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“Possible” melted fuel seen for first time at Fukushima plant

“Possible” – “apparently” – “what is believed to be” – “suggesting” …
A lot of qualifiers here, and obligatory glee for our cute ‘little sunfish’, but they got one thing absolutely right in this report: they didn’t call it a ‘crippled plant’, it’s now officially the “destroyed plant”; and the most important fact or folly is buried towards the end: “to remove the melted fuel, a process expected to begin sometime after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics…
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TOKYO — An underwater robot captured images of solidified lava-like rocks Friday inside a damaged reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, spotting for the first time what is believed to be nuclear fuel that melted six years ago.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the robot found large amounts of lava-like debris apparently containing fuel that had flowed out of the core into the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima. The plant was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Cameras mounted on the robot showed extensive damage caused by the core meltdown, with fuel debris mixed with broken reactor parts, suggesting the difficult challenges ahead in the decades-long decommissioning of the destroyed plant.
Experts have said the fuel melted and much of it fell to the chamber’s bottom and is now covered by radioactive water as deep as 6 meters (20 feet). The fuel, during meltdown, also likely melted its casing and other metal structures inside the reactor, forming rocks as it cooled.
TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto said it was the first time a robot camera has captured what is believed to be the melted fuel.
“That debris has apparently fallen from somewhere higher above. We believe it is highly likely to be melted fuel or something mixed with it,” Kimoto said. He said it would take time to analyze which portions of the rocks were fuel.
In an earlier survey Wednesday, the robot found severe damage in the vessel, including key structures that were broken and knocked out of place.
The robot, nicknamed “the Little Sunfish,” on Friday went inside a structure called the pedestal for a closer look. TEPCO plans to send the robot farther down on Saturday in hopes of finding more melted fuel and debris.
Experts have said the melted fuel is most likely to have landed inside the pedestal after breaching the core.
Kimoto said the robot probe in its two missions has captured a great deal of useful information and images showing the damage inside the reactor, which will help experts eventually determine a way to remove the melted fuel, a process expected to begin sometime after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s still just the beginning of the (decades-long) decommissioning. There is still a long way to go, including developing the necessary technology,” he said. “But it’s a big step forward.”
Locating and analyzing the fuel debris and damage in each of the three wrecked reactors is crucial for decommissioning the plant. The search for melted fuel in the two other reactors has so far been unsuccessful because of damage and extremely high radiation levels.
The submersible robot, about the size of a loaf of bread, is equipped with lights, maneuvers with five propellers and collects data with two cameras and a dosimeter. It is controlled remotely by a group of four operators. It was co-developed by Toshiba Corp., the electronics, nuclear and energy company charged with helping clean up the plant, and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, a government-funded consortium.
 
The material has smooth thick edges making it unlikely to be rust, though there are considerable areas of rust inside containment. This material also does not match any known material from previous reactor meltdowns or melted fuel (corium) research. TEPCO makes no specific mention of this substance.
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Evident inside the pedestal area is a pale colored thick substance that has adhered to solid surfaces. This same material is seen throughout the area of the containment structure inspected with a scope earlier. Now this same material is found inside the pedestal area.
Special credits to Fukushima Response Campaign & Fukuleaks

July 22, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , , | Leave a comment

Scaffolding at No.3 Fukushima reactor missing

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant says the metal scaffolding right below the damaged No.3 reactor appears to have gone missing after the 2011 disaster.
 
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, started a full-scale robotic probe into the containment vessel on Wednesday.
 
In the 2011 accident, most of the nuclear fuel in the No.3 reactor is believed to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel that covers the reactor. The nuclear fuel is thought to lie within 6-meter-deep water that was injected for cooling.
 
TEPCO and the Japanese government plan to remove the nuclear fuel debris as part of decommissioning of the reactor. They are trying to locate the debris.
 
They used a new underwater robot equipped with cameras for Wednesday’s probe. It is 30 centimeters long and 13 centimeters wide.
 

