Nuclear Leaks 12: China Syndrome at Fukushima? Pacify a Malevolent God

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Graphic depicting situation in Fukushima Reactor 2 on 26 March 2012. Image Source: Daily Yomiuri Online.

Over the past 24 hours, the Internet has been buzzing with reports that TEPCO has effectively acknowledged that the China Syndrome is currently taking place, or almost taking place at Fukushima Reactor Two, while still denying it. This would be a historic first, and an absolute environmental catastrophe for Japan and the world. Basically, there is much less water covering the radioactive molten core than estimated; and this, in a situation where not all of the corium has fallen to the floor of the containment vessel yet.

The China Syndrome would involve a melt through the containment vessel. Once the corium gets through the containment vessel, it could easily melt the concrete floor of the building in a matter of hours and enter the environment. You can see message board debates on Berkeley's Department of Nuclear Engineering Web site here, regarding the possible outcome if the molten fuel from these reactors hits the water table. Since this has never happened, no one is quite sure what would occur. The fear is that there would be a series of hydrothermic nuclear or hydrovolcanic nuclear explosions, which would irradiate much of Japan and the planet's atmosphere.

The wording of yesterday's report on the Reactor 2 investigation is curious; it says that the molten core has 'splashed onto the floor and the walls.' We assume that means the floor and walls of the containment vessel and not the building around the containment vessel. TEPCO acknowledges that the conditions in Reactors 1 and 3 are worse than those in Reactor 2. Reactors 1 and 3 are so radioactive that they cannot be directly investigated; hence, what is happening inside them is completely unknown.

Caption for the above photographs: Long-term plan: Architect Katsuhiro Miyamoto's novel means of safely mothballing the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and the highly radioactive fuel likely to remain there even after the current crisis is resolved, is to turn it into a Shinto shrine — seen here in a model and a computer rendering. KATSUHIRO MIYAMOTO.

The situation is so terrifying and out of control that the sentiment is drifting to religion. Over the longer term, Boomer Architect Katsuhiro Miyamoto wants to turn the reactors into Shinto shrines, "erecting giant shrine-style thatched roofs over each of the crippled reactor buildings — and so creating what he dubs 'The Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant Shrine.' This, he tells The Japan Times, will 'pacify a malevolent god.'" Um. Wouldn't building lead sarcophagi be more appropriate than designing thatched-roof temples? What the hell is going on in Japan? Are they serious?

Caption for the above photograph: In this photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), a worker operates an endoscope to take photos of water in the Unit 2 reactor's primary containment vessel at the the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Monday, March 26, 2012. TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear power plant, said the water level of the reactor container is only 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) from the bottom, indicating a large quantity of water injected to cool the melted fuel is leaking from the vessel. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

It's hard to find an MSM report on this, except some wires from the AP and the AFP. From the AP report, out today:

Tuesday's examination with an industrial endoscope detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the chamber. Plant officials previously said more than half of the melted fuel has breached the core and dropped to the floor of the primary containment vessel, some of it splashing against the wall or the floor.

Particles from melted fuel have probably sent radiation levels up to a dangerously high 70 sieverts per hour inside the container, said Junichi Matsumoto, spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. ...

Three Dai-ichi reactors had meltdowns, but the No. 2 reactor is the only one that has been examined because radiation levels inside the reactor building are relatively low and its container is designed with a convenient slot to send in the endoscope.

The exact conditions of the other two reactors, where hydrogen explosions damaged their buildings, are still unknown. Simulations have indicated that more fuel inside No. 1 has breached the core than the other two, but radiation at No. 3 remains the highest.

The high radiation levels inside the No. 2 reactor's chamber mean it's inaccessible to the workers, but parts of the reactor building are accessible for a few minutes at a time — with the workers wearing full protection.

TEPCO released a strange statement, based on an endoscope examination of the reactor, conducted Monday, 26 March (some reports erroneously state 27 March), via Daily Yomiuri Online:

The water level in the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is only about 60 centimeters deep, far shallower than previously assumed levels of about four meters, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The lower-than-expected water level was discovered for the first time when the power utility used an industrial endoscope to check the crippled reactor's interior on Monday, TEPCO said.

According to some experts, it is possible that nuclear fuel that melted through the reactor's pressure vessel and accumulated on the bottom of the containment vessel in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami may not be completely covered in the water.

TEPCO said the water temperature in the vessel remained relatively low within a range of 48.5 C to 50 C. The discovery of the unexpectedly shallow water level will not affect TEPCO's judgment that the reactor is in a state of "cold shutdown."

Reports out today indicate that the amount of radioactive fallout has been increasing, not decreasing, over the past few months. On February 18, Kobe University Professor Tomoya Yamauchi claimed in a lecture in Osaka that Fukushima City should be evacuated, which has sparked a still-ongoing row with the mayor.

Caption for the above photograph: In this photo taken by an endoscope and released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), a white thermometer, right, is seen through the surface of water in the Unit 2 reactor's primary containment vessel at the the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Monday, March 26, 2012. TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear power plant, said the water level of the reactor container is only 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) from the bottom, indicating a large quantity of water injected to cool the melted fuel is leaking from the vessel. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

The primary reports circulating are, via Energy News (reports without dates are from the past day or so; earlier reports have dates); click on the headlines to go to external reports: