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

[Cascadians]

Ah yes, USA stops monitoring Fuku because it's improving and stable. 3 total meltdowns, radiation rising exponentially, Tepco has no idea what the hell is going on, "containments" blown and leaking all that super contaminated water, untold tons per day, recriticalities left and right, unable to hold boron, nitrogen, water, anything, 3 runaway coriums and a humongo fuel pool about to keel over which also can't hold its water, nothing to monitor here, especially the fish and ocean life which still lands on dinner plates. Ahem.

Yesterday Drudge had headlined an article about Obama ordering Tepco to improve its image because its stock is falling and USA is a stockholder. It's all about lies and money.

Japan is toast, the planet is rapidly toasting because of lies and greed. No respect for science or facts or reality.

[Thumpr57]

Still some confusion over events immediately following the earthquake:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na010000c.html

...At exactly 46 minutes and 46 seconds past 2 p.m. on March 11 -- just after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake had struck off the northeast coast of Japan -- reactors No. 1-3 began emergency shut-down procedures (reactors No. 4-6 were not operating). However, as the reactors were shutting down, the plant log reveals workers were being bombarded with alarms for control rod insertions in each reactor, water level fluctuations, and other details of a nuclear plant swinging into crisis-response mode.

According to the TEPCO documents, the tsunami hit at about 3:30 p.m., cutting all power at the plant. In response, at about 5 p.m. TEPCO ordered power-source trucks to head to the plant from its branches nearby. However, "the trucks were unable to make progress due to road damage and traffic jams," a report included in the documents states. Unable to get the trucks to the Fukushima plant, at 6:20 p.m., TEPCO requested neighboring Tohoku Electric Power Co. to send some in their stead.

The Tohoku Electric trucks did not arrive at the plant until about 11 p.m., but faced with "the dark, pools of tsunami water, missing manhole covers on the road, and debris everywhere hindering progress," workers found hooking up the necessary power cables extremely difficult, according to a report from around dawn on March 12. Power was finally restored to the plant at about 3 p.m., but at 3:36 p.m. a massive hydrogen explosion in the No.1 reactor building destroyed the newly laid cables, cutting power once more.

Meanwhile, workers inside the plant were trying to vent the No. 1 reactor to relieve pressure building in the reactor vessel. Reports made as the crisis went on show workers tried to vent the reactor manually at about 9:15 p.m. on March 11 but soon had to stop, with an entry at about 9:30 p.m. stating, "We tried the operation onsite, but the radiation dose was so high we gave up." The venting operation was eventually completed, but not until 10:17 p.m.

What the workers were doing between 9:30 p.m. and 10:17 p.m., however, is not revealed in the TEPCO documents, and a TEPCO representative told reporters, "We don't know what kind of risk assessment led the workers to try again."

However, an entry for 9:51 p.m. in the plant duty log also released by TEPCO states: "No entry permitted" to the No. 1 reactor building due to high radiation -- an order that photos of memos on the plant's central control room whiteboard show came directly from TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu. The high radiation that led to the no-entry order furthermore lends support to the theory that a core meltdown began soon after the tsunami struck...

So were the alarms during the shutdown the normal sort of alarms associated with a shutdown or were they indicating the shutdown wasn't proceeding normally perhaps due to cracks, leaks, or other damage caused by the earthquake? I know these process control systems are supposed to sound alarms under certain conditions and these are often ignored since they're expected under the circumstances. I'd love to know more about these early events.

However, regardless of how they reached this point, the lack of response from our EPA and other govt agencies and officials is beyond comprehension although I assume it is due to now wanting to cause further economic stress. I wonder what EPA staff are serving their families at their dinner tables?

[Be Well]

Ah yes, USA stops monitoring Fuku because it's improving and stable. 3 total meltdowns, radiation rising exponentially, Tepco has no idea what the hell is going on, "containments" blown and leaking all that super contaminated water, untold tons per day, recriticalities left and right, unable to hold boron, nitrogen, water, anything, 3 runaway coriums and a humongo fuel pool about to keel over which also can't hold its water, nothing to monitor here, especially the fish and ocean life which still lands on dinner plates. Ahem.

Yesterday Drudge had headlined an article about Obama ordering Tepco to improve its image because its stock is falling and USA is a stockholder. It's all about lies and money.

Japan is toast, the planet is rapidly toasting because of lies and greed. No respect for science or facts or reality.

Lust for money and power rules the world. Truth and the wellbeing of the residents of the world mean nothing to those in power everywhere.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_06.html

TEPCO may face more problems in stabilizing plant

Tokyo Electric Power Company is sticking to its plan to bring the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station under control by next January. But the company may face further unexpected problems.

On Tuesday, TEPCO announced a new timeline which reflects the problems that have emerged since it revealed the original road map one month earlier.
It says it will keep to its original schedule of stabilizing the plant sometime between October and January.

TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto told reporters that on the whole, the work is progressing as expected, although some tasks are taking longer than planned.

But many unexpected problems have occurred since TEPCO released the original plan in April.

A large quantity of water was found in the basement of the No.1 reactor building. Highly radioactive water was found to be leaking into the ocean from the No.3 reactor.

TEPCO told reporters that the barrier set up in the sea near the water intake of the No.3 reactor may be failing to prevent contaminated water from spreading.
The utility said it will use the mineral zeolite to remove radioactive cesium from the sea.

Workers have not been able to enter the buildings of the No.2 and No.3 reactors, making it impossible to restore their cooling functions.

In addition to these obstacles, TEPCO may also face an increase in the amount of radioactive water, highly radioactive work environments, and the possible effects of the rainy season, typhoons and aftershocks.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 05:53 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_01.html
TEPCO releases Fukushima plant videos


Tokyo Electric Power Company has released videos of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

A clip taken on May 6th shows dents in a tank that supplies water to a reactor suppression pool.
An overturned car is lying near the tank.

Another video shows an oil tank that was swept by tsunami and landed near the plant's headquarters about 500 meters from the Number 1 reactor.

Most of the windows in the building are broken and documents are scattered around an office. The mess is believed to have caused by hydrogen explosions that occurred in the early days of the nuclear crisis.

Other footage shows workers closing a dormitory entrance door to prevent the entry of radioactive substances.

The workers decontaminate their protective gear and line up to carry supplies into the building.

Another video captures a vehicle spraying green agents to prevent the dispersal of radioactive materials.
It also shows workers putting radioactive debris into a container for removal.

Another clip shows hoses being used to inject water into reactors. The orange one is for reactor 1, the yellow one for reactor 2 and the green one for reactor 3.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 01:50 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na010000c.html

May 18, 2011

TEPCO documents reveal chaos at Fukushima nuke plant after quake, tsunami

If there is one word to describe events at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in the immediate aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami -- with cooling systems failing and the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl brewing in its reactors -- it would be "chaos."

That is the picture painted by documents released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on May 16 describing the situation at the plant in the hours after tsunami slammed into the coastal facility. Coming more than two months after the disaster, the TEPCO data will soon be dissected by a government committee set up to analyze the causes of the nuclear crisis and the actions taken by both the government and TEPCO to contain it.

"The power-source trucks (to supply the reactors with outside power) are stuck in traffic!"

"We've given up on venting operations (to lower reactor vessel pressure). The radiation is just too high."

These are just two of the TEPCO employee reports included in the documents, which also lay out the exact chronology of events at the plant as the disaster unfolded.

At exactly 46 minutes and 46 seconds past 2 p.m. on March 11 -- just after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake had struck off the northeast coast of Japan -- reactors No. 1-3 began emergency shut-down procedures (reactors No. 4-6 were not operating). However, as the reactors were shutting down, the plant log reveals workers were being bombarded with alarms for control rod insertions in each reactor, water level fluctuations, and other details of a nuclear plant swinging into crisis-response mode.

According to the TEPCO documents, the tsunami hit at about 3:30 p.m., cutting all power at the plant. In response, at about 5 p.m. TEPCO ordered power-source trucks to head to the plant from its branches nearby. However, "the trucks were unable to make progress due to road damage and traffic jams," a report included in the documents states. Unable to get the trucks to the Fukushima plant, at 6:20 p.m., TEPCO requested neighboring Tohoku Electric Power Co. to send some in their stead.

The Tohoku Electric trucks did not arrive at the plant until about 11 p.m., but faced with "the dark, pools of tsunami water, missing manhole covers on the road, and debris everywhere hindering progress," workers found hooking up the necessary power cables extremely difficult, according to a report from around dawn on March 12. Power was finally restored to the plant at about 3 p.m., but at 3:36 p.m. a massive hydrogen explosion in the No.1 reactor building destroyed the newly laid cables, cutting power once more.

Meanwhile, workers inside the plant were trying to vent the No. 1 reactor to relieve pressure building in the reactor vessel. Reports made as the crisis went on show workers tried to vent the reactor manually at about 9:15 p.m. on March 11 but soon had to stop, with an entry at about 9:30 p.m. stating, "We tried the operation onsite, but the radiation dose was so high we gave up." The venting operation was eventually completed, but not until 10:17 p.m.

What the workers were doing between 9:30 p.m. and 10:17 p.m., however, is not revealed in the TEPCO documents, and a TEPCO representative told reporters, "We don't know what kind of risk assessment led the workers to try again."

However, an entry for 9:51 p.m. in the plant duty log also released by TEPCO states: "No entry permitted" to the No. 1 reactor building due to high radiation -- an order that photos of memos on the plant's central control room whiteboard show came directly from TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu. The high radiation that led to the no-entry order furthermore lends support to the theory that a core meltdown began soon after the tsunami struck.

While much of the detail surrounding TEPCO's immediate response to the disaster is included in the documents, there is no record of the utility's communications with the Prime Minister's Office, leaving government-TEPCO interactions over critical decisions such as the venting operation and the use of sea water for cooling a mystery.

[Hansa44]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-reactors.html

Wednesday 18 May 2011


Japan: meltdown feared at two more Fukushima reactors
Two further reactors at Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant may have suffered meltdown, according to its operators.

The fuel in reactors No 2 and 3 is suspected to have melted amid reports that the operators Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) failed to cool the plant in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The news came only days after it was confirmed for the first time that a meltdown had taken place in the No 1 reactor only 16 hours after the earthquake and tsunami hit the plant.

"The findings at the No. 1 reactor indicate the likelihood that the water level readings in the other reactors aren't accurate," said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tepco. "It could be that a meltdown similar to that in the No 1 reactor has occurred."

Tepco has faced wide criticism for its apparent failure to fully comprehend or reveal the extent of the damage inflicted in the plant after crucial cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11 disaster.

Despite the admission, Tepco has insisted that it will stick to its initial plan to regain control of the plant within nine months, although the government is today expected to release its own recovery roadmap.

Related Articles

Workers at the plant were also due to start transferring 4,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water from the No 3 reactor to a waste disposing facility using hoses to prevent further environmental leaks.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has announced that it is safe for citizens to travel along the highway or by bullet train through its recommended 50 mile evacuation zone surrounding the nuclear plant.

However, it did not change its advice for citizens to evacuate from the zone surrounding the plant, reiterating its verdict that the situation "remains serious and dynamic".

[It'sJustMe]

Good video showing work being done at the plant. Video was done 3-6-11. It also shows the area around it including down by the water. Fair use:

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Current status of restoration work TEPCO 5/17/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMj_P...layer_embedded

[bbkaren]

Alertsusa.com text alert I just received. I'm on phone and haven't looked for a link yet but these guys are usually good about verifying info before sending an alert:

TEPCO confirms meltdowns in Fukushima 1, 2 and 3. Melting of fuel in 2 and 3 is "extensive if not complete" and "far more dire than previously recognized".

[truthseeker]

There is 10 articles going back 3 days that verifies you info, bbkaren.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_14.html

TEPCO to focus on water circulation

Tokyo Electric Power Company's revised plan to stabilize its reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will focus on creating a system to decontaminate and circulate water back into the reactors to cool them down.

TEPCO unveiled changes to its plan on Tuesday after the discovery that the fuel rods in the No.1 reactor had melted. The melting apparently damaged the vessel containing the reactor, and a large amount of water has been found to have leaked out.

The utility has effectively abandoned its initial plan to cool the reactor by filling it with water, and says it will instead install an alternative cooling system.

The system would collect the highly contaminated water in one place, reduce the amount of its radioactive materials, and return it to the reactor as a coolant.

TEPCO says it is preparing to set up a facility at the Fukushima compound to treat the contaminated water and plans to start operating it by June

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/n...t-no-3-reactor

Wednesday 18th May,TEPCO starts removing radioactive water at No. 3 reactor

TOKYO —

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Tuesday it has started transferring highly radioactive water at the No. 3 reactor’s turbine building and its vicinity to a waste-disposing facility to prevent it from leaking into the environment.


The tainted water, whose level has been rising by around 2 centimeters a day at the turbine building, may be leaking from the reactor vessel damaged by the March 11 devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami as well as could pollute the sea, prodding Tokyo Electric Power Co to try to remove it promptly.


TEPCO also said it continued setting up equipment at the water-disposal facility to decontaminate the radioactive water so it can be reused to cool fuel in the vessel in the near future.


In an updated version of its road map toward settling the nuclear crisis, released Tuesday, TEPCO said it will seek to set up a coolant circulation system by using the tainted water.


In another development, TEPCO said workers will enter the No. 2 reactor building at the nuclear power complex in Fukushima Prefecture in the near future to inspect radiation levels and damage inside.


The move is aimed at preparing for work to set up a new system to cool the reactor stably, according to the utility.


Workers were slated to go into the building late Tuesday, but the plan was postponed to Wednesday or later as it has taken a longer time than expected to check necessary devices such as protective suits and masks, TEPCO said.
It will be the first time for workers to enter the No. 2 reactor building since an explosion sound was heard from a nearby pressure suppression chamber on March 15.


In April, a pair of remote-controlled robots failed to carry out sufficient measurements of radiation levels inside the building housing the No. 2 reactor vessel because the high humidity inside clouded the robots’ camera lenses.
Workers will take care to avoid being heavily exposed to radioactive substances, such as by using devices that have dosimeters attached at the end of a stick, company officials said.


But it is uncertain whether such operations could go smoothly as concerns grow that radiation levels are high at some locations inside the vessels housing the reactors, in which fuel might have largely melted in the worst case scenario, observers said.


The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency acknowledged Tuesday that a nuclear meltdown may have occurred at the plant’s Nos. 2 and 3 reactors as well, following recent findings that suggest a fuel meltdown at the No. 1 reactor.


Meanwhile, a large artificial floating island, which will be used to store the contaminated water accumulated at the nuclear plant, arrived at Onahama port in Fukushima Prefecture on Tuesday morning.


TEPCO expects the so-called ‘‘megafloat,’’ provided by the Shizuoka city government, to be able to store about 10,000 tons of water, company officials said. The utility plans to use the storage for water with relatively low contamination that has gone through a decontamination process.


The megafloat, which is about 136 meters long, 46 meters wide and 3 meters tall, is scheduled to berth along the quay near the Fukushima Daiichi complex in late May, the officials added.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110518a2.html

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Reactor worker error comes to light
Shutting down cooling system before tsunami may have caused meltdown

he emergency cooling system for reactor 1 at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant may have been shut down manually before the tsunami hit March 11, according to a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman and documents released by the utility.

A part of the cooling system known as the isolation condenser was down for about three hours, which could have contributed to the reactor core's meltdown.

The finding upends the government's previous conclusion that the condenser was functioning normally on March 11.

"I learned (of the shutdown) through media reports today," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference Tuesday. "We have asked the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency and other bodies to give detailed analyses and reports (on that matter)."

NISA, the government agency that oversees nuclear plant operators, urged Tepco on Tuesday to provide a detailed explanation by May 23.

Tepco, Japan's largest electricity supplier, disclosed internal documents and data Monday indicating the isolation condenser may have been manually shut down around 3 p.m. March 11 shortly after kicking in following the massive quake at 2:46 p.m. The plant was hit by tsunami around 3:30 p.m.

The release of key data following the March 11 disaster was delayed because most of it was kept in computers and documents in the plant's central control room, where high levels of radiation prevented workers from entering, Tepco said.

The isolation condenser is designed to inject water into the reactor for at least eight hours after the main coolant system loses power, as happened March 11.

"It is possible that a worker may have manually closed the valve (of the isolation condenser) to prevent a rapid decrease in temperature, as is stipulated by a reactor operating guideline," Tepco spokesman Hajime Motojuku told The Japan Times.

A worker may have stopped the condenser to keep cold water from coming into contact with the hot steel of the reactor to prevent it from being damaged.

[It'sJustMe]

I think this might have been the headline your source sent you the text on BBKaren. This is a new article. Fair use:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105170428.html

2011/05/18
Meltdowns also likely occurred at No. 2, No. 3 reactors of Fukushima plant

Data shows meltdowns occurred at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, creating huge problems for the plant operator that had presented a more optimistic scenario.

And like the No. 1 reactor, the melted fuel appears to have created holes in the pressure vessel of the No. 3 reactor, according to the data of Tokyo Electric Power Co. released May 16.

Goshi Hosono, special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, acknowledged the likelihood of meltdowns at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors.

"We have to assume that meltdowns have taken place," Hosono said at a news conference May 16.

Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission, said in a separate news conference the same day that the meltdowns should not come as a surprise.

"When highly contaminated water was found at the No. 2 reactor building in late March, we recognized that a meltdown had taken place. So I informed the government," he said. "As for No. 1 and No. 3 reactors, we recognized that, given the processes that led to the accidents there, the same thing had occurred."

Immediately after the crisis erupted at the nuclear power plant in March, experts pointed out that meltdowns likely occurred at all three reactors.

But TEPCO's measures to contain the crisis have been based on the assumption of lighter damage to the reactor cores.

TEPCO had said it believed that only a portion of the nuclear fuel rods had melted. Now, it appears that all parts of the fuel rods have melted.

TEPCO recently said a meltdown likely occurred at the No. 1 reactor. But a TEPCO official on May 16 declined to comment on the possibility of meltdowns at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors.

"We have yet to be able to grasp the entire situation at the plant," the official said.

A meltdown is a situation in which nuclear fuel melts and accumulates at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel, which is located inside a containment vessel.

At the No. 3 reactor, the melted fuel may have burned through the pressure vessel to the containment vessel, the data showed.

TEPCO on April 17 released a schedule to reach a cold shutdown at the Fukushima plant within six to nine months.

However, given the latest data, the embattled company will have to drastically modify its plans.

If meltdowns have indeed occurred, more time will be needed to construct a system that cools the reactors. In addition, the company will be tasked with the huge chore of disposing of massive amounts of highly contaminated water.

TEPCO's latest data describes the situation immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami devastated the coast of the Tohoku region on March 11.

Release of the data, which had been kept at the central control room at the nuclear power plant, was delayed because it took time to restore power and remove radioactive materials attached to the papers.

According to the data, the pressure in the pressure vessel of the No. 2 reactor dropped at 6:43 p.m. on March 15. A similar drop in pressure also took place at the No. 3 reactor at 11:50 p.m. on March 16.

Those declines were apparently the result of holes made in the pressure vessels.

Previously, it was believed that water was leaking through holes at the bottom of the pressure vessels where measuring instruments and part of the control rod mechanisms were located.

Now, it appears that melted nuclear fuel formed new holes in the pressure vessels.

Radioactive materials, such as technetium, produced when nuclear fuel rods are damaged, have been detected in water in the No. 3 reactor building. That discovery has raised speculation that the melted nuclear fuel has breached the pressure vessel and landed in the containment vessel.

During the meltdown at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979, the fuel remained in the pressure vessel. But work to remove the melted fuel from the pressure vessel, which started in 1985, took five years to complete. An additional three years were needed to confirm that radioactive contamination had been removed from the reactor.

Given the more serious situation at the Fukushima plant, some nuclear experts say more than 10 years will be needed to remove the melted fuel, eliminate the contamination and dismantle the reactors.

Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at what was then the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, said black smoke from the No. 3 reactor building in the days after the earthquake and available data on pressure showed early on that a meltdown had taken place.

"Before we saw TEPCO's data (released on May 16), we had been already aware of the possibility (of a meltdown)," he said.

Tanabe criticized TEPCO's recovery efforts and measures that were taken based on a situation that was much less serious than reality.

He said TEPCO's optimistic scenario led three workers to be exposed to highly radioactive water on March 24 and prevented measures to keep contaminated water from leaking into the sea through a trench at the No. 2 reactor building.

"In resolving serious accidents like those (at the Fukushima plant), it is a cardinal rule to work out recovery measures based on the worst possible situation," he said.

[Kronos]

Perhaps a new thread, honestly, needs to be opened.

On this topic: Premise- The Northern hemisphere is Irradiated

Leakage or magnetosphere flip shall eventually (but HAS NOT YET) grant southern hemi equal harm.

Kent and his compadres please start their very own alternate thread.

Radio (in man-made proportions) is NOT good for a body.

[It'sJustMe]

This is the video I posted above, done by Tepco on May 6. Fair use:

http://blogs.forbes.com/oshadavidson...-real-picture/

New Video of Nuclear Power Plant Doesn’t Give the Real Picture

May. 17

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has released a video made on May 6th, showing conditions at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Unfortunately, what the video doesn’t show is the heart of the ongoing nuclear crisis: the melted fuel rods from the core of Unit 1, the 3,000 tons of highly contaminated water, 13-feet deep, filling the basement of the reactor building, and the holes (most likely in the containment vessel) made by the molten fuel, allowing the radioactive water to drain from the reactor.

I’ll have an update on these and other developments soon. For now, I’ll just make this point: Despite the lack of media attention, Fukushima Daiichi is still in crisis mode — and the situation could get far worse before it gets any better.

The video has no audio track, but it does include subtitles provided by TEPCO, identifying the location and the activities shown.

[Masterchief117]

I have been following this since the beginning, like most of you. I seem to remember that in the beginning of the crisis, that some of the members were worried that a meltdown would or had occurred. I also remember that some of the "experts" were saying that if you believed that, then you were, in essence, CRAZY AND FEAR MONGERING!! Now, two months later, and look who was right.
Extrapolate this "gut instinct/woo-woo feelings" vs "rational denial" to any of the "out there, conspiracy related topics" and you might get a real sense of what is really going on. You need to be able to keep all of the chips on the table. Remember, the Truth is Out There and it may not be where we think it will be.
Stay Alert, Keep it Real

[RCSAR]

How many has the radiation killed.
The ones they admit to that is.

Future deaths are just a wild guess but I'll bet it will be shocking.

[Tom McDowell]

Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University: "Melted Core Outside the Containment Vessel"

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/h...niversity.html

Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute is quoted by Mainichi Shinbun as saying that the melted core of the Reactor 1 is not just out of the Reactor Pressure Vessel but out of the Containment Vessel.

From Mainichi Shinbun, Koide's comments only (5/16/2011):

Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute points out that "[TEPCO] could have foreseen the core melt at an early stage when the cooling of the reactor stopped due to the power failure. TEPCO's assessment that the damage to the fuel was limited has turned out to be completely wrong. The disclosure of the data came too late."

According to TEPCO, the data analysis shows that damage to the RPV is not extensive. However, Koide thinks "The RPV has been completely damaged, the melted core bore a hole at the bottom of the Containment Vessel, causing the large amount of contaminated water to leak into the ground beneath the reactor building.

===

.

[It'sJustMe]

Shudder....Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_21.html

Workers enter No.2 reactor building

Workers have entered the No.2 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since an explosion there on March 15th, as part of efforts to bring the reactor under control.

Tokyo Electric Power Company sent 4 workers into the building on Wednesday morning to check radiation levels and other conditions.

The workers wore protective suits and carried air tanks on their backs. TEPCO says their exposure to radiation has been kept between 3 and 4 millisieverts each.

TEPCO says data on radiation levels inside the building is necessary to proceed with the revised plan it announced on Tuesday to cool the reactors.

The plan calls for decontaminating and circulating water leaked from the containment vessels back into the reactors as a coolant.

An unmanned probe of the No. 2 reactor on April 18th was inconclusive because humidity levels of above 90 percent fogged the camera lens and kept the robot from moving forward.

Work is also under way at the No.3 reactor to move highly contaminated water from the turbine building and other areas to a temporary storage facility. The transfer began on Tuesday evening.

TEPCO says about 130 tons of the water is believed to have been pumped out by Wednesday morning. It says the work reduced the water level in the basement of the turbine building to 144 centimeters, down one centimeter from before the transfer.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 12:31 +0900 (JST)

[bbkaren]

There is 10 articles going back 3 days that verifies you info, bbkaren.

Sorry TS, I didn't realize I was duplicating info. It's hard to keep up...the articles are so long and there's no concise synopsis anywhere, so I thought this was news. Thanks--

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_37.html

Radiation level at No.3 reactor water intake rises

The operator of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima has reported a sharp rise in the concentration of a radioactive material in samples of seawater near the Number 3 reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 110 becquerels of radioactive cesium-134 per cubic centimeters in seawater samples taken on Wednesday morning.

The level is 1,800 times the national legal limit, compared to 550 times, which was reported the previous day.

The utility also found 120 becquerels of cesium-137, 1,300 times higher than the limit.

Last Wednesday at the same location near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor, water contaminated with highly radioactive substances was found flowing into the sea from a pit. TEPCO says it detected cesium-134 at 32,000 times the legal limit.

In its latest announcement, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive iodine in seawater samples from the same location fell from 1,900 times the limit on Monday to 630 times on Tuesday.

The utility also said it detected radioactive materials at levels higher than the national limit at 2 of the 4 survey points along the shoreline near the plant.

It says cesium-134 with a concentration level 1.8 times the limit was found at a point 330 meters south of the water drainage gates of the Number 1 to 4 reactors.

Thursday, May 19, 2011 02:57 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

They revised this article and added details. Steamy! Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_29.html
Workers enter No.2 reactor building


Workers have entered the No.2 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since an explosion there on March 15th.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, sent 4 workers into the building on Wednesday morning to check radiation levels and other conditions.

