Cesium from Fukushima plant fell all over Japan (3rd highest: Shinjuku, Tokyo)

Radioactive substances from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have now been confirmed in all prefectures, including Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, about 1,700 kilometers from the plant, according to the science ministry.

The ministry said it concluded the radioactive substances came from the stricken nuclear plant because, in all cases, they contained cesium-134, which has short half-life of two years.

Before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, radioactive substance were barely detectable in most areas.

But the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's survey results released on Nov. 25 showed that fallout from the Fukushima plant has spread across Japan. The survey covered the cumulative densities of radioactive substances in dust that fell into receptacles during the four months from March through June.

Figures were not available for Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where the measurement equipment was rendered inoperable by the March 11 disaster.

The highest combined cumulative density of radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137 was found in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, at 40,801 becquerels per square meter. That was followed by 22,570 becquerels per square meter in Yamagata, the capital of Yamagata Prefecture, and 17,354 becquerels per square meter in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.

According to international scientists investigating Fukushima,sensors detected the release of radiation after the earthquake and before the tsunami hit. Some workers said that they believed some pipes burst - the working theory is that coolant pipes burst during the earthquake.
TEPCO and the government were warned about placement of backup generators, placement of fuel tanks for back up generators, placing a nuke plant on a seismically active area that could experience (was predicted by a scientist - recent article in Bloomberg) a massive earthquake followed by tsunami etc. The public can’t over rule the incompetence and bad management decisions made by TEPCO and the government supporters. Until the public is allowed to participate in management/placement decisions, it doesn’t matter how much additional back up juice power plants are given.

...and it was still working as planned- until the batteries ran out.

If they had a weeks supply of battery power these people would have been heroes. Although the batteries were the last line of defense, no one thought about the tim it might take to get a backup deisel generator - and only planned for 6 hours of power
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Your assertions that all would be well if only backup power had not run out are false. However, I wonder if you are aware that japan declined to request foreign nations send them backup generators and power? The designer of one of the reactors (it was designed in San Jose, CA) said just days after 3/11 that he was horrified that japan did not request back up generators or fuel and declined offers of aid from foreign nations.

You said
“The nuke plants are vary safe-it is the people who are stuipd.”

Well nuke plants aren’t safe - that’s why no commercial ensurer can afford to ensure them and why the government is the insurer - and the reason why the governments then deny liability (they can’t afford the damage caused by even one nuke plant).
“It is the people who are stupid” is correct only in that it is the incompetents in the nuke industry who are stupid, make stupid decisions and then blame everyone but themselves for their own actions.

Look, this issue is pretty simple. A much worse accident happened in Chernobyl 25 years ago. The radiation scattered all around eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The consequences on population or land can be observed right now. That is a fact.

Other facts are the measurements on radiation, which I have published:

TEPCO reports on detection of Cesium, Xenon, Plutonium, Strontium at Fukushima Daiichi

In both previous nuclear accidents on commercial reactors, TMI and Chernobyl, the melted fuel was cooled in the lower vessel plenum (TMI) or solidified soon after escaping the reactor (Chernobyl). Those are facts.

If TEPCO needs to decrease the rate of cooling since hydrogen is building up in the reactor, that is a sign that their efforts have been succesful in cooling them and the rate of generation of steam is too low to push the hydrogen out of the reactor pressure vessel.

Science is the pursuit of the truth. However, who needs the truth when it has gotten an agenda?

J Aguilar said: Look, this issue is pretty simple.

Ransomnote said: Yes it is - why are you lying about it? You said in post 35 “All these, and much worse, things already happened in Chernobyl 25 years ago, and no damage has been observed in the following generations.” This is a lie documented by hundreds of medical studies and the testimony of those who were there- you have no excuse for lying this way since you claim to be knowledgeable. Don’t you ‘get’ that your obvious lies destroy your credibility?

Why do you bother to say that Chernobyl was much worse? Does Russian nuclear industry incompetence and mismanagement somehow excuse Japanese nuclear industry incompetence and mismanagement in your mind?

Hard to say which disaster is worse when Fukukshima is just getting started with no end in sight. Chernobyl was one destroyed reactor that the Ruskies raced to contain at the expense of many human lives. Throwing humans into highly radioactive areas like firelogs - they dug below the molten fuel and installed a slab to halt the progress of the corium. The corium stalled out on that slab. They threw lives away to stop it from reaching the water table that supplies the Soviet Union and Europe. Chernobyl still emits toxic radiation and some scientists believe that pits in the ‘elephant foot’ can admit water resulting in an explosion. Also - their containment structure is about to collapse and vent mass quantities of radioactive material into the environment. And of course, the radioactive waste coating the countryside is still intact - and no one knows how to decontaminate it. New cases of cancer, leukemia, birth defects and endless diseases continue to form everyday from that 25 year old catastrophe.

Now Fukushima is actually 3 destroyed reactors (compared with Chernobyl’s 1) and all those damaged spent fuel pools. In an article in Veterans Today, a scientist makes the persuasive point that Fukushima has 30 times the fuel in play compared with Chernobyl. All those damaged spent fuel pools to tend continuously and we have to hope none of them fails in a seismic event (the area is riddled with faults) or the reactors don’t make the area unapproachable because then, humans couldn’t keep water in the pools and all that fuel would over heat and be vented into the environment. There’s simply no precedent for that scale of disaster. Furthermore, the Japanese have no plans to contain the corium as it burrows its way toward the water table. The Japanese aren’t willing to admit it’s even there and so - they simply ‘hope’ it doesn’t explode or contaminate the water table. No one knows how to contain corium so, for the foreseeable future, Fukushima will continue to pump radioactive waste freely into the environment (Cross our fingers it doesn’t explode!)

Your ‘facts’ are false - just like your earlier assertion way back in April that the reason radioactive waste was found outside the 30km zone was deposition by rain which would ‘wash it away.’ Your assertion that ‘well Chernobyl was worse!’ is bizarre and pointless. You have no credibility to opine or ‘publish’ anything of value.

That's right, they need steam so they have to raise the temperature and let the corium boil some water. Science is pretty interesting indeed.

It is not science. It is a bunch of BS that you eat with no question. If the reactors were unstable at the lower temperatures and there was a risk of explosion, how will that be different the next time they lower the temperature ?

This is what I believe is actually happening. The RPV is more or less acting as a pressure release valve now on a hydrogen pressure cooker. There is no way that cold shutdown can be achieved or will be achieved within the next few years.

TEPCO/JapaneseGovernment needs to promise the Japanese people one thing, if an RPV explodes now, mandatory evacuations will immediately occur along with Iodide tablet distribution. In fact, definitive evacuation plans required by law should be now put in place and iodide tablets should be pre-distributed.

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