News From The Meltdowns: From Bad To Worse
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-28

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

NUCLEAR AUTHORITY TO ALLOW 2 REACTORS TO RUN

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority is set to allow the only 2 reactors remaining online in the country to continue operation.

 Experts from the authority have been inspecting the reactors at the Ohi nuclear plant, in central Japan, to see if they can satisfy severe accident guidelines that take effect in early July.

 Before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, utilities were allowed to decide for themselves whether to implement such precautionary measures. This was owing to a wide-spread belief that such an accident was unlikely in Japan.

 At a meeting on Monday, the experts discussed improvements that the operator, Kansai Electric Power Company, has proposed for its draft plan for the plant.

 These include enhancing video conferencing equipment at a tentative emergency command center, and improving the ability to pump in sea water to cool reactors.

 The operator said it will complete the improvements by the end of this month.

 Officials at the authority had presented the draft report for the plant last week. It says there is no immediate threat to the safety of the reactors. The experts approved that draft with the improvements.

 The authority is expected to allow the reactors to continue operating through to September, when they will go down for regular maintenance.

 The new guidelines stipulate that plant operators must set up an emergency command center that is strong enough to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation in a worst-case scenario.

 They also require operators to install "filter vents" for boiling-water type reactors similar to those at the stricken Fukushima plant. The vents can ease pressure in containment vessels by releasing gases after filtering out most of radioactive substances.

 Plant operators must also prepare cooling measures for situations where there is an attack by aircraft. The guidelines also call for replacing power cables with non-flammable types.

Jun. 24, 2013 - Updated 06:40 UTC

KANSAI ELECTRIC RESPONDS TO NRA'S DECISION
 
A senior official at the operator of the Ohi plant said he felt humbled by the Nuclear Regulation Authority's decision to allow the 2 reactors to stay online.

 Shigeki Otsuka from the Kansai Electric Power Company said the company would not merely meet the demands of the authority, but would go further by aiming for a world-class level of safety.

 The authority had earlier criticized the utility for proposing safety measures in a piecemeal fashion, as if trying to find the minimum line to be cleared to meet new safety standards that take effect in July.

 Otsuka says his company had no such intention. But he added that it would take the criticism seriously in an effort to do even better.

Jun. 24, 2013 - Updated 05:51 UTC

MAP OF RADIOACTIVE IODINE DIFFUSION PUBLISHED
  
A map showing how radioactive iodine spread after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been published online by the journal of the American Health Physics Society.

 Researchers from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and the US Department of Energy analyzed radiation data they jointly gathered using aircraft in April 2011.

 They developed a map recording levels of iodine-131 that contaminated soil after leaking from the Fukushima plant. Iodine-131 can trigger thyroid cancer.

 The map has also been published online on the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's website. The map shows the radioactive substance spreading from around the nuclear plant to the northwest.

 The distribution pattern was similar to that for radioactive cesium, which previous research had found.

 But unlike cesium, the iodine diffusion was also confirmed in areas south of the Fukushima plant.

 Iodine has a half-life of about 8 days. This short period had made it difficult to estimate how much was leaked and how far the substance had spread.

 Tatsuo Torii is the Chief scientist at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Torii says he hopes further analysis of the data will help people stay healthy.

 Fukushima Prefecture conducted a thyroid cancer check after the accident for those in the prefecture who were 18 years old or under.

 In the Chernobyl nuclear accident, radioactive iodine caused thyroid cancer among children.

Jun. 27, 2013 - Updated 02:58 UTC