CardSharp
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Hopefully it is fake. The LD50 of table salt is 3,000 mg/kg . You'd have to eat a helluva a lot of it be in danger of dying.
Japanese nuclear disaster
- Thread starter Cityboy
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Hopefully it is fake. The LD50 of table salt is 3,000 mg/kg . You'd have to eat a helluva a lot of it be in danger of dying.
CrystalStarCN
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Japanese earthquake takes heavy toll on ageing population
Shocking stories of deaths emerge as the military is enlisted to help at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
The devastating impact of the Japanese earthquake on the country's ageing population was exposed on Thursday as dozens of elderly people were confirmed dead in hospitals and residential homes as heating fuel and medicine ran out.
In one particularly shocking incident, Japan's self-defence force discovered 128 elderly people abandoned by medical staff at a hospital six miles from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. Most of them were comatose and 14 died shortly afterwards. Eleven others were reported dead at a retirement home in Kesennuma because of freezing temperatures, six days after 47 of their fellow residents were killed in the tsunami. The surviving residents of the retirement home in Kesennuma were described by its owner, Morimitsu Inawashida, as "alone and under high stress". He said fuel for their kerosene heaters was running out.
......
Shocking stories of deaths emerge as the military is enlisted to help at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
The devastating impact of the Japanese earthquake on the country's ageing population was exposed on Thursday as dozens of elderly people were confirmed dead in hospitals and residential homes as heating fuel and medicine ran out.
In one particularly shocking incident, Japan's self-defence force discovered 128 elderly people abandoned by medical staff at a hospital six miles from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. Most of them were comatose and 14 died shortly afterwards. Eleven others were reported dead at a retirement home in Kesennuma because of freezing temperatures, six days after 47 of their fellow residents were killed in the tsunami. The surviving residents of the retirement home in Kesennuma were described by its owner, Morimitsu Inawashida, as "alone and under high stress". He said fuel for their kerosene heaters was running out.
......
CrystalStarCN
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Japan Government Considers Burying Fukushima Nuclear Plant Amidst Power Concerns
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese engineers conceded on Friday that burying a crippled nuclear plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release, the method used to seal huge leakages from Chernobyl in 1986.
But they still hoped to solve the crisis by fixing a power cable to two reactors by Saturday to restart water pumps needed to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods. Workers also sprayed water on the No.3 reactor, the most critical of the plant's six.
It was the first time the facility operator had acknowledged burying the sprawling 40-year-old complex was possible, a sign that piecemeal actions such as dumping water from military helicopters or scrambling to restart cooling pumps may not work.
"It is not impossible to encase the reactors in concrete. But our priority right now is to try and cool them down first," an official from the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, told a news conference.
As Japan entered its second week after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and 10-meter (33-foot) tsunami flattened coastal cities and killed thousands, the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and Japan's worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two looked far from over.
Around 6,500 people have been confirmed dead from the earthquake and tsunami while 10,300 are missing, many feared dead.
Some 390,000 people including many elderly are homeless and battling near-freezing temperatures in makeshift shelters in northeast coastal areas. Food, water, medicine and heating fuel is in short supply.
The government signaled it could have moved faster in dealing with the multiple disasters.
"An unprecedented huge earthquake and huge tsunami hit Japan. As a result, things that had not been anticipated in terms of the general disaster response took place," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.
Japan also raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis from Level 4 to Level 5 on the seven-level INES international scale, putting it on a par with America's Three Mile Island accident in 1979, although some experts say it is more serious.
Chernobyl was a 7 on the INES scale.
Tourists, expatriates and many Japanese continue to leave Tokyo, fearing a blast of radioactive material from the nuclear complex 240 km (150 miles) to the north, even though health officials and the U.N. atomic watchdog have said radiation levels in the capital were not harmful.
That is little solace for about 300 nuclear plant workers toiling in the radioactive wreckage, wearing masks, goggles and protective suits with seams sealed off by duct tape to keep out radioactive particles. "My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.
Even if engineers restore power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the pumps may be too damaged from the earthquake, tsunami or subsequent explosions to work.
The first step is to restore power to pumps for reactors No. 1 and 2, and possibly 4, by Saturday, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, Japan's nuclear safety agency spokesman.
By Sunday, the government expects to connect electricity to pumps for its badly damaged reactor No.3 -- a focal point in the crisis because of its use of mixed oxides, or mox, containing both uranium and highly toxic plutonium.
Asked about burying the reactors in sand and concrete, Nishiyama said: "That solution is in the back of our minds, but we are focused on cooling the reactors down."
Burying the reactors would leave part of Japan off-limits for decades. "It's just not that easy," Murray Jennex, a San Diego State University in California professor said when asked about the so-called Chernobyl option to bury the reactors.
"They are kind of like a coffee maker. If you leave it on the heat, they boil dry and then they crack," he said. "Putting concrete on that wouldn't help keep your coffee maker safe. But eventually, yes, you could build a concrete shield and be done with it."
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese engineers conceded on Friday that burying a crippled nuclear plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release, the method used to seal huge leakages from Chernobyl in 1986.
But they still hoped to solve the crisis by fixing a power cable to two reactors by Saturday to restart water pumps needed to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods. Workers also sprayed water on the No.3 reactor, the most critical of the plant's six.
It was the first time the facility operator had acknowledged burying the sprawling 40-year-old complex was possible, a sign that piecemeal actions such as dumping water from military helicopters or scrambling to restart cooling pumps may not work.
"It is not impossible to encase the reactors in concrete. But our priority right now is to try and cool them down first," an official from the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, told a news conference.
As Japan entered its second week after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and 10-meter (33-foot) tsunami flattened coastal cities and killed thousands, the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and Japan's worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two looked far from over.
Around 6,500 people have been confirmed dead from the earthquake and tsunami while 10,300 are missing, many feared dead.
Some 390,000 people including many elderly are homeless and battling near-freezing temperatures in makeshift shelters in northeast coastal areas. Food, water, medicine and heating fuel is in short supply.
The government signaled it could have moved faster in dealing with the multiple disasters.
"An unprecedented huge earthquake and huge tsunami hit Japan. As a result, things that had not been anticipated in terms of the general disaster response took place," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.
Japan also raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis from Level 4 to Level 5 on the seven-level INES international scale, putting it on a par with America's Three Mile Island accident in 1979, although some experts say it is more serious.
Chernobyl was a 7 on the INES scale.
Tourists, expatriates and many Japanese continue to leave Tokyo, fearing a blast of radioactive material from the nuclear complex 240 km (150 miles) to the north, even though health officials and the U.N. atomic watchdog have said radiation levels in the capital were not harmful.
That is little solace for about 300 nuclear plant workers toiling in the radioactive wreckage, wearing masks, goggles and protective suits with seams sealed off by duct tape to keep out radioactive particles. "My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.
Even if engineers restore power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the pumps may be too damaged from the earthquake, tsunami or subsequent explosions to work.
The first step is to restore power to pumps for reactors No. 1 and 2, and possibly 4, by Saturday, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, Japan's nuclear safety agency spokesman.
By Sunday, the government expects to connect electricity to pumps for its badly damaged reactor No.3 -- a focal point in the crisis because of its use of mixed oxides, or mox, containing both uranium and highly toxic plutonium.
Asked about burying the reactors in sand and concrete, Nishiyama said: "That solution is in the back of our minds, but we are focused on cooling the reactors down."
Burying the reactors would leave part of Japan off-limits for decades. "It's just not that easy," Murray Jennex, a San Diego State University in California professor said when asked about the so-called Chernobyl option to bury the reactors.
"They are kind of like a coffee maker. If you leave it on the heat, they boil dry and then they crack," he said. "Putting concrete on that wouldn't help keep your coffee maker safe. But eventually, yes, you could build a concrete shield and be done with it."
StingRoy
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Nice find.... good video to keep the spirits high in such times.
CardSharp
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A smile when a smile is most needed, I think. Good on whoever made the video.
siegecrossbow
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monitor
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Japan’s nuclear morality tale
Fukushima is likely to stunt the appeal of nuclear power in a way similar to the accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, not to mention the far more severe meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986.
Brahma Chellaney
The troubles of the Fukushima nuclear-power plant - and other reactors - in northeast Japan have dealt a severe blow to the global nuclear industry, a powerful cartel of less than a dozen major state-owned or state-guided firms that have been trumpeting a nuclear-power renaissance.
