You are here

Home

Environment and Public Health

Primary tabs

Thu, 2011-03-24 12:57 — mdmcdonald
The Environment and Public Health Working Group is focused on minimizing negative health impacts from the Tohoku earthquake and cascading effects.

The mission of the Environment and Public Health Working Group is to minimize negative health impacts from the Tohoku earthquake,tsunami, safety problems with Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant and cascading effects on Japanese society.

Working Group email address:  ***@***.***

Add Content to this group

Click to add a new Group Post Simple to this group
Click to add a new Group Post Simple w Images to this group
Click to add a new Group Post to this group
Click to add a new PRIVATE Group Post to this group
Click to add a new TASK to this group

Members

Jason Jackson Kathy Gilbeaux Katie Rast mdmcdonald Patrick Young Yuki Karakawa
Subscribe to group

Email address for group

environment-and-public-health@m.resiliencesystem.org

What Fukushima's Triple Meltdown Means

Sun, 2011-05-15 02:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Time - May 24, 2011

Two weeks after announcing the meltdown of fuel inside Fukushima's No. 1 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has said there have very likely been partial meltdowns at the other two reactors that were operating when the crisis began on March 11 as well. A spokesman for TEPCO, Japan's largest power company that has come under fire for its management of the crippled plant, said fuel rods at reactor No. 3 started melting March 13, two days after the 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami struck the plant. Fuel rods at No. 2 probably started melting a day later, on March 14.

Fukushima Plant's Nos. 2, 3 Reactors Also Suffered Meltdown: TEPCO

Sun, 2011-05-15 01:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

JapanToday.com - May 24, 2011

TOKYO —

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex said Tuesday that meltdowns are assumed to have occurred in the cores of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors in addition to the meltdown already confirmed at the No. 1 reactor, but stressed that it believes the melted fuel is being kept cool at the bottom of the pressure vessels.

Tokyo Electric Power Co also maintained its view that it was only after the giant tsunami hit after the devastating March 11 earthquake that the plant lost all its power sources, eventually leading to the loss of the reactors’ key cooling functions.

The announcement came as the utility is proceeding with work to assess data taken shortly after the nuclear accident occurred. Industry minister Banri Kaieda said the government agreed at a cabinet meeting Tuesday to set up a third-party panel to look into the causes of the country’s worst ever nuclear crisis.

The government has tapped Yotaro Hatamura, a 70-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, as head of the special panel, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said in a press conference.

The 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Pacific Earthquake and the Seismic Damage to the NPPs

Wed, 2011-04-27 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

April 4, 2011 - Summary

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)

Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES)

(see attachment below - 76 page PDF report)

Japan Mulls Strictly Enforcing Evacuation Zone Near Plant

Wed, 2011-04-20 22:13 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - by Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi - April 20, 2011

TOKYO -- Japanese authorities may for the first time strictly enforce their evacuation zone around a crippled nuclear plant, citing concerns Wednesday over radiation risks for residents returning to check on their homes.

About 70,000-80,000 people were living in the 10 towns and villages within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked its power and cooling systems, setting off the worst nuclear power crisis since the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl.

Virtually all of the residents left when the government ordered the area evacuated on March 12, but some occasionally have returned and police cannot legally block them. There currently is no penalty for violating the zone.

"We are considering setting up 'caution areas' as an option for effectively limiting entry" to the zone, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will meet with local officials and evacuees to discuss the plans during a visit to the affected region Thursday, Edano said.

Robot in Japanese Reactors Detects High Radiation

Mon, 2011-04-18 23:33 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - AOL News - by Mari Yamaguchi - April 18, 2011

TOKYO -- Readings Monday from robots that entered two crippled buildings at Japan's tsunami-flooded nuclear plant for the first time in more than a month displayed a harsh environment still too radioactive for workers to enter.

Nuclear officials said the radiation data for Unit 1 and Unit 3 at the tsunami-flooded Fukushima Dai-ichi plant - collected by U.S.-made robots that look like drafting lamps on treads - do not alter plans for stabilizing the complex by year's end under a "road map" released by the plant operator Sunday.

With the public growing increasingly frustrated at the slow response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises, parliament grilled Prime Minister Naoto Kan and officials from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

"You should be bowing your head in apology. You clearly have no leadership at all," Masashi Waki, a lawmaker from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, shouted at Kan.

"I am sincerely apologizing for what has happened," Kan said, stressing that the government was doing all it could to handle the unprecedented disasters.

TEPCO's president, Masataka Shimizu, looked visibly ill at ease as lawmakers heckled and taunted him.

Radioactivity Rises in Sea Off Japan Nuclear Plant

Sat, 2011-04-16 20:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - by Mari Yamaguchi - April 16, 2011

TOKYO -- Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant March 11 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster.

Since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors. Some of that water, contaminated with radiation, leaked into the Pacific. Plant officials said they plugged that leak on April 5 and radiation levels in the sea dropped.

Map of Radiation Measurements - by Greenpeace Team

Fri, 2011-04-15 21:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux


View Map of Radiation Measurements by Greenpeace team in a larger map

USGS: Japan aftershocks could go on into 2012

Wed, 2011-04-13 09:32 — Katie Rast

Another earthquake rocked Japan on Monday, one of nearly 500 aftershocks that have hit the country in the month since a 9.0 magnitude quake and the tsunami it caused devastated many areas.

"When the stress exceeds the friction at that fault, you'll have an earthquake," seismologist Paul Earle said.

In the last 24 hours, the United States Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden has kept tabs on seven different 5.0 or stronger earthquakes in the area around Japan.

"We had a 6.6 this morning. That's enough to seriously shake things up," Earle said. "This is a very large earthquake, and that's why we're seeing this very robust aftershock sequence."

Just last week, there was a 7.1 quake. And it appears the aftershocks may not be letting up any time soon.

"This can go on for several more months," Earle said.

He says it can even go on into next year. While the aftershocks have not caused the damage the original earthquake did (13,000 dead, more than 13,000 missing), they make life in the area very difficult.

Read more...

High Radiation Levels Found Beyond 30-km Radius

Sat, 2011-04-09 20:56 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Asahi.com - April 9, 2011
A study of soil samples has revealed that as much as 400 times the normal levels of radiation could remain in communities beyond a 30-kilometer radius from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where explosions spewed radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

The study was conducted by a team of experts from Kyoto University and Hiroshima University.

According to the study, the accumulated amount of radiation in the soil at Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture--which is located outside of the 30-km radius--calculated over a three-month period would exceed the annual accumulated amount of 20 millisieverts that the central government is considering as a guideline for evacuating residents.

The government has asked residents living within a 20-km radius of the Fukushima No. 1 plant to evacuate and those living between a 20- to 30-km radius to remain indoors as much as possible.

Government studies have also found evidence of radiation contamination beyond the 30-km radius. The results show that radiation has not been spreading from the nuclear power plant in a concentric manner.

Fukushima Isotope Data - by Global Dirt Assessment Team

Fri, 2011-04-08 02:23 — Kathy Gilbeaux

This data was taken by a Global DIRT assessment team within 2km (1.2 miles) of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Data was collected using a Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation SAM 940 Defender / Revealer. The map below represents only readings which contained isotope levels (about 451 of the 1654 current readings). Be sure to check back as this page will be constantly updated.

http://www.globaldirt.org/map/ 

Pages

howdy folks