Build the Underground Dam
Build the Underground Dam
“The prime minister needs to show leadership in initiating construction of an underground barrier.”
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110627p2a00m0na004000c.html
Delaying the construction of an underground barrier is not just an event occurring during a break in the season for general shareholders' meetings.
It is a major issue that calls the essence of TEPCO's assertion of its "social responsibility as a company" into question.
The prime minister needs to show leadership in initiating construction of an underground barrier.
(By Takao Yamada, Expert Senior Writer)
Fukushima Residents Demand Dam
1,500 march in Fukushima
http://www.doro-chiba.org/english/dc_en_11/PDF/Doro-ChibaQR_027.pdf
Speakers from Fukushima Prefecture Teachers Union, National Railways Workers Union Koriyama Factory Branch, Sendai City Municipal Workers Union, Farmers, Evacuees, and Student of Fukushima University demand;
The only effective measure to control the present critical situation of the nuclear plants seems to be a construction of a thick retaining wall of concrete reaching to deep underground (“underground dam”) to stop contamination of groundwater and to prevent leaking of contam-inated water into the ocean. Quite outrageously, TEPCO flatly refuses to take this measure, insisting that this operation would cost 100 billion Yen, causing the increase of utilities’ debt and that it would work on stockholders negatively who fear lowering stock price! They explain that contamination of the ocean will take place only after a year because the speed of the groundwater is estimated 5~10cm per day. Kan administration supports this absurd view of the TEPCO and clings to its discredited Road Map for the Disaster Control.
Doro-Chiba Quake Report June 24, 2011/ issue 27
Doro-Chiba Quake Report: http://dorochibanewsletter.wordpress.com
Unprecedented marine pollution
Unprecedented marine pollution
An unprecedented case of maritime pollution is unfolding.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110627p2a00m0na004000c.html
In April, TEPCO announced that 520 tons of water that contains substances emitting 4,700 terabecquerels of radiation had leaked into the sea through cracks in nuclear plant facilities over a six-day period. This is close to the amount that was leaked into the sea over the course of a year at the Sellafield nuclear processing site in Britain in the 1970s in the worst case of maritime radiation contamination to date.
And the leaks that have surfaced are just the tip of the iceberg. Water that was used to cool the cores of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima plant has overflowed and contaminated underground water is moving toward the sea. An unprecedented case of maritime pollution is about to unfold. Experts are pointing to the possibility of this unprecedented pollution developing into a major disaster that would last several decades, just like the Minamata and asbestos catastrophes in Japan.
The problem is too big
:(
The problem is too big
“The problem is too big, and they can't grasp how far it is spreading and how serious it is.”
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110627p2a00m0na004000c.html
The fact is, the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant isn't returning to normal. And we still don't know just how much damage environmental pollution from the crisis will inflict on people and their DNA.
Some of the reactors at the nuclear power plant have melted down, and the melted nuclear fuel is sinking toward water under the ground. An underground barrier is needed to stop water that becomes contaminated from flowing into the sea. I think it is because the problem is too big, and they can't grasp how far it is spreading and how serious it is.
Time is of the essence.
Time is of the essence.
Three (3) core meltdowns have occurred at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, (Honshu Island) Japan. Nuclear containment is breached. Highly radioactive waste has erupted into the land, air, groundwater and the Pacific. A public health nightmare and oceanic Armageddon are underway.
This ‘underground dam’ proposal, which likely includes a massive grouting and ditching project is expected to cost on the order of 100B Yen which converts in dollars to approximately $1.25B.
Known, long-standing and systemic flaws have materially contributed to the disaster. These systemic flaws include meticulously documented failures comprising: engineering, design, materials, construction, operation, procedures, misrepresentation, fraud, government regulation, cover-up, corruption, environmental protection and public health breakdowns. There is an ongoing pattern of criminal misconduct involving multinational corporations and international government bodies. This has some parallels with the BP Macondo oil spill disaster; in that corporate distortion of public policy has materially contributed to the causes and sequella of the disaster.
Deliberate decisions by, (if memory serves) TEPCO, Hitachi, General Electric, Siemens, Areva and the lenders CAUSED this disaster and are actively contributing to worsening the predictable consequences of their corrupt prior acts. These players have an unlimited of procedural objections against paying for the disaster caused by their myoptic self-interests. Their moral and honorable liability is unlimited. Their immediate legal and financial obligations should reflect that reality. BP created a $20B mitigation fund to guarantee performance.
TEPCO, Hitachi, General Electric, Siemens, Areva and the international lenders should follow that example, with a much larger mitigation fund. They all gambled heavily on the ill-fated Fukushima power plant. It is now time for the players to ‘cover their bets’.