Post: #25096

Unit 3 Robot Entry Video

TEPCO sent robot Quince 2 into unit 3 at Daiichi to inspect the TIPS room. Damage to some of the electrical panels, water on the floors were found. The door for the hallway into the TIPS room was blown into the hallway, door frame and all. The mangled door can be seen blocking the end of the TIPS room hallway. The door frame in pieces with on on the floor in the foreground. The holes in the door frame piece match the holes in the concrete door way.

via SimplyInfo
http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=6133

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIzAXojFL...e=youtu.be

Post: #25097

Fukushima Daiichi requires a Manhattan Project approach to avoid another nuclear accident

An accident, involving nuclear fuel rods, is virtually inevitable, most likely preventable, and the fact that it won’t be prevented comes down solely to Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) incompetence and stupidity. Japanese citizens will probably die unnecessarily because the way things are done at the top in Japan is completely screwed up.

Here’s the problem: In the damaged Unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi there are right now 1,535 fuel rods that have yet to be removed from the doomed reactor. The best case estimate of how long it will take to remove those rods is three years. Next to the Unit 4 reactor and in other places on the same site there are more than 9,000 spent fuel rods stored mainly in pools of water but in some spots exposed to the air and cooled by water jets. The total volume of unstable nuclear fuel on the site exceeds 11,000 rods

Fukushima has always been a seismically active area. Called the Japan Trench Subduction Zone, it has experienced nine seismic events of magnitude 7 or greater since 1973. There was a 5.8 earthquake in 1993; a 7.1 in 2003; a 7.2 earthquake in 2005; and a 6.2 earthquake offshore of the Fukushima facility just last year, all of which caused shutdowns or damage to nuclear plants. Even small earthquakes can damage nuclear plants: a 6.8 quake on Japan’s west coast in 2007 cost TEPCO $5.62 billion.

But last year’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami made things far worse, further destabilizing the local geology. According to recently revised estimates by the Japanese government, the probability of an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude or greater in the region during the next three years is now 90 percent. The Unit 4 reactor building that was substantially damaged by the tsunami and subsequent explosions will not survive a 7.0+ earthquake.

An earthquake of 7.0 or greater is likely to disrupt cooling water flow and further damage fuel storage pools possibly making them leak. If this happens the fuel rods will be exposed, will get hotter and eventually melt, puddling in the reactor basement and beneath the former storage ponds. This is a nuclear meltdown, which will lead to catastrophic (though non-nuclear) explosions and the release of radioactive gases, especially Cesium 137.

The amount of Cesium 137 in the fuel rods at Fukushima Daiichi is the equivalent of 85 Chernobyls.

To review, there is a 90 percent chance of a large earthquake in the minimum three years required to remove just the most unstable part of the fuel load at Fukushima Daiichi. The probability of a large earthquake in the 10+ years required to completely defuel the plant is virtually 100 percent. If a big earthquake happens before that fuel is gone there will be global environmental catastrophe with many deaths.


More-
http://betanews.com/2012/05/25/fukushima...-accident/

Post: #25098

Rubble hinders decommissioning work at Fukushima No. 4 reactor

Mountains of rubble stand in the way of decommissioning the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, part of an unprecedented challenge facing Japan to decommission four crippled reactors.

A reporter from the Tokyo Shimbun described the scene on the fourth floor as looking like that of a "battlefield after being bombed." The wall facing the sea had been blown off in a hydrogen explosion on March 15 last year.

"Pipes were severely bent," the reporter said. "Steel frames were also twisted and rusted. It was hard for me to believe such a thick wall was blown off over a wide area."

To dismiss concerns about potential risks to the No. 4 building, TEPCO released a report on May 25 stating that the structure had an outward bulge of 3.3 centimeters in a portion of its west wall due to the hydrogen explosion, but did not pose a threat to its structural integrity.

TEPCO reinforced the structure of the pool by adding steel support and concrete beneath the pool in July.

