Yahoo News: Japan seeks Russian help to end nuclear crisis
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has asked nuclear superpower Russia to send a special radiation treatment ship used to decommission nuclear submarines to help in its fight to contain the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, Japanese media said late on Monday.
Japanese engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been forced to release radioactive waste water into the sea. At the same time they are resorting to desperate measures to contain the damage, such as using bath salts to try to locate the source of leaks at the crippled complex 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
Three weeks after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami hit northeast Japan, sending some of Daiichi's reactors into partial meltdown, engineers are no closer to regaining control of the power plant or stopping radioactive leaks.
The quake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and Japan's northeast coast a wreck.
The world's costliest natural disaster has caused power blackouts and cuts to supply chains and business hours. It is threatening economic growth and the yen, while a recent opinion poll suggested voters want embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan to form a coalition in order to steer Japan through its worst crisis since World War Two.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) was forced on Monday to release low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.
A TEPCO official was in tears as he told a news conference: "We are very sorry for this region and those involved."
TEPCO said it would release more than 10,000 tons of water about 100 times more radioactive than legal limits in order to free storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.
"We have instructed strict monitoring of the ocean to firmly grasp the impact on the environment," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
Engineers planned to build two giant "silt curtains" made of polyester fabric in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the plant.
Japan has also asked Russia for radiation treatment ship, the "Suzuran," which treats radioactive liquids, Kyodo and Jiji news agencies said.
The ship, a joint venture between Japan and Russia, was designed to help decommission nuclear submarines in Russia's Pacific fleet in Vladivostock, ensuring radioactive waste was not dumped into the Sea of Japan, Kyodo said.
But it could take months to stem the leaks and even longer to regain control of the power station, damaged by last month's quake and tsunami.
DISASTER MAY SEE YEN WEAKEN
Japan, the world's third largest economy but also one of its most indebted nations, has estimated the damages bill may top $300 billion.
"The damage from the nuclear crisis and the subsequent power shortage will last for several years," said Eiji Hirano, former assistant governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).
"There's a strong chance Japan's economy will contract in the current fiscal year," he told Reuters in an interview.
A former senior BOJ official, Eisuke Sakakibara, said the yen would weaken in the coming months, possibly beyond 90 to the dollar, underlining expectations a near four-year rally in the currency may be over.
The yen traded at 84.05 per dollar on Monday.
The disaster initially saw the yen soar on speculation Japanese would repatriate funds for reconstruction, prompting the G7 intervention to knock it back.
"This atomic power issue is an incident which would result in depreciation of the exchange rate," Sakakibara told reporters in Tokyo.
Unpopular and under pressure to quit or call a snap poll before the disaster, Prime Minister Kan has been criticized for his management of the disaster.
One newspaper poll said nearly two-thirds of voters wanted the government to form a coalition with the major opposition party and work together to recover from the disaster.
Japan's two biggest parties may join forces, but partisan bickering could delay funding for massive reconstruction.
BATH SALTS, SEA CURTAIN
In their desperation to stop radioactive leaks, TEPCO engineers have used anything at hand. They have mixed sawdust and newspapers with polymers and cement in an unsuccessful attempt to seal a crack in a concrete pit at reactor No.2.
On Monday, they resorted to powdered bath salts to produce a milky color in water to help trace the source of the leak.
TEPCO said it was also planning to drape a curtain into the sea off the nuclear plant to try to prevent radioactive silt drifting out into the ocean.
The silt-blocking fence will take several days to prepare, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).
The exact source of the radiation leaks remains unknown. NISA is investigating a damaged embankment near a sluice gate at the No.2 reactor and the possibility it may be seeping through a layer of small stones below a concrete pipe.
TEPCO said it would build tanks to hold contaminated seawater, was towing a floating tank which will arrive next week, and was negotiating the purchase of three more.
"If the current situation continues for a long time, accumulating more radioactive substances, it will have a huge impact on the ocean," Edano said.
Small levels of radiation from the plant have been detected as far away as Europe and the United States and several countries have banned milk and produce from the vicinity.
