One guy remained inside 10 km from Fukushima power plant

One guy who remain in "Namie-Machi(Namie-town, 10 km from Fukushima Power plant) wrote at 2ch (Japan's huge anonymous forum).

"I'm remained in Namie. Recently I'm experience headache and nosebleed when awake. Human doesn't easily die... My only food is rice. I dodged police inspection with motorcycle then gathered foodstuff. My saving money remains about 3,500,000 yen(about 42,000 USD). With unemployment pension, I expect i can sustain for a while. I dunno what is first that my saved money run out, or my body run out..."

"Domoko and AU (japanese mobile phone operators) are dead. Surprisingly iPhone still works well. It's really great item."

"I don't needs marriage(he means, kind of social interaction or family thing), so I'll fade out like this. I hate TEPCO. They destroy my hardly obtaind freedom. Even i've acquired own job! Darn."

"For washing, i'm using boiled river water. Water supply remains used to cooking(steaming rice), and for drinking i'm buy beverage (maybe from automat)."

"Well, I want to die. LOL Namie's air are very dangeous. If you jogging here, you'll blackout."

"Once I thoughts evacuation, but i can't live long without my house... This is my life, so i can decision my self, isn't it? Nobody grieve for me."

"Certainly, my mom still alive."

"Here's some robbery... doubtful trucks came in the town constantly."

"My home address will wrote when I allmost dead. Still i'm employee of my company, so I don't want trouble them. Whatever, I'm headachy, center of forehead?"

"Sorry, I said to my company and twitter i'm evacuated."

He upload some pictures of Namie for verify.

http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuY5qzmAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuY6azmAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuY7KzmAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuY6rTmAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuYqqXmAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...0403205628.jpg

"Yesterday water service returned, now i can easily use water. Doubtful trucks and thieves are scarce now, but some people and company workers came in here and packing there stuff."

"Water returned, now I can eat curry (maybe retort instant curry)."

He also upload pictures of abandoned dogs.

http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuYi_7lAww.jpg
http://blog-imgs-34-origin.fc2.com/n...zuYuJ3mAww.jpg

Here's achive of the thread and news link.
http://news020.blog13.fc2.com/blog-entry-1411.html
http://rocketnews24.com/?p=84812

View the original article here

A First Person's Narrative 'I Was Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant When The Quake Hit'

The BBC has released a dramatic recollection of events at ground zero when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. The source is an unnamed maintenance worker who witnessed and experienced events in real time. Below is his story.

When the massive earthquake occurred it was a little before three o'clock in the afternoon.

The 31-year-old, who runs a turbine maintenance company subcontracted to work at the plant, was doing a regular check-up of the turbine in the No 5 reactor when the quake hit.

"Heavy machinery, cranes were shaking above our heads. After about three minutes all the electricity went out," he told the BBC World Service.

"The shaking went on for about five minutes, and it was very strong.

"I shouted out my colleagues' names and used a torch to try and check that everyone was okay."

The earth started shaking again and they all ran outside.

When it was confirmed that everyone was safe, workers were given permission to go back home to their families.

He got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could.

"I knew there was a tsunami coming," he said. "I saw the warning on the TV in my car, about 20 minutes after the first quake."

However, he said, the scale of it was totally unexpected.

"Although the shaking was very strong, I did not predict the scale of the tsunami, I didn't imagine the power station would be damaged in the way it was."

The man says workers were well aware that the plant, commissioned in the 1970s, was relatively old.

"But even knowing that I did not think the plant would fall into a situation like this.

"If it was only the quake, I think the situation would not so bad. But because of the tsunami, things like the emergency switches were destroyed."

Once he realised that the nuclear plant had been damaged, the worker says his first priority was to warn his family and friends.

"I knew that radiation affected people's health badly, and as soon as I knew that the radiation was leaking, I told my family and friends to escape immediately, as far away as possible," he said.

But, he said, he would go back to work at the plant if he could.

"If it was possible, I would go back and work there. But we cannot do anything. The people working at the site now are expert workers from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)," he said.

"We want to go back and help the people working to manage the situation, to stop it getting worse. We cannot go back no matter how much we want to. It's frustrating, but we just cannot help them."

Highly polluted

He says he is aware there are health risks for those working inside the plant.

"The situation is changing day by day. If they asked me to go back now, I realise there is a degree of risk."

The worker says although he is prepared to go back inside the plant, he would not let his employees work there.

"I am a boss of a company, and I cannot send in my workers knowing that the site is highly polluted."

Despite the disaster unfolding at the plant, he says he doesn't blame Tepco, the company that runs it.

"Although the situation is not good, they are working really hard to minimise the damage. It's nobody's fault, it's not Tepco's fault. They are doing their best to minimise the damage."

Although he is currently staying with friends in Chiba prefecture, well beyond the current 20km exclusion zone, his house is only 3km from the reactor.

He says he wants to go back home.

"If possible I want to go back. There are a lot of memories there. I guess it's a common feeling for all people, to feel sad when you cannot go back to the home where you grew up.

"I think if this disaster happened in another country, people would feel the same as we do."

View the original article here

A First Person's Narrative 'I Was Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant When The Quake Hit'

The BBC has released a dramatic recollection of events at ground zero when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. The source is an unnamed maintenance worker who witnessed and experienced events in real time. Below is his story.

When the massive earthquake occurred it was a little before three o'clock in the afternoon.

The 31-year-old, who runs a turbine maintenance company subcontracted to work at the plant, was doing a regular check-up of the turbine in the No 5 reactor when the quake hit.

"Heavy machinery, cranes were shaking above our heads. After about three minutes all the electricity went out," he told the BBC World Service.

"The shaking went on for about five minutes, and it was very strong.

"I shouted out my colleagues' names and used a torch to try and check that everyone was okay."

The earth started shaking again and they all ran outside.

When it was confirmed that everyone was safe, workers were given permission to go back home to their families.

He got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could.

"I knew there was a tsunami coming," he said. "I saw the warning on the TV in my car, about 20 minutes after the first quake."

However, he said, the scale of it was totally unexpected.

"Although the shaking was very strong, I did not predict the scale of the tsunami, I didn't imagine the power station would be damaged in the way it was."

The man says workers were well aware that the plant, commissioned in the 1970s, was relatively old.

"But even knowing that I did not think the plant would fall into a situation like this.

"If it was only the quake, I think the situation would not so bad. But because of the tsunami, things like the emergency switches were destroyed."

Once he realised that the nuclear plant had been damaged, the worker says his first priority was to warn his family and friends.

"I knew that radiation affected people's health badly, and as soon as I knew that the radiation was leaking, I told my family and friends to escape immediately, as far away as possible," he said.

But, he said, he would go back to work at the plant if he could.

"If it was possible, I would go back and work there. But we cannot do anything. The people working at the site now are expert workers from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)," he said.

"We want to go back and help the people working to manage the situation, to stop it getting worse. We cannot go back no matter how much we want to. It's frustrating, but we just cannot help them."

Highly polluted

He says he is aware there are health risks for those working inside the plant.

"The situation is changing day by day. If they asked me to go back now, I realise there is a degree of risk."

The worker says although he is prepared to go back inside the plant, he would not let his employees work there.

"I am a boss of a company, and I cannot send in my workers knowing that the site is highly polluted."

Despite the disaster unfolding at the plant, he says he doesn't blame Tepco, the company that runs it.

"Although the situation is not good, they are working really hard to minimise the damage. It's nobody's fault, it's not Tepco's fault. They are doing their best to minimise the damage."

Although he is currently staying with friends in Chiba prefecture, well beyond the current 20km exclusion zone, his house is only 3km from the reactor.

He says he wants to go back home.

"If possible I want to go back. There are a lot of memories there. I guess it's a common feeling for all people, to feel sad when you cannot go back to the home where you grew up.

"I think if this disaster happened in another country, people would feel the same as we do."

View the original article here

Radiation Fears Mount Despite Partial Restoration Of Power At Japanese Nuclear Plant

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 20.03.2011 14:02

Workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have managed to reconnected power to the facility's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, a step they hope will soon allow them to restart the plant's cooling system and avert a wider nuclear disaster.

The power is crucial to attempts by engineers to cool down all six reactors at the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged facility and limit further leaks of radiation.

The operator of the nuclear plant warned that it may take several days for power to be restored at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.

The partial restoration of power came with fears mounting of the deadly spread of radiation, which has already been detected in tap water in Tokyo, crops in the region that houses the Fukushima plant, and Japanese beans exported to Taiwan.

