Japan declares 'nuclear emergency' after quake - PART 2

qmantoo
complete list of "MOX" references found in the old thread will be available shortly (next day or two) and will be useful for us to have on here anyway. I warn you however, there are quite a few though - like nearly 300 ! I am just trying to finish writing the program to get the direct links to the individual posts on the various pages where the text was found. When I have done that, I will post it. In the meantime, thanks to Wishes, for more useful info on MOX from other threads too.

Hi qmantoo - thank you so much for your dedication with all this information - is a true goldmine! Is most appreciated (and useful) and well worth bringing forward

Search Part I thread for "MOX"

Ok, so the final results were a little more than I expected. There are in fact 450 different posts which mention the string MOX so I cannot post the links here since it blows the text limit for a post.

I have placed them on the aging thread reference site instead and given a link to a text file where you can download them all with a simple cut-and-paste. One to a line in BBcode suitable for posting into forums, etc

If you need any more information (450 posts IS a shed-load of links to go through), let me know and I will see what I can do. Also, now I have the program, it is easy to do this for other search strings.

wishes

matadoor
reply to post by wishes

 

The MOX in 3 is where "we" mostly believed the detonation took place in the SFP when 3 exploded.

Even Arnie was behind that theory.

Of course, THAT generated a LOT of arguments, but the evidence is too great to ignore.

As the country song goes, "I'm digging up bones, I'm digging up bones, exhuming things that are better left alone".

Hi Matador - thanks for the info. Do you have any recollection how much MOX there was in it? (which I presume aerosolized?)

Sorry, no I don't, unfortunately I suffered a massive loss of data due to a backup being corrupt.

qmantoo
Search Part I thread for "MOX"

Ok, so the final results were a little more than I expected. There are in fact 450 different posts which mention the string MOX so I cannot post the links here since it blows the text limit for a post.

I have placed them on the aging thread reference site instead and given a link to a text file where you can download them all with a simple cut-and-paste. One to a line in BBcode suitable for posting into forums, etc

If you need any more information (450 posts IS a shed-load of links to go through), let me know and I will see what I can do. Also, now I have the program, it is easy to do this for other search strings.

Phenomenal!!! Thank you, is awesome and super cool! Yes, is lots of information 'back there'

reply to post by qmantoo


What a great resource - and awesome to be able to pull up many great posts with a simple click. Many from some who are long gone... Zworld, Zorgon, AirCooled... Thank you again q - I (and I'm sure the others) totally appreciate how much time you have put into this.

Perhaps some of the others here have some specific words they'd like to have stringed for reference and review?

Human0815
reply to post by donlashway

 

There is no MOX-Fuel in Sfp. Nr. 4

Only Nr. 3 used MOX and also only 1%

au contrere

At the time of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 was operating with 32 mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies and 516 low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel assemblies in its reactor core. In other words, less than 6% of the fuel in the Unit 3 core was MOX fuel. There were no other MOX fuel assemblies (new, in operation or used) at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the time of the accident.

The Impact of Mixed Oxide Fuel Use on Accident Consequences at
Fukushima Daiichi

American Nuclear Society Technical Brief – March 2011

Less than 6% is significantly more then 1%, they're being cagey with exactly how much is there in relation to the remainder of the operating core but the fact is there is more than the fraction you mention.

32 assemblies, I don't remember the number of rods per assembly but I'm sure someone else around here has those numbers and can figure how much potential plutonium release we are dealing with.

At the time of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 was operating with 32 mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies and 516 low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel assemblies in its reactor core. In other words, less than 6% of the fuel in the Unit 3 core was MOX fuel. There were no other MOX fuel assemblies (new, in operation or used) at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the time of the accident. - See more at: us.arevablog.com...

reply to post by jadedANDcynical


Peng, that is funny,
look for the Timestamp, even when some People think he is unimportant.

The 1% was wrong in this Context with the total Load!

reply to post by Human0815

And your point being?

You stated as fact that only 1% of the fuel in use was MOX, which is clearly not the case.







Air–Sea Transport, Dispersion, and Fate Modeling in the Vicinity of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant: A Special Conference Session Summary

In the aftermath of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant cooling systems failed. Over the subsequent days, weeks, and months, radionuclides were emitted into the atmosphere and ocean. In the initial days after the catastrophe, the focus of the operational forecast community was on the events at the reactor site, including venting, fires, and explosions that could imperil the surrounding populations. As time went on and the emissions continued at a reduced rate, the community shifted to a more focused campaign to define the source term and accumulate dosage predictions to help interpret the airborne and ground-based monitoring and mapping. Several weeks into the crisis, the controlled and uncontrolled leaks into the coastal ocean became manifest and contaminant prediction for the ocean ramped up.

After this, the slow releases continued as water has been flooded continually for years now, and will have to continue for decades into the future.

Unless some new technology is developed or released from black budget tech research, we are going to be seeing what is happening and has been happening well into our lifetimes.

