Japan: Earthquake, Tsunami + Nuclear Disasters

[Snowangel-MK]

Japan nears key fix for nuclear plant, but could it come too late?

With so little specific information coming from the utility about the events over the past few days, nuclear engineers speak only in general terms about what could happen in the coming months if workers succeed in stabilizing the facility.

http-~~-//www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0316/Japan-nears-key-fix-for-nuclear-plant-but-could-it-come-too-late

[The PIT]

Seems to have dropped off the news doesn't. No news is good news suppose.

[Snowangel-MK]

Seems to have dropped off the news doesn't. No news is good news suppose.

Not really...there isn't much good news from Japan at all it's just the Libya crisis has taken over the headlines for now.

Electricity is restored to part of Japan's stricken nuclear plant, but workers have been evacuated after smoke is seen rising from one of the quake-damaged reactors.

OSAKA, Japan (AFP) – Workers were temporarily evacuated from part of the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan Monday after a plume of smoke rose from one reactor, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said. At 3:55 pm (0655 GMT), a "light grey plume of smoke" rose from reactor number three, a TEPCO spokesman told reporters.

[by ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Eric Talmadge And Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press – FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Plant operators evacuated workers from Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear complex Monday after gray smoke rose from one of its reactor units, the latest of persistent troubles in stabilizing the complex after it was damaged in a quake and tsunami. Smoke rising from the spent fuel storage pool of the plant's Unit 3 prompted the evacuation, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Hiroshi Aizawa said. The problem-plagued Unit 3 also alarmed plant officials over the weekend with a sudden surge of pressure in its reactor core.]

Unlike the other five reactor units, reactor 3 runs on mixed uranium and plutonium oxide, or MOX fuel, making it potentially more dangerous.

UPDATE:

A spokesman for Tepco, the plant operator, said workers had to be briefly evacuated after light grey plume of smoke was spotted emanating from reactor three but added radiation levels had remained stable. He said: "We are checking the cause of the smoke." A small quantity of smoke was still coming out nearly two hours later, but engineers were reported to have resumed work.

http-~~-//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8393805/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-50-face-new-setback.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by MKsnowangel

[Coast]

Are they finally turning a corner?

Three units at Japan's Fukushima nuclear-power plant have suffered "some degree of core damage" but remain in stable condition, a U.S. official said Monday. At a briefing held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC Executive Director for Operations Bill Borchardt said "things appear to be on the verge of stabilizing" at the Fukushima Daiichi plant but Japanese and U.S. officials continue to monitor the situation closely.

The integrity of containment structures at units 1, 2 and 3 are "currently maintained," and the spent-fuel pools at units 3 and 4 are stabilizing, Mr. Borchardt said. Units 1, 2 and 3 were operating at the time of the March 11 earthquake in Japan, but units 4, 5 and 6 had been shut down. When power was cut off at the plant, the cooling systems began to malfunction and raised risks of radiation leaks. The ability of Japanese workers to access off-site power for the Fukushima plant is the "first optimistic sign that we've had that things could be turning around," Mr. Borchardt said

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703858404576214463674197784.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Snowangel-MK]

There is very little light at the end of the tunnel at the moment in my opinion, even if a corner has been turned regarding the Fukushima Plant (and it still seems a bit premature to say that) the 'clean up' from the nuclear disaster will be on going for years....

LOCAL contamination from Japan's quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant would be a problem that would last "for decades and decades'', France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said. Releases of radioactivity from the plant “are now significant and continuing'', the head of the agency, Andre-Claude Lacoste, told a press conference, the Herald Sun reported.“We have to assume that Japan will have a long-term issue of managing the impacts,'' he said. “It's a problem that Japan will have to deal with for decades and decades to come.''The releases stemmed in part from deliberate venting of steam and gas, which also contained radioactive particles, to ease pressure in overheating reactor vessels, he said. Another source was “leaks'' of as-yet unknown origin, he said. “Ground deposits of radioactive particles (around the plant) are significant,'' Jean-Luc Godet, in charge of ionising radiation management at the ASN, said. “The Japanese authorities have not drawn up, or communicated, a map of these deposits, and it is not vain thinking to believe that this (contaminated) zone extends beyond 20 kilometres,'' he said, referring to the zone within which local inhabitants have been evacuated. “Given the weather, it is likely that contaminations have occurred beyond that, up to 100 kilometres or so.''　

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/

And then there is the mess to clean up from the earthquake and tsunami and the costs of that ....

