Japan steps closer to a full-blown nuclear catastrophe


By Steven Mufson
The Washington Post
Monday, March 14, 11

Japan stepped closer to a full blown nuclear catastrophe Tuesday after the third explosion in four days appeared to have damaged equipment inside the reactor, apparently creating a path for the escape of radioactive materials, and a fire broke out at a separate reactor where spent fuel and hydrogen ignited. Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the seaside nuclear complex, ordered the evacuation of all but the 50 most essential workers and the Japanese Prime Minister addressed the nation urging people within 19 miles to stay indoors and remain calm.

Officials from Tokyo Electric Power, the plant owner, said the 6:14 a.m. explosion took place in the unit 2 reactor at or near the suppression pool, which collects water and radioactive elements from the containment vessel.

Experts said that, unlike the two previous explosions that destroyed outer buildings, this one might have damaged valves and drain pipes, possibly creating a path for radioactive materials to escape.

The explosion — more serious than the earlier blasts — was followed by a brief drop in pressure in the vessel and a spike in radioactivity outside the reactor to levels more than eight times what people ordinarily receive in a year, the company said. Tokyo Electric, which over the weekend said it had 1,400 people working at the complex, said it was evacuating all nonessential personnel, leaving about 50 people there.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the nation Tuesday morning that radiation had spread from the reactors and there was a very high risk of further radioactive material escaping. He urged people within 19 miles of the plant to remain indoors. He urged calm.

But Kan also said a fire had broken out at a fourth reactor unit.

The new setbacks came on the heels of a difficult Monday at Fukushima Daiichi unit 2. Utility officials there reported that four out of five water pumps being used to flood the reactor had failed and that the other pump had briefly stopped working. As a result, the company said, the fuel rods, normally covered by water, were completely exposed for 140 minutes, hastening the partial meltdown of them that most experts think is underway.

According to a report by the Kyodo news agency, the fifth pump was later restarted, and seawater mixed with boron was again injected in a desperate bid to cool the reactor, but the fuel rods remained partially exposed and ultra-hot. On Tuesday morning, Tokyo Electric said that 2.7 meters of the rods were still exposed.

The other four pumps were thought to have been damaged by a blast Monday that destroyed a building at the nearby unit 3 reactor, Kyodo reported. That blast, like one on Saturday at unit 1, was caused by a buildup in hydrogen generated by a reaction that took place when the zirconium alloy wrapped around the fuel rods was exposed to steam at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that injections of seawater into units 1 and 3 had been interrupted because of a low level in a seawater supply reservoir, but the seawater injections were later restored.

A commercial satellite photo of the complex showed piles of debris on top of units 1 and 3, which raised new fears about the condition of the pools where spent fuel is stored, especially at unit 1, where a design by General Electric placed the pool on top of the reactor but below the outer structure, which was destroyed. But the ability of workers to assess the damage was hindered by fears that another explosion might occur.

Last March, 1,760 tons of spent fuel were stored in the six pools — 84 percent of capacity, according to Tokyo Electric.

After Monday’s explosion at unit 3, Japanese government officials were quick to assert that it did not damage the core containment structure, and they?said there would be little increase in radiation levels around the plant. But the explosion prompted Japan’s nuclear agency to warn those within 12 miles to stay indoors. The blast also injured 11 people, one seriously.

The string of earthquake- and tsunami-triggered troubles at the Fukushima Daiichi plant began Friday, when a loss of grid power (caused by the earthquake) followed by a loss of backup diesel generators (caused by the tsunami) led to the failure of cooling systems needed to keep the reactor cores from overheating.

The IAEA reported that Japan has evacuated 185,000 people from towns near the nuclear complex. The agency said Japan has distributed 230,000 units of stable iodine to evacuation centers from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants. The iodine has not been administered to residents; the distribution is a precautionary measure.

The ingestion of stable iodine can help to prevent the accumulation of radioactive iodine in the thyroid.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said Monday that some of its personnel, who are stationed 100 miles offshore from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, had come into contact with radioactive contamination. The airborne radioactivity prompted the fleet to reposition its ships and aircraft.

Using sensitive instruments, precautionary measurements were conducted on three helicopter aircrews returning to the USS Ronald Reagan after conducting disaster relief missions near Sen-dai. Those measurements identified low levels of radioactivity on 17 crew members.

