March 23, 2015

Mar 23, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tepco releases preliminary Muon images of F. Daiichi unit #1. Though blurry and difficult to visualize, the two Muon tomography units have separate images showing that most, if not all of the unit #1 core melted. Detector #1 shows no evidence of any of the melted then re-solidified material (corium) in the core barrel, while detector #2 indicates that some of the corium might still be there. The shape of the dense, steel-reinforced concrete Primary Containment Vessel and the reactor vessel side-walls are more clearly shown in both images. The Tepco handout says the relocation of the mass from its undamaged location agrees with prior Tepco computer simulations. However, the two images give no indication as to where the re-solidified corium might be currently located. Japan Times reports a Hosei University professor saying the images do not show the bottom of the reactor vessel, where the corium might have pooled and cooled. However, many Japanese news outlets are touting the images as proof of the core having melted completely through the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel’s bottom head and accumulated on the concrete floor below. There is nothing in the Tepco release to support this conjecture. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150319_01-e.pdf — http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/20/national/tepco-confirms-nearly-fuel-melted-sank-vessel-fukushima-1-unit/#.VQwcSaMcQdU — http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002020969 — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150319_34.html — http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/20/national/tepco-confirms-nearly-fuel-melted-sank-vessel-fukushima-1-unit/#.VQ1u5qMcQdU
  • Fukushima students find their radiation levels are normal. Five students at Fukushima High School were baffled that foreign teens could not believe life in Fukushima was back to normal. They contacted more than 200 students and teachers at websites in Japan, France, Belarus and Poland. Everyone had the same dosimetry as that used in Fukushima. Readings were taken between June and October, 2014. Background readings were extrapolated to annual exposures. Fukushima Prefecture ranged from 0.63 to 0.97 millisieverts per year, while France, Belarus, and Poland ranged between 0.51 and 1.17 mSv/yr.  Within the prefecture, Fukushima City was 0.86 mSv/yr, while Nihonmatsu was 0.97 mSv/yr. Nihonmatsu borders the F. Daiichi exclusion zone. Ena, in Gifu Prefecture, is about 600 kilometers from Fukushima City and had a reading of 0.87 mSv/yr. One of the Fukushima students stated that the differences were insignificant. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201503210039
  • Tokyo raises the ceiling on Fukushima loans to $75 billion. Previously, the limit was about $50 billion. The funds are being issued through the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. The total includes $1 billion in interest that is expected to build up by 2044. To date, roughly $45 billion has been disbursed on evacuee compensation. In addition, another $1.6 billion has been spent on F. Daiichi site cleanup. The government hopes to recover about $20 billion through sale of Tokyo-owned Tepco stock, once the company’s share price sufficiently recovers. Japan’s Board of Audit says the current stock value of about $10 per share will have to double to recoup the needed funds. The Board says, “The government should give sufficient consideration to ensuring the recovery of the state funds and boosting Tepco’s corporate value” to reduce the current taxpayer burden. It could take up to 30 years for Tokyo to be repaid all monies loaned to Tepco for evacuee compensation, site recovery, and rural decontamination. Tepco repaid about $415 million in 2014, and at that rate it will be 2044 before all monies will be recovered. However, continuing last year’s rate of repayment is contingent on future restarts of units at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station.   http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html —  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/23/national/%c2%a5189-billion-in-public-money-spent-on-fukushima-cleanup-so-far/#.VRAAr6McQdU — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/comp/images/jisseki-e.pdf
  • Tokyo has removed 20 food items from the list of items to be checked for radioactive Cesium. Those removed included broccoli, plums, and tea. The removals officially begin in April. There will be 45 items remaining on the list. Some, but not all, beef and milk will be tested depending on where the cattle were raised and what they are being fed. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/03/342613.html