Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2015

Officials Push Additional Mass Dumping of Tainted Water

The head of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said contaminated water stored at the Fukushima complex should be released into the ocean to ensure safe decommissioning of the reactors. Shunichi Tanaka, Chair of the NRA, made the comment Dec. 12. “I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of tanks (holding water tainted with radioactive substances),” Tanaka told reporters, indicating they pose a danger to decommissioning work. “We have to dispose of the water.”

Likewise, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency said Feb. 17 that the roughly 160 million gallons of contaminated water stored on-site pose massive logistical challenges and strongly urged Japan to discharge it to the Pacific Ocean once it is treated. The conditions per liter of water reportedly are: that radioactive cesium is less than 1 Becquerel; radioactive substances that emit beta rays are less than 3 Becquerels; and the level of tritium is less than 1,500 Becquerels. —Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 13, 2014, & Jan. 22, 2015; & Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17. 2015

Waste Fuel Removed from Vulnerable Cooling Pool

After almost four years of anxiety, Tepco announced it had removed all the highly radioactive waste “spent” fuel from the damaged cooling pool above reactor 4. The building was wrecked by a powerful hydrogen explosion March 15, 2011, and since then experts have warned that another major quake could cause massive radiation releases. Each of the 1,533 fuel assemblies holds 60 to 74 fuel rods, so all 91,980 to 113,442 rods have been transferred to a less vulnerable area of the compound, the company said. Tepco faces the prospect of removing melted fuel wreckage from the cores of units 1, 2 and 3; fuel so badly mangled and emitting so much radiation that removal will take over 40 years. Some experts say removal is not even possible, only entombment. —New York Times, Dec. 20, 2014

Fukushima Radiation Plume Reaches US West Coast

A radiation plume from the March, 2011 accident in Fukushima, Japan took about 2.1 years to cross the waters of the Pacific Ocean and reach the shores of North America, according to a study published December 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study said that peak concentrations of Fukushima fallout in the Pacific could come this year and in 2016. The report claimed that levels of cesium-137 in the Pacific “are still well below natural levels of radioactivity in the ocean,” but cesium does not occur in nature and is found in the oceans only as a result of nuclear bomb testing. The bomb tests dispersed roughly 36 million curies of cesium-137. Emergency radiation monitoring by the US lasted only from March until May 2011, and no federal agencies monitor offshore waters for radiation. —Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dec. 26; Christian Science Monitor, & Washington Post, Dec. 29, 2014

Towns to Store Cesium-Tainted Soil “Temporarily”

The mayors of Futaba and Okuma and the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture have agreed to conditional, “temporary” storage of radioactively contaminated soil and waste collected during clean-up work in the exclusion zone.

The mayors agreed to the construction of “interim” storage sites in exchange for large sums of cash and a legal commitment to again move the material somewhere outside the prefecture for final disposal within 30 years. The two towns will share about $645 million for research and construction of the sites. About 29 million cubic meters of surface soil tainted with cesium, an area the size of Luxemburg, may need permanent storage space. —World Nuclear News, March 3, 2015

Spike in Ocean-Dumped Waste Water

Cleanup crews at Fukushima monitoring a drainage gutter Feb. 22 detected a huge spike in radiation levels in wastewater pouring into the Pacific Ocean. Tepco later said the water was 70 times, or 7,000 percent more radioactive than what is allowably dumped into the sea. The company said it stopped up the drainage because of the extremely high radiation levels, and four days later admitted it first learned of the leak in April, 10 months ago. Bone-seeking strontium-90 in the water measured up to 7,230 Becquerels per liter, when 5 Bq/L is the legal limit. —Global Research, Mar. 1; Japan Times, Feb. 22; & NHK Public TV, Feb. 24, 2015

Sailors’ Lawsuit Vs. Tepco & GE

Several hundred US sailors are suing Fukushima operator Tepco and reactor builder General Electric for $1 billion in damages, alleging the illnesses they suffer come from exposure to radiation that contaminated the USS Ronald Reagan during relief operations. In a report to Congress last summer the Pentagon confirmed that, “the Ronald Reagan encountered the radioactive plume from Fukushima … on March 13,” but added, “We believe it is implausible that these low-level doses are the cause of the health effects reported by the … sailors.”

Attorney Charles Bonner, who represents more than 200 sailors and Marines, says the Navy is just wrong. “The fallacy of that is that low levels of radiation are just as dangerous as high levels…. And even at 100 nautical miles they were taking on 30 times more radiation than is normal,” he said. The 2014 Pentagon report admitted it is still finding and removing radiation from the USS Reagan.

On Feb. 12, GE asked the judge to dismiss the suit, arguing the sailors are asking for “something extraordinary and unprecedented”—compensation under domestic law for exposure to radiation emitted by a foreign nuclear power. Lawyers for the sailors lashed out at GE’s motion March 3, saying the GE reactors’ “design defects contributed to the meltdowns and, by extension, to plaintiffs’ harms.” Judge Janis Sammartino’s decision is pending. —KOMO TV News, Feb. 12; Law360, Mar. 3, & Feb. 12, 2015