The Great Fukashima Coverup
Since the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan a few months ago information has been at best misleading and at worst out right lies. We don’t hear about it the US media or in fact the media of most western media or in Japan. It’s not only still going on it’s actually getting worse. We were told from the beginning that it was the tsunami that knocked out the power to the cooling systems but was it?
Throughout the months of lies and misinformation, one story has stuck: it was the earthquake that knocked out the plant’s electric power, halting cooling to its six reactors. The tsunami then washed out the plant’s back-up generators 40 minutes later, shutting down all cooling and starting the chain of events that would cause the world’s first triple meltdown.
But what if recirculation pipes and cooling pipes burst after the earthquake – before the tidal wave reached the facilities; before the electricity went out? This would surprise few people familiar with the 40-year-old reactor one, the grandfather of the nuclear reactors still operating in Japan.
Problems with the fractured, deteriorating, poorly repaired pipes and the cooling system had been pointed out for years. In September 2002, Tepco admitted covering up data about cracks in critical circulation pipes. In their analysis of the cover-up, The Citizen’s Nuclear Information Centre writes: “The records that were covered up had to do with cracks in parts of the reactor known as recirculation pipes. These pipes are there to siphon off heat from the reactor. If these pipes were to fracture, it would result in a serious accident in which coolant leaks out.”
…….
The Independent has spoken to several workers at the plant who recite the same story: serious damage, to piping and at least one of the reactors, occurred before the tsunami hit. All have requested anonymity because they are still working at or connected with the stricken plant. Worker A, a maintenance engineer who was at the Fukushima complex on the day of the disaster, recalls hissing, leaking pipes.
“I personally saw pipes that had come apart and I assume that there were many more that had been broken throughout the plant. There’s no doubt that the earthquake did a lot of damage inside the plant… I also saw that part of the wall of the turbine building for reactor one had come away. That crack might have affected the reactor.”
We were all assured that not meltdown had occurred. Of course it turned out that at least partial meltdowns had occurred in three of the reactors. The good news is that radiation has been declining in the reactor number 1 building. The bad news is that large cracks belching radioactive steam are forming around the building. It is so radioactive that it is beyond the range of measurement instruments.
The China Syndrome – another thing they have told us couldn’t possibly happen.
15 Responses to “The Great Fukashima Coverup”
Ron,
Tsunamis are seismic sea waves,, which have nothing to do with the tides.
Even more silly than Chernobyl references are those to that movie, “The China Syndrome.” Hartmann is anti-nuclear crankish (as he can be about other things, but it’s notable when it comes to anti-nuclear irrational sentiments).
Who said anything about tides. They are not about tides but they are also not seismic sea waves – that’s sonar. They are the result of underwater disturbances – earth quakes or landslides.
“the tidal wave [sic] reached the facilities”
A tsunami is a seismic sea wave..
A seismic sea wave is a wave created by seismic events. (Guess what those are, sir.)
Once the nuclear material has melted together, there nothing much that can be done. It will just burn through the earth until it reaches ground water then release radio active steam into the atmosphere. Completely uncontrollable. The China syndrome. That’s why there is no media.
No media on the tsunami damage clean up either. Probably rather brutal.
One thing is good though, George W Bush is not in charge in Japan. So things could be worse. Like New Orleans 2005.
DLS
The word tsunami did not come into common use in the US until the late 70s or early 80s. I first heard the term in college Geology class in the mid 60′s. The term that was used instead was tidal wave and that was term used on coastal warning signs until the late 70s and initially tidal wave appeared in parenthesis after tsunami. Many people 60 and above still use tidal wave.
Fine, Ron, but most of us have long known that tsunami aren’t “tidal” [sic] waves, and there’s no need to perpetuate that old misunderstanding (mis-description, actually).
As for the Fukushima disaster, let us hope we learn from it, since we will continue to have nuclear power, and likely increase use of it once we come to our senses and are forced to find a clean-air boost to generating capacity.
Allen (WTF):
Care to cite a link to back up this fantasy. Just how far will a meltdown burn into the soil? I don’t recall any stories about a massive meltdown causing the core to “melt” into a low water table.
And in that fantasy, China is not antipodal to the United States, to assist the geographically-challenged. And why would something burning through the earth by gravity, resisted all the way, be able to rise to ground level at the antipodal point or wherever it otherwise would emerge…oh, the hell with it, enough wasted on the fantasy.
In fact, Rudi, about the only thing not done with Western nuclear power plants is what Edward Teller and Andrei Sakharov learned they both thought and agreed: for extra safety, put reactors underground.
DLS I did a little searching and Allen isn’t completely crazed. A complete meltdown would generate enough heat to melt soil. Only problem is that when the molten core reaches the ground water table the water is instantaneously turned to steam, the results would be one big messy explosion. Most problem to water tables are waste and runoff.
http://www.groundwatergo.com/blog/nuclear-disasters-and-groundwater/
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/03/24/world/asia/24japan-grx.html?ref=asia
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business-tech/science/110315/nuclear-expert-fukushima-iodine
Did the meltdown result in a radioactive plasma boring into the soil – NO. Is Japanese ground water contaminated from the mishap – YES for maybe 300 years.
I am constantly amazed on this site how we have so many experts. I spent years with thermodynamics, closed reaction vessel theory, fluid dynamics and a host of other college courses. I have over 15 years of engineering consulting with the paper and chemical industry and when it comes to the nuclear power industry, I am lost as a goose. Systems, subsystems, closed loops, segregated electronics,,, it makes my head hurt. One of my close friends IS a nuclear engineer working in an active nuclear power plant and he admits, there are parts of the process they can not model in failure.
It is my belief nuclear power has to be a part of our energy future. It should be discussed in public but, hysteria and opinions not based in science have no place in the discussion. This is one of those subjects which should never have a political component and any company (like the Tokyo power company) who is found to be lying, sugarcoating, or otherwise misrepresenting facts should never be able to participate in nuclear power again.
Thanks for the well balanced article Ron.
More good points raised. D.R., one issue I’ve seen has been the unnecessary or excessive complexity of the facilities and how newer designs are simpler and have passive vs. active safety features, etc. (I have extended the preference for simplicity to much else and believe it is a good approach to much.)
I was certain from day one this would be unsolvable. The separation of hydrogen and oxygen? Steam coming up from cracks? A possible giant underground explosion? What if Japan has to be evacuated? Where will those people go? My biggest wonder at this point is what happens when the workers get sick and the other 20+ reactors are suddenly left to be abandoned forever. Its amazing how even MSNBC (Maddow) is ignoring the peril. There should be updates four times a day on what is happening there – but instead we almost accidentally trip over these rare reports. How bad can this get? Extinction?
To D.R. WELCH: “It is my belief nuclear power has to be a part of our energy future. It should be discussed in public but, hysteria and opinions not based in science have no place in the discussion.”
Sir, there is no way to be certain that future generations will be able to handle these materials. There is just too much of it and it’s everywhere now. Take a bird’s eye view of this as if you could see 400 years into the future – “They left us this giant mess just so they could boil water?” It really is time to stop and explore magnetic, turbine, solar, hydrogen and all the other energy alternatives. Nuclear meltdowns, oil disasters, mountains being removed for coal – There just has to be a simpler, safer and cheaper solution that allows us to limit damage to our future generations.
Rudi, if the core has not melted to groundwater already, then why do you think those cracks have formed in the first place, and where do you think that radioactive steam is coming from? Just leaving a few links, an then YELLING has not convinced me of anything.