New Facts about Fukushima Daiich
Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, is located 30 km to 60 km south of Fukushima Daiichi Plant, though its radiation level is about 0.23 micro-sieverts while the prefecture capital Fukushima City suffers from 1.41 micro sieverts (Tokyo about 0.07).
Hence, 340,000 residents in the city are being victimized by bad rumors that industrial and agricultural products from Iwaki are contaminated by radio active material discharged by Fukushima Daiichi.
Iwaki City lost 300 people and missed 82 people in the 3/11 Disaster. So, it is one of the nearest cities to Tokyo as a Disaster affected city, since an express train links the city with Tokyo over a 200 km line running mostly on a Pacific coastal area. (http://www.city.iwaki.fukushima.jp/gaikokugo/english/)
SECTION I: No Blaming Game for Fukushima Daiichi Accident
Two months after the great earthquake and tsunami on March 11, truth about the situation at Fukushima Daiichi has been revealed by the Japanese media.
So, it is now clear why and how the No.1 nuclear reactor exploded in the afternoon of March 12. Around 7:30 p.m. of March 11, a large amount of hydrogen gas started to be discharged from heated metal frames housing the nuclear fuel to result in hydrogen explosion at 3:36 p.m. of March 12. (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/zoom/20110516-OYT9I00064.htm)
Fukushima Daiichi Event Timeline
March 11, 2011
At 2:46 pm: The Fukushima Daiichi Plant was attacked by an M9.0 earthquakei.
Around 3:00 pm: A higher level of radiation was measured in the No.1 reactor unit building, housing the pressure vessel and the containment vessel, before tsunami coming.
At 3:30 pm: The Fukushima Daiichi Plant was attacked by a 15-meter high tsunami.
At 3:42 pm: TEPCO made an emergency report to the Government on loss of AC power source.
At 4:36 pm: The underground floor of the turbine building was found to be immersed by sea water; emergency cooling system stopped.
At 4:36 pm: TEPCO made an emergency report to the Government on a halt of emergency cooling.
At 7:03 pm: The Government declared a state of nuclear emergency.
Around 7:30 pm: Nuclear fuel in the No.1 reactor unit was wholly exposed to the space or above filled water due to a loss of power source for the pumps to circulate coolant water. Accordingly, a large amount of hydrogen gas started to be discharged from heated metal frames housing the nuclear fuel.
Around 7:50 pm: Meltdown started with fuel falling down to the bottom of the No.1 pressure vessel.
Around 8:30 pm: Emergency water supply to the pressure vessel was halted. Chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission Madarame advised performing forcible ventilation (vent) of the pressure vessel.
At 8:50 pm: Residents within 3 km of the Fukushima Daiichi Plant were ordered to evacuate their homes and the area.
At 9:00 pm: Temperature at the reactor core rose to 2800 degrees C at which nuclear fuel surely melts.
Around 10:00 pm: The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency gave a warning to PM Office about a possibility of the hydrogen explosion. PM Office was filled with Prime Minister himself, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kaieda, Chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission Madarame, experts of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, executives of Tokyo Electric Power Corporation, etc.
At 11:00 pm: Radiation at 1.2 milli sieverts per hour was measured around the double doors connecting the nuclear reactor building to the turbine building, suggesting hydrogen gas was leaking out of the pressure vessel and the containment vessel to the nuclear reactor building where hydrogen gas meets oxygen gas to be exploded 16 hours later.
Now, the opposition LDP is blaming Prime Minister Mr. Natoto Kan for his mishandling the case in these 16 hours.
(Refer to http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/04/worship-father-in-spirit-and-in-truth.html)
March 12, 2011
00:00 - Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry arrived at Fukushima Daiichi.
00:15 - PM Kan talked with US President Obama by phone.
01:20 - TEPCO reported to Gov. an abnormal pressure rise inside the 1st reactor's pressure vessel (requesting authorization of opening the valve for releasing radioactive vapor).
01:30 - Gov. agreed or instructed TEPCO to open valves of a ventilation system to release vapor out of the vessel.
01:40 - PM Office delivered a memo to the media stating the "vent" starts at 27:20.
02:00 - PM Kan decided to go and inspect Fukushima Daiichi.
03:00 - Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano ordered TEPCO to delay the "vent" till Gov. announcement.
03:12 - Secretary Edano started to hold a midnight news conference, announcing the "vent" to be done soon.
04:00 - TEPCO was trying to connect the power generator through cables to the reactor units in Fukushima Daiichi.
05:44 - PM Kan ordered evacuation from a 10-km zone of Fukushima Daiichi
06:00 - TEPCO held a press conference, admitting having a trouble in connecting the provisional power source in Fukushima Daiichi.
06:00 - A crack or a hole was generated at the bottom of the No.1 pressure vessel causing a water level inside the vessel to decrease sharply.
06:08 - PM Kan accepted a standing interview by reporters at the entrance of PM Office.
06:14 - PM Kan left for Fukushima Daiichi 220 km northeast of Tokyo by helicopter from PM Office without putting on the protected gear. Chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission Madarame accompanied PM Kan.
06:30 - Fresh water started to be supplied to the pressure vessel.
06:50 - Gov. officially ordered TEPCO to perform the "vent."
06:50 - Most of nuclear fuel melted and fell onto the bottom of the pressure vessel of the No.1 nuclear reactor.
07:11 - PM Kan arrived at Fukushima Daiichi to meet TEPCO's vice president Muto and plant director Yoshida.
07:45 - Gov. issued the Declaration of a Nuclear Emergency Situation for Fukushima Daini (No.2) Plant.
08:04 - PM Kan left Fukushima Daiichi for inspection of tsunami-hit areas.
08:30 - TEPCO provided water for the reactor vessel through a fire extinguishing pipe.
09:04 - TEPCO started to open one of two valves needed to be opened for the "vent."
09:11 - The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency ordered TEPCO to conduct the "vent."
10:17 - TEPCO started to open the second valve for the "vent."
10:47 - PM Kan flew back to PM Office from the aerial inspection of Miyagi Prefecture, etc; PM Kan reportedly said to his aids that the nuclear reactors in Fukushima Daiichi would not explode.
11:13 - Pressure in the 1st reactor's pressure vessel dropped.
13:00 - TEPCO poured water into the 1st reactor.
14:15 - The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced that there was a possibility of partial meltdown of nuclear fuel as cesium was detected
14:30 - The troubled second valve of the 1st reactor was finally opened. A pressure fall was confirmed.
15:29 - A radiation level monitored at the border to the Daiichi Plant indicated 1015 micro-sieverts or almost 1 milli-sieverts per hour.
15:36 - Hydrogen explosion occurred in the 1st reactor unit.
Then, mayhem started as the world came to know it very soon.
However, till the socialistic DPJ won the general election to take power in September 2009, the conservative LDP had been in charge of governing Japan for 50 years with a short exceptional period. It is the LDP that has been leading the Japanese nuclear community including TEPCO. The LDP looks responsible for not having forced TEPCO to get prepared for a large scale tsunami (which could happen once only in 1000 years).
In a recent short time span, PM Mr. Kan and the DPJ are responsible without doubt, but in a long history after WWII, the LDP is responsible for the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
SECTION II: A Car Encountering Tsunami
A car driver happened to take into video the moment his driven car encountered a tsunami in Chiba Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on March 11, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6QvebByKHE&feature=related
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Nuclear power generation is a very odd technology.
It simply uses atomic fission or uranium being burnt to get heat to turn a turbine to generate electricity like coal or crude oil being burnt.
But, if one thermal power plant using a fossil energy resource is exploded, it will not contaminate a 30-km radius zone for years. Yet, if one nuclear power plant using uranium is exploded, it will surely contaminate a 30-km radius zone for years affecting hundreds of thousands or millions of people.
If nuclear power generation uses directly electrons and electro-magnetic waves or radiation for generation of electricity, it can be a new mode of power generation. In this context, even the nuclear fusion technology is not a new mode of power generation.
Of course, burning coal, crude oil, or natural gas is as wild as burning uranium to generate electric power. Wind-power generation is also wild. Probably, the better way is use solar energy.
The world should enter a new era in the quest for a more sophisticated power source, leaving every nuclear facilities behind the 3/11 Disaster of Japan.
(Something close to a memory...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6gDeGdQ3rM&feature=related)
Mar 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Mar 5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
Mar 5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.