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

[Cascadians]

http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-...-leaking-video

Japan TV: Temperature in spent fuel pool at No. 4 “much higher than the normal level” — “May be boiling” (VIDEO)
Very large spike of I-131, Cs-137 levels 100 miles from Fukushima after radiation skyrocketed off the chart at No. 1 reactor following recent quake (CHARTS)
Nuclear engineer: Enormous amount of plutonium at No. 4 spent fuel pool in danger of catching fire; Pool is cracked and leaking (VIDEO)
April 13th, 2011 at 12:18 PM

‘Worst-case scenario: Fukushima fuel pool with plutonium catches fire’, Russia Today, April 13, 2011:

Transcript summary of interview with Arnold Gundersen, nuclear engineer

Worst case is unit 4 fuel pool
Enormous amount of plutonium and depleted uranium
If that catches fire it could devastate a large area
Still a danger, they don’t have power to the fuel pool cooling systems
Unit 4 is the worst because it has the freshest fuel, the most physically hot
In addition unit 4 has a crack in the side, so even if they had water it would run out the crack
That is the toughest problem on site right now

TEPCO: Nuclear fuel rods in No. 4 spent fuel pool are “confirmed to be damaged” — First time damage revealed at any pool
Japan TV: Temperature in spent fuel pool at No. 4 “much higher than the normal level” — “May be boiling” (VIDEO)

'Worst-case scenario: Fukushima fuel pool with plutonium catches fire'
TEPCO: Nuclear fuel rods in No. 4 spent fuel pool are “confirmed to be damaged” — First time damage revealed at any pool
Japan TV: Temperature in spent fuel pool at No. 4 “much higher than the normal level” — “May be boiling” (VIDEO)
Exposed: Radiation “streaming into atmosphere” after No.4 pool boiled dry in fire -- UK Paper
Fox News: “ALL of the stricken reactors and spent fuel pools contain plutonium”
COMMON spent fuel pool now being sprayed with water — Contains 6,375 spent fuel assemblies
“Renewed nuclear chain reaction feared at spent-fuel storage pool”

http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-...-leaking-video
Watch latest video of Arnie Gundersen

[Be Well]

ItsJustMe, thanks for the article and link. Will study and pass on info.

[Cascadians]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbje3ub5Dio
Arnie on RT News -- YouTube

[Cascadians]

Apparently, if one pieces together all the recent Kyodo updates and clues and posting on forums, the last couple 7+ EQs further shattered the spent fuel pools and #4 cannot hold water for long and its jumbled smashed 1000s of fuel rods are busy melting down burning and spewing directly in the open air, very hot, so casting the poison far and wide.

[Be Well]

It is now undeniably clear that Fuku will be (and may be already, weasel words notwithstanding) much, much worse than Chernobyl. Notice the "nuke power is good and all will be fine" posters are for the main, not posting any more.

Maybe one or more will eventually comment "Gee, I was wrong".

[Cascadians]

The weasels will never admit they're wrong. It's less than walking under the stars by a boulder! Radiation is good for you. The levels are infinitesimally insignificant. It's more dangerous to eat a banana. The ocean is big and nothing will get here. It was just a little problem and Tepco has it all under control. Nothing to see or worry about. Your tax dollars go for more pork on more nuclear plants. Great stuff.

[bw]

More Adrenalin

Oh yeah, like you need THAT.

[Be Well]

I'm sure you are right; I notice on a rah rah yay nuke power site one of the more aggressive posters on this thread is now only posting there. (Denninger's Market Ticker Forum long thread about FukuNuku.)

[Be Well]

This guy sometimes posts articles on Zero Hedge but has his own blog, with FukuNuku articles that are very well sourced.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/

[Cascadians]

Oh I love the idea of nuclear energy. Harness the atom for clean cheap endless electricity. If only. Volatile deadly stuff, and man is too immature, corrupt, impatient, to learn to use it properly with enough safety precautions. Idiot man = dead earth. No better planet found yet for immediate evacuation.

[Dazed]

It is now undeniably clear that Fuku will be (and may be already, weasel words notwithstanding) much, much worse than Chernobyl. Notice the "nuke power is good and all will be fine" posters are for the main, not posting any more.

Maybe one or more will eventually comment "Gee, I was wrong".

Nope, we got slammed by Dennis and other mods for posting the information that we did.

You folks really didn't want to hear anything besides doom and gloom. When any of the rest of us post, we get slammed, so why bother.

Having said that, the situation IS stabilizing, and the amounts of radioactive particles carried to the continental US are nearly unmeasurable. Most are short lived too.

But no one wants to hear that.

Are you going to slam those early posters who told you that this situation was going to result in complete meltdown and that it would make Japan uninhabitable by now? They were wrong. Are you slamming them for posting bad info too?

[LONEWOLF]

Stabilizing?? Seriously? Didn't the Japanese *just finish RAISING* the threat catagory from "5" to a "7"? Are some Posters here privvy to unadulterated data and analysis that the rest of the World has no acceess to?? What about the spent fuel pool over Reactor 4? If we hear no news re: the other five reactors, does that count as no news worthy to report so no more problem? I believe most ALL of us Posters seriously *do not know* what the future holds for sure.

[notred]

Nope, we got slammed by Dennis and other mods for posting the information that we did.

You folks really didn't want to hear anything besides doom and gloom. When any of the rest of us post, we get slammed, so why bother.

Having said that, the situation IS stabilizing, and the amounts of radioactive particles carried to the continental US are nearly unmeasurable. Most are short lived too.

But no one wants to hear that.

Are you going to slam those early posters who told you that this situation was going to result in complete meltdown and that it would make Japan uninhabitable by now? They were wrong. Are you slamming them for posting bad info too?

Good heavens...you've been around here long enough to know that major deviations from the prevailing group doom think....are...not...considered...helpful...

[Be Well]

Nope, we got slammed by Dennis and other mods for posting the information that we did.

You folks really didn't want to hear anything besides doom and gloom. When any of the rest of us post, we get slammed, so why bother.

Having said that, the situation IS stabilizing, and the amounts of radioactive particles carried to the continental US are nearly unmeasurable. Most are short lived too.

But no one wants to hear that.

Are you going to slam those early posters who told you that this situation was going to result in complete meltdown and that it would make Japan uninhabitable by now? They were wrong. Are you slamming them for posting bad info too?

Could you quote people who said that? And anyone who agreed with them? And Dennis slammed shills for nuke power, not factual reports or balanced opinion.

FukuNuku is stabilizing my a**. Prove it by something other than TEPCO assertions based on wishes and dreams, okay?

[geoffs]

Published on zero hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)


No, Japan's Nuclear Reactors Are Not "Stable"
By George Washington Created 04/13/2011 - 15:33

The Japanese government and Tepco claim that the nuclear reactors are "stable" and that radiation releases have subsided to low levels.

But world renowned physicist Michio Kaku - who studied under atom bomb developer Edward Teller - told [1] Democracy Now today:
Tokyo Electric has been in denial, trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear accident. However, there’s a formula, a mathematical formula, by which you can determine what level this accident is. This accident has already released something on the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation. You do the math. That puts it right smack in the middle of a level 7 nuclear accident. Still, less than Chernobyl. However, radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all. So, you’re looking at basically a ticking time bomb. It appears stable, but the slightest disturbance—a secondary earthquake, a pipe break, evacuation of the crew at Fukushima—could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.

When the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the situation now.

TEPCO is like the little Dutch boy. All of a sudden we have cracks in the dike. You put a finger here, you put a finger there. And all of a sudden, new leaks start to occur, and they’re overwhelmed.

[Dazed]

Stabilizing?? Seriously? Didn't the Japanese *just finish RAISING* the threat catagory from "5" to a "7"? Are some Posters here privvy to unadulterated data and analysis that the rest of the World has no acceess to?? What about the spent fuel pool over Reactor 4? If we hear no news re: the other five reactors, does that count as no news worthy to report so no more problem? I believe most ALL of us Posters seriously *do not know* what the future holds for sure.

Can you read for comprehension? There is no "threat level" changing from 5-7. It is, rather, a level of accident and contamination. What has been contaminated, is contaminated. Chernobyl was (so far) significantly worse, and yet it didn't end the world.

This is, in case you can't remember what I posted so long ago, a REALLY BAD THING. There will be levels of contamination in and around the plant which will be REALLY BAD. But for most of Japan, and for the rest of the world, there will likely be absolutely no consequence as to the nuclear side of things. Life will go on, and few if anyone far outside of the plant will be significantly affected.

Slam me of you wish. But the situation has been, and is, stabilizing. The cleanup is going to be difficult and costly. But as the decay heat decreases, there will effectively just be spent fuel and cleanup of the surrounding area to to deal with. Bad? Yes. Costly? You bet. will it take time? Yes.

There was a time when things could have gotten very bad. Luckily for us and them, and the rest of the world, they got a few things right, and they were lucky on others. Unless there is a HUGE change in things (like another tsunami, or another earthquake strong enough to further damage the reactors themselves) this situation will continue to stabilize. This does NOT mean that things are all hunky-dory yet. Things could still go wrong. But the chances are that this situation will be getting better daily.

Then again, if it makes you feel better, think that things could get worse. Panic, if it pleases you.

[LONEWOLF]

So what if I wrote the wrong words, so sue me. I know, you know, we all know what I was talking about. No, YOU go ahead and delude yourself in the mirror, I'm not buying your premature & dismissive bent.

[Cascadians]

Another new Arnie video for today.

http://vimeo.com/22352930
Fukushima Accident Severity Level Raised to '7': Gundersen Discusses Lack of US Radiation Monitoring Data

He seems exhausted. And depressed.

[Cascadians]

http://enenews.com/japans-nuclear-co...ernobyl-totals

Japan’s nuclear commission reveals Fukushima may have emitted more radioactive material than official Chernobyl totals

Japanese Officials on Defensive as Nuclear Alert Level Rises, New York Times, April 12, 2011:

… A senior executive said in a telephone interview on April 4 that he had been told that the Speedi [System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information] model suggested that radioactive materials escaping the Daiichi complex were much higher than Japanese officials had publicly acknowledged…

[Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency] appears to have assumed that true emissions from Chernobyl were twice the official figure, and so calculated that the current nuclear accident had released 10 percent as much as Chernobyl. …

Although [Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission] did not provide a comparison to Chernobyl, [a release of 630,000 terabecquerels] works out to 34 percent of the official Soviet estimate of emissions and 17 percent of the unofficial higher estimate.

Mr. Shiroya also said there was a threefold margin for error involved. The outside estimates of total releases would range from as low as 6 percent to as high as 51 percent of the unofficial totals from Chernobyl. …

The “34 percent of the official Soviet estimate of emissions from Chernobyl”, with “a threefold margin of error” makes the high end Fukushima estimate equal to 102% of Chernobyl’s official total.

*JUST IN* Top US official hints that radioactive material “has been deposited on the ground” (VIDEO)
BREAKING: Fukushima radioactive iodine and cesium emissions nearing Chernobyl levels — Carried far by the wind and absorbed readily by humans
Expert: “Fukushima is much bigger than Chernobyl” — “Will cost much more” in human terms
BREAKING on NHK: High levels of radioactive material has started to leak at No. 3 reactor — Gov’t says reactor may be damaged… MOX (VIDEO)
UPDATE: Neutron beams suggest uranium and plutonium have leaked and nuclear fission has occurred

[Be Well]

In the talk Cascadians posted a link to above Gunderson refers to a recent speech he made on the anniversary of TMI, and a report by an epidemiologist about the effects of the TMI accident, they sound very informative.

Links to the recent speech he made.

"The Three Myths of the Three Mile Island Accident":

http://www.fairewinds.com/content/nu...s-tmi-accident

Link to a talk from 2009 about the TMI accident's affects on the local population.

Epidemiologist Steve Wing discusses increases in cancer rates after the Three Mile Island Accident

http://www.fairewinds.com/content/se...health-effects

[Hansa44]

Another new Arnie video for today.

http://vimeo.com/22352930
Fukushima Accident Severity Level Raised to '7': Gundersen Discusses Lack of US Radiation Monitoring Data

He seems exhausted. And depressed.

He said there would be a 2 hr. discussion Fri. evening beginning at 6pm. Deepak Chopra and a number of nuclear engineers will be there.
He said it can be viewed on the internet and a link was on the vimeo.com website. Did anyone notice where it is?

[Cascadians]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/wo...&_r=2&ref=asia
By KEITH BRADSHER, HIROKO TABUCHI and ANDREW POLLACK, April 12, 2011

Japanese Officials on Defensive as Nuclear Alert Level Rises

TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled through the day on Tuesday to explain why it had taken them a month to disclose large-scale releases of radioactive material in mid-March at a crippled nuclear power plant, as the government and an electric utility disagreed on the extent of continuing problems there.

The government announced Tuesday morning that it had raised its rating of the severity of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to 7, the worst on an international scale, from 5. Officials said that the reactor had released one-tenth as much radioactive material as the Chernobyl accident in 1986, but still qualified as a 7 according to a complex formula devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Japan’s new assessment was based largely on computer models showing very heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium from March 14 to 16, just after the earthquake and tsunami rendered the plant’s emergency cooling system inoperative. The nearly monthlong delay in acknowledging the extent of these emissions is a fresh example of confused data and analysis from the Japanese, and put the authorities on the defensive about whether they have delayed or blocked the release of information to avoid alarming the public.

Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission, an independent government panel that oversees the country’s nuclear industry, said that the government had delayed issuing data on the extent of the radiation releases because of concern that the margins of error had been large in initial computer models. But he also suggested a public policy reason for having kept quiet.

“Some foreigners fled the country even when there appeared to be little risk,” he said. “If we immediately decided to label the situation as Level 7, we could have triggered a panicked reaction.”

The Japanese media, which has a reputation for passivity but has become more aggressive in response to public unhappiness about the nuclear accident, questioned government leaders through the day about what the government knew about the accident and when it knew it.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan gave a nationally televised speech and press conference in the early evening to call for national rebuilding, but ended up defending his government’s handling of information about the accident.

“What I can say for the information I obtained — of course the government is very large, so I don’t have all the information — is that no information was ever suppressed or hidden after the accident,” he said. “There are various ways of looking at this, and I know there are opinions saying that information could have been disclosed faster. However, as the head of the government, I never hid any information because it was inconvenient for us.”

Junichi Matsumoto, a senior nuclear power executive from the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, fanned public fears about radiation when he said at a separate news conference on Tuesday morning that the radiation release from Daiichi could, in time, surpass levels seen in 1986.

“The radiation leak has not stopped completely, and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl,” Mr. Matsumoto said.

But Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said in an interview on Tuesday evening that he did not know how the company had come up with its estimate. “I cannot understand their position,” he said.

He speculated that Tokyo Electric was being “prudent and thinking about the worst-case scenario,” adding, “I think they don’t want to be seen as optimistic.”

Mr. Nishiyama said that his agency did not expect another big escape of radiation from Daiichi, saying that “almost all” the material that is going to escape has already come out. He said that the rate of radiation release had peaked in the early days after the March 11 earthquake, and that the rate of radiation had dropped by 90 percent since then.

The peak release in emissions of radioactive particles took place following hydrogen explosions at three reactors, as technicians desperately tried to pump in seawater to keep the uranium fuel rods cool, and bled radioactive gas from the reactors in order to make room for the seawater.

Mr. Nishiyama took pains to say — and other nuclear experts agreed — that the Japanese accident posed fewer health risks than Chernobyl.

In the Soviet-era accident at Chernobyl, a burning graphite reactor pushed radioactive particles high into the atmosphere and downwind across Europe. The Japanese accident has mostly produced radioactive liquid runoff into the ocean and low-altitude radioactive particles that have frequently blown out into the ocean and fallen into the water as well.

The Nuclear Safety Commission ordered the use of a computer model called Speedi — short for System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information — to calculate the amount of radiation released from the plant, said Mr. Shiroya, the commissioner on the safety agency, who is also the former director of the Research Reactor Institute at Kyoto University.

To use the model, scientists enter radiation measurements from various distances from a nuclear accident. The model produces an estimate of the radioactive material escaping at the source of the accident.

Speaking at a news conference, Mr. Shiroya said those calculations were complex, and it was only recently that researchers had been able to narrow down the amount to within an acceptable margin of error.

“At first, the calculations could have been off by digits,” Mr. Shiroya said. “It was only when there was certainty that the margin of error was within two to three times that we made an announcement,” he said, later adding, “I do not think that there was any delay.”

Even so, some people involved in the energy industry have been hearing about the results of the Speedi calculations for days. A senior executive said in a telephone interview on April 4 that he had been told that the Speedi model suggested that radioactive materials escaping the Daiichi complex were much higher than Japanese officials had publicly acknowledged, and perhaps as high as half of the releases from Chernobyl.

Mr. Nishiyama and Mr. Shiroya said separately on Tuesday that that estimate had been wrong. But their two government agencies also released different figures for the level of emissions so far, and there appeared to be a degree of supposition embedded in the numbers.

Mr. Nishiyama’s agency said that emissions totaled 370,000 terabecquerels; a terabecquerel is a trillion becquerels. The agency’s figure is 20 percent of the former Soviet Union’s official estimate of emissions from Chernobyl.

But most experts say that the true emissions from Chernobyl were 1.5 to 2.5 times as high as the Soviet Union acknowledged. Mr. Nishiyama’s agency appears to have assumed that true emissions from Chernobyl were twice the official figure, and so calculated that the current nuclear accident had released 10 percent as much as Chernobyl.

Mr. Nishiyama’s agency is part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which promotes the use of nuclear power. Mr. Shiroya’s commission, which is independent from nuclear power operators and their equipment providers, issued an estimate that emissions totaled 630,000 terabecquerels.

Although Mr. Shiroya did not provide a comparison to Chernobyl, that works out to 34 percent of the official Soviet estimate of emissions and 17 percent of the unofficial higher estimate.

Mr. Shiroya also said there was a threefold margin for error involved. The outside estimates of total releases would range from as low as 6 percent to as high as 51 percent of the unofficial totals from Chernobyl.

[SarahLynn]

Japanese Officials on Defensive as Nuclear Alert Level Rises

TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled through the day on Tuesday to explain why it had taken them a month to disclose large-scale releases of radioactive material in mid-March at a crippled nuclear power plant, as the government and

an electric utility disagreed on the extent of continuing problems there.....

And I believe they are STILL not telling the complete truth.

[Cascadians]

They lied because they were upset that foreigners were leaving. Ummm, yes, smart ppl leave on the day of a huge EQ & tsunami when the news announces a nuclear plant has gone out of control. Just not good news no matter how much spun. They're still delaying and obfuscating and lying. They have far too many vested reasons for never telling the truth.

[Be Well]

He said there would be a 2 hr. discussion Fri. evening beginning at 6pm. Deepak Chopra and a number of nuclear engineers will be there.
He said it can be viewed on the internet and a link was on the vimeo.com website. Did anyone notice where it is?

Deepak Chopra?? In what capacity, he's not a nuclear engineer?

[Kent]

http://enenews.com/japans-nuclear-co...ernobyl-totals

Japan’s nuclear commission reveals Fukushima may have emitted more radioactive material than official Chernobyl totals

Japanese Officials on Defensive as Nuclear Alert Level Rises, New York Times, April 12, 2011:

… A senior executive said in a telephone interview on April 4 that he had been told that the Speedi [System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information] model suggested that radioactive materials escaping the Daiichi complex were much higher than Japanese officials had publicly acknowledged…

[Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency] appears to have assumed that true emissions from Chernobyl were twice the official figure, and so calculated that the current nuclear accident had released 10 percent as much as Chernobyl. …

Although [Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission] did not provide a comparison to Chernobyl, [a release of 630,000 terabecquerels] works out to 34 percent of the official Soviet estimate of emissions and 17 percent of the unofficial higher estimate.

Mr. Shiroya also said there was a threefold margin for error involved. The outside estimates of total releases would range from as low as 6 percent to as high as 51 percent of the unofficial totals from Chernobyl. …

The “34 percent of the official Soviet estimate of emissions from Chernobyl”, with “a threefold margin of error” makes the high end Fukushima estimate equal to 102% of Chernobyl’s official total.

*JUST IN* Top US official hints that radioactive material “has been deposited on the ground” (VIDEO)
BREAKING: Fukushima radioactive iodine and cesium emissions nearing Chernobyl levels — Carried far by the wind and absorbed readily by humans
Expert: “Fukushima is much bigger than Chernobyl” — “Will cost much more” in human terms
BREAKING on NHK: High levels of radioactive material has started to leak at No. 3 reactor — Gov’t says reactor may be damaged… MOX (VIDEO)
UPDATE: Neutron beams suggest uranium and plutonium have leaked and nuclear fission has occurred

The headline could also read:

Japan’s nuclear commission reveals Fukushima may have emitted only 6% of the radioactive material than the official Chernobyl levels.

[Be Well]

Junichi Matsumoto, a senior nuclear power executive from the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, fanned public fears about radiation when he said at a separate news conference on Tuesday morning that the radiation release from Daiichi could, in time, surpass levels seen in 1986.

“The radiation leak has not stopped completely, and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl,” Mr. Matsumoto said.

But Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said in an interview on Tuesday evening that he did not know how the company had come up with its estimate. “I cannot understand their position,” he said.

Well, since the NISA also promotes nuke power as well as "regulates" it, no wonder Mr. Nishiyama cannot "understand".

[Cascadians]

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/fo...age1444439/pg1
Video that talks more frankly about the Fuku situation, Christopher Busby

[It'sJustMe]

He said there would be a 2 hr. discussion Fri. evening beginning at 6pm. Deepak Chopra and a number of nuclear engineers will be there.
He said it can be viewed on the internet and a link was on the vimeo.com website. Did anyone notice where it is?

I could not find the link that he said would be posted on their website. But going to this site, gives some links over on the right side for places to hear Arnie later today. I would think going here on Friday ahead of time, might have the link he says will be posted to hear it, hopefully!

http://www.fairewinds.com/home

[Cascadians]

http://www.fairewinds.com/content/se...health-effects
Epidemiologist Steve Wing discusses increases in cancer rates after the Three Mile Island Accident

[BornFree]

They lied because they were upset that foreigners were leaving. Ummm, yes, smart ppl leave on the day of a huge EQ & tsunami when the news announces a nuclear plant has gone out of control. Just not good news no matter how much spun. They're still delaying and obfuscating and lying. They have far too many vested reasons for never telling the truth.

There are a couple of videos about TMI on Arnie's site. They are interesting and get into the about people who were exposed to the radiation from TMI. They point out the fact that radiation can be deposited in a pin prick sort of way. A lot in one spot, and not much a little ways away. The wind has a lot to do with that.


http://www.fairewinds.com/content/se...health-effects

[It'sJustMe]

Delete.

[geoffs]

TEPCO Confirms Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Is Now An Uncontrolled, Open Air Fission Process
By Tyler Durden Created 04/13/2011 - 19:25

It had been a while since we had a factual update (as opposed to just lies and spin) from Fukushima. Courtesy of Kyodo [1], we now know that what was speculated by some as true, and rebutted by most as mere scaremongering, is in fact, fact. "Some of the spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the No. 4 reactor building of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant were confirmed to be damaged, but most of them are believed to be in sound condition, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday." Naturally, in one month we will learn that most of them are damaged, and in two months, that each and every one has been demolished. "The firm known as TEPCO said its analysis of a 400-milliliter water sample taken Tuesday from the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool revealed the damage to some fuel rods in such a pool for the first time, as it detected higher-than-usual levels of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137." These confirm an ongoing fission reaction. In a tremendously ironic development, the No. 4 reactor, halted for a regular inspection before last month's earthquake and tsunami disaster, had all of its 1,331 spent fuel rods and 204 unused fuel rods stored in the pool for the maintenance work. Unfortunately, the entire pool ended up being damaged following the quake and the subsequent explosion, in essence nullifying any protection that the containment dome would have provided. As the picture from the Asahi Shimbun below shows, the damage from overhanging structures which have subsequently fallen into the fuel pool likely means that there could well be an uncontrolled, if weak, fission reaction currently going on in the reactor 4 SFP (where the water temperature is currently 90 degree) unprotected by the elements due to the complete destruction of the Reactor 4 shell.

[2] (picture via of saposjoint [3])

More from Kyodo:

The cooling period for 548 of the 1,331 rods was shorter than that for others and the volume of decay heat emitted from the fuel in the No. 4 unit pool is larger compared with pools at other reactor buildings.

According to TEPCO, radioactive iodine-131 amounting to 220 becquerels per cubic centimeter, cesium-134 of 88 becquerels and cesium-137 of 93 becquerels were detected in the pool water. Those substances are generated by nuclear fission.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the confirmed radioactive materials were up to 100,000 times higher than normal but that the higher readings may have also been caused by the pouring of rainwater containing much radioactivity or particles of radiation-emitting rubble in the pool.

The roof and the upper walls of the No. 4 reactor building have been blown away by a hydrogen explosion and damaged by fires since the disaster struck the plant. The water level in the spent fuel pool is believed to have temporarily dropped.

In the meantime the latest drywell readiation reading in Reactor 1 is still "out of commission"

[4]

(Source: METI [5])


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/tep...ission-process
Links:
[1] http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85295.html
[2] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...0413info05.jpg
[3] http://saposjoint.net/Forum/viewtopi...p=31780#p31780
[4] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...rnanke/Drywell 4.13.jpg
[5] http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2011/04/...10413009-3.pdf

[Dazed]

Dazed, I'm sorry if you got slammed early on. In a story as big, far reaching and long lasting as this one, all sides need to be told, for there to be fair balance, in the long haul. This thread will be the TB2K version of this evolving, ever changing story, which we will undoubtedly refer back to, when radiation concerns pop up again, and they surely will, for many years to come. Please don't say that noone wants to hear what you have to say. Some do, some don't, but so what? We need everyone's input and noone should be slammed for voicing their ideas, on either side of this issue, IMHO. IJM

I got slammed by (among others) our Dear Leader, Dennis.

Notice that anyone else with a background in Nuclear has, for the most part, bailed. There is a reason. We got called shills, we get slammed by folks like Leska, who apparently has a reading comprehension issue (as well as other issues), and other folks. See also the reaction to my latest post.

The predictions and commentary made here lately show that most folks have very little knowledge or training when it comes to this subject. Those with any knowledge have been, effectively, driven from this thread. And the Mods and Board owner were a part of that.

I too think I need to leave again.

I thank you for you thoughts, but no one cares to hear another side.

I'm out again.

[bw]

Notice that anyone else with a background in Nuclear has, for the most part, bailed. There is a reason. We got called shills, we get slammed by folks like Leska, who apparently has a reading comprehension issue (as well as other issues), and other folks.

I am not a nuclear expert, nor do I play one on TV. I come here for useful information, and some of the doomer posts are a little breathless for my taste. It's been useful to me to have cogent arguments for both sides, from which I try to synthesize a viewpoint that feels plausible. I would be sorry to lose the balance.

[Cascadians]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85306.html
WASHINGTON, April 13, Kyodo

Impact of Japan disaster noted in some regions: Beige Book

The U.S. economy was continuing to improve, while seven of the 12 districts across the country noted impact of the disaster in Japan on their regional economic performances, a periodic report by the Federal Reserve showed Wednesday.

The seven districts -- Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis and Dallas -- reported ''actual or expected disruptions to sales and production as a result of the tragedy in Japan,'' the central bank said in the latest Beige Book.

This is the first Fed report on assessing U.S. regional economies since a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11 and the nuclear accident took place in Fukushima Prefecture.

[LONEWOLF]

There are plenty of well-thought out, constructive news analysis and comments from *both* sides and in-between. Why, we can even take the "news releases" from Japan seriously for a second. Ha ha. What the Board does not need is dismissiveness from either side, no name calling about reading comprehension skills. Have a nice life until you hop back into the action here Dazed. A few more months will well-tell where we're heading. No apologies from either side are necessary, the game is a spirited one!

[Sysman]

The fuel pools have been my main concern since the early days of this mess, when I learned they were idiotic enough to put them in the penthouse. Even more so when I learned some of the fuel in R4 was hot. I've said so several times, in this thread and others...

As we just so graphically watched, and as man has known for centuries, hydrogen collects in the top of an enclosed structure, that's why it blew the roof off the reactor buildings. And since the early days of man playing with the atom, we've known that HUGE AMOUNTS of hydrogen ~can~ be produced under certain conditions in a pile. So I mean really, who was the moron that decided the attic is the best place to "save" tons of radioactive fuel. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

There were a few basic design flaws in this plant, the fuel pools are a big one. I've said it before, I'll say it again. If a backup generator or 2 were up there where the fuel pools are, and the fuel pools were at ground level where the generators are, I don't think this nightmare would exist today...

.

[Cascadians]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...chi-plant.html
By Mariko Yasu and Maki Shiraki - Apr 12, 2011 8:24 PM PT

Hitachi, GE Submit Proposal to Dismantle Crippled Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and General Electric Co. (GE) submitted a plan to dismantle the crippled Fukushima Dai- Ichi plant they helped build as Japanese engineers battle to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

The proposal, which also involves Exelon Corp. (EXC) and Bechtel Corp., was submitted April 8, said Yuichi Izumisawa, a Tokyo- based spokesman at Hitachi, Japan’s second-largest maker of nuclear reactors. He declined to specify details of the plan.

The Hitachi-led proposal will vie against plans from groups led by Toshiba Corp. (6502) and Areva SA (CEI) as Tokyo Electric Power Co. begins preparing to clean up a nuclear disaster that’s led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Decommissioning the reactors may take three decades and cost more than 1 trillion yen ($12 billion) to complete, engineers and analysts say.

“It’s unclear how much the contract will be worth but it’s going to be a large amount given it would take decades to complete,” said Yuichi Ishida, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. “This isn’t an ordinary dismantling.”

Hitachi rose 0.3 percent to 401 yen at the midday break in Tokyo trading. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 0.1 percent.

Rival Groups

Toshiba’s group, which includes Babcock & Wilcox Co. (BWC) and Shaw Group Inc. (SHAW), submitted a plan on April 4 that would take 10 years or more to complete, spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said last week. Toshiba’s Westinghouse Electric Co., Babcock & Wilcox and Shaw were involved in the decommissioning of the Three Mile Island plant, he said. Toshiba, Japan’s largest maker of nuclear reactors, also helped build the Fukushima reactors.

Areva, the world’s biggest maker of nuclear reactors, plans to submit a proposal, Jacques Besnainou, chief executive of the Paris-based company’s U.S. subsidiary, said this week.

Hitachi’s U.S. partners were also involved in the cleanup work at Three Mile Island and the 1986 Chernobyl incident, the company said yesterday.

At Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island in 1979, one reactor partially melted in the worst U.S. accident, taking $973 million to repair and almost 12 years to clean up, according to a report on the World Nuclear Association’s website. More than 1,000 workers were involved in designing and conducting the cleanup operation, the report said.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency yesterday raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to 7, the highest and matching the Chernobyl disaster. The accident was previously rated a 5 on the global scale, the same as the Three Mile Island meltdown.

[It'sJustMe]

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/14_03.html

High radioactivity detected in fish, vegetables

The health ministry has detected radioactivity above the legal limit in fish caught off Fukushima Prefecture and 11 kinds of vegetables grown in the prefecture.

The ministry says it found 12,500 becquerels per kilogram, or 25 times the limit, of radioactive cesium in small fish called sand lances caught off Iwaki City, south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Wednesday. It also discovered 12,000 becquerels, or 6 times the limit, of radioactive iodine in the fish.

On April 7th, sand lances caught off the city were already found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium in excess of the limit. Sand lances caught off Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima, were also found to be polluted with the radioactive substance.

The central government says sand lances are currently not being sold as fishing cooperatives in the 2 prefectures are not in operation.

Radioactivity was also detected on 11 kinds of vegetables sampled in Fukushima on Monday.

Authorities detected 1,960 becquerels per kilogram, or 4 times the legal limit, of cesium on Japanese parsley, known as Seri, grown in Soma City.

On Wednesday, the government banned the shipment of some shiitake mushrooms grown outdoors in eastern Fukushima after detecting radioactivity above the legal limit.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 07:28 +0900 (JST)