Saturday, July 23, 2011

7/22/2011 Inside the Innards of a Nuclear Reactor: Tiny Robots May Monitor Underground Pipes for Radioactive Leaks

Source: Science Daily
Date: 7/22/2011

A spherical robot equipped with a camera may navigate underground pipes of a nuclear reactor by propelling itself with an internal network of valves and pumps. (Credit: Harry Asada/d'Arbeloff Laboratory)

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2011) — As workers continue to grapple with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in Japan, the crisis has shone a spotlight on nuclear reactors around the world. In June, The Associated Press released results from a yearlong investigation, revealing evidence of "unrelenting wear" in many of the oldest-running facilities in the United States.

That study found that three-quarters of the country's nuclear reactor sites have leaked radioactive tritium from buried piping that transports water to cool reactor vessels, often contaminating groundwater. According to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the industry has limited methods to monitor underground pipes for leaks.

"We have 104 reactors in this country," says Harry Asada, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of MIT's d'Arbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems and Technology. "Fifty-two of them are 30 years or older, and we need immediate solutions to assure the safe operations of these reactors."

Asada says one of the major challenges for safety inspectors is identifying corrosion in a reactor's underground pipes. Currently, plant inspectors use indirect methods to monitor buried piping: generating a voltage gradient to identify areas where pipe coatings may have corroded, and using ultrasonic waves to screen lengths of pipe for cracks. The only direct monitoring requires digging out the pipes and visually inspecting them -- a costly and time-intensive operation.

Now Asada and his colleagues at the d'Arbeloff Laboratory are working on a direct monitoring alternative: small, egg-sized robots designed to dive into nuclear reactors and swim through underground pipes, checking for signs of corrosion. The underwater patrollers, equipped with cameras, are able to withstand a reactor's extreme, radioactive environment, transmitting images in real-time from within.

The group presented details of its latest prototype at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
...
Read full article here

7/21/2011 A pro diver who survived tsunami passes on his lessons

Source: Asahi Shimbun
Date: 7/21/2011
by: By YUMI NAKAYAMA
Jun Abe, a professional diver who survived the March 11 tsunami, discusses his experiences with sketches he drew in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Hanging in the background is a diving suit he donned when he was drifting in the tsunami. (Kenta Sujino)
Jun Abe, a professional diver who survived the March 11 tsunami, discusses his experiences with sketches he drew in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Hanging in the background is a diving suit he donned when he was drifting in the tsunami. (Kenta Sujino)
A professional diver who survived the horrendous tsunami after drifting for 7 kilometers on top of a floorboard from his office along with his wife shared his sketches and his experiences with college students in Tokyo, in what he hopes could save their lives someday.
...
Read full story here

Jun Abe, a professional diver who survived the March 11 tsunami, discusses his experiences with sketches he drew in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Hanging in the background is a diving suit he donned when he was drifting in the tsunami. (Kenta Sujino)
A sketch by Jun Abe shows how he tried to drag himself on to the floorboard after being thrown into the water in the March 11 quake and tsunami. Only a floorboard of his office in Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture remained when the drifting structure smashed into a bridge, shearing off the building's roof and walls. His wife, Shimako, was also aboard the board, boosting his spirits. (Sketch provided by Jun Abe)
Jun Abe, a professional diver who survived the March 11 tsunami, discusses his experiences with sketches he drew in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Hanging in the background is a diving suit he donned when he was drifting in the tsunami. (Kenta Sujino)
Jun Abe tries to grab the hand of his wife, Shimako, who was in their house about 30 meters from his office when it, swept by the tsunami, came alongside his office building. (Sketch provided by Jun Abe)

7/23/2011 Contrary to power company figures, cost of nuclear power generation highest: research

Source: The Mainichi Daily News
Date: 7/23/2011

Utility companies across the country continue to tout the low cost of nuclear energy on their websites.

