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Little Water Found in Damaged
TEPCO Reactor
Fukushima Radiation Fear
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
Mar 28, 2012
The second inspection of the Primary Containment
Vessel at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 found only about 60
centimeters of water at the bottom of the vessel. Meanwhile,
an expert IAEA team delivered its review of Japan's process
for assessing nuclear plants' safety.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. (TEPCO)
was back in the news March 27, both because an inspection
team found very little water and high radiation levels
inside the Primary Containment Vessel at Unit 2 of the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and also because the
International Atomic Energy Agency delivered a report to
Japanese authorities the previous day based on an expert
team's Jan. 21-31 review of Japan's process for assessing
nuclear safety at its nuclear power plants.
The report says instructions and the review
process used by Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
for Comprehensive Safety Assessments are generally
consistent with IAEA standards, and it praises NISA for
observing European stress tests to learn from other
countries' experience with them. It includes seven
recommendations for making the assessments more effective,
including requiring licensees to develop comprehensive
programs for managing severe accidents.
"In particular," the report states, "the
feasibility and effectiveness of the following mitigative
strategies should be more comprehensively covered: reliable
depressurization of the reactor coolant system, long-term
containment isolation, molten corium stabilization either in
the reactor pressure vessel or in the containment, hydrogen
mitigation inside the primary containment taking into
account not only in-vessel hydrogen sources but also
potential decomposition of containment materials due to
molten corium attacks, and possible over pressurization of
the containment by non-condensable gases. Potential for
occurrence of a severe accident in the spent fuel pool and
possibilities for its mitigation should be addressed as
well. Although the provisions for mitigation of severe
accidents are currently out of regulation scope in Japan as
well as in many IAEA Member States, in view of lessons
learned from the Fukushima accident, they should be
considered in the assessments of coping with severe
accidents."
"The mission report provides additional
information regarding the team's recommendations and overall
finding that NISA's instructions to power plants and its
review process for the Comprehensive Safety Assessments are
generally consistent with IAEA Safety standards," said team
leader James Lyons, director of
IAEA's Nuclear Installation Safety Division. "I hope
nuclear regulators around the world use this report as a
tool to evaluate their own safety assessment processes," he
added. "We must learn the lessons of the Fukushima Daiichi
accident so we can prevent a repeat of those terrible events
a year ago."
National safety assessments that undergo peer
review by IAEA are a key component of the IAEA Action Plan
on Nuclear Safety, which was approved by the agency's Member
States following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that
severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi plant, cutting power
to the systems that cool the three reactors in operation at
the time.
TEPCO announced March 26 that its second
investigation inside the Primary Containment Vessel at Unit
2 found only about 60 centimeters of water at the bottom of
the vessel. TEPCO President Toshio Nishizawa announced March
25 that because of regular inspections causing the shutdown
of all reactors at the company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear
Power Station, all of the company's nuclear reactors
currently are shut down. "While carrying through with the
regular inspections of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power
Station, we will conduct a comprehensive evaluation to
ensure that the safety margin against earthquakes and
tsunamis exceeds the design standards. We will also
implement measures to further enhance the safety and
reliability against tsunamis," Nishizawa said in a statement
posted on TEPCO's website. "As for the electricity supply
and demand in the foreseeable future, we expect to maintain
stable supply.
However, we ask that you continue to make a reasonable
effort to save electricity. In addition, while we have been
carefully reviewing this summer's electricity supply and
demand, the shut down of Unit 6 will result in a significant
reduction in our electricity supply capacity. We will
continue to make efforts to maintain stable operations and
maintenance of the power facilities in order to secure
stable power supply."
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