Commentary By Ron Beasley
If you get all of your news from the corporate media in the US you would think that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was over. You have to look very hard to find a story at all. In reality the nuclear accident that couldn't happen is much worse.
In a development that is likely to delay efforts to bring the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station under control, the plant�s operator said Thursday that one reactor, No. 1, had sustained much more damage than originally thought and was leaking water.
The company released a plan last month to bring the plant into a relatively stable state in six to nine months, but that was predicated on the notion that it could efficiently cool the fuel in several reactors � a harder task if water is leaking out. The company had long suspected that the containment vessels at two other reactors were breached and leaking, but it had hoped the No. 1 reactor was intact and therefore easiest to bring under control.
The company, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, was able to better assess the reactor on Thursday because workers had recently been able to get close enough to fix a water gauge. It showed that the water level in the reactor was much lower than expected despite the infusion of tons of water since a devastating earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant�s crucial cooling systems.
The above is from the NYT but you must go to the Japanese media to get the full story.
No.1 reactor is in a "meltdown" state
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is believed to be in a state of "meltdown".
The utility company said on Thursday that most of the fuel rods are likely to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor. Earlier in the day, it found that the coolant water in the reactor is at a level which would completely expose nuclear fuel rods if they were in their normal position.
The company believes the melted fuel has cooled down, judging from the reactor's surface temperature.
But it suspects the meltdown created a hole or holes in the bottom of the reactor causing water to leak into the containment vessel.
It also suspects the water is leaking into the reactor building.
The company is planning to fully fill the containment vessel with water by increasing the amount injected.
The company says, however, it must review the plan in light of the latest finding.
The No. 1 reactor was supposed to be the one that wasn't damaged. We now know that we have had meltdowns and containment vessel breaches in three reactors. The radioactive water is leaking into the ground water. Since the reactors are on the coast that ground water is flowing into the Pacific Ocean where it mixes with the radioactive water being pumped into the ocean. How long until we see Godzilla? Will we ever learn that things that can't happen do indeed happen?
Cross posted at The Moderate Voice
Regarding this latest news, below, shouldn't 'officials' be required to come up with a proper plan for pumping out and processing 3000 tons of highly radioactive waste water before they're allowed to build these damned reactors?
ReplyDeleteI'd require them to read a detailed account of the aftermath at Chernobyl at least once a year, too. But then, if it were up to me, we'd have gone with geothermal, and there would never have been any nuclear power plants.
May 16, 2011
Japan left with no choice but to widen nuke evacuation zone
Excerpts:
About 4000 residents of Iidate-mura village and 1100 people in Kawamata-cho town, in the quake-hit northeast, began the phased relocations to public housing, hotels and other facilities in nearby cities.
Although Iidate-mura and Kawamata-cho are 30km from the plant, they have consistently received high amounts of radioactive materials due to wind patterns.
Emergency crews have also started reassessing the status of reactor one at the six-reactor power plant after discovering the fuel inside had apparently melted down, TEPCO said.
About 3000 tonnes of highly radioactive contaminated waste water have been discovered under reactor one, forcing officials to think of ways to properly pump it out and process it, it said.
Ruling-party MP Goshi Hosono, special aide to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said the government still hoped to keep its pledge to achieve the cold shutdown of four damaged reactors by the end of the year.
He added reactor three has not cooled down as hoped earlier, saying it was more of a worry to him than reactor one, which has been relatively stable at low temperatures.
In a related development, Chubu Electric Power Co said all reactors at its ageing Hamaoka nuclear power plant entered into a state of 'cold shutdown' on Sunday.
/end excerpts