Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

Violet Bliss · Mar 19, 2011

As in Chernabyl, it takes ultimate sacrifices from heroes to prevent a horrific disaster to become even much greater than it is.

May future statistics not state that nobody dies in the Japan nuclear "incident".

Olympia · Mar 19, 2011

SkateFiguring said:
As in Chernabyl, it takes ultimate sacrifices from heroes to prevent a horrific disaster to become even much greater than it is.

May future statistics not state that nobody dies in the Japan nuclear "incident".

And I saw on TV today that a lot of the firefighters from outside the area volunteered for their task. I can't even articulate how profoundly honored I am to be fellow members of the human race with these brave souls.

dorispulaski · Mar 19, 2011

I totally agree. I am tearing up at the generosity, bravery, and caring of these people.

May they stay safe and well.

I'm glad to hear that power has been returned to Unit 1 & 2 on schedule. According to Tepco, they will hook up 3 and 4 tomorrow. As you said mot, even being able to see, and to be able to run tools & pumps without batteries or diesel fuel has to be a help.

dorispulaski · Mar 19, 2011

Today's post from NEI:
I was interested to see that the spraying was done by an unmanned vehicle (and happy about it). And happy that the fuel pool at Unit 3 may be stabilizing.

It is also good to hear Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano's comments on the amount of radioactive material found in food. Milk is typically a problem in radiation situations, because cow's graze on a lot of grass and concentrate the amount of radioactive substances. In air nuclear bomb testing was ended in part due to world wide complaints about strontium 90 in milk back in the 1950's and 1960's.

UPDATE AS OF 10 A.M. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time in the US), SATURDAY, MARCH 19:

At a March 19 news conference, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that sea water injection is continuing at reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Preparations were being made to spray water into the used fuel pool at reactor 4, and an unmanned vehicle sprayed more than 1,500 gallons of water over seven hours into the used fuel pool at reactor 3, Edano said. He also said he believed that the situation at the reactor 3 fuel pool is stabilizing.

Some reactor cooling capacity has been restored at reactors 5 and 6 after the installation of generators at those reactors, Edano added.

Edano said that progress had been made on "a fundamental solution" to restore power at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, with electricity expected to be restored at reactors 1 and 2 today and reactor 3 as early as Sunday.

Edano said that additional equipment was being transported to the site and that other means of providing cooling water to the pool is be examined.

Radiation dose at the west gate of the Fukushima Daiichi was 83 millirem per hour on March 18 at 7:10 p.m. EDT and dropped to 36 millirem per hour by 8 p.m. EDT, Edano said. Radiation levels have decreased since March 16. Although they are higher than normal, radiation levels near the reactors are within the range that allows workers to continue on-site recovery measures, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

According to the IAEA, radiation dose rates in Tokyo and other areas outside the 30-kilometer zone remain far below levels which would require any protective action by the public.

All reactors at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant are in cold shutdown (See the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum website).

Radiation levels have increased above the federal government's [edited to add of Japan]level in some food products from the Fukushima Prefecture and nearby areas. These levels were detected in samples of milk in Fukushima Prefecture and six samples of spinach in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture, according to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum. Edano said that if these products are consumed for a year, the total radiation dose would be equivalent to one CT scan.

Additional monitoring of food products is continuing in those regions.

colleen o'neill · Mar 19, 2011

The spirit of sacrifice for the greater good displayed by those working at Fukushima is so incredibly humbling. I'm sure Japan will honour them forever.

mot · Mar 19, 2011

My father's side of family includes victims of the atomic bomb dropped in Nagasaki, including a great aunt who died after many years of battling against radiation-related illness resulting from the fact that she had simply been living in the worst affected area as a 6month-old baby when the bomb dropped. So I am most sympathetic to those who are affected by the accident in Fukushima and hope they remain healthy and well after this all.

At the same time, I also know much suffering of the survivors were caused by sometimes unfounded and unnecessary fear of those who were away from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Any speculation about the future safety of the land and food and effects on health of the local population, beyond confirmed by the experts, could result in discrimination against Fukushima and its people and produce. I hope this time, we are wiser, more educated and information savvy to avoid the situation like that. And that is the reason why I am frustrated - even angry - with any scaremongering going on in the media and internet social media.

BTW, just in from NHK news, the task of filling the cooling pool in the 3rd reactor using the specialist fire engine (which can spray water pin-pointing the target, without being manned) ended early hours of March 20 (local time) after 13 hours of operation. It was believed water beyond the capacity of the cooling pool has now been poured into the 3rd reactor. TEPCO will start the similar operation to the 4th reactor today.

Olympia · Mar 19, 2011

That's an excellent point about discrimination, Mot. Radiation has been such a boogeyman in many countries that it's easy for people to get hysterical about it. There may need to be a conscious effort to educate people. This worked with AIDS. At the beginning of that crisis, people were afraid of being in the same room with people who had AIDS. One person who helped change that a lot was Princess Diana. She would go into hospitals and hug AIDS victims, with no hesitation at all. There's one photo of her in Brazil (if I recall correctly) holding a child with HIV, just balancing the kid on her hip as if she were the kid's own mother. That's one reason I've always liked and even admired her. Maybe in the aftermath of this situation, the Japanese imperial family can take that on as a task.

dorispulaski · Mar 19, 2011

mot, I so hope that does not happen, that residents of Fukushima, who were evacuated, and so should not have any real radiation problems, I hope, will suffer ignorance and discrimination.

