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Chain Reactions Reignited At Fukushima
Chain Reactions Reignited At Fukushima After Tsunami, Says New Study
Radioactive byproducts indicate that nuclear chain reactions must have been burning at the damaged nuclear reactors long after the disaster unfolded.
Today, Tetsuo Matsui at the University of Tokyo, says the limited data from Fukushima indicates that nuclear chain reactions must have reignited at Fuksuhima up to 12 days after the accident.
Matsui says the evidence comes from measurements of the ratio of cesium-137 and iodine-131 at several points around the facility and in the seawater nearby. He has calculated what the starting ratio must have been by assuming the reactors had been operating for between 7 and 12 months.
He says the ratios from drains at reactors 1 and 3 at Fukushima are consistent with the nuclear reactions having terminated at the time of the earthquake.
However, the data from the drain near reactor 2 and from the cooling pond at reactor 4, where spent fuel rods are stored, indicate that the reactions must have been burning much later.
“The data of the water samples from the unit-4 cooling pool and from the sub-drain near the unit-2 reactor show anomaly which may indicate, if they are correct, that some of these fission products were produced by chain nuclear reactions reignited after the earthquake,” he says.
These chain reactions must have occurred a significant time after the accident. “It would be difficult to understand the observed anomaly near the unit-2 reactor without assuming that a significant amount of fission products were produced at least 10 – 15 days after X-day,” says Matsui.
So things in reactor 2 must have been extremely dangerous right up to the end of March.
Matsui points out that there are some potential question marks about the data. One possibility is that the chemical properties of cesium and iodine might mean they are flushed away from the reactors at different rates, changing their ratios.
But it’s hard to see what chemical processes could be responsible for this and even harder to understand why they would occur in some places but not others at Fukushima.
Of course, it won’t be possible to determine exactly what went on in reactor 2 and in the spent fuel ponds at reactor 4 until the sites can be physically examined in detail.
But in the meantime, Matsui’s analysis gives us one of the best insights so far into the nature of the disaster that unfolded after the tsunami hit.
High Levels Of Radioactive Strontium Detected At Fukushima Daiichi 09.05.11
Tokyo Electric Power Company has detected high levels of Radioactive Strontium with a half life of 28.8 years from soil inside the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Strontium is chemically similar to calcium, and tends to deposit in the blood and bone marrow.
So How does strontium-90 work and how can it affect my health?
It is possible to breathe in particles or dust containing a chemical compound of strontium-90. If this compound dissolves in water, the chemical will dissolve in the moist surface inside the lungs. Strontium will then enter the blood quickly. If the chemical form of strontium does not dissolve in water easily, a small amount may remain in the lungs. When you eat food or drink water containing strontium, only a small amount leaves the intestines and enters the blood. Strontium can also pass through the skin. Once strontium enters the blood, it flows to other parts of the body. It enters and leaves cells easily. In the body, strontium acts very much like calcium. A large portion of the strontium will build up in bones. In adults, strontium mostly attaches to the surfaces of bones. In children, strontium may create the hard bone mineral itself, thus being stored in the bones for many years. Eventually, strontium will dissolve from the bones and return to the blood to be used again to grow bone, or to be expelled through urine, waste matter or sweat. The harmful effects of strontium-90 are caused by the high energy effects of radiation.
Since radioactive strontium is taken up into bone, the bone itself and nearby soft tissues may be damaged by radiation released over time. Bone marrow is the most important source of red blood cells, which are depleted if the strontium-90 level is too high. Some cancer patients are given injections of radioactive strontium ( Sr) to destroy cancer tissue in the bone marrow. Problems from lowered red blood cell counts include anaemia, which causes excessive tiredness, blood that does not clot properly, and a decreased resistance to fight disease.
Radioactive strontium probes are used to destroy unwanted tissue on the surface of the eye or skin. If used for eye surgery, this results in eye tissues becoming red and sore, or very thin after a long time. Thinning of the lower layer of the skin has also been reported in animal studies. In animal studies, exposure to strontium-90 caused harmful reproductive effects. These effects happened when animals were exposed to doses more than a million times higher than typical exposure levels for humans. Animals that breathed or swallowed radioactive strontium had lowered blood cell counts. It is not known if exposure to strontium-90 affects human reproduction.
Strontium-90 is considered a cancer-causing substance because it damages the genetic material (DNA) in cells. In one geographical location near a nuclear weapons plant, an increase in leukemia (a form of cancer) was reported in people who swallowed a large amount of strontium-90 in water. In animal studies, researchers reported cancers of the bone, nose and lung, as well as leukemia. Animals receiving high doses of radiation to the skin developed skin and bone cancer.
How is strontium-90 poisoning treated? Strontium-90 poisoning is treated in the same way as other radiation exposures. There are no direct treatments for strontium-90 exposure.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said it found 4,400 becquerels of radioactive strontium 90 per kilogram of dry soil. In March, strontium was also detected in soil and plants outside the 30-kilometer zone around the Fukushima plant. A director of the Japan Chemical Analysis Center, Yoshihiro Ikeuchi, says humans could inhale strontium when wind stirs up the radioactive substance, but the amounts would be very limited. He says the current levels won’t be a health hazard to plant workers wearing face masks, but monitoring of strontium levels in the air is needed.
Fukushima Daiichi Reactors 1-6
To get a clearer view of the situation click on the images for full size viewing
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Fukushima Daiichi Reactors 1-2-3-4
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New video of Fukushima plant
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No 3 explosion on March 14, 2011
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No 1 explosion
Unit 3 & 4 Of Fukushima Daiichi
Reactor 4 after hydrogen explosion and several fires. This reactor houses 1564 spent nuclear fuel rods. This is what they are trying to cool down.
From top to bottom: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3 and Unit 4 March 20, 2011 aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone and released by AIR PHOTO SERVICE
Reactor 3 (Mox) reactor aerial photo
Fire at Reactor 3 (Mox) Plant
reactors 1-2-3-4 after explosions
Reactors 3 and 4 after explosions and several fires
March 24, 2011 aerial photo taken by small unmanned drone
Reactor No 4 spent fuel Pool Exposed after explosion
In this Thursday, March 24, 2011, photo available Friday, April 1, 2011, inside of the Unit 4 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen in Okumamachi, northeastern Japan. Steam comes out of debris by a crane device, in green, at the unit.
An overview shows smoke rising from the interior of reactor No. 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex in this still image taken from a March 24, 2011 handout video released on April 1, 2011.
Reactor No4 emitting toxic smoke
Reactor 3 fuelled by Plutonium & Uranium mix oxide
Reactor No 3
Reactor No3
Reactor No 3
Reactor 3 and 4 of Fukushima Daiichi
The People’s News Network 
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