Below, please find the most recent FEPC statement. In the comments, reader “oldHP” notes that the wikipedia entry for Timeline of Fukushima Nuclear Accidents is quite good and easy to read.
Full text after the jump.
Update to Information Sheet Regarding the Tohoku Earthquake
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC) Washington DC Office
As of 12:30PM (EST), March 19, 2011
- Radiation Levels
o At 10:30PM (JST) on March 19, radiation level outside main office building (approximately 1,640 feet from Unit 2 reactor building) of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: 2,854 micro Sv/hour.
o Measurement results of ambient dose rate around Fukushima Nuclear Power Station announced at 4:00PM and 7:00PM on March 19 are shown in the attached two PDF files respectively.
o For comparison, a human receives 2,400 micro Sv per year from natural radiation in the form of sunlight, radon, and other sources. One chest CT scan generates 6,900 micro Sv per scan.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor
o At 4:50PM on March 19, pressure inside the reactor core: 0.205MPa.
o At 4:50PM on March 19, water level inside the reactor core: 1.75 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 4:50PM on March 19, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.18MPaabs.
o As of 9:00PM on March 19, the injection of seawater continues into the reactor core.
o Recovery work of power supply is to be scheduled.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 reactor
o At 9:05PM on March 18, access to the substation for reserve power supply from external transmission line was completed.
o As of 1:30PM on March 19, the work for laying the electric cable from the substation to the load site is being carried out.
o At 4:30PM on March 19, pressure inside the reactor core: -0.009MPa.
o At 4:30PM on March 19, water level inside the reactor core: 1.3 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 4:30PM on March 19, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.135MPaabs.
o As of 9:00PM on March 19, the injection of seawater continues into the reactor core.
o Activities for connecting the commercial electricity grid are underway.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor
o At 0:30AM on March 19, Tokyo Fire Department began to shoot water aimed at the spent fuel pool, continuously until 01:10AM.
o At 5:25PM on March 19, pressure inside the reactor core: -0.050MPa.
o At 5:25PM on March 19, water level inside the reactor core: 1.85 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 5:25PM on March 19, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.210MPaabs.
o At 5:30PM on March 19, Tokyo Fire Department began to shoot water continuously aimed at the spent fuel pool.
o As of 9:00PM on March 19, the injection of seawater continues into the reactor core.
o As of 9:00PM on March 19, activities for recovering the external power supply are underway.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 reactor
o No official updates to the information in our March 19 update have been provided.
o As of 9:00PM on March 19, activities for recovering the external power supply are underway.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 5 reactor
o At 5:00AM on March 19, pump for Residual Heat Removal (RHR) started up and cooling of spent fuel storage pool has started.
o At 6:00AM on March 19, the temperature of the spent fuel pool was measured at 155.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 9:15AM on March 19, making 3 holes in the roof of reactor building to prevent hydrogen from accumulating has been completed.
o At 6:00PM on March 19, the temperature of the spent fuel pool was measured at 118.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 6 reactor
o At 4:22AM on March 19, the second unit of emergency diesel generator started up.
o At 5:11AM on March 19, Fuel Pool Cooling (FPC) pump started to circulate the water of spent fuel pool.
o At 6:00AM on March 19, the temperature of the spent fuel pool was measured at 151.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 9:15AM on March 19, making 3 holes in the roof of reactor building to prevent hydrogen from accumulating has been completed.
o At 6:00PM on March 19, the temperature of the spent fuel pool was measured at 152.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Fukushima Daiichi Common Spent Fuel Pool
o At 11:19AM on March 18, the temperature of the spent fuel pool was measured at 131.0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Our official sources are:
- Office of The Prime Minister of Japan
- Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)
- Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Press Releases
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEX
Long video filmed from a car or truck showing the firefighter truck putting water on one of the reactor buildings (Nr.3?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Tds5d-ApU&feature=player_embedded
Either everything I learned about radiation hazards is wrong or the Japanese really do not have any armored cars or remote controlled cameras. The protection “suits” do also look rather pathetic…
There is really something very wrong here. By the way: Any news from the Global Hawk surveillance or any thermal images?
🙁
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Once again Wikipedia come to the mark ,
that’s a pretty good first stop, most journalists should read it
On the subject of Japan MOX supply
at first it was a British firm doing the supplying , but there was a quality control scandal
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ … 217a7.html
so they did the logical thing and turned to the French
http://asian-power.com/environment/news … aido-plant
The Plutonium is extracted from the spend fuel send to France at la Hague reprocessing plant
this Plutonium is totally unsuited for making bombs , wrong isotope
The interesting thing is that Japan started its own reprocessing and manufacturing stream
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Ro … 09094.html
but had some problems
http://news.reportlinker.com/n02371619/ … f.html?v=3
incidentally this could explain why the cooling ponds were choke full of old rods
( report of four full loads,three spent and one load of fresh fuel )
which is dangerous and inconvenient
the whole system was suffering of logistical back up
they should have been being reprocessed but there was a stuff up and delays, so they were left in the ponds
Stupid question allowed?
How can they have a negative pressure (-0.009MPa, -0.050MPa) inside the reactor cores of reactor #2 and #3?
Pure speculation from someone who doesn’t know much, but I had assumed that it could happen that after venting steam the amount of water vapor and air in the reactor would be lower than before, and then once the temperature inside the reactor dropped, if the containment were still well sealed, then the pressure could drop. Whether this kind of process is qualitatively plausible I do not know.
The other possibility is that the equipment taking the reading was damaged and is giving nutty readings.