The low-level radioactivity was easily removed from affected personnel by having them wash with soap and water, and later tests detected no contamination.

The political fallout spread all the way to the United States and Europe. German Chancellor Angel Merkel said Monday that she was suspending a deal that would have extended permits for 17 aging nuclear plants.

Many nuclear experts also called for a tougher scrutiny of U.S. plants, noting that the Japanese nuclear crisis exposed the limits of human ingenuity and imagination and pointed to the possible failure of the best-laid backup plans.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and director of the Nuclear Safety Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a conference call that in certain respects, the U.S. nuclear plants are not as prepared as the Japanese ones for a catastrophic power outage. After the earthquake and tsunami knocked out the electrical grid and backup generators, the Japanese engineers switched to batteries that could last for eight hours, he said.

“In this country, most of our reactors are only designed with battery capacity for four hours,” Lochbaum said. “Many of our reactors are in a situation where earthquakes, or hurricanes in the gulf, or ice storms in the northeast, or a tree in Cleveland, can cause an extensive blackout.”

The 2003 blackout that affected 52 million people across the upper Midwest, New York and parts of Canada was triggered when overheated wires sagged into trees in northeastern Ohio. Nine nuclear units switched to diesel backup generators, which are the size of locomotives without wheels.

Despite the cascade of equipment failures at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, some nuclear experts noted that the fuel rods there, whose temperature could have risen to as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, would lose some of their heat over the next few days and would probably remain encased, even in the worst-case scenario, in a secondary containment structure with several feet of steel and concrete walls.

But the new explosion raises new questions. With it impossible to see into the reactor vessels, officials were in large part speculating about what is happening inside by using a variety of gauges and indicators.

“Let’s hope they can get these reactors under control,” said Richard Lester, head of the department of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They’re not there yet.”

Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the nation Tuesday morning that radiation had spread from the reactors and there was a very high risk of further radioactive material escaping. He urged people within 19 miles of the plant to remain indoors. He urged calm.

But Kan also said a fire had broken out at a fourth reactor unit.

The new setbacks came on the heels of a difficult Monday at Fukushima Daiichi unit 2. Utility officials there reported that four out of five water pumps being used to flood the reactor had failed and that the other pump had briefly stopped working. As a result, the company said, the fuel rods, normally covered by water, were completely exposed for 140 minutes, hastening the partial meltdown of them that most experts think is underway.

According to a report by the Kyodo news agency, the fifth pump was later restarted, and seawater mixed with boron was again injected in a desperate bid to cool the reactor, but the fuel rods remained partially exposed and ultra-hot. On Tuesday morning, Tokyo Electric said that 2.7 meters of the rods were still exposed.

The other four pumps were thought to have been damaged by a blast Monday that destroyed a building at the nearby unit 3 reactor, Kyodo reported. That blast, like one on Saturday at unit 1, was caused by a buildup in hydrogen generated by a reaction that took place when the zirconium alloy wrapped around the fuel rods was exposed to steam at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that injections of seawater into units 1 and 3 had been interrupted because of a low level in a seawater supply reservoir, but the seawater injections were later restored.

A commercial satellite photo of the complex showed piles of debris on top of units 1 and 3, which raised new fears about the condition of the pools where spent fuel is stored, especially at unit 1, where a design by General Electric placed the pool on top of the reactor but below the outer structure, which was destroyed. But the ability of workers to assess the damage was hindered by fears that another explosion might occur.

Last March, 1,760 tons of spent fuel were stored in the six pools — 84 percent of capacity, according to Tokyo Electric.

After Monday’s explosion at unit 3, Japanese government officials were quick to assert that it did not damage the core containment structure, and they?said there would be little increase in radiation levels around the plant. But the explosion prompted Japan’s nuclear agency to warn those within 12 miles to stay indoors. The blast also injured 11 people, one seriously.

The string of earthquake- and tsunami-triggered troubles at the Fukushima Daiichi plant began Friday, when a loss of grid power (caused by the earthquake) followed by a loss of backup diesel generators (caused by the tsunami) led to the failure of cooling systems needed to keep the reactor cores from overheating.

The IAEA reported that Japan has evacuated 185,000 people from towns near the nuclear complex. The agency said Japan has distributed 230,000 units of stable iodine to evacuation centers from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants. The iodine has not been administered to residents; the distribution is a precautionary measure.

The ingestion of stable iodine can help to prevent the accumulation of radioactive iodine in the thyroid.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said Monday that some of its personnel, who are stationed 100 miles offshore from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, had come into contact with radioactive contamination. The airborne radioactivity prompted the fleet to reposition its ships and aircraft.

Using sensitive instruments, precautionary measurements were conducted on three helicopter aircrews returning to the USS Ronald Reagan after conducting disaster relief missions near Sen-dai. Those measurements identified low levels of radioactivity on 17 crew members.

The low-level radioactivity was easily removed from affected personnel by having them wash with soap and water, and later tests detected no contamination.

The political fallout spread all the way to the United States and Europe. German Chancellor Angel Merkel said Monday that she was suspending a deal that would have extended permits for 17 aging nuclear plants.

Many nuclear experts also called for a tougher scrutiny of U.S. plants, noting that the Japanese nuclear crisis exposed the limits of human ingenuity and imagination and pointed to the possible failure of the best-laid backup plans.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and director of the Nuclear Safety Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a conference call that in certain respects, the U.S. nuclear plants are not as prepared as the Japanese ones for a catastrophic power outage. After the earthquake and tsunami knocked out the electrical grid and backup generators, the Japanese engineers switched to batteries that could last for eight hours, he said.

“In this country, most of our reactors are only designed with battery capacity for four hours,” Lochbaum said. “Many of our reactors are in a situation where earthquakes, or hurricanes in the gulf, or ice storms in the northeast, or a tree in Cleveland, can cause an extensive blackout.”

The 2003 blackout that affected 52 million people across the upper Midwest, New York and parts of Canada was triggered when overheated wires sagged into trees in northeastern Ohio. Nine nuclear units switched to diesel backup generators, which are the size of locomotives without wheels.

Despite the cascade of equipment failures at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, some nuclear experts noted that the fuel rods there, whose temperature could have risen to as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, would lose some of their heat over the next few days and would probably remain encased, even in the worst-case scenario, in a secondary containment structure with several feet of steel and concrete walls.

But the new explosion raises new questions. With it impossible to see into the reactor vessels, officials were in large part speculating about what is happening inside by using a variety of gauges and indicators.

“Let’s hope they can get these reactors under control,” said Richard Lester, head of the department of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They’re not there yet.”

  1. #1 by yhsiew on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 12:31 pm

    To sum it up, nuclear power plants are hazardous and dangerous. The government must not allowed nuclear plants to be built in Malaysia.

  2. #2 by k1980 on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 12:37 pm

    http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/chernobyl-deaths-180406/

    A new Greenpeace report has revealed that the full consequences of the Chernobyl disaster could top a quarter of a million cancer cases and nearly 100,000 fatal cancers.

    Hiroshima, Nagasaki and now Fukushima

  3. #3 by dagen on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 1:03 pm

    Nuclear energy for malaysia. Way to go jib. Our angkasawan can apply his flipping-patties-in-space knowledge to help us design an unbreakable and un-melt-able nuclear fuel cores.

    Pssst, umnoputras listen. Wanna energise yourself now that you are fully armed with the ketuanan thingy? Go to japan. Go and suck in all the goodness err power and energy that are now in the japanese air. Go. Now. Lose not another second!

  4. #4 by dagen on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 2:06 pm

    On the bright side, rebuilding japan after the disaster would certainly provide the country with the right economic impetus.

    But let us hope the exposed nuclear fuel rods do degenerate into a catastrophe. A catastrophe is one mighty nasty problem. Disasters can be repaired and remedied. Catastrophe can only be contained and controlled; and only time can dilute its ill effects.

    Umnoputras and ibrahim bin perkasa, you people can very well continue to scream about your ketuanan rights and anwar’s dna. The rest of malaysians, let us pray to (our respective) God that japan be spared the catastrophe.

  5. #5 by dagen on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 2:14 pm

    Ooops, error: “… do not degenerate into a catastrophe …” Let out the word “not”.

  6. #6 by limkamput on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 2:22 pm

    We human beings thought we are so smart right? We thought we have conquered all. Everyday we create new entertainment gadgets – ipod, iphone, ipad, itablet etc while neglect food production, safe energy generation and transportation safety and standards. We spend too much on entertainment and too little on well being. It is up to global leaders and economists to figure out how the world resources should be better served and better used.

    • #7 by cemerlang on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 10:46 pm

      You are wrong layyyyyy. It is called ego, self, face, whatever you like to put it mahhhhh…….

  7. #8 by hiro on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 6:12 pm

    Uncle Kit, in the last 48 hours, we see how the BN government is totally ill equip to handle issues relating to environmental degradation. The so called FLOM in her twitter blamed the Japanese for not having sustainable development, resulting in earthquakes and tsunami. And while the congress in the US at least takes a step back and say during this emotionally charged time it is not a good idea to debate new nuclear plants in the US, our DPM has just reiterated the go ahead to build 2 in Malaysia, against earlier reassurances that the debate isn’t over yet. The DPM goes on to say that our agency have the expertise to monitor the situation. Yet despite the world’s attention on Fukushima, we haven’t heard a word from our so called experts telling us that they are monitoring the situation, allaying our fears whether a fallout will reach Malaysia, and how should Malaysians take precaution if they do. It is a typical demonstration that they continue to sleep on their jobs instead of taking a proactive part in monitoring the situation, which is what Malaysians would expect them to do if we actually have built our nuclear plants! I believe the time and opportunity is ripe for Pakatan to seize the moment and lead on environmental issues. There are a lot of angry voices out there – rare earths plant being one. Deforestation in Sarawak being another. These angry voices, mostly of the youth, can be channeled to enormous devastating effect in the coming Sarawak and General Elections. Uncle Kit, it’s time to mobilise and intensify Pakatan’s critique on environmental issues. Let us know how you want the voters to mobilise to help.

  8. #9 by dagen on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 6:51 pm

    Yup people.

    It is now officially official. Umno is profoundly retarded.

    First they published a caricature showing ultraman sweating away whilst attempting to outrun a tsunami wave. Now, tadada dadada, fat mama ros slammed japan for over development and for not embracing green technology. As a result of which, fat mama ros observed, japan suffered the earth quake and the nuclear disaster.

    I dont know about you people but hey I am not telling anyone that I am malaysian.

  9. #10 by Bunch of Suckers on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 7:48 pm

    The fat mama only know to blow out hot air and blow jobs! This how the mama survives with supports from those racists UMNO/BN…

  10. #11 by cemerlang on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 - 11:11 pm

    If it is so dangerous, how come scientists were able to discover it which means that the resources for making a nuclear device or an atomic bomb is found readily in our soil. Actually what is there to panic ? Our beautiful sun is a gigantic nuclear bomb just next to us. Yes if you read about it, it consists of nuclear fusion which in simple terms is it is made of nuclear stuff because if it is not, we would not have light and we would not have sun energy which is important to life. If you are white and you are overly exposed to sun, you get skin cancer and skin cancer is caused by radiation from the sun. The same kind of radiation from a nuclear bomb with a difference in its’ quantity. And if you are interested in space stuff, you know that our sun would not last forever. It will blow up and it will become a black hole according to the geniuses. And what about x rays in the hospitals ? Those have something to do with nuclear thing too. Whatever the technical term is. Therefore like I said earlier, build your nuclear plant under sea. Under sea. Not near the sea.

  11. #12 by HJ Angus on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 5:47 am

    Nuclear power was one topic I have written about years ago.
    This is linked to the first of the series.
    http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2011/03/say-no-to-nuclear-power.html

  12. #13 by k1980 on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 7:46 am

    It appeared that the troubled reactors survived the earthquake. Control rods shut down the nuclear fission reactions that generate power. But even after shutdown, there is residual heat that needs to be drawn off by cooling water pumped through the reactor core, and that’s where the trouble came.

    The nuclear plant lost its main source of electric power to drive the pumps, and the tsunami knocked out the backup diesel generators that were supposed to drive the pumps in an emergency. That left only short-term battery power that is able to provide cooling water on a small scale but can’t drive the large pumps required for full-scale cooling.

    So the frightening news came that Japan was facing the full meltdown of crippled reactors at that nuclear power station. Unless mankind can learn to solve these problems, atomic plants are best left alone.

  13. #14 by dagen on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 9:01 am

    READ THIS:

    BBC, 15 March 2011 Last updated at 11:09 GMT

    ‘Radiation’ text message is fake

    A fake text message warning people that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked beyond Japan has been panicking people across Asia.

    The SMS message, purporting to come from the BBC, has been circulating around Asian countries since Monday.

    It warns people to take necessary precautions against possible effects of radiation.

