Thread: Japan Earthquake: Fukushima

^ wow, I see the idiot has found a new home and a new cause - YAGC. (Yet Another Government Conspiracy)

Originally Posted by ENT

Charcoal and clay can be used to remove radioactive particles from contaminated water.
Water hyacynth also soaks up the radioactive particles.
Other plants can be used also, including marijuana.

PURIFY, CLEAN RADIO ACTIVE WATER. CLEANING RADIATION FROM WATER. REMOVE IRRADIATED PARTICLES

Enjoy dying by following his "advice" - I'd be highly suspect of any sources that ENT suggests, particularly one that can't seem to spell "radioactive" or "radioactivity".

Oops!
Made a mistake.
Apologies ENT.

Jeez, I'm glad I'm not an expert. I'd give myself the shits!

Here is an interesting short piece related to recent restarts and other proceedings related to the Japan Nuclear industry. What is most intersting is TEPCO pattern of negligience fits well with many other regional nuclear power producers there. This post below summarizes some conclusions of a report on Fukushima give to the DIET by and accident investigation group, who's full report is almost 700 pages.

Enjoy

Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com

On July 5, Japan brought its first nuclear reactor back on line, after having been nuclear-power free for two months. Its 50 functional reactors had been taken off line for maintenance but were not restarted due to a groundswell of opposition. The trailblazer is reactor number 3 at the Oi power plant owned by Kansai Electric Power Co. After stress-testing the reactor, which had been idle for over 15 months, the government had declared it safe and had given permission for the restart. It’s expected to reach capacity in a few days. Oi reactor number 4 is scheduled to start generating power later in July. The reactors will bring some relief to Osaka and surrounding areas that might otherwise get hit by a 15% power shortfall this summer.
Alas, an old pattern came to light: KEPCO concealed from the government some of its studies on faults near the Oi power plant. Scientists were ignored though they argued that a fault ran between reactor 1 and 2, and that it and two other nearby faults could beconnectedduring an earthquake and produce far greater shaking than the government had estimated in its stress tests, raising the risk of another major nuclear disaster. And they claimed that the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) hadn’t properly investigated the fault lines. Under pressure, NISA called for more studies on the faults near Oi and other power plants. But that was it.
And if there were an accident, the escape route would be “a winding, cliff-hugging road often closed by snow in winter or clogged by summer beachgoers”; and radioactivity could contaminate Lake Biwa which supplies drinking water to more than 14 million people.
Ironically, on the day that Oi started generating electricity again, the Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission submitted its report on the Fukushima disaster to the Japanese Diet—and it’s a doozy.
The accident “was a profoundly manmade disaster - that could and should have been foreseen and prevented,” wrote Chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa (88-page summary of the 641-page report). The report found a “multitude of errors and willful negligence” that left the power plant unprepared for the earthquake and tsunami. It blamed the “ingrained conventions of Japanese culture,” such as “our reflexive obedience, our reluctance to question authority, our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’, our groupism, and our insularity.” The report laments that “nuclear power became an unstoppable force, immune to scrutiny by civil society,” where regulators and promoters were one and the same.
A “tightly knit elite with enormous financial resources” and “the collective mindset of Japanese bureaucracy” conspired “to resist regulatory pressure and cover up small-scale accidents.” A mindset that led to the “disaster made in Japan.” In 2006, for example, the government updated its standards for earthquake resistance, but when TEPCO refused to bring its power plant into compliance with seismic upgrades, NISA did nothing [Read....A Revolt, the Quiet Japanese Way].
The report warned that reactor number one may have been severely damaged by the earthquake itself—that the shaking broke some pipes and caused a loss of cooling—before the arrival of the tsunami. TEPCO’s whitewash has so far insisted that reactors had proven their earthquake resistance, and that it was the collapse of the power supply to the cooling system that had caused the accident. And so the report cast even more doubt on the safety of the Oi reactors.
There have been critical voices in Japan, among them Koide Hiroaki, a nuclear scientist, who for forty years has been pointing out the flaws in the nuclear power industry. For that, he was condemned to remaining a lowly assistant professor his entire career, toiling without much recognition at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute.
But when the Fukushima reactors melted down, he became an instant media darling, and his new book, “The Lie of Nuclear Power,” became a bestseller. He was even asked to address the Diet. In his presentation, he spelled out how nuclear policymakers decided to deal with the possibility of catastrophic accidents: they labeled that possibility an “inappropriate assumption” and therefore considered nuclear power plants "safe under any circumstance whatsoever.”
So, as the Oi stress tests and safety declarations show, the same tricks are still being played, but they don’t work as well anymore. What has changed is that the nuclear power industry and its regulators are no longer the omnipotent entity but are on the defensive, struggling to stay relevant in face of popular opposition and protests. And Friday night, anotherprotest against the restart of the Oi reactors eruptedoutside the official residence of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda—150,000 people, Japan’s largest demonstration in 50 years! Video of the protest: polite Japanese venting their anger.
And here's something ... lighter. And cynical. And in a deeper sense, very truthful.... Nuclear Contamination As Seen By Japanese Humor (mostly visuals).
To compensate for the loss of nuclear power generation, Japan has feverishly ramped up alternatives, largely fossil fuels—just as a new worldwide Cold War has broken out, this time between the US and China. Over oil. Read.... “The New Cold War” by Marin Katusa

Originally Posted by nostromo

Originally Posted by robuzo

The Japanese nuclear power industry has a terrible record and is corrupt as hell. You don't know what you are talking about, as usual.

