Fuel rod was exposed

[DearAbby]

Touruma

Fuel rod was exposed 90cm above the water inside the reactor core at 11:40AM. Now water for fire-fighting being injected. Fukushima No. 1 NP


Rachel Maddow had retweeted this.

[DearAbby]

1. This is totally frightening to me. n/t

[Yo_Mama]

2. Which one?

Daiichi or Daini?

[DearAbby]

3. DU Burp

[DearAbby]

4. Fukushima No. 1

Daiichi, I believe

[Yo_Mama]

12. That's the one with two missing and the high radiation levels

Not good.

I've been reading TEPCO releases here:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031216-e.html

The last one said they vented successfully at Daini but did not say the same for Daiichi.

From some of the Japanese reports, it kind of sounded like they are working in Daiichi with robots, which makes sense if the radiation levels inside went as high as reported.

[DearAbby]

13. Thanks for the link..n/t

[Hannah Bell]

29. daiichi = "first". Fukushima #1 = Fukushima Daiichi. "ni" = 2

[DearAbby]

5. kick

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Umm.. . not good news

Update 3/12 12:19 AM: This just came from Reuters on twitter... REUTERS FLASH: #Japan nuclear authorities say high possibility of meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 reactor - Jiji

Fukushima:

Update 5:33: Both reactors at the plant have been damaged, and officials say they have "lost control" of the pressure, according to Reuters.

Update 7:39: The latest from Kyodo Wire: Government holds emergency meeting on the plant, and is taking unprecedented stap of demanding the plant open a key valve.

Update 7:51: At least 20,000 people are being evacuated from the region says Reuters, which ominously quotes an expert who thinks there may be just a few hours until meltdown.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fukushima-nuclear-plant-2011-3#ixzz1GMNfJA81

[CabalPowered]

7. Not looking good

Meltdown could be in progress..

hanedabay RT @kenmogi: BREAKING NEWS CESIUM DETECTED AROUND FUKUSHIMA POWER PLANT NHK REPORTS #earthquake #japan half a minute ago via web

Laughing_man_normal outsomnia RT @hirokotabuchi: BREAKING NEWS: Fukushima nuke plant might be experiencing nuclear meltdown - Kyodo

[DearAbby]

9. Shit

[Paradoxical]

8. What agency is stating that fuel rods are exposed?

[DearAbby]

10. More from Businessinsider,com

Update: 4:29 PM ET: Anti-nuclear expert Kevin Kamp explains the nightmare scenario in Fukushma, via Forbes and the Institute for Public Accuracy:

“The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.

“In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.”

Meanwhile, Kyodo is reporting that local radiation levels are 8 times more than normal.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fukushima-nuclear-plant-2011-3#ixzz1GMRvplOf

[Paradoxical]

11. "Anti-nuclear expert"

:wtf:

You guys are seriously driving me to drink.

[Cetacea]

14. K&R

Thanks for the link and update

[Union Scribe]

15. Was, or is?

And I don't care who tweeted what, who is saying this?

[DearAbby]

22. This was the person Rachel had retweeted

http://twitter.com/Touruma


# #Nuclear fission reaction was shut down soon after the system detected #quake; current problem is the control of afterheat, an expert says. 9 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

An expert speculates the core meltdown in Fukushima is similar to the accident that happened in Three Mile Island in 1979. #quake #tsunami 16 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

502 confirmed dead, at 1:55PM Jpn time, FNN reports. #tsunami #earthquake #Japan 27 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

#Nuclear plant safety committee detected cesium, a substance that is not normally detected unless, according to an expert, fuel rod melts. 36 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

Another warning for a large scale tsunami given at 2:30PM Jpn time. #earthquake #tsunami #disaster 41 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

Nuclear plant safety committee confirmed reactor core now exposed 1.7meter above water, speculating now fuel rod has started to melt. #Japan 44 minutes ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

466 confirmed dead, at least 702 missing at 2:00PM Jpn time, FNN reported. #tsunami #earthquake #Japan #disaster about 1 hour ago via web

* Reply
* Retweet

#

Fuel rod was exposed 90cm above the water inside the reactor core at 11:40AM. Now water for fire-fighting being injected. Fukushima No. 1 NP about 1 hour ago via web

[DearAbby]

16. Maddow tweet

maddow

NHK reporting venting is suspended due to high radiation levels - concern over pressure and possible damage to containment vessel.

link to very bad news NHK meltdown report: http://bit.ly/dGav8u

[DearAbby]

17. Breaking News crawl on above link

BREAKING NEWSThe government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says nuclear material cesium has been detected near the Number One reactor at the Fukushima Number One nuclear power plant. The agency says the detection indicates that some of the nuclear fuel at the reactor may have started melting, because cesium is produced during a nuclear chain reaction. The Japanese government has expanded the evacuation area around a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture because of a radiation leak.

[Yo_Mama]

26. Here's the list of the plants and reactors

http://www.japannuclear.com/nuclearpower/program/location.html

It makes the news reports less confusing.

If they can't vent it and there's that much radiation, they just need to shut it down with the special liquid/neutron absorber stuff. Of course, at this point that's going to be a dangerous endeavor because it sounds as if they have to do everything manually, so how do they get it pumped in?

Still, there's three other reactors to worry about.

[tblue37]

18. When people reassure me about how "clean" and "safe" nucler power is,

I always imagine worse case scenarios like this.

It's like the comedian who said that when people tell him that there are a lot more car accidents than palne accidents, he says, "Yeah, but if you're in a plane accident, you're not getting out and exchanging insurance cards."

I am afraid of nuclear generators because no matter ow rare accients might be, the combination of the possibility of human error or malfeasance and the possibility of unforeseen natural dsisaster means that the possibility will never be zero, and the consequences of even one major accident could be too serious to be tolerable.

[underseasurveyor]

31. Oh there's plenty of them here

I'm sure they'll be along shortly to tell you that yes without a doubt nuclear energy is the best, safest and most practical energy ever. And gee they just can't grasp why everybody doesn't just adore nukes.

[Hannah Bell]

19. and the authoritative source for maddow's "tweet" is?

[DearAbby]

20. the thread is full of links to the story

the tweet just alerted me, Rachel is now tweeting links to this story.

[Hannah Bell]

21. put up the links, i don't give a damn what you say maddow says.

i've seen lots of misinformation since last night when the government first declared an emergency & lots of people misreporting stories without links.

it's your op & you report fuel rod exposed. LINK.

[suffragette]

24. Looks like the source is NISA, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4758904e-4be5-11e0-9705-00144feab49a.html#axzz1GMXAnkQc


Japan struggles to ease pressure at nuclear reactor

By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo, and Sylvia Pfeifer and James Blitz in London

Published: March 11 2011 14:05 | Last updated: March 12 2011 05:06


Officials worked throughout Friday night to relieve the pressure at the facility. On Saturday morning, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said fuel rods inside the reactor’s core had become partially exposed due to receding coolant water.


Looks like the 90 cm figure came from here:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/nhk110311.html
Fukushima 1: Fuel Rods Exposed
by NHK
12 March 2011, 12:03

According to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), the level of water to cool the nuclear reactor at Unit 1 of the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant has declined. As of 11:20 AM, a part of the "fuel assembly" of fuel rods is now exposed above water. The maximum exposure as of now is about 90 cm. If the fuel rods remain exposed, they will be damaged, releasing radioactivity. That's the danger that is threatening the plant, according to NISA. So, about 27,000 liters of water, including the water that has been stored for firefighting, is now being pumped into the reactor, via makeshift pumps and other means, in order to raise the water level.

The original article "福島第一 燃料一部露出のおそれ" was published on the NHK Web site. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi.

[Hannah Bell]

25. thank you. in a crisis situation, overwrought people putting up unverified information are

dangerous.

i appreciate you tracking down an authoritative source.

i know of yoshie furuhashi from the internet. she's a communist. :>)

[suffragette]

30. I think Rachel's better than most at verifying

Wouldn't be surprised that she (or her staff) did that before tweeting. That brief format does make it hard to include the info, though.
And I also understand wanting to verify with a link, as you do, to be sure the info we all report and share is genuine.

Looks like it is. I 'm not familiar with yoshie furuhashi. I'll have to look her up. Great job that she's translating this, though. Lots of info coming out quickly.

I did notice in the FT article that they stated a much higher radiation level at the gate than the one I've seen previously. That could be because it's increased and they're able to translate from NISA, the source they cite, more quickly. Also, they're up and and given the time difference, most of our media here are in bed. Haven't seen it elsewhere yet though. That's the outer number since the gate is apparently a mile or so from the reactor.

[Hannah Bell]

37. That may be, but there's been too much unverified stuff reported. It just confuses

people & spawns chains of muddled information. Not directed at you, but for people with family/friends in japan, non-verified information is frustrating, as is the hysterical tone of some reports, the predictions of imminent apocalypse, & the rantings about nuclear power. imo. i have both family & friends there & have been about ready to lose it with that kind of crap. it's not helpful. It also bugs me the breathless tone, like some folks are just waiting for a horrible nuke accident. So they can say i told you so.

http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110312-3.pdf

From 04:00, March 12 by the measurement of radioactive materials in the
surrounding area of the power station using monitoring cars. (As of 07:55,
March12)

MP6 (near the main gate) 0.07microSv/h -5.1 micro Sv/h
(04:00, March12->07:40, March 12)

MP8 (near the main gate) 0.07microSv/h ->2.5 micro Sv/h
(04:00, March 12->07:30, March 12)

[suffragette]

41. I hope your family and friends there are all ok

:hug:

So many of us here are an ardent bunch of info diggers and we have become accustomed to rooting out info well before and beyond what the MSM reports. The OP, you and I all fall in that camp.

And we have decided views on some issues. Being up front, I've posted before on nuclear power issues and I'm against building more plants, and I bring that viewpoint to my posts about it on this.

I think people are just wanting to share the info and make others aware (and yeah, views on this as a larger topic will inevitably come into that).

Mostly, I just want to say to you, whether we agree or disagree on issues, and we've done both, I care for and respect you.

[Hannah Bell]

42. i have the same feeling about this i did about the swine flu hysteria.

people posting "any and all" info without checking it out first is worse than useless.

i am trying to find an explanation of this terminology, what normal background levels are, what critical levels are, etc.

0.07 micro Sv/h -5.1 micro Sv/h

i can't find that basic information. all i get is repetitions of "x times usual level!!!!!!"

does anyone know?

last night i waded through experts here reporting that the reactors were in tokyo when they are 200 miles away, that they needed to be shut down when they'd already shut down automatically, reporting speculation as fact, reporting things that happened hours ago as though they were new developments, reporting things they heard somewhere as gospel.

my bias is, i don't want a nuclear accident & i don't want people harmed & i don't want hysteria.

[suffragette]

43. I found a little info on the terminology

but I am not familiar with it and it's making my eyes cross a bit.

Apparently Sv stands for sievert and Sv/h for sieverts per hour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert

Micro sievert:
http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/terms.htm

Sievert (Sv)

The sievert is a unit used to derive a quantity called equivalent dose. This relates the absorbed dose in human tissue to the effective biological damage of the radiation. Not all radiation has the same biological effect, even for the same amount of absorbed dose. Equivalent dose is often expressed in terms of millionths of a sievert, or micro-sievert. To determine equivalent dose (Sv), you multiply absorbed dose (Gy) by a quality factor (Q) that is unique to the type of incident radiation. One sievert is equivalent to 100 rem.


Then found, on of all places MSNBC, some lay language for this with comparisons:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42025882/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Japan’s Asahi Shimbum newspaper reported that radiation levels per hour in the area near the front entrance of the No. 1 Fukushima plant reached 0.59 micro Sievert, which is eight times the normal levels. The central control room of the reactor recorded radiation levels 1,000 times the normal level, which would be approximately 70 microsieverts per hour, or 7 millirems, according to calculations by msnbc.com.

Not sure how helpful or not this is.

I was actually off line last night and this morning. My cable and internet both went out, so I have been catching up today an didn't go through the early reporting changes. I may be guilty of some of the reporting things from hours ago because of the catching up. An example was probably my post about the 1st hand account of someone working at the plant. No wonder no one replied.

I share your bias, though I would call it our hope.

[Hannah Bell]

44. yes, hope, i'm biased in favor of non-apocalypse, sue me.

not meaning to sound snarky to you personally.

[DearAbby]

27. Thanks for the link..n/t

[suffragette]

Thanks for your OP Abby

K&R

[Union Scribe]

28. Does NISA have a feed or more updates?

I'm wondering what the result of the additional water injection was.

[suffragette]

33. The Monthly Review article has a link to their site

Of course, it's in Japanese.
There is an English link on their site though, as is often the case, it looks like the info through it is more limited so I don't know if that info is available or not that way. There are a few PDF's you could look through and update us with what they say.

Also, sometimes agencies update the press through press conferences, etc so that info might not be on the site but could be out there somewhere.

[Union Scribe]

39. Thank you

[Hannah Bell]

35. Situation of power source to recover water injection function at the Station.

-Cable from electric power generating cars are under connecting work(as of
04:00, March 12)

Pressure in the containment vessel has arisen. Steam release is undertaking
in order to relieve pressure.

It was confirmed that radioactivity was increased compared to the one at
04:00, March 12.

From 04:00, March 12 by the measurement of radioactive materials in the
surrounding area of the power station using monitoring cars. (As of 07:55,
March12)

MP6 (near the main gate) 0.07microSv/h -5.1 micro Sv/h
(04:00, March12->07:40, March 12)

MP8 (near the main gate) 0.07microSv/h ->2.5 micro Sv/h
(04:00, March 12->07:30, March 12)

http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110312-3.pdf

[Union Scribe]

40. Thank you

[DearAbby]

23. kick

[Yo_Mama]

32. Daiichi levels now 70 times normal at the gate

This is a big increase from the earlier reported 8 times higher:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77028.html

This is the 1971 reactor according to the link I posted earlier. It's number 1 at number 1 (Daiichi). The age may have something to do with the difficulties.

This is an OLDER (2009) incident report having to do with a valve problem at the same reactor:
http://www2.jnes.go.jp/atom-db/en/trouble/individ/power/f/f20090225/index.html

It's got a diagram of the unit and a description of the incident. A stripped screw and faulty inspections?

[suffragette]

36. Financial Times is reporting that as well

Agree that looks like a large increase.

[DearAbby]

34. Al Jazeera-english Tweet

AJEnglish

Japan fears nuclear plant meltdown: Nuclear safety panel says meltdown possible at an atomic plant http://aje.me/fEtxVf

[DearAbby]

38. Delete