Comment 61381

By Zot (anonymous) | Posted March 22, 2011 at 23:25:48

Tuesday updates:
After a day spent working on #2 reactor now that electrical power has been restored workers have apparently been successful in getting the lighting in one of the control rooms back on...
The Utility, TEPCO confirms that the cooling pumps for #2 reactor have been destroyed.
Release of thermal imaging of the complex by NHK television has led to TEPCO revising its description of the state of the reactors.
Reactor #1, which TEPCO had previously described as having been brought to "Cold Shutdown" i.e. less than 100 deg C., was in fact today at a temperature of 380-390 deg.C, which is in excess of it's normal temperature when running at full power (302 deg. C)
The #4 reactor was seen to be in the range of 500 deg C to 1,000 deg C today. (saturation of the infrared camera made a more accurate reading unavailable)
The primary containment vessels of the reactors are made from alloy 316 stainless steel, which displays a noticeable loss of strength at 800 deg. C and melts at about 1380 deg. C
Temperatures in the #3 spent fuel pool were 130-160 deg C, confirming exposure of the MOX fuel to the air despite the ongoing water spray operations.
Workers on the site were forced to evacuate again today when on site radiation levels spiked to 500 mSv/hr. 10 hours exposure at this dose rate would impart what is generally considered to be a fatal human dose of 5 Sv.
Bloomerg news broke a story today describing the cover-up of significant defects in the primary containment vessel of the #4 reactor at the time of its manufacture in 1974.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-says-he-covered-up-flaw-at-shut-reactor.html
In the story Robert Ritchie, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of California of Berkeley, is quoted as saying in a phone interview: “These procedures, as they’re described, are far from ideal, especially for a component as critical as this,” ... “Depending on the extent of vessel’s deformation, it could possibly lead to local cracking in some its welds.”


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