"Fog of War" begins to part nearly a year after Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe began

As first reported by Steve Mufson of the Washington Post on Feb. 7th, transcripts and audio recordings of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission responses to the unfolding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catastrophe in the first hours, days, and weeks after March 11, 2011-- recently released in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by journalists and environmentalists -- reveal a state of confused chaos and groping frustration. Clearly, NRC's March 13, 2011 media release, claiming that no harmful levels of Fukushima radioactive fallout would reach U.S. territory, were -- as Beyond Nuclear warned in media interviews at the time -- at best premature (as a number of large-scale explosions were yet to happen, and meltdowns were still very much underway). However, the recently released documentation reveals that a strong element of deception was also at work, as NRC was aware that Alaska could experience plumes of radioactive Iodine-131, hazardous to human thyroid glands. An NRC official referred to the proposal -- from a U.S. Department of Energy ad hoc emergency response think tank -- to use a shaped charge to blow a hole through a radiological containment structure, in order to create a pathway for cooling water flow to a melting down reactor core, as "madness."

As revealed by a Feb. 22nd New York Times article by Matt Wald, as well as a transcript uncovered by Scott Portzline of Three Mile Island Alert, NRC was very much in spin mode, worried about the political ramifications and public perceptions in response to the unfolding radioactive calamity. The latter transcript could be entitled "How many NRC staff does it take to make a hole?" Several NRC staff spend pages of transcript just over a week into the nuclear catatrophe discussing how to enlarge a hole in the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 reactor building's roof, in order to "vent" explosive hydrogen gas, partly to avoid the "political" fallout of yet another large-scale explosion broadcast worldwide on live t.v. Frighteningly, deputy administrator Chuck Casto of NRC's Western U.S. regional office suggests using a helicopter to drop or slam a heavy weight, such as a colorfully named "Bambi bucket" (a large water filled container used for fighting forest fires), above or beside the irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool. Apparently, Casto was unfamiliar with 2001 and 1997 NRC reports, as cited in the 2003 Alvarez et al. study about pool fire risks, warning that a "heavy load drop" that drains a storage pool's cooling water could cause a radioactive waste inferno releasing up to 100% of the irradiated nuclear fuel's volatile Cesium-137, resulting in 25,000 to 143,000 latent cancer deaths downwind, up to 2,700 square miles of agricultural land condemned, and economic costs due to evacuation into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In addition, National Public Radio's "Marketplace" has just posted audio recordings of NRC discussions.

When it comes to NRC FOIA responses, "patience is a virtue." NRC's FOIA office has told Beyond Nuclear that its requests for documentation on the Davis-Besse atomic reactor's cracked containment will take four months to provide. Even worse, NRC's FOIA office has told Beyond Nuclear that there is no date certain for responding to a request for documentation on allegations that NRC Commissioner William Magwood IV regularly meets with nuclear industry representatives "off campus," in violation of norms -- and perhaps even laws and regulations -- pertaining to open, transparent, and accountable government, principles promised by President Barack Obama within hours of taking office in January 2009.

Tepco to cement Fukushima seabed to stem radiation

A clay-cement compound will be laid over 73,000 sq m of the floor of the Pacific in front of the Fukushima Daiichi plant on the nation's northeast coast, said Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco). The area is equivalent to around 10 football pitches.

'This is meant to prevent further contamination of the ocean... as sample tests have shown a relatively high concentration of radioactive substances in the sea soil in the bay,' a company spokesman said. straits times

No word on whether this structure will survive an earthquake.

Arnie Gundersen at the Japan National Press Club

Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen (pictured at left) of Fairewinds Associates in Vermont, who has become regarded as a regular, trusted expert on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catrastrophe and other nuclear power matters by such national media outlets as CNN, just presented at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. Over 80 journalists were present. Arnie presented on various aspects of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, including the ongoing risks associated with GE Mark I BWR atomic reactors. A video recording of Arnie's presentation and the question and answer session is viewable online at Fairewinds' website.

Head of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission admits country's regulations flawed

As reported by the Washington Post, the head of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission had admitted in the aftermath of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe that the country's nuclear safety regulations are dangerously flawed and inadequate. Previous disregard for the risks of massive tsunamis is but one example. In another sign of deep incompetence, it is reported that the head of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) lacked nuclear, technical, or scientific expertise himself, as did his staff. He largely "sat out" the critical initial weeks of the crisis, even lacking a hotline capability at his office.

However, indications in the article that U.S. nuclear safety regulations are far superior to Japanese regulations, or are somehow adequate to ensure nuclear safety, are false. Last summer, AP, for example, published a four part series on "Aging Nukes," showing how the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission weakens its safety regulations in order to allow old reactors to keep operating. The Davis-Besse Hole-In-the-Head fiasco near Toledo is but one of many examples of close-calls with disaster that have occurred in the past decade alone, due to NRC prioritization of industry profits over public safety. Anti-nuclear watchdogs in the U.S. have known about, protested, and resisted these sorts of short cuts on safety, and derelictions of duty, for decades.

Major seismic aftershock at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 could unleash 8 times Chernobyl's Cs-137

Recent photo of the ruins of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 reactor building. Note workers, wearing white protective suits, at the pool's surface (under the topmost girders).Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies released the following message today:

"Here is a recent photo [left] of the Unit No. 4 at the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear ruins provided by Akio Matsumura. It is quite sobering.

The pool at Unit No. 4 contains 1,538 fuel assemblies, including a full core that was freshly discharged prior to the accident. 

Based on data from the U.S. Department of Energy, a spent fuel assembly from a typical boiling water reactor contains about 30,181 curies (~1.1E+12 becquerels) of long-lived radioactivity. So the Unit No. 4 pool contains roughly 49 million curies (~1.8E+18 Bq), of which about 40 percent is Cs-137.  (Source:  U.S. Department of Energy, Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada, 2002, Appendix A, Tables A-7, A-8, A-9, A-10, BWR/Burn up = 36,600 MWd/MTHM, enrichment = 3.03 percent, decay time = 23 years.)

The risk of yet another highly destructive earthquake occurring even closer to the Fukushima reactors has increased, according to the European Geosciences Union.http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/02/15/could-fukushima-daiichi-be-ground-zero-for-the-next-big-one/ This is particularly worrisome for Daiichi's structurally damaged spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4 sitting 100 feet above ground, exposed to the elements. Drainage of water from this pool, resulting from another quake could trigger a catastrophic radiological fire involving about eight times more radioactive cesium than released at Chernobyl."

In 2011, Alvarez published a report on the risks of high-level radioactive waste pool storage in the U.S., in light of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catastrophe.