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Earthquake in Japan

More bad stuff happening

While laying cable in the turbine building of reactor block 3, the three technicians had touched water that had a radioactivity of 3.9 million Becquerel per cubic centimetre (that's the size of a sugar cube), according to operating company Tepco. According to Tepco, the day before neither water nor elevated radiation had been measured in that area. Tepco said, the workers hadn't worn protective boots during the operation which would be the reason why radioactive water got into their shoes. Two of the workers had been moved with severe burns to a special clinic. Both should be moved to a radiological institute today.

Now, Tepco is blaming the three irradiated workers. They had worn radioactive counters but had ignored the triggered alarm, said Tepco. The engineers participating in the operation would be informed of dangers to safety, again.
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In the US, former reactor safety chief of General Electric, Richard Lahey, said that the salt could encrust the fuel rods and prevent cooling. According to a report by "New York Times", Lahey estimated that in reactor block 1 approximately 26 tons of salt could have accumulated, in reactor blocks 2 and 3 even 45 tons each. General Electric had developed the original design of the boiling water reactors in Fukushima.
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On NHK World, there was just a report with recent video footage from the damaged reactors, and educated guesses about what could happen in the reactors.

The water in reactor 3 that had 3.9 million Bq/cm³, which is 10,000 times higher than during normal reactor operation, could be water from the cooling circuit that goes straight thru the reactor core. The high concentration of iodine isotopes could indicate that nuclear fission is taking place in the reactor core.

I suspect that a core meltdown is in progress, b/c the control rods apparently have no effect or are molten. Probably the amount of water in the core is not enough to contain the radiation and it spread out thru the water pipes.

They also suspect a containment breach in reactors 1 and 2.

---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------

Ugh, whenever I see footage from the tsunami sites, I see lots of demolished wooden homes. I wonder why they didn't build stone houses ... they would probably have been more resistant to floods and/or quakes.

I still remember the floods we had in Germany in 2002, people had cellars and ground or higher floors filled with water, and the houses suffered some water damage, but they didn't fall apart. But of course the push of the water wasn't as hard as in that tsunami.
 
Crowd-sourced radiation maps in Japan and USA

Note that there are no readings from within the exclusion zone.... also, many of these sites use the Sievert as a unit (w/o mentioning the weighting factor, or other relevant data like isotopes, Becquerel, etc.). On one site, they assume W=1, which makes Sv and Gy equal.

---------- Post added at 04:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:52 PM ----------

Links:
TEPCO (English; located in Japan)
IAEA (English; located in Austria)
Society for Radiation Protection (English; located in Germany)
 
I just saw a report from NHK that said that the three irradiated workers had been exposed to 2-6 Sv (8 is certain death, Chernobyl workers got 5.5).

Reactor block 1 water was radiating with 3.8 million Bq/cm³ (block 3 was 3.9 million Bq/cm³)

---------- Post added at 12:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 AM ----------

This report reveals that the 3.9 million Bq/cm³ is per second (Bq is decaying nuclei per second -- confirmed here ).

So in one cubic centimeter, 3.9 million nuclei are decaying per second -- how far away is this from pure liquid isotopes?

This could definitely be an indicator that a core meltdown is in progress at full speed, and that the containment chamber is broken in reactors 1 and 3, if not more.

I heard a report on the radio that blocks 1-4 could be experiencing meltdown and aren't currently cooled (NHK said Tepco's trying to remove the radioactive water to be able to resume work).

Also, that the severity of the incident should be set to 7 now (the highest possible).

No idea what will happen in the forthcoming days ... but the outlook is very grim, if Tepco doesn't manage to deal with the problems somehow (critics are saying that the situation has already been out of control for several days now).

In the meantime, the Japanese government is trying to calm down the citizens ... experts have been saying that a city as large as Tokyo (with 30 million people) cannot be evacuated. Let's hope Tepco manages to regain control over the reactors somehow ...
 
A radiation level of 1 Sv/h has been measured in water from reactor block 2, which is 10 million times higher than the radiation of water in an operating reactor ( source ). The radioactive water level is over 1 meter high in all 4 blocks. (isotopes: cesium, strontium, iodine)
The presence of high concentrations of iodine-134 might indicate damage to the reactor core in block 2.

Sea water radiation around the reactors is 1,850 times higher than normal (up from 1,250 times).

Yesterday, an estimated 250,000 people protested against nuclear power in Germany ( source 1, source 2, source 3 -- note that there are elections today in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wuerttemberg ).

---------- Post added at 09:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:45 AM ----------

BTW, yesterday I watched some reports about the Chernobyl disaster, and it turns out that the accident there happened during a routine test (safety check), due to operator error. I hope that when the EU is conducting its "stress tests" to test the reactors' safety systems, that they don't cause any additional nuclear incidents...
 
Earthquake/tsunami/evacuee relief efforts are still far behind. I just heard an expert say something on NHK to the effect of that there had been many plans for disaster relief, but that the current disaster does not match the preplanned outcomes, and that they have to help the affected people now. To me it sounds like that those people are now in danger of death by starvation simply b/c the disaster outcome didn't match the expected pattern. That'd be a sign of great inflexibility. Tokyo residents are advised not to hoard stuff, and companies are advised to ramp up production. But Tokyo isn't all of Japan, there are many other food production facilities, right? What's the problem in getting food and water out to the people in need?

Yesterday I looked at the page of the Japanese Red Cross and I was surprised to see that they've been handing out only blankets and useless stuff like flashlights or emergency manuals. In Germany alone, people donated over 2.9 million Euro after the first days of the disaster to the Red Cross, and what are they doing?? Why do people still have to go without food and water?? Does the Red Cross only want to pile up donations?? Where's the actual disaster relief they're supposed to do?

---------- Post added at 02:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:16 PM ----------

I also wonder if it has something to do with Japanese mentality: Do Japanese people not help each other in emergencies, b/c they're socially networked all their lives, while in our countries it's the exact opposite b/c people are antisocial most of their lives but then do help each other in emergencies?
 
Report about past reactor incidents in Japan (German)

Things like the ones described in the video also happen in other reactors in other countries. The list of incidents is very long.

---------- Post added at 10:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

(as a side note: The Green Party got almost 25% of votes in Baden-Wuerttemberg, and is ahead of the Social Democratic Party (the Reds) for the first time, it'll dominate a coalition which would then be called Green-Red instead of Red-Green, ending a 58 year domination of the Black center-right-wing Christian Democratic Party -- it's a clear sign that people want more environment-friendly policies; And in Rhineland-Palatinate, there'll be a Red-Green coalition, and the Free Democratic Party (Yellow), which has traditionally been promoting corporate interests, has been voted out of parliament.)
 
Anti-nuclear protests in Japan (German)

Apparently, Japanese media do not report about this yet, but there is an anti-nuclear movement in Japan, that is hoping to get more supporters due to the events in Fukushima.

Two reports about the current situation at Fukushima Daiichi plant: report 1, report 2 (both in German)

Apparently, Tepco has admitted that there might be a nuclear meltdown taking place which might be a reason for the highly irradiated water they're now trying to remove from 3-4 reactor blocks. Apparently, the plan is to find some space inside the reactor buildings where to pump the water to.

Earlier, the high numbers reported had apparently been mis-measurements b/c the workers fled the radiation before completing measurements. Again, the question comes to mind why they're not using robots for work in highly irradiated areas. Still, the radiation dose of 1 Sv/h in the water is apparently correct (or even higher now), which can lead to radiation burns after minutes of contact. Plus, the water might contain plutonium, only mg (milligrams) of which are deadly (either inhaled or swallowed).

---------- Post added at 10:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------

Isotopes that have been measured in the irradiated water include cobalt, iodine, and cesium. Some comments to articles mentioned that isotopes have been found that have a half life of millions of years.

To explain this: When a radioactive substance is decaying, it loses protons and neutrons especially, which changes its place in the periodic table. So, plutonium becomes uranium, uranium becomes cesium or iodine, and so forth. Every decay in one atom can trigger decay in another, which is called a chain reaction. The chain reaction is taking place (or continuing) in the radioactive water, that's why its concentration of isotopes and its radiation are so high.
 
So far, radioactive water leakages have been found in turbine buildings of the reactors 1-3 (perhaps 4), and now they've found radioactive water of similar radiation levels in the trenches as well. The trenches are outside the reactor buildings, right next to the sea. The water levels are rising there with 5 cm/hr. It is to expected that the water flows into the sea if that cannot be stopped.

Also, it is unclear whether radioactive water has seeped into the ground.

Meanwhile, about 100,000 people are still living in evacuation centers (down from 400,000 initially).
 
I heard they have found radiation at least one mile out in the ocean from those plants. If a big fish die off happens just another problem to worry about for them. I'm just talking out of my butt here but couldn't they fill these things with concrete. And then build a huge led structure over the top of these plants like I heard they are doing to finally seal off the one in Chernobyl once and for all. I mean I heard this thing is going to be taller then the statue of liberty. It would take time to make these but at least for now start pouring concrete.

---------- Post added at 03:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

We have a few people in Florida panicking because some of that radiation from Japan in levels lower then a X-ray have reached here. People really freak out so easy!
 
ssvs04 said:
I heard they have found radiation at least one mile out in the ocean from those plants. If a big fish die off happens just another problem to worry about for them.
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Yup. Japanese are fish-eaters. I hope the Japanese will import fish before selling contaminated fish to the people.

ssvs04 said:
I'm just talking out of my butt here but couldn't they fill these things with concrete. And then build a huge led structure over the top of these plants like I heard they are doing to finally seal off the one in Chernobyl once and for all. I mean I heard this thing is going to be taller then the statue of liberty. It would take time to make these but at least for now start pouring concrete.
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According to some experts, it'll take months or years until the reactors are cold enough to pour sand or concrete over them.

ssvs04 said:
We have a few people in Florida panicking because some of that radiation from Japan in levels lower then a X-ray have reached here. People really freak out so easy!
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I don't know if those figures include lead shielding normally applied to both the doctor and the patient when an X-ray is being done to limit radiation exposure.

---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

An ARD Brennpunkt ("focus") from this evening (German).
 
Monster said:
Yup. Japanese are fish-eaters. I hope the Japanese will import fish before selling contaminated fish to the people.





According to some experts, it'll take months or years until the reactors are cold enough to pour sand or concrete over them.



I don't know if those figures include lead shielding normally applied to both the doctor and the patient when an X-ray is being done to limit radiation exposure.

---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

An ARD Brennpunkt ("focus") from this evening (German).
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I thought they never could get the Chernobyl ones to cool down?? And just sealed over the top of the reactor?
 
The 7 AM (JST) NHK morning show (that is right now being rerun, perhaps for another couple of hours) was pretty informative. In some areas, normal life resumed, shops re-opened, and trains are running, which is a great relief to the people there. Also, the Japanese Red Cross brought food and medical supplies to a number of shelters. In some areas, townspeople are helping the people in shelters to help them get back a more normal life. Doctors are visiting people that need medical support if possible.

(I wonder though, on the JRC web page, a case was mentioned when a medical team had to return b/c the road was destroyed or impassable, doesn't the JRC have helicopters? It would definitely help people regain health, trust and confidence if there's support for them, and it's a necessity anyway ...)

Insurances have said they'll accept aerial or ground photos of damaged areas for speedy processing of insurance cases. This might help people to either build up a new existence elsewhere or get a new house in a neighboring region.

In some areas in the nuclear exclusion zone and in the 20-30 km ring around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant where people had originally been advised to stay indoors, then to evacuate voluntarily, there's going to be more buses to help those people that can leave.

There has been plutonium found in 5 spots on the power plant area, but it was said that that would be equal to the residual radiation left over by 1950ies'-70ies' aerial nuclear tests conducted by Cold War powers. Let's hope it's not far higher and from one of the explosions that happened in the reactor buildings earlier.

Efforts continue to pump radioactive water out and fresh water in, but care must be taken to prevent the trenches from overflowing, b/c that could severely affect marine life, I think.

Since it's probably still not known what's happening inside the reactor cores, there's still the danger that liquid reactor fuel boils at 2,500 °C somewhere, seeping thru to the ground, and contaminating ground water (which could've been going on already for days and be the reason for elevated radiation in fresh water from the region -- they've said it could've been contaminated rain or something, but it could also have been ground water probably).

I read one comment recently that speculated that the entire reactors could've already been blown to bits by the explosions and have been smoldering boiling wrecks for many days now.

One thing that still makes me think is that the first explosion shook the ground kilometers away. If it was just a hydrogen explosion occurring at the top of a reactor building, why did it shake the ground?

---------- Post added at 12:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 AM ----------
ssvs04 said:
I thought they never could get the Chernobyl ones to cool down?? And just sealed over the top of the reactor?
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That's true, the Chernobyl reactor is still boiling. Chain reaction is also still in progress there. But apparently, the temperature is low enough that the concrete doesn't melt.

---------- Post added at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 AM ----------

Here's an article about what happens during a core meltdown (Google-translated from German)
 
QUOTE-That's true, the Chernobyl reactor is still boiling. Chain reaction is also still in progress there. But apparently, the temperature is low enough that the concrete doesn't melt.

Now ive read its not melting the concrete buts its slowly falling apart where they have to pour new concrete a few times. Here is a video of this dome they are putting over Chernobyl and I have feeling will have to do the same thing in Japan soon.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...gest-movable-structure-seal-chernobyl-reactor


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3984673n
 
Sorry, the Google translation sucks so bad, here's an ad-hoc translation of the article:

What's a "temporary" or "partial" core meltdown?
by Werner Eckert, March 28, 2011, 1:13 PM (roughly translated)

Within the reactor there are several hundred fuel elements that contain bundles of about 60 fuel rods each. A fuel rod is only a few cm thick and consists of a hull of zirconium alloy. Within, there are the individual fuel tablets, 1 by 1 cm each. The fuel rod isn't entirely full, to give gases and volatile stuffs room during operation. Just such materials have been found around Fukushima. That's why the statement that the fuel rods must be damaged. And now it's becoming clear -- in the light of the sheer amount of fission products, that this is not just little damage, but that the reactor core is or has been molten at least partially.

Because of insufficient cooling, the core is heating up even when it's already "switched off". The waste products that occur during normal operation keep radiating even then. At around 900 °C, the fuel begins to oxidize and to burst the fuel rod hulls, the Society for Factory, Power Plant and Reactor Safety writes. What exactly happens then can't even be overlooked by experts then: Because of the so-called decay heat the fuel elements keep heating up. Even the oxidation generates warmth. The longer cooling is absent, the more this is building up.

Even when exactly what melts is subject to various estimates. This is because the various materials react differently in mixtures and alloys. From 1200 °C, the control rods could melt, from 1750 °C the metal of the fuel rod hulls. Uranium oxide -- the main fuel -- melts only from 2800 °C upward, but experiments have shown that really even at far lower temperatures around 2250 °C, a hefty core destruction begins.

By that, large amounts of strongly radiating materials are set free that have been enclosed in the fuel rod before. Everything that's becoming liquid now sinks down and forms a soup. This at least, the partial meltdown, has long already happened in Fukushima, company and government officials now admit. The question is: Did the cooling from outside suffice to stop the activity, perhaps to re-harden the molten material to a lump? Then the core meltdown would've been stopped. It would've been a partial meltdown. Or is it still "souping"? And then there's the question: How tight are the barriers to the outside, the reactor pressure vessel and the containment vessel?

The fact that so many radiating materials have come to the outside and can be found in water, speaks for the assumption that there are gaps and holes. And it can even be that the mass is still liquid, is still heating up and then melts through the casing. It doesn't seem to be clear whether the chain reaction could resume then -- it's apparently improbable but thinkable. Anyway, a highly heated and completely liquid core could eat through steel and concrete even without that. Probably, because of gravity, simply downwards.

Then the catastrophe could take on completely new dimensions: When the glowing mass gets in contact with ground water, there could be steam explosions, even hydrogen explosions are possible. In effect, large amounts of radiating material would be spread over a large distance. Basically, this is the scenario of a so-called "dirty" bomb. But a huge one. Even if "only" radiating materials would reach the ground water, that would mean an enormous burden for a long time.

A partial meltdown has been assumed by experts already two weeks ago. New is only the evaluation by the Japanese government. It is a merciless race between cooling and decay heat. And it will last for at least weeks.

Post scriptum: This blog isn't about telling news to the expert. It is an attempt to summarize the available information for everyone by using journalistic means.
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---------- Post added at 02:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 AM ----------

A heute.de report with some interesting information (German)

A worker who has been exposed to 880 mSv of radiation has made some photos inside the plant and told that they were/are sleeping in the irradiated conference room and eating food from cans.

German companies and institutes are offering to help out with robots, but so far help has not been requested yet (earlier, Japan had asked for availability of such robots).

---------- Post added at 02:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 AM ----------

Another report, text (German)

People are leaving evacuation centers and returning home to the exclusion zone, b/c they probably didn't receive appropriate help (supplies, food etc.), despite warnings from the government that that would be very dangerous. Probably that's why the government needs to send out more buses now to try to convince them to come back out of the zone. There's the risk of cancer, radiation burns and death, depending on how close they are to the plant.

---------- Post added at 03:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 AM ----------

p.s. when before, there have been 400,000 evacuees from the zones, and now there are only 100,000, does that mean that 300,000 have returned to the exclusion zone?? Does the Japanese government want to see reports of 300,000 dead, sick or injured people from radiation risks? Why did the Japanese government not ensure proper supplies to the evacuation centers?? Why didn't the JRC at least??

The JRC reports only about one activity of shipment of food to evacuation centers ... normally, you'd expect exhausting coverage about the progress that is being made on a daily basis.

In the images they showed on television, people were apparently getting food for the first time in ages ... no wonder many have already left the evacuation centers.

To ensure the trust in the Japanese government, measures should have been taken to ensure that people are healthy and well-fed under those circumstances.

But the general message seemed to have been "if you're a Japanese citizen, and a disaster happens, you're essentially out of luck".

I'm sure they're trying to do what they think is possible, but that could perhaps be far more than what they think they can do.

I've always thought in the highest terms possible about the Japanese people, but now I'm very disappointed, that they do not manage to help their own people.

Perhaps the government and the relief organizations think that people are able to help themselves, but if that means scouring the wreckage for food (as has been reported many times now on Japanese TV), or starving in an evacuation center, then I have to wonder what they are doing, and if they even want to help their people at all.

It also makes me wonder what would happen if we would have a similar disaster in our own country, would it be just as disorganized, chaotic, and ineffective?

What do people pay taxes and disaster relief aid for anyway, if something like that is possible, that you're essential f**ked when something really happens. That's not the purpose of such a society.

---------- Post added at 03:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 AM ----------

I just read that the disaster relief section of the EU has sent 220 tons of supplies to Japan and 15 million euros to the Red Cross and prepares or plans to help set up additional evacuation centers in case of further problems with the power plant. Perhaps the EU can do something there.

A US expert said that the UN should help Japan with the reactor problem (not only b/c it can have global impact).

There's help being offered all around the world, Japan only needs to accept it. This could speed up disaster relief and perhaps even bring a solution to the reactor problem. We're all one, Japan doesn't need to do this on its own.

---------- Post added at 05:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:58 AM ----------

BBC article
 
There have been plenty of new developments in the past few days. Fluid storage vessels (barges and other ships) will be used to store irradiated water. A resin will probably be used on surfaces of the reactor area to bind irradiated particles to prevent them from getting into the air any further. Irradiated ground water has been found. France and the US are helping Tepco to cope with the reactor problem. The French company AREVA manufactured the MOX fuel elements used in building 3 of the reactor and stored in storage pools, and their boss has visited Tepco. The French president also visited Japan. Other countries are also helping Japan to cope with the disasters.

Some media reported that the search for dead bodies from the tsunami excludes the nuclear accident exclusion zone, b/c the bodies there would be too heavily irradiated and could not even be burnt b/c that would result in additional radiation in the air. This might hint at the extent of the nuclear catastrophe. Perhaps -- and this is pure speculation by myself -- there are some people among the dead that died from the radiation, not the tsunami. Anyhow ... 70,000 people have been evacuated from the exclusion zone that has hopefully been closed for normal people now; it has been said that they'd probably never be able to return; this might also hint at the extent of the radiation. Perhaps some areas around the plant will be uninhabitable for millenia ...

Tepco is still being criticized by parts of the press as untrustworthy b/c some of their statements about various things had changed in the past few days.

On one published recent video and/or photo from the reactor blocks, it can be seen that one building seems to be a complete ruin, there's nothing left except some parts of the wall, which makes one wonder where the actual reactor parts are ... this might hint at complete destruction with core meltdown etc.

After spraying the remains of the reactors with resin, there are plans to cover everything up under plastic sheets to prevent further emission of radiation.

Currently, it seems that the radiation is so high that the reactor buildings cannot be approached at all, or only with strong shielding.
 
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