Hell, it's a slow motion disaster, like so many other things.

Y'all don't need some stamp of approval to figure that out, IMO.

I agree, LS. The fact that they won't allow independent asessment may imply something disengenuous, or it may just be their corporate lawyers talking. If a similar situation unfolded in the US, I can absolutely see a similar response happening.

Note that the report I linked above seems to speak mostly about the overall integrity of the entire building housing pool #4. (Which seems sound.) The state of the the pool structure within it is probably what we should be watching.

I need to go read this again...

edit: True, Nanna. The thin reed of hope we all cling to is that at some point the evil brew within will cool to a point below the combustion temperature of its cladding. (If I understand things correctly.)

Until then...

Well, I'm admittedly way OCD, but I must say I'm glad I have about 2 years worth of tuna casserole ingredients on my shelf already, pre-dating radioactive inputs ;)

Crap. Now I'm hungry.

Its good that further studies will be done though somebody other than Tepco should be doing them.

The bulge, if I understand correctly, is in the wall of the building, not the wall of the pool. The pool was reinforced last July, concrete and rebar support added and I presume leaks have been fixed.

I haven't been following as closely as I used to. Has there been reliable information of fuel damage in pool #4? I know there is some rubble in the pool, one of the (many) reasons that emptying the pool will be a long process (not to mention get fuel handling equipment up to the fifth floor of a less than structurally intact building and in a hostile environment........ and those suits are hot in summer). The reports I saw on the pool samples from April 2011 didn't show really high radiation levels (though at the time, pool was having water replaced every two weeks or so). I also ran into a report not long ago from one of the big defense labs (maybe INL) that stated that zirconium cladding on spent fuel is only combustible for six months after defueling. If anybody is interested, let me know, and I'll try to dig it up.

Nuke,
Good to see you still around! Hope business is going well and you're getting rich(er).

http://enenews.com/tepco-email-possible-....

This looks to be ungood.

Tepco Email: Possible re-criticality in Reactor No. 2

Quote:

Google Translate
As “possibly re-criticality in Unit 2, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant” TEPCO employees accused of e-mail
(Asahi Weekly) Yahoo! News
May 30, 2012

Charged with mail marked as “possibly re-criticality in Unit 2, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant” TEPCO employees

That it is of a real convergence in the sense of (Fukuichi) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, you need a fresh start an Needless to say, the dissolution of the Tokyo Electric Power Company. To improve one’s health is ingrained considerable hurdles but will listen. Asahi Weekly got the e-mail was signed secretly inside TEPCO. There is the possibility of a concern in Unit 2 Fukuichi be “the worst” had been spelled.

Wrote, in the technical staff of TEPCO, was sending a long e-mail to some nuclear experts also served as the key positions of the Nuclear Energy Agency of TEPCO employees and colleagues.

E-mail, which wrote about the water level of Unit 2.

TEPCO head office and the press conference to be preoccupied with ambiguous wording, contrary to that assertion tone. In addition, the

Are written as such. Cooling is not going well. On the water, such as some part of the fuel has accumulated, There are a number of conditions can be assumed. E-mail, after contact with all the possibilities, the word of this impact are lined up.

And the possibility of re-criticality is that he can not be denied. The place to point out once again, you’re writing this email, but technical employees of TEPCO. Evidence until now, TEPCO has issued a warning about the dangers However, there is no such.

* Weekly Asahi June 8, 2012 No.

Quote:

"It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on No.4 reactor." - Mitsuhei Murata, Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland and Senegal, Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics

This guy is really the Ultimate Doomer.

He's giving a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Cost $35.00.

Anybody gonna' be there?

Quote:

" What's Happening To Reactor 4?", by Mitsuhei Murata
Time: 2012 Jun 05 12:00 - 13:30
Summary:

PROFESSIONAL LUNCHEON
Mitsuhei Murata,
Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
Yurakucho Denki North Building 20F
Yurakucho 1-7-1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0006

http://www.naturalnews.com/035789_Fukush....

http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7487

http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/map

Released about 10 days ago, from WHO, preliminary estimates of global radiation doses from the accident at Fukushima 3/11/11. It's 124 pages, part 1 of a two-part study. Data sources, methodology, references, etc. all included. I recall them being on the ground in Japan and Fuskushima prefecture in the first month after the accident collecting data in various locations (seems like it was last week of March, though they may have returned for further data later). The second part, on health risk assessment from accident to be released in a couple months or so.

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/20....

The Japanese government has already issued their anger over the report, stating the numbers are overstated.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaste....

Landshark,
Are you sure that the emails they are referring to (re-criticality in unit #2) are not ones from the first few days after the accident? There were emails written and concerns expressed back then about unit 2 going re-critical, the day or day after explosion in suppression chamber, Mar 15 maybe(?). The translation is not good and it refers to the basis of concerns being that the fuel is uncovered, water level measuring 60 cm in PCV. The fuel has long been assumed to be uncovered in #2, it being the primary source of the contaminated water leakage (and #1-#3 were all uncovered the first week, hence the fuel damage). Here is the version of article I found, not sure if its the same link as yours or not.

http://enenews.com/tepco-email-possible-....

I haven't seen anything else written about this in any of Japan's newspapers or any other country. I get a daily news feed which has a pretty comprehensive list of all the articles published every day, probably about 20 from Japan each day, sometimes more.

Fukushima resident ‘Numayu’ has new website detailing health problems — Previous blog was shut down (PHOTOS)

http://enenews.com/fukushima-resident-nu....

Murata report from June 5 speech.

Quote:

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Number 4 reactor presents a security problem for the entire world, Mitsuhei Murata, Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland said.

Fukushima Daiichi plants are “not under control at all…

http://www.setyoufreenews.com/2012/06/07....

Edit: I don't know how they can predict a 90% chance of a big earthquake within 3 years.

Quote:

Warning of the acute danger of Unit 4. at Fukushima Daiichi, Murata said that recent revised estimates by the Japanese government found that the probability of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Fukushima within the next three years is 90%.

Grody: Simple statistics after a big quake like that. They haven't seen any really big aftershocks yet - and they will.

[Edit: There have been ungodly amounts of 5's, quite a few low 6's and a couple of high 6's. Expectation over the next few years will be at least 2-3 in the 7.0-7.5 range, possibly high 7's.]

Could be Asi.

Then if 2013 is the goal, they have either a 1/3 or a 1/6 chance of an eathquake hitting first.

Quote:

Recently, people have expressed concerns about Unit 4’s spent fuel pool which stores more than 1500 rods. The unit would be too fragile to withstand an M7-class earthquake....The Japanese government also thinks that the Unit 4 problem is critical, and are planning to move many of the rods from the pool in 2013.

Or, apparently, a 1/3 to 1/6 chance of ending human civilization, according to Murata.

Quote:

if we don't solve the problem of Fukushima reactor No. 4, which is on the verge of a catastrophic failure that could unleash enough radiation to end human civilization on our planet.

That's difficult for me to believe but .

http://www.naturalnews.com/035789_Fukush....

It's difficult to believe because it's bull****.

Right.

Hopefully this is exaggerated but I think Nuke has been sounding the alarm too.

He wouldn't be buying South American property otherwise.

Being leery about what might happen is one thing, claiming it's going to END HUMAN CIVILIZATION is another, quite different thing.

Yep.

I'm simply quoting Mr. Murata.

If he is spouting hysterical nonsense, the Foreign Correspondents of Japan (probably a pretty cynical bunch) should not have invited him to speak, or at least should have presented a different point of view, too.

Like I said, I .

"End all human life on earth" = horse****.

"****s up large parts of Japan in hideous ways, maybe very large parts" = quite possible.

But less likely with each passing day, as the decay heat is dissipated.

That makes more sense to me.

If multiple Hydrogen bomb explosions in the 1950's didn't do it, I doubt a nuclear reactor meltdown could either.

Grody: Well, that's not really a fair comparison for a number of reasons. Primary being that the quantity of fuel in a reactor (much less one of those spent fuel pools) is many magnitudes bigger than what's used in a bomb.

However, the methods of dispersal and are quite different.

Keep this in mind: People moved back into hiroshima and nagasaki pretty much right away and while it certainly wasn't healthy, it wasn't bad enough to make them leave. People won't live near fukushima for centuries.

Cesium 134/137 found in Hachijo jima 494 km from Fukushima

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/06/cesiu....

I know, not a trustworthy source, but worth reading and watching the videos.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/201....

I found this comment by former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland Misuhei Murata an all encompassing definition of how Japanese Government and industry deal with crisis:

Quote:

"I call it the sickness of Japan"

"First We Hide, Then We Postpone, Then We Assume No Responsibility"

Further, in referring to how Tepco and the Japanese Government deal with the spent fuel pool #4, he says:

Quote:

Tepco and the Government of Japan not only lacks the ability but the intention... [to deal with the imminent danger of the SFP 4]

I believe, from how this whole thing has transpired from day one, that he is spot-on in his well qualified belief.

http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-expert-.... Starts at 7:00 into the clip.

Also within the same clip, a commentary by an investigative journalist who went undercover into the reactor site and secretly videographed with a specially designed wristwatch. Upshot: workers there confided that the reinforcement structure under fuel pool #4 is, in their words 'jury-rigged' leaving much doubt to it's capacity to withstand another major earthquake.

Upon restarting of the Ooi reactors there was an aborting sequence and alarms caused by, get this, none other than: Failure of adequate reactor cooling caused by unstable electrical cables:

Quote:

The central control room for the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture registered two alarms indicating trouble with electric power cables between late Saturday and early Sunday, but no glitches were found, according to the plant’s operator, Kansai Electric Power Co.

http://enenews.com/more-trouble-at-japan....

The utility said the alarm system error is believed to have been caused as a radio signal, which monitors the connection conditions of the cables, was temporarily interrupted due to an unstable atmosphere.

Given the track record of the industry, Tepco and the Government, the people of Japan are rightly p*ssed off and don't believe the trite dismissive explanation provided by Kansai Electric Power Co. (see previous posting).

Hearing that news was enough for the Japanese citizenry, who, largely ignored by the world press, exploded into a rare collective anger at the Government and Tepco manifesting in the following unprecedented mass demonstration at the Prime Ministers residence in Tokyo. The crowd chanting repeatedly, roughly; 'The Government Is Crazy (gone crazy).'

NOTE: This Youtuber specifically is asking that this information gets out.


English Narration