Tohoku Electric Power Co. boasts nuclear power's economic efficiency, while Hokkaido Electric Power Co (HEPCO) the stability of its cost. Each site comes with bar graphs indicating the cost of generating power through various power sources, and the figures are exactly the same regardless of the utility. For every kilowatt-hour of power generated, hydroelectricity is listed as costing 11. 9 yen, petroleum 10.7 yen, liquefied natural gas 6.2 yen, coal 5.7 yen, and nuclear 5.3 yen.

In a section of its website responding to questions sent in by elementary school children, Chubu Electric Power Co. informs us that nuclear power "is the cheapest." The media, including the Mainichi, have often cited the information provided to us by power companies.

However, Kenichi Oshima, a professor of environmental economics and policy at Ritsumeikan University, has done some calculations and has reached a completely difference conclusion. Oshima says that the cost for a kilowatt-hour of electrical power between fiscal 1970 and fiscal 2007 was 10.68 yen for nuclear, 3.98 yen for hydroelectric, and 9.9 yen for thermal generation, with nuclear-generated power coming out as the most expensive. These calculations were even presented at a meeting of the government's Atomic Energy Commission last September. So how does one explain these two different conclusions?
...
Read full article here

7/22/2011 Japan nuclear scare triggers run for radiation checks

Source: Reuters
Date: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:30am EDT
by: Kiyoshi Takenaka

(Reuters) - Japanese private research labs with radiation testing gear have been flooded with orders for checks on food and soil samples after shipments of contaminated beef deepened public anxiety over radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
...
Read full article here

7/22/2011 Japan Utilities Push to Extend Life of Nuclear Plants

Source: Reuters via Scientific American
Date: 7/22/2011
by: Kaori Kaneko and Osamu Tsukimori

Two Japanese utilities moved on Friday to extend the life of reactors at a pair of central coastal nuclear plants, fuelling already fierce debate over energy policy in the wake of the Fukushima radiation crisis.
...
Read full article here

7/23/2011 Strong earthquake hits Iwate

Source: NHK World
Date: July 23, 2011 13:52 +0900 (JST)


A strong earthquake hit Iwate Prefecture on Saturday afternoon.

The quake had a magnitude of 6.5, with the focus estimated to be in waters off Miyagi Prefecture.

It registered an intensity of 5-plus on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7.

There is no fear of tsunami.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says the quake had no effect on operations of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Editor's Note: USGS report

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

ShareThis

Radiation News Archive

Older Radiation News

DateSourceHeadline
4/29/2011Japan TimesTepco, and state, responsible: Kan No player exempt from nuclear crisis redress burden, as government promoted atomic power
4/29/2011Japan TimesTohoku bullet trains fully resume
4/29/201109:15 -0400Zero HedgeTEPCO Releases Video Of Spent Fuel Rod Pool At Reactor 4
4/29/2011 06:59AM JSTJapan TodayMitsubishi Heavy develops forklift with radiation-proof cabin
4/29/2011 06:14AM JSTJapan TodayJapan to launch nuclear accident investigation panel in mid-May: Kan
4/28/2011Truth Frequency NewsUS Government Takes Down HAARP Website to Conceal Evidence of US Weather Modification and Earthquake Inducing Warfare
4/28/2011Russia TodayVIDEO: Fukushima - gross miscarriage of radiation science
4/28/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: A Rare Ground-Level Video Footage
4/28/2011IAEA.orgFukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log
4/28/2011NIKKEI.comJapan Nuclear Operator Postpones Plan To Flood Reactor Vessel
4/28/2011EX-SKF BlogChubu Electric Wants to Restart Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant in July
4/28/2011Washington's BlogStorms Knock Out 3 Nuclear Reactors in Alabama ... No Leak, But a Reminder of Nuclear Vulnerability
4/28/2011Kyodo NewsFOCUS: Chinese journalists change image of Japan after covering March disaster
4/28/2011 11:33AM EDTReutersJapanese to mark long holiday with volunteer work, not travel
4/28/2011The Japan TimesTepco woman took three times radiation limit
4/28/2011The Japan TimesFukushima city removing schools' topsoil
4/27/2011 03:50 PM JSTJapan TodayBig tank may be put under nuclear plant to store tainted water
4/27/2011Prisonplanet.comEyewitness in Illinois Reports High Radiation Levels on Forsythia Bush
4/26/2011Fairewinds AssociatesVIDEO: Gundersen Postulates Unit 3 Explosion May Have Been Prompt Criticality in Fuel Pool
4/26/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Contamination Map (Survey Map) by TEPCO
4/26/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool May Be Leaking
4/26/2011Washington's BlogIs a Rogue Computer Virus Shutting Down Nuclear Plants Worldwide?
4/25/2011Washington's BlogSomething Odd Is Happening at Reactor Number 4
4/24/2011 03:20 PM JSTJapan TodayVets to enter evacuation zone to deal with abandoned animals
4/24/2011 02:21 PM JSTJapan TodayGov't to launch massive 2-day search for quake bodies
4/24/2011 06:20 AM JSTJapan TodayWorkers locked in battle at nuclear plant; exposure to radiation rising
4/23/2011Japan TodayIs U.S. military relief effort Operation Tomodachi really about friendship?
4/23/2011ReutersChina, S. Korea rebuff Japan on import restrictions after quake
4/23/2011Lewis Whitefield HixsonHi-res photographic proof reactor core exploded at unit 3
4/23/2011Propheticseer.comVIDEO: Radioactive America! What the Mainstream media is NOT TELLING YOU!
4/23/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: "Radiation Contamination Map" of the Plant Exists, But TEPCO Hasn't Released It to Public
4/23/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Control Over the Independent Press Getting Tighter
4/23/2011EX-SKF Blog#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Unintended "Water Entombment" of Reactor 1
4/22/2011ReutersJapan earmarks first $50 billion for post-quake rebuild
4/22/2011PressTVJapan's radiation 20,000 times limit
4/22/2011Next Big FutureChina’s nuclear plans could resume by August
4/22/2011 10:06 AM JSTJapan TodayGov't seals off no-go zone around nuclear plant
4/22/2011 07:00 AM JSTJapan TodayAomori business groups ask TEPCO, others to resume building nuclear plants
4/21/2011BloombergTepco to Build Wall for Nuclear Plant After Fukushima Disaster
4/21/2011BloombergTepco Must End ‘Whack-a-Mole,’ Cover Fukushima Reactors as Typhoons Loom
4/21/2011Lucas Whitefield HixsonEPA RADnet Reports Show Plutonium in US since March 18th
4/21/2011The Intel HubDr. Steven Wing And Arnie Gundersen Discuss Global Radiation Exposure and Consequences
4/21/2011Alexander Higgins BlogJapan Nuclear Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 20 US Cities
4/21/2011Scientific AmericanThe Japan nuclear crisis at Fukushima: A video summary
4/21/2011Wired ScienceOp-Ed: Psychiatric Disorder Could Complicate Japan Quake Recovery
4/21/2011Washington's Blog"The Risk of a Nuclear Catastrophe ... Could Total Trillions of Dollars and Even BANKRUPT A COUNTRY"
4/21/2011The Japan TimesKan to make 20-km no-entry zone binding Holdout households face ouster; some evacuees may get short visits
4/21/2011Japan TodayCo-op sells banned spinach to consumers in eastern Japan
4/21/2011The Japan TimesCarrier returns to Yokosuka as concerns ease
4/21/2011Japan TodayToshiba's U.S. partner withdraws from Texas nuclear power project
4/21/2011The Japan Times21 mini FM stations helping survivors
4/21/2011Washington's BlogIt's Not Just Alternative Energy Versus Fossil Fuels or Nuclear - Energy Has to Become DECENTRALIZED
4/20/2011ZeroHedgeTEPCO Releases First Robot-Captured Video From Inside Reactors 2 And 3
4/20/2011The Japan TimesPneumonia cases rise in Tohoku
4/19/2011 09:46 PMENENEWSJUST IN: Unpublished radiation forecast showed much larger Cesium-137 cloud over North America (VIDEO)
4/20/2011 09:40 AM JSTJapan TodayNuclear plant workers at risk of depression, death from overwork: doctor
4/20/2011 07:15 AM JSTJapan TodayGov't may hike power charges to help cover damages payments
4/20/2011 07:10 AM JSTJapan TodayTsukuba demanded evacuees show radiation certificates
4/20/2011 (Kyodo Time)Japan TimesPowder to remove radiation developed
4/19/2011CRYPTOMEFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 10
4/19/2011Washington's BlogFDA Refuses to Test Fish for Radioactivity ... Government Pretends Radioactive Fish Is Safe
4/19/2011NHK World (English)TEPCO to check if plutonium leaked to seabed
4/19/2011BloombergAreva to Deliver Water-Treatment Unit to Tepco's Crippled Fukushima Plant
4/19/2011NHK World (English)Death toll in Japan disaster exceeds 14,000
4/19/2011Japan TodayTEPCO starts moving highly radioactive water to storage facility
4/19/2011ReutersWRAPUP 1-With much at stake, Japan voices confidence in US debt after S&P move
4/19/2011BloombergTepco Robots Find High Radiation Levels in Reactor Buildings
4/18/2011Associated PressRadiation near Japan reactors too high for workers
4/18/2011ReutersJapan "eyes sales tax rise" to pay for post-quake rebuild
4/18/2011The Intel HubUS Nuclear Plant Without Power After Being Hit By Tornado
4/18/2011Washington's BlogNuclear Overseers Are "Fake" Agencies Funded and Controlled by the Nuclear Power Industry
4/16/2011BloombergNoda Says Quake, Tsunami Reconstruction Will Help Japan's Economy Recover
4/16/2011Truth Frequency News(VIDEO) What the Japan Earthquake Sounded Like Under the Water
4/15/2011ReutersCalls grow for Japan PM to quit in wake of quake
4/15/2011Japan TodayTEPCO to pay Y1 mil in provisional damages to 50,000 households
4/15/2011Global Security NewswireJapan Plant Fuel Melted Partway Through Reactors: Report
4/15/2011The Intel HubDr. Mark Sircus: Running For Our Lives
4/15/2011Scientific AmericanDose Detectives: Device Analyzes Radiation Exposure through Teeth and Nails [Slide Show]
4/14/2011Washington's BlogU.S. Providing Inadequate Radiation Readings to the Public
4/14/2011Washington's BlogWhat Foods Are Highest in Antioxidants? Some Inexpensive Foods Are Higher In Antioxidants than the Newest Pricey "Superfoods"
4/14/2011Associated PressJapanese risk radiation to rescue stranded dogs
4/14/2011Truth Frequency News(VIDEO) 400,000 to develop cancer in 200 km radius of Fukushima
4/14/2011Press TVJapan hit by more nuclear crisis
4/14/2011Japan TodayWorkers struggle to remove highly toxic water at nuclear plant
4/14/2011The American DreamMuch Of Northern Japan Uninhabitable Due To Nuclear Radiation?
4/14/2011Sofia News AgencyJapan Mulls to Move Capital over Disaster Worries
4/13/2011Fairewinds AssociatesFukushima Accident Severity Level Raised to '7': Gundersen Discusses Lack of US Radiation Monitoring Data
4/13/2011The Intel HubRecord Levels of Fukushima Japan Nuclear Radiation Detected In Pacific Ocean Will Be Carried Toward US
4/13/2011Zero HedgeTEPCO Confirms Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Is Now An Uncontrolled, Open Air Fission Process
