Timeline : Fukushima nuclear nightmare
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Investigations at unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi suggest that most of the fuel in the reactor core melted and dropped to the bottom of the reactor vessel in the early stages of the accident. Work has started on installing a structure to cover the damaged reactor building. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said that following the installation and calibration of two new water level gauges, water level readings suggest that most of the fuel in unit 1 had earlier melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor vessel, where it has solidified and been kept adequately cooled. The company said that most of this core melt probably occurred within 16 hours after the unit automatically shutdown when the earthquake struck on 11 March.
Fukushima fuel melt confirmed
Fukushima, risk, and probability: Expect the unexpected
Article Highlights Experts ignored or underestimated major risks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, even though these risks should have been obvious. Risk assessments that rely on probability do not offer sufficient protection against accidents that happen rarely, or have never happened before. Nuclear plants are complex facilities housing concentrations of extremely dangerous materials, so they must be more reliable and tightly regulated than they currently are. We continue to populate our planet with technologies that have catastrophic potential.
"The Japanese nuclear industry has a history of falsifying data and hiding accidents. An engineer acknowledged that he falsified documents when casting one containment vessel for the Fukushima complex, and received a large bonus for saving the company the expense of making a new one." by Apr 4
". Experts throughout the nuclear industry and government regulatory agencies not only failed to predict the likelihood of a giant earthquake and tsunami, but also failed to examine the vulnerabilities of Fukushima Daiichi's design to a natural disaster of this scale. Instead, they relied on a history of successful operation as an assurance of future safety. As a result, they ignored or underestimated a number of major risks that have since doomed the plant:" by Apr 4
"Few nations have the institutional capacity to contain the catastrophic potential of nuclear energy, and we now know that Japan is not one of them." by Apr 4
Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports, Accidents
The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan ’s atomic power industry. The destruction caused by last week’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami comes less than four years after a 6.8 quake shut the world’s biggest atomic plant, also run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. In 2002 and 2007, revelations the utility had faked repair records forced the resignation of the company’s chairman and president, and a three-week shutdown of all 17 of its reactors.
Am pleased to be back in the US, safe and sound with my family. (Note to reporters: Stop sounding disappointed; it pisses me off.) The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC) — which arranged for my trip — has released a detailed statement that provides basic timeline of what has happened at the Fuskushima nuclear reactor site and the efforts to prevent a contain the damage.
FEPCO Statement on Fukushima
Another FEPC Statement
Another statement from FEPC. My comment: TEPCO is fighting the good fight, continuing to inject seawater into Units 1 and 2. TEPCO has suspended seawater injection on Unit 3 after the explosion.
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Crisis continues at Fukushima nuclear plant as fuel rods exposed again
Loss of coolant at Fukushima Daiichi 2
FIRST PUBLISHED: 6.14pm UPDATE 1: 8.04pm Information from Tepco television appearance Serious damage to the reactor core of Fukushima Daiichi 2 seems likely after coolant was apparently lost for a period. Seawater is again being injected, but coolant level is unknown. A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company has appeard on national broadcaster NHK to explain the company's efforts to control unit 2's reactor core after its isolation cooling system failed following an increase in containment pressure to some 700 kPa.Fukushima Nuclear Accident – 15 March summary of situation
The situation surrounding the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, triggered by Japan’s largest recorded earthquake and the resulting 10 m high tsunami, continues to develop rapidly. This post is intended to be a concise update of the situation as of 12pm Japan Standard Time, 15 March 2011. For a summary of the situation prior to today, read these posts: Japanese nuclear reactors and the 11 March 2011 earthquake Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation (with further updates at MIT here: http://mitnse.com/ )
Updates of 2 June 2011 Staff Report → Chronology of Updates : 2 June | 12-18 May | 4-11 May | 5 May | 3 May | 2 May | 28 April | 27 April | 26 April | 21 April | 20 April | 19 April | 18 April | 15 April | 14 April | 13 April | 12 April | 11 April | 10 April | 9 April | 8 April | 7 April | 6 April | 5 April | 4 April | 3 April | 2 April | 1 April | 31 March | 30 March | 29 March | 28 March | 27 March | 26 March | 25 March | 24 March | 23 March | 22 March | 21 March | 20 March | 19 March | 18 March | 17 March | 16 March | 15 March | 14 March | 13 March | 12 March | 11 March | Full Update → Important Note on Updates
Update on Japan Earthquake
March 15, 2011 ISIS assesses that the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has worsened considerably. The explosion in the Unit 2 reactor, the third so far, and the fire in the spent fuel pond in the reactor building for Unit 4 1 means that this accident can no longer be viewed as a level 4 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Events (INES) scale that ranks events from 1 to 7.
Japan › ISIS Statement on Events at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Site in Japan
Most Recent FEPC Statement
FEPC has released another update. Not great news. The cores are all at least partially exposed.Advertising, display How to place a display ad on NewsTimes.com. Arts and Entertainment Everything you need to know about what's going on in the world of entertainment in Danbury and beyond.
US says plant's spent fuel rods dry; Japan says no
FIRST PUBLISHED 0.25am GMT UPDATE 1:14am GMT Information from TEPCO spokesman and video feed UPDATE 2: 4:10am GMT Change title from 'Second fire reported at unit 4' and information on Unit 3 and 4 from Yukiyo Edano UPDATE 3: 4.50pm GMT Status of fuel pond in unit 4, status of seawater pumping, radiological conditions UPDATE 4: 10.01pm GMT Unit 3's pond status and the current focus of work UPDATE 5: 22.47pm GMT Addition of pond temperatures Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has described problems that occurred on the morning of 16 March with Fukushima Daiichi 3 and 4, as well as plans to pump water into unit 4.
Problems for units 3 and 4
FIRST PUBLISHED: 4.25am GMT UPDATE 1: 9.29am GMT Temperature, radiation data and context UPDATE 2: 10.00am GMT Further temperature data UPDATE 3: 1.41pm GMT Fire trucks in action UPDATE 4: 4.53pm GMT Image and results of spraying