May 3, 2013

May 3, 2013 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tokyo’s new Fukushima accident investigative committee met on Wednesday. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority panel will look at open items from last year’s congressional NAIIC report. First, they will study whether or not the pre-tsunami earthquake started the accident at F. Daiichi. The NAIIC said there was no evidence to prove the quake did not result in major equipment damage with unit #1 before the tsunami hit. NAIIC members continue to say that inspections so far have not been comprehensive enough to resolve the issue. The second item concerns the extent of melting the three damaged reactor vessels and the current location of the fuel that melted.  The third item is establishing exact pathways for radioactive material out of the containment structures and into the outer environment. To date, visual examinations inside and outside the structures have not identified any sources of the leaks. The NAIIC report left these issues open because high in-plant radiation levels would not allow experts to go inside and investigate. They insist that only comprehensive visual inspection by independent experts will provide concrete answers. The first item of business is the water leak reported by a few plant workers in unit #1, which they say occurred before the tsunami hit. Tepco says the cause was quake-caused water sloshing from the fifth-story spent fuel pool which trickled down air conditioning ducts connected to the fourth floor below the pool. The NRA wants to know if the water actually came from SFP sloshing, the air conditioning system being damaged by the quake, or a temblor-caused leak from a reactor cooling system. Over all, the panel says they need to identify weaknesses and shortcomings in the reactors and containment vessels that contributed to the crisis. (NHK World)
  • Traces of Tritium have been found in F. Daiichi groundwater. Tokyo Electric Company says 2 of the eight new sampling “wells” installed on the sea-side of the power station contain the radioactive isotope. The concentration of Tritium is 3.8 Becquerels per milliliter, roughly 20 times less than Japan’s limit for water in the environment. Since the samples from the two “wells” contain no other detectible radioactive isotopes, the Tritium could not have come from the underground wastewater storage reservoirs. In addition, there is no trace of sea-salt in the groundwater, adding further proof that the Tritium is not coming from the reservoirs. Tepco says it’s more likely to be residual from the leaks that occurred for several months after 3/11/11. (NHK World)
  • Tepco is installing new storage tanks for radioactive brine at F. Daiichi. The brine comes from the desalination system that is removing the sea-salt from the waters in the basements of the four damaged units. Desalination occurs in tandem with Cesium isotopic removal. There will be 120 tanks installed at the site with a total capacity of 4,000 metric tons. Because of the recent Press and political hoopla over minor leaks from the underground waste water reservoirs, Tepco will only fill the tanks to 75% of capacity to avoid the possibility of overflowing any of them. (Jiji Press)
  • Japan has agreed to supply nuclear power technology to the United Arab Emirates. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting the Middle East to investigate economic exchanges, spurred by Japan’s trade deficit due to their massive increase in fossil fuel imports caused by the nuclear moratorium. Japan essentially wants to trade various technologies for oil and natural gas, with nuclear expertise at the head of the list. Japan imports 0.8 million barrels of oil and 5.5 million tons of natural gas from the UAE every day. Abe wants to lessen the economic imbalance, and it seems UAE is open to the possibility. The UAE is the first of the region’s countries to make a formal pact with Japan. The agreement was signed in Dubai with UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashif. At the signing, Abe said he believes Japan can be a supplier of not only nuclear but renewable technology as well, “Japan can contribute to UAE energy supplies by means of nuclear energy, conservation and renewable energy.” Last summer, the UAE announced they planned to build the first two of four nukes by 2017, in partnership with South Korea. Thus, Japan will “provide a small part of the technology for the facility”, said Foreign Minister Yutaka Yokoi. The UAE’s next two plants are planned for 2020. (NHK World; Japan Times; Japan Daily Press)