Japan - 9.0 Earthquake-Tsunami -Reactor Status, 2011 #6

[Dr.Fessel]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/tepco-reactors-idUSTKB00740720110330?feedType=RSS


The Daiichi No. 5 and 6 reactors and the Daini plant have been safely shut down.


Safe shut down and they are leaking? BS

 

[Dr.Fessel]

Oh, this makes me feel better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W7uGvW8xvY

 

[Dr.Fessel]

High radioactive levels detected in reactors

Robots have detected high levels of radioactivity inside the reactor buildings of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The plant operator says the radioactivity must be reduced to allow work inside the buildings to bring the crisis under control.

Tokyo Electric Power Company surveyed the interiors of 3 reactor buildings on Sunday and Monday using robots equipped with dosimeters and cameras.

TEPCO says that over 50 minutes the robots found18.9 millisierverts of radioactivity in reactor Number 1 and 6.46 millisierverts in Number 2. The levels are hazardous to humans even over a short period. Levels of radioactivity were not available in the Number 3 reactor.

Video footage also suggests various difficulties that could hamper operations inside the buildings.

Footage of the Number 3 reactor shows steel plates and other debris scattered on the floor following the hydrogen explosion of March 14th. The doors of the circuit box were open, raising fears that the power system has been damaged.

TEPCO says humidity inside the Number 2 reactor was 94 to 99 percent, fogging up the robot's camera lens.

The company says the humidity indicates that radioactive steam leaked into the building. It says it will need to install air conditioners to ventilate and clean the air of radioactivity before people can work there.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_04.html


This is typical feel good nonsense. Nobody is going to work in those building.

 

[Quiche]

The company says water levels are also rising in the Number 5 and 6 turbine buildings.

Haven't we been led to believe there was nothing wrong with 5 and 6?

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_03.html

I thought they had electricity hooked up and were pumping within the regular system. I guess not! Carp, I think the whole dang place is going to go, sooner or later.

I read somewhere that referred to Tepco as playing whack-a-mole with all the problems. I agree.

 

[Quiche]

Another 5.8 and 6.0 off Sendai.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/145_40.php

 

[coastal]

Thought this was interesting:

Tsunami warnings, written in stone, saved some
Sentinels mark previous waves: 'Do not build your homes below this point!'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42688590/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/


ANEYOSHI, Japan — The stone tablet has stood on this forested hillside since before they were born, but the villagers have faithfully obeyed the stark warning carved on its weathered face: “Do not build your homes below this point!”

(article continues)

 

[Daisyjane]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86943.html


TOKYO, April 21, Kyodo

Highly radioactive water that leaked into the Pacific Ocean from the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in early April contained an estimated 5,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances, 20,000 times the annual allowable limit for the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday, adding that the leak amounted to 520 tons.

 

[Daisyjane]

20% salary cut? Yeah, that'll provide a real incentive to follow safety rules and report irregularites when encountered.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86893.html

TEPCO seeks 20% cut in employees' annual salaries

TOKYO, April 21, KyodoTokyo Electric Power Co. is considering cutting annual salaries of its employees by around 20 percent as part of its restructuring effort to make compensation payments over the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, company sources said Thursday.

 

[Quiche]

Japan officially declares no-go zone around Fukushima

Quote: After midnight on Thursday local time, anyone found entering the area without permission could be fined up to 100,000 yen ($1,220) or detained for a maximum of 30 days. Previously, police had been unable to enforce the evacuation order for the zone, once home to about 80,000 people.

and

Within hours of the announcement, a steady flow of evacuees rushed back to the homes some have not seen for almost six weeks to collect clothes and valuables before the order went into effect.

but then they add that--

The evacuees will be bused into the area under police escort over the next one to two months. They will be required to wear protective suits and to undergo screening for radiation on their way out.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia...ficially-declares-no-go-zone-around-Fukushima

I don't get it-- isn't all that stuff they're hauling out of there radioactive?

 

[Quiche]

Irradiated Lobsters in Irish Sea Point to Safe Japan Sushi, Scientists Say

Quote: Radiation from fish and lobsters near the U.K.’s biggest nuclear polluter suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant isn’t a long-term health threat, scientists said.

and

“It is not a long-term problem, and that’s what you learn from Sellafield,” Wakeford said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think there’s any need for this knee-jerk reaction, which is hitting someone when they’re down.”

and

An excess of leukemia cases was observed between 1950 and 1980 among children in Seascale, the nearest town to the Sellafield plant. A 1990 study suggested the increase was linked to men employed at Sellafield who were exposed to radiation of 100 millisieverts or more before conceiving children. Subsequent research disputed those findings, and suggested the cases may have been related to an unidentified infection.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...point-to-safe-japan-sushi-scientists-say.html


What maddening spin!

 

[Noddy]

6.1 Earthquake only 40 miles from Tokyo, on land.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia.php

 

[Dr.Fessel]

Radioactive water likely to hamper cooling effort

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power facility plans to cool the reactors by filling their vessels with water. However, that process may be hampered by wastewater contaminated with highly radioactive materials.

According Tokyo Electric Power Company's blueprint for bringing the troubled facility under control, the Number 1 and 3 reactor vessels will be filled with water up to the height of the nuclear fuel rods by the middle of July. This is aimed at cooling the reactors in a stable manner.

TEPCO says that the water level has begun rising in the Number 1 reactor. It says water injected to cool the reactor vaporizes out of the reactor and then turns into water after being cooled inside the container.

However, if the container has been damaged, then highly radioactive water may seep out.

The utility needs to check the reactor turbine building for any water leakage from the building housing the reactor, but workers cannot enter the reactor building at present. However, the effort to identify the source of a leak is difficult because of radioactive water inside the basement of the turbine building.

Work to move contaminated water from the Number 2 reactor is already underway. However, it's not clear when they can begin moving contaminated water from the Number 1 reactor.

TEPCO says the vessels containing the reactors are strong enough even if they are filled with water. However, the Nuclear Safety and Industry Agency believes that it is necessary to confirm whether the container is resistant to powerful earthquakes.
After the March 11th tsunami knocked out the plant's backup power generators, water was injected to cool the reactors and spent fuel rod pools. As a result, the presence of radioactive water is hampering efforts to restore the reactors' cooling systems.

Friday, April 22, 2011 06:49 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/22_07.html


According to this and the video on the same page there is no water on the fuel in reactor 1 and 3.

 

[dsntslp]

Thanks for all of the updates everybody.

I thought, reactor #3 is the MOX fuel one and if it was not kept filled with water the fuel would go through the bottom, making a big hole and the vessel would not be able to be filled anyway? Didn't we see pics of #3 and a caption or presser that said it was dry already, some time ago? I am probably remembering this wrong...

 

[mommy23]

This stuff all terrifies me. Thank you everyone for the updates!!!!

 

[Quiche]

Thanks for all of the updates everybody.

I thought, reactor #3 is the MOX fuel one and if it was not kept filled with water the fuel would go through the bottom, making a big hole and the vessel would not be able to be filled anyway? Didn't we see pics of #3 and a caption or presser that said it was dry already, some time ago? I am probably remembering this wrong...

#3 is the Mox reactor, and a dry core makes for a meltdown-- the worst possible scenario.

The pics we'd seen previously were of the spent fuel pool-- it was dryish. Certainly not good (a catastrophe in its own right, really), but not as bad as a dry reactor core. jmo

 

[dsntslp]

Thanks Quiche, the button just wasn't enough

 

[essies]

[video=youtube;FAXKGceDlR4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAXKGceDlR4[/video]
Epidemiologist, Dr. Steven Wing and nuclear engineer, Arnie Gundersen, discuss the consequences of the Fukushima radioactive fallout on Japan, the USA, and the world.

Fairewinds Associates
http://fairewinds.com/

 

[Trident]

Is this mess the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it? Are we going to go out with a whimper instead of a bang? - although potential for a bang (or 6) is still a possibility if they don't get those plants under control.

 

[dsntslp]

Tracy Chapman - The Rape of the World

[video=youtube;vxLDMh_PGZo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxLDMh_PGZo[/video]

Another version: (Can't find the one I am really looking for right now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMtvrG8_N_E&feature=related

 

[Daisyjane]

These measurements confuse the daylights out of me, especially after reading the comments after the article. Nevertheless, for your reading pleasure, I give you:

http://enenews.com/700-pcikg-found-soil-base-sierra-nevada-mountains-according-preliminary-data

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident Monitoring, Taylor Wilson at University of Nevada, Reno, April 17, 2011:

To test different types of Soil, a sample was collected from the base of the Sierra Nevadas. This soil is less sandy, and more organic, which would suggest a higher coefficient for sorption for Radionuclides. It also has more moisture content. The data is still preliminary however, there appears to be ~700 pCi/kg or ~26 Bq/kg of Cs137. Which is ~30 times the amount present in Valley soil.