Fukushima Reactor Disaster: Japan to Restart Nuclear Plants, Post #7824

[eXe]

I have slowed down monitoring this whole situation as well.. but in light of this recent news, I cant help but think this is going to end very badly for the Japanese people.

Seems like every time they get a tiny bit ahead, they get put back 10 steps.

[mslucky]

Japan site still leaks radiation, source unclear: IAEA

VIENNA | Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29pm EDT

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" James Lyons, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...72L4LG20110322

[Red Baron]

It is headlines like this that drive me absolutely crazy. All of these overpaid government watchdogs, esteemed scientists and captains of industry. The biggest nuclear crisis in the free world (forget the commies for the time being) and the best and the brightest can give us only this after watching this nightmare percolate for eleven days.

Like duh, we don't know?

Billions of dollars have been spent building these nuclear plants. Billions in taxes, fees, studies, regulation, profits, payoffs, and subsidies.

Don't all of these idiots understand that they are destroying the goose that laid their golden egg? Don't these feckless, knuckledragging clowns understand that failure is simply not an option?

We are one inch away from seeing the end of nuclear power. The only people to blame, are those who made their money from it. The whole stinking lot of them.

------
Japan site still leaks radiation, source unclear: IAEA
Sat, Mar 12 2011Related TopicsWorld »
Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29pm EDT

VIENNA (Reuters) - Radiation is continuing to be emitted from Japan's disaster-hit nuclear site but it is unclear exactly what the source of it is, a senior U.N. atomic agency official said on Tuesday.

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" James Lyons, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...72L4LG20110322

[Brutus]

Just an educated guess here, but "Where?" probably isn't the real question. As far as I know (which admittedly may not be very far at all) there are only two possible sources: the reactor core itself and the spent fuel pool.

If I'm correct in that surmise, seems like the really pertinent question is "Why?".

[Cascadians]

Well, there has been speculation that in one or more of the kabooms some of the hot spent fuel rods laying in cracked pools open to the heavens were tossed out and about like firebrands. Maybe they haven't figured out where all of them landed?

In any case the sheer ineptitude is astonishing. Yes they're lying and manipulating and secretive but they're also dumber than rocks.

[eens]

Well, there has been speculation that in one or more of the kabooms some of the hot spent fuel rods laying in cracked pools open to the heavens were tossed out and about like firebrands. Maybe they haven't figured out where all of them landed?

I thought of this too, it is what is so terrifying. I thought the Japanese were more intelligent than this but I guess greed is a human condition.

[Cascadians]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...d_dest=Twitter
3:21pm EDT, by Risa Maeda and Kazunori Takada

IAEA tracks radiation leaks at Japan's crippled plant

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's earthquake-stricken nuclear complex is still emitting radiation but the source is unclear, a senior U.N. atomic agency official said, as workers made progress restoring electric power to the site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also raised concerns about a lack of information from Japanese authorities, as workers battling to cool the nuclear reactors faced rising temperatures around the core of one reactor.

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" James Lyons, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference in Vienna on Tuesday.

Despite hopes of progress in the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami that left at least 21,000 people dead or missing, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it needed more time before it could say the reactors were stabilized.

Senior IAEA official Graham Andrew said that the overall situation remained "very serious" and that the U.N. atomic watchdog was concerned it had not received some information from Japan about the Fukushima nuclear plant.

"We have not received validated information for some time related to the containment integrity of unit 1. So we are concerned that we do not know its exact status," he said.

The IAEA also lacks data on the temperatures of the spent fuel pools of reactors 1, 3 and 4, he said, though Japan was supplying other updates.

Technicians working inside an evacuation zone around the plant on Japan's northeast Pacific coast, 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, have attached power cables to all six reactors and started a pump at one to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods.
Local media reported late on Tuesday that lighting had been restored at one of the control rooms, bringing the operators a step closer to reviving the plant's cooling systems.

Earlier smoke and steam were seen rising from two of the most threatening reactors, No.2 and No.3, threatening to dash hopes of progress in bringing them under control.
There have been several blasts of steam from the reactors during the crisis, which experts say probably released a small amount of radioactive particles.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, the deputy-director general of Japan's nuclear safety agency, later said the smoke at reactor No.3 had stopped and there was only a small amount at No.2.

He gave no more details, but a TEPCO executive vice president, Sakae Muto, said the core of reactor No.1 was now a worry with its temperature at 380-390 Celsius (715-735 Fahrenheit).

"We need to strive to bring that down a bit," Muto told a news conference, adding that the reactor was built to run at a temperature of 302 C (575 F).

Asked if the situation at the problem reactors was getting worse, he said: "We need more time. It's too early to say that they are sufficiently stable."

Reuters earlier reported that the Fukushima plant was storing more uranium than it was originally designed to hold, and that it had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks over the past decade, according to company documents and outside experts.
Questions have also been raised about whether TEPCO officials waited too long to pump sea water into the reactors and abandon hope of saving the equipment in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

But one expert said the smoke or steam seen over the reactors did not seem to be linked to rises in radiation levels.

"Overall there is progress compared to a few days ago when everything seemed hopeless. But we still judge the situation to be critical," said Per Bystedt, an analyst at the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority.

"The positive thing is that electric power is more or less connected to all the plants."

RADIATION FEARS

Away from the plant, mounting evidence of radiation in vegetables, water and milk stirred concerns in Japan and abroad despite officials' assurances that the levels were not dangerous.

TEPCO said radiation was found in the Pacific Ocean nearby, not surprising given rain and the hosing of reactors with sea-water. TEPCO officials have said some of the water from the hosing was spilling into the sea.

Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7 times the allowed limit, while caesium was 24.8 times over, the Kyodo news agency said. That still posed no immediate danger, TEPCO said.

"It would have to be drunk for a whole year in order to accumulate to 1 millisievert," a TEPCO official said, referring to the standard radiation measurement unit.

People are generally exposed to 1-10 millisieverts a year from background radiation caused by substances in the air and soil.

The Health Ministry said residents of five municipalities in Fukushima should not use tap water for baby powder milk after the water was found to have more than the standard level of radioactive iodine allowed for babies. Authorities have also stopped shipments of milk and some vegetables from the area. .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fuk...ng-temporature

" .... That is when the reactor is fully operational, not when it is supposed to be in a cold shut down mode. .... As was reported only on Zero Hedge so far, the termal imagery from Fukushima indicates that if reactor one is a "worry", then reactor 3 should be a "nightmare", as according to some it is now "operating" north of 500 degrees celsius, and possibly as high as a 1,000. That's three times what it is designed to withstand. { way hotter than hell } .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

{ interesting thread }

[onetimer]

Japan site still leaks radiation, source unclear: IAEA

VIENNA | Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29pm EDT

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" James Lyons, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...72L4LG20110322

My guess is reactor #2 from the "internal explosion".

[Sysman]

As far as I know (which admittedly may not be very far at all) there are only two possible sources: the reactor core itself and the spent fuel pool.

What about all the water / steam in the big "primary loop" pipes?

Not sure how radioactive that stuff is, relatively speaking. Maybe one of the pros can comment...

.

[Cascadians]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fuk...orature?page=1

.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
by kingtoots
on Tue, 03/22/2011 - 16:58
#1087414

I talked to a relative of mine who worked on designing Canada's Heavy Water Reactor, CANDU.

He thinks things are pretty grim. He thinks that the reason that the piles are still so hot is because the control rods didn't go all the way in and so the pile is still working at some percentage. He suspects that the earthquake bent the pile which prevented the control rods from moving from where they were at the time of the earthquake or prevented them from going further than where the bend is preventing complete shutdown as is supposed to happen. He is speculating but I think it has the ring of truth to it as the pathology of the problem appears to back him up.

Does anyone know for sure that the control rods SCRAM'ed correctly? I haven't heard for sure, just people assuming that everything worked properly.

He bases this on a similar problem that they had with a small research reactor where the pile bent and they couldn't move the control rod. Fortunately, in HW reactors you can shut everything down by REMOVING most of the water. The CANDU was designed to fail safe and doesn't have a sustaining reaction without the Heavy Water. The CANDU in general is "walk away safe".

If he is right then they will never be able to shut the piles down. He doesn't really know what people are going to do there short of burying it under concrete.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

[Brutus]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fuk...orature?page=1

.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
by kingtoots
on Tue, 03/22/2011 - 16:58
#1087414

I talked to a relative of mine who worked on designing Canada's Heavy Water Reactor, CANDU.

He thinks things are pretty grim. He thinks that the reason that the piles are still so hot is because the control rods didn't go all the way in and so the pile is still working at some percentage. He suspects that the earthquake bent the pile which prevented the control rods from moving from where they were at the time of the earthquake or prevented them from going further than where the bend is preventing complete shutdown as is supposed to happen. He is speculating but I think it has the ring of truth to it as the pathology of the problem appears to back him up.

Does anyone know for sure that the control rods SCRAM'ed correctly? I haven't heard for sure, just people assuming that everything worked properly.

He bases this on a similar problem that they had with a small research reactor where the pile bent and they couldn't move the control rod. Fortunately, in HW reactors you can shut everything down by REMOVING most of the water. The CANDU was designed to fail safe and doesn't have a sustaining reaction without the Heavy Water. The CANDU in general is "walk away safe".

If he is right then they will never be able to shut the piles down. He doesn't really know what people are going to do there short of burying it under concrete.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

I've wondered about that one myself --- did the control rods do their thing properly or not.

Here's just a bit of navel-gazing:

It may sound counter-intuitive, but might it be plausible to remove the control rods and LET the reactor melt down and into the big concrete basin at the base of the structure? I guess you would call it a controlled meltdown.

For the experts: As far as the way the GE Mark 1 was designed, what comes after a meltdown into the catch basin? Surely they had something in mind when they designed it that way.

I know all that may sound crazy, but I'm perfectly serious.

???????

[Cabal]

I've wondered about that one myself --- did the control rods do their thing properly or not.

Here's just a bit of navel-gazing:

It may sound counter-intuitive, but might it be plausible to remove the control rods and LET the reactor melt down and into the big concrete basin at the base of the structure? I guess you would call it a controlled meltdown.

For the experts: As far as the way the GE Mark 1 was designed, what comes after a meltdown into the catch basin? Surely they had something in mind when they designed it that way.

I know all that may sound crazy, but I'm perfectly serious.

???????

It's my understanding that in a full meltdown that the molten mess of radioactive material would eventually melt through the containment and enter the enviroment?

[BornFree]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fuk...orature?page=1

.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
by kingtoots
on Tue, 03/22/2011 - 16:58
#1087414

I talked to a relative of mine who worked on designing Canada's Heavy Water Reactor, CANDU.

He thinks things are pretty grim. He thinks that the reason that the piles are still so hot is because the control rods didn't go all the way in and so the pile is still working at some percentage. He suspects that the earthquake bent the pile which prevented the control rods from moving from where they were at the time of the earthquake or prevented them from going further than where the bend is preventing complete shutdown as is supposed to happen. He is speculating but I think it has the ring of truth to it as the pathology of the problem appears to back him up.

Does anyone know for sure that the control rods SCRAM'ed correctly? I haven't heard for sure, just people assuming that everything worked properly.

He bases this on a similar problem that they had with a small research reactor where the pile bent and they couldn't move the control rod. Fortunately, in HW reactors you can shut everything down by REMOVING most of the water. The CANDU was designed to fail safe and doesn't have a sustaining reaction without the Heavy Water. The CANDU in general is "walk away safe".

