August 10, 2012

Aug 10, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Former PM Naoto Kan is feverishly trying to protect his image by lambasting Tepco for their recent release of video footage taken during the F. Daiichi accident. Kan made his scathing assessment of Tepco’s disclosure at the Japan National Press Club. Tepco’s video apparently makes Kan look worse than he would like, so he’s criticizing the fact that two-thirds of the footage has no audio, implying that Tepcois being non-transparent and essentially out to get him. He neglects to say that the majority of the silent video came from the Fukushima Daiini plant which did not have an audio link-up on their feed from F. Daiichi. A few other instances of silence were “bleeped out” for what Tepco says are proprietary reasons. “It’s so unnatural. TEPCO says there is no sound, but they have said all kinds of things about my visit there, which makes it even more suspicious,” Kan said. “There must be the sound somewhere.” Kan also says there must be more than 150 hours of video in Tepco’s possession. He says the footage should be treated like the recordings of pilots and control towers during an aircraft accident. “The content of the footage is equivalent to exchanges made between the pilot and the airport control tower in the case of an airplane accident…I cannot understand at all why the footage is not being disclosed for reasons such as privacy,” Kan asserted. The primary focus of Kan’s criticism concerns whether or not Tepco was going to abandon F. Daiichi on March 14/15. Kan insists he forced Tepco to change their plans, thus he should be hailed as the man who saved Japan. “I said you’re not withdrawing,” Kan insists, “We were on a cliff-edge situation” that could have led to a catastrophe threatening the entire nation. He added that he considered a worst-case scenario involving damage to all six reactors at the plant, another four at nearby Daiini plant and all fuel storage pools at both. It makes no difference to Kan that F. Daiini experienced no nuclear accident and three of the reactors at F. Daiichi weren’t operating before the quake/tsunami hit. It further makes no difference that three independent investigative groups say he misunderstood Tepco’s desire to evacuate non-essential personnel if the situation worsened. (Kyodo News; Japan Times)
  • A new report on the video footage shows that spent fuel pool issues confronted Tepco’s emergency team early-on…but not unit #4 SFP. After the unit #1 explosion on March 12, plant manager Masao Yoshida told Tepco-Tokyo, “We have a problem. The pool at No. 1 unit is now exposed, with part of its building blown off in an explosion, and steam is reportedly coming out. We can’t leave it like that, but we have no water source and I’m out of ideas.” Because pool temperatures on five of the seven pools at F. Daiichi were rising, it was feared they all might dry out leading to overheating and fuel bundle damage. Tepco officials discussed dropping chunks of ice or spraying water from a helicopter to cool them through holes caused by explosion debris. On March 17, the plans materialized when helicopters began airborne water drops and fire companies began spraying cooling water into the open pools of units #1, 3& 4. By that time, electrical recovery allowed the unit #2 pool and common SFP to be cooled using installed systems. (Japan Today)
  • Another new report on the (above) video says some Tepco-Tokyo officials were against using seawater for RPV cooling, but plant manager Yoshida told them he had no other choice. In the footage, one Tepco official tells Yoshida, “You sound like you want to inject seawater right away, don’t you? I think using seawater in a hasty way would be wasteful because materials will be corroded. Can we agree that we have the option of waiting as long as possible in order to use fresh water?” Yoshida immediately responds, “We don’t have the option of using fresh water. That will cause another delay. When a massive supply of cooling water is needed like it is now, it’s very hard to stick to just fresh water. I don’t think there’s any other way but to use seawater.” The Tepco official reluctantly conceded, “I understand that for now,” (Japan Times)
  • The IAEA team studying Onagawa NPS says it was “remarkably undamaged” by the 3/11/11 earthquake. 120 kilometers north of F. Daiichi, Onagawa station was physically closest to the temblor’s epicenter of all Japanese nukes, with ground motion at least as severe as Fukushima. However, the tsunami wave at Onagawa was much less then F. Daiichi, so there was minimal flooding. All three units at Onagawa are BWRs. From what I have found, Onagawa’s reactor buildings are Toshiba structures that seem to resemble GE Mark I containments similar to F. Daiichi. (Kyodo News)
  • The entry ban on another Fukushima no-go zone town has been lifted, at least in part. Residents in the ban-lifted part of Naraha began returning home at midnight last night. Residents may come and go freely, but are not yet allowed to stay overnight. However, residents who don’t trust the Tokyo government have stayed away. Some dissenters protested the move at the town’s municipal borders. Signs carried by the protesters asked passing drivers if they feel their children are safe. The demonstrators generally agree that no-one should return until the biological hazards of low level radiation on children are firmly understood. They believe the safety of the area is uncertain as long as their health concerns remain. (NHK World)
  • Wednesday marked the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and a commemorative ceremony was held. As with the August 6th event at Hiroshima, the psychological effects of the Hiroshima Syndrome held sway. Because of his feelings of an intimate connection between the effects of reactor accidents and bombs, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue pledged support for people whose lives have been upended by meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi and called for a nuclear-free Japan. He emphasized that Tokyo should radically revise their future plans to “set new energy policy goals to build a society free from the fear of radioactivity”. Obviously, Mayor Taue believes fear of radiation is sufficient reason for Japan to outlaw nuclear power plants. (Japan Today)