Workers exposed to radiation in Shizuoka nuclear power plant

Wednesday 02nd December, 05:42 AM JST

SHIZUOKA —

Twenty-three people were exposed to radiation Tuesday after radioactive water leaked from a waste solution system at a nuclear power plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, Chubu Electric Power Co said.

The leakage caused no health damage to any of the people, mostly workers, at the No. 3 reactor of the Hamaoka nuclear power station and no radioactive material leaked outside the plant’s facilities, the company said. An alarm indicating water leakage kicked in around 4:15 p.m. and multiple leakages were later found in the water drainage system of the reactor. A total of 53 liters of radioactive water ran out with radioactive leakage of roughly 1.2 billion becquerels, about 320 times the amount power companies are required to report to the national government.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 28 Total Comments Show All

alargo at 02:26 PM JST - 2nd December

Last time they had trouble in Ibaraki, they shipped the waste (shoveled in by long-since deadmen) right through the Tokyo metro highway system. I recall the reporters followed the trucks along the freeway and to truck stops with geiger counters registering off the scale.

Of course, the US Gov in its infinite wisdom has been known to ship unmarked barrels in unmarked trucks up the Columbia River Gorge, and when the WHIPPS reactors were found to leak radioactive material into the Columbia, it made small daily backpage news articles.

Day one. Radioactive water spilled; won't reach the river. Day two. Reached river but in miniscule amounts. Day three. Large amounts, diluted by river. Day four. Radiation reaches ...., etc., etc. I didn't see nothin' in the morning smog, so I guess it must be okay. Another two-headed glow-in-the-dark salmon, anybody?

What with the half-life of Plutonium being somewhat longer than half the life of your average modern monkey-man, anyone with half a brain can tell you that playing with Plutonium is a purty bad idea, kids.
LoveUSA at 02:32 PM JST - 2nd December

eat a lot of yoghurt and drink a lot of wine - these are the two foods/drinks that lower the radiation in human body. Take iodium supplements.
bobbafett at 03:09 PM JST - 2nd December

eat a lot of yoghurt and drink a lot of wine

excellent advice. I ate some yogurt just now and will drop down a bottle of Chianti tonight.
LoveUSA at 03:21 PM JST - 2nd December

excellent advice. I ate some yogurt just now and will drop down a bottle of Chianti tonight. yes, sweetie, radiation is not good for you.
mikekchar at 05:47 PM JST - 2nd December

I live less than 10K from the Hamaoka power station (the one in question). There have been troubles with the station ever since I got here and it was actually shut down for quite a long time (more than a year I think, but don't quote me on it). I tend to believe the government's report on the leak in that it poses no direct threat to health. I'm quite certain that my mandatory yearly xray poses a much higher threat. The issue is whether or not the power station is actually in good working condition. These kinds of things keep happening time after time. There isn't so much a cover up as there is an apathy to really explain why there are repeated problems.

With respect to why the news coverage here is less than what you would have in the states, I can only guess. I suppose that the anti-nuclear lobby here is not as strong as it is in the states. There, my personal opinion is that people go overboard. Actually, really, really overboard. It's not so much that news here is under reported as that news in the states is over sensationalized. Here exotic suicides are news worthy -- it sells newspapers. In the states it's nuclear accidents. In reality neither is particularly news worthy from a national perspective. However, living where I do, I'd appreciate a little more information on the problems at the power plant from the local news. I suppose I could always wander down to the power plant and ask them.

Nah... I'm too apathetic for that...
ashika1009 at 06:07 PM JST - 2nd December

Nevertheless, nuclear remains the only clean and viable source of plentiful energy. Viable and plentiful are the key words here. All global warmists should be on the side of nuclear energy. And greenpeasers, too. Funny thing is these are not proponents of nuclear energy. Go figure. Or not.

Hydroelectric is great, too. But that means dams and hurts the fishies.

I guess the best thing for the planet is for those who apparently dislike humanity (and logically themselves) to disappear.

I plan on sticking around and not in a deluxe cave either.
kyoken at 06:19 PM JST - 2nd December

[...] no radioactive material leaked outside the plant’s facilities, the company said.

The same words had been used in the Tokai nuclear power plant scandal. A Japanese saying goes like this "A lie for the best interest of the company, is not a lie".
sensei258 at 08:11 PM JST - 2nd December

What, no angry protests from local residents? And how in the hell can you say there were no negative health effects two days after the leak? Unless what they really meant was nobody dropped dead or lost all their hair. Latent health problems will be blamed on something else later on I guess.
DickMorris at 09:20 PM JST - 2nd December

Not only are Japanese electrical and auto products shoddy and below Us standards, so it seems are highly dangerous nuclear plants!

The country is a death trap. Another black mark on Japans book of poor workmanship.
nandakandamanda at 09:37 PM JST - 2nd December

Why do people say that Nuclear power is 'clean', and then call a potential terrorist radioactive device a 'dirty bomb'? Is radioactive waste clean, or dirty?
ebisen at 12:49 PM JST - 3rd December

nandakandamanda - no, it is dirty but it can be more easily contained (as usually there are no emissions~~). also the amount of material used is far less (I believe it is around a few tons for a big plant) being far easier on the environment during transportation (have you ever thought of how much CO2 is emitted during coal transportation to a coal plant?)
nandakandamanda at 06:12 PM JST - 3rd December

So ebisen, it is clean if you look at transportation and immediate emissions of CO2? (Ignoring for the moment storage of used fuel rods, used workers overalls, gloves etc., and what to do with deactivated reactors.)

What if coal transportation is performed by electric trains, the new and greenest method of transport? Surely then no CO2 would be emitted?

Oh, and isn't Hamaoka one of those sitting on a huge fault line?
ebisen at 02:41 PM JST - 4th December

nandakandamanda -

What if coal transportation is performed by electric trains, the new and greenest method of transport? Surely then no CO2 would be emitted?

I'm sorry to tell you but your thinking is VERY shortsighted. Where does the electricity for the electric trains to transport millions of tons of coal come from?

And don't get me started on the used overall and gloves - they are not more radioactive than other worker's outfits. Nowadays humans almost never have to come near the fuel rods or directly touch radioactive materials. It's called "telemanipulation"...

Right, there are problams with storage of spent fuel, but the alternative is to store the CO2 in the ocean floor - a ticking bomb waiting to explode, as the CO2 will always be there, and in an infinitely bigger volume than spent nuclear fuel.
nandakandamanda at 02:54 PM JST - 4th December

ebisen: I'm sorry to tell you but your thinking is VERY shortsighted. Where does the electricity for the electric trains to transport millions of tons of coal come from?

You're suggesting not nuclear power stations, right?
alargo at 06:59 PM JST - 9th December

Just in case some of you forgot, Plutonium 239 has a half-life of about 24,000 years. Which means that that toasty alpha radiation will be about half of what it was in a mere 24,000 years.

Given that the Japanese can't even remember that they didn't have chairs or beds up until five years ago, 24,000 years seems like a safe bet for clean energy.

I am sure that we are in good hands.

"If you are insured by Allstate, Please don't hit my car!"--a poster found in the mechanic's bay of a Volvo dealership.