Thursday, November 30, 2017

Engineering Catastrophe


Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist of risk who studied how catastrophic hazards are structurally encoded into our modern industrial and military infrastructures. Beck noted that we are able to reflect upon our socially-engineered catastrophic hazards, but too often unable to prevent their unfolding.

A very good illustration of Beck's argument about modernity is illustrated here:

Water is normally used as a nuclear fuel coolant in power plants but in the case of the Monju reactor, liquid sodium is used instead to increase production of plutonium. However, liquid sodium ignites when it comes into contact with air, and it causes an explosive chemical reaction when it is mixed with water. In 1995, some liquid sodium leaked from the Monju reactor, causing the reactor to be shut down for a long period of time.
Water is normally used as a nuclear fuel coolant in power plants but in the case of the Monju reactor, liquid sodium is used instead to increase production of plutonium. However, liquid sodium ignites when it comes into contact with air, and it causes an explosive chemical reaction when it is mixed with water. In 1995, some liquid sodium leaked from the Monju reactor, causing the reactor to be shut down for a long period of time.
Monju reactor set for decommissioning lacks sodium removal method (2017, November 29). The Mainichi, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20171129/p2a/00m/0na/013000c

Water is normally used as a nuclear fuel coolant in power plants but in the case of the Monju reactor, liquid sodium is used instead to increase production of plutonium. However, liquid sodium ignites when it comes into contact with air, and it causes an explosive chemical reaction when it is mixed with water. In 1995, some liquid sodium leaked from the Monju reactor, causing the reactor to be shut down for a long period of time.

...760 metric tons of liquid sodium used for the primary coolant system, several hundred inside the reactor vessel cannot be extracted....

This is amazing. 760 tons of liquid sodium that will ignite when in contact with air cannot be removed from the Monju reactor! The article states the liquid sodium problem is exacerbated because the sodium has been irradiated and is radioactive.

How could this have happened? The Mainichi cites a "senior official at the JAEA" who said the main priority when the reactor was being designed was speed! Quite apparently, no consideration was given to decommissioning.

Or conversely, plenty of consideration was given to future decommissioning problems, but the culture and leadership disallowed the kind of dissent that would have prevented the current situation.

This is a great illustration of how catastrophic hazards are engineered into industrial/military infrastructures.

Its also a good example of how authoritarian decision making can lead us to the brink of hell.


JAEA acknowledged that the reactor had been designed without any regard for removing liquid sodium from the reactor vessel, saying, "When the reactor was being designed, the main priority was to finish the project quickly. Decommissioning was not taken into account." In addition, the liquid sodium has been exposed to radiation, making it difficult for humans to approach it and perform tasks.
As a result, of about 760 metric tons of liquid sodium used for the primary coolant system, several hundred inside the reactor vessel cannot be extracted.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Engineering Consent By Framing


I've found that the mass media often seek to FRAME public perceptions of an issue in the headline. The framing function is illustrated in this headline addressing plans in Japan to dump radioactive water into the ocean.

Most of the water that is being proposed for dumping is contaminated with tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that cannot be filtered from water. What I find problematic in the framing of the headline is the implicit argument that public fears are irrational, while science is represented as unified entirely behind the dumping:

AP (2017, Nov 25). Risky stalemate as science battles human fears at Fukushima. The Asahi Shimbun, http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201711250021.html

This headline and the story beneath drive me crazy in so many ways. Human fears are represented as pitted against scientific certainty. However, there is NO scientific consensus that dumping tritium in the ocean is "safe." Moreover, tritium is hardly the only isotope that has ended up in vast quantities in the ocean as there is no containment of melted fuel in the basements of the fractured reactor buildings.

Tritium bioaccumulates in phytoplankton (which is composed of algae, protists and cyanobacteria) and has been consequently evaluated as posing a persistent and toxic contaminant with intergenerational effects:
Jaeschke, B. C., & Bradshaw, C. (2013). Bioaccumulation of tritiated water in phytoplankton and trophic transfer of organically bound tritium to the blue mussel, mytilus edulis. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 115, 28-33. 
Strontium is also highly bio-available and bioaccumulates in vertebrate skeletal structures. The particular dangers posed by strontium were highlighted in Project Sunshine, mentioned earlier in this chapter. The actinides are also particularly genotoxic. Research conducted by Fisher, Bjerregaard and Fowler found that Plutonium, Americium, and Californium concentrate readily in marine plankton and could be transported up the marine food web, as well as being deposited on the ocean bottom:
Nicholas S. Fisher, Poul Bjerregaard and Scott W. Fowler (1983). Interactions of Marine Plankton with Transuranic Elements. 1. Biokinetics of Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, and Californium in Phytoplankton. Limnology and Oceanography, 28(3) (May, 1983), pp. 432-447 Published by: American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2835825. 445. 
TEPCO and the Japanese government feel they have no choice but to dump contaminated water because they are running out of storage and storing highly radioactive water in tanks risks leaks, "breaking radiation" (as X-rays are generated) and even explosions.


The contaminated water situation at Fukushima is UNPRECEDENTED and poses significant RISKS to the eco-sphere. Below find more information about the disaster excerpted from my book Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy and Ecological Sustainability





In 2013, Prime Minister Abe promised the government would take “firm measures” to address water contamination at Fukushima Daiichi.[i] Two years later in 2015, TEPCO still injected hundreds of tons of water into demolished reactor buildings 1-4 to cool uncontained melted fuel.[ii]  [Today TEPCO admits to dumping up to 150 tons of water daily to cool fuel.]

TEPCO simultaneously pumps hundreds of tons of contaminated water out from the ruined reactor buildings, but its efforts to keep up with water saturation have been stymied by the sheer volume of ground water inundating the site, largely from an underground river running at about 1,000 tons daily, with TEPCO announcing that approximately 400 tons of that penetrates reactor buildings 1 – 4. [iii]

Water saturation from the underground river and TEPCO’s injections contribute to ground liquefaction, which poses direct risks to the reactor buildings and common spent fuel pool. Contaminated ground water is also flowing into the ocean.[iv]

In February of 2015, TEPCO admitted that radioactive water from unit 2 had been flowing unfiltered into the ocean since May 2014.[v] Local fisherman who had given consent for TEPCO to dump uncontaminated ground water were outraged, but Yuji Moriyama, a TEPCO spokesman stated “the utility did not disclose the information because there is no evidence of environmental impact.”

The water contained 29,400 Becquerels of radioactive cesium per liter and an additional 52,000 Becquerels of beta-emitting radionuclides, such as Strontium-90.

Strontium levels in sea and ground water may actually rise over time, if the conditions modeled in two German risk studies apply to Fukushima. The “German Risk Study, Phase B” found that a core meltdown accident could result in complete failures of all structural containment, causing melted fuel to exit the reactor foundation within five days and that ground water leaching would occur even in the absence of a full melt-through situation.[vi]

A second German risk analysis, “Dispersion of Radionuclides and Radiation Exposure after Leaching by Groundwater of a Solidified Core-Concrete Melt,” found that even in the event of an intact building foundation, passing groundwater would be in direct contact with fuel, causing leaching of fission products. [vii]

The study predicted concentrations of Strontium-90 in river water would spike relatively suddenly, but maintain extraordinarily high levels of contamination for years, with “the highest radionuclide concentration of approx. 1010 Bq/m3 is reached by Sr-90 after some 5000 days.” The study’s experimental conditions are roughly similar to Daiichi’s site conditions, including groundwater emptying into an adjacent river, whereas Daiichi is physically situated above an underground river emptying into the sea.

Ground water contamination has also been rising steadily at the Daiichi site, especially since the summer of 2013.[viii] TEPCO reported that samples from the well between the ocean and unit 1 measuring a record 5 million Becquerels per liter of radioactive Strontium-90 alone in July 2013.[ix]

In January 27, 2015, TEPCO measured 31,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 in boring well nearest unit 2, a level which was more than 10 percent more than reported in December of 2014.[x] By February of 2015, TEPCO was reporting even higher levels of Strontium-90 in the same location, with the highest sample measured at 590,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90.[xi] The spiking strontium levels are consistent with the predictions of the German melt-through scenario.

