I have nothing clever to say. The full-text of the latest FEPC Info Sheet is 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 11:30AM (EST), April 5, 2011
- Radiation Levels
o The concentration of radioactive nuclides from the seawater sampled at the screen device (installed to remove waste before the intake of seawater) of Unit 2 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station was as follows:
The details of this report are available at:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040506-e.html
Nuclides (half-life)
Concentration (Unit : Bq/cm3) Sampled at 11:50AM on April 2 Sampled at 6:25PM on April 3 Sampled at 9:00AM on April 4 Maximum Permissible Water Concentration I-131 (8 days)
3.0 x 105 7.9 x 104 2.0 x 105 4.0 x 10-2 Cs-134 (2 years)
1.2 x 105 3.5 x 104 9.6 x 104 6.0 x 10-2 Cs-137 (30 years)
1.2 x 105 3.6 x 104 9.6 x 104 9.0 x 10-2
o At 6:00PM on April 5, radiation level at main gate (approximately 3,281 feet from Unit 2 reactor building) of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: 112 micro Sv/hour.
o At 6:00PM on April 5, radiation level at west gate (approximately 3,609 feet from Unit 2 reactor building) of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: 67.4 micro Sv/hour.
o Measurement results of environmental radioactivity level around Fukushima Nuclear Power Station announced at 7:00PM on April 5 are shown in the attached PDF file. English version is available at: http://www.mext.go.jp/english/radioactivity_level/detail/1304082.htm
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 6:00AM on April 5, pressure inside the reactor core: 0.308MPa.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, water level inside the reactor core: 1.7 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.15MPaabs.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, the temperature of the reactor vessel measured at the water supply nozzle: 452.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the spent fuel pool by thermography measurement: 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the primary containment vessel by thermography measurement: 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, the injection of freshwater into the reactor core continues.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, preparation to recover and transfer the accumulated water at the turbine building continues.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 reactor
o At 6:00AM on April 5, pressure inside the reactor core: -0.018MPa.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, water level inside the reactor core: 1.5 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.10MPaabs.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, the temperature of the reactor vessel measured at the water supply nozzle: 287.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 6:00AM on April 5, the temperature of the spent fuel pool: 159.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the second containment building by thermography measurement: 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 2:15PM on April 5, TEPCO announced that the tracer (white colored dye) was observed entering the ocean through a crack on the lateral surface of the pit (a vertical portion of an underground structure for housing electric cables) near the seawater intake.
o At 3:07PM on April 5, TEPCO began injecting coagulator into the soil around the pit in an attempt to stop the discharge of water.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, the injection of freshwater into the reactor core continues.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, preparation to recover and transfer the accumulated water at the turbine building continues.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the spent fuel pool by thermography measurement: 132.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the primary containment vessel by thermography measurement: 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 10:20AM on April 5, pressure inside the reactor core: 0.005MPa.
o At 10:20AM on April 5, water level inside the reactor core: 1.85 meters below the top of the fuel rods.
o At 10:20AM on April 5, pressure inside the primary containment vessel: 0.1071MPaabs.
o At 10:20AM on April 5, the temperature of the reactor vessel measured at the water supply nozzle: 184.5 degrees Fahrenheit. (This figure is under investigation.)
o As of 1:30PM on April 5, approximately 4,978 tons of water in total has been shot into the spent fuel storage pool.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, the injection of freshwater into the reactor core continues.
o As of 7:00PM on April 5, preparation to recover and transfer the accumulated water at the turbine building continues.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 reactor
o At 7:20AM on April 5, the temperature directly above the spent fuel pool by thermography measurement: 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
o At 5:35PM on April 5, TEPCO began to shoot freshwater aimed at the spent fuel pool, with a specialized vehicle normally used for pumping concrete, until 6:22PM.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 5 reactor
o At 1:00PM on April 5, the temperature of the spent fuel pool: 94.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Fukushima Daiichi Unit 6 reactor
o At 1:00PM on April 5, the temperature of the spent fuel pool: 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Fukushima Daiichi Common Spent Fuel Pool
o At 7:10AM on April 5, the temperature of the spent fuel pool: 84.2 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 (MEXT)
NHK reporting measurements of I-131 300,000 Bq/cm3 in seawater near the water intake for unit 2 were taken at 11:50am JST on Saturday. Cs-137 was measured at 1.1M (yes, million) times the allowable limit in the same sample.
They also quote NISA as saying water is leaking from the reactor vessel into the sea.
http://bit.ly/gDuHOZ
So the NHK-reported measurements are consistent with the most recent FEPC statement, but why are measurements from Saturday only being disclosed on Tuesday? Would identification of these isotopes take that long?
With so many tons of water injected *into* the reactors and SF pools since the incident, TEPCO must have understood that this water wasn’t all being boiled off or staying within the reactor buildings.
Fukushima Internal Emitters
An ill wind comes arising
Across the cities of the plain
There’s no swimming in the heavy water
No singing in the acid rain
Absalom Absalom Absalom
TEPCO is lying. They have a consistent pattern of releasing a story that the radiation level at point P is, say, one-hundred gazillion sieverts per second, and then, the following day, telling us that they measured point P a second time and it’s only ten gazillion sieverts per second. Sometimes they don’t even bother with the frumious second measurement. Instead they say that their instrumentation was at fault and the figure is really lower (never higher). The headlines then read: “level of radiation falls”. There have been at least four instances of this sort of bafflegab.
TEPCO is lying. The question is: Is NISA lying?
–bks
@bks it looks like the pattern of contradictory information is more systematic and goes beyond TEPCO.
Some levels(small) of airborne radiation being detected in far away places such as Vancouver, B.C. and Hawaii and thousands of tons of radioactive water being discharged into the ocean not far from Chinese and the Korean(south and north)coast. Why the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident was not formally invoked?
This would have required Japan among other things to share accurate data about accident with the neighboring states.
If they have done so, and its not being made public, then the lack of transparency goes beyond TEPCO.
TEPCO just did it again. They announced they stopped the one well-publicized leak and got headlines from Fox reading:
“Radioactive Water in Japan No Longer Leaking into Pacific Ocean”
Which is absurd as 1) water seeks its own level and will just route around the plugged crack, 2) they’re intentionally pouring thousands of tons of radioactive water into the ocean, and 3) they are not publishing a comprehensive, well documented time series of measurements from the ocean.
–bks
One should tell the media to roll over from just reporting I-131 (and that the half-life scrubs most of the danger away quickly). The media should state how many times over the limit for Cs-137 (a nice gamma source), let alone the other radionuclides.
NRC confidential report leaked to NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06nuclear.html
–bks
One day the NRC will be as tough and impartial at assessing US plants (AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE) as they are with Japan.
Once the zirconium was burnt off, dousing with water
1) spreads nuclear material into the environment;
2) possibly prevents core meltdown and sfp meltdown.
I question whether the objective of preventing core meltdown is worth the polluted steam and water release. Would not the corium simply spread out and cool in place as happened in the basement of Chernobyl? Then simple entombment would minimize further release.
The Times articl implies the sfp(s) already burnt down, so why are we sending uncontained water