#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Denies Damage by Earthquake in Interim Accident Report, Insists No Explosion in Reactor 2

without giving even a speculation as to why then Reactor 2 released the largest amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

On December 2, TEPCO issued the interim report on the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident which was compiled by the company and supposedly vetted by the experts outside the company.

As the hurricane-force wind knocked out power lines and telephone lines in my neighborhood, my DSL line's dead, and I cannot see the large files like PDF files that TEPCO dumped on their website.

So my knowledge of the content right now is limited to what people who (had to) read these files have said so far. Links are in Japanese.

Here's one from Mainichi Shinbun (12/2/2011):

東京電力は２日、福島第１原発事故の社内調査委員会（委員長・山崎雅男副社長）の中間報告書を公表した。地震による配管など主要設備の損傷を改めて否定し、想定外の津波で全電源が喪失し、原子炉を冷却できなかったことが事故の原因と結論づけた。山崎副社長は会見で「国と一体となって安全対策を実施してきた」と繰り返し強調した。来年６月をめどに最終報告をまとめる。

TEPCO disclosed the interim report on the internal investigation (headed by Vice President Masao Yamasaki) of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The company again denied the damage of the main facilities at the plant including pipes due to the earthquake, and concluded that the tsunami that exceeded the expectation causing the station blackout was the reason why the cooling of the reactors failed, which caused the accident. Vice President Yamasaki emphasized again that the company "has been one with the national government in carrying out safety measures". The final report is expected by June next year.

　社内事故調査は政府の「事故調査・検証委員会」とは別に、東電が今年６月に始めた。

TEPCO's internal investigation is separate from the national government's investigation committee. TEPCO started the investigation this June.

　報告書はＡ４判で１３０ページ。津波対策について、東電は０８年には明治三陸沖地震（１８９６年）と貞観津波（８６９年）のモデルを使って津波水位を最大１０．２メートルと試算したが、「具体的根拠のない仮定」と判断し、対策に反映させなかったと従来の主張を繰り返した。今回、同原発を襲った地震については、「政府の地震本部の見解に基づく地震より、広範囲を震源域とする巨大地震」などと認定。「想定した前提を大きく外れる事態で、結果として事故拡大を防止できなかった」とした。

The report is in 130 pages in A4 size paper. As to the countermeasures for tsunami, TEPCO simply repeated what it had said before; that the company calculated the maximum tsunami height to be 10.2 meters based on the earthquakes/tsunamis in 1896 and 869, but dismissed its own calculation as "baseless assumption" and did not use it in countermeasures. As to the earthquake, it was "a huge earthquake that exceeded the area specified by the government's earthquake countermeasures headquarters", and "the situation exceeded the expectation, and as the result the company couldn't prevent the accident from getting worse", TEPCO says.

　地震の影響について、原子炉のデータなどから、配管や冷却装置など主要設備に損傷はないと評価。津波で非常用発電機が浸水するなどして使えず、散乱するがれきで１～３号機の注水作業が難航したことなどから「津波の浸水で多重の安全機能を同時に失ったことで発生し、長時間の電源喪失と除熱機能の喪失が要因」と断定した。

As to the effect of the earthquake, TEPCO concluded that there was no damage to the main facilities such as pipes and cooling mechanisms, based on the reactor data. Emergency diesel generators couldn't be used because of tsunami, and the cooling operation of Reactors 1, 2 and 3 was made difficult by the debris from tsunami, and the accident was "caused by the simultaneous loss of multi-layered safety functions because of tsunami water, and loss of electricity and loss of cooling for a long period of time were the factors, says TEPCO.

　水素爆発については、１、３号機の各建屋にどう水素が流出したかは不明だが、格納容器のふたなどの結合部分から漏れ出た可能性を指摘。２号機では爆発はなく、４号機の爆発音を誤認したと推定した。

As to the hydrogen explosions, it is unknown how hydrogen gas spread in the reactor buildings of Reactors 1 and 3, the company says, but it is possible that leak may have been from the flange of the Containment Vessels. TEPCO also says there was no explosion in Reactor 2; it was just mistaking the sound of Reactor 4 explosion.