TEPCO has also detected increased radionuclide contamination in the Fukushima port. On June 19, 2015 TEPCO’s reported that it had detected Strontium-90 measuring 1,000,000 Bq/m3 in two locations in Fukushima Daiichi’s port located near the water intake for reactors 3 and 4, exceeding the previous reported high of 700,000 Bq/m3.[xii] The highest Strontium level measured in Fukushima’s port jumped still more in data reported in July 17, 2015 to 1,500,000 Bq/m3.[xiii]

....


Where do all the radionuclides go after reaching the ocean? They are either bioaccumulated by ocean flora and fauna, settle as sediment, or enter the hydrological cycle through evaporation (see my post Majia's Blog: Compromised Oceans Mean Compromised People).

REFERENCES

[i] Mari Yamaguchi AP “Japanese government to help halt nuke leak,” The Spokesman (August 8, 2013). Retrieved 4 May 2014: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/aug/08/japanese-government-to-help-halt-nuke-leak/.

[ii] R. Yoshida (21 May 2013) ‘Fukushima No. 1 Can’t Keep its Head above Tainted Water’, Japan Times, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/21/reference/fukushima-no-1-cant-keep-its-head-above-tainted-water/#.UZpke8oQNX9, date accessed 21 May 2013.

[iii] Nagata, K. (2013, August 20). TEPCO yet to track groundwater paths. Liquefaction threat adds to Fukushima ills. The Japan Times. Available http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/20/national/tepco-yet-to-track-groundwater-paths/#.U2XHpF7K3yi

[iv] Nagata, K. (2014, March 6). Solving Fukushima water problem a long, hard slog. The Japan Times. Available http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/03/06/national/solving-fukushima-water-problem-a-long-hard-slog/#.U2XIE17K3yh

[v] Fisheries ‘shocked’ at silence over water leak at wrecked Fukushima No. 1 plant,” Japan times (February 25, 2015) http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/25/national/tepco-admits-failed-disclose-cesium-tainted-water-leaks-since-april/#.VPOfiOHWyDl

[vi] Gesellschaft fur Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) Deutsche Risikikostudie Kernkraftwerke, Phase B Report GRS-89 cited in Bayer, A., Al-Omari, I., & Tromm, W. (1989). Dispersion of radionuclides and radiation exposure after leaching by groundwater of a solidified core-concrete (No. KFK-4512). Available http://www.irpa.net/irpa8/cdrom/VOL.1/M1_97.PDF.

[vii] Bayer, A., Al-Omari, I., & Tromm, W. (1989). Dispersion of radionuclides and radiation exposure after leaching by groundwater of a solidified core-concrete (No. KFK-4512). Available http://www.irpa.net/irpa8/cdrom/VOL.1/M1_97.PDF

[viii] “TEPCO Announced Record Cesium Level Found in Groundwater Beneath Fukushima Levee” The Asahi Shimbun (February 14, 2014): http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201402140041). The article said that cesium found in groundwater under a coastal levee near unit 1 spiked from 76,000 Becquerels per liter on February 12, 2014 to 130,000 Becquerels per liter on February 13, reaching the highest level of cesium ever detected at that location.

[ix] Record strontium-90 level in Fukushima groundwater sample last July. (2014, February 7). The Japan Times. Available http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/07/national/record-strontium-90-level-in-fukushima-groundwater-sample-last-july/#.U2XIw17K3yh.

[x] Lori Mochizuki, “31,000,000 Bqm3 Strontium 90 Measured Nearest Boring Well Reactor 2,” Fukushima Diary (January 2015) http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/01/31000000-bqm3-strontium-90-measured-nearest-boring-well-reactor-2). TEPCO document available: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15012701-j.pdf

[xi] Lori Mochizuki (Fukushima Diary 590,000,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 measured from groundwater of Reactor 2 seaside).

[xii] Lori Mochizuki, “1,000,000 Bq/m3 of Sr-90 detected in seawater of Fukushima plant port / Highest in recorded history,” Fukushima Diary (June 20, 2015) http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/06/1000000-bqm3-of-sr-90-detected-in-seawater-of-fukushima-plant-port-highest-in-recorded-history/ and TEPCO document http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15061901-j.pdf.

