You are in Mothership 10 coverage of the Japan Nuclear Disaster. Please Rec this diary, and this diary, only. Unrec previous diaries in the series. In general, try to use the ROV's for discussion and commentary. This diary will serve as a reference and anchor point. (Unrec MotherShip 9)
We are currently in ROV 23: Japan Nuclear Disaster by Middleagedhousewife.
All Previous ROVs are now stored on the Japan Nuclear Disaster group page.
Latest News
Despite success at restoring power to several of the nuclear reactors, ongoing radioactive fallout from the site continues to contaminate ground and ocean water, land and the air far from Fukushima,
Iodine detected as far away as Tokyo and five adjacent cities is measuring 210 becquerels/liter. Since the allowed limit for infants is 100, Japan's health ministry has advised residents to avoid giving infants tap water or using it in powered milk and bottled mineral water is being distributed for babies. parents are being provided with bottled mineral water for their babies. Restrictions have been placed on consuming parsley, raw milk, cabbage and spinach, even if these foods were stored in their refrigerators.
U.S. regulators announced import restrictions on contaminated raw milk and spinach from 4 Japan Prefectures. Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore are the latest countries to ban food imports from areas near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. The ban will include dairy products, vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood.
In this morning's daily UCS media phone call, UCS Global Security Program's Senior Scientist Edwin Lyman noted that the “effects of this accident are being felt further away than the nuclear industry has led most people to believe over the last 20 year period.”
Meanwhile, TEPCO announced today it has observed a radioactive neutron beam 13 times at the plant since the March 11 quake, an indication that nuclear fission from reactor’s and spent nuclear fuels have released uranium and plutonium.
Commenting on the black smoke from No. 3 Reactor, which forced evacuation of workers on Wednesday afternoon, Lyman said the fact that reported radiation releases falling 20-50% below that of Chernobyl undermine the severity of the accident so far.
… one has to remember that there's still no evidence that the containment structures at the damaged reactors, 1, 2, and 3, have been significantly breached, which is a difference from Chernobyl, where the confinement structure was destroyed in the very early stage of the accident.“The difference with Chernobyl is that spent fuel pools at Fukushima have been implicated, that up to three of them may have damaged fuel and potentially have released some radioisotopes that could contribute to the additional cesium. But, you know, since we do have six reactors, of which four have experienced some level of fuel damage, the potential source term for what could be released ultimately could be significantly greater than Chernobyl.
While authorities don't know the origin of the smoke and believe it is not that serious if is is coming from the spent fuel pond, Lyman says the smoke could be an indication of severe damage to the fuel itself “in that there's larger particulate matter that's now being carried into the air in the form of smoke. That would be fuel particles that would include less volatile isotopes, including plutonium.”
If alpha radiation begins increasing, he says, this could indicate "the fuel is degrading and being released, which would also be a matter of concern."
The New York Times is reporting that western nuclear engineers are concerned that the build up of salt inside the reactors from the sea water being pumped in to cool the reactors could cause them to heat up more. In the worst case scenario, this could case the uranium to melt.
“We’ve got at least 10 days to two weeks of potential drama before you can declare the accident over,” said Michael Friedlander, who worked as a nuclear plant operator for 13 years.
David Lochbaum, Director of UCS's Nuclear Safety Project, discussed how the problems workers faced yesterday as they attempted to restore power to Units 1, 2 and 3 slowed down their efforts. They encountered damaged pumps and other equipment, non functioning components, and the need to find replacement parts for defective or destroyed pumps and motors. clear-crisis-japan-telepress-transcript-03-23-11.html
Combined Sources:
Jiji News Industry
NHK World
Reuters
UCS Daily Briefing
NYT
Please visit the current ROV for updated information.
Regularly Updated Data Sources
• Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) reports, which record such key factors as conditions of core and fuel integrity, water level and containment. The Guardian DataBlog is updating analysis and publishing highly contextualized charting and graphs.
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• Daily Telephone Media Briefings from Union of Concerned Scientists
• Energy.gov: The Situation in Japan (Updated 03/22/11)
Timeline
The CS Monitor is hosting a constantly updated timeline of events, beginning at 2:46 Friday 11 March when a 9.0 Earthquake was the initial shock in an ongoing crisis, magnified by the ensuing tsunami and the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power facility.
Latest Stats as of evening Thursday AM 23 March. Japan. (combined sources)
- 9,487 dead
- 15,617 unaccounted for
- 256,871 people are in shelters around the country
- Many bodies are being buried without being cremated due to fuel shortages.
- 177,500 evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture relocated to 1800 shelters in 16 prefectures
- At least 660,000 households in 10 prefectures without running water
- 212,472 households in the north without electricity
- Damage from the earthquake and tsunami at about 16-25 trillion yen ($197-308 billion).
- At least 18,324 buildings have been completely destroyed
- IAE reports radiation 1,600 times higher than normal levels has been detected in an area about 20 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear plants
- Bullet train services resume between Morioka and Shin-Aomori stations on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line
- The Tohoku Expressway, one of the major routes for land transport between Tokyo and the quake-hit areas, is opened to trucks.
Coverage @ KOS:
- A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly.
- Due to extensive coverage, the Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs team is now saving ALL Coverage @ KOS to the group page. You can save any relevant diaries to the group's queue.
- Here are today's top Japan coverage diaries:
Deep Harm: http://www.dailykos.com/...
citisven: Leading German climate scientist on Fukushima: "a new basis of our coexistence is needed"
journeyman: 25,000 Dead or Missing in Japan: The Humanitarian Crisis Gets Desperate
Donation Suggestions
• Plubius also has a diary on aid groups needing donations.
• CS Monitor has a great list
• JapanVolunteers- - donations, materials, volunteer opportunities and needs, fundraisers, resource sharing
• Japan RedCrossasks individuals to direct funds to a bank account.
• ShelterBox on the Ground in Japan(h/t texmex)
IN TRANSLATION: From Japan
• Japan Earthquake 2011 Global Voices Online provides outstanding ongoing translations of articles and information from Japan, including:
• Map of Quake Centers
• Shelter locations
• Tomomi Sasaki translation from Japanese to English: Infographic of Radiation & Effects on Human body translated from Japanese
• Japanese Red Cross Coverage
• How can I help
Media Coverage
Japan Tsunami – Live Streaming/AutoUpdatesKyodo Nuclear News Feed
The Guardian Japan coverage emerging as top source for comprehensive, frequently updated news coverage. Check out Ian Sample interview and timeline
NHK Japan Live:NHK Japan Live
AJ LiveBlog
Global Voices Online(Japan/English translation
Reuters
Fukushima WikispacesTwitter – Real Time Updates:
Global Voices Online Japan Twitter List
Japan Reuters
IAEA
WFP
Japan's PM
GP Japan
Twitter #earthquake
Twitter #japan:
Twitter #tsunami
Crisis Mapping
Google Fukushima GeoEye
Google Crisis Response Maps(Layers available)
Ushahidi Local Reports Color Coded for Trusted Sources (Japanese/English)
Satellite Imagery
Media Monitoring Japan's Humanity Road
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