Another terrible effect is that survivors suffer from depression and a conviction that they are going to die young, so they have an unhealthy lifestyle, and die of drinking, smoking, or heart attack related causes-this happened in the Chernobyl area. I've been reading about it in the Wormwood Forest book.

At Three Mile Island, it was reported, in the studies that were made of the health of the people that were evacuated, that they were no more often sick than anyone else, but that they thought they were ill more often than everyone else.

dorispulaski · Mar 19, 2011

Here's a copy of the NHK news, published in English By the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum

My guess is that the word "acceleration" should actually have been "volume".

This report confirms that Unit1 & Unit2 are hooked to outside power, and that work will be done to restore cooling at those units. Work to attach Unit 3 will be done tomorrow; all good.

I take this to mean that the automatic water cannon took longer than expected to fill the spent fuel pool, but when it was full, there was some drop in the radiation measurement between units 3 & 4. I believe they are saying they know the pool is full because more water than the pool's design volume was put into it. If these pools are like the ones in the US, they have 16 feet of water over the top of the fuel rods.

The spent fuel pools in Units 5 and Units 6 are now confirmed as cooling down, since the diesel generator has been connected.

No.15
Status of Fukushima #1 power station as of 06:00, March 20, 2011
“NHK News reports on developments at Fukushima #1 on March 19”
Here is information regarding the status of Fukushima #1 power station. It comes from news reports aired by NHK between 0:00 and 6:00 on March 20.
・The operation for filling the spent fuel pool with water at Unit 3 continued until 03:40 midnight, lasting 13 hours -- 6 hours more than scheduled. The 2000 tons of water-filling operation was done with a special water cannon vehicle in mostly unattended manner to protect the crew against radiation exposure.
・For Units 5 and 6, restored emergency power supply has enabled the cooling system to begin to cool down the spent fuel pond, bringing the Unit 5 pool temperature down from 68.8 ℃ to 43.1℃ at 03:00. Also, the Unit 6 spent fuel pond has seen its water temperature lower 67.5℃ to 52℃ at 03:00.
・At Units 1 and 2, cables were successfully connected to external power supply and TEPCO will make every effort to restore cooling-down capability of the units.
・At Unit 4, the first water-filling operation will be conducted by the Self-Defense Force on March 20. They will use a water cannon truck which enables the crew to stay inside on water filling operation in the high radiation environment.
・Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, NISA revealed that radiation monitored at Unit 3 showed 3,443 micro Sv/h at 14:00 March 19 and lowered to 2,906 micro Sv/h. NISA attributes this stable status of the Unit to the water filling.
・According to TEPCO, the maximum acceleration of 507 gal was measured at Unit 3, which exceeds the design basis maximum acceleration of 449 and 441.

Olympia · Mar 20, 2011

This sounds good! I hope and pray that all continues in this vein.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

TEPCO's report as of 2 pm March 20th Japanese time. I'm going to include the whole report, because this is the complete daily status, up till that time. I'll bold things that are new. More detail is given on what was going on on March 17th in the Unit3 area.

There are complete radiation monitoring reports back to the beginning of the incident on the TEPCO site, but at this point, they are in Japanese. TEPCO says they will be available in English soon. There are a lot of them-I'm thinking maybe tomorrow they will be available.

All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.

Unit 1(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the explosive sound and white
smoke were confirmed after the big quake occurred at 3:36PM Mar 12th.
It was assumed to be hydrogen explosion.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 2(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down and the level of reactor coolant had
dropped and the reactor pressure had increased because the Reactor
Core Isolation Cooling System stopped. Measures were taken to lower
the pressure within the Reactor Containment Vessel and to inject sea
water into the Reactor while carefully confirming safety. The level of
reactor coolant and the pressure of the Reactor resumed.
- At approximately 6:00AM on March 15, 2011, an abnormal noise began
emanating from nearby Pressure Suppression Chamber and the pressure
within this chamber decreased.
- We completed receiving electricity from the external transmission line
up to the auxiliary transformer. We are installing the power cable
from that transformer to the temporary power panel.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 3(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the explosive sound and white
smoke were confirmed at 11:01AM Mar 14th. It was assumed to be
hydrogen explosion.
- At 8:30AM on March 16th, fog like steam was confirmed arising from the
reactor building.
- At approximately 6:15AM on March 17th the pressure of the Suppression
Chamber has temporarily increased. We were preparing to implement a
measurement to reduce the pressure of the reactor containment vessel
(partial discharge of air containing radioactive material to outside)
in order to fully secure safety. However, at present, it is not a
situation to take a measure immediately to discharge air containing
radioactive material to outside now. We will continue to monitor the
status of the pressure of the reactor containment vessel.
- We are working on receiving external power supply to Units 3 and 4.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel .

Unit 4(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, at approximately 6AM on March
15th. We have confirmed the explosive sound and the sustained damage
around the 5th floor rooftop area of the Nuclear Reactor Building.
- On March 15th and 16th, we respectively confirmed the outbreak of fire
at the 4th floor of the northwestern part of the Nuclear Reactor
Building. We immediately reported this matter to the fire department
and the related authorities. TEPCO employees confirmed that each fire
had already died down by itself.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.

Unit 5(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and the sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- At 5 AM, Mar 19th, we started the Residual Heat Removal System Pump
(C) in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.

Unit 6(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and the sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- We are working on receiving external power supply to Units 5 and 6. We
completed the repair work on the emergency diesel generator (A).
- At 10:14 pm, March 19, we started the Residual Heat Removal System
Pump (B) of Unit 6 in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.

Cooling of spent fuel pools
- In Unit 3, water discharge by Self-Defense Force's helicopters was
conducted from 9:48 AM in the morning on March 17th. Also water
discharge by the riot police's high-pressure water cannon trucks and
Self-Defense Force's fire engines was conducted from 7PM on March
17th and finished at 8:09PM.
- In Unit 3, water discharge by Self-Defense Force's fire engines and
US army's fire engines was conducted from 2 PM and completed a quarter
to 3 PM.
- After that, from 0:30 AM, Mar 19th, water discharge by Tokyo Fire
Department's Hyper Rescue was conducted to Unit 3 and completed at
1:10 AM. At around 2:10PM, water discharge by Tokyo Fire Department's
Hyper Rescue to Unit 3 was conducted once again. At approximately 3:40
am, they had finished water discharge.
- At approximately 8:21 am, March 20th, water discharge to Unit 4 by
fire engine has started with the cooperation of Self-Defense Forces.
- We are considering further water discharge at Unit 3 and others
subject to the conditions of spent fuel pools.

Casualty
- 2 workers of cooperative firm were injured at the occurrence of the
earthquake, and were transported to the hospital.
- 1 TEPCO employee who was not able to stand by his own holding left
chest with his hand, was transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- 1 subcontract worker at the key earthquake-proof building was
unconscious and transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- The radiation exposure of 1 TEPCO employee, who was working inside
the reactor building, exceeded 100mSv and he was transported to the
hospital.
- 2 TEPCO employees felt bad during their operation in the central
control rooms of Unit 1 and 2 while wearing full masks, and were
transferred to Fukushima Daini Power Station for consultation with a
medical advisor.
- 4 workers were injured and transported to the hospital after explosive
sound and white smoke were confirmed around the Unit 1.
- 11 workers were injured and transported to Fukushima Daini Nuclear
Power Station etc. after explosive sound and white smoke were
confirmed around the Unit 3.One of the workers was transported to the
FUKUSHIMA Medical University Hospital at 10:56AM
- Presence of 2 TEPCO employees at the site is not confirmed.

Others
- We measured radioactive materials (iodine etc.) inside of the nuclear
power station area (outdoor) by monitoring car and confirmed that
radioactive materials level is getting higher than ordinary level.
As listed below, we have determined that specific incidents stipulated
in article 15, clause 1 of Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear
Emergency Preparedness (Abnormal increase in radiation dose measured
at site boundary) have occurred.
· Determined at 4:17 PM Mar 12th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 8:56 AM Mar 13th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 2:15 PM Mar 13th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 3:50 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 6 )
· Determined at 4:15 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 2 )
· Determined at 9:27 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 3 )
· Determined at 9:37 PM Mar 14th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 6:51 AM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 8:11 AM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 4:17 PM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 11:05 PM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 8:58 AM Mar 19th (Around MP5)
From now on, if the measured figure fluctuates and goes above and
below 500 micro Sv/h, we deem that as the continuous same event and
will not regard that as a new specific incidents stipulated in article
15, clause 1 of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear
Emergency Preparedness (Abnormal increase in radiation dose measured
at site boundary) has occurred. In the interim, if we measure a
manifestly abnormal figure and it is evident that the event is not
the continuous same event, we will determine and notify.

- The national government has instructed evacuation for those local
residents within 20km radius of the periphery and evacuation to inside
for those residents from 20km to 30km radius of the periphery, because
it's possible that radioactive materials are discharged.
- At approximately 10AM on March 15th, we observed 400mSv/h at the
inland side of the Unit 3 reactor building and 100mSv/h at the inland
side of the Unit 4 reactor building.
- We checked the status of spent fuel in the common pool, and confirmed
that the water level secured. We are planning to conduct a detailed
inspection.
- We found no signs of abnormal situation for the casks by visual
observation during the patrol activity. A detailed inspection is under
preparation.
- At Units 5 and 6, in order to prevent hydrogen gas from accumulating
within the buildings, we have made three holes on the roof of the
reactor building for each unit
- We will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety and to
continue monitoring the surrounding environment around the Power
Station.

Olympia · Mar 20, 2011

Very little news online today because the headlines about Libya have overshadowed everything. So I'm especially glad for your ongoing reports, Doris. Oh, brave new world--going to the figure skating website for the latest news on just about the most important news event of the moment.

By the way, I spoke to someone in the local health food store today, and she reported that so far, Hawaii has detected no radiation. Every little victory is significant.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

Further comments from other websites:

From the Japanese Atomic Industrial Federation. The most important difference is that TEPCO will be working on getting the Unit 1 control panel working first, rather than explicitly the cooling system, in Units 1 & 2, so that they get measurements from the reactors before taking actions to adjust things. That seems smart to me, but it does remind me that through this whole "station blackout" situation, they have had to rely on backup measurements.

Status of Fukushima #1 power station as of 21:00, March 20, 2011

NHK News reports on developments at Fukushima #1 on March 20”
Here is information regarding the status of Fukushima #1 power station. It comes
from news reports aired by NHK in this evening on March 20.
・The self-defense force conducted the operation of spraying water to the spent
fuel pool at unit-4 two times today. Total amount of water sprayed is 160n ton.
・Work to recover external AC power is in progress at unit-1 and 2. External AC
power cable has already been connected to the distribution switchboards of Unit-
1 and unit-2. AC power will be provided to these units after current inspection to
check problem. TEPCO wants to distribute AC power to the main control room
first so that they can figure out the status of reactor, which is useful information
in taking measures.

The IAEA added a correction to its report yesterday about food contamination:

" Second, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has requested an investigation into the possible stop of sales of food products from the Fukushima Prefecture.

The World Health Organization has this advisory:
www.who.int

March 2011 --

WHO is not advising general restrictions on travel to Japan. However, travellers should avoid travel to the areas most affected by the earthquake and tsunami because of disruptions to essential services, such as transport and electric power, and the ongoing disaster relief activities. WHO is providing answers like this to the general public's frequently asked questions concerning exposure, food, shelter and individual protective measures on the radiation incident in Japan.

In other words, if you need to go to Tokyo, you can go without excessive risk.

The Japanese Atomic Industrial Foundation also publishes an English version of the reactor status, but it is dated later than the TEPCO status. It has a few additions, but sometimes it looks like the chart blocks were filled in at differing times:

http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1300624909P.pdf

I consider the following items to be news:

Seawater injection into the spent fuel pool at Unit 2 began on March 20th, and is being considered for the spent fuel pool at Unit 1.

A pressure increase at Unit 3's containment vessel was stabilized on the morning of the 20th

[This probably meant venting went on at Unit 3.]

They also break out things a little differently:

Sea water injection to the reactor's Core is being done at Units 1, 2 and 3.
Sea water injection to the containment vessel is being done at Units 1 and 3. It is being considered at Unit 2.

They say containment venting was stopped at all units in the morning.

And they confirm that outside power is now available at Units 1 & 2.

Work to recover AC power is in progress.　 External AC power cable is connected to the distribution switchboard for Unit-1 and unit-2.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

The news at Hawaii is good news, but the devil is in the details. Gamma rays & xrays travel at essentially the speed of light, and like light travel in straight lines, bent only a tiny bit by huge gravitational objects, like the sun (general relativity). Gamma rays & x rays from Japan do not make it around the curve of the earth to Hawaii. Beta particles (electrons) and alpha particles (nuclei of helium atoms) don't travel far, and are stopped by things like your clothes. Consequently when you're looking for radioactive stuff at Hawaii, you are essentially talking about radioactive particles, or particles with some radioactive isotopes in them, that are bourne on the prevailing winds & weather systems (often called "fallout"). And typically, 20 or 30 mph is a good brisk wind. The jetstream travels about 100 mph. A thunderstorm can move at 60 mph. The air distance from Tokyo to Honolulu is 3,859 miles. Consequently, when and if a given particle gets to Honolulu from Daiichi is tricky. The prevailing wind from Japan goes to Alaska, so that's where you'd look first for any significant change in background radiation from Daiichi outside of Japan.

As to what you'd look for, let's look at strontium 90, a relatively long-lived radioactive isotope. There are 3 sources of strontium 90 in the US: air testing of atomic weapons in the Cold War, the explosion at Chernobyl, and possible releases to the environment from nuclear plants. If you found some strontium 90, it would be hard to say it came from Daiichi, unless you suddenly found a lot more of it than you are accustomed to seeing.

In fact, that's how it was discovered in the west that there had been a disaster in Chernobyl. The operator of the Swedish Forsmark nuclear power plant thought he was having trouble because his outside radiation measurements were extremely high, and his alarms went off.

When someplace in CA announced that they had seen something surely from Daiichi, they were getting a little speculative in my book, given that the amount was very small, and that the particles, rays & atoms don't exactly arrive with a shipping label from Narita airport.

You can find a little bit of americium (one component of typical radioactive fall out) if someone has broken a smoke detector in the area. You can find other stuff if your lab cleaning lady had cancer treatments for uterine cancer or thyroid cancer recently. And there's always the variable and nasty radioactive components in smoke from your local coal burning power plant, which is where most radioactive components in US air come from.

Article on Coal
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

Second, although not as well known, releases from coal combustion contain naturally occurring radioactive materials--mainly, uranium and thorium.

and because quite a lot of uranium is found in coal smoke, coal burning plants are the proximate cause of plutonium in the air in the US

Another unrecognized problem is the gradual production of plutonium-239 through the exposure of uranium-238 in coal waste to neutrons from the air. These neutrons are produced primarily by bombardment of oxygen and nitrogen nuclei in the atmosphere by cosmic rays and from spontaneous fission of natural isotopes in soil.

So if you found uranium 238, or plutonium 239, you'd be really hard pressed to say where it came from, until you had a significant increase in total background radiation.

Iodine 131 is the most likely marker of a recent event, because it has a very short half life, being essentially gone from the environment within a year from its release. Its daughter isotope, xenon 131, is also a popular looked for marker. Iodine 131 is very easy to detect, because when it decays, it produces gamma rays and a beta particle. So the assumption that iodine in CA came from Daiichi might be true, but it might also be from Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors or San Onofre nuclear reactors in the LA area. But more likely, it might be from improper disposal of iodine 131 used in treatment of thyroid cancer to make sure that all thyroid tissue is dead. It is also occasional used in some medical imaging. The question again is the amount. In the case of radioactive materials, even a single atom can often be found.