Singapore extended a ban on Japanese food imports on Monday after detecting radiation in more fruit and vegetable imports. While Kan asked the European Union on Monday for a calm response to Japanese imports. The EU has urged radiation testing of Japanese food and feed imports
Monday, April 4, 2011
Historic Hanford nuclear rail cars to be displayed
The Seattle Times: Historic Hanford nuclear rail cars to be displayed
RICHLAND, Wash. —
Two switch engines and two rail cars that carried radioactive fuel across the Hanford nuclear reservation have been saved from burial and will go on display at the historic B Reactor.
The Tri-City Herald reports the World War II and Cold War relics were saved at the request of railroad buffs. The cars are being filled with grout to fix any contamination in place, and they'll be fenced to prevent public contact.
Another 12 railcars at Hanford are destined for a landfill. They carried lead and steel casks to haul irradiated fuel from the B Reactor for processing.
The B Reactor produced plutonium for the first atomic explosion - the Trinity test in New Mexico - and the plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
RICHLAND, Wash. —
Two switch engines and two rail cars that carried radioactive fuel across the Hanford nuclear reservation have been saved from burial and will go on display at the historic B Reactor.
The Tri-City Herald reports the World War II and Cold War relics were saved at the request of railroad buffs. The cars are being filled with grout to fix any contamination in place, and they'll be fenced to prevent public contact.
Another 12 railcars at Hanford are destined for a landfill. They carried lead and steel casks to haul irradiated fuel from the B Reactor for processing.
The B Reactor produced plutonium for the first atomic explosion - the Trinity test in New Mexico - and the plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
Radioactive water from Japanese nuclear plant dumped into sea
Los Angeles Times: Radioactive water from Japanese nuclear plant dumped into sea
The operator of the crippled Fukushima complex begins releasing 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific to make room in storage tanks for even more highly contaminated water. The government says the release does not pose an immediate threat to humans.
Reporting from Tokyo— The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant began releasing about 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the sea Monday evening so that it could make room in storage tanks for even more severely contaminated water.
Some 10,000 tons of the water being released into the ocean was being taken from a communal storage facility near the No. 4 reactor. Another 1,500 tons was being released from the vicinity of the No. 5 and 6 reactors — which have been less troubled than reactors Nos. 1 through 4. The amount of water being released is equivalent to more than four Olympic-size swimming pools.
Although the water being released had levels of radioactive iodine 131 more than 100 times the legal limit allowed for sea discharge, the government approved the release as an "emergency" measure so that water with 100,000 times more radiation than the water found in a normally functioning reactor can be removed from the basement of the turbine building at reactor No. 2 and stored somewhere on the site.
Even as the government asserted that the release of the radioactive water into the sea would not pose an immediate threat to humans, health ministry official Taku Ohara said the ministry was considering drawing up radioactivity food-safety standards for fish after high radiation levels were detected in a sand lance, a bottom-feeding fish, caught off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture.
Nuclear experts have assumed that radioactive iodine, which has a brief half-life, would become diluted in the ocean and decay too quickly to be detected in fish, but Monday's finding has raised doubts about that, said Ohara.
According to the health ministry, the sand lance had 4,080 bequerels per kilogram of radioactive iodine. "We think the level found poses no immediate risk to people's health but the point is moot anyway because all sand lance caught in Ibaraki were disposed of," said Ohara. By comparison, the level of radioactive iodine in the fish was twice as high as the limit for vegetables. Currently there are no standards for radioactivity in meat, eggs, fish and grains.
After more than three weeks of cooling the disabled Fukushima reactors by spraying them with thousands of tons of water using fire trucks, concrete pumpers and helicopters, Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces a growing problem of what to do with the vast amounts of contaminated water.
Removing the water from turbine buildings and other structures is vital to allow workers to restore cooling functions to the facilities. But with limited facilities for storing the water, the utility and the government are now considering options including putting it into a "floating island" offshore. Also being discussed is the installation of an undersea barrier, usually used to contain old spills, that might slow the radioactive water's move offshore.
