IAEA team tells Japanese: You're screwed, learn to live with it because it can't be fixed

[kristopher]

IAEA team: limit decontamination

By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer

A research team from the International Atomic Energy Agency submitted a report to the government Friday that commends Japan's decontamination efforts but suggests that attempting to remove radiation from every affected area would be counterproductive.

In short, they said trying to gather overly radioactive debris, soil and foliage from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis will only result in a highly toxic accumulation in need of disposal.

Japan was praised for its swift efforts to gauge the contamination with priority on children's health, with parents, volunteers and municipal authorities joining to remove contaminated soil in schools and monitoring cleanup work.

Yet the team, which came on Oct. 7 and was to leave Saturday, advised against being overly cautious in the future decontamination process, as this will impose unnecessary costs...,

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111015a8.html

[orpupilofnature57]

1. This is why I'm glad I don't have children.

I wonder how bad the effects are felt in Tahiti or Zurich?

[Lindsay]

2. People are just collateral damage

in the economic wars.

I hate this.

[gateley]

3. It's always far worse than they admit. nt

[izquierdista]

4. They're gonna need a bigger hole

And no, they can't borrow our Grand Canyon.

[madokie]

5. Since you said that

I wonder how much they already own of it.

[CreekDog]

6. oh i think i understand

we must do whatever it takes to save the children money.

[FBaggins]

7. Really poor reading comprehension on your part.

What they actually said was "don't waste time and money on 'cleaning up' something that isn't a danger as it is"

[kristopher]

8. Sure, it's just like eating a banana...

High levels of radiation detected near elementary school pool in Tokyo

A sandbox at an elementary school, where the sand is being replaced, is pictured in Tokyo's Adachi Ward on Aug. 24. (Mainichi)

High levels of radiation were detected near a pool at an elementary school in Tokyo, prompting officials to cordon off the area.

The Adachi Ward Office announced on Oct. 17 that 3.99 microsieverts of radiation per hour were detected near a machine house for a pool at the Higashifuchie Elementary School in the ward.

According to the ward office, the high levels of radiation were observed five centimeters above the ground below a gutter attached to the machine house. Since there is no drainage, it is easy for water to accumulate in the area, ward officials said. Officials have taken such emergency measures as roping off the area to prevent people from entering.

"We believe the levels detected are localized and would not affect human health, but we will look into our response as soon as possible," said a ward official in charge of crisis management....

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111018p2a00m0na005000c.html


Good thing little kids are so careful about allowing nothing from the environment to be introduced into their bodies...

[FBaggins]

9. Did they say "don't clean up anything" ???

Nope. They said to apply a little common sense and pay attention to the dose. I know that's an unfamiliar process to some anti-nukes so I'll explain:

There's no point in spending thousands of dollars to clean up a potential exposure that adds up to less impact than opening/closing a window in your home.

The Adachi Ward Office announced on Oct. 17 that 3.99 microsieverts of radiation per hour were detected near a machine house for a pool at the Higashifuchie Elementary School in the ward.

There's a good example. That's not the contamination everywhere in the area... it's a single source in that location (likely one centimeter from the ground). If some child were to sit there with his head against the source 24 hours a day all year long... he would get about a 35 millisievert dose. Not likely to be a problem, but above guidance levels, so you would clean it up if that scenario were at all likely.

If, instead, students walk by the boathouse five times a day for a few minutes (and didn't eat it or place their heads against it), their absorbed dose would be infinitesimally changed. If the average contamination around the school was a tiny fraction of that high-water mark... there isn't a need to spend money cleaning it up.

[SpoonFed]

10. Another false statement...

No where in the article does it say "isn't a danger". This is just another false statement by you in the typical pro nuclear industry slant.
Try not to make up false statements and put quotations around them. It tarnishes your already corroded credibility.

[FBaggins]

12. Wrong again.

Just read what they actually said and my summary is clearly accurate.

[SpoonFed]

15. Summaries are not contained in quotation marks.

Unlike false statements attributed to others.

Given your track record of falsehood and deliberate misdirection,
it is of no surprise you attempt to justify your behaviour.

Isn't the first or last time you are caught out and simply enter a state of denial.

[kristopher]

11. TEPCO failed to act on 10% probability assessment for worst-case tsunami

TEPCO failed to act on 10% probability assessment for worst-case tsunami

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. estimated in 2006, using a new calculation method at the time, that the probability of a worst-case tsunami hitting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was around 10 percent at the most over a span of 50 years, but the utility did not take measures based on the assessment, a nuclear energy expert at the company said Tuesday.

The expert told Kyodo News that the assessment showed the probability of a major tsunami hitting the plant in Fukushima Prefecture had "dramatically increased" and the company should have taken countermeasures as soon as possible.

Although the utility known as TEPCO describes the 2006 probability assessment as based on experimental analysis and says the figure was "small enough" in a draft report of an in-house panel investigating the nuclear crisis at the plant, experts at the utility as well as the central government are questioning TEPCO's inaction.

The TEPCO expert who has long been involved in the field of nuclear energy said the 2006 assessment was only shared among people in the field and not disseminated to other relevant sections in the company.

The expert surmised that TEPCO did not take countermeasures because...

Find out why here: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111019p2g00m0dm025000c.html

[FBaggins]

13. 10% over 50 years.

The reactors didn't have anything close to 50 years of expected lifespan left.

Also, the "worst case" tsunami from the estimates was substantially lower than the tsunami they actually received.

None of which excuses the fact that nobody made a connection to the potential risk of backup generators in the basement. They could easily have been uphill.

[kristopher]

14. It is typical of the way the profit hungry nuclear INDUSTRY operates.

School's radioactive compost was 74 times the maximum
2011/10/19

UTSUNOMIYA -- Compost handled by students at an agricultural high school in Tochigi Prefecture contained 74 times more radioactive cesium than the government's safety standard.

The Tochigi prefectural board of education said on Oct. 17 that 29,600 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive soil had been found in compost used at the Tochigi Agricultural High School in Tochigi city, far above the government maximum of 400 becquerels per kilogram.

Up to 160 students at the school may have touched the contaminated material, which was supplied through a sales agent on June 27 and July 21. The school used 48 of 70 40-liter bags sourced from a firm in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, for such tasks as preparing pots for seedlings.

Even after the compost from the bags was mixed with soil, the soil-compost mix contained 5,380 becquerels of radioactive cesium.

In July, high concentrations of...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110180383.html

I wonder if the parents of these children agree with the values your post embodies?