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Fukushima

TEPCo backtracks on blaming employees for Reactor 1 meltdown

Recently Tokyo Electric Power Company tried to blame the metldown of reactor 1 on an employee turning off the cooling system.  Turns out the employee was following TEPCo’s own operating manual!

TEPCo now says the employee was following procedure because coolants temps had actually dropped, so much that their manual called for the shut down of the cooling system.

They also revealed that data recorded immediately after 11 March 2011 does not show any cooling problems, for at least 30 minutes after the 11 March quake/tsunami.  A week ago TEPCo said reactor 1 began meltdown in the early hours of 12 March.  Reactor 3 melted down on 13 March and reactor 2 on 15 March.   I have to think that TEPCo’s instrumentation is faulty, or TEPCo officials are inept at reading the data collected, why else are they just now figuring this out?

Fukushima

TEPCo criticized for lying about meltdown data, reactor 2 & 3 melted down!

Tokyo Electric Power Company now confirm reactors 2 and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, melted down within days after the 11 March tsunami.

Reactor 3 began meltdown on 13 March, Reactor 2 on 15 March.

Previously TEPCo officials said their inability to access the reactor buildings kept them from the knowledge of any meltdowns, but a Japanese expert says that’s BS.

According to NHK, Naito Masanori of the Institute of Applied Energy, says data from the reactors should have been easy to get.  In fact TEPCo sould have realized meltdowns were taking place within a day, not several months.

The latest admission from TEPCo means that three nuclear reactors melted down within days of the 11 March disasters, again proving that this is worse than Chernobyl.  It also proves that TEPCo literally fiddled while Fukushima burned.  In a previous posting I wrote how TEPCo spent most of their time in the first weeks of the nuke disaster trying to come up with plans to build new reactors.

 

Fukushima

TEPCo president resigns, TEPCo losses big money

Tokyo Electric Power Company president, Shimizu Masataka, has resigned, and will step down in June.

TEPCo has lost $15 billion.  $12 billion of that is directly due to dealing with the ongoing nuclear disaster at their Fukushima Daiichi plant.

In order to pay compensation to people affected by the radiation disaster, TEPCo will sell off $7 billion in property, and cut $6 billion in operating expenses by laying employees off, and ending research & development.

Fukushima

Reactor 2 & 3 risk of more hydrogen explosions!

20 May 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company says they will resume nitrogen injection in Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors 2 and 3.  There is a fear that hydrogen gas is building to explosive levels.

The explosions of the reactor buildings, back in March, is blamed on hydrogen gas build up.  TEPCo also said they were installing lead shields in Reactor 3, because of extremely high radiation levels.

Fukushima, International

All nuclear reactors in Germany fail safety tests!

“It remains the case that a way must be found for us to leave nuclear power behind as soon as possible.”-Norbert Rottgen, Environment Minister

Because of the ongoing nuke disaster reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, Germany ordered ‘worst case scenario’ testing of all its nuclear plants.  They all FAILED!

The report was published by Der Spiegel.  It was discovered that all of Germany’s nuke plants lack the “required safety features” to withstand a level three disaster.   Not only that, but four of the plants failed simulations involving small aircraft crashing into them.

The highest safety standard rating for nuclear plants in Germany, is a level three rating.  The report says most of the plants can’t even meet level two safety standards.

Fukushima

City in southern Japan hit with radiation!

For the first time since the nuclear disaster started in Japan, the city of Osaka has detected cesium contamination.

Osaka is about 560 km (348 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.

City officials say that between 01 April and 02 May, low levels of cesium 134 & 137 were detected in rain water, and dust.

Opinion

Ronin planets existing without Suns, ancient Sumerians were right

NHK reports Japanese astronomers have discovered what they call “floating planets”.

At least ten floating planets have been discovered using an observatory in New Zealand.  The planets have mass equal to the planet Jupiter, yet they exist outside any solar system, and apparently don’t need to orbit a star.

The discovery could back up the ancient Sumerian myths that describe a rogue planet (and its “companions”), with the mass of Jupiter, plowing its way through our solar system, resulting in the creation of the planet Earth.

The Vikings also have a myth about the end of days when the great wolf will seemingly swallow the sun and moon. Could these Ronin planets be the wolf?

I call these planets ‘Ronin’, meaning without master (referring to the Japanese astronomers, and that the planets don’t need a sun).

Fukushima

TEPCo tries to blame employees for nuclear meltdown!

Tokyo Electric Power Company says they have reason to believe the cooling systems for Fukushima Daiichi were manually turned off.

They claim that the automatic systems kicked on after the 9.0 quake, but were then manually shut off right before the tsunami hit. It was three hours later before the system was turned back on.  TEPCo did not provide evidence, and it sounded like speculation to me.

Basically they’re trying to say a shutdown of cooling systems for slightly longer than three hours caused a total meltdown of fuel rods in Reactor 1.  They’re forgetting that there was no power to run the system anyway (according to their own statements weeks ago).  Also, TEPCo has recently admitted that dozens of trucks with generators, brought in after the tsunami, failed to provide power to run the plant.  It sounds like TEPCo is trying to blame its lower level throwaway employees for the meltdown.

Fukushima

Good thing Hamaoka nuclear plant was shut down; damage has been found

In the past week the Hamaoka nuke plant, east of Tokyo, was shut down, at the request of the government.

The reason was that the plant sat on two fault lines, and scientists expect a 8+ quake. The plant was not built to withstand such a earthquake.

Now Chubu Electric Power Company says they’ve discovered that at least 400 tons of salt water has gotten into the reactors.  Salt water can damage the reactors and coolant pumps.  They think the salt water is coming from a damaged water line connected to a turbine room.

Fukushima

TEPCo admits Fukushima Daiichi did indeed meltdown on 11 March.

Tokyo Electric Power Company now admits that meltdown occurred, at least with Reactor 1, on 11 March.  They base their claims on their most recent data.

That means high levels of toxic radiation have indeed been spewing from the plant for at least two months now.  There is concern that fuel rods in reactors 2 and 3 have also melted down.  TEPCo admits it could be the cause of the massive leaks of highly contaminated water coming from the the buildings.

The latest check of cesium levels in the ocean, show that Reactor 3 is pouring even more cesium into the ocean, than it was a few days ago.

TEPCo says that after the 9.0 quake, and then the tsunami, it took too long for back up power to start pumping coolant through the system; the meltdown had already occurred by 06:50 on 12 March.  The melted fuel rods were starting to crack the vessel when the coolant hit, which seems to have stopped, or slowed the melting process.  But the reactor vessels are now damaged enough to cause the water being pumped in to simply leak out, almost as fast as they can pump in the water.  Of course the water became highly contaminated.