Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

Meanwhile concentration of Cesium 134 & 137 and Iodine 131 continue to drop in seawater collected from as close as possible to the quay and the screen in front of the pipe where the very highly contaminated water used to be getting into the ocean. Here's a graph:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110413e12.pdf

NHK on the Unit 4 spent fuel pool

The more water over the fuel rods in the pool, the less radiation will be measured at the water's surface. The hotter the water, the more it will evaporate. They need to keep spraying the Unit 4 pool frequently. It's not clear whether there is some small leak there, either, and given the state of the building, I rather think it would be hard to find out.

.Temperatures rise at No.4 spent fuel storage pool

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says the water temperature in the spent fuel storage pool at the No. 4 reactor in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has risen to about 90 degrees Celsius. It fears the spent fuel rods may be damaged.

TEPCO took the temperature on Tuesday using an extending arm on a special vehicle. It found the temperature was much higher than the normal level of under 40 degrees.

To cool the fuel, TEPCO sprayed 195 tons of water for 6 hours on Wednesday morning.

The company thinks the pool's water level was about 5 meters lower than normal, but 2 meters above the fuel rods.

TEPCO believes the water level is likely to rise by about one meter after the water spraying on Wednesday.

The company also believes temperatures rose after the loss of the reactor's cooling system.

TEPCO says high levels of radiation at 84 millisieverts per hour were detected above the water surface, where radiation is rarely detected.

The company plans to continue spraying and to analyze radioactive particles in the pool to determine whether the fuel has been damaged.

The storage pool at the No. 4 reactor has housed all the fuel rods that were in operation at the reactor due to massive engineering work there.

TEPCO has sprayed more than 1,800 tons of water on the No. 4 reactor using fire engines and special vehicles since the March 11th crisis. The company feared that fuel rods could cause evaporation of water and put workers at risk of exposure.

University of Tokyo Professor Koji Okamoto says the temperature of 90 degrees indicates that cooling is continuing, although some of the water in the pool may be boiling.

Okamoto says high radiation indicates the possibility of radiation leaks from damaged fuel, and called for the evaluation of water sampling to determine how the situation should be tackled.

The professor says that to prevent further damage to the fuel, it's important to continue cooling the pool while minimizing water leakage from it.

NHK on the current state of contamination in the sea:

Work to remove contaminated wastewater continues

Workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are continuing efforts to remove highly radioactive water from parts of the facility.

Highly contaminated water needs to be transferred to the plant's waste processing facility from the basement of the Number 2 reactor's turbine building before workers can continue efforts to restore the cooling system.

On Wednesday, workers checked the waste processing facility to make sure it could hold the contaminated water to be transferred.

Work also continued to transfer contaminated water from an underground utility tunnel outside the Number 2 reactor to a turbine condenser.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says the water level in the tunnel was nearly one meter below the ground's surface as of Wednesday morning, dropping 8 centimeters from the previous day.

On Tuesday last week, workers stopped leakage into the sea of highly radioactive water from a concrete pit near the underground tunnel.

Another challenge is how to stop the spread of radioactive material in the sea.

Seawater sampled on Monday 30 kilometers offshore contained 2.2 times the national safety limit of radioactive iodine-131. The level 15 kilometers offshore was 23 times the safety limit. Both figures were the highest yet observed.

On Wednesday, workers put up underwater barriers in the sea near water intakes at the Number 2, Number 3 and Number 4 reactors. The barriers are to be reinforced in the coming days.Wednesday, April 13, 2011 19:33 +0900 (JST)

NHK on how exactly the radioactive material will spread out in the ocean. It's pretty much determined by the currents, and partially by weather and turbulence. It's also true that every 8 days, you will have one half again the amount of Iodine 131.

Diffusion of radioactive substances predicted

Japan's science ministry says radioactive substances will continue to diffuse to the northeast in the Pacific Ocean for several days after being released from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The ministry conducted a computer-simulated prediction of movements of such substances, based on a seawater survey as well as data on currents in nearby waters.

On April 2nd, levels of radioactive iodine-131 near the water intake of the plant's No. 2 reactor were found to be 7.5 million times higher than the legal limit.

The ministry says the radiation levels are on the decline, but remain high.

The ministry's short-term prediction says the substances will spread from the coast to the northeast, maintaining their levels for several days.

The ministry's long-term prediction says the substances will be carried south by a current 100 kilometers offshore in lowered concentrations, then move east with a rapidly-moving current off Ibaraki Prefecture in about a month.

The ministry said the concentration of radioactive substances in the sea is likely to decrease gradually.

The ministry plans to step up monitoring of the movement of radioactive substances in waters around the plant and release another prediction.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 19:44 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

Meanwhile, the estimated loss of life in the earthquake and tsunami rise. The numbers still do not include the missing and dead in Sendai:

NHK

East Japan disaster: over 28,000 dead or missing

More than 28,000 people are dead or missing after the March 11th disaster and recent aftershocks in eastern Japan.

According to the National Police Agency, the deaths of 13,392 people have so far been confirmed. Most of the deaths occurred in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, the 3 hardest stricken prefectures. Miyagi topped the list at 8,190, followed by Iwate at 3,867 and Fukushima at 1,272.

About 83 percent, or 11,156, of the recovered bodies have been identified and handed or are being handed over to the victims' families.

The Agency lists 15,133 people as unaccounted for, based on reports mostly from family members.

On Wednesday, police announced for the first time that 776 are missing in Higashimatsushima, one of the most heavily flooded cities in Miyagi. The announcement was delayed due to the effort to sort out possible overlapping cases. Police have yet to announce the total number of missing in Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi.

The National Police Agency says about 140,000 people are living in emergency shelters, mostly in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima. Another 22,000 people have evacuated to areas outside the 3 prefectures.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 300,000 households in 8 prefectures remain without water. The ministry has sent water trucks to the affected areas.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 15:09 +0900 (JST)
Video Quality
Low (256K)High (512K).

 

[dorispulaski]

Very early in the crisis, engineers from Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilson, Westinghouse Shaw Group, Hitachi, and Toshiba formed the “Mt. Fuji,” short for Management Support for Fukushima U.S. and Japan Initiative, team to formulate plans for how to decomission Units 1 through 4. No reactor has ever been completely decomissioned in Japan before.

There is more color commentary than substance in this NYT article, but it's good to know that people who have done this before will be involved.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/world/asia/08toshiba.html?_r=1

 

[dorispulaski]

NHK's take on the recent seawater measurements by TEPCO (Apr. 14th)

.Radiation in seawater drops but remains high
The operator of the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station says radiation levels in seawater near the plant are on the decline, but remain high.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected 100 becquerels of iodine-131 per cubic centimeter in samples collected near the water intake of the No.2 reactor on Tuesday afternoon. That represents 2,500 times the legal limit.

The density was down from 7.5 million times the limit found in the same area on April 2nd. The decline in radioactivity levels comes after the firm stopped highly radioactive water from leaking through a pit outside the reactor on April 6th.

The company released 1,320 tons of relatively low radioactive water into the ocean near the outlets of the No.5 and No.6 reactors for the 6 days through April 9th.

The company discovered 1.7 becquerels of iodine-131 per cubic centimeter in seawater samples taken from a zone about 30 meters north of the outlets on Tuesday afternoon. That amounts to 43 times the legal limit.

The firm also found 1.1 becquerels of the radioactive element in seawater samples collected near a beach 16 kilometers south of the plant on Tuesday morning. That represents 28 times the legal limit. Radiation levels at the same spot have remained almost the same since April 5th.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 07:28 +0900 (JST)

.Fishing group cancels sea urchin, abalone catch

A fishing cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture has cancelled sea urchin and abalone fishing in response to the radioactive contamination from the crippled nuclear plant in the prefecture.

The decision was unanimously made at a meeting of the group's representatives in Iwaki City, south of the plant, on Wednesday ahead of the start of the fishing season next month.

They said the nuclear incident made it unclear whether seafood will sell and skin diving is safe.

In 2009, skin diving fishing off Iwaki City caught 16.6 tons of sea urchin and 20.6 tons of abalone, each accounting for about 90 percent of the catches in the prefecture.

The head of the fishing group, Kazuo Akiyama, said they will demand that the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, pay compensation for the expected damages caused by the cancelation of the fishing.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 07:27 +0900 (JST)

And the company that sells radioactive monitoring equipment is going to get rich.
Govt. to certify shipping containers

The Japanese government is going to begin certifying the safety of shipping containers at some of the country's major ports to prevent concerns over the Fukushima nuclear accident from hurting exports.

The transport ministry is trying to reassure foreign shipping companies about the safety of Japanese exports. Its website has messages in English, Chinese, and Korean that say radiation levels around Tokyo Bay including Tokyo and Yokohama ports are safe.

Last month, China barred a Japanese ship from unloading containers at one of its ports after high levels of radiation were detected on the freight.

More than 10 foreign vessels have canceled making port calls at Tokyo Bay.

To stop the situation from worsening, the ministry has decided to gauge radiation levels on containers set to be exported from some of the country's major ports including Tokyo and then issue safety certificates.

The ministry will also measure radiation levels on request from shipping firms.

It plans to create guidelines on how to assess radiation amounts and will start issuing certificates by the end of the month.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 07:28 +0900 (JST)

This is a shock to me: I thought that spent fuel would be in much worse shape:

Most spent fuel not damaged at No. 4 reactor

TEPCO says most of the spent fuel in the storage pool of the No. 4 reactor is apparently undamaged.

At a news conference on Wednesday, the firm said the finding is based on interim results of an analysis of samples taken from the pool water on Tuesday.

But it said levels of radioactive substances including iodine-131 in the samples were higher than those in storage pools under normal circumstances, suggesting that some of the spent fuel may have been damaged.

TEPCO says it found 220 becquerels of iodine-131 per cubic centimeter of water, as well as 88 becquerels of cesium-134 and 93 becquerels of cesium-137. The firm says the materials are usually produced by nuclear fission.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 21:08 +0900 (JST)

And concerns about sand lances and shiitake mushrooms continue:

High radioactivity detected in fish, vegetables

The health ministry has detected radioactivity above the legal limit in fish caught off Fukushima Prefecture and 11 kinds of vegetables grown in the prefecture.

The ministry says it found 12,500 becquerels per kilogram, or 25 times the limit, of radioactive cesium in small fish called sand lances caught off Iwaki City, south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Wednesday. It also discovered 12,000 becquerels, or 6 times the limit, of radioactive iodine in the fish.

On April 7th, sand lances caught off the city were already found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium in excess of the limit. Sand lances caught off Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima, were also found to be polluted with the radioactive substance.

The central government says sand lances are currently not being sold as fishing cooperatives in the 2 prefectures are not in operation.

Radioactivity was also detected on 11 kinds of vegetables sampled in Fukushima on Monday.

Authorities detected 1,960 becquerels per kilogram, or 4 times the legal limit, of cesium on Japanese parsley, known as Seri, grown in Soma City.

On Wednesday, the government banned the shipment of some shiitake mushrooms grown outdoors in eastern Fukushima after detecting radioactivity above the legal limit.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 07:28 +0900 (JST)

 

[Blue Bead]

The Japanese government will very probably never be able to come up with a truly accurate accounting of the people lost to the tsunami because so many of them were washed out to sea when the rogue wave retreated back into the ocean, not to mention all those bodies buried in the debris around Sendai which are within the off-limits areas due to the incredible radiation issues. It is very sad to think that some of those who sit and wait, for any word that there loved ones' remains have been found, will never get the sense of closure which that announcement would bring to them. I pray that they can find peace and strength to deal with this.

 

[dorispulaski]

Yes, everyone in Japan will all dearly need strength. And peace.

Fortunatley, Sendai, in Miyagi prefecture, is not in the evacuation zone, and in fact, Sendai airport is now open with international flights arriving, which is supposed to be a boon for relief efforts. http://www.todayonline.com/World/ED...f-efforts-get-boost-as-Sendai-Airport-reopens

Radiation is definitely an issue in searching for bodies within the evacuation zone, particularly to the north and east of Daiichi, in the same direction as Iitate village and especially on the coast just north of Daiichi. However, I thought that was what the US military team was helping out the Japanese with?

The radiation there is not that incredibly high at this time, in the area that needs to be searched. (it was very high in Daiichi itself on March 15/16, and is still very high inside parts of the plants themselves.) However on the plant periphery, while not great, it's low enough to allow searchers to work. And AFAIR, no one is missing at the plant itself, since they found the 2 guys who had died in the tsunami in the turbine building. It isn't like searching some 20 or 30 miles is the work of several weeks, when the cumulative dose would catch up with you. It's hard to know...NHK was not that explicit as to just how and where searching was to be done. They do not seem to be as dedicated to telling that kind of story as the US media.

 

[dorispulaski]

NHK Reports for April 13th and 14th

NHK Reports

This one could mean anything, I suppose, but the next article is more to the point.

Edano apologizes over Kan's reported remark

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has apologized to the public over media reports about the long-term inhabitability of areas around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

An adviser to the Cabinet, Kenichi Matsumoto, at first told reporters on Wednesday that the Prime Minister remarked that areas around the nuclear plant will be inhabitable over a long period. He later retracted his comment and the Prime Minister himself also denied making such a statement.

But the reports have angered local leaders, including the Fukushima governor. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Edano reiterated that Kan never made such remarks. But Edano said it is regrettable that the reports have caused concern to residents who have evacuated from around the plant.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 16:12 +0900 (JST)

NHK

For me, this is hugely important. Unlike at Chernobyl, it looks like all are committed to complete remediation rather than creating a radiation theme park cum wildlife sanctuary. It also means that they believe remediation is possible, which also wasn't true at Chernobyl. For something like this, ten years is an accelerated schedule. It took ten years to fully decomission Maine Yankee Nuclear in Wiscasset, ME. (owned, I believe, by Entergy):

Japanese manufacturer Toshiba, which helped build the Fukushima Daiichi plant's now crippled nuclear reactors, says decommissioning them will take at least 10 years.

Reactor makers draft 10-year decommission plan

Toshiba has drafted a plan with 4 US companies in the nuclear power industry to decommission the plant, including the Number 2 and 3 reactors that it built.

The company's President Norio Sasaki said on Thursday that it has submitted the proposal to Tokyo Electric Power and the Industry Ministry. Prime Minister Naoto Kan had earlier asked the utility to come up with a plan to end the nuclear crisis.

The proposal is divided into 3 phases. The short-term plan, likely to take several months, involves cooling and stabilizing reactors and spent fuel pools, while preventing radioactive water from increasing. Toshiba will then move toward the medium-term plan, involving the safe removal of nuclear fuel rods from the pools and pressure vessels, using special cranes to be set up near the reactor buildings. Toshiba says this work will take 5 years.

The final phase, dismantling the reactors and clearing the land, will take another 5 years. Toshiba says that radioactive substances released in the process must be removed during this phase.Thursday, April 14, 2011 21:41 +0900 (JST

NHK news regarding status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station yesterday and today.
●Fukushima plant workers brace for aftershocks

Workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are bracing for more powerful aftershocks while continuing their efforts to clear the compound of radioactive wastewater. Highly contaminated water has pooled inside turbine buildings and tunnels, hampering efforts to restore reactor cooling systems. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, transferred about 660 tons of wastewater from the Number 2 reactor tunnel to a turbine condenser on Wednesday. As a result, the water level in the tunnel dropped by 8 centimeters. But it was up again by 3 centimeters as of Thursday morning. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says water being injected to cool the reactor may be leaking out. TEPCO also plans to transfer contaminated water to the plant's waste processing facility. But the facility has not yet been made leak-proof. The utility firm says it doesn't know when it can start removing water from reactors other than No. 2.

On Thursday, workers continued to relocate emergency diesel generators to higher ground where they would be safe from aftershocks and tsunamis. The area around Fukushima Daiichi plant has been hit by a series of aftershocks since earlier this month. A tremor on Monday temporarily cut off external power supply to the plant. After the generators are moved to an area about 30 meters above sea level, they could be switched on by evacuating workers when a tsunami warning is issued. TEPCO will also have power trucks and hose-equipped fire trucks standing by on higher ground. The power company is also rewiring the external power supply to avoid a total blackout.

Another challenge is to prevent the spread of radioactive substances into the sea. Work is continuing on Thursday to put up and reinforce underwater barriers near water intakes at the reactors.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:14 +0900 (JST)
.

This was a given; the damage is too huge to handle as a budget item.

Disaster reconstruction tax proposed

The chairman of a government panel of advisors has called for a new tax to fund reconstruction efforts for areas devastated by the March 11th disaster.

Chairman Makoto Iokibe laid out his idea for the tax at the panel's inaugural meeting on Thursday.

After the meeting, Iokibe told reporters that the cost of the reconstruction would far exceed that for the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake and thus cannot be procured only through donations and public loans. He added that the entire Japanese public must shoulder the burden.

Iokibe said specifics will be worked out in the panel's discussions, including those by a special subcommittee on the issue of resources.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 19:34 +0900 (JST)

The damage must be fixed; even the rest of the world has a stake in the Japanese economy continuing to succeed.

Noda leaves for Washington to attend G7, G20 meets

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda has left for Washington to attend meetings of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from industrialized and major developing countries.

The G7 and G20 conferences will be the first major international meetings following the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast Japan on March 11th.

Noda left from Narita airport near Tokyo on Thursday. Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa will also attend the meetings.

The disaster in Japan has significantly impacted production at domestic and overseas automakers due to disruptions in the supply of semiconductors and other parts from factories in the quake-hit region.

The impact of the quake on the global economy is likely to be a key agenda item.

Japan is expected to lay out its measures for speedy reconstruction, including the formulation of supplementary budgets and monetary assistance from the central bank.

Noda will also address concerns about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as the severity of the accident at the facility was raised to the highest level of 7 on the international scale.

He will explain the current situation at the plant and steps being taken to contain the nuclear crisis.

In the face of moves to restrict imports of Japanese agricultural and industrial products, Noda will call for calm by assuring attendees that Japan is taking sufficient safety measures.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:14 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO 4:00 PM April 14th Status Reports
Wind is in the east southeast at Daiichi and in the east at Daini

Daini - 6 Peripheral measurement points (3.0, 2.2, 3.2, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5) microSieverts per hour


Daiichi Radiation Monitoring (3:00 PM April 14th)
Monitoring car near West Gate 37.5 microSieverts per hour

Eight peripheral measuring points (11, 36, 34, 33, 59, 96, 212, 184) microSieverts per hour

Temporary measurement points:
Main Building 0.53 milliSieverts per hour
Main Gate 71 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 29 microSieverts per hour

Tepco Seawater Monitoring (no new release; 21st release)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11041309-e.html

[Nuclear Power Station]
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 3: shutdown due to the earthquake
(Units 4 to 6: outage due to regular inspections)

*From 7:35PM on April 12, we started transferring accumulated water in Turbine Building from the trench of Unit 2 to the condenser. At 11:00AM on April 13, we stopped transferring accumulated water to check whether there was water leakage from condenser or not. We didn't find any problem,so we restarted transferring at 15:02PM of the same day. At 17:04PM, the scheduled transfer was completed.

Work Schedule for scheduled restoration for Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant from the Tohoko Nigata earthquake
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e2.pdf

Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 4: shutdown due to the earthquake

Re Daini, TEPCO has decided the emergency is over.

*As radiation dose measured at site boundary exceeded the threshold amount, it was determined on March 14 and 15 that a specific incident stipulated in article 10, clause 1(increase of radiations dose at site boundary) occurred. However, the measured amount has been below the threshold amount of 5 μSv/h afterwards. Site will be under continuous surveillance.

JAIF: Temperature at Unit 1 nozzle 201.6 C at feed water line nozzle; still dropping
JAIF air trend charts (data only through April 13th)
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1302743464P.pdf
JAIF seawater charts. Data only goes through April 11th
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1302743929P.pdf

Getting things fixed at Daiichi is like the Old Woman and Her Pig story my dad used to tell me. Twenty other things have to be completed before the pig will agree to cross a bridge (stile) and the old woman can get home.

And at Daiichi, the water has to be moved around so they can drain the turbine building so they can fix the cooling so they can stop pumping so much water into the Units so there will be less water leaking out of the units and so forth.

"And by the moonlight, tis past midnight, time pig and I were home hour and a half ago."

The old woman did get home with her pig, eventually, and eventually this will end.

However, now the condenser is full again, and before they can empty it into the site tank that they just emptied into the ocean, they have to be sure the site tank doesn't leak, so they can empty the condenser into it, so they can pump another condenser full of water out of the basement, and so forth.

Daiichi

12:00 noon Japan Standard Time, April 14th

From 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, April 5th, in order to prevent diffusion of radioactive contaminated water out from the site port facility to breakwater area which is south to the power station, we began repair of breakwater by founding the large sandbag around it to replace damaged steel water bar. We will continue the operation to prevent diffusion. From 8:45 am to 10:45 am, April 11, in order to prevent water containing radioactive material from spilling from a plant's port to the sea, we conducted works to install 120m wide double silt fences around a breakwater on the south of the station. At 1:50 pm, April 13, we installed silt fence (double layered) in front of Unit 3 and 4 screen.

JAIF on the same subject:

Apr. 13th:
15:02 Transfer of highly radioactively contaminated ｗater accumulated inside concrete tunnel was stopped at Unit 2. About 660 tons of water has been transferred.

 

[dorispulaski]

And NEI has their 11 AM EDT summary that comes out at noon:

UPDATE AS OF 11 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, APRIL 14:
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has moved highly contaminated water from a concrete enclosure outside reactor 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the utility reported. TEPCO said the water is stored in the reactor’s condenser.

To help keep radioactive water from diffusing into the ocean near the plant, TEPCO has installed an underwater silt fence in front of the intake screen for reactors 3 and 4.

Radioactive water that has accumulated in turbine room basements is interfering with work to restore cooling operations at the site. TEPCO is completing preparations to transfer the contaminated water to the plant's radioactive water processing facility and other temporary storage locations.

TEPCO continues to inject cooling water into reactors 1, 2 and 3 and to spray water as needed into the used fuel pools for reactors 1-4. TEPCO also continues injection of nitrogen gas into the containment vessel of reactor 1 to prevent the potential for an explosion of hydrogen that may be accumulating inside.

Workers continued Thursday to move emergency diesel generators to higher ground to keep them safe from aftershocks and tsunamis, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum reported. An aftershock on Monday briefly disrupted electric power at the Daiichi plant, and a series of aftershocks has rattled the plant several times this week, causing no further damage. TEPCO also is rewiring the external power lines to avoid a total blackout.

 

[champs]

Thanks Doris for all the updates. As a Japanese living in Tokyo I wish I could contribute something to your daily updates but I am confused with so much of updated information every day that my lazy mind tells me to refrain from contributing possibly misunderstood/misinterpreted information to people outside the country. Luckily TEPCO and NHK World both provide information in English on their websites.

I'm wondering why catches of sand lances with higher-than-normal level of radioactive substance were reported first off Ibaraki pref. and then days later off Fukishima pref. as Ibaraki is to the south of Fukushima.

 

[dorispulaski]

champs, Thanks for reading. I think that simply, samples of sand lances were not taken as samples off Fukushima until recently, so the problem was found at Ibaraki first. Only a limited number of samples is analyzed each day at this time, perhaps no more than 100 each day-obviously not all items are from all locations on each day. They list the prefectures involved, but they don't tell you what was taken from there, unless it fails the test.

The most comforting thing I have read so far is the conviction of the 3 manufacturers and other manufacturers of nuclear reactor to do what sounds like a full site remediation in 10 years.

I do wonder why the sand lance seems so susceptible to picking up radiation though? It is not a fish I am acquainted with. I have not heard them mention other types of seafood as being a problem so far. Do sand lances eat algae?

Fish in general, algae, and mushrooms are well known to concentrate cesium & iodine. The Finns are still catching fish and picking mushrooms with too much cesium after Chernobyl even today.

Daiichi 6:00 PM Status JST April 14th.

9:00 PM JST April 14th Radiation Monitoring
Daiichi 8 peripheral points (11,36,34,32, 58, 95, 209, 181) microSieverts per hour
Daiichi 3 temporary monitoring pints
Main Building 0.55 milliSieverts per hour
Main Gate 68 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 29 microSieverts per hour

Gamma Radiation
Daiichi Near West Gate 36.7 microSieverts per hour
Daini 6 peripheral measuring points ( 2.9, 2.2, 3.1, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5) microSieverts per hour

Dust trend at Daiichi
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e6.pdf
Dust at Daini
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e7.pdf
Seawater (7 charts). Data through April 13th.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e10.pdf
Seawater near the quay, bar screen, and water intake through April 13th (still dropping in all)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e17.pdf

Operation for cooling the spent fuel pools -From 3:56 pm to 4:32 pm April 14th, water spray to the spent fuel pool of Unit 3 was conducted with the concrete pumping vehicle.

From 8:45 am to 1:50 pm April 13th, we installed silt fences (double layered) in front of Unit 3 and 4 screens, and we also installed the same in front of Unit 1 and 2 screens, and around the north of south breakwater. -We took a sample from Unit 4 spent fuel pool on 12th April, in order to understand the fuel condition stored within the spent fuel pool. We are planning to conduct a nuclide analysis. -From 10:17 am to 0:25 pm April 14th an unmanned helicopter was flown over Unit 1 to 4, in order to check the condition of the reactor buildings.

As part of monitoring activity of the surrounding environment, we conducted an analysis of plutonium contained in the soil collected on March 21st and 22nd at the 5 spots in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. As a result, plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were detected. (previously announced) As the result of the plutonium analysis in the soil from the sample from the 3 periodic sampling spots on March 31st and April 4th, plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were detected as shown in Attachment 1. In addition, as the result of gamma ray nuclide analysis from the same sample, radioactive materials were detected as shown in Attachment 2.
Besides, as the result of uranium analysis in the soil from the sample from the 2 spots out of 3 periodic sampling spots on March 28th, the same level of uranium 234, 235 and 238 as the natural level were detected as shown in Attachment 3. Furthermore, as the result of plutonium analysis in the air from the sample taken in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on March 28th and 29th, plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were not detected as shown in Attachment 4. We have reported the results of analyses to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the government of Fukushima Prefecture.

No Plutonium in the air on March 28 or 29 (Plutonium detection is more difficult than Cesium and Iodine at small amounts, because it has a long half life)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e14.pdf
Uranium measurements-recall uranium occurs in nature. The uranium found in the Daiichi soil sample is valued as indistinguishable from the normal amount expected to be found.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e13.pdf
"U235 to U238 abundance ratio is in almost exactly the same amount as in the natural U235 abundance ratio = U235/U238 = 0.0073.
Plutonium in soil
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e11.pdf

Here's the list of elements the soil sample shows: (Cesium, Iodine and Tellurium in all places, Barium, Technetium, Silver, Lanthanum & Rutheium in only some samples, and some dates.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110414e12.pdf

 

[dorispulaski]

The IAEA daily briefing is up.

IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Accident (14 April 2011, 15:30 UTC)
Presentation:
→ Summary of Reactor Status

On Thursday, 14 April 2011, the IAEA provided the following information on the current status of nuclear safety in Japan:

1. Current Situation

Overall, the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains very serious but there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical power and instrumentation.

Earthquake of 13 April

The NISA Press Release reported that an earthquake occurred at Hamadori in Fukushima prefecture on 13 April, at 01:07 UTC. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of M 5.4 and was at a depth of 24.7 km, as reported by the IAEA International Seismic Safety Centre. The distances from the earthquake's epicenter to Fukushima Daini and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were 67 and 75 km respectively. No unusual events have been reported at the near sites (Onagawa, Fukushima Daiichi, Fukushima Daini and Tokai).

Changes to Fukushima Daiichi Plant Status

Freshwater injection is confirmed to continue for Units 1 to 3. The transfer of contaminated water from Unit 2 turbine building to the condenser was started (12 April) and suspended (13 April) to check for any leakage. Temperature at the Unit 1 outlet nozzle shows a decreasing trend continuously for several days now.

To minimize migration of contaminated water to the open sea, on the ocean-side of the Inlet Bar Screen of Unit 2, the two temporary steel plates (3 plates in total) were installed to stop water from leaking out of the inlet bay (around 08:30 untill 10:00, 13 April). In addition, a silt fence to prevent the spread of the contaminated water was installed in front of the Screen of Units 3 and 4. (13:50 UTC, 13 April).

In Unit 1 fresh water is being continuously injected into the RPV through the feed-water line at an indicated flow rate of 6 m3/h using a temporary electric pump with off-site power. In Units 2 and 3 fresh water is being continuously injected through the fire extinguisher lines at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using temporary electric pumps with off-site power.

Nitrogen gas is being injected into the Unit 1 containment vessel to reduce the possibility of hydrogen combustion within the containment vessel. The pressure in this containment vessel has stabilised. The pressure in the RPV is increasing as indicated on one channel of instrumentation. The other channel shows RPV pressure as stable. In Units 2 and 3 Reactor Pressure Vessel and Drywell pressures remain at atmospheric pressure.

RPV temperatures remain above cold shutdown conditions in all Units, (typically less than 95 °C). In Unit 1 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 206 °C and at the bottom of the RPV is 119 °C. In Unit 2 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 167 °C. In Unit 3 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 92 °C and at the bottom of the RPV is 119 °C.

On 12 April in Units 3 and 4, fresh water (35 T and 195 T respectively) was sprayed over the Spent Fuel Pools using a Concrete Pump Truck. A sample of the water in the spent fuel pool was collected for analysis.

There has been no change in status in Unit 5 and 6 and the Common Spent Fuel Storage Facility.

2. Radiation Monitoring

On 13 April, deposition of both I-131 and Cs-137 was detected in 2 and 5 prefectures respectively. For both, I-131 and Cs-137, the depositions detected were below 20 Bq/m2 at all stations.

Gamma dose rates are measured daily in all 47 prefectures. The values tend to decrease over time. For Fukushima, on 13 April a dose rate of 2.0 µSv/h was reported. In the Ibaraki prefecture, a gamma dose rate of 0.14 µSv/h was reported. The gamma dose rates in all other prefectures were below 0.1 µSv/h.

Dose rates are also reported specifically for the Eastern part of the Fukushima prefecture, for distances beyond 30 km from Fukushima-Daiichi. On 13 April, the values in this area ranged from 0.2 to 26 µSv/h.

In addition to the 7 measurements referred to in yesterday's brief, (note- these measurements were made at distances of 25 km and 33 km not 32 km and 62 km as reported), 13 more measurements were made on 12 April at distances of 25 to 33 km, West and Northwest from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant by the IAEA team. At these locations, the dose rates ranged from 0.5 to 16.5 µSv/h. At the same locations, results of beta-gamma contamination measurements ranged from 0.05 to 2.1 Megabecquerel/m2.

On 13 April, the IAEA Team made measurements at 7 different locations in the Fukushima area at distances ranging from 32 to 62 km, North and Northwest from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. At these locations, the dose rates ranged from 0.35 to 2.6 µSv/h. At the same locations, results of beta-gamma contamination measurements ranged from 0.35 to 2.6 Megabecquerel/m2.

Analytical results related to food contamination were reported by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on 13 April that covered a total of 98 samples taken on 4 and 11 to 13 April. Analytical results for 76 of the samples of various vegetables, pork, seafood and unprocessed raw milk in nine prefectures (Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Miyagi, Niigata, Saitama and Yamagata) indicated that I-131, Cs-134 and/or Cs-137 were either not detected or were below the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities. In Fukushima prefecture on 11 April, twenty samples of various vegetables were above the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities for Cs-134/Cs-137, and one sample of seafood (sand lance) and one sample of spinach were above the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities for both I-131 and Cs-134/Cs-137.

3. Marine Monitoring

TEPCO Monitoring Programme

TEPCO is conducting a programme for seawater (surface sampling) at a number of near-shore and off-shore monitoring locations. (See Map 1: TEPCO Seawater Sampling Locations).

On some days, two samples were collected at the same sampling point, a few hours apart and analysed separately.

Until 3 April a general decreasing trend in radioactivity was observed at the sampling points TEPCO 1 to TEPCO 4. After the discharge of contaminated water on 4 April, a temporary increase in radioactivity has been reported.

On 11 April decreasing trends for both I-131 and Cs-137 concentrations of two orders of magnitude from near-shore (less than 10 kBq/l) to 15 km off-shore (0.1-0.02 kBq/l) were observed.

On 14 April no new data for TEPCO 1 - 10 sampling points have been reported.

MEXT Off-shore Monitoring Programme

Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) initiated the off-shore monitoring program on 23 March and subsequently points 9 and 10 were added to the off-shore sampling scheme. On 4 April, MEXT added two sampling points to the north and west of sampling point 1. These are referred to as points A and B. (See Map 2: MEXT Seawater Sampling Locations).

On 11 April Cs-137 was only detected at MEXT 4 at a concentration level of about 70 Bq/l. The highest concentration of I-131 (about 90 Bq/l) was also recorded at MEXT4. For other sampling locations I-131 was reported at levels below about 15 Bq/l.

0n 14 April no new data for all MEXT sampling points have been reported.

Map 1: TEPCO Seawater Sampling Locations:



Map 2: MEXT Seawater Sampling Locations:



4. IAEA activities

The 141st Session of the FAO Council will be briefed by representatives of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division on the nuclear emergency in Japan on Friday, 15 April, at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The briefing will include a general background summary of the emergency, the current situation in Japan, FAO/IAEA/WHO responses and actions taken to date, and future challenges.

And for a totally random look at Chernobyl, "Destination Truth" went there. There was, apparently, little truth in the episode. The comments are interesting, especially one from the German poster who was reminded of a similar show aired in Germany.

http://www.chernobylee.com/blog/2009/10/destination-truth-the-ghosts-o.php

 

[dorispulaski]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsxjGnQPKg
A Japanese journalist Tetsuo Jimbo inside Fukushima 30km evacuation zone, with a dosimeter glued to the dashboard on April 3rd. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Report in English about the trip:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcmSnWM_5Fs

Thanks for relabelling this, and especially for adding him being interviewed.
I was misled by his Ukrainian dosimeter, the Ecotest TERRA-P, not to mention the Russian title

http://www.ecotest.ua/terra-p/index.php?lang=en&PHPSESSID=033399341d26265969a5810ab676ae8a .

I particularly was interested in the interview. His experiences and the data I've been watching match, which is encouraging about the truthfulness of both.

 

[dorispulaski]

I've mentioned the expertise of the Idaho National Labs here in the US with remediation issues. NEI has uploaded a youtube:

UPDATE AS OF 6:30 P.M. EDT, THURSDAY, APRIL 14:
NEI has uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel. The video, "INL Director Explains How the National Labs Are Assisting With Japan's Nuclear Crisis," features the Idaho National Laboratory's Director John Grossenbacher, who discusses the types of nuclear expertise and capabilities that exist within the U.S. Department of Energy's national labs to assist with the Japan nuclear crisis. He also explains how the labs will provide long-term research that will uncover lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear plants.

Also here is an interview with
http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-level-7.html

The interviewer

Barbara Hamrick, currently the Radiation Safety Officer at the University of California’s Irvine Medical Center and Secretary-Elect for the Health Physics Society, if she would clarify some elements of INES for us.

She discusses what the scale on which Daiichi and Chernobyl are "7" means.

It's pretty ad hoc, and she opines that at the end of this, Chernobyl may be promoted to "8".
The scale was created after Chernobyl.

 

[dorispulaski]

Meanwhile TEPCO has several water reports up on their website. Some for 15 km at sea. Some correcting reports that were in error, and reports on subdrains.

Unit 1 & 2 subdrains are getting more radioactive. Units 5, 6, and the site deep well are not. Unit 3 is slowly rising. When TEPCO sealed off highly contaminated water going into the sea, that water had to go somewhere. Some of it is filling the basement and the trenches and turbine building. And some is going into the subdrains, particularly Unit 2's. More and more it looks like Unit 2, and perhaps to a lesser extent Unit 1 are the main leakers.

Needless to say, it's time they decided where they're going to put this water, and then put it there so they can fix up some kind of better cooling.

Meanwhile, Japanese professor thinks this is a stable situation because you can keep the reactors operating this way, and they can do the cooling three months from now. But where are you going to put the water?

Stabilizing nuclear fuel could take long

Japanese nuclear scientists say if a cooling system can be put in place at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, stabilizing its nuclear fuel could take another 3 months.

The deputy head of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Takashi Sawada, released the projection by an informal group of 11 society members on Thursday.

He said data published by Tokyo Electric Power Company shows that parts of the fuel rods in reactors 1 and 3 have melted and settled at the bottom of the pressure vessels.

He said if the ongoing water injections continue, the current situation can be maintained.

He said Tepco's most important task is to remove all the contaminated water and rebuild a cooling water circulation system.

He said once these jobs are done, stabilizing the nuclear fuels could take 2 to 3 months, if not longer.

But he warned that the situation could deteriorate if another strong earthquake knocks out power to the plant and makes it impossible to keep the nuclear fuel cool for 2 or 3 days. That would destabilize temperatures and pressures inside the reactors, and the situation would become extremely unpredictable again.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 19:34 +0900 (JST)

There's hints that they won't get the tanks they ordered till May.

NHK has this:

More time needed to build tanks to hold wastewater

It is still difficult for the Tokyo Electric Power Company to determine when the work to restore reactor cooling systems at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility will begin. The company says more time is needed to install makeshift water tanks in order to contain the highly radioactive water used to cool the reactors.

The contaminated water has pooled inside turbine buildings and tunnels, hampering efforts to restore reactor cooling systems. Removal of the wastewater is necessary before restoration work can begin.

TEPCO collected wastewater samples from the No.1 and No.2 reactors on Wednesday, and found that radioactivity levels had increased dramatically during the past week.

According to TEPCO, 400 becquerels of iodine-131 and 53 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter were detected in the wastewater of the No.1 reactor. These levels are 6 times and 38 times higher than a week ago respectively. In the No.2 reactor, 610 becquerels of iodine-131 and 7.9 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter were detected. These levels are 17 times and 8 times higher than a week ago respectively.

On Wednesday, the power company completed the transfer of roughly 660 tons of wastewater from the Number 2 reactor tunnel to a turbine condenser.

However, the work to transfer contaminated wastewater from other reactors has not started yet because there are not enough facilities available.

TEPCO plans to use makeshift storage tanks and a steel mega float to hold most of the highly radioactive water.

On Thursday, the company completed the installation of makeshift tanks in the compound of the nuclear plant, which can contain 1000 tons of water.

However, TEPCO plans to build more tanks to hold 27-thousand tons of wastewater by the end of May.

Friday, April 15, 2011 07:46 +0900 (JST)

I suppose every bit helps. But time is more water, in this case.
\]

They are searching the 10 km zone for bodies:

Search in 10-kilometer zone begins

Police and firefighters have combed through an area within 10 kilometers from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi power plant looking for missing people.

It is the first search in the evacuation zone since the nuclear emergency began after the March 11th quake and tsunami. Fears of radiation have kept search teams away till now.

Wearing protective clothing, nearly 300 officers from Fukushima Prefectural Police Department and local firefighters searched a port area of Namie Town, about 7 kilometers north from the plant, on Thursday. An NHK crew accompanied them.

The search team manually dug up debris, with other members monitoring radiation levels at the site.