　今後の対策として、建屋や重要機器の浸水防止や電源喪失時の炉心損傷防止などに重点を置くとした。

For future countermeasures, TEPCO will put emphasis on the prevention of water leakage into the buildings and into important equipment, and on the prevention of the fuel core damage during the power outage.

Huh? It was a huge, mega earthquake that exceeded anyone's expectation and TEPCO admits it couldn't do anything to contain the accident, and yet there was no damage from the earthquake?

While the Mainichi reporter only parrots what TEPCO told the media, a more thinking person says the following about non-exploding Reactor 2, from a post in the news bulletin board called "Asyura" (quick translation, subject to revision later):

東電が公表した「福島原子力事故調査報告書（中間報告書）」がメディアで断片的に扱われているが、あまりにひどい内容に愕然とさせられる。

"Fukushima Nuclear Accident Investigation Report (Interim Report)", as published by TEPCO, is reported in the media in a piecemeal fashion. But I am appalled at this shoddy report.

　政府（保安院・経産省）も事前に報告を受けているはずで、このような杜撰な事故調査報告書の公表を許した政府にもあきれかえる。

The national government (NISA/Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) must have been notified beforehand. I am also appalled at the government that allowed TEPCO to announce such shoddy accident report.

　デタラメさを指摘したい点はテンコ盛りだが、なによりゲンナリしたのは、号機単位で最大量の放射性物質を大気中に放出した２号機の圧力抑制室（Ｓ／Ｃ）に関する“調査報告”である。

There are so many things that I want to point out as false, but one of the most disgusting one is the "investigation report" on the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2, which released the largest amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

... (first point is not covered here; the following is his second point) ...

【引用】
Quote [from the report]

「　２号機については、４号機の爆発音に前後して発生した圧力抑制室の圧力指示値が０MPa［abs］に低下したため、２号機の圧力抑制室付近で爆発的な事象が発生した可能性があると誤って認識したものと考えられる。

As to Reactor 2, the pressure gauge of the Suppression Chamber dropped to 0 MPa [abs], which coincided with the explosive noise in Reactor 4. This explosive noise in Reactor 4 was misunderstood as some explosive event near the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber.

　圧力抑制室の損傷は大気開放を意味するため、絶対圧力で０MPa［abs］というのは物理的にはあり得ないが、計器誤差まで考慮し、何らかの損傷が発生して圧力抑制室の圧力が低下した可能性は否定できない」

A damage to the Suppression Chamber would mean it would be open to the atmosphere, so 0 MPa [as] is not technically possible. However, considering the possibility of the instrument error, we cannot deny that there was some kind of damage to the Suppression Chamber that caused the pressure to drop."

「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高いと考えられる」

"It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)."


【コメント】
My comments

　言語明瞭だが意味不明の代表例のような文章で、実に回りくどく、言っていることはわかるが、何を言いたいのかがまるでわからない説明である。

The sentences are typical of those where the individual words used are clear but together they don't make sense. Very circumlocutory, you understand the language but you cannot tell what they want to say.

　後からいろいろな事実が出てきても、枝野流にそんなことは言っていないと強弁する意図が見え見えである。

Intention is clear to me. Just like [former Chief Cabinet Secretary] Edano, TEPCO is going to say "We didn't say that", even after the facts will have come in.

　腐敗しきった東電は、恥ず知らずなことに、Ｓ／Ｃが損壊したという表現を一切使わず、「圧力抑制室の圧力指示値が０MPa［abs］に低下した」事象に問題をすり替えている。

The totally corrupt TEPCO, shamelessly, never uses the expression that indicates the Suppression Chamber was damaged; instead it talks about the event whereby "the pressure gauge of the Suppression Chamber dropped to 0 MPa [abs]".

　２号機Ｓ／Ｃに関して重要なことは、「圧力計」の値ではなく、穴が開いて膨大な放射能が大気中にばらまかれるに至った原因である。

What's most important in the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber is not the number on the pressure gauge but how it broke and released a large amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

　原因が爆発ではないのなら、何によってＳ／Ｃに穴が開いたのかを説明するのが事故調査の基本である。

If it was not an explosion, then what caused a hole in the Suppression Chamber? The accident investigation should address that point.

　肝心なＳ／Ｃに穴が開いたのかどうかという“重要問題”には言及せず、圧力計が絶対値で０気圧を示したワケをあれこれ書いているのだ。

Skirting the "important issue" of what caused a hole in the Suppression Chamber, TEPCO writes about various reasons why the pressure gauge showed 0 pressure.

　事実が明らかになったときの予防線のように、「何らかの損傷が発生して圧力抑制室の圧力が低下した可能性は否定できない」と書きながら、次の段落では、「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高いと考えられる」と書いている。

After writing "...we cannot deny that there was some kind of damage to the Suppression Chamber that caused the pressure to drop", as if to make excuse when the truth finally comes out, TEPCO writes in the next paragraph "It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)".

　損傷と圧力計をごちゃ混ぜに書くことで、読者がなんとなく意味がある説明のように錯誤してくれるのを期待しているようだ。
「何らかの損傷が発生」する度合いが高ければ、Ｓ／Ｃが損壊し圧力が低下するだけでなく、圧力計まで壊れることだってあるだろう。

To write about the Suppression Chamber damage and the pressure gauge together, it is as if TEPCO was hoping that readers would somehow make sense of TEPCO's explanation. But I think it is possible that the pressure gauge could have been broken if the likelihood of "some kind of damage" occuring was high, not just damage to the Suppression Chamber that dropped the pressure.

　「圧力抑制室の圧力計が０MP a［abs］（真空）に低下した原因は、圧力計が故障していた可能性が高い」と書いているが、急激に圧力計の値が低下したのだから“故障していた”という表現は微妙におかしい。

TEPCO writes "It is highly likely that the pressure gauge was broken when it showed the Suppression Chamber pressure gauge dropping to 0 MPa [abs] (vacuum)". But if the pressure gauge suddenly dropped, the expression that "the pressure gauge was broken" doesn't quite make sense.

　可能性としては、４号機の爆発とほとんど同じタイミングで２号機の圧力抑制室の圧力計が故障したという“偶然”であろう。東電は本気でそのように考えているのだろうか？

One possibility is that the pressure gauge of Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber "happened to break" at the same time as the explosion in Reactor 4. Does TEPCO seriously believe in that kind of possibility?

　最後に、ＲＣＩＣの停止で原子炉水位が低下し炉心溶融まで始まるという危機的な状態に陥った２号機には夜を徹して対策チームが対応にあたっていたはずである。

Lastly, Reactor 2 was in a dangerous situation after the RCIC stopped, the water level inside the reactor dropping and core meltdown starting. A team of workers was working all night to avert a disaster.

　４号機で爆発が起きたのは４階か５階と言われている。
　２号機で何かが壊れたような“大きな音”がしたとしたらＳ／Ｃのある地下である。

It is said that the explosion in Reactor 4 was either on the 4th floor or the 5th floor. If there was a "big noise" in Reactor 2 as if something was broken, it must have been the basement where the Suppression Chamber is.

　体感も含めてだが、２号機で事故対応に当たっていた人たちは、４、５階で起きた爆発音と地下で起きた“大きな音”の違いさえわからないと東電は主張したいのだろうか。

Is TEPCO insisting that workers at Reactor 2 couldn't tell the explosion noise on the 4th or 5th floor [of Reactor 4] from a "big noise" in the basement of Reactor 2?

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