Miracles of Fukushima Daini
There are two nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture: Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) and Fukushima Daini (No.2) both of which suffered huge tsunamis on March 11, 2011, since they are close to each other geographically.
(Fukushima Daiichi has six nuclear reactors; Fukushima Daini has four nuclear reactors.)
Accordingly, helicopters were dispatched to carry special power cables from the Kashiwazaki/Kariya nuclear power plant to the Fukshima Daini nuclear power plant. Staff in Daini changed an annexed baseball park to a heliport. As it was midnight and the tsunami knocked down two lines among three from the external grid, they illuminated the ad-hoc heliport with spotlights of 20 cars of staff. They worked so hard to lay total 9 km (more than 5 miles) of power cables in two days. This work would take 20 days in usual circumstances.
But the point at issue is that this cable laying work needed many hands. Yet, as it was Friday evening that the great earthquake and tsunami occurred, many workers were in the plant. If the natural disaster had occurred on Saturday or Sunday, it should have been impossible to get a necessary number of workers.
Anyway, in this way, the Fukushma Daini nuclear power plant was saved unlike Daiichi.
http://tokyopastpresent.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/%E3%80%8C%E6%B3%A3%E3%81%8D%E8%90%BD%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A7%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E5%8E%9F%E7%99%BA%E5%BB%BA%E8%A8%AD%E5%90%8C%E6%84%8F%E3%82%92%E3%81%9B%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8B/
The most decisive point is that Daiichi lost receiving functions of power from the external power grid operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co., due to the 15-meter high tsunami. But, Daini could keep normal the receiving function of one of three lines from the the grid, so that it could use external power to operate pumps for circulation of water to/from reactor units. For this purpose, the special cables were needed.
http://jp.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/09/07/%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%AC%AC2%E5%8E%9F%E7%99%BA%E3%81%AE%E7%8F%BE%E7%8A%B6%E2%80%95%E8%A2%AB%E5%AE%B3%E3%82%92%E5%85%8D%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E7%AC%AC1%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AE%E9%81%95%E3%81%84/
Other decisive point is that though pumps for driving water to cool pressure reactors were all destroyed in Fukushima Daiichi, Daini had one among four pumps secured from the tsunami (partly because the design of Daini was more tailored to possibility of tsunami/earthquakes unlike older Daiichi). This one pump with external power supplied through the cable was mutually used to cool down the four reactor units. It was because the pumps in Daini were protected with some robust structure unlike Daiichi where pumps faced the Pacific Ocean without any protection such as walls and ceilings.
http://ameblo.jp/global7ocean/entry-10866141983.html
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/shigeto1953/39314184.html
http://www.rbbtoday.com/article/img/2011/05/15/76941/134883.html
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA033740/photo_archive/index.html
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Other big concern about nuclear power plants in Japan is involvement of gangsters in hiring workers for dangerous tasks in nuclear reactor containment vessels.
The elite company TEPCO uses the big subcontractors such as Toshiba and Hitachi not only for construction but also for maintenance of nuclear facilities. But engineers of elite makers such as Hitachi and Toshiba are never engaged in dirty and dangerous jobs. They use the second tire subcontractors who also use lower-level subcontractors. And finally, some gangsters mobilize some socially marginal workers for dangerous jobs to take big margins from wages paid to those poor workers.
TEPCO knows this situation very well but only formally gives warning to subcontractors so that they should not have connections with gangsters. In this context, Japanese nuclear power sector is cursed, indeed.
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Mar 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
Mar 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
Mar 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.