Regarding MOX and possible releases of Plutonium:

Of 20 samples investigated in this study, 17 did not exceed the detection limit for plutonium. One soil sample was contaminated only by global fallout plutonium with its characteristic isotopic ratio of 240Pu/239Pu < 0.2. However, at least one (A-V) or two (G-V; higher uncertainty) of the vegetation samples showed detectable amounts of reactor derived plutonium (isotopic ratio 240Pu/239Pu > 0.2).

One can assume that the ubiquitous fallout plutonium background masked the minute contribution of Fukushima-derived plutonium in soil, as illustrated by Zheng et al.11 However, given the low mobility and bioavailability of plutonium, one can expect that plant uptake of fallout plutonium will be negligible.

the Source is the highly respected Nature Magazine

I think another Mistake is to think that the 6% MOX Fuel of the Nr.3 Reactor
is pure Plutonium, it is not!

MOX fuel

The term ‘MOX’ is derived from ‘mixed oxides’, and refers to reactor fuel made from a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide. For use in a light water reactor, the proportion of plutonium is about 5%. This is a similar fissile content as low enriched uranium fuel. As is the case with uranium fuel, the MOX is formed into ceramic fuel pellets, which are extremely stable and durable, and which are sealed in metal (usually zirconium) tubes, which in turn are assembled into fuel elements. In most cases about a third of the reactor core can be loaded with MOX fuel elements without engineering or operational modifications to the reactor.

Contrary to suggestions from some commentators, there is nothing unusual in the presence of plutonium in light water reactors. Plutonium is produced during the operation of a reactor. The plutonium content of spent fuel from the normal operation of a light water reactor will be a little less than 1%, usually around 0.8%, when the fuel is unloaded. During the operation of the reactor, plutonium formed in the fuel will contribute an increasing proportion of the overall energy production of the reactor—towards the end of an operating cycle, a substantial proportion of the initial U-235 content of the fuel will have been consumed, and the energy produced by fission of plutonium will be very close to that produced by the remaining uranium.

Use of MOX fuel is expected to significantly reduce plutonium inventories. As an example, the Euratom Supply Agency estimates that the use of a single MOX fuel element consumes 9 kg of plutonium, and avoids the production of a further 5 kg (compared with the use of low enriched uranium fuel). Thus in this example each MOX fuel element used results in a net reduction of 14 kg of plutonium.

Source

Regards

Exposure Dose Evaluation of the Workers at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

We have been evaluating the exposure dose of the workers at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in two categories, internal and external exposure doses.

The evaluation results have been submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in the order of the due dates of announcements.

Today we submitted a report on the exposure dose evaluation as of the end of October 2013 to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

- The number of workers newly engaged in October was 561. The maximum external exposure dose was 15.22mSv, and no significant value was measured for the internal exposure.

- The exposure dose status of the "workers exposed to specially high radiation dose*" is provided separately.

The exposure dose evaluation result as of the end of November will be reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare by the end of December.

* The workers who applied Emergency dose limit (100mSv) shown in "Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards, chapter 7.

" Specifically, it means the workers who engaged in the work to maintain the function that cooling reactor facility or spent fuel tank at the area where the radiation dose exceed 0.1 mSv/h and reactor facility, steam turbine and related facilities and surrounding area in the power plant or the work to maintain the function to control or prevent release of huge amount radioactive material due to trouble or break of reactor facility.

Tepco Pdf

It looks very good and it seams like they have it under control,
the absolute majority of the Working People received less than 1 Milli-Sievert,
only 1% of the Workers accumulated the max. Dosage
for Nuclear Worker under "normal" Conditions! (50 Milli-Sievert)

It looks very good

Also this Week (tomorrow ?) the IAEA-Report will get published.

reply to post by Human0815


In a effort to acknowledge there are at least two sides to a story. Reuters story on workers.
Special Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters

Old story, by

By Antoni Slodkowski and Mari Saito IWAKI Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:45pm EDT

Tetsuya Hayashi went to work there and had some things to say.

He was told he would have to wear an oxygen tank and a double-layer protective suit. Even then, his handlers told him, the radiation would be so high it could burn through his annual exposure limit in just under an hour.

$6- $12/ hour and then they skim that? What a story.

Hundreds of small companies have been given contracts for this decontamination work. Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed in the first half of 2013 had broken labor regulations, according to a labor ministry report in July. The ministry's Fukushima office had received 567 complaints related to working conditions in the decontamination effort in the year to March. It issued 10 warnings. No firm was penalized.

Don't think I could trust the safety reporting, bet you can't even trust the employment records.

Workers for subcontractors in the most-contaminated area outside the plant are supposed to be paid an additional government-funded hazard allowance of about $100 per day, although many report it has not been paid. The work in the plant can also be dangerous. Six workers in October were exposed to radioactive water when one of them detached a pipe connected to a treatment system. In August, 12 workers were irradiated when removing rubble from around one of the reactors. The accidents prompted Japan's nuclear regulator to question whether Tepco has been delegating too much.

Hayashi says he kept copies of his work records and took pictures and videos inside the plant, encouraged by a TV journalist he had met before beginning his assignment. At one point, his boss from RH Kogyo told him not to worry because any radiation he was exposed to would not "build up". "Once you wait a week, the amount of radiation goes down by half," the man is seen telling him in one of the recordings. The former supervisor declined to comment.