    The BBC has issued no such flash but the hoax has caused particular panic in the Philippines.
    Some media reports suggest that workers and school children there were sent home after the rumours began to spread, prompting the Philippines government to issue an official denial.

    Disasters such as that currently unfolding in Japan often trigger a rise in scam texts and e-mails intended to fool users into downloading malware or simply to spread panic.

    The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has told computer users to be wary of potential e-mail scams, as well as fake anti-virus and phishing attacks regarding the Japan earthquake and the tsunami disasters.
    “Such scams may contain links or attachments which direct users to phishing or malware-laden sites,” it said.

    In the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology has held a press conference to reassure the public that they are safe even if radiation levels in Japan continue to rise.

    On Tuesday morning, reactor 2 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant became the third to explode in four days.

    Radiation has reached harmful levels but there is no suggestion that it is affecting anything other than the immediate area.

    Officials have extended the danger zone, warning residents within 30km (18 miles) to evacuate or stay indoors

    FAKE E-MAIL IN FULL

    “BBC Flash news : Japan Government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Philippine at around 4 pm today. If it rains today or in the next few days in Hong Kong. Do not go under the rain. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it is only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.”

  14. #15 by dagen on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 9:09 am

    Ooops. Here is the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12745128

    So umno people you cant get energised by staying put in malaysia. Go now. Yes to japan. Go. Suck those nuclear energy radiating from the reactors. If done adequately you should glow in the dark. What an easy way to find out if you indeed have been sufficiently energised. Imagine the twin powers of ketuanan and fission energy embodied within all of you.

  15. #16 by negarawan on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 9:16 am

    Look at the pathetic state of our buildings and infrastructure in KL itself. Major roads with potholes, wheel falling off the MRT with fatality, buses dirty with black soot emissions, the damaged pavements along major shopping areas like Sungai Wang, collapsing stadiums, leaking parliament building, submarines that cannot dive, and list goes on. The maintenance culture in Malaysia is really bad and UMNO wants to push on with the two nuclear plants despite the disasters in Japan where they have world-class crisis management and highly-technical and industrious people. UMNO wants the nuclear plants because it will line the pockets of its cronies, not because of national interest.

  16. #17 by k1980 on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 9:28 am

    Will cintanegara, now in Nipponland, suddenly find to his great dismay that his rambutans can glow in the dark?

  17. #18 by hallo on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 12:47 pm

    Cast a vote to overthrow BN as they are not mean to protect our land.

    Don’t talk just action.

    They so insist on this nuclear plant maybe the country is heading bankrupcy.

    Save yourself, cast a vote before too late.

  18. #19 by AhPek on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 1:35 pm

    To be sure the explosions at Daichi nuclear power station is certainly very grave and damaging to Japan but it is not as apocalyptic as most people made that out to be.According to IAEA,the Fukushima Daiichi-1 has been rated an accident on a rating of 4 on the International Nuclear Events Scale,meaning it was an accident with local consequences,the partial meltdown of the core at Three Mile Island-2 is rated 5 and for Chernobyl has a rating 7 which is a major accident.In fact in the case of Chernobyl disaster,it has also affected a large part of Europe!
    Scroll down to read (Nuclear Fallout:How bad could it get?) what Ron Ballinger,MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering
    has to say on the worst case scenario that could happen to the nuclear plants in Japan.What he has to say will go far to assuage most of our fears of a nuclear apocalypse that has been going the rounds in Asia lately( I was told that filipinos were so afraid that school children were sent back home early!)

  19. #20 by AhPek on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 5:11 pm

    Sorry the link to professor Ron Ballinger,MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering is as follows:
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-12/japan-nuclear-fallout-how-bad-could-it-get/

  20. #21 by HJ Angus on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 - 11:24 pm

    I think leaders in Malaysia have gone insane with dreams of too much money.
    http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2011/03/season-of-madness-in-1malaysia.html

  21. #22 by ktteokt on Thursday, 17 March 2011 - 9:37 am

    These half past six people cannot even manage the simplest of things and they want to build a nuclear reactor in Malaysia! They take government property as “toys”! Just look at how they run the newly acquired submarines which end up being unable to dive.

    If plane engines and C4 can go missing in top security areas like the air force base and artillery stores, you can be damn sure when the nuclear reactor is built, some itchy hands will start to pinch nuclear fuel and use it for some illegal purpose!

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