Sunday, January 22, 2012

March 12, 2011 NHK News at Noon: "Reactor 1 Fuel Rods Are Exposed..." - "Oops, We're Not Supposed to Say That..."

After the announcer read the news about the fuel rods in Reactor 1 getting exposed and the situation becoming very dangerous, someone in the background said "Hey we're not supposed to use that information..."

The audio of that segment is uploaded on Youtube, here. I have no proof that the recording is authentic, though it does sound authentic and there are people tweeting that they do recall hearing the news.

From the transcript of the news, NHK March 12, 2011 noon:

そして原子力発電所に関する情報です。

Now the information on [Fukushima I] nuclear power plant.

原子力安全保安院などによりますと、福島第一原子力発電所1号機­では、原子炉を冷やす水の高さが下がり、午前11時20分現在で­、核燃料棒を束ねた燃料集合体が、水面の上最大で90センチほど­露出する危険な状態になったということです。このため、消火用に­貯めていた水など、およそ2万7000リットルを仮設のポンプを­使うなどして、原子炉の中に流し込み、水の高さを上げるための作­業を行っているということです。この情報繰り返します。

According to the government agencies including the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the level of water to cool the reactor has gone down in Reactor 1 of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. As of 11:20AM today, the maximum 90 centimeters of the nuclear fuel bundles are exposed above water and the situation is getting dangerous. The work is currently ongoing to pour 27,000 liters of water stored for fire extinguishing into the reactor using a temporary pump, in order to raise the water level back up. Let me repeat the news ...

(しばらく無音…。)
(Then, there is silence.)

「ちょっとね、今の情報使っちゃいけないんだって」

[in the background] "Wait, we're not supposed to use that information, I've been told."

改めて原発に関する情報です。

Again, information about the nuclear power plant.

福島県にある福島第一原子力発電所の1号機では、原子炉が入った­格納容器の圧力が高まっているため、東京電力が、容器内の空気を­外部に放出する作業を始めましたが、格納容器のすぐ近くにある弁­を開く現場の放射線が強いことから、作業をいったん中断し、今後­の対応を検討しています。

The pressure inside the Containment Vessel is getting high at Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture. TEPCO has started the work to release the gas inside the Containment Vessel. However, the valve that needs to be opened is located right near the Containment Vessel and the radiation level is very high. So TEPCO has halted the work temporarily to figure out how to proceed.

At least someone at NHK wrote the first news up, and managed to get that out on air.

The reactor building blew up on that day 3 and a half hours later, at 3:36PM.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

NHK gets direct reports from government agencies and NISA, reports the news for just a moment, then allows their country to descend into darkness.
How many of the people in the newsroom that morning warned their family and friends to evacuate....

Anonymous said...

I was watching some news channel in Japan the night of March 12 and they featured a special on Chernobyl/Three Mile Island and had asked some experts how Fukushima would compared to those incidents. The so-called expert just stuttered and started sweating profusely saying "I can't say anything" (何も言えません). THen the screen went black and they never went back to that news again, didn't even talk about the nuclear plant for a long time....so I believe this is 100% real

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

I was looking through my posts in March last year to see what was reported back then.

Edano, then Cabinet Secretary and current Minister of Economy, did not even admit there was an explosion that blew off the top part of Reactor 1 until after more than 5 hours. After the explosion, the emergency broadcast in Minami Soma City said there was NO explosion, but stay indoors just in case.

Edano further said the plant was under control, and he was very much confident that this would not develop into a serious situation. He lied through his teeth, but at that time he was praised by everyone for his "hard work".

Atomfritz said...

This is all to prevent and limit the danger and consequences of mass panics.

The "Katastrophenschutzplan", the "catastrophe prevention plan" for the nuclear plants surrounding the german city of Hamburg (1.4 mill people) contains the regulation that in case of a catastrophic accident in one of the nuclear plants the military would block the streets around Hamburg to avoid a chaos in whole Germany because of the Hamburg people tring to flee.

If some nuke plant in Japan bursts open, and wind blows the hottest part of the radiation plume directly to, for example, Tokyo, I doubt the Japanese government would also use the military to force the people to stay where they are.
The French probably won't allow the Parisians to escape in such a situation, either.

Atomfritz said...

ooops I meant, I doubt that Japanese government would NOT use the military in such a case...

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@Atomfritz, they didn't even say "stay indoors" when the plume traveled all the way down to Shizuoka. One thing to prevent "panic", totally another to willfully expose citizens to radiation and lie about it.

Anonymous said...

They could have said 'stay indoors' in a way that would not make people panic. In the US it can be 'air quality' alert days when the population is advised that the air quality is poor and they should avoid exercising outdoors and limit all outdoor activity as much as possible. Happens in San Diego and other places - the Japanese could handle prudent advise to protect their health. The claims about mass panic, IMHO, are excuses to avoid ALL ACCOUNTABILITY for failures, mistakes etc. If they can lie to people and tell them Fukushima produce is safe, that radiation is like an angels kiss, that only unhappy people are bothered by radiation, and that unseem lumps of corium constitute 'cold shutdown', they could lie to people and tell them it's better for their lungs or some other health aspect if they choose to stay indoors for a few days.

Anonymous said...

Little Canary said...

In the 3.11 day most trains didnt worked for days. Shinagawa station crews were all of them outside, in the streets walking to their homes in the roads for hours.

Docomo phones, famous for stable and expensive, didnt work at that time.

Except some Foreign Embassies, most Japanese companies were told to their employees to come to work as nothing happen.

If everybody commute to work you should come too, that was the propaganda lie back then and still goes on now too.

I guess most people knew and know that something is really wrong, but instead facing everyday facts people prefer to be lied and gradually diggest what happen.

What NHK or Government Officials said till this day is not new and far from the truth.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't there one mayor who took it upon himself to distribute the potassium iodide?

Anonymous said...

Well, that IS interesting. I wonder what their source was.

It happens sometimes in busy newsrooms: you get a hot, but unconfirmed, report, you write the news item and wait for confirmation. Sometimes, these end up inadvertently on air or (Thor protect us) in the print edition.

Sometimes, they get confirmed. Other times, they are not and turn out fake or simply get overtaken by later evolutions (this last is the most common turn of events, of course).

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 9:09AM, their info source was clearly the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who went on to hold a press conference 2 hours later that day to say there may be a core meltdown in Reactor 1. The spokesman who said that was replaced right away.

Simulations by various government agencies showed meltdown on March 11. They knew.

Anonymous said...

Ah. Of course they knew. Even I knew, and I was half a world away.

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