In Japan, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is continuing to generate radioactively contaminated water and leak it out. On September 10, 2013, the Ministerial Meeting on Contaminated Water and Decommissioning Issues discussed “Policies and Concrete Actions for Addressing the Contaminated Water and Decommissioning Issues”, and concluded that a team to collect expertise from all over the world and to invite proposals of countermeasures would be established. (The detail is here in English.)
The issued Request for Information (RFI) was closed on October 23. The overview of result of RFI is here in English. The number of proposals submitted is 779 and they are published as PDF files in here in Japanese. (Some proposals from overseas are written in English.)
removing radioactive particles from the earthA few proposals seem to be based on LENR or LENT (Low Energy Nuclear Transmutation). For example, Dr. Shin Iwasaki proposed LENT technology by nano silver particles (No.210 and No.211) which I have introduced at here.
Another LENT technology described in No.396 (in Japanese) is very interesting and may attract LENR watchers’ attention. This is proposed by JAPAN TECHNO CO., LTD. The company is famous for OHMASA-GAS that is very stable and easy storable oxygen and hydrogen mixed gas. OHMASA-GAS was featured in NHK WORLD NEWSLINE as here.
OHMASA-GAS is generated by electrolysis while the water is being stirred by “super vibration” wings. No.396 is related with the super vibration in water but not related with OHMASA-GAS itself.
JAPAN TECHNO claims that the super vibration in water generates many nano bubbles which cause nuclear transmutation. As the result, radioactive materials, for example radioactive cesium, are transmuted to non-radioactive materials. While the paper of No.396 does not describe detail, Dr. Ryushin Ohmasa, the president of JAPAN TECHNO, seems to be very confident because he got the result of elementary analysis of contaminated water before and after the super vibration when I talked to him.
In this context, a very interesting patent application was applied on July 27, 2007 in Japan by Dr. Ohmasa. (The Japanese patent application is published here.)
In the application, Dr. Ohmasa claimed that over 100 Hz vibration to water for over 100 hour caused increase of Mg, Zn, Ca, Al, Cu, Na, K and Se in the water. The following table shows the result of ICP Mass Spectrometry of pure water before and after the vibration in 200 hours.
(unit: ppb)
Mg
Al
Se
Cu
Zn
Na
Ca
K
1st experiment
Pure Water
Before Vibration
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.11
0.12
0.00
Pure Water
After Vibration
583.47
6.30
0.36
6.74
133.44
3.53
12.17
1.84
2nd experiment
Pure Water
Before Vibration
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.14
0.00
0.02
Pure Water
After Vibration
621.29
7.48
0.97
7.33
147.35
4.36
8.85
1.94
This phenomenon is very interesting and one of hopes that can decontaminate huge radioactive water. I hope the committee will study seriously the phenomenon and technology.
On the week of Feb 5, the conference of “radiation detectors and their uses” was held in High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba city of Japan. Japanese web site is (here) and Google translated one is (here).
In the conference, there was a very interesting presentation “Experiment and verification of the radioactive cesium decrease effect of nanoscale pure silver (Ag) with supporting material” for LENR watchers. (This title is translated to English by me and may be inaccurate.)
The Japanese abstract (PDF document) was published (here) and p.69 and p.70 are for the presentation.
The author, Dr. Shin Iwasaki, a physicist and ex-professor of Tohoku University of Japan, describes the results of some experiments that the nanoscale Ag supported by bone charcoal and white granite or collagen liquid can decrease the radioactivity of the radioactive cesium in Fukushima prefecture of Japan in the laboratory.
In Fukushima, after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, the soil and many houses were contaminated by radioactive cesium. To decontaminate, people had to wash roofs and walls by water, and remove the surface-soil containing the radioactive material. The big problem is how to treat the washing water or removed soil, because we have no way to decrease the radioactivity.
Dr. Norio Abe, a biologist and the chief of Itabashi Firefly Ecosystem Center in Tokyo, thought of the idea to use nanoscale silver Ag to decontaminate radioactive soil because he had well-known the capability of nanoscale Ag to keep the environment clean for the firefly.
Surprisingly, the radioactivity of the soil decreased after he had spread nanoscale Ag with collagen liquid.
While the reason or mechanism is unknown, he succeeded to decrease the radioactivity of contaminated water or soil in several fields in Fukushima.
In March 2012, Dr. Shin Iwasaki joined the group with Dr. Norio Abe and started to help verify the strange phenomenon. Then in Nov 2012, after much trial and error, he was able to measure the effect. In the abstract, the main result is shown in Fig. 1.
He made the sample in U9-type container by combining the 4-5 nanometer Ag with bone charcoal and washing with water including Cesium. He measured radioactivity by monitoring the gamma spectrum over a long period using Csl (T1) detector + 512ch MCA. He said that his team payed attention to uniformity of the sample, self shielding, volatilization and location of the measuring instruments.
While the natural half-life of Cs-134 is 2 years, and one of Cs-137 is 30 years, Dr. Iwasaki analysed the experiment and concluded there was a decrease in the “half-life” of radioactivity of these Cesium isotopes to about 1 or 2 months.
The graph of Fig. 1 shows the time series of the relative values of radioactivity to the original sample without nanoscale Ag. For example, “1.0” is the value of the original sample and “0.6” means the value is 60% of the original sample. 3P and LC shows the following values and the background radioactivity is reduced.
