Massive earthquake in Japan...

[UpForce]

There has been reporting (to my best knowledge unattributed, said to originate from an unnamed industry source interviewed by the NYT, but I haven't found such an article myself) in the last few days that reactor #3's pressure vessel itself has a "visible crack". Has there been anything definite in the Japanese media about this? Has anyone elsewhere seen or read anything conclusive to that effect? I'm only aware of the exposure of three workers to highly contaminated water indicating that containment has been lost. I wish the workers get well soon, and that their colleagues may also be spared of the ill effects in the future.

From when the crises started I imagined that the power loss at Fukushima 1 was largely (if not solely) a cooling problem as the circulation requires a fair amount of power to run. It seemed a reasonable assumption that the backup generators were dedicated to that. For days, at least, none of the information I saw could be understood as stating that the condition of the reactors couldn't still be directly monitored despite the failures of some capabilities. The loss of even the most basic functions from instrumentation to lighting was surprising: Logically every system sustaining any purpose (human or technical) in a nuclear facility should have enough redundancy to be operated without interdependencies. The crews at the site have been reduced to "grappling in the dark" far more literally than I thought possible.

The US (Global Hawk?) monitoring flights have not revealed what could be termed as "large scale" contamination on land (a "streak" less than 25 miles long inland as of 25th of March, link). The comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty surveillance network though, reports findings that already translate to a significant fraction of what was released from Chernobyl, according to some (link) though the dispersion and transmission paths are very different due to very different reactor and accident types (it gets a bit complicated, read the New Scientist link if it's still available).

A certain amount of shock and disbelief, I guess, is inevitable in situations like this. I'm not a manifestly pro- or against nuclear power person, but a pragmatist - even so, in hindsight, it's easy to concede that I was in (personal and collectively induced) denial as to what the worst case scenario was. Fukushima raises some very specific questions about practices and redundancies in and around nuclear facilities. It's unlikely that those issues will be thoroughly investigated and rectified (if necessary) unless there's well informed insistence from a significant amount of laypeople (of whom, in nuclear issues, I am). Let's just say that if secrecy about the technical processes and hardware is indicated as a prerequisite for security, then I'm not inclined to think such facilities can be safe under any circumstances. The technology itself, to the operational detail, must be able to withstand the light of day, every day.

I can still entertain the thought of even increasing the share of fission derived energy in the World. What I'm not willing to do is put all the eggs in the same basket, complete reliance on anything is a recipe for corruption and disaster. As always, thank you Blackkite for all your troubles.

 

[SOC]

Fukushima raises some very specific questions about practices and redundancies in and around nuclear facilities.

I'd say it raises two issues-one regarding the practices and redundancies in Japan's nuclear facilities, and one regarding the sensibility of building nuclear power plants along the Ring of Fire or any other active plate boundary.

 

[blackkite]

There has been reporting (to my best knowledge unattributed, said to originate from an unnamed industry source interviewed by the NYT, but I haven't found such an article myself) in the last few days that reactor #3's pressure vessel itself has a "visible crack". Has there been anything definite in the Japanese media about this?

Hi! We never watched, heard or read such a news in Japanese media.
The #2 reactor turbine building floor water radioactivity level is very high, over 1 Sv/h.(P.M 1:15 Internet (Yahoo Japan)).
(The primary containment vessel of #2 reactor already lost it's function, inner pressure is same as atmosphere as already reported.)

 

[UpForce]

Hi! We never watched, heard or read such a news in Japanese media. The #2 reactor turbine building floor water radioactivity level is very high, over 1 Sv/h.(P.M 1:15 Internet (Yahoo Japan)). (The primary containment vessel of #2 reactor already lost it's function, inner pressure is same as atmosphere as already reported.)

Thank you. It's very likely there's been some miscommunication somewhere on this, or that I've misunderstood something. Rumors, or perhaps non-technical commentators getting different reactors mixed up. I remember mixed oxide fuel being mentioned specifically but even if something was "more" wrong with unit 3, a nuclear phycisist said the effects wouldn't differ that much from "pure" uranium fuel (as it contains a fraction of plutonium as well).

I'd say it raises two issues-one regarding the practices and redundancies in Japan's nuclear facilities, and one regarding the sensibility of building nuclear power plants along the Ring of Fire or any other active plate boundary.

