TEPCO continues to use deadly environmental contaminant “hydrazine” at Fukushima site

Recent roadmap reports from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reveal that the noxious chemical hydrazine is still in use at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Hydrazine was used originally in 2011 to keep reactors, and storage pools for spent fuel from the reactors, from corroding. Japan developed its own rules for reporting on the use of hydrazine in 2006.

In March 2011, a tsunami struck the coast of Japan that crippled three nuclear reactors and severely damaged a fourth nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi site. Since then, hundreds of tons of radioactive waste has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean and contaminating marine life.

Spent nuclear fuel refers to fuel elements used by a nuclear reactor that cannot be re-used. Approximately one-third of fuel from a nuclear reactor must be discharged and replaced with fresh fuel. Hydrazine has been in use since the Manhattan Project to overcome radiation-enhanced corrosion problems. The plutonium bomb may have never come to fruition without hydrazine.

Hydrazine is found in a variety of other contaminates, including tobacco smoke, pesticides, pharmaceutical intermediates, and photography chemicals.

As should come as no surprise, hydrazine is attached to a host of health problems. Exposure to hydrazine can cause damage to the spleen, liver, central nervous system and other vital organs. The acute effects of hydrazine include irritated eyes, nose and throat, blindness, seizures, and coma, to name just a few. Animal studies have found that hydrazine is associated with increased incidences of tumors in the nasal cavity, lungs and liver.

Fighting fire with fire

The U.S. Navy shot down a spy satellite in 2008 because of a hydrazine tank it carried on board. The fear was that the frozen hydrazine would fall to Earth, vaporize and produce a toxic cloud of gas that would blanket an area spanning two football fields. The gas would pose a major health risk to the public. Fighting fire with fire, the U.S. Navy successfully decimated the satellite with a missile.

Hydrazine is as much a threat to marine life as it is to humans. Nevertheless, TEPCO, which is in charge of operating the Fukushima plant, continues to use hydrazine for the nuclear reactors and storage pools. There are multiple spent pools, all of which have been open to the environment at some point in time. Unit 3’s spent fuel pool has open access to the environment, whereas Units 1, 2 and 4 were eventually covered.

The problem with Unit 3 is that the containment vessel is leaking through the reactor well into the environment. The water seeps into and contaminates the groundwater, which leaks into the Pacific Ocean. Units 1 and 2 have had similar problems in the past; however, these problems have since been mitigated.

TEPCO continues to use hydrazine despite environmental concerns

Disregarding environmental concerns, TEPCO has no qualms about using hydrazine until September, according to their new report. Hydrazine is found in all four units. In other words, TEPCO isn’t containing toxic chemicals from the Fukushima site — they’re contributing to them.

TEPCO has no public accountability when it comes to reporting on how much hydrazine will and has been used. Furthermore, no studies have been conducted on how much hydrazine may be released into the environment, either from evaporation, containment leaks or leaks into the groundwater. Nor is their any explanation about how the hydrazine will be safety removed from the water on the Fukushima site.

There is no telling the effects hydrazine may have on marine life. Japanese officials are trying to keep the reactors cool. By continuously using hydrazine, however, they are adding fuel to the fire of an already highly contaminated site.

Sources include:

http://www.fukuleaks.org

http://nuclear-news.net

http://www.cnn.com

http://www.epa.gov

http://www.nrc.gov

https://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com

http://www.epa.gov

http://www.aceto.com