But the risks that seaside reactors like Fukushima face from natural disasters are well known. Indeed, they became evident six years ago, when the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 inundated India's second-largest nuclear complex, shutting down the Madras power station.
Many nuclear-power plants are located along coastlines, because they are highly water-intensive. Yet natural disasters like storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis are becoming more common, owing to climate change, which will also cause a rise in ocean levels, making seaside reactors even more vulnerable.
All energy generators, including coal and gas-fired plants, make major demands on water resources. But nuclear power requires even more. Light-water reactors (LWRs) like those at Fukushima, which use water as a primary coolant, produce most of the world's nuclear power. The huge quantities of local water that LWRs consume for their operations become hot-water outflows, which are pumped back into rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Because reactors located inland put serious strain on local freshwater resources - including greater damage to plant life and fish - water-stressed countries that are not landlocked try to find suitable seashore sites. But, whether located inland or on a coast, nuclear power is vulnerable to the likely effects of climate change.
As global warming brings about a rise in average temperatures and ocean levels, inland reactors will increasingly contribute to, and be affected by, water shortages. During the record-breaking 2003 heat wave in France, operations at 17 commercial nuclear reactors had to be scaled back or stopped because of rapidly rising temperatures in rivers and lake. Paradoxically, then, the very conditions that made it impossible for the nuclear industry to deliver full power in Europe in 2003 and 2006 created peak demand for electricity, owing to the increased use of air conditioning.
Indeed, during the 2003 heat wave, Électricité de France, which operates 58 reactors - the majority on ecologically sensitive rivers like the Loire - was compelled to buy power from neighbouring countries on the European spot market. The state-owned EDF, which normally exports power, ended up paying 10 times the price of domestic power, incurring a financial cost of €300 million.
Highlighting the vulnerability of nuclear power to environmental change or extreme weather patterns in 2006, plant operators in Western Europe also secured exemptions from regulations that would have prevented them from discharging overheated water into natural ecosystems, affecting fisheries. France likes to showcase its nuclear power industry, which supplies 78 per cent of the country's electricity. But such is the nuclear industry's water intensity that EDF withdraws up to 19 billion cubic meters of water per year from rivers and lakes, or roughly half of France's total freshwater consumption. Freshwater scarcity is a growing international challenge, and the vast majority of countries are in no position to approve of such highly water-intensive inland-based energy systems.
Nuclear plants located by the sea do not face similar problems in hot conditions, because ocean waters do not heat up anywhere near as rapidly as rivers or lakes. And, because they rely on seawater, they cause no freshwater scarcity. But, as Japan's reactors have shown, coastal nuclear-power plants confront more serious dangers. The central dilemma of nuclear power in an increasingly water-stressed world is that it is a water guzzler, yet vulnerable to water.
While the appeal of nuclear power has declined considerably in the West, it has grown among the so-called "nuclear newcomers," which brings with it new challenges, including concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons. Moreover, with nearly two-fifths of the world's population living within 100 kilometres of a coastline, finding suitable seaside sites for initiation or expansion of a nuclear-power program is no longer easy.
Fukushima is likely to stunt the appeal of nuclear power in a way similar to the accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, not to mention the far more severe meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986. If the fallout from those incidents is a reliable guide, however, nuclear power's advocates will eventually be back.
Brahma Chellaney is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi
Fukushima is likely to stunt the appeal of nuclear power in a way similar to the accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, not to mention the far more severe meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986.
Brahma Chellaney
The troubles of the Fukushima nuclear-power plant - and other reactors - in northeast Japan have dealt a severe blow to the global nuclear industry, a powerful cartel of less than a dozen major state-owned or state-guided firms that have been trumpeting a nuclear-power renaissance.
But the risks that seaside reactors like Fukushima face from natural disasters are well known. Indeed, they became evident six years ago, when the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 inundated India's second-largest nuclear complex, shutting down the Madras power station.
Many nuclear-power plants are located along coastlines, because they are highly water-intensive. Yet natural disasters like storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis are becoming more common, owing to climate change, which will also cause a rise in ocean levels, making seaside reactors even more vulnerable.
All energy generators, including coal and gas-fired plants, make major demands on water resources. But nuclear power requires even more. Light-water reactors (LWRs) like those at Fukushima, which use water as a primary coolant, produce most of the world's nuclear power. The huge quantities of local water that LWRs consume for their operations become hot-water outflows, which are pumped back into rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Because reactors located inland put serious strain on local freshwater resources - including greater damage to plant life and fish - water-stressed countries that are not landlocked try to find suitable seashore sites. But, whether located inland or on a coast, nuclear power is vulnerable to the likely effects of climate change.
As global warming brings about a rise in average temperatures and ocean levels, inland reactors will increasingly contribute to, and be affected by, water shortages. During the record-breaking 2003 heat wave in France, operations at 17 commercial nuclear reactors had to be scaled back or stopped because of rapidly rising temperatures in rivers and lake. Paradoxically, then, the very conditions that made it impossible for the nuclear industry to deliver full power in Europe in 2003 and 2006 created peak demand for electricity, owing to the increased use of air conditioning.
Indeed, during the 2003 heat wave, Électricité de France, which operates 58 reactors - the majority on ecologically sensitive rivers like the Loire - was compelled to buy power from neighbouring countries on the European spot market. The state-owned EDF, which normally exports power, ended up paying 10 times the price of domestic power, incurring a financial cost of €300 million.
Highlighting the vulnerability of nuclear power to environmental change or extreme weather patterns in 2006, plant operators in Western Europe also secured exemptions from regulations that would have prevented them from discharging overheated water into natural ecosystems, affecting fisheries. France likes to showcase its nuclear power industry, which supplies 78 per cent of the country's electricity. But such is the nuclear industry's water intensity that EDF withdraws up to 19 billion cubic meters of water per year from rivers and lakes, or roughly half of France's total freshwater consumption. Freshwater scarcity is a growing international challenge, and the vast majority of countries are in no position to approve of such highly water-intensive inland-based energy systems.
Nuclear plants located by the sea do not face similar problems in hot conditions, because ocean waters do not heat up anywhere near as rapidly as rivers or lakes. And, because they rely on seawater, they cause no freshwater scarcity. But, as Japan's reactors have shown, coastal nuclear-power plants confront more serious dangers. The central dilemma of nuclear power in an increasingly water-stressed world is that it is a water guzzler, yet vulnerable to water.
While the appeal of nuclear power has declined considerably in the West, it has grown among the so-called "nuclear newcomers," which brings with it new challenges, including concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons. Moreover, with nearly two-fifths of the world's population living within 100 kilometres of a coastline, finding suitable seaside sites for initiation or expansion of a nuclear-power program is no longer easy.
Fukushima is likely to stunt the appeal of nuclear power in a way similar to the accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, not to mention the far more severe meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986. If the fallout from those incidents is a reliable guide, however, nuclear power's advocates will eventually be back.
Brahma Chellaney is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi
monitor
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Japan battles nuclear, humanitarian crisis
Nuclear alert level raised to five
Japan has raised the alert level at its quake-damaged nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.
The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".
The UN says the battle to stabilise the plant is a race against time.
The crisis was prompted by last week's huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 17,000 people dead or missing.
Japanese nuclear officials said core damage to reactors 2 and 3 had prompted the raising of the severity grade.
The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the US was also rated at five on the scale, whereas the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated at seven.
Further heavy snowfall overnight all but ended hopes of rescuing anyone else from the rubble after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami. Millions of people have been affected by the disaster - many survivors have been left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food; hundreds of thousands are homeless. BBC Online
AFP adds: Japan battled a nuclear and humanitarian crisis Friday as engineers worked to restore power to a stricken atomic plant, while the toll of dead and missing from the quake and tsunami topped 16,000.
Half a million people made homeless when the monster waves razed Japan's northeast coast are suffering in appalling conditions, struggling to stay warm in freezing temperatures and with scant supplies of food and fuel.
The number of confirmed dead from the twin disasters on March 11 hit 6,539, making it Japan's worst natural catastrophe since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed more than 142,000 people.
A moment of silence was observed at 2:46 pm, exactly one week after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck, sending a devastating tsunami crashing into the coast.
At one emergency shelter in the town of Yamada in ravaged Iwate prefecture hundreds of elderly survivors quietly stood and bowed their heads. Many of them wore face masks and overcoats. Some wiped away tears.
Thick snow has covered the wreckage littering obliterated towns and villages, all but extinguishing hopes of finding anyone alive in the debris and deepening danger and misery for survivors.
Nuclear alert level raised to five
Japan has raised the alert level at its quake-damaged nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.
The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".
The UN says the battle to stabilise the plant is a race against time.
The crisis was prompted by last week's huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 17,000 people dead or missing.
Japanese nuclear officials said core damage to reactors 2 and 3 had prompted the raising of the severity grade.
The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the US was also rated at five on the scale, whereas the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated at seven.
Further heavy snowfall overnight all but ended hopes of rescuing anyone else from the rubble after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami. Millions of people have been affected by the disaster - many survivors have been left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food; hundreds of thousands are homeless. BBC Online
AFP adds: Japan battled a nuclear and humanitarian crisis Friday as engineers worked to restore power to a stricken atomic plant, while the toll of dead and missing from the quake and tsunami topped 16,000.
Half a million people made homeless when the monster waves razed Japan's northeast coast are suffering in appalling conditions, struggling to stay warm in freezing temperatures and with scant supplies of food and fuel.
The number of confirmed dead from the twin disasters on March 11 hit 6,539, making it Japan's worst natural catastrophe since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed more than 142,000 people.
A moment of silence was observed at 2:46 pm, exactly one week after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck, sending a devastating tsunami crashing into the coast.
At one emergency shelter in the town of Yamada in ravaged Iwate prefecture hundreds of elderly survivors quietly stood and bowed their heads. Many of them wore face masks and overcoats. Some wiped away tears.
Thick snow has covered the wreckage littering obliterated towns and villages, all but extinguishing hopes of finding anyone alive in the debris and deepening danger and misery for survivors.
hembo
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Japan prays for success of Fukushima 50 in fight to save nuclear plant
A fearless band of scientists and workers trying to stop a meltdown have inspired the entire country
Japanese nuclear specialists at the emergency rescue headquarters analyse data from the leaked radiation from the Fukushima nuclear facilities. Photograph: Wally Santana/AP
Exhausted engineers attached a power cable to the outside of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant on Saturday. The operation raised hopes that it may be possible to restart the pumping of water into the plant's stricken reactors this weekend and cool down its overheated fuel rods before there are more fires and explosions.
"We have connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," said a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, in a statement.
However, officials said further cabling would have to be completed before they made an attempt to restart the water pumps at the Fukushima plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo.
It was also reported that health workers had detected radiation levels above safety limits in milk and spinach from farms in Fukushima and in neighbouring Ibaraki, although it was claimed they represented no risk to human health. Officials have asked people living near the plant to follow basic safety advice when going outside: drive, don't walk; wear a mask; wear long sleeves; don't go out in the rain.
Radiation levels in Tokyo were also said to be within safe limits. Nevertheless, the city has seen an exodus of tourists, expatriates and many Japanese, who fear a blast of radioactive material from Fukushima.
At the nuclear plant, firefighters continued to spray water to cool the dangerously overheated fuel rods in order to keep cores in its reactors from overheating and melting. The UN's atomic agency said yesterday that conditions at the plant remained grave but not deteriorating badly, following Japan's decision on Friday to raise the severity rating of the nuclear crisis from level 4 to level 5 on the seven-level international scale. It put the Fukushima fires on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in the US in 1979. The explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 – which sent a plume of radioactive material into the skies 25 years ago – is the only incident to have reached level 7.
Fires and explosions occurred at four of the six reactors at Fukushima last week after the 8.9 Richter earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March. The earthquake triggered an automatic shutdown of the three reactors that were in operation. The tsunami then damaged diesel generators that were providing back-up power for the pumps driving coolant through these reactors.
As a result, heat could no longer be pumped away and temperatures inside the reactors' cores began to rise, eventually setting off a series of chemical fires. "Hollow rods made of zirconium hold each reactor's uranium fuel pellets in place," said Professor Andrew Sherry, director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute in Manchester. "When temperatures rise too much, that zirconium starts to react with the reactor's water. This chemical reaction raises temperatures even further. Hydrogen is also produced. When this hydrogen exploded, it destroyed the buildings that act as each reactor's outer protective shell."
The explosions also damaged two storage tanks in which fuel rods – still hot because of the radioactive material inside them – were being stored in water. Water levels dropped, exposing fuel rods and triggering further chemical reactions between zirconium fuel cladding and the steam that had begun to build up. These set off fires in storage tanks at reactors three and four.
As a result, plant workers, emergency services personnel and scientists have been battling for the past week to restore the pumping of water to the Fukushima nuclear plant and to prevent a meltdown at one of the reactors. A team of about 300 workers – wearing masks, goggles and protective suits sealed with duct tape and known as the Fukushima 50 because they work in shifts of 50-strong groups – have captured the attention of the Japanese who have taken heart from the toil inside the wrecked atom plant. "My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.
Little is known about this band of heroes, except for the few whose relatives have spoken to the Japanese media. One woman said that her father, who had worked for an electricity company for 40 years and who was due to retire in September, had volunteered. "I feel it's my mission to help," he told his daughter.
On Wednesday, the government raised the cumulative legal limit of radiation that the Fukushima workers could be exposed to from 100 to 250 millisieverts. That is more than 12 times the annual legal limit for workers dealing with radiation under British law. Each team works as fast as possible for the briefest of periods. The pilots of the helicopters used to "water-bomb" the plant have been restricted to missions lasting less than 40 minutes.
Nevertheless, the workers have not only managed to link a power cable to one of the plant's reactors, No 2, but they have also connected diesel generators to the No 5 and No 6 reactors, which have so far not suffered serious damage. "If they are successful in getting the cooling infrastructure up and running, that will be a significant step forward in establishing stability," said Eric Moore, a nuclear power expert at US-based FocalPoint Consulting Group. However, the government has conceded that it was too slow in dealing with the crisis at Fukushima. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said that "in hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and co-ordinating all that information, and provided it faster".
The fires at Fukushima have also triggered serious criticism of the plant's design. The decision to place storage tanks close to reactors has been pinpointed as a key design error. When those reactors caught fire, they quickly triggered reactions in the storage tanks which themselves caught fire, and so the fires spread.
In addition, the failure to build defences that could withstand the huge tsunami that struck Japan has also been attacked. "The geological evidence in Japan indicates a history of giant tsunamis over the past several thousand years," said Professor Rolf Aalto, an Exeter University expert on tsunamis. "Unfortunately, an engineering and political decision was made to design protection and plan cities around a hypothesized five-metre tsunami – about the size of those experienced in Japan over the last century. However, it was not a surprise to geologists that a tsunami two to three times larger appeared. Both the earthquake and tsunami were exceptional, but were both well within the realm of what can occur within that tectonic setting."
However, Professor Sherry defended the ageing plant – whose six reactors came on line between 1970 and 1979. "These reactors were designed in the 1960s and we have learned a lot since then. Modern plants are much safer. Think of cars in the 1960s: they didn't have crumple zones, airbags or seat belts – features we all take for granted today. It is the same with nuclear reactor design."
The Fukushima reactors, known as boiling water reactors, have active safety features – you have to do something to prevent dangerous heating, such as ensuring that the pumps are activated.
"By contrast, new reactors are designed to include 'passive' safety systems that are designed to shut down and cool fuel without the need for power being available at the plant," said Barry Marsden, professor of Nuclear Graphite Technology at Manchester University. Modern reactors also have double or triple back-up safety systems.
It remains to be seen if such reassurances will have an impact. The sight of explosions erupting from the reactors last week have done nothing for the prospects of the world's nuclear industry. It had been gearing up for a restoration of its fortunes, with governments across the planet turning to the power of the atom as a future energy source – one that does not pose major climate change risks. It now looks like a tarnished option, or at least that is how it will be portrayed by those who oppose an expansion of atom plant construction.
"European leaders must take note of the growing nuclear crisis in Japan, and act now," said Patricia Lorenz, nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Europe needs a phase-out plan for nuclear, and must open the way for safe solutions to climate change and energy security."
Last week, the German government suspended its approval process for new nuclear construction projects. More significantly, China – the world's leader in nuclear expansion, with 28 plants under construction – followed suit. Whether these suspensions will last long is a different matter. Much depends on the success of the Fukushima 50 and their bid to complete a power link between the stricken plant and the outside world. Failure would certainly do little for the reputation of nuclear power.
A fearless band of scientists and workers trying to stop a meltdown have inspired the entire country
Japanese nuclear specialists at the emergency rescue headquarters analyse data from the leaked radiation from the Fukushima nuclear facilities. Photograph: Wally Santana/AP
Exhausted engineers attached a power cable to the outside of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant on Saturday. The operation raised hopes that it may be possible to restart the pumping of water into the plant's stricken reactors this weekend and cool down its overheated fuel rods before there are more fires and explosions.
"We have connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," said a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, in a statement.
However, officials said further cabling would have to be completed before they made an attempt to restart the water pumps at the Fukushima plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo.
It was also reported that health workers had detected radiation levels above safety limits in milk and spinach from farms in Fukushima and in neighbouring Ibaraki, although it was claimed they represented no risk to human health. Officials have asked people living near the plant to follow basic safety advice when going outside: drive, don't walk; wear a mask; wear long sleeves; don't go out in the rain.
Radiation levels in Tokyo were also said to be within safe limits. Nevertheless, the city has seen an exodus of tourists, expatriates and many Japanese, who fear a blast of radioactive material from Fukushima.
At the nuclear plant, firefighters continued to spray water to cool the dangerously overheated fuel rods in order to keep cores in its reactors from overheating and melting. The UN's atomic agency said yesterday that conditions at the plant remained grave but not deteriorating badly, following Japan's decision on Friday to raise the severity rating of the nuclear crisis from level 4 to level 5 on the seven-level international scale. It put the Fukushima fires on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in the US in 1979. The explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 – which sent a plume of radioactive material into the skies 25 years ago – is the only incident to have reached level 7.
Fires and explosions occurred at four of the six reactors at Fukushima last week after the 8.9 Richter earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March. The earthquake triggered an automatic shutdown of the three reactors that were in operation. The tsunami then damaged diesel generators that were providing back-up power for the pumps driving coolant through these reactors.
As a result, heat could no longer be pumped away and temperatures inside the reactors' cores began to rise, eventually setting off a series of chemical fires. "Hollow rods made of zirconium hold each reactor's uranium fuel pellets in place," said Professor Andrew Sherry, director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute in Manchester. "When temperatures rise too much, that zirconium starts to react with the reactor's water. This chemical reaction raises temperatures even further. Hydrogen is also produced. When this hydrogen exploded, it destroyed the buildings that act as each reactor's outer protective shell."
The explosions also damaged two storage tanks in which fuel rods – still hot because of the radioactive material inside them – were being stored in water. Water levels dropped, exposing fuel rods and triggering further chemical reactions between zirconium fuel cladding and the steam that had begun to build up. These set off fires in storage tanks at reactors three and four.
As a result, plant workers, emergency services personnel and scientists have been battling for the past week to restore the pumping of water to the Fukushima nuclear plant and to prevent a meltdown at one of the reactors. A team of about 300 workers – wearing masks, goggles and protective suits sealed with duct tape and known as the Fukushima 50 because they work in shifts of 50-strong groups – have captured the attention of the Japanese who have taken heart from the toil inside the wrecked atom plant. "My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.
Little is known about this band of heroes, except for the few whose relatives have spoken to the Japanese media. One woman said that her father, who had worked for an electricity company for 40 years and who was due to retire in September, had volunteered. "I feel it's my mission to help," he told his daughter.
On Wednesday, the government raised the cumulative legal limit of radiation that the Fukushima workers could be exposed to from 100 to 250 millisieverts. That is more than 12 times the annual legal limit for workers dealing with radiation under British law. Each team works as fast as possible for the briefest of periods. The pilots of the helicopters used to "water-bomb" the plant have been restricted to missions lasting less than 40 minutes.
Nevertheless, the workers have not only managed to link a power cable to one of the plant's reactors, No 2, but they have also connected diesel generators to the No 5 and No 6 reactors, which have so far not suffered serious damage. "If they are successful in getting the cooling infrastructure up and running, that will be a significant step forward in establishing stability," said Eric Moore, a nuclear power expert at US-based FocalPoint Consulting Group. However, the government has conceded that it was too slow in dealing with the crisis at Fukushima. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said that "in hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and co-ordinating all that information, and provided it faster".
The fires at Fukushima have also triggered serious criticism of the plant's design. The decision to place storage tanks close to reactors has been pinpointed as a key design error. When those reactors caught fire, they quickly triggered reactions in the storage tanks which themselves caught fire, and so the fires spread.
In addition, the failure to build defences that could withstand the huge tsunami that struck Japan has also been attacked. "The geological evidence in Japan indicates a history of giant tsunamis over the past several thousand years," said Professor Rolf Aalto, an Exeter University expert on tsunamis. "Unfortunately, an engineering and political decision was made to design protection and plan cities around a hypothesized five-metre tsunami – about the size of those experienced in Japan over the last century. However, it was not a surprise to geologists that a tsunami two to three times larger appeared. Both the earthquake and tsunami were exceptional, but were both well within the realm of what can occur within that tectonic setting."
However, Professor Sherry defended the ageing plant – whose six reactors came on line between 1970 and 1979. "These reactors were designed in the 1960s and we have learned a lot since then. Modern plants are much safer. Think of cars in the 1960s: they didn't have crumple zones, airbags or seat belts – features we all take for granted today. It is the same with nuclear reactor design."
The Fukushima reactors, known as boiling water reactors, have active safety features – you have to do something to prevent dangerous heating, such as ensuring that the pumps are activated.
"By contrast, new reactors are designed to include 'passive' safety systems that are designed to shut down and cool fuel without the need for power being available at the plant," said Barry Marsden, professor of Nuclear Graphite Technology at Manchester University. Modern reactors also have double or triple back-up safety systems.
It remains to be seen if such reassurances will have an impact. The sight of explosions erupting from the reactors last week have done nothing for the prospects of the world's nuclear industry. It had been gearing up for a restoration of its fortunes, with governments across the planet turning to the power of the atom as a future energy source – one that does not pose major climate change risks. It now looks like a tarnished option, or at least that is how it will be portrayed by those who oppose an expansion of atom plant construction.
"European leaders must take note of the growing nuclear crisis in Japan, and act now," said Patricia Lorenz, nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Europe needs a phase-out plan for nuclear, and must open the way for safe solutions to climate change and energy security."
Last week, the German government suspended its approval process for new nuclear construction projects. More significantly, China – the world's leader in nuclear expansion, with 28 plants under construction – followed suit. Whether these suspensions will last long is a different matter. Much depends on the success of the Fukushima 50 and their bid to complete a power link between the stricken plant and the outside world. Failure would certainly do little for the reputation of nuclear power.
hembo
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5:10pm Some workers at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant were evacuated after smoke was seen rising from reactor No. 3, among the most badly damaged at the six-reactor complex, the plant operator said
6:12pm Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano gives a news conference, says that the smoke from the No. 3 reactor has not given risen to any adverse readings.
6:20pm The Japanese government has ordered a halt to all shipments of spinach from four prefectures surrounding the country's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant, and has also banned milk shipments from the site's home province of Fukushima.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced the measures at a briefing amid increasing concerns over contamination of some foods and tap water with trace amounts of radioactivity.
6:12pm Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano gives a news conference, says that the smoke from the No. 3 reactor has not given risen to any adverse readings.
6:20pm The Japanese government has ordered a halt to all shipments of spinach from four prefectures surrounding the country's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant, and has also banned milk shipments from the site's home province of Fukushima.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced the measures at a briefing amid increasing concerns over contamination of some foods and tap water with trace amounts of radioactivity.
hembo
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Akira Abe, father of rescued 16-year-old survivor Jin Abe, checks on his son at the Ishinomaki red Cross hospital in Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture, one day after Jin and Akira's 80-year-old mother Sumi Abe were rescued from a collapsed their house, nine days after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
The story of survival provided welcome good news as the death toll from the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster continued to climb, with the number of confirmed dead and missing topping 21,000. [AFP]
The story of survival provided welcome good news as the death toll from the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster continued to climb, with the number of confirmed dead and missing topping 21,000. [AFP]
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