This is why the most important thing to ask is, "How much?"

Lets assume you have 3x the normal amount of iodine 131 in your environment-say in a village near Daiichi or downwind from Daiichi. This would clearly be from Daiichi, since a big percentage change in your background amount has occurred. However, you would not know how dangerous that was until you knew what x was. Three times zero is still zero. Three times one atom is still just three atoms.

In the coming month(s), I can definitely predict that that single atoms, and 1 mrem doses / changes of this or that will be reported everywhere. The issue will be to put that in perspective.

Also there will be considerable "junk science" mixed in with some very good science. A good example of a very long-lived junk science is the Tooth Fairy Project.

http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstat...healtheffectsdispelstoothfairyproject/?page=6

I saw a lesser case of this in my own area in CT where a local anti-nuclear advocate compiled a list of all young children who had died in towns near Millstone Point Nuclear Plant and claimed in the local newspaper that all these children had died due to the nuclear plant. The mistake she made was that she published the names of these children, and was sued by parents, including one family where the father had backed over a child who crawled behind his car when he backed out of his driveway.

Sadly, this is all part of "advocacy science" these days. I don't think you should, as we used to say, "draw your line before you plot your points," that is, form your conclusions first, and then try to defend them by making up data, or editing points that don't agree with your preconceptions out of your data.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

NEI has just produced an update that they label as being for 10 am EDT March 20, 2011

New News

Work continues to get Unit 2's control room working-other Units to follow.

TEPCO was able to stabilize the Unit 3 reactor without venting (a good thing)

The first round of spraying at Unit 4 was completed.

UPDATE AS OF 10:00 A.M. EDT, SUNDAY, MARCH 20:
A two-part operation to spray water into the used fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4 ended just before 7 A.M. EDT. Japan's defense ministry announced that the Self Defense Force discharged more than 100 tons of water at the pool, and concluded that much of it reached inside the reactor building.

This was the first time since the March 11 quake that reactor 4 has been doused. Yesterday the Tokyo elite fire services used a high-pressure fire truck to spray water for more than 13 hours into the fuel pool of reactor 3.

The ministry also reported conducting surface temperature measurements of reactors 1 through 4 from a helicopter to evaluate the effect of the water discharge operations. The surface temperature of each unit is below 100 degrees Celsius.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said this morning that pressure within the reactor containment vessel from reactor 3 has begun to stabilize and has decided against an operation to vent gases to reduce pressure inside the containment vessel.

TEPCO is continuing work to restore electricity to reactor 2. A power cable has been connected from a nearby transmission line. TEPCO hopes to have power restored to the reactor's control room sometime today. Connections to reactors 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are to follow.

UPDATE AS OF 10:30 P.M. EDT, SATURDAY, MARCH

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

TEPCO has produced a 6 pm March 20, 2011 Japanes time status

Seawater was added (40 tons) to the Unit 2 spent fuel pool

and

We completed receiving electricity from the external transmission
line up to the auxiliary transformer. We installed the power cable from
the transformer to the temporary power panel. At 3: 46 PM, March 20th,
we started energizing the load-side power panel

There is an interesting note on Unit 5:

- At 2:30 PM, March 20th, the reactor achieved reactor cold shutdown.

That means they have their instrumentation up and running and are able to confirm that the reactor is OK and in a proper shutdown mode, and the cooling system is working, and temperatures are in the correct range. It was in cold shutdown before the earthquake, and had remained in that state, but of course, the cooling system was not working, due to not having power.

Press Release (Mar 20,2011)
Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (as of 6:00 PM Mar 20th)

Press Release (Mar 20, 2011)
Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (as of 6:00 PM Mar 20th)

*new items are underlined

All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.

Unit 1(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the explosive sound and white
smoke were confirmed after the big quake occurred at 3:36PM Mar 12th.
It was assumed to be hydrogen explosion.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 2(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down and the level of reactor coolant had dropped
and the reactor pressure had increased because the Reactor Core
Isolation Cooling System stopped. Measures were taken to lower
the pressure within the Reactor Containment Vessel and to inject
sea water into the Reactor while carefully confirming safety. The level
of reactor coolant and the pressure of the Reactor resumed.
- At approximately 6:00AM on March 15, 2011, an abnormal noise began
emanating from nearby Pressure Suppression Chamber and the pressure
within this chamber decreased.
- We completed receiving electricity from the external transmission
line up to the auxiliary transformer. We installed the power cable from
the transformer to the temporary power panel. At 3: 46 PM, March 20th,
we started energizing the load-side power panel.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 3(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the explosive sound and white
smoke were confirmed at 11:01AM Mar 14th. It was assumed to be hydrogen
explosion.
- At 8:30AM on March 16th, fog like steam was confirmed arising from
the reactor building.
- At approximately 6:15AM on March 17th the pressure of the Suppression
Chamber has temporarily increased. We were preparing to implement
a measurement to reduce the pressure of the reactor containment vessel
(partial discharge of air containing radioactive material to outside)
in order to fully secure safety. However, at present, it is not a
situation to take a measure immediately to discharge air containing
radioactive material to outside now. We will continue to monitor
the status of the pressure of the reactor containment vessel.
- We are working on receiving external power supply to Units 3 and 4.
- We have been injecting sea water into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 4(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, at approximately 6AM on
March 15th. We have confirmed the explosive sound and the sustained
damage around the 5th floor rooftop area of the Nuclear Reactor
Building.
- On March 15th and 16th, we respectively confirmed the outbreak of fire
at the 4th floor of the northwestern part of the Nuclear Reactor
Building. We immediately reported this matter to the fire department
and the related authorities. TEPCO employees confirmed that each fire
had already died down by itself.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.

