national

Japan upgrades Fukushima leak to highest level in two years

86 Comments
By Shingo Ito

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© (c) 2013 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

86 Comments
Login to comment

We are doomed!

8 ( +11 / -3 )

An 'anomaly', eh? Get these buffoons out of there already!

4 ( +8 / -4 )

I'm in Tokyo but maybe I really need to consider moving south for my kids' health.

15 ( +17 / -2 )

Another level 3, amongst the level 4, 5, 6 and three level 7 catastrophes in progess. An inernational response is absolutley needed from Day Zero itself.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

International Nuclear experts: Hey TEPCO/Japan, you need some help cleaning up this mess? We have a lot of resources at your disposal. TEPCO/Japan: Nah, we got it covered. Thanks anyway. International Nuclear experts: Are you sure? TEPCO/Japan: Yeah, no problem. International Nuclear experts: Are you really sure? ... (months/years later) TEPCO/Japan: Oooops.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@MS Alex, south? To Okinawa? Or do you mean west? If you've been here since the catastrophe and are only now considering that... the horse bolted a long time ago.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

@ Yong - Yes, Okinawa. I have been here since the catastrophe but without having anywhere else to call home, it's kinda hard to get up and just leave. We've been somewhat okay here in Tokyo so far, hence I have not moved yet. Now, we are talking a lot more radiation numbers than two years ago.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Wow someone called this yesterday in the comments saying "tomorrow it will be higher".

I'm guessing tomorrow or next week it will be a 5

5 ( +5 / -0 )

AtsushiExiled

Where is that "international expert", if there is? Why do not you visit the site of IAEA?

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2013/missionfukushima.html

I wonder why some people stick to the fantasy that there are "experts" out there who can fix the problems but that TEPCO and GoJ refuse such help. It is just a fantasy.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

I wonder how far this CRIME will have to go to have an international team of experts to work together and control this situation. As long as there is only TEPCO screening TEPCO it will not get better.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Tepco say no drama, as all that will just about all fit underneath the carpet so whats the problem.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Where is that "international expert", if there is? Why do not you visit the site of IAEA?

The IAEA are part of the problem...their existence depends on maintaining the "safe" image of nuclear power and are content to have happy, smiling, nothing-to-really-worry-about photo ops taken with their Japanese "nuclear village". The people with the most expertise in this kind of crisis (of course, from years of learning and experience with dealing with the Chernobyl disaster) are actually the Russians.

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-apocalypse-fuel-removal-598/

8 ( +8 / -0 )

SauloJpnAug. 21, 2013 - 02:36PM JST

I wonder how far this CRIME will have to go to have an international team of experts to work together and control this situation.

I wonder why some people keep saying like this. Is there any report out there that says Japan keeps refusing international help? I seriously want to know that.

If you go through the public record, IAEA, US NRC, French Government, French nuclear giant AREVA were all involved in the stabilization and clean up Fukushima Crisis from the early stage.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

If they had not been secretly "leaking" contaminated water into the ocean continuously since the man-made disaster occurred, this level 3 or higher rating would have been announced a long time ago. It's just been a huge cover-up to create the impression that everything was under control so they could try and get the other reactors around the country back on line. Time to face up to the fact that probably the worst industrial disaster in history is still just in it's initial stage. Expect years more of constant struggle to somehow keep cool three core meltdowns and deal with all the contaminated water.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Yesterday, on a train, I saw a advertisement urging people to drink tap water. "Healthy and safe" said the ad. ARE YOU STROKIN" ME?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Yeah, so, what are they gonna do about it? Are they gonna send some professionals, either international or domestic to stop this? Are they gonna pursue criminal negligence charges against these wombats for poisoning the planet and trying to conceal it? Of course they are not gonna do a bloody thing! And, the Japanese people are just sit back and cop it. This is the world's worst nuclear disaster and it is only gonna get worse cos nobody has the guts to step in and get it under control!