July 21, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Underwater Robot Probe of Reactor 3 Begins

Underwater robot probe inside Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor begins
 
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began on Wednesday probing inside a contaminated water-filled reactor containment vessel at one of its units using an underwater robot.
 
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the plant operator, is hoping to discover the precise location and condition of melted fuel debris inside the No. 3 reactor, one of the three units which suffered meltdowns in the 2011 nuclear crisis following a massive earthquake and tsunami.
 
On March 11, 2011, a huge tsunami hit the six-reactor plant, located on ground 10 meters above sea level, and flooded power supply facilities. Reactor cooling systems were crippled and the Nos. 1-3 units suffered fuel meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis.
 
Six years after the disaster, the condition of nuclear debris remains unknown as radiation levels inside the reactors are still extremely high.
 
Since the water levels inside the containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor are higher than those of other reactors, the utility, known as Tepco, sent in an underwater robot equipped with a camera.
 
The robot entered the structure around 6:30 a.m. through a pipe connected to the containment vessel, which houses the reactor pressure vessel, according to Tepco.
 
The remote-controlled robot, attached to cables, then headed to the area just below the reactor pressure vessel and tried to capture images there.
 
Based on the outcome of Wednesday’s probe, the robot will travel on Friday as far as to the bottom of the containment vessel, where the deposits of melted fuel debris are believed to have accumulated.
 
Tepco said about 6.4 meters of water — injected into the structure to cool the fuel — has accumulated in the bottom of the containment vessel.
 
From January to March, Tepco conducted robot surveys including sending a self-propelled robot into the Nos. 1-2 reactors, where water levels are lower than the No. 3 reactor, but they failed to ascertain the condition of fuel debris.
 
 
 
 
Swimming Robot Captures Underwater Images of Damaged Fukushima Nuclear Reactor
 
(TOKYO) — An underwater robot entered a badly damaged reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Wednesday, capturing images of the harsh impact of its meltdown, including key structures that were torn and knocked out of place.
 
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the robot, nicknamed “the Little Sunfish,” successfully completed the day’s work inside the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima, which was destroyed by a massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
 
TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto praised the work, saying the robot captured views of the underwater damage that had not been previously seen. However, the images contained no obvious sign of the melted nuclear fuel that researchers hope to locate, he said.
 
The robot was left inside the reactor near a structure called the pedestal, and is expected to go deeper inside for a fuller investigation Friday in hopes of finding the melted fuel.
 
“The damage to the structures was caused by the melted fuel or its heat,” Kimoto told a late-night news conference held nine hours after the probe ended its exploration earlier in the day.
 
The robot, about the size of a loaf of bread, is equipped with lights, maneuvers with five propellers and collects data with two cameras and a dosimeter. It is controlled remotely by a group of four operators.
 
The robot was co-developed by Toshiba Corp., the electronics and energy company charged with helping clean up the plant, and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, a government-funded consortium.
 
It was on a mission to study the damage and find the fuel that experts say has melted, breached the core and mostly fallen to the bottom of the primary containment chamber, where it has been submerged by highly radioactive water as deep as 6 meters (20 feet).
 
The robot discovered that a grate platform that is supposed to be below the reactor core was missing and apparently was knocked down by melted fuel and other materials that fell from above, and that parts of a safety system called a control rod drive were also missing.
 
Remote-controlled robots are key to the decades-long decommissioning of the damaged plant, but super-high levels of radiation and structural damage have hampered earlier probes at two other reactors at the plant.
 
Japanese officials say they want to determine preliminary methods for removing the melted nuclear fuel this summer and start work in 2021.
 
Scientists need to know the fuel’s exact location and understand the structural damage in each of the three wrecked reactors to work out the safest and most efficient ways to remove the fuel.
 
