Fukushima Daini (not Dai-Ichi) Power company says smoke spotted at another Japanese nuclear plant

[stockholmer]

Source: CNN International

"Tokyo (CNN) -- Smoke was spotted at another nuclear plant in northeastern Japan on Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The company said smoke was detected in the turbine building of reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant around 6 p.m. (5 a.m. ET).

Smoke could no longer be seen by around 7 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), a company spokesman told reporters.

The Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where workers have been scrambling to stave off a meltdown since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems there.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. owns both plants.................."
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Fukushima Daini Unit # 1 Details (it is very similar to Fukushim Dai-Ichi Unit #6) BWR-5 type, with a GE Mark 2 'over/under' containment system

Unit First criticality Installation costs (yen/MW) Reactor supplier Architecture Construction
1 ......31/07/1981 .........250,000,000............... Toshiba....... Toshiba...... Kajima


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.daini/

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Meanwhile TEPCO is talking to the government about turning Fukushima Dai-Ichi Units 5 and 6, along with the 4 units at Daini BACK ON!

Insanity reigns....



http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFTKB00740720110330

TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power , the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, said it will sound out the opinions of the government and local residents on whether to continue operating the plant's No. 5 and No. 6 reactors, as well as the companion Fukushima Daini plant.

Tokyo Electric Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata had said the Daiichi plant's other four reactors, which have been emitting radiation after suffering damage from a devastating earthquake and tsunami, would be scrapped.

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edited to add reactor unit type info

[cbdo2007]

1. Uh oh...another catastrophic meltdown!

[stockholmer]

2. I'm not ready to go there yet, but this does bear watching, especially as it is closer to Tokyo

[nc4bo]

3. Please let it be absolutely nothing at all.

Many Japanese people have been through enough already, more than a lifetime's worth of horror.

No more.

[pschoeb]

4. Well the other three reactors at Chernobyl ran for over 10 years after the accident

So no surprise here on them wanting to run the other reactors, they like the Russian/Ukrainians are desperate for the electricity.

[DeSwiss]

10. And yet they are literally sitting on top of.....

...all the geothermal -- and sitting next to all the tidal wave power they could ever need.

[grahamhgreen]

5. Nukes are foolhardy - this is insane. If 1-4 get worse, it may become impossible to get

workers into 5+6. Best to shut them down now.

[Yo_Mama]

6. It seems to be a mistake - this is at Daiichi

Or at least that's what TEPCO says in their latest press release:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11033012-e.html

But given the confusion, it well could be at Daini. The "cold shutdown" sounds like a Daini reactor - unless TEPCO is trying to describe what they have at Daiichi's Reactor 1 as a "cold shutdown", in which case I do believe they have collectively snapped.

[daleo]

7. It sounds as sensible as re-floating the Titanic.

How could workers safely operate these two reactors while the rest are melting down and are releasing highly radioactive contaminants?

[suffragette]

8. Daini - electric distribution board powering a water pump was the problem

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Japan+urges+calm+over+food+export+fears/4527454/story.html

As operators struggle to regain control of the damaged reactors three weeks after the quake and tsunami, smoke was reported to be coming from a second damaged nuclear plant nearby on Wednesday, with the authorities saying an electric distribution board powering a water pump was the problem.

The Daini plant several miles from the stricken Daiichi facility has been put into cold shutdown.

"This incident will not cause any effect of radiation externally," nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said in a statement.




Reuters states it somewhat differently:
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/smoke-at-second-fukushima-plant-finished-nuclear-safety-agency

Smoke at second Fukushima plant finished - nuclear safety agency

30 Mar 2011 10:18

Source: reuters // Reuters

TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Smoke seen at a second power plant in Fukushima was from a so-called electrical distribution board and has dispersed, Japan's nuclear safety body said on Wednesday.

The Daini plant is located several miles away from the stricken Daiichi power facility, where its operators have struggled against heating reactors and radiation leaks following a devastating earthquake that hit Japan earlier this month.

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Joseph Radford)

[stockholmer]

9. thanks for the update

[suffragette]

11. Not sure how reassuring it is, though

1) Anything connected to cooling seems worrisome to me, given what's occurred at the other plant
2) they seemed to be carefully parsing that part about no "radiation externally" Raises the question of internally to my mind.