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Thanks idiot fools at Tepco and their masters in the LDP, that were the ones who were smart enough to have all of this crap built up in Fukushima. Now poor Fukushima will be a no man's land for the next couple of tens of thousands of years, the fish, any other seafood etc..plants, vegetables, milk, who in their right mind wants to consume those products?? No body!! And if you know anything about Japan, this mess in Fukushima is ONLY the TIP of the Iceberg, how many more Fukushimas are waiting to happen only in Japan, and just hate to even imagine all over the world!!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

@Alex... the amount being released now is a tiny fraction of what was being released in the first six months, March 15th being or particular concern for Tokyo when the prevailing winds brought the plume over the entire Kanto region... it also rained. Tokyo sources its water from an area contaminated by this rainfall. If you haven't being sourcing foods and drinks from at least western Japan, if not outisde of Japan and are concerned about the intake of radioactive isotopes now, well...

There is of course the very real possibilty of catatrosphic problems arising with removal of the 400 tons worth of spent fuel, never mind the ad-hoc, dead ending 'cooling system', the Corium Masses could reach criticality again, a million things can go very wrong.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Show me a liar, and I will show you TEPCO.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Can we bring the nuclear gavel down on 3, please?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What I still cannot understand is how can you unnoticeably LEAK 300 tons of water? surely after 1 ton you suspect something? I mean 1000 liters......someone has to notice..... but yeah not TEPCO

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If by some miracle, Japan's economy EXPLODES, like they find oil, or invent a perpetual motion machine, and the triple tax revenues, they STILL will go broke paying for this mess.

It just gets worse and worse.

Or rather, they keep revealing data that is closer and closer to the real truth, that this is very likely turning out to be the WORST man made disaster in human history.

Good going, Japan.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I feel like there is more or less no point to even comment anymore.

It seems like the Japanese government and a majority of the Japanese public is content to think that there is nothing going on, and seem willingly ignorant of the fairly obvious truth; that there are 3 nuclear reactors in some state of meltdown, that there could be a massive earthquake anytime trigger an even worse accident, that the current management of this accident seem incapable of being honest, that the current management despite all promises seem to be loosing control even further, that the same people/party who allowed this man-made accident to occur in the first place are back in government and in control of the company responsible,

and so on and so on..

It makes me very sad that I am paying taxes to these people and bills to that company yet I have no voice.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Shunichi Tanaka allegedly said,

"We are in a situation where there is no time to lose."

Let me fix that for you, in case you hadn't noticed:

"We have been in a situation FOR TWO YEARS where there has been no time to lose."

You're welcome (or, as we say in internet-land: your welcome.)

5 ( +6 / -1 )

papigiulioAug. 21, 2013 - 04:44PM JST

What I still cannot understand is how can you unnoticeably LEAK 300 tons of water?

Japanese news papers say, on Aug. 19 an employee of TEPCO found water beneath a tank but could not find from where it was leaking. They found the contaminated water in the tank was 300 tons less than it should be and concluded the 300 ton must have leaked somehow. TEPCO is working to transfer the contaminated water in the leaking tank to another tank. The transfer will be finished by the end of Aug. 21. TEPCO used to check the tanks twice a day, but now decided to check them every 3 hours.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

They need put the J- radiation apps back on iPad so we can follow what's going in the air & water. Guess that will never happen.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Fukushima is polluting not just Japan but the entire wolrd,its time world leaders got together to solvis even if the egocentric b@stards in Japan do not want it.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@CH3CHO There were a lot of people that got sent up there, or tried to get sent up there after the accident and the tsunami by foreign governments, and disaster organizations that are government funded. They had offers of many different kinds of experts from disaster recovery, and radiation teams. There were lots of offers of help also offered that were left unanswered or worse, military and otherwise. So there are many people that knew this happened and some are angry about it. Could they have made a difference? Who knows, now we never will. It is their country they can do as they wish though. There are no newspapers that will be willing to report on this at all as they would be cut off from all future news stories about the situation. So it would not be worth it to them. They have to rely on the government and places like Tepco to be willing to provide them information to stay in business.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If they are willing to announce a level three, then I think we all know it's probably a level six....

