ScribbleLive

Lowering humidity underway at reactor No.2

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant says the high humidity inside one of the reactor buildings has been lowered after an entrance was opened to vent air.
It plans to bring the humidity low enough for workers to work inside by opening up another entrance.

Restoration work inside the No. 2 reactor building has been hampered by nearly 100% humidity caused by steam believed to be from the containment vessel and spent-fuel storage pool.

Tokyo Electric Power Company opened the entrance early Monday morning after it had filtered radioactive substances from the air inside the building.

The utility says the humidity levels near the entrance and at other points has been lowered to around 60%.

But it says the reading near a cargo entrance, that utility plans to open on Monday afternoon, was still nearly 90%.

It hopes workers will be able to enter the building to begin calibrating a water level gauge for the reactor and other tasks.

The utility says radiation readings were between 5 and 27 millisieverts per hour inside, but no significant change in radiation levels has been observed outside the plant.

The No.2 reactor is believed to have released more radioactive substances than the other reactors at the plant after an explosion apparently damaged its suppression chamber.
The government has asked the utility to look into what exactly happened after the disaster along with efforts to stabilize the reactor.

Monday, June 20, 2011 13:21 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

Nuclear Safety Conference Opens in Vienna (20 June, 2011): www.iaea.org

@Edano: So "torus dislocated". Given the volume of water in the basement, I bet all reactors have damaged the torus, in doubt for the reactor #4.

It could be, but the key question is "why is there so much water in the basement? Through the cracks, pipes and ducts of the probes can not escape so much water.

With the subsidence and damage to the basements that may be the case. I think it is from cracked pipes and sprayed cooling water though.

with the basements now below groundwater levels there has to be an exchange between groundwater and tepco soup taking place surely :)

From TEPCO's report to the IAEA (ch. 4, p.147): www.kantei.go.jp
"One of the difficulties hindering restoration efforts following this accident is the fact that the damaged section of the PCV is positioned low down. Water injected into the nuclear reactor is leaking out into the turbine building, as much electrical conduit and piping runs through the lower levels of the reactor building, and these sections are not water-proofed. As flooding can be considered as a factor of accident management, it would have been advisable to ensure that the lower sections of the nuclear reactor building were water-proof as a measure against flooding and to ensure external cooling of the PCV could be carried out. In addition, in light of the fact that the presence of ground water is hindering the management of contaminated water, accident management activities should have included investigations into the detrimental effects caused by ground water, and measures such as positioning important sections of the reactor above ground water level or siting the building on premises with water shielding should have been taken."

@ElaineKirk : a good joke. i guess they just use the data for statistics - in > 2 years maybe.

The dosimeters for the kids is a good thing. At least the levels are being monitored and recorded. It sucks that this is necessary, but it just is.

@RBeaner: It would be better that were real time dosimeter, no dosimeter badges!!

Playground Radiation in Kashiwa Japan June 20, 2011 I'm here at a local playground in Kashiwa Japan just taking some geiger counter readings. Yes that is 6.46µSv/h right there on the play ground! The kids just keep on playing, its actually very sad if you think about it. Many of us here have been desperately trying to raise awareness. However, the government is still trying to keep this out of the news. youtu.be

I wonder if this is good or bed news and the implications on saving the Kids..... "-Moody's Investors Service on Monday sharply lowered Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (9501.TO) key credit rating by four notches to junk status, dealing another blow to the utility as its financial viability remains in doubt over the crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Moody's cut Tepco's long-term issuer rating to B1 from Baa3 and lowered its senior secured rating to Ba2 from Baa2. It said the debt amounts affected are Y5.08 trillion, EUR1 billion, and CHF600 million.
It added that the ratings remain on review for further possible downgrade." online.wsj.com

@RBeaner Monitoring bu WHO ???? Who has the records ????? :-(((((((((

Even more, real time dosimeter with embeded GPS chip. GoJ will have a pretty actual radiaton map.

@bo it happened in tokai after the accident there we were discussing the report the other day and the government just paid for medical bills up to a cut off point one month after the accident and all that was was a great data collecting exercise

@estacion that is a really sensible idea and would give far more data than these terrible things they have been giiven, then again maybe these do have that but the parents will never know, it is a basic human right for a parent to act in the interests of their child and they are being denied this right

@bo neglicide. Actually I will use that. Its not copyrighted is it?!!

I feel rude always checking in and out of forums!.

@AustralianCannonball: In the other board
Soil samples from public playground in Kashiwa Japan June 20, 2011 . These are four, one kilogram bags of soil and sand I took from different locations around this playground in Kashiwa. This first sample was taken from right in front of the entrance to the swimming pool. Just imagine your child standing there waiting for the pool to open. www.youtube.com
by Majj at 10:20 AM UTC