Japanese Nuke Plant Workers Preparing Return to Reactor
- Posted on March 16, 2011 at 6:30am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
- Print »
- Email »
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who had been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas.
“The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now,” he said Wednesday morning, as smoke billowed above the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. “Because of the radiation risk we are on standby.”
Later, an official with Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said the team had withdrawn about 500 yards (meters) from the complex, but were getting ready to go back in.
The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, a blast of black seawater that pulverized Japan’s northeastern coastline. The quake was one of the strongest recorded in history.
Later Wednesday, national broadcaster NHK showed military helicopters lifting off to survey radiation levels above the complex, preparing to dump water onto the most troubled reactors in a desperate effort to cool them down.
But Edano has already warned that may not work.
“It’s not so simple that everything will be resolved by pouring in water. We are trying to avoid creating other problems,” he said.
“We are actually supplying water from the ground, but supplying water from above involves pumping lots of water and that involves risk. We also have to consider the safety of the helicopters above,” he said.
Radiation levels had gone down by later Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if the workers had been allowed back in, or how far away they had withdrawn. The workers at the forefront of the fight – a core team of about 180 – had been regularly rotated in and out of the danger zone to minimize their radiation exposure.
Meanwhile, officials in Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late morning. While those levels are unhealthy for prolonged periods, they are far from fatal.
Days after Friday’s twin disasters, millions of people were struggling along the coast with little food, water or heat, and already chilly temperatures turned to snow in many areas. Up to 450,000 people are staying in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums.
More than 11,000 people are officially listed as dead or missing, and most officials believe the final death toll will be well over 10,000 people.
In an extremely rare address to the nation, Emperor Akihito expressed his condolences and urged Japan not to give up.
“It is important that each of us shares the difficult days that lie ahead,” said Akihito, 77, a figure deeply respected across the country. “I pray that we will all take care of each other and overcome this tragedy.”
He also expressed his worries over the nuclear crisis, saying: “With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse.”
Since the quake and wave hit, authorities have been struggling to avert an environmental catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo. The tsunami knocked out the backup diesel generators needed to keep nuclear fuel cool, setting off the atomic crisis.
In the city of Fukushima, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from the nuclear complex, hundreds of harried government workers, police officers and others struggled to stay on top of the situation in a makeshift command center.
An entire floor of one of the prefecture’s office buildings had been taken over by people tracking evacuations, power needs, death tolls and food supplies.
In one room, uniformed soldiers evaluated radiation readings on maps posted across a wall. In another, senior officials were in meetings throughout the day, while nuclear power industry representatives held impromptu briefings before rows of media cameras.
Wednesday‘s radiation spike was apparently the result of a release of pressure that had built up in the complex’s Unit 2 reactor, officials said. Steam and pressure build up in the reactors as workers try to cool the fuel rods, leading to controlled pressure releases through vents – as well as uncontrolled explosions.
John Price, an Australia-based nuclear safety expert, said he was surprised by how little information the Japanese were sharing.
“We don‘t know even the fundamentals of what’s happening, what’s wrong, what isn’t working. We’re all guessing,” he said. “I would have thought they would put on a panel of experts every two hours.”
Given the radiation levels, he saw few health risks for the general public so far, though he was concerned for the workers, who he said were almost certainly working in full body suits and breathing through respirators.
Edano said the government expects to ask the U.S. military for help, though he did not elaborate. He said the government is still considering whether to accept offers of help from other countries.
The government has ordered some 140,000 people in the vicinity to stay indoors. A little radiation was also detected in Tokyo, triggering panic buying of food and water.
There are six reactors at the plant. Units 1, 2 and 3, which were operating last week, shut down automatically when the quake hit. Since then, all three have been rocked by explosions. Compounding the problems, on Tuesday a fire broke out in Unit 4′s fuel storage pond, an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere.
Units 4, 5 and 6 were shut at the time of the quake, but even offline reactors have nuclear fuel – either inside the reactors or in storage ponds – that need to be kept cool.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor.
Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted.
“We don’t know the nature of the damage,” said Minoru Ohgoda, spokesman for the country’s nuclear safety agency. “It could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them.”
Meanwhile, the outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency said fire and smoke could no longer be seen at Unit 4, but that it was unable to confirm that the blaze had been put out.
—
Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, David Stringer in Ofunato and Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 700 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 533 Comments
‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 359 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 357 Comments
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 350 Comments
Faith
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 350 Comments
Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 359 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 272 Comments
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 148 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 302 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 350 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (47)
McClarinJ
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 6:05pmJapan is big on robotics, but where are the robots when they really need them?
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:30amGood question.
Report Post »rockyflatsgear
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 5:29pmNotice status of reactor #3 is missing it had the largest explosion and is the most dangerous as it uses a MOX fuel a mixture of 7% Plutonium and 93% Uranium. This is the real story, pray they get them cooled off soon. Pray for the brave people working at the plants. Prepare for one or more reactors melting down and generating a cloud of radioactive stuff coming to the US. Start taking potassium iodate now the first cloud should be hitting calf, Washington in the next day or two. Jeff Buske
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 4:14pmWow! These guys may have mains back up–soon! Yeah for the transmission boys! And, yeah for all those working their @$$&$ off, to get reliable power back to this site so the established systems that did not fail can be brought to bear!!! Considering auxiliary power–diversify, spread it around, don’t concetrate it, the generators, the motors that drive them, the fuel supply, the support structures and the distribution lines that carry their energy to where it is needed. Consider some cross-connects, maybe a patch panel rather than automatic switching! I just hope none of these were caught in mid-refueling, as a disabled crane might hinder any remediation efforts!
Report Post »Linda in Oklahoma
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 3:11pmThrow Obama on top of the reactors – he thinks he is soooo cool!
Report Post »happy2behere
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 2:30pmCompare and contrast “Rev.” Jeremiah Wright’s actions and those of the Japanese nuclear workers.
And John 15:13 is so appropriate, Thank You.
Report Post »ccrabill
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:52pm“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Report Post »Jesus (John 15:13)
Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:08pmIt looks like there have been some really serious mistakes made in the response to this crisis, AND I wonder if the revelations have been candid. We know that Fukushim Dai-ichi 1,2 and 3 were in operation at the time of the earthquake and tripped into RPS (automated in later systems). We know there was an auxiliary power failure about an hour after trip–and then a cascade of problems as communications and other infrastructure damage delayed what might have otherwise been a straigtforward but urgent response (backup pumps and generators, additional supervision, etc.) It turns out that Unit 3 was fueled with MOX this past September, in what may turn out to be an unfortunate event. And, it appears that Unit 4 has a problem with a spent fuel pool co-located with it’s main unit. However, it hasn’t been revealed whether the Units 4,5 and 6 were moving fuel at the time of the earthquake, whether the reactors were open, with head components removed as they would be in a refueling operation and whether the pools were for storage of spent fuel or for temporary storage of spent fuel assemblies involved in the refueling operation. If the reactors are open, there IS NO CONTAINMENT. If the pools are leaking, their fuel assemblies may be uncovered and with NO CONTAINMENT. In the chaos that may have ensued after the quake and loss of mains power, machinery involved in the refueling operations may have been damaged or be inoperable. We don’t know the whole story. It is NOT time for recrimination, but for candid revelation of what IS KNOWN. There will be plenty of time for study and analysis of what was done right, what was done wrong and what needs to be improved! But, I find it ODD that Unit 4 has suffered several fires and wonder if other units are also at risk–perhaps they were in a different stage of refueling and therefore ‘safe’. It is the little oversights that can bite hard! May God bless those who remain onsite, engaged and at risk, to mitigate further decay and disruption! And may God give us the wisdom to have an adult interaction of the benefits and risks of nuclear power, other major fossil fuel sources, and the potential contributions of the emerging ‘green’ sources of energy and energy conservation. These plants are million horswpower machines and need to be treated with awe and respect! Hopefully, they won’t further complicate the search for survivors of the tsunami and the reconstruction of Japan, which may approach, if not exceed, the challenges they faced after WWII!
Report Post »Insanityrules
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 12:39pmAn interesting reactor meltdown picture story from the daughter of one of the government officials.
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
Report Post »Whostolemypig
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 12:02pmWhen they give out these radiation levels and proclaim them as being half of what you’d get during an x-ray, they leave out one important detail. The readings indicate the exposure for one hours, not the accumulative exposure. How would you like to be x-rayed 12 times a day, everyday? The long term effects of this exposure are going to terrible for half the Japanese population.
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 12:01pmCan we make the Wisconsin union thugs go watch, as a lesson in honor? I think they should get a real close look. Maybe those drunken St. Pat’s rioters could tag along, and if there’s room, the taco shop and pancake house brawlers. I understand there may not be enough protective clothing but I’m sure it will be fine. I can’t stand to listen to all the whiners crying about fictional slavery and invented civil rights while the Japanese give the world a lesson in dignity, honor and bravery.
Report Post »FoxholeAtheist
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 11:48amGlenn Beck equates whatever the Japanese are doing over there, the earthquake is a message to stop it. Basically, he said that they upset god so they had it coming. Beck is sick and needs to go the way of Gilbert Godfrey. He should be ashamed.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:38pmCan you give us a reference to Beck’s lament? I missed it and would love to see him get SOMETHING wrong! (Actually, I thought he really butchered his pressure-cooker demo, BUT in talking with other who watched it–THEY GOT IT! So much for my feeble opinion! On the other hand, Geraldo‘s scorn the other night ’What idiot would pour seawater on a reactor?’ was a bit mis-informed! A DESPERATE IDIOT, you idiot!!!
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:40pmGilbert Godfrey should get a Bill for his Quackery!
Report Post »FoxholeAtheist
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 4:27pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/glenn-beck-japan-earthquake-god_n_835573.html
“there’s a message being sent. And that is, ‘Hey, you know that stuff we’re doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it.‘ I’m just saying.”
Look it up. It’s not just on this site. His reasoning for the earthquake is god’s wrath for not following the 10 commandments. He is dangerous.
I hate religion.
Report Post »4X4in
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 11:12amModern day Cowboys, FOR SURE………. Go get boys!
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 11:38amI sort of think of it as modern day Samurai. Bushido lives today.
Report Post »messiah
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 10:33ampray for all these brave souls that now need to make the ultimate sacrifice to save others. Pray they know Jesus did so too and they shall be saved in the end by his grace. We needed nuclear power to make weapons as far as I can tell and to keep power monopolies or dynasties going. It’s amazing how short sighted or to weak kneed to stand against common sense all of us that keep being duped into these horrific and stupid decisions for our “economic” benefit and energy needs. All a smart terrorist or rouge warring faction has to do is knock out electric grid, which is simple and obvious, and generaters would be only think standing between us and Japans fate or much worse. What about knocking out water supply? how hard is that with computer warfare? Does Israel have nuclear plants or did they look ahead and protect themselves? If Iran plays the game we and Israel did back upon us, we could be in serious trouble fast. But they and you already knew that, right? shalom
Report Post »MikeinIdaho
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 10:32amGod bless and protect these brave workers as they try to bring this mess under control! Then, God, please help all the Japanese people as they try to rebuild their lives and their country.
Report Post »hiramsmaxim
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:59amZechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Japan as well as others have spoken out against Israel.
Report Post »catndahat
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:45amThese guys have tiger blood and I hope they are eating their seaweed and or/taking iodide pills…I hope they will be ok and not get poisoned by doing this work. They are the bravest men on earth at the moment–other than our soldiers overseas. God Bless them all.
Report Post »Wilma
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:46amThe reactors are overheating because all power supplies failed. Loss of backup power is the issue we need to focus on. We need to look at all American nuclear facilities not simply those in earthquake prone areas.
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:36amtrue hero’s , anyone who will do that job and risk his or her life,is and should be called and respected as a hero. jimjetearl@ dignity and respect, i think van jones and george soros have taught kids hear that they don’t have to respect anyone,that they { the kids }are gods .man we really need to teach those two words or at the most beat those two words into their naive brains. van jones and soros have done more to tear this country apart at her seems,than anyone in history,those two should be held for treason and the courts shold allow any american who would like to punch each one until they learned the words dignity and respect,i want my punches.
Report Post »alrunner58
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:27amAmericans need to look at the Japanese and learn. What honorable people!
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:25amWhere is our learless feader, I am wondering why he hasn’t shut down all of our nuclear reactors until they can find the cause of this accident. This is what he usually does isn’t it? When in doubt, just shut everything down. Personally I would like to see all the idiots that want to shut down our energy sources just leave and go to someplace that doesn’t have electricity and running water. This at least would get them out of here so we don’t have to listen to them anymore.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:28amHe will get around to it, it’s taken him a couple of months to start talking about gun control after the Giffords shooting but, he got there.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:33pmHe’s probably shaking in his boots! If he shuts down the nukes, there won’t be enough power for his TELEPROMPTER!!! On the other hand, the wind generators in front of the White House and the Capitol might spin out of control and kill an albatross–a bad omen, indeed! I wonder how many Megawatts we’d get from harnessing all the huffing and puffing in Washington???
Report Post »jimjetearl
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:21amThe Japanese still treat each other with dignity and respect even during a time of great crisis. I haven’t seen any report of looting and gangs going around bullying people for food or valuables. It is such a stark difference how they handle a large natural disaster and how the people of New Orelans Handled their natural disaster.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:07amThe Japanese are a very honorable people – if there were 10 bottles of water – they would not any think about buying all of them – leaving some of them for other. And the people still working on those reactors have basically given their life up to try and keep the reactors from melting down. http://wp.me/pYLB7-KF
Report Post »AzCowboy
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:40amI’d hate to see Tucson if just the grid went down for 2 days. Our people would kill for a jar of baby food. I don’t just mean AZ. Think about it. Another thing, there is a difference between an AMERICAN MEXICAN and a mexican american.
Report Post »jH…
Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:28pmGee AZCOWBOY, that’s an insightful remark–a difference between an American-Mexican and a Mexican-American!!! Makes me wonder if there isn’t an analogous difference between an American-Black and a Black-American; or, ANY hyphenated distinction, for that matter! I‘ve seen a few enlightened souls that recognize if the ’American’ comes first, the behavior places their national pride ahead of their heritage pride–not to diminish the latter, but to keep it in perspective!!!
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:19amWell if the reporter’s want to know if the fire is out in the reactors, then they need to go into the reactor’s and look. I don’t imagine that anyone would want to do that little chore. Besides where there is fire there is heat. These reporter’s want them to tell them the whole story, but I doubt until they get the fires out and some type of containment on the rods. No one is going to know the whole story.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:19amU.S. union workers wouldn’t be going back in there, they would be lining up their class action lawsuit about now.
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:14amThere is an honor among that Japanese that we can learn from. They are right up there with the first responders who ran into the buildings on 9-11. These people are heroes who will probably lose their lives.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:25amNew Orleans should be even more embarrassed of their city after watching the Japanese react to this whole crisis. Somehow, I doubt they are though.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 11:36am@ Gonzo
I had not thought about the Katrina comparison. Wow! What a contrast.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:21pmGonzo, you are right!!! So far, there is no news of the Japanese crapping up a stadium! And I don’t expect there to be. However, they didn’t have well-meaning governmnet officials suggest they eat a big meal before arriving at a shelter, because there may not be food. Also, it is noteworthy that the stadium problems at New Orleans were caused by a lack of electrical power (no water, no flush). Maybe ANY large facility, especially one that might serve as a shelter, should be prepared, with potable water, HDR’s and an ample supply of electrical energy via generators, co-generators or battery/battery-solar systems, and a vetted emergency management plan.
Report Post »Wilma
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:04amSend all of the naysayers with them.
Report Post »aLinedog
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:15amThose folks have great big ones, made out of cast iron.
Report Post »Drive on, you beautiful bastards!
-line
PA PATRIOT
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:19amSomeone HAS to do it.
Report Post »These scientist and workers are as brave a soldiers going into expendable mode.
sissykatz
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:23amLord Please be with these brave souls as they carry out their tasks.
Report Post »Klarky
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:26amThe News Headline should read:
Report Post »“Nuclear Reactors in Japan Survive an 8.9 Earthquake and a Tsunami that Destroyed Other Buildings in Surrounding Area”
HillBillySam1
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 8:51amThey know what they are going back into…..it is amazing that the reactors and spent-fuel pits are still intact after the magnitude of that earthquake…..the entire facility is so damaged, though…..the longer that the cores remain exposed, the worse that the disaster will be……please be praying for all of those who are fighting so hard to end the crisis…….
Report Post »aLinedog
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:17amThe earlier comment was a bit flippant, but nonetheless sincere in my admiration. My mind is all over and I forgot what I wanted to comment, ere I finished.
Never caught the name, heard the story while I was working (I keep Fox on in the background .. well, a LOT.) A firefighter whom, realizing that electric was out and the gens were down, drove his engine right up to the reactor. He knew he was a dead man. Radiation Sickness was virtually instantaneous. Violent retching is only the beginning. For an hour he withstood the debilitating effects as he used his truck to draw water from the (cooling reservoir?) and spray it on the reactor.
Report Post »I am so glad I was alone during that story. Although I think I would have preferred being with my girl… pride, awe, sorrow..the most painful, bitter-sweet emotion.
…wow. That is a heroic sacrifice. Following his collapse, his mates dragged him out and they said he survived. Though his last days will be relatively soon and, likely, agonizing… he will be virtually-revered in that society. If ever a man earned it…
-line
poverty.sucks
Posted on March 16, 2011 at 9:39amMedia 24/7 reports of radiation is psychological warfare.
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:29amWhatever happens, these people are heros.
Report Post »