Tepco reported no success Monday in its efforts to stop highly radioactive water from seeping from a pit near the No. 2 reactor into the ocean. The utility believed that the leak was coming from an 8-inch crack and attempted to seal it with a polymer, sawdust and shredded newspaper. When that failed, the utility dumped some white bath salts into a pipe near the pit to attempt to trace the flow of the water, but the colored water had yet to show up in the sea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced that the government would modify its protocol on restricting vegetable sales from prefectures where significant amounts of radiation have been detected. Instead of banning shipments from an entire prefecture, radiation levels henceforth will be monitored weekly at the level of municipalities, and if the detected levels fall below government limits for three consecutive weeks, then shipments will be allowed.
Farmers have been pressing the government to ease up on its restrictions, but the new procedures raised questions about whether municipalities were capable of carrying out thorough checks. Some farmers complained that the weekly testing would not be frequent enough and said their produce was still likely to go to rot.
In Fukushima prefecture, officials announced plans for monitoring radiation levels at 1,400 schools starting Tuesday; a new academic year is to begin Wednesday and many parents are worried about their children being exposed to radiation.
Fukushima officials also have begun checking radiation levels of products manufactured within the prefecture. Many businesses are nervous that their goods might be rejected by buyers unless they are certified as being free of contamination.
In the town of Namie, which sits northwest of the Fukushima plant just beyond the 18-mile perimeter within which authorities have urged people to stay indoors or consider evacuating, high levels of cumulative radiation were recorded over an 11-day period beginning March 23, the government announced.
The accumulated radiation was 10.3 millisieverts over 11 days, assuming that a person stayed outdoors 24 hours a day. With the government saying that it could easily take months to bring the Fukushima plant under control, the readings are raising fresh questions about the dangers of radiation over a longer period and whether the government's evacuation perimeter is wide enough. Exposure to 100 millisieverts is believed to raise one's risk of cancer by 0.5%
Despite widespread concern about radiation from Fukushima, the public appears to be divided over whether the government should review its use of nuclear power. The results of an opinion poll by the national Yomiuri newspaper published Monday showed that nearly half those surveyed said they favored maintaining the current number of nuclear power plants, while almost a third of respondents said they wanted the government to cut back.
The poll also showed that voter support for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet has risen slightly, to 30% from 24% in March. But many voters — 69% — said Kan wasn't exhibiting his leadership, and 19% said they wanted him to quit soon.
The National Police Agency said the death toll in the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami stood at 12,259 as of Monday evening, with more than 15,000 people still listed as missing.
In a bit of positive news, national broadcaster NHK reported that a dog rescued Saturday by coast guard officers from the roof of a destroyed house floating more than a mile off the coast of northeastern Japan had been reunited with its owner.
The owner of the dog, a 2-year-old mutt named Ban, said she saw the news of the rescue on TV over the weekend and contacted authorities immediately.
The operator of the crippled Fukushima complex begins releasing 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific to make room in storage tanks for even more highly contaminated water. The government says the release does not pose an immediate threat to humans.
Reporting from Tokyo— The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant began releasing about 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the sea Monday evening so that it could make room in storage tanks for even more severely contaminated water.
Some 10,000 tons of the water being released into the ocean was being taken from a communal storage facility near the No. 4 reactor. Another 1,500 tons was being released from the vicinity of the No. 5 and 6 reactors — which have been less troubled than reactors Nos. 1 through 4. The amount of water being released is equivalent to more than four Olympic-size swimming pools.
Although the water being released had levels of radioactive iodine 131 more than 100 times the legal limit allowed for sea discharge, the government approved the release as an "emergency" measure so that water with 100,000 times more radiation than the water found in a normally functioning reactor can be removed from the basement of the turbine building at reactor No. 2 and stored somewhere on the site.
Even as the government asserted that the release of the radioactive water into the sea would not pose an immediate threat to humans, health ministry official Taku Ohara said the ministry was considering drawing up radioactivity food-safety standards for fish after high radiation levels were detected in a sand lance, a bottom-feeding fish, caught off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture.
Nuclear experts have assumed that radioactive iodine, which has a brief half-life, would become diluted in the ocean and decay too quickly to be detected in fish, but Monday's finding has raised doubts about that, said Ohara.
According to the health ministry, the sand lance had 4,080 bequerels per kilogram of radioactive iodine. "We think the level found poses no immediate risk to people's health but the point is moot anyway because all sand lance caught in Ibaraki were disposed of," said Ohara. By comparison, the level of radioactive iodine in the fish was twice as high as the limit for vegetables. Currently there are no standards for radioactivity in meat, eggs, fish and grains.
After more than three weeks of cooling the disabled Fukushima reactors by spraying them with thousands of tons of water using fire trucks, concrete pumpers and helicopters, Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces a growing problem of what to do with the vast amounts of contaminated water.
Removing the water from turbine buildings and other structures is vital to allow workers to restore cooling functions to the facilities. But with limited facilities for storing the water, the utility and the government are now considering options including putting it into a "floating island" offshore. Also being discussed is the installation of an undersea barrier, usually used to contain old spills, that might slow the radioactive water's move offshore.
Tepco reported no success Monday in its efforts to stop highly radioactive water from seeping from a pit near the No. 2 reactor into the ocean. The utility believed that the leak was coming from an 8-inch crack and attempted to seal it with a polymer, sawdust and shredded newspaper. When that failed, the utility dumped some white bath salts into a pipe near the pit to attempt to trace the flow of the water, but the colored water had yet to show up in the sea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced that the government would modify its protocol on restricting vegetable sales from prefectures where significant amounts of radiation have been detected. Instead of banning shipments from an entire prefecture, radiation levels henceforth will be monitored weekly at the level of municipalities, and if the detected levels fall below government limits for three consecutive weeks, then shipments will be allowed.
Farmers have been pressing the government to ease up on its restrictions, but the new procedures raised questions about whether municipalities were capable of carrying out thorough checks. Some farmers complained that the weekly testing would not be frequent enough and said their produce was still likely to go to rot.
In Fukushima prefecture, officials announced plans for monitoring radiation levels at 1,400 schools starting Tuesday; a new academic year is to begin Wednesday and many parents are worried about their children being exposed to radiation.
Fukushima officials also have begun checking radiation levels of products manufactured within the prefecture. Many businesses are nervous that their goods might be rejected by buyers unless they are certified as being free of contamination.
In the town of Namie, which sits northwest of the Fukushima plant just beyond the 18-mile perimeter within which authorities have urged people to stay indoors or consider evacuating, high levels of cumulative radiation were recorded over an 11-day period beginning March 23, the government announced.
The accumulated radiation was 10.3 millisieverts over 11 days, assuming that a person stayed outdoors 24 hours a day. With the government saying that it could easily take months to bring the Fukushima plant under control, the readings are raising fresh questions about the dangers of radiation over a longer period and whether the government's evacuation perimeter is wide enough. Exposure to 100 millisieverts is believed to raise one's risk of cancer by 0.5%
Despite widespread concern about radiation from Fukushima, the public appears to be divided over whether the government should review its use of nuclear power. The results of an opinion poll by the national Yomiuri newspaper published Monday showed that nearly half those surveyed said they favored maintaining the current number of nuclear power plants, while almost a third of respondents said they wanted the government to cut back.
The poll also showed that voter support for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet has risen slightly, to 30% from 24% in March. But many voters — 69% — said Kan wasn't exhibiting his leadership, and 19% said they wanted him to quit soon.
The National Police Agency said the death toll in the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami stood at 12,259 as of Monday evening, with more than 15,000 people still listed as missing.
In a bit of positive news, national broadcaster NHK reported that a dog rescued Saturday by coast guard officers from the roof of a destroyed house floating more than a mile off the coast of northeastern Japan had been reunited with its owner.
The owner of the dog, a 2-year-old mutt named Ban, said she saw the news of the rescue on TV over the weekend and contacted authorities immediately.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Nuclear crisis to affect climate battle
BangkokPost.com: Nuclear crisis to affect climate battle
Japan's nuclear crisis will have a clear impact on global efforts to fight climate change, the chief EU negotiator said Sunday as the latest round of UN talks got under way.
"Nuclear is one of those energy options that has very, very low greenhouse gas emissions,'' Artur Runge-Metzger said at a news conference on the sidelines of the meeting in Bangkok.
"If you look at the energy mix countries were planning to have in the future, nuclear plays an important role.''
But since an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 sparked an emergency at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, in many of those countries doubts have now emerged about the nuclear option, he added.
"I think there will be a lot of political considerations,'' Runge-Metzger said. "Certainly, this is something that has an impact on climate negotiations.''
Several developing countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions have risen sharply in recent years owing to their rapid economic growth, have shown interest in nuclear power to meet their soaring energy demand.
Workers at the Japanese plant at the centre of the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl have been battling to prevent a major disaster after the quake and tsunami damaged the plant and knocked out the cooling system.
Contamination has been found in the air, tap water, farm produce and sea near the stricken plant, adding to worries about public safety.
But the crisis must not lead to reduced ambitions about tackling climate change, with renewable energy an alternative option, Runge-Metzger said, while indicating that the EU might re-examine its own energy roadmap.
Negotiators at the first UN climate talks of the year are looking to hammer out the details of an accord reached in the Mexican resort of Cancun in December last year that brought cautious optimism to the difficult process.
The six days of discussions, which begin Sunday with informal workshops, are being held as the world's energy problems are in sharp focus amid the Japanese troubles and with oil prices hovering near record highs.
In Cancun, more than 190 countries called for "urgent action'' to keep temperatures from rising no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, pledging "deep cuts'' in greenhouse gas emissions.
But after US President Barack Obama's setback in the November midterm elections, "the politics are looking much more difficult this year,'' Runge-Metzger said.
Japan's nuclear crisis will have a clear impact on global efforts to fight climate change, the chief EU negotiator said Sunday as the latest round of UN talks got under way.
"Nuclear is one of those energy options that has very, very low greenhouse gas emissions,'' Artur Runge-Metzger said at a news conference on the sidelines of the meeting in Bangkok.
"If you look at the energy mix countries were planning to have in the future, nuclear plays an important role.''
But since an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 sparked an emergency at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, in many of those countries doubts have now emerged about the nuclear option, he added.
"I think there will be a lot of political considerations,'' Runge-Metzger said. "Certainly, this is something that has an impact on climate negotiations.''
Several developing countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions have risen sharply in recent years owing to their rapid economic growth, have shown interest in nuclear power to meet their soaring energy demand.
Workers at the Japanese plant at the centre of the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl have been battling to prevent a major disaster after the quake and tsunami damaged the plant and knocked out the cooling system.
Contamination has been found in the air, tap water, farm produce and sea near the stricken plant, adding to worries about public safety.
But the crisis must not lead to reduced ambitions about tackling climate change, with renewable energy an alternative option, Runge-Metzger said, while indicating that the EU might re-examine its own energy roadmap.
Negotiators at the first UN climate talks of the year are looking to hammer out the details of an accord reached in the Mexican resort of Cancun in December last year that brought cautious optimism to the difficult process.
The six days of discussions, which begin Sunday with informal workshops, are being held as the world's energy problems are in sharp focus amid the Japanese troubles and with oil prices hovering near record highs.
In Cancun, more than 190 countries called for "urgent action'' to keep temperatures from rising no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, pledging "deep cuts'' in greenhouse gas emissions.
But after US President Barack Obama's setback in the November midterm elections, "the politics are looking much more difficult this year,'' Runge-Metzger said.
Thousands of Germans protest against nuclear power
Bloomberg Businessweek: Thousands of Germans protest against nuclear power
Several thousand Germans demanding an end to the use of nuclear energy have taken part in nationwide demonstrations, including a rally outside of energy company RWE's headquarters.
Police said about 3,000 people protested Saturday outside of RWE's headquarters in Essen, according to the DAPD news agency.
On Friday, RWE filed a lawsuit demanding two of its nuclear reactors that are to be taken off the grid in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster be allowed to remain operational.
About 7,000 people took part in anti-nuclear protests in Bremen. Other smaller rallies were held elsewhere.
Chancellor Angela Merkel hastily announced the shut down of seven of the nation's nuclear power plants in the wake of the Japan nuclear crisis.
Several thousand Germans demanding an end to the use of nuclear energy have taken part in nationwide demonstrations, including a rally outside of energy company RWE's headquarters.
Police said about 3,000 people protested Saturday outside of RWE's headquarters in Essen, according to the DAPD news agency.
On Friday, RWE filed a lawsuit demanding two of its nuclear reactors that are to be taken off the grid in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster be allowed to remain operational.
About 7,000 people took part in anti-nuclear protests in Bremen. Other smaller rallies were held elsewhere.
