And not because of the heat....
"Steam at Fukushima causes worry" by Hiroko Tabuchi | New York Times, July 19, 2013
TOKYO — The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant stood ready Thursday to inject boric acid into one of its most heavily damaged reactors after it found steam emanating from the reactor building. The preventive measure would stave off sustained nuclear reactions in the reactor’s damaged core, though officials stressed that such reactions were a remote possibility.
The thing is still melting down after all this time, despite talk of a cold shutdown and its relegation to the back burner of the ma$$ media.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. stressed that it continued to safely cool the reactor core and that vital temperature and radiation readings were stable. It said it had not detected any signs of criticality or sustained nuclear reactions. But Tokyo Electric said it had halted all work to remove debris from the top floors of the reactor building, also as a precaution.
After all the lies they have told they expect us to believe this so their is no panic, right?
The incident has brought the Fukushima plant’s vulnerable state into sharp relief, more than two years after its reactors had multiple meltdowns when its cooling systems were overwhelmed by an earthquake and tsunami.
Remote camera footage Thursday showed steam escaping from the No. 3 reactor’s primary containment structure, which houses its fuel vessel, according to Tokyo Electric. A worker who checked the footage Thursday noticed the steam, said Hiroki Kawamata, a spokesman for the operator.
Kawamata said officials were unsure what was generating the steam, and hypothesized that rainwater seeping into the containment vessel may have turned to vapor because of elevated temperatures there.
So not only is water leaking out, it is also leaking in.
Extremely high levels of radiation in the now roofless upper sections of the No. 3 reactor building — which was severely damaged in a hydrogen explosion that rocked the reactor during the early days of the 2011 disaster — make it too dangerous for workers to approach. Remotely operated cranes are used to remove debris from the site.
Video seemed to show less steam Thursday evening, and after sundown it became too dark to accurately check for vapor, said Masayuki Ono, acting general manager of Tokyo Electric’s nuclear power.
Yeah, every thing is cool now.
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"Nuclear plant contaminating ocean, regulator says" by Mari Yamaguchi | Associated Press, July 11, 2013
TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that the crippled Fukushima power plant is probably leaking contaminated water into the ocean, a problem long suspected by experts but denied by the plant’s operator....
Well, you know. Some forms of denial call for harsh responses and condemnations, and other$.... oh, well.
Tokyo Electric spokesman Noriyuki Imaizumi said the increase in cesium levels in monitoring well water samples does not necessarily mean contaminated water from the plant is leaking to the ocean.
Well, where else could it have come from?
Tokyo Electric was running another test on water samples and suspects earlier spikes might have been caused by cesium-laced dust slipping into the samples, he said. But he said Tokyo Electric is open to the watchdog’s suggestions to take safety steps.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant was ravaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and has since struggled with leaks of water used to cool the reactors, hampering decommissioning efforts.
Marine biologists have warned of the possibility of continuous leak of radioactive water into the sea via an underground water system, citing high levels of radioactivity in fish samples taken near the plant.
That's happening and been happening, plus they are dumping the cooling water they are spraying on the reactors 24/7 because they have no more room to store it.
Since May, Tokyo Electric has reported spikes in cesium levels in underground water collected from a coastal observation pit, while the water-soluble element strontium showed high levels in seawater samples taken in areas off the coast of the plant. The firm says most of the contamination has been there since the 2011 accident.
Tokyo Electric has said it has detected ‘‘no significant impact’’ on the environment....
(Blog editor's chin drops to chest and body slumps)
Watchdog chairman Shunichi Tanaka said he thinks that the seawater contamination has been occurring since the accident, but that it was worst early in the crisis.
‘‘What’s most important is to minimize the leak to the outside and reduce the impact on the human society,’’ he said.
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Related:
Finally, a Post About Fukushima
Slow Saturday Special: California Nuclear Plant Closed
Slow Saturday Special: Globe Leaks Galore
EU proposes tougher nuclear rules
"Masao Yoshida; directed Fukushima disaster efforts" by Hiroko Tabuchi | New York Times, July 14, 2013
TOKYO — Masao Yoshida, a nuclear engineer who took charge of the Fukushima Dai’ichi power plant two years ago as multiple reactors spiraled out of control after a tsunami, but who ultimately failed to prevent the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, died here Tuesday. He was 58.
The cause was cancer, said the Fukushima plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company.
I suppose there is some poetic irony in there somewhere.
Mr. Yoshida had been chief manager at Fukushima Dai’ichi for just nine months when a massive earthquake generated a tsunami that inundated the site March 11, 2011, knocking out vital cooling systems to the plant’s six reactors. Eventually hydrogen explosions and fuel meltdowns occurred at three reactors, releasing vast amounts of radioactive matter into the environment.
This is why nuclear is just no good. Too bad we wasted all that money on war, and what we did give to develop alternatives was stolen in the form of tax breaks to Google, Goldman Sachs, et al.
Although the company was widely criticized for its handling of the disaster, which forced more than 100,000 people from their homes, Mr. Yoshida won praise for his effort to minimize the damage.
He has been faulted, however, for failing to invest in adequate tsunami walls at the company’s nuclear power plants when he was head of nuclear facilities. Mr. Yoshida later apologized to reporters, saying he had been “too lax” in his assumptions of how big a tsunami could be.
Mr. Yoshida took a leave from Tokyo Electric in late 2011 after receiving a diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Experts have said his illness was not a result of radiation exposure from the accident. He leaves his wife, Yoko, and three sons.
Yeah, whatever.
When the tsunami hit, Mr. Yoshida took command from inside a fortified bunker at the plant. In video footage of the command room released by Tokyo Electric last year, Mr. Yoshida can be seen at times pushing his workers to hook up water hoses or procure fuel, at times tearfully apologizing to teams he sent out to check on the stricken reactors.
At one point, he ignores orders that he is told come from Prime Minister Naoto Kan to stop injecting seawater into one of the reactors, a last-ditch measure by plant workers to try to cool it. (Kan later denied that he had given such orders.)
Mr. Yoshida later offers to lead a “suicide mission” with other older officials to try pumping water into another reactor but is dissuaded. And as officials warn that core meltdowns have most likely started, he directs men to leave the reactors but stays put in the bunker. Mr. Yoshida later said that the thought of abandoning the plant never occurred to him.
Masao Yoshida was born on Feb. 17, 1955, in Osaka, Japan. He studied nuclear engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and joined Tokyo Electric after graduate school.
He worked his way up through the company’s nuclear power division, overseeing its nuclear facilities from 2007 until being appointed chief of Fukushima Dai’ichi in June 2010.
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Also see:
Researchers in Japan make rudimentary human livers
That reminds me, time for lunch.
First impressions of Japan — meaningful or cliché?
Hope this post leaves a lasting impression on you.