Japan may need up to five years to rebuild from the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that has caused up to $235bn (£145bn) of damage, the World Bank said in a report.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12802193

On top of all that you have the effects all this will have on the people who have survived, how they will mentally cope with everything they have had to witness and deal with, some of them are living a nightmare and that is going to stay with them for the rest of their lives.

[Snowangel-MK]

Shifting Winds

Radiation measured in Tokyo, 220 kilometers (140 miles) south of Fukushima, declined marginally yesterday, to 0.0480 microgray per hour between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time yesterday. In Kitaibaraki City, located between Tokyo and the damaged plant, radiation was at 0.783 at 3 p.m., down from readings above 1 microgray on March 18. An x-ray typically has 50 micrograys of radiation. Shifting winds and rain will carry radiation released from the Fukushima complex inland and deposit radionuclides on the ground.

Japan’s Health Ministry asked residents of the town of Iitate in Fukushima prefecture to refrain from drinking tap water because of radioactive iodine, Kyodo News reported. People living within 30 kilometers of the plant should wear masks and long sleeves and stay out of the rain, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said.

　

water being sprayed to the No. 3 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, released to the media on Saturday, March 18, 2011. Source: Japan Ministry of Defense.

[Coast]

Rain or snow are forecast for the area around Japan's crippled nuclear reactor, over which a light wind is expected to blow from the southeast and out over parts of the country's northern region, the weather agency said on Tuesday. The weather is important for gauging if traces of radiation leaking from the plant will reach heavily populated areas, enter the food chain, or blow out over the ocean. The damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), is about 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

Some 3-8 mm (0.1-0.3 inch) of rain or snow are forecast to fall over the area in the next 24 hours. Three hundred engineers, in addition to military, police and fire department personnel, have been battling inside the danger zone to try to cool down the reactors. Winds near the plant will blow at a speed as fast as 4 meters (13 feet) per second, the Meteorological Agency in Fukushima said, forecasting that the wind could begin blowing from the west from the evening. Traces of radiation exceeding national safety standards have so far been found in milk and vegetables from areas around the plant. Tiny levels of radioactive iodine have also been found in tap water in Tokyo, one of the world's largest cities, and the plant's operator said on Tuesday traces of radioactive substances had been found in the Pacific Ocean. Many tourists and expatriates have already left Japan and many residents are staying indoors.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/us-japan-wind-idUSTRE72L0RP20110322

[Beverley Lass]

'Respect'

Old Scars.

An article in the Mail Online.

BL

[Coast]

Good grief, you couldn't make up this story line for a Hollywood blockbuster. It would be thrilling, edge of the seat viewing if it wasn't for the very real human tragedy going on:

A pool for storing spent fuel at Japan's crippled nuclear plant is heating up, with temperatures around boiling point, an official said today. Nuclear safety agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama told reporters that the high temperatures in the spent fuel pool are believed to be the cause of steam which has been drifting from Fukushima Dai-ichi's Unit 2 since yesterday.

The hot storage pool is another complication in bringing the plant under control and ending the nuclear crisis which followed the massive earthquake and tsunami which devastated the north-east coast on March 11. If water in the pool bubbles away and exposes fuel rods, more radiation would be thrown off. "We cannot leave this alone and we must take care of it as quickly as possible," said Mr Nishiyama. It was not clear if crews had to retreat to stop work reconnecting electrical systems and checking machinery to power up cooling systems.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/fresh-blow-in-nuclear-plant-crisis-2249329.html

[Methuselah]

Just a question to all those anti-nuclear doomsayers: when is the UK likely to suffer an eathquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale??

[TEITS]

Just a question to all those anti-nuclear doomsayers: when is the UK likely to suffer an eathquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale??

Im certainly no expert but I don't think the UK will ever suffer from a 9.0 earthquake. The pic below shows where the main fault lines lie.

Edited March 22, 2011 by THE EYE IN THE SKY

[full_frontal_occlusion]

Im certainly no expert but I don't think the UK will ever suffer from a 9.0 earthquake. The pic below shows where the main fault lines lie.

Improbable but not impossible, would be a large meteor strike which tends to happen quite regularly on a geological timescale. Tunguska and Arizona spring to mind. Due for another on that scale any time now.

I'm not holding my breath though.

Out of interest, this diagram shows the location of all recorded earthquakes on the British Isles since 1740.

Note the main cluster areas centre around Essex, the Western Shires, Souther Wales coast and Kent at surprisingly large magnitudes (7 or 8 Richter).

ffO

Edited March 22, 2011 by full_frontal_occlusion

[Snowangel-MK]

Just a question to all those anti-nuclear doomsayers: when is the UK likely to suffer an eathquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale??

