Fukushima plant seems to be going through a limited version of the China syndrome + many more

[stockholmer]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/ME21Dh02.html

Several decades ago, an American with an active imagination and a twisted sense of geography coined the term “China syndrome” to denote the worst-case scenario for an accident in a nuclear power plant.

The phrase, popularized by a 1979 movie with the same name, refers to the possibility that nuclear fuel turned into red-hot lava could melt its way through the reactor bottom and the Earth’s crust, “all the way down to China”. <...>

he nuclear installation seems to be going through a limited version of the China syndrome since it was damaged in an the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11. <...>

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http://www.news24.jp/articles/2011/05/13/07182670.html

High levels of radioactive material found in Tokyo — 170,000 Bq/kg in slag approaches levels found in Fukushima

translation from : http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/radioactive-sewage-sludge-and-slag-in.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nippon Television’s investigation has revealed that the radioactive materials in very high concentration, 170,000 becquerels per kilogram, had been found in the sewage slag from a sewage treatment facility in Tokyo. <...>

The samples taken at two additional facilities also showed radiation over 100,000 becquerels per kilogram. The slag has already been recycled into cement and other construction materials.

The national government issued a guidance on May 12 as to how to dispose the radioactive sludge and slag in Fukushima Prefecture, which is to burn the sludge and store the burned sludge (slag) in containers. However, there is no such standard for radioactive sewage treatment outside Fukushima Prefecture.

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http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110511-00000032-yonh-kr


Korean TV news director exposed to 148 milliSieverts — Chromosome analysis shows 7 cells out of 1,000 damaged

translation:

Headline: High radiation exposure to news directors returning from Fukushima.

News crews from KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) were sent to Fukushima to cover the earthquake. 1 director received an estimated radiation exposure of 148 milliSieverts who visited Fukushima from 12th to 15th March. A different director who stayed near to Tokyo 15-17th March (doesn’t say how long he was near Fukushima) received an estimated exposure of 103 milliSieverts.

Headline: KBS earthquake coverage from the director of photography, more than permissible exposure limits

New KBS KBS labor union’s national press, according to headquarters from March 15 were examined by the director of photography covering the Tokyo area on the 17th, was estimated radiation exposure of 103 mSv. The analysis of chromosomes, out of 1000 cells, abnormal cells are found 5.

Prior to this, three days taken by the director of radiation exposure (148 mSv) of the cells by 1000, has been diagnosed with seven cells are damaged. <...>

Director of photography covering the Tokyo area were “able to see even more scary. To stay in Japan during the earthquake, rather 恐Kunakatta. But the frightened exposure, become a reality,” he said.

Meanwhile, KBS public relations department said, “These things happened in a very regrettable, to take necessary measures. However, I take for test results and how the position is still cautious. The examination I need to know, “he said.


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http://www.videonews.com/special-report/031040/001889.php

Kyoto U. nuclear professor: Much more serious than I envisioned — We’re in uncharted territory for first time ever since humans started using nuclear power (VIDEO)

translation and commentary:

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/hiroaki-koide-of-kyoto-university-no.html

down the salient points Koide made in the interview:

<...> I believe the Reactor Pressure Vessel has a large hole, not the small holes that TEPCO says. <...> much water has leaked (4,000 tons in the reactor building basement) and yet TEPCO says there’s still pressure inside the RPV. It is impossible, given the structure of the reactor.

We’re in the uncharted territory that we enter for the first time ever since the human race started to use nuclear power. <...>

The Suppression Chamber in the reactor building basement is torus-shaped. The location where the corium may have dropped is the center of the torus, and it is concrete. The thing to worry about is how far down the concrete the corium will go.

The water circulation system using water in the building proposed by TEPCO is tantamount to admitting that the Containment Vessel is broken. It is a much more serious situation than I envisioned, <...>

However, if the corium goes into the concrete, no point in talking about circulating water to cool. There will be nothing you can do. The only way may be to entomb the whole building in a concrete coffin. <...>

There is a possibility of further hydrogen explosion, and it is still possible that Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl in terms of magnitude of the disaster.

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http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/5751562346/decay-heat-in-fukushima-reactors

Report: If fuel melted through reactor, it would react with concrete floor of primary containment — Could add significantly to total radiation release

As we noted last week, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced it believes the fuel in Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1—and possibly reactors 2 and 3—has melted and is sitting in a lump at the bottom of the reactor vessel. But it believes that workers have been able to keep the lump cool enough that it has not melted through the bottom of the reactor.

Such a melt-through is a concern since it would mean that highly radioactive gases released from the melting fuel would be released into the primary containment. Moreover, the molten fuel mass would then react with the concrete floor of the primary containment and create additional radioactive gases. If these are released to the atmosphere, either through venting or a leak in the containment (which could be caused by the molten fuel), it could add significantly to the total radiation released by the accident. <...>

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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110521p2a00m0na021000c.html

Nearly 5,000 nuke plant workers suffering internal radiation exposure after ‘visiting’ Fukushima — Local gov’t to consider testing residents

The government has discovered thousands of cases of workers at nuclear power plants outside Fukushima Prefecture suffering from internal exposure to radiation after they visited the prefecture, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. <...>

The revelation has prompted local municipalities in Fukushima to consider checking residents’ internal exposure to radiation.

