Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at Crisis
A week has already passed since the occurrence of the great earthquake/tsunami disaster on March 11, 2011.
The main concern is now about the state of the Fukushima No.1 (Daiichi) Nuclear Power Plant where four nuclear reactors are installed.
The 1st and 3rd units had suffered a major hydrogen blast, blowing off ceilings and walls of their housing buildings.
The 4th unit was empty in its pressure vessel as all the fuel rods were placed in the cooling water pool, but now temperature of the pool has been increasing.
The second unit has its suppression pool under the reactor vessel partially blown as I reported on March 15.
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/03/it-shall-bruise-thy-head-and-thou-shalt.html#links
Some vegetables taken in the Fukushina Prefecture, 200 km northeast of Tokyo, and the Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima, show a higher level of radiation than usual, though it is not threatening to the human body.
Tokyo and its adjacent areas are not threatened by the radioactive influences from the Fukushima No.1 Plant which is situated 250 km or 150 miles northeast of the metropolitan center of Tokyo.
PART 20-10:
Air pollution kills 656,000 people per year in China (as of 2007).
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070709-china-pollution.html
Western Japan is a little affected by air and dust flowing from China, namely from the Asian continent to the Pacific Ocean.
Yet, some Japanese residents around Tokyo are reportedly heading for Western Japan, or the Osaka area, due to a possible radioactive influence.
Again, Western Japan is a little more affected than the Tokyo area by air and dust flowing from China, namely from the Asian continent to the Pacific Ocean.
PART 20-9:
Japan is the country that uses the least amount of primary energy per GDP, leveraging advanced technology.
Total Primary Energy Use per GDP
1. JAPAN...1.0
2. EU 27...1.8
3. USA...2.1
4. Australia...2.5
5. Canada...3.1
6. Korea...3.2
7. Thailand...6.1
8. Middle East...6.3
9. India...7.8
10. Indonesia...8.3
11. China...8.3
12. Russia...16.8
-. World Average...3.1
(http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/topics/hakusho/2010energyhtml/2-1-1.html)
PART 20-8:
Now 210 helicopters and 325 fixed wings of the Japanese Self Defense Forces are operating in rescue/aid work for evacuees of the disaster.
PART 20-7:
A NASA scientist has found that the 3/11 Great Earthquake of Japan has some influence on the earth itself.
Japan Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis
His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth's mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).
The calculations also show the Japan quake should have shifted the position of Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by about 17 centimeters (6.5 inches), towards 133 degrees east longitude.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-080
PART 20-6:
Ibaraki Prefecture Government "asked" Agricultural Co-Operative not to deliver their products till the radiation issue is settled down.
PART 20-5:
IAEA announced that their staff did not detect radioactive materials in Tokyo.
PART 20-4:
The combined number of confirmed deaths and those missing has reached 19,000 for the 3/11 Great Northeast Japan Disaster.
PART 20-3:
External power cables were connected to pumps of the 1st and 2nd units of Fukushima No.1 Plant, waiting for operation to cool the reactors.
PART 20-2:
Yesterday's heroic work by 50 crews of Tokyo Fire Department is highly praised this morning on each TV station as they set a water-cannon car before the 3rd reactor unit site which can automatically spray water.
PART 20-1:
Discharging of water to the 4th reactor unit of Fukushima No.1 Plant started this morning, around 8:20 a.m., with Self-Defense-Force vehicles, reducing radiation.
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Hydrogen-Gas Explosion of the 3rd Reactor Unit on March 14
Hydrogen-Gas Explosion of the 1st Reactor Unit on March 12
http://cnic.jp/files/earthquake20110311/CNICpresentation_20110319.pdf
The explosion has not remarkably damaged the containment vessel and the pressure vessel of the reactor in each unit.
The explosion was triggered by the power outage in the Plant due to the great earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11. Accordingly, the cooling pump of water circulating between the reactor pressure vessel and the turbine for electricity generation stopped in each unit. It then depleted water inside the vessel to have nuclear fuel exposed to the space in the vessel. Subsequently metal covers of nuclear fuel melted, generating hydrogen gas which sparked when leaking outside the vessel and touching oxygen. Then, the ceiling and walls of the unit building housing the vessels were blown off as the above pictures indicate.
Now, power restoration work is going on to operate the pumps on site, using an external power source.