Tepco to restart nitrogen gas injection into reactor1
Posted by Mochizuki on May 7th, 2013 · No Comments
According to Tepco, they are going to restart the nitrogen gas injection into the suppression chamber of reactor1 on 5/8/2013.
6~7m3/h will be injected in order to “push out the retained hydrogen gas” and also “look into the effect of radiolysis of water within suppression chamber”, which implies Tepco admits hydrogen gas is being produced from the radiolysis of water.
If the hydrogen gas density goes over 2%, there is a possibility of further hydrogen explosion.
They injected nitrogen gas only one month ago. There is a possibility that hydrogen gas is being constantly produced in reactor1.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/05/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-reactor-3s.html
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2013
#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3's Latest Parameters (5/7/2013) and More "Loose Ends" on Reactor 3
When it comes to the plant data, TEPCO remains to be the only game in town, whether you like it or not.
For those of you who are interested in the most recent plant parameters on Reactor 3, the latest data continues to show Reactor 3's Primary Containment Vessel's pressure is more than atmospheric pressure, that they are measuring temperature of the Reactor Pressure Vessel and there is temperature (about 34 degrees Celsius), about 10 degrees Celsius higher than the Reactor 1 RPV. They are spraying water using core spray system, indicating the RPV is there.
From TEPCO's Plant Parameters page (English), latest plant parameters as of May 7, 2013 (click to enlarge):
Reactor 3's Spent Fuel Pool, now covered with steel sheets, does have spent fuel assemblies in it, as evidenced by the temperature rise of the pool water when the cooling stops (like the recent stoppage because of a dead rat) as well as visual.
Plant status from May 2, 2012 shows Reactor 3's RPV temperature was much higher (nearly 60 degrees Celsius). The CV pressure is about the same, so is the hydrogen concentration inside the CV:
Plant status from May 2, 2012 shows Reactor 3's RPV temperature was much higher (nearly 60 degrees Celsius). The CV pressure is about the same, so is the hydrogen concentration inside the CV:
I've been waiting for a very long time (almost two years) for TEPCO to publish the result of measurement of radioactive materials (density and type) from the swipes that the workers took from the floor of the reactor building. From my post on June 10, 2011, the first floor of Reactor 3 had a spot with 100 millisieverts/hour radiation at one meter off the floor, and the area looked blackened with soot:
Blowup of the photo at the location (3), where 100 millisieverts/hour radiation was measured:
I've been also waiting for the test result from the cleanup job by Packbot in November 2011 along the very wet equipment hatch rail, where the robot encountered 1.6 Sievert/hour radiation about 30 centimeters off the rail. It took TEPCO another five months to admit that the equipment hatch had been open all along, leaking radioactive steams and water.
I don't think workers, carbon-based or non-carbon-based, have entered the Reactor 3 building since April 2012.
I don't think workers, carbon-based or non-carbon-based, have entered the Reactor 3 building since April 2012.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/05/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-just-how-high-is.html
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2013
#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Just How High Is the Radiation Level of Reactor 3 Operating Floor?
Just how high is the radiation level on the (what used to be) operating floor of Reactor 3? TEPCO has released only one measurement of the Reactor 3 operating floor, and it was on one location only (above the reactor well). While I am still looking for that TEPCO's PDF document, there is an indirect indication of how high it could be.
Kyodo News reporters visited Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on April 4, and wrote up a detailed article for the 2nd anniversary of the nuclear accident. The article, judging by the number of retweets, doesn't seem like it's been read widely. But in it, there is a reference to radiation levels of Reactor 4 and Reactor 3, located 100 meters apart.
From Kyodo News "Current situation at Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 2 years after the accident, uncertainty still reigns, guarding against trouble 24/7" (4/8/2013; part):
(On the operating floor of Reactor 4)
「長くとどまることはできません。もうここを離れましょう」。同行の東電社員から声をかけられた。オペフロの放射線量は毎時２６２マイクロシーベルト。北側で無残な姿をさらす３号機建屋の線量が極めて高く、約１００メートル離れているのに影響を受ける。オペフロでは、作業員数人が全面マスクに防護服姿で黙々と働いていた。
"We can't stay here long. Let's go back down." The TEPCO employee who accompanied us called to us. The air dose level on the [Reactor 4] operating floor is 262 microsieverts/hour. The wrecked Reactor 3 building, located north of the Reactor 4 building, has extremely high radiation, and the Reactor 4 building [operating floor] is affected even though it is 100 meters away. On the Reactor 4 operating floor, several workers with full-face masks and protection gear were working quietly.
The article is accompanied by a picture indicating the locations of their reporting and radiation levels in microsievert/hour.
From the top left of the picture, clockwise:
- ALPS: 4.5 microsieverts/hour
- Dry cask temporary storage area: 5
- Outside the Anti-Seismic Building: 20
- Ocean-side of Reactor 3 (beyond the Reactor 3 turbine building): 1300
- Plugged hole where the highly contaminated water leaked into the ocean: 250
- At the wall to shield ground water: 130
- Reactor 4 Operating Floor: 262
- Control room for Reactor Cooling System (indoors): 7.4
Kyodo News also has the video news, showing the locations that they visited:
0:20 Anti-Seismic Building, the plant's headquarter for day-to-day operation of the plant "restoration" work
0:55 Construction of walls to block the flow of groundwater, at the water intake for Reactors 1-4, due for completion in April next year
1:10 ALPS (Multi-nuclide removal system) building
1:34 Control room for the reactor cooling system
2:20 Reactor 4 building
2:40 Reactor 4 Operating floor (they went up in an elevator)
3:09 Reactor 4 narrow stairway to descend from the operating floor
0:20 Anti-Seismic Building, the plant's headquarter for day-to-day operation of the plant "restoration" work
0:55 Construction of walls to block the flow of groundwater, at the water intake for Reactors 1-4, due for completion in April next year
1:10 ALPS (Multi-nuclide removal system) building
1:34 Control room for the reactor cooling system
2:20 Reactor 4 building
2:40 Reactor 4 Operating floor (they went up in an elevator)
3:09 Reactor 4 narrow stairway to descend from the operating floor
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