If he is right then they will never be able to shut the piles down. He doesn't really know what people are going to do there short of burying it under concrete.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

I do know that early on there was a report that indicators in the control room indicated that one or more control rods did not seat completely in place. I would say that if you want to sift through the first 100 pages of this thread then you would probably find that information.

http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=182060

If you don't find it in that thread then check this one.

http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=182121

You might also find it in some of the TB threads from early on as well. But I can say with certainty that it was reported.

[Catbird]

"BreakingNews

2. FDA halts imports of dairy products and produce from area of Japan where nuclear plant leaks radiation - AP 15 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

[Catbird]

This isn't helping anything.

"W7VOA

1. The two big shakers this AM were at 0712 (M6.0) and 0736 (M5.8), strongest in Fukushima but no damage/injuries reported. less than 10 seconds ago via TweetDeck

2. For the record, 3 strong shocks within about 20 mins. in Fukushima-ken. 17 minutes ago via TweetDeck

[Hansa44]

This isn't helping anything.

"W7VOA

1. The two big shakers this AM were at 0712 (M6.0) and 0736 (M5.8), strongest in Fukushima but no damage/injuries reported. less than 10 seconds ago via TweetDeck

2. For the record, 3 strong shocks within about 20 mins. in Fukushima-ken. 17 minutes ago via TweetDeck

This just seems really weird. I know there are plenty of aftershocks after a big quake, but does anyone know what the average is on these big eq's?
(I used the word weird so as no one would think I'm panicking. You know how rumors start.)

[MickeyMouse]

Sure is a lot of crap accumulating in this thread!!

Reports of continuing radiation?

Big difference between RADIATION and CONTAMINATION. Typical lousy reporting doesn't say which they are excited about..............

The contamination already released will continue to decay and emit radiation at a decreasing rate based on half life of each isotope and the quantity of that isotope spread around.
Additional contamination is likely to be released from time to time from multiple sources at the plant. Steam releases are likely to always contain some contamination.

Radiation from the reactors themselves and the spent fuel pools are probably higher than normal - but it will be weak a few hundred feet away. Radiation intensity decreases rapidly with distance as it follows inverse square law.


Control rods were determined to be fully inserted way back on 1st day of event. NOW, consider that massive fuel damage has almost CERTAINLY occurred, no doubt including a LOT of melting. That has the effect of disrupting internal water flow in the core, leading to hot spots and some variation in temperature readings. When the fuel melts, it also damages the boron control rods. Some of them are probably laying on the bottom of the RPV. That is why they inject boric acid - it does the same thing as the control rods and is distributed throughout the core - at least those parts water can reach - which is most of it.

A report of high reactor temperature in Unit 1 is making the rounds but I have been unable to locate a reliable report detailing that. All links would be appreciated.
So far, this is only link I have found: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_10.html
With the return of AC utility power, workers are restoring a lot of instrumentation that has not worked since early in the event. This link indicates a hot spot , or more than one, on the reactor surface. Without more info, it could many several things - the reading could be WRONG. Localized heating of the reactor could occurr due to goofy water flow caused by fuel melting and debris. If the reactor as a whole were at 366 C the steam pressure would be 2901 PSI. Impossible as the relief valves are 1100 PSI. In addition, they are still injecting seawater into the reactor which requires it's internal pressure be lower, like 200 PSI or so. At this time, I say either the reading is a hot spot (likely) or an instrument error (possible).

Beware the news!!!!!




This report http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_i...300796691P.pdf has been reliable in the past. It indicates nothing much new EXCEPT a report of I-131 & Cs-137contamination in the discharge canal; not unexpected. There will be more as the reactors are stabilized, contaminated water is released or gets washed to the sea via weather events.

Here is Tepco's water report:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...s/110322e2.pdf
As expected, the majority of the contamination is I-131 which will be gone in relatively short time aproximately 80 days from the EQ. (8 day half life).

[MickeyMouse]

It's my understanding that in a full meltdown that the molten mess of radioactive material would eventually melt through the containment and enter the enviroment?

First, it would have to melt through the reactor vessel (RPV). THEN it would have to melt through the primary containment vessel (2" steel) THEN the concrete floor of the secondary containment.

Use TMI for a comparison. At least 50% of the core melted with 20 tons finding its way to the bottom of the RPV. When the damaged core and debris was removed, samples were cut from the bottom of the RPV. Of the 5 inches of steel, only 5/8" was damaged.

Don't believe the rantings of the radical left or the movie China Syndrome unless you can find scientific confirmation of it!!

[Vendico]

http://zamg.ac.at/aktuell/index.php?...-03-21GMT10:22

[jesner]

This isn't helping anything.

"W7VOA

1. The two big shakers this AM were at 0712 (M6.0) and 0736 (M5.8), strongest in Fukushima but no damage/injuries reported. less than 10 seconds ago via TweetDeck