Chancellor Angela Merkel hastily announced the shut down of seven of the nation's nuclear power plants in the wake of the Japan nuclear crisis.
Japanese nuclear crisis could go on for months, officials warn
Guardian.co.uk: Japanese nuclear crisis could go on for months, officials warn
A senior Japanese official has warned that the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could drag on for months, after another attempt to stem leaks of highly radioactive water appeared to end in failure.
Goshi Hosono, an aide to the prime minister, Naoto Kan, said everything possible was being done to contain radiation leaks, which have contaminated the environment and food and water supplies, prompted mass evacuations and fomented fear as far away as Tokyo, 150 miles to the south.
"We have not escaped from a crisis situation, but it is somewhat stabilised," Hosono said on television. Asked how long it would take to bring the plant's overheating reactors under control, he said. "I think several months would be one target."
The admission that there is no end in sight to the world's worst nuclear power accident since Chernobyl came after the recovery of two bodies inside the Daiichi plant. The workers were killed when it was struck by the 11 March tsunami. They were found last Wednesday, but had to be decontaminated before they could be handed over to relatives after almost three weeks of exposure to radiation.
The men, Kazhiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, who were found in the basement of a reactor turbine building, died from multiple head injuries, reports said. Theirs were the first confirmed deaths at the Daiichi plant.
"It pains us to have lost these two young workers, who were trying to protect the power plant during the earthquake and tsunami," said Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco].
The size of the task facing about 600 workers, troops and firefighters at the plant was underlined at the weekend with the discovery of a 20cm crack in a concrete pit connected to the No 2 reactor. The leak generated radiation levels of 1,000 millisieverts an hour in the air inside the reactor, while Tepco said it could also be behind the seepage of radioactive iodine into the sea, sending contamination levels soaring to 4,000 times the legal limit.
Experts say that beyond the vicinity of the plant, there is minimal risk to human health in other parts of Japan or overseas.
After failed attempts to seal the crack by pouring concrete into the pit, workers have fed it with a water-absorbent polymer, along with sawdust and shredded newspaper, before topping the mixture with more concrete.
On Sunday evening, nuclear safety officials conceded that the polymer, which can expand to 50 times its normal size when combined with water, had made no impact on the water leakage, but added they would wait until Monday before deciding whether to abandon the approach.
"We were hoping the polymers would function like diapers, but we have yet to see a visible effect," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency.
He echoed the grim prognosis offered by Hosono. "It will take a few months until we finally get things under control and have a better idea about the future," Nishiyama said. "We'll face a crucial turning point within the next few months, but that is not the end of it."
Highly radioactive water has flooded the basement of the No 2 reactor and a connecting underground trench. The water in the cracked pit is thought to have come from partially melted fuel rods in the reactor's core.
In their battle to cool overheated reactors and prevent a dangerous meltdown of highly radioactive fuel rods, workers have doused reactors with huge quantities of seawater. The contaminated runoff, however, has prevented technicians and engineers from getting closer to the reactors to make proper repairs.
Fresh water is being pumped into No 1, 2 and 3 reactors using external power, Nishiyama said, adding that the remaining three reactors were considered stable.
More than 12,000 people are known to have died in the earthquake and tsunami, while 15,472 are missing, according to police. More than 163,000 people are still living in evacuation shelters.
A senior Japanese official has warned that the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could drag on for months, after another attempt to stem leaks of highly radioactive water appeared to end in failure.
Goshi Hosono, an aide to the prime minister, Naoto Kan, said everything possible was being done to contain radiation leaks, which have contaminated the environment and food and water supplies, prompted mass evacuations and fomented fear as far away as Tokyo, 150 miles to the south.
"We have not escaped from a crisis situation, but it is somewhat stabilised," Hosono said on television. Asked how long it would take to bring the plant's overheating reactors under control, he said. "I think several months would be one target."
The admission that there is no end in sight to the world's worst nuclear power accident since Chernobyl came after the recovery of two bodies inside the Daiichi plant. The workers were killed when it was struck by the 11 March tsunami. They were found last Wednesday, but had to be decontaminated before they could be handed over to relatives after almost three weeks of exposure to radiation.
The men, Kazhiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, who were found in the basement of a reactor turbine building, died from multiple head injuries, reports said. Theirs were the first confirmed deaths at the Daiichi plant.
"It pains us to have lost these two young workers, who were trying to protect the power plant during the earthquake and tsunami," said Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco].
The size of the task facing about 600 workers, troops and firefighters at the plant was underlined at the weekend with the discovery of a 20cm crack in a concrete pit connected to the No 2 reactor. The leak generated radiation levels of 1,000 millisieverts an hour in the air inside the reactor, while Tepco said it could also be behind the seepage of radioactive iodine into the sea, sending contamination levels soaring to 4,000 times the legal limit.
Experts say that beyond the vicinity of the plant, there is minimal risk to human health in other parts of Japan or overseas.
After failed attempts to seal the crack by pouring concrete into the pit, workers have fed it with a water-absorbent polymer, along with sawdust and shredded newspaper, before topping the mixture with more concrete.
On Sunday evening, nuclear safety officials conceded that the polymer, which can expand to 50 times its normal size when combined with water, had made no impact on the water leakage, but added they would wait until Monday before deciding whether to abandon the approach.
"We were hoping the polymers would function like diapers, but we have yet to see a visible effect," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency.
He echoed the grim prognosis offered by Hosono. "It will take a few months until we finally get things under control and have a better idea about the future," Nishiyama said. "We'll face a crucial turning point within the next few months, but that is not the end of it."
Highly radioactive water has flooded the basement of the No 2 reactor and a connecting underground trench. The water in the cracked pit is thought to have come from partially melted fuel rods in the reactor's core.
In their battle to cool overheated reactors and prevent a dangerous meltdown of highly radioactive fuel rods, workers have doused reactors with huge quantities of seawater. The contaminated runoff, however, has prevented technicians and engineers from getting closer to the reactors to make proper repairs.
Fresh water is being pumped into No 1, 2 and 3 reactors using external power, Nishiyama said, adding that the remaining three reactors were considered stable.
More than 12,000 people are known to have died in the earthquake and tsunami, while 15,472 are missing, according to police. More than 163,000 people are still living in evacuation shelters.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Booklist: Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps, by Peter Galison
Einstein's Clocks,Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time, by Peter Galison
WW Norton & Co. 2003
328 pages plus notes, Bibliography, and index. A few b&w photos and illustrations spread throughout the book.
Library: 529 GAL
Deals with time rather than nuclear physics, but needs to be read!
Description from Publisher's Weekly at Amazon website
Harvard historian of science Galison approaches our understanding of time at the beginning of the 20th century through two related dimensions. The first, extremely practical perspective focuses on our ability to accept a common definition of time at various locations. Before our current system of time zones existed, time was a local construct, making it extremely difficult to coordinate events, have trains run smoothly or determine longitude. The second, far more theoretical perspective deals with the basic laws of physics and addresses the question: is time absolute or relative? Galison focuses his narrative through the eyes of the two scientists most responsible for crafting our present understanding of time, Albert Einstein and Henri Poincare‚. While Einstein needs no introduction, the less well-known Poincare‚ does. He was one of the world's most renowned mathematicians and president of the French Bureau of Longitude. Galison explains how, in the case of each of these scientists, the practical dimension helped shape their understanding of the theoretical dimension, and, in turn, how they helped transform the world. Although Galison's material is of great interest, his writing is often obtuse and overly technical, making the book's ideas less accessible to a general audience. 46 illus.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Synchrony
-Einstein's Times
-A Critical Opalescence
-Order of Argument
Chapter 2: Coal, Chaos and Convention
-Coal
Chaos
Convention
Chapter 3: The Electric Worldmap
-Standards of space and time
-Time, trains and telegraphs
Marketing time
Measuring society
Time into space
Battle over neutrality
Chapter 4. P{oincare's maps
-Time, reason, nation
-Decimalizing time
-Of time and maps
-Mission to Quito
Etherial time
A triple conjunctiom
Chapter 5: Einstein's Clocks
-Materializing time
-Theory-Machines
-Patent truths
-Clocks first
Radio Eiffel
Chapter 6. The Place of Time
-Without Mechanics
-Two modernisms
-Looking up, looking down
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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