Nuclear accident follows Japanese earthqauke

[Mean Mr Mustard]

[UndercoverElephant]

Japan crisis: nuclear compensation plan agreed

The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant have agreed to a major restructuring plan in return for government help in paying compensation to tens of thousands of people

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said it has agreed to drastic restructuring, cost-cutting and other conditions, exactly two months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 25 000 people and displaced over 100 000.

TEPCO also promised to allow a government-appointed panel to evaluate its financial status and progress in providing compensation.

In return, the Japanese government will inject $62bn into a fund that can be accessed by Tepco if it runs into financial difficulty.

The money would have to be repaid but would allow TEPCO to spread its burden over several years.

The plan is the result of weeks of negotiations among government officials, bankers and Tokyo Electric executives over who should foot the bill for the crisis.

Errr....shouldn't the shareholders of TEPCO pay for it?

I reckon they should do this:

(1) Nullify all existing shares of TEPCO and take TEPCO into state ownership. Shareholders lose everything.

(2) Issue new shares in TEPCO in order to raise the compensation money.

[biffvernon]

Here's a remarkable collection of photos and drawings of Fukushima Daiichi.

http://www.houseoffoust.com/fukushima/phototour.html

My remark is that nuclear power stations are complicated things. Too complicated.

[biffvernon]

I reckon they should do this:

(1) Nullify all existing shares of TEPCO and take TEPCO into state ownership. Shareholders lose everything.

(2) Issue new shares in TEPCO in order to raise the compensation money.

TEPCO share have lost about 80% of their value since March 11th. The last 20% will probably dwindle away with the last vestiges of hope.

They've just discovered that their attempt to fill the containment vessel at the #1 reactor with water is not working - water is leaking as fast as they try to fill it. The fuel rods have been exposed to the air for their whole length, have melted and slumped to the bottom. The water level, which was meant to be filling the vessel and covering all fuel, is actually one metre below the level of the fuel assembly. This is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

[Ippoippo]

They've just discovered that their attempt to fill the containment vessel at the #1 reactor with water is not working - water is leaking as fast as they try to fill it. The fuel rods have been exposed to the air for their whole length, have melted and slumped to the bottom. The water level, which was meant to be filling the vessel and covering all fuel, is actually one metre below the level of the fuel assembly. This is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

Source for that news?

[biffvernon]

Bloomberg have posted the story at 6.22 this morning (it was announced by TEPCO late last evening UTC) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-1 ... posed.html
But it has not yet been reported by the BBC.

Does nobody care that we now have confirmation that a nuclear reactor has suffered a 100% core meltdown? TEPCO's six to nine month cold shutdown plan is seen to be nonsense. The corium will have to gradually cool down for a decade or more.

[clv101]

Perhaps that's because it's happened before, at TMI, and it was no big deal. Took a long time to clean up, and a lot of money, but who cares about money in the power sector these days when we buy solar at £500/MWh.

It's not quite analogous, TMI was only partially exposed for a matter of hours before cooling was resumed - and secondary containment structure was maintained.

[An Inspector Calls]

Yes, but it's still 'just' a meltdown. Potter's Bar wasn't analagous to anything else, but it was still 'just' a train crash. What exactly do you want - global sackcloth and ashes for the next ten years?

[biffvernon]

Danald Weber's film, Picture Perfect, Shooting inside the UN buffer zone at Fukushima.

http://www.vbs.tv/en-gb/newsroom/donald_weber--37

[biffvernon]

Whatever our two silly trolls may say, Fukushima is clearly the worst nuclear disaster ever. Chernobyl was just one reactor, it went bang, spread a lot of radioactive material in a few hours, and resulted in the deaths of somewhere between 54 and a million people. The releases to the environment were pretty much stopped in a very short time. There is still potential for further substantial releases but, with a bit of luck, the spending of another billion or whatever on containment structures and care and attention for the rest of the century and beyond, that's about it.

Fukushima is the destruction of four reactors. After two months plumes of steam carrying radioactive isotopes continue to rise. Almost all of the time these have been carried out to sea, diluted and dispersed around the globe where their effect in terms of excess cancers will never be revealed, being masked by the background natural radiation. Had there been persistant north-easterly winds greater Tokyo's 30 million people would have been in a bad place. The typhoon season is yet to begin.

We now are told what some have long suspected. #1 reactor has lost all coolant water and suffered a 100% meltdown. We don't know where the corium, the tons of mixed fuel and metals from the fuel assemblies, exactly lies. The worst case possible, reconfiguring into a geometry that supports sustained criticality, is unlikely. The next worst case, that the material lies above water which flashes to steam sending the whole affair skywards is also unlikely. Earthquakes and tsunamis are unlikely. But they can happen. But take comfort from the assurance that a further hydrogen explosion is impossible. Of course, there is no longer a building in which hydrogen can accumulate. The best that can now be hoped for is that the corium will gradually cool, a process that will take many years, and can then be entombed for ever. Meanwhile the leaching of radioisotopes to groundwater and the ocean will be hard to contain.

The state of reactors #2 and #3 is even less known. It stretches credulity that they are in a better state than #1. The problems are repeated, with the extra issue that #3 reactor was fuelled with MOX adding plutonium to the mix. We do not yet know whether the reactor pressure vessels, (RPV) are still intact but we do know that they are not cooling.

#4 reactor was empty, all the fuel having being transferred to the neighbouring spent fuel pond (SPV). We do not know how much damage there has been to the fuel rods in their underwater racks. There are concerns about the structural integrity of the whole SPV. The worst case scenario is that the pond fails, coolant is lost and recriticality occurs. Prompt neutron driven explosions is unlikely but cannot be ruled out.

Throughout the past two months TEPCO and the Japanese government have been playing down the problems, have been reluctant to release data and have frequently released data with errors which have then, sometimes, been corrected. The physical disaster is compounded by a failure by the authorities to be honest and open.

[emordnilap]

Danald Weber's film, Picture Perfect, Shooting inside the UN buffer zone at Fukushima.

http://www.vbs.tv/en-gb/newsroom/donald_weber--37

Superb. Chilling.

The number of people wearing face masks is spooky.

[An Inspector Calls]

Whatever our two silly trolls may say, Fukushima is clearly the worst nuclear disaster ever. Chernobyl was just one reactor, it went bang, spread a lot of radioactive material in a few hours, and resulted in the deaths of somewhere between 54 and a million people. The releases to the environment were pretty much stopped in a very short time.

Utter piffle.

[An Inspector Calls]

Oh look foodie, the latest issue's out:

http://www.beano.com/beano-comic/issue-3585

[biffvernon]

Confirmation of meltdown in #1 seems to have reached just about every media outlet round the planet:

http://news.google.co.uk/news/more?pz=1 ... ERZK9exnSM

EXCEPT the BBC. Their website's latest report is about 24 hours ago.

[2 As and a B]

Deleted