Have They "Lost The Race" At Fukushima?

March 29th, 2011 BREAKING 11:58am CST
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The situation is increasingly disturbing at Fukushima. It seems likely that the entire Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex is a write off. From the reports of the last 30 minutes, it appears that the real question now is how bad the larger release of radioactivity is going to be when it eventually occurs.

From The Guardian:
 
"The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site.

 
The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it.
 
Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have "lost the race" to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.
 
Workers have been pumping water into three reactors at the stricken plant in a desperate bid to keep the fuel rods from melting down, but the fuel is at least partially exposed in all the reactors.
 
At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel "lower head" of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said.
 
"The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell," Lahey said. "I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards."
 
The major concern when molten fuel breaches a containment vessel is that it reacts with the concrete floor of the drywell underneath, releasing radioactive gases into the surrounding area. At Fukushima, the drywell has been flooded with seawater, which will cool any molten fuel that escapes from the reactor and reduce the amount of radioactive gas released.
 
Lahey said: "It won't come out as one big glob; it'll come out like lava, and that is good because it's easier to cool."
 
The drywell is surrounded by a secondary steel-and-concrete structure designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment. But an earlier hydrogen explosion at the reactor may have damaged this.
 
"The reason we are concerned is that they are detecting water outside the containment area that is highly radioactive and it can only have come from the reactor core," Lahey added. "It's not going to be anything like Chernobyl, where it went up with a big fire and steam explosion, but it's not going to be good news for the environment."
 
The radiation level at a pool of water in the turbine room of reactor two was measured recently at 1,000 millisieverts per hour. At that level, workers could remain in the area for just 15 minutes, under current exposure guidelines."

Radiation Near Reactor #3

Mar 14th, 2011 10:35pm CST

3rd Blast Confirmed, part 4

Mar 14th 2011 8:34pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

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It should be assumed at this point that the Japanese energy corporation responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex, TEPCO, is just plain covering their asses. The only recent official release at their site as of this posting doesn't reference reactor #2 in any meaningful way. Check out their public pronouncements HERE.

Linked via CRIEnglish:
"Hourly radiation was measured at 8, 217 micro sievert at the front door of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Tuesday.

 

A TEPCO official told a televised press conference that the figure was three times higher than the amount of radiation a person receives in his natural state within a year.

The rise in radiation was detected after an explosion was heard at the No. 2 reactor of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant at 6:10 a.m. Tuesday (2110 GMT Monday).

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the suppression pool of the reactor might have been damaged at No. 2 reactor.

A rise in radiation was monitored near the nuclear plant shortly after the blast, said the agency. The radiation fell to 882 micro sievert after briefly rising as high as 965.5 micro sievert, topping the legal limit of 500.

But the agency said that the radiation will not immediately affect people's health at the levels of above figures."

3rd Blast Confirmed, part 3

Mar 14th, 2011 7:56pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

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Okay. It does sound bad. But we are having a very hard time getting confirmations.

From Today Online:

"Tokyo Electric said late yesterday that a malfunctioning valve made it impossible to inject seawater into the reactor. The water levels inside its containment vessel fell and left its fuel rods exposed - perhaps completely exposed - for some hours. 

In reactor No 2, which is now the most damaged of the three at the Daiichi plant, at least parts of the fuel rods have been exposed for several hours, which also suggests that some of the fuel has begun to melt. Government and company officials said fuel melting has almost certainly occurred in that reactor, which can increase releases of radioactive material through the water and steam that escapes from the container vessel.

In a worst case scenario, the fuel pellets could also burn through the bottom of the containment vessel and radioactive material could pour out that way - often referred to as a full meltdown. 

"There is a possibility that the fuel rods are heating up and starting to melt," said a Tokyo Electric spokesman late last night, in a news conference televised on public broadcaster NHK. "It is our understanding that we have possible damage to the fuel rods."

The extreme challenge of managing reactor No 2 came as officials were still struggling to keep the cores of two other reactors, No 1 and No 3, covered with seawater. There was no immediate indication that either of those two reactors had experienced a crisis as serious as that at No 2.

By last night, officials said that radiation readings around the plant reached 3,130 micro Sievert - the highest yet detected at the Daiichi facility since the quake and six times the legal limit.

A Tokyo Electric official had then described the situation as improving. "We do not feel that a critical event is imminent," he told a press conference.

Industry executives in America who were in touch with their counterparts in Japan last night grew increasingly alarmed about the risks posed by the No 2 reactor. 

"They're basically in a full-scale panic" among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do."

3rd Blast Confirmed, Cont...

Mar 14th, 2011 7:45pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

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The London Telegraph is reporting this more frightening detail:

"The government also reported apparent damage to part of the container shielding the same reactor at Fukushima 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, although it was unclear whether this resulted from the blast. 

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters the suppression pool of the number-two nuclear reactor appeared to have been damaged.

This is the bottom part of the container, which holds water used to cool it down and control air pressure inside."

3rd Blast Confirmed

Mar 14th, 2011 7:38pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS

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As we were beginning to fear earlier, the attempts to fully stabilize reactor #2 at Fukushima Dai-Ichi have been unsuccessful.

From The Age:

 "A third explosion in four days has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. The blast on Tuesday at Dai-ichi Unit 2 follows two hydrogen explosions at the plant - at Unit 1 and Unit 3 - as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.Water levels have dropped precipitously inside Unit 2, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing Unit 3.

The latest explosion was heard at 6.10am on Tuesday (8.10am AEDT), a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety Agency said at a news conference.

The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power, said the explosion occurred near the suppression pool in the reactor's containment vessel. The pool was later found to have a defect.

International scientists have said there are serious dangers but not at the level of the 1986 blast in Chernobyl."

First Coast via USA Today reports:

"At a news conference Monday afternoon, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, John Roos, said U.S. experts are working closely with Japan and that staff from the Department of Energy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are consulting with the nation. The staff includes experts in boiling-water nuclear plants, the type used at Fukushima.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said there is no danger of radiation drifting as far as the West Coast of the United States.Four nuclear plants in northeastern Japan have reported damage. Operators lost the ability to cool the three reactors at Dai-ichi and three more at another nearby complex using usual procedures, after the quake knocked out power and the tsunami swamped backup generators."