California student from Japan finds family alive on YouTube By Michael Martinez, CNN March 16, 2011 5:43 a.m. EDT
Riverside, California (CNN) -- AkikoKosaka, a student from Japan attending the University of California at Riverside, had lost all hope for her family in Minami Sanriku, the fishing village where more than half of the 17,000 residents are missing and feared dead in the aftermath of last week's tsunami. ...
* unit (noun) one part of something, that is whole or complete in itself but is also part of the bigger thing : the emergency unit at the hospital : The apartment building is split into eight units. : The book is divided into eight units. : The engine's cooling unit is broken.
* stricken (adj.) [formal] suffering from something very badly : [stricken with/by] Half the class were stricken with flu. : a country stricken by economic problems
The World Health Organization has said radiation levels outside the evacuation zone in Japan are not harmful for human health. WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl made the remarks at a regular news conference in Geneva on Friday.
The Japanese government issued an advisory on Tuesday to evacuate from a 20-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It also told people living within a 30-kilometer radius to stay indoors.
He said the amount of radiation being reported outside of the evacuation zone continued to be below the levels considered a public health risk.
He said the WHO finds no public health reason to avoid travels to Japan, except to the affected areas, or to recommend that foreign nationals leave the country. Some countries are encouraging their citizens to leave Japan or are moving their embassies from Tokyo to Osaka.
Referring to an examination of Japanese food imports by some countries, he said he cannot imagine that any food from the quake-damaged areas was able to have been delivered. He said he concludes there is no risk that exported Japanese foods are contaminated with radiation. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_04.html
(FUKUSHIMA, Japan) — Japan said radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near its tsunami-crippled nuclear complex exceeded government safety limits, as emergency teams scrambled Saturday to restore power to the plant so it could cool dangerously overheated fuel. The food was taken from farms as far as 65 miles (100 kilometers) from the stricken plants, suggesting a wide area of nuclear contamination.
While the radiation levels exceeded the limits allowed by the government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano insisted the products "pose no immediate health risk." (See TIME's photos of the devastation in Japan.)
Firefighters also pumped tons of water directly from the ocean into one of the most troubled areas of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex — the cooling pool for used fuel rods at the plant's Unit 3. The rods are at risk of burning up and sending radioactive material into the environment. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2060389,00.html
Tokyo Issues Tap Water Warning for Infants By David Jolly and Kevin Drew
Tokyo - Radioactive iodine detected in the capital's water supply spurred a warning for infants on Wednesday as the government issued a stark new estimate about the costs of rebuilding from the earthquake and tsunami that slammed into the northeast of Japan this month. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/asia/24japan.html?_r=1&ref=global-home The New York Times, March 23, 2011
* issue (verb) to officially make a statement or give an order, warning etc * radioactive (adj.) a radioactive substance sends out radiation (= a form of energy that can harm or kill people) * iodine (noun) (ヨウ素) a chemical that is used on wounds to prevent infection * spur (verb) to encourage someone and make them want to do something * stark (adj.) unpleasantly clear and impossible to avoid * slam (verb) to put something somewhere roughly or violently
The fuel rods in the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant's No. 3 reactor, including MOX, may be damaged, based on the highly radioactive water that injured two workers and exposed a third, the nuclear safety agency says.
The fuel consists of two types of oxygen-containing compounds able to undergo nuclear fission reactions — specifically, uranium oxide blended with a small amount of plutonium oxide.
One facility where purely-uranium fuel gets reprocessed to become MOX is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Reactor Unit 3 burns MOX fuel made of 94 percent uranium and 6 percent plutonium.
MOX fuel rods in a spent fuel pool at Fukushima are causing grave concern.
The latest chapter in a catastrophic chain of events since the power plant was damaged by Friday's massive 9.0 earthquake, workers are unable to keep the MOX rods in the spent fuel pool sufficiently cool, and if they start to burn, plutonium, an especially dangerous radioactive substance, will be released into the environment. http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/what-is-mox-nuclear-reactors-1474/
Scientists say plutonium may be the worst of all the fission byproducts that could enter the environment as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
That's why MOX fuel rods that are piled up in spent fuel pools near the Unit 3 reactor, have become the number one concern of workers at the plant.
Plutonium emits alpha radiation. When alpha-emitters get inside cells, they are extremely hazardous. Alpha rays sent out from within cells cause somewhere between 10 and 1,000 times more chromosomal damage than beta or gamma rays.
Plutonium enters the bloodstream via the lungs, then moves throughout the body and into the bones, liver, and other organs.
It stays in those places for decades, subjecting surrounding organs and tissues to a continual bombardment of alpha radiation and greatly increasing the risk of cancer.
Furthermore, among all the bad things coming out of Fukushima, plutonium will stay in the environment the longest.
What dangerous materials come from a damaged reactor?