7 ( +10 / -4 )

Its most likely just a precursor to letting us know the corium has melted through the containment, then everyone will forget about the water but they can say they announced it....

The new certainly all seems bad.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Fukushima is polluting not just Japan but the entire wolrd,its time world leaders got together to solvis even if the egocentric b@stards in Japan do not want it.

What do you want them to do? Drop another nuclear bomb?

Japan is one of the country most advanced country in terms technology. I don't think technologists in other countries can do much in this scale of issue.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

The people who get hysteric about Japans nuclear accident, which is addressed in a responsible manner and openly addressed seem unconcerned about Iran´s nuclear program.

Talk about ridiculously misplaced priorities.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

ImporterAug. 21, 2013 - 05:31PM JST

@CH3CHO There were a lot of people that got sent up there, or tried to get sent up there after the accident and the tsunami by foreign governments, and disaster organizations that are government funded. They had offers of many different kinds of experts from disaster recovery, and radiation teams. There were lots of offers of help also offered that were left unanswered or worse, military and otherwise. So there are many people that knew this happened and some are angry about it.

You must be confusing several things. There were a lot of offers of foreign aid for the Tsunami disaster, and most of the Japanese highly appreciate the offers even if many of them were declined by GoJ.

However, Fukushima accident is totally a different matter. There was no offer to send staff to the melting down nuclear power plant by any foreign government.

IAEA, US NRC, and French AREVA, sent experts to Tokyo, not Fukushima, to give some advice and to collect information. China, I believe, sent Japan a giant water spraying machine to water the spent fuel pool on Unit 4. But there was no country which wanted to send its people to Fukushima. I mean no foreign country should.

Importer, I think you are making up some false memory.

NZ2011Aug. 21, 2013 - 04:55PM JST

It seems like the Japanese government and a majority of the Japanese public is content to think that there is nothing going on,

No kidding. Japanese are extremely angry about the management of the accident by TEPCO and the government. That is why Fukushima makes a big headline on almost everyday in Japanese paper. Japanese have much more to lose and much more involved in the accident than most of the commenters here if things get wrong.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The contaminated water going into the ocean will in part, inevitably end up going back onto the land carried by onshore winds.Anyone living on or near the coast from Fukushima is going to exposed to a higher concentration of radioactivity. Anyone concerned about the continually leaking plant should reassess where it is they want to be located in light of this news...

Below is a link to a study highlighting the effects in coastal areas

www.folkkampanjen.se/pdf_efs_chris%20busby.pdf

1 ( +2 / -1 )

18 children diagnosed with thyroid cancer near Fukushima plant. - Found this over on NHK World.

Yeah man! Fukushima = no problems at all!!!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@Aizo Yurei

Keep living in your dream world.........

0 ( +0 / -0 )

finally they are admitting problems at the plant. Now my wife, eho is Japanese , is supposed to fly to Japan next month. is it safe? She is from Shizuoka.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Time is so precious. Its been more than two years now. The infrastructure is weakened and open to catastrophic failure in the next big earthquake. As time slips by we will witness cascading machinery and plumbing systems collapses. The place is getting more dangerous by the day for the dwindling gang of tired and overworked ground crew. Call in some experienced crews for all our sakes.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan, it is ok to ask for help.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Ch3cho There is a huge difference in a watchdog international group that you mentioned and a radiation response team which were deployed. I think you are a little confused on what group does what.

If you would really like to know what groups offered what help it should be matter of public records at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I feel like there is more or less no point to even comment anymore.

It seems like the Japanese government and a majority of the Japanese public is content to think that there is nothing going on, and seem willingly ignorant of the fairly obvious truth; that there are 3 nuclear reactors in some state of meltdown, that there could be a massive earthquake anytime trigger an even worse accident, that the current management of this accident seem incapable of being honest, that the current management despite all promises seem to be loosing control even further, that the same people/party who allowed this man-made accident to occur in the first place are back in government and in control of the company responsible,

and so on and so on..

It makes me very sad that I am paying taxes to these people and bills to that company yet I have no voice.

No one cares unless it affects Tokyo... :(

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Aizo Yurei

Look at the study for cause and effect....

And as NHK is the Japanese government's mouthpiece do you really think that the news from NHK is unbiased?

When the plume of radiation went over Tokyo did NHK announce the danger?Did you hear the news announced that it is necessary to stay at home?

Where is the news on the radiation dangers?....Wait up!

Don't panic because there will be a study or a report made, all the while radioactivity is bio-accumulating in Japan's environment......

5 ( +5 / -0 )

CH3CHO-From the NY Times, "Making matters worse was Mr. Kan’s initial reluctance to accept the help of the United States, which offered pump trucks, unmanned drones and the advice of American nuclear crisis experts."

They also refused the offer of waterproof generators in the first hours after the disaster, which led to the meltdown.

Why do you continue to defend their incompetence?

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Call in experienced teams.

Who has the experience of dealing with a Fukushima like situation?

Right no-one, the USA, Korea, France, etc got enough problems with their own reactors.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

People want a team of international experts. There are no experts as this has never happened. The old saying is that an expert is someone 500 miles from his home. No one knows what to do. In Chernobyl they encased it in in concrete but apparently that can not be done. The real problem is what happens when all of the other nuclear reactors are affected by earthquakes. If you look at where nuclear reactors are located, almost everyone is on a fault and subject to an earthquake. I say stop all nuclear power. Do not put faith in so called experts as they are just guessing with an educated guess.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sayonara 2020 olympics if Japan Inc doesn't get this situation under control a.s.a.p.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

**** ‘I know all about practising procedures for emergencies,’ said Lu-Tze. ‘And there’s always something missing.’ ‘Ridiculous! We take great pains-’ ‘You always leave out the emergency.’ (TOT)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

badmanAug. 21, 2013 - 07:26PM JST

CH3CHO-From the NY Times, "Making matters worse was Mr. Kan’s initial reluctance to accept the help of the United States, which offered pump trucks, unmanned drones and the advice of American nuclear crisis experts."

pump trucks: Japan had more than enough of pump trucks at the site. In addition, how could they bring the pump trucks in a couple of hours from US military bases in Okinawa or Yokosuka to Fukushima when the roads were heavily damaged due to the earthquake?

unmanned drones: I understand the drones were airplanes to measure radiation levels in the air, which was irrelevant to preventing the melt downs.

Experts came to Japan on March 12, after the explosion of Unit 1. They were indeed accepted.

They also refused the offer of waterproof generators in the first hours after the disaster, which led to the meltdown.

I could not find any report to the effect, but I found US Secretary of Sate Ms Clinton offered "coolant" to Japan. Coolant means water. Thank you. But how could the huge amount of "coolant" be brought to the site?

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

My mum sent me a mail worried about this. I told her not to worry as I live in a country where a fearsome, active public wouldn't allow companies to be economical with the truth or allow any sliver of incompetence and we have an independent, fearless media which would headlock anyone guilty of half-truths. The reply was 'don't get sarcastic with me lad'.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Just to clarify. Most Japanese highly appreciate the US aids during the Fukushima crisis. Some of the aids may not have matched the needs at the site and may have been declined. My point is that it is wrong to conclude that Japan refused help, just by picking some of the items that were declined.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

If the radioactive water is sooooo dangerous. please release the data proving it!!! obviously not one person has died because of it and people continue to live in the area despite the government evacuating everyone.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@ Farmboy

How safe is Japan? The whole of Japan's environment has a much higher risk factor due to the uncontrolled escape of radionuclidess