3P: sum of 3 peaks including 604keV of Cs-134, 661.6keV of Cs-137 and 795.7keV of Cs-134 and others.
LC: sum of continuous values under the 3 peaks.
This experiment started at Dec 22, 2012 and ended at Jan 16, 2013. In the first few days, the half-life of the radioactivity is equal to about 20 days, He added 0.6 cc pure water to the sample and stirred at Jan 14, 2013 and the value started to decrease again.
This result is very impressive for me because the experimental system is simple and the effect is big. Dr. Shin Iwasaki suggested the phenomenon may be one kind of LENR.
Unfortunately, this project has little budget, and he can not analyze the mix of elements of the used sample. In the abstract, he calls for other scientists to reproduce this experiment. I hope they will too. This phenomenon may help to decontaminate water and soil around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The disaster that engulfed Japan continues a year later as fears that the former nuclear power plant, now radioactive-pile, Fukushima-Daichi could produce additional plumes of material that spread radiation throughout the northern hemisphere “altering civilization as we know it”.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden visited the hot zone last month wearing a protective suit and assessed the situation on April 17 by saying “… things were worse than reported”. [read]
Interviewed days later on MSNBC [top of page] about his concerns and what he saw on the ground, Senator Wyden responded:
“They obviously have a long, long way to go. When you go in there you see hundreds of tons of debris; you have huge trucks, storage tankers thrown about like they were my four-year-old twin’s toys. It’s very clear that there are substantial health questions that have to be addressed now.”
“I’m particularly concerned about Unit 4, there are these six reactors. If for example you had an earthquake or tsunami hit those particular pools, those pools could rupture. That could mean that the fuel rods catch fire and melt down. You’d have radiation in the air that would be a huge challenge to control.”
“[Tokyo Electric Power Company] TEPCO has a 10-year plan for moving the spent fuel rods to dry-casks, to dry storage. That in my view must be sped up because if another earthquake or tsunami hits, it could be very damaging, with possibly more radiation than earlier.” [TEPCO release here]
Responding to a question about Japanese food safety, he didn’t want to make “scientific judgments”, saying,
Fukushima-Daichi Reactor 4 building. Photo: cryptome.org“I think they made it clear that they have been able to handle much of the radiation because it’s stayed within the vessels. That’s one of the reasons I’m so concerned about unit 4. That is essentially outside the containment process. That’s why an earthquake or tsunami could be so serious.”
“I will tell you when I was visiting, and we were getting on the bus to go to the airport, people said to Oh, Pretty amazing Ron that you didn’t have an earthquake or a tremor while you were there. This is not an abstract question. This happens very frequently there.”
Senator Wyden would not speculate on the issue of radiation hitting the west coast of the US, but he did say that “… certainly these reactors are very close to the ocean. In my home state, we’ve long been concerned about tsunamis and earthquakes.”
“I think its time to get this right. We need to focus on what kind of design there ought to be for nuclear plants, where they ought to be located; certainly the question of putting them right next to oceans ought to be problematic to anyone. Those are the kind of issues that can’t be ducked any longer.”
Senator Wyden sits on the US Senate Energy Committee, and so has received numerous mailings from Cold Fusion Now about the importance of funding cold fusion, or low-energy nuclear reactions LENR. LENR is a type of fusion-power based on a fuel of hydrogen from water, with no radioactive materials used at all.
Still the Senator speaks to the rear-view mirror.
Energy from LENR can be produced from just a few grams each of hydrogen and nickel, a common metal used industrially throughout the world. The science has been developing over two decades, yet only in the last year is a technology emerging. Lack of funding has hampered advancement due to legislators and agencies that mistakenly believe that “there is no such thing” as cold fusion.
However, several independent new energy companies beg to differ as they develop commercial products that bring next-generation nuclear energy to market. The first demonstrated prototypes are small and portable and will not need to be connected to an electrical grid. These technologies will be able to operate anywhere, be it coastal or inland.
There is virtually no chance of a meltdown with cold fusion generators based on a reaction described as a nickel-hydrogen exothermic reaction. The hydrogen-infused nickel metal powder that hosts the reaction will melt at 1453 C, thereby stopping the reaction. There’s no radiation danger from melted nickel.
Though initially in the form of steam generators and hot-water boilers, adding micro-turbines can turn that thermal energy to off-grid electricity. Using a fuel of hydrogen, access to water means access to fuel for a safe and clean energy source.
Akio Matsumura has reported devastating news about the reactor 4, saying that it could release radiation 10x what the Chernobyl explosion did. If all the radioactive fuel at the Daichi site were to melt-down, it could release 85x what Chernobyl did. [read]
Here, Mr. Matsumura gives some details about the possible dangers and calls for an “independent assessment team, independent of TEPCO, to see what will be the best way to improve the situation …. which is critical now …”
Conventional nuclear power provided 30% of the electricity for Japan, and the plan was to increase that share to 50% by the year 2050. Now, the decision has been implemented to dramatically reduce Japan’s dependence on this form of nuclear power which uses a highly radioactive and dangerous fuel, and embark on an all-out program of alternatives. It’s a hasty move, but seemingly inevitable.
Humans pretend to plan for the worst, but never imagine it really happening. Rising sea levels can cause greater storm surge making coastal nuclear power plants even more vulnerable.
Let’s remind Mr. Wyden, and all the Energy committee members that mitigation begins with funding LENR.