More than 8,000 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, with 12,000 still missing. More than 250,000 people are staying in evacuation centers after the tsunami wiped away entire communities along the northern Japanese shore.

How Bad Is It?

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Japanese capital on March 20 to criticize their government for failing to prevent a crisis at the Fukushima plant after the quake hit.

One of the protest organizers, Takashi Misumi, said authorities have failed to acknowledge the true scope of the disaster and called for Japan to abandon its nuclear energy program immediately.

"The government has no intention of stopping its nuclear operations. It says this will never happen again," Misumi told Reuters. "I want to appeal to the world and say that this is very dangerous."

Japan's race to avert a full-scale meltdown at the Fukushima plant has sparked fresh concerns worldwide about the safety of nuclear power.

Those fears are now likely to rise even higher, as radiation contamination has been detected in vegetables, dust, and water near the nuclear zone.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, told a press conference that traces of radiation had been detected in two prefectures near the Fukushima plant.

Edano said the government is considering whether to ban the sale of food items, like spinach and milk, produced in the region.

"We will continue investigating the situation and analyzing what research needs to be done. We will decide by tomorrow [March 21] whether we need to impose restrictions on consumption in a specific region or whether we need to restrict the output of food products."

The news has come to a blow to the region's farmers, who stand to lose their entire harvest.

Much In Doubt

The Japanese government has been careful not to portray the power restoration at the Fukushima plan as a certain success.

It took 300 engineers braving high radiation levels to connect power to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, which will aid attempts to cool down the reactor and limit the leak of radiation. The facility contains six reactors, three of which were up and running when the country's largest recorded earthquake struck.

Edano said the efforts were "showing some effect" but added that the government "was not in a position to be able to say anything" more about whether a nuclear crisis has been averted.

Both Japanese and foreign visitors have sought to leave Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami, which has caused widespread power outages and required massive rescue and reconstruction operations.

An 80-year-old woman and a teenage boy were rescued from the wreckage of a house in northeastern Japan a full nine days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that set off the catastrophe.

An official from the Taiwanese radiation watchdog said the amount of radiation detected on a batch of Japanese fava beans sent on March 18 was well below Taiwan's legal limit and was not harmful to human health. He did not know where in Japan the beans originated.

compiled from news agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/power_back_ japan_reactor_nuclear_crisis/2344059.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

View the original article here

Radiation Fears Mount Despite Partial Restoration Of Power At Japanese Nuclear Plant

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 20.03.2011 14:02

Workers at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have managed to reconnected power to the facility's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, a step they hope will soon allow them to restart the plant's cooling system and avert a wider nuclear disaster.

The power is crucial to attempts by engineers to cool down all six reactors at the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged facility and limit further leaks of radiation.

The operator of the nuclear plant warned that it may take several days for power to be restored at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.

The partial restoration of power came with fears mounting of the deadly spread of radiation, which has already been detected in tap water in Tokyo, crops in the region that houses the Fukushima plant, and Japanese beans exported to Taiwan.

More than 8,000 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, with 12,000 still missing. More than 250,000 people are staying in evacuation centers after the tsunami wiped away entire communities along the northern Japanese shore.

How Bad Is It?

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Japanese capital on March 20 to criticize their government for failing to prevent a crisis at the Fukushima plant after the quake hit.

One of the protest organizers, Takashi Misumi, said authorities have failed to acknowledge the true scope of the disaster and called for Japan to abandon its nuclear energy program immediately.

"The government has no intention of stopping its nuclear operations. It says this will never happen again," Misumi told Reuters. "I want to appeal to the world and say that this is very dangerous."

Japan's race to avert a full-scale meltdown at the Fukushima plant has sparked fresh concerns worldwide about the safety of nuclear power.

Those fears are now likely to rise even higher, as radiation contamination has been detected in vegetables, dust, and water near the nuclear zone.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, told a press conference that traces of radiation had been detected in two prefectures near the Fukushima plant.

Edano said the government is considering whether to ban the sale of food items, like spinach and milk, produced in the region.

"We will continue investigating the situation and analyzing what research needs to be done. We will decide by tomorrow [March 21] whether we need to impose restrictions on consumption in a specific region or whether we need to restrict the output of food products."

The news has come to a blow to the region's farmers, who stand to lose their entire harvest.

Much In Doubt

The Japanese government has been careful not to portray the power restoration at the Fukushima plan as a certain success.

It took 300 engineers braving high radiation levels to connect power to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, which will aid attempts to cool down the reactor and limit the leak of radiation. The facility contains six reactors, three of which were up and running when the country's largest recorded earthquake struck.

Edano said the efforts were "showing some effect" but added that the government "was not in a position to be able to say anything" more about whether a nuclear crisis has been averted.

Both Japanese and foreign visitors have sought to leave Japan in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami, which has caused widespread power outages and required massive rescue and reconstruction operations.

An 80-year-old woman and a teenage boy were rescued from the wreckage of a house in northeastern Japan a full nine days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that set off the catastrophe.

An official from the Taiwanese radiation watchdog said the amount of radiation detected on a batch of Japanese fava beans sent on March 18 was well below Taiwan's legal limit and was not harmful to human health. He did not know where in Japan the beans originated.

compiled from news agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/power_back_ japan_reactor_nuclear_crisis/2344059.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

View the original article here

Union Of Concerned Scientists Releases Report On US Nuclear Plant Safety, Finds NRC Oversight Weakness At Indian Point NPP

From a just released report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, focusing on US Nuclear Power Plant oversight by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Many of the serious safety or security lapses at U.S. nuclear power plants in 2010 happened because plant owners — and often the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) — failed to address known safety problems.” And something potentially concerning to Buchanan, NY residents where Indian Point NPP is located: “the NRC did not always serve the public well in 2010. This report analyzes serious safety problems at Peach Bottom, Indian Point, and Vermont Yankee that the NRC overlooked or dismissed. At Indian Point, for example, the NRC discovered that the liner of a refueling cavity at Unit 2 has been leaking since at least 1993. By allowing this reactor to continue operating with equipment that cannot perform its only safety function, the NRC is putting people living around Indian Point at elevated and undue risk.” The report’s conclusion: “when the NRC tolerates unresolved safety problems — as it did last year at Peach Bottom, Indian Point, and Vermont Yankee — this lax oversight allows that risk to rise. The more owners sweep safety problems under the rug and the longer safety problems remain uncorrected, the higher the risk climbs.”

Indian Point section from the report:

The Indian Point nuclear plant in New York features two pressurized water reactors (PWRs). To refuel a PWR, workers flood the refueling cavity with water, which allows them to remove irradiated fuel assemblies from the reactor core and replace them with fresh fuel assemblies. The water both removes decay heat from the irradiated fuel assemblies and shields the radiation they emit, protecting the workers.

The Final Safety Analysis Reports (FSARs) submitted by the plant owner with the application for an operating license for Unit 2 stated that the refueling cavity was “designed to withstand the anticipated earthquake loadings,” and that “the liner prevents leakage in the event the reinforced concrete develops cracks.” When the NRC issued the operating license for Unit 2, the leakage prevention function of the liner for the refueling cavity became part of the licensing basis. However, NRC inspectors at Indian Point recently found that the liner has been leaking 2 to 20 gallons per minute since at least 1993 (NRC 2010v), and that the plant owner has not yet delivered on repeated promises to fix the leak. That means the device installed to prevent leakage after an earthquake is leaking before an earthquake even occurs. The liner has no other safety function. Yet NRC managers have dismissed the longstanding problem, noting that the refueling cavity leaks only when it is filled with water (NRC 2010o).

[more...]

View the original article here

Underground information on what’s happening at Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan – a dirty bomb waiting to go off

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) NaturalNews has received information directly from an American who happened to be in Tokyo at the time of the nuclear incident and who also happens to have a background in atomic energy and nuclear reactors. He has sent us some extremely disturbing information that seems to indicate the situation with the reactors in Japan is far, far worse than what the conventional media is describing. We are not releasing this individual’s name for obvious reasons (he’s still in Tokyo and virtually unreachable), but he is an individual who is known to me personally and with whom I have spent a considerable number of hours over a period of two years. He is a very high-integrity individual and someone who is also extremely well connected in the world of advanced medicine.

In an email sent from Tokyo, this individual explains:

“…nuclear reactors use bundles of enriched uranium packed into stainless steel fuel rods in order to generate the heat that drives the turbines. You need to keep these bundles of pins cool otherwise they melt or burst.

Now, it seems the Fukushima power plant pulled spent fuel bundles (a collection of fuel rods) and stored them on site rather than shipping them to another location. Speculation is that in addition to the fires that are damaging the working reactor, these storage areas of their spent fuel bundles could [now] be on fire. This vastly compounds the problem of any meltdown, as this spent fuel will add to the contamination [because] it is extremely toxic.

[more...]

View the original article here

Underground information on what’s happening at Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan – a dirty bomb waiting to go off

by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) NaturalNews has received information directly from an American who happened to be in Tokyo at the time of the nuclear incident and who also happens to have a background in atomic energy and nuclear reactors. He has sent us some extremely disturbing information that seems to indicate the situation with the reactors in Japan is far, far worse than what the conventional media is describing. We are not releasing this individual’s name for obvious reasons (he’s still in Tokyo and virtually unreachable), but he is an individual who is known to me personally and with whom I have spent a considerable number of hours over a period of two years. He is a very high-integrity individual and someone who is also extremely well connected in the world of advanced medicine.

In an email sent from Tokyo, this individual explains:

“…nuclear reactors use bundles of enriched uranium packed into stainless steel fuel rods in order to generate the heat that drives the turbines. You need to keep these bundles of pins cool otherwise they melt or burst.

Now, it seems the Fukushima power plant pulled spent fuel bundles (a collection of fuel rods) and stored them on site rather than shipping them to another location. Speculation is that in addition to the fires that are damaging the working reactor, these storage areas of their spent fuel bundles could [now] be on fire. This vastly compounds the problem of any meltdown, as this spent fuel will add to the contamination [because] it is extremely toxic.

[more...]

View the original article here

Anatomy of Japan’s Nuclear Plant Meltdown

In the 1979 movie “The China Syndrome” a nuclear reactor experiences a meltdown of it’s core.

In this hypothetical scenario, nuclear material located within a containment building reaches a temperature beyond a manageable capacity. As the temperatures increase, the reactor melts and burns through the foundation of the power plant and into the crust of the earth.

The idea behind the term “China Syndrome” is that once the nuclear material generates heat beyond 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, it could continue to burn itself all the way through the earth, to the other side of the planet, stopping at China.

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has 6 “Boiling Water” reactors that were completed in the late 70's. In fact, the plant that has reached a critical place of possible meltdown was designed by the United States.

The basic structure of the facility in which the nuclear material is housed, is encased in a core of six-inch thick solid stainless steel containment structure that is pill-shaped. Inside this structure are several hundred fuel rods assemblies. Each Assembly has about one hundred fuel rods constructed of Zirconium Alloy.  These fuel rods have within them, pellets of Uranium that have been enriched from three to five percent of the energy producing U-235 Isotope.

The following description and illustrations depict what happened so far at Fukushima, and what we may expect to happen in the future:

The Fukushima Nuclear power plant in Japan uses a facility called a “Boiling Water Reactor”. (1) Two thirds of the reactor is filled with water. (2) Below the water is a section of Nuclear fuel rods made from Uranium. (3) As the Uranium fuel rods generate heat, water begins to boil and produces steam that is piped into a turbine that is spun. (4) Electricity is generated.

In the case of the Fukushima plant, when the earthquake occurred, ironically electrical power to the plant was disrupted. Even the generator backups failed to operate. (1)  Water flow to the reactor is cutoff. As more water is heated and turned into steam, there is less water in the reactor. When this happens: (2) The water level begins to drop until the nuclear fuel rods are exposed.

As the water level continues to drop, the temperature within the reactor goes from a normal temperature of about 2,000 degrees to 4,000 degrees. At this temperature the fuel rod’s protective coating is destroyed and the rods react with the uranium or plutonium fuel. Nuclear meltdown is imminent.

The first possible scenario (1) is that the massive heat inside the core of the reactor will burn through the bottom of the reactor and sink into the crust of the earth. As the core comes in contact with the water reservoirs beneath the plant, it will release radioactive material. The second scenario (2) is that the reactor vessel will reach such a great pressure that it will explode through the 6-inch solid stainless steel containment casing, causing massive amounts of Radioactive material to escape into the atmosphere.

As you can see, the crisis began because of a decrease in the water supplied to the plant. This was due to the electricity being cut off by the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Even the Generator backup system failed. Ironically, the power plant that produces electricity, cannot itself survive unless electricity is supplied to it.

As soon as the earthquake occurred, the Fukushima reactors went into automatic shutdown. When shutdown begins, specially constructed neutron absorbing fuel rods called “Control Rods” are inserted in between the uranium fuel rod assemblies, stopping the nuclear reaction that causes heat.

The problem with the Fukushima plant is that although the nuclear reaction was halted, the nuclear fuel that was already burning, creates completely new products that themselves generate a tremendous amount of heat by radioactive decay. There is no way to stop this heat from being generated except by the introduction of cool sea water.

When the sea water cannot reach the nuclear containment structure, the ensuing scenario of Fukushima takes place.

Seeking to release some of the pressure within the containment structure, the plant operators released into the atmosphere, the Hydrogen gas that had been built up inside. The cause of this buildup of pressure is the Zirconium alloy in the fuel rod assemblies. The Zirconium that lines the fuel rod assemblies, has most likely melted due to the massive increase in temperature inside the plant. When Zirconium reaches about 4,000 degrees and comes in contact with water, it created Hydrogen gas that is highly combustible.

The explosion and complete destruction of the concrete retainment building at Fukushima was due to the buildup of this highly volatile Hydrogen gas being ignited.

At this point we know that the Zirconium lined fuel cells have melted. The Uranium and Plutonium pellets inside the fuel cells have fallen out into the floor of the pressure vessel. The next stage is a complete meltdown of the core

If enough of these Uranium and Plutonium pellets are released inside the reactor, the plant will reach “Critical Mass” and begin producing uncontrolled heat that would lead to Nuclear Meltdown.

At this moment, the plant operators are filling the structure with Boronic Acid that has the effect of neutralizing the neutrons produced by the Uranium and Plutonium pellets. This could slow the nuclear reaction of the facility and reduce the temperature. Many experts do not believe that this is possible now, considering the advanced stage of the nuclear process.

One of the techniques that is being deployed in the two reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear station is to pump cool sea water into the reactor core. The normal coolant used to maintain the proper temperature inside the reactor is not salt water. The implementation of sea water means that the owners of the plant have basically decided that the plant is beyond commercial redemption. Once sea water is pumped into the reactor, it virtually renders the nuclear core useless to ever again produce power. The good news is that the immediate use of cool sea water seems to have saved the nuclear core from completing the meltdown process.

If the pumping of sea water into the reactor does not succeed, there is no way to turn off the process that has already begun at the plant. If the heat continues to build up, it will be impossible to stop the tragic effects. Unless the material from inside the plant can be removed, there is no hope of stopping the current process and prevent an unimaginable Nuclear accident.

Rob Robinson

View the original article here

US pulls ships, aircraft from Japan nuke plant

TOKYO –  The U.S. Seventh Fleet says it has moved its ships and aircraft away from a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant after discovering low-level radioactive contamination.

The fleet said Monday that the radiation was from a plume of smoke and steam released from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The plant has been hit by two explosions since Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) offshore when its instruments detected the radiation. But the fleet says the dose of radiation was about the same as one month’s normal exposure to natural background radiation in the environment.

Posted in New, News | No Comments »

View the original article here

World Nuclear News Forensic Analysis Of Events At Fukushima Nuclear Plant

With much conflicting and biased news coming out of the mainstream media in its perfectly explainable attempt to prevent panic among the population, the World Nuclear News has released the best and most objective analysis of the events that have transpired and that have yet to transpire at Fukushima we have read to date.

Reactor overview:

Fukushima Daiichi

Unit 1
- 439 MWe BWR, 1971
- Automatically shut down
- Water level decreasing
- Pressure release implemented
- Explosion observed 

- Containment believed intact
- Seawater injection has started
- Radiation levels unchanged after
explosion

Unit 2
- 760 MWe BWR, 1974
- Automatically shut down
- Water level lower but steady
- Preparations for pressure release

Unit 3
- 760 MWe BWR, 1976
- Automatically shut down
- Preparations for pressure release

Unit 4
- 760 MWe BWR, 1978
- Shut for periodic inspection

Unit 5
- 760 MWe BWR, 1978
- Shut for periodic inspection

Unit 6
- 1067 MWe BWR, 1979
- Shut for periodic inspection
Fukushima Daini 

Unit 1

- 1067 MWe BWR, 1982
- Automatically shut down
- Offsite power available
- Water level stable
- Preparations for pressure release

Unit 2
- 1067 MWe BWR, 1984
- Automatically shut down
- Offsite power available
- Water level stable
- Preparations for pressure release

Unit 3
- 1067 MWe BWR, 1985
- Automatically shut down
- Offsite power available
- Water level stable
- Preparations for pressure release

Unit 4
- 1067 MWe BWR, 1987
- Automatically shut down
- Offsite power available
- Water level stable
- Preparations for pressure release

From World Nuclear News.

