Hot Topics | |
---|---|
Foreign nuclear experts on Friday blasted the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, with one saying its lack of transparency over radioactive water leaks showed “you don’t know what you’re doing”.
The blunt criticism comes after a litany of problems at the reactor site, which was swamped by a tsunami two years ago. The disaster sent reactors into meltdown and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in the worst atomic accident in a generation.
Earlier this week, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) admitted for the first time that radioactive groundwater had leaked outside the shattered plant, confirming long-held suspicions of ocean contamination.
“This action regarding the water contamination demonstrates a lack of conservative decision-making process,” Dale Klein, former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), told a panel in Tokyo.
“It also appears that you are not keeping the people of Japan informed. These actions indicate that you don’t know what you are doing… you do not have a plan and that you are not doing all you can to protect the environment and the people.”
Klein is part of a TEPCO-sponsored nuclear reform monitoring panel composed of two foreign experts and four Japanese including the company’s chairman.
The utility previously reported rising levels of potentially cancer-causing materials in groundwater samples from underneath the plant, but maintained it had contained toxic water from leaking beyond its borders.
The embattled company—which faces massive clean-up and compensation costs—has now admitted it delayed the release of test results that confirmed the leaks, as Japan’s nuclear watchdog heaped doubt on its claims.
“We would like to express our frustrations in your recent activities regarding the water contamination,” Klein said. “These events detract from the progress that you have made on your clean-up and reform for the Fukushima plant.”
Responding to reporters’ questions, Klein dismissed suggestions of a company cover-up, and said that TEPCO had a “good plan” to clean up the site, but they were “waiting way too long before communicating with the public”.
“As soon as the issue is identified they need say what they know (and) what they don’t know,” he added.
Earlier, Barbara Judge, chairman emeritus of Britain’s Atomic Energy Authority, said she was “disappointed and distressed” over the company’s lack of disclosure.
“I hope that there will be lessons learned from the mishandling of this issue and the next time an issue arises—which inevitably it will because decommissioning is a complicated and difficult process—that the public will be immediately informed about the situation and what TEPCO is planning to do in order to remedy it,” she said.
Judge told the press briefing that corporate culture was largely to blame.
“Like in many other companies, there was a culture of efficiency and closeness… privately working out problems until they thought they were ready to discuss them,” she said, adding that the panel was trying to usher in a “culture of safety before efficiency”.
Decommissioning the site is expected to take decades and many area residents will likely never be able to return home, experts say.
Radiation in water leakage at Fukushima plant as high as 2011 crisis
Kyodo / 27 July 2013
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday it has detected 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per liter from water in an underground passage at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that is seeping into the sea, roughly the same level as seen in a contaminated water leak into the sea in April 2011 shortly after the nuclear disaster the preceding month.
The water sample taken Friday from a trench contained 750 million becquerels of cesium-134 and 1.6 billion becquerels of cesium-137 per liter, while 750 million becquerels of other radioactive substances were detected...more...
chokonen888 wrote:Just had a lemur txt me she just got back from vacation in Fukushima. I asked her why Fukushima?
"They had a cute cottage and allowed pets! I brought my doggie with me! You're not worried about radioactivity are you?"
Yokohammer wrote:chokonen888 wrote:Just had a lemur txt me she just got back from vacation in Fukushima. I asked her why Fukushima?
"They had a cute cottage and allowed pets! I brought my doggie with me! You're not worried about radioactivity are you?"
Sounds like "Regina no Mori" (Lake Hattori).
If so, it is a really nice pet-friendly resort. And the radiation levels there are not particularly high (I was there in late 2011, maybe 6 months after the disaster, with my trusty lithe geiger counter).
I bothered to respond to this because, once again, it's a statement that implies that all of Fukushima is an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland and that anyone who goes there is foolish. Not true.
chokonen888 wrote:Yokohammer wrote:chokonen888 wrote:Just had a lemur txt me she just got back from vacation in Fukushima. I asked her why Fukushima?
"They had a cute cottage and allowed pets! I brought my doggie with me! You're not worried about radioactivity are you?"
Sounds like "Regina no Mori" (Lake Hattori).
If so, it is a really nice pet-friendly resort. And the radiation levels there are not particularly high (I was there in late 2011, maybe 6 months after the disaster, with my trusty lithe geiger counter).
I bothered to respond to this because, once again, it's a statement that implies that all of Fukushima is an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland and that anyone who goes there is foolish. Not true.
I'm not trying to be irrational...if that's where she went, good to hear the levels aren't high there. I'd still be worried about the local produce/water after all the debacles since 2011. Problem is the data just isn't readily available so unless you have a geiger counter, you're basically just trusting everything to be safe. Being just on the edge before the readings get worrisome, I still wouldn't go there...
wagyl wrote:Personally, I would be more concerned about what is in all the dogshit there.
Yokohammer wrote:Maybe you're not trying to be irrational, but you're succeeding.
We've been over this time and time again ... but just one more time: If you want to avoid radiation from the Fukushima fuggup the only choice you have is to leave Japan! And even that might not be enough. I'm not trying to be snarky or facetious, that's just a fact. Radiation does not respect borders. Not crossing the border into Fukushima does not protect you. You have already been exposed to some of it in Tokyo, I guarantee you. You will be exposed to more, one way or another. You would have been exposed to some of it if you had stayed in California. The question is, how much is too much?
