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Posts Tagged ‘plutonium’

Fukushima Could Lead To A Tragedy Far Beyond Chernobyl, Creating Permanent Dead-Zones in Japan

03/31/2011 Leave a comment

Dr Michio Kaku: “This is huge.  For the first time they’re [the Japanese government] using that dreaded word ‘breach’, meaning uncontrolled release of radiation into the environment.  And remember that unit 3, which is suspected to have the breach, contains plutonium.  Plutonium is the most toxic chemical known to science.  A spec of plutonium — a millionth of a gram — could cause cancer if it’s ingested, and so this has to be looked at very carefully because if there is a full abandonment of the reactor site, if they abandon ship, we could be in free fall.”

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Biggest Spike Yet In Radiation at Japan Power Plant

03/30/2011 Leave a comment

By MARI YAMAGUCHI – “TOKYO – Seawater outside the hobbled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan was found to contain 3,335 times the usual amount of radioactive iodine — the highest rate yet and a sign that more contaminated water was making its way into the ocean, officials said Wednesday.

The amount of iodine-131 found offshore some 300 yards (meters) south of the coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant does not pose an immediate threat to human health but was a ‘concern,’ said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official. He said there was no fishing in the area.”  Read more.

 

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Japan Official: Fukushima Reactor No. 3 with MOX Fuel May Be Breached and Leaking Radioactive Material

03/25/2011 1 comment

Read here about the type of fuel that is being used in reactor No. 3.

By the CNN Wire Staff – “Tokyo (CNN) — Authorities in Japan raised the prospect Friday of a likely breach in the all-important containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a potentially ominous development in the race to prevent a large-scale release of radiation.

Contaminated water likely seeped through the containment vessel protecting from the reactor’s core, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Japan nuclear and industrial safety agency.

Three men working inside the No. 3 reactor stepped into water this week that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for that locale, Nishiyama said. That water likely indicates ‘some sort of leakage’ from the reactor core, signaling a possible break of the containment vessel that houses the core.”  Read more.

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Black Smoke Coming from Fukushima Reactor No. 3 with Deadly MOX Fuel, Tokyo Fears Contamination

03/23/2011 Leave a comment

A neutron beam was observed at least 13 times, and now word that black smoke was coming out of Fukushima reactor no. 3 today.  This is the reactor filled with MOX fuel.  That means plutonium.  It doesn’t look like this problem is going away any time soon.

“High levels of radiation have reached Tokyo following the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. People in the capital have been told not to drink tap water. The country’s struggle to resolve its nuclear crisis has again been stalled, with workers at the Fukushima plant evacuated after black smoke emerged from one of its reactors. RT’s Igor Ogorodnev is in the Japanese capital for us.”

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Workers Flee Japan Nuclear Plant as Smoke Rises

03/21/2011 Leave a comment

Note: This smoke is coming from reactor no. 3 which contains MOX fuel.

“FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Gray smoke rose from two reactor units Monday, temporarily stalling critical work to reconnect power lines and restore cooling systems to stabilize Japan’s radiation-leaking nuclear complex.

Workers are racing to bring the nuclear plant under control, but the process is proceeding in fits and starts, stalled by incidents like the smoke and by the need to work methodically to make sure wiring, pumps and other machinery can be safely switched on.

‘Our crisis is still going on. Our crisis is with the nuclear plants. We are doing everything we can to bring this to an end,’ Gov. Yuhei Sato of Fukushima prefecture, where the plant is located, told the more than 1,000 people moved away from the plant into a gymnasium. ‘Don’t give up. We know you are suffering.’

‘Please get us out of here,’ yelled Harunobu Suzuki, a 63-year-old truck driver.

What caused the smoke to billow first from Unit 3 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and later from Unit 2 is under investigation, nuclear safety agency officials said.”  Read more.

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