Tokyo has higher concentrations of nuclear fallout than other prefectures

http://enenews.com/tokyo-getting-5-times-more-fukushima-fallout-than-prefectures-closer-to-daiichi

Tokyo is particularly radioactive in places especially around the bay areas

There is a higher amount of radiation in food from Shizuoka,Saitama,Chiba etc

www.cnn.com/…D/asiapcf/03/19/japan.radioactive.food

Many countries such as India,Mongolia,Russia,Korea etc have banned food imports from Japan yet Japan has raised limits to enable its citizens to 'legally' consume higher limits.Food is mislabeled and consumers are misled as to point of origin.

http://rt.com/news/radioactive-cesium-japan-fish-seawater-895/

And the contamination is ongoing! Is Japan safe ? I think not.........

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Kyodo has not moved a story on this yet.....

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

90% of the people above me are living in the Tokyo area. Why haven't you moved West yet?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Please at least look up details cesium on wikipedia as stated from this article http://rt.com/news/radioactive-cesium-japan-fish-seawater-895/. It only lasts 2 weeks and even less in water as water absorbs radioactivity. This is the majority of the so called "radiation." People are still living in the area. There is no living near Chernobyl. This is the big difference!!!

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

@DudeDeuce

Many people are, I know of families from Fukushima living in Kansai.

I also see a marked increase in the number of new houses being built in my area-within a minute of my house there are 6 new homes being built. I don't think that it is coincidental

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Jason Santana

"Radioactive cesium is a human-made radioactive isotope produced through the nuclear fission of the element cesium. It has a half-life of 30 years, making it extremely toxic." That quote was taken directly from your article you posted.

There are different types of isotopes Jason, some decay fast others don't. The fact that Japan themselves is raising incident level to 3 is proof enough. You also have to take into account that water has been leaking for an additional 12 months now since that article you posted.

Do you think the levels are lower? Do you think the situation has improved?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yeah, I agree it would be difficult to find people with experience in handling a situation like this, but there must be better choices than using the long-term unemployed from yakuza run temp agencies, don't you think?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

It's too late, baby. It's too late. Such is the tie-in between government bureaucracy and the private sector that even a critical event like this has been allowed to fester and grow worse. What is the Abe Government doing about this. It seemed like inertia all the way.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What I still cannot understand is how can you unnoticeably LEAK 300 tons of water? surely after 1 ton you suspect something? I mean 1000 liters......someone has to notice..... but yeah not TEPCO

To put that number into perspective, the bathtub in my house holds a little under 700 liters - and it's not an exceptionally large bath or anything. We're talking about a leak of roughly 4 household bathtubs worth of water.

You'd notice it in your living room, but would you notice it outside?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The situation always gets better with time.

How many people have died of cancer???? How many people are still living in the area that haven't died? How many children are there with birth defects? TELL ME HOW MANY OF THESE EACH ARE THERE????

There is no threat!!!!!

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

In Chernobyl they encased it in in concrete but apparently that can not be done.

Is this because the radiation or whatever is carrying the radiation is leaking downwards anyway? I'm no scientist so I am wondering if anyone here can explain what actually can be done about the disaster. It seems to be beyond repair. Would international help offer anything that Japan could no do itself? With its technological expertise, wouldn't Japan be in the best position to do whatever it is possible to do? What, if anything, can be done? Or is it all too late already?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

pump trucks: Japan had more than enough of pump trucks at the site. In addition, how could they bring the pump trucks in a couple of hours from US military bases in Okinawa or Yokosuka to Fukushima when the roads were heavily damaged due to the earthquake?

Air lift.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@Jason

You have obviously no idea how radiation works. This isn't hollywood, It takes a severe amount of radiation to kill someone quickly and it takes a small amount to give them cancer, affect fertility and other issues.