The utility also said that it would take two or three weeks for spent fuel rods to start being exposed in the event of the pool's cooling system being knocked out.

On the fifth floor of the No. 4 reactor building, the top floor, the Tokyo Shimbun reporter could see the upper part of the spent fuel rod pool, which was covered with a floating white tarp.

"I could catch a glimpse into the water surface of the pool, but the water looked too stagnant to see the fuel rods seven meters beneath," he said.

The reporter said he was not entirely reassured by the utility’s promise that the structure will be sturdy enough to remain unscathed in another big quake despite no major, visible damage to the wall near the pool.

"TEPCO said that the pool can withstand a temblor equivalent to the quake last year, but I was not convinced of that," the reporter said.

The decommissioning work is said to be farthest along in the No. 4 building, compared with the buildings housing the No. 1 through No. 3 reactors, where three meltdowns occurred.

To proceed to that stage, debris left on the upper floors of the building after the hydrogen explosion must be cleared.

But TEPCO said only 60 percent of the work has been completed since the process began last autumn. An excavator has been brought in on the fifth floor of the No. 4 reactor building to remove debris.

TEPCO is now preparing for decontamination work at the No. 1 through No. 3 reactor buildings to pave the way for workers to begin the retrieval of melted fuel rods.

The utility plans to remove debris and damaged walls at the No. 4 reactor building by autumn this year, a required step before it begins removing spent fuel rods in the pool.

It envisages covering the No. 4 building with a canopy by next summer to reduce the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

A crane and other equipment needed to move the fuel rods will be installed in autumn 2013 so that technicians can start the retrieval process.

But there are many uncertainties that could easily derail TEPCO’s timetable, experts say.

The plan could be delayed because clearing the structure could take more time than expected because concrete blocks and pieces of steel frame are scattered all around in and out of the No. 4 reactor pool.

TEPCO also needs to secure a facility to store fuel rods from the pool, as a common nearby pool has space for only 465 fuel rods remaining.

The No. 1 through No. 3 reactors are being cooled by makeshift cooling systems, resulting in the leakage of a large amount of highly contaminated water at the plant.

High levels of radiation in the drainage are preventing the utility from preparing for the start of decommissioning work.

TEPCO will also have to proceed with decommissioning amid concerns for possible powerful aftershocks and tsunami.

It said that the reactors will be cooled with emergency cooling pumps even if the existing cooling systems are knocked out in such an event.

If a tsunami strikes the plant when the decommissioning work is under way, the makeshift cooling systems could be destroyed and contaminated water could leak into the sea.

TEPCO said the plant will be shielded from tsunami up to 8 meters high, as it erected a temporary breakwater up to 14 meters from the sea surface on a stretch of about 380 meters along the sea as a safeguard.

But the ability of the breakwater to withstand a tsunami 13 meters high, just like the one last year, is being questioned since it was built using buckets of stones piled atop each other.

The utility needs to put up a full-fledged breakwater in the future, but has yet to draw up a specific plan for one.


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se...hA&ct=clnk

Post: #25099

Dont worry its all fine and safe. The WHO said so.

Post: #25100

TEPCO to check interior of crippled Fukushima No. 1 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday it plans to check the interior of the crippled No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant between late August and September by inserting a camera into the primary containment vessel.

Of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors that suffered meltdowns in last year's nuclear accident, the utility has so far inserted an endoscope into the No. 2 reactor and found the water level was at a lower-than-expected 60 centimeters, a sign that a large part of the water injected into it is leaking from the vessel.

In the upcoming survey, the company known as TEPCO will check the water level inside the No. 1 reactor's primary containment vessel and the temperature inside the structure.


http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/05...um=twitter

Post: #25101

Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California

• Miniscule amounts of radioactive cesium detected
• Not thought to be dangerous for human consumption
• Tuna may transport radiation faster than wind or water

Low levels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima power plant have turned up in bluefin tuna off the California coast, suggesting that these fish carried radioactive compounds across the Pacific Ocean faster than wind or water can.

Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 were detected in 15 tuna caught near San Diego in August 2011, about four months after these chemicals were released into the water off Japan's east coast, scientists reported on Monday.

That is months earlier than wind and water currents brought debris from the plant to waters off Alaska and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The amount of radioactive cesium in the fish is not thought to be damaging to people if consumed, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Without making a definitive judgment on the safety of the fish, lead author Daniel Madigan of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station noted that the amount of radioactive material detected was far less than the Japanese safety limit.

"I wouldn't tell anyone what's safe to eat or what's not safe to eat," Madigan said in a telephone interview. "It's become clear that some people feel that any amount of radioactivity, in their minds, is bad and they'd like to avoid it. But compared to what's there naturally ... and what's established as safety limits, it's not a large amount at all."

He said the scientists found elevated levels of two radioactive isotopes of the element cesium: cesium 137, which was present in the eastern Pacific before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in the spring of 2011; and cesium 134, which is produced only by human activities and was not present before the earthquake and tsunami hit the Japanese plant.

Because cesium 134 is generated only by human activities - nuclear power plants and weapons - and there was none in the Pacific for several years before the Fukushima accident, they reckoned that any cesium 134 they found in tuna off California had to come from Fukushima.

There was about five times the background amount of cesium 137 in the bluefin tuna they tested, but that is still a tiny quantity, Madigan said: 5 becquerels instead of 1 becquerel. (It takes 37 billion becquerels to equal 1 curie; for context, a pound of uranium-238 has 0.00015 curies of radioactivity, so one becquerel would be a truly miniscule proportion.)

Bluefin tuna spawn only in the western Pacific, off the coasts of Japan and the Philippines. As young fish, some migrate east to the California coast, where upwelling ocean water brings lots of food for them and their prey. They get to these waters as juveniles or adolescents, and remain there, fattening up.

Judging by the size of the bluefin tuna they sampled - they averaged about 15 pounds (6 kg) - the researchers knew these were young fish that had left Japanese water about a month after the accident.

Most of the radiation was released over a few days in April 2011, and unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor.

Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms that have already taken it in, Madigan said.

Bluefin tuna typically have low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material, such as potassium 40, which was present in the world's oceans long before human beings walked the Earth.

Compared to these natural levels of radioactivity, the amount contributed by Fukushima raised the level about 3 percent, Madigan said.

He said there were probably much higher levels of cesium 134 present in bluefin tuna off Japan soon after the accident, as much as 40 to 50 percent higher than normal. Cesium 134 decays quickly, with a half-life of two years. Bluefin tuna excrete it on a daily basis and it also gets diluted in their bodies as they grow.


http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/fukus...california

Post: #25102

"Where Do I Go If Fukushima Blows? (Northern Hemisphere Nuclear Fallout Map)"



http://www.thedailysheeple.com/where-do-...map_052012


"U.S. Army General: The Whole Northern Hemisphere is at Risk of Becoming Largely Uninhabitable
If there ever existed a threat that could cause the end of the world as we know it, it’s the ongoing and unresolved nuclear saga in Japan:"

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/u-...e_05252012

Post: #25103

"If there’s nothing wrong at Fukushima, why won’t they allow outside experts to inspect the plant?"
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/05/if-t...shima.html

Post: #25104

Tepco is going to attach a freezing machine to water circulation system

Tepco is going to increase the amount of water to inject only for reactor 3.

It is because the coolant water is heated for summer, but it suggests the situation of reactor 3 is more severe than other 2 reactors.

In the daily press conference of 5/28/2012, Tepco announced that they are going to attach a freezing machine to the water circulation system.
Specifically, it will be attached to the facility called buffer tank located after desalination equipment and cesium removal system.

Tepco estimates they can keep the temperature of each reactor under 65 ℃, which is 15 ℃ lower than the safety limit regulated by Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

However, there was no explanation that how much the temperature would be if they don’t rely on the freezing machine.

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/05/tepco...on-system/

Post: #25105

Fukushima fallout spread globally in 40 days

Japanese scientists say radioactive substances from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have been dispersed all around the globe in about 40 days.

A research team led by Akira Watanabe, a Fukushima University professor and meteorologist, measured the daily concentration of airborne radioactive substances in Fukushima City since May last year, about 2 months after the nuclear disaster occurred.

The research results show that the concentration of radioactive materials in the air during the first month of the survey was on average 0.0048 becquerels per cubic meter.

About 10 months later, in March this year, the figure decreased by around 85-percent.

The researchers say the overall density is declining, but continues to rise and fall alternately in a 40-day cycle.

They say radioactive materials from the Fukushima plant fell to the ground in various parts of the world, carried by atmospheric air flows, and then gradually decreased.

The findings will be presented on Tuesday at a meeting of the Meteorological Society of Japan in Ibaraki Prefecture.

May 28, 2012
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120529_03.html

Post: #25106

•REC  Wrote:

Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California

• Miniscule amounts of radioactive cesium detected
• Not thought to be dangerous for human consumption
• Tuna may transport radiation faster than wind or water

Low levels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima power plant have turned up in bluefin tuna off the California coast, suggesting that these fish carried radioactive compounds across the Pacific Ocean faster than wind or water can.

Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 were detected in 15 tuna caught near San Diego in August 2011, about four months after these chemicals were released into the water off Japan's east coast, scientists reported on Monday.

That is months earlier than wind and water currents brought debris from the plant to waters off Alaska and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The amount of radioactive cesium in the fish is not thought to be damaging to people if consumed, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Without making a definitive judgment on the safety of the fish, lead author Daniel Madigan of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station noted that the amount of radioactive material detected was far less than the Japanese safety limit.

"I wouldn't tell anyone what's safe to eat or what's not safe to eat," Madigan said in a telephone interview. "It's become clear that some people feel that any amount of radioactivity, in their minds, is bad and they'd like to avoid it. But compared to what's there naturally ... and what's established as safety limits, it's not a large amount at all."

He said the scientists found elevated levels of two radioactive isotopes of the element cesium: cesium 137, which was present in the eastern Pacific before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in the spring of 2011; and cesium 134, which is produced only by human activities and was not present before the earthquake and tsunami hit the Japanese plant.

Because cesium 134 is generated only by human activities - nuclear power plants and weapons - and there was none in the Pacific for several years before the Fukushima accident, they reckoned that any cesium 134 they found in tuna off California had to come from Fukushima.

There was about five times the background amount of cesium 137 in the bluefin tuna they tested, but that is still a tiny quantity, Madigan said: 5 becquerels instead of 1 becquerel. (It takes 37 billion becquerels to equal 1 curie; for context, a pound of uranium-238 has 0.00015 curies of radioactivity, so one becquerel would be a truly miniscule proportion.)

Bluefin tuna spawn only in the western Pacific, off the coasts of Japan and the Philippines. As young fish, some migrate east to the California coast, where upwelling ocean water brings lots of food for them and their prey. They get to these waters as juveniles or adolescents, and remain there, fattening up.

Judging by the size of the bluefin tuna they sampled - they averaged about 15 pounds (6 kg) - the researchers knew these were young fish that had left Japanese water about a month after the accident.

Most of the radiation was released over a few days in April 2011, and unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor.

Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms that have already taken it in, Madigan said.

Bluefin tuna typically have low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material, such as potassium 40, which was present in the world's oceans long before human beings walked the Earth.

Compared to these natural levels of radioactivity, the amount contributed by Fukushima raised the level about 3 percent, Madigan said.

He said there were probably much higher levels of cesium 134 present in bluefin tuna off Japan soon after the accident, as much as 40 to 50 percent higher than normal. Cesium 134 decays quickly, with a half-life of two years. Bluefin tuna excrete it on a daily basis and it also gets diluted in their bodies as they grow.


http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/fukus...california

SO OBVIOUSLY TAMED DOWN FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION.

The actual levels will have been much higher. And continued internal exposure to such radiation will result in bone cancer and death.

Post: #25107

Johntaraz  Wrote:

"Where Do I Go If Fukushima Blows? (Northern Hemisphere Nuclear Fallout Map)"



http://www.thedailysheeple.com/where-do-...map_052012


"U.S. Army General: The Whole Northern Hemisphere is at Risk of Becoming Largely Uninhabitable
If there ever existed a threat that could cause the end of the world as we know it, it’s the ongoing and unresolved nuclear saga in Japan:"

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/u-...e_05252012

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Make your peace with God, however you believe Him to be.

Post: #25108

Possible recriticality in reactor 2

Weekly Asahi reported they obtained the email leaked from Tepco. It was sent from a staff of engineering devision to his coworker and a nuclear expert.

It warned the possibility of recriticality of reactor 2.

“From looking at the water level (60cm), it is obvious that the PCV and suppression chamber are severely damaged.

It is very likely that a new heating mass is generated from recriticality.

We can not tell exactly what is happening inside of PCV. We can never deny the possibility of recriticality. ”


http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/05/possi...-reactor2/

Post: #25109

Progress Report - May 29

* On May 28, filling concrete in Unit 3 circulating water pump discharge valve pit was completed.

* At 10:00 AM on May 29, we started transferring the accumulated water in Unit 6 Turbine Building basement to the temporary tank.

* At 10:33 AM on May 29, we started up Unit 5 PCV fan which had been stopped after the earthquake in order to exhaust the air directly from PCV (Until now we have been opening the equipment hatch to exhaust the air).

* On May 28, the following Unit 2 PCV thermometers (monitored in accordance with Article 138 of the Technical Specification) indicated significant temperature changes (stepwise increase/decrease in temperature). Upon our temperature trend evaluation, we found that these temperature changes may have been caused by abnormality with the thermometers. On May 29, direct resistance measurement was done on these thermometers, and reliability evaluation will also be done. According to the radioactivity density of short half-life nuclides, there is no possibility of re-criticality.
RETURN AIR DRYWELL COOLER (TE-16-114A) [Monitored] 58.0°C→64.7°C
RETURN AIR DRYWELL COOLER (TE-16-114D) [Monitored] 43.7°C→47.6°C
SUPPLY AIR D/W COOLER HVH 2-16A (TE-16-114F #1) [Reference] 41.0°C→35.0°C
SUPPLY AIR D/W COOLER HVH 2-16C (TE-16-114H #1) [Monitored] 52.1°C→48.2°C
(Above data was acquired from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM on May 28)

* At 12:30 PM on May 29, data reading was failing on the Main Anti-Earthquake Building monitoring panel of the portable monitoring post at the west entrance. The same issue was occurring on the Main Anti-Earthquake Building monitoring panel of the wireless monitoring post used for alternative monitoring. There is no problem with data monitoring at 12:30 PM and later, as a worker at the site has been measuring data.

* At 1:10 PM on May 29, an alarm went off at the measurement equipment (dust monitor which continuously measures the radioactivity density of radioactive materials in the air) located in front of the Main Anti-Earthquake Building. At 1:15 PM, an instruction was given to wear a full-face mask (based on an operation rule). After that we found that there was no significant change in monitoring post data. The filter of the measurement equipment was replaced. At 1:50 PM, the equipment was restarted by resetting. As a result of a manual measurement of radioactivity density of the air in front of the Main Anti-Earthquake Building, the radioactivity density was below the detection limit (1x10-5[Bq/cm3]) and the standard value for requiring a full-face mask (1x10-4[Bq/cm3]). At 1:53 PM, an announcement was given to allow taking off the mask.

Post: #25110

the whole thing is fake.