nuclear-news

Danger continues at Fukushima nuclear plant

Employees usually work for about two to three hours at a time, but in some areas, including highly contaminated Unit 3, they can stay only a few minutes…..

“We were just lucky that Japan was able to avoid the worst-case scenario. But
there is no guarantee this kind of luck will prevail next time.”

Japan nuclear plant still fragile: chief, SMH, February 29, 2012, Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima power plant remains fragile nearly a year after it suffered multiple meltdowns, its chief says, with makeshift equipment – some mended with tape – keeping crucial systems
running.

An independent report, meanwhile, revealed that the government downplayed the full danger in the days after the March 11 disaster and secretly considered evacuating Tokyo.

Journalists given a tour of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on Tuesday,
including a reporter from The Associated Press, saw crumpled trucks
and equipment still lying on the ground. A power pylon that collapsed
in the tsunami, cutting electricity to the plant’s vital cooling
system and setting off the crisis, remained a mangled mess.
Officials said the worst was over but the plant remained vulnerable.
“I have to admit that it’s still rather fragile,” said plant chief
Takeshi Takahashi, who took the job in December after his predecessor
resigned due to health reasons. “Even though the plant has achieved
what we call ‘cold shutdown conditions’, it still causes problems that
must be improved.”
The government announced in December that three melted reactors at the
plant had basically stabilised and that radiation releases had
dropped. It will still take decades to fully decommission the plant,
and it must be kept stable until then.
The operators have installed multiple backup power supplies, a cooling
system, and equipment to process massive amounts of contaminated water
that leaked from the damaged reactors.
But the equipment that serves as the lifeline of the cooling system is
shockingly feeble-looking. Plastic hoses cracked by freezing
temperatures have been mended with tape. A set of three pumps sits on
the back of a pick-up truck.
Along with the pumps, the plant now has 1000 tanks to store more than
160,000 tonnes of contaminated water…..
Officials say radiation hot spots remain inside the plant and
minimising exposure to them is a challenge. Employees usually work for
about two to three hours at a time, but in some areas, including
highly contaminated Unit 3, they can stay only a few minutes……
“The idea of upgrading a plant was taboo,” said Koichi Kitazawa, a
scholar who heads the commission that prepared the report. “We were
just lucky that Japan was able to avoid the worst-case scenario. But
there is no guarantee this kind of luck will prevail next time.”

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/japan-nuclear-plant-still-fragile-chief-20120229-1u2hy.html#ixzz1npNWlLMU

February 29, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety