Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

Tokyo Electric has Issued several press releases:

Daini status March 15th, 13:00 Japanese time:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1031507-e.html

All 4 Reactors are now in cold shutdown, with offsite power on, and no refrigerant leaked into the containment vessel.

TEPCO still has not elaborated at the situation at Daiichi:

However, their view of what happened yesterday is:

Press Release (Mar 15,2011)
Damage to the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station


At approximately 6:00am, a loud explosion was heard from within the
power station. Afterwards, it was confirmed that the 4th floor rooftop
area of the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building had sustained damage.

After usage, fuel is stored in a pool designated for spent fuel.

Plant conditions as well as potential outside radiation effects are
currently under investigation.

TEPCO, along with other involved organizations, is doing its best to
contain the situation. Simultaneously, the surrounding environment is
being kept under constant surveillance.

The issue then is to keep pumping seawater into the 3 reactors while also maintaining the spent fuel rod pool in unit 4. Because there is significant radiation in the area, there will be significant difficulty rotating personnel to ensure none of the people involved with the pumping gets too high a yearly dose.

[dorispulaski]

The NEI update

UPDATE AS OF 9:15 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, MARCH 15:
Fukushima Daiichi
Units 1 and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi are stable and cooling is being maintained through seawater injection. Primary containment integrity has been maintained on both reactors.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) reported an explosion in the suppression pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2, at 7:14 p.m. EDT on March 14. Reactor water level was reported to be at 2.7 meters below the top of the fuel. The pressure in the suppression pool decreased from 3 atmospheres to 1 atmosphere. Radiation readings at the site increased to 96 millirem per hour.

Dose rates at Fukushima Daiichi as reported at 10:22 p.m. EDT on March 14 were:


Near Unit 3 reactor building 40 rem/hr
Near Unit 4 reactor building 10 rem/hr
At site boundary 821 millirem/hr.
Kitaibaraki (200 km south of site) 0.4 millirem/hr.

We are working on getting updated information on radiation and dose rates at and near the plant.

Station personnel not directly supporting reactor recovery efforts have been evacuated, leaving approximately 50 staff members at the site. Operators are no longer in the main control room due to high radiation levels.

Safety relief valves were able to be re-opened and seawater injection into the reactor core was restarted around 1 a.m. EDT on March 15 and is continuing.

At Unit 4 on March 14 at approximately 8:38 p.m. EDT, a fire was reported in the reactor building. It is believed to have been from a lube oil leak in a system that drives recirculation water pumps. Fire fighting efforts extinguished the fire. The roof of the reactor building was damaged.

Fukushima Daini
All four reactors at Fukushima Daini are being maintained with normal cooling using residual heat removal systems.

[dorispulaski]

The IAEA just posted its afternoon update. We will have to wait several hours till they unveil the UN plan for how exactly they intend to help in Japan. TEPCO has not updated its Daiichi status today.

Musing on lessons going forward, for the US, I think a plan where equipment and trained people are made immediately available to people in an emergency should be in place. I know that sounds vague, but right off Japan's coast is the USS Ronald Reagan, a huge ship with many trained nuclear technicians and damage control people aboard. We also have huge helicopters that could have lifted entire diesel generators, huge batteries, things like that. I am perhaps being naive, but I wish we could have helped somehow, before things got to this position.

All the other nuclear sites in Japan, other than Daiichi, are in a safe state.

At Daiichi, Units 1 & 3 are being cooled by seawater, as long as there are people to man the pumps. Their containment vessels are intact. Efforts are still underway to get external power to Daiichi, which would certainly help with pumping, if nothing else. There is external power 10 km away at Daina. I hope the line crews get power to Daiichi soon.

Seawater is also being pumped into Unit 2's reactor, whose containment vessel has some size of hole in it, "small" is a relative term, and not as relative as is how much radioactive material is leaking through the hole-. The radiation measurements in the area are in the update below. In one sense, what you have for sure is a permanently open air vent in a reactor whose problems, in addition to loss of cooling function, were that its designed air vent was stuck closed.

Those worrying about Unit 4 should recall that the reactor there has not been fueled, and therefore cannot meltdown itself. Concern there is about the spent fuel rod containment pool, still a worry, but not as big a worry as if the reactor were fueled.

Japanese Earthquake Update (15 March 14:10 UTC)
.by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 7:30am.
The IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) continues to monitor the status of the nuclear power plants in Japan that were affected by the devastating earthquake and consequent tsunami.



All units at the Fukushima Daini, Onagawa, and Tokai nuclear power plants are in a safe and stable condition (i.e. cold shutdown).

The IAEA remains concerned over the status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where sea water injections to cool the reactors in units 1, 2 and 3 are continuing. Attempts to return power to the entire Daiichi site are also continuing.

After explosions at both units 1 and 3, the primary containment vessels of both units are reported to be intact. However, the explosion that occurred at 04:25 UTC on 14 March at the Fukushima Daiichi unit 2 may have affected the integrity of its primary containment vessel. All three explosions were due to an accumulation of hydrogen gas.



A fire at unit 4 occurred on 14 March 23:54 UTC and lasted two hours. The IAEA is seeking clarification on the nature and consequences of the fire.



The IAEA continues to seek details about the status of all workers, reactors and spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.



An evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi is in effect. The Japanese have advised that people within a 30-km radius shall take shelter indoors. Iodine tablets have been distributed to evacuation centres but no decision has yet been taken on their administration.



A 30-kilometre no-fly zone has been established around the Daiichi plant. Normal civil aviation beyond this zone remains uninterrupted. The Japan Coast Guard established evacuation warnings within 10 kilometres of Fukushima Daiichi and 3 kilometres of Fukushima Daini.



The IAEA and several other UN organizations held a meeting at 11:00 UTC today to discuss recent developments and coordinate activities related to consequences of the earthquake and tsunami. The meeting was called under the framework of the Joint Radiation Emergency Management Plan of the International Organizations, and this group expects to work closely together in the days ahead.


.

[mot]

In one sense, what you have for sure is a permanently open air vent in a reactor whose problems, in addition to loss of cooling function, were that its designed air vent was stuck closed.

Ah! I wish Japanese media had told me that!

[SkateFiguring]

The problem with most of the energy technologies is the extreme competence in generation and extraction with extreme inadequacy in containment and control of damages and consequences. Such inbalance in knowledge plus the rackless haste to proceed almost guarantee catastrophic events such as nuclear meltdowns and deep sea oil spill and spew.

When not enough attention is paid to the "what ifs", we all have to deal with "what now".

[seniorita]

Thank you for all the info about nuclear energy, and I hope people are a litte calmed down reading here, I have two dear Japanese friends and I linked them here to read.

[Olympia]

Doris, I appreciate your efforts to give us information. It's such a hard event to process; everything going wrong at once, with attacks (as it were) by both earth and sea. I'm so glad for your expertise.

Seniorita, I hope your friends are and continue to be all right.

[seniorita]

them and their families are ok, but I can only imagine what they ve been through and sometimes media cause confusion and fear, i m really greatful you can learn so many things here besides skating and people in this board kept information straight and the appropriate level given the situation and worlds postponment etc..

[dorispulaski]

By all accounts, nothing all too exciting has happened yet today, thank goodness.

The wind is still blowing off shore, and the rain tends to leach contaminants out of the air.

The issue of pressure relief should remind you of the ideal gas law you learned in high school chemistry:

PV=nRT,
In short, if the volume is constant, as in a closed containment vessel with no pressure relief valve, if the Temperature goes up, the Pressure goes up.

I wish they could get the external power restored. After the problem with the spent fuel rod pool in Unit 4, TEPCO is reported pondering whether to do anything with Unit 5 and Unit 6:

The US nuclear industry update is here. The decrease in dose rate by a factor of 19.8 times is a good thing.

