BBC: Reactor 3 UPDATE : Japanese Government now says meltdown unlikely.

[denem]

Good News But WTF is going on here. First they said risk of partial meltdown. Then they assume there is a partial meltdown, then meltdown underway, and now meltdown 'unlikely'. I presume the expansion of the exclusion zone has been put on hold too.

I might just drop in this snippet from 8 hours ago-

0232: The plant operator says the top of the fuel rods is 3 metres above water

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

and every venting since then to control pressure involves a further loss of coolant.

[Cetacea]

1. Now they are saying that another reactor may be failing

Very confusing.

[ReggieVeggie]

2. I'll just wait and see if I start glowing in the dark

probably the only definitive answer I'll get

[Delphinus]

9. Isn't

*that* the truth!

[JCMach1]

3. Listening to Secy. Edamo, sounds like they might not know???

Exactly what's going on with #3...

[Cetacea]

4. He did seem vague.

I don't think they can get near enough.

[stockholmer]

5. so many of those twitter posts are old, I saw the exact same ones last night

examples

"Yukio Edano, the government spokesman, is speaking now. He says authorities have begun injecting seawater at the No 3 reactor at Fukushima 1 power station. He said the water level is thought to be rising, but the gauge, which seems to be broken, is not showing this"

"Govt spokesman: Trying to lower pressure at No 3 reactor at Fukushima 1 power station. Confirms risk of explosion."

"The Japanese government is warning of the risk of another reactor explosion at the Fukushima plant - AFP"

[Hannah Bell]

18. edano

[jaxx]

6. It's all over the place on what is happening.

I keep remembering when the media said Gabby Giffords was dead......we are seeing the same type of thing now with the nuclear problems. In your face headlines, innuendo and downright false reporting.

All we can do is wait. And it's hard.

[RandySF]

7. The government doesn't know

They don't know what's going on and they are making shit up with the press as they go along. I'm not calling them evil for it. It's a human reaction to an overwhelming situation.

[FBaggins]

8. I think that part of the confusion is that "meltdown" doesn't mean anything.

Or rather, it doesn't have a specific meaning. It really just ("just", ha!) some level of core damage.

We already know that there must have been SOME core damage (so "meltdown" is already true) in at least one reactor.

[Hannah Bell]

10. i think another part is that people aren't being careful in reporting & parsing reports.

japanese speech register for bureaucratic pronouncements is circuitous & indirect even in japanese, let alone filtered through translator, reporter on translated material, reader/listener with own pov.

[denem]

13. If you listen to the BBC you wiill hear them say The Government

has changed it's diagnosis. The earlier reports were pretty accurate.

I wonder Hannah if were you in Europe in May 1986. I was. I lost count of the number of times 'unlikely' became 'a risk' and then actually; happened I was taking Iodine tablets and drinking UHT milk when all the time the Government was saying there were negligible levels of iodine 131 deposited into Britain. Years later, guess what - the 131 was more than 10x the ''safe"' level in some milk batches.

I'll take impossible, if there's a sound technical basis, but 'unlikely'? Been there, done that.

[Hannah Bell]

14. i searched the bbc site for that report because it scared me so much.

i couldn't find that combination of statement: full meltdown underway, a million to be evacuated, i didn't find it at bbc or on the net. maybe they scrubbed it. maybe the translator screwed up. maybe it was the typical circuitous/vague japanese bureaucatese that people can read various things into, or not, or not, or not at all. i have no idea, i just couldn't find that precise report. maybe i didn't do a good enough search. i'm not saying you didn't hear it. i'm just repeating, as i have before, that people should be careful in reporting & parsing reports. i was freaking out.

[denem]

15. OK 'full meltdown' could be have been a translation error

but less so, - expanding the exclusion zone to 60 km, evacuating 1 million people. If what was meant was "we may have to" ... then it was a highly irresponsible statement by the Minister precisely because it is specific, alarming but speculative.

I heard that. I put it up on our board - DU. I have no desire promote a worse case, Now in politics worse cases are soup (or is that coup) de jour: A new outrage uncovered nearly every day.

Addendum - I think I will install sound capture software and put radio clips up on a site to eliminate at least one source of translation.

