Wall nearly 100 feet tall to be built underground at Fukushima Daiichi to prevent further spread of radioactive contamination — Construction begins tomorrow, ends June 2014 (PHOTOS)
Published: April 24th, 2012 at 2:18 pm ET By ENENews - 53 comments
~~~~~~ The water shielding wall will be installed in front of the existing seawalls of Units 1 to 4 to prevent further contamination of the ocean due to the leakage of ground water, for which we have conducted preparatory including geological survey per measurement and boring inspection thus far. (Previously announced on October 26, 2011)
As a license to landfill publicly-owned seawater surface is required to install the water shielding wall, we have applied for the license to Fukushima Prefecture on February 7, 2012. Since the necessary investigation procedures have been finished and the license was issued by Fukushima Prefecture on April 20, 2012, we will start construction of the water shielding wall from April 25. ~~~~~~ Appendix: Outline of Water Shielding Wall Installation .. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu12_e/images/120424e0201.pdf .. (PDF 136KB)
Outline
Even though we are making utmost efforts to prevent the water accumulated within the buildings of Units 1 to 4 from leaking into the groundwater, we are planning to install a water shielding wall of steal sheet pile having enough impermeability in front of the existing seawalls of Units 1 to 4, just in case of the accumulated water leaking in to the ground water to prevent further contamination of the ocean.
"The surface of the pile, which looked like soil, had gamma ray readings of about 85 microsieverts per hour. The total reading, including beta rays, came to 1 millisievert per hour." .. that's from your 2nd one ..
i wondered what a 'normal' reading was .. the last bit ..
Normal Radiation Exposure
The higher up you live, the more radiation you are exposed to every day. This is because cosmic rays from the sun are more common higher in the atmosphere. By the time they reach the Earth's ground, some of them will have been absorbed - explaining the lower level of radiation closer to the ground. Additionally, the intensity of cosmic radiation also obeys the inverse square law .. ) . The ground of the Earth is also further away from the sun than higher up in the atmosphere. However, note that living in a canyon below sea level does not necessarily mean you are exposed to less radiation. In fact, you may be exposed to more because of the canyon's walls containing minerals that may be naturally radioactive.
At sea-level, the average radiation level is approximately 0.03 microsieverts per hour. As the altitude increases, the radiation exposure increases exponentially. Mexico City, 2240 m above sea-level, is exposed to about 0.09 microsieverts per hour; La Paz (in Boliva, South America) - the highest city in the world - has radiation of about 0.23 microsieverts per hour.
Radon is a radioactive gas formed from the decay of metals like uranium and thorium. It is in the air that we breathe, but only in very small proportions - in trace amounts of less than 0.01%. Nevertheless, prolonged and concentrated exposure to radon gas is believed to cause lung cancer.
Frequent international aircraft travellers will be exposed to more radiation because they will spend more of their time up in the atmosphere, closer to the cosmic rays.
.. so that pile at "85 microsieverts per hour" is (85/.23) 369.6 times higher than the radiation level in La Paz .. wonder what the air reading is about there? .. now how does micro relate to milli? .. ok .. "10-3 milli" m and "10-6 micro µ" .. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/prefixes.html .. milli = 1/1000 and micro = 1/1000000 .. so a micro is 1/1000 of a milli .. i.e a milli m is 1000 times bigger than a micro µ .. ok ..
General questions and comments on radiation risk
In large doses, radiation can cause serious tissue damage and increase a person’s risk of later developing cancer. The low doses of radiation used for imaging tests might increase a person’s cancer risk slightly, but it’s important to put this risk into perspective. In this section we will answer some of the more common questions people have about radiation risks linked to imaging tests.
How much radiation is the average person exposed to during day-to-day life?
We are constantly exposed to radiation from a number of sources, including radioactive materials in our environment, radon gas in our homes, and cosmic rays from outer space. This is called background radiation and it varies across the country.
The average American is exposed to about 3 mSv (millisieverts) of radiation from natural sources over the course of a year. (A millisievert is a measure of radiation exposure.) Much of this exposure is from radon, a natural gas with levels that vary from one part of the country to another.
For example, because the earth’s atmosphere blocks some cosmic rays, living at a higher altitude increases a person’s exposure – residents in the plateaus of New Mexico and Colorado, have an annual exposure level of about 1.5 mSv more per year than people living at sea level. And a 10-hour airline flight increases cosmic ray exposure by about 0.03 mSv.
Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day exposes the smoker to an extra 53 mSv per year.
How much does an imaging test expose a person to radiation?
Actually, not much, but it depends on the imaging test used. A single chest x-ray exposes the patient to about 0.1 mSv, which is about the radiation dose people are exposed to naturally over the course of about 10 days. A mammogram exposes a woman to 0.4 mSv, or about the amount of exposure a person would expect to get in about 7 weeks.
Some other imaging tests have higher exposures. A lower GI series using standard x-rays exposes a person to about 8 mSv. A CT scan of the abdomen (belly) and pelvis exposes a person to about 10 mSv, this goes up to 20 mSv if the test is done with and without contrast. A CT colonography exposes you to about 10 mSv of radiation. Keep in mind that these are estimates, and studies have found that the amount of radiation you get can vary a great deal.
If you have concerns about the radiation you may get from a CT scan, or any other imaging test, check with the facility that will perform the test. (Remember that MRI and ultrasound exams do not expose you to radiation.) You may also want to keep a “medical imaging history” that will allow you to track your own medical imaging history and share it with your health care providers. (One can be found online at www.radiologyinfo.org. See the “To learn more” section.) The best advice at this time is to only get imaging tests that are needed and try to limit your exposure to all forms of radiation.
How much does the extra radiation increase a person’s cancer risk?
Researchers have estimated that radiation exposure from the average diagnostic x-ray may increase cancer risk very slightly (likely on the order of hundredths to thousandths of one percent). Of course, this can be affected by the type of test done, the area of the body exposed, and other factors.
Radiation experts say that the risk levels represented in imaging tests are only very small additions to the 1 in 5 chance we all have of dying from cancer. It’s hard to know if and if so, just how much the radiation exposure from imaging tests increases a person’s cancer risk. Most studies on radiation and cancer risk have looked at people exposed to very high doses of radiation, such as uranium miners and atomic bomb survivors. The risk from low-level radiation exposure is not easy to calculate from these studies.
We do know that children are more sensitive to radiation and should be protected from it as much as possible.
Because radiation exposure from all sources can add up over a lifetime, and radiation can, indeed, increase cancer risk, imaging tests that use radiation should only be done for a good reason. In many cases, other imaging tests such as ultrasound or MRI may be used. But if there’s a reason to believe that an x-ray or CT scan is the best way to look for cancer or other diseases, the person will most likely be helped more than the small dose of radiation can hurt.
Japan's young turn to Communist Party as they decide capitalism has let them down
With its gleaming designer stores, the world's second largest economy and an insatiable appetite for luxury labels, Japan has long been regarded as the land of the rising capitalist.
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
10:17PM BST 17 Oct 2008
But a wave of discontent among its younger workers is fuelling a change in the nation's political landscape: communism is suddenly back in fashion.
What many young Japanese view as an erosion of their economic security and employment rights, combined with years of political stagnation, are propelling droves of them into the arms of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), the nation's fourth largest political party.
New recruits are signing up at the rate of 1,000 a month, swelling its ranks to more than 415,000. Meanwhile a classic proletarian novel is at the top of the best-seller lists, and communist-themed "manga" comics are enjoying soaring success.
A further sign of disaffection among young Japanese - who in recent years have been more renowned for their political apathy than their revolutionary zeal - is the increasing frequency of rallies by workers on the streets of the capital.
Earlier this month, crowds of up to 5,000 young Japanese workers marched through the streets of central Tokyo to express their growing discontent with the government over working conditions. Related Articles
The strange growth of Communist Japan 17 Oct 2008
And the job losses, financial insecurity and social dissatisfaction that are expected to go hand in hand with the current global credit crisis are expected to increase the ranks of the party further.
Spearheading the lurch to the Left are young Japanese in their twenties and thirties, who have become increasingly disillusioned with changes to employment laws which they blame for creating a climate of insecurity.
Some 44 per cent of country's workforce are part-time only, while a profusion of short-term contracts has created a generation of freelancers who are often between jobs.
Kimitoshi Morihara, deputy director of the Japanese Communist Party's international bureau, said: "Working conditions dramatically changed for younger generations in 2002 when new temporary working laws were introduced.
Today, more than one in three Japanese is in temporary work. They have almost no rights, no security and no future.
"The political climate in Japan is changing and more young Japanese are becoming politically aware because these issues have long been ignored by other parties." The revival of hard left politics comes as Japan faces the prospect of an general election in coming months, following the parliamentary deadlock which led to last month's sudden resignation of Yasuo Fukuda, the third prime minister in less than three years.
The country's schlerotic political system has enabled the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to hold power for an almost unbroken five decades, although its powers were critically curtailed last year when the main opposition party won control of the upper legislative chamber.
Resurgent Japanese communism is deploying all the tools of the 21st century, with the internet and on-line video sites playing a vital role.
The party's charismatic chairman, Kazuo Shii, triggered a rush of new recruits with a rousing parliamentary speech attacking the "exploitation" of young workers, which has become cult viewing among young Japanese on video websites.
With his grey salaryman suit and glasses, 54-year-old Mr Shii appears a far cry from conventional revolutionary stereotypes. However, after eight years at the helm of the party he has been propelled to prominence to become something of a media personality.
Among those who have recently come under his sway is Miki Tomohiro, a 34-year-old freelance writer from Fukutsu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. "When I saw Mr Shii speaking, I felt as if he was exposing capitalism in its crudest form," he said. "I surfed the internet to find out more about the party before joining." Oomori Shuji, 30, a temporary worker for Toyota, from Aichi Prefecture, who joined the party in June, added: "Since my graduation, I have never been fully employed. At a JCP workshop, I learned about the realities of temps hired by the day and the working poor, who are without social security or bonuses, and are often easily fired.
"The party is considerate of the plight of young people, including their jobs and living conditions. It has a concrete policy on these questions." Another sign of the growing allure of the Left is the sudden surge in popularity of a classic Japanese novel, Kanikosen - the Crab-Canning Ship - about embattled factory workers who rise up against their capitalist oppressors.
Nearly eight decades after it was written by Takiji Kobayashi, a communist who was tortured to death for his political beliefs aged 29, its sales have leapt from a slow annual trickle of 5,000 to 507,000 so far this year, unexpectedly catapulting it to the top of the nation's bestseller lists.
A "manga" comic book depicting the same Marxist tale is also winning over young Japanese, with 200,000 copies sold in a year. Kosuke Maruo, editor at East Press, which publishes the manga version, said: "The story succeeds in representing very vividly the situation of the so-called working poor today.
"They cannot become happy and they cannot find the solution to their poverty, however hard they work. Young people who are forced to work for very low wages today may have a feeling that they are in a similar position to the crew of Kanikosen." Kyudo Takahashi, 31, a freelance writer from Tokyo, attributed the popularity of the story to a growing sense of displacement among his generation.
"Kanikosen was a textbook in school but we didn't read it seriously then," he said. "Now, we're reading it again because we're frustrated with the government.
"In the book, people are exploited again and again. They are not treated like humans, more like cows at a hamburger factory. That is how many people feel today. When we find work, someone is always exploiting us. We cannot feel secure about the future."
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