October 10, 2012

Oct 10, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has begun new surveys inside the massive Primary Containment (PCV) of Fukushima Daiichi unit #1. Tepco began the internal PCV investigation two weeks ago by “punching” through thick metal plates blocking the piping penetration they planned to use for the inspection. Last weekend, a camera was inserted through the opening which gave everyone our first look at the annulus between the PCV wall and the reactor pressure vessel’s supporting concrete pedestal. Another camera was inserted on Tuesday which provided better images than the previous cloudy/murky video footage. One clear image shows the water level below the floor grating, which allowed Tepco to estimate its depth at about 2.8 meters (~3 feet). (http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/2012/201210-e/121010-01e.html) Tepco also plans to take liquid samples from the water that has accumulated in the bottom of the annulus. The water sample will be carefully analyzed for radioactive material content which could provide a clearer understanding of what kind of damage the fuel core experienced. (Kyodo News)
  • A two-day conference on disaster risk management is being held the city of Sendai, capital of Miyagi Prefecture, located near the tsunami-devastated coast. More than 19,000 people were killed when the massive waves of 3/11/11 struck. Sendai was picked by the event organizers, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, because it is located near the worst of the tsunami’s impact. “I hope to share with people in the world our country’s experiences from the disaster,” Japan’s reconstruction minister Tatsuo Hirano said in his keynote speech. He added that even Japan, one of the world’s best-prepared for tsunami protection, could not fully disaster-proof itself. “There is no such word as ‘absolute’ in disaster prevention terms,” Hirano said,“The tsunami warning predicted the height of the tsunami as three meters, but the actual tsunami measured nearly 20 meters in some places, easily overcoming defenses. We have to learn how to react to situations beyond our expectations.” Sendai mayor Emiko Okuyama told the conference that urban areas were unpredictably vulnerable. The mayor lamented that a greater-than-expected influx of tourists and commuters had strained the existing population evacuation system. Some local residents, however, took the conference as an opportunity to voice their displeasure with the government. A Sendai woman, who lost a relative and her house in the tsunami, said, “I feel like our community is far from being reconstructed. When parliamentary debates come on the television, I switch it off in anger. Politicians just want to show how important they are but they don’t do their job. The support measures they offer are too little, so we constantly worry about our future.” (Japan Today)
  • The posted minutes of Fukushima Prefecture’s initial disaster recovery meetings have brought new “cover-up” allegations. The first through third meeting’s notes are about 10 pages long, each. The meetings of all subsequent meetings run between 20 and 30 pages. In addition, minutes of the first three meetings were not posted during the year following their being held. In April of this year, a Koriyama resident noticed the first three sets of minutes were missing and filed for them under freedom of information law. The official who was assigned the job of compiling the minutes had to hastily put them together from his personal notes. This occurred at the same time Tokyo was under fire for failing to post the minutes of their meetings immediately following the Great East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami of 3/11/11. The Fukushima official says, “The first three meetings were in chaos. I knew I would have to compile the minutes but later forgot to do so.” However, Yukiko Miki, a freedom of information activist, isn’t buying the official’s explanation, arguing that the official could have created the posted minutes to promote his own “advantage”. He feels this new development makes the Tokyo failure to post minutes pale in comparison, “It’s even worse than the national government’s failure to compile minutes on meetings on the Great East Japan Earthquake.” There are also allegations that the prefecture held “secret” preparatory meetings to coordinate views among the panel members prior to the meetings themselves. (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • A Japanese news show (My Game News Flash) has sent ripples through the nation’s Press. Using carefully-edited clips from the nearly 160 hours of released video recorded by Tepco between March 11 and March 16, 2011, it seems that Tepco-Tokyo’s communications with F. Daiichi manager Yoshida were muddled and frustrating. Many news outlets have expressed outrage at what was shown. One segment covering March 13th is causing concern. It shows Yoshida pleading with Tepco-Tokyo to get his people some batteries so they could open the electrically-energized valves needed to depressurize units 2&3. Due to the mandated evacuation out to 20 kilometers, the nearest hardware store was more than six hours away in Iwate, and because the region’s electrical grid was down they would need cash to buy the batteries. The Fukushima emergency team asked for Tokyo to lend them the money, which they eventually did. However, the store in Iwate was closed due to the quake/tsunami, so Tokyo said they would go to a home-improvement store in Tokyo and send them the batteries the next day. The TV narrator then said, “It’s unbelievable that they would go shopping for supplies at a home center during the worst nuclear disaster in the world.” (Japan Today)