After Hayashi's first two-week stint at the plant ended, he discovered his nuclear passbook - a record of radiation exposure - had been falsified to show he had been an employee of larger firms higher up the ladder of contractors, not RH Kogyo.

Seems this story and others would be considered general knowledge, excepted facts?
Then how can TEPCO information on safety standards be of much use?

Hayashi says he kept copies of his work records and took pictures and videos inside the plant, encouraged by a TV journalist he had met before beginning his assignment. At one point, his boss from RH Kogyo told him not to worry because any radiation he was exposed to would not "build up". "Once you wait a week, the amount of radiation goes down by half," the man is seen telling him in one of the recordings. The former supervisor declined to comment.

Seems this story and others would be considered general knowledge, excepted facts?
Then how can TEPCO information on safety standards be of much use?


Yes, I totally agree - expecting Tepco's 'glowing' (pardon the punn) safety records to be remotely accurate is asking for death by ignorance. Those poor workers lied to about risk and ripped off their pay. Would really like to know how each one of their health is today from all their exposure but doubt that information will ever be allowed to surface. They said the place was too hot for robots so how can it possibly be considered 'safe' for people... Yeah, such 'clean' and cost effective energy... give me coal and hydro power any day over this.

(Thanks Jaded and Cynical for that great information, much appreciated).

reply to post by wishes


From the Reuters story:

"Working conditions in the nuclear industry have always been bad," said Saburo Murata, deputy director of Osaka's Hannan Chuo Hospital. "Problems with money, outsourced recruitment, lack of proper health insurance - these have existed for decades." The Fukushima project has magnified those problems. When Japan's parliament approved a bill to fund decontamination work in August 2011, the law did not apply existing rules regulating the construction industry. As a result, contractors working on decontamination have not been required to disclose information on management or undergo any screening.

Employees don't have proper health insurance, so how would you know if there are problems?

reply to post by donlashway


Not everything works well and People who worked on Projects of this Size
know that some People will fall from the Ladder, a few burn,
others get badly sick because of the Noro-Virus
and many will die by Car Accidents on the Road
while they Commute!

Tepco accumulated now already ca. 1.800.000
Working Hours and we pass just the first 1,25%
of the expected Process of Dismantling.

After the first Trouble because of Yakuza Involvement
Tepco needed to screen every single Contract twice
and the Employment Agency must assure that every Company
accept the Rules and take care their Worker.

But bad People exist and i am happy that we don't kill them
because the bad ones are able to change- Dead ones do not.

Japan is not a Communist Country or a Welfare State,
the People here are forced to work when they want to participate
in this (strange) System, this make them vulnerable
but, in my Opinion, this is the same Situation everywhere.

In my Opinion we can trust Tepco regarding the Radioactive Dosages
because significant Differences would be detectable and until now
there is no one coming forward with the proof that they received
much more than declared!

In the old Thread i posted the Regulation regarding this Process
but in the moment i am a bit tired.

reply to post by donlashway


Normally you must have at least a Mini-Health Insurance here
and when you don't participate they will send a Letter of Concern
to your Guarantor (Parents, Wife, Friends or the People who missing
1, 2 or even more pieces of their Finger)

People who work in a Radioactive Environment,
like our "Nuclear Gypsies"
(this is their given Name and when you use this two Words in a Search Engine
you get a good Inside View)
need a special Book, like you already mentioned in your other
Posting, where every single Working Day must get reported,
some People do not because of their Problems but it is up to them
to show this Responsibility!

PS: People in the West also need to understand that "Yakuza"
is something deep integrated in the Japanese Society,
this are not some Drug Dealers "who are standing in front of a School
with a nice Present" or like traveling Shop Lifter but People who made
a mistake once and never re-integrated.
Once you have a bad Record here you are, in a Way, lost!

reply to post by Human0815


Do you have a reference for these claims in previous two posts?

And please explain what this has to do with the topic of radiation exposure to workers and what little benefits and pay they get for all their risk?

PS: People in the West also need to understand that "Yakuza"
is something deep integrated in the Japanese Society,
this are not some Drug Dealers "who are standing in front of a School
with a nice Present" or like traveling Shop Lifter but People who made
a mistake once and never re-integrated.
Once you have a bad Record here you are, in a Way, lost!

You're certainly free to trust Tepco yourself - but to say 'we' should trust Tepco simply does not apply here. There are several examples of their lies, cover-ups and misrepresentations throughout these threads. They have not been honest from Day 1. I and most others here do not believe any of their reports. Their whole purpose and intention is to hide the truth and release 'comforting' numbers so people won't really know what's going on. Honesty among any big industry is extremely rare and to 'Trust in Tepco' is like trusting in the devil himself. No thanks

Keep in mind the following when considering tepco's reported dosage rates:

Off-clock radiation exposure ignored

The officials said the ministry takes the position that in controlling radiation dosage, it makes a distinction between work and personal life because the measures taken to mitigate exposure differ between them.