Japan has 3 nuclear plants with problems

[LiberalEsto]

Fukushima 1 Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has six reactors, but three were inoperational for a scheduled inspection. Cooling systems in two reactors have failed. Unit 1 had an explosion yesterday. There are fears of a potential hydrogen explosion at Unit 3. Seven worker injuries, one radiation exposure.

Fukushima 2 Daini nuclear power plant has 4 reactors. Cooling systems in three reactors have failed. This plant is located 10 miles from Fukushima 1. One of the four reactors is safely shut down according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. One worker fatality in a crane accident.

Onagawa nuclear power plant, located about 60 miles from the Fukushima plants. Three reactors, all shut down. This is in a state of emergency because high radiation levels have been detected there, 700 times above normal. Also there was a fire Friday in the engine room where electricity is produced.


IAEA: "Japanese authorities have reported some casualties to nuclear plant workers. At Fukushima Daichi, four workers were injured by the explosion at the Unit 1 reactor, and there are three other reported injuries in other incidents. In addition, one worker was exposed to higher-than-normal radiation levels that fall below the IAEA guidance for emergency situations. At Fukushima Daini, one worker has died in a crane operation accident and four others have been injured."
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

Euronews: "Euronews spoke to Nuclear Safety Expert, Jean Mathieu Rambach.

He told us: ‘‘At the Onagawa power plant there was a fire in the engine room where electricity is produced."
http://www.euronews.net/2011/03/11/japan-s-nuclear-emergency/

According to the Japan Times:

"Meanwhile, radiation at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture shot up from late Saturday through early Sunday, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said, adding that radiation levels were low but about 700 times higher than normal.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the rise in radiation was likely caused by substances scattered by the hydrogen explosion that hit the troubled Fukushima plant on Saturday, dismissing the possibility that the Miyagi plant was to blame."

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110314a1.html

BBC: "At noon local time (0400 GMT), Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operates the plant,(Fukushima 1, my note) gave this status report:

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.

They were still encountering problems - among them, a stuck valve. Its exact purpose was not revealed.

Venting of mildly radioactive steam continued at reactors 2 and 3, and officials warned that an explosion was possible in reactor 3's building."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12726628

[Zoeisright]

1. God.

Radiation 700 times normal caused by "substances scattered by the hydrogen explosion"?

Yeah, and I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell too.

MadHound is right. Officials LIE constantly about nuclear energy. Besides the fact that you can't see, hear, smell, feel, or taste it, and the fact that it causes horrific disease years after exposure, and that you can't hide from it, officials LIE about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x624031

[ananda]

3. I agree.

The situation in Japan is far worse than reported. The death toll will
be over a hundred thousand, whole towns have been wiped out, and
the nuclear meltdowns will take their toll for years.

[Horse with no Name]

21. The deaths will be attributed to the earthquake/tsunami

that will be the coverup.

[roguevalley]

29. the only good that could come out of this is the death of nuclear

energy. we don't know how to do it right and its too dangerous to do this on our techtonic world

[denem]

5. This SO reminds me of May 1986 I can't tell you.

Onagawa is 60 miles away from Fukushima, but the at least 700x above normal explosion fallout represented no danger to 'human life'. Weasel weasel words.

They kept slipping in extra qualifications, then denied it until all was obvious.

[LiberalEsto]

9. That's VERY interesting

700 times above normal radiation measured 60 miles from Fukushima? Wow.

[Peace Patriot]

23. First I've read this and you're right. Very worrisome re Fukushima and what is occurring or has

occurred there. I think it might be "better" if this radiation hadn't drifted from the Fukushima plant. It would mean that they might have to trash higher-end plants at Onagawa (due to cooling/meltdown) but that radiation at both sites is confined. But if it's Fukushima radiation windblown to Onagawa, it means that the radiation problem at Fukushima has been/is much worse than they have portrayed.

Just read this at CNN business news (which has the best report this morning, other than yours):

"At one medical facility in Koriyama, about one hour from Fukushima, about 1 in 5 people being tested for high radiation levels are being referred to a hospital for further testing. About 1,000 people have been tested so far, officials said."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/13/japan.nuclear.reactors/

-----

Thanks for your report!

[LiberalEsto]

25. One in five out of 1000, means 200 people

That is 200 people at just one medical facility, an hour away from Fukushima. And who knows how many others are testing positive at other locations.

This is starting to sound like there was one hell of a lot of radioactive material being blown from the Fukushima 1 plant yesterday.

Goddess help these people.

[Junkdrawer]

2. 3 nuclear plants....6+ reactors by my count....

