radioactive-contamination

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Japan fears radioactive contamination of marine life

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/01/japan-fears-radioactive-contamination-of-marine-life

Fukushima coastal waters see high levels of radioactive iodine, which could build up in seaweed commonly eaten in Japan.

This article titled “Japan fears radioactive contamination of marine life” was written by Ian Sample, science correspondent, for The Guardian on Wednesday 30th March 2011 17.57 UTC High levels of radiation in the sea off the coast of Fukushima have raised concerns over harm to local marine life and the risk of contaminated fish, shellfish and seaweed entering the food chain. Tests on seawater near the nuclear power plant showed that levels of radioactive iodine reached 3,355 times the legal limit on Monday, one of several peaks in recent days that have fallen rapidly as radioactive substances decayed and were steadily diluted and dispersed by ocean currents. Officials are watching levels of iodine-131 in seawater because although it has a half-life of eight days, meaning it is half as radioactive after that time, the substance builds up in seaweed, a common food in the Japanese diet. If consumed, radioactive iodine collects in the thyroid and can cause cancer. The International Atomic Energy Agency said iodine-131 in seawater would “soon be of no concern” presuming there are no further discharges of contaminated water from the power station into the sea. The IAEA added that Japanese authorities have released the first analyses of fish, caught at the port of Choshi, in Chiba prefecture south of Fukushima, which found one of five to be contaminated with a detectable level of caesium-137, a far more persistent radioactive substance, though at a concentration that was far below safety limits for consumption. Many countries, including Britain, have begun radiation testing of fish, shellfish and other fresh produce from Japan or have imposed wider bans on imports from the region. Fisheries are not entering waters within the 20km (12-mile) exclusion zone around Fukushima, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The fate of many local seafood and shellfish farms, including scallops, oysters, sea urchins and sea snails, was sealed more than two weeks ago when the tsunami wiped out beds and destroyed fishing vessels and ports around Fukushima. In Iwate prefecture, authorities say the disaster may have wiped out businesses that account for 80% of the revenue of the region’s fisheries. At the Fukushima power plant, engineers continued the arduous task of trying to pump contaminated water from turbine rooms and trenches, which is hampering work to connect the reactor cooling systems to the national grid. Tepco, the power station operator, plans to spray parts of the site with a resin to stop radioactive dust blowing off the site and is considering shrouding the reactor buildings with sheets to reduce radiation being released into the air. Fish and other sea creatures are unlikely to be seriously harmed by the radioactive leaks, even in the most contaminated areas. After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, fish in three freshwater lakes within the exclusion zone became contaminated with radioactive caesium but showed no obvious health problems, though some fish were born with reproductive abnormalities which may have been caused by radiation, said James Smith, an environmental physicist at Portsmouth University who studied fish in the area. While fish accumulate radioactive contamination, this happens less in the ion-rich waters of the oceans than in freshwater lakes.

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April 1 2011, 9:46am | Comments »
I posted to distributedresearch.net

Japan faces new setback in fight to avert disaster at Fukushima plant

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/25/japan-faces-new-setback-in-fight-to-avert-disaster-at-fukushima-plant

After the Earthquake and Tsunami, Fukushimam is a big man-made disaster now, and they know it. But when they say “We have been transparent right from the start” that means they are still involved in covering up the truth for some reason. ”it may be years before they return to their homes” is an understatement when the plutonium isotope that may well be involved has a half life of over 6,000 years!

This article titled “Japan faces new setback in fight to avert disaster at Fukushima plant” was written by Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Suzanne Goldenberg, for The Guardian on Friday 25th March 2011 18.30 UTC A suspected break in the core of a nuclear reactor could have been responsible for a leak of large amounts of radioactive contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Japanese nuclear safety officials said on Friday, in another setback to efforts to avert disaster at the stricken facility. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, described the situation at the plant as “very serious”, while media reports said that two men who were injured while working on the plant’s No.3 reactor on Thursday may have suffered internal exposure to radiation. “We must remain vigilant,” Kan told a televised news conference. “We are doing our best to prevent a deterioration in the situation, but we are not yet in a position that allows us to be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care.” He praised the hundreds of Tokyo Electric Power employees, troops, firefighters and police officers who are struggling to avert disaster at the plant, and insisted any new information would be released quickly to the Japanese people and the international community. “We have been transparent right from the start and will continue to give accurate information about radiation levels and their possible impact on health,” he said. Growing uncertainty over radiation contamination led to an increased exodus from the area surrounding Japan’s stricken nuclear plant. Officials in towns across Fukushima prefecture said they had been instructed to prepare more shelters in anticipation of a new influx of evacuees. The Japanese government said it was considering extending its evacuation order to a 30km (19 mile) radius of the damaged Fukushima reactors. In Nihonmatsu, which is already housing 2,900 people who fled homes close to the reactor, officials said they were advised to prepare 10 new shelters for the next wave of nuclear evacuees. “We are preparing for more evacuations,” said Hatori Norio, who serves on the town’s disaster committee. The town is also preparing for the possibility that the evacuees will stay for the duration. He said the town had begun putting evacuees on the waiting list for public housing, recognizing that it may be years before they return to their homes. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said 130,000 residents in the area had been encouraged to leave to improve their quality of life, not because their health was at risk. The nuclear emergency, 150 miles north of Tokyo, has caused severe disruption to business, supply routes and other services in the area. On Thursday three workers were exposed to unusually high levels of radiation after stepping in contaminated water in the turbine building of the crippled No. 3 reactor, which they were trying to cool. Two received possible beta ray burns to their legs. All three have been transferred to a special radiation treatment facility. Kyodo news reported that the two more seriously injured workers could have suffered internal radiation exposure. “The contaminated water had 10,000 times the amount of radiation as would be found in water circulating from a normally operating reactor,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s nuclear safety agency. Nishiyama said it was unlikely that the reactor had cracked, but conceded that the unusually high levels of radiation appeared to have originated from its core. “It is possible there may be damage somewhere in the reactor,” he said, adding that a leak in the plumbing or the vents could also be to blame. Hideo Morimoto, director of Japan’s agency for natural resources and energy, said the water leak did not mean the battle to prevent meltdown at the reactor was being lost. “I feel that if the pressure vessel has been seriously damaged, then far more radiation would have leaked,” he said. The temperature and pressure inside the core, which holds the fuel rods, remained stable and was far too low to be capable of further melting the core, officials said. Dr Ian Haslam, head of radiation protection at Leeds University, said there was a “real possibility” a hydrogen explosion at the reactor on 14 March had damaged the containment vessel and the fuel rods. But he added: “If there was significant damage to the rods and significant holes, the contamination would be a lot higher; we would be seeing a lot more steam coming out.” Edano said the source of the leak remained unknown. “We are exploring every possibility, but we don’t think this is a new situation, rather that a certain amount of radiation may have leaked from the reactor. This is a possibility that we have been mentioning for some time. “But at this point we don’t know if the radiation is coming from the reactor itself or from another source.” Nuclear officials say the leak may have come from pipes or the reactor’s pool for storing spent fuel rods, which workers have been struggling to cool since the plant was badly damaged in the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The reactor contains 170 tons of radioactive fuel in its core, and is the only one of the facility’s six reactors that contains the potentially more dangerous plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel. Thursday’s accident forced a temporary halt to work on two reactors while technicians check radiation levels. “We should try to avoid delays if at all possible, but we also need to ensure that the people working there are safe,” Nishiyama said. The official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has risen above 10,000, according to the national police agency. But with more than 17,400 listed as missing, the final number of dead is expected to rise significantly.

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March 25 2011, 2:14pm | Comments »
I posted to distributedresearch.net

Cost of insuring Japanese government debt jumps

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/15/cost-of-insuring-japanese-government-debt-jumps

It now costs $122,000 to insure $10m of Japanese debt against default, and borrowing costs could rise at a time when it must spend billions on rebuilding

This article titled “Cost of insuring Japanese government debt jumps” was written by Graeme Wearden, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 15th March 2011 11.13 UTC The cost of insuring Japanese government debt against default spiked on Tuesday as world stock markets tumbled. Investors have calculated that the chance of a Japanese default has risen significantly since Friday’s earthquake. As Japan battled to prevent a major nuclear crisis, the country’s five-year credit default swap rose 28 basis points to 122bp. That means it would cost $122,000 to insure $10m of Japanese debt against default. “Risk aversion is dominant this morning as the disaster in Japan has taken on a whole new dimension,” said Gavan Nolan of Markit, which provided the CDS data. “Further explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant have raised the real prospect of widespread radioactive contamination.” Last Thursday, the Japanese CDS was trading at 79bp. The markets are now placing the world’s third-largest economy on a similar risk level as Saudi Arabia (132bp), and not much safer than Belgium (147bp) – seen a potential casualty if the eurozone debt crisis spreads. In comparison, the CDS contracts for Germany, the US and the UK are all around 50bp, while Greece was trading at 980bp and Ireland at 610bp. “Japan is now trading significantly wider than the other major economies,” said Nolan. Japan currently has a national debt around 200% of its GDP, and only the fourth-highest credit rating with Standard & Poor’s following a downgrade in late January. However, analysts point out that most of Japan’s debt is owned by its own banks and corporations, rather than foreign investors. This leaves the country less vulnerable to the vagaries of the international markets. On Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said that Japan’s economy could absorb the impact of the shock, but warned that it might reach a “tipping point” if the financial markets demand a risk premium on its government debt. That would push up the cost of Japan’s borrowing, at a time when it must spend huge amounts of money rebuilding its infrastructure. Earlier on Tuesday Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by 10.6% after panic selling, taking total losses so far this week to more than 16%. The FTSE 100 fell sharply in London, extending its loss to more than 180 points at one stage mid-morning, at 5,592, down more than 3%. “It would not be a surprise if the significant price moves of the last couple of days led to problems elsewhere in the financial system,” warned Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income research at Evolution Securities.

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March 15 2011, 6:28am | Comments »

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Japan fears radioactive contamination of marine life

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Cost of insuring Japanese government debt jumps

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