4/13/2011Washington's BlogNo, Japan's Nuclear Reactors Are Not "Stable"
4/12/2011Washington's BlogA U.S. Nuclear Accident Could Be a Lot Worse than Japan
4/12/2011 (4/13/2011 Kyodo)Kyodo NewsWorkers start removing toxic water in level 7-rated nuke crisis
4/12/2011PrisonPlanet.comFukushima Introduces Deadly Strontium Into Environment
4/12/2011Zero HedgeFukushima Vs Chernobyl - Compare And Contrast
4/12/2011 11:16pm EDTReutersTEPCO wary of Fukushima radiation leak exceeding Chernobyl
4/11/2011CRYPTOMEFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 6
4/11/2011Russia TodayRadioactive Japanese cars detained in Russia’s Far East
4/11/2011 3:50 PMEnergy NewsJapan raises Fukushima to Level 7, same as Chernobyl
4/11/2011Russia TodayRadiation caught on tape: RT talks to Fukushima zone stalker
4/11/2011The Intel HubJapan Nuclear Radiation In Hawaii Milk At LEAST 600% Above Federal Drinking Water Limits
4/11/2011 10:02AM BSTThe TelegraphJapan earthquake: Fukushima nuclear plant evacuated following aftershock
4/9/2011ForbesRadiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk
4/9/2011The IndependentJapan to pump radioactive water into sea until Sunday
4/8/2011Washington's BlogJapan's Nuclear Meltdown, the Economic Meltdown, and the Gulf Oil Meltdown All Happened for the SAME REASON
4/8/2011BloombergSony, Nikon Plants Knocked Out by Aftershock, Delaying Recovery
4/8/2011PrisonPlanet.comInside report from Fukushima nuclear reactor evacuation zone
4/8/2011Alexander Higgins BlogJapan Nuclear Radiation Found In Food Being Bought In California Stores
4/7/2011ZeroHedgeWater Leak Found At Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
4/7/2011Washington's BlogSouth Koreans Wear Masks Out of Fear of Radiation from Japan
4/7/2011PrisonPlanet.comOnagawa Nuclear Plant Loses Power After Earthquake
4/7/2011The Intel Hub“Blinding”Blue Light/ Flash Seen During Earthquake In Japan, Nuclear Plant Loses Power
4/7/2011Natural NewsFukushima dumping of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean violates international law
4/6/2011Alexander Higgins BlogTrue Horrors Of Japan Nuclear Disaster Revealed In Confidential Leaked Government Document
4/6/2011Truth Frequency NewsGreat, now our oceans are sewers…
4/6/2011The Intel HubFukushima Daiichi Radioactive Seawater Model, Spent Fuel Rods DID Explode Into Atmosphere
4/6/2011Japan TodayTEPCO to inject nitrogen into No. 1 reactor to prevent explosion
4/5/2011 14:02Activist PostAmerica and EU Agree: Raise Radiation Levels for Food
4/5/2011 14:02Financial TimesTepco seals leak at nuclear plant
4/5/2011The New York TimesU.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant
4/5/2011The Economic TimesImported food items from Japan banned due to radiation fears
4/5/2011 5:58 AMBusiness InsiderJapan Finds Toxic Fish, As Ocean Radiation Soars To 7.5 Million Times Legal Limit
4/5/2011Kyodo News11,500 TONS of radioctive water dumped in to ocean by TEPCO
4/4/2011Prisonplanet.comUNBELIEVABLE: Fukushima Workers Trying To Plug Radiation Leaks With Bits Of Newspaper, Garbage Bags, Diaper Like Material
4/4/2011IMVAEnd of Week Three
4/3/2011The Intel HubRainwater in California Measured 181 Times The Acceptable Limit For Drinking Water
4/2/2011Washington's BlogUpdate on Japan's Nuclear Crisis
4/2/2011Bearishtrader's Trading BlogValuable Information for Dietary Protection From Radioactivity
3/28/2011Activist PostEPA to Help Mainstream Media Obscure The Truth About Radiation Exposure to Americans
3/17/2011RogueGovernment.comJapanese Nuclear Disaster Being Used To Justify The Elimination Of Nuclear Power To Ensure Supremacy Of Space Based Weapons
3/15/2011UK Mail OnlineAmerica on radiation alert: Japan faces world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl as experts warn fallout may reach U.S.
3/14/2011Bearishtrader's Trading BlogJapan Earthquake Causes Fukashima Nuclear Reactor Explosion: Potassium Iodide Recommended by Some
3/11/2011The Intel HubMassive 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Japan: Tsunami Warning In 20 Countries
3/11/2011BloombergJapanese Quake Forces Evacuation Near Nuclear Reactor; Oil Refinery Burns