Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 2963

Looks like they actually started messing with the water rates in 2 on Feb 1
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 2:42:58 PM

@Edano they had been trying to lower water rates to lessen the water runoff in late 2011. They were also changing something in the pump system on the hill for each unit. They mention the water rate changes in conjunction with this but it wasn't really clear how the 2 are related.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 2:44:30 PM

lilly, as to Unit 2, the distribution of the thermometers around the perimeter of the rpv definitely provides an inkling where the corium smolders. Last year, when tepco admitted to the melt-throughs I remember, they published an illustration showing the corium dripping out of the side of the rpv. I wondered how they knew. Perhaps the thermometer configuration explains it.
by Peter 2/8/2012 2:45:13 PM

uuurgh:

Breakthrough! Russian scientists drill into Antarctic lake buried under the ice for 20 million years, amid extraordinary claims the Nazis may have got there first

* Drilling successful as scientists break through into lake buried miles under Antarctic ice
* Lake could have 'unique life forms' say scientists
* News agency claims that hidden Nazi stronghold nearby could contain Hitler's archives
* Described as 'unassailable fortress for the Fuhrer' - and could contain Hitler and Eva Braun's remains, says agency
* Lake has had no contact with man-made pollutants or Earthly life forms for millions of years

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk
by Edano 2/8/2012 2:45:37 PM

@Peter.. the old.. who do you believe.. .hmmmmm
by dean 2/8/2012 2:47:07 PM

the lake vostock they talk about. but i doubt that the russian have already drilled it.
by Edano 2/8/2012 2:47:10 PM

@Edano , well Himmler did not reach his submarine, and the lowly Martin Bormann did not make it out either. Perhaps they find more Stern Kladden, :)
by Peter 2/8/2012 2:48:12 PM

@Peter yes. I am trying to figure a way to located that sensor along the horizontal plane of the lower reactor area. If we can get a rough idea where that sensor sits we would know where the corium may have slumped. Did you see Dean's TMI paper that shows how the corium there fell to one side? www.gl.iit.edu
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 2:49:34 PM

@dean , when comes to releasing data, tepco may slip up once in a while.
by Peter 2/8/2012 2:50:29 PM

@lillymunster , worse tepco conceded that the rpvs were breached, and the schema showed a crack in the side of an rpv. But they emphasized that the little fuel that dribbled out was caught in the primary containment under the skirt.
by Peter 2/8/2012 2:56:29 PM

This is TEPCO's statement Feb 2, about messing with the watering systems

To improve reliability of water injection
to a reactor, line connecting to injection piping in water injection
line of reactor injection pump on the hill had replaced with
polyethylene piping.. At 10:55 am in February 2, we adjusted water
injection volume to the reactor of Unit 2 through the feed water system
from approx. 3.9 m3/h to approx. 3.0 m3/h, and the volume from the
reactor core spray system from approx. 5.1 m3/h to approx. 6.0m3/h. We
confirmed the decrease in volume of injecting water to reactors, so at
3:15 pm on February 2, we adjusted volume of water injection in each
reactor as follows: Feed water system from approx. 2.5 m3/h to approx.
3.0 m3/h, Reactor core spray system from approx. 5.2 m3/h to approx. 5.5
m3/h.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:02:07 PM

will return ..
by dean 2/8/2012 3:03:28 PM

The other comment on the work at 2:
After we finished replacing the water injection line from the reactor
water injection pump on the hill to polyethylene pipe in order to improve
the reliability of water injection to the reactor, we have been changing
the water injection volume to the reactor gradually. At 11:50 pm on
February 1, we adjusted the water injection volume to the reactor through
the feed water system from approx. 5 m3/h to approx. 4 m3/h, and the
volume from the reactor core spray system from approx. 4 m3/h to approx.
5m3/h.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:10:44 PM

Feedwater and temp data for the time period of the temp increases. I started the temp readings at the point they began to spike. Feedwater rates back to Feb 1.

www.simplyinfo.org
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:17:37 PM

I hadn't noticed this before. This gives a rough horizontal location of the sensor at 2 picking up the heat. www.tepco.co.jp

Anyone know what may signify zero degrees in the horizontal location? I don't think it is north?
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:22:18 PM

lilly, could you post this for ian? www.epa.gov
by eyes 2/8/2012 3:23:29 PM

@eyes you need him to see this?
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:24:56 PM