I doubt we would ever suffer an earthquake of that magnitude here in the UK as we're not on fault lines, if we did it would be armageddon anyway.

Nuclear plant accidents are more often caused by equipment failure or human error not earthquakes, for example take some of the worst disasters like Chernobyl which was caused by a power excursion and Three Mile Island by decay heat.

Japan’s nuclear industry built power plants to withstand massive quakes - just not as massive as the one that struck this month,

documents from Tokyo Electric, the operator of the Japanese nuclear plants, reveal that the company tested the Fukushima plant to withstand a quake up to magnitude 7.9.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company carried out geological and sonic surveys around the Fukushima Daiichi plant four years ago to assess the power station's resistance to earthquakes and earthquake related phenomenon, including tsunamis. The extensive survey was carried out as part of a widespread review of nuclear power plant safety following a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the Niigata region in northwest Japan in July 2007, causing a leak of radioactive water from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, a fire also broke out at the facility at the time.

Nuclear safety specialists said that despite the surveys it appeared officials at Fukushima Daiichi had not considered the scenario that a tsunami might hit the power plant at a time when they would need to use the diesel back up generators intended to provide emergency power to the reactor cooling systems. Fuel tanks for the generators, positioned at ground level just yards from the sea front, were among the first parts of the facility to be destroyed by the huge tsunami wave that swept inland following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Officials from TEPCO said the plant was designed to be resistant to an 18 foot wave but was struck by a wall of water more than 22 feet in height.

Earthquakes could pose a serious problem for nuclear power stations in the rest of the world, in California the state’s nuclear power plants lie near major fault lines.

Aerial view of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County.

Interesting reading here:

(Nuclear Safety Commission Sept 2006, Regulatory Guide for Reviewing Seismic Design of Nuclear Power Reactor Facilities)

http-~~-//www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf18.html

[quote The December 2004 tsunamis following a magnitude 9 earthquake in Indonesia reached the west coast of India and affected the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant near Madras/Chennai. When very abnormal water levels were detected in the cooling water intake, the plant shut down automatically. It was restarted six days later.

Even for a nuclear plant situated very close to sea level, the robust sealed containment structure around the reactor itself would prevent any damage to the nuclear part from a tsunami, though other parts of the plant might be damaged no radiological hazard would be likely.]

But sadly this is not the case at Fukushima Diiachi ! Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti nuclear power, I just can't help the feeling that building nuclear power stations on fault lines in the first place is a bit like the foolish man who built his house on sand. It seems to me that safety issues need to be urgently reviewed and improved so that reactors and all plant machinery can withstand the worst scenario of anything nature or man can throw at them wherever they are in the world.

Edited March 22, 2011 by MKsnowangel

[Crepuscular Ray]

Improbable but not impossible, would be a large meteor strike which tends to happen quite regularly on a geological timescale. Tunguska and Arizona spring to mind. Due for another on that scale any time now.

I'm not holding my breath though.

Out of interest, this diagram shows the location of all recorded earthquakes on the British Isles since 1740.

Note the main cluster areas centre around Essex, the Western Shires, Souther Wales coast and Kent at surprisingly large magnitudes (7 or 8 Richter).

ffO

I don't think that's the Richter scale. According to memory (which admittedly isn't as good as it was), the largest known (i.e. recorded and estimated) earthquake in the mainland British Isles was in Essex (Colchester area) in the 1880s, but is estimated to have measured something over 5 on the Richter scale (perhaps BL's Lincolnshire one should take that record from it).The 1930s one under the North Sea (Dogger?) was just over 6.

Edited March 22, 2011 by crepuscular ray

[Beverley Lass]

Out of interest, this diagram shows the location of all recorded earthquakes on the British Isles since 1740.

Note the main cluster areas centre around Essex, the Western Shires, Souther Wales coast and Kent at surprisingly large magnitudes (7 or 8 Richter).

ffO

I tried Googling UK quakes

the other day and found this from Wikipedia ..

My link

The 2008 Lincolnshire one of 5.2 gave me a decent

shake here, but no damage. Quite an experience.

BL

Edited March 22, 2011 by Beverley Lass

[Snowangel-MK]

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

Power cables are attached to all six reactors at Japan's stricken nuclear plant, and lighting is restored at the control room of reactor No 3.

Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Power lines attached.

Reactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Power lines attached.

Reactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Power lines attached.

Reactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to earthquake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restored. Power lines attached.

Reactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising high. Power lines attached.

[Crepuscular Ray]

There seems to have been a higher number of mag. 6+ aftershocks today.

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

Power cables are attached to all six reactors at Japan's stricken nuclear plant, and lighting is restored at the control room of reactor No 3.

Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Power lines attached.

Reactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Power lines attached.

Reactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Power lines attached.

Reactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to earthquake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restored. Power lines attached.

Reactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising high. Power lines attached.

Getting there -- slowly

There seems to have been a higher number of mag. 6+ aftershocks today.

Yes, there have, but notice how the total number of shocks above 2.5 is waning rapidly now the initial aftershocks are moving out of timeframe Edited March 22, 2011 by NorthNorfolkWeather

[The PIT]

All that means is that any designs in the uk won't be built with earthquakes in mind. The largest quake in the UK is estimated to be greater than six around 1580 there may have been a larger one at seven.

However nuclear isn't a safe energy and it isn't a clean energy as the waste still has to be dealt with.

It should only be considered as a stop gap until the alternative energies are improved.

[Snowangel-MK]

Radioactive iodine levels in some areas were twice the recommended safe level.People in Fukushima prefecture, where the nuclear plant is located, have been told not to eat certain vegetables because of contamination worries.

The authorities are warning people living in Tokyo not to allow babies less than a year old to drink water from the tap. The level of radiation picked up in tests carried out on Tuesday was more than twice the level that is safe for infants to drink.

[quote Richard Warry BBC News

Japan's health ministry has urged some residents near the plant to stop drinking tap water after samples showed elevated levels of radioactive iodine - about three times the normal level.

Radioactive iodine has also been found in water supplies in Tokyo at twice the levels deemed safe for babies under a year old to drink.

Raised radiation levels have also been found in samples of milk and 11 green leafy vegetables, in some cases well outside the 20km exclusion zone.]

[Coast]

Is there no end to this?

[Snowangel-MK]

Engineers have resumed work to restore the cooling system of reactor 3 at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, reports say.

Work had been suspended after a plume of black smoke was seen coming from the overheating reactor on Wednesday.

Later on Thursday, two workers at reactor 3 were taken to hospital after being exposed to radiation.

[Snowangel-MK]

Two Fukushima workers are in hospital with radiation poisoning as they battled to save Japan's crippled power plant from nuclear meltdown.

Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, said the three workers, two in their 20s and one in his 30s, came face to face with the danger they had all feared when contaminated water came into contact with their skin at the Fukushima Dai-chi plant.

Officials said they were standing in irradiated water in the No.3 reactor (this is not good, R3 is the only one to use the volatile uranium-plutonium mix) when it somehow seeped through their protective gear, causing them to be contaminated with a level of radiation almost twice as high as the accepted 'safe' limit. Two workers sustained injuries to their legs and were exposed to radiation between 170 - 180 millisieverts, with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency describing how the workers had their feet under the water while laying down cables. The other worker was also exposed to the high-level radiation, but deemed healthy enough to avoid a trip to the hospital.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there had been some "positive developments" at the site but that the situation was still "of serious concern".

The Tokyo Electric Power Company have released images from the interior of Fukushima's reactor 3.

The images, which appear to be taken using a mobile phone, show the destruction inside the reactor building as workers try to restore the electric power. At this point, power lines have been connected to the reactors, but the company is having trouble reactivating the systems needed to control the situation.

[Barbmac]

Haven't been online for a few days, but notice that no-one has as yet mentioned the use of robots inside the Fukushima plant, which was reported a day or so ago in various sources:

new scientist link

Scientific American link

AOL news link

The team working to contain the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant now includes a robot. The machine, known as Monirobo ("Monitoring Robot"), was on the scene today, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese).

Monirobo is designed to operate at radiation levels too high for humans. The 1.5-metre robot runs on a pair of caterpillar tracks and has a manipulator arm for removing obstacles and collecting samples. Sensors include a radiation detector, 3D camera system and temperature and humidity sensors. It can be operated remotely from a distance of about a kilometre.

Monirobo weighs some 600 kilos and is limited to a speed of 2.4 kilometres per hour. It has to carry heavy shielding because many electronics, especially cameras, are highly vulnerable to the effects of radiation.

[Crepuscular Ray]

Haven't been online for a few days, but notice that no-one has as yet mentioned the use of robots inside the Fukushima plant, which was reported a day or so ago in various sources:

new scientist link

Scientific American link

AOL news link

Pity they didn't use them in the bit where the three workers accidentally got their feet into highly radioactive water (or, possibly, knew that it was the only way to get the particular problem sorted even though they knew the risks to their health and lives).

Why is the BBC still claiming hours later that Burma/Myanmar has been hit by mag 7+ earthquakes when the EMSC has them as 6.7 and 5.4?

Edited March 24, 2011 by crepuscular ray