Fukushima nuclear plant on typhoon alert

Fukushima nuclear plant on typhoon alert

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are stepping up precautions in advance of the approaching typhoon.

Typhoon Roke is expected to approach the northern prefecture of Fukushima on Wednesday night. It has already brought a total rainfall of more than 200 millimeters to the area since Tuesday midnight.

Efforts to install steel plates at the plant's water intake area have been halted for fear of storm surges. Strong winds and heavy rain have forced the suspension of work to cover the No. 1 reactor building...

...Tokyo Electric Power Company has confirmed rainwater has flowed into the basement floor of the No. 6 reactor turbine building and that it has found leaks in the roof of the central control room of the No.1 and 2 reactors. But no serious damage to the plant has been discovered...


Wednesday, September 21, 2011 20:27 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/society.html




Typhoon Roke makes landfall in central Japan

Typhoon Roke is moving northeast after making landfall on the Pacific coast of central Japan. The Meteorological Agency is calling for maximum caution against possible mudslides, floods, strong winds and high waves.

The agency says that after making landfall near Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, at around 2 PM, the typhoon was apparently near Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture at 6 PM, heading northeast at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

The storm has an atmospheric pressure of 955 hectopascals and is packing winds of up to 144 kilometers per hour.

Maximum instantaneous winds of up to 155 kilometers per hour were observed in Hachioji City, Tokyo, 151 kilometers per hour on Izu-oshima Island, south of Tokyo 125 kilometers in Yokohama City at about 4 PM...

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_24.html



Gov't warns of partial collapse of landslide dams in Nara, Wakayama prefectures

The government is calling for the Nara and Wakayama prefectural governments and local bodies to take precautions following signs that two landslide dams in the prefectures created by Typhoon No. 12 may have partially collapsed.

"It's possible there've been partial breaches or overflows," a representative of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Kinki Regional Development Bureau said. Collapse of the dams could lead to significant flooding.

One of the dams, located in Gojo, Nara Prefecture, has a maximum capacity of 550 cubic meters of water, making it the second-biggest of 17 landslide dams formed in the two prefectures. The water level had been steadily rising due to rain that fell from Sept. 20, and as of 10:10 a.m. on Sept. 21, the water level was 1.33 meters from the top of the dam. However, the water level then sank by 1.12 meters in one hour, suggesting part of the dam had collapsed.

Another dam in the Kumano district of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, is believed to have overflowed on Sept. 20. Over a 1 1/2-hour period from 9:50 a.m. on Sept. 21, the water level fell by 42 centimeters. About one kilometer downstream from the dam, a sensor designed to warn of landslides was activated and a siren sounded. Officials said the water level in the river had risen but no landslides had been confirmed...

(Mainichi Japan) September 21, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110921p2a00m0na019000c.html



Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2011

Storm prompts Toyota, MHI to halt Aichi plants
Kyodo

NAGOYA — Typhoon Roke forced Toyota Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to temporarily suspend operations Wednesday at their plants in Aichi Prefecture, officials of the two companies said.

Toyota suspended operations at 11 of its 12 plants in Aichi, including the Tsutsumi and Tahara plants that assemble auto bodies, in the evening to ensure the safety of night-shift employees.

The remaining Teiho plant was not scheduled to operate in the evening and was therefore excluded from the emergency step, the automaker said.

The suspension at Toyota plants affected the operations of subsidiaries and subcontractors...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110921x2.html




Expert urges checks of reactor interiors

An expert commenting on the accelerated plan to contain the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the interior temperatures of the damaged reactors need to be checked.

Masanori Naitoh, director in charge of nuclear safety analysis at the Institute of Applied Energy, was speaking to NHK about the revised timetable for bringing the plant under control.

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company updated on Tuesday their preparations to achieve a cold shutdown by the end of this year instead of in January as originally planned. Cold shutdown means temperatures of the reactors are kept stable and below 100 degrees Celsius.

Naitoh said that TEPCO is now only measuring temperatures outside the reactors. But he said that it needs to be confirmed through simulation that temperatures inside have fallen below 100 degrees...

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_10.html

That's a relief. Maybe after the typhoon, TEPCO can send in some radiation-proof robots with a video camera. Then, they can get a better picture of the situation. From the outside, things are a mess.



In all seriousness and with all sincerity: Thank you for keeping us informed, robdogbucky!