And they're trashing many of them by pumping in sea water. This is going to be hideously expensive...and Japan has been funding our debt.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. This was a freaky, ultra-powerful earthquake - the kind the nuke plant designers never thought of...

...despite the fact that stronger earthquakes had been measured elsewhere at the time of their design.

This reminds me of Titanic. Some declared her "unsinkable" yet she sank on her maiden voyage. With something as potentially deadly as nuclear fission, thinking that ANY plant design is completely fail-safe walks the same balance beam with those who declared Titanic unsinkable. The TEPCO Nukes are a lesson to be learned.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. I thought of this as I was listening to a news report this morning.

The anchor was whining about why disaster-proof reactors weren't built and I was thinking :wow: we really didn't learn anything from the Titanic, did we? Do we really think anything we build is going to withstand what nature can do at it's most powerful? Granted, this is an extremely rare event and there is a chain (systemic network) of causality, but really the hubris (naivete?) is sometimes astounding.

[denem]

7. Actually the plants are old 1970 jobs.

I don't like nukes. The criminal thing was to allow the aging No 3 reactor to be refitted for MOX (plutonium / uranium ) fuel.

[LiberalEsto]

8. One reactor at F-1 was supposed to shut down last month

But the operators got a 10-year extension.

[denem]

18. Maybe a 20 day extension.

[Raschel]

10. Thanks for posting this. It's hard to figure out what's really going on here.

[LiberalEsto]

11. That's how I felt too.

Thanks, Raschel.

Once upon a time I was a real newspaper reporter, so I decided to do some research to get the story straight, to the best of my ability. It's amazing how much confusion and misinformation there is, even on major news sites.

[bullwinkle428]

12. I suppose they built each of these plants directly on the beach

for the easiest possible access to the cooling water, but didn't anyone consider the threat from possible tsunamis at the same time?

[Yo_Mama]

13. Some more resources

http://www.japannuclear.com/nuclearpower/program/location.html
That is a list of the plants and the reactors.

There are three reactors at Onagawa, six reactors at Daiichi, and four reactors at Daini.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is putting out periodic updates here:
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/
Last update (this has a very complete list of what is going on, down to info about measured radiation exposures to civilians at the end):
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110313-3.pdf

The fire in the turbine room at Onagawa for reactor 3 occurred on the 11th (as a result of the earthquake) and was rapidly extinguished. Since then monitoring was clear for days before the rise in radiation. Naturally there is heightened monitoring at every nuclear plant, and it does seem likely so far that the recent rise in radiation outside Onagawa is coming from Daiichi and Daini emissions. The wind has generally been in the wrong direction, though.

The Daiichi reactors are much, much older, which may be a factor.

The Onagawa plant and the Daiichi plants are not that far from each other - Onagawa is further up the same coast. There are maps at the Wikipedia entries showing their locations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onagawa_Nuclear_Power_Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_Nuclear_Power_Plant

The problem seems currently to be Daiichi. There are six reactors. The first three are quite old. There definitely were low water levels at 2, and now reactors 1 and 3 are being shut down permanently. I'm not sure if they tried to use the boron trick on 2 yet. That leaves the three that were down for inspection. Even once the plants are shut down, the remaining waste products and fuel are hot and must be cooled or massively entombed. Given that this is an earthquake zone, I am not sure that entombment can work.

I wouldn't want to be working at Daiichi if they try to restart those other three reactors.

[godai]

14. Onagawa seems OK. That still leaves 2 with major problems.

VIENNA - Japanese authorities have told the U.N. nuclear watchdog that the lowest state of emergency has been reported by the operator at the Onagawa nuclear power plant, the Vienna-based agency said on Sunday.

"The alert was declared as a consequence of radioactivity readings exceeding allowed levels in the area surrounding the plant. Japanese authorities are investigating the source of radiation," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=211959

[Raschel]

16. I thought Onagawa was still problematic. I'm learning that if it's from the Japanese authorities it

may not be, shall we say, forthcoming.

[godai]

19. They indicate the elevated levels came from Fukushima. True?

Japan agency: Onagawa plant functioning properly

(Reuters) - Japan's nuclear safety agency said on Sunday there was no problem with the cooling process at Tohoku Electric Power Co's (9506.T) Onagawa nuclear power plant and that a rise in radiation levels there was due to radiation leakage at another plant in a neighbouring prefecture.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/japan-quake-onagawa-idUSTKG00708020110313


This SEEMS to make sense. It would be ridiculous to deny that Onagawa has a problem, since the truth would soon come out.

