This is another clearinghouse diary for discussion and commentary about the ongoing nuclear disaster(s) in Japan. For updated information on news and a timeline of the events following the March 11 Japanese Earthquake, visit the Mothership. The Mothership is updated regularly and also provides a more extensive list of news and data sources, social media, crisis mapping and other relevant information.
If you would like to recommend this diary feel free to do so. All previous liveblogs published to the Japan Nuclear Incident group can be found here. The group also serves as an archive for Coverage@Kos. (For more details on this ongoing 24/7 breaking news resource and information on how to follow this @ Kos, please read below the fold.)
Overview .... Japan last week elevated the crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor site from a Level 5 to Level 7, the highest level incident. This establishes Fukushima as the most serious nuclear event since Chernobyl. The ongoing release of radioactivity rather than the amount of radiation released necessitated the elevation. Officials announced that 10,000 Terabequerels per hour of radiation were emitting from the plant for a period of hours ... Robots working inside nuclear plant ... First radiation measurements taken inside two reactor buildings at Japan's crisis-stricken nuclear plant show a harsh environment but not one that will be impossible for humans to work in ....
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a level seven incident is characterized by a major release of radiation with widespread health and environmental effects. A five-rated event is a limited release of radioactive material, with several deaths from radiation. The scale is designed so the severity of an event is about 10 times greater for each increase in level.
Latest News:
Special Report - How Japan lost calculated nuclear risk
The dateline at the top of this article is Monday 18.04.2011,
but the original dateline is Mar 29, 2011 - 14:29.
It's old, but there's information there I haven't seen before.
The exhaust vents were not hardened even though the vents broke at another plant following an earthquake in 2007.
The workers had to beg to leave the plant before the tsunami hit. The supervisors insisted they be checked for radiation before they left the plant. He relented just in time.
TEPCO says fuel in SFP at unit 2 may be damaged h/t procrastinator john
According to the Asahi Shinbun (Japanese) TEPCO announced that an analysis of water from the spent fuel pool in unit 2 shows the possibility of damage to the fuel. They believe the fuel may have been damaged by rubble that fell during the earthquake (or it may have been damaged by the explosions at units 1 and 3). The fuel in the pool is covered in water now so there is no danger of a hydrogen explosion, but it is possible that water contaminated by the damaged fuel may leak outside the building.
The water sample from the pool that was analyzed was taken on the 16th. The levels measured were 160,000 Bq per cubic cm of Cs-134, 150,000 Bq for Cs-137 and 4,100 Bq for I-131. Normally these are at undetectable levels.
がんばれ日本
NISA admits for first time that fuel melted h/t procrastinator john
According to the Asahi Shinbun (Japanese) NISA has admitted for the first time that fuel from units 1-3 has melted (yoyu shiteiru, 溶融している). The admission came in a report at the Cabinet Office on the 18th. The NISA report said there was "reactor core damage" and "fuel pellet melting," and it described the damage as a "meltdown."
Special Report: The nuclear industry's trillion dollar question h/t ricklewsive
With nuclear plants costing several billion dollars apiece, the answer to those [ safety ] questions may be worth a trillion dollars to the nuclear industry. Little wonder that the main players have rushed to reassure their clients that all is well.
...
The American nuclear industry has also gone on a public relations drive. The industry's main lobby group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, has been out in force in Washington since the disaster, kicking off its response with a meeting three days after the quake in which it briefed 100 to 150 key aides to U.S. lawmakers on the crisis.
...
It's not all about safety features and price, of course. Nuclear contracts often come down to geopolitics. The firms that sell reactors are mostly state-owned which means negotiations about nuclear deals are often done government to government.
Height of Wave Three Times Higher than Projected in Plant Design (PDF) h/t ricklewsive
With one photo from Daini.
At the heavily-damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPS, the inundation height from base sea level was about 14 to 15 meters, or almost three times the assumed 5.7-meter tsunami. Given that ground level is 10 meters at Units 1 through 4 and 13 meters at Units 5 and 6, Units 1 through 4 were inundated by about 4 to 5 meters of water, with Units 5 and 6 being inundated by up to one meter.
The inundated area includes the entire ocean side where the seawater pumps were installed, and most of the main building area where the reactor buildings and turbine
buildings were located.
Evacuation subsidy limited / System's narrow scope penalizes families by separating them h/t peraspera
Akiko Sato, 24, a resident of Iitatemura in Fukushima Prefecture, was complaining to a community administrative assistant who had come to her house to explain the village's subsidy system for evacuees leaving due to radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The village is designated by the central government as being within the planned evacuation area.
The Iitatemura village government is subsidizing residents' evacuation costs in light of the high concentration of radioactive substances detected in the local water and soil.
However, the subsidy system's inconvenient conditions have prompted criticism from the villagers because those most eager to utilize it--such as families with babies--are effectively prevented from benefiting.
Under the system, the village pays an accommodation fee of 5,000 yen a night (including three meals) to Iitatemura residents who evacuate to outside hotels and ryokan inns that contracted with the village. The subsidies are paid from prefectural coffers.
Those who qualify fall into two categories. One is pregnant women. The other is children under 3 years old accompanied by just one guardian.
TEPCO Press Release of Roadmap
(Apr 17,2011) Roadmap towards Restoration from the Accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
Selected Analysis of JNI team members
Interesting Photos by middleagedhousewife
... “this may be the robot checking conditions between the double doors …”
Update from IAEA ht/ Siri discussion on data w/middleagedhousewife
In Focus
Fukushima disaster on Dipity. h/t Peraspera
Potential dispersion of the radioactive cloud over The Northern Hemisphere
Chronology of Events
WHAT WENT WRONG: Fukushima flashback a month after crisis started
SPRING ACTIONS FOR A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD
Coverage @ Kos 4/9-4/14
Nathguy: Fukushima: Damage Details and Level 8 on 4/18
FOoW: Radiactivity Increases in Fukushima Water, TEPCO is out of Storage Tanks on 4/14
joieau: Happy Talk from Reuters: How does Fukushima differ from Chernobyl?+
Citisven: German Town Shows How to Achieve Nuclear Free Future
HoundDog: Japan Will Raise the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Rating to Level 7 on 4/11 (PLS READ: REC LIST as of 11:05 PST)
GlowNZ: One Month
Finehelen10: Uranium Conference Adds Discussion of Japan Accident
Radical def:Fukushima: Greenpeace Urges Wider Evacuation Zone
Nathguy: Fukushima: The Failure was Deliberate indifference and the NRC knew and Lied.
Rock Strongo: Heartbreaking Video from Japan Nuclear Evacuation Zone
Please visit Fukushima: Restoration Roadmap Released Rov #50 for news, discussion and analysis of events prior to breaking news on 16-17 April JST.
Regularly Updated Data Sources
@Kos: A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly.
• Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF)
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• Daily Telephone Media Briefings from Union of Concerned Scientists
• Energy.gov: The Situation in Japan
• EPA RadNet Map View & EPA's Radiation Air Monitoring
Scribble Live
• Fukushima Data Page: Data for all 3 reactors, as well as a good chunk of data over time: pressure, water flow, core nozzle temp, core bottom temp
• Japan Municipal Water Charts (in Japanese)
• Google Crisis Response Page
*New background source:Fleep: Graphing Earthquake, Radiation and Water Data in Japan 3/11 through 4/9
The Radiation Graphs are made from data from monitoring posts setup by the Prefectural Offices, TEPCO and NISA. I am focusing on these as they are only in Japanese and provide a different view on the MEXT Radiation Data that everyone else is graphing. Please note that the graphs do have different scales depending on the data. All Radiation readings are converted to μSv/h for consistency. 3/11 through 4/9
Best News Sources
Kyodo Nuclear News Feed
GreenAction Fukushima Update
NHK Japan Live
OilDrum: Fukushima Open Thread - Tue 3/29
Asahi on Facebook
Reuters
Fukushima Wikispaces
Fukushima Wikispaces Tweet Feeds AND Fukushima Wikispaces News roundup
Google Earth Engine (download required): Radiation Over Japan. Visit Pachube for mapping.
WHO situation reports
METI Twitter Feed
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