Nobuaki Terasaka, head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told the House of Representatives Budget Committee on May 16 that there were a total of 4,956 cases of workers suffering from internal exposure to radiation at nuclear power plants in the country excluding the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and 4,766 of them involved workers originally from Fukushima who had visited the prefecture after the nuclear crisis. <...>

But as of May 16, only about 1,400 workers have gone through checkups — roughly 20 percent of the total number of workers. And only 40 of the workers have had their test results confirmed. <...>
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http://news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/2011/05/fukushima-daiichi-media-gallery-may-22.html

Fukushima Daiichi Media Gallery May 22 - Fukushima Vapors Headed to Tokyo Again

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http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/hiroaki-koide-pressure-not-to-release.html

Testimony: University professor pressured not to release radiation data

In the testimony in the Japan’s Upper House Government Oversight Committee, Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University said there was an outside pressure on him and his colleagues not to release the survey data including the radiation data on March 15.


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http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_18.html

Work to reinforce No.4 reactor building starts soon, hoping done by August — To prevent bottom of spent fuel pool from falling out

Work is beginning on Monday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to reinforce the structure supporting the No.4 reactor’s spent fuel pool.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant’s operator, says the work is necessary to install a cooling system for the stored spent fuel. <...>

TEPCO’s plan calls for building a new concrete structure under the pool to prevent its bottom from falling out. <...>

TEPCO says it hopes to erect the columns next month and complete the reinforcement by the end of July. <...>

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http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/05/22/Japan-reports-more-radiation-leakage/UPI-28701306071295/

Reactor No. 3: ‘Japan reports more radiation leakage’

At least 250 tons of radioactive water spilled into the Pacific Ocean from Japan’s earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, officials said.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the radiated water leaked for 41 hours beginning May 10 from the No. 3 reactor at the site, where four of six reactors were damaged in the magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, Kyodo News reported. <...>

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576338490115734966.html

TEPCO acknowledges ‘vapor’ is still being seen at Reactors No. 2, 3 and 4 spent fuel pools

<...> The troubled utility, known as Tepco, said it plans to build a cooling system with water-circulation pumps and heat-exchange equipment by the end of May at the reactor No. 2 spent-fuel pool, by June at the reactors No. 1 and No. 3 pools, and it plans to have an even more advanced cooling system for the No. 4 reactor pool by July, Tepco official Junichi Matsumoto told a news conference in Tokyo on Sunday.

The reactor No. 4 spent-fuel pool generates more heat than the others, he said, because the rods that have remaining active life are in it. <...>

Mr. Matsumoto said vapor is still seen sometimes from the spent fuel pools at reactors No. 2, 3 and 4, depending on the weather and wind direction of the day. <...>

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http://mainichi.jp/select/weathernews/20110311/nuclear/news/20110521k0000e040037000c.html

Highest Radiation Levels Yet: 1,000 millisieverts/hour (1 Full Sievert/hr) found on debris outside Reactor No. 3

translation:

TEPCO May 21, Outdoors, on the south side of the Unit 3 reactor building the first nuclear power plant in Fukushima announced that the debris was found about 10 mSv of radiation per hour issue. According to TEPCO, this was found in stacked pieces of concrete and paper-like substances in the rubble and was the highest dose outside the plant ever measured. -Kaori Akira Hirano

[nc4bo]

1. Dear God it just keeps giving....

#3 is MOX and 41 tons of MOX water has leaked into the Pacific???????? 1-4 is fubar and uncontrollable and we'll be dealing with this for an extremely long time.

I'm finally at a point where words escape me, nothing to say. Nothing.

ETA - thank you for the heads up Stockholmer.

[Electric Monk]

2. VOA is saying the holding tanks are nearly full, makes no mention of leaking

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1158784

VOA is just propaganda? Say it ain't so!

[thereismore]

3. This is a devastating, bleeding toxic ulcer on the face of the planet and one corporation is in

charge. Not good.

[L0oniX]

4. GE ...we bring good things to life.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Scary. thanks for the update

[suffragette]

6. Thank you for these important updates

K&R

[leveymg]

7. If the concrete were to melt and vaporize, the radioactive silicate particles would be very, very

toxic if inhaled. These nasty little emitters stick in the lungs and aren't soluable, which means the body doesn't wash them out.

Unfortunately, the soil beneath the plant is also mostly sand. As it melted down toward the water table, the molten corium slag would have the same effect on the sand as it would on concrete - release of radioactive silicate particles into the atmosphere. If the corium reached the water-table, these particles would be ejected aloft under high pressure along with salt water steam, which itself contains other very nasty minerals when irradiated, such as calcium, potassium, iodine and cesium that get readily absorbed into the body.

For this same reason, the use of seawater to cool hot reactors, itself, presents a huge public health problem has been barely discussed. Early reports, such as the following NYT article, emphasized the danger of radioactive steam, particularly the toxicity of vaporized seawater exposed to the MOX fuel that has been subsequently confirmed to have burned through the containment vessel in Reactor 3. See, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-reactor.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

The discharge of irradiated seawater coolant would show up as a very high levels of radioactive cesium and iodine, as indeed is the case as has been reported since late March. See, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-26/world/japan.nuclear.disaster_1_nuclear-plant-radioactive-iodine-tokyo-electric-power?_s=PM:WORLD