What I dislike about "stay away from Fukushima" comments is that not only are they uninformed and lazy, but they are unfair and damaging to people who live and work in the region. They are just another form of prejudice that thrives on ignorance and knee jerks.
Yokohammer wrote:
What I dislike about "stay away from Fukushima" comments is that not only are they uninformed and lazy, but they are unfair and damaging to people who live and work in the region. They are just another form of prejudice that thrives on ignorance and knee jerks.
chokonen888 wrote:Ehhh Yoko, how is it irrational to avoid a region with higher radiation levels than where I currently reside?
Yokohammer wrote:Do you know that for a fact?
chokonen888 wrote:Yokohammer wrote:Do you know that for a fact?
Yoko....this is my overall point, I don't know and neither does anyone else. It's closer to ground zero so pretty logical to avoid going any closer for a vacation...
chokonen888 wrote:I'm not saying that the radiation just stops at the Fukushima border, just that I'd rather not go any closer to the nuclear plants general direction than necessary.
omae mona wrote:chokonen888 wrote:I'm not saying that the radiation just stops at the Fukushima border, just that I'd rather not go any closer to the nuclear plants general direction than necessary.
I can almost guarantee you've already done at least 10 unnecessary things in the last week that have raised your chances of getting cancer way more than "going in the general direction of Fukushima". And you did them all knowingly, and without hesitating. Examples: you walked outside in the sun when you could have stayed inside. You stood near people smoking cigarettes when you could have stood farther away. Etc.
chokonen888 wrote:omae mona wrote:chokonen888 wrote:I'm not saying that the radiation just stops at the Fukushima border, just that I'd rather not go any closer to the nuclear plants general direction than necessary.
I can almost guarantee you've already done at least 10 unnecessary things in the last week that have raised your chances of getting cancer way more than "going in the general direction of Fukushima". And you did them all knowingly, and without hesitating. Examples: you walked outside in the sun when you could have stayed inside. You stood near people smoking cigarettes when you could have stood farther away. Etc.
Probably.....but why compound them even more? I get what Yoko is saying regarding the dangerous areas not being defined by prefecture borders but in the current state, why go anywhere near there at all?
chokonen888 wrote:I give up...I didn't really mean to come off preachy or tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't be doing. I'm not avoiding driving through there nor do I think going there once is going to give me cancer but when it comes to vacationing, I'm avoiding the area. Call it lazy or irrational but it's just what I'm doing.
Coligny wrote:For fuck sake, luckilly you are just a bunch of morons behind keyboards and not in charge of anything, or we'd be in even bigger shit than as of now. Next time an oil tanker spill on a beach, go and lick that shit, after all, it's oil, lile olive oil, can't be that dangerous eh !
aND stop with that fucking superiority complex of reducing anyone upset by the mismanagement of this clusterfuck as being "scarred" People can be equally driven to murder impulse by a mechanic hammering a stuck bolt or a team of clueless imbecile bungling in the most pathetic way a crisis management.
omae mona wrote:
We're morons behind keyboards who happen to agree with every scientific and health expert with relevant knowledge. You're a moron behind the keyboard making up paranoid fantasies and claiming you know more than all the experts (or were you claiming it's all a conspiracy theory conducted by a vast global network of scientists who don't have any apparent reason to lie so they must be getting secretly paid off by the nuclear industry? I can't remember your excuse at this point). It's the same as your constant schtick on every single thread on this forum. You're smarter and more ethical than all the pros, all those folks with PhDs who spent years studying this stuff, right?
Let's be clear. Why don't you tell us what you've been right about so far, since 3/11, regarding impact on regular citizens' health? You've had almost 2.5 years to prove your point. Shall we review what you've been saying and what has actually played out so far? (unfortunately I suspect some of the biggest turds were wiped out during the FG forum rebirth and transition)
aND stop with that fucking superiority complex of reducing anyone upset by the mismanagement of this clusterfuck as being "scarred" People can be equally driven to murder impulse by a mechanic hammering a stuck bolt or a team of clueless imbecile bungling in the most pathetic way a crisis management.
The fact that you still have the "mismanagement of this clusterfuck" conflated in your head with whether all of Fukushima is radioactive or not is exactly the point. You're fucking scared.(1) Nobody is claiming it wasn't mismanaged, and nobody is claiming you shouldn't be upset. I think it was mismanaged. I am upset. But I don't think science turns into an evil magic spell because of it. The radiation, and its effect on people's health, is what it is (namely, a non-issue) (2), no matter how badly TEPCO and the government fucked everything up. You're very confused. All the "facts" in your message above about nothing having been checked properly are just your paranoid fantasies,(3) not backed up by anything except that you think you are a better person than everybody in the government.(4)
Screwed-down Hairdo wrote:People also tend to forget that before the disasters Fuckushima was a depressed, rusting, struggling shithole that few people wanted to visit.
Yokohammer wrote:chokonen888 wrote:Just had a lemur txt me she just got back from vacation in Fukushima. I asked her why Fukushima?
"They had a cute cottage and allowed pets! I brought my doggie with me! You're not worried about radioactivity are you?"
Sounds like "Regina no Mori" (Lake Hattori).
Return to Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Nukes, and other Catastrophes
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests