Fukushima Update #74, January 10, 2012
If you have been following Fukushima news, you will be aware of a spike in radiation measured at the plant after the large earthquake on Jan 1.
Ex-SKF published this chart on Jan 2 with the following explanation:
"…three overlapping charts comparing (from the top):
(1) amount of snow on the ground and amount of rain,
(2) amount of cesium fallout, and
(3) wind speed (average speed in black, maximum speed in blue, and maximum instantaneous speed in red), from December 1, 2011 to January 6, 2012
Note the lack of precipitation (1) and the fall in wind speed (3) at the time of the spike (Cs137 and Cs134) (2).
source: http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/01/mysterious-spike-in-cesium-fallout-in.html
You will also be aware of problems at the spent fuel pool of Unit 4. I sent through a discussion with graphics of the spent fuel pool (SFP) last week. TEPCO did report at that time that a water gate to the SPF was opened due to the earthquake. Yet no press is covering this.
There have been 3 other intriguing related reports. One is of highway camera showing emergency vehicles speeding to the plant site on Jan 6 and the other is an enlarged (and thus very blurry) web cam shot of workers running about at Unit 4 on the same day. Both videos are available here. These lead one to question whether some emergency happened on Jan 6 at Unit 4.
The 3rd report is a translated report from an unfortunately un-confirmable whistleblower on a Japanese blog site who says the spent fuel pool (SFP) at Unit 4 was emptied after the earthquake.
This is a very confusing translation as it says a pipe broke, the pool went dry and then began boiling. Confusing because if it "went dry" it couldn't boil.
We do know that whatever happened in the Unit 4 SFP, it wasn't discovered until the low flow in the overflow pool was noted. Thus it is entirely possible that due to the decreased water level in the SPF, it could have begun boiling and releasing radioactivity. Which of course would account for the spike in radiation noted in the chart above.
Now, today, ENE carried a short video clip from TEPCO's Jan 6 press conference where a reporter asks about the radiation spike on January 2.
TEPCO's response is completely evasive: No problems at the plant, so must have been something like the wind blowing up the radioactivity. Here is the press conference video clip.
Here if the hyperlink doesn't work: http://enenews.com/watch-10-fold-spike-fukushima-radioactivity-discussed-tepco-press-conference-suppose-blown-wind-spokesman
Since we know there WERE problems at the plant and we know the wind WAS NOT blowing at high speeds on Jan 2nd, the question of what happened at the plant site after the Jan 1st 6.8 earthquake remains unanswered. Remember it is imperative for the nuclear power industry that any suggestion that seismic activity may cause damage at plant sites is kept to a minimum. And also remember, now that the "emergency is over" and all reactors are in "cold shutdown", there can be no more "accidents". This was the justification for moving residents BACK INTO the exclusion zones.
As an aside, there has been an uptick of earthquakes in the ocean off Japan for the last two weeks.
Here is a list I compiled of the 22 quakes since the Jan 1st 7.0 magnitude quake. All except today's at 4.4 are in the high 4 or low 5 magnitude range.
4.4 2012/01/10 13:15:53 37.666 138.549 35.0 NEAR THE WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.7 2012/01/09 08:50:14 36.676 141.526 40.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.7 2012/01/09 07:10:46 36.630 141.572 33.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 2012/01/08 22:13:10 39.376 141.825 67.2 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
4.7 2012/01/08 20:25:33 26.992 143.630 13.4 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
4.5 2012/01/08 15:37:48 34.209 133.339 144.0 NEAR S. COAST OF WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
4.6 2012/01/08 12:59:30 27.041 143.601 10.0 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.1 2012/01/07 21:30:09 36.035 142.131 25.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.8 2012/01/07 17:56:13 31.591 140.383 155.1 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
4.7 2012/01/07 10:43:06 37.269 141.282 35.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.6 2012/01/07 08:17:56 37.447 141.930 42.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.9 2012/01/05 23:28:44 37.555 141.820 22.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 2012/01/05 20:55:47 35.843 140.778 45.5 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 2012/01/05 16:47:05 38.772 142.249 20.1 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4.7 2012/01/04 14:21:21 31.558 138.005 407.3 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
4.9 2012/01/04 02:07:52 28.030 130.244 21.9 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
4.8 2012/01/04 01:49:13 26.981 143.705 9.3 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
Source: EMSC search for earthquakes page: http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/?filter=yes
2012-01-02 19:35:00.0 36.33 N 141.88 E 47 4.8 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2012-01-02 19:35:00.0 36.33 N 141.88 E 47 4.8 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2012-01-02 18:28:23.0 36.41 N 141.96 E 10 5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2012-01-01 09:29:45.0 37.46 N 144.75 E 20 4.7 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2012-01-01 08:31:15.0 37.32 N 142.22 E 10 4.7 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2012-01-01 05:27:56.0 31.48 N 138.12 E 365 7.0 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION