BBC: Live updates on Japan's Nuclear Situation

[jannyk]

The first is not good news from Fukushima #1 (the one that had the explosion). I will update as soon as reliable information is released:

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2227: Radiation levels at Fukushima 1 nuclear plant have again topped legal limits, Kyodo News network says.

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2142: Japanese authorities have told the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, that radioactivity levels "at the site boundary" of the Onagawa nuclear power plant have returned to normal, Reuters reports. A state of emergency was declared at the site on Sunday after radioactivity readings exceeding allowed levels in the area.

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2042: Professor Patrick Regan, radiation and environmental protection expert from Surrey University, has told the BBC that it appears none of the secure vessels holding radioactive material at the reactors in Japan has broken, and "it looks like the worst is over".

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2044: Professor Regan said when they vented the first reactor at Fukushima on Saturday - triggering the explosion at the plant - "that vapour would almost certainly have had a little bit of radioactive material called nitrogen 16 - which is in all reactors. That decays away very quickly, in 5 to 10 seconds, but if some of the fuel rods - which appears to have been the case - were compromised, some of the radioactive material from the fuel would have got into the steam and that would also have been taken out." So a key question seems to be to what extent the fuel rods had begun to melt down.

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1925: The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has said it does not foresee harmful levels of radiation reaching the US from the damaged Japanese nuclear power plants. "All the available information indicates weather conditions have taken the small releases from the Fukushima reactors out to sea away from the population," a statement said. "Given the thousands of miles between the two countries, Hawaii, Alaska, the US Territories and the US West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity."

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1842: WNN says the area around the Onagawa nuclear plant was hit very hard by the tsunami and about 200 survivors are sheltering in the power plant's administration building. Radiation levels there are said to be normal.

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1839: World Nuclear News has more information on the situation at the Onagawa nuclear power plant: It says a "technical emergency" was declared at 1250 after radiation levels at the site reached 21 microSieverts per hour. Within just 10 minutes, however, the level had dropped to 10 microSieverts per hour, WNN adds. The plant's three reactors remain in a safe shutdown condition at below 100C and the Tohoku Electric Power Company has reported no other issues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[Mojorabbit]

1. I still am not clear on

why the radiation levels increased around the Onagawa plant yesterday and today? There was speculation that the levels were caused by radiation carried by wind from the compromised plants at fukushima? Or is this not so and there is a problem with this plant too?

[jannyk]

3. Sorry, there's no other info...

...the only other bulletin on Onagawa was that of the initial rise in measurable radiation levels. I assume the info was not released. Here's the only other reference to Onagawa.

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1706: The news about Tokai comes as the authorities battle to prevent a meltdown at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi complex. Sea water is being pumped into three overheating reactors there. The plant was rocked by an explosion on Saturday, which blew off the roof of one reactor building. Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared at a second nuclear site. The International Atomic Energy Agency said increased levels of radiation had been detected at Onagawa, close to the area worst hit by the tsunami.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[TheMightyFavog]

7. They're pumping seawater into the other three reactors?

Even if total disaster is averted, this entire plant will never generate power ever again.

[jannyk]

9. I saw a Japanese official say this on BBCWorld TV.

The reactors will have to be decommissioned after all emergency situations are over.

[Hannah Bell]

10. so what????

[suffragette]

5. FRom what I read and posted, they blamed it on

radiation carried from Fukushima to Onagawa.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x630891#632923

Something I've been wondering is if that is the case, then it would indicate to me that enough radiation traveled to there and was measured by mandatory equipment at the facility to trigger the alert. What I haven't seen is anything about whether measurements are being taken away from the nuclear plants or more cautions for the people beyond the evacuation zone in neighboring areas.
These are 120 km apart which meant that has been drifting over a large area and I've seen no updates on whether areas further north have now been registering any readings.

[1776Forever]

2. Rueters live blog is also a good source:

http://live.reuters.com/Event/Japan_earthquake2

TEPCO is now confirming a rise in radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi plant
by Aviva West at 3/13/2011 10:30:39 PM6:30 PM

[jannyk]

4. I agree. nt

[jannyk]

6. BBC: Informational Update re Seawater & Nuclear Reactors

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2327: Pumping seawater into damaged nuclear reactors in Japan should keep them from a catastrophic full-scale meltdown, but conditions are still so volatile that it is far too early to declare the emergency over, nuclear experts have told Reuters. It is probably the first time in the industry's 57-year history that seawater has been used in this way, a sign of how close Japan is to facing a major nuclear disaster, according to the scientists.
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2330: The experts interviewed by Reuters warn it is still far too early to definitively say the day has been saved, especially as the information from the power company and the authorities is incomplete. But they say that with every hour that goes by, the chances of a major catastrophe are diminished - as long as water from the sea or elsewhere keeps reactor cores from overheating. Japanese authorities "appear to be having enough success to have forestalled a definite core melt accident that's difficult to control", said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "After three days that is very good news." But still, he added, it is "a touch-and-go situation".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[Hannah Bell]

8. good news. janny, thank you for your cool-headed posts.

i just started to tear up. god i hope this will be over soon.

[robdogbucky]

11. This situation rekindles memories

of past conditions with nuke weapons pointed at each other. The stakes are so high, the scenarios so potentially hideous with radiation. I am feeling like maybe the crisis is now past like the one expert upthread opined, no vessel had been breached, the worst is likely over.

Funny, I was doing timeline research and came across a hit in 1966 or so at Fermi Labs Michigan when they had an incident in a reactor that was contained w/no fallout. At least that is what the newswire hit said at the time:

"1966 Oct 5, A sodium cooling system malfunction caused a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor near Detroit, Mich. Radiation was contained."

http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1966.HTML


So I guess "partial meltdown," is a term that has been around for a while, eh?

Here's hoping the worst of this crisis is over and that there are no huge aftershocks or further tsunami, I need some sleep, no?



Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!


rdb

[jannyk]

12. Hours Old but a good overview by BBC Environmental Correspondent

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12726628

Two days after the alarm was first raised about safety at Fukushima Daiichi plant, uncertainty still surrounds the situation on the ground and the status of the three reactors that were functioning at the time of Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

It appears that a partial meltdown did occur in reactor 1.

On Sunday, officials said the same thing was suspected in reactor 3 - although later, they appeared to retract this statement.What is certain is that engineers are still struggling to pump enough water past the reactors to keep the cores cool.

Reactor 1 - shut down, under inspection because of Saturday's explosion, sea water and boric acid being pumped in

Reactor 2 - water level "lower than normal", but stable

Reactor 3 - high pressure coolant injection was "interrupted"; but injection of sea water and boric acid were under way.

Later, officials said seawater and boric acid were also being pumped into reactor 2.

Much, much more at link - long article on the various troubled plants.

[jannyk]

13. Update - sort of....

BBCWorld TV just did a 10 minute segment on the Reactor situation. They did allude that Fukushima #3 is still the one to watch.

The gist of it is that they can get no clear factual information at this stage. Hence the lack of updates to the web page. They said that they are receiving too much conflicting information from various officials, cannot verify what is factual, and therefore have no clear handle of what is currently happening. Apart from this one terse and ambiguous statement by the PM, nothing has been issued for a while.
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0105: A damaged nuclear power plant is still in an "alarming" state, Prime Minister Naoto Kan says.


Personally, I prefer it when we are hearing what is happening rather than filling in the blanks ourselves.

[jannyk]

14. BBC: Smoke spotted Fukushima #1

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0218: Column of smoke escaping from Reactor 3 at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant - Japanese TV.