That's a pretty arbitrary framing, given that those reactors are a somewhat common GE design (Mark 1 BWR) and that the US reactors, for example, are pretty "vintage" equipment also (exact information from a New Scientist infographic here and World Nuclear Association database here).

There are reactors in Diablo Canyon, CA, that sit pretty darn close to plate fault lines, but markedly some of those risks have only been found after construction. Their emergency cooling pumps were recently found to have been disabled for maintenance for 18 months without the control apparently knowing they lacked that option. The NY Indian Point facility was found to be in a potentially seismically active area only in 2008 (I think). On the "practices" side, at least some of the stateside cooling pools seem to be as tightly packed as their Japanese counterparts. Evacuation plans for heavily populated areas are optimistic to say the least - and this is just what has appeared in the public domain due to a somewhat chaotic patchwork process. There's bound to be more, I'm just beginning to find my way around this stuff here.

And still, I have to emphasize, I'm not categorically opposed to nuclear by any means.

To presuppose unknowable risk and thus justify obliviousness, to equate risk as integral to all aspects of "worthwile" business practices such as nuclear power is a strange proposition (if not ideology) to me. Causalities of profits and efficiencies are, if anything, enhanced by "choosing one's battlegrounds" a la Sun Tzu rather than thinking that holistic headlong empiricism is somehow more conducive, more catalytic to the "natural choices" of market competitiveness. Survival of the fittest does not in any way stratify to apportioning risk based on functioning along a personal-corporate axis alone. Or in the words of a more recently past leader: "Trust, but verify". Humanity doesn't really excel (yet) in thinking long term, like in acts of self regulation in the thousands of years ahead or longer. That is not to say we mustn't even try or that it's automatically self-defeating in the immediate environment.

Another parallel - a little before all this tsunami craziness was wrought on us, there was an interesting energy study from one Carey King of UT at Austin (link). In it, he proposes a strong correlation between, well, basically energy end users' "bang for the buck" and whether the economy as a whole can sustain positive or negative growth (Energy Intensity Ratio - EIR, in addition to the more traditional Energy Return on Energy Investment - EROI which is limited to the energy producers' return on investment). It goes to the quality of energy. Needless to say, things like cleaning up huge oil slicks, requirements of global military dominance, and cordoning off radiologically contaminated swaths of land is massively prohibitive to the overall viability of economies then.

Seems not like such a revolutionary thought, but meticulously quantified it clarifies the basic interdependence of actors. Energy strategies that force societies as a whole to shoulder the risk, however vicariously, directly limits that society's capacity to recover from the realization of that risk. It's a double whammy that unfortunately doesn't seem to factor in the profit motives as they're incorporated and regulated now. Do I have all the answers? No, of course not. But perhaps it's time to start paying attention to "subprime energy security" as much if not more than its ill-fated financial instruments brethren. I'm concerned that currently we're competing in piling on something that's weighing us all down.

The physical relationships between work, energy, and power are pretty fundamental, after all.

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO said that the spent fuel storage pool in #2 and #4 reactor has enough water.(full level).
TEPCO is transferring high level radioactivated floor water in #1 reactor turbine building to the condenser by temporary 3 pumps,studying how to transfer #2 and #3 high level radioactivated floor water because condenser is full of water.They plan to transfer condenser water to another water tank first.(NHK news AM 7:10 28/3/2011)

 

[flateric]

First pictures of the Fukushima 50, the nameless samurai saving Japan from meltdown

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO said that they think there is a hole at the lower part of the #1,#2 and #3 reactor vessel.(instrument penetration broke?)
This is the reason why reactor water level is not increasing in spite of water injection to the reactor vessel.
But it's not big one because inner pressure of each reactor vessel keeps 3atg.
TEPCO discovered high radioactivated water in the trench,outside of the #2 reactor turbine building. Water surface radioactivity level is over 1Sv/h. The volume of water is 6,000m3. TEPCO and NISA think that the water came from broken suppression chamber of #2 reactor primary containment vessel. (20:11 28/3 2011)

 

[starviking]

NHK 7 News said that the radiation was lower at trench outside the Number 1 Reactor, and that as the trenches' water levels were the same that they were linked. A plan was suggested to pump out the water from the Number 1 trench to create more volume for the radioactive water from Number 2 trench to flow into.