[Yo_Mama]

27. It's possible

The place is not that far away. Especially if there is an northern current off the coast (both these plants are on the coast), it's very possible that some of the detritus from the hydrogen explosion yesterday scattered radioactive material into the ocean.

It is also somewhat possible that the winds took it there. That explosion shot way up and should have pushed some radioactive dust where the winds could scatter it somewhat.

700 times above normal doesn't mean a danger to human health necessarily. Nuclear plant operating standards say that radiation workers shouldn't be exposed to more than 50 milliSieverts annually, and 100 milliSieverts in 5 years. That's US standards. 100 milliSieverts = 10 rem.

But exposure outside the plant is supposed to be no more than 1 milliSieverts. if it is more, the legal requirement to notify the authorities would be triggered regardless of whether it was coming from outside the plant.

The highest natural background radiation peak levels I know of occur in Ramsor, Iran (sp?) and are above 200 milliSieverts at their peak. Those people are healthy, and kids are born healthy. There are many places in the world that have background levels above the 1 milliSievert level. The estimated average yearly exposure in the US is above 3 milliSieverts (mSv). A CAT scan might get you 10 mSv. Maybe higher.

However the situation at Daiichi just doesn't look that good, and if Onagawa levels are that high and it came from Daiichi, there is surely cause to worry:

This is the most recent TEPCO release:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031310-e.html
Excerpt:
* The value of radioactive material (iodine, etc) is increasing according
to the monitoring car at the site (outside).
* Since the amount of radiation at the boundary of the site exceeds the
limits, we decide at 4:17PM, Mar 12 and we have reported and/or noticed
the government agencies concerned to apply the clause 1 of the Article 15
of the Radiation Disaster Measure at 5PM, Mar 12. The radiation dose at
the monitoring post decreased once. Today, the measured value revamped and
the radiation dose measured at site boundary exceeded the limiting value
again. As such, at 8:56AM, today, it was determined that a specific incident
stipulated in article 15, clause 1 occurred and at 09:01AM, today, notified
accordingly.
After that, the measured value by the monitoring car decreased once, however
the value revamped and the radiation dose measured at site boundary exceeded
the limitation again. As such, at 2:15PM, today, it was determined that a
specific incident stipulated in article 15, clause 1 occurred and at 02:23PM,
today, notified accordingly.

[SpoonFed]

31. fact

> "it's very possible that some of the detritus from the hydrogen explosion yesterday scattered radioactive material into the ocean."

This is apparently now a fact, being reported by the NYT regarding the carrier USS Reagan.

[Raschel]

17. Here's where I found Onagawa info from 45 mins ago. State of emergency declared.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=632456&mesg_id=632456

[godai]

20. Level 1 emergency. Checked...apparently from Fukushima. n/t

[denem]

22. But the Govt said that fallout wasn't dangerous.

Now, 60 miles away, it's 700x above normal.

[godai]

24. Not defending the gov't but they could say that because there are no people around.

I read it as meaning, with the evacuations, there is no one around to be exposed anymore. But, I've watched a lot of TV from Japan and the officials are in CYA mode more and more every day. They need leadership but they have none. It reminds me of Bush with Katrina.

[SpoonFed]

32. 14 hours later

there are not positive reports of exposure, and more than a handful coming in,
though details are still very unclear as the extent.

I fear that it's going to get much worse since No.3 Daiichi had an explosion
4 plus hours ago and it was much bigger with more lethal fuel than the No. 1

still seems to be lots of, to be kind, misinformation about the extent
of the debris and locations.

[Raschel]

36. Agree. I came on here to catch up and it's still as confusing as ever.

[Raschel]

15. Then there's this from another thread on DU, 15 mins ago.

Japanese Government Confirms
Meltdown
Japanʼs Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said March 12 that the explosion at
the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of
the reactor core, Japanese daily Nikkei reported. This statement seemed somewhat at
odds with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edanoʼs comments earlier March 12,
in which he said “the walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning
that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode.”
NISAʼs statement is significant because it is the government agency that reports to the
Agency for Natural Resources and Energy within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry. NISA works in conjunction with the Atomic Energy Commission

[k2qb3]

26. That statement shows a lack of understanding...not at odds.

Water levels were low and they were having trouble keeping the core cool enough.

There was damage to the reactor core, the cases around the fuel rods melted to some degree, that isn't the same thing as the primary containment being breached.

They were forced to vent steam from the primary containment, that's a reasonably safe procedure under normal circumstances, of course they don't want to do it but the radiation release is very minor, EXCEPT when there's damage to the core. When they realized they were getting more radiation than they should have been they stopped venting, shortly after that the roof of the building blew off in a hydrogen explosion. The hydrogen is from the rod casings overheating, there were some heavier isotopes detected as well that indicate the rods were overheated as well. There's no reason to believe the primary containment was damaged and they've flooded it, and the other reactors at the plant, with seawater and boron, which means the plant will never be used again, and it's extremely unlikely there'll be a primary containment breach if there hasn't been already, if there was a breach when the roof blew off we'd know it by now.

There's only been steam releases, at least one of them was dirtier than could have been hoped. It's extremely unlikely at this time there will be any health effects for anyone outside the plants. You definately don't want to be breathing that steam but that's why they evacuated the area, what's been released will dissipate very rapidly and be swallowed by the background rediation of the pacific. If they're worried about another hydrogen explosion then there's reason to believe another core overheated before they got the seawater in.

Checking anyone coming out of the evac zone and decontaminating anyone who reads above baseline is just common sense, it doesn't indicate anything being worse than reported, or that those people got a dose large enough to cause any health problems. It may be worse than we know at this point, but what we know is bad enough.

The cleanup is going to be horrible though, incredibly expensive.

[Peace Patriot]

30. In a nuke power "situation," we would be stupid not to expect official LYING.

These officials' asses are on the line. Nuke power is on the line. Japan's decision to place nuke reactors in one of the most earthquake-prone, tsunami-prone, heavily populated countries on earth is on the line. Of course they would lie! And in addition to the natural tendency of nuke power purveyors to lie, and of government and corporate officials to lie on many issues and in many situations, the current officials have an obligation not to induce panic in an already severely disrupted country. The benefit of the doubt therefore weighs very heavily against them, as to telling the truth, in this potential humungous disaster (multiple cooling system failures and meltdowns).

So, when a report comes out that some 200 people have been retained at a hospital for "further testing" on radiation exposure, and that several hundred thousands of people are being evacuated away from the nuke plants, you have to wonder about their assurances that the radiation levels are "safe." Yes, this could be officials just taking routine measures or showing extra caution. But it is equally possible that they are lying as to why they are doing these things and are holding back information about conditions and measures being taken.

You say, "it doesn't indicate anything being worse than reported." But the truth is that government and corporate officials LIE, often enough in any situation, but especially in situations like this. So, yes, these reports may well indicate something worse. And we may know what it is, in quite dramatic fashion, in the short term, if one or more of these "disasters waiting to happen" goes bang, or in a slow, long term whimper of reports of illness in people and damage to sea life spread out over decades and not making headlines.

The worst case scenario is so bad that to understate it truly is irresponsible. We are looking at multiple cooling system failures at multiple nuke plants and possibly two meltdowns already, in conditions of massive infrastructure damage (roads, electricity, communications) from the huge earthquake and huge tsunami. (And we don't know that the quake activity is over--one aftershock was a 6.7! --an aftershock! The initial earthquake moved the island of Japan 8 feet!) You might say that the "worst case scenario" has already happened--the worst earthquake in Japan's recorded history, with a 6-8 ft. tsunami hitting the Fukushima nuke plants. But we simply can't know that yet--that the worst is over. We don't know the level of radiation released so far (despite government/corporate assurances), and we don't know what's to come. The situation is changing from hour to hour, with confusing and conflicting reports, and no truly reliable information about the status of these plants (no matter what you say). I would like to believe government assurances, but I don't. Simple as that. You live long enough, you know better than to believe such assurances.

The best case scenario is already bad. I hope and pray that no one was injured by the radiation leaks (--although I think one worker is already badly injured or dead from radiation) and that the officials and workers trying to contain this disaster are able to overcome what must be a terrible burden of responsibility and succeed in their efforts. We should not minimize what they are going through nor the horror that will be unleashed if they fail.

[Hannah Bell]

34. no, one worker is dead because he took the full force of the hydrogen blast.

there is one thing that *is* reliable. radiation levels are monitored all around the world and anyone with a geiger counter can do the same to some extent. so if officials are lying massively about radiation release, people will know soon enough.

since that's the case, i don't see the reason they would lie about that particular item.

[SidDithers]

28. K&R. Good post....

glad you took the time to report facts and not rumor, speculation and hyperbole.

Sid

[Union Scribe]

33. Thank you for the rundown

It's hard keeping up to date with so many angles of the quake's aftermath.

[jannyk]

35. And now there's this:

Fuel Tank explosion and deteriorating situation w/reactor #2

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x639161