First pictures emerge of the Fukushima Fifty as steam starts pouring from all four reactors at the stricken nuclear power plant

By Matt Blake and Richard Shears    24th March 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369216/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-Fifty-pictures-inside-nuclear-power-plant.html#ixzz1HYpXT1Ot

 

The darkness is broken only by the flashing torchlight of the heroes who stayed behind.

These first images of inside the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant reveal the terrifying conditions under which the brave men work to save their nation from full nuclear meltdown.

The Fukushima Fifty - an anonymous band of lower and mid-level managers - have battled around the clock to cool overheating reactors and spent fuel rods since the disaster on March 11.

Efforts to control the leakage of radiation from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan received a setback early today when steam began pouring from four reactor buildings.

Until then, black smoke billowing from one of the reactors had been the only concern - an incident which resulted in all work to cool four of the reactors being suspended on Wednesday

At first light in Japan today officials were alarmed to see steam pouring from reactors 1, 2, 3, and 4.

It is the first time that steam has been seen rising from the No.1 reactor since the Fukushima plant was hit by the tsunami nearly two weeks ago.

Firemen this week have been blasting water into the reactors using long hoses but officials were not able to tell whether the desperate work was covering the fuel rods.

Then, when black smoke began pouring out of one of the reactors - suggesting that something was burning - all water-blasting work was suspended and everyone trying to stabilise the plant was ordered to evacuate.

It is believed the steam rising from the four reactors today is from spent fuel rods that have been kept outside the main containment structure where currently active fuel rods are located.

But the spent rods must still be kept immersed in water. If they are not, radioactivity is released into the atmosphere.

Despite sweltering heat from the damaged reactors, they must work in protective bodysuits to protect their skin from the poisonous radioactive particles that fill the air around them.

But as more radiation seeps into the atmosphere minute by minute, they know this job will be their last.

Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.


The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.

Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.A woman said her husband continued to work while fully aware he was being bombarded with radiation. In a heartbreaking email, he told his wife: 'Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.'


One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: 'My dad went to the nuclear plant, I've never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.'

But it is becoming even more pressing that the Fukushima succeed after it was revealed today that Tokyo's tap water has been contaminated by unusual levels of radiation.

The government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.

The warning came after it emerged last night that radioactive particles have reached Europe and are heading towards Britain in the wake of the catastrophe that officials say could cost up to £190billion - making it the costliest natural disaster in history.

And fresh safety concerns arose today as black smoke was spotted emerging from Unit 3 of the plant, prompting a temporary evacuation of all workers from the complex, operators Tokyo Electric Power company said.


Nearly two weeks after the twin March 11 disasters, nuclear officials were still struggling to stabilise the damaged and overheated Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since the disasters knocked out the plant's cooling systems.

Water spray: Workers at Fukushima yesterday try to cool the plant

More Japanese crew exposed to radiation

By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo   The Financial Times March 24 2011
Three technicians working at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station were exposed to potentially dangerous radiation on Thursday, bringing the number injured to 17.

The almost 300 members of the workforce at the nuclear facility are fast becoming national heroes for their efforts to make safe the facility, which is in an evacuation zone.

The three were laying a cable in a turbine building attached to No 3 reactor, Tepco said. Radiation meters showed they had absorbed airborne doses of more than 170 millisieverts, above the 100 mSv threshold at which researchers say cancer risk increases.
The 100 mSv level is normally the legal dose limit for emergency workers at nuclear facilities, but Japan has raised its limit to 250 mSv to allow work at the plant to continue.

Restoring the internal cooling systems remains the best hope for stabilising the plant and moving beyond the ad hoc emergency measures of helicopter water drops and spraying with water cannons.

Technicians have fitted new external power lines to all the reactor units at the plant, but the equipment inside has been damaged by the quake, explosions and seawater that engulfed the facility and there is no guarantee it will still work.

Beyond the plant itself, contamination from the accident has now spread beyond the immediate Fukushima area, about 240km north-west of Tokyo.
Australia joined the US and Hong Kong on Thursday in restricting food and milk imports from the quake-affected zone, while Canada became the latest of many nations to tighten screening after the worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl blast in what is now Ukraine.

Italy suspends nuclear progrmme

The Italian government has decided to suspend for 12 months procedures for the selection and construction of nuclear sites in the country in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan. The decision puts at risk the launch in 2020 of the country's first reactor, but aims to calm voters ahead of a crucial referendum on
nuclear energy scheduled on 12 June.

Argus Media 23rd March 2010

http://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=745124&menu=yes

Radioactive cloud from Fukushima arrives in Britain

Bloomberg 23rd March 2011

Mycle Schneider: As far back as 2005, I warned Eisaku Sato, governor of Fukushima at the time, about the dangers of letting spent fuel accumulate in cooling ponds at the prefecture's nuclear plants and the need to put it into much safer dry stores as soon as possible. He seemed to be the only one who listened. But clearly there were people who always knew better and whose arrogance characterizes the nuclear industry.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-22/nuclear-fallout-comes-with-aura-of-arrogance-mycle-schneider.html

The U.S. military is considering the mandatory evacuation of thousands of American troops and their families in Japan out of concern over rising radiation levels, a senior defense official tells CNN. The official, who did not want to be on the record talking about ongoing deliberations, says there are no discussions to evacuate all U.S. troops across the country. The talks have focused exclusively on U.S. troops in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, the official said.

Yokosuka is home to America's largest naval base in Japan. The military is monitoring radiation levels on a constant basis.

CNN 22nd March 2011

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/03/21/japan.military.evacuation/index.html

Parents have been advised not to give children water from Tokyo's taps after some samples contained more than double the legal limit of the hazardous substance. The discovery increases fears of food and water safety nearly two weeks after the devastating earthquake and tsunami which killed thousands and damaged a nuclear plant in Fukushima, leading to a radiation leak. Residents of cities in Japan's northeast earlier had already been advised not to drink tap water due to elevated levels of radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer. Until Wednesday, levels found in Tokyo tap water had been minute, according to officials.

Telegraph 23rd March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8399928/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Tokyo-water-unsafe-for-children.html

Times 23rd March 2011

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article2957469.ece

BBC 23rd March 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12825342

High radiation levels have been found in the sea off Japans earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant, fuelling fears about the impact on the nations fishing industry. Operator Tokyo Electric Power said unusual amounts of five kinds of radioactive material had been found in water samples near the Fukushima Daiichi plant. One of the substances, Iodine-131, was found at nearly 127 times the permitted level.

FT 23rd March 2011

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0b52038-54b1-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html

Japan said on Wednesday there was no need to extend a 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone around its tsunami-damaged nuclear plant, despite elevated radiation readings outside the area.

Yahoo 23rd March 2011

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110323/twl-uk-japan-evacuation-zone-bd5ae06.html

IAEA update 23rd March

IB Times 23rd March 2011

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/125728/20110323/fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-iaea.htm

Japan's top lenders including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group are in talks to provide up to 2 trillion yen ($24.7 billion) in emergency loans to Tokyo Electric Power to help the operator of a stricken nuclear plant rebuild its power supply network.

Reuters 23rd March 2011

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/tepco-loans-idUKL3E7EN03U20110323?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=bankingfinancial-SP&rpc=401

STV 23rd March 2011

http://news.stv.tv/business/238095-japan-banks-eye-12-billion-in-loans-for-nuke-operator-source/

It emerged that the plant had contained far more spent fuel rods than it was designed to store, while its technicians failed to carry out the necessary safety checks, according to documents from the reactor's
operator.

Independent 23rd March 2011

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nuclear-plant-was-storing-too-much-spent-fuel-as-tsunami-hit-2250144.html

Guardian 23rd March 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/22/japan-nuclear-power-plant-checks-missed

Radiation from the stricken Japanese nuclear power plant has reached Europe and is heading towards Britain, it emerged last night. Officials in Iceland have detected  a minuscule amounts of radioactive particles believed to have come from Fukushima, the site of the worst nuclear accident in 25 years. Last night the Government said radiation from Japan had not been detected by Britain's network of monitoring stations set up after the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. A spokesman said any signs of radiation were not expected in the next few days. However, France's nuclear agency said tiny amounts were likely to arrive in the country by today.

Daily Mail 23rd March 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368716/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Britain-radiation-risk-Fukushima-heats-AGAIN.html

Daily Record 23rd March 2011

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2011/03/23/radioactive-cloud-from-japan-nuclear-plant-blast-is-heading-for-europe-86908-23009511/


An excess of optimism has become a recurring theme of Japan's nuclear crisis, the world's worst for 25 years. For critics of Japan's atomic energy policy in general, and of the official response to breakdowns at Fukushima in particular, the emergency has been framed in terms of chronic failures to acknowledge risks and prepare for worst-case scenarios. Beyond the broad question of whether the world's most earthquake-prone country should host 54 nuclear reactors, doubts have been raised about the location and design of
some plants. Regulators last year approved a 10-year extension of the life of Fukushima Daiichi's No 1 reactor, its oldest, which began operating in 1971. They did so in spite of finding 16 shortcomings in plant facilities, including poorly conducting radiation metres and cracked water-level gauges. Tepco was given five years to fix the most serious problems, according to regulatory filings.

FT 23rd March 2011

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/86dfc390-54af-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html

Japanese nuclear technicians moved closer to restoring power to crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic station on Wednesday, but internal cooling systems that will be key to stabilising the plant's four most damaged units remained offline.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0cdbb5be-54f9-11e0-96f3-00144feab49a.html

The pro-nuclear chairman of Japan's atomic watchdog yesterday called for a worldwide review of the nuclear energy industry after admitting that mistakes had been made in the design of the Fukushima power plant. His remarks came as it emerged that minuscule numbers of radioactive particles were detected as far away as Iceland and were believed to have originated from the plant.

Times 23rd March 2011

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article2956186.ece

Implications

The chief executive of RWE Npower has warned that it could be forced to delay plans to build UK plants, especially if any major safety changes prompted by Japan's atomic disaster push up the cost of reactors. Volker Beckers also told the Future of Utilities conference the UK's new nuclear power stations are already expected to slip behind schedule by "three to six months" as a result of the Sendai earthquake. UK regulators had been expected to approve the design for new reactors in June, but this may now take until late 2011 because of further checks. "It is getting very difficult to persuade investors to fund new projects," the executive said. "Especially given what's going on in Japan, we can't just carry headlong into [the carbon price
support] this early". The new tax may be introduced as soon as 2013, although it will not incentivise new nuclear until 2018.

Telegraph 23rd March 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/8399058/Japan-earthquake-Crisis-may-force-up-cost-of-UK-nuclear.html

From a communications perspective, the challenge facing the nuclear energy industry goes beyond the specifics of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns. Public concern is so great, media coverage so voluminous, the response from politicians so easily misinterpreted, and the fact patterns so detailed, that it would be immensely challenging for any industry to dig out from the weeds and identify a few fundamental themes to guide a strategy going forward.

Forbes 22nd March 2011

http://blogs.forbes.com/richardlevick/2011/03/22/an-immodest-proposal-to-spur-nuclear-energy-industry-growth-and-global-safety/

Scotsman 23rd March 2011

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion/John-McTernan-Nuclear-sector-is.6738692.jp

Next week, the person in the hotseat will be Keith Parker, chief executive of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association. The NIA represents almost every company involved in providing UK nuclear power, and even lists the stricken Tepco among its members. In the wake of the Japan nuclear crisis, this is your chance to ask him about nuclear safety, the role of nuclear in providing low-carbon energy and whether the industry can ever recover from the events of the past two weeks. Email all your questions to energysource@ft.com by the end of Sunday, March 27th.

FT 22nd March 2011

http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/2011/03/22/your-chance-to-quiz-the-nuclear-industry/

THE Somerset Chamber of Commerce is hosting an event near Bridgwater this Thursday, to show local food and drink businesses how they could benefit from Hinkley Point C.

Bridgwater Mercury 21st March 2011

http://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/8922303.Firms_urged_to_tuck_into_Hinkley_C_opportunities/

National Grid is currently carrying out a public consultation to seek people's opinions on the criteria it will use in future when analysing whether to place new electricity cables under or over the ground. This comes while the energy giant is deciding on which route a new power line from Hinkley Point C in Bridgwater to Avonmouth will take across Somerset and North Somerset.

Weston Mercury 22nd March 2011

http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/council_responds_to_national_grid_policy_1_837199

COUNCIL chiefs have pledged to continue to press for a proposed 400,000 volt power line across the North Somerset countryside to run underground. The pledge follows a meeting between councillors and
National Grid to highlight concerns about the energy giant's plans to run an overhead power line between Hinkley Point and Avonmouth to bring electricity on to its transmission network.

Bristol Evening Post 22nd March 2011

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Council-digs-press-underground-cables/article-3356297-detail/article.html

Wylfa

Counter-terrorism measures at Wylfa nuclear power station in Anglesey are to come under public scrutiny later. Security chiefs will take questions from local people with nuclear safety in the global spotlight after the Japan earthquake. The Civil Nuclear Police Authority insists UK nuclear plants are in "safe hands". But
anti-nuclear group Pawb says it has concerns about Wylfa's vulnerability to cyber-attacks and air assaults.

BBC 23rd March 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-12822325

Energy Supplies

Demand in China, India and other emerging markets soars, but there is also quite considerable growth from advanced economies too. The big picture is that with an additional one billion cars on the road, demand for oil would grow 110pc to more than 190 million barrels per day. Total demand for energy would rise by a similar order of magnitude, doubling the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to more than three and a half times the amount climate change scientists think would keep temperatures at safe levels.

Telegraph 23rd March 2011

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100009856/a-global-energy-war-looms/

Europe

The hysteria surrounding nuclear power in Europe which reached fever pitch in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis (sparked by a 9 magnitude earthquake and Tsunami) has called Europe's nuclear future into question. Comments from the European Energy Commissioner about an apocalypse have done little to help. The stress tests announced soon after the tsunami. Some of the details of the stress tests emerged at yesterday's (21 March) Energy council meeting in Brussels.

EU Reporter 22nd March 2011

http://www.eureporter.co/2011/3/nuclear-stress-tests

US

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has launched a new campaign to permanently close the 23 General Electric Mark I reactors currently operating in the United States.

NIRS 22nd March 2011

http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/mkipress32111.pdf

On Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) delivered a letter to energy firm Entergy stating that it may keep running its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant through March, 21, 2032. The
reactor in the aged plant, which is known to have released radiation into groundwater, is virtually identical to that of the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, whose flaws some scientists claim have contributed to the world's worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown.

World Socialist Web 23rd March 2011

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/verm-m23.shtml

Germany

Letter: Your leader writer who is so dismissive of earthquake-related threats to German nuclear power stations has clearly never heard of the fiasco surrounding the Mülheim-Kärlich power plant. This
expensive facility began generating electricity in 1986 but was closed down just two years later; attempts to deal with the earthquake risk in the Neuwieder basin by moving the initially proposed location by 70 metres were found by the courts to have invalidated the original planning permission for the site. The plant is now being dismantled.

FT 23rd March 2011

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0164cd78-54eb-11e0-96f3-00144feab49a.html

Renerwables

The Scottish renewable energy industry is calling for more ambitious targets on the use of green heat sources. Trade body Scottish Renewables wants parties in Holyrood to increase the overall target for renewable energy use from 20% to 30% by 2020. This includes proposals for 16% of Scotland's heat energy to be generated through renewable alternatives, such as biomass.

BBC 23rd March 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12817012

**Today's news and searchable archives going back to May 2006  available at http://www.blogger.com/goog_612930359

http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/







--

To unsubscribe from this list visit

http://no2nuclearpower.org.uk/maillist/?p=unsubscribe&uid=801e209223ef6c46eadefe055750bf73



To update your preferences visit

http://no2nuclearpower.org.uk/maillist/?p=preferences&uid=801e209223ef6c46eadefe055750bf73

Nuclear lessons from Japan

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 12, Dated 26 Mar 2011 Saturday, March 26 2011 by Praful Bidwai
Fukushima has highlighted the supreme importance of nuclear safety. Governments, especially in the West, cannot afford to ignore public concerns about safety. Switzerland has cancelled its plans to build three new reactors. And Germany’s conservative government has reversed its controversial decision to prolong the phaseout of all nuclear reactors. Nuclear authorities in many countries are questioning the assumptions on which they designed reactor safety systems and operating parameters. But in the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), complacency and smugness prevail. Its secretary denies that there is “a nuclear emergency” in Japan, only “a purely chemical reaction”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised a safety review of all DAE installations. He said his government “attaches the highest importance to nuclear safety”; the DAE has “been instructed to undertake immediate technical review of all safety systems… particularly with a view to ensuring that they would be able to withstand… tsunamis and earthquakes”. That’s a red herring.

But the DAE’s internal review of our (Indian) nuke programme is likely to be a whitewash job

THE FUKUSHIMA disaster has spun out of control with explosions in three reactors, a fire in a fourth, and huge radioactivity releases. The Japanese government has finally admitted to the gravity of the crisis and said there is “a very high risk” of further radioactivity leaks from the crippled reactors. Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a television address pleading for calm and said: “I would like to ask the nation, although this incident is of great concern, I ask you to react very calmly.”

The disaster, verging towards catastrophe, is still unfolding. But it is clear that it is far, far worse than the Three Mile Island meltdown (1979) in the US. In its lethal effects, it may not match the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986 in Ukraine, whose anniversary falls on 26 April. Chernobyl caused an estimated 32,400 to 1,10,000 deaths, mainly from cancer. But in its economic, industrial and psychological impact, the Fukushima disaster is likely to be far more powerful and far-reaching than Chernobyl.

Put simply, Fukushima is the global nuclear industry’s worst-ever crisis. Chernobyl was “in the East”. The meltdown could be attributed to faulty designs and shoddy practices in a relatively backward society. The argument doesn’t apply to industrially advanced Japan.

Japan is a world leader in nuclear power, with 55 reactors, next only to the number in the US and France. Unlike them, it has had an active, albeit now declining, nuclear power programme. It ventured into ‘high-end’ fast-breeders just when France, once a breeder leader, abandoned its programme. The Fukushima reactors are of US design (General Electric). The global economic, industrial and emotional impact of the Fukushima disaster, which the world public followed virtually in real time, will be immeasurably greater.

That apart, Fukushima has highlighted the supreme importance of nuclear safety. Governments, especially in the West, cannot afford to ignore public concerns about safety. Switzerland has cancelled its plans to build three new reactors. And Germany’s conservative government has reversed its controversial decision to prolong the phaseout of all nuclear reactors. Other countries too are likely to review their nuclear expansion plans. It’s a safe bet that the ‘nuclear renaissance’ that George W Bush tried to instigate through artificial subsidies will now be a non-starter.

Nuclear authorities in many countries are questioning the assumptions on which they designed reactor safety systems and operating parameters. But in the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), complacency and smugness prevail. Its secretary denies that there is “a nuclear emergency” in Japan, only “a purely chemical reaction”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised a safety review of all DAE installations. He said his government “attaches the highest importance to nuclear safety”; the DAE has “been instructed to undertake immediate technical review of all safety systems… particularly with a view to ensuring that they would be able to withstand… tsunamis and earthquakes”.

That’s a red herring. The DAE has already declared that all its installations can cope with magnitude 7 earthquakes and heavy tsunamis. It reiterated that the very afternoon Singh made his statement in Parliament. It can be safely predicted that an internal review will be a whitewash job. The Indian public has reason to be alarmed at the Japanese crisis: reactors at Tarapur are also Boiling Water Reactors designed by General Electric, the same as Fukushima’s, only smaller, one-generation older, and probably with weaker safety systems.

The DAE must be made to discard the hubristic “it-can’t-happen-here” approach and introspect into India’s nuclear safety record: embarrassing failures like the 1993 fire at the Narora reactor, the Kaiga containment dome collapse, cases of radiation over-exposure at numerous sites, unsafe heavywater transportation, and terrible health effects near the Jaduguda uranium mines and the Rajasthan reactors.

We urgently need an independent, credible safety audit of India’s nuclear programme, in which people outside the DAE participate, pending a radical review of India’s half-baked plans to rush into nuclear power expansion. To begin with, there must be an immediate moratorium on further reactor construction, including the controversial untested French reactors that India is planning to install at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

India's Nuclear Neros

 Outlook Magazine  Saturday, March 19 2011  by Praful Bidwai

The colossal hubris, ignorance and smugness of India’s nuclear czars take one’s breath away. The day Japan’s crisis took a decisive turn for the worse, with an explosion in a third Fukushima reactor and fresh radiation leaks, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary Sreekumar Banerjee declared that the nuclear crisis “was purely a chemical reaction and not a nuclear emergency as described by some section(s) of media”. Nuclear Power Corporation chairman S.K. Jain went one better: “There is no nuclear accident or incident. It is a well-planned emergency preparedness programme which the nuclear operators…are carrying out to contain the residual heat after…an automatic shutdown”.
N-power isn’t the low-risk option the deceitful, inept DAE says it is

The colossal hubris, ignorance and smugness of India’s nuclear czars take one’s breath away. The day Japan’s crisis took a decisive turn for the worse, with an explosion in a third Fukushima reactor and fresh radiation leaks, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary Sreekumar Banerjee declared that the nuclear crisis “was purely a chemical reaction and not a nuclear emergency as described by some section(s) of media”. Nuclear Power Corporation chairman S.K. Jain went one better: “There is no nuclear accident or incident. It is a well-planned emergency preparedness programme which the nuclear operators…are carrying out to contain the residual heat after…an automatic shutdown”.

This is proof, if proof were at all needed, that our nuclear power programme is in the hands of men who are totally cut off from reality and have a default conviction in their own omniscience and infallibility. Their denials are as despicable as their pathetic parroting of the virtues of India’s nuclear installations and their safety.

Let’s get this straight. The Fukushima crisis is the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The earlier (partial, largely contained) meltdown at Three Mile Island (1979) pales beside it. The Fukushima reactors have spewed large amounts of radioactivity into the air. The vessel containing the core of Reactor 2, which fully lost water cover for hours, has been damaged. The fire in Reactor 4 released yet more radiotoxins. At the time of writing, only a miracle can prevent further radiation release.

The Fukushima disaster is the world’s first multi-reactor crisis; controlling it is more difficult. It also poses three special problems. Large quantities of spent fuel, containing extremely radioactive nuclear wastes, are stored in pools in the reactor building, following General Electric’s design. These are no longer being cooled. A spent fuel leak, spreading due to the flooding, could have unspeakably lethal effects.

Second, Fukushima reactors’ primary containment—similar to India’s Tarapur reactors, also GE-designed—has been found by a US laboratory to be vulnerable to molten fuel burning through the reactor vessel, eventually breaking out. Third, Reactor 3 burns a mix of uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX). Researchers say mox generally increases the consequences of severe accidents with large radioactivity releases, resulting in a five-fold increase in latent cancer fatalities.

Even if the Fukushima crisis doesn’t worsen further, it highlights the inherent hazards of nuclear power, in which small individual mishaps can precipitate a runaway crisis. The reactors were shut down by the earthquake; and their still-hot cores were no longer cooled. The diesel back-up came on, but went out in an hour. The loss of coolant led to the explosions and radioactivity releases.

That this happened in industrially advanced Japan, with high nuclear safety standards, underscores the gravity of the generic problem with nuclear reactors. They are all vulnerable to a catastrophic accident irrespective of safety measures. Nuclear power generation is also bound up with radiation exposure, harmful in all doses, and radioactive waste streams, which remain hazardous for thousands of years.

India’s nucleocrats have been in denial of these problems and suppressed their abysmal safety record. The list of failures is long: a serious fire at Narora, which moved from the turbine to the reactor room amidst panic-driven abandonment of fire-fighting procedures; collapse of a containment-dome safety system at Kaiga; frequent radiation exposure of workers and lay public to doses above the permissible; and the spiking of drinking water with deadly tritium in Kaiga. India has the distinction of running two of the world’s most contaminated reactors.

This necessitates a radical reform of the DAE, the government’s worst-performing department, which has never completed a project on time and within budget. We must have an independent, credible nuclear safety audit, with outside experts and civil society representatives. We must review our nuclear power policy for appropriateness, safety, costs, and public acceptance, based on a holistic view of the best ways of meeting our energy needs. If nuclear power emerges as the least desirable option, we should discard it. The environment ministry must also revoke all conditional clearances granted to nuclear projects, including Jaitapur.

Nuclear power has subjugated our energy policy and budgets to an unaccountable, self-perpetuating, pampered technocracy, imposed unacceptable hazards upon unwilling populations, and degraded our democracy. The juggernaut must be halted.

(Praful Bidwai is a columnist and activist of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace.)

http://www.prafulbidwai.org/index.php?post/2011/03/19/India-s-Nuclear-Neros