chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

Guess that is what happens when you are bombarded with killer earthquakes and tsunamis. I have not read an analysis lately, but that is pretty tough. I still find no reason to stop building nuclear plants. The total amount of radiation released is still about 10% of chernobyl.

Edit: Upon further investigation jason, the article constructed by the well known nuclear engineer Tyler Durden, who also made the fight club, is amazing. Why post speculative articles by people who know nothing, instead of trusting the people that make math Nerdery and nuculur reasearch their business. I like the decades long never ending hydrogen explosion that will happen when the core melts through the ground water. Hell It could melt all the way back here. Were dooooooomed.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

chicksdigmiatas violated the first rule of Fight Club.

Eating contaminated seaweed will give you radioactive ---- leakage.

The sky is falling.

I learned more reading this thread than any of the news readers or copy writers on TV news will ever know about the subject. I would like to thank the contributors that brought forth the truth as well as those who are illogically frightened by speculators who understand even less than they do.

jacob300zx

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85295.html

TEPCO confirms damage to part of No. 4 unit's spent nuke fuel
TOKYO, April 14, Kyodo

Some of the spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the No. 4 reactor building of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant were confirmed to be damaged, but most of them are believed to be in sound condition, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday.

The firm known as TEPCO said its analysis of a 400-milliliter water sample taken Tuesday from the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool revealed the damage to some fuel rods in such a pool for the first time, as it detected higher-than-usual levels of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137.

The No. 4 reactor, halted for a regular inspection before last month's earthquake and tsunami disaster, had all of its 1,331 spent fuel rods and 204 unused fuel rods stored in the pool for the maintenance work and the fuel was feared to have sustained damage from overheating.

The cooling period for 548 of the 1,331 rods was shorter than that for others and the volume of decay heat emitted from the fuel in the No. 4 unit pool is larger compared with pools at other reactor buildings.

According to TEPCO, radioactive iodine-131 amounting to 220 becquerels per cubic centimeter, cesium-134 of 88 becquerels and cesium-137 of 93 becquerels were detected in the pool water. Those substances are generated by nuclear fission.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the confirmed radioactive materials were up to 100,000 times higher than normal but that the higher readings may have also been caused by the pouring of rainwater containing much radioactivity or particles of radiation-emitting rubble in the pool.

The roof and the upper walls of the No. 4 reactor building have been blown away by a hydrogen explosion and damaged by fires since the disaster struck the plant. The water level in the spent fuel pool is believed to have temporarily dropped.

TEPCO said the fuel rods may have also been damaged by steel frames that fell into the pool in addition to overheating caused by the loss of cooling functions after the twin disasters.

The utility plans to examine the condition of the plant's reactor buildings by deploying a small unmanned helicopter to see whether it is possible to extract spent fuel from pools.

The nuclear agency said now that the condition of the No. 4 unit pool is partially known, workers can better prepare for recovery works there.

Earlier in the day, the government's nuclear regulatory agency ordered TEPCO to check the quake resistance of reactor buildings at the Fukushima plant, which have been rocked by strong aftershocks from the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that wrecked the site and triggered tsunami on March 11.

The agency told the utility to immediately examine the buildings and consider reinforcement work if they are judged as not sufficiently quakeproof.

In addition to the No. 4 unit, the Nos. 1 and 3 reactor buildings have also been severely damaged by hydrogen explosions in the early days of the crisis.

''As strong aftershocks occur almost daily, we have to consider what will happen to buildings already damaged by blasts,'' said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear agency.

He acknowledged the difficulties involved in the work to reinforce the quake resistance of the buildings, where radiation levels are high, but said, ''We must devise some ways.'' The agency urged TEPCO to report back to it on the matter as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Yoko Komiyama, senior vice minister of health, labor and welfare, said Wednesday at a Diet session that a total of 22 workers at the plant have been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts as of early Wednesday and that the highest level of exposure among them is 198.24 millisieverts.

Exposure to 100 millisieverts is the permissible level for nuclear plant workers dealing with an emergency, but the limit has been raised to 250 millisieverts for the ongoing crisis.

Workers continued Wednesday to remove highly radioactive water in the plant as part of efforts to put an end to the emergency, which is now acknowledged as one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

TEPCO had pumped out 700 tons of highly polluted water by Wednesday evening from an underground tunnel-like trench to a ''condenser,'' where in normal operations steam from the reactor is converted into water.

Eventually, the operator plans to remove a total of 60,000 tons of contaminated water, found in the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings as well as the trenches connected to them, and to store it in nearby tanks and other areas.

As a result of the operation, the level of highly radioactive water that had been filling up the trench connected to the No. 2 reactor's turbine building was lowered. Nishiyama said it will likely take several weeks before the tainted water removal operation ends.

The highly toxic water is believed to originate from the No. 2 reactor's core, where fuel rods have partially melted. The water, which has also affected other parts of the plant, is hampering efforts to restore the reactors' key cooling functions, lost in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The nuclear agency also said TEPCO has installed three steel sheets near a seawater intake for the No. 2 reactor and set up ''silt fence'' curtain barriers near intakes for the Nos. 3-4 reactors at the six-reactor plant to block the spread of radioactive substances in water.

Massive amounts of water have been poured into the reactors and their spent nuclear fuel pools as a stopgap measure to cool them down at the Fukushima plant.

But pools of contaminated water have been detected in various parts of the nuclear complex on the Pacific coast, with some water leaking into the sea, as an apparent side effect of the emergency measure. TEPCO successfully stopped the leak of highly radioactive water from a cracked pit on April 6.

==Kyodo

Quality Control Bot

iTrader: (3)

jacob300zx

Wow, thanks for the update Rick.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

Video of the tsunami boat before they parked it on that building

Dust

Don't know if I want to read this entire thread. The last two pages seem missing of the side effects of earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear problems. Displaced families, non radioactive food that people won't buy simply because of the name on the box it came in, and the economical realities that come from it. People in Ibaraki, where I am at, can't sell vegetables because people don't think that it is safe. A Geiger counter is now a necessary tool in selling vegetables.

3liter914-6

iTrader: (1)

Sad, but not unexpected with TEPCO's history of coverups and the governments history in this crisis and others of not being entirely forthcoming about the severity of the situation. It's hard to trust anything you hear and not worth the risk, when you can just avoid buying from Tohoku completely. Hopefully things will get straightened out quickly so that those affected aren't dealt the double blow of natural and financial disasters.

Dust

Ibaraki is not Tohoku, it's Kanto, same as Tokyo.

3liter914-6

iTrader: (1)

C'mon, you're gonna be that gaijin? I spent a year at Tsukuba Daigaku, so you might say that I have some idea where Ibaraki is...

90% of Americans would be hard pressed to name two cities in Japan, and right now they're probably Tokyo or Kyoto and Fukushima, let alone two prefectures, or two regions. So yeah, I used Tohoku as shorthand for the affected areas around Fukushima, including Ibaraki. Even though it's part of the Kanto plain, it does share a border with Fukushima and being downwind of the reactors, outside of Fukushima pref. itself has been the hardest hit by radiation and the associated phobias.

With radioactive spinach found in its fields, and radioactive fish off its shore, it's unfortunate for Ibaraki AND Tohoku's economy, but it's understandable why people outside of Ibaraki AND Tohoku's might be inclined to play it safe and avoid having to worry about whether they're getting the whole truth about what's safe. While I logically understand that the produce is safe to eat, no matter how many cucumbers I see that 釣りバカ guy chowing down on, I'm probably not gonna take a chance.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

oh yeah oh yeah? I was just over at a friend's place... she used to work for TEPCO.

...

she was towing the company line even two jobs later when all this went down. she's an american raised in america but lived overseas.

Dust

The fact that I am still here, and rooting for/defending Ibaraki shows that I am about as 変な外人 as they come. Tsukubadai? I work with two teachers from Tsukubadai. I truly hope you aren't as cocky as they are. No offense meant to you by that. Ibaraki was hit hard by earthquakes and the tsunamis, but gets ignored by relief efforts, and by shoppers because it is close to Fukushima. Ibaraki farmers took their goods, and Geiger counters to Tokyo to see what they could sell.　 Supermarkets include the mSv of vegetables from Ibaraki. It was really cheap for about a month after the earthquake. Maybe people learned that their fears were unfounded.
がんばっぺ茨城

Quality Control Bot

iTrader: (3)

jacob300zx

Copied:

Following up on earlier reports that the fuel rods in reactor 1 were truly exposed, NHK now reports another speculation from long ago, finally confirmed by official sources, namely that the reactor is now melting down. NHK reports that "Tokyo Electric Power Company says the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is believed to be in a state of "meltdown". The utility company said on Thursday that most of the fuel rods are likely to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor. Earlier in the day, it found that the coolant water in the reactor is at a level which would completely expose nuclear fuel rods if they were in their normal position." And from Reuters: "The finding makes it likely that at one point in the immediate wake of the disaster the 4-meter-high stack of uranium-rich rods at the core of the reactor had been entirely exposed to the air." Had been, or are? At this rate of admissions (we claimed precisely this happened in March) the next thing we might get a confirmation of from official sources is that there is actual recriticality going on. Which, of course, will be used by the market as another excuse to BTFD, as under central planning everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, and in the meantime, if we recall correctly, the cores of reactors 2 and 3 have also melted down. But Bernanke will just kiss them and make them better.

And more:

The company believes the melted fuel has cooled down, judging from the reactor's surface temperature.

But it suspects the meltdown created a hole or holes in the bottom of the reactor causing water to leak into the containment vessel.

It also suspects the water is leaking into the reactor building.

The company is planning to fully fill the containment vessel with water by increasing the amount injected.

The company says, however, it must review the plan in light of the latest finding.

And this from Reuters:

One of the reactors at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday.

The disclosure by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is the latest indication that the disaster was worse than previously disclosed, making it more difficult to stabilize the plant.

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been pumping water into at least three of the six reactors on the site to bring their nuclear fuel rods to a "cold shutdown" state by January.

But after repairing a gauge in the No. 1 reactor earlier this week, TEPCO discovered that the water level in the pressure vessel that contains its uranium fuel rods had dropped about 5 meters (16 ft) below the targeted level to cover the fuel under normal operating conditions.

"There must be a large leak," Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility told a news conference.

"The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged...the pressure vessel itself and created a hole," he added.

The finding makes it likely that at one point in the immediate wake of the disaster the 4-meter-high stack of uranium-rich rods at the core of the reactor had been entirely exposed to the air, he said. Boiling water reactors like those at Fukushima rely on water as both a coolant and a barrier to radiation.

U.S. nuclear experts said that the company may have to build a concrete wall around the unit because of the breach, and that this could now take years.

"If it is assumed the fuel did melt through the reactor, then the most likely solution is to encapsulate the entire unit. This may include constructing a concrete wall around the unit and building a protective cover over it," W. Gene Corley, senior vice president of CTL Group in Skokie, Illinois, said on Thursday.

"Because of the high radiation that would be present if this has happened, the construction will take many months and may stretch into years," Corley said.

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associate, who many have called an insane crackpot, has gotten the recognition he deserves:

TEPCO should consider digging a trench around reactors 1-3 all the way down to the bedrock, which is about 50 feet below the surface, said Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates Inc of Burlington, Vermont, who once worked on reactors of similar design to the Fukushima plant.

He said this should be filled with zeolite, which can absorb radioactive cesium to stop more poisons from leaking into the groundwater around the plant.

The truth is that the situation is getting worse, not better, with each passing day:

"TEPCO seems to be going backwards in getting the situation under control and things may well be slowly eroding with all the units having problems," said Tom Clements with Friends of the Earth, a U.S.-based environmental group.

"At this point, TEPCO still finds itself in unchartered waters and is not able to carry out any plan to get the situation under control," he said.

Matsumoto said the utility would study whether to increase the amount of water it was injecting to overcome the leak and raise the level of water covering the fuel, at the risk of allowing more radioactive water to leak out of the facility.

Nearly 10,400 tonnes of water has been pumped into the reactor so far, but it is unclear where the leaked water has been going. The high radiation levels makes it difficult for workers to check the site, Matsumoto said.

Brilliant: and all the newly pumped water is about to seep either into the groundwater or the ocean.

As usual, we urge any Japanese readers who live in proximity to the reactor to study the immediate plume dispersion forecast:

jacob300zx

trip post fail

jacob300zx

^

jacob300zx

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...ve-melted.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said fuel in other reactors at its damaged nuclear plant may have melted, after confirming rods in the No. 1 unit had fallen from their assembly, potentially delaying plans to resolve the crisis.

“The findings at the No. 1 reactor indicate the likelihood that the water level readings in the other reactors aren’t accurate,” Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as Tepco, said today. “It could be that a meltdown similar to that in the No. 1 reactor has occurred.”

Moody’s Japan K.K. cut Tepco’s credit ratings and put it on review for further possible downgrade after today’s news. Tepco has been struggling to cool reactors and stop radiation leaks to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. The discovery that fuels rods melted within 16 hours of power being knocked out means it’s unlikely Tepco can meet its timetable for containing the leaks, a nuclear engineering professor said.

“Tepco didn’t clearly indicate how much uncertainty and potential negative scenarios were factored into the road map,” said Hironobu Unesaki at Kyoto University. “I don’t think they gathered enough data before coming up with the plan.”

Tepco fell 7.3 percent today to 420 yen in Tokyo. The shares are down about 80 percent since the March 11 quake and tsunami struck, leaving more than 24,000 people dead or missing.

Ratings Downgrade
Moody’s cut senior secured rating by one step to Baa2 from Baa1 and long-term issuer rating to Baa3 from Baa1, saying that damage at the plant appears worse than previously indicated. The agency cut its short-term rating for commercial paper to Not Prime from Prime-2. It was the third downgrade since the disaster.

Standard & Poor’s cut Tepco’s credit rating for a third time on May 13, to BBB from BBB+. Tepco has 6.99 trillion yen ($86.5 billion) of debt, making it the nation’s second-largest corporate borrower among members of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, behind Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Bloomberg data show.

The operator of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant said earlier it believes 35 percent of the rods of reactor No. 2 melted after cooling systems failed and 30 percent of those in the No. 3 unit. An announcement on the status of the two reactors will be made later, Matsumoto said, without giving a time frame.

Progress Update
The fuel in the No. 1 reactor started melting about 4 1/2 hours after the magnitude-9 earthquake hit on March 11 when the water level in the reactor core vessel fell below the base of the assembly, Tepco said yesterday.

The temperatures in the core rose to about 2,800 degrees Celsius (5,072 degrees Fahrenheit), the melting point of fuel rods, after emergency cooling was knocked out by the tsunami that hit the plant about 45 minutes after the quake, the company said.

By 6:50 a.m. on March 12, “most of the core” had melted and fallen to the base of the vessel, Tepco said.

Engineers established the extent of the damage after fixing gauges in the reactor No. 1 building last week. The building was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 12. Tepco said water from the reactor has leaked out through the outer chamber and has filled the building’s basement to a depth of 4.2 meters (14 feet).

Release ‘Unlikely’
The melted fuel has cooled because enough water has accumulated in the bottom of the inner vessel after being pumped in, Tepco said. A “large-scale release of radioactive materials is unlikely,” the statement said.

Fukushima’s No. 1 reactor may have been damaged in the earthquake before the tsunami hit, Kyodo News reported yesterday. Japan’s nuclear safety commission has said the damage that caused the meltdown was done by the tsunami, according to Kyodo.

“We currently haven’t been able to confirm this,” Matsumoto said today when asked about the report. “In a few days, when the data is in, we’ll know more.”

The company tomorrow plans to provide an update on its progress and revisions to the plan for bringing the damaged reactors and spent fuel pools at Fukushima into a stable state.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said there’s no need to change Tepco’s timetable.

Cold Shutdown
“In terms of achieving cold-shutdown status within six to nine months, I believe we should be able to proceed without changing the timeframe,” Kan said today in parliament. The government will also provide a schedule for ending the crisis, Kan said.

Tepco on April 17 set out a so-called road map to end the crisis in six to nine months. The utility said it expects to achieve a sustained drop in radiation levels at the plant within three months, followed by a cold shutdown, where core reactor temperatures fall below 100 degrees Celsius.

The company expects to meet its timetable, President Masataka Shimizu said in parliament today. He said the risks of more hydrogen explosions and leaks of contaminated water remain at the plant. Shimizu was responding to a question on what risks are incorporated in the road map.

The utility has made initial payments of 1 million yen to 10,000 households, Shimizu told lawmakers. The company has received claims from 50,000 households forced to evacuate areas around the nuclear plant that is about 220 kilometers (137 miles) north of Tokyo.

“We plan to begin provisional compensation payments for those who run agricultural, forestry and fishery businesses by the end of May,” Shimizu said. “We’d like to start discussions with related organizations immediately.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Michio Nakayama in Tokyo at

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105170428.html

Meltdowns also likely occurred at No. 2, No. 3 reactors of Fukushima plant

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, Jake's a little behind the curve right now. Hard to keep fanning the flames when nothing dramatic is happening.

Core damage estimates at Unit 1 have varied from 55% to 70%, Unit 2 from 30% to 35%, and unit 3 from 25 to 30%, and that's old news.

No major changes in status here since April, other than radiation reports continuing to decrease in the surrounding area. The last recommended restriction on drinking water was lifted on May 10.

jacob300zx

Thats the pot calling the kettle black. What we have is the public being lulled into complacency. It's human nature to turn something shocking into the norm over time, and it doesn't take long. I'm just posting updates, you can keep up with your "nothing to see here" stabs but the situation for Japan is still grim. The manufacturing/financial aspect I alluded to months ago is starting to rear its head. I'm good friends with some guys out at HP in Houston and they are fixing to run out of hard drives due to a small part only being manufactured in Japan. Thats just one example of thousands that are happening.