Attention is focused on the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants as Japan struggles to cope in the aftermath of its worst earthquake in recorded history. An explosion has been seen at the site and seawater is now being injected to the plant. 

Three of Fukushima Daiichi's six reactors were in operation when yesterday's quake hit, at which point they shut down automatically and commenced removal of residual heat with the help of emergency diesel generators. These suddenly stopped about an hour later, and this has been put down to tsunami flooding by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The loss of the diesels led the plant owners Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to immediately notify the government of a technical emergency situation, which allows officials to take additional precautionary measures.

For many hours the primary focus of work at the site was to connect enough portable power modules to fully replace the diesels and enable the full operation of cooling systems.

Pressure and releases

Without enough power for cooling systems, decay heat from the reactor cores of units 1, 2 and 3 has gradually reduced coolant water levels through evaporation. The consequent increase in pressure in the coolant circuit can be managed via pressure release valves. However, this leads to an increase in pressure within the reactor building containment. Tepco has said that the pressure within the containment of Fukushima Daiichi 1 has reached around 840 kPa, compared to reference levels of 400 kPa.

The company has decided to manage this "for those units that cannot confirm certain levels of water injection" by means of a controlled release of air and water vapour to the atmosphere. Because this water has been through the reactor core, this would inevitably mean a certain release of radiation. The IAEA said this would be filtered to retain radiation within the containment. Tepco has confirmed it was in the process of relieving pressure at unit 1 while preparing to do the same for units 2 and 3

Explosion

Television cameras trained on the plant captured a dramatic explosion surrounding unit 1 at around 6pm. Amid a visible pressure release and a cloud of dust it was not possible to know the extent of the damage. The external building structure does not act as the containment, which is an airtight engineered boundary within. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano appeared on television to clarify that the explosion had damaged the walls and roof of the reactor building but had not compromised the containment. 

Monitoring of Fukushima Daiichi 1 had previously shown an increase in radiation levels detected emerging from the plant via routes such as the exhaust stack and the discharge canal. Tepco have said that the amount of radioactive material such as iodine it is detecting have been increasing. The amount of radiation at the site boundary now exceeds a regulatory limit triggering another set of emergency precautions.

To protect the public from potential health effects of radioactive isotopes of iodine that could potentially be released, authorities are preparing to distribute tablets of non-radioactive potassium-iodide. This is quickly taken up by the body and its presence prevents the take-up of iodine should people be exposed to it.

The injection of seawater into the building started at 8.20pm and this will be followed by addition of boric acid, which is used to inhibit nuclear reactions.

Over the last several hours evacuation orders for local residents have been incrementally increased and now cover people living within 20 kilometres of the power plant.

Raised temperatures  

Meanwhile at adjacent Fukushima Daini, where four reactors have been shut down safely since the earthquake hit, Tepco has notified government of another emergency status. 

Unit 1's reactor core isolation cooling system had been operating normally, and this was later supplemented by a separate make-up water condensate system. However, the latter was lost at 5.32am local time when its suppression chamber reached 100ºC. This led Tepco to notify government of another technical emergency situation. 

Tepco has announced it has decided to prepare for controlled releases to ease pressure in the containments of all four units at Fukushima Daini.  

A three kilometre evacuation is in progress, with residents in a zone out to ten kilometres given notice of potential expansion.

Workers

A seriously injured worker was trapped within Fukushima Daiichi unit 1 in the crane operating console of the exhaust stack and is now confirmed to have died. Four workers were injured by the explosion at the same reactor and have been taken to hospital. A contractor was found unconscious and taken to hospital.

Two workers of a 'cooperative firm' were injured, said Tepco; one with a broken bone.

At Fukushima Daiini unit 3 one worker received a radiation dose of 106 mSv. This is comparable to levels deemed acceptable in emergency situations by some national nuclear safety regulators.

The whereabout of two Tepco workers remains unkonwn.

h/t Themos Mitsos

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