HiddenMysteries: Feds Allowing Tritium Radiation Catastrophe Cover Up At North Anna VA Nuclear Plant?

by Alexander Higgins

Nuclear industry watchdogs warn the North Anna nuclear plant may be leaking radioactive tritium due to damage in underground pipes from the Virginia earthquake.

On August 24th, a 5.8 earthquake struck Mineral Virginia which sent shock waves all over the eastern seaboard being felt from Colorado to Massachusetts, from South Carolina to Ontario Canada, after which the media was silent on the fate of the North Anna nuclear plant which is located at the epicenter of the quake.

The quake caused damage over hundred miles away, most notably cracking the Washington Monument, and took both of the reactors at the North Anna plant offline due to the earthquake cutting off the electricity needed to cool the nuclear reactors. The loss of electricity due to the earthquake caused the Fukushima nuclear meltdown which raised fears the North Anna plant could suffer a similar fate.

However officials quoted the plant owner as saying the plant was operating normally on backup generators. We then learned that one of the four generators at the plant failed within minutes of being activated.

That was followed by assurances that no radiation was leaked from the plant even as the plant operator admitted the next day they were forced to vent steam from the reactor to prevent a Fukushima style “hydrogen” explosion at the reactor. While officials still asserted the plant was operating safely it begged the question of why the reactor needed to vent steam if the reactor was indeed being properly cooled.

The operator then admitted that radiation had in fact been leaked from the plant, but downplayed the leakage by saying the amount was miniscule and was inline with normal operations, even though the plant was shut down and was not be ran under “normal operation” procedures.

The dam at the nuclear plant has also been classified as a high-hazard by engineers and a local CBS affiliate in fact found over 2o inches of water was lost from the dam following the quake.

Complicating matters even further is officials gave conflicting statements about what triggered the shutdown at the nuclear plant. Some officials were quoted as saying the plant was manually shut down, claims which other officials said were untrue saying the quake triggered an automatic shutdown.

Adding to the concerns, there are now fears that pipes under the facility may be leaking radioactive tritium into the ground. In the past, nuclear plants have gone years and even decades without admitting to tritium radiation leaks.

We have learned that several crucial parts of the North Anna plant were not built to withstand earthquakes.

In fact, the NRC found several crucial parts of the power plant were not protected from earthquakes.

After Fukushima, but before the recent East Coast quake, the NRC began a review of U.S. nuclear plants and found a few “discrepancies” at North Anna including:

Portions of the water and gaseous suppression systems and hose stations are not seismically designed.
A fire-pump storage area is non-seismic.

Seismically designed floodwalls are located in the non-seismic turbine building.
Source: Energy News

Now, nuclear industry watchdogs are raising the alarm that the North Anna plant is likely leaking radiation from underground pipes following the earthquake.

To make matters worse, even given the known history of the nuclear industry covering up leaks, the government is refusing to do an independent inspection into the plants pipes.

Instead, as The Hook reports, the government will allow the plant operator to do their own inspection of the plant.

Tritium trouble? Nuke fears rise with quake, self-policing

After the nuclear catastrophe that followed the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last spring, some Central Virginia activists cautioned that a similar nightmare could unfold right here at the Dominion-operated North Anna nuclear generating plant in Louisa County. Despite Dominion’s assurances that the plant made it through the August 23 earthquake unscathed, activists contend that the quake, which measured 5.8 on the Richter Scale and had an epicenter just eleven miles from the plant, may have been more catastrophic than anyone is admitting. New information bolsters their fears.

On Monday, August 29, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that the quake may, in fact, have produced force that exceeded the North Anna plant’s specifications and that the Commission is sending a special Augmented Inspection Team to assess the damage.

“Initial reviews determined the plant may have exceeded the ground motion for which it was designed,” says the release, which also assures that “no significant damage to safety systems has been identified.”

That’s small consolation to one prominent nuclear watchdog, who says it’s not what’s above ground that gives him the greatest concern.

“Central to the issue is miles of buried pipe under the plant that carry radioactive water,” says Paul Gunter, director of a nonprofit group called Beyond Nuclear.

Gunter cites recent problems with underground pipes at nuclear plants in Illinois and Vermont, where millions of gallons of water contaminated with the radioactive hydrogen isotope tritium seeped into groundwater, even as the power companies that owned the plants denied for years that it was happening.

The result of those leaks and their public concealment by the Exelon and Intergy power companies– at the Braidwood Station plant in Illionis and at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant– was not additional government oversight as one might expect, says Gunter, but merely the creation of two voluntary programs that allow the power companies to inspect their own pipes and groundwater and then report the findings to the Commission.

“Here’s an industry that has hidden these leaks that is now self-reporting and overseeing itself to the NRC,” says a disgusted Gunter.

Indeed, at North Anna, newly arrived government inspectors won’t be conducting their own tests of the miles of underground pipes. And the assumption that those pipes didn’t sustain damage during the earthquake, which knocked two Louisa County schools out of commission and caused cracks in the Washington Monument some 90 miles away, might be laughable to Gunter if he weren’t convinced of potentially grave public danger.

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com
http://www.readthehook.com

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Officials Admit Tests Since June Showed Ash Cloud Of Nuclear Radiation Blanketing All Of Eastern Japan

by Alexander Higgins

Experts warn the ash cloud of nuclear radiation blanketing Eastern Japan and concealed by officials since June will soon rain down on the US And Canada.

As I previously reported a highly radioactive ash cloud of Fukushima nuclear radiation was raining down on Tokyo due to the insane approval of Japanese government officials to burn off nuclear radiation at local incinerators.

Nuclear Ash Cloud Of Radiation Raining On Tokyo From Burning Of Radioactive Fukushima Sewage Sludge

Independent scientists and local Japanese Government officials reveal that the burning of radioactive sewage sludge is contaminating the city of Tokyo with an ash cloud of nuclear radiation.

As I previously reported nuclear radiation is concentrating in the Japanese sewage systems and radioactive sewage sludge is building up all over Japan.

Radioactive Sewage Piling Up All Over Eastern Japan With No Plan For Disposal

Extremely radioactive sewage sludge is piling up at facilities in prefectures all over Japan as Government officials have remained silent for weeks about a plan to deal with the crisis.

As I previously reported, extremely radioactive sewage was detected in 19 out of 20 places tested at distances up to 65 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As the sewage sludge continues to build up all over Japan, the Japanese government has authorized sewage sludge to be incinerated claiming the burning of the sludge would not cause radioactive contamination in surrounding areas.

However, test results, from both independent scientists and local Japanese government officials, show that burning of the highly radioactive sewage sludge at a Tokyo sewage plant is causing a cloud of nuclear radiation to rain down on Tokyo.

Despite the conclusive scientific data showing burning of the sludge is causing radioactive contamination the Japanese federal government is still allowing the incineration of the waste to continue.

[...]

Independent scientists performed testing which showed nuclear radiation raining down on Tokyo from incinerators that were burning radioactive sludge and other materials contaminated with Fukushima radiation. Since the test results were performed by independent scientists and only acknowledge by local officials, the media nearly outright ignored the test results.

Apparently, if you are a scientist not beholden to the nuclear industry you are automatically written off as some fringe lunatic who is trying to spark unnecessary fear and alarm in the public by spreading false rumors. It is exactly these type of “false rumors” which Japan is working so hard to scrub from the Internet.

Even worse, is while those scientists were regarded as alarmists while attempting to do nothing more than protect the public and save human lives, Japanese officials not only ignored their research but withheld the results of official government tests that began conducting in June which show the levels off radiation were much higher than the results of the independent scientists.

Not only were the officials tests much higher, but they also showed widespread contamination all over Easter Japan of levels all of which exceeded the recently increased safety limit of 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

In fact, that even in the prefectures were lower levels of radiation were detected, which includes dust Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Tokyo, the radioactive dust covering the ground exceeds 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

According to the Japan Times, the official government test also found the highest cesium levels in the nuclear fallout dust ranged from 95,300 becquerels in Fukushima Prefecture and 70,800 becquerels in Chiba Prefecture to 30,000 becquerels in Iwate Prefecture.

Salem News also quotes nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen Fukushima radiation has been found at 100,000 becquerels per kilogram in ashes and after burning household garbage levels up to 95,300 becquerels per kilogram have been found.

Arnie Gundersen also warns that the burning of substances contaminated with nuclear radiation not only presents a hazard to Japan, but will also directly affect the Canada and the United States.

“Burning that waste and with radioactive, rain will come down again upon their own people, as well as Canada and the U.S. They’re refusing to see the seriousness of this disaster and it’s making it worse.”, says nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen.

Arnie Gundersen has also said that once in the atmosphere nuclear radiation will continue to rain for at least a year afterwards.

Salem News Reports:

Japan is Venting Radiation High Into Atmosphere
There are reports that teachers are forcing school children to eat food that their parents told them not to eat.

(HUMBOLDT, Calif.) – Radioactive cesium exceeding 8,000 becquerels/kg has been detected in the ashes from burning the regular household garbage in Kanto and Tohoku regions. The Ministry of the Environment has decided to apply the same rule as the disaster debris and allow the ashes to be buried. The municipalities will be able to bury the ashes that they have stored temporarily, but it may be difficult to obtain consent from the residents living near the disposal facilities.

[...]

Some garbage incinerators and sludge incinerators at waste processing plants and sewage treatment plants in cities in Kanto have become so radioactive that they have to be shut down.

The entire country is potentially a nuclear waste disposal site, because of this one disaster.

Those following all this know Fukushima City should have been evacuated right from the beginning. – Fukushima Cesium-137 Leaks ‘Equal 168 Hiroshimas’

With regard to Fukushima, Kobe University Radiation Expert Prof. Tomoya Yamauchi, said of this city of 290,000 People: “Evacuation Must Be Conducted As Soon As Possible”.

Prof. Chris Busby says Fukushima is like the TITANIC – suggesting that the Japanese government is completely out of order and if it continuous its course of action then it is a criminal organization – “I Am Too Frightened To Go Closer To Meltdowns Than 100 Km’ Because Of High Levels Of Radiation”.

In relation to the evacuation of Fukushima, Japanese Journalist Takashi Hirose said: “It’s like killing our own children, I cannot allow it to happen”. There are reports that teachers are forcing school children to eat food that their parents told them not to eat.

Prof. Tatsuhiko Kodama of Tokyo University said Japan’s government needs a wakeup call, adding that many are ‘Shaking With Anger’. His quote: “What Are You Doing?”

A recent alert indicated that Greenpeace Radiation Measurements in Fukushima City hot spots is showing at 500-700 Times Normal!

Again, over 290,000 people are In Danger.

Human Errors With Devastating Consequences
[...]Source: Salem News

The Japan Times Reports:

Cesium in incinerator dust across east Japan
High levels of cesium isotopes are cropping up in dust at 42 incineration plants in seven prefectures, including Chiba and Iwate, an Environment Ministry survey of the Kanto and Tohoku regions shows.

According to the report, released late Saturday, the highest cesium levels in the dust ranged from 95,300 becquerels in Fukushima Prefecture and 70,800 becquerels in Chiba Prefecture to 30,000 becquerels in Iwate Prefecture.

But even the lower levels in the dust exceeded 8,000 becquerels per kilogram in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Tokyo.

The 16-prefecture survey covered 469 incinerator operators in Tohoku and Kanto from late June, and was reported to a panel of experts at the ministry that is discussing how to safely bury incinerator ash and dust with cesium levels above 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.

Local governments have been instructed to temporarily store their ash and dust at disposal sites until the panel reaches a conclusion.

[...]The Environment Ministry asked prefectures to monitor cesium levels after dust with 9,740 becquerels per kilogram was found at an incineration plant in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward in June. Before that, the only prefectures that had collected and released such data were Gunma and Ibaraki.

[...]

Source:The Japan Times

The Intel Hub quotes Washington’s blog:

Nuclear Expert: Radioactive Rain-Outs Will Continue For a Year – Even In Western U.S. and Canada – Because Japanese Are Burning Radioactive Materials
Washington’s Blog
August 17, 2011

August 17, 2011

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen says in a new interview that the Japanese are burning radioactive materials. The radioactivity originated from Fukushima, but various prefectures are burning radioactive materials in their terroritories.

Gundersen says that this radioactivity ends up not only in neighboring prefectures, but in Hawaii, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington and California.

He notes that radioactive rain-outs were documented recently in British Columbia and Oklahoma with geiger counters.

Gundersen is working with scientists who will publish a paper in the near future definitively debunking Canadian and American health officials’ claims that only harmless levels of radiation are being released.
Cover Up By American and Canadian Governments

Gundersen has a high-level contact in the State Department who says that the U.S. government has decided – within various agencies, including the State Department, FDA, and other agencies – to downplay the dangers from Fukushima. Because of this policy decision, the government is not really testing for radiation.

Gundersen says that well see another year of radioactive rain-outs, as the Japanese continue to burn radioactive materials.

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com

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Fukushima N-Plant Worker Dies of Acute Leukemia

Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501> said Tuesday that a man in his 40s who had worked to help contain the radiation crisis at the firm's crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has died of acute leukemia.

The total radiation doses the worker received at the plant stood at 0.5 millisievert, TEPCO officials said, adding that the worker's death has nothing to do with his work at the nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, which suffered serious damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

(And if you believe that, you'll buy this sushi!)

The man worked at the Fukushima plant for seven days from early August. His jobs included radiation exposure management, the officials said..

He became ill and was hospitalized after finishing the seven-day work. TEPCO received a report of his death on Aug. 16, the officials said.

A medical checkup prior to his work at the plant showed no problems in his health. He suffered no internal radiation exposure, the officials said.

http://jen.jiji.com

Feds Allowing Tritium Radiation Catastrophe Cover Up At North Anna VA Nuclear Plant?

Thursday, September 01 2011 @ 08:31 AM CDT