Please point me to relevant information, if you had anything. I trust and you should as well trust Japanese power

The appalling track record of Japan's nuclear industryMar 15, 2011, 12:30


There has been much talk since the beginning of the continually shocking crisis in Japan about the stoicism of the population, their discipline and their unselfishness. If this had to happen anywhere, say the columnists, Japan is the place best socially able to cope from it.

I have no idea if this is true or not. I suspect that it is a piece of fairly feeble stereotyping in that were a similar crisis to hit here we too would queue rather than fight at the supermarket. History shows the vast majority of people becoming better people in the face of crisis – in the immediate term at least.


But there is one section of Japan that really is working all too well to type. The nuclear industry. In 1995, there was a major leak at Monju, a fast breeder reactor. The authorities (as represented by Donen which managed Japan's nuclear programme) said it was "minimal." It wasn't. Instead it was the largest accident of its type ever. In the world.

Still as Alex Kerr points out in his excellent Dogs and Demons that was nothing that couldn’t be dealt with by "hiding the evidence." Donen staff edited the film of the accident, taking out the 15 minutes that showed the actual damage and releasing only five minutes of very innocuous material.

However this level of secrecy was nothing next to what happened in 1997. Then drums filled with nuclear waste exploded at the Tokai plant just north of Tokyo. This was – or should have been – a particular worry given that only three years earlier it had been discovered that 70kgs of plutonium (enough for 20 bombs) had been lost in the plant's pipes at some point.

Yet Donen simply pretended everything was fine. Managers pressurized workers to say the fire was under control when it was not and mis-stated the amount of material leaked by a factor of 20. But that's not all. Incredibly, says Kerr, "on the day of the explosion, 64 people including science and engineering students and foreign trainees toured the complex… and no one ever informed them of the accident."

The list of the madness is almost endless. There was the later accident at the Tokai plant which degenerated into uncontrolled fission (something it took the authorities seven hours to figure out as they couldn't find a neutron measurer) and revealed that for years workers had been disposing of nuclear materials with buckets (rather than dissolution cylinders).

Then there were the 2,000 drums of radioactive waste stored in drums in pits filled with rainwater, and most surreal of all perhaps, a PR video produced by Donen to show that plutonium is not as dangerous as the activists say. Kerr quotes the storyline: "A small character named Pu… gives his friend a glass of plutonium water and says it is safe to drink. His friend, duly impressed, drinks no less than six cups of the substance before declaring 'I feel refreshed!'"

Many secrets on (included 11 leaks of tritium in two and a half years) Donen was sort of shut down. I say sort of because it actually just carried on as before. Same staff and same ethos. Just with a different name – Genden.

For more on all this I strongly suggest reading Kerr’s book (it was written in 2001 but remains one of the best books I have ever read on Japan). But for now we should just note that it isn’t particularly reassuring. That's particularly the case given that officials now say that current levels of radiation are "hazardous to human health." When even the Japanese government is telling people "Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," it seems reasonable to worry.
The appalling track record of Japan's nuclear industry - MoneyWeek

If you claim to know something about Japan and don't see how dangerous ministry/industry collusion and amakudari are when it comes to nuclear power, you don't deserve to be taken seriously. Go read the statements Kan has made recently. Go read the Diet commission report. Here is a link to BBC analysis: BBC News - Fukushima report: Key points in nuclear disaster report Nostromo, since you claim to understand Japanese, check this out: $B!VJ!Eg!&O29>D.D9!"ElEE$N2sEz=q$K7cE\!W!!(BNews i - TBS$B$NF02h%K%e!<%9%5%$%H(B

Not to mention that no country, including Japan, has really figured out what to do with waste. Any ideas about what to do with the spent fuel rods in the jerry-rigged pool on the roof at Fuk? The ones that are being kept company by many tons of gear and other crap? No? Well, you are in good company. TEPCO doesn't know wtf to do, either, but they know full well the whole thing is just one good shake from coming a-tumbling down.

Originally Posted by ENT

^China puppet.

I am happy we can disagree on some things and agree on others. Possibly, and probably having seen your posts, in the end, we are on the same side. If not, you are on the losing side I believe...

Now. As for China puppet. I am proud to be with strongest economy in the world. And I hate euro, commie driven (11 of 27 are "ex" communist leaders) commissars, commissars that are not elected by anyone, read me: not elected by anyone. the "boss man" of eu barroso is ex-leader of portuguese communist party.

Euro will break europe and bring it to its knees so they will ask for anything for guidance. What it is, neonazi whatever, lets keep our nukes warm

Now some richer countries in the far north have said they would rather exit euro (the netherlands and finland) that go on forever paying PIIGS south euro fokers. If indeed those richest in europe AAA rated countries (only a few left in the world now - AUS is one) choose to exit euro then what is left? To some point - if Germany was not sensible and followed Merkel, - germany pays it all as far as she can, but even all the money of Germany is not enough, the continent is too huge, the debt is too huge - this is like titanic -, and then the money is no more, germany is bankrupt and lights go off in germany and europe - except in the northern rich countries that left euro or never joined euro, which are richer than ever. As of today german electorate is not happy, they are angry with this waste of their future social security and hospitals and pensions money - exactly like with the other northern europeans. Now what is left in europe. Debt, only debt.

However we live on, here in Thailand, or in UK or US, Canada, Australia and NZ, just a bit of pinch or a huge one on GDP but we do not pay for their euroshite debts and we will not die and shall prosper in future. UK is most at risk here, badly chosen location for the country but can not be helped. Hope political leaders in the UK steer as far as poss from eurozone, as they are doing.

Euro is now 23 year low to Australian dollar, can I rephrase that, 23 year low, I mean twenty-three year low, euro again 4 year low to British Pound, and hit the lowest against USD despite poor nfp.

Just like I said 6 months ago. By the my book.