@lillymunster , it should be twelve o'clock and would be logically North.
by Peter 2/8/2012 3:25:40 PM

I wasn't sure if he had looked through this yet, if he hasn't I'm sure he would be interested
by eyes 2/8/2012 3:26:43 PM

@Peter that is what I thought but 0 is at the mountain side. The mountain side is due west.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:27:35 PM

@eyes will email it to him, that should make sure he gets it. :-)
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:27:57 PM

@liily, but it is not. 0 degrees points towards 'mountains', that would be West.
by Peter 2/8/2012 3:28:07 PM

thank you
by eyes 2/8/2012 3:28:22 PM

sorry, you were faster, :)
by Peter 2/8/2012 3:28:54 PM

@Peter I don't follow TEPCO's logic for declaring that spot 0.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:29:25 PM

Tepco is not always fathomable in their thought process!
by Peter 2/8/2012 3:30:33 PM

@Peter I think they arbitrarily picked the mountain as their reference point. It at least gives us a decent idea where the sensor is.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:33:09 PM

green line is the sensor
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:33:42 PM

sensor location vs building overhead
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:40:31 PM

sensor in RPV along the angled green line
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:46:30 PM

I pulled up the floorplan image TEPCO handed out for scoping unit 2. They scoped in the same area where that sensor is.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:48:34 PM

Do we have any radiation monitoring for inside unit 2? I remember seeing one for unit 3 where the robot went in and took rad readings. Then they marked them on a floorplan
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:54:15 PM

sensor location vs. scope injection location
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 3:54:54 PM

Elaine are you still around?
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 4:08:37 PM

this U2 floorplan points to something in the same corner of unit 2
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 4:17:16 PM

On Feb 7th they almost doubled the core spray flow rate. This was where the temp started dropping
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 4:38:10 PM

@lillymunster Is it possible tat the guage is being cooled rather than the corium
by elainekirk 2/8/2012 4:54:18 PM

@lillymunster just thinking the 4pm graph is much higher than 5pm reading surely corium wouldnt cool so fast

by elainekirk 2/8/2012 4:55:33 PM

@elainekirk yes that is a possibility. Someone from one of the indie media groups in JP suggested the corium was actually hotter wherever it was and the sensor just picked up distant heat.
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 4:56:54 PM

but I think the sensor is outside the shroud so whatever is heating up is at least partially inside the shroud i would think. The feedwater system dumps water down the inner wall of the RPV so that could be washing over the sensor area
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 4:57:50 PM

people near San Onofre demand radiation monitors lucian.uchicago.edu
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 5:12:18 PM

France urged to clean up deadly waste from its nuclear tests in Polynesia

..193 nuclear tests carried out on the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls between 1966 and 1996 have left a dangerous legacy..

..Radioactive waste has been collected and buried in 27 pits on Mururoa..

..about 5kg of plutonium is trapped in the sediment at the bottom of the Mururoa and Fangataufa lagoons..

..The total activity of the waste that has accumulated in the Mururoa subsoil amounts to 13,279 terabecquerels (TBqs), according to a June 1998 assessment by the International Atomic Energy Authority..

www.guardian.co.uk
by VesaVA 2/8/2012 5:32:41 PM

@VesaVA great link Vesa
by elainekirk 2/8/2012 5:53:39 PM

On my search I came across this doc www.tepco.co.jp describing the future cleanup plans. I cite from pp. 21: "
5-4. Fuel debris removal plan
(1) Present status
When the earthquake occurred, there were a total of 1,496 containers of fuel
loaded into the reactor core at Units 1‒3 (in operation at the time). The reactor cores
at all Units are damaged. Consequently, the fuel inside the reactor became fuel
debris, and it is surmised that a portion of that debris is flowing out from reactor
pressure vessels and into PCVs.
The coolant that is still being injected into the reactor cores is flowing into the
adjoining turbine and other buildings via the lower basement levels of the reactor
buildings from the bottom of the PCVs, and coolant is currently leaking into both the
reactor pressure vessels and PCVs.
At the current time, neither the status of the fuel debris nor the exact outflow
locations are known."
by Peter 2/8/2012 5:59:19 PM

Finished the article on unit 2. It has all the data plus an outline of the theory of a lateral burn through the shroud. If we get more data on unit 2 to add to this I can do a follow up. I think the situation that all of these issues are happening in the same corner of the reactor building may be meaningful.
www.simplyinfo.org
by lillymunster 2/8/2012 5:59:59 PM