Radiation Alerts

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Japan PM Naoto Kan survives no-confidence vote | RFI

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday survived a no-confidence vote after pledging to step down once the country is firmly on the road to recovery from the 11 March earthquake and nuclear disaster.

The promise to hand over power to a younger generation mollified internal party rebels who had threatened to bring down Kan, the country's fifth premier in as many years, days before his first anniversary in the job.

The motion, brought by the opposition conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and
two small parties, was defeated by a margin of 152 against 293 after most lawmakers of the centre-left ruling party fell into line behind Kan.

Fukushima update: TEPCO admits radiation leaks will continue for at least three more months, maybe longer

Fukushima update: TEPCO admits radiation leaks will continue for at least three more months, maybe longer: "Fukushima update: TEPCO admits radiation leaks will continue for at least three more months, maybe longer"

(NaturalNews) Thanks to an announcement by TEPCO, we now have a "target date" for addressing the radiation leaks from Fukushima. Believe it or not, TEPCO now says it plans to "reduce" the radiation leaking withinthree months. Notice that there is no admitted goal of "ending" the radiation within three months; justreducingit. So a drop in radiation of one percent would qualify as meeting this goal.

This is basically a blatant admission that the radiation leaks are going to continue way beyond 90 days.

TEPCO also says it now plans to cool the spent fuel rods within nine months. They're now basically shooting for the end of the year to try to make this happen. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/topst...)

So what happens if there's another tsunami between now and the end of the year? Fukushima is basically just FUBAR at that point, it seems. Because another tsunami wave would easily just rip out the spent fuel rods and wash the plutonium back into the ocean, unleashing vast amounts of radiation directly into the environment.

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/032124_Fukushima_radiation_leaks.html#ixzz1OLeNHRvf

Radiation level extremely high in Fukushima — RT

An extremely high radiation level – approximately 4,000 millisieverts per hour – has been detected in the first reactor of the Fukushima nuclear power plant on Saturday.

According to Itar-Tass news agency, the radiation level surge might be caused by a spew of hot steam coming from a damaged pipe in the system; the steam’s temperature reaches 50 degrees Centigrade.

According to the Japanese scientists the normal radiation level emergency crew can be exposed to makes 250 millisieverts per year, and the normal radiation level for a person does not exceed one millisievert per year.

TEPCO representatives were quoted as saying that the data was obtained through a US robot device. At the moment specialists are in the first reactor of the nuclear power plant as the high radiation level aggravates the work of the emergency crew.

Crippled Japan nuclear plant gets tanks for storing radioactive water threatening to overflow - The Washington Post

By Associated Press, Published: June 3 | Updated: Saturday, June 4, 2:42 AM

TOKYO — Tanks for storing radioactive water were on their way Saturday to the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan where reactor cores melted after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

The new tanks should help prevent further environmental damage in the evacuated area around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant by providing a secure place to store the contaminated water being used to cool the reactors as workers continue their battle to bring them under control.