Iodine 129, 131, can be inhaled and collects in the thyroid, causing cancer and other thyroid-related problems Cesium 137, If it enters food it can be metabolized by the human body, where it causes cancer. Plutonium 239, inhalation of aerosols causes lung cancer, liver cancer and bone sarcoma.
COMPARING EXPOSURE (in microsieverts):
Smoking one pack of cigarettes per day for one year : 80,000 microsieverts \(^o^)/ Average radiation dose to Chernobyl disaster evacuees : 33,000 microsieverts CT scan (abdomen) : 8,000 microsieverts One chest X-ray : 100 microsieverts Full body X-ray airport scanner : 0.0148 microsieverts
Shallow spent fuel pool : zirconium oxidizes with steam
Deep pools of circulating water in the attic of each reactor building store and cool the still-hot spent fuel, and shield the room from radiation. The water should be constantly cooled, but that requires a power source. If water levels drop, radiation levels in the room housing the pool will rise. The water starts to boil. The steam can react with zirconium alloy tubes that hold numerous uranium oxide fuel pellets, producing explosive hydrogen gas. If water levels fall to within a few feet of the fuel, radiation becomes too dangerous for anyone to directly access the pool.
Exposed spent fuel pool : possible zirconimn cladding fire
Once fuel assmblies are exposed to the air, oxidation of the zirconium alloy accelerates, and can theoretically create a runaway reaction called a zirconium cladding fire, which could spew volatile, radioactive fission products - including iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90 and plutonium-239 - into the atomosphere. Pouring water on a "zirc fire" would fracture super-hot exposed fuel, sending up clouds of steam laced with radioactive elements. Engineers would probably attempt to extinguish such a fire with either sand or foarm.
Friends Around the World Kay Fujimoto Mick Corliss
Friends Around the World is a new program that takes off where World Interactive left off. The new version is designed to connect more Radio Japan listeners around the world. This program can be accessed through NHK World Radio Japan or on its website. In Japan, it is aired on a medium wave radio station, NHK Radio 2, from PM 2:10 every Sunday, and is re-aired next Saturday.
Japan Gov. Criticizes Nuke Plant Operator By AP / ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011
Japan's government revealed a series of missteps by the operator of a radiation-leaking nuclear plant on Saturday, including sending workers in without protective footwear in its faltering efforts to control a monumental crisis. The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, rushed to deliver fresh water to replace corrosive salt water now being used in a desperate bid to cool the plant's overheated reactors. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061617,00.html
* falter (verb) to stop speaking or moving because you feel weak or afraid * corrosive (adj.) < corrosion (noun) the gradual destruction of metal by water, chemical etc * bid (noun) an attempt to achieve or get something : [bid to do something] a desperate bid to save the child's life
The US military and Japan's Self-Defense Forces have launched a massive operation to find those still missing in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
The joint operation started on Friday, 3 weeks after the disaster. More than 16,000 people remain missing. In the morning, helicopters of the Ground Self-Defense Force left their base in Sendai City to join the search mission. Participating in the joint mission are 100 aircraft and 50 vessels from the Self-Defense Forces and about 20 aircraft and more than 10 vessels from the US military. The Japan Coast Guard, police and fire-fighting personnel are also joining in the rescue mission -- the largest ever in Japan.
The search covers Pacific coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, as well as waters up to 20 kilometers from shore. But the operation excludes the area within a 30-kilomter radius of the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is releasing radioactive substances.
The troops participating in the search operation are focusing their efforts on areas that have not previously been well covered. Rugged coastlines and swamp-like areas created by the tsunami have hindered search activities. The operation is scheduled to continue for 3 days.
Since today is holiday for the great amount people, but this news would see something another. It's not easy to write down English on Japan's topics. But we have to go.
Demand on power supply will grow rapidly in the World, but fossile fuel won't enough and any other kind of supply won't work steady for such great amount of the demand. Nuclear plant will increase for the supply.
I think geothermal power plant could have the possibility, but technical issue is demanded.
Because of some Middle East countries choose the pegged exchange rate with US doller, always US doller get expensive value. Therefore, always import things can be very strong in the US markets. I don't know which is the collect one, oils, jobs, or cheap things.
QE3 can make decrease value on US doller. But money has to be for workers, not for investors. Currently QE3 will be for investors. It means, workers will work hard for fewer cheap dollers, and workers can buy expensive things for expensive import materials by lower doller exchange rate.
Intrigue, especially which with great amount of money, is uncovered easy recently. Many channels watch such kind of irregular distributed money. Sometimes such channel is called public opinion, sometimes such channel is called envy.
I can't put any comments more. Finally, both of Japanese and English don't have a place to live for me. Many people must have a burden by my comments, all won't know for what to do. I'll take more moderate way to use my influence, even though the way still also enough too stimulate for man.
Anyway, I've already gotten my result I want. Almost already the air is cleared by electric vehicle against biofuel. I'll just come to return when I'll die if I won't come back again or people want more.