Fukushima Daiichi latest - hows the clear up going?

[Curt 1]

I bet Arnie'll like this!

 

Tokyo Electric Power Co. injected boric acid into a reactor at its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to prevent an accidental chain reaction known as re- criticality after temperatures rose in the past week.

 

The temperature of the No. 2 reactor was 70.1 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit) as of 6 a.m. today, according to preliminary data, Akitsuka Kobayashi, a spokesman for the utility, said by phone. The reading fell from 72.2 degrees at 5 a.m. this morning, and is below the 93 degrees that’s used to define a cold shutdown, or safe state, of the reactor.

 

Since Feb. 1, temperatures at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor vessel have risen by more than 20 degrees Celsius, according to the company’s data. Tepco, as the utility is known, and the government announced that the Fukushima plant reached a cold shutdown on Dec. 16, nine months after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami wrecked the nuclear station, and caused three reactors to meltdown and release radiation.

[pie-eater 207]

[kokodoko 67]

Japan planned review of tsunami risk, but too late

By YURI KAGEYAMA | AP

 

TOKYO (AP) — Four days before a tsunami devastated a Japanese nuclear plant, its operator promised a fuller assessment of the risk of such a disaster — but not for seven months.

 

The disclosure in a three-page briefing paper obtained by The Associated Press raises questions about whether the utility and regulators were too complacent about studies that suggested a tsunami could overwhelm the defenses at the 40-year-old Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.

 

It also highlights Japan's slow pace of decision-making on an issue that experts had been warning about for at least 20 months.

 

"If they had made the decision earlier, then they could have been prepared on March 11," said Hideyuki Hirakawa, an Osaka University expert on governance and the sciences. "There is absolutely nothing you can do in four days."

 

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed about 19,000 people along Japan's northeastern coast. The surge of water knocked out power at the coastal Fukushima plant, leading to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Tens of thousands have had to leave the area, and it's unclear whether some will ever be able to move back.

 

Tokyo Electric Power Co. presented the briefing paper, stamped "handle with care," at a meeting with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on March 7. The agency released the document to the AP under a public records request.

 

The paper summarized studies that suggested a tsunami as high as 33 feet (10 meters) might hit the plant, much higher than the 20-foot (six-meter) surge it had been designed to withstand. The actual tsunami was even higher: 45 feet (14 meters).

 

TEPCO, as the Tokyo-based utility is commonly known, said it would review tsunami preparedness at all its plants by mid-April and present a new assessment of the Fukushima plant by October — dates listed on the bottom of the first page under "plans for the future."

 

Masaru Kobayashi, who heads the agency's earthquake-safety section, said he saw the estimates for the first time at the March 7 meeting. "I told them that a speedy response was necessary, if these numbers are true," he said.

 

But TEPCO spokeswoman Ai Tanaka noted that the government did not order any immediate action. "None of the findings were conclusive," she added.

 

The report cited 2010 research at the government's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology as saying that two to three more years would be needed to reassess the tsunami risks for northeastern Japan.

 

However the researcher, Yuichi Namegaya, told the AP that while more time was needed to determine the extent of the risk, the danger was evident. "The studies on a Fukushima tsunami were clear, even before my research," he said.

 

As early as June 2009, Yukinobu Okamura, a tsunami expert at the same government institute, warned about the need to look more closely at new evidence that a major tsunami called Jogan had hit northeastern Japan in the 9th Century.

 

"I would like to ask why you have not touched on this at all," Okamura demanded of a panel on nuclear regulatory policy. "I find it unacceptable."

 

Kobayashi, the regulator, said he called for the March 7 meeting after hearing about research on the Jogan tsunami.

 

He described the meeting as a polite, perfunctory affair at his agency that lasted 30, maybe 40, minutes.

 

The document included three diagrams. One was TEPCO's estimate of the maximum tsunami risk, based on 2002 guidelines from the Japan Society of Civil Engineers that were the government-approved standards. The other two were more recent academic projections that suggested the possibility of the higher tsunami.

 

Kobayashi recalled the meeting after the March 11 tsunami. "The numbers I saw were bigger than what we had earlier assessed," he said. "It had happened, and I felt bad."

[SKI 15]

 

[Tubby Beaver 209]

[muikabochi 208]

Not excusing this of course.

But, hindsight an' all.

How many more hugely dangerous things are out there waiting to happen if some catastrophic natural disaster happens. Lots I would presume.

[Go Native 70]

Many, many hugely dangerous things can and do happen all the time muika. I mean just living in Japan is always a disaster waiting to happen considering that big earthquakes are always going to occur in that region. The same issue occurs in many other places around the world. Christchurch in NZ as an example. In parts of Australia recently there's been massive floods. It's catasrophic for many people why? Because they live on flood plains. They do this because it's some of the most fertile land in the country but a couple of times a century (at least) their homes are going to be destroyed. Millions of people in countries all over the world also live on flood plains for similar reasons and in poorer countries often with much more devastating effects than here. Also in Australia many people like to live in towns surrounded by forest. Of course it's beautiful but now and again they'll get devastating fires that will destroy their homes and many lives no matter what precautions they take. In the US millions of people live in 'Torando Alley'. A region where every year devastating tornados will occur. And everytime one hits a heavily populated area it is incredibly devastating in terms of property damage and lives lost regardless of the precautions they take. Numerous catastrophic natural disasters occur every year somewhere. Nuclear power plants can obviously throw a little more risk and danger into the equation though!

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I'll take natural disaster over irradiated mess though

[frannyo 2]

Ha yes.

Reporters went close by yesterday it was on the news.

In masks and stuff of course.

[muikabochi 208]

Documentary on NHK (?) at 9pm tonight about meltdown and surrounding issues.

[DumbStick 13]

Didnt see that.

 

But this is on bbc today........

 

The Japanese government says it will investigate a report that workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were urged to disguise their exposure to radiation.

 

Build-Up, a subcontractor for plant operator Tepco, admitted one of its executives told workers to put lead shields on radiation detection devices.

 

Otherwise, they would have rapidly exceeded the legal limit for exposure.

 

The Fukishima plant was devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

 

Cooling systems to reactors were knocked out, leading to meltdowns and the release of radioactivity.

 

Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from an exclusion zone around the plant.

 

 

[DumbStick 13]

Between November and March this year, a group of Build-Up employees were working at Fukushima, trying to restore facilities.

 

In December, a Build-Up executive told them to cover their dosimeters with lead casings when working in areas with high radiation.

 

Otherwise, he warned, they would quickly reach the legal limit of 50 millisieverts' exposure in a year, and they would have to stop working.

 

Build-Up president Takashi Wada told Japanese media nine of the workers complied.

 

Dosimeters - used to measure cumulative exposure - can be worn as badges or carried as devices about the size of a smartphone.

 

The workers had a recording of their meeting, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.

 

"Unless we hide it with lead, exposure will max out and we cannot work," the executive was heard saying in the recording, as quoted by the paper.

 

The executive apparently said he used one of the lead shields himself.

 

A Tepco spokesman told Reuters on Saturday the company was aware from a separate contractor that Build-Up made the lead shields, but that they were never used at the Fukushima plant.

[grungy-gonads 54]

I noticeed that. Other places don't seem to have picked up on it, certainly not heard that in Japan (surprise!)

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

It has been on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun for the past two days.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Really? I did not realise that. Haven't heard a wink of it on the tv news. I might have just missed it.

 

Interesting documentary last night. I watched it after checking out Ghost Mama. Bit technical.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Yes, that was an interesting documentary. Looks like there is progress in understanding what may have happened at Unit 2, with two different types of pressure relief valve being inoperable due to a design flaw in one (leading to inability to inject water, and hence to meltdown), and possible earthquake damage in the compressed-air feed line to the other (leading to inability to do a filtered vent, and hence to a broken containment vessel and release of unfiltered radionuclides directly into the atmosphere after the meltdown).

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Muika.

[@tokyo 14]

Missed that unfortunately.

 

[pie-eater 207]

Was there any mention of "domes"?

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Was there any mention of "domes"?

 

Shockingly, no.

[pie-eater 207]

That is disappointing, to say the least.

 

Something like this would surely work:

 

[surfarthur 22]

They keep snubbing you don't they Pies? I for one think your suggestion warrants further investigation.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

As someone (but not Gandhi, apparently) once said:

 

"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."

 

Gambare, pie-eater!

[pie-eater 207]

Thanks guys, I will certainly try my very best and not be discouraged.

 

 

Saaaa, gambaro!

[SKI 15]

I recorded that documentary, haven't watched it yet.

Is it part of a series?

Like watching these ones.

[onsen tamago 0]

Remember in the days, weeks and months after when we were promised that there was no meltdown?

 

I wonder to what extent they really knew the truth then.