushima-reactors-over-200-times-higher-than-amount-reported-by-tepco?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

Evaluation of the Fukushima Accident Source Term through the fast
running code RASCAL 4.2(pdf),ENEA Bologna Research Centre, May 23,
2014: This Report presents the results of the application of the
fast-running US-NRC direct code RASCAL 4.2 to the estimation of the
Fukushima Source Term. [...] it is plausible that the ventings that
TEPCO announced during the accident as being conducted from the
wetwell were, as a matter of fact and because of the degraded
conditions of the plants, conducted actually from the drywell. [...]
wetwell properties imply releases which can be several oder of
magnitudes lower than those from the drywell [...] it can clearly be
seen that the most probable path is the combination of Drywell+Direct
option [...] the true venting path, i.e. from Drywell instead of from
Wetwell, is an extremely important issue. [...] in several instances
when TEPCO tried to operate venting, in order to release pressure
outside the building through the stack, it proved impossible [...] there
are many indications that probably the radioactive material escaped
from the drywell; this may have occurred without TEPCO's immediate
knowledge and because of several factors; for example: structural
damages to the pipings connecting drywell to torus room (vent piping
bellows), due either to the earthquake, and/or to the too violent
pressure and temperature increase in the D/W; leakages through the top
head manhole, the top head flange, the piping penetrations, the
electrical wiring penetrations, the personal airlocks, the S/C
manholes, the machine hatches, etc. [...] The value of 1%/h was chosen
by ENEA because of the possible highly damaged conditions of the
Fukushima NPPs due to the BDB [Beyond Design Basis] earthquake.

> Table 7. Cumulative Source Term (Bq) TEPCO MELCOR

Pu-241 Total = 1.2E+12 (1,200,000,000,000 Bq)

> Table 7. Cumulative Source Term (Bq) ENEA RASCAL 4.2

Pu-241 Unit 1 = 6.52E+13 (65,200,000,000,000 Bq)
Pu-241 Unit 2 = 1.86E+14 (186,000,000,000,000 Bq)
Pu-241 Unit 3 = 2.67E+13 (26,700,000,000,000 Bq)
Pu-241 Total = 2.78E+14 (278,000,000,000,000 Bq)

Environmental Science & Technology (American Chemical Society), July
11, 2014: [S]tandard alpha spectrometry techniques [...] are not able
[...] to measure 241Pu.

Boreal Environment Research (pdf), Feb. 28, 2014: The 241Pu isotope
was introduced into the environment from [...] accidents that released
nuclear reactor fuel, such as [...] the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe. As
compared with other Pu isotopes in the environment that are
alpha-emitting and long-lived, 241Pu is a short-lived isotope with a
half-life of 14.35 years [...] 241Pu decays to the alpha emitter
241Am, that has a much longer half-life (432.2 years) and is highly
radiotoxic when it is incorporated into either the human or animal
body. [...] The 241Pu isotope has been studied less extensively than
the α-emitting Pu isotopes for several reasons. Activity concentration
of 241Pu cannot be determined from the same alpha spectrum as the Pu
isotopes 238, 239, and 240, and extra effort is needed in order to
analyze 241Pu concentration of a sample. Actually, 241Pu emits alpha
particles, but they have so low probability (0.002%) that 241Pu cannot
be measured directly by α-spectrometry [...]

See also: Japan TV: Radiation release during 'venting' was up to 500
times larger than thought for Fukushima reactor -- Surprising surge in
radioactivity before explosions (VIDEO)

Christina MacPherson | August 8, 2014 at 7:05 am | Categories:
Fukushima 2014 | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-hQz

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