6/13/2023 0 Comments Fukishima reactor meltdown![]() ![]() TEPCO also plans to use the data to create a three-dimensional map of melted fuel and debris details, which would take about a year. A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. ![]() Matsuo said the data collected from the latest probe will help experts come up with methods of removing the debris and analyze the 2011 meltdowns. The nuclear disaster Along the path of the tsunami sat 11 operational reactors at four nuclear power plants, owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Fukushima prefecture. ![]() The pile is lower than the mounds seen in images taken in previous internal probes at two other reactors, suggesting that the meltdowns in each reactor may have progressed differently, company officials said. The video taken by the robot also showed equipment that slipped down as well as other types of debris, possibly nuclear fuel that fell from the core and hardened, piling up as high as 40-50 centimeters (1.3-1.6 feet) from the bottom of the primary containment chamber, Matsuo said. Masao Uchibori urged TEPCO to “swiftly evaluate levels of earthquake resistance and provide information in a way prefectural residents can easily understand and relieve concern of the residents and people around the country.” The amount is about 10 times the damaged fuel that was removed in the cleanup of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States after its 1979 partial core meltdown.įukushima Gov. The resulting loss of reactor core cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions, and the release of radioactive contamination in Units. Robotic probes have provided some information, but the status of the melted debris is still largely unknown. The images of the exposed steel reinforcement have triggered concerns about the reactor's safety.Ībout 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three reactors. TEPCO spokesperson Keisuke Matsuo told reporters Tuesday that the steel reinforcement is largely intact but the company plans to further analyze data and images over the next couple of months to find out if and how the reactor's earthquake resistance can be improved. The area inside the pedestal is where traces of the melted fuel can most likely be found.Īn approximately five-minute video - part of 39-hour-long images captured by the robot - showed that the 120-centimeter (3.9-foot) -thick concrete exterior of the pedestal was significantly damaged near its bottom, exposing the steel reinforcement inside. It came back with images seen for the first time since an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant 12 years ago. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three reactor explosions and three. The new findings released Tuesday were from the latest probe conducted at the end of March.Īn underwater remotely operated vehicle named ROV-A2 was sent inside the Unit 1 pedestal, a supporting structure right under the core. Daini survived the crisis without an explosion or a meltdown. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, has been sending robotic probes inside the Unit 1 primary containment chamber since last year. “It may have been caused by nuclear fuel that would have melted and made a hole in the vessel, but it is only a hypothesis at this stage,” Tepco’s spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi told AFP.TOKYO - Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster. The recent reading, described by some experts as “unimaginable”, is far higher than the previous record of 73 sieverts an hour in that part of the reactor.Ī single dose of one sievert is enough to cause radiation sickness and nausea 5 sieverts would kill half those exposed to it within a month, and a single dose of 10 sieverts would prove fatal within weeks. These readings highlight the scale of the task confronting thousands of workers, as pressure builds on Tepco to begin decommissioning the plant – a process that is expected to take about four decades. According to a report in The Guardian, the situation is getting worse.Īccording to the facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), atmospheric readings as high as 530 sieverts an hour had been recorded inside the containment vessel of reactor No 2, one of three reactors that experienced a meltdown when the plant was crippled by a huge tsunami that struck the north-east coast of Japan in March 2011. Radiation levels inside a damaged reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station are at their highest since the plant suffered a triple meltdown almost six years ago. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |