nuclear-news

TEPCO failed to follow manual on meltdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLbmRuoaxzA&feature=youtu.be

A new finding on the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident has raised questions about the way the plant’s operator initially explained the catastrophe taking place in the reactors.

Nuclear fuel in 3 of the plant’s reactors melted down following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th of that year.

Tokyo Electric Power Company did not admit there had been meltdowns for 2 more months.

The utility previously said it could find no grounds to conclude the reactors had melted down.

But it has been revealed that the firm’s in-house manual noted that damage of more than 5 percent to a reactor core should be called a meltdown. A core houses nuclear fuel.

TEPCO found the description in the manual in a probe following a request from an investigative panel of the Niigata prefectural government.

If the utility had followed the manual, it should have assessed the damage was a meltdown 3 days after the accident, when the reactors’ sensors were restored.

Engineers learned at that time that fuel in the No.1 reactor was 55 percent damaged, and 30 percent in the No.3 reactor. Both clearly meet the criteria of a meltdown.

TEPCO revised its manual after the accident. It now says it will assess and disclose when a meltdown has occurred before nuclear fuel is damaged 5 percent.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160224_33/

February 24, 2016 - Posted by dunrenard | Fukushima 2016 | Disaster, Fukushima Daiichi, Meltdowns