Robots tested earlier became stuck inside the two other reactors. A scorpion-shaped robot’s crawling function failed and it was left inside the plant’s Unit 2 containment vessel. A snake-shaped robot designed to clear debris for the scorpion probe was removed after two hours when its cameras failed due to radiation levels five times higher than anticipated.
 
The robot used Wednesday was designed to tolerate radiation of up to 200 sieverts — a level that can kill humans instantly.
 
Kimoto said the robot showed that the Unit 3 reactor chamber was “clearly more severely damaged” than Unit 2, which was explored by the scorpion probe.
 

July 21, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Underwater Robot Begins Probing Fukushima Daiichi’s No. 3 reactor

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This image captured by an underwater robot provided by International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning shows a part of a control rod drive of Unit 3 at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okuma town, northeastern Japan Wednesday, July 19, 2017. The underwater robot has captured images and other data inside Japan’s crippled nuclear plant on its first day of work. The robot is on a mission to study damage and find fuel that experts say has melted and mostly fallen to the bottom of a chamber and has been submerged by highly radioactive water.
Swimming robot probes Fukushima reactor to find melted fuel

TOKYO — An underwater robot entered a badly damaged reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Wednesday, capturing images of the harsh impact of its meltdown, including key structures that were torn and knocked out of place.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the robot, nicknamed “the Little Sunfish,” successfully completed the day’s work inside the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima, which was destroyed by a massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto praised the work, saying the robot captured views of the underwater damage that had not been previously seen. However, the images contained no obvious sign of the melted nuclear fuel that researchers hope to locate, he said.
The robot was left inside the reactor near a structure called the pedestal, and is expected to go deeper inside for a fuller investigation Friday in hopes of finding the melted fuel.
“The damage to the structures was caused by the melted fuel or its heat,” Kimoto told a late-night news conference held nine hours after the probe ended its exploration earlier in the day.
The robot, about the size of a loaf of bread, is equipped with lights, maneuvers with five propellers and collects data with two cameras and a dosimeter. It is controlled remotely by a group of four operators.
The robot was co-developed by Toshiba Corp., the electronics and energy company charged with helping clean up the plant, and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, a government-funded consortium.
It was on a mission to study the damage and find the fuel that experts say has melted, breached the core and mostly fallen to the bottom of the primary containment chamber, where it has been submerged by highly radioactive water as deep as 6 meters (20 feet).
The robot discovered that a grate platform that is supposed to be below the reactor core was missing and apparently was knocked down by melted fuel and other materials that fell from above, and that parts of a safety system called a control rod drive were also missing.
Remote-controlled robots are key to the decades-long decommissioning of the damaged plant, but super-high levels of radiation and structural damage have hampered earlier probes at two other reactors at the plant.
Japanese officials say they want to determine preliminary methods for removing the melted nuclear fuel this summer and start work in 2021.
Scientists need to know the fuel’s exact location and understand the structural damage in each of the three wrecked reactors to work out the safest and most efficient ways to remove the fuel.
Robots tested earlier became stuck inside the two other reactors. A scorpion-shaped robot’s crawling function failed and it was left inside the plant’s Unit 2 containment vessel. A snake-shaped robot designed to clear debris for the scorpion probe was removed after two hours when its cameras failed due to radiation levels five times higher than anticipated.
The robot used Wednesday was designed to tolerate radiation of up to 200 sieverts — a level that can kill humans instantly.
Kimoto said the robot showed that the Unit 3 reactor chamber was “clearly more severely damaged” than Unit 2, which was explored by the scorpion probe.
Underwater robot probe inside Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor begins
TOKYO — The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began on Wednesday probing inside a contaminated water-filled reactor containment vessel at one of its units using an underwater robot.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the plant operator, is hoping to discover the precise location and condition of melted fuel debris inside the No. 3 reactor, one of the three units which suffered meltdowns in the 2011 nuclear crisis following a massive earthquake and tsunami.
On March 11, 2011, a huge tsunami hit the six-reactor plant, located on ground 10 meters above sea level, and flooded power supply facilities. Reactor cooling systems were crippled and the Nos. 1-3 units suffered fuel meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis.
Six years after the disaster, the condition of nuclear debris remains unknown as radiation levels inside the reactors are still extremely high.
Since the water levels inside the containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor are higher than those of other reactors, the utility, known as Tepco, sent in an underwater robot equipped with a camera.
The robot entered the structure around 6:30 a.m. through a pipe connected to the containment vessel, which houses the reactor pressure vessel, according to Tepco.
The remote-controlled robot, attached to cables, then headed to the area just below the reactor pressure vessel and tried to capture images there.
Based on the outcome of Wednesday’s probe, the robot will travel on Friday as far as to the bottom of the containment vessel, where the deposits of melted fuel debris are believed to have accumulated.
Tepco said about 6.4 meters of water — injected into the structure to cool the fuel — has accumulated in the bottom of the containment vessel.
From January to March, Tepco conducted robot surveys including sending a self-propelled robot into the Nos. 1-2 reactors, where water levels are lower than the No. 3 reactor, but they failed to ascertain the condition of fuel debris.
july 20 2017 reactor 3 probe
Scaffolding at No.3 Fukushima reactor missing
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant says the metal scaffolding right below the damaged No.3 reactor appears to have gone missing after the 2011 disaster.
 