2. For the record, 3 strong shocks within about 20 mins. in Fukushima-ken. 17 minutes ago via TweetDeck

MAG UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s LAT deg LON deg DEPTH km Region
MAP 5.3 2011/03/23 00:06:43 39.276 142.315 35.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.1 2011/03/22 22:53:31 37.062 140.620 27.9 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.0 2011/03/22 22:51:38 36.924 142.333 30.1 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.4 2011/03/22 22:36:33 37.078 140.561 15.7 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.7 2011/03/22 22:12:29 37.109 140.673 1.0 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 21:55:39 40.315 142.463 21.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.2 2011/03/22 20:50:12 37.348 141.813 40.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 20:34:44 39.738 143.321 23.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 19:26:05 40.327 143.613 31.7 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 19:09:59 36.338 141.424 22.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 19:07:46 35.587 141.685 31.8 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.5 2011/03/22 18:50:12 37.645 141.594 56.8 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.6 2011/03/22 18:19:08 35.330 141.148 36.5 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 17:49:53 35.335 140.904 18.4 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.6 2011/03/22 17:46:36 35.298 141.005 24.6 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.4 2011/03/22 16:56:36 39.110 143.288 35.0 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.5 2011/03/22 16:12:09 35.672 141.638 33.3 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.2 2011/03/22 16:05:51 35.757 141.591 41.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 15:58:30 39.197 142.282 46.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.4 2011/03/22 15:49:26 39.171 142.301 21.8 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 15:19:29 35.694 141.749 33.7 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 15:12:24 38.361 141.782 54.5 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 6.1 2011/03/22 15:03:46 35.786 141.572 16.4 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.5 2011/03/22 14:43:43 38.485 144.681 14.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.5 2011/03/22 14:31:33 38.154 142.578 33.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.8 2011/03/22 13:50:51 35.791 141.534 15.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 13:26:20 36.844 143.101 43.6 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 13:20:15 39.941 143.448 28.3 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.2 2011/03/22 12:56:27 37.050 143.992 35.7 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.6 2011/03/22 12:42:45 36.776 143.118 46.6 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.4 2011/03/22 12:04:08 36.256 141.408 33.5 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.6 2011/03/22 12:01:21 36.947 143.203 1.0 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.5 2011/03/22 11:21:39 39.789 143.139 24.8 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 10:56:48 37.269 141.874 44.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 10:23:18 40.355 142.476 44.4 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.0 2011/03/22 10:19:01 40.344 142.531 20.5 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 6.6 2011/03/22 09:44:30 39.863 143.436 15.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 6.4 2011/03/22 09:19:06 37.334 141.861 27.0 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 08:33:10 36.913 140.997 53.7 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 07:41:28 36.014 141.415 41.1 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 6.6 2011/03/22 07:18:48 37.249 143.956 26.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 2011/03/22 07:05:01 36.584 142.440 30.0 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.0 2011/03/22 06:28:32 36.703 142.389 40.7 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.1 2011/03/22 05:59:35 35.678 141.684 20.6 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 04:44:19 35.184 141.161 26.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.6 2011/03/22 04:12:11 36.538 142.563 35.0 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.6 2011/03/22 03:57:09 24.201 141.009 178.1 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 5.9 2011/03/22 03:38:35 35.228 141.053 11.4 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.5 2011/03/22 02:53:47 39.244 142.358 35.6 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.8 2011/03/22 02:11:52 39.035 142.621 35.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.5 2011/03/22 01:37:54 36.506 142.441 34.8 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 2011/03/22 01:19:51 36.287 141.294 55.8 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.1 2011/03/22 01:13:48 36.085 141.837 35.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

and that's just today......
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...quakes_all.php

[onetimer]

Reuters Reuters Top News
FLASH: Workers at Japan nuclear plant unable to continue work at reactor no.2 due to high radiation levels - Nuclear safety agency
8 minutes ago

[thompson]

This map site shows a graphic representation of all of the EQ's in Japan from Friday, March 11. Let it run and watch as this island experiences one after the other, after the other. Since March 11, 719 EQ's have been recorded for that area.

http://www.japanquakemap.com/

[BornFree]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fuk...orature?page=1

.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
by kingtoots
on Tue, 03/22/2011 - 16:58
#1087414

I talked to a relative of mine who worked on designing Canada's Heavy Water Reactor, CANDU.

He thinks things are pretty grim. He thinks that the reason that the piles are still so hot is because the control rods didn't go all the way in and so the pile is still working at some percentage. He suspects that the earthquake bent the pile which prevented the control rods from moving from where they were at the time of the earthquake or prevented them from going further than where the bend is preventing complete shutdown as is supposed to happen. He is speculating but I think it has the ring of truth to it as the pathology of the problem appears to back him up.

Does anyone know for sure that the control rods SCRAM'ed correctly? I haven't heard for sure, just people assuming that everything worked properly.

He bases this on a similar problem that they had with a small research reactor where the pile bent and they couldn't move the control rod. Fortunately, in HW reactors you can shut everything down by REMOVING most of the water. The CANDU was designed to fail safe and doesn't have a sustaining reaction without the Heavy Water. The CANDU in general is "walk away safe".

If he is right then they will never be able to shut the piles down. He doesn't really know what people are going to do there short of burying it under concrete.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....

Sure is a lot of crap accumulating in this thread!!

Reports of continuing radiation?

Big difference between RADIATION and CONTAMINATION. Typical lousy reporting doesn't say which they are excited about..............

The contamination already released will continue to decay and emit radiation at a decreasing rate based on half life of each isotope and the quantity of that isotope spread around.
Additional contamination is likely to be released from time to time from multiple sources at the plant. Steam releases are likely to always contain some contamination.

Radiation from the reactors themselves and the spent fuel pools are probably higher than normal - but it will be weak a few hundred feet away. Radiation intensity decreases rapidly with distance as it follows inverse square law.


Control rods were determined to be fully inserted way back on 1st day of event. NOW, consider that massive fuel damage has almost CERTAINLY occurred, no doubt including a LOT of melting. That has the effect of disrupting internal water flow in the core, leading to hot spots and some variation in temperature readings. When the fuel melts, it also damages the boron control rods. Some of them are probably laying on the bottom of the RPV. That is why they inject boric acid - it does the same thing as the control rods and is distributed throughout the core - at least those parts water can reach - which is most of it.

A report of high reactor temperature in Unit 1 is making the rounds but I have been unable to locate a reliable report detailing that. All links would be appreciated.
So far, this is only link I have found: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_10.html
With the return of AC utility power, workers are restoring a lot of instrumentation that has not worked since early in the event. This link indicates a hot spot , or more than one, on the reactor surface. Without more info, it could many several things - the reading could be WRONG. Localized heating of the reactor could occurr due to goofy water flow caused by fuel melting and debris. If the reactor as a whole were at 366 C the steam pressure would be 2901 PSI. Impossible as the relief valves are 1100 PSI. In addition, they are still injecting seawater into the reactor which requires it's internal pressure be lower, like 200 PSI or so. At this time, I say either the reading is a hot spot (likely) or an instrument error (possible).

Beware the news!!!!!




This report http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_i...300796691P.pdf has been reliable in the past. It indicates nothing much new EXCEPT a report of I-131 & Cs-137contamination in the discharge canal; not unexpected. There will be more as the reactors are stabilized, contaminated water is released or gets washed to the sea via weather events.

Here is Tepco's water report:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...s/110322e2.pdf
As expected, the majority of the contamination is I-131 which will be gone in relatively short time aproximately 80 days from the EQ. (8 day half life).

Who ever thinks that control rod problems were never reported had better read this.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1031221-e.html

"Unit 1 (shut down at 2:48PM on March 11th)
- Reactor is shut down and reactor water level is stable.
- Offsite power is available.
- At 8:19am, there was an alarm indicating that one of the control rods
was not properly inserted, however, at 10:43am the alarm was automatically
called off. Other control rods have been confirmed that they are fully
inserted (reactor is in subcritical status)"

[Cascadians]

In dog park on iPhone, will post article when get home re first 4 days of this disaster already equalled half the nasties spewed by Cherynoble.

By now this is worse.

[It'sJustMe]

http://zamg.ac.at/aktuell/index.php?...-03-21GMT10:22

Today's update on this site does not include this larger map showing the rest of the world, like all of the former dates have. I find that...odd. Can one of you radiation experts tell us what the teal, blue and yellow colors mean, in English?

[Be Well]

Reuters Reuters Top News
FLASH: Workers at Japan nuclear plant unable to continue work at reactor no.2 due to high radiation levels - Nuclear safety agency
8 minutes ago

I just some searches for this and couldn't find them. Do you have a link?

[BornFree]

I just some searches for this and couldn't find them. Do you have a link?

That appears to be old news. This happened Monday morning in Japan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...om-reactor-no2

[Amazed]

Thompson, thanks for the amazing map. The aftershocks do seem to be slowing down.

[Be Well]

Thank you, BornFree. I was hoping that was the case.

[It'sJustMe]

Thank you, BornFree. I was hoping that was the case.

Actually, that was reported on Reuters, this afternoon. I saw it on their headline news, but could not verify it so I didn't post it. Reuters also said the radiation level had risen to 500 microseverts, which Tepco is denying now. So, more faulty reporting? Those poor people living over there must be so confused!

[Cascadians]

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Jap...227/story.html
BY MARGARET MUNRO, POSTMEDIA NEWSMARCH 22, 2011

Japan nuclear plant released half as many radioactive isotopes as Chernobyl: data

Over a four-day period last week, Japan's crippled reactors released about half as much radioactive Cesium-137 as Chernobyl had nearly 25 years ago, scientists say.

Data gathered by a UN agency's global network of detectors — including four in Canada — indicate the Fukushima power plant emitted "about 50 per cent" of the Cesium-137 as Chernobyl and 20 per cent of that disaster's total emissions of Iodine-131, says an Austrian team at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna.

Both Cesium-137 and Iodine-131 are potentially hazardous radioactive isotopes commonly produced by nuclear fission.

The radioactive plume from the Japanese reactors has dispersed widely and is said to have crossed North America, now heading for Europe.

Low levels of radiation has been picked up by detectors in Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia, California, Russia, and Charlottesville, Virginia, "where the levels were close to the detection limit," the team, led by Gerhard Wotawa, reported Tuesday.

But Wotawa said there is "no health risk whatsoever," from the miniscule levels of radiation picked up at the North America stations.

The supersensitive detectors constantly "sniff" the air for evidence of clandestine nuclear weapons tests for the UN's Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. The network of 63 radionuclide detectors includes stations in four Canadian provinces and territories, near Victoria, Yellowknife, Resolute and St. John's.

The strategically placed CTBTO detectors are so sensitive that the one in Yellowknife picked up traces of radioactive gas from a North Korean nuclear bomb test in 2006.

They also provide a global picture of radiation released by nuclear accidents, which is helping scientists piece together a picture of what is happening at the still-smouldering Japanese plant that was damaged in the March 11 earthquake and corresponding tsunami.

A senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters Tuesday that Japan's disaster-hit nuclear power plant continues to emit radiation.

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site . . . and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" senior IAEA official James Lyons told a news conference in Vienna. "Is it coming from the reactor units' primary containment vessels or from the spent fuel pools?"

Wotawa, who advises the IAEA, issued a "first rough source estimate" Tuesday of how the Cesium-137 and Iodine-131 released in Japan compares to Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear reactor accident that occurred in the Ukraine nearly 25 years ago.

The estimate includes four days of data — collected March 12 to 15 — when roofs were blown off the Japanese nuclear plant and radioactive plumes rose from the damaged reactors.

Over the four days, 20 per cent of the Iodine-131 and 50 per cent of the Cesium-137 compared to what occurred during the Chernobyl accident, says Wotawa, who is making public detailed summaries of the UN data and how the radiation is dispersing around the Northern Hemisphere.

Health Canada will not discuss the four detectors it runs for the UN network, opting for more generic statements.

"Health Canada's radiation monitoring stations have detected a miniscule increase in radiation levels along the West Coast of Canada," said spokesman Stephane Shank in an email. "The increase is a variation less than what we would see naturally when it rains."

Shank was responding to a request for comment on the reports from Wotawa's team in Vienna that the detector in Sidney, B.C., was picking up very low levels of Iodine-131 from Japan on March 18.

"Health Canada will continue to work closely with Canadian and international partners including the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to monitor the situation related to the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan, as it evolves," he added. "As a precautionary measure, Health Canada is activating an additional nine monitoring stations on Canada's West Coast to bolster its existing network of monitoring stations."

The BC Centre for Disease Control also reports that small amounts of radiation from the damaged Japanese plant have been picked up by radiation monitors in the province.

"We are expecting very slight increases in radiation until a week after the reactors are stabilized," the BCCDC said in a statement. "These are not cause for concern, and are smaller than the normal day-to-day fluctuations typically seen in B.C."

[Cascadians]

http://www.breakingnews.com/

2 workers at Fukushima nuclear plant injured while working on power restoration - Kyodo via Reuters

spotted by editor more1hr ago update Japan PM tells Fukushima residents not to eat leafy vegetables over radiation concerns - Kyodo

[Cascadians]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bre...-1226026841324
NewsCore March 23, 2011 3:40PM

Work at Fukushima halted after radiation detected, amid alarm further afield

WORK at the No. 2 reactor at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant was halted today after radiation levels of 500 millisieverts were detected, Kyodo News agency reported.

The work suspension came after two workers at the plant were injured while toiling on power restoration, according to Reuters.

External power was reconnected to all six reactors at troubled Fukushima earlier today, bringing Japanese engineers one step closer to restarting the facility's desperately needed cooling systems.

However the continued leakage of radiation was proving a problem at the scene and much further beyond, with fears about continuing contamination of food and water.

To put the 500 millisieverts detected at No. 2 reactor into perspective, background radiation levels of around 1.5 millisieverts every year are normal and poses no harm, according to the Australian Cancer Council. Nuclear workers are allowed exposures up to 20 millisieverts annually.

"At 100 millisieverts exposure, there will be one additional cancer detected years later for each 100 people exposed," the Cancer Council said in a statement on its website, adding that the cancer risk due to radiation leaks at Fukushima was "minimal."

Despite reassurances from authorities, concerns about the potential fallout from the nuclear crisis following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami continued.

Earlier Wednesday, two prefectures affected by radiation leaks from the plant were instructed to stop shipping a range of farm products.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan issued orders for the shipments of green leaf vegetables and broccoli from Fukushima and untreated milk and parsley from Ibaraki to cease immediately.

The health ministry said radioactivity drastically exceeding legal limits had been found in 11 kinds of vegetable grown in Fukushima prefecture, AFP reported.

Radioactive caesium at 82,000 becquerels - 164 times the legal limit - was detected in one type of leaf vegetable, along with 15,000 becquerels of radioactive iodine, more than seven times the limit.

The ministry said that if people ate 100 grams (four ounces) a day of the vegetable for about 10 days, they would ingest half the amount of radiation typically received from the natural environment in a year.

Even if the short-term risk is limited for now, scientists pointing to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster warn that some radioactive particles concentrate as they travel up the food chain and stay in the environment for decades.

On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would temporarily halt the import of all milk, vegetable and fruit products coming from the four prefectures - Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma - thought to be affected by radiation.

The move, called an "import alert" amounts to a 180-day ban on imports and was authorized in "response to public fears about radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant," an FDA spokesperson said.

France urged the European Commission to impose "systematic controls for all fresh produce reaching Europe's borders" from Japan, while stressing that it was not calling for a total embargo on Japanese food products "at this stage."

Around Asia, many Japanese restaurants and shops are reporting a decline in business and governments have stepped up radiation checks on the country's goods. Tainted fava beans from Japan have already cropped up in Taiwan.

[Cascadians]

Twitter -cindybax‎ RT @lalareports: 500mSv/hr radiation detected at #Fukushima reactor 2. Emergency evacuation of workers.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rea...egrees-celsius

Reactor 1 Core Has Passed 400 Degrees Celsius
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/22/2011 23:11 -0400
752 Degrees Fahrenheit

[Cascadians]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rea...egrees-celsius

Interesting item at Wikipedia, just added:

On 17 March, KyivPost reported that a Ukrainian group of specialists who were involved in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster proposed low-melting and chemically neutral metal, such as tin, to cool the fuel rods even if molten or damaged. [263]

Chopped tin can be injected in the reactor through the existing cooling water pipes with compressed inert gas, helium or argon. Melted tin creates a crust (low vapor pressure), cools the reactor and delays the decay products recovery. Liquid metal cooled reactors need no pump which makes them long-term capable.

This was proposed by a team of Ukrainian scientists who notified the Japanese Govt and offered to come and deploy chopped tin.

[It'sJustMe]

They didn't go into how the workers were injured, just that they were. Fair use:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7EA00220110323

Two workers at Japan nuclear plant injured -- Kyodo

TOKYO, March 23 | Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:13pm EDT

TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Two workers at Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant were injured on Wednesday while working to restore power to its No. 1 reactor, Kyodo news agency said.

It gave no further details.

Hundreds of Tokyo Electric Power Co workers are trying to restore power to the utility's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but have been hindered by debris, water damage and spiking levels of radiation. (Created by Mayumi Negishi)

[Cascadians]

http://www.zerohedge.com/

Fukushima Smoking Gun Emerges: Founding Engineer Says Reactor 4 Has Always Been A "Time Bomb", Exposes Criminal Cover Up

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/22/2011 22:21 -0400

Corruption Japan Meltdown Nuclear Power University of California Yen

It was only a matter of time before someone grew a conscience, and disclosed to the world that in addition to the massive cover up currently going on with respect to the true extent of the Fukushima catastrophe, the actual plant itself, in borrowing from the BP playbook, was built in a hurried way, using cost and labor-cutting shortcuts, and the end result was a true "time bomb."

Bloomberg has just released a report that if and when confirmed should lead to the prompt engagement of harakiri by the Hitachi executives responsible for this unprecedented act of treason against Japan's citizens.

Quote Bloomberg: "One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago. Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. in 1974.

The reactor, which Tanaka has called a “time bomb,” was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 7-meter (23-foot) tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks....“Who knows what would have happened if that reactor had been running?” Tanaka, who turned his back on the nuclear industry after the Chernobyl disaster, said in an interview last week. “I have no idea if it could withstand an earthquake like this. It’s got a faulty reactor inside.”

What follows is the harrowing tale of a criminal cover up at the only reactor that luckily was empty when the catastrophe occurred. We can only imagine what comparable horror stories will emerge in the next several days as other whistleblowers emerge and disclose that Reactors 1 through 3 (which unfortunately do have radioactive fuel in their reactors) passed the same "rigorous" quality control process that makes them the same time bombs just waiting or the signal to go off (and probably already have... but since the truth is the last thing the public will uncover one can only speculate).

More on this sad story of criminal corruption and incompetence from the bottom all the way to the top, from Bloomberg:

Tanaka’s allegations, which he says he brought to the attention of Japan’s Trade Ministry in 1988 and chronicled in a book two years later called “Why Nuclear Power is Dangerous,” have resurfaced after Japan’s worst nuclear accident on record. The No. 4 reactor was hit by explosions and a fire that spread from adjacent units as the crisis deepened.

Hitachi spokesman Yuichi Izumisawa said the company met with Tanaka in 1988 to discuss the work he did to fix a dent in the vessel and concluded there was no safety problem. “We have not revised our view since then,” Izumisawa said.

Kenta Takahashi, an official at the Trade Ministry’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said he couldn’t confirm whether the agency’s predecessor, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, had conducted an investigation into Tanaka’s claims. Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, said he couldn’t immediately comment.

Tanaka, who said he led the team that built the steel vessel, was at his apartment on Tokyo’s outskirts when Japan’s biggest earthquake on record struck off the coast on March 11, shaking buildings in the nation’s capital.

“I grabbed my wife and we just hugged,” he said. “I thought this is it: we’re dead.”

For Tanaka, the nightmare intensified the next day when a series of explosions were triggered next to the reactor that he helped build. Since then, the risks of radioactive leaks increased as workers have struggled to bring the plant under control.
Here is why one should not trust anything coming out of the authorities out of TEPCO and out of all other pundits who now rely on what is certifiably faulty information:

Tanaka says the reactor pressure vessel inside Fukushima’s unit No. 4 was damaged at a Babcock-Hitachi foundry in Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture, during the last step of a manufacturing process that took 2 1/2 years and cost tens of millions of dollars. If the mistake had been discovered, the company might have been bankrupted, he said.

Inside a blast furnace the size of a small airplane hanger the reactor pressure vessel was being treated one last time to remove welding stress. The cylinder, 20 meters tall and 6 meters in diameter, was heated to more than 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature that softens metal.

Braces that were supposed to have been placed inside during the blasting were either forgotten or fell over when the cylinder was wheeled into the furnace. After the vessel cooled, workers found that its walls had warped, Tanaka said.

The vessel had sagged so that its height and width differed by more than 34 millimeters, meaning it should have been scrapped, according to nuclear regulations. Rather than sacrifice years of work and risk the company’s survival, Tanaka’s boss asked him to reshape the vessel so that no-one would know it had ever been damaged. Tanaka had been working as an engineer for the company’s nuclear reactor division and was known for his programming skills.
Saving Hitachi billions by putting millions at risk:

“I saved the company billions of yen,” said Tanaka, who says he was paid a 3 million yen bonus and presented with a certificate acknowledging his “extraordinary” effort. “At the time, I felt like a hero,” he said.

Over the course of a month, Tanaka said he made a dozen nighttime trips to an International Business Machines Corp. office 20 kilometers away in Hiroshima where he used a super- computer to devise a repair.
Covering up the lies with a sheet, and bribing with golf and hot springs:

Meanwhile, workers covered the damaged vessel with a sheet, Tanaka said. When Tokyo Electric sent a representative to check on their progress, Hitachi distracted him by wining and dining him, according to Tanaka. Rather than inspecting the part, they spent the day playing golf and soaking in a hot spring, he said.

The guy wouldn’t have known what he was looking at anyway,” Tanaka said. “The people at the utility have no idea how the parts are made.”

After a month of computer modeling, Tanaka came up with a way to use pumpjacks to pop out the sunken wall. While it would look like nothing had ever happened, no-one knew what the effect of the repair would have on the integrity of the vessel. Thirty- six years later, that reactor pressure vessel is the key defense protecting the core of Fukushima’s No. 4 reactor.

“These procedures, as they’re described, are far from ideal, especially for a component as critical as this,” Robert Ritchie, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of California of Berkeley, said in a phone interview. “Depending on the extent of vessel’s deformation, it could possibly lead to local cracking in some its welds.”
"The father of the Japanese Chernobyl":

After the meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986, Tanaka was asked to narrate a Russian movie documenting the disaster. A team of Soviet filmmakers had taken 30 hours of footage inside the plant, getting very close to the ruptured core. The movie’s director died of radiation poisoning about a year after the filming. While watching the footage, Tanaka had a breakdown.

“All of a sudden I was sobbing and I started to think about what I’d done,” Tanaka said. “I was thinking, ‘I could be the father of a Japanese Chernobyl.’”

Two years later Tanaka says he went to the Trade Ministry to report the cover-up he’d been involved in more than a decade earlier. The government refused to investigate and Hitachi denied his accusations, he said.
Everybody lies.

“They said, if Hitachi says they didn’t do it, then there’s no problem,” Tanaka said. “Companies don’t always tell the truth.”

So... is there still someone who believes anything coming out of Fukushima? And anyone who thinks that spraying water on overheating reactors from hopelessly irradiated firetrucks will actually do anything at all?

[Cascadians]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...t-reactor.html
By Jason Clenfield - Mar 22, 2011

Fukushima Engineer Says He Covered Up Flaw at Shut Reactor No. 4

One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. (6501) in 1974. The reactor, which Tanaka has called a “time bomb,” was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 7-meter (23-foot) tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks.

“Who knows what would have happened if that reactor had been running?” Tanaka, who turned his back on the nuclear industry after the Chernobyl disaster, said in an interview last week. “I have no idea if it could withstand an earthquake like this. It’s got a faulty reactor inside.”

Tanaka’s allegations, which he says he brought to the attention of Japan’s Trade Ministry in 1988 and chronicled in a book two years later called “Why Nuclear Power is Dangerous,” have resurfaced after Japan’s worst nuclear accident on record. The No. 4 reactor was hit by explosions and a fire that spread from adjacent units as the crisis deepened.

No Safety Problem

Hitachi spokesman Yuichi Izumisawa said the company met with Tanaka in 1988 to discuss the work he did to fix a dent in the vessel and concluded there was no safety problem. “We have not revised our view since then,” Izumisawa said.

Kenta Takahashi, an official at the Trade Ministry’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said he couldn’t confirm whether the agency’s predecessor, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, had conducted an investigation into Tanaka’s claims. Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, said he couldn’t immediately comment.

Tanaka, who said he led the team that built the steel vessel, was at his apartment on Tokyo’s outskirts when Japan’s biggest earthquake on record struck off the coast on March 11, shaking buildings in the nation’s capital.

“I grabbed my wife and we just hugged,” he said. “I thought this is it: we’re dead.”

For Tanaka, the nightmare intensified the next day when a series of explosions were triggered next to the reactor that he helped build. Since then, the risks of radioactive leaks increased as workers have struggled to bring the plant under control.

Fukushima No. 4

Tanaka says the reactor pressure vessel inside Fukushima’s unit No. 4 was damaged at a Babcock-Hitachi foundry in Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture, during the last step of a manufacturing process that took 2 1/2 years and cost tens of millions of dollars. If the mistake had been discovered, the company might have been bankrupted, he said.

Inside a blast furnace the size of a small airplane hanger the reactor pressure vessel was being treated one last time to remove welding stress. The cylinder, 20 meters tall and 6 meters in diameter, was heated to more than 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature that softens metal.

Braces that were supposed to have been placed inside during the blasting were either forgotten or fell over when the cylinder was wheeled into the furnace. After the vessel cooled, workers found that its walls had warped, Tanaka said.

Warped Walls

The vessel had sagged so that its height and width differed by more than 34 millimeters, meaning it should have been scrapped, according to nuclear regulations. Rather than sacrifice years of work and risk the company’s survival, Tanaka’s boss asked him to reshape the vessel so that no-one would know it had ever been damaged. Tanaka had been working as an engineer for the company’s nuclear reactor division and was known for his programming skills.

“I saved the company billions of yen,” said Tanaka, who says he was paid a 3 million yen bonus and presented with a certificate acknowledging his “extraordinary” effort. “At the time, I felt like a hero,” he said.

Over the course of a month, Tanaka said he made a dozen nighttime trips to an International Business Machines Corp. office 20 kilometers away in Hiroshima where he used a super- computer to devise a repair.

Meanwhile, workers covered the damaged vessel with a sheet, Tanaka said. When Tokyo Electric sent a representative to check on their progress, Hitachi distracted him by wining and dining him, according to Tanaka. Rather than inspecting the part, they spent the day playing golf and soaking in a hot spring, he said.

Wining and Dining

“The guy wouldn’t have known what he was looking at anyway,” Tanaka said. “The people at the utility have no idea how the parts are made.”

After a month of computer modeling, Tanaka came up with a way to use pumpjacks to pop out the sunken wall. While it would look like nothing had ever happened, no-one knew what the effect of the repair would have on the integrity of the vessel. Thirty- six years later, that reactor pressure vessel is the key defense protecting the core of Fukushima’s No. 4 reactor.

“These procedures, as they’re described, are far from ideal, especially for a component as critical as this,” Robert Ritchie, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of California of Berkeley, said in a phone interview. “Depending on the extent of vessel’s deformation, it could possibly lead to local cracking in some its welds.”

Chernobyl Breakdown

Tanaka quit Babcock-Hitachi in 1977, when he was 34 years old and became a writer. A graduate of Tokyo Institute of Technology, his Japanese-language books include “Options in Complex Systems: Natural Science and Economics on the Edge of Chaos,” and a book for young adults called, “How do we Know the Earth is Moving?”

After the meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986, Tanaka was asked to narrate a Russian movie documenting the disaster. A team of Soviet filmmakers had taken 30 hours of footage inside the plant, getting very close to the ruptured core. The movie’s director died of radiation poisoning about a year after the filming. While watching the footage, Tanaka had a breakdown.

“All of a sudden I was sobbing and I started to think about what I’d done,” Tanaka said. “I was thinking, ‘I could be the father of a Japanese Chernobyl.’”

Two years later Tanaka says he went to the Trade Ministry to report the cover-up he’d been involved in more than a decade earlier. The government refused to investigate and Hitachi denied his accusations, he said.

“They said, if Hitachi says they didn’t do it, then there’s no problem,” Tanaka said. “Companies don’t always tell the truth.”

[onetimer]

BreakingNews Breaking News
Radioactive iodine exceeding limit for infants detected in tap water in Tokyo - Kyodo
42 minutes ago

[It'sJustMe]

Here's the full article on that story, onetimer, on the iodine in Tokyo. Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80405.html

Radioactive iodine exceeding limit for infants found in Tokyo tap water

TOKYO, March 23, Kyodo

The Tokyo metropolitan government warned Wednesday that infants should not drink tap water as radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for them were detected in water at a purification plant.

According to the metropolitan government, 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine were detected per 1 kilogram of water against the limit of 100 becquerels.

The detection follows the devastating earthquake earlier this month that crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

==Kyodo