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Radioactive Water 'Leaked' from Japan Nuke Plant after Quake
KASHIWAZAKI, Japan - Water containing some radioactive materials leaked from a nuclear power plant in Japan after a strong earthquake Monday, a spokesman for the firm running the facility said.
"We have confirmed that water containing a slight amount of radioactive materials leaked out of the facility," said Shougo Fukuda, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric.
"But the leakage is believed to be far below the levels that could affect the environment," he said, adding that no workers at the plant were exposed to radiation.
The deadly 6.8 magnitude earthquake also ignited a fire at the site, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, one of the world's largest nuclear power plants.
Black smoke billowed for hours from the plant until the blaze was extinguished. Fukuda said it was not immediately known if the earthquake or the fire caused the radioactive water leakage.
The fire was centred on electricity supply facilities and not the nuclear reactors themselves, which were automatically shut down by well-established quake safety measures, Tokyo Electric said.
Monday's earthquake reduced homes to rubble in the areas hardest hit northwest of the capital Tokyo and triggered small tsunami waves.
At least seven people were killed and nearly 700 others injured.
Dozens of aftershocks hit throughout the day as thousands of people flocked to schools and other temporary shelters to spend the night. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke away from election campaigning to race to the scene.
Rescue workers were hunting for anyone buried alive in the wreckage after nearly 300 buildings were flattened by the quake, which also shook skyscrapers in the capital even though it lies more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the epicentre.
Copyright © AFP 2007
16 Comments so far
Show AllI hope this doesn't get covered up like the mercury poisoning catastrophe in Japan.
What we need is more nuclear power plants. Wind and solar power are not feasible. A few leaks now and then should be acceptable. I've read that from many bloggers here. Why even worry about it, we've already spread enough DU around the planet to kill us all.
It makes me wonder how many other nuclear power plants in Japan and elsewhere for that matter, are located near where there could be a major seismic event.
We would all like to believe that those in charge have our best interests at heart, but we know from experience that his is not always the case.
The downside here is just too severe. I want to know more about Japanese nuclear reactors and the possibilities that there might be an even greater danger in the future.
As far an wind and solar, not every place is the best place for these energy sources and they do not produce continuously. But there are sustainable energy sources that do not require increasing the numbers of nuclear power plants. We need to have a world dialog about better ways for all nations.
Wind is blowing somewhere on the planet always. Sun is shining somewhere on the planet always. The energy is abundant. Genius exists. In those few facts the solution to a sustainable energy future can be found.
"The Western Shoshone Nation spiritual leader Corbin Harney is being buried today. He died last week at the age of 87. He campaigned against nuclear weapons, opposed nuclear testing on indigenous lands and fought the federal government's attempt to place nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain. He was the author of the book 'The Way It Is: One Water, One Air, One Earth.'" (from Democracy Now! 16 July 2007)
Since Corbin was right, there is just one water, one air, and one Earth, creating transnuclides and other isotopes that remain deadly for millenia is a mistake beyond history. Eventually the radioactive substances that are the real products of reactors will spread throughout our environment. To think otherwise is to deny the obvious.
We can use solar and wind, and we must! Any adjustments in scheduling or otherwise that the transition may impose will be better than being dead as a planet, and that appears to be the other choice.
Australia and China are presently constructing giant power towers. They use a combination of wind/solar power to produce electricity. One tower will furnish enough electrical power for 10,000 totally electric homes. A twenty square mile piece of land will hold enough towers to provide the power for ten million homes. We could have them strung out along our coast lines and shut down every nuclear power plant and every coal fired plant. Nuclear waste will someday be the end of all life on this planet. All!
Check out today's article about depleted uranium.
Back when the scientists were busily working to find a way to produce cheap energy, nuclear power seemed like a miracle. Forgive them, for they know not what they invented. (Although if The W has been Prez then, I would not likely be so defensive of them.)
We need to figure out a way to stop the nuclear pollution and start seriously building a national network of solar and wind power. Surely there must be a new generation of highly intelligent scientific techies out there who can figure out a way to implement this system and eliminate the nuclear plants.
But, wait, this might put the uranium miners out of work.
The USA has become the proverbial 'bite off your nose to spite your face' profits win over doing the right thing. To heck with the environment. Send the uranium miners to Brazil and give them jobs cutting down trees.