NEI
UPDATE AS OF 10:20 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, MARCH 15: The level of radioactivity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been decreasing, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

At 8 p.m. EDT March 15, a dose rate of 1,190 millirem per hour was observed. Six hours later, the dose rate was 60 millirem per hour, IAEA said.

About 150 residents near the Fukushima Daiichi site have been checked for radiation and 23 have been decontaminated.

Japanese authorities have distributed potassium iodide tablets to evacuation center (see this page for more information on potassium iodide). If taken within several hours of ingesting radioactive iodine, potassium iodide can protect the thyroid gland.

The IAEA can confirm the following information about the status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Unit 4 was shut down for a routine, planned maintenance outage on 30 November 2010. After the outage, all fuel from the reactor was transferred to the spent fuel pool.

The IAEA has two updates. One that an earthquake in Honshu did not damage the nearby nuclear plant there, and the following update on Fukushina Daiichi:

Units 5 and 6 were shut down at the time of the earthquake. Unit 5 was shut down as of 3 January 2011. Unit 6 was shut down as of 14 August 2010. Both reactors are currently loaded with fuel.

As of 00:16 UTC on 15 March, plant operators were considering the removal of panels from units 5 and 6 reactor buildings to prevent a possible build-up of hydrogen in the future. It was a build-up of hydrogen at units 1, 2, and 3 that led to explosions at the Daiichi facilities in recent days.

The IAEA continues to monitor and seek information on the status of plant workers, reactor conditions, and spent nuclear fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

And this:

An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude was reported today at 13:31 UTC in Eastern Honshu, Japan. The Hamaoka nuclear power plant is sited an estimated 100 kilometres from the epicentre.

IEC confirmed with Japan that the plant continues to operate safely.

Units 1 and 2 are decommissioned, unit 3 is under inspection and not operational, and units 4 and 5 remain in safe operational status after the earthquake.

It may have been a 6.4 earthquake, from the comments.

[Spun Silver]

An alternative (encouraging) point of view on the nuclear danger. I can only hope he's right about that. No encouragement from his warnings about the humanitarian disaster.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...-robert-zubrin

How the US can help (on the level of policy)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...ty-shlaes.html

[SkateFiguring]

As I expressed before, I'm really touched and impressed by the courageous civility of the Japanese, especially in Tokyo, a city of 13 million or about 35 million in the Greter Tokyo.

http://prayforjapan.jp/tweet_en.html

"Disneyland gave out sweets from their shops. Some high school girls got many as they can. I thought why, but they gave the sweets for children in evacuation site. That was really moving scene."

"My two year old was putting his shoes on himself saying "I'm going to go arrest the Earthquake!" I realized that inside a tiny body, there is a lot of courage and Justice. Everyone, lets stand strong and get through this."

"So busy traffic. Only one car can go across the traffic light per one blue light, but I was moved to see people drive gently with giving their way. Some intersecions has been completly stopped for more than 5 min., but I've neber heard any horn sounds except the sounds said "Thank you" for 10 hours. I was sceard, but also I've had warming time, and came to like Japan more."

"Last night when I was tired out waiting for the train at the station, the homeless people gave me one of their cardboards to prevent the cold... even though we usually ignore them in daily life... So warm."

"I received an email from my Korean friend: "The only country to have experienced nuclear attacks. The country that lost the WWII. The country that suffers from typhoons every year and the earthquakes. However, isn't Japan the country that always stood up and overcame such difficulties? Gambare. Gambare." FYI, I am crying right now."

"Last night, when I walked back to home from Campus, a female baker gave us bread for free, even if she has already closed the store. It was moving that I could find people who do things they can do in such loud situation. My heart became warm. Tokyo is not something dumped."

"There was a train driver who had been working all night long. When I went up to him and said "It must be tough for you", he smiled and said to me, "What else can I do at a time like this?" Made me rethink about the people of Japan. Moved me."

"walked for 4 hours just to get home. Everyone was walking home silently, diligently. People working at the shops were doing their job. The Internet managed to hold, despite of the enormous overflow. Emergency shelters were opened and trains were quickly restored and ran all night. What a tough county. It doesn't matter what GDP we have."

"The vending machine, the internet wifi spot has been opened to the public; everyone is cooperating and people around the world are moved by this and are trying to help. We have changed since the time the Hanshin earthquake struck 16years ago. We have grown stronger."

"People of Japan, please do not lose your kind hearts. Be gentle to the weak, be helpful to each other, and always have a forgiving heart. Everyone is anxious, just like you. This is our prayer, and we shall also keep this in our hearts."

Last night, as I was walking home from college, I saw a lady at the bakery giving out free bread to everybody. It was way past store hours, and the streets were full of people. It encouraged me a lot to see people trying to help others at their own extent. Tokyo wasn’t such a cold place afterall.
@ayakishimoto

I said to the subway worker on duty throughout the night: “It must have been a hard night.” And he replied with a great big smile: “It’s the least I can do!”
@tadakatz

Dear our people in Japan— Don’t forget your kindness. Don’t forget to lend a hand, to help others, and the heart to forgive. You are not alone. We are with you.

@From the staff of “Ultraman”:
I walked four long hours. The streets were flooded with people, but everybody all quietly walked in order. Convenience stores and drug stores, supermarkets and gas stations— they all just kept on working. Internets managed to stay stable despite the quakes, so many places were opened for people that couldn’t go back home, and the trains somehow recovered and ran throughout the night. Japan kicks butt
It doesn’t matter what we rank in GDP.

On my four-hour walk home, a woman was standing out on the sidewalk holding up a sign that read “Please feel free to use our bathroom!” Japan is the most heartwarming country in the world. I just cried and cried.
@fujifumi

When the lights go out, there is somebody that comes to fix it. When the water runs out, there is somebody that comes to fix it. When there is an accident at the nuke plant, there is somebody that comes to fix it. There is ALWAYS somebody that comes. Even when we are all inside thinking “God damn it!” there is always somebody out there in the cold that comes to fix it.
@yoh22222

An NHK male news reporter steadily reads aloud the disaster situation and about the people at the evacuation centers until he comes across this news. “This mother was so stressed out that she could not produce milk anymore. She waited all night on an extremely long line until the supermarkets opened and finally got milk for her baby.” There was a long silence, as if you would think that there was some kind of transmission problem. He recovered rather quickly but I caught tears in his eyes, and mine, too, welled up.
@bitboi

From a friend from Chiba— An old man spilled out “What’s going to happen next?” A young boy, probably in high-school, sitting next to the old man replied, “It’s okay. Hang on for just a little while. When we grow up, I swear we will fix everything back together again.” The boy kept rubbing the old man’s back. A bright future, that’s what’s next!
@nekoshima83

An old man was rescued after being stranded in a house for 42 hours. He smiled at the camera, “I’ve experienced the tsunami at Chili. I’ve seen everybody get back on their feet. I know we can do it.”
@mameo65

M9.0 marks it as the biggest earthquake ever. Let us mark our love and energy to reconstruct as the biggest ever.
@junyaishikawa

So busy traffic. Only one car can go across the traffic light per one blue light, but I was moved to see people drive gently with giving their way. Some intersecions has been completly stopped for more than 5 min., but I’ve neber heard any horn sounds except the sounds said “Thank you” for 10 hours. I was sceard, but also I’ve had warming time, and came to like Japan more.
@micakom

Last night when I was tired out waiting for the train at the station, the homeless people gave me one of their cardboards to prevent the cold… even though we usually ignore them in daily life… So warm.
@aquarius

The vending machine, the internet wifi spot has been opened to the public; everyone is cooperating and people around the world are moved by this and are trying to help. We have changed since the time the Hanshin earthquake struck 16years ago. We have grown stronger.
@dita_69

People buying things at scattering supermarkets, with picking up thing fell off, and making line to pay. Elder person who gave his seat to a pregnant mother, even in a crowded train which just started the operation. Foreigners shocked by these sight. These must be real. Amazing, Japan.
@kiritansu

[Spun Silver]

Oh my gosh, what beautiful stories. It reminds me of NYC after 9/11.

[dorispulaski]

Those are beautiful stories.

And the resilience and strength of the Japanese people is so wonderful.

It is perhaps time to remember the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki-not the story of the bombs, but the story of the rebuilding. For the Japanese people did not just abandon those cities to the wild when they were bombed flat, and full of radioactive waste.

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kid...gaeru_1_e.html

Plants sprouting in the burnt plain.
Less than ten days after the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, World War II came to an end. Hiroshima had been completely destroyed by the A-bomb, but gradually electricity, transportation, and other functions were restored. The people collected any unburned materials they could find and began rebuilding their homes and their lives. After the atomic bombing, rumour had it that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for 75 years. Then, when red canna flowers became the first to bloom in the charred rubble, they were a tremendous source of courage and hope. Eventually, Hiroshima residents who had evacuated to the countryside and soldiers who had been away fighting the war came back, and Hiroshima started its long journey toward recovery.


●Children Living in Shacks


They lived in humble dwellings; a few boards, with sheets of tin for walls and a roof. They didn't have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. And yet, free from the constant fear of air raids, free to sleep through the night, and free to play like kids, children quickly recovered their zest for life.
Photo: Stephen Kelen
Courtesy of Hiroshima Municipal Archives
Around February 1946

In 1958, the population of Hiroshima was the same as it had been before the war, and Hiroshima rededicated itself as a Peace City.

Hiroshima today:

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kid...ges_e/17_1.jpg


The Japanese will rebuild, and I hope we all will help, at least a little bit.

[dorispulaski]

Nothing new from TEPCO

IAEA update-It's good to know that there is at least one operating diesel that might keep units 5 & 6 properly in cold shutdown.

Japan Earthquake Update (16 March 2011, 03:55 UTC)
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that a fire in the reactor building of unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was visually observed at 20:45 UTC of 15 March. As of 21:15 UTC of the same day, the fire could no longer be observed.

Fire of 14 March

As previously reported, at 23:54 UTC of 14 March a fire had occurred at unit 4. The fire lasted around two hours and was confirmed to be extinguished at 02:00 UTC of 15 March.

Water level in unit 5

Japanese authorities have also informed the IAEA that at 12:00 UTC of 15 March the water level in unit 5 had decreased to 201 cm above the top of the fuel. This was a 40 cm decrease since 07:00 UTC of 15 March. Officials at the plant were planning to use an operational diesel generator in unit 6 to supply water to unit 5.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.

Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 22:30 UTC)
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi has been successfully completed.

The Japanese authorities have also advised that people within a 30-km radius to take cover indoors. Iodine tablets have been distributed to evacuation centres but no decision has yet been taken on their administration.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.

Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 20:35 UTC)
The Japanese government today requested assistance from the IAEA in the areas of environmental monitoring and the effects of radiation on human health, asking for IAEA teams of experts to be sent to Japan to assist local experts. Preparations for these missions are currently under way.

The missions will draw on IAEA resources and may also possibly involve Response and Assistance Network (RANET) and Member States' capabilities.

This development follows the IAEA's offer to Japan of its "Good Offices" - i.e. making available the Agency's direct support and coordination of international assistance.

RANET is a network of resources made available by IAEA Member States that can be offered in the event of a radiation incident or emergency. Coordination of RANET is done by the IAEA within the framework of the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.

[colleen o'neill]

Just another reminder of the historic nature of the disaster even without the added nuclear threat :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12740649

I've always felt admiration for Japanese bravery and stoicism , but it's risen to new heights witnessing the events of the last few days.