[xiii] Lori Mochizuki, “Highest Strontium-90 density detected in seawater of Fukushima plant port / 1,500,000 Bq/m3,” Fukushima Dairy (July 18, 2015). http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/07/highest-strontium-90-density-detected-in-seawater-of-fukushima-plant-port-1500000-bqm3/ TEPCO document available here: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15071701-j.pdf

RELATED POSTS
Majia's Blog: Human Engineered Radioactive Beach Sand & Ocean ...

Majia's Blog: Compromised Pacific Ocean

Majia's Blog: Pacific Ocean Tipping Points

Monday, November 27, 2017

Japanese Geneticists on Radiation



I was searching for information using JSTOR, a historical index, and found this very interesting article:
Japanese Geneticists on Radiation (1957). Science, New Series, Vol. 126, No. 3263 (Jul. 12, 1957), pp. 68-69. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1753454 Accessed: 27-11-2017 15:24 UTC "From what has been pointed out above, we are led to conclude that any amount of radiation, however small it may be, is deleterious to the heredity of man. Although a certain dose has been set as 'permissible' for people engaged in the operation of X-rays and radioactive apparatus or substances, this is only aimed at the safety and health of those people themselves. However, as far as the genetic effect on their descendants is concerned, there is no theoretical limit below which danger may be entirely excluded."


This argument that radiation produces irreparable errors in the DNA of eggs and sperm has not been contradicted, as this more recent study affirms:
Jacquet, P. (2004 Apr-Jun). Sensitivity of germ cells and embryos to ionizing radiation. Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents, 18(2): 106-114.
Abstract: Experiments performed in laboratory animals suggest that ionizing radiation can induce DNA damage in the germ cells of exposed individuals and lead to various deleterious effects in their progeny, including miscarriage, low birth weight, congenital abnormalities and perhaps cancer. However, no clear evidence for such effects has been found in epidemiological studies of people exposed to radiation. The predicted risks of hereditary effects of any kinds resulting from parental exposure to relatively low doses of ionizing radiation remain very low, compared to the spontaneous risks in the absence of irradiation. Irradiation of the mouse embryo can lead to various effects (lethality, growth retardation, congenital abnormalities), depending on the period of gestation at which irradiation occurs. In humans, prenatal irradiation has only been exceptionally associated with congenital abnormalities, but irradiation between weeks 8-25 has been shown to be able to induce severe mental retardation. Although being not proven, the risk of developing a childhood cancer following prenatal irradiation may also not be excluded. Like for genetic effects, the risk of adverse effects following exposure of the embryo to relatively low doses remains quite low compared to the natural risks.
Of course, the question of how much radiation is too much radiation remains contested and is, of course, subject to so many contingencies that a singular level will never be achieved.

Here are some of my thoughts on the potential relationship between autism and ionizing radiation that posits exposure as producing micro-deletions, as well as epigenetic changes, that may cause the mosaic of symptoms associated with the disorder, as well as other multi-factorial disorders, including diabetes:


Majia's Blog: Autism and Ionizing Radiation
majiasblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/autism-and-ionizing-radiation.html
May 23, 2014 - Diagnoses of autism are increasing and more researchers are concluding that environmental causes are contributing in significant ways to the ...

Majia's Blog: Autism and Exposure to Excess Ionizing Radiation: Is ...
majiasblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/autism-and-exposure-to-excess-ionizing.html
A number of you have asked about the reaction to my paper on autism and ionizing radiation delivered at an international conference on autism in Cyprus: http://autism360cy.com/ My paper argued for a systemic approach to understanding autism that deconstructed the idea that the body is separate from its environment: ...

Majia's Blog: Could Ionizing Radiation Play a Role in Autism?
majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/could-ionizing-radiation-play-role-in.htmlAfter studying the effects of low-levels of ionizing radiation, I began to suspect a link to autism. I have found a possible mechanism. NK CD 56 cells are very radiosensitive and they have also been implicated as dysfunctional in children with autism. Maybe there is a connection here? Below are the steps I used in making this ...

And here is the snapshot of Fukushima Daiichi this morning, puffing away from unit 2, which has been especially steamy recently: