February 1, 2012

Feb 1, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Two more frozen pipe leaks have been discovered by TEPCO at Fukushima Daiichi. The total leakage from the two is estimated at about 30 liters. This makes a total of 16 frozen pipe and component leaks since last Friday. All of the leaked waters were from the “purified” portions of their systems, thus no radioactive releases have occurred. None of the water from the 16 leaks has found its way to the sea. Since insulating the metallic pipes has not completely stopped the leakage problems, TEPCO will replace all metal piping with polyethylene covered in insulation. Poly is believed to be less susceptible to freeze/thaw cycles. (Japan Times)
  • Mayor Yuko Endo of Kawauchi Village has announced his intent to repopulate the town in April. He presented his plan to Fukushima governor Yuhei Sato on Tuesday. Specifically, he plans on re-opening village offices, schools and child-care center by April to support those who come back. The central government plans to allow residents to begin returning home at some point in March. Last September, some of the village was declared safe for residents to return due to extremely low contamination levels and a radiation field indistinguishable from natural background. Only about 200 people have actually returned, which is about 7% of those who could have. Those reluctant to return say they want all utilities to be operating (e.g. water, garbage disposal, and etc.) before they go home. Others say there are no jobs, as yet. Still others say they won’t return until all contamination has been removed, no matter how little might be the case. Kawauchi is one of nine municipalities inside the 20km radius where former-P.M. Kan forced wholesale evacuation while disregarding computer projections on contamination pathways. (NHK World)
  • The Tokyo government plans on decontaminating three closed sections of a no-go zone’s expressway beginning in March. One section has a radiation field below 20 millisieverts per year, the second between 20 and 50 millisieverts, and the third greater than 50 millisieverts. Effectiveness of highway pavement decontamination will be tested according to the three radiation field categories. This will give the responsible Ministries a good idea of the effectiveness of decontamination with lowering annual projected doses in the three radiological categories. (JAIF)
  • Two upgraded robots are ready for use at Fukushima Daiichi. Their upgrades are based on the experiences with the first robot in June, which became hopelessly entangled in its power cable. The first robot could only take radiation measurements and provide video imagery. The upgraded versions will have 10x longer power cables, the ability to disentangle themselves and each other, mutual WiFi capability should either power cable be damaged, six independent drive belts for debris climbing and traversing stairs, upgraded radiation monitors and 3D scanners. The robots are on schedule for deployment in March. (JAIF)
  • The International atomic Energy Agency has endorsed Japan’s stress test methodology. IAEA’s team leader James Lyons submitted a preliminary report to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency’s Director General, Hiroyuki Fukano, on Tuesday. It says NISA’s assessment of procedures carried out by nuclear utilities is appropriate. The report also lists 11 suggestions for stress test improvements including the need to better communicate with local communities. (NHK World) The report does not, however, endorse the restart of any idled reactors. It is a general overview of the program and does not delve into individual power plant data or what it might mean. Critics say it would be wrong to base restart decisions on stress test data alone. One IAEA team member mentioned that NISA should lay down firm restart criteria as soon as possible and stick to it. (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • Two Japanese nuclear safety advisors have slammed the IAEA stress test endorsement. Masashi Goto, former nuclear power plant designer, and Hiromitsu Ino, emeritus professor at University of Tokyo, say the IAEA stress test confirmation is little more than a process rubberstamp. “The calculations are all based on ideal scenarios: ‘If this piece of equipment breaks, then will another kick in?’” asked Ino who then continued, “It doesn’t look at complex scenarios, such as system-wide failure due to the aging of the plant, or human error.” He called the tests an “optimistic desk simulation”. According to Goto the scenarios for the two disasters the tests simulate are insufficient because they do not assess other potential causes of accidents such as fires, plane crashes, tornadoes or lightning. In response, James Lyons, head of the IAEA delegation, emphasized that the mission was to refine the review of the stress tests, not to change their criteria. “What we saw was a process that we felt comfortable with,” he said at a news conference, “We were looking to provide suggestions on how they could improve the process but that doesn’t call into question the adequacy of the original.” (Asahi Shimbun)
  • The Prime Minister’s cabinet has approved a two-pronged nuclear energy bill. One part endorses the proposed legislative limit of an operating license for nukes “40 years from the day [it] passes an inspection.” A 20 year extension is possible as long as all regulatory mandates are met. The second endorsement is for a new nuclear regulatory body to replace NISA entitled “nuclear regulatory agency, completely independent of all current Ministry controls over NISA. The new agency will include a nuclear safety investigation committee to monitor the operation of nuclear reactors and investigate accidents during  a nuclear crisis. The bill also calls for more stringent safety standards, but no specifics on what the new standards might entail is mentioned. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
  • The Siemens Corporation in Germany has estimated the cost of replacing all of their nukes with renewables. It’s staggering at more than $1.8 trillion dollars (USD) over the next 20 years, which is more than the gross domestic product of Brazil! Siemens removed themselves from the nuclear business last September and now focusses on a wide range of power-industry technology including wind turbines, concentrated solar power, hydro and fossil fuels. However, their report says short term emphasis should be placed on completing current fossil-fuel construction projects which will increase Germany’s CO2 emissions to 370 million tons annually…making it the largest greenhouse gas polluter on the Continent. It should be noted that much of Siemens’ current nuclear technology business is fully adaptable to fossil fuel construction, which the company has unabashedly made public. (World Nuclear News)