Text Fwd: Japan is urgent: No.3 reactor of Fukushima No.1 plant has been in operation with 'MOX' fuel

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Sunday, March 13, 2011
Text Fwd: THOUGHTS OF HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI
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Update at 12: 31am on March 14, 2011 (from Makiko Sato )

I'm very worried about the nuclear power plants, some or all of the reactors are in danger now.

But to look at other aspects, I feel so devastated. So many were killed, and so many more are missing.This is more than the one in Kobe. Double or triple disasters.

In hard-hit areas, all the lifelines have been broken, --oil, gas, water, electricity,
roads, every kind of communication systems including mobile phones--

And Tokyo Electric Power Co. is surely going to lose all the several reactors
of Fukushima No.1 & No.2 plant, so the limit supply of electricity, beginning tomorrow,will go on for several months or more in the wider areas. Japan's economy will be long affected, which means more people lose jobs.

This is the fate of this earthquake-ridden country, as Japan is on the unstable plates
on the seabeds.Quakes are still on and off in the hard-hit areas: each on 11 and on 12,there were about several tens of quakes with seismic sacle of 3~6. Incredible.
One more big one, scaled 7, is expected in a few days with the possibility of 70%.

The volcano is very far south in Kyushu, so I'm fine. Thanks.
But maybe someday in the near future in the area where I live as well, there will be a big earthquake.

It is so devastating to look at this below URL, which [J. D.] let me know,
but still, to look at this makes us humble before nature. Peel each images and ' after' beneath ' before ' appears.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm
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Update at 5:09pm on March 13, 2011 (from Makiko Sato )

For your convenience in getting information regarding Japan's nuclear power plant crisis,this below website is run by Irene Smith, the wife of the late Yugene Smith, a noted Minamata photographer.
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress1/index.php?p=2

Breaking news:


Our Chief Cabinet Secretary has just made a briefing regarding No.3 reactor of Fukushima No.1 plant.



This reactor has been in operation since last Oct. with so-called 'MOX fuel', a mixed fuel of uranium and plutonium, in a reactor designed only for uranium, the third of such operation which began first in Saga last April, Ahime last August, then, Fukushima last Oct..


This has been a big concern as well after the explosion of No.1 reactor's facility of Fukushima No.1 plant, as the situation is just the same, while this reactor is in much dangerous operation.

According to the Chief Cabinet Secretary, at 15:30 on 13th
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・Fuel rods were exposed after the cooling function had been lost due to electricity shortage driving from earthquakes.
・The water level in the containment vessel got lower, so first they pumped in water ( and a lot of boric acid, according to an online news media website)then as the pump became unworkable, so they let a lot of seawater in, inviting an unstable situation of maintaining the water level.
・Due to that process, fuel rods got dramatically exposed, and melted, during which process hydrogen ocurred, producing a lot of vapor. Much portion of hydrogen went up, through the vent, on to the roof, and accumulated there.
As a result, there have been various levels of radioactivity leakages detected so far, but currently, the one-time high level is not seen anymore, and now it is rather low. Currently the water level is gradually increasing.
・ So there is possibility of that hydrogen mixing with oxygen, in which case a similar explosion to that of yesterday may happen. Therefore, we would like to inform you about the possiblity.
・But don't panic. The containment vessel was not broken in yesterday's explosion,
so we won't anticipate an explosion which would break down the containment vessel. Also, an anticipated explosion of the same kind with yesterday's has not happened yet, so we would like to continue to watch for the situation carefully.
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This is plutonium-mixed fuel operation, but our government's official briefing never mentions that. Citizens are circulating information of their own. One piece says that evacuation area should be expanded into 100 km radius considering plutonium's toxity, if and when, a more dreadful explosion should happen.

Nearly 80 personnels of United States Agency for International Development have arrived at Misawa, Aomori, with 12 rescue dogs. This large number of rescue doges is, thankfully, a big help, which is rare in a disaster crisis in any other country, TV news says. Also, TV news says that the ultimate death tolls will surely be over 10,000.

Makiko Sato
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Update at 8:22 am on March 13, 2011 (from Makiko Sato )

It is a small relief to read that the damages were not so big in Hawai'i,
but still, to people on small islands in the Pacific, the fear of Tusnami must be so large. Please take care. Right now, warinig of 10m high tusnami at one area has been issued on TV.

(I'm quoting this just as I hear NHK TV news.).....................
The evacuation area around Fukushima nuclear power plant was enlarged from 3 to 10 km early this morning.

Inside the operating room of No.1 ( I heard No.2) reactor of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant 1,000 times higher radioactivity has been detected.

One expert now appearing on TV is saying that there is a 'minor possibility' that
the contaiment vessel will be broken down. The announcer and the expert are saying a slight radioactivity was detected at the frontgate of the plant but that this may not be from the reactor itself but from some broken tubes or something around it.
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I've just got a Gov. paper from an anti-nuke activist in Tokyo via email who also is a core member of GreenPeace Japan. This was released by the central government at 22:35 last night, which regards Gov. emergency counter-measures to contain damages in every aspect. The paper says at 21:41 last night our prime minister orderd that in case of evacuation, residents be over 10 km radius away from the No.1 plant.
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(Atcual evecuation 'recommendation' for expanded area of 10 km-radius
was issued around 5:00 this morning. )

One expert fear the repeated quakes in the northern part ( still going on) might trigger ones in the southeastern, and then in the southern area, as has been afraid, but so far, it seems OK.

One of the hard hit area in a Miyagi town at the rivermouth, the ground of the whole area has sunk, meaning another Tusnami might endanger people left even on the roof terrace of 3 or 4 story-concrete buildings, so the local authory is right now asking for their help. The fear of Tusnami is still warned as to every part in Japan.
Several towns in Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima have been totally distroyed.
Fatlities around Japan may be thousands or more.

Many workers in Tokyo had to stay in nearby public buildings like universities, community centers, and so on, as Japan Rail trains didn't run because of blackout. Part of transportation including some lines of JR recovered late at night. I'm totally in a safe place, feeling devastated, praying nuclear power plant(s) in Japan might not cause further disaster.

Makiko Sato