[Hannah Bell]

17. so far as i know, the exclusion zone is still a 20km *radius* around the

affected reactors, which would be a 125km *circumference*.

the only 60km figure i saw was in regard to the *circumference* within which journalists are allowed.

do you have new information?

i agree, if he made the statement without being absolutely sure, it was irresponsible.

i don't mean to attack you personally, i'm just so heartsick at what is happening & wish people would double check & attribute before posting to reduce some of the confusion & misinformation. i appreciate that you're trying to do this now.

personally i think nhk english is better than bbc on this.

i've seen some remarkably irresponsible stuff on US tv.

[FBaggins]

16. You're absolutely correct.

Hardly uncommon in times of crisis. I'm sure you remember the conflicting reports as Katrina hit N.O.

There are people over there without sleep for days who are desperately trying to hold it all together (and/or limit the impact)... and, darn it, they just don't seem to want to take time out of their busy schedule to keep us up to date here on DU.

[KittyWampus]

11. If you're still online, I'd love to see you start a thread stating just that.

It seems you're saying it's all a matter of how extensive the damage is and how much radiation will ultimately escape.

And hopefully they can keep things contained as much as possible.

[divvy]

12. This is the last (yesterday) TEPCO update I am aware of.

Their website is down today so this is the most current one I have.


Press Release (Mar 13,2011)
Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (as of 2am March 13th)


All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.

Unit 1(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the unit is under inspection due to
the explosive sound and white smoke that was confirmed after the big
quake occurred at 3:36PM.
- We have been injecting sea water and boric acid which absorbs neutron
into the reactor core.

Unit 2(Shut down)
- Reactor and Reactor Core Isolation Cooling System have been shut down.
Current reactor water level is lower than normal level, but the water
level is steady. After fully securing safety, we are preparing to
implement a measure to reduce the pressure of the reactor containment
vessels under the instruction of the national government.

Unit 3(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down and we continue injecting water by High
Pressure Core Injection System. After fully securing safety, we are
preparing to implement a measure to reduce the pressure of the reactor
containment vessels under the instruction of the national government.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage
inside the reactor containment vessel.

Unit 4 (shut down due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant to
ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel.

Unit 5 (outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant to
ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage inside
the reactor containment vessel.

Unit 6 (outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant to
ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage
inside the reactor containment vessel.

Casualty
- 2 workers of cooperative firm were injured at the occurrence of the
earthquake, and were transported to the hospital.
- 1 TEPCO employee who was not able to stand by his own with his hand
holding left chest was transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- 1 subcontract worker at important earthquake-proof building was
unconscious and transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- The radiation exposure of 1 TEPCO employee, who was working inside the
reactor building, exceeded 100mSv and was transported to the hospital.
- 4 workers were injured and transported to the hospital after explosive
sound and white smoke were confirmed around the Unit 1.
- Presence of 2 TEPCO employees at the site are not confirmed

Others
- We measured radioactive materials inside of the nuclear power station
area (outdoor) by monitoring car and confirmed that radioactive
materials level is higher than ordinary level. Also, the level at
monitoring post is higher than ordinary level. We will continue to
monitor in detail the possibility of radioactive material being
discharged from exhaust stack or discharge canal. The national
government has instructed evacuation for those local residents within
20km radius of the periphery because it's possible that radioactive
materials are discharged.

- We will continue to take all measures to restore the security of
the site and to monitor the environment of the site periphery.

[SoCalDem]

19. We will not get the "truth" , no matter what happens.

There is too much money riding on it.. Maybe 30 years from now when the cancers show up, there will be an investigation..

I feel sadness for the military people who are being sent there to help, knowing that they will probably be exposed to radiation that could kill them, long after the military has washed its hands of them.

One can only hope that a future America will not abandon its older vets, who will be ill from a mercy mission they undertook in 2011..

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. If rods were exposed

they got a partial meltdown...

I am sorry to say but exposed rods is not nice.

[Hannah Bell]

21. yes, nadin, a *partial* meltdown, as meltdown means any damage to the core.

which can mean anything from no radiation release at all to chernobyl, and that's why throwing around the word without clarifying the *kind* of "meltdown" is irresponsible in a crisis.