Japan Nuclear Reactor Damage Worse Than Expected

TOKYO — Japan's government has agreed on a new plan to ensure the operator of crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant can meet the massive costs of compensating people affected by the crisis.

Friday's plan involves establishing a fund financed by both public money and contributions from utilities that will provide financial support to Tokyo Electric Power Co. TEPCO expects to face a deluge of damage claims in the wake of worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The government will fund the scheme with special bonds, though it did not say the amount it expects to issue.

The plan must still be made into a bill and be approved by parliament before taking effect.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TOKYO (AP) – The operator of a nuclear power plant in central Japan began Friday the process of shutting down its reactors as part of an agreement with the government to temporarily suspend operations until it strengthens tsunami protections.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan requested the temporary shutdown amid concerns an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 or higher could strike central Japan sometime within 30 years. The Hamaoka facility sits above a major fault line and has long been considered Japan's riskiest nuclear power plant.

The government has said it will not seek similar shutdowns of any other reactors in the country. Its decision came after evaluating Japan's 54 reactors for quake and tsunami vulnerability after the March 11 disasters that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeast Japan, which is still leaking radiation.

Chubu Electric Co. said work to idle the No. 4 reactor at the Hamaoka plant started Friday morning. The company expects to begin halting the No. 5 reactor – its second operational reactor – on Saturday.

Chubu Electric President Akihisa Mizuno agreed to cooperate with the government during a nationally televised news conference Monday, describing Kan's request as carrying immense weight.

The company will also indefinitely delay a planned resumption of the No. 3 reactor, which has been shut down for regular maintenance since late last year.

The plant's non-operating No. 1 and No. 2 reactors were slated for decommission before the tsunami.

Nuclear energy provides more than one-third of Japan's electricity, and shutting the Hamaoka plant is likely to exacerbate power shortages expected this summer. The three reactors account for more than 10 percent of Chubu's power supply.

Chubu Electric inserted neutron-absorbing control rods into the No. 4 reactor to slow nuclear fission, spokesman Koki Saguchi said. It stopped producing power at 10 a.m. and is expected to reach cold shutdown – when the reactor temperature drops below 100 degrees Celsius – sometime Saturday.

Comments

[Seer Clearly]

01:14 PM on 05/18/2011

This headline is misleading. The damage isn't worse than expected, it's worse than TEPCO had hoped or perhaps propagandized. In some ways, the situation is getting better because the radiation inside the reactor buildings is dropping enough that we can start getting real information on what happened (it took 11 years to get it about Three Mile Island!). Given what we learned about Chernobyl, the melted fuel and reactor materials (called "corium") has solidified and is immobile, even if it can still release a lot of radiation by volatizing on contact with concrete or water. What is changing for the worse every day is the gradual destruction of TEPCO's pollyannish projections of what they'd *hoped* happened as they are gradually destroyed by facts.

[DrStrangelov]

03:32 PM on 05/19/2011

Thats a fair assessment. Regarding Chernobyl I dont believe a solidified large chunk of LEU fuel will go critical (greater than 20kg, less than 100 kg) with water added to it. You have to break it up and let water interstitially moderate the pieces.

[CaptD]

11:29 AM on 05/16/2011

New thread: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shaw/reading-the-pictures-1-fu_b_862290.html

[hkochii]

12:47 PM on 05/15/2011

Japan nuclear: Tepco halts Fukushima cooling plan

Japanese engineers have abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The plant's operator, Tepco, had intended to cool reactor 1 by filling the containment chamber with water.

But Tepco said melting fuel rods had created a hole in the chamber, allowing 3,000 tonnes of contaminated water to leak into the basement of the reactor building.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13404548

[mairs]

01:02 PM on 05/15/2011

I suppose that means that melted fuel is in the basement as well.

[hkochii]

01:06 PM on 05/15/2011

That's what logic would dictate.

[CaptD]

09:48 PM on 05/17/2011

Or BELOW it, slowly eating (melting) into the earth below :-0

[hkochii]

12:45 PM on 05/15/2011

Two Other Reactors Suffer Serious Damage

Substantial damage to the fuel cores at two additional reactors of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has taken place

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703509104576325110776621604.html

It's getting worse.

[Apollos Dad]

12:26 PM on 05/14/2011

Workers at Fukushima Daiichi Cannot Clean Radiation Off Of Bodies Before Returning to Work

http://lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/workers-fukushima-daiichi-cannot-clean-radiation-bodies-returning-work

[Apollos Dad]

12:24 PM on 05/14/2011

Robot finds high radiation at No. 3 reactor bldg

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A robot has detected highly dangerous levels of radiation in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor building, it has been learned, indicating further safety measures will be needed before workers can enter the structure.

According to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., the remote-controlled PackBot robot on Tuesday found radiation levels in the northwestern section of the building of 49 to 120 millisieverts per hour, which would pose a threat to human workers.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110513005828.htm

[VapeGirl]

10:27 AM on 05/14/2011

Wait...what --- news about Fukushima? Amazing.

Dear TEPCo, what gave you the clue? The fact that the buildings housing the reactors blew up with tremendous force. So much force it shook windows 30km away!!!

[hkochii]

10:43 AM on 05/14/2011

Look at the recent pictures that have been released to see how much force was generated by the explosions. There are sections of the building where the steel rebar is still there but all the concrete was pulverized and blasted free. There are other pics that show whole sections of the side walls missing but the rebar that was laced into them id pulled out straight. Those explosions were enormous.

[outnow]

12:56 PM on 05/14/2011

What else would one expect from a moderated prompt criticality explosion with lots of hydrogen gas? The explosion traveled faster than the speed of sound, something a simple hydrogen explosion does produce. Too bad it released some much radiation and radioactive particles, gases and various isotopes, some of which are almost immortal.

[CaptD]

09:57 AM on 05/14/2011

China to conduct radioactivity survey near Okinotori island

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/91053.html

BEIJING, May 14, Kyodo

China plans to conduct a maritime survey in the Pacific near the tiny Okinotori islands, Japan's southernmost territory, on the impact on ocean waters following the release of contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, a Chinese media report says.
==

Maybe S. Korea will do the same as they are just North of Japan...

[CaptD]

09:14 AM on 05/14/2011

I believe that Engineers all over the World should step up and "try" and help solve this Eco-Disaster, after all they live on Earth also! Sadly, most of us are powerless to help, because we have not access to the decision makers in Japan other than these blog sites.

[CaptD]

08:54 AM on 05/14/2011

Great comments From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/partial-meltdown-hits-fukushima-nuclear-plant-2283234.html#comment-203386823

There were May Day protests in Japan focussed on the links between the nuclear industry and the state. A week later another anti-nuclear protest in Tokyo attracted more than a 1,000 people. That may seem small but not by Japanese standards, and the fact they are rolling protests and are gathering momentum is significant.
This is an interesting article http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24749 about the financial duplicity of Tepco, it's 258 affiliated companies, it's cross-shares in other corporations and its use of the mafia to prevent honest reporting of the crisis.

[outnow]

12:49 PM on 05/14/2011

Use of the mafia to censor the media and prevent honest reporting? That gives the fauning corporate media a new name: MMM - mainstream mafia media.

Our own media is controlled by ____________(fill in the blanks but do not list if not wealthy and powerful).

Freedom of the press should be just thqta. The moment that fails, you are living under tyranny because you can't vote ubless you know the (real) facts.

[outnow]

12:58 PM on 05/14/2011

"Fawning"

[mrJJ]

11:37 PM on 05/13/2011

Robot finds high radiation at No. 3 reactor bldg

A robot has detected highly dangerous levels of radiation in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor building, it has been learned, indicating further safety measures will be needed before workers can enter the structure.

According to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., the remote-controlled PackBot robot on Tuesday found radiation levels in the northwestern section of the building of 49 to 120 millisieverts per hour, which would pose a threat to human workers.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110513005828.htm

[outnow]

01:58 AM on 05/14/2011

Fanned for being right on top of it.

[mrJJ]

11:34 PM on 05/13/2011

Accurate data destroys optimistic TEPCO assessment, hampers cooling plan.

Accurate data shattered the overly optimistic assessment of Tokyo Electric Power Co. concerning the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and raised doubts about the company's game plan for ending the crisis.

Measurements from a recently installed water gauge provided conclusive evidence that the condition of the No. 1 reactor at the plant was much more serious than TEPCO officials have acknowledged until now.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105130192.html

[mrJJ]

11:28 PM on 05/13/2011

Japan has endured 1192 Earthquake­s/Aftershocks since March 11th. The total includes 3 that occured today.

http://www.japanquakemap.com/today

[mrJJ]

11:15 PM on 05/13/2011

Man dies after collapsing during Fukushima plant work
TOKYO, May 14, Kyodo

A worker at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died Saturday shortly after collapsing while he was carrying materials at a building, the operator said.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/91037.html

[mrJJ]

12:05 AM on 05/14/2011

Man was in his 60's... doing construction work..

[mairs]

10:30 AM on 05/14/2011

And it was his second day on the job.

[CaptD]

09:20 AM on 05/14/2011

I salute him and wish his family remember him as a
TRUE JAPANESE HERO FOR HUMANITY...

[CaptD]

09:28 PM on 05/13/2011

Everyone on the Planet will get a taste of Japan's global pollution and learn to fear Cancer as never before...Future generations will marvel at life before radiation like folks do today about life before AIDS...

[outnow]

01:56 AM on 05/14/2011

I had the exact same thought this evening.

[DrStrangelov]

04:02 AM on 05/14/2011

stop scaring people.

[CaptD]

09:21 AM on 05/14/2011

Stop living in denial!

[librainstars]

10:42 AM on 05/14/2011

DR
Google the manhatten project. Thou i think you already know the truth
google cancer rates there.