Birth issues? Most likely too early to tell, especially in a country where population declining, for gods sakes how many babies you think they are making up there? Would you make a baby there? Cancer cases? Already popping up.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/05/national/fukushima-survey-lists-12-confirmed-15-suspected-thyroid-cancer-cases/

"They point out that thyroid cancer cases were not found among children hit by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident until four to five years later."

I dont think its complete doom and gloom, but the threat is very real.You have to be completely ignorant to not believe so.

Last thing Japan needs is fertility issues on a nation who's population is already declining. The article talks about screening over a hundred thousand people. You think they continuosly test these people every day? It'll take more years to see what the total outcome is.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Japan is one of the country most advanced country in terms technology. I don't think technologists in other countries can do much in this scale of issue.

All that high technology doesn't help or matter, if you're incompetent.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Sayonara 2020 olympics if Japan Inc doesn't get this situation under control a.s.a.p.

Not necessarily. Japan only has Spain and Turkey to beat to get chosen. I do wonder why they didn't wait until after September 7th to start releasing all this bad news about Fukushima though. For once it seems to be making news internationally. Maybe someone thinks Japan would be better without the Olympics. They are a financial drain after all.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Take it from an expert a Nuclear one at that. All TEPCO has to do is encase the entire leakage zone in concrete. I mean totally concrete the entire zone. The only barrier or protection is concrete and it will take a lot!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

In any nuclear accident, there are many types of radioactive elements released, not just Cesium, look up the half lives of radioactive particles on the internet,,,,you will see that some last as long as 1,000,000 years and more in the environment.

Japan is forever damaged,,,what a shame

Radiation does not dissolve,,,ever. In fact radiation increases in concentration from PLANTS,,,TO SHRIMP,,,TO MACKEREL,,,,TO TUNA,,,,,AND FINALLY CONCENTRATES THE HIGHEST IN HUMANS....

Japan should accept help from other countries,,,,but they will tell Japan to evacuate Tokyo....its very sad.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Trust me massive amount of concrete is the distance and also the barrier to keep people at a distance from contamination

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Farmboy

Regarding the links,yes, I agree that they are not the 2013 models but don't worry as nuclear radioactive isotopes have full strength lives of thousand and millions of years........

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

When I say concrete I mean "'biological shielding' the concrete will act as a mass of absorbing material placed around a reactor, or other radioactive source, this will help reduce the radiation to safe levels. The effectiveness the concrete that can be use as a biological shield is related to its cross-section for scattering and absorption, and to a first approximation is proportional to the total mass of material per unit area interposed along the line of sight between the radiation source and the region to be protected. In other words that's why I said shielding equals strength or "thickness" which is measured in units of g/cm2. If there is any radiation that manages to seep through its level will fall exponentially with the thickness of the biological shield. I'm a rocket scientist deal with the most advanced (can't say" system used in outer space for the protection of spacecraft etc. with that said GOOD LUCK JAPAN

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The current situation at Fukushima is out of control, and always has been- since day one. There is nothing anyone can do to stop this, because there is currently no technology to deal with this huge disaster. For the past two and a half years, this so-called, cold shutdown, cleanup has been window dressing to keep the ignorant Japanese public complacent. It is now only be a matter of time before another large earthquake causes one of Diaichi's fuel pools to crack and lose all it's water. Or possibly even collapse due to increasing ground liquification under the plant. The buildings are already greatly weakened due to sea water and radiation corrosion. If and when either of these events happen, the exposed fuel rods will overheat and catch fire. No firefighters will be able to approach due to the extremely high radiation levels, and the plant will have to be completely abandoned. The fuel rod fires will burn for possibly weeks or months, releasing astronomical amounts of radiation all over Japan. Due to the extremely high levels of radiation, nearby Daini nuclear plant would most likely also have to be abandoned. This could possibly result in even more meltdowns at that plant.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Continued... Tokyo and many other cities on at least Honshu would have to be evacuated. But how do you evacuate 40+ million people in a short amount of time? You can't. Residents would calmly be ordered to stay inside, not being told the seriousness of the situation. Meanwhile, all of Tokyo's and many other cities' drinking water reservoirs / lakes would become highly radioactive and unusable. This would result in massive water shortages. I think you can all imagine the rest of what could happen in the following months of being trapped in a large city with little food or water.

On top of all this, even if they do start to remove the fuel rod assemblies before another large quake exposes the fuel rods, there is a good chance there will be an accident, igniting the rods- resulting in an uncontrollable radioactive fire. Google Gundersun and Busby. These two trustworthy nuclear experts agree with most of what I have described above. The current situation is much, much more serious than what TEPCO and the government are admitting to. There is no fix, and there never will be. And I certainly wouldn't want to be living in Honshu right now... especially the Tokyo area.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Who is going to pour the concrete in 100 mSv conditions? And dig the holes for the concrete to be poured into? What about cooling the inside of the reactors after concrete has been poured? Or dealing with weakened buildings collapsing and triggering another criticality from left over fuel rods?

This isn't SimCity - it's real, and requires real solutions.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I wonder why some people keep saying like this. Is there any report out there that says Japan keeps refusing international help? I seriously want to know that.

Many many reports including here on JT. For example the one last year quoting a senior government official as saying "We cant have a bunch of foreigners running around the countryside up there, frightening all the old people".

0 ( +3 / -3 )

They don't have a clue.....I won't eat seafood for years.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

This is a Top Priority National Emergency.... that it was ever anything even remotely below that is beyond comprehension. Total idiocy.... the rest of the world would be laughing at Japan if this were not such a serious matter.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Its embarrassing, aside from anything else. To be at this level of emergency after 2 1/2 years of efforts to contain the situation.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

After this fiasco, I wonder how many more times I'm going to have to listen to how the Japanese are so much more honest than everyone else.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Thinking about leaving Tokyo was something to do 2 years ago. Yukushima has been venting radiation in the air and water ever since the accident. Currently, the problem is the radioactive water but there is still some radioactive particles been released into the air. Look at the workers exposed working outside the plant. Since they don't know where the radioactive water is coming from, it hard to stop. If you look at the ocean current, the Oyashio current will bring the water towards Chiba but this is a cold water current and I don't think people know where it goes when it meets the warm water current of Kuroshio. Must likely it dips under it. The rain in Japan tends to be formed from water from the north Fukushima in the ocean and carried inland and drop as rain from Miyagi to Osaka. The winds moves often on the surface but the prevailing winds move west to east.. So if you west of Osaka toward the Japan sea side or northwest to Akita and Hokaido would clear you of most problem. But, Fukushima is not the only reactors in Japan. Japan has many active faults and volcanoes. Even Fuji-san may go off with the next major Kanto quake. No where is Japan is safe, just the probabilities are lower in some places than others. For example, because of the geology, Atami doesn't feel much earthquakes. The problem with leaving Tokyo for other parts of Japan is that Tokyo has the most resources in the country. It is the financial and political capital of Japan. It has the best and worst. Do you want to live in a vibrant city as Tokyo or in some back water town?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

題に解決について考えよう

(1)は鹿児島都市から火山灰を取り出し、全体の区域-そしてキックスタートに灰を生態学できるだけ配る

(2)は尖閣島の島から上の土および海底を取り出し、全体の区域-そしてキックスタートに土を生態学できるだけ配る

--

Let's think about a solution to the problem ( DILUTION )

(1) retrieve volcano ash from Kagoshima city, distribute over the entire area -- then kick start the ecology.

(2) retrieve top soil and seabed from the Senkaku Islands and distribute the soil as much as possible to the entire area - then kick start the ecology

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

ChibaChickAug. 21, 2013 - 11:51PM JST

quoting a senior government official as saying "We cant have a bunch of foreigners running around the countryside up there, frightening all the old people".

That quote is irrelevant to Fukushima nuclear power plant. The whole area around the NPP is evacuation zone and there is no old people in the evacuation zone.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites