Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Risks of Nuclear Terrorism Rise


Nuclear terrorism: Yet another reason the risks of nuclearity exceed the benefits:
Alissa J. Rubin and Milan Schreuer (2016, March 25). Belgium Fears Nuclear Plants Are Vulnerable. The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world/europe/belgium-fears-nuclear-plants-are-vulnerable.html?emc=edit_th_20160326&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=32962000 

The investigation into this week’s deadly attacks in Brussels has prompted worries that the Islamic State is seeking to attack, infiltrate or sabotage nuclear installations or obtain nuclear or radioactive material. This is especially worrying in a country with a history of security lapses at its nuclear facilities, a weak intelligence apparatus and a deeply rooted terrorist network…. While the prospect that terrorists can obtain enough highly enriched uranium and then turn it into a nuclear fission bomb seems far-fetched to many experts, they say the fabrication of some kind of dirty bomb from radioactive waste or byproducts is more conceivable. There are a variety of other risks involving Belgium’s facilities, including that terrorists somehow shut down the privately operated plants, which provide nearly half of Belgium’s power....

"Prosecutors drop TEPCO case over radioactive water leakage" Yet Contaminated Water Continues to Threaten Pacific Ocean


Unbelievable!
Prosecutors drop TEPCO case over radioactive water leakage. The Asahi Shimbun, March 30, 2016, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201603300068 
 FUKUSHIMA--The Fukushima District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on March 29 that it will not prosecute Tokyo Electric Power Co. or its executives for violating an environmental pollution law....

The group sought to bring charges against the utility and its executives for allowing radioactive contaminated water to be discharged into the sea. In its decision, the prosecutors said there was “insufficient” evidence to press charges against TEPCO and some of its executives....

Contaminated water production, storage, and de-contamination at Fukushima PRESENT UNPRECEDENTED PROBLEMS for the Pacific Ocean and an important aquifer system that supplies Tokyo's drinking water.

Here is an excerpt from my recent book on crisis communications and human-engineered mega disaster:

Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy, and Ecological Sustainability:  The Threat of Financial and Energy Complexes in the Twenty-First Century: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739194959/Crisis-Communication-Liberal-Democracy-and-Ecological-Sustainability-The-Threat-of-Financial-and-Energy-Complexes-in-the-Twenty-First-Century :


Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Problem

Fukushima’s radioactive water problem is unprecedented. TEPCO requires an endless stream of workers to manage contaminated water, which presents significant long-term challenges in addition to those posed by removing melted fuel from damaged reactors and spent fuel pools, as described here by the IAEA in 2015:
The situation, however, remains very complex, with the increasing amount of contaminated water posing a short-term challenge that must be resolved in a sustainable manner. The need to remove highly radioactive spent fuel, including damaged fuel and fuel debris, from the reactors that suffered meltdowns poses a huge long-term challenge.[i]
Contaminated water production at the Daiichi site poses long-term risks to the Pacific eco-system.

Damage by the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and explosions problematized delivery of cooling water to melted fuel in reactors and spent fuel pools. The plant manager resorted to using ocean water to cool melted fuel, a course of action that TEPCO officials had decided against, but was deployed as a desperate measure to halt uncontained nuclear fission in reactors and spent fuel pools. Water used to cool fuel could not be recaptured, resulting in highly radioactive water contaminating the aquifer and Pacific Ocean.[ii]

Kyodo news reported on March 26, 2011 that NISA found radioactive Iodine-131 in seawater sampled 300 meters south of plant at a concentration 1,250.8 times the legal limit.[iii] Dr. Ken Buesseler of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts measured levels of radioactive cesium in the ocean off of Fukushima at 100,000 Becquerels per cubic meter in early April of 2011.[iv] Buesseler reported in a 2013 presentation at MIT that prior to Fukushima, the Pacific Ocean measured ½ to 2 Becquerels per liter of cesium.[v]

The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) declared Fukushima as the world’s worst nuclear contamination event ever for the ocean, reporting that from 21 March to 27 July, 27.1 petaBecquerels of Cesium-137 contaminated the ocean.[vi] Remember that one petaBecquerel is equivalent to a million billion Becquerels, or 10^15.[vii]

Cesium, among other radionuclides, is water-soluble and was likely transported across the Pacific Ocean by the Kuroshio Current,[viii] a fast moving current that every second carries approximately 50 million tons of sea water past Japan’s southeast coast.[ix] Relatively few figures are available for radioisotope contamination other than cesium.

A study of Iodine-129 levels in samples collected in June 2011 from the Western Pacific Ocean measured almost three orders of magnitude higher than pre-Fukushima background levels.[x]A separate study published in Environmental Science Technology in 2012 reported that radiostrontium levels in surface seawater persisted through 2011 and were in some areas comparable, to or even higher, than those measured for Cesium-137 in December of 2011.[xi]

TEPCO has tried a variety of approaches to containing the contaminated water. During the summer of 2011, TEPCO installed concrete panels designed to seal water intakes of units 1 through 4 in order to prevent contaminated water from reaching the ocean. In October 2011, TEPCO installed a steel water shield wall between the units and the ocean. TEPCO subsequently created a groundwater bypass system to reroute fresh water from flowing into the site and restored and improved its drainage system. TEPCO has also worked on creating an ice wall that would prevent highly contaminated water in the basement of the wrecked reactors from flowing into the sea.[xii] All of these efforts have failed to prevent ongoing contamination of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2013, Prime Minister Abe promised the government would take “firm measures” to address water contamination at Fukushima Daiichi.[xiii] Yet, two years later in 2015, TEPCO still injects hundreds of tons of water into demolished reactor buildings 1-4 to cool uncontained melted fuel.[xiv] TEPCO simultaneously pumps hundreds of tons of contaminated water out from the ruined reactor buildings, but its efforts to keep up with water saturation have been stymied by the sheer volume of ground water inundating the site, largely from an underground river running at about 1,000 tons daily, with TEPCO announcing that approximately 400 tons of that penetrates reactor buildings 1 – 4. [xv] Water saturation from the underground river and TEPCO’s injections contribute to ground liquefaction, which poses direct risks to the reactor buildings and common spent fuel pool. Contaminated ground water is also flowing into the ocean.[xvi]

In February of 2015, TEPCO admitted that radioactive water from unit 2 had been flowing unfiltered into the ocean since May 2014.[xvii] Local fisherman who had given consent for TEPCO to dump uncontaminated ground water were outraged, but Yuji Moriyama, a TEPCO spokesman stated “the utility did not disclose the information because there is no evidence of environmental impact.” The water contained 29,400 Becquerels of radioactive cesium per liter and an additional 52,000 Becquerels of beta-emitting radionuclides, such as Strontium-90.

Strontium levels in sea and ground water may actually rise over time, if the conditions modeled in two German risk studies apply to Fukushima. The “German Risk Study, Phase B” found that a core meltdown accident could result in complete failures of all structural containment, causing melted fuel to exit the reactor foundation within five days and that ground water leaching would occur even in the absence of a full melt-through situation.[xviii]

A second German risk analysis, “Dispersion of Radionuclides and Radiation Exposure after Leaching by Groundwater of a Solidified Core-Concrete Melt,” found that even in the event of an intact building foundation, passing groundwater would be in direct contact with fuel, causing leaching of fission products. [xix] The study predicted concentrations of Strontium-90 in river water would spike relatively suddenly, but maintain extraordinarily high levels of contamination for years, with “the highest radionuclide concentration of approx. 1010 Bq/m3 is reached by Sr-90 after some 5000 days.” The study’s experimental conditions are roughly similar to Daiichi’s site conditions, including groundwater emptying into an adjacent river, whereas Daiichi is physically situated above an underground river emptying into the sea.

Ground water contamination has also been rising steadily at the Daiichi site, especially since the summer of 2013.[xx] TEPCO reported that samples from the well between the ocean and unit 1 measuring a record 5 million Becquerels per liter of radioactive Strontium-90 alone in July 2013.[xxi]

In January 27, 2015, TEPCO measured 31,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 in boring well nearest unit 2, a level which was more than 10 percent more than reported in December of 2014.[xxii] By February of 2015, TEPCO was reporting even higher levels of Strontium-90 in the same location, with the highest sample measured at 590,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90.[xxiii] The spiking strontium levels are consistent with the predictions of the German melt-through scenario.

TEPCO has also detected increased radionuclide contamination in the Fukushima port. On June 19, 2015 TEPCO’s reported that it had detected Strontium-90 measuring 1,000,000 Bq/m3 in two locations in Fukushima Daiichi’s port located near the water intake for reactors 3 and 4, exceeding the previous reported high of 700,000 Bq/m3.[xxiv] The highest Strontium level measured in Fukushima’s port jumped still more in data reported in July 17, 2015 to 1,500,000 Bq/m3.[xxv]

TEPCO is also facing severe problems filtering and storing the contaminated water it does pump out from the ground and ruined buildings. In May of 2013 The Asahi Shimbun reported the TEPCO was going to begin dumping groundwater at the Daiichi site because its storage capacities for contaminated water were nearly exhausted. [xxvi] There was considerable resistance from local fisherman because TEPCO lacked the capacity to remove Strontium-90 from captured water and even the filtered water was quite contaminated.

At that time in 2013, filtered water measured 710 million Becquerels per liter while unfiltered water was reported as twice as radioactive, from tritium and strontium. TEPCO was not able to eliminate Strontium until the fall of 2014.[xxvii] In 2015 the NRA approved a plan to allow TEPCO to dump decontaminated groundwater into the sea if the water registered less than 1 Becquerel per liter of cesium, less than 3 Becquerels per liter of beta emitters such as Strontium-90, and 1,500 Becquerels per liter of tritium.[xxviii] TEPCO has attempted to store as much water as possible but press releases and news coverage addressing water storage at the plant suggest that official announcements of dumped water are the tip of a larger deluge.....

REFERENCES

[i] “IAEA Team Completed Third Review of Japan's Plans to Decommission Fukushima Daiichi,” IAEA February 17, 2015, accessed February 19, 2015, https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-team-completed-third-review-japans-plans-decommission-fukushima.

[ii] Takashi Sugimoto and Hideaki Kimura, “TEPCO Failed to Respond to Dire Warning of Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima,” The Asahi Shimbun, December 1, 2012, accessed December 2, 2012, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201212010037.

[iii] “Levels of Radioactive Materials Soaring in Sea Near Nuke Plant,” Kyodo, March 26, 2011, accessed March 27, 2011, http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/81163.html.

[iv] Cited in Hiroko Tabuchi, “Fears Accompany Fishermen in Japanese Disaster Region,” The New York Times, June 25, 2012, accessed June 26, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/world/asia/fears-accompany-fishermen-in-japanese-disaster-region.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120626.

[v] Ken Buesseler, “Japan’s Continuing Nuclear Nightmare: Experts Discuss Fukushima and Its Aftereffects,” video, 1:37:05, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies, October 24, 2013, http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/mit-cis/videos/26614-japan-s-continuing-nuclear-nightmare.

[vi] “Fukushima Nuclear Pollution in Sea was World's Worst: French Institute,” Japan Today, October 28, 2011, accessed October 29, 2011, http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-nuclear-pollution-in-sea-was-worlds-worst-french-institute.

[vii] “Fukushima Disaster Produces World’s Worst Nuclear Sea Pollution,” The Maritime Executive, October 28, 2011, accessed October 29, 2011, http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/fukushima-disaster-produces-world-s-worst-nuclear-sea-pollution.

[viii] Du Bois, Garreau, Laguionie et al., “Comparison Between Modelling” 361.

[ix] R. A. Barkley, “The Kuroshio Current,” Science Journal 6 (1970): 54-60, http://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/CR/1973/7302.PDF.

[x] Scott Tumey, T. Guilderson, T. Brown et al., “Input of Iodine-129 Into the Western Pacific Ocean Resulting from the Fukushima Nuclear Event,” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 296 (2013): 957–962, doi: 10.1007/s10967-012-2217-9.

[xi] Pavel Povinec, Katsumi Hirose, and Michio Aoyama, “Radiostrontium In the Western North Pacific: Characteristics, Behavior, and the Fukushima Impact,” Environmental Science & Technology 46 (2012): 10356–10363, doi: 10.1021/es301997c.

[xii] “What Is the Status of Radioactive Water Treatment At the Site?” Nuclear Energy Institute, http://www.nei.org/Issues-Policy/Safety-Security/Fukushima-Recovery/Radioactive-Water.

