Meltdown Likely Under Way At Japan Nuclear Reactor

[brahmburgers]

My money's on the cement option.

That will be the eventuality, and not far off in time either.

When the situation is reasonably stabilized, with minimum radiation emissions, probably all reactors will be flattened, and entombed with sand - then covered by cement. It will then be a dead zone for....? ....for roughly 40,000 years. Would you want your kids building sand castles at the beach there?

The average N reactor has a life span of 30 years. The average decommissioning cost of a functioning reactor is just under a billion dollars - though the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estimates it will cost at least £70 billion to decommission the 19 existing sites in the UK. That's about 4 billion US dollars per site.

One Canadian N plant (Quebec) had a decommissioning cost which amounted to $140,000 for each day it was in operation.

source: Wikipedia

....and there are still Thai businessmen who will try to convince us that Thailand needs to go nuclear, and one of their reasons: THE SAVINGS! :lol:

[ronz28]

Consequences of a plutonium reactor meltdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yiCXb1Nhd1o

Previous secret nuclear reactor meltdown cover-ups:

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2011/03/governments-have-been-covering-up.html

[JulianLS]

>> Earlier today, 5 and 6 reactors were at 194 and 152 degrees respectively. Now they are both below 100 degrees C. It looks like they diverted power to cooling the storage pools, and having cooled them, put power back to the reactor cooling system. These units have been running off an single emergency generator (at unit 6) since soon after the quake/tsunami.

Water temp at 2 reactors below boiling point

Tokyo Electric Power Company says cooling functions were restored by Sunday evening for the No.5 and No.6 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Coolant water temperatures have now fallen below 100 degrees Celsius.

The tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11th damaged the emergency diesel generator at the No. 5 reactor, causing the coolant water levels to drop.

The No.5 reactor had been halted for regular inspections when the earthquake and tsunami struck, but nuclear fuel rods had already been placed inside the reactor.

TEPCO restored the cooling functions of the No.5 reactor on Sunday afternoon using the emergency diesel engine generator of the No.6 reactor, which escaped damage from the quake and tsunami.

The cooling function of the No.6 reactor was restored by 7:30 PM.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 23:46 +0900 (JST)

Source: NHK Website

Edited March 20, 2011 by JulianLS

[warfie]

First time I've seen this estimate:

From The Mainichi Daily News

According to TEPCO, the maximum earthquake intensity measured at the plant was 431 gals, lower than the 600 gals that the nuclear plant is required to withstand, on a provisional basis. But the ensuing tsunami, which Nishimaya said was beyond the scope of assumptions in the quake-prone country, is believed to have crippled the cooling functions.

http://mdn.mainichi....0dm064000c.html

I never thought that 431 gals could create such an earthquake when simultaniously in action.

Aren't they through in using different scales every time they come up with something?

depends how the gals are dressed...

[Maestro]

...

According to TEPCO, the maximum earthquake intensity measured at the plant was 431 gals...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110319p2g00m0dm064000c.html

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) is a measure of earthquake acceleration on the ground and an important input parameter for earthquake engineering. Unlike the Richter and moment magnitude scales, it is not a measure of the total energy (magnitude, or size) of an earthquake, but rather how hard the earth shakes in a given geographic area (the intensity).

Unlike the Mercalli intensity scale, which uses personal reports and observations, PGA is measured by instruments, such as accelerographs. It generally correlates well with the Mercalli scale.

Peak ground acceleration can be expressed in g (the acceleration due to Earth's gravity, equivalent to g-force) as either a decimal or percentage; in m/s² (1g=9.81 m/s²⁾; or in Gal, where 1 Gal is equal to 0.01 m/s² (1g=981 Gal).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_ground_acceleration

[Maestro]

The Mainichi news report uses the symbol Gal, named after Galileo Galilei, as a unit of acceleration wrongly. It must be written with a capital G and the plural is Gal, not Gals or gals. It is an obsolete unit of measurement used in the CGS system, which has been superceeded by the currently used SI system.

[jfchandler]

Well gentlemen, I don't want to be too optimistic here... but there are a couple of telling signs on the reactor front this AM:

1. Yesterday, for the first time since the quake, NHK World actually covered a DIFFERENT story in their broadcast, that being the attacks on Libya.

And 2 By this morning, CNN seems to have ended their live streaming feed of NHK World...

Nonetheless, NHK's broadcast stream is still available several different places online, including:

http://live.nicovide...atch/lv43808665

Even so, still tons and tons of real suffering ahead for the Japanese... and we may not even know all of the consequences at this point...

Death toll still rising now to 8450, with at least 15,000 still missing. And last night, NHK reporting the country had more than 2300 EQ shelters in operation and more than 250,000 people in them.

Sad sad stories of people's homes and businesses being washed away, family members lost and missing, people dying in shelters and hospitals due to lack of supplies and medicines... and on and on...

NHK add:

In Miyagi Prefecture, 5,053 deaths have been confirmed, and 3,413 people are missing. Many coastal areas in the prefecture were devastated by the quake and tsunami. Local police say hundreds of bodies have been found on the beaches of Oshika Peninsula.

In Iwate Prefecture, 2,650 people have been confirmed dead and 5,023 people are missing.

In Fukushima Prefecture, 691 deaths have been confirmed and 4,468 people are reported missing.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_03.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

NHK

No gases to be released from No. 3 reactor

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has decided against releasing gases from the overheating No. 3 reactor in an attempt to reduce pressure inside the containment vessel.

TEPCO officials in Fukushima said on Sunday afternoon that pressure within the reactor containment vessel has begun to stabilize, and gases don't need to be released for the time being.

They say they will closely monitor the situation.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced earlier on Sunday that pressure inside the vessel is rising despite efforts to cool the reactor by spraying seawater inside it.

The agency said the pressure must be reduced to protect the containment vessel, which holds radioactive materials inside in the event of an accident.

A release of gases could lead to radioactive substances being released into the environment.

Power company officials in Fukushima also say work to restore electricity to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant by connecting the damaged reactors to external power sources is continuing.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 17:42 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.j...lish/20_23.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

NHK:

[Low] Radiation levels at Haneda and Narita disclosed

Govt. Will Post the Info on Web Sites to Allay Concerns

Japan's transport ministry has started disclosing radiation levels near the 2 international airports in the Tokyo metropolitan area in an effort to dispel unfounded fear.

With a serious situation continuing at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chinese authorities refused to unload cargo on a flight from Japan.

Some foreign carriers have landed flights bound for Narita at Kansai airport in western Japan.

To cope with this situation, the ministry started releasing radiation levels near Tokyo's Haneda airport and Narita airport.

The data are shown on English and Japanese web pages. They also show the distances from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and, for comparison, the amount of radiation the body would receive from a single X-ray.

The website says even if a person was exposed to the radiation levels at the 2 airports for a year, it would be less than one third that received under normal circumstances.

The ministry plans to update the figure twice a day to prevent disruption caused by unjustified fears.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 23:46 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.j...lish/20_32.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

The Japanese govt. is continuing to report daily radiation readings for locations around the 20 and 30 Km evacuation and stay indoors zones surrounding the Fukushima plants.

The latest report from yesterday March 20 shows peak levels declined from the day before. The highest readings remained at the town of Namie, No. 32 on the chart, north and inland from the reactors, though it was down to 110 micro-sievert per hour, down from the mid 100s in the prior days. Among the other some 30 locations listed, only monitoring station No. 33 nearby was above 50 microsievert per hour with a reading of 60.

The daily reports in English are located at this govt. web site..

http://www.mext.go.jp/english/radioactivity_level/detail/1303962.htm

[jfchandler]

The government, in response to concerns from airlines and shippers, also is now reporting radiation levels for its two major airport and sea ports... Here are the latest charts on those...

Here's the ongoing link for the airports reports:

http://www.mlit.go.j...tk7_000003.html

Here's the ongoing link for the ports reports:

http://www.mlit.go.j...fr1_000041.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

Japan Govt. Begins Making Plans to Fund EQ Recovery

NHK:

The scale of the extra budget is expected to exceed the 37 billion dollars allocated for reconstruction projects after the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake.

Monday, March 21, 2011 05:34 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_01.html

[jfchandler]

NHK:

Fukushima Daiichi plant likely to be demolished

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has suggested that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will be demolished.

Edano told a news conference on Sunday that the government cannot make decisive statements without going through the required procedures.

He added that it is not clear if the plant can resume operations, given the state of the reactors.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 17:42 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.j...lish/20_26.html

Jfc note: that's going to add billions to their EQ budget for sure...

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

Japanese Self Defense Forces and Tokyo Fire Department Spraying Water on Reactors 3 and 4

NHK:

Reactor No. 3: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_26.html

Reactor No. 4: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_31.html

[jfchandler]

Monday Update: Work proceeds to lay power cables for final 2 Fukushima reactors

Jfc note: As best as I can tell, they haven't yet actually turned on the cooling systems in any of the No. 1 - 4 reactors, despite making progress on providing an electrical supply.

TOKYO, March 21, Kyodo News Tokyo Electric Power Co. proceeded Monday with work to lay power cables to the two remaining reactors still without electricity at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after fire trucks sprayed water earlier in the day to help cool fuel pools at two other reactors.

External power reached the power-receiving facilities of the No. 2 and No. 5 reactors on Sunday, paving the way for the plant operator to restore their systems to monitor radiation and other data, light the control rooms and cool down the reactors and their spent-fuel storage pools.

But it may take a few more days before the vital cooling system is restored at the No. 2 reactor, whose containment vessel suffered damage in its pressure-suppression chamber, as some parts replacements are needed in the electrical system, according to the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Earlier Monday, Self-Defense Forces fire trucks sprayed water at the No. 4 reactor's spent-fuel pool for the second day, after firefighters poured water at the No. 3 unit, dousing it with over 3,700 tons of water in total since the unprecedented effort to lower the temperature in its fuel tank from outside its damaged building began Thursday.

The government is also preparing SDF tanks to remove rubble from around the reactors that has hampered operations by these trucks by emitting high-level radiation, as well as a truck with a concrete squeeze pump to pour water from a higher point.

After a magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami knocked out power March 11 at the plant on the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture about 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, which were operating at the time of the quake and halted automatically, lost their cooling functions.

Their reactor cores are believed to have partially melted and seawater has been pumped into them to prevent the fuel from staying exposed. A series of blasts have severely damaged their buildings as well as the No. 2 reactor's containment vessel.

Plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, known as MOX, in the No. 3 reactor poses the greatest risk with the threat of releasing highly toxic plutonium in the event of a meltdown. The fuel in the other reactors is uranium.

The remaining No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 units were under maintenance at the time of the earthquake, but the No. 4 reactor is different because some of the fuel was not in the reactor core but in the spent-fuel pool, which also lost its cooling function and lost the roof of its building.

The No. 5 and 6 reactors, which have been relatively less problematic among the plant's six reactors, stopped safely Sunday with the temperature of the water inside falling below 100 C, achieving so-called ''cold shutdown.''

http://english.kyodo...1/03/79868.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

Kan cancels visit to quake-hit area due to bad weather

TOKYO, March 21, Kyodo

Prime Minister Naoto Kan canceled early Monday a half-day visit to one of the areas devastated by the massive earthquake and tsunami earlier this month as well as a base for workers tackling the crisis at the quake-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, due to bad weather, government officials said.

Kan was scheduled to leave his office by helicopter in the early morning to visit Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture to meet people affected by the calamitous earthquake and tsunami that hit the country's northeastern region on March 11.

He had also planned to visit ''J Village,'' a vast soccer training facility about 20 kilometers from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture now being used by firefighters and others responsible for containing the emergency situation there. The plant faces overheating of its reactors and radiation leaks.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says rain is forecast for the area Monday and the government officials say the conditions would make it difficult for the helicopter to land and lift off.

Kan saw the nuclear plant and other affected areas from the air a day after the 9.0 magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami devastated the country's northeast coast.

Since then, the crisis facing the power station has greatly escalated. The government has set an exclusion zone covering areas within a 20-km radius of the plant and has urged people within 20 to 30 km to stay indoors.

http://english.kyodo...1/03/79861.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

NHK:

Radiation detected in water

Japan's health ministry is urging the people of a village in Fukushima Prefecture not to drink the tap water, in which higher levels of radiation were detected on Sunday. The Ministry says, however, that drinking it does not pose any immediate health risk.

Tap water tested at IIdate Village in Fukushima Prefecture showed more than triple the level of radiation allowed by the government.

The health ministry says 965 becquerels of iodine-131 were detected in the water, which is 3.2 times the standard. The legal standard is 300 becquerels per kilogram.

It says residents can use the water for washing and bathing, and that drinking it has no immediate effect on human health.

But as a precaution, the ministry has urged about 3700 residents of the village to avoid drinking the tap water.

On the matter of higher levels of radiation than the legal standard detected in vegetables produced in Gunma, Tochigi, and Chiba prefectures, the health ministry said these are not of levels that could affect one's health immediately.

Monday, March 21, 2011 09:55 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_14.html

And elsewhere:

Kyodo News - Summary of Reactors Status as of Sunday midnight:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79861.html

Kyodo News - Switzerland to Temporarily Move Embassy Out of Tokyo

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79861.html

Kyodo News - Spinach with radiation 27 times higher than limit found in Japan

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79856.html

NEWS ADVISORY: Radioactive substance detected in 'shungiku' leaf vegetable in Chiba

Kyodo News - Gov't eyes public support to quake-hit lenders

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79805.html

[jfchandler]

Excerpted Monday Updates from Reuters:

The world's third-largest economy has suffered an estimated $250 billion of damage, with entire towns in the northeast obliterated in Japan's darkest moment since World War Two.

Easing Japan's gloom briefly, local TV showed one moving survival tale: an 80-year-old woman and her 16-year-old grandson rescued from their damaged home after nine days.

At Fukushima, around 300 engineers were working round-the-clock inside an evacuation zone to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.

Working in suits sealed by duct tape, engineers have managed to re-establish power cables to the No. 1, 2, 5 and 6 reactors and plan to start testing systems soon, officials say.

If the pumps cannot restart, drastic and lengthy measures may be needed like burying the plant in sand and concrete.

http://www.reuters.c...E72A0SS20110321

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

Foreign aid promised for Japan quake zone, but where is it?

Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:21pm EDT

KAMAISHI, Japan (Reuters) - Scores of countries have pledged aid to the victims of Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami, but little of it is visible in many towns and villages devastated by the disaster.

In some areas, as victims return to what remains of their homes, an unorganized and often chaotic array of help awaits them -- from boxes of donated clothes to free pet food, almost all donated by fellow Japanese.

Roads are wrecked in many areas, and there are acute shortages of fuel. And sometimes, people face problems in finding aid shipments.

MORE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-japan-aid-idUSTRE72J4JU20110321

[brahmburgers]

(referring specifically to #3) - Their reactor cores are believed to have partially melted and seawater has been pumped into them to prevent the fuel from staying exposed.

Is that correct - the reactor core of #3 is believed to be partially melted? That's the one with Plutonium. That's serious stuff. Seems to me it could be very hot for a long time. Even with sand and concrete over top, it's a danger spot.

[Jdietz]

Good morning everyone.

I just noticed the Ibaraki radiation level according to SPEEDI http://www.bousai.ne.jp/eng/ doubled overnight to 1151nGy/h (1.1 microSievert/h). Is it raining? Levels have been falling steadily over the last 4 days, but now they're back to the point of around the 17th.

[jfchandler]

Excerpted Monday Updates from Daily Yomiuri

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/

TEPCO said the number of its workers whose radiation exposure exceeded 100 millisieverts increased to seven from six as of 5 a.m. Sunday. The government had raised the upper limit of the radiation exposure for workers at the Fukushima plant from the ordinary 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts as an exceptional measure.

TEPCO was considering using a German-made high-pressure pump capable of spraying water on a distant target with a boom longer than 50 meters, according to TEPCO sources. The pump is used to pour concrete at construction sites.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said at a press conference Saturday night that the utility was considering accepting claims for compensation from people affected by the troubles at the Fukushima No. 1 facility.

The government has started studying ways to temporarily restrict shipments of farm and dairy products from limited areas--an emergency measure to be taken under the Nuclear Disaster Special Measures Law.In particular, the government plans to increase the number of areas and items to be inspected. For instance, the government will check the safety of all leafy vegetables such as spinach and komatsuna from all areas of Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures and raw milk from all producers in Fukushima Prefecture.

About 90 percent of the people known to have died in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture--one of the worst-hit cities in the March 11 disaster--drowned in the tsunami that followed the earthquake, a forensic expert has disclosed.

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

Here's the government's official report for Ibaraki Prefecture... Looks to be for Mito City. It doesn't seem to show that...

http://mextrad.blob....Ibaraki_en.html

But the site you're looking at seems to show dozens of different readings from Ibaraki prefecture, some low... some up to 1+ microsievert per hour.

Good morning everyone.

I just noticed the Ibaraki radiation level according to SPEEDI http://www.bousai.ne.jp/eng/ doubled overnight to 1151nGy/h (1.1 microSievert/h). Is it raining? Levels have been falling steadily over the last 4 days, but now they're back to the point of around the 17th.

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[Jdietz]

Excerpted Monday Updates from Daily Yomiuri

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/

TEPCO said the number of its workers whose radiation exposure exceeded 100 sieverts increased to seven from six as of 5 a.m. Sunday. The government had raised the upper limit of the radiation exposure for workers at the Fukushima plant from the ordinary 100 sieverts to 250 sieverts as an exceptional measure.

They mean milliSievert, everything over 7 Sievert or so is quite deadly, 100 would mean instant incineration.

[Jdietz]

NKH world reporting higher radiation levels due to change in wind and weather, confirming SPEEDI observation.

[jfchandler]

Thanks Jd.. You're right...

I just cut and pasted the clip from the newspaper's site.. So they obviously have it wrong on their web site...

Nonetheless, I went back to the prior post here and corrected it to show "milli"s.

Excerpted Monday Updates from Daily Yomiuri

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/

TEPCO said the number of its workers whose radiation exposure exceeded 100 sieverts increased to seven from six as of 5 a.m. Sunday. The government had raised the upper limit of the radiation exposure for workers at the Fukushima plant from the ordinary 100 sieverts to 250 sieverts as an exceptional measure.

They mean milliSievert, everything over 7 Sievert or so is quite deadly, 100 would mean instant incineration.

[Jdietz]

But the site you're looking at seems to show dozens of different readings from Ibaraki prefecture, some low... some up to 1+ microsievert per hour.

SPEEDI http://www.bousai.ne.jp/eng/ is a live interactive map of the whole of Japan, explains the different readings It is updating its readings several times an hour (I think every 10 minutes) from its monitoring stations, sites 'under survey' are down (not surprisingly as there is no power at Daiichi)

[jfchandler]

Looks like the Ibaraki prefecture report data runs through 6 pm Sunday...

It seems the SPEEDI site is more "real time"

Though it's a bit confusing about the data sets between the two different sources....

I wonder if the real time data is being pulled from the same monitoring sources that is later used for the official daily reports...

The 20 Km reports, like the one I posted here earlier today, seem to be the best source for radiation readings in the areas around Fukushima... Namie at 110 microsievert per hour as of yesterday. Others there in the dozens and up of uSv per hour... A whole lot worse than 1 uSv per hour.

http://www.mext.go.jp/english/radioactivity_level/detail/1303962.htm

NKH world reporting higher radiation levels due to change in wind and weather, confirming SPEEDI observation.

Edited March 21, 2011 by jfchandler

[Jdietz]

Re: the elevated radiation levels:

It is indeed raining, and the wind is quite strong NE according to Google

Weather for Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

7°C | °F

Current: Rain

Wind: NE at 21 km/h

Humidity: 92%

[TheWalkingMan]

SPEEDI http://www.bousai.ne.jp/eng/ is a live interactive map of the whole of Japan, explains the different readings It is updating its readings several times an hour (I think every 10 minutes) from its monitoring stations, sites 'under survey' are down (not surprisingly as there is no power at Daiichi)

Interesting how this system excludes the capital city, Tokyo.

TheWalkingMan