Select reports on Fukushima consequences

Radioactive Ocean Floor: 1.74 Microsievert/ hr off Fukushima 
Nov. 27, 2011
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/11/radioactive-ocean-nhk-survey-shows-174.html

Leben in der Todeszone–Life in the Deathzone. Documentary by the German WDR (in German) about how people in the Fukushima prefecture are coping with the reality of living in an irradiated environment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3z0rC5Ua_w&

A New Urgency to the Problem of Storing Nuclear Waste
By KATE GALBRAITH, The New York Times, November 27, 2011

AUSTIN, Tex. — “The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, earlier this year caused many countries to rethink their appetite for nuclear power. It is also, in subtler ways, altering the fraught discussion of what to do with nuclear plants’ wastes.

A prime example is Germany, which decided to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022 after the partial reactor meltdowns at Fukushima. That decision is making it easier for Germans to have a calm and focused discussion about a permanent disposal site for the plants’ wastes, analysts say. [...]

Meanwhile, every aspect of nuclear power in Japan — including waste storage — has been turned upside down by the Fukushima disaster in March, which followed a giant earthquake and tsunami. As a result of the accident, Japan has “doubled or tripled” the amount of non-spent fuel and high-level waste, according to Murray Jennex, a nuclear expert at San Diego State University. Even things like the building that houses the turbine are contaminated, he noted.

“So that’s really increased their demand for storage, and I’m not sure what they’re going to do with it,” Dr. Jennex said.

Japan is also considering what to do with the contaminated soil in the area affected by the plant.” [...]

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/business/energy-environment/a-new-urgency-to-the-problem-of-storing-nuclear-waste.html?_r=3

New International Report Shreds Japan’s Carefully Constructed Fukushima Scenario
Written by John Daly, Oilprice.com, 02 November 2011

“Japan’s six reactor Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex has inadvertently become the world’s bell-weather poster child for the inherent risks of nuclear power ever since the 11 March Tohoku offshore earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, triggered a devastating tsunami that effectively destroyed the complex.

Ever since, specialists have wrangled about how damaging the consequences of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami actually were, not only for the facility but the rest of the world.

The Fukushima Daichi complex was one of the 25 largest nuclear power stations in the world and the Fukushima I reactor was the first GE designed nuclear plant to be constructed and run entirely by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO.

Needless to say, in the aftermath of the disaster, both TEPCO and the Japanese government were at pains to minimize the disaster’s consequences, hardly surprising given the country’s densely populated regions.

But now, an independent study has effectively demolished TEPCO and the Japanese government’s carefully constructed minimalist scenario. Mainichi news agency reported that France’s l’Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, or IRSN) has issued a recent report stating that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 that entered the Pacific after 11 March was probably nearly 30 times the amount stated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. in May.

According to IRSN, the amount of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 that flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant between March 21 and mid-July reached an estimated 27.1 quadrillion becquerels.

Why should this matter? Aren’t the Japanese authorities on top of the issue?”[...]

Read more at:
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/New-International-Report-Shreds-Japan-s-Carefully-Constructed-Fukushima-Scenario.html

 

Fukushima Plutonium in Lithuania, Cesium and Iodine in Greece

Radionuclides from the Fukushima accident in the air over Lithuania: measurement and modelling approaches.
Authors
Lujanienė G, et al. J Environ Radioact. 2011 Dec 27. [Epub ahead of print]
Environmental Research Department, SRI Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanoriu 231, 02300 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Abstract

Analyses of (131)I, (137)Cs and (134)Cs in airborne aerosols were carried out in daily samples in Vilnius, Lithuania after the Fukushima accident during the period of March-April, 2011. The activity concentrations of (131)I and (137)Cs ranged from 12 μBq/m(3) and 1.4 μBq/m(3) to 3700 μBq/m(3) and 1040 μBq/m(3), respectively. The activity concentration of (239,240)Pu in one aerosol sample collected from 23 March to 15 April, 2011 was found to be 44.5 nBq/m(3). The two maxima found in radionuclide concentrations were related to complicated long-range air mass transport from Japan across the Pacific, the North America and the Atlantic Ocean to Central Europe as indicated by modelling. HYSPLIT backward trajectories and meteorological data were applied for interpretation of activity variations of measured radionuclides observed at the site of investigation. (7)Be and (212)Pb activity concentrations and their ratios were used as tracers of vertical transport of air masses. Fukushima data were compared with the data obtained during the Chernobyl accident and in the post Chernobyl period. The activity concentrations of (131)I and (137)Cs were found to be by 4 orders of magnitude lower as compared to the Chernobyl accident. The activity ratio of (134)Cs/(137)Cs was around 1 with small variations only. The activity ratio of (238)Pu/(239,240)Pu in the aerosol sample was 1.2, indicating a presence of the spent fuel of different origin than that of the Chernobyl accident.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22206700/

Fukushima Isotopes in Greece
Kritidis P, Florou H, Eleftheriadis K, Evangeliou N, Gini M, Sotiropoulou M, Diapouli E, Vratolis S.
Source
NCSR “Demokritos”, Institute of Nuclear Technology-Radiation Protection, Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, 15310 Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

As a result of the nuclear accident in Fukushima Daichi power plant, which started on March 11, 2011, radioactive pollutants were transferred by air masses to various regions of the Northern hemisphere, including Europe. Very low concentrations of (131)I, (137)Cs and (134)Cs in airborne particulate matter were measured in Athens, Greece during the period of March 24 to April 28, 2011. The maximum air concentration of (131)I was measured on April 6, 2011 and equaled 490 ± 35 μBq m(-3). The maximum values of the two cesium isotopes were measured on the same day and equaled 180 ± 40 μBq m(-3) for (137)Cs and 160 ± 30 μBq m(-3) for (134)Cs. The average activity ratio of (131)I/(137)Cs in air was 3.0 ± 0.5, while the corresponding ratio of (137)Cs/(134)Cs equaled 1.1 ± 0.3. No artificial radionuclides could be detected in air after April 28, 2011. Traces of (131)I as a result of radioactive deposition were measured in grass, soil, sheep milk and meat. The total deposition of (131)I (dry + wet) was 34 ± 4 Bq m(-2), and of (137)Cs was less than 10 Bq m(-2). The maximum concentration of (131)I in grass was 2.1 ± 0.4 Bg kg(-1), while (134)Cs was not detected. The maximum concentrations of (131)I and (137)Cs in sheep milk were 1.7 ± 0.16 Bq kg(-1) and 0.6 ± 0.12 Bq kg(-1) respectively. Concentrations of (131)I up to 1.3 ± 0.2 Bq kg(-1) were measured in sheep meat. Traces of (131)I were found in a number of soil samples. The radiological impact of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Athens region was practically negligible, especially as compared to that of the Chernobyl accident and also to that of natural radioactivity.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://fukushimaupdate.com/study-radioactive-pollution-in-athens-greece-due-to-the-fukushima-nuclear-accident/

 

3 New Reports from Canada: Radiation in Fish and Rainwater; “Safe” Levels of Radiation?

Canadian Fish Eaters Threatened by Fukushima Radiation: Anti-Nuclear Group
By Alex Roslin, For Postmedia News January 14, 2012

“After the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years, authorities in Canada said people living here were safe and faced no health risks from the fallout from Fukushima.

They said most of the radiation from the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant would fall into the ocean, where it would be diluted and not pose any danger.

Dr. Dale Dewar wasn’t convinced. Dewar, a family physician in Wynyard, Sask., doesn’t eat a lot of seafood herself, but when her grandchildren come to visit, she carefully checks seafood labels.

She wants to make sure she isn’t serving them anything that might come from the western Pacific Ocean.

Dewar, the executive director of Physicians for Global Survival, a Canadian anti-nuclear group, says the Canadian government has downplayed the radiation risks from Fukushima and is doing little to monitor them.

“We suspect we’re going to see more cancers, decreased fetal viability, decreased fertility, increased metabolic defects — and we expect them to be generational,” she said.

Evidence has emerged that the impacts of the disaster on the Pacific Ocean are worse than expected.” [...]

Read more at: http://www.canada.com/news/Canadian+fish+eaters+threatened+Fukushima+radiation+anti+nuclear+group/5997414/story.html#ixzz1jV3eDA6J

Radioactive Iodine in Rainwater: Public Was in the Dark
By ALEX ROSLIN, The Gazette, Jan. 14, 2012

“After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Canadian health officials assured a nervous public that virtually no radioactive fallout had drifted to Canada.

But last March, a Health Canada monitoring station in Calgary detected an average of 8.18 becquerels per litre of radioactive iodine (an isotope released by the nuclear accident) in rainwater, the data shows.

The level easily exceeded the Canadian guideline of six becquerels of iodine per litre for drinking water, acknowledged Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canada’s radiation-surveillance division.

“It’s above the recommended level (for drinking water),” he said in an interview. “At any time you sample it, it should not exceed the guideline.”

Canadian authorities didn’t disclose the high radiation reading at the time.” [...]

Read more at: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Radioactive+iodine+rainwater+Public+dark/5995357/story.html

The Debate in Canada: What Is a ‘Safe’ Level of Radiation?

By Alex Roslin, Special to The Gazette January 13, 2012

“The fallout from Fukushima has sparked debate about how Canada monitors radiation and how it decides what is a “safe” level of radiation.

Canadian authorities have insisted that Canadians are safe and that dangerous levels of radiation haven’t entered our food, air or water.

“The amount (of radiation) detected would not pose a health risk to Canadians,” Health Canada spokesman Stéphane Shank said.

“Canadians are safe. We are within the natural background radiation fluctuations that were typically seen prior to the nuclear event in Japan.”

But nuclear critics Dr. Dale Dewar and Gordon Edwards say Ottawa’s notion of what is a “safe” level of radiation can still cause serious health risks for some people.

In fact, Canada’s ceiling for radiation in food is set at a level that would lead to 5,000 to 8,000 cancers per million people over a 70-year lifetime of exposure, according to Health Canada’s models and those of a 2006 U.S. National Academy of Sciences report on cancer risk from radiation. (About half of the cancers would be fatal.)

That works out to 170,000 to 270,000 lifetime cancers if all 34 million Canadians were exposed at the “safe” level.” [...]

Scientific Study of Fukushima Releases: Emissions Started Earlier, Lasted Longer, Are Higher Than Assumed Before

Xenon-133 and caesium-137 releases into the atmosphere from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: determination of the source term, atmospheric dispersion, and deposition

A. Stohl¹, P. Seibert², G. Wotawa³, D. Arnold^2,4, J. F. Burkhart¹, S. Eckhardt¹, C. Tapia⁵, A. Vargas⁴, and T. J. Yasunari^6
1NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway
²Institute of Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
³Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Vienna, Austria
⁴Institute of Energy Technologies (INTE), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
⁵Department of Physics and Nucelar Engineering (FEN),Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
⁶Universities Space Research Association, Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology and Research, Columbia, MD 21044, USA

The paper is currently under peer review. An abstract can be found here:

http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/28319/2011/acpd-11-28319-2011.html

This is the press release by two of the research institutions involved:

Press Release
Reactor accident Fukushima – New international study on emissions of radioactive substances into the atmosphere

A new study by an international team of researchers estimates the emissions of the radioactive noble gas Xenon‐133 and the aerosol‐bound nuclide Caesium‐137 from the Japanese NPP Fukushima Daiichi by combining a large set of measurements from Japan and worldwide, atmospheric transport model calculations, and available information and reasonable approximations on radionuclide inventories and accident events at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. The main result of the investigation is that the emissions from the power plant started earlier, lasted longer and are therefore higher than assumed in most studies conducted before. [emphasis added]

Regarding the radioactive noble gas Xenon‐133, the results indicate an emission of 16700 Peta‐Becquerel (1 Becquerel is one radioactive decay per second, 1 Peta‐Becquerel equals 1015 Bq). This is the largest civilian noble gas release in history, exceeding the Chernobyl noble gas release by a factor of 2.5. [emphasis added] There is strong evidence that emissions started already on 11 March 2011 at 6:00 UTC, which is immediately after the big earthquake. Xenon‐133 is neither ingested nor retained in the inhalation process and therefore of less health concern, but it is important for understanding the accident events.

Regarding Cesium‐137, which is of high relevance for human health due to its physical properties and the long half‐life time of 30 years, the new estimate shows that emissions started earlier and ended later than assumed in most studies so far. The total release amounts to 36 PBq, which equals 40% of the Chernobyl emissions. About 20% of the caesium was deposited on Japanese territory, while about 80% was deposited in the water.

Dr. Andreas Stohl, Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), lead author of the study: “Our calculations are based on about 1000 measurements of activity concentrations and deposition conducted in Japan, USA and Europe. This is the most comprehensive investigation so far. There is no doubt that the Fukushima accident is, at least in terms of the isotopes Xenon‐133 and Caesium‐137, the most significant event after the catastrophe in Chernobyl 25 years ago.”

Dr. Petra Seibert, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna: „The results of the study again demonstrate the potential for our method of inverse modelling, which is also successfully being applied in assessing ash dispersion after volcanic eruptions.“

Dr. Gerhard Wotawa, Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), adds: “ZAMG was the first institute world‐wide that published, as early as ten days after the accident, an estimate of high emissions of radioactive substances from Fukushima‐Daiichi. This analysis was
based on a few data available to us at this time, and is now fully confirmed by a comprehensive analysis.”

The study was conducted by a team of researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) in Kjeller, Norway, the Institute for Meteorology of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU‐Met) in Vienna, the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in Vienna, the Institute of Energy Technologies from the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona (INTE), Spain, and by the Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, USA.

The publication containing the complete study, which is still under scientific peer review and thus subject to either acceptance or rejection, is available from the following web page:

http://www.atmos‐chem‐phys‐discuss.net/11/28319/2011/acpd‐11‐28319‐2011.html

Press contacts:
Dr. Andreas Stohl, NILU, E‐Mail ast@nilu.no, Tel. +47 6389 8035 (only before 23.10.2011:+498937418029)
Dr. Gerhard Wotawa, ZAMG, E‐Mail: gerhard.wotawa@zamg.ac.at, Tel. +43 664 88 414962
Dr. Petra Seibert, BOKU, E‐Mail: petra.seibert@boku.ac.at, Tel. +43 664 3259704
Disclaimer: This is a joint press release of ZAMG and BOKU and not a press release of the research team conducting the study