Fukushima Latest Bad News

Leaking Fukushima containers could lead to hydrogen explosions

Published time: May 25, 2015 11:26
Edited time: May 25, 2015 12:26

Reuters / Kimimasa Mayama

Containers holding contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are at risk of hydrogen explosions, with 10 percent of them found to be leaking. As many as 333 containers may be defective, according to TEPCO.

The first leak was discovered by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), on April 2. The discovery prompted an inspection of other containers at the site.

Twenty-six of the 278 containers examined by May 20 had some sort of leak or were bleeding from their lids. There are a total of 1,307 containers at the plant.

According to TEPCO, the leaks and bleeding were likely caused by hydrogen and other types of gases that resulted from the water's exposure to high levels of radiation. Those gases appear to have accumulated in sediment at the bottom of the containers, expanding the volume of the liquid.

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TEPCO reported its findings during a Friday meeting with a study group from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), which expressed concern about the potential hazards of accumulated hydrogen build-up in the containers.

“If the concentration level is high, a spark caused by static electricity could cause a container to [explode],” an NRA official told The Asahi Shimbun.

Although all the container lids were supposed to be fitted with pressure-release valves to allow gases to escape, the inspection determined that one did not have that mechanism. Further review of the delivery records showed as many as 333 others may also be defective, a TEPCO official said.

However, TEPCO stated that no radioactive water was found to have escaped outside the concrete structures that encase the containers.

“We think the possibility of an occurrence of hydrogen explosion from these storage facilities is extremely low, since there is no fire origin, or anything that generates static electricity nearby,” TEPCO spokeswoman Mayumi Yoshida told the Telegraph.

Stressing TEPCO's efforts to deal with the issue, Yoshida added: “For temporary measures, we have been removing the leaked water, installing absorption materials, monitoring by patrol, keeping water level inside those facilities lower than set and keeping equipment which may generate fire away. In the long term, we're going to lower the water level of current facilities so as to prevent further leakages."

She also stated that in the long-term, TEPCO will lower the water level of current facilities in order to prevent further leakages.

The containers, which are made of polyethylene, are 1.8 meters (5.9ft) high and have diameters of 1.5 meters (4.9ft). They store wastewater from the ALPS (advanced liquid processing system) equipment that removes radioactive substances from contaminated water.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered multiple reactor meltdowns following an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. As of March, TEPCO and the Japanese government had already spent 590 billion yen (US$4.8 billion) on decommissioning the reactors and tackling the accumulation of contaminated water.

TEPCO 'underestimated tsunami risk'

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that TEPCO failed to implement adequate safeguards at Fukushima – despite being aware of the tsunami risk. The document was obtained by Kyodo news agency on Monday.

According to the 240-page report, several analyses carried out between 2007 and 2009 predicted the possibility of an 8.3-magnitude earthquake on the coast of Fukushima, which could result in the plant being hit by a tsunami of around 15 meters.

However, TEPCO and Japanese authorities delayed responding to the predictions, feeling that "further studies and investigations were needed.”

"TEPCO did not take interim compensatory measures in response to these increased estimates of tsunami height, nor did NISA require TEPCO to act promptly on these results," reads the text.

The report, prepared by 180 experts from 42 countries, will be presented at the annual IAEA meeting in September, if approved by its board of directors in June.

Fukushima radiation found off Canadian coast

Published time: April 07, 2015 06:57
Edited time: April 09, 2015 10:32

Reuters/Tomohiro Ohsumi

Radiation produced by the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan has been confirmed off the coast of Canada, as the Japanese struggle to contain a number of leaks. The levels, however, are too low to pose a threat, scientists say.

Trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 were discovered in samples collected on February 19 in the waters near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Kern Buesseler.

"Radioactivity can be dangerous, and we should be carefully monitoring the oceans after what is certainly the largest accidental release of radioactive contaminants to the oceans in history," a statement from the institute read.

But they have insisted that marine and human life will remain unscathed, as the levels are extremely low: So low that a dental X-ray would expose a person to 1,000 times more radiation than swimming off the coast of Vancouver every day for an entire year.

750 tons of Fukushima plant water leaked – TEPCO

By contrast, radiation found off the Fukushima coast in the immediate aftermath of the March 2011 catastrophe showed readings of a million times more Becquerels per square meter than the 5.8 Becquerels of Cesium-134 and 137 found off Canada.

A similar situation to Woods Hole’s report arose last year, 161 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of northern California. Readings did not show an advance toward the rest of the US since then.

However, scientists need to be on the lookout constantly: Buesseler adds that “predicting the spread of radiation becomes more complex the closer it gets to the coast.”

Four years ago saw a catastrophic tsunami and earthquake batter the Japanese coastline north of Tokyo, setting off a catastrophic chain of events that involved triple nuclear meltdowns and displaced over 160,000 residents from the surrounding region. The world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, its consequences threaten to take decades to undo, as not only air but people’s livelihoods are suffering.

A number of radioactive leaks and other engineering difficulties have since plagued the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, with the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) struggling to contain the radiation with enormous amounts of money and technical ingenuity, albeit with varying success.

Management of the situation has likewise been marked by mishaps and scandalous revelations that have put a serious dent in TEPCO’s reputation. The plant’s operator announced a week ago its plans to disclose all data on radiation levels recorded at the site in response to mounting criticism over its lack of transparency.

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TEPCO vows to release ‘all Fukushima radiation data’

Some situations involved outright negligence and further served to undermine public trust. In late February the company admitted to concealing a radioactive leak for 10 months, citing an ongoing investigation. Fishermen were left in “shock” as TEPCO, without knowing the true scale of the problem, chose not to inform anyone. The operator usually relies on them for permission to dump any radioactive materials in the water.

TEPCO, who’s been blamed for spending billions of taxpayers’ yen on failed initiatives to contain the radiation, also recently announced a plan to build a 400-kilometer chain of sea walls to fend off any future natural disasters. But that alone will cost a cool $6.8 billion, and there’s no telling what damage it would cause to marine life.