 

[blackkite]

I think we need large double hull crude oil carrier for temporary water storage tank at No.1 Fukushima port.
The volume of trench　：　#1 reactor；3100m3, #2 reactor；6000m3, #3 reactor；4200m3.
TEPCO think that TSUNAMI and earth quake broke penetration between building wall and piping or broke some valve.

坑道 ： trench, 　たて坑： vertical trench, 　深さ： depth, 　水位：water level,　海：sea,
　　
距離：distance,　汚染水表面放射能：radioactivity of radio activated water surface,　メートル：m, 毎時ミリシーベルト：mSv/h

以上：over, 未計測：not measured yet

#1. #2 and #3 reactor water injection pumps changed from fire pumps to temporary electric pumps.

 

[TinWing]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/japan-lost-race-save-nuclear-reactor

 

[blackkite]

Hi! NISA and TEPCO are studying how to prevent from radioactivity discharge to the environment.
They have plan to use crude carrier, cover the reactor building by special cloth.

All reactor control room's lights recovered.
Some specialists of AREVA (France) will come to Japan to help us. Many Thanks to them.(Internet and NHK news A.M 7:20 30/3/2011)

タンカー：crude carrier

 

[flateric]

Dear Sawa, what about these rumors of TEPCO chief disappearing? BS?

 

[mz]

Dear Sawa, what about these rumors of TEPCO chief disappearing? BS?

At least this morning in the radio they said he was hospitalized for high blood pressure.

 

[blackkite]

Hi Dear flateric and mz!
TEPCO president Mr.Shimizu went into the hospital because of high blood pressure and giddiness.
The representation is Mr.Katsumata TEPCO chairman of the board.
Mr.Katsumata said that the decommissioning of No.1 Fukushima nuclear power station's reactor #1,#2,#3 and #4 are inevitable.(Internet 22:00 30/3/2011)

 

[UpForce]

... Mr.Katsumata said that the decommissioning of Fukushima nuclear power station's reactor #1,#2,#3 and #4 are inevitable.(Internet 22:00 30/3/2011)

I'm highly concerned about statements such as the one provided by Mr. Katsumata here.

All articles I've read, all nuclear physicists and engineers I've seen interviewed have said the same thing: Just as soon as seawater was injected into the reactors, they were unsalvageable i.e. "decommissioned" by default. The only problem after that was maintaining integrity and cooling, leading up to a permanent containment structure being established on site. No concern whatsoever - to the best of my knowledge - should've been given to returning the units to operational status, as it was plainly and obviously impossible. The first seawater injection happened very soon into the crisis, the 14th of March as far as I can tell. For a TEPCO official to state the obvious more than two weeks after the fact is surreal and leaves me more, not less, worried. Timely information, clearly laid out, is of the utmost essence for a society's ability to function rationally in times of all encompassing crises.

I've noticed that the overall tone in my preferred source, the "All Things Nuclear" blog, has also grown more irate concerning the clarity of information emerging for the general public and the World at large. The frustration is not limited to TEPCO but also national and international authorities. I recognize that the workers at Fukushima 1 have worked in almost impossible conditions since day one and I am (more than) thankful for their efforts. I can only wonder whether I'd have the temerity to concentrate while potentially being irradiated or poisoned. Almost everything else beyond that though, has seemingly been slow walked to an absurd extent, even in the context of simultaniously confronting the overwhelming efforts of tsunami recovery. I'm very frustrated since this sort of thing seems to be the norm in grave technical disasters (and by no means unique to Japan), something that almost certainly ends up causing more problems and suffering. I can't imagine highly trained and highly experienced people being in such denial, or so aghast, that they'd just shrink from action and wish problems away. I can't believe it's cynicism either since they must know - they must know - that the true extent of a disaster in an existential scale will be universally irrefutable through acute personal experience, and sooner rather than later.

I sourced the date of the first salt water injection from Wikipedia, where a Fukushima timeline has been gathered. I'll also mention that Eric Drexler (in his Metamodern blog) seemed impressed about an Ars Technica messageboard discussion on the subject. I haven't waded through much of it as the exchange is already easily a whole book's length (and has the added complication of readers having to be chronologically savvy to the events and the flow of information), so I'm not in a position to say why it might be better than some other discussion, other than that Drexler is generally an insightful guy on many matters.

 

[blackkite]

Hi!
福島第一１号：No.1 Fukushima nuclear power station No.1 reactor (#1 reactor)
主要パラメータ：major parameters
原子炉水位：reactor water level(0 = fuel top)
原子炉圧力：reactor inner pressure
格納容器圧力：primary containment inner pressure
(little strange data)
http://www.gengikyo.jp/report/pdf/1Fparameter.pdf

http://www.gengikyo.jp/report/pdf/tohokutaiheiyoyo_4_4.pdf

Source:
http://www.gengikyo.jp/english/sitemap.html

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO said that they already installed temporary sea water pumps for #2 and #3 reactor cooling system, and trying to install same pumps for #1 and #4 reactor.(Internet A.M. 7:30 1/4/2011)
We need closed loop reactor cooling system same as RHR system to prevent from radioactivity discharge to the environment as soon as possible.

Shizuoka city already gave mega float to TEPCO. It could store about 10,000 to 18,000ton radioactivated water. Mega float will contribute to recover closed loop reactor cooling system.
Length 136m, breadth:46m, height:3m
http://news.tbs.co.jp/part_news/part_news4689365.html

http://photos.oregonlive.com/photo-essay/2011/03/fukushima_dai-ichi_aerials.html
#4 and #3 :'(

 

[blackkite]

Hi! Next pictures. :-\
BTW No.2 Fukushima #1,#2.#3 and #4, and Onagawa #1, #2 and #3 are still fine. ???

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO is trying to identify the route of radioactivity from the fuel to the sea. But It's very difficult.(Internet 10:00 2/4/2001)

Perhaps TEPCO is studying to use U.S.NAVY's water barge (which already reached No.1 Fukushima site with fresh water) for radioactivated water carrier to the other nuclear power station's radioactivated water treatment system.

BWR system. You can see RHR(Residual Heat Removal) equipment (pump and sea water heat exchanger) in page 3-7.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers/03.pdf

 

[flateric]

saw an interview today with mother of one of Fukushima recovery team member.
shattered out...

 

[blackkite]

Onagawa（女川） nuclear power station and No.2 Fukushima（福島） nuclear power station.

 

[Stargazer]

Even if they manage to contain the plant as it is now (the suggested dismantling process is unmanageable and has never been successfully achieved) the whole area will be hostile for thousands of years on end... Worse, the proximity of the sea and the outpouring of plutonium in it probably means that Japan should quit eating fish and seafood from now onwards. What a terrible mess the whole situation has been from day one!

We thought Japan had the best experts on how to make a nuclear plant earthquake- and tsunami-resistant, but this debacle has proven the total incompetence of the company as well as the government in dealing with this catastrophe. Hiroshima's effects dissolved in the atmosphere; Fukushima is here to stay, at least for the 30,000 years to come.

Even if the plant was secured (which remains to be seen), no concrete casing can last for that long, as the radioactivity modifies the properties of the steel it contains.

And even if they could find a solution to this, how do you find a safe language/media to keep warning future generations in order to make sure that 300 centuries down the line they can still interpret it and heed the warning?

 

[UpForce]

Even if they manage to contain the plant as it is now (the suggested dismantling process is unmanageable and has never been successfully achieved) the whole area will be hostile for thousands of years on end... Worse, the proximity of the sea and the outpouring of plutonium in it probably means that Japan should quit eating fish and seafood from now onwards. What a terrible mess the whole situation has been from day one!

We thought Japan had the best experts on how to make a nuclear plant earthquake- and tsunami-resistant, but this debacle has proven the total incompetence of the company as well as the government in dealing with this catastrophe. Hiroshima's effects dissolved in the atmosphere; Fukushima is here to stay, at least for the 30,000 years to come.

Even if the plant was secured (which remains to be seen), no concrete casing can last for that long, as the radioactivity modifies the properties of the steel it contains.

And even if they could find a solution to this, how do you find a safe language/media to keep warning future generations in order to make sure that 300 centuries down the line they can still interpret it and heed the warning?

If you can source the information to websites, can you please provide links to those? I'm especially interested if there's additional info coming from France, since apparently there's a specialist team that has been sent to Japan and they might be in the position to provide a unique perspective. Yes, the status of the reactor cores will remain somewhat unknown for a long time but I'm not exactly sure if it's millennia - TMI's (Three Mile Island) partially melted fuel rods and damaged pressure vessel have to my knowledge been removed and are in storage someplace else, even if it took a while.

On plutonium, all the spent fuel rods at Fukushima seem to have some, it's part of the process. In Unit 3 there's of course MOX, but to quote UCS's blog ... "the MOX fuel in Unit 3 only makes up about 6% of the core (32 out of 548 total fuel assemblies), so the increased risk due to the presence of MOX fuel is probably negligible. Public opposition to MOX in Japan slowed down the program and is the chief reason why there is so little MOX in the core and why the risk from the additional plutonium is limited." I have seen no exact figures of how much of a problem the plutonium can be in a worst case scenario or how much has been detected in the emergency coolant water, or in the sea outside the plant.

For an assessment about the other air- and waterborne radiological agents (mainly I-131 and Cs-137), refer to the blog. The original venting of pressure during the first days of the crisis seems to have released a lot more of these than some experts thought at the time ("One analysis estimated that roughly 20% of the I-131 and up to 50% of the Cs-137 released in the Chernobyl accident was released from Fukushima to the atmosphere within the first few days of the accident." - UCS) - I was under the impression that the venting released mainly light elements with a half-life of mere seconds and that the more dangerous elements had to have taken a more difficult route to escape. If that only was the case ...

"Incompetent" is a strong word; I'm very frustrated as well, but there are a lot of things with reactors that are exactly the same, structurally and policy-wise all around the World. There are some specific evacuations that Japan and TEPCO could've already completed at this time to manage the crisis, based on IAEA radiation guidelines. This is a horrible way to learn about what we've been naïve about, I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but learn we must. There's spent fuel and plutonium in many places and communicating the dangers into the future will not be a problem unique to Fukushima's predicament.

 

[blackkite]

Hi! We are monitoring radioactivity of air, soil, sea, vegetable,meat, milk,fish,water in all Japanese area, and allowable radioactivity level guideline for water and foods are determined very strictly by Japanese government. Some foods which over allowable guideline were thrown immediately. But almost foods become normal now. We know the effect of radioactivity for human body very well through Hiroshima and Nagasaki's tragedy, past reactor accidents.

 

[sferrin]

Even if they manage to contain the plant as it is now (the suggested dismantling process is unmanageable and has never been successfully achieved) the whole area will be hostile for thousands of years on end...

Where does that figure come from? Hiroshima was nuked outright and it's a thriving metropolis today.

 

[Stargazer]

Even if they manage to contain the plant as it is now (the suggested dismantling process is unmanageable and has never been successfully achieved) the whole area will be hostile for thousands of years on end...

Where does that figure come from? Hiroshima was nuked outright and it's a thriving metropolis today.

There's a world of a difference between a contaminated atmosphere and contaminated ground. The radioactivity dissipates in the atmosphere, and even in the water to some extent (France conducted quite a few nuclear tests in the seas of Polynesia) but solid matter, stone and soil have a way of retaining the radioactivity and irradiating it for a loooong time. Allow me to remind you, for example, that the U.S. did tests in the Nevada desert, and 60 years on the second Lockheed XF-90 was still so radioactive it had to be retrieved very carefully for decontamination. The "thousands of years" (even 30,000 years) figure was suggested by a physics teacher I know, who happens to be quite knowledgeable in these matters. He explained to me that plutonium is far more dangerous and persistent than uranium; he also doubts the claims that Fukushima could be dismantled, as that process has never been completed successfully anywhere before and no-one really knows how to do that.

 

[flateric]

Norio Tsuzumi, Vice President of Tokyo Electric Power Co., apologized to the residents of the city of Okuma in the Fukushima prefecture after their evacuation. Tokyo Electric Power Co. operated the Fukushima-1 plant.



© AFP/ Go Takayama

 

[starviking]

The "thousands of years" (even 30,000 years) figure was suggested by a physics teacher I know, who happens to be quite knowledgeable in these matters. He explained to me that plutonium is far more dangerous and persistent than uranium; he also doubts the claims that Fukushima could be dismantled, as that process has never been completed successfully anywhere before and no-one really knows how to do that.

I've read that the plutonium picked up at the site included isotopes that is almost exclusively created in nuclear explosions, and is at the concentration that would be expected to be received far from a nuclear explosion - suggesting that the plutonium detected does not come from Fukushima Daiichi.

Source: http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/04/01/fukushima-daiichi-april-1/

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO is discharging low activated water 11,500 ton to the sea now,because they have no room to store high activated water in No.1 Fukushima site.
Also TEPCO is charging nitrogen gas 6,000m3 to #1 reactor primary containment vessel to prevent from hydrogen explosion from afternoon 6/4/2011.(21:00 6/4/2011 NHK news)
NISA and NHK said that plutonium is not discharged so far (within 20km to 30km radius) ,because It's heavy particle. It's half life is 25,000 years.
To watch Caesium-137 level is important,because it's half life is 30 years, while iodine-131's half life is only 8 days.(but it has bad influence to the children) These gases are typical fission product gases which contains the nuclear fuel. When fuel melt, these gases are released to the environment.
Some Institute said that volume of discharged these gases from No.1 Fukushima site to the environment is 10% to 20% compared with Chernobyl accident. The volume of discharged these gases from Chernobyl accident is only 0.1 % to 1% compared with past nuclear weapon explosion test. (Source:Internet)
米ソ核実験：U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapon explosion test.
中国核実験：China nuclear weapon explosion test.
チェルノブイリ事故：Chernobyl accident.
ミリベクレル：mBq
Natural uranium contains 0.7% fissile uranium-235, balance is 99.3% non fissile uranium-238.
BWR fuel before burn contains 3% fissile uranium-235, balance is 97% non fissile uranium-238.
Spent fuel contains 1% uranium-235,1% fissile plutonium-239(converted from uranium-238 which absorb one neutron) and uranium-238.
MOX fuel contains 4% plutonium-239 and uranium-235 through it's life.
Plutonium which detected from No.1 Fukushima site was from nuclear fuel, because the volume of plutonium 238 is 100 time lager than from nuclear bomb explosion,but it's volume was very very small.(1×10-12g/kg) Almost same as natural level.

 

[blackkite]

Hi! The TSUNAMI which struck No.1 Fukushima site.
http://video.mainichi.co.jp/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48227968/48227968peevee382253.flv?inb=yt
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/fnn?a=20110410-00000024-fnn-soci
And T-Hawk MAV which join Japan effort.
Northrop Grumman Global Hawk reconned No.1 Fukushima site. You see Gloval Hawk flying over the site in No.4 video.
Movie taken by TPECO from JSDF's helicopter.
A thousand Thanks to all who help and support us!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20051499-1.html
http://wn.com/Global_Hawk,_PACAF_video
http://www.jiji.com/jc/movie?p=top229-movie02&s=248&rel=y&g=soc

 

[Trident]

Impressive tsunami run up! I was sceptical about the claims of more than 10m at the Fukushima site, since the simple, straight coast line does not lend itself to focusing the oncoming mass of water (compare and contrast with Onagawa, the area around which saw some of largest recorded wave heights!). Maybe there is something unusual about the topography of the sea floor offshore Fukushima? Another possibility would be that the quake triggered a submarine landslide in the area that amplified the tsunami locally. Certainly food for thought, because whatever it was might require the assumptions about tsunami hazards for other nuclear sites in Japan to be reassessed.

 

[blackkite]

Impressive tsunami run up! I was sceptical about the claims of more than 10m at the Fukushima site, since the simple, straight coast line does not lend itself to focusing the oncoming mass of water (compare and contrast with Onagawa, the area around which saw some of largest recorded wave heights!). Maybe there is something unusual about the topography of the sea floor offshore Fukushima? Another possibility would be that the quake triggered a submarine landslide in the area that amplified the tsunami locally. Certainly food for thought, because whatever it was might require the assumptions about tsunami hazards for other nuclear sites in Japan to be reassessed.

Yes we think so. Fukushima No.1 site coast line is straight. Some saw tooth coasts marked over 30m height TSUNAMI. Unbelievable!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4oxbUUr130
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zb9JS55yfY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-mkzcxnJS8&feature=related

 

[blackkite]

TSUNAMI height, the death toll, the missing and the evacuee.
死亡者数：the death toll(total;13,392), 行方不明者数：the missing(total;15,133), 避難者数：number of evacuee(137,895), 女川：onagawa, 福島：fukushima, 東海：tokai, 三沢；misawa, 東京：Tokyo
We lost 20,000 fishing boats.
NISA(Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency) and Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan judged that No.1 Fukushima Nuclear power station accident's level is 7 same as Chernobyl accident, because discharged radioactivity volume is large. (NISA's estimation of radioactivity discharge volume is 37×10 4 TBq, Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan's estimation is 63×10 4 TBq, while Chernobyl's was 520×10 4 TBq.)

 

[blackkite]

Hi! You can see the roadmap towards Restoration from the Accident at No.1 Fukushima nuclear power station. (bottom of the following site,)
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11041707-e.html

You can see reactors condition in following site in English selecting language 英語(English, middle right).
http://atmc.jp/plant/temperature/

And movies taken from T-HAWK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqMes7_OAlw&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE35_k812Bg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN-EJCP23Jo

 

[Machdiamond]

Your updates are appreciated Blackkite.

I don't want to turn this thread into a collection of Youtube videos, one only has to "youtube" Tsunami or 津波 to get a very large collection of these, but one particular 2 min video that is very hard to find, struck me particularly.

One can only imagine what this group of people would have felt, seeing that sea of fire coming towards them, and spending a whole night on the roof of that building in Kesennuma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cliplW6fMs

--Luc

 

[starviking]

This video is pretty horrifying, especially so for me as it's typical of so many Japanese cities and towns in the Tohoku area where I live. It's slow to start - but things just go from bad to worse...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZR0Rq1Rfw&feature=share

 

[blackkite]

What a terrible video it is!!

You see the movie of inside #3 reactor building damaged by hydrogen explosion taken from American robot in following site.

http://www.google.co.jp/#q=%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E5%8E%9F%E7%99%BA%E3%80%80%E3%83%AD%E3%83%9C%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E6%98%A0%E5%83%8F&hl=ja&biw=1345&bih=513&rlz=1R2TSHD_jaJP353&prmd=ivnsu&source=univ&tbm=nws&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=h-2uTc_IIo_qvQP7w6WQDw&ved=0CCkQqAI&fp=77b4589b4791c2b2

Radioactivity level of 20km radius area from No.1 Fukushima site.(unit μSv/h) Source;The Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science and Technology. Measured 18/4/2011)

Another movie. Misty room is in No.2 reactor building because high radioactivated steam leaks from break point of supression chamber of primary containment vessel.The humidity is 98%.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/movie?p=top263-movie02&s=282&y=&rel=y&g=phl

 

[blackkite]

TEPCO will use Japanese robot named Quince at No.1 Fukushima site.
http://www.furo.org/ja/robot/quince/movie.html

And radioactivity level map in No.1 Fukushima site.(unit : mSv/h)
原子炉建屋：Reactor building, タービン建屋：Turbine building, がれき：debris, 配管表面：Piping surface, 集中廃棄物処理施設：Centralized waste treatment building, 立て坑：Vertical trench, 耐圧ホース：pressure tight hose

 

[Grey Havoc]

A bit more info on Quince and it's imminent deployment:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104240109.html

Chiba's Quince appears to have being initially developed under the Ministry of Education's (MEXT) DDT Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas (FY2002-2006), while Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co.'s Moni-Robo (also referred to as Monirobo) was developed under a separate MEXT contract, with the known examples owned and operated by the Ministry's Nuclear Safety Technology Center.

The US packbots have had reportedly mixed success in their operations in and around the plant. Not surprising given that the Packbot series was originally designed for use primarily by infantry squads in MOUT and COIN scenarios. Low cost, compactness, and ease of mass production were key design principles. It wasn't intended for use in extreme NBC conditions, including those inside a compromised reactor. It has minimum hardening/shielding, at best. Sensors are mostly limited to visual (some variants have low light options, but I don't think TI [Thermal Imagining] is available) and audio, although the units that are being used are supposed to be fitted with radiation and temperature sensors (one report has them also fitted with an oxygen concentration sensor). However, considering their limitations, the Packbots are doing ok enough for initial recon, but more capable systems are needed in there, yesterday.

One other thing, the article linked above says that it's TEPCO that sent for and are operating the two iRobot Packbots. However other sources indicate it that it was the JGSDF's Central Readiness Force that secured them and which is currently responsible for their operation.

EDIT: Another robot we might be seeing deployed at Fukushima in the near future is Inuktun's (Canadian company) VGTV inspection bot.

http://www.inuktun.com/crawler-vehicles/vgtv.html

 

[blackkite]

Many thanks for giving us excellent robot lectures.
TEPCO is already operating remote controlled heavy construction equipments in No.1 Fukushima site for highly radioactivated debris removal.