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, started a full-scale robotic probe into the containment vessel on Wednesday.
 
In the 2011 accident, most of the nuclear fuel in the No.3 reactor is believed to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel that covers the reactor. The nuclear fuel is thought to lie within 6-meter-deep water that was injected for cooling.
 
TEPCO and the Japanese government plan to remove the nuclear fuel debris as part of decommissioning of the reactor. They are trying to locate the debris.
 
They used a new underwater robot equipped with cameras for Wednesday’s probe. It is 30 centimeters long and 13 centimeters wide.
 
The robot was unable to obtain an image of the metal grating which was right below the reactor before the disaster.
 
TEPCO officials say the grating apparently fell along with the molten fuel.
 
They told reporters that they could not determine where the nuclear fuel debris is. But they said they could identify a path that might lead to areas where the debris is believed to lie.

July 19, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Tepco Prepares the Reactor 3 New Cover

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It is a Japanese project. That’s what it will give, It’s not a sarcophagus, just a structure to carry the cranes that will empty the pool.

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They have already tried ground construction in Iwaki

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Credits to Pierre Fetet.

 

 

 

July 1, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | 1 Comment

Takahama N°3 Reactor Restarted

Kepco restarts second Takahama reactor as Greenpeace warns of French MOX fuel shipment

n-takahama-a-20170607-870x592.jpgSecurity guards stand near a gate at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, on Tuesday, prior to the restart of a reactor at the facility.

 

OSAKA – Kansai Electric Power Co. restarted its Takahama No. 3 reactor Tuesday afternoon, bringing to five the number of nuclear reactors nationwide that have come back online since the March 11, 2011, triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

“Today marks an important step in the process to restart Japan’s nuclear reactors. It does not mark the end of efforts to ensure the safety of nuclear power, and we’ll continue to make safety our top priority,” said Kepco President Shigeki Iwane shortly after the 2 p.m. restart.

The No. 3 restart comes less than a month after Kepco turned its No. 4 reactor back on. It also came on the heels of reports that a shipment of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel will arrive in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, in a few months from France for use in the No. 4 reactor next year.

Kepco’s push to fire up the 32-year-old Takahama reactors came with promises it would reduce electricity bills. Electricity from the No. 4 reactor, which went back online last month, will go on sale late next week. Electricity from the No. 3 reactor is expected to be sold from early July, during the hottest part of the summer when electricity demand peaks.

Kepco’s return to nuclear power generation, which accounted for nearly half of its electricity prior to March 11, 2011, takes place as renewable energy sources slowly gain ground.

According to one recent expert tally, renewable energy, including large-scale hydropower, accounted for 14.5 percent of total domestic power generation capacity in fiscal 2015 through March 2016.

In “Sustainable Zone 2016,” a joint analysis of Japan’s renewable energy situation by Chiba University professor Hidefumi Kurasaka and the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, it was also noted that during the first half of fiscal 2016, the average ratio of renewable energy produced by the nation’s 10 utilities increased to 15.7 percent of total electricity demand. But the ratio of renewable energy, including large-scale hydropower, at Hokkaido Electric Power Co. and Hokuriku Electric Power Co. reached 32 percent during that same period.

The government’s official energy policy calls for renewables to account for between 22 and 24 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030 and for nuclear power to generate between 20 and 22 percent, on average.

On Tuesday, Greenpeace revealed that plans are moving forward to ship at least 496 kg of plutonium from France in the form of 16 MOX fuel assemblies to Japan for use in the Takahama No. 4 reactor when it is reloaded next year. Greenpeace estimates the shipment will depart Cherbourg, France, early next month and — assuming there are no delays — arrive in Takahama sometime between mid-August and early September.

“Kepco’s unjustified restart of the Takahama 3 reactor is made worse by the fact that they are planning a secret plutonium shipment which will increase the amount of dangerous plutonium MOX in their reactors,” said Shaun Burnie, a Japan-based senior nuclear specialist with Greenpeace Germany. “The Takahama reactors already pose an unacceptable threat to the people of Fukui and Kansai region. This will be compounded by the even greater usage of plutonium MOX fuel.”

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/06/06/national/kepco-restarts-second-takahama-reactor-greenpeace-warns-french-mox-fuel-shipment/#.WTaLGzQlFzA

Japan restarts reactor No 3 at Takahama nuclear plant

Only a handful of reactors have come back online, due to public opposition, since the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Tuesday’s move comes after court clearance.

trtworld-nid-373118-fid-411665Japan’s coast guard patrols in front of the No 3 reactor at the nuclear plant in Takahama, Fukui prefecture, some 350 kilometres west of Tokyo on June 6, 2017

In a small victory for the government’s pro-atomic push, a Japanese utility switched on another nuclear reactor on Tuesday, despite strong public opposition after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.

The restart of the No 3 reactor at the Takahama nuclear plant brings the number of operational atomic reactors in Japan to five, while dozens more remain offline. Located in Fukui prefecture, the plant which is operated by Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) is some 350 kilometres (215 miles) west of Tokyo.

Tuesday’s move comes after the utility switched on Takahama’s No 4 reactor last month with the court’s go-ahead, in spite of complaints from local residents over safety concerns. The court also gave the green light to switch on the No 3 reactor.

Japan shut down all of its atomic reactors after a powerful earthquake in March 2011 spawned a huge tsunami that led to meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Fukushima became the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Since then, just a handful of reactors have come back online due to public opposition and as legal cases work their way through the courts.

However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has aggressively promoted nuclear energy, calling it essential to powering the world’s third-largest economy.

Much of the public remains wary of nuclear power after the disaster at Fukushima spewed radiation over a large area and forced tens of thousands to leave their homes, with some unlikely to ever return.

http://trtworld.com/asia/japan-restarts-reactor-no-3-at-takahama-nuclear-plant-373118

June 6, 2017 Posted by | Japan | , , | Leave a comment

Submersible Crawling Robot to Examine Interior of Fukushima Daiichi-3 PCV before Fuel Debris Is Removed

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On May 25, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) released a status report on the ongoing decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants, which suffered a tsunami-caused meltdown in March 2011.

Starting two months ago, in March, a self-propelled robot has been used to investigate the interior of the primary containment vessel (PCV) of Unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi—a necessary step before fuel debris can be removed. As of April 6, the robot had sampled deposits twice.

Fluorescent X-ray spectroscopy has now confirmed the presence of elements that had originally existed in the PCV, such as iron and nickel within the reactor core internals, stainless steel in the heat-insulating materials, zinc in the paint, and lead in the shielding materials.

Although uranium was confirmed as the primary radioactive nuclide within Unit 1, it is not necessarily part of the fuel debris there, given that that element exists naturally. TEPCO said that it would carry out more detailed analyses to confirm the uranium’s source.

As the water level in the PCV of Unit 3 is higher than that in Units 1 and 2, its so-called “X-6 penetration”—which would give easier access to the inside of the pedestal (under the reactor pressure vessel)—is submerged. TEPCO plans to investigate the interior of that unit’s PCV at an undetermined date this summer using a submersible robot that can both crawl and swim. Earlier this month, the power utility began taking measurements using muon observation technology to determine the location of fuel debris.

Under the “Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap” toward decommissioning, TEPCO will determine policies on fuel debris removal at each Fukushima Daiichi unit this summer. According to its May 22 report to an expert panel of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), the power company has already made investigations to determine general conditions inside the individual PCVs.

TEPCO will continue to focus on gathering information during the current fiscal year (ended March 31, 2018), including that on the forms and distribution of fuel debris—necessary to determine the means to remove it—and safety measures for the actual removal work.

http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/submersible-crawling-robot-to-examine-interior-of-fukushima-daiichi-3-pcv-before-fuel-debris-is-removed/

 

June 5, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , , | Leave a comment

TEPCO to look inside Fukushima reactor 3

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. will probe the inside of the containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at its disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant this summer, company officials said Monday.
 
The aim of the move is to confirm the expected presence of melted nuclear fuel debris in the containment vessel.
 
TEPCO explained the plan at a Nuclear Regulation Authority meeting on the decommissioning process of the Fukushima plant, which suffered a triple meltdown due to damage from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
 
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May 24, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Plans to remove nuclear fuel at Fukushima N° 3 reactor delayed again

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A member of the media, wearing a protective suit and a mask, looks at the No. 3 reactor building at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016.

 

A plan to remove spent nuclear fuel from Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings Inc’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant hit by the March 2011 tsunami has been postponed again due to delays in preparation, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

Work is now set to begin in fiscal 2018 at the earliest, the Nikkei said.

Removal of the spent fuel from the No. 3 reactor was originally scheduled in the first half of fiscal 2015, and later revised to fiscal 2017 due to high levels of radioactivity around the facilities, the Japanese business daily reported.

The timeline has been changed again as it was taking longer than expected to decontaminate buildings and clean up debris, the news agency reported.

The report comes a few months after the Japanese government said in October the cost of cleaning up the Fukushima plant may rise to several billion dollars a year, adding that it would look into a possible separation of the nuclear business from the utility.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-japan-fukushima-idUKKBN1592WI

January 26, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Construction of a New Cover Building Installation for Spent Fuel Removal at Unit 3

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This installation will enable robotic removal of spent fuel removal to begin at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3. Plans to remove this fuel have been complicated by high radiation levels.

To install the cover building’s cylindrical portion workers will have to enter the area to manually bolt the cover to the deck structure.

Installation of the “stopper” by a crane near the spent fuel pool began on January 17 as the first step to construct a new roof for the Unit 3 spent fuel removal. Over the pool some additional structural equipment has also been installed.

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Tepco will proceed with the roof construction toward eventual fuel removal with safety as a top priority.

Source : http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170117_01-e.pdf

January 18, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , | Leave a comment

Debris Removal at Reactor # 3 Delayed, but Arrival of the First Elements of the New Building for its Spent Fuel Removal

Transportation of the supporting part of a new roof for the Unit 3 fuel removal at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station


The clearing of debris from reactor # 3 is delayed, delaying the construction of the new building to remove spent fuel from the pool. The debris removal was to be done in order to build a new workshop to remove the fuels from the pool.
The removal of the spent fuel should have started in January 2018. In the beginning, TEPCo was to start in 2015. We do not know their new schedule yet.


On the other hand, TEPCO communicated on the arrival of the first elements of the new building, with photos and video.

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The dose rates on the site are here. There is up to 2.6 mSv / h in the vicinity of reactor No.3.

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Links from TEPCO:
Photos of the new building

Click to access handouts_161220_01-e.pdf

Video
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/2016/201612-e/161220-01e.html
Dose rates in Reactor 3 vicinity
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/surveymap/images/f1-sv-20161219-e.pdf

January 3, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima 2017 | , , , | Leave a comment

Fuel removal at Fukushima reactor again faces delay

dec-23-2016

Steel frames are transported at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Dec. 20 to prepare for work to retrieve spent nuclear fuel from the storage pool of the damaged No. 3 reactor building.

Work to retrieve spent nuclear fuel in the No. 3 reactor building storage pool of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will again be postponed due to a delay in clearing radioactive debris at the site.

TEPCO planned to begin removing 566 spent nuclear fuel assemblies in the storage pool in January 2018. However, the government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., decided on the postponement, sources said on Dec. 22. They will decide on a new timetable in a few weeks.

The work was initially scheduled for fiscal 2015, but had been pushed back because of high radiation readings in and around the No. 3 reactor building. The building was heavily damaged by a hydrogen explosion in the days following the disaster, triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

TEPCO had attempted to lower radiation levels by clearing the radioactive debris remaining at the site.

But the clearing work took longer than expected due to contamination being more widespread than previously thought, forcing TEPCO and the government to again put off the retrieval.

Radiation levels have now dropped as almost all of wreckage at the site has been cleared, TEPCO said. The government and TEPCO have said fuel retrieval at the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings will start in fiscal 2020 or later.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612230043.html

December 23, 2016 Posted by | Fukushima 2016 | , , , | Leave a comment

Human Error Stopped Reactor 3 Cooling System

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Cooling water briefly stopped at Fukushima plant

Injections of water to cool melted fuel in a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant stopped briefly due to human error on Monday.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says an alarm system was activated at around 10 AM when a water pump at the No. 3 reactor shut down.
An internal investigation by the utility found that a worker had mistakenly hit the pump’s switch with his elbow while checking instruments. TEPCO resumed the water injections using a different pump about 1 hour later.
The utility notified local prefectural authorities and nearby areas of the problem just one minute before it resumed the water injections.
TEPCO officials say they detected no changes in the temperature at the bottom of the reactor or in radiation levels at monitoring posts around the plant.
Also on Sunday night, cooling operations temporarily stopped in the spent nuclear fuel pool at the plant’s numbers 1, 2 and 3 reactors when some valves inexplicably opened.
TEPCO says it takes these human errors seriously and will do it best to prevent recurrences.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20161205_27/

Fukushima reactor briefly loses cooling during inspection

One of the melted reactors at tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant had a temporary loss of cooling when a worker accidentally bumped a switch while passing through a narrow aisle of switch panels during an inspection and turned off the pumping system.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said cooling for the No. 3 reactor, one of the three reactors that melted following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was out for nearly one hour Monday until a backup pump kicked in.

TEPCO said the reactor had enough water left inside and there was no temperature increase or radiation leak from the incident.

TEPCO acknowledged some other key switches are in similarly tight locations.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612050069.html

December 6, 2016 Posted by | Fukushima 2016 | , , | Leave a comment

Fukushima reactor N° 3 briefly loses cooling during inspection

reactor 3.jpg

 

TOKYO — One of the melted reactors at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant had a temporary loss of cooling Monday when a worker accidentally bumped a switch while passing through a narrow isle of switch panels during an inspection and turned off the pumping system.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said cooling for the No. 3 reactor, one of the three that melted following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was out for nearly an hour before a backup pump kicked in.

The reactor had enough water left inside and there was no temperature increase or radiation leak from the incident, TEPCO spokesman Yuichi Okamura said at a news conference.

Even though there was no radiation leak or overheating of the core, or any injuries, the incident was a reminder that Fukushima’s decommissioning work is running on a very fragile system.

The plant was largely running on makeshift pipes, wiring and other equipment in the first two to three years following the 2011 disasters, suffering a series of minor blackouts – including those caused by rats chewing cables – cooling stoppages and other problems.

The plant has since largely stabilized, but it remains vulnerable to unanticipated incidents as it continues to struggle with decommissioning work, which is expected to last decades.

Monday’s incident occurred when the worker was passing by a dimly lit isle that was only 85 centimeters (2.8 feet) wide, flanked by tall switch panels on both sides, Okamura said. With radiation levels still high, the worker was wearing a full-face mask and hazmat suit when he lost his balance while carrying equipment. His elbow jammed into the switch, breaking off its safety cover and inadvertently turning the lever to turn off the water injection pump to the No. 3 reactor.

Okamura acknowledged the lack of space at the site and said that the plant will seek ways to eliminate human errors like one on Monday.

https://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-reactor-briefly-loses-cooling-during-inspection

December 5, 2016 Posted by | Fukushima 2016 | , , | Leave a comment

Probe of Fukushima Daini’s N°3 Reactor Cooling System Knocked Offline After Earthquake

Fukushima Daini.jpg

Fukushima Daini

Japan Probes Nuclear Cooling System Shutdown After Earthquake

Japan is investigating why a cooling system used to store nuclear fuel rods was temporarily knocked offline at Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc.’s shuttered Fukushima Dai-Ni atomic plant after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the same region devastated by a tsunami in March 2011.

The temblor early Tuesday caused water in the pool at the plant northeast of Tokyo to move, according to the utility known as Tepco. Sensors registered the motion as a decline in water levels, triggering an automatic shutdown, the utility said.

One of at least two cooling pumps supplying water to the spent fuel pool at Dai-Ni’s No. 3 reactor was shut around 6:10 a.m. Tokyo time, according to Tepco. The utility started another pump to resume cooling the fuel rods around 7:47 a.m., it said in an e-mailed statement.

More than five years after the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the utility’s Dai-Ichi nuclear plant and resulted in the shutdown of Japan’s atomic fleet for safety checks, just two of the country’s 42 reactors are back in operation. Returning the plants to service is a goal of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government and is critical to Japan’s aim for nuclear to account for as much as 22 percent of its energy mix by 2030.

“The fact that today’s earthquake caused the pumps at the Fukushima nuclear plant to shut down temporarily will certainly not help the government in its goal to restart the reactors,” Daniel Aldrich, a professor and director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University in Boston, said by e-mail. “Perhaps one interesting change has been Tepco’s transparency about the ongoing problems at the site, including those that occurred during today’s earthquake.”

Government Response

Fifty-seven percent of the Japanese public oppose resuming operations of the country’s nuclear reactors, while 29 percent approve, according to an Asahi newspaper poll conducted in October.

Japan’s government quickly moved to allay any concerns following Tuesday’s earthquake, which was an aftershock of the magnitude 9 quake five years ago.

Safety is the top priority of Japan’s nuclear industry and the country has the world’s strictest rules for atomic plants, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo Tuesday.

The stoppage of the system wouldn’t immediately have led to a release of radiation, Suga said. Earthquakes and tsunamis are among possibilities envisaged under new safety standards for nuclear plants issued by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority since the 2011 disaster, he said.

Power would need to be cut for about a week before temperatures in the spent-fuel cooling system would reach the upper safety limit, according to Yutaka Ikoma, a spokesman at the regulator. Temperatures would rise about 0.2 degrees Celsius per hour without the cooling system, reaching 65 degrees Celsius in about seven days, according to the spokesman.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-22/japan-probes-nuclear-cooling-system-shutdown-after-earthquake

November 24, 2016 Posted by | Japan | , , | Leave a comment

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