Unit 5(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and the sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- At 5 AM, March 19th, we started the Residual Heat Removal System Pump
(C ) in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.
- At 2:30 PM, March 20th, the reactor achieved reactor cold shutdown.

Unit 6(outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and the sufficient level of reactor
coolant to ensure safety is maintained.
- We are working on receiving external power supply to Units 5 and 6.
We completed the repair work on the emergency diesel generator (A).
- At 10:14 pm, March 19, we started the Residual Heat Removal System Pump
(B ) of Unit 6 in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
- At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel happened.

Cooling of spent fuel pools
- In Unit 3, water discharge by Self-Defense Force's helicopters was
conducted from 9:48 AM in the morning on March 17th. Also water
discharge by the riot police's high-pressure water cannon trucks and
Self-Defense Force's fire engines was conducted from 7PM on March 17th
and finished at 8:09PM.
- In Unit 3, water discharge by Self-Defense Force's fire engines and
US army's fire engines was conducted from 2 PM and completed a quarter
to 3 PM.
- After that, from 0:30 AM, Mar 19th, water discharge by Tokyo Fire
Department's Hyper Rescue was conducted to Unit 3 and completed
at 1:10 AM. At around 2:10PM, water discharge by Tokyo
Fire Department's Hyper Rescue to Unit 3 was conducted once again.
At approximately 3:40 am, they had finished water discharge.
- At approximately 8:21 am, March 20th, water discharge to Unit 4 by
fire engine has started with the cooperation of Self-Defense Forces.
- From 3: 05 PM to 5: 20 PM on March 20th, 40 tons of seawater was
injected into Unit 2 by TEPCO employees.
- We are considering further water discharge at Unit 3 and others subject
to the conditions of spent fuel pools.

Casualty
- 2 workers of cooperative firm were injured at the occurrence of
the earthquake, and were transported to the hospital.
- 1 TEPCO employee who was not able to stand by his own holding left
chest with his hand, was transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- 1 subcontract worker at the key earthquake-proof building was
unconscious and transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- The radiation exposure of 1 TEPCO employee, who was working inside
the reactor building, exceeded 100mSv and he was transported to
the hospital.
- 2 TEPCO employees felt bad during their operation in the central
control rooms of Unit 1 and 2 while wearing full masks, and were
transferred to Fukushima Daini Power Station for consultation with
a medical advisor.
- 4 workers were injured and transported to the hospital after explosive
sound and white smoke were confirmed around the Unit 1.
- 11 workers were injured and transported to Fukushima Daini Nuclear
Power Station etc. after explosive sound and white smoke were confirmed
around the Unit 3.One of the workers was transported to the FUKUSHIMA
Medical University Hospital at 10:56AM
- Presence of 2 TEPCO employees at the site is not confirmed.

Others
- We measured radioactive materials (iodine etc.) inside of the nuclear
power station area (outdoor) by monitoring car and confirmed that
radioactive materials level is getting higher than ordinary level.
As listed below, we have determined that specific incidents stipulated
in article 15, clause 1 of Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear
Emergency Preparedness (Abnormal increase in radiation dose measured at
site boundary) have occurred.
· Determined at 4:17 PM Mar 12th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 8:56 AM Mar 13th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 2:15 PM Mar 13th (Around Monitoring Post 4 )
· Determined at 3:50 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 6 )
· Determined at 4:15 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 2 )
· Determined at 9:27 AM Mar 14th (Around Monitoring Post 3 )
· Determined at 9:37 PM Mar 14th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 6:51 AM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 8:11 AM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 4:17 PM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 11:05 PM Mar 15th (Around main entrance )
· Determined at 8:58 AM Mar 19th (Around MP5)
From now on, if the measured figure fluctuates and goes above and below
500 micro Sv/h, we deem that as the continuous same event and will not
regard that as a new specific incidents stipulated in article 15,
clause 1 of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency
Preparedness (Abnormal increase in radiation dose measured at site
boundary) has occurred. In the interim, if we measure a manifestly
abnormal figure and it is evident that the event is not the continuous
same event, we will determine and notify.

- The national government has instructed evacuation for those local
residents within 20km radius of the periphery and evacuation to inside
for those residents from 20km to 30km radius of the periphery, because
it's possible that radioactive materials are discharged.
- At approximately 10AM on March 15th, we observed 400mSv/h at the inland
side of the Unit 3 reactor building and 100mSv/h at the inland side of
the Unit 4 reactor building.
- We checked the status of spent fuel in the common pool, and confirmed
that the water level secured. We are planning to conduct a detailed
inspection.
- We found no signs of abnormal situation for the casks by visual
observation during the patrol activity. A detailed inspection is
under preparation.
- At Units 5 and 6, in order to prevent hydrogen gas from accumulating
within the buildings, we have made three holes on the roof of
the reactor building for each unit
- We will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety and to
continue monitoring the surrounding environment around the Power
Station.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

The IAEA's Afternoon Update

I've posted it in full below, and new news in it is that only Unit 3 is steaming now (Unit 2 was steaming yesterday as well) and it is steaming less. However, the IAEA's info on radiation measurement is an example of the point I was trying to make in my last post. I'm going to extract this part, but the full text of the briefing is further down in my post. One of the IAEA's core competencies is in measuring radiation, in the air, on the ground, in plants, foodstuffs, and in water.

So what are we to make of the bolded sentence?

Since we see that the measurements being seen per hour are at least 10x to 20x the usual, we can conclude that indeed, radioactive materials escaped from Daiichi. But what an ordinary person should wish to know, is how much escaped, and how does that affect me? That is determined by knowing that the total dose was "a few microSieverts per hour"

Since a millirem (or mrem) is 1/10 of a MicroSievert per hour, we are talking about, say 0.5 or less mrems/hr. (I'm figuring a "few" is more than 1 and less than or equal to 5). That would be roughly 10 mrems per day.

The matter of how large a dose is dangerous (something I have touched on before) can be put in perspective by the idea of the "Banana Equivalent Dose"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose

It's true that every day, you take a risk. I'd like to be able to estimate what size risk I'm taking. So 0.5 mrem for an hour is equivalent to 50 bananas.

According Bowes and Church the dose equivalent of eating a banana is about 0.01 mrem. ..A radiation dose equivalent of 100 μSv (10 mrem, or 1,000 Banana Equivalent Doses) increases an average adult human's risk of death by about one micromort – the same risk as eating 40 tablespoons of peanut butter, or of smoking 1.4 cigarettes

Here's the IAEA's info on their monitoring

2. Radiation Monitoring

Radiation levels in major Japanese cities have not changed significantly since yesterday and remain below those which are dangerous to human health.

The IAEA radiation monitoring team took additional measurements yesterday between Tokyo and locations up to 150 km from the Fukushima site. Dose rates were typically a few microsieverts per hour compared to a typical background level of around 0.1 microsieverts per hour.

From the measurements taken within the exclusion zone, no significant alpha radiation has been detected so far.

And here's TEPCO's Monitoring data, now in English

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/monitoring/index-e.html

On March 20th:

At Daini Nuclear Plant, at Monitoring Point 4, they typically were getting 10 to 12 micro Sieverts/hour on March 20th. (1 to 1.2 mrem/hr) (Daini is 10 km from Daiichi, and thus deep in the evacuated zone).

At Daiichi on March 20th, in the area of the plants, they are getting about 250 millirem/hr more or less dropping slowly all day, and at the West gate 25 millirem/hour. Almost the entire amount of radiation was due to gamma rays. Very few neutrons were detected, according to the data.

By contrast, on March 17th, the day that I think the worst incidents occurred, radiation was as high as 35 mrem at the West Gate, 65 mrem at the Main Gate and 420 mrem at the building area, again all essentially due to gamma rays.

IAEA Update

IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Emergency (20 March 2011, 15.30 UTC)
On Sunday, 20 March 2011, Graham Andrew, Special Adviser to the IAEA Director General on Scientific and Technical Affairs, briefed both Member States and the media on the current status of nuclear safety in Japan. His opening remarks, which he delivered at 15:30 UTC at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, are provided below:

1. Current Situation

There have been some positive developments in the last 24 hours, but the overall situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious.

Efforts to restore electrical power to the site continue. Off-site electrical power has been connected to the local substation for Unit 2 today. Work is continuing under difficult conditions to connect power from the substation to the reactor building. Seawater is still being injected into the reactor pressure vessels of Units 1, 2 and 3. Water injection is not needed for Unit 4 as the reactor is in outage.

White smoke or vapour from Unit 3 is still being observed, but it is less intense than on previous days. Spraying of the reactor building with water is in progress. Following an initial rise in pressure in the Unit 3 reactor pressure vessel, plans were made to vent the vessel should it become necessary. However, from information recently provided by NISA they have decided not to vent as the vessel pressure has started to reduce.

The situation in the reactor spent fuel pools is relatively stable, but is still of concern. Spraying of water into the pool of Unit 4 started yesterday. The Agency still lacks data on water levels and temperatures at the spent fuel pools at Units 1, 2, 3 and 4.

A positive development is that cooling has been restored to the reactor pressure vessels in Units 5 and 6. Temperatures in the spent fuel pools at these two units, which had been rising in the last few days, have now fallen significantly to around 40 degrees centigrade from a maximum of about 69 degrees yesterday. Two diesel generators, one for each Unit, are providing electricity.

2. Radiation Monitoring

Radiation levels in major Japanese cities have not changed significantly since yesterday and remain below those which are dangerous to human health.

The IAEA radiation monitoring team took additional measurements yesterday between Tokyo and locations up to 150 km from the Fukushima site. Dose rates were typically a few microsieverts per hour compared to a typical background level of around 0.1 microsieverts per hour.

From the measurements taken within the exclusion zone, no significant alpha radiation has been detected so far.

This morning, we received additional data from the Agency's monitoring team which indicated contamination on the ground at a location 50 to 70 km from the Fukushima site. The team will make confirmatory measurements tomorrow at the same locations to help validate the initial results. Grass and other samples have also been taken by the team from various locations in the Fukushima Prefecture for analysis. In the coming days, the IAEA monitoring team plans to take measurements at the same locations monitored by the Japanese authorities. This will assist in the validation of measurements. The IAEA is sending additional monitoring experts to Japan to supplement its capabilities in the field.

Some results on the monitoring of foodstuffs have been made available by Japan to the IAEA and FAO. We can confirm measurements indicating that, in some areas, Iodine-131 in milk and in freshly grown leafy vegetables, such as spinach and spring onions, is significantly above the levels set by Japan for restricting consumption of these food products.

3. Agency Activities

The Director General has returned to Vienna and will brief the Board of Governors on Monday on the outcome of his visit to Tokyo.

Olympia · Mar 20, 2011

Thanks, Doris. It's especially helpful to know that the IAEA specializes in detecting radiation. A very useful context for me as I read their report. Knowing this, I can see that everything possible is being done, and that some progress is being made--or at least we're not going backward for now!

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

IAEA just updated their info. Here's the stuff that I found of current interest:

Unit 1

On 19 March, the containment vessel pressure indication was restored in Unit 1.

Unit 2

As of 19 March, 11:30 UTC, officials could no longer confirm seeing white smoke coming from the building. Smoke had been observed emerging from the reactor earlier.
On 20 March, workers began pumping 40 tonnes of seawater into the spent fuel pool.

Unit 3

White smoke has been seen emerging from the reactor, but on 19 March it appeared to be less intense than in previous days.

Unit 4

Authorities remain concerned about the condition of the spent fuel pool, and Japanese Self Defence Forces began spraying water into the building on 20 March.

Units 5 and 6

Shut down for routine maintenance before the earthquake, both reactors achieved cold shutdown on 20 March. The reactors are now in a safe mode, with cooling systems stable and under control, and with low temperature and pressure within the reactor.

Instrumentation from both spent fuel pools had shown gradually increasing temperatures over the past few days. Officials configured two diesel generators at Unit 6 to power cooling and fresh-water replenishment systems in the spent fuel pools and cores of Units 5 and 6. As of 20 March, temperatures in both pools had decreased significantly.

Restoration of Grid

Progress has been achieved in restoring external power to the nuclear power plant, although it remains uncertain when full power will be available to all reactors. Off-site electrical power has been connected to an auxiliary transformer and distribution panels at Unit 2. Work continues toward energizing specific equipment within Unit 2.

Radiation Measurements

Radiation levels near Fukushima Daiichi and beyond have elevated since the reactor damage began. However, dose rates in Tokyo and other areas outside the 30-kilometre zone remain below levels which would require any protective action. In other words they are not dangerous to human health.

Dose rates have been provided by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology for 47 cities and town representing a comprehensive nationwide monitoring network. The data set covers the period from 15 March 08:00 UTC to 20 March 17:00 UTC with an hourly sampling frequency. No significant changes of dose rates have been observed if compared to previous day data.

At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, radiation levels spiked three times since the earthquake, but have stabilized since 16 March at levels which are, although significantly higher than the normal levels, within the range that allows workers to continue onsite recovery measures. Two new on-site environmental monitoring locations have been added to the monitoring network.

Radionuclides in Foodstuffs and Water

The IAEA has received information from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare regarding the presence of Iodine-131 in three milk samples tested in the town of Kawamata. The concentration is reported to be above allowed levels. Cesium-137 was detected in one sample, though in concentration below allowed levels.

In the Ibaraki prefecture, Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 have been detected in leaf vegetables such as spring onions and spinach. Some of the samples have been reported to be above the levels allowed by the Japanese food hygiene law for emergency monitoring criteria for intake of vegetables.

According to the Nuclear Safety Division, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) analysis for Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 in tap water from 46 locations yielded the majority of samples as non-detects. Only six out of 46 exhibited any iodine-131, though the concentration was reported to be below levels allowed by the Japanese food hygiene law for emergency monitoring criteria for drinking water.

I've got to smile-they copied the JAIF block form from hours ago.

In a not so smily mood,

It cost nearly one billion dollars to clean up Three Mile Island. It was completed about 1990, and was awarded for being one of the top engineering achievements of that year.

The cleanup at Daiichi will be more costly-4 reactor & buildings to fix.

It is a very daunting task.

dorispulaski · Mar 20, 2011

NEI posted their evening version of an updated status. The earthquake design info about the plants is new news, but not that relevant to my mind, since the earthquake did not damage the plant. The problem was that the design included a 20 foot tsunami, maximum, not a 33 foot tsunami.

DATE AS OF 8:30 P.M. EDT, SUNDAY, MARCH 20:
Fukushima Daiichi
Reactors 5 and 6 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are in cold shutdown, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports. This means that the reactors are in a safe mode, with cooling systems stable and under control, and with low temperatures and pressures.

When the quake struck, both reactors had been shut down for inspection and refueling, and had some fuel inside the reactor cores. Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been using a pair of diesel generators at reactor 6 to pump water through the reactors and to their used fuel pools.

An elite firefighting unit sprayed water over the spent fuel pool of reactor 3, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported.

Japan's NISA reported that TEPCO early this morning began pumping sea water into the used fuel pool at reactor 2.

The company is checking individual circuits as it prepares to restore offsite electricity to the reactor's main control room, where it will be able to check and monitor plant systems. To restore power to reactors 3 and 4, TEPCO is considering laying power cables to bypass a radiation contaminated area.

The March 11 earthquake was stronger than the Daiichi plant was designed to withstand, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum reported. Maximum ground acceleration near reactor 3 was 507 centimeters per second squared - more than the plant's design reference values of 449.

Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

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