The town used to be the center of the local fisheries industry and home to many fishermen, but it has been replaced by a huge heap of rubble. Fishing boats have been washed ashore.

In the Takase River running through the town, many cars are submerged. Along the riverbank, 4 cows apparently kept by a local farmer were seen running.

The NHK crew found that the radiation level at the site stayed at around 0.3 microsieverts for the roughly 2 hours they were there.

The police say they have recovered 10 bodies. They will continue search operations within the 10-kilometer zone for about 10 more days.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 22:47 +0900 (JST)

0.3 microSieverts is not very high at all. But they need the respirators because of the smell of dead bodies, I would think. And to protect from bacteria.

Well, TEPCO can say they told them so:

March 11th tsunami a record 38.9 meters

A Japanese research team has established that the tsunami of March 11th reached 38.9 meters in one coastal city in Iwate Prefecture. The figure exceeds the record tsunami height in the prefecture from 115 years ago.

A team led by Akio Okayasu of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology conducted the survey on tsunami damage in the Aneyoshi district of Miyako City.

The height was calculated from traces of the tsunami on a hill in the district, over 400 meters away from the coastline.

The tsunami that hit the same prefecture in 1896 recorded a height of 38.2 meters. The new record exceeds the past figure by 70 centimeters.

Professor Okayasu said that even though the 2011 tsunami was bigger than past ones, there was little damage to the houses in the area he researched. He noted this was because residents moved their community to higher ground after learning from past experiences.

Okayasu added he wants people to learn from this area when rebuilding towns damaged by the disaster.

Friday, April 15, 2011 07:00 +0900 (JST)

Milk from Fukushima is back

Fukushima-produced milk returns to stores

Milk from farms in inland regions of Fukushima Prefecture has returned to supermarket shelves after clearing weeks of safety checks for radiation.

The shipment of raw milk from the prefecture was banned in late March in the wake of problems at the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

But the restriction was lifted last Friday for farms in 7 cities and towns in the Aizu region, over 100 kilometers west of the damaged plant. The move came after three separate tests found that milk produced there contained radiation levels below the government's acceptable limit.

A local supermarket began selling the milk on Thursday.

The manager said the shop will try to keep stocking the milk now that it has been permitted for sale. A shopper said he came after hearing the news because he prefers locally produced milk.

Shipments of milk from 500 farms in 30 other cities, towns and villages in Fukushima are still banned while central and local governments continue their weekly radiation tests.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 16:12 +0900 (JST)

And in the vein of locking the barn door after the horse is stolen, the Japanese government is auditing nuclear plants for earthquake resistance. Frankly, all of these plants have been field tested. It's tsunami proofing they needed:

Quake resistance at nuclear plants in doubt

The government's nuclear safety agency is set to review safety measures at nuclear power plants across Japan.

This follows the discovery that one of the aftershocks following the March 11th earthquake was stronger than the level thought of as safe for measures in place at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

In last month's massive earthquake the intensity of the temblor was up to 10 percent stronger than the level to which the No. 1 to No.3 Reactors were designed for at the Onagawa plant.

On April 7th, the prefecture was hit by an aftershock with an intensity of 6-plus on the Japanese seismic scale of zero to 7.

That aftershock last Thursday was 5.6 percent stronger than the level Onagawa's No. 1 Reactor is designed to handle.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has asked power companies twice so far to review earthquake safety measures at their nuclear power plants. Once was following the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe, and once was after the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu coastal quake, which also caused huge amounts of damage.

The Onagawa plant passed the government's safety inspections those times.

The plant was built to withstand extremely rare, but possible, quakes with a magnitude up to 7.1, like the one that occurred in 2003 beneath the seabed off Miyagi Prefecture.

Last week's aftershock was the same 7.1 magnitude, but the registered tremors were beyond the assumed strength.

The nuclear safety agency says it will check if nuclear plants across the country are making sufficient preparations for such unexpectedly strong quakes.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 09:53 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

More from NHK, morning of April 15th Eastern Daylight time.

Tokyo Disney is open again!

TEPCO monitoring wastewater at No.2 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Company says the level of radioactive water is increasing in a tunnel at the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The large amount of contaminated water in basements and tunnels is hampering operations to restore the plant's cooling systems. On Wednesday, TEPCO finished transferring some of the wastewater -- about 660 tons -- from the No.2 reactor tunnel to a condenser in a turbine building.

It says the water level in the tunnel dropped 8 centimeters after the transfer, but had returned to its previous level by Friday morning.Earlier this month, TEPCO found highly radioactive water leaking into the sea from a pit near the No.2 reactor. The utility suspects that plugging the leak has trapped radioactive water from the No.2 reactor in the tunnel.

TEPCO says there are at least 50,000 tons of contaminated water at the plant. It will use a waste-processing facility, makeshift storage tanks and a floating tank to store the radioactive water.

The company is also preparing for a possible shutdown of external power sources, as major aftershocks continue. It plans to finish moving emergency diesel power generators to higher ground on Friday to protect them from tsunami.
Friday, April 15, 2011 12:18 +0900 (JST)

Tokyo Disneyland reopens

Tokyo Disneyland reopened on Friday, one month after services were suspended because of the earthquake. The popular theme park in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, shut down after some facilities were damaged by the March 11th quake. Power outages after the disaster also prompted the operator to keep the park closed.

About 10,000 devoted Disney fans waited in front of the main gate for the reopening on Friday morning. Some arrived there on Thursday night. Visitors rushed to their favorite attractions and shops as soon as the gate opened at 8 AM. They were welcomed near the entrance by 25 Disney characters.
The park's operator says some attractions remain out of action for repairs. Opening hours have been scaled back to reduce power consumption, with the gates closing at 6PM.

Neighboring theme park, Tokyo DisneySea, will stay closed until further notice.
Friday, April 15, 2011 11:50 +0900 (JST)

Fukushima Univ. checking high-altitude radiation.

Fukushima University is checking radiation levels high in the atmosphere to get a better grasp of the extent of contamination from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The university says it released a large balloon on Friday carrying a weather observation device called a "radiosonde" as well as radiation measurement equipment into the skies above Fukushima City. It plans to gauge radiation levels and collect other data up to 30 kilometers above ground. Readings will be taken at intervals of 10 meters over a period of 20 days. The university has so far been measuring radiation closer to the ground. It has checked more than 300 locations in Fukushima Prefecture. But it deems the current method insufficient to make a correct assessment of the diffusion of radioactive materials.

The university says the balloon survey will help make predictions about how toxic particles will spread across the globe.University vice president Akira Watanabe, who is also a member of the research team, says the findings will be disclosed to the world along with projected radiation levels.
Friday, April 15, 2011 09:57 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

Tepco is still pumping fresh water in to the reactors, monitoring soil, seawater, groundwater, and air, spraying water into the spent fuel pools, analyzing all the stuff (sometimes making errors), and trying to figure out where to put the water.


Radiation Monitoring 3:00 PM JST April 15th

Wind is in the east

Daini Six Peripheral Measurement Points (2.9, 2.2, 3.1, 2.5, 2.4, 2.4) microsSieverts per hour

Daiichi Gamma Radiation
West Gate 36.0 microSieverts per hour

Daiichi
Eight peripheral measuring points (11, 36, 33, 32, 56, 92, 205, 179) microSieverts per hour

Temporary measuring points
Main Office Building 0.53 milliSieverts per hour
Main Gate 70 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 29 microSieverts per hour



There are of course, forms to fill out, but this has to be a relief to those who have been moved out.

Press Release (Apr 15,2011)
Payment of Temporary Compensation for damages caused by evacuation


Today, pursuant to Act of Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness, the Japanese government's "Economic Damage Response Headquarters" decided Tokyo Electric Power Company to pay "Temporary compensation" to the people forced to evacuate due to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Following that decision, we have decided to pay "Temporary Compensation".

"Temporary Compensation" is a payment for the residents living in the areas that received the order of "Evacuation" and "Shelter in Place" due to the nuclear accident (Please see Exhibit1 for the details). Pursuant to the government's instruction "Emergency support to the afflicted people with the nuclear accident", we will pay 1,000,000 yen per household and 750,000 yen per individual's household.

From today, after consultation with local government of the designated areas, we will hold information sessions and begin distributing application forms at places such as evacuation centers.

We plan to establish the "Fukushima Nuclear Compensation Office" on April 28th, which will be the dedicated contact point for the matters related to the damages caused by the nuclear accident as well as temporary compensation.

We deeply apologize for the anxiety and inconvenience caused by the accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to all the society.

TEPCO's 9:00 AM JST of April 15th status is up

Press Release (Apr 15,2011)
Status of TEPCO's Facilities and its services after the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake(as of 9:00AM)

[quote[
Below is the status of TEPCO's major facilities.
*New items are underlined

[Nuclear Power Station]
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 3: shutdown due to the earthquake
(Units 4 to 6: outage due to regular inspections)

*At 3:56 pm on April 14, water spray to the spent fuel pool of Unit 3 was started with the concrete pumping vehicle and ended at 4:32pm.

*On April 12th, in order to confirm the status of the inside of the spent fuel pool, we collected approximately 200ml of water from the pool using the concrete pumping vehicle. On April 13th, we conducted nuclide analysis on them and detected Cesium-134, Cesium-137, and Iodine-131.We are planning to conduct more detailed analysis hereafter.

*We have detected plutonium from the soils collected at the site on March 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th, 31st, and April 4th. For the purpose of securing safety, we enhanced the environment monitoring within the site as well as its surrounding area. Also, we have detected iodine, cesium, barium, niobium, ruthenium, molybdenum, technetium, lanthanum, beryllium, and silver.

On March 28th, we conducted uranium analysis on the soil collected at the site. As a result, the same level of uranium 234, 235, and 238 as the natural level were detected.

*On March 20th, 21st, and 23rd to April 13th, we have detected radioactive materials in the air which were collected at the site. The data of detected three nuclides (Iodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137) are released as fixed figures. Other nuclide figures are to be re-evaluated based on improved measures for recurrence prevention which have been prepared in accordance with a strong warning by NISA on April 1st.

*On March 21st and 23rd to April 13th, we have detected radioactive materials in the seawater around the water discharge port of the plant. The data of detected three nuclides (Iodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137) are released as fixed figures. Other nuclide figures are to be re-evaluated based on improved measures for recurrence prevention which have been prepared in accordance with a strong warning by NISA on April 1st.

*On April 13th, we collected samples from seawater in the pit and in front of the bar screen near the pit. As a result, we have detected Iodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 from the samples. We will re-evaluate those samples for other nuclides as well.

*We conducted nuclide analysis on subsurface water (sub drain) near the turbine buildings and detected Iodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 on April 6th and 13th. As a radioactive dose of the sample collected on April 13th increased compared to that of April 6th, we received an oral
instruction from Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to strengthen the monitoring. In response, we increased the frequency of the sampling of the subsurface water (sub drain) of Units 1 to 6 and deep well located in the station from once a week to three times a week.

*From 0:30pm on April 13th, we conducted spraying dust inhibitor in order to prevent diffusion of radioactive materials on the ground. This attempt was conducted on a trial basis at the mountain side area of the common spent fuel pool in the range of approximately 1,6000m2.

*From 10:17 to 0:25 pm on April 14th, an unmanned helicopter was flown over Unit 1 to 4, in order to check the condition of the reactor buildings and its surrounding area

 

[Tonichelle]

ya beat me to the Disney news, here I was all happy to be able to post something and you beat me to it!

I will add that according to Disney a part of the profits of the parks from now until May 14th will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross to help with the disaster relief!

 

[dorispulaski]

Toni, That's great! And I hope Disney Sea or whatever it's called will soon be open too! (Yes, I thought about you when I posted about Disney) In some respects, things are beginning to return to normal. The US is now OK with staff being in Japan and as long as not within 50 miles of Fukushima (a little excessive there, I think).

The JAIF charts show the temperatures dropping in all units, a good thing that.

Otherwise, little news.

IAEA has their daily update:

IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Accident (15 April 2011, 14:30 UTC)
Presentation:
→ Summary of Reactor Status

(Note: The next written brief will be available on Monday, 18 April, unless there are any significant developments.)

On Friday, 15 April 2011, the IAEA provided the following information on the current status of nuclear safety in Japan:

1. Current Situation

Overall, the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious but there are early signs of recovery in some functions, such as electrical power and instrumentation.

Changes to Fukushima Daiichi Plant Status

The transfer of contaminated water from the trench of the Unit 2 Turbine Building to the condenser started on 12 April and continued on 13 April until approximately 660 tonnes were transferred.

To minimize the movement of contaminated water to the open sea, temporary boards to stop water (3 steel plates in total) were installed on 13 April on the ocean-side of the Inlet Bar Screen of Unit 2.

Silt fences have also been installed in the inlet canal and in front of the Inlet Bar Screens of Units 1, 2, 3 and 4. On 11 April, a silt screen was installed at the southern end of the inlet canal. The installation in front of the Inlet Bar Screen of Units 3 and 4 was completed on 13 April and for Units 1 and 2 on 14 April.

As of 14 April, white "smoke" was still observed coming from Units 2 and 3. White "smoke" was also observed coming from Unit 4 on 14 April. [ETA-Unit 1 is finally not steaming.]

On 13 April, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) reported that the Tokyo Electric Power Compan (TEPCO) had begun to install a backup line for providing fresh water to the Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs) at Units 1, 2, and 3.

In Unit 1, fresh water is being continuously injected into the RPV through the feed-water line at an indicated flow rate of 6 m3/h using a temporary electric pump with off-site power. In Units 2 and 3, fresh water is being continuously injected through the fire extinguisher lines at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using temporary electric pumps with off-site power.

Nitrogen gas is being injected into the Unit 1 containment vessel to reduce the possibility of hydrogen combustion within the containment vessel. The pressure in this containment vessel has stabilised. The pressure in the RPV is increasing as indicated on one channel of instrumentation. The other channel shows RPV pressure as stable. In Units 2 and 3 Reactor Pressure Vessel and Drywell pressures remain at atmospheric pressure.

RPV temperatures remain above cold shutdown conditions in all Units, (typically less than 95 °C). In Unit 1, the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 197 °C and at the bottom of the RPV is 119 °C. In Unit 2, the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 150 °C. In Unit 3 the temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is 91 °C and at the bottom of the RPV is 121 °C.

On 14 April, a concrete pump truck, with a capacity of 50t/h, began spraying fresh water to the Unit 3 spent fuel pool. In Unit 4, a sample of the water in the spent fuel pool was collected for analysis.

There has been no change in status in Unit 5 and 6 and the Common Spent Fuel Storage Facility.

2. Radiation Monitoring

On 14 April, depositions of both Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 were detected in 1 and 5 prefectures respectively. For both I-131 and Cs-137, the depositions detected were below 20 Bq/m2 at all stations.
[ETA This is progress! Clearly we're seeing the fact that most of the iodine from any given event disappears relatively quickley. But 5 prefectures is the lowest for cesium too]
Gamma dose rates are measured daily in all 47 prefectures. The values have tended to decrease over time. For Fukushima, on 14 April a dose rate of 2.0 µSv/h was reported. In the Ibaraki prefecture, a gamma dose rate of 0.14 µSv/h was reported. The gamma dose rates in all other prefectures were below 0.1 µSv/h.

Dose rates are also reported specifically for the Eastern part of the Fukushima prefecture, for distances beyond 30 km from Fukushima Daiichi. On 14 April, the values in this area ranged from 0.1 to 21 µSv/h.

In cooperation with local universities, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)has set up an additional monitoring programme and measurements of the gamma dose rates are made in 54 cities in 40 prefectures. As of 14 April, the gamma dose rates were below 0.1 µSv/h in 45 cities. In 8 cities, gamma dose rates ranged from 0.13 to 0.17 µSv/h. In Fukushima City, a value of 0.42 µSv/h was observed.

Only in a few prefectures, I-131 or Cs-137 is detectable in drinking water at very low levels. As of 12 April, one restriction for infants related to I-131 (100 Bq/l) is in place in a smallscale water supply in a village of the Fukushima prefecture.

On 14 April, an IAEA Team made measurements at 11 different locations in the Fukushima area at distances ranging from 15 to 39 km, South and Southwest from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. At these locations, the dose rates ranged from 0.3 to 2.8 µSv/h. At the same locations, results of beta-gamma contamination measurements ranged from 0.16 to 2.5 MBq/ m2. The highest values were observed at distances of less than 23 km from the power plant.


NISA reported on 14 April that among approximately 300 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, 28 have received accumulated doses exceeding 100 mSv in the period related to this emergency. No worker has received a dose above Japan's guidance value of 250 mSv for restricting the exposure of emergency workers. [ETA-sometimes I wonder what all 300 are doing--]

Analytical results related to food contamination were reported by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on 14 April for a total of 50 samples taken from 11th to 14 April. Analytical results for all of the samples of various vegetables, mushrooms, fruits (strawberries), various meats, seafood and unprocessed raw milk in ten prefectures (Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama, Tochigi and Yamagata) indicated that I-131, Cs-134 and/or Cs-137 were either not detected or were below the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities. [ETA, THIS IS GREAT]

On 14 April, the Prime Minister of Japan approved the lifting of restrictions on the distribution of kakina in Tochigi prefecture.

3. Marine Monitoring

TEPCO Monitoring Programme

TEPCO is conducting a programme for seawater (surface sampling) at a number of near-shore and off-shore monitoring locations. (See Map 1: TEPCO Seawater Sampling Locations).

On some days, two samples were collected at the same sampling point, a few hours apart and analysed separately.

Until 3 April a general decreasing trend in radioactivity was observed at the sampling points TEPCO 1 to TEPCO 4. After the discharge of contaminated water on 4 April, a temporary increase in radioactivity was reported. Since 5 April, a general downward trend in the concentration of radionuclides in sea water for all TEPCO sampling points has been observed.

On 15 April, new data for TEPCO 1 - 4 sampling points have been reported. At all four locations, the concentration of both I-131 and Cs-137 measured on 12 April was below 2kBq/l.

For TEPCO 5 - 10 no new data have been reported.

MEXT Off-shore Monitoring Programme

MEXT initiated the off-shore monitoring program on 23 March and subsequently points 9 and 10 were added to the off-shore sampling scheme. On 4 April, MEXT added two sampling points to the north and west of sampling point 1. These are referred to as points A and B. (See Map 2: MEXT Seawater Sampling Locations).

The most recent results reported on 11 April showed that Cs-137 was only detected at MEXT 4 (below 100Bq/l). The highest concentration of I-131 (about 90 Bq/l) was also recorded at MEXT 4. For other sampling locations I-131 was reported at levels below about 15 Bq/l.

On 15 April, no new data from any MEXT sampling points have been reported.

Map 1: TEPCO Seawater Sampling Locations:


Map 2: MEXT Seawater Sampling Locations:


4. IAEA Activities

The 141st Session of the FAO Council was briefed by representatives of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division on the nuclear emergency in Japan on Friday, 15 April, at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The briefing included a general background summary of the emergency, the current situation in Japan, FAO/IAEA/WHO responses and actions taken to date, and future challenges. The Member States expressed their appreciation for the IAEA/FAO/WHO inter-agency collaboration and coordination during the Japanese nuclear emergency and called for strengthening cooperation in future remediation actions.

 

[dorispulaski]

NHK afternoon updates:
More SDF and police personnel in relief mission

Japan's government says Self-Defense Force personnel will remain in the earthquake-hit areas for up to 6 months. It is also sending more police officers to the disaster zone. The Defense Ministry says the 100,000-strong SDF relief mission needs to continue its work. It says a significant number of people are still missing after the March 11th quake and tsunami, while the Fukushima nuclear plant has yet to be brought under control.

The ministry is requesting about 2.3 billion dollars in a draft supplementary budget that will be compiled soon to finance the 6-month SDF mission.The National Police Agency will add 1,500 more police officers to the current 3,000 working in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the worst-hit areas. Police units, including riot squads, have been mobilized from other parts of Japan. They are searching for the missing and patrolling the disaster zone.

More than 130,000 people remain in evacuation shelters. There are growing calls from survivors for a larger security presence. They worry about valuables left in their homes and are scared to walk around deserted areas at night.
Friday, April 15, 2011 11:01 +0900 (JST)

Japanese offers thanks for foreign aid

Japan's Diet has adopted a resolution expressing gratitude to the international community for its support since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.The resolution was unanimously adopted by the Upper House on Friday.It says international support has been a source of hope not just for the survivors of the disaster but for all the people of Japan.It adds that Japan will remember forever the sympathy extended to its people and is determined to cooperate with the international community in working to speedily rebuild the disaster-struck region.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government expresses its profound appreciation to the international community and will do all it can to overcome this hardship.
Friday, April 15, 2011 18:52 +0900 (JST)

First the fishermen, and now the farmers wished to be paid.
Farm coop demands state, TEPCO compensation

Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the government will make sure that farmers in Fukushima Prefecture receive sufficient compensation for the damage caused by the nuclear crisis. Kan made the remark on Friday in a meeting with officials of an agricultural cooperative from the prefecture where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located. The head of the cooperative, Tokuichi Shojo, told Kan that local farmers are suffering from public concerns over radioactivity as well as from the damage caused by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Shojo called for full compensation for the farmers so that they can again make their livings in agriculture.

Kan said that Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the nuclear plant, holds the primary responsibility for paying damages, but that the government will make sure that farmers are fully compensated. The agricultural cooperative officials also met with Tokyo Electric Power Company president Masataka Shimizu, and called for quick payments to the local farmers affected by the nuclear accident.Shimizu apologized for the damage and promised to provide adequate compensation.

Prime Minister Kan, in a separate meeting with the governor of Ibaraki Prefecture, apologized for the release into the sea of irradiated water from the Fukushima plant. Kan said prior notice should have been given to the local people.
Friday, April 15, 2011 20:19 +0900 (JST)

Food is safe. The foreign minister eats local produce...
Matsumoto says farm products safe

Japan's Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto has promoted the safety of the country's farm products by eating vegetables produced by farmers affected by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. At the ministry dining hall on Friday, Matsumoto ate rice with curry, potatoes and carrots from Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is located.

The prefecture checks the radiation levels of the vegetables and allows only those meeting legal safety standards to be shipped. The ongoing trouble at the plant has prompted moves abroad to restrict farm products from Japan.Matsumoto said his ministry is responsible for providing correct information abroad, and that individual efforts like eating vegetables will help convey the message.He later visited a vegetable market in the ministry to support farmers suffering from a recent slowdown in sales. The market sells vegetables from Fukushima and surrounding prefectures in eastern Japan.

Matsumoto bought vegetables including lettuce from Ibaraki Prefecture and cucumbers from Gunma Prefecture. Both prefectures are north of Tokyo.The dining hall will continue to offer vegetables from these areas to promote Japanese foodstuffs.
Friday, April 15, 2011 18:52 +0900 (JST

But cars aren't?????????????
Auto industry to start voluntary radiation checks

The Japanese automobile industry is to start voluntarily checking export cars for radiation in order to combat rumors that the cars are contaminated with radioactive substances.The safety checks follow rising concerns outside Japan that automobiles exported from the country may be contaminated with radiation after the accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The United States has already begun checking Japanese cars for radiation at several ports in the country.Japan's automakers say no radioactive substances have been found in their tests. But the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association decided to take the measure to guarantee the safety of Japanese cars industry-wide.

The association is planning to choose about 10 automobiles per shipment, and using special devices to check whether high levels of radiation are detected or not.The tests will be conducted under the rules set by the association, and the data will be disclosed to other countries as necessary.The association says it will start the tests in April at major ports in the country.

The Japanese government has no safety regulations on radiation levels detected in industrial products. The association will also ask the government to make new safety standards for the products.
Friday, April 15, 2011 07:00 +0900 (JST)