Blast at Japan nuclear plant 'likely gas cylinder' (JAPAN)

TOKYO (AFP) – An explosion was heard Tuesday at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but no rise in radiation levels nor any injuries were reported, the plant operator said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which has struggled to control the crippled Fukushima plant, said the explosion was heard as unmanned heavy machines worked near the unit four reactor building.

"The machines were remotely controlled to remove rubble when the blast was heard," a TEPCO spokeswoman told AFP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110531/wl_asia_afp/japandisasteraccidentnuclearblast

Thanks for posting this.
And thanks for all your variety of informative threads.
I don't always post in them, but I appreciate your contribution here.

I was under the impression that if you even, say, shot a .30-06 through one, gas would escape quickly but you wouldn't have an explosion. Unless you literally cook it off in a fire or use a high explosive. Or a mini-gun firing 50 incendiary rounds a second. :)

PB

When I worked in labs they'd show us slide shows like this so we wouldn't forget:

http://youtu.be/9lw_fhNAIQc

Warning: Blood

Just reading the comments was more than enough, heh heh.

PB

for gasoline its 14 to 1. I don't know the gas they're talking about but the window for any gas to explode has to be at the right ratio or no boom. too much gas or too much oxygen and no boom.

Oxygen cylinder bursts near No. 4 reactor

An oxygen cylinder has burst at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. But the plant operator says the blast caused no damage to the plant's facilities, and no injuries.

At around 2:30 PM on Tuesday, workers reported hearing a loud noise like that of an explosion at the south side of the plant's No. 4 reactor.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company says unmanned heavy machinery removing debris at the site damaged the cylinder, causing it to burst.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 18:48 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_36.html





High levels of strontium detected at Fukushima

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has detected high levels of a radioactive substance that tends to accumulate in human bones.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it took soil samples on May 9th at 3 locations about 500 meters from the No.1 and No.2 reactors and analyzed them.

The utility detected up to 480 becquerels of radioactive strontium 90 per kilogram of soil. That's about 100 times higher than the maximum reading recorded in Fukushima Prefecture following atmospheric nuclear tests carried out by foreign countries during the Cold War era.

TEPCO reported detecting 2,800 becquerels of strontium 89 per kilogram of soil at the same location. This is the second time since April that radioactive strontium has been found inside the plant compound...


Wednesday, June 01, 2011 02:59 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_h01.html



Rain increases radioactive water at nuke plant

Heavy rain has increased the volume of highly radioactive water building up inside the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Contaminated water already floods the basements of the turbine and reactor buildings, partly due to water injections to cool down the reactor cores.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, now says water levels rose faster on Monday as rain poured inside the badly damaged buildings.

In the basement of the No.1 reactor building, radioactive water rose by 37.6 centimeters during the 24 hours through Tuesday morning. At the No.2 reactor, the level of water rose by 8.6 centimeters in an underground tunnel extending from the building...

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 12:32 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_13.html




TEPCO begins streaming video of Fukushima nuclear plant on homepage

Anyone seeking a peek inside the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant can now check up on the goings on there anytime of the day with a new 24-hour camera feed, available through plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s website.

TEPCO put the feed from the "Fuku-Ichi Live Camera" up on its homepage at 10 a.m. on May 31. The camera is mounted close to the plant's main administrative building, about 250 meters from the No. 1 reactor, and provides views of reactors No. 1 to 4. The video relay will lag about 30 seconds. TEPCO also says it hopes to provide annotations to explain any fires or other serious events captured by the camera.

The video feed can be found at: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110531p2a00m0na001000c.html




Gov't to scrap upper limit of radiation exposure for workers at Fukushima plant


The government has decided to abolish the upper cap of radiation exposure for workers at the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, drawing concern from experts, it has been learned.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare decided to lift the yearly 50-millisievert maximum permissible amount of radiation exposure for workers at the troubled Fukushima plant in the face of the prolonged restoration work at the facility.

The ministry has notified the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) -- Japan's largest labor organization -- of the decision in writing. The ministry will uphold the combined 100-millisievert maximum allowable exposure for workers over a five-year period, inclusive of doses they are exposed to during regular inspections of other nuclear power plants.

The move came after it became likely that workers at the Fukushima plant would not be able to be engaged in regular inspections at other nuclear power generation facilities after their stint at Fukushima. However, experts are voicing concerns over the change of policy, saying it could adversely affect the workers' health...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110530p2a00m0na008000c.html