Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 1481

Fukushima’s nuclear meltdown puts forest industry near collapse
Tokyo - High levels of radiation, planned evacuations and no-entry zones as a result of the meltdown at Fukushima’s Daiichi nuclear facility have combined to place the prefecture’s forest industry in danger of collapse.
As news continues surfacing showing the nuclear disaster was far greater than government and power company officials initially reported, its negative impact continues spreading throughout the region. Towns which were once part of the government’s stay-indoors policy are now being designated as emergency evacuation preparation zones. As a result, long-term ramifications of the nuclear catastrophe are beginning to be felt. www.digitaljournal.com
by Majj 6/3/2011 12:02:23 AM

@radioguy @msinla won't be wanting a cup of tea www.asahi.com
by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:05:49 AM

Tokai 1999 hr.profimedia.com
The cause of the accident was when three unqualified workers were adding enriched uranium to a precipitation tank,. They saw a blue flash, signaling the onset of a nuclear chain reaction and 27 workers were exposed to radioactivity. This facility was next to farms and residences, leading 161 people from 39 households had to be evacuated. Dozens of emergency workers and nearby residents were also hospitalized and hundreds of thousands of others were forced to remain indoors for 24 hours
by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:07:21 AM

www.nuclearevents.info
The Tokai 1999 accident was a level 4 and killed 2 on top of the exposure stats in previous post
Tokaimura, Japan, 1999 — Fatal overexposures of workers following a criticality event at a nuclear facility. Introduction Tokai nuclear accident occurred on September 30, 1999, which killed two people. The accident was a criticality accident. The Tokaimura nuclear accident happened at the JCO reconversion plant. The accident was caused when seven times the allowable limit of 18.8% enriched uranium dioxide was mixed with nitric acid in order to form uranyl nitrate, and was put in a precipitation tank to homogenize. At 10:35 am, when the seventh bucket (making a total of 16.6 kg of 18.8% enriched...
www.nuclearevents.info
by elainekirk via Nuclearevents.info 6/3/2011 12:11:22 AM

www.spiegel.de
n 1997, highly toxic uranium escaped from around 2,000 barrels of nuclear waste at the Tokai atomic power plant in Japan after rainwater seeped into the shafts where they were stored, causing them to rust. As early as 1982, the authorities had told the firm responsible to fix the problem.
www.spiegel.de
by elainekirk via Spiegel.de 6/3/2011 12:16:46 AM

I had a friend working in the area of Tokai-mura at the time of the accident. She told me that people were told to use umbrellas outside and limit time spent outdoors (sounds familiar). Children in schools were measured for radiation. The treatment of the workers, two of whom died from radiation, was covered at considerable length in some of the less mainstream media.
by Will 6/3/2011 12:18:47 AM

@will thank you for that info, is it possible you would know why readings are high at Tokai right now and what effect the quake/tsunami had on the reprocessing plant ?
by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:20:52 AM

The EQ that i posted on Twitter, is upgraded to a 6.4 off coast Fukushima
by Veenie 6/3/2011 12:22:16 AM

@veenie eeek @bojack good evening :)
by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:22:47 AM

USGS showing 6.3
by bojack54 6/3/2011 12:30:12 AM

@bojack54 And The european shows it at 6.5
by Veenie 6/3/2011 12:31:32 AM

Have been working on archiving all my Fuku blog posts on one page -- have completed this back to March 30 bojacjack I just love your headlinesk.org
by bojack54 edited by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:31:51 AM

Foggy as all get-out on the cams -- one board said the cams shook like hell www.godlikeproductions.com
by bojack54 6/3/2011 12:32:52 AM

@elainekirk Sorry, I'm not sure. However, I have just finished watching a Japanese news programme about elevated local readings in Chiba and concerned citizen's groups asking the government to take readings of radiation in school grounds. I assume the radiation is from Daiichi. That said, the border of Chiba prefecture is roughly 70-80km from Tokai-mura NPP.
by Will 6/3/2011 12:33:07 AM

@all Good Morning...Good Evening...Hello!
by smoss 6/3/2011 12:34:00 AM

@all Unit 1 reactor, the establishment of a new pressure gauge
translate.google.com
by smoss 6/3/2011 12:36:09 AM

@bojack54 - cool page. I like your commentaries.
by Maureen Burke 6/3/2011 12:36:41 AM

@will If you have any links to the parents stories do let me have them please
@bojack I just love your headlines
@smoss good evening
by elainekirk 6/3/2011 12:38:34 AM

Thanks, Maureen -- Is the TBS cam down for anyone besides me? It was running for a little while post-quake 35 mins. ago.
by bojack54 6/3/2011 12:40:47 AM

@bojack54 It's working for me ...
by Maureen Burke 6/3/2011 12:45:39 AM

I'm getting "An error occurred. Please try again later." Hmmmmm...
by bojack54 6/3/2011 12:49:32 AM

by Maureen Burke 6/3/2011 12:52:08 AM

click the watch on youtube button at the top
by Maureen Burke 6/3/2011 12:52:57 AM

Magnitude 6.3
Date-Time Friday, June 03, 2011 at 00:05:03 UTC Friday, June 03, 2011 at 10:05:03 AM at epicenter.
Location 37.294°N, 143.912°E
Depth 31 km (19.3 miles)
Region OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN earthquake.usgs.gov
by Tenzing 6/3/2011 12:58:52 AM

@Maureen Burke thanks- I've been having trouble with cam too.
by ch 6/3/2011 1:19:08 AM

Is it just me or is that front tower on the TEPCO cam starting to line up with the light pole that is definitely bent over ?

by wtm 6/3/2011 1:25:01 AM

@wtm can you post the link to the tepco cam ty
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:26:27 AM

@wtm good evening or is it your morning
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:27:06 AM

@fitter, here it is..... www.tepco.co.jp
by wtm 6/3/2011 1:27:31 AM

@fitter, Phoenix area here -
early evening !!
by wtm 6/3/2011 1:28:29 AM

#4 is not leaning at all.
by Edano 6/3/2011 1:31:28 AM

@fitter, as you are looking at that cam, look to the right of the first tower, is there now additional debris that has fallen off of #3, onto the small building there ?
by wtm 6/3/2011 1:36:06 AM

@Edano @wtm thanks i quess this is the live cam??? not much to see... edano i think the light pole might be leaning a bit???
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:37:00 AM

@wtm going to look bb
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:37:25 AM

@fitter, use the side of #1 and 2 as the straight edges to look against the pipes going up the middle of the tower.
by wtm 6/3/2011 1:41:19 AM

@wtm i enlarged my screen but really coun't tell, three is such a mess its hard to tell what is there.. it would be interesting to see if they did some repairs on the pipes between one and two to the stack??? (can't tell) this is the first time ive seen this angle much...
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:43:32 AM

@Fitter, a couple of days ago, (their early morning) I caught what looked like a massive steam/smoke dump from the south tower. It was during the middle of that typhoon that went through there. Heavy black smoke above the stacks, then it dropped down and tapered off into the storm.

by wtm 6/3/2011 1:48:11 AM

@wtm by south do you mean the furthest from the camara.. they blew up a cylinder or something over the weekend that was in the rubble down by building four, The unmaned claw bursted it or something of that nature.. if you have ever seen a compressed cylinder go (on you tube) you could imagine what the operater of the remote thougth.. they were very lucky no one was injured
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:53:00 AM

@wtm i was looking at the pipe running between one and two ... don't know it they have been working on it or its just a new and different angle, looks like a good place to start looking for the vent pipe (hardenend one I mean) when the fog clears.. I haven't seen a lot of shots from this angle
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:56:12 AM

@wtm well time for rest and reading... if you see anything when the fog lifts.. leave me a post I'll look back in the morning.... In your opinion does that area look any different... between two and one?
by fitter 6/3/2011 1:58:07 AM

@Fitter, NO this was the tower to the back, south end of the complex, the one that has all 5 pipes going up it. Looks like they have a temp rubber black pipe laying over the ones in the foreground. Got to run an errand, back in a couple hours ?
by wtm 6/3/2011 1:59:30 AM

@wtm seen the hose, was wondering... i'll look again at the 5 pipe stack...
by fitter 6/3/2011 2:11:53 AM

I am finding more on the critical provisions that failed in some reactors in the aftermath of the accident. In this study with the title "Resolution of Generic Safety Issues: Issue 157: Containment Performance (Rev. 1) ( NUREG-0933, Main Report with Supplements 1–33 )" last update Mar 13 here: www.nrc.gov plant operators are given the following advice:

“Containment Pressure Relief Capability (Venting): Venting of the containment is currently included in BWR emergency operating procedures. The vent path external to existing containment penetrations typically consists of a ductwork system which has a low design pressure of only a few pounds per square inch gauge (psig). Venting under high pressure severe accident conditions would fail the ductwork, release the containment atmosphere into the reactor building, and potentially contaminate or damage equipment needed for accident recovery. In addition, with the existing hardware and procedures at some plants, it may not be possible to open or close the vent valves for some severe accident scenarios.
The staff concluded that venting, if properly implemented, could have a significant benefit on plant risk. However, venting via a sheet metal ductwork path, as currently implemented at some MARK I plants, would be likely to greatly hamper or complicate post-accident recovery activities, and was therefore viewed by the staff as yielding reduced improvements in safety. The capability to vent has been recognized as important in reducing risk from operation of MARK I plants for loss of long-term decay heat removal (TW) events, provided the potential downsides of using existing hardware are corrected. Controlled venting can prevent the failure of ECCS pumps from both inadequate NPSH and re-closure of the ADS valves.
A hard pipe vent and vent valves capable of withstanding the anticipated severe accident pressure loadings would eliminate the problems with operating the vent system during a severe accident. The vent isolation valves should be remotely operable from the control room and should be provided with a power supply independent of normal or emergency AC power. Other changes, such as raising the RCIC turbine back-pressure setpoint, may also be desirable and could be considered. Venting capability, in conjunction with proper operating procedures and other improvements discussed in this item, would greatly reduce the probability of core-melt due to TW and station blackout sequences.”
Given a core-melt accident, venting of the wetwell would provide a scrubbed vent path to reduce release of particulate fission products to the environment. Venting has been estimated to reduce the likelihood of late containment overpressure failure and to reduce offsite consequences for severe accident scenarios in which the containment shell does not fail for other reasons. Failure of the shell due to core debris attack (shell melt-through) would reduce the benefits from venting in that it would release fission products directly into the reactor building.
Inadvertent venting could result in the release of normal coolant radioactivity to the environment even when core degradation is averted or vessel integrity maintained. Measures to reduce the probability of inadvertent venting should be considered in the vent design.
by Peter Melzer 6/3/2011 2:13:08 AM

Marine Scientists Begin Cruise off Fukushima hree months after the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant began leaking unprecedented amounts of radioactive isotopes, an interdisciplinary group of scientists will begin measuring the radioactivity in the ocean east of Japan on 4 June. Led by Ken Buessler of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the cruise will carry 17 researchers from several countries on a 15-day expedition. news.sciencemag.org
by Majj 6/3/2011 2:37:54 AM