This is another clearinghouse diary for discussion and commentary about the ongoing nuclear disaster(s) in Japan. For updated information on news and a timeline of the events following the March 11 Japanese Earthquake, visit the Mothership. provides a more extensive list of news and data sources, social media, crisis mapping and other relevant information.
If you would like to recommend this diary feel free to do so. All previous liveblogs published to the Japan Nuclear Incident group can be found here. The group also serves as an archive for Coverage@Kos. (For more details on this ongoing 24/7 breaking news resource and information on how to follow this @ Kos, please read below the fold.)
News Stream:17 May JST. JNI Combined Sources..... Quake not tsunami caused meltdown in No.1 ... Storage barge for radioactive water arrives ...Gov't demands Tepco reveal ... 3 years to dispose of debris from quake/tsumani ... Polyester structure temporary fix for trapping 'some' escaping radioactive materials.. ..... Search for missing radioactive water continues ... TEPCO to release outlook for ending nuke crisis, evacuation … Disaster damaged or destroyed 7,254 companies in coastal areas of Tohoku .... Death toll from Earthquake tops 15,000 ... Radioactivity way up in Seawater from Fukushima 1, 2 & 3 Meltdowns (references in comments and FOoF's diary linked below)
On board with the story:
Japan Reactor-Core Damage Is Worse Than Expected, Delaying Tepco’s Cleanup (Bloomberg, May 12)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said one of the reactor cores at its stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant is more seriously damaged than previously thought, setting back the utility’s plan to resolve the crisis.
Fuel rods in the core of the No. 1 reactor are fully exposed, with the water level 1 meter (3.3 feet) below the base of the fuel assembly, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as Tepco, told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo. Melted fuel has dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel and is still being cooled, Matsumoto said.
Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant Telegraph, May 12.
One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel.
“Fuel rods in the core of the No. 1 reactor are fully exposed, with the water level 1 meter (3.3 feet) below the base of the fuel assembly, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as Tepco, told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo. Melted fuel has dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel and is still being cooled, Matsumoto said.”
In other words, officials have been forced to admit for the first time that reactor 1 suffered a nuclear meltdown, leading to concerns that “radioactive fuel may have burned a hole through the bottom of the containment vessel, causing water to leak.”
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/... (NHK 5/14)
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is trying to locate thousands of tons of radioactive water that has leaked from one of the damaged reactors.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says contaminated water is apparently leaking from the No.1 reactor, which is in a state of meltdown.
TEPCO has injected more than 10,000 tons of water into the reactor since the March 11th disaster damaged the plant. But, less than half that amount is believed to remain in the reactor or its container vessel.
The utility says the leaked water is likely in the basement of the reactor building -- still a no-go zone due to concerns over high radiation levels.
Twitter 'vital' link to patients, say doctors in Japan (BBC 5/14)
In the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, Twitter is proving "an excellent system" for communicating with chronically-ill patients, say doctors.
In letters written to The Lancet, Japanese doctors say social networking sites have been vital in notifying patients where to get medication.
Although telephone networks were disrupted after the earthquake, internet access remained reliable.
But Japan must now strengthen its primary care system, they said.
Free fish meals a treat for earthquake-hit town Yomiuri 5/15
KESENNUMA, Miyagi--An association of owners of long-distance fishing boats provided 2,000 donburi bowls topped with bonito and tuna to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in Kesennuma on Saturday.
People started to gather at 5 a.m. in front of a restaurant where the meals were to be handed out, and the line kept growing until 10:20 a.m. when distribution began.
Kesennuma is one of the nation's largest bases for long-distance fishing, but was devastated by the March 11 tsunami. The association's members wanted to cheer up disaster survivors with the dishes of rice topped with bonito and tuna brought from Yaizu Port in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Association head Hiroaki Katsukura said, "We wanted to express our gratitude to the people of Kesennuma, because they've helped us out in the past. We also wanted to do something to encourage them."
Hamako Koyama, 72, tasted both donburi types and said the free meals were a treat. "I haven't been able to eat much fish since the disaster," he said.
The association plans to hold similar events in Onagawacho in the prefecture and other disaster-hit areas.
Fukushimafaq
Detailed temperatures and pressures are posted every few hours at http://www.tepco.co.jp/... - the links for each reactor are just below the apology box about 2/3 down the page. Google will translate the link titles OK. Refresh every access to ensure the latest linked PDFs are picked up as the URL changes with every new release.
Gov't compiling road map for nuke crisis-affected areas (TOKYO, May 14, Kyodo)
The government is compiling a road map to clarify how it will restore areas affected by the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and allow evacuated people to return home, for release as early as Tuesday, government sources said Saturday.
The release may be delayed, however, as the latest findings by the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. indicate a meltdown of the troubled No. 1 reactor's fuel in a development that may affect its aim of bringing the crisis under control within six to nine months.
Action:
Picnic 4 Degrowth !
In solidarity with the people of Fukushima! What do you want? Clean energy! When do you want it? now!
Change always starts with a nice chat around a good dinner! :)
On Sunday 5th of June, we invite you to gather with friends, relatives and neighbours to have a wonderful picnic in a park or even in your street. The 2010 edition was organised in about 70 cities, in more than 20 countries. This year edition is organised in solidarity with the people who were at the center of the huge crisis that happened in Fukushima. While media are slowly going away in quest for fresher news... WE DO NOT FORGET! This pic-nic is a simple action to put it clearly to our governments that we want 100% clean energy as nuclear energy is simply not safe, and human beings do not master this technology. Moreover, to give an example, in Europe only, 143 nuclear power plants provide no more than 20% of the total energy needed! So is it worth taking such a risk for 20% of energy supply? The answer is clearly NO! The answer of many degrowth movements around the globe is, first, to consume less energy and, then, to choose clean energy. This is the message behind this year pic-nic. We hope you'll join us!
Updates
• A massive update for CatDat Situation Report (Part 15)
UPDATE 5/17
• scribble live 5/16
16 May 6:00 Plant Parameters: www.meti.go.jp 16 May Bad Plant Parameters: www.meti.go.jp 16 May Radiation Monitoring: www.meti.go.jp 16 May NISA Report 140: www.meti.go.jp 15 May NISA Report 139 (English): www.nisa.meti.go.jp 14 May NISA Report 138 (English): www.nisa.meti.go.jp 16 May JAIF NPP Status 132: www.jaif.or.jp 16 May JAIF Earthquake Report 83: www.jaif.or.jp 16 May JAIF Overall NPP Status: www.jaif.or.jp MEXT Environmental Radiation Readings (dust, air, water, by-prefecture): www.mext.go.jp TEPCO Press Releases: www.tepco.co.jp
PDFS
www.toshiba.co.jp
www.iaea.org fukushima #3 shroud replacement document for your reading enjoyment
www.krrao.com very good document on BWR core internals replacement, stresses etc.. with great break away drawings...
netfiles.uiuc.edu one of my sources
reindeerflotilla.wordpress.com
www.nucleartourist.com this is going to be pinned up
www.ucsusa.org very cute little link that will be used with my presentation
www.ornl.gov
• Latest videos from 200 Watts (France: Understanding the Nuclear Industry)
• WHO Status report 11 May (download report)
5280 injured and 9853 missing. There are now 115 098 evacuees.
Health situation monitoring, needs and risk assessments and response in the earthquake and tsunami affected areas are ongoing.
JNI Team analysis (from previous ROV)
This is gonna hurt .... h/t procrastinator john on Thu May 12, 2011 at 06:41:18 PM PDT
Back at the end of March the CEO of TEPCO denied rumors that the company had withheld information:
[Katsumata] faced criticism that the company had supplied a flow of opaque and occasionally wrong information, including a misleading radiation reading, but denied TEPCO withheld details on the Fukushima situation.
"I am very sorry that there have been various mistakes and delays in the timing (of making announcements). But we have never concealed information," he told reporters.
The
Asahi Shinbun(Japanese) reports a different story today:
Concerning the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, Tokyo Electric discovered that it did not release data about the high level of radiation in the reactor building of unit 3 that suffered a hydrogen explosion on March 14, even though it had the data on hand on March 13th. TEPCO ascertained this from internal documents. Nuclear power experts indicate that "since this is information needed by workers and the public, they have an obligation to release specific data as soon as possible."
This news is seriously going to piss off Kan and Edano, not to mention a lot of the public. The incident is definitely going to be investigated by the government. March 13, by the way, was the last time the company president, Shimizu, made a public appearance until early in April, after he was released from the hospital.
がんばれ日本!
Coverage@kos
• Radioactivity way up in Seawater from Fukushima 1, 2 & 3 Meltdowns 5/16 by FishOutofWater
• Fukushima Dai Ichi Unit 1 is officially in a state of Meltdown 5/12 by Adept2uFollow
• Confirmed: Fuel rods at Fukushima reactor have mostly melted. Taxpayer-funded bailout announced 5/13 by Meteor Blades
• Fukushiam Roundup 5/14 by Joieau
Regularly Updated Data Sources
@Kos: A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly.
• Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF)
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• EPA RadNet Map View & EPA's Radiation Air Monitoring
Scribble Live
• Japan Municipal Water Charts (in Japanese)
Best News Sources
Kyodo Nuclear News Feed
NHK Japan Live
OilDrum
Asahi on Facebook
Fukushima Wikispaces
WHO situation reports
METI Twitter Feed
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