Update #14: June 4, 2011 – 1
Stories at NHK today are below.
But listen to the Arnie Gunderson audio interview at the bottom of this email. It will put much of what is happening in perspective.
TEPCO to install additional storage tanks
"Tokyo Electric Power Company will install more tanks to store the radioactive wastewater that is accumulating at its troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Water levels are rising in the basements of the turbine buildings of reactors 3 and 4. The total amount of accumulated wastewater at the plant is now estimated at more than 105,000 tons.
TEPCO plans to start filtering highly radioactive water on June 15th. It will treat 1,200 tons of water per day and transfer the filtered water to temporary tanks.
The utility will start bringing in 370 steel tanks, each with a capacity of 100 or 120 tons, from a plant in Kanuma City, north of Tokyo, and elsewhere.
TEPCO has already installed temporary water tanks capable of storing 13,000 tons.
The additional tanks will bring the total storage capacity at the plant to more than 40,000 tons.
TEPCO says work to install the filters is proceeding smoothly. But it must quickly address the issue of securing sufficient water storage, as it is feared that the current rainy season will worsen the situation."
Saturday, June 04, 2011 21:57 +0900 (JST) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_28.html
Tip: Watch the video at the NHK link above to see the size of these tanks.
Steam, high radiation detected at No.1 reactor
"The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says steam was observed coming out of the floor of the No.1 reactor building, and extremely high radiation was detected in the vicinity.
Tokyo Electric Power Company inspected the inside of the No.1 reactor building on Friday with a remote-controlled robot.
TEPCO said it found that steam was rising from a crevice in the floor, and that extremely high radiation of 3,000 to 4,000 millisieverts per hour was measured around the area. The radiation is believed to be the highest detected in the air at the plant.
TEPCO says the steam is likely coming from water at a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius that has accumulated in the basement of the reactor building.
The company sees no major impact from the radiation so far on ongoing work, as it has been detected only within a limited section of the building…."
Saturday, June 04, 2011 13:23 +0900 (JST) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_16.html
Gov't failed to release some radiation projections
"The Japanese science ministry has admitted failing to release some of its projections of how radioactive substances would spread if they leaked from the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.
The science ministry used a computer system called SPEEDI to calculate how radiation would spread depending on the weather and terrain.
It said on Friday that it had failed to release 37 projections for the Fukushima Daini plant. It made the projections once an hour from 6PM on March 11 to 9AM on March 13.
The ministry said it had overlooked the existence of the data because it stopped making projections for the Fukushima Daini plant on March 13.
It was found on Thursday that the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had failed to release 5 SPEEDI calculations for the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear plants.
The government said in May that it would release all projections made with the SPEEDI system."
Saturday, June 04, 2011 09:05 +0900 (JST) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_07.html
Gov't didn't release radiation data after accident
"The Japanese government has expressed regret for not disclosing some important results of the radiation monitoring conducted near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant soon after the accident.
The central and Fukushima prefectural governments collected the data to determine evacuation measures as well as food and water restrictions for residents.
A reading on March 12th, one day after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, shows that radioactive tellurium was detected 7 kilometers away. Tellurium is produced during the melting of nuclear fuel.
Three hours before the data was collected, the government expanded the radius of the evacuation area around the plant from 3 kilometers to 10 kilometers.
But the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported at a news conference several hours later that the nuclear fuel was intact.
The government also failed to disclose the high radiation levels in weeds 30 to 50 kilometers from the plant. On March 15th, 123 million becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 per kilogram were detected 38 kilometers northeast of the plant.
The nuclear safety agency says it deeply regrets not releasing the data.
Professor Yasuyuki Muramatsu of Gakushuin University says radioactive iodine has a high effect on children. He says that if the data had been released earlier, more measures could have been taken to protect them from exposure."
Saturday, June 04, 2011 15:27 +0900 (JST) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_20.html
IF you want to understand what is really going on at Fukushima listen to part 1 of this audio interview (MP3, approximately 20 minutes).
If you are interested in contamination, clean-up and what to expect, listen to part 2 (MP3, approximately 20 minutes).
This is a VERY comprehensive and VERY informative interview. Chris Martenson is knowledgeable and therefore asks excellent questions.
June 3,2011 Audio Interview with Arnie Gunderson
Part 1
http://media.chrismartenson.com/audio/arnie-gundersen-2011-06-03-part1.mp3
Part 2
Here is part two of the interview with a transcript of this part of the interview: