Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

I'm particularly concerned about students who are in shelters who must take entrance or exit exams of any sort. I can't imagine studying in such a difficult environment.

Let's talk, I'm so glad to hear the trains are starting to have schedules. I hope they have some air conditioning too.

 

[dorispulaski]

NEI has a June 10th update:

Test Run Begins for Water Filtration System at Fukushima Daiichi
Update as of 3:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, June 10

Plant Status

Starting Friday, June 10, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will begin a weeklong test run of the new water filtration system it intends to use to decontaminate and reuse the 105,000 tons of highly radioactive water that has flooded the facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The system is expected to reduce concentrations of radioactive materials in the water by a factor of up to 1 million. Oil and salt will be also removed. Contaminated water is accumulating at a rate of 500 tons per day as cooling water is injected into the reactors. The system is expected to treat 1,200 tons of water a day and should aid TEPCO's efforts to control water management issues at the plant. There are growing fears that the contaminated water could otherwise start overflowing the plant basements by late June.

TEPCO reports that two of its workers have received radiation doses exceeding the company's limit of 25 rem. The results of analyses showed the workers' total doses were above 60 rem, accompanied by elevated thyroid iodine-131 levels. TEPCO anticipates no acute health effects for the workers, who have been transferred to the Fukushima Daini site. A third TEPCO worker is being evaluated after elevated thyroid radioiodine levels were reported.

The company is again using a concrete pumping truck to spray dust inhibitor on the roof and walls of the turbine buildings of reactors 1 and 2. The dust inhibitor is a synthetic resin that prevents the dispersion of radioactive materials.

TEPCO reports that as summer temperatures climb, the company is improving working conditions for recovery workers at the Fukushima Daiichi site. Eight air-conditioned rest areas are now in operation on-site where workers can temporarily remove their protective gear during rest periods. Four more rest areas are under construction.

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues
TEPCO is setting up two accident investigation committees, one internal to the company and the other composed of outside experts from Japanese universities, the Tohoku radiological science center and a consumer agency. Both committees are expected to be established by June 11.

About 8,000 schoolchildren in Date City in Fukushima prefecture will be given personal dosimeters to monitor their radiation exposure. Thirty-eight miles from Fukushima Daiichi, the city is currently outside the evacuation zone. However, earlier this month estimated radiation levels at three locations exceeded the government's evacuation level of 2 rem per year. The town's mayor decided to take the measure when local parents expressed concerns about their children's radiation exposure. The Japanese government promised to consider local people's wishes when deciding to order further evacuations.

The Japanese government's emergency task force published its preliminary report on lessons learned from the Fukushima accident. Among its recommendations is to establish the independence of Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The report will be presented at a high-level ministerial conference on nuclear safety at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna June 20.

A forum of G8 and OECD Nuclear Energy Agency members this week published their post-Fukushima recommendations for national nuclear regulators. Their report will also be presented at the June 20 IAEA ministerial conference.

Media Highlights
A dozen reporters, including journalists with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg business wire and National Geographic magazine attended the news conference that NEI organized Thursday to announce the formation of a leadership structure among electric sector organizations to coordinate and oversee the industry's response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident. For more information on the press conference, see The Times' blog coverage of the press event.

NEI's chief nuclear officer, Tony Pietrangelo, participated this week in a taped, 30-minute panel discussion on Fukushima implications that will air on public television in July. he "Ideas in Action" program is hosted by one of Washington's more thoughtful commentators, Jim Glassman. An exact air date is not yet known.

New Products
NEI's report on the new electric-sector leadership structure to coordinate the industry's response to Fukushima, "The Way Forward: U.S. Industry Leadership in Response to the Accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant," has been posted on the NEI website.

Upcoming Events
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a June 15 briefing on the progress of the task force reviewing NRC processes and regulations the events in Japan. The event will be webcast live.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a June 16 oversight hearing on preliminary results of the NRC's nuclear safety review in the United States following the emergency at Fukushima Daiichi. Witnesses are to include all five NRC commissioners.

 

[dorispulaski]

Evening June 10th news. TEPCO:

Press Release (Jun 10,2011)
<Exposure dose of those two employees> A:678.08 mSv (external exposure: 88.08 mSv, internal exposure 590 mSv) B:643.07 mSv (external exposure: 103.07 mSv, internal exposure 540 mSv) *Above amount does not include the exposure dose from the stay in the main anti earthquake resistant building and from the transfer in the site as those exposures are still under evaluation. These will be added once the evaluation is done.


Status of improvement on working environment of workers in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

We have been making best effort to settling down the status of affairs
after the accident occurred on March 11, also have been making effort
to improvement of working environment of workers towards earliest
termination.

Currently we are sequentially setting Rest Area for workers throughout
the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and installing water
feeding machine and introducing Cool Vest as a countermeasure against
heat disorder in summertime.

Also we will conduct improvement of life circumstances in gymnastic
hall of Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station in conjunction with
those measures.

We will continuously make best effort to improve working environment
and life circumstance.

Little news here, but it shows how difficult the situation is. The above TEPCO reports details some of their efforts to deal with the bad working environment.

Many challenges at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
Three months after the breakdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there is still a huge number of obstacles to getting the plant under control.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has revealed that fuel meltdowns are likely to have occurred in reactors Number 1, 2, and 3.

TEPCO is cooling the reactors and trying to contain radioactive leakage. It has installed a circulatory cooling system for the spent nuclear fuel pool at reactor No. 2.

But highly radioactive water continues to accumulate in the turbine buildings and underground tunnels because TEPCO is injecting water into the reactors to cool them.
Decontaminating the water is vital for stabilizing the reactors and preventing more radioactive leakage from the plant.

On Friday, TEPCO postponed a test run of a water decontamination system because of a malfunction.

The health and labor ministry says plant workers are getting unhealthy and that at least 12 have been diagnosed with heatstroke.

TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto told a press conference on Friday that the company will do its utmost to make progress in the difficult work to get the plant under control.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 07:57 +0900 (JST)

TEPCO to install cooling system at No. 4 reactor spent fuel pool
The operator of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant is preparing to install a circulatory cooling system for a spent nuclear fuel pool in the plant's Number 4 reactor building.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, has been using a vehicle to try to cool the pool, which contains 1,535 fuel rods, the most among the plant's 6 reactors. The rods continue to generate high heat, raising temperatures in the pool above 80 degrees Celsius.

TEPCO plans to start operating the cooling system as early as July to pump water out of the pool to a heat exchanger and return the water to the pool as coolant.

On Friday, workers entered the 4th floor of the building for the first time since a hydrogen blast on March 15th severely destroyed the building and damaged water pipes connected to the pool.

The workers checked the pipes and monitored radiation levels. Data on these matters is to be used to study routes for injecting water into the pool.

TEPCO began operating a similar circulatory cooling system at the plant's Number 2 reactor on May 31st.
Friday, June 10, 2011 19:45 +0900 (JST)

These are the same 2 workers we have been discussing this week, who were in the 3/4 control room when the Unit 1 hydrogen explosion occurred. Most of their dose is internal-due to radioactive materials either inhaled or eaten. A third worker is being tested.

Fukushima workers' exposure tops 650mSV
Detailed tests have found that 2 workers who were exposed to radiation at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant received doses of more than twice the government-mandated emergency limit.

The men in their 30s and 40s were each found in early June to have been exposed to over 250 millisieverts -- the new higher limit for exposure that the government introduced after problems began at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The National Institute of Radiological Sciences conducted 2 more rounds of detailed tests to measure the amount of radioactive iodine and cesium the 2 men could have inhaled.

After analyzing the men's work shifts since the March 11th disaster, the Institute concluded that the man in his 30s was exposed to 678 millisieverts, and the man in his 40s, 643 millisieverts. Internal exposure accounted for more than 80 percent of the figures.

The 2 men were on duty in the central control rooms of reactors No.3 and No.4. They have told the health and labor ministry that they don't remember whether they wore protective masks or not when a hydrogen explosion occurred at the No.1 reactor on March 12th.

The Institute said separately that it is conducting detailed tests on another Fukushima worker in his 50s, who could have received a radiation dose above the emergency limit.
Friday, June 10, 2011 19:45 +0900 (JST)

Radiation in No. 3 reactor still too high for work
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says radiation levels in one of the reactor buildings remain too high for workers to do their jobs.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, sent 9 workers into the No.3 reactor building for about 20 minutes on Thursday, in a bid to start stabilizing the reactor.

The utility plans to inject nitrogen gas into the containment vessel to prevent accumulated hydrogen from causing an explosion. It also intends to install a system to cool the reactor with circulating water.

The workers withdrew after measuring radiation of 100 millisieverts per hour near the reactor's containment vessel.

TEPCO says it intended to limit the workers' exposure to below 5 millisieverts per hour. But as all 9 received higher doses, it has suspended work while considering a course of action.
Friday, June 10, 2011 20:23 +0900 (JST)

It's hard for me to absorb the sheer size of this tragedy.

More than 8,000 still missing after quake
The National Police Agency says 8,095 people are still missing three months after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Of the 15,405 people who have been confirmed dead, about 2,000 have not yet been identified. Police say they are attempting to identify the bodies using DNA samples collected from people searching for their family members.

More than 2,000 police officers continue search operations in Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures in northeastern Japan.

Personnel from the Japanese Coast Guard and Self-Defense Forces are also searching local waters for the missing. More than 1,300 divers are taking part in the operations.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 07:57 +0900 (JST)

And this is still a tragedy, too. The debris referred to is from the quake and the tsunami.:

More than 90,000 still in evacuation centers

Three months after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, more than 90,000 people in Japan are still living in evacuation centers.

The government plans to build a total of 52,000 temporary homes for the evacuees, but only about 28,000 have been completed.

Many evacuees have declined to move into the temporary housing, citing insufficient support services compared to those at shelters.

One of the reasons for the slow progress has been the massive amount of debris that needs to be cleared in the disaster-hit prefectures. Debris removal has not even begun in the evacuation zones near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The earthquake caused nearly 120,000 people in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures to lose their jobs. The number of job offers for residents in the area stands at 49,000.

Children in the disaster-hit area also face serious difficulties. As of Thursday, 201 children in the 3 northeastern prefectures were confirmed to have lost their parents in the quake and tsunami.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 07:57 +0900 (JST)

In the Clue Game of finding the E. Coli, NHK says its the Organic Bean Sprouts in the Dining Room With The Fork.

E.coli detected in bean sprouts in Germany
Authorities in Germany announced on Friday that they had detected the deadly O-104 E. coli strain in bean sprouts. The central government had earlier identified sprouts grown at a farm in the northern part of the country as the source of the outbreak that has killed dozens of people.

Officials in North Rhine-Westphalia said the sprouts were found in an opened package that had been discarded in a trash can at a private home. Some members of the family living in the home had eaten the sprouts and been infected with the O-104 E. coli strain.

Earlier in the day, the government said the most likely source of the outbreak was from bean sprouts grown at a farm in the state of Lower Saxony.

The E. coli outbreak has spread to 16 countries and caused the deaths of 30 Germans. One Swede who traveled to Germany also died.

All the victims died of kidney failure caused by hemolytic-uremic syndrome. The number of E. coli patients now exceeds 3,000.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 07:57 +0900 (JST)

I love hearing about the ritual continuities of ordinary life.

Plum-picking ritual untroubled by quake

A garden park in Mito, north of Tokyo, has begun its annual plum harvest. The park suffered partial damage in the March 11th earthquake, but thousands of plum trees survived intact.

The ritual harvest began at the Kairakuen garden on Friday. The park boasts some 3,000 plum trees of 100 varieties. The fruit is picked now to encourage the trees to blossom more fully next year.

About 50 workers using 5-meter bamboo poles shook the trees to make the fruit drop onto sheets spread below.
They expect to harvest 6 tons of plums, the same amount as last year.

The head of the garden, Minoru Akiyama says he is happy the event could be held as usual, since many people have been calling the park worried about the plum trees.

The March earthquake caused a 120-meter crack to open on the garden's southern slope, and one third of the area remains off-limits.

The harvesting continues until Sunday. Selected plums will be sold at the park this weekend for around 4 dollars per 5 kilograms.
Friday, June 10, 2011 19:45 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

In the 3:00 PM JST status from TEPCO:

- At 12:42 pm on June 11, we started to operate local exhausters in order to improve inside environment of Unit 2 Reactor Building.

The above is necessary to make the environment in Unit 2 enough better that workmen can install nitrogen injection and heat exchangers to cool the reactor, and the spent fuel pool.

-At 3:30 pm on June 11, we started to transfer accumulated water in the basement of Unit 3 turbine building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building).

-At 10:00 am on June 11, we resumed transferring the accumulated water in the basement of Unit 6 turbine building to temporary tanks. At 3:00 pm on the same day, we finished transfer.

-On June 11, dust inhibitor is being sprayed to the area including the observation point.

It appears that NISA did indeed allow them to put more water in the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility. All leaks must have been successfully plugged in it.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110611e6.pdf
Still nothing but tiny amounts of plutonium 238, similar to after the atomic tests.

The same samples that had insignificant amounts (or undetectable amounts) of plutonium had plenty of other radioactive materials, found the easy way by gamma ray analysis.

Bequerels per kilogram, found in wet soil. There were three samples, all taken on May 26th. The short lived isotopes are disappearing.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110611e7.pdf

The largest amount of each isotope found:
Iodine 131 29,000 bq/kg, but as low as 480 bq/kg at one site) (Surprising how much there was, considering its half life is eight days) It will take about 5 months or so for it to decay to where you can't detect it at that site.
Iodine 132 NONE

Cesium 134 Most 1,260,000 bq/kg. Least 1,300 bq/kg.
Cesium 136 Most 7,300 bq/kg, (none in one sample)
Cesium 137 Most 1,300,000 bq/kg but least is 1,300 bq, kg (blasts were very directional)

Tellurium 129 metastable 230,000 bq/kg (none in one of the samples, which is interesting, to the west of the reactors.
Tellurium 132 NONE

Barium 140 NONE

Niobium 95 1400 bq/kg (one site had none)

Ruthenium 106 NONE

Molybdenum 99 NONE

Technetium 99 metastable NONE

Lanthanum 140 NONE

Beryllium 7 NONE

Silver 110 metastable 2,400 bq/kg at one site, none at 2 sites

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110611e8.pdf
Four Other Samples were taken on April 11 and April 25, and analyzed for americium and curium and uranium & plutonium:

Units becquerels per kilogram in Dry Soil

Americium 241 (used in smoke detectors), not found at two sites, most found 0.0251 becquerels / kilogram
Since it has a long half life, it is a good thing that there is not much of it.

Curium 242 14 becquerels per kilogram at most, not found at one site.

Curium 243/Curium 244 Most 0.075 becquerels per kilogram, not found at one site


NHK News

No.2 reactor air filter starts running
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun running air-filtering equipment at the Number 2 reactor building on Saturday to remove airborne radioactive material. Intense radioactivity and high humidity inside the building have been hampering work to restore the reactor's cooling system.Humidity inside the reactor building is as high as 99.9 percent due to moisture that is believed to have come from a spent nuclear fuel storage pool and the basement. Workers cannot remain in the building for a long time even with protective gear and masks.

Tokyo Electric Power Company had set up 2 air-filtering units at a building adjacent to the reactor building. The devices will filter radioactive materials out of air pumped from the reactor building through a duct. The cleaned air will be fed back into the reactor building.

TEPCO says it plans to run the devices for about 3 days and check internal radiation levels before opening up the doors of the reactor building.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 12:59 +0900 (JST)

Is 2,400 people considered a big rally in Japan? In the US, you wouldn't even get TV coverage for something that small, but perhaps protest rallies do not happen as often in Japan?

Japanese hold anti-nuclear rallies
A series of anti-nuclear demonstrations were held across Japan on Saturday. The rallies coincided with the 3 month anniversary of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

About 2,400 protesters took part in a rally in central Tokyo. Gathering in Minato Ward, they called for the closure of nuclear power plants and a change in the government's energy policies.

A man from Fukushima Prefecture said the nuclear accident is a problem for all Japanese people. He said as long as the country continues to rely on nuclear power, another Fukushima-type accident could happen.

The protesters then marched to the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima plant.

They demanded that the people of Fukushima Prefecture be given back their lives.

A 39-year-old man said he fears radiation as it cannot be seen. He said each person must raise his or her voice to demand the closure of nuclear power plants.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 01:29 +0900 (JST)

The fear of not being able to see a threat coming is visceral & built into our genes.. It's why getting dosimeters to people in areas affected by Fukushima Daiichi, is important.

and this next article shows why real thought on energy policy, not just visceral reaction, is needed. When electrical power is inconsistent and unpredictably unavailable, it effects everything. For example, servers move, and the jobs involved with them move too. The same considerations are true in all industries. Jobs move when power is too expensive in an area, too.

Fujitsu servers being relocated
Amid growing concerns over power shortages, a major electronics maker has begun to relocate its servers from its laboratory near Tokyo to Toyama Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.

The Fujitsu servers in Kawasaki City contain a large amount of data, including those on product development. They run continuously and consume a large amount of electricity.

However, large-scale users of electricity in the area served by the Tokyo Electric Power Company are being required by law to limit the amount of consumption this summer in anticipation of power shortages.

In response, Fujitsu has dismantled its servers in its Kawasaki facility and has shipped them to its plant in Toyama Prefecture. The financial services industry will not be subject to the restrictions as they are viewed as essential for stable economic activity.

Fujitsu says 3,600 of about 10,000 servers located in the Kanto region will either be relocated or halted.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 01:29 +0900 (JST)

I find traditional farming techniques very beautiful, in their own way. It's nice to see them recognized.

Japanese farming methods noted by FAO
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has chosen farming techniques from two Japanese regions to add to its list of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems.

The regions are Sado in Niigata Prefecture and Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The GIAHS was introduced in 2002 to recognize ecologically friendly and traditional farming methods as well as community efforts to protect biodiversity.

The organization selected the 2 methods at a forum in Beijing this week. It is the first time Japanese farming techniques were selected to the designation.

Sado's rice-cultivating method limits the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides so as to help preserve an endangered bird species, the Crested Ibis, which has been designated a special natural treasure.

The Noto farming method involves growing rice on terrace paddies, and a ritual to give thanks for a good harvest that is still being held by local farmers.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 01:29 +0900 (JST)

Crested Ibis in flight
http://www.visitsado.com/en/00sp/0809/toki/lead1.jpg
Crested Ibis at rest
http://orientalbirdimages.org/images/data/crested_ibis_4_ba.jpg

Here's some traditional farming from my part of the world- Whit Davis of Stanton Davis Farm 's the last commercial salt hay harvester in Connecticut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyzUSzlFBZ0
Whit Davis's accent is just like my Dad's was. Listening to him makes me tear up a bit.

 

[Olympia]

Thanks so much for the farming info, Doris. I'm fascinated by traditional methods, and many of them are still viable in a modern setting, at least on a small scale. As a corollary, I really like the greenmarket movement, which encourages local farmers to sell their products in the region. This encourages small family farms to continue to cultivate unusual and heirloom varieties of things like apples and tomatoes, which might not transport well over long distances. Keeping all those strains viable adds to biodiversity, which protects crops from succumbing to dangerous fungi and other attackers, because the at least some of the different varieties have a chance of being resistant to the pathogens.

The traditional farming methods shows the complexity of Japanese culture. It's one of the most ultramodern countries in the world, big on robots and the latest electronics, and yet it prizes traditional artisanship and production methods also. I love their system of choosing people who are called National Treasures, people who practice age-old art forms such as dollmaking and kabuki. We should do that here in the U.S. I bet we'd find more people like Whit Davis all over the place! (I know they have state programs to preserve and publicize certain traditional crafts, in for example Kentucky.)

 

[dorispulaski]

I haven't been posting the radiation counts as often, because they do not change as often, now that shorter lived isotopes have mostly decayed away. However, I will still post them from time to time. I always check them to be sure that no huge upward jump happens.

June 12th, 2:00 PM JST, wind in the East, weather is "fine".
Daini
Six peripheral measurement points ( 1.6, 1.3, 1.8, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5) microSieverts per hour
Manual point at 9:00 AM 1.0 microSievert per hour
Daiichi
Eight peripheral measurement points ( 5, 24,16, 15, 18, 39, 123, 103 ) microSieverts per hour
Main Office Building 353 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 14 microSieverts per hour
Cart near Main Gate 30.8 microSieverts per hour

-On June 10th, we completed the task to blockade 39 pits where the possibility of water leakage can't be denied, as the countermeasure against the leakage of accumulated water from screen pit.
-On June 11th, dust inhibitor was sprayed to the area surrounding the gymnasium with approximately 4,375m2 in size.

At 3:30 pm on June 11, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of Unit 3 Turbine Building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building)

[JAIF] http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1307704081P.pdf
JAIF Report on Effects on the Environment.
This file includes the measurement map, showing the concentrations of cesium at various locations, and trend charts of radiation measured in the air in various locations.

Air measurements
Highest radioactivity outside of Fukushima prefecture: 　(0.097μSv/h observed at Mito city in Ibaragi Pref at 08:00 on June 5)

Radioactivity inside Fukushima prefecture Result of monitoring published by MEXT on 6/5 (μSv/hr) Inside a 30 km radius of the plants in (μSv/hr)
・Tamura (0.3-1.4), Katsurao(1.3-2.4), Kawauchi(0.2-1.1), Naimie (5.2-41.3) Hirono (0.2), Minamisoma(0.1-2.5), Naraha(0.5)

Beyond the 30 km radius: (μSv/hr)
・Iwaki(0.1-2.6)、Koriyama(0.7-0.8)、Soma(0.4-0.6)、Iitate(1.2-16.3)、Date(0.7-3.6)、Kawamata(0.8-3.3)、Nihonmatsu(0.7-1.2)、Fukushima(0.1-1.9)、Ono(0.2)

MEXT has implemented and strengthened various radiation monitoring surveys at schools in Fukushima prefecture, especially 52 schools, in which relatively high radiation had been monitored

Progress on developing the regional soil contamination map:

MEXT has done strontium measurements at 11 sites, and found very small amounts at all of them. The amount is below that that would be a risk to health. MEXt is planning to do more strontium measurements. The fact that there is not a lot of strontium is promising for remediation. It will only be cesium that is important, long term.

Restriction of farming: Rice planting has been restricted in the area where relatively high amount of Cs was detected.

R&D for decontaminating soil in farmland: MAFF is conducting experiments aimed at removing radioactive material from farmland.

Tap Water・No results exceeding the “Index values for infants (radioactive iodine)” was found in in the latest survey. (as of 6/8). Before that, there was still one site over the "value for infants".

Sludge at sewerage processing plant, Debris created after Earthquake and Tsunami
・Radioactive substances were found in sludge from sewerage processing plants and debris in many areas. NSC established guideline for dealing with contaminated waste (6/3)



NHK

When you have a situation like this, it's always the case that when you're up to your butt in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original goal was to drain the swamp.
In each case when TEPCO enters a part of the site, what they find is of course, not a pristine lovely place where pipes are just waiting to be hooked up.
They now have to formulate Plan B here.

TEPCO forced to review reactor 4 spent fuel pool cooling plan
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been forced to reconsider its plan to cool the spent fuel storage pool of the No.4 reactor.

Water injection from a special vehicle has not been intense enough to cool the water in the pool, allowing the temperature to remain at more than 80 degrees Celsius.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, aims to install a circulatory cooling system that will pump water out of the pool and return it there as coolant. The utility originally hoped to put the system in place next month.

On Friday, workers entered the 4th floor of the No.4 reactor building where the pool is located for the first time since the nuclear disaster took place.

They found a large hole in a wall created by the March 15th explosion. They also discovered that a nearby pipe necessary for the cooling system had been mangled.

TEPCO says the repair team found it hard to work near the pool as equipment had been destroyed and debris was scattered on the floor.

Fixing the damaged pipe is expected to be extremely difficult. In addition, it remains unclear if there is another pipe that can be used for the cooling system.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 05:07 +0900 (JST)

Here's a picture of the area adjacent to the Unit 4 spent fuel pool:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qmU3pM8cFgE/TfQgO1IBouI/AAAAAAAAA6o/MiyDQwsIjI4/s1600/110611_05.jpg

A photo taken up through the hole in the building:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ER2rjHTec4I/TfQf-f8dLMI/AAAAAAAAA6g/kkIb_UOZldQ/s1600/110611_04.jpg

And there is a problem with the water decontamination system that is supposed to go on line on June 15th: This is why you test stuff. It sounds like 3 of the 4 units are working properly.

Radioactive water treatment likely to be delayed
Treatment of highly radioactive water at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is likely to be delayed by a problem with the flow of water.

The system being installed at the plant includes a device to remove cesium using zeolite, as well as equipment that settles out radioactive substances using specialized chemicals.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Sunday that it has found that water does not flow in one of the 4 units as expected.

TEPCO had planned to start a test-run of the device on Friday, but it was postponed after the firm found another problem, which needed repairing first.

The operator hopes that the system will lower the concentration of radioactivity and expects to treat 1,200 tons of radioactive water a day.

TEPCO is trying to identify the cause of the problem.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 15:08 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

And the business part of the government seems not to be on the same page as other parts of the government.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industri...r-plants-dont-come-back-online/#ixzz1P7PzrCQA

Energy
Japan's Kaieda: "Severe" Economic Impact If Nuclear Plants Don't Come Back OnlineBy Mitsuru Obe
Published June 09, 2011
| Dow Jones Newswires

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japan's trade and industry minister said Friday that there would be a "severe impact" on the country's economy if nuclear power plants currently under maintenance are not allowed to restart before the summer peak power demand season.
"A sharp drop in supply (if the plants don't come back online) will increase the demand-supply gap," Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda said at a regular press conference.

Utilities not directly affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have chosen not to restart reactors that happened to be undergoing regular maintenance at the time of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, due to objections and concerns raised by local governments. As a result, only 17 of Japan's 54 reactors now are operating, raising the potential for power shortages across wider areas of the nation.

Earlier Friday, a local media report said that Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503.TO), which is based in western Japan, will likely ask businesses and households to voluntarily reduce their power usage this summer by 15%.

Kaieda said he was not aware of such a move by Kansai Electric.

Kaieda also said the government will attempt to submit legislation "at the earliest date" to help Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) pay for compensation related to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, suggesting that it may submit the bill as early as next week amid growing concerns over Tepco's finances.
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires

 

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June 13th 9:00 PM JST , Weather fine (there has recently been rain), wind in Southwest
Daini
Six peripheral measurement points {1.6, 1.3, 1.8, 1.5, 1.5, 1.4 ) microSieverts per hour
Manual measurement 9:00 AM JST ( 1.0 microSieverts per hour )
Daiichi

Eight peripheral measurements ( 5, 24, 15, 15, 18, 39, 121, 102 ) microSieverts per hour
Main Office Building 355 microSieverts per hour
West Gate 14 microSieverts per hour
Monitoring cart near Main Gate 30.5 microSieverts per hour

TEPCO's afternoon status for June 13th:

·At 10:00 am on June 13, we started to transfer the accumulated water at the basement of the turbine building of Unit 6 to the temporary tank.

·On June 13, we are spraying dust inhibitor to areas including areas surrounding Main Gate. ·From 10:09 am to 11:48 am on June 13, we injected freshwater to the spent fuel pool of Unit 3 through Fuel Pool Cooling and Filtering System (From 10:13 am to 11:36 am, hydrazine [corrosion inhibitor] was also injected at the same time).

·At approximately 10:00 am on June 13, we started the operation of the circulating seawater purification facility installed at the screen area of Unit 2 and 3.

- At 3:30 pm on June 11th, we started to transfer the accumulated water at the basement of the turbine building of Unit 3 to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building). At 5:01 pm on June 12th, we finished the transfer.

The seawater purification facility news is excellent!

TEPCO has another work assignment from NISA. The Unit 2 spent fuel pool is now recirculating, the Unit 4 pool is impossible, at least right now. NISA wants plans for Unit 3. I ask, why not Unit 1?

Today, we, TEPCO, had received a direction* from NISA in relation to the submission of the report of installation of alternative cooling and purification system of spent fuel pool of Unit 3 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. In accordance with this direction, we, TEPCO, will, regarding the installation of the alternative cooling and purification system of spent fuel pool of Unit 3 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, evaluate its effectiveness of stable cooling and safety of spent fuel in the spent fuel pool and report to NISA immediately.

And this is not good news. It indicates more leakage from at the very least, Unit 2:

- Strontium-89 and Strontium-90 were detected from sub-drains near the turbine building sampled on May 18th.

Here's what the subdrain data looks like. The Unit 1 contamination may partially come from Unit 2, or have contributions from both Units. Units 3 & 4 subdrains weren't tested.

Samples of water from the subdrains of Unit 1 and Unit 2 were taken on May 16 and analyzed for strontium. Strontium 89 is less of a concern, because it has a shorter half life. Strontium 90 has about the same half life as cesium. It takes 3 weeks for test for strontium. There's a lot of strontium at Unit 2's subdrain.



Unit 1:May 16
Iodine 131 1,200 becqurels per liter
Cesium 134 9,800 becaquerels per liter
Cesium 137 12,000 becquerels per liter
Strontium 89 78 becquerels per liter
Strontium 90 22 becquerels per liter

For comparison, Unit 1, June 10
Iodine 131 14 becquerels per liter
Cesium 134 7,100 becqurels per liter
Cesium 137 8,400 becqurels per liter



Unit 2:May 16
Iodine 131 30,000 becqurels per liter
Cesium 134 23,000 becaquerels per liter
Cesium 137 28,000 becquerels per liter
Strontium 89 19,000 becquerels per liter
Strontium 90 6,300 becquerels per liter

For comparison June 10
Iodine 131 1,200 becquerels per liter
Cesium 134 11,000 becquerels per liter
Cesium 137 13,000 becquerels per liter

NHK


Meanwhile some of the Unit 2 strontium has made it to the sea, according to NHK:. May I say it annoys me to death to have something referred to as x times the government limit? It does not tell you what you want to know without the government limit being listed. I have not yet found where this is reported on the TEPCO website. Some of the reason they have not found it before, is that it is difficult to test for, and they haven't really been looking for it very effectively.

Excessive levels of strontium detected in seawater

Radioactive strontium that exceeds the government-set safety level was detected for the first time in sea water in the inlet next to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, reported that strontinum-90, at a level 53 times higher than the safety standard was detected in samples taken from inside an inlet used exclusively by the nuclear plant, on May 16.

TEPCO also said that strontinum-90 was detected at a level 170 times higher than the standard in samples also taken on May 16, near the water intakes outside reactor number 2. At the reactor number 3 water intakes, the level was 240 times higher than the legal safety limit.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the result is not beyond their expectations because the substance was detected in an inlet used exclusively by the power plant. They say they will closely monitor the fish and shellfish in the affected area.

TEPCO announced that strontium-90 was also detected for the first time in ground water near the reactors' buildings.

A ground water sample taken on May 18, around reactor number 2, measured 6,300 becquerels per liter. And for reactor number one, the sample showed 22 becquerels.

TEPCO explained it usually takes about 3 weeks to analyze the samples.

With a comparatively long half-life of 29 years, radioactive strontium can accumulate in the bones if inhaled, and poses a risk of cancer.
Monday, June 13, 2011 06:03 +0900 (JST)

Very few people breathe seawater, and strontium 90 has actually not been found in the air at the few times they looked for it, but it is entirely true that strontium mimics calcium in the body and ends up in the bones, where it just accumulates, unlike cesium.

Fortunately, the seawater cleaning filter is now working. Zeolites, at least the correct zeolites, remove strontium as well as cesium. I have not read whether strontium is expected to be removed by this filtration system.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16442726


This is a good thing. I hope to see that areas that are not too bad will be identified, and that some evacuees will be able to go home.

Farmland in Fukushima evacuation zone to be inspected
The national and prefectural governments are to begin inspecting farmland in the no-entry zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant next month.

Fukushima Prefecture says rice planting has been suspended in all areas within the 30-kilometer radius from the power plant. Shipments of agricultural produce from within the 20-kilometer radius no-entry zone also remain halted.

State and prefectural authorities say they decided to study soil in paddies and farmland within the no-go zone in response to growing calls by the residents who say they want to know what's become of their farmland.
The authorities have been carrying out inspections of soil samples within the 30-kilometer zone, but have refrained from checking the soil within the no-entry zone.

Fukushima Prefecture says the results of the inspections will be utilized to determine whether farming can be resumed in these areas once the ongoing crisis at the power plant is contained.
Monday, June 13, 2011 15:53 +0900 (JST)

At the start of the NHK presentation, a picture is shown of a dosimeter reading about 3.5 microSieverts per hour. This is higher than any reading at Daini in the evacuation zone.

Joint survey of high radiation areas in Date
City authorities and the central government jointly checked radiation concentrations on Monday in an area of Date City, Fukushima Prefecture. The estimated levels of accumulated radiation have already exceeded state evacuation standards set in April in some areas of the city.

Date is about 60 kilometers from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The central government announced earlier this month that the accumulated radiation levels at 3 locations in the city's Ryozen area are estimated to exceed 20 millisieverts for the year that ends next March. People living in areas receiving this amount of radiation are urged to evacuate within a month. Date is not a designated evacuation zone, but some residents fearing high radiation levels have already left voluntarily.

The joint survey on Monday was conducted in response to a request from the city.

Officials conducted measurements in Kamioguni, a district of Ryozen, where high radiation levels had been discovered earlier. The new sampling covered about a 20 meter radius, one meter above the ground.

On Monday, the prefecture measured 2.91 microsieverts per hour in the district. If people stay in such an environment all day for 15 days, the radiation level exceeds 1 millisievert, the long-term annual limit for ordinary people, as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

An official of Date said that as the city has been able to confirm locations of radiation and how to measure them, it will continue conducting surveys on its own to assess the situation fully.
Monday, June 13, 2011 17:11 +0900 (JST)

As more people are checked for internal dose, more people are being found with a problem with exposure

Six more workers test as having been exposed to more than 250 mSv of radiation.
The health and labor ministry says six other workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have received radiation doses above the allowable emergency level. Tokyo Electric Power Company reported to the health ministry on Monday on the results of the latest checks of workers at the power plant.The ministry says the provisional amount of radiation exposure was up to 497 millisieverts for each of six TEPCO male employees. The maximum allowable dose was formerly 100 millisieverts, but it was raised to 250 after the crisis started.

One of the men was working in the control center, while the other five were performing maintenance work.

Six additional workers received doses of between 200 and 250 millisieverts, and 88 were exposed to between 100 and 200 millisieverts.

The ministry has instructed the utility to have the workers undergo thorough examinations, saying it is regrettable that so many workers have received such high doses. In late May, two TEPCO employees on duty at Reactors No. 3 and 4 were confirmed as having received doses more than twice the emergency limit.
Monday, June 13, 2011 20:57 +0900 (JST)

Also there is a guy in his 60's who forgot to put a filter in his face mask.

Water treatment device fixed
The equipment failure that has delayed the test of a system to treat highly radioactive water at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has apparently been resolved. Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will carry out a test-run after checking the equipment once more on Monday.The problem occurred with a device made by the US-based Kurion company that removes radioactive cesium.

The utility had planned to start the test run to check the device's performance on Sunday, 2 days behind the original schedule.But when the pumps were activated prior to the test run, one of the 4 systems that is designed to move 12 and a half tons of water per hour was found to be running very slowly.

The system ran normally when operating on its own.TEPCO suspects that a water-flow valve may have temporarily stopped functioning, and is investigating the cause.It will operate the 4 systems simultaneously on Monday, and will start the test run if no problems are found.

The problem is expected to delay by a few days the system's full-fledged operation, originally planned for June 15th.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 23:11 +0900 (JST)

Off-site nuclear disaster centers were unprepared
An NHK survey has found that most of the emergency response centers built near nuclear power plants are not properly equipped to take measures against nuclear contamination. More than 15 billion yen, or 190 million dollars, was spent to build these so-called "off-site centers" in the wake of a criticality accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai Village in Ibaraki Prefecture.

They are meant to be places where central and local government officials as well as police can gather and respond to nuclear accidents.The off-site center that was built about 5 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant was rendered nearly dysfunctional due to a rise in radiation levels after a power outage.The office was moved to another location within 4 days.

NHK contacted 14 off-site centers around the country, excluding those in Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, and asked them about their levels of preparedness.More than 90 percent said they did not have filtering equipment in place to prevent radioactive substances from entering the buildings, as required by law.

More than 70 percent said they did not have air-lock type double doors.Off-site centers are situated between 2 and 13 kilometers from their plants.The survey also found that, depending on the scale of a presumed accident, some may be affected by nuclear substances and not function properly.Although all the off-site centers have substitute facilities, 3 of these are in the same locations as the main ones, and 2 had no communications equipment installed.

The government's nuclear safety agency says it is regrettable that the off-site center in Fukushima did not function properly. It says it plans to conduct a review of how the off-site centers should be set up, based on the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 23:11 +0900 (JST

TEPCO begins operating seawater treatment system
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, has begun work to reduce the level of radioactivity in seawater near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The company began full-fledged operation of 2 filtering devices on Monday after a series of test-runs. The devices are installed near the water intakes of the Number 2 and Number 3 reactors, where high radiation levels have been detected. The devices are designed to first pump up seawater and then absorb radioactive cesium using the mineral zeolite. The water is returned to the sea as the final step.

TEPCO says each device is capable of treating up to 30 tons of seawater per hour. Tests showed the machines reduced cesium levels by 20 to 30 percent. The company says it will find ways to increase filtering capability. The devices have been installed inside submerged fences set up near the intakes. The fences were installed in April to prevent radioactive water from spreading to the sea. However, radiation levels higher than government safety standards are being detected outside the fences.
Monday, June 13, 2011 17:11 +0900 (JST)

Tap water deemed safe by health minister panel
A health ministry panel studying radiation levels in tap water in Japan's northeast and areas near Tokyo has concluded that it contains no safety risks for the time being. The panel was launched after radioactive iodine, exceeding Japan's safety limit for infants, was detected in tap water in Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures soon after the nuclear power plant accident in March. Since that time, tap water in those areas has remained within safety limits.

The panel, which includes doctors and radiation experts, agreed that the tap water is safe as long as the situation at the nuclear power plant does not dramatically change. But they noted that more radioactive materials from the power plant will fall during the ongoing annual rainy season and typhoon season that will follow.

They agreed that authorities should maintain their regular safety inspections for several more months.
Monday, June 13, 2011 18:39 +0900 (JST)

Robert Alvarez- I have seen this guy quoted a number of times as a nuclear expert. If you see anything where he is listed as an expert, my advice would be to distrust its content. He has a PhD in musical studies, a wife who is a paid anti-nuclear lobbyist, and a firing from the Dept. of Energy over an arrest for growing pot in his house.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-618540.html
reprinted from the Washington Post

Plea Deal for Parents Turned In by Daughter; Probation Likely in Marijuana Case
Publication:
The Washington Post
Publish date:
November 20, 1999
Author:
Fern Shen

The Takoma Park couple whose teenage daughter turned them in to police for growing marijuana in the basement each will plead guilty to a single misdemeanor, according to a plea deal outlined in court records.
The agreement, which is scheduled to be reviewed in court next month, would mean probation and no jail time for Robert Jason Alvarez, 54, and his wife, Katherine Marie "Kitty" Tucker, 55.
But a number of issues remain unresolved for Alvarez, who lost a senior policy job at the U.S. Department of Energy over his August arrest, and Tucker, a nationally known anti-nuclear activist whose attorneys say she used the marijuana for medical purposes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/world/asia/13japan.html?_r=1

Meanwhile the NY Times describes the difficulties Kan had with relying for good nuclear advice on his advisors, who knew nothing about nuclear engineering, in the early days of the disaster.
Apparently, he directed TEPCO to stop injecting sea water, a directive the Daiichi plant manager ignored, a choice which the Times says, has made him an "unlikely hero."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/world/asia/13japan.html?_r=1

And the San Francisco Chronicle is seeming to endorse expanding WIPP, near Carlsbad, NM, to hold spent nuclear fuel, and credits the Obama administration with wanting to do that too. Carlsbad actively lobbied to get WIPP located there, and the local area continues to support the expansion of WIPP.

New Mexico site called model for nuclear waste disposal
By JONATHAN FAHEY and RAY HENRY, Associated Press
Associated Press June 12, 2011 09:01 PM
Sunday, June 12, 2011

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/06/12/national/a210144D00.DTL

 

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Good news! However, the Diet has to act on this next.

NHK:

Cabinet approves TEPCO aid bill

The Cabinet has approved a bill laying out the framework for the government to help Tokyo Electric Power Company compensate victims of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The key pillars of the bill approved on Tuesday are the establishment of a new body to oversee the disbursement of funds and the use of public money.

The bill enables the government to help TEPCO with a mix of public and private funds, and ensure it is able to provide a stable power supply while paying out tens of billions of dollars in compensation.

Other power companies which operate nuclear plants across the country are to contribute funds to the new organization.

The government will also issue special bonds to inject public funds into the body.

Through such public funds, the new organization will boost TEPCO's capital and extend loans to help the firm make compensation payments and capital investments.

A third-party panel of financial and monetary experts is to be set up in the organization to decide what assistance to extend to TEPCO.

The bill, however, does not include the specific amount of public funds to be injected into the body, as the total amount of compensation has yet to be determined.

The government plans to submit the bill to the current session of the Diet, and aims for an early enactment.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 10:59 +0900 (JST)

This is not bad either: TEPCO expects to have the water treatment plant open Friday:

TEPCO begins testing cesium absorption device

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun testing a device to process highly radioactive water, after a 4-day delay.

Early on Tuesday, Tokyo Electric Power Company began using the US-made equipment, which can absorb cesium, on low-level radioactive water.

Leaking pumps and a mistakenly closed valve delayed the start of the operation since last Friday.

Workers checked for signs of leakage during the 4-hour test-run on Tuesday morning.

The equipment is part of a planned water treatment facility that will also include an oil separator, a decontaminator and a desalination device.

More than 105,000 tons of highly radioactive water is building up within the nuclear plant, and TEPCO says it may run out of space to store it in about 2 weeks.

The utility is hoping to shorten the test-runs by one day and begin operating the treatment facility from Friday.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 12:19 +0900 (JST)

When some water can be reduced to normal levels, it can be either used to cool the reactors and fuel pools another time.

and not so good news, either for household electric users, or for manufacturers.

Power fees to rise 20% if all nuclear plants close

A Japanese research institute says the monthly electricity bill per household would balloon by nearly 20 percent if Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were shut down.

The industry ministry-affiliated Institute of Energy Economics released a report on Monday.

It says that without nuclear power, the monthly electricity costs for an average household will increase by about 1,000 yen, or 12.5 dollars. That's a jump of 18 percent.

The data is based on a scenario of all nuclear power plants being closed by the end of fiscal 2011 and thermal energy generation being used in their place.

The report also estimates that the fuel sourcing costs of natural gas and petroleum will increase by about 43 billion dollars annually.

The Institute says that raising the power fees for households and industries will have a negative impact on the whole economy. It says discussion on whether to resume operations in the currently suspended nuclear power reactors is urgently needed.

35 reactors in Japan have been stopped for safety considerations since the Fukushima Daiichi plant accident. Japan has a total of 54 nuclear reactors.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 12:52 +0900 (JST)

JAIF has more details on the testing of the workers at Daiichi:

TEPCO is examining 3,726 workers who have worked at the plant since March 11th for exposure to radiation. Of that number, 2,367 have undergone medical checkups. It revealed that 102 received radiation doses above 100 mSv. (100-200 mSv: 88 workers, 200-250 mSv:6 workers, 250 mSv-:8 workers)

Amount of doses that the 2 workers who received most are 643 mSv and 678 mSv..[6/13] *The allowable emergency limit for radiation doses: 250 millisieverts

Additionally, as expected, the Italian referendum on building new nuclear plants, was soundly defeated. Italy closed its nuclear plants after Chernobyl.

 

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TEPCO 3 PM JST wrap up

At 3:45 am on June 14, we started cesium adsorption unit of water treatment facility, on a trial basis, using low level contaminated water

·From 2:58 pm to 5:43 pm on June 13, we transferred accumulated water from the condenser of Unit 1 to the Turbine Building of the same Unit.

·From 3:33 pm to 3:53 pm on June 13, we sampled radioactive materials in the ambient air at the opening of the Reactor Building, Unit 3. We will analyze and evaluate.

·From 4:36 pm to 9:00 pm on June 13, we injected freshwater to Unit 4 spent fuel pool by concrete pumping vehicle (From 4:38 am to 7:15 pm, hydrazine [corrosion inhibitor] was also injected at the same time). ·From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on June 13, we transferred accumulated water at the basement of the turbine building of Unit 6 to the temporary tank.

·On June 13, we sprayed dust inhibitor to areas including areas surrounding Main Gate. (approx. 8,750m2)

[/quote]

NHK
This is good news. That is a significantly large drop in cesium concentration.

TEPCO begins testing cesium removing device
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says a cesium absorption device that it has started testing is working well.

Tokyo Electric Power Company began using the US-made equipment early on Tuesday morning to process low-level radioactive water at its planned water treatment facility.

Suspending the work about 10 hours later to analyze the treated water, TEPCO found that levels of cesium-134 had been reduced to about one-2,900th, and cesium-137 to about one-3,300th.

More than 105,000 tons of highly radioactive water is building up within the plant, and the utility says it may run out of space to store it in about 2 weeks.

TEPCO also plans to begin using a French-made chemical agent for decontamination at the facility on Wednesday.

As the start of testing was delayed for 4 days due to a series of malfunctions, TEPCO says it will shorten the test-runs by one day, and begin treating highly radioactive water from Friday.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 19:58 +0900 (JST)

Installation of such a device at large sludge treatment facilities would do the trick, I think. It only took a couple months to set this up, so it is definitely a feasible approach for larger municipalities.

Radioactive material in sludge at 16 prefectures
NHK has learned that 16 prefectures in Japan have detected radioactive material in sludge since the crisis began at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March.

NHK has found through interviews that at least 22 of Japan's 47 prefectures have been testing sludge for radioactive material. 16 of them, ranging from Hokkaido to Osaka, have actually detected radioactive substances.

The level of radioactive cesium was highest in Fukushima city, at 447,000 becquerels per kilogram. This was followed by Tokyo at 55,000 becquerels and Maebashi, north of Tokyo, at 42,800 becquerels.

Rain-soaked soil containing radioactive substances has turned into contaminated sludge and is being stored at waste treatment plants.

Maebashi has designated area around its waste treatment plant a radiation danger zone, after radiation levels at 2 storage sites for incinerated sludge exceeded the government set-safety level.

Japan has had no safety guidelines for contaminated sludge, which is a new problem.

Last month, the government decided on an emergency measure to incinerate and store sludge that's been found to contain 100,000 becquerels or more of radioactive materials.

But the measure applies only within Fukushima Prefecture, prompting other prefectures and municipalities to demand that the government quickly set guidelines on how to handle contaminated sludge.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 19:13 +0900 (JST)

Kaieda, Yosano react to Italian nuclear poll
Japan's economy and industry minister has stressed the importance of considering nuclear power generation in the context of Japan's energy needs.

Banri Kaieda told a news conference on Tuesday that he is aware of an Italian national referendum that showed overwhelming public opposition to building nuclear power plants.

He emphasized that in Japan, it is important to consider how to balance discarding nuclear power with securing enough energy. He said the Japanese economy and people's daily lives are already being affected by the present tight power supply.

Meanwhile, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano had noted that the energy situation in Italy is different from that in Japan.

He said he thinks that trends in other countries should be considered seriously, but that Japan cannot simply follow others. He said Japan has to choose an energy policy that takes into account its own needs and the importance of electricity to the economy.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 12:16 +0900 (JST)

Reaction to Italy's vote against nuclear energy
A Japanese business leader says that compared to Italy's energy policy, Japan's options are limited.

Yasuchika Hasegawa, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, was referring to Italy's rejection of nuclear power in a national referendum. He was speaking at a news conference on Tuesday.

Hasegawa pointed out that Italy is buying electricity from Switzerland and France and can increase its supplies if necessary, but Japan must meet demand by itself.

NHK asked people on the streets of Shinbashi in downtown Tokyo what they think about Italy's referendum result.

A 23-year-old graduate said that in order to stably supply electricity, nuclear power plants should be continued, after taking safety measures.

Another 22-year-old female employee said that nuclear power plants should be abolished even if things get a little inconvenient.

A 41-year-old corporate worker said the result shows that denuclearizing energy sources is the global trend. He said that, considering safety, countries should aim to change to alternative energies in the long run.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 19:13 +0900 (JST)

It also needs to be remembered that the Italians were choosing not to start building reactors, not to dismantle existing ones, since they currently have none.

They also are a big buyer of nuclear produced electricity from France.

China, who does not have Italy's options, has made the opposite choice, as has Lithuania recently.

China will stick to nuclear energy

China has stressed that it will continue to promote nuclear power to meet its energy needs.

In a weekend referendum, Italians overwhelming rejected a proposed nuclear power revival.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei did not refer directly to the voting results at the ministry's Tuesday news conference. But he noted that for many countries, nuclear power is a key option for dealing with global energy shortages and climate change.

China's state-run media have yet to report on the outcome of Italy's referendum, prompting speculations that the Chinese government is wary of the impact of Europe's anti-nuclear movement on the Chinese public.

The Chinese government has stuck to its policy of building more nuclear power plants despite the nuclear crisis in Fukushima, saying that nuclear energy is essential for the country's rapid economic growth.

China currently has 14 reactors in operation and 27 under construction.

The Chinese government has ordered new safety inspections for all nuclear plants, and has held briefings for local residents at planned construction sites to try and allay their fears.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 19:36 +0900 (JST)

.

 

[dorispulaski]

The NEI has an update on one of the most dangerous and challenging thing going on at Dai ichi right now, water management:

TEPCO To Test Water Filtration System
Update as of 5 p.m. EDT, Monday, June 13

Plant Status
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) says it will test a new water treatment system on Tuesday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. The company had planned to check the equipment last weekend, but the system was running too slowly to complete the test. The system is designed to treat 1,200 tons of contaminated water per day.

The company injected cooling water into reactor 3 for about two hours on June 13, accompanied by injections of hydrazine, which is a corrosion inhibitor. Pressure and temperature conditions of reactors 1, 2 and 3 are stable, according to reports. The company has begun installing a temporary cover over the reactor 1 building that will help prevent the dispersal of radioactive material. Also on June 13, TEPCO started operation of a circulating seawater purification facility installed at the water intake screen area of reactors 2 and 3.

TEPCO is taking steps to protect the 2,500 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi site from heat-related illness during the summer. Seven additional air-conditioned rest areas will be set up to supplement the eight that are already in operation. Other measures include the use of vests containing cooling gel to be worn underneath protective gear and 1,300 face masks that provide additional air ventilation.

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a briefing June 15 on the progress of the task force reviewing NRC processes and regulations following the events in Japan. The event will be webcast live.

Two long-term studies on the health effects of the Fukushima accident are planned, according to the World Health Organization. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation will begin a yearlong study on the magnitude of radioactive releases to the atmosphere and ocean and the range of radiation doses received by the public and workers.

The Fukushima prefecture will begin a "several decades"-long epidemiological survey of all Fukushima residents. The survey will include data-gathering on demographics, health conditions and geographic information to estimate cumulative radiation doses.

All schoolchildren in the Fukushima prefecture will receive radiation measurement devices, Japan's Ministry of Education said. The government intends to limit cumulative radiation exposure to schoolchildren to 100 millirem per year or less. That is the same level for public radiation exposure set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Local municipalities and schools are taking additional measures to reduce radiation exposure of schoolchildren.

An adviser to Japan's prime minister said officials from Japan and the United States will meet weekly to discuss recovery activities at Fukushima Daiichi. At a press conference earlier this month, he said the U.S. government offered assistance immediately after the nuclear accident and that the United States had provided considerable equipment and supplies to support Japanese efforts to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold an oversight hearing June 16 on preliminary results of the NRC's safety review at America's nuclear energy facilities. Witnesses include all five NRC commissioners.

Media Highlights

"For companies with nuclear energy assets, the events at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan are a stark reminder that nuclear energy is one industry, bound together by a technology that is both remarkable and demanding. Our commitment to safety must be equally demanding, as should our commitment to international cooperation and assistance," NEI president and CEO Marvin Fertel writes in a column in the May/June issue of Electric Perspectives.

At this point, you can't tell the water treatment plants without a scorecard. There are 3:

1. One that is cleaning the ocean
2. One small unit, made by Kurion in the USA, that is under test right now
3. One larger unit, made by Areva in France, that is scheduled to come on line later in June or July.

UNSCEAR is the same UN group that handles long term analysis of effects at Chernobyl.

 

[dorispulaski]

A warning about this style of breaker has been issued to all power stations. If you recall, there have been several power panel fires after the earthquake-at Onagawa, Daini & Daiichi. Fixing them is a good idea.

On June 1, we received "Implementation of necessary measures on fire prevention in relation to overhang-type high-voltage breakers at nuclear power stations (instruction)" * from Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (Already announced on June 1st, 2011) After that, following the instruction, we had confirmed the installation of overhang-type high-voltage breakers in our nuclear power stations and put together the implementation plan on fire prevention measures as to the installation and reported to NISA today.

Trends in sea water outside the innear harbor are excellent.
Nowhere is anything above the regulatory limit.
No iodine 131 is detected anywhere.
Only one site other than the on shore sites had detectable isotopes (Minami Souma for Cesium 134 only at a very low level)

The in harbor measurements are not yet on the website today.

Concentrations of cesium 137 & 134 and iodine are at all time lows in air at Daiichi.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110615e6.pdf

No iodine detected, for one thing, and Cs 137 and 134 below 1.0E-05 becquerels per cubic centimeter considerably.

They completed the investigation of the oil leak at Daiichi.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11061503-e.html

On May 31, a TEPCO employee confirmed oil leakage to the sea surface around the curtain wall of the water intake canal of Unit 5 and 6 and absorption mattresses and oil fences were installed. At approximately 10:00 am on June 14 an opening of oil leakage around the base of the curtain wall was shut off. We completed installing oil-absorbing mat around seawall at 2:00 pm and also completed installing oil fences at 4:50 pm.

and

[Countermeasures] We have completed collecting oil that has leaked up to the sea surface, we will continue collecting oil that has accumulated inside the drainage canal as well as implement the following countermeasures.
- Based on the aforementioned conditions, we estimated that most (approximately 0.49 cubic meters) of the leaked oil from the tank (approximately maximum 0.5 cubic meters accumulating inside the drainage canal and approximately 0.01 cubic meters of oil (10 litters) had leaked to the sea surface. We also found an extremely thin sheet of oil had spread over approximately 250 square meters of the surface area of the sea enclosed by the oil fence around the water discharge canal of Units 3 and 4.
- Regarding work at dangerous material storage facilities, a TEPCO supervisor should be initially present at the scene of work to provide work instructions.
- Those who supervise the safety of dangerous materials should make others aware of the conditions if they are not normal due to breakdowns and tell workers to pay attention to them.

They report:
Spent fuel pools

- From 4:10 pm to 8:52 pm on June 14, we sprayed water to Unit 4 by concrete pumping vehicle (From 4:11 am to 7:15 pm, hydrazine [corrosion inhibitor] was also injected at the same time).

Upgrading of piping

- On June 14 part of water injection lines of Units 1 to 3 were changed to polyethylene pipes from hoses and during that time water injection to reactors of Units 1 to 3 was temporarily suspended.

And you may have noticed that they have been pumping water out of the turbine buildings, preparatory to working on nitrogen injection and heat exchangers again.

hydrazine [corrosion inhibitor] was also injected at the same time). ·From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on June 14, we transferred accumulated water at the basement of the turbine building of Unit 6 to the temporary tank. )

And they keep spraying dust inhibitor

·On June 14, we sprayed dust inhibitor to areas including areas surrounding Unit 5 and 6 extra high voltage switching station. (approx. 8,750㎡

They have been finishing up work preparatory to enclosing reactors units with a fancy version of tarps over a frame to improve working conditions for the rainiy season, and to avoid contamination being washed off the building into the surrounding land and sea.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11061415-e.html

Currently, we are proceeding with constructions below as a preparation for the main construction.
1.Tentative assembling of unitized materials at Onahama port in preparation for the work at the site.(Scheduled from June 13th to July 21st)
2.Assembly of crawler cranes(2 large heavy machineries)at the site (Shallow Draft Quay)(Scheduled from June 12th to July 6th)
We plan to start removing rubbles and structural objects around the building and prepare working area as a preparation work for the installation of covers on Unit 3 and 4 at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station from late June.

A more detailed plan with pictures, including a design picture of the completed structure, may be found here. Photos are on the last 2 pages.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110614e17.pdf

 

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TEPCO has had a busy day:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110615e13.pdf

Things are looking better in most of the inner harbor outside the silt fence. Many of the concentrations are now within the regulatory limits. Some of this may be the effect of the seawater filtration that TEPCO is doing.:

Shallow Draft Quay:
No Iodine Found
Cs137 36 Becquerels per Liter (40% of the regulatory limit
Cs134 38 Becquerels per Liter (63% of the regulatory limit.

North Water Intake for Units 1 through 4
I131 19 Becquerels per liter (48% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 137 89 Becquerels per liter (99% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 134 74 Becquerels per liter (120% of the regulatory limit)

Unit 1 Bar Screen, Outside the Silt Fence
I 131 20 Becquerels per liter, (50% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 134 54 Becquerels per liter (90% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 137 54 Becquerels per liter (60% of the regulatory limit)

Unit 2 Bar Screen, Outside the Silt Fence
I 131 75 becquerels per liter (190% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 134 73 becquerels per liter (120% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 137 80 (89% of the regulatory limit)

Unit 3 Bar Screen, Outside the silt Fence
I 131 34 Becquerels per liter (85% of the regulatory value)
Cs 134 73 Becqurels per liter (120% of the regulatory limit)
Cs 137 84 Becqurels per liter (93% of the regulatory limit)

Unit 4 Bar Screen, Outside the silt fence
I 131 52 Becquerels per liter (130% of the regulatory value)
Cs 134 86 Becquerels per liter (140% of the regulatory value)
Cs 137 89 Becquerels per liter (99% of the regulatory value)

Unit 1 bar screen inside the silt fence is also within regulatory values.

Inside the silt fence at the other 3 units, things are worse, as one might expect. The worst concentrations of iodine 131 are now to be found inside the bar screen at Unit 2.

3700 Becquerels per liter

The effect of the cesium filter is shown because opposite of what you'd expect, the cesium levels are significantly lower than the iodine levels, and are about the same as Unit 3's.
Cs 134 1300 Becquerels per liter
Cs 137 1200 Becquerels per liter

Meanwhile, TEPCO has responded to NISA"s demand for a plan for cooling the Unit 3 spent fuel pool. TEPCO has submitted it, and says they plan to have a heat exchanger system like the one at Unit 2's spent fuel pool done by the end of June. They also have an alternate plan, if there are problems.

At 11:05 am on June 15, it was confirmed that a worker from a partner company in charge of crane assembling work for the preparing for the installation of the cover for Unit 1 reactor building at the shallow draft quay was smoking with his full mask off. While the density of radioactive materials in the air at the working place was below the detectable level both for particulate materials and iodine, whole body counter will be implemented later.

· At 1:10 pm on June 15, test operation of decontamination instruments in the water treatment facilities was initiated using the low level contaminated water.

· On June 15, test of decontamination was conducted inside the truck bay door to investigate the measures of decontamination.

· At 10:33 on June 15, transfer of accumulated water in the Unit 1 condenser to condenser storage tank was initiated.

Unit 1
· At 10:06 am on June 15, the amount of injected water to the reactor was changed from approx. 5 m3/h to approx. 4.5 m3/h.

· At 10:05 on June 14, transfer of accumulated water in the Unit 6 turbine building underground to the temporary tank was initiated.

· On June 15, we have been spraying dust inhibitor to areas including the area surrounding Unit 5 and 6 extra high voltage switching station

NHK

Japan begins quarantine inspection for E.coli

Japan has begun quarantine inspections of imported perishable foods for the O-104 E. coli strain.

The Japanese government made the decision in response to a recent wide-spread infection of the new deadly strain in Europe, centering in Germany.

The outbreak has killed 36 people so far -- 35 Germans and one Swedish tourist in Germany -- with more than 3,300 others falling ill. Most of them developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which destroys red blood cells and causes severe kidney problems.

Japan's health ministry says it will conduct inspections of imported vegetables and fruit at the country's 31 quarantine stations, starting on Wednesday.

At Narita Airport near Tokyo, inspectors sent samples of Dutch-produced paprika to a lab in Yokohama for testing.

The ministry says that analyzing genes in food samples will tell whether or not they carry the virulent strain.

German health authorities say they have identified bean sprouts grown in the north of the country as the highly likely source of the outbreak.

Japan's health ministry says no German-grown bean sprouts have been shipped to Japan so far.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 18:41 +0900 (JST)

More on the reactor covers
Video here
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_24.html

TEPCO begins covering work for reactors

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun constructing giant frames to hold plastic sheets for covering the plant's damaged reactor buildings in an effort to prevent the spread of radiation.

The buildings of the No. 1, 3, and 4 reactors were severely damaged by explosions after an earthquake and tsunami hit the plant on March 11th. Radiation is still being released into the atmosphere.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, on Monday started assembling the first frame at a port some 50 kilometers away from the power plant. The frame will support a huge polyester cover for the No.1 reactor building.

TEPCO is prefabricating the frame to hold a sheet measuring more than 40 meters long, 40 meters wide, and 50 meters high. The goal is to minimize workers' exposure to radiation.

At Onahama port, workers were busy assembling the steel frame from gigantic pillars and beams with a 140-meter-tall crane.

TEPCO hopes to ship the frame to the plant by late July. It plans to assemble the same covering for the damaged No. 3 and 4 reactor buildings.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 19:35 +0900 (JST)

This is nice, but twice 0 is still 0. What were the base readings?

Govt. releases radiation readings at 1-meter-high
Japan's science ministry has started releasing readings of radiation levels across the country measured at the same height -- one meter from the ground.

Since a series of accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March, the ministry has been making daily announcements of radiation levels.

But the height of monitoring posts has varied according to prefecture, ranging from 1.5 to 80 meters above ground. People have been calling for radiation levels to be measured at the same height -- one meter from the ground -- so data can be checked at a height close to human activity.

The science ministry has decided to measure radiation levels at a height of one meter nationwide with a portable radiation detector.

On Tuesday, the ministry started releasing such data in 35 out of the country's 47 prefectures.

It said radiation levels measured at a height of one meter on Monday in some prefectures, including Yamagata and Tochigi, were more than twice as high as those recorded at the monitoring posts.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 21:24 +0900 (JST)

So let's have a look at today's MEXT data:

http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/06/15/1307261_061514.pdf

In Tochigi prefecture, the usual range of values, (background) are 0.030～0.067 microSieverts per hour
The readings from the normal measurement points all read .057 to .058 microSieverts per hour in the MEXT data. So at most, we are talking 0.12 microSieverts per hour there.

In Yamagata, the usual value band is 0.025 to 0.082 microSieverts per hour, so again, at most we are talking 0.17 microSieverts per hour.

NISA / MEXT is also checking measurements in Tokyo

Tokyo to measure radiation at 100 locations
The Tokyo metropolitan government has begun measuring radiation levels at 100 locations, to provide accurate information in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The action comes after some individuals and municipalities found higher local radiation levels than those released by the metropolitan government.

The metropolitan government currently measures radiation levels at a 19-meter high monitoring post on the roof of a building in Shinjuku ward, central Tokyo, and releases the data to the public.

But it decided to make a more detailed assessment of radioactivity across Tokyo, by taking measurements near the ground.

On the first day of the survey on Wednesday, officials measured radiation levels at a park in Toshima ward.

The measurements were made at 5 centimeters and one meter above the ground, and the readings were 0.07 and 0.06 microsieverts per hour respectively. The figures were about the same level as the readings at the monitoring post in Shinjuku.

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to finish measurements at 100 locations in about a week, and post the data on its website.

From next Monday it will also lend radioactivity counters to wards and cities across Tokyo.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 12:20 +0900 (JST)

The Areva built plant which uses co-precipitation is being tested.

.Test begins on French decontamination device

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun a test-run of another part of a newly installed system to treat the highly radioactive water that is building up within the complex.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is testing the French-made device for about 8 hours on Wednesday, using relatively low-level radioactive water.

The device uses a special chemical agent to remove radioactive substances from the water.

This follows Tuesday's test of a US-made device that absorbs radioactive cesium. TEPCO says that after a 10-hour trial run, the cesium in the water dropped to about one-3,000th of the level marked before the test.

The 2 devices are part of the water treatment system, which is believed to hold the key to dealing with the highly radioactive water that is threatening to overflow.

More than 105,000 tons of such water has accumulated at the plant, and TEPCO says it could soon run out of storage capacity.

The company aims to begin full operation of the new system on Friday.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 15:10 +0900 (JST)

There is video of the interior of reactor 3

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_31.html

Footage of Fukushima No.3 reactor released

Tokyo Electric Power Company has released video footage taken last week of Number 3 reactor at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The video shows workers wearing protective suits enter the building through a cargo entrance. The roof of the facility was missing with the sky in view because of a hydrogen explosion on March 14th.

The footage also shows the workers advancing while wiping the floor with paper sheets to check the concentration of radioactive substances scattered there.

They were then seen climbing down a stairwell while carefully using dosimeters attached to the tips of poles they were carrying.

The footage also revealed yellow-colored water that had accumulated in the basement. The water is believed to be leaked water that had been injected into the reactor in an effort to lower its temperature.

The dosimeter readings at locations where the footage was taken were around 50 millisieverts per hour.

The highest reading during this inspection stood at about 100 millisieverts per hour, meaning the workers would receive the maximum allowable level of exposure -- 250 millisieverts -- within 2 and a half hours.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 20:49 +0900 (JST)

Nuclear plant operators plan to prevent severe accidents

Japanese operators of nuclear power plants have compiled a set of measures to prevent severe accidents, including hydrogen explosions at reactors.

On Tuesday, 10 power firms submitted reports to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on measures that should be taken immediately to address possible severe accidents like those at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The reports say that to avoid hydrogen blasts, some utilities are installing equipment that can rip holes in reactor buildings to remove hydrogen.

They will also set up hydrogen density gauges inside reactor buildings.

The reports say that even if all electricity sources are lost, the utility firms will use power-generating vehicles to activate ventilators to prevent radioactive substances from entering control rooms. The emergency power source will also be used to maintain communication with the control rooms.

The firms will also secure special protective gear that will allow workers to operate in highly radioactive environments. They will also deploy large construction machinery to swiftly dispose of debris scattered by hydrogen explosions.

The agency plans to assess the preventive measures after inspecting nuclear plants across the country on Wednesday and Thursday.

Draft: IAEA functions should be strengthened
The upcoming ministerial meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency will propose strengthening the body's functions to increase global nuclear safety.

NHK has obtained the draft of a declaration to be issued at a conference of ministers from IAEA member countries that will open on Monday in Vienna.

The document says an IAEA team of nuclear safety experts will conduct periodic reviews and assessments of the regulatory frameworks and operations of nuclear plants in each country.

It calls for an international framework to be established to quickly deal with nuclear emergencies.

The draft also urges the creation of a global liability regime so that states affected by nuclear accidents can receive appropriate compensation.

There was no reference to the regime in the draft as of last week. It was apparently included to respond to countries' demands for compensation for the effects of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Participants at the conference, including nuclear experts, will use the draft declaration to discuss how to bolster global nuclear safety and the standards for nuclear plants.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 07:26 +0900 (JST)

Additionally, a group of 40 lawyers has formed an anti-nuclear lobbying group in Japan.

Also a trade show featuring so-called smart grid technology is going on.

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

Unfortunately, information on the goodness or badness of current versions of smart grid technology is disputed, as is shown in this wiki article. You can read where the controversies are on this page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Smart_grid

Right now, papers and discussions are organized to sell rather than to inform. As an observer rather than a participant on this topic, I prefer to let you guys make up your own minds.

Being a loud mouth, I won't refrain from a few comments.

Right now, 'smart grid' is not a singly defined item-like other new technologies, we are finding those that are trying to sell things trying to win the war of words to dominate the space, because this is not a market where a number of competing products can comfortably coexist--it's like the days when Beta and VHS were the competing formats for video tape recorders. In fact, Beta was the superior format, but VHS ended up dominating the market. In fact right now, it really doesn't exist in its full form anywhere.

Smart grids ideally should be about improving the efficiency of the delivery of power. They should be good for all power sources. Sadly, reducing the amount of power you use will not drop your utility bill, because power companies just raise the rates. However, fewer power plants/sources should be needed overall all.

Another version of smart grid is about charging you a lot per kilowatt hour to use electricity when it is not very available

For example, if the wind isn't blowing, and it's overcast or at night, there will be no wind or solar electric power, but it still might be blazingly hot. Smart grids measure your electrical usage at such time and charge you a pot of money per kilowatt. So when you might most need your air conditioner, you will be unable to afford to use it.

This is called "encouraging customers to participate in the operation of the grid."

One concept sounds good; the other makes me sick to my stomach.

 

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NEI has an update, following the performance of the seawater plant:

New Filters Remove Radiation from Seawater
Updated as of 3 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, June 15

Plant Status
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has begun full operation of seawater filtering systems near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. Installed near the water intakes of reactors 2 and 3, the filters absorb radioactive cesium then return the water to the ocean. Tests indicate the system reduces cesium levels by 20 percent to 30 percent. TEPCO is seeking ways to increase the filtering capability.

Japan's health ministry has ordered TEPCO to release from duty 23 workers who had been exposed internally to more than 10 rem of radiation early in the accident. The ministry took the precaution because the employees' continued work at the facility could result in exposure beyond the temporary 25 rem limit. The limit was raised in March from 10 rem to the emergency level of 25 rem. TEPCO said earlier that two workers were exposed to more than 60 rem and announced on Monday that six more were believed to have been exposed to up to 50 rem. TEPCO is screening 3,700 workers for exposure.

TEPCO has completed tests on a U.S.-made system that will be used to absorb radioactive cesium from water that has accumulated in various locations at the Fukushima Daiichi site and has also begun tests of a French-manufactured water-treatment device. The company plans to begin full operation of the systems by Friday. More than 105,000 tons of radioactive water has accumulated at the facility. The U.S.-based water treatment system is from Kurion Inc. and the French system is from AREVA.

Inspection of farmland in the no-entry zone around Fukushima Daiichi will begin next month. Rice planting has been suspended within an 18.5-mile radius of the plant and no agricultural products are being shipped from within the no-entry zone. Government officials will study soil in the area in response to concerns from residents who have inquired about the status of their farmland.

TEPCO plans to install rooftop vents for the seven reactor buildings at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear energy facility in north central Japan. The vents are designed to prevent hydrogen from building up during an emergency. Hydrogen build-up caused explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in March.

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted a briefing today on the progress of the short-term task force reviewing NRC processes and regulations following the events in Japan. Slides prepared for the briefing said that capabilities already in place for dealing with potential large fires and explosions could be useful for other events, such as station blackout conditions. The near-term task force will recommend actions and propose topics for longer-term review at a July 19 commission meeting.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold an oversight hearing June 16 on preliminary results of the NRC's safety review at America's nuclear energy facilities. Witnesses include all five NRC commissioners.

Media Highlights

Doug Walters, NEI's vice president of regulatory affairs, participated in an extensive interview this week with Voice of America's "Voice of Russia," which focused on U.S. nuclear plant safety in light of the events at Fukushima Daiichi. Walters analyzed the accident in Japan and provided a status update on the ability of U.S. nuclear plants to cope with a similar situation.

Upcoming Events
International Atomic Energy Agency ministerial conference on nuclear safety, June 20-24, Vienna, Austria.
Japan-American Society, "The Future of Nuclear Energy Aroound the World," June 23, Washington, D.C.

Reuters has a couple of interesting articles

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-energy-summit-iea-nuclear-idUSTRE75E4DY20110615

Nuclear retreat to add 30 percent to CO2 growth: IEA

(Reuters) - A halving of a global nuclear power expansion after Japan's Fukushima disaster would increase global growth in carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent through 2035, the IEA said on Wednesday.
The International Energy Agency warned last month that a political goal to limit climate change to safer levels was barely achievable after global emissions rose by near 6 percent in 2010.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-energy-summit-germany-nuclear-idUSTRE75E3NM20110615

German utilities struggle with nuclear exit

Fages told the Reuters Energy and Climate Summit that Germany's nuclear exit meant that its big four utilities, the only nuclear operators in the country, will lose market share, have to deal with the cost of closure, and also invest in low carbon generation to fill the nuclear gap.

"They cannot do all that at once and will need some form of government compensation," he said.

Fages said that the big winners of Germany's nuclear exit policy would be foreign utilities with cross-border access to the German market.

"Utilities like EDF (EDF.PA) or CEZ (CEZPsp.PR) will profit from exporting electricity to Germany at higher prices due to the lower generation capacity."

And, of course, the big winner will be Russian natural gas, from Gazprom.

 

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TEPCO update, Morning June 16th

A great deal of water is being moved around, and things are going well, on the whole, with the water purification systems.

I'm interested to see when water starts to be moved to the huge fishing barge.

-At approximately 10:00 am on June 13, we started the operation of the circulating seawater purification facility installed at the screen area of Unit 2 and 3.

· From 1:10 pm to 8:35 pm on June 15, test operation of decontamination instruments in the water treatment facilities was implemented with the low level contaminated water.

· From 10:40 pm on June 15th to 12:20 am on June 16th, cesium adsorption instruments and decontamination instruments of water treatment facilities were operated with low-level contaminated water by trial.

· At 12:20 am on June 16th, continuous operation of the whole water treatment facilities with low level contaminated water was initiated

-From 10:33 am on June 15 to 9:52 am on June 16, transfer of accumulated water in the Unit 1 condenser to condenser storage tank was conducted.

· From 6:39 pm on June 4th to 8:40 am on June 16th, we transferred the accumulated water in the vertical shaft in the turbine building of Unit 2 to the centralized radiation waste treatment facility (process main building).

· From 10:05 am on June 14th to 8:46 am on June 16th, we transferred the accumulated water in the basement in the turbine building of Unit 3 to the centralized radiation waste treatment facility (process main building).

· From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on June 15, transfer of accumulated water in the Unit 6 turbine building underground to the temporary tank was implemented.

· At 11:05 am on June 15, it was confirmed that a worker from a partner company in charge of crane assembling work for the preparing for the installation of the cover for Unit 1 reactor building at the shallow draft quay was smoking with his full mask off. Later it was confirmed the density of radioactive materials in the air at the working place was below the detectable level both for particulate materials and iodine. The evaluation exposure dose is external exposure---0.13mSv and internal exposure---0.24mSv.


· On June 15, around super high voltage switching stations of Unit 5 and 6, we implemented spraying dust inhibitor (7,000㎡).

NHK

TEPCO testing water decontamination system

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is carrying out a final test run on a system to decontaminate highly radioactive water that is building up at the plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company began testing the system just past Wednesday midnight ahead of putting it into full operation on Friday.

TEPCO sees the water treatment system, which combines 4 different devices, as key to dealing with the huge volume of radioactive water that is hampering work to bring the plant under control.

On Wednesday, TEPCO tested a French-made device that uses a special chemical agent to remove radioactive substances.

TEPCO says the test using relatively low-level radioactive water showed cesium dropped to about one-10,000th of initial levels. TEPCO says a trial run of a different US-made device on Tuesday found that cesium dropped to about one-3000th of original levels.

More than 110,000 tons of radioactive water has accumulated at the plant as a result of continuous water injections to cool the overheating reactors. With water building up at the plant at a pace of 500 tons per day, TEPCO is running out of storage.

The main facility that is being used to store the radioactive water is expected to become full on Thursday.

The plant operator plans to reduce radiation in the water to between one-1,000th and one-10,000th current levels using the new treatment system before transferring the water to makeshift tanks at the plant.Thursday, June 16, 2011 13:28 +0900 (JST)

I presume that "makeshift tanks" refers to both the blue tanks that TEPCO has had manufactured and the barge.

TEPCO to begin work for Unit 3 cooling fuel pool

At the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, work is likely to begin Saturday to install a circulatory cooling system for the fuel pool of the Number 3 reactor.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Company has been pouring water onto the fuel pool from outside once every 4 days. But it estimates that the temperature is still above 60 degrees Celsius.

TEPCO plans to install a heat exchange device to cool the water and then return it to the fuel pool.

If work goes smoothly, then full operation of the circulatory cooling system is expected to start early next month. TEPCO says it wants to lower the temperature to around 40 degrees Celsius about a month later.

Days after the outbreak of the nuclear accident at the plant in March, 2 Self-Defense Force helicopters dumped seawater over the Number 3 reactor to cool the fuel pool.

A similar circulatory cooling system has already been installed for the Number 2 reactor, and it planned for the Number 1 and 4 reactors. But the outlook for Number 4 is unclear because a hydrogen blast damaged its piping, a vital component in the cooling system.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 07:45 +0900 (JST)

Radioactive material detected in Iwate pastures

The Iwate Prefectural Government has again detected a radioactive substance above the state limit in pasture grass in several areas in the prefecture. The prefecture asked farmers in the areas to refrain from feeding the grass to their livestock.

The prefectural government found on Tuesday radioactive cesium exceeding the limit of 300 becquerels per kilogram in grass collected from pastures in four areas, including Tono and Otsuchi. The areas are located about 150 to 200 kilometers north of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The Iwate government plans to conduct more detailed examinations in the four affected municipalities.

The testing comes after cesium exceeding government standards was measured in pasture grass collected in two areas in the southern part of the prefecture earlier this month.

The Iwate government also took closer measurements of radiation levels in grass harvested in nine districts of the two areas. The government found the levels of radioactive cesium exceeded the criteria in six districts.

High levels of radiation in pasture grass have also been reported in Fukushima Prefecture, which hosts the troubled nuclear plant, and neighboring prefectures.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 12:07 +0900 (JST)

 

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TEPCO: Opening door of No.2 reactor is safe; Filtration measures workedT

okyo Electric Power Company plans to open the doors to the reactor Number 2 building at the Fukushima Daiichi plant for ventilation, to lower humidity and start restoration work.

Tokyo Electric said on Thursday that an air purification device, which has been working since last Saturday, has reduced radioactive concentration inside the building to levels that have little impact on the nearby environment.

The utility said the concentration of radioactive iodine in the air has been reduced to about one-10th of former levels and radioactive cesium to about a quarter, as of Wednesday night.Tokyo Electric assesses that the impact of the door-opening on the environment around the plant will be sufficiently below the permissible annual limit for ordinary people of one millisievert.

The utility plans to open the doors after obtaining approval from the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and local governments.

An initial stage of the planned restoration work will include staff surveying radiation levels and adjusting gauges.

Inside the reactor Number 2 building, the humidity has been extremely high, due to moisture apparently from the containment vessel and spent-fuel storage pool, and is hampering restoration work.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 18:13 +0900 (JST)

This article adds little to what we know; however it hints that government shillyshallying about approvals could be unfortunate
.

Radioactive water still threatens to overflow

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is under pressure to ensure the flawless operation of a system to decontaminate radioactive water, which threatens to overflow.

More than 110,000 tons of the highly radioactive water has accumulated in the nuclear complex.

The amount is growing by 500 tons a day as fresh water is injected into reactors to cool them down.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it's vital to put the water treatment system into full operation on Friday, as scheduled.

Any delay in launching the system could cause contaminated water to overflow within 2 weeks.

TEPCO admits, however, that water may leak from pipes connecting devices, even if the system works as planned.

To block leaks, preparations are under way to build more storage tanks and to install a US-made back-up filtering device.

But the tanks will not be installed until next month at the earliest and the back-up device is unlikely to be mounted before August.

TEPCO has also yet to decide how to dispose of radioactive waste generated during the decontamination process.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 20:24 +0900 (JST)

Or to not handle sludge. I'd like to see more of those Kurion units or Areva units deployed ASAP.

Govt sets policy to handle radiation sludge
The government has announced guidelines on how to dispose of sludge that contains radioactive material.

Radioactive material has been detected in sludge from waste water treatment plants in many areas, mainly in eastern Japan, since the crisis began at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The guidelines released by the government's nuclear disaster taskforce on Thursday say disposal facilities with filters will be used to prevent radiation leaks from fumes that are created when sludge is burned or dissolved.

They say sludge containing radiation of more than 100,000 becquerels per kilogram will be stored at facilities tightly shielded by substances like concrete.

But the taskforce will continue discussions to determine how to ultimately dispose of it.

The guidelines say sludge measuring over 8,000 to 100,000 becquerels of radiation can be buried in waste disposal sites, after steps are taken to limit nearby residents' annual exposure to 10 microsieverts or lower.

They also say sludge bearing readings of 8,000 becquerels or less can be buried after thorough waterproofing measures have been taken, as long as disposal sites are not used for housing purposes.

The government has informed 13 relevant prefectures of the decision.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 18:09 +0900 (JST)

 

[dorispulaski]

NPR has a nice long story about the water decontamination process at Daiichi

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/137198270/fukushima-workers-tackle-highly-radioactive-water

by Richard Harris,
reported on "All Things Considered"

In fact, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, has been pumping water continuously into the crippled nuclear plant, ever since the March 11 tsunami knocked out the system that was supposed to keep the reactor cores from overheating.

The result is that there's now enough radioactive water there to fill something like 40 Olympic swimming pools.

Per Peterson, chair of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, says that contaminated water is actually a good thing — if you consider what could have happened instead.

"Most of the radioactive material that was released from the damaged fuel was actually washed out into this water, instead of going out into the environment," Peterson says. "And that's good."

But it's also a huge problem when it comes to cleaning up the plant, because the radioactive water keeps workers at bay. So TEPCO hired several companies to build a water decontamination plant. They're hoping the plant will be fully operational later this week.

Harris then discusses the water filtration, which I have talked about here and goes on to discuss plugging the leaks at the plant, which we haven't talked about as much.

Plugging The Leak

And one of the most important repair jobs will be to stop the reactor vessels from leaking water in the first place. Those leaks mean TEPCO has to keep pumping more and more water into the reactors to keep them cool. There are several ideas are in play to plug the leaks.

"One of the ones that's been suggested is to literally fill the space between the containment vessel and the building walls with cement or grout," says Peterson from Berkeley. "It's possible that one might also be able using robots to get in and patch places where the leaks are occurring as well."

Related NPR Stories
Some Japanese Children To Wear Radiation Detectors

June 15, 2011
In Report, Japan Says It Was 'Unprepared' For Fukushima Disaster

June 7, 2011
Is The Future Of Nuclear Power In Minireactors?

June 6, 2011
Germany Moves To Shutter Nuclear Power Stations

May 31, 2011
Once the leaks are patched, the utility can fill the three damaged reactor vessels completely with water, without flooding the rest of the plant. Not only would that keep the reactor cores cool, but this clean water would serve as an effective radiation shield. In fact, a water shield proved to be key to cleaning up the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania, back in 1979.

 

[Olympia]

It's good to hear that the filtration process has worked at Reactor 2. So some things are going in the right direction.

 

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO just issued their monthly progress report against their roadmap.

Here:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110617e1.pdf
and here
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110617e2.pdf
Progress by countermeasures
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110617e3.pdf
And photos with the report (23 pages of them)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110617e4.pdf

There are always unanticipated snags in any cleanup project. You can't really know the full extent of the damage until you have completed a large portion of the project. Cleaning up Daiichi is no different.

A quick read of the monthly progress report reminds me that:

1. Water control-TEPCO has accomplished a lot in this regard.


WATER IN THE OCEAN
It is only 2 months since they found highly contaminated water leaking into the sea. Since then, 2 leaks have been found and stopped, other potential leaks have been prevented by stopping holes up with concrete. Severe contamination has been limited to the inner harbor by the installation of silt fences, and they've set up a decontamination plant for that area. Contamination with cesium and iodine in the inner harbor outside the silt fence are of the order of 0.025 to 0.01 becquerels per cm[SUP]3[/SUP] However, even inside the silt fence, current concentrations are now about 1 to 2.5 becquerels per cm[SUP]3[/SUP]. In fact, TEPCO has gone to reporting all water values as becquerels per liter (which you get by reporting the becquerels per centimeter value by 1,000. It is not that long ago that contamination inside the fence was 1,000,000 becquerels per cm[SUP]3[/SUP].

On the negative side, since May, significant strontium has been found in one area behind the silt fence (a previous sample showed only a small amount of strontium). Their seawater decontamination system may need to be beefed up to do a better job of cesium and strontium removal.

Outside the harbor, the natural order of radioactive decay and dispersion by ocean currents have cleaned the seawater up. Materials have sunk to the sea bottom, but the good thing about oceans is that things get buried by sedimentation rather rapidly. However, I think that a lot of fish testing will need to be done for some time.

WATER ON LAND
On land a great deal of contamination of everything else has been limited by completely dousing everything with water from every side. On the negative side, it has left a lot of contaminated water, currently "stored" in buildings.

However, TEPCO has set up successfully two different decontamination plants, and they are only going to miss their June 15th target for having them up and running by a couple days. They have currently 13,000 ton capacity of tanks are installed, 40,000 more tons of capacity will be installed in the next month, with 20,000 tons of capacity slated for the following month. The plan is to lower the contamination level of the water in the plants by passing it through the decontamination facility, injecting some of it back into the reactors for cooling, and storing the rest in tanks.

Getting recirculation going at the 4 spent fuel pools and 3 reactors is key to getting water under control, and this has not been going as well.

LAND CLEAN UP
We don't see this as much, since it is not a glitzy technical achievement, particularly, but photos of the site now look a lot more tidy. To begin with, there were no tidy spots to take a photo of. In fact, a lot of debris had to be removed just to set up the tanks and pipes, and gain entry to the reactor buildings. A huge amount of debris, much of it highly radioactive, has been cleaned up and stored in containers, a lot of it using robot trucks. The endless spraying of dust fixative has limited further contamination in the air and water, and kept it confined to the site.

AIR
As a result, the amount of radioactive dust in the air is significantly lower than it was. And overall, radiation at the site boundaries has dropped from a range of 11 to 203 microSieverts per hour on April 15th to a range of from 5 to 121 microSieverts per hour on June 15th. At the main building from 530 microSieverts per hour on April 15th to 354 microSieverts per hour on June 15th. Some of the decline is, of course, due to normal radioactive decay, but some of it is due to limiting further release of radioactive materials, control of dust, and general cleanup.

SPENT FUEL POOLS
Proof of concept by cooling spent fuel pools with external heat exchangers has been demonstrated. Unit 2's spent fuel pool is now cooled that way, and was brought down to temperature much faster than expected.

Unit 1 and Unit 3: Water is being injected through the original piping there for stable cooling, but work is hindered on getting the heat exchanger installed due to the highly radioactive conditions inside the reactors. We now have learned that Unit 4's pool never went dry (good news for the later cleanup), however the piping has been damaged so that it cannot be used. TEPCO says that it will have water injected by piping for stable cooling by July at Unit 4.

REACTORS

Nitrogen Injection to prevent further hydrogen explosions
This is still only in place at Unit 1. However, entry and some interior air mitigation has been done at Units 2 & 3, and TEPCO says that they will be able to get this going at Units 2 and 3 in the next month. On the plus side, no further hydrogen explosions have occurred (despite at least 2 fake videos that have hit the internet in the last month. You can tell this stuff is not true, because the radiation metering, both on site and off site would show a spike if there had been any extra dispersion of nuclear material into the air.)

General Cooling:
Units 1 & 2 are relatively cool and stable at this time. Unit 3 is hotter, but cooling.

Heat exchanger cooling:
The piping work is under way. Redesign of the system to accommodate the collapse of the fuel was done. There still is just a lot of work needed in this area, including a lot of environmental work on the reactor buildings so that workers can work there. Without heat exchanger cooling, still more radioactive water will have to be accommodated. This is the most behind schedule of any item.

Water flooding. Not started. Building work outside has begun.

Gauge fixing:
Unit 1 not has a functional pressure gauge. Some of the other instrumentation has been slowly getting fixed.

Covering the buildings
This is moving along. The frames are being built, the laser measurements for the frames is complete.

Patching holes in the reactors.
Huge concrete pumps should be arriving soon.

Additionally:
1. A huge and quite involved website is being updated daily, of all reactor parametric measurements, press releases, press handouts, site maps, radiation measurements & chemical analysis in air, sea, subsurface drains, and soil in several languages. A live video streaming camera of Daiichi is available on the site too. It's amazing how much this has grown and improved from something that was like any electrical company's rather perfunctory website. Many ocean monitoring stations were set up, and routinely measured and analyzed at 3 different depths. It's really nice. The one addition that I would like to see is better reporting on strontium contamination.

2. Extra rest areas and a doctor's office has been set up (the government helped with the doctors' office) More doctors have been deployed. Over 2500 workers have been given testing and whole body scans. (The government helped getting extra machines). Dosimeters have been acquired for everyone (this was something that should have been there at the beginning, but wasn't, for contract workers).

3. A continual barrage of governmental demands for additional paperwork is being handled.

4. And where improvement is in my opinion needed, payout operations for damages to evacuees, and helping the evacuees. Payout, and a payout office and phone number has been established, but I just think they should be doing more, and especially more to get towns checked out and cleaned up so that people can return.

However, I cannot help but compare & contrast the work TEPCO is doing with what BP did and didn't do in the Gulf of Mexico last year, with the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill.
On April 20, 2010, the rig exploded, killing 11 people. (no people have been killed by the Daiichi reactors)
The leak was not stopped until July 15th. (Significant leaking here was stopped within 6 weeks. BP took 3 months)
Oil Crap is still floating around in the ocean.
There was no numerical tracking being done of how much oil was spilled and where it was going. That had to be done by other agencies.
Payment has still not been made to many of those who were damaged, and many claims are in court.
The cleanup onshore is not complete yet, and may never be, and all of it is being done by local volunteers

 

[dorispulaski]

June 17th, morning reports

Because we get info from TEPCO several times a day, sometimes things will look messy. One does inital tests with slightly contaminated water exactly because initial problems do occur in this world. This is so with the Areva decontamination plant. Also, in looking at the inner harbor data, there may be more leakage from Unit 3-or it may just be a random uptick. Everyone will be keeping an eye on it. Less effort has gone to controlling outflow from Unit 3 than Units 1 & 2, so there may be something going on there.

However, definitely overall progress is being made:

·From 0:20 am on June 16, a continuous test operation of the whole water treatment facilities started for low radiation level contained water. At around 7:20 pm on June 16, the equipment of the facilities automatically stopped. When we checked the equipment, we found a water leakage from cesium absorption equipment. At this moment, we are under a recovery work for the leakage.

·From 10:00 am on June 16, transfer of accumulated water in the Unit 6 turbine building underground to the temporary tank was started. At 4:00 pm on June 16, the transfer was stopped.

·From 1:14 pm on June 16, changing water feeding line from concrete pumping vehicle to alternative water injecting line, injecting fresh water to spent fuel pool of Unit 4 was started (hydrazine was also injected from 1:48 pm and completed at 3:18 pm on same day). At 3:44 pm on June 16, the injection was completed.

·On June 16, spraying inhibitor for about 6,660 m2 was implemented by worker on the road around the former administration office building etc.