Japan nuclear: Tepco halts Fukushima cooling plan

15 May 2011 Last updated at 08:46 ET

Japanese engineers have abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant.


"The plant's operator, Tepco, had intended to cool reactor 1 by filling the containment chamber with water.

But Tepco said melting fuel rods had created a hole in the chamber, allowing 3,000 tonnes of contaminated water to leak into the basement of the reactor building.

The power plant was badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March.

Cooling systems to the reactors were knocked out, fuel rods overheated, and attempts to release pressure in the chambers led to explosions in the buildings housing the reactors..."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13404548




Rapid meltdown in No.1 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, says most of the fuel rods in the No.1 reactor had dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel within 16 hours of the earthquake on March 11th. The utility revealed its study on the subject on Sunday...

...The firm said that within about 3 hours after the reactor automatically shut down, the cooling water had evaporated to a level at the top of the rods. In the next hour and a half, parts of the fuel rods are believed to have begun melting.

The temperature of the fuel rods is believed to have reached 2,800 degrees Celsius at this stage, and the meltdown advanced rapidly. Almost of all the fuel rods melted and dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel by 6:50 am on March 12th. TEPCO said the temperature dropped after water was poured into the reactor starting at 5:50 am on the same day.

The firm says the melted rods created small holes on the bottom of the vessel, but that no major problems are developing there. It believes that the amount of radioactive substances that could spread from the reactor will be limited.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 23:29 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_21.html



TEPCO rethinking roadmap

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, says it will revise the method it is using to cool down the No.1 reactor, whose fuel rods are believed to have melted. But TEPCO says it is still aiming to achieve a stable cold shutdown of the reactor by July as planned.

The meltdown is believed to have created holes in the pressure vessel protecting the reactor core and damaged the containment vessel. As a result, highly radioactive water may be leaking from the containment vessel to the basement of the reactor building.

This situation is making it virtually impossible to fill the containment vessel with water as planned, forcing TEPCO to come up with an alternate method of cooling the reactor.

The firm is now considering pumping water out of the containment vessel before it is filled and circulating it back into the reactor through a heat exchanger....

...On Tuesday, the firm plans to review its schedule for achieving cold shutdowns of the plant's reactors.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 23:29 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_15.html




More Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap. It rained here last night, more is on the way. I have my raised bed garden covered but hope I don't have to keep it that way for too long. Rain is predicted again for Tuesday and possibly next weekend again.

Hi-ho

rdb

However, they also have been found to have deliberately hidden information from the public and regulators.
That is unacceptable and needs to be addressed by.....god knows who will/can address that.

I really don't understand why these multiple meltdowns are not seized by legislators all across the USA to close down our nukes and beef up our subsidies to safer energy sources.

And not toxic fracking either. We didn't realize the lovely looking natural gas being promoted on TV meant thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals pumped into our groundwater.

The lies and censorship and negligence in reporting are all part of the damage control.


They have moved on to more aggressive measures since first denying it would be as bad as Chernobyl, as after all that was the Russians, and well, you know, they are incompetent, etc. Never happen here. Then it was TMI was human error, damage was conatainded immediately, no one died, systems worked, etc. Never happen here again.

Now Fukushima. The planning was inadequate, the facility was obsolete technology, Mother Nature spoke. They cannot blame this on the Russians or operator human error. Thus, it must be muted as much and as soon as possible. Only the situation they created has not been cooperative, and the lies unravel almost as soon as they are released. This day to day desperation will continue until the endgame. What the extent of damage until then is yet unknown and what the ultimate price we all pay is also unknown.

Would be nice to be able to trust someone along the way, from our governments, unfortunately, too many feet are sleeping in that same industry bed to be able to say that. Instead we have to rely on beleaguered whistle-blower scientists with enough courage and commitment to speak out.

We are on our own and the situation is day to day and it is dire. Ther is no end in sight.

I am happy to be corrected if anyone can prove me wrong.


Just more Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap on a rainy Sunday morning.


rdb

Just like I wished the BP disaster would have shut down deep water drilling.

But even after that ongoing disaster, our legislators were not courageous enough to impose the stricter rules other countries have maintained on their offshore drilling or even in banning that.

...it's all rainbows and unicorns?

There's a steady stream of radioactive isotopes streaming over here. We are being exposed. We
are eating and drinking radioactive isotopes repeatedly. This stuff is accumulating.

Six weeks ago, Europeans were warned by a French radiation authority to stop drinking milk and
eating leafy greens. The French group noted that US radiation levels were SEVERAL TIMES HIGHER
than European levels. We got no warnings.

What a complete joke.

Are they seriously going to act as if nothing is happening--when really, we are all in danger?

Can they continue to do this forever? How can we help bust this up?

I think people need to YouTube some Geiger Counter readings--start taking them to the grocery store and measuring
produce, measuring tap water and rain water. If the f'n mainstream media doesn't give a damn if we live or die,
I guess we need to take matters in our own hands--and at least help warn others.

I'd like to know how long our government plans on keeping us in the dark--endangering all of our lives? Where the
hell is Obama on this...muzzled by the evil bad guys? Oh please...this is dire and someone needs to grow a pair,
step forward and tell the damn truth.

Crowdsourcing Japan's radiation levels

A group of motivated individuals have come together to create a community approach to gathering radiation data in Japan.

D. Parvaz Last Modified: 26 Apr 2011 13:44


"...The disaster in Japan has kicked all sorts of activists into high gear – volunteers helping people clear out their tsunami-battered homes, green energy proponents picketing the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and a bunch of DYI-ers who are roaming Japan with hand-made Geiger counters (a hand-held device used to measure radiation), recording radiation levels. You read that last part correctly.

"We were getting frustrated with what was being reported in the media, what was being released by TEPCO, what was being released by the government," said Sean Bonner, co-founder of Safecast.org, which is currently partially self-funded, partially funded via a Kickstarter fundraiser. "The information was just kind of unreliable, not updated frequently, no way to fact-check it... So, we just started thinking: What happens if we go get numbers ourselves? Like, is that an option?" Apparently so.

Out of thin air, a group of folks based in the US and Japan created a network that distributes Geiger counters to teams of people who record radiation levels in a consistent manner and upload it all to the Safecast site. Mapped out with radiation readings gathered from other sources, Bonner said Safecast hopes to "paint a more reliable picture of what was going on".

Safecast currently has around 30 Geiger counters out in the field, they have ordered the parts to build another 300, and Bonner said their plan is to have 600 units collecting data within six months. While he wishes for a shorter timeline, the fact is, Geiger counters are in demand at the moment. "If we wanted to buy 600 right this minute, we couldn't do it..."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html



This is a good article and a good tactic. Gee, I wonder why we haven't heard about this in the MSM? Why do we have to get good news about this from Transnational news agencies? BTW, notice the date of this article and the author. She is the current journalist hostage in Iran. Al Jazeera wants her back:




Al Jazeera demands release of journalist

DOHA, QATAR - Al Jazeera has been given information that journalist Dorothy Parvaz has been deported from Syria to Iran.

This information has come from Syrian officials, who had previously told Al Jazeera they were holding Dorothy in Damascus, and that she would be released.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said: "We have now received information that she is being held in Tehran. We are calling for information from the Iranian authorities, access to Dorothy, and for her immediate release. We have had no contact with Dorothy since she left Doha on 29 April and we are deeply concerned for her welfare."

A statement from Dorothy’s family said: "Dorothy is a dearly loved daughter, sister and fiancée, and a committed journalist. It is now nearly two weeks since she was detained. We appeal once again for Dorothy to be released immediately and returned to us."

Dorothy is an experienced journalist who joined Al Jazeera in 2010. She graduated from the University of British Columbia, obtained a masters from Arizona University, and held journalism fellowships at both Harvard and Cambridge. She previously worked as a columnist and feature writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer...

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/dorothyparvaz/


Isn't that fucking ironic? I would say this is one journalist that leads an interesting, albeit sometimes dangerous, life.



Just more Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap.


rdb

...people taking readings with Geiger Counters. Then, publish the findings on websites. You could
easily disseminate your findings worldwide, through various outlets, as well as on Internet sites.

You could do your own news release on PR Newswire or on Business Wire. EurekaAlert.org disseminates
science- and technology-based news, and is a resource for reporters covering a science beat.

You could also blanket the Internet--reddit, digg, etc.

I'd love to start this or be a part of it.

It has to happen, cuz the EPA decided to go to Sandals for a few months during a global crisis.

BASTARDS.

is displaying the atmospheric Radiation Soup? Norway was. But I read they stopped.

I guess the only thing to do to avoid this air of death/illness is to head to the Southern Hemisphere.

The GE-designed plant was wrong from the get-go. Using those Spent-fuel rods appears to be the big problem.

I've bookmarked this News cite....thanks for the info...if one can believe Tepco.

http://vesica.org/main/holistic-health/articles/1162-radiation-update-april-2011#2


I have found it helpful, but I don't know when or how it is updated.

This will be even more of a problem moving forward. We need more monitoring with transparency.

We need to be able to trust someone, and at the moment TPTB are circling the wagons.




Just my Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap


rdb

Our gov't would never tell us that radiation is circling the globe. It will go around and around.

At least TPTB will have to live in caves to be safe....just like OBL did for awhile. I'd rather die than be stuck in a cave with those greedy mutants.

Evacuation of some people who live outside the 20 kilometer radius from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun. Families with babies and children up to kindergarten age and pregnant women are the first of the 7,700 residents of two towns to evacuate...

...One evacuee says he and his family have to move out for the sake of his children, but it is very discouraging to leave. He says they will do what they can until the day they are able to return to their home.

Some farmers cannot evacuate soon as they have not been able to find places to move their cattle or have them put down. Some families cannot move together to designated temporary housing or cannot decide on the place to go as they would be far from work or school.

The Japanese government expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to areas where cumulative radiation levels are 20 millisieverts or higher per year.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 13:00 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_10.html



Radioactivity at No.3 reactor leaking into ocean

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant announced that radioactive materials continue to leak into the ocean near the plant.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said 140 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter, was measured on Saturday morning near the water intake of the plant's Number 3 reactor. That represents 2,300 times the legal limit. It also detected 150 becquerels of cesium-137, which is 1,700 times the legal limit.

On Wednesday of this week, the utility found that highly radioactive water was continuing to flow into the ocean from a pit located near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor. On Friday, TEPCO detected 6,200 times the legal limit of cesium-134.

The company says it will continue to monitor radioactivity levels near the plant.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57 +0900 (JST)


http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_01.html



Just more Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap


rdb

poof! problem fixed with positive spin!

to start thinking about moving "spent" fuel to less hazardous storage locations.

(Recent data doesn't seem to point to quick, permanent solutions.)

And that's assuming they're still assembled, something
we have no real evidence of anymore. It may be that
they're just heaps and piles of radioactive junk by
now.

Either way, removal would be tough or damned-near
impossible. And then you'd need to arrange safe
transport for some still-highly-radioactive stuff...

Tesha

(never been there), there's a separate storage pool for some "spent" fuel rods.

Plus, some of the rods in some reactor-building storage-pools may be in ok shape (don't know).

And I don't know what the thinking is on long-term storage; but considering options seems like a good idea.

Here is some more info on the status of and the events surrounding those pools that are of highest concern:

Where Did the Water in the Spent Fuel Pools Go?

| by David Wright | nuclear power | nuclear power safety | Japan nuclear |


"Since early in the current crisis—a few days after the earthquake and tsunami damaged the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility—people have been concerned about lack of water in the spent fuel pools at the reactors. The water is needed to cool the spent fuel rods, which continue to generate significant heat for years after being removed from the reactor core due to their radioactivity.

Each of the six reactor units at Fukushima has its own spent fuel pool. These pools are about 12 meters deep. The spent fuel occupies roughly the bottom 4 meters of the pool and the surface of the water is typically about 7 meters above the top of the rods. In normal operation, electric pumps continually circulate the water in the pool, pulling out heated water, which is then cooled and sent back into the pool...

Unlike the cooling systems for the reactor core, the pumps for these pools typically don’t have backup power, so once electricity from the power grid was cut off, the pumps stopped operating.

Once that happened, the heat from the fuel rods began raising the temperature of the water in the pools. Once the water in a pool reached the boiling point, it would begin to boil away and lower the level of the water..."

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/4133270698/where-did-the-water-in-the-spent-fuel-pools-go



Here Arne Gunderson explains some of the events affecting the spent fuel rod pools:


Gundersen Postulates Unit 3 Explosion May Have Been Prompt Criticality in Fuel Pool

http://www.fairewinds.com/updates

When building 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant exploded last month, those who saw the video footage were left to wonder why it was more severe than the other explosions. Adding to the mystery were reports that the containment and reactor in building 3 were still intact. Gundersen discusses several known facts about Fukushima 3 and theorizes on a possible scenario leading to the explosion.


This 8:10 minute YouTube is the fourth video down on the Fairewinds page.



Hope this helps clarify the spent fuel rod pools, where they are (on top of the reactors in each building)and what has happened to them and what likely could still occur.





Just more Extreme Enviroweenie Biased Claptrap on a Sunday afternoon.


rdb

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/detailed-look-spent-fuel-rod-containment-pools-fukushima

... common spent fuel rod pool on the premises.