Fukushima's No. 5 Nuclear Reactor Cooling Facility Stops

(Reuters) - The system to cool the nuclear reactor and fuel pool has stopped at the No. 5 unit of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northeastern Japan, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power said Sunday.

A Tokyo Electric official said the operator had started work to repair the cooling facility and hoped to restore the system within several hours.

The official said the breakdown of the cooling systems would not lead to a rapid rise in temperatures at the reactor and spent fuel pool.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant's No. 1 to 4 reactors were severely damaged after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, while damages at the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors were less severe.

(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Everton]

07:45 PM on 06/10/2011

In order to clarify some important issues about the setting of Fukushima, the Institute for Energy and Nuclear Research (IPEN-CNEN/SP) invited a large nuclear expert in the field, Dr. Luis Antonio Albiac Earthquake, to talk about.
To access the full content please visit: quimiton.blogspot.com

[DrStrangelov]

02:26 AM on 06/01/2011

Obama remains committed to Nuclear Energy

Last Updated : 01 Jun 2011 12:00:00 AM IST

WASHINGTON: The Obama Administration remains committed to nuclear power as a source of energy, the White House has said, notwithstanding the decision by Germany to gradually get rid of all its nuclear power plants.


"I would say that we have a system here that we have a lot of faith in, that our independent regulatory body ensures that we have the safest and most responsibly run nuclear energy industry in the world," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

"The President (Obama) remains committed to nuclear energy as part of his clean energy agenda," he added.

http://expressbuzz.com/world/us-committed-to-nuclear-energy-white-house/280096.html

[Genders]

04:51 PM on 06/01/2011

Yup. Obama's admin sold nuclear power tech to Brazil in the week following the japan disaster!. Rahm and Axelrod both lobbied for the nuclear power industry. Chu's official DOE numbers use 4 year old costs for green and solar, and use future fantasy predictions for clean coal and nukes. The fix is in. Vote in the Progressive Caucus for all offices but Pres(till 2016).

[EcnelisDoogod]

10:22 PM on 06/01/2011

I think you meant Chile.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/chile-us-nuclear-accord-agreement_n_837812.html

[CaptD]

05:01 PM on 06/02/2011

Not the CHANGE we all wanted too see :-(

[termgirl]

12:46 AM on 06/01/2011

'Oil Leaking Into Sea from Fukushima."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/307398

(And the hits just keep on comin'.........sadly.)

[mrJJ]

11:20 PM on 05/31/2011

1st TEPCO announced that nearly stopped soaring level of contaminated water trapped in the basement of the reactor building Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1.


５月３１日午前７時までの２４時間で３７６ミリ上昇したが、その後の２４時間は１ミリ低下した。 Has risen 376 millimeters in 24 hours, 7 am May 31, 24 hours to decrease 1 mm. 急上昇は２９日から３０日にかけて降り続いた雨の影響とみられており、２～４号機のタービン建屋の汚染水の水位は、依然として上昇傾向が続いている。 Impact is expected to surge in the rain lasted 30 days until 29, 2 - Contamination of water level of the Unit 4 turbine building, which still continues to rise.

東電によると、２～４号機のタービン建屋地下の水位は６月１日午前７時までの２４時間に２４ミリ～６０ミリ上昇した。 According to TEPCO, the turbine building basement level 2 of Unit 4 to 24 mm in 24 hours - 7 am Friday, June 01 rose 60 mm. １号機は変化がなかった。 Unit 1 did not change. ２～４号機タービン建屋の水位上昇が続いている理由について、東電は「はっきりしない」とする一方、１ミリ低下した１号機原子炉建屋の水位については、「水位計の誤差が数センチ程度あるため、実際に減少したかどうかは分からないが、水位は安定したと考えられる」と説明している。 2 - why the water level continues to rise in the turbine building No. 4, TEPCO is "not clear" and one for the Unit 1 reactor water level decreased 1 mm, "have several centimeters of water gauge error Therefore, whether the decline is actually unknown, is considered to be a stable water level "has been explained.

[professor]

12:12 AM on 06/01/2011

Wasn't somebody predicting the typhoon would cause this problem? Or is it not caused by heavy rains?

[mrJJ]

11:14 PM on 05/31/2011

TEPCO gets worker safety rebuke

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110531004886.htm

[mrJJ]

11:07 PM on 05/31/2011

Elderly lead lonely, impoverished lives after disaster.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105310216.html

[mrJJ]

10:57 PM on 05/31/2011

Looks like this Fukushima incident is going to cost PM Kan his position... Too bad this situation got turned into a political food fight.. The estimated 20 Trillion Yen to clean up that mess is going to hurt...Japans recovery...

[DrStrangelov]

02:14 AM on 06/01/2011

The tsunami damage is in the trillions as well. There is plenty of blame to go around. The political food fight has turned into an ideological food fight on this forum.

Anti nukes think pro nukes are misanthropes
Pro nukes think antinukes are kooks

It never ends, same old story. Its been going on for 30 years with no resolution.

Germany buckled, but nuclear is still moving forward.

[ginger42]

10:52 PM on 05/31/2011

Workers didn't take medicine

Two TEPCO workers, who were believed to have received radiation exposure in excess of the state-set limit of 250 millisieve­­rts, were found to have not taken potassium iodide pills as directed, according to the company.

Potassium iodide is said to prevent radioactiv­­e iodine from accumulati­­ng in the thyroid gland.

TEPCO said it told the workers to take the pills for two weeks. However, they took only one dose on March 13. TEPCO is currently questionin­­g the two male employees as to why they did not take them. On March 14, a hydrogen explosion occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor where they were working. A massive amount of radioactiv­­e material was believed to have spread in the air.

On Monday, the two were examined at the National Institute of Radiologic­­al Sciences in Chiba. Radioactiv­­e matter was detected in their urine, but they did not have health problems such as loss of motor function.

"It is believed that they weren't taking the tablets at appropriat­­e times," said Makoto Akashi, director of the institute. They may not have accumulate­­d so much radioactiv­­e material in their body if they had taken the pills right after exposure, he added.
(Jun. 1, 2011)

http://www­­.yomiuri.­c­o.jp/dy/­na­tional/­T11­053100­4886­.htm

[mrJJ]

11:11 PM on 05/31/2011

health ministry on Tuesday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. and a partner firm to correct practices regarding their failure to prevent workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant from being exposed to radiation.

The order, issued by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry in connection with the firms' violation of the Labor Safety and Sanitation Law, was made retroactive to Monday.

According to the ministry, TEPCO and Kandenko Co. allowed some employees to work at the plant without wearing dosimeters. The law requires operators to ensure workers wear dosimeters on the job.

From March to May, there were several cases where female employees working at the plant absorbed radiation above the legal limit of five millisieverts per three-month period.

Kandenko, a Tokyo-based major electric engineering company, in March allowed its employees to work in a turbine building among highly radioactive water without wearing protective boots.

The ministry conducted an on-site inspection at the plant to review working conditions before determining there was a problem with TEPCO and Kandenko's handling of radiation dose management.

TEPCO announced Monday that two employees working at the plant and in the central control room when a reactor suffered a hydrogen explosion in March may have absorbed radiation exceeding 250 millisieverts. The ministry plans to rebuke TEPCO over the matter.

The ministry has also asked TEPCO to keep two other employees also in the central control room from work until the amount of radiation they have been exposed to is determined.

[mairs]

12:52 AM on 06/01/2011

According to the CDC:

"Knowing what KI cannot do is also important. KI cannot prevent radioactive iodine from entering the body. KI can protect only the thyroid from radioactive iodine, not other parts of the body. KI cannot reverse the health effects caused by radioactive iodine once damage to the thyroid has occurred. KI cannot protect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine—if radioactive iodine is not present, taking KI is not protective."

[DrStrangelov]

01:55 AM on 06/01/2011

In fact, it can be down right harmful.

[ginger42]

08:09 PM on 05/31/2011

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/cellphone-radiation-may-cause-cancer-advisory-panel-says/?hp

More panic time? Or do we take some realistic assessments of the situation?

A World Health Organization panel has concluded that cellphones are “possibly carcinogenic,’’ putting the popular devices in the same category as certain dry cleaning chemicals and pesticides, as a potential threat to human health.

[mairs]

10:29 PM on 05/31/2011

It won't make the Fukushima disaster go away.

[ginger42]

11:34 PM on 05/31/2011

from http://www­­.yomiuri.­c­o.jp/dy/­na­tional/­T11­053100­4886­.htm

Workers didn't take medicine

Two TEPCO workers, who were believed to have received radiation exposure in excess of the state-set limit of 250 millisieve­­rts, were found to have not taken potassium iodide pills as directed, according to the company.

Potassium iodide is said to prevent radioactiv­­e iodine from accumulati­­ng in the thyroid gland.

[DrStrangelov]

01:57 AM on 06/01/2011

Thats right. But it will put a tumor in your brain. There are many ways to cause cancer. The irony is that the likelihood that Fukushima will cause one, given our best and brightest scientific and medical knowledge that is peer reviewed, is remote.

[professor]

02:34 PM on 05/31/2011

I like how cellphones cause cancer but radiation doesn't.

[rich misty]

06:49 PM on 05/31/2011

Second hand tobacco smoke causes negative health effects and cancers. But radiation, which is a radiological bio-hazard and Class 1 carcinogen is good for you the Nuclear Cheerleaders say.

[outnow]

07:39 PM on 05/31/2011

Up is down, and down is up! It's a topsy turvy world, really!

- Alice. Through the Looking Glass.

A bit Orwellian, too.

[MAX1]

10:28 PM on 05/31/2011

Well, technically they phrase it, "NOT HARMFUL TO HUMAN HEALTH IN LOW DOSAGES"...
... Just like second hand smoke is low dosages. But they don't compute it that way because to do so would mean that they're acting like a Tobacco Lobbyist of the 1960's - 1980's. Profits matter while people's health doesn't.

[mrJJ]

12:38 PM on 05/31/2011

Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Chernobyl 'jumper' airs Fukushima fears

Singapore — Sergei Belyakov, a scientist who helped clean up debris after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, is worried about Japanese workers now risking their lives to contain the aftermath of core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

"I really feel sorry for the situation in Fukushima, honestly," the 55-year-old "jumper" in Chernobyl said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110601f2.html

[granitegirl]

11:39 AM on 05/31/2011

Now on front page of Huff Post World:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/fukushima-plant-oil-spill_n_869068.html

[iam99]

11:38 AM on 05/31/2011

Since the first nuclear inmcident in 1952 there have been 18 in total; USSR 3, Japan 5, US 6, Canada, 1, UK 3. Totals from Al Jazeera's Inside Story 5/31/11 starting at 14:50. The concern must be this: How much radiation can the world be exposed to before the world's body burden is reached and the planet can no longer sustain life? Instead, all of the events in food production and availability, animal and human gestation and births, water and air quality that can be negatively affected by increased radiation dosage will make living an impossibility.

This is why all efforts must be made for alternative means of energy production, but at the point of usage. Why not work to minimize the necessity of the grid everywhere?

Alternative means of generation

[iam99]

11:55 AM on 05/31/2011

My last sentence was cut off. It was approximately this:

Alternative means of generation and conservation at the point of usage are key and efforts must be made to assure this. I want future generations to be able to LIVE here - FOREVER!

[termgirl]

03:13 PM on 05/31/2011

Faved.

[BoyWhenYouLeastExpectIT]

12:00 PM on 05/31/2011

Posted to the other thread...that's how good your comment is!! Long time fan, fanning again!

[iam99]

12:52 PM on 05/31/2011

Thank you and fanned back. I have appreciated your comments. This reminds me of something that was written on the John and Beverly Martyn album Road to Ruin back in 1970: " I am not about death or dying or anything like that."
Check their title track on YT. Still great after all these years!

[CynWaveRider]

11:29 AM on 05/31/2011

How long will this disaster continue. It appears that Japan, like the the US NRC has no real, effective plan to handle nuclear accidents and nuclear disasters. And our irrational Congress is pushing for more nukes calling them 'clean' energy and trying to slip nukes into clean and carbon-free energy bills. The NRC has been given powers that appears to overrule state's rights (VT

[DrStrangelov]

02:24 AM on 06/01/2011

I dont believe you understand the inner workings of NRC. Our Congress is our elected leaders. You want different leaders? Go make it happen. The NRC is a federal organization and VY provides power over state lines. Thats a clear case of federal jurisdiction. The NRC already granted VY a license extension. People want to use Fukushima to make political hay with VY. It isnt going to happen. The horse has left and you are closing the barn door after the fact.

[DrStrangelov]

11:12 AM on 05/31/2011

http://www.nei.org/publicpolicy/congressionaltestimony/testimony-on-nuclear-energy-risk-management-after-fukushima-may-13-2011/

John D. Boice, Jr., Sc.D.
Professor of Radiation Epidemiology
Department of Medicine
Vanderbilt University


United State House of Representatives
Committee on Science, Space and Technology
Subcommittees on Energy

[outnow]

12:15 PM on 05/31/2011

Dr. Boice said that he wants to learn about the effects of low dose radiation that the Japanese will now be facing over their lifetimes, indeed, for many generations to come. Why didn't they wait until these important health issues were answered beforehand? No, the nuclear boosters acted like primitive cave men with their new toy.

If Dr. Boice has no clue about these health issues, then he admits that we were all guinea pigs. The data may come out past out lifetimes and, indeed, well past the time that anything can be done about rising cancer morbidity from ingestion of uranium and plutonium gases, strontium 90, Iodine and cesium and a wirtches' brew of toxic radionuclides. The oil and gas industrties and biomass, especially of corn will never work. I favor using nanotechnology to harness the ability of bacteria to break down water into H and O2. The H can be burned and leaves H2O as a byproduct. No acid rain. No carbon footprint. No climate change. No wars, no secrecy, no danger, no pollution, minimal costs.

[DrStrangelov]

01:58 AM on 06/01/2011

He has a clue. In fact, I dont believe a study is necessary. We already know that low doses belore 0.01 Sv are harmless. Else everyone on the planet would be dropping like flies.

[CaptD]

03:18 PM on 05/31/2011

Friend of Your$?