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TEPCO's accident committee has released their interim report of course the documents are only in JP. www.tepco.co.jp

Going through comments on EX-SKF article about TEPCO's corium claim and found this:
Per page 21 of the MAAP Analysis that you posted earlier, the depth of the sump pit is 1.2 meters I think that is much deeper than our estimation from the elevation drawing. ex-skf.blogspot.com

Question. Inst of applied energy thinks the steel shrouds melted with the fuel. Any idea how much weight or volume they have? It would add to the corium volume. If I am reading the illustration in this document is says 34 TONS? www.irpa.net

Did anyone see a recent article with TEPCO again claiming the tsunami caused the damage? I thought I saw one today or yesterday and can't find it so don't know if I am imagining things. :-)

fixed

I think I may have found it

@lillymunster this is new, that tepco uses computers. :)

it was the bad weather.

UPDATE2: Tsunami was direct cause of nuclear crisis: TEPCO investigation

TOKYO, Dec. 2, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it has determined that the direct cause of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant was a larger-than-expected tsunami that flooded key buildings after the March 11 earthquake, apparently defending itself from possible criticism that the accident could have been prevented.

''We had prepared for accidents at a certain level and had documented procedures, but, because of the impact of the tsunami far larger than our expectations, the situation developed into one that deviated from our accident-response assumptions,'' TEPCO said in an interim report on an in-house investigation into the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

''As a result, we were not able to take measures to counter the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and could not prevent reactor cores from sustaining damage,'' it said.

According to the 130-page report, attached with massive reference data, the facilities important to the plant's safety measures did not sustain damage as a direct result of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, but the flooding from the 13-meter-high tsunami led to the ''simultaneous loss of multiple safety functions.''

The prolonged loss of power sources and functions to cool the reactors resulted in the meltdown of nuclear fuel in the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors, leading to a massive release of radioactive substances into the environment.

In compiling the report, TEPCO sought advice from a panel of experts, which also announced its views in a separate paper also Friday, saying TEPCO's ''insufficient'' safety measures were a factor in the accident.

The panel's paper also noted that TEPCO may have been stuck on the ''myth'' that atomic power is safe.

However, Executive Vice President Masao Yamazaki said in a news conference that TEPCO had taken ''the best possible measures at the time'' for safety.

The TEPCO report said the utility had taken enough measures to withstand tsunami waves as high as 6.1 meters, while the latest tsunami that set off the nuclear crisis at the plant in northeastern Japan was ''far larger than the company's expectations.''

TEPCO projected in an in-house study in 2008 that a tsunami as high as 10.2 meters could hit the plant, but the figure was ''just something based on an assumption without specific evidence,'' the report also said, justifying the company's decision not to take immediate action.

TEPCO repeatedly said in its report that the state was also involved in working out steps to deal with accidents, in remarks that can be taken as suggesting the company was not the only one to blame for failing to project a loss of power sources by tsunami.

The report also included measures to prevent a recurrence, such as setting barriers to block water from entering the buildings and installing functions that would not allow reactor cores to be damaged.

TEPCO will continue to look into such issues as how senior company officials made decisions and responded to the crisis, as well as on the release of radioactive substances. It plans to compile a final investigative report by around June.

Another panel set up at the government's initiative is also looking into the causes of the accident and is set to compile an interim report in late December.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

TEPCO report depicts desperate workers left in tsunami-hit plant

TOKYO, Dec. 2, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday its investigation into the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant shed light on how desperate workers at the site felt shortly after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami resulted in the loss of power sources.

''I felt I could do nothing. Other operators appeared anxious. They argued, 'When we cannot control (the reactors) and are at wit's end, is there any meaning for us to be here?''' a person in charge of the reactors' central control room recalled about the situation, according to a separate volume attached to an interim investigation report on the accident. ''So, I bowed my head and asked them to stay.''

Difficulties to release pressure in containers housing the reactors to avoid damage to the containers in the early days of the crisis were also described. A worker was quoted as saying, ''I did not allow young people to go (to open the valves for venting) because they would have to go into an area with high radiation dose.''

A worker who engaged in the task of venting was quoted as saying, ''I heard some big weird dull, popping sounds...and when I tried to start working...my black rubber boots melted (because of the heat).''

Large aftershocks also appear to have hampered restoration efforts, with some saying, ''There were quite a lot of times when we had to run to higher ground like crazy with a full face mask on.''

In the process to compile the in-house investigation report, the utility known as TEPCO said it has conducted hearings on workers who have dealt with the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the Fukushima nuclear plant located on the Pacific coast in northeastern Japan lost nearly all of its power sources and consequently the ability to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools.

The government has said that the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors at the plant suffered meltdowns.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Hiroshima, Nagasaki express concern about Manhattan Project park plan

HIROSHIMA, Dec. 2, Kyodo

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sent letters to the U.S. government on Friday requesting that consideration be given to providing information about the damage caused by atomic bombings as it proceeds with plans to establish national historical parks commemorating the U.S. wartime project to develop an atomic bomb.

In a letter sent to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui wrote that ''the people of Hiroshima were profoundly alarmed'' by the U.S. plan to designate three sites involved in the Manhattan Project as a national historical park.

Planning a park to celebrate the weapons project runs counter to ''the wishes of the millions of people around the world calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons,'' he added. ''Such a park would communicate an erroneous and dangerous message to future generations.''

In a separate letter to the ambassador, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Washington to take responsible steps regarding nuclear weapons after U.S. President Barack Obama vowed in 2009 to seek a world without them.

The U.S. National Park Service is considering establishment of a national historical park at the three sites, including Los Alamos in New Mexico, where much of the scientific activity associated with the project to develop an atomic bomb during World War II was conducted.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Have the article done on TEPCO's analysis, and all the related nonsense from this week www.simplyinfo.org

lots of news articles today.

The US parks thing does not surprise me. Most history in school completely avoids the actual outcomes and victims of atomic weapons or the real outcome of the bomb testing.

A good number of the TEPCO workers there in March have really high exposures and high internal exposures. Likely the people giving interviews.

@Edano still really, it was a game decades ago. move on hockey players. :-)