The utility says data on radiation levels in the building are necessary to proceed with a revised plan the firm announced on Tuesday to circulate water leaked from containment vessels back into reactors as coolant.

TEPCO says the maximum radiation level in the building was 50 millisieverts per hour, and that the workers' exposure was between 3 and 4 millisieverts, which the firm says is not high.
But it says the workers had to leave the building in 14 minutes because it filled with steam.

The utility plans to begin operating an air cooling system at the reactor possibly this month, to lower the temperature in a pool for spent nuclear fuel that's believed to be one source of the steam.

Tokyo Electric senior official Junichi Matsumoto said steam is building up in the facility because its roof remains intact, unlike the plant's No.1 and 3 units. He said the steam could be reduced by cooling the pool.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 18:47 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

They showed a Tepco video yesterday of workers gearing up in tyvek suits and going through double doors to their staging area. They made it look so....safe and clean. But it's what you can't see, beyond those doors, that the workers are being exposed to, that can harm their health. Harm them in a few minutes, hours, a few months, or a few years! They are taking big risks. There have been way too many" OOPS.. we didn't know how high the numbers were" moments from Tepco!

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110518006065.htm

Radiation tests lacking / Nuclear plant workers unsure of internal exposure levels

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Nearly two months after the start of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, only 10 percent of workers there had been tested for internal radiation exposure caused by inhalation or ingestion of radioactive substances, due to a shortage of testing equipment available for them.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled nuclear compound, is finding it impossible to use testing apparatus set up inside the facility because of high radiation levels recorded near the equipment.

A number of personnel working to overcome the nuclear crisis at the facility are increasingly alarmed by their lack of internal exposure testing. Some have said they may have to continue to work at the facility without knowing whether their radiation exposure levels have exceeded the upper limit set by the government.

On Tuesday, the government revealed a timetable for ending the nuclear crisis. The road map called for increased surveillance of the workers' radiation levels, including a measure requiring TEPCO to periodically report such data to the government.

Internal exposure is caused by taking radioactive substances into the body via eating, drinking or breathing. Its unit, counts per minute (cpm), indicates the amount of radiation emitted per minute.

Regulations on preventing health problems caused by ionizing radiation require operators of power plants to conduct internal exposure tests every three months on plant employees who enter areas designated by laws and regulations on radiation-related health problems.

"My measured value [of radioactive exposure] exceeded the standard value by a double-digit factor. That's never happened before," said a plant worker in his 20s, recalling the time he saw the results of a test he took outside Fukushima Prefecture in early May.

The man, an employee of a company that works with TEPCO, installed power cables near a reactor building at the plant for a month beginning at the end of March.

The test is conducted by a device called a "whole-body counter."

While a normal internal radiation level would range from several hundred cpm to 1,000 cpm, he was told his level was 30,000 cpm.

High levels of radiation emitted by debris were measured in his work area.

Although the masks worn by workers are supposed to be changed every three hours, he was told by a management company that he did not have to change his if there was no radioactive contamination.

He therefore used a single mask for five to six hours.

He ate in a building that houses an emergency headquarters and accommodates plant workers. At the end of April, he was notified that the building was also radiation-contaminated.

"I've probably taken in radioactivity while eating," he said.

After the crisis at the plant began, the central government increased the maximum limit of radiation exposure from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts exclusively for workers at the Fukushima plant.

However, the amount is a total of internal and external exposure doses. Workers can learn only their external doses via the measurement equipment they carry with them, and it is necessary to also measure their internal exposure level to verify whether their total exposure doses exceed the limit.

According to TEPCO, there are only three whole-body counters available near the plant. Some workers had to be tested as far away as the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture.

As of May 8, 630 workers, or just 10 percent of all workers at the plant, had taken the test.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Industrial Health Division has advised TEPCO to provide more tests. TEPCO has said it will increase the amount of test equipment on hand to 14 whole-body counters and will also raise the frequency of the test to more than once in three months.

(May. 19, 2011)

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/91845.html

Kan calls for more independence for Japan's nuclear regulators

By Takuya Karube
TOKYO, May 18, Kyodo


Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday that Japanese nuclear reactors currently under inspection will be allowed to resume operations once their safety is confirmed, but at the same time the government needs to reinforce the independence of the country's nuclear regulatory structures.


Kan suggested that Japan should spin off the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which was actively promoting atomic energy until the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami.


''I believe that the manner in which the country's nuclear power has been administrated over the years must be fundamentally reviewed,'' Kan told a news conference.

[It'sJustMe]

More on the government wanting to separate itself from this nuclear disaster, and it's response to it. It's their fault, not ours! Fair use:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110518005280.htm

Govt tries to deflect N-crisis criticism

In an attempt to fend off stinging criticism that it was leaving the response to the nuclear crisis up to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced a timetable to support residents affected by the disaster.

Public displeasure with the government's handling of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been growing. According to a poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun last week, 73 percent of respondents said they "have a low opinion" of the government's response to the crisis, up 12 percentage points from a similar survey conducted the previous month.

At Tuesday's meeting of the government's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, Kan took pains to demonstrate his commitment to support areas affected by the nuclear disaster.

"These people have been living as evacuees for nearly two months, and they're exhausted mentally and physically," Kan said. "I want every ministry to work hard together to support the evacuees and help find them jobs."

After TEPCO announced the initial timetable for coping with the crisis on April 17, the government did not indicate by when it hoped to lift evacuation orders for towns around the nuclear plant.

This drew the ire of some members of the ruling party. "The government has left the response to the nuclear accidents entirely up to TEPCO. The government's responsibility hasn't been made clear," one lawmaker said.

Ichiro Ozawa, a former president of the Democratic Party of Japan and Kan's rival, has been quick to jump on the government over its handling of the nuclear accidents. The nuclear crisis could seriously erode the foundations of the DPJ administration, he said.

On Tuesday, the Kan administration unveiled a raft of plans to help victims of the disaster, including paying compensation from around autumn and building temporary housing. The announcement was made before an overall road map to support all quake victims was to be decided on Friday "at the direction of the Kan side," according to a government source.

As a result, the government announced its timetable on the same day TEPCO unveiled its updated road map to resolve the crisis.

The government has not defused every potential source of criticism just yet. If the government fails to put these measures into action according to the timetable, criticism by the Liberal Democratic Party and other opposition parties that "the plan is a pie in the sky" will only grow shriller.
(May. 19, 2011)

[It'sJustMe]

Sorry TS, I didn't realize I was duplicating info. It's hard to keep up...the articles are so long and there's no concise synopsis anywhere, so I thought this was news. Thanks--

The article I posted last night after your alert, seemed to be saying that Tepco had admitted...or almost admitted, that the same thing that happened to #1, had also happened to #2 and #3. Although they had previously said maybe it did, or likely it did....they were closer to saying...has happened. Which was news at that moment, so your source was pretty much up to date, just FYI. Thanks for posting it.

All the reports coming out of there are coming in such tiny little dribs and drabs, that it's nearly impossible to try fit everything together in a concise manner. Mainly because anytime one might try to do that, something else pops up, that changes or nullifies, what the picture looked like before. The solid truth has not been found yet, and I doubt it will, for a good while yet. That's why I try to highlight the pertinent parts, to help us all try to put it all together in our own minds, as we go.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105180362.html

TEPCO needs to stop ignoring the 'inconvenient'

2011/05/19

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s timetable for stabilizing the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant promises: "We will devote ourselves wholeheartedly so that evacuees can return home and the people in Japan can live with peace of mind."

We believe in the efforts by the many employees of TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

However, even now, the company does not change its corporate posture that "what is inconvenient should be ignored as much as possible."

What is typical of this is seen in the melting down of fuel rods. A series of reports, including one by The Asahi Shimbun reported a view that core meltdowns had taken place in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors immediately after the period when they entered a "boil-dry situation."

Two months after the onset of the accident, TEPCO finally admitted the plant's No. 1 reactor had reached a complete core meltdown, apparently finding it could no longer deny the fact because of data based on new calculations. Still, it has yet to admit core meltdowns at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors on the grounds that there is not sufficient data.

A column on "the current status," which existed in the initial timetable released in April, is not present in the revised timetable released May 17.

Could the company have been reluctant to change the former phrase "partial damage to fuel" to "core meltdown"?

The expression "core meltdown" is not found in the new timetable, either. TEPCO officials only kept reiterating at a news conference "the same countermeasures shall be taken."

This is nothing but a halfway measure.

It often happens in disasters and accidents that operators have to take measures even if the entire situation cannot be grasped.

Convenient interpretations should not be given, for the gap between the interpretation and the reality could hamper repair work or trigger a new crisis.

The government should listen to experts who are critical of nuclear power plants. It should not shift the blame to TEPCO, just by saying, "TEPCO's approach to containment has been too insufficient," while letting it ignore what is inconvenient in the crisis.

TEPCO needs to prepare a timetable that is based on the correct perception of the current situation.

Otherwise, the residents in the evacuation areas and the people of Japan will really be kept in the dark.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_35.html

Radioactive material detected in grass in Miyagi
A radioactive substance exceeding the legal limit has been detected in pasture grass in Miyagi Prefecture, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture in which the damaged nuclear plant is located.

1,530 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram were found in a sample collected last Wednesday from a farm operated by the southern town of Marumori. The figure exceeds 5 times the legal limit of 300 becquerels.

350 becquerels of cesium were also detected in a sample from a prefectural farm in the northern city of Osaki.

Miyagi prefectural government has asked about 6,000 livestock farmers across the prefecture not to feed pasture grass to livestock and not to put cattle out on grazing land.
This is the first time radioactivity exceeding the legal limit has been found in grass or vegetables in the prefecture.

Meanwhile, in the sample from Marumori, 40 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram were detected. The figure is below the legal limit of 70 becquerels.

In the sample from Osaki, no iodine was detected.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 20:34 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_04.html

New cooling systems to be installed at fuel pools

The operator of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant is likely to start operating a new system within 2 weeks to cool spent fuel in reactor Number 2.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it is preparing to install cooling systems in 4 of the 6 reactor buildings, 3 months earlier than initially planned.

TEPCO says it is laying power cables for a cooling system for Number 2 reactor's spent fuel pool. A heat exchanger will be brought into the facility early next week to start operating the cooling system by the end of this month.

Workers entered the Number 2 reactor building on Wednesday for the first time since a hydrogen explosion on March 15th. They tried to check radiation levels but left the building after 14 minutes because it was filled with steam, making further work impossible.

The utility says the vapor appears to be coming from the damaged suppression chamber as well as from the fuel pool itself.

Senior TEPCO official Junichi Matsumoto says he believes cooling the spent fuel pool will help reduce steam inside the reactor.

TEPCO reports more than 90 percent humidity inside the Number 2 reactor building. Matsumoto says the building's roof is intact, making it more prone to filling with steam. Number 1 and 3 reactor buildings are exposed to the air because hydrogen explosions blew off their roofs and walls.

Thursday, May 19, 2011 02:57 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

This is news! Fair use:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110519a1.html

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Failed venting tries linked to No. 2 damage

Steam buildup likely harmed suppression chamber

Kyodo

Two failed attempts to vent steam within days of the March 11 quake and tsunami most likely resulted in damage to the containment vessel of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's No. 2 reactor, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. source said Wednesday.
This latest revelation casts further doubt on the crisis-management capabilities of the plant's operator, already put to shame by the release of massive amounts of radioactive material into the air and contaminated water into the ocean.


Venting is a procedure used to relieve pressure building up inside a reactor's containment vessel. Although the steam contains radioactive material, venting it prevents excessive pressure from damaging the containment vessel — a hazardous situation that would release extraordinary amounts of radioactive material into the environment.


The fear of catastrophic explosions was so great during the initial phase of the crisis that the government even ordered the utility, known as Tepco, to conduct the venting as quickly as possible.
But by failing to relieve the pressure, damage was most likely done to the suppression chamber, a doughnut-shaped vessel underneath the containment vessel built to take excess steam from the pressure vessel.
Venting is carried out by opening two valves in pipes leading from the containment vessel to the outside.


According to Tepco, the valves were opened at 11 a.m. on March 13, two days after the natural disasters struck. But the pressure inside the containment vessel did not drop, nor did radiation levels rise in the surrounding area.
Two more valves in a separate system were opened at 12:02 a.m. on March 15, but the pressure did not fall then either, according to the utility.
Documents disclosed by Tepco on Monday also show that the pressure did not drop inside the containment vessel. While the utility stops short of concluding in the documents that the venting had failed, the Tepco source said the maneuver is deemed to have failed on both occasions.


In the second attempt, the valves closed after several minutes, raising the possibility that the batteries supplying electricity to keep them open had died.
An explosion was heard around the reactor's suppression chamber at 6:10 a.m. on March 15, with radiation levels at the plant's main gate skyrocketing to 11,930 microsieverts per hour at around 9 a.m. from 73.2 microsieverts three hours earlier.
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan has indicated the explosion occurred because the suppression chamber was damaged.


Venting was also conducted at reactors 1 and 3. Radiation levels at the main gate measured between 281.7 and 385.5 microsieverts per hour after the maneuvers.
"We are looking into the cause of the venting failures and their possible connection to damage done to the suppression chamber," a Tepco official said.
While the government and the utility are struggling to bring the crisis under control, many residents and businesses in surrounding areas have been forced to flee for safety, with elevated levels of radiation still being measured there.
The world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster has yet to be contained, as the government and the utility struggle to install new cooling systems in four of the plant's six reactors.

[It'sJustMe]

I'm really not sure at all, what to make of this accusation! Fair use:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110519a3.html

Release of radioactive water made at request of U.S.: Cabinet adviser
Kyodo

SEOUL — Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata, who serves as a special adviser to the Cabinet, claimed in a recent lecture given in Seoul that the dumping of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean followed a "strong request" from the United States, a person who attended the lecture said Wednesday.

The release of the water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last month generated anxiety about the possible spread of radioactive contamination from the seaside power station.

The Japanese government had apparently given its permission for the release of the water after receiving a report from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Hirata's remarks, made Tuesday, that the release was not carried out based on Tokyo's independent judgment but rather on a request from Washington is likely to ignite a debate.

South Korea and other neighboring countries have protested the lack of prior notification of the discharge.

Hirata's lecture in Seoul was titled "Earthquakes and the Revitalization of Japan." In response to a question at the venue, he called Japan's failure to give advance notification a communication error.

While acknowledging that the release of the water caused concern in South Korea, he said the thousands of tons of water were not highly radioactive.

[Be Well]

More thanks to all news searchers and finders on this thread. It's beyond mind boggling and everyones' early fears have been unfortunately proved true. And worse than many of us thought. And governments have proven themselves (yet again) the oponents of truth and the well being of the citizens.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/k...s-lowest-rungs

Nuclear cleanup workers being recruited from society's lowest rungs

Thursday 19th May, 10:49 AM JST

TOKYO —

On March 17, a week after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region, a notice was posted at a worker recruitment center in Airin, the rundown neighborhood of Osaka’s Nishinari Ward where thousands of impoverished day laborers congregate in search of construction and other blue-collar jobs.

As reported in Asahi Geino (May 26), the ad read, “Wanted: drivers for 10-ton trucks in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture. Pay: 12,000/day.”

But two workers who signed up for the jobs instead found themselves dispatched to work at the damaged nuclear complex in Fukushima Prefecture.

The men first met up with a labor subcontractor in Gifu Prefecture, which ordered them to Fukushima, where they were requested to drive water tankers as part of the effort to cool down the damaged reactors Nos. 5 and 6, for twice the initially offered remuneration. The recruitment center in Osaka first learned of the bait-and-switch when one of the two men telephoned while on route.

“Nothing new about that sort of thing,” shrugs a job broker in Osaka. “When the Suruga nuclear plant was built in Fukui Prefecture, those who signed up were just told they’d be doing ‘construction work’ and they’d be paid 20,000 yen per day. Since the money was good, they understood there was probably some risk involved.”

A source tells Asahi Geino the current daily remuneration for laborers is three times that of regular day jobs if within the grounds of the reactor complex, and 1.5 times higher if within the wider area now restricted due to high radioactivity.

While safety measures are in place to keep workers’ daily exposure to radiation within safe levels, claims for compensation due to sickness from overexposure are unlikely to be paid out.

“When a 29-year-old worker at the Hamaoka plant died of leukemia, his death was recognized in 1994 as being a result of occupational hazards. But when the matter was taken to court, it was learned that the man had not been maintaining his own records of working hours on site,” says photojournalist Kenji Higuchi, who describes how the rules are bent. “The subcontractor he worked for was found to have altered the records of his exposure periods after he died. It also appears part of his working times were entered in a different worker’s passbook.”

According to Weekly Playboy (May 30), brokers were also recruiting nuclear laborers in places other than Nishinari.

“A homeless guy I know in Nagoya was also recruited to work at the reactor,” says an elderly worker. “I heard the pay was 50,000 per day, for four hours of work—same as what they were offering in Nishinari. The guy’s already over 70, but I heard the recruiter say, ‘The older the better’ and ‘It suits us even better if (a worker) is homeless.’”

For elderly workers seeking jobs at the recruitment center, the pickings these days have been slim.

“Up to last year, I could take my pick of posted job offerings,” said a man in his 70s. “But from this year, if there were any jobs at all, I took them, whatever they were. In the 40 years I’ve been working here, the economy has never been so bad as right now.”

Weekly Playboy’s reporter confirmed the postings at the center the day he visited offered only two non-specialized job positions: construction work for 10,000 per day, or 4,869 yen per day as a security guard.

On May 14, the media reported the death of a man in his 60s who’d been working at the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power complex. The cause of death was determined to be heart failure, probably brought on by his working successive 12-hour shifts.

In Shukan Asahi (May 27), a source who knew the deceased tells the magazine that it’s fairly common to see men in their 60s laboring at such jobs. “Previously, 55 had been the cutoff age, but with the accident they’ll take older workers.”

Perhaps reflecting the sense of desperation over the nuclear crisis, working conditions for the men inside the plant appear to be brutal.

“They don’t announce it, but on site, workers are collapsing almost daily due to bone fractures or heatstroke,” the source tells Shukan Asahi. “It’s being hushed up. Spreading the word will just make the subcontractor look bad to Tokyo Electric Power, so nobody says anything. Workers are saying to themselves, ‘On-the-job injuries are a matter of self-responsibility.’”

[Countrymouse]

I have been following this since the beginning, like most of you. I seem to remember that in the beginning of the crisis, that some of the members were worried that a meltdown would or had occurred. I also remember that some of the "experts" were saying that if you believed that, then you were, in essence, CRAZY AND FEAR MONGERING!! Now, two months later, and look who was right.
Extrapolate this "gut instinct/woo-woo feelings" vs "rational denial" to any of the "out there, conspiracy related topics" and you might get a real sense of what is really going on. You need to be able to keep all of the chips on the table. Remember, the Truth is Out There and it may not be where we think it will be.
Stay Alert, Keep it Real

THANK YOU so much for saying this, Masterchief.

As I was reading through report after report after report of "core meltdowns" of the 3 reactors, and the precarious situation with the spent fuel rod pool----I could not help but remember the MANY self-described voices of 'rationality' who told the rest of us we were running around with our "hair on fire"-----

but whom, it now seems, were EXACTLY right, in that what we feared WOULD happen, HAS indeed happened.

Now, many of those folks have simply fallen silent, though a few remain who called the ostrich-approach "rationality", and berate the rest of us for fearing that (as one article above stated) "it could get MUCH worse" than it is even now at Fukushima, with long-lasting, and world-wide, implications---some that may eventually affect even all of us here in the U.S.

I second the notion mentioned above--that those who want to congratulate themselves that ignoring reality is somehow wisdom, to please just go and start your own thread, and leave us "hair on fire" folks here (or on a new thread) to discuss how to deal rationally with what IS, instead of denying its existence in the hope that it will just "go away".

[It'sJustMe]

This seems to be a pretty good synopsis on the "timetable" revision. Fair use:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110518005659.htm

Poor estimates force timetable revision

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Having failed to accurately grasp the extent of actual damage to nuclear reactors and the amount of water contaminated with radioactive substances, Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been forced to revise its timetable for resolving the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The plant operator released Tuesday an updated version of its road map to end the crisis, making some changes to critical aspects of the plan, especially in regards to cooling the reactors. It has been more than two months since the crisis began following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

TEPCO had to review its strategy on cooling the reactors as it learned about an apparent leakage of a huge amount of contaminated water from a damaged containment vessel.

The company said an estimated 87,500 tons of contaminated water has accumulated in the turbine buildings of the Nos. 1 to 4 reactors and elsewhere at the site. On Saturday, about 3,000 tons of contaminated water, which likely leaked from the containment vessel of the No. 1 reactor, was discovered in underground areas of the reactor building. Water had been pumped in to attempt to fill the containment vessel of the reactor and cool the fuel inside.

The transfer of contaminated water began Tuesday at the No. 3 reactor, following transfer operations earlier at the No. 2 reactor. But the amount of water being transferred is not keeping pace with the amount of contaminated water accumulating.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, referred to this new problem as the amount of water pumped into the vessel must increase. "The amount of contaminated water will increase as a result [of the operation], which really is problematic," he said on the same day.

Kenzo Miya, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and specialist in nuclear engineering, said, "To cool the reactor core while containing the spread of contaminated water, there will be only one option--to install a coolant circulation system, as TEPCO has decided to do."

"With this method, it cannot rapidly cool water heated in the reactor. But under the current situation, there is no other choice," Miya added.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_23.html

Workers enter No.3 reactor


Workers have entered the Number 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since a hydrogen explosion 3 days after the March 11th quake and tsunami.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says 2 workers in protective suits and carrying air tanks went inside for about 10 minutes from 4:30 PM Wednesday to check radiation levels.

TEPCO says the workers measured radiation of 160 to 170 millisieverts per hour around the door of the containment vessel.

The utility says it would be difficult to start work on injecting nitrogen gas needed to prevent a hydrogen blast into the containment vessel under such high radiation levels.

The utility said the 2 workers were exposed to radiation of 2 to 3 millisieverts.

TEPCO has now been able to send workers into all 3 reactors that were operating at the time of the quake and tsunami. Workers entered the Number 1 reactor building on May 5th and the Number 2 reactor on Wednesday morning.

TEPCO is rushing to make the reactor buildings safe enough for workers to go inside and proceed with the plans outlined in its roadmap to stabilize the reactors.

This includes installing new cooling systems to circulate water leaked from containment vessels back into the reactors and the nitrogen injections.


Thursday, May 19, 2011 12:47 +0900 (JST)

[It'sJustMe]

It's gone up AGAIN! How high can it go? Yes, it is a big ocean, but the fish don't know International boundary rules or how to sense danger. Anyone eating frozen or canned seafood, from shrimp to crab legs, (yes, snow crabs are grown in Japan) to any fish itself, need to know it's safe to eat, and our .gov has decided this is not worth watching. Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_37.html

Radiation level at No.3 reactor water intake rises

The operator of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima has reported a sharp rise in the concentration of a radioactive material in samples of seawater near the Number 3 reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 110 becquerels of radioactive cesium-134 per cubic centimeters in seawater samples taken on Wednesday morning.

The level is 1,800 times the national legal limit, compared to 550 times, which was reported the previous day.

The utility also found 120 becquerels of cesium-137, 1,300 times higher than the limit.

Last Wednesday at the same location near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor, water contaminated with highly radioactive substances was found flowing into the sea from a pit. TEPCO says it detected cesium-134 at 32,000 times the legal limit.

In its latest announcement, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive iodine in seawater samples from the same location fell from 1,900 times the limit on Monday to 630 times on Tuesday.

The utility also said it detected radioactive materials at levels higher than the national limit at 2 of the 4 survey points along the shoreline near the plant.

It says cesium-134 with a concentration level 1.8 times the limit was found at a point 330 meters south of the water drainage gates of the Number 1 to 4 reactors.

Thursday, May 19, 2011 02:57 +0900 (JST)

[Hansa44]

THANK YOU so much for saying this, Masterchief.

As I was reading through report after report after report of "core meltdowns" of the 3 reactors, and the precarious situation with the spent fuel rod pool----I could not help but remember the MANY self-described voices of 'rationality' who told the rest of us we were running around with our "hair on fire"-----

but whom, it now seems, were EXACTLY right, in that what we feared WOULD happen, HAS indeed happened.

Now, many of those folks have simply fallen silent, though a few remain who called the ostrich-approach "rationality", and berate the rest of us for fearing that (as one article above stated) "it could get MUCH worse" than it is even now at Fukushima, with long-lasting, and world-wide, implications---some that may eventually affect even all of us here in the U.S.

I second the notion mentioned above--that those who want to congratulate themselves that ignoring reality is somehow wisdom, to please just go and start your own thread, and leave us "hair on fire" folks here (or on a new thread) to discuss how to deal rationally with what IS, instead of denying its existence in the hope that it will just "go away".

And now those same experts have been running around with their "don't worry...be happy....all that radiation will only hurt those in Japan and even that will probably be minimal."

Of course this goes against everything we've been taught for 50+ years by our gov. and all these nuclear scientists. I simply ignore them and see them as shills working for gov. and corporations.

[BlueNewton]

From IJM's post above,

TEPCO says it detected cesium-134 at 32,000 times the legal limit.

Holy cow. That is just sickening.

All of Japan is going to be (if not already) radioactive. Some parts will be unlivable, others just very unhealthy, but people will choose to live there anyway since they have no alternative. No new companies will open in Japan. Multinationals having offices there now will leave. Japan is toast, sadly. We should not underestimate the effect of three meltdowns in such a small geographical area and the fact that they continue to produce massive levels of readiation contaminating the seawater, coastline, groundwater, food-producing fields, and capital city. The Japanese are facing the apocalypse as a nation. Because of who they are, they will make the best of it. But the nation is broken.