[NYTr] Rattling the Reactor: Quakes, Fires and Leaks

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

CounterPunch - Jul 19, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/hoffman07192007.html

Rattling the Reactor:

Quakes, Fires and Leaks at the World's Largest Nuke

By RUSSELL HOFFMAN

On July 15th, 2007, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake killed 9 people and
damaged the Kashiwazaki nuclear power generating station, the world's
largest nuke facility. No one knows when the facility will reopen.

More than a dozen separate leaks of radioactive materials have been
reported, some going offsite via air and water. Approximately four
hundred drums of so-called "low-level" radioactive waste toppled over
(of more than 22,000 such drums located at the site). At least 40 of
the toppled drums lost their covers when they fell over.

Plant officials are now claiming the earthquake was larger than any
they had planned for at the facility.

Previous earthquakes produced wildly differing Richter Scale values,
when measured at different spots at one Japanese nuke facility. So who
knows what the reactors might have really experienced, or what they can
really withstand?

Four reactors were operating at the facility at the time of the quake.
All four automatically SCRAMed when the jarring started. A "SCRAM" of a
reactor is a violent, sudden, dangerous stoppage which causes enormous
wear and tear (and sometimes causes leaks).

The other three reactors at the facility were already shut down
"voluntarily, for inspection" when the quake hit. Lucky, that.

The facility produced about 7% of Japan's electricity, so undoubtedly
the Japanese power companies will cause energy shortages and blackouts
while the reactors remain closed, so that the Japanese people are
fooled into thinking they MUST have MORE NUKES! Indeed, many more nukes
are planned in Japan, as well as in America and elsewhere. And not one
is truly "earthquake-proof," and most have never been given a reality
check.

Kashiwazaki's 8,212 megawatts of total generating capacity is enough for
about 16 million homes in Japan (or for about half that many homes in
America).

So, just when hospitals, pumping stations, and individuals desperately
needed power to recover from the earthquake, NONE was being delivered
by the facility.

Reports now say over 50 separate problems occurred at the facility
because of the earthquake, including burst pipes and cobalt-60 and
chromium-51 being released in gaseous form, but not including delayed
reporting (which aggravated and endangered citizens).

Several hundred gallons of radioactive liquid spilled into the Sea of
Japan. The highest reported volume leaked was about 600 gallons. But
early, widespread reports assured the public there were NO radioactive
leaks. Early reports of no leakage were wrong and, as usual, have been
replaced with reports of "minimal leakage" with "no danger to the
public."

In America, the Curie quantity (or, just as useful, the Becquerels)
released is almost NEVER given to the public after an accident.
However, reportedly "90,000 Becquerels of radioactivity" were released,
so evidently the Japanese have a leg up on us for honest nuclear
accident reporting in THAT department. (A Becquerel is one radioactive
decay per second.)

But the Becquerels alone is still not enough -- people also need to
know the actual isotopes that were released (for example: strontium-90,
iodine-131, cesium-137, etc.), since only then does one begin to have
the ability to express, in concrete terms (i.e., numerically), the true
danger from any specific accident. The number of gallons of diluted
liquid, at some unspecified level of radioactivity, of some unspecified
isotope of some unspecified element, tells you almost nothing.

A fire at the facility kept local firefighters busy for several hours,
as it spewed thick, terrifying black smoke into the air. But the real
danger from a nuclear reactor accident -- radioactive poison -- is
INVISIBLE.

In some news reports, the fire was blamed for causing the leak (before
it became "leaks"). If this is true in some way, it would be cause for
concern in itself, since the fire was apparently in the switchyard, at
the tail end of the operation, generally not considered part of the
nuclear side of the plant.

The feared tsunami never came. Nuclear power plants worldwide are NOT
protected against reasonably foreseeable tsunami wave heights.

The Japanese should be especially able to realize the insidious nature
of radioactive poisons, since the effects of DNA damage from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki still continue to this day, and could be carefully
measured.

But of course, the power companies don't want you to think about this,
and government also won't fund proper research, probably in part due to
pressure from American corporate and government interests. All those
"special interests" don't want Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be properly
studied, because of the effect such studies would have on the debate
about the dangers of "Low Level Radiation." Many pro-nukers STILL
CONTEND that "LLR" might be healthy -- like a vitamin or nutrient!
(Similarly, the DNA damage in plants, animals, or humans in the area
around Chernobyl is seldom carefully investigated.)

Japan dodged a bullet THIS TIME, but disaster awaits those who do not
learn from history.

Japan can SURELY get along fine without nuclear power -- don't believe
any other story!

Modern technology CAN solve virtually ALL of humanity's environmental
problems, but it requires reason and balance. Not all technology is
good.

There is no minimum threshold -- all ionizing radiation exposure carries
with it some risk of cancer, leukemia, heart problems, genetic damage
and other "health effects."

The local mayor in Japan has forbidden any immediate restart of any of
the Kashiwazaki reactors (in America, he would probably not be allowed
to do that).

May they NEVER open!

[Russell D. Hoffman, a computer programmer in Carlsbad, California, has
written extensively about nuclear power. His essays have been translated
into several different languages and published in more than a dozen
countries. He can be reached at: rhoffman at animatedsoftware.com]