The Japanese Chernobyl

As the Corporate Media, with its short attention span and sound byte reporting turned its attention to such pressing news as the "Groper" Arnold Schwarzenegger getting caught with his pants down, yet again, out of the spot light is the nuclear disaster taking place in Japan.

The U.S. Nuclear Industry went into high gear immediately following the Japanese disaster, representing the energy source as safe and perpetuating their propaganda. Oh?

Friends insist it's safe and ignore [from Nuclear]:

Since 2005, new U.S. reactors (if any) have been 100+% subsidized--yet they couldn't raise a cent of private capital, because they have no business case. They cost 2-3 times as much as new windpower, and by the time you could build a reactor, it couldn't even beat solar power. Competitive renewables, cogeneration, and efficient use can displace all U.S. coal power more than 23 times over--leaving ample room to replace nuclear power's half-as-big-as-coal contribution too--but we need to do it just once. Yet the nuclear industry demands ever more lavish subsidies, and its lobbyists hold all other energy efforts hostage for tens of billions in added ransom, with no limit.

Consider this -- Nuclear Energy costs

$7,500 per kilowatt to build


That’s more than double the capital costs for solar power and three and a half times the cost for wind.

the most heavily subsidized industry in the energy sector.

In 2005, Congress handed the nuclear power industry $13 billion in federal aid, and two years later went on to approve an additional $20.5 billion in loan guarantees, making U.S. taxpayers the cosigners on loans for new nuclear projects -- half of which are expected to end in defaults.

Wind is already more competitive than electricity generated from new nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

Americans are outraged at the sudden knowledge that Dirty Oil is so heavily subsidized and given tax breaks on the pretext of 'We Need....' Why are we footing the bill for the Nuclear Industry if it's so competitive?

This highlights the importance of the Public Broadcasting System in its presentation of important news, not reduced to a 30 second sound byte:

Re-evaluating The Fukushima Nuclear Situation

Two months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, workers are finally getting in-person looks at the inside of the damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima. Ed Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists gives an update on efforts to bring the damaged reactors to a "cold shutdown."

IRA FLATOW, host:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. It's been a little over two months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power station, releasing enough radiation to have analysts comparing it to Chernobyl.

Only very recently have workers been able to get in-person views of some parts of the damaged reactors there. What are they seeing inside? And how is that new information changing the plan for how to respond to the unprecedented situation?

Joining me now is Ed Lyman. He's been tracking developments at the power plant. He's a senior scientist with the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

Mr. ED LYMAN (Union of Concerned Scientists): Thank you.

FLATOW: You know, it's almost as if this story has dropped off the radar screen here in the States.

Mr. LYMAN: Yes, well, that is the trend. You know, if things aren't blowing up every day, then people tend to forget. But the situation is still pretty serious.

FLATOW: How serious is it? Give us an update on where we stand now with it.

Mr. LYMAN: Well, the update is that the authorities have learned what a lot of people pretty much have figured all along, that in three reactors the nuclear fuel has completely melted and is now sitting at the bottom of the steel reactor vessels, and that is actually probably going to complicate the ability to stabilize the situation further.

FLATOW: Well, what about the cooling situation? Are they able to keep it cool?

Mr. LYMAN: They are providing cooling, but they haven't yet brought these cores to what they call cold shutdown, which is bringing them below the boiling point of water. And as a result, they're cooling by continuing to dump water into the reactor vessels.

That's boiling off the steam. It's condensing as contaminated water, and it's ending up in the basements of these buildings and still leaking, probably, into the groundwater and into the sea. So they don't have a stable closed(ph) circuit to maintain cooling at this point.

FLATOW: Does that mean that the melted core is stable itself, it's not melting through, the China syndrome, as we used to call it?

Mr. LYMAN: Well, it does appear that way. It looks like they were able to stabilize the situation before these cores actually melted through completely the steel vessel. In that case it would have dropped down to the floor of the containment building and potentially eaten through the containment.

So the situation isn't as bad as it could have been, but the vessels are believed to be leaking. There are holes in them, and there are also holes in the containment building. So anything you put in is still finding its way out.

FLATOW: So you're basically, by pouring water in and it flushing out, you're just basically flushing radioactive material to the outside.

Mr. LYMAN: That does seem to be the consequence there. They're washing huge quantities of radioactive water into the basements of the buildings, and that's causing an enormous cleanup problem they're going to have to face for a long time to come.

FLATOW: And so is there a plan, or is it is it what?

Mr. LYMAN: Well, the original plan would be to flood the containment buildings with water. They knew that the vessels weren't completely full. That's the steel vessel within the containment. But they didn't realize they were completely empty, which means that there are holes probably at the bottom.

So the original plan was to flood the containment buildings and try to cover the cores that way, but since the containment buildings also all seem to be leaking, their new plan is to build a system which would extract the water that's leaking out of the containment buildings, run it through filters, clean it up and put it back in the reactor. So they're going to have to siphon off all the contaminated water it's collecting in the basements.

FLATOW: Is that sort of like building a moat around it and pumping out the water as it leaks out or how?

Mr. LYMAN: They'll have to build a new piping system with pumps that will, you know, draw the water out of these buildings.

FLATOW: So we're talking about something that's going to take many months, and in all that time the radioactivity will continue to leak out.

Mr. LYMAN: Yes, unfortunately, that seems to be the situation. Their estimate is to have the reactors in cold shutdown within six to nine months. That's probably an optimistic assessment, but to deal with all the radioactivity that's already gotten into the environment and to actually stabilize the cores, package the materials safely and eventually decontaminate the site, that's -you're talking about decades.

FLATOW: And as far as those holding pots, are they in a different situation or basically in the same situation?

Mr. LYMAN: Well, they've managed to stabilize the leaks that they know about. They've used a mineral called zeolite, which absorbs certain radioactive isotopes to try to soak up some of the radiation and keep it from spilling into the environment.

But there's already been a lot that's been released, both in the water and also in the air. So there's also contamination of ground farmland, tens of miles downwind from the site.

FLATOW: Would it be fair, then, at this point - I know when the accident first happened, people were comparing it to Three Mile Island. Have we moved over to a Chernobyl comparison?

Mr. LYMAN: Yeah, I mean, I don't think the comparison's that useful. This is definitely a very, very severe event. It's led to a massive amount of radiation released into the environment and a cleanup problem that's going to take decades.

I think it's, you know, qualititatively speaking, as bad as Chernobyl.

FLATOW: And how are the Japanese taking this?

Mr. LYMAN: The Japanese are reacting with a lot of concern. Japan - nuclear power was a big part of Japan's energy strategy for hundreds of years. They wanted to build a new fleet of reactors called fast breeder reactors, use plutonium fuel. It was really part of their self-identity, is having a big nuclear power program.

And this has caused a shock to the system that's really turned public opinion around. It's led the government to require the shutdown of other plants that are in seismically active areas. And I think it's causing a real reconsideration of nuclear power in Japan.

FLATOW: So things will just stay at the status quo until they're able to change that, whenever that may be?

Mr. LYMAN: Yes, I mean, they've identified eight areas that they need to address, not only cooling the reactors and the spent fuel pools but stabilizing the site in the event of further seismic events or tsunamis.

They need to improve the situation of the workers at the site. That's very important because the working conditions have been terrible, not just because of the radiation levels but also basic human needs.

And they also need to build covers around the reactors and to deal with contaminated topsoil. You know, it's just a whole laundry list of chores there, and making slow progress. But it's - there was no playbook for how to deal with this type of situation. So they're making things up as they go along.

FLATOW: All right, Ed, thanks for checking in with us.

Mr. LYMAN: Thank you.

FLATOW: Ed Lyman, he's been tracking the developments at the Fukushima nuclear reactor. He is a senior scientist with the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.





Nearly 60 tons of radioactive water may have spilled
The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant says radioactive water may now be leaking from a wastewater storage facility on site. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, told reporters Thursday that nearly 60 tons of radioactive water may have spilled. The latest leak was discovered amid efforts to transfer highly contaminated water from the number 2 and number 3 reactors to an improvised storage facility. TEPCO says the water level in the facility had dropped nearly two inches in just 20 hours, suggesting a leak.


New Leak Suspected at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant

In what may be yet another setback, the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant says radioactive water may now be leaking from a wastewater storage facility on site.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, told reporters Thursday that nearly 60 tons of radioactive water may have spilled out, raising further concerns about the utility's ability to handle the worst nuclear crises since Chernobyl.

The latest leak was discovered amid efforts to transfer highly contaminated water from the number 2 and number 3 reactors to an improvised storage facility. TEPCO says the water level in the facility had dropped nearly two inches in just 20 hours, suggesting a leak.

The utility has been pumping massive amounts of water in an effort to cool three of Fukushima's reactors, a process TEPCO has said would be completed in three months. Large leaks have already been reported in reactors 1 and 2, and news of this latest leak is yet another setback in the effort to stabilize the reactors.

More than two months after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami killed about 240,000 people and crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi, TEPCO is struggling to bring the plant under control. Earlier this week, the company said all 3 reactors had gone into a state of "meltdown" within 3 days of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami that followed, confirming what nuclear experts have suspected.

The melted fuel remains covered in water, and temperatures inside the containment vessel are below dangerous levels, officials said. But failure to disclose such information sooner, has outraged critics who say the utility and the Japanese government have responded too slowly.

At a press conference Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano denied accusations of a "cover-up," but admitted the government needed to take seriously "the criticism that we haven't done enough to provide and circulate information."

Environmental group Greenpeace says the radioactive leaks are taking a toll on marine life. New data released by the group shows high levels of contamination in fish, shellfish, and seaweed samples taken 12 miles off the coast of the Fukushima plant.

Analysis by laboratories in France and Belgium found high levels of radioactive iodine and radioactive cesium in seafood, according to Greenpeace. Contamination levels were highest in seaweed samples, which contained radiation 50 times higher than official limits.

"Our data shows that significant amounts of contamination continue to spread over great distances from the Fukushima nuclear plant," said Greenpeace Radiation Expert Jan Van Putte. "Radioactive hazards are not decreasing through dilution or dispersion, but the radioactivity is instead accumulating in marine life."

The International Atomic Energy has launched its own investigation into the nuclear crises. A team of 20 IAEA experts arrived in Tokyo Monday on a fact-finding mission, where they plan to visit the Fukushima plant.