[xiii] Mari Yamaguchi, “Japanese Government to Help Halt Nuke Leak,” The Spokesman-Review, August 8, 2013, accessed May 4, 2014, http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/aug/08/japanese-government-to-help-halt-nuke-leak/.

[xiv] Yoshida, “Fukushima No. 1.”

[xv] Nagata, “TEPCO Yet to Track.”

[xvi] Kazuaki Nagata, “Solving Fukushima Water Problem a Long, Hard Slog,” The Japan Times, March 6, 2014, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/06/national/solving-fukushima-water-problem-a-long-hard-slog/#.U2XIE17K3yh.

[xvii] “Fisheries ‘Shocked’ at Silence Over Water Leak at Wrecked Fukushima No. 1 Plant,” The Japan Times, February 25, 2015, accessed February 26, 2015, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/25/national/tepco-admits-failed-disclose-cesium-tainted-water-leaks-since-april/#.VPOfiOHWyDl.

[xviii] Gesellschaft fur Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) Deutsche Risikikostudie Kernkraftwerke, Phase B Report GRS-89 cited in A. Bayer, I. Al-Omari, and W. Tromm, Dispersion of radionuclides and radiation exposure after leaching by groundwater of a solidified core-concrete (No. KFK-4512), (Karlsruhe, Germany: Kernforschungszentrum, 1989), http://www.irpa.net/irpa8/cdrom/VOL.1/M1_97.PDF

[xix] Bayer, Al-Omari, and Tromm, Dispersion of Radionuclides.

[xx] “TEPCO Announced Record Cesium Level Found in Groundwater Beneath Fukushima Levee,” The Asahi Shimbun, February 14, 2014, accessed February 15, 2014, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201402140041. The article said that cesium found in groundwater under a coastal levee near unit 1 spiked from 76,000 Becquerels per liter on February 12, 2014 to 130,000 Becquerels per liter on February 13, reaching the highest level of cesium ever detected at that location.

[xxi] “Record Strontium-90 Level in Fukushima Groundwater Sample Last July,” The Japan Times, February 7, 2014, accessed February 8, 2014, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/07/national/record-strontium-90-level-in-fukushima-groundwater-sample-last-july/#.U2XIw17K3yh.

[xxii] Lori Mochizuki, “31,000,000 Bqm3 Strontium 90 Measured Nearest Boring Well Reactor 2,” Fukushima Diary, January 27, 2015, accessed January 29, 2015, http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/01/31000000-bqm3-strontium-90-measured-nearest-boring-well-reactor-2; TEPCO document available from http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15012701-j.pdf.

[xxiii] Lori Mochizuki, “590,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 Measured From Groundwater of Reactor 2 Seaside,” Fukushima Diary, February 6, 2015, accessed February 8, 2015, http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/02/590000000-bqm3-strontium-90-measured-groundwater-reactor-2-seaside/.

[xxiv] Lori Mochizuki, “1,000,000 Bq/m3 of Sr-90 Detected In Seawater of Fukushima Plant Port / Highest In Recorded History,” Fukushima Diary, June 20, 2015, accessed June 22, 2015, http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/06/1000000-bqm3-of-sr-90-detected-in-seawater-of-fukushima-plant-port-highest-in-recorded-history/; and TEPCO document available from http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15061901-j.pdf.

[xxv] Lori Mochizuki, “Highest Strontium-90 Density Detected In Seawater of Fukushima Plant Port / 1,500,000 Bq/m3,” Fukushima Dairy, July 18, 2015, accessed July 20, 2015, http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/07/highest-strontium-90-density-detected-in-seawater-of-fukushima-plant-port-1500000-bqm3/; TEPCO document available from http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15071701-j.pdf.

[xxvi] Shunsuke Kimura, “120 Tons of Contaminated Water Leaks at Fukushima Nuclear Plant,” The Asahi Shimbun, April 6, 2013, accessed April 7, 2013, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201304060038.

[xxvii] Yoshida, “Fukushima No. 1.”

[xxviii] “NRA Signs Off On TEPCO Plan to Release Decontaminated Groundwater Into Sea,” January 22, 2015, accessed January 23, 2015, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201501220054.