Oh, and there's really no place on earth that's completely safe from earthquakes. Some faults are larger than others, but we're all at risk. The biggest fault in the USA used to be in Missouri (not CA as most people thing). That may have changed since I studied all this stuff.
You are absolutely right SkyWriter. And as for earthquakes, I beleive the worst in the states was in Arizona in the 1980s. Some of the potentially most dangerus faults are in the Mid West, including Missouri. There are several atomic power plats located near large faults. It is not a question of if,___ it is when?
Nuclear power is the stupidest thing humanity has ever done. Albert Einstien said that. He was a pretty smart guy.
The important assumption to disprove: that industrial countries somehow need to find "alternative" sources of energy to fossil fuels and nuclear--and that will solve the problem.
Industrial societies need to become less consumptive and design for maximum efficiency. Then the question of alternative fuels becomes less of an issue and we can start ot recalim our place as part of nature rather than commuters and consumers.
Mount Everest and Pikes Peak are aviation hazards and they don't have flashing lights on them Billy. The Power Towers could eleminate the need for all dirty power plants. The one being constructed in China will be larger than that. They are learning, and they are doing. You can bet the oil boys here will attempt to stop it. They don't own the sun,___ not yet anyway.
Several nuclear power plants in the United States ARE near earthquake faults, so are many nuclear wastes storage dumps. Most of our nuclear power plants are getting pretty old, the radiation from uranium fuel is internally corroding pipes and valves, almost all plants need inspection and repairs and there will be a major disaster somewhere and sometime in the future, maybe tomorrow, or next week, or year. It's just anyones dangerous guess.
If we didn't have nuclear power and the subsequent waste products, we woudn't have DU weaponry. The use of DU is the last word in weapons of mass destruction. We have used thousands of "tons" of it and are still using it now. We are killing ourselves and our children.
Do you still work for a nuclear facility Bill__y4?
I made a typo on the 10:56pm blog, It was the 1800s, not 1980s. I'm sorry.
For a list of 2007 earthquakes in the central US go to:
http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.html
It looks like over a hundred AND THAT IS ONLY SIX MONTHS FOR ONE PORTION OF THE COUNTRY
The New Madrid earthquake in Missouri (around 1812, Evelyn) measured about 8 on the Richter scale, with serious effects felt as far away as Georgia. With a quake such as that near a reactor & populated area it could cause tens of thousands (perhaps even millions) of deaths.
When a geology major in the late '60's & early '70's I had a professor who had been former president of the National Academy of Science. A well respected scientist, he testified before a congressional committee that the proposed nuclear power plant construction near us (North Anna) should NOT be built there because it was directly over a fault line. They built it anyway. Fortunately, no incident has yet occurred, but can we take the chance? With the wind blowing in that direction an 'accident' could wipe out DC & Baltimore. The loss of DC might not be that tragic, but I would hate to think one of the all-time great ballplayers, Cal Ripkin, might be affected (just a joke folks, I'm sure DC has SOME redeemable personality living there).
Did anyone see the story the other day about the leak of radioactive material from a reactor in Kentucky? Probably slipped under the radar, since the powers that be seem to make sure stories like that are relegated, just like items on DU, to insignificant mentions.
Does anyone remember the 1964 earthquake in Alaska? It caused a raising of the earth along the fault line there of 24 feet, and a fifteen inch rise as far away as Texas.
Sadly, it will take a large disaster (with massive loss of life) for the world to realize the 'power of the sun' is one we can't quench, and the nuclear genie needs to be put back in the bottle.
I know these plants have automatic shut-offs, but are you willing to bet your life on them? Suppose the shut-off fails, what then?
KA-BOOOM
"Dozens of aftershocks hit throughout the day as thousands of people flocked to schools and other temporary shelters to spend the night. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke away from election campaigning to race to the scene."
What kind of idiot is this guy anyway? Our own Glorious Leader, Baby Caligula, would never abandon a fundraiser to show up at a disaster scene, say, a flood in a major city. This Shinzo Abe must be a complete chump.
Makes me wonder why Japan isn't asking for Mike Brown's help huh?
Please don't berate the chimps with Bushs' name. How about a tapeworm instead?