nuclear-news

The Times (UK), Sept. 11 2014: Hero of Fukushima nuclear disaster considered hara-kiri … [Masao] Yoshida describes his horror on realising the reactors faced meltdown… [He] contemplated ritually disembowelling himself after an explosion that appeared to have killed dozens of his men… the manager of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, made the admission in recently released secret testimony…

Former Fukushima Daiichi plant manager Masao Yoshida’s interview with gov’t investigation committee, Yomiuri Shimbun, published Sept. 10, 2014:

No. 1 Reactor — “I was in despair… I was panicking… I could not afford to logically think”

• YOSHIDA: “To be honest, I was stunned [the plant lost all AC power]. I thought the situation was grave… My first thought was, ‘It’s a calamity.’… I was in despair… The No. 1 reactor fell into a state of crisis first, and then the No. 3 reactor. A crisis [like an explosion] could have erupted at any time… honestly, I was panicking… the No. 1 reactor exploded… Everything was in turmoil, and I could not afford to logically think.”

No. 3 Reactor Explosion — “I thought I should kill myself… I should commit harakiri”

• Q: TEPCO’s records show radiation levels registered 300 millisieverts within the consecutive doors leading into the [No. 3] reactor building, and also that there was whitish smoke nearby… YOSHIDA: “Yes… before an explosion took place there… I assumed that the No. 3 reactor’s fuel had been damaged… and that steam and other leaks from its container were starting to fill its building… I figured this was the end of the plant. That is to say, I wanted to inject water sooner, but in the end, a range of circumstances piled up and conspired against us… I explained that the No. 3 reactor also had its fuel rod damaged and that, based on the pressure in the containment vessel, it was approaching the same condition the No. 1 reactor had been in. There was a risk of another explosion at 9:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. on March 14, so I called for an evacuation of all personnel at that time… However, when discussing this with headquarters, I was told, “Just how long are you evacuating?” I told them that there was a risk of an explosion, and there was no way we could put personnel on the ground… The pressure on the containment vessel had dropped a bit… I issued the order to go back, and almost as we were doing so, it exploded. They said there were about 40-plus people missing… I thought I should kill myself at that point. If that report were true, and some 40-plus people were really dead, I thought I should commit harakiri.”

No. 2 Reactor — “The containment vessel might have been destroyed”

• YOSHIDA: “That morning [of March 15]… we got word that the [pressure in the No. 2 reactor’s suppression chamber] had reached zero… the containment vessel might have broken. Thinking conservatively, this meant the vessel might have been destroyed, and that popping sound would suggest some sort of breakage… I decided to treat this as an emergency and issued an evacuation order, leaving only core [personnel]… I gave an order for all other personnel to temporarily evacuate from the site… the prime minister came at, I think, a bit after 5 a.m… I stated that I was evacuating personnel. There was pushback that the containment vessel would surely not explode because there was still pressure, but I countered that the pressure gauges could not be trusted.”

See also: Deceased Fukushima Chief: “I thought we were really dead” — Fear of “nuclear doom for eastern Japan” — “A total failure in which the fuel melts and breaches… containment vessel”