ScribbleLive

TEPCO failed to report possible hydrogen explosion. www.asahi.com

TEPCO plans layoffs to raise compensation funds. www.asahi.com As if they hadn't hurt enough people!

Boric acid being added to No.3 reactor fuel pool
Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun adding boric acid to the spent fuel storage pool of the No.3 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to prevent fuel racks from being corroded by alkaline water.

The company started the operation on Sunday morning. About 90 tons of water containing boric acid will be poured into the pool through Monday.

Concrete debris from the March hydrogen explosion of the reactor building has been detected in the fuel pool.

Last month, TEPCO found that the water in the pool had turned strongly alkaline, with its PH level reaching 11.2. The leaching of calcium hydrate from the debris is believed to be the cause.
TEPCO says the condition may accelerate corrosion of aluminum racks holding spent fuel rods and may cause the rods to topple in the worst case, which could lead to re-criticality. www3.nhk.or.jp

#
Re my last post, the mean half-life of radon decay products is 72 minutes (pdfs\RnWashoutPoster.pdf), joelb79's sample showed a decay rate roughly 55 minutes. While not exactly the same (and I don't know how disperate samples may deviate ), but you also can't backtrack a 55-minute half-life product to Fukushima given the transit time to Michigan.

The cost of exaggerated fallout data would be an exaggerated safety measure for NPP fallout. For suppose your fallout estimate is 2X the actual fallout, future cancer rates would imply radiation is 2X safer than it is because you're assuming an influence from a large amount of material that didn't even exist.

Special report: Japan's "throwaway" nuclear workers "(Reuters) - A decade and a half before it blew apart in a hydrogen blast that punctuated the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the scene of an earlier safety crisis." www.reuters.com

NRC Doesn’t Need Immediate Steps on Safety, Official Says [23 June, 2011]: www.bloomberg.com
"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn’t need to take immediate action to ensure the safety of the nation’s atomic reactors after a tsunami in Japan crippled a reactor northeast of Tokyo, an official said.

“We continue to have confidence in the safety of the U.S. fleet without question,” Martin J. Virgilio, the agency’s deputy executive director for operations, said today at a meeting of an independent committee that provides guidance to the NRC on issues including Japan’s nuclear crisis."

I bet a Sarko's phone has been ringing in Japan
TEPCO: Water purification equipment looks like it may work
BY TAKASHI SUGIMOTO STAFF WRITER
2011/06/26
Despite a series of highly publicized glitches, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said its new purification unit will significantly reduce radiation levels in contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
TEPCO said June 24 that equipment made by Areva SA, a French nuclear engineering company, was able to reduce radiation levels to around 1/10,000th of original levels in trial runs.

TEPCO said that this performance would allow it to cut overall radiation levels of highly contaminated water in the entire compound to its target of 1/10,000th and 1/1,000,000th of original levels.
www.asahi.com

Gov't explains nuclear plant safety measures

The Japanese government held a meeting in Saga Prefecture, western Japan, on Sunday to explain to local residents about safety measures being taken to resume the operation of a nuclear power plant in the area.

The meeting in Saga City was the first of its kind since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Seven residents chosen by the government, including a housewife and a senior official of the local chamber of commerce, attended the meeting at a cable TV station. The 90-minute meeting was broadcast live on cable TV and the Internet.

At Kyushu Electric Power Company's Genkai nuclear plant, regular inspection of 2 reactors has been completed. But the Saga governor is maintaining a cautious stance about restarting them.

At the meeting, officials of the industry ministry explained the safety measures taken at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and Genkai plant.

One resident asked about the possibility of hydrogen explosions at the Genkai plant. Another demanded an explanation for restarting the reactors even when the accident at Fukushima has not been cleared up.

The ministry officials replied that safety of the plant has been ensured.

More than 50 people demonstrated outside the venue, criticizing the small number of participants and the way the meeting was held.

Sunday, June 26, 2011 13:39 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

@Angie Long time ago, if I can remember.

@Angie How can I sign up for the new organize board?

@Angie How can I post then? It goes straight to a login in page and requests password.

angie angie .....