NISA on Reactor 2 RPV Temperature: Not a Problem

(UPDATE: Latest temperature is 89.6 degrees Celsius as of 5AM, 2/13/2012.)

since it is most likely to be the instrument failure.

Yomiuri Shinbun (2/11/2012):

東京電力福島第一原子力発電所２号機の原子炉圧力容器の底部温度が保安規定で上限と定めた８０度を上回ったことを受け、経済産業省原子力安全・保安院の森山善範原子力災害対策監は１２日夜、臨時の記者会見を開き、「原子炉全体としては冷却されている。放射性物質の放出量にも変化は無く、安全性に問題はない」と述べ、昨年末に政府と東電が宣言した「冷温停止状態」について、変更する必要はないとの認識を示した。

As the temperature at the bottom of Reactor 2 Pressure Vessel at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant exceeded 80 degrees Celsius, which is the upper limit in the safety regulations, Yoshinori Moriyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency held an ad hoc press conference in the evening of February 12, and said "The reactor as a whole is well cooled. There is no change in the amount of radioactive materials released, and there is no problem with the safety", sharing the agency's view that there was no need to change the status of "cold shutdown state" that the national government and TEPCO had declared at the end of last year.

　保安院によると、複数ある温度計のうち上昇傾向を示しているのは１か所だけで、温度も激しく変化していることから、故障の可能性もあるという。保安院は同日、東電に対し、圧力容器の温度の把握方法や、故障した温度計の保安規定上の取り扱いについて検討し、報告するよう口頭で指示した。

According to NISA, there is only one thermometer among several that shows uptrend and the temperature fluctuates widely, which has led to the speculation that it may be the instrument failure. NISA issued an oral instruction to TEPCO on February 12 to come up with a report to the agency regarding the ways to measure the temperatures of the RPV, and how to handle thermometers that are broken in light of the safety regulations.

Just remember that NISA is staffed with the nuclear and electric power industry people on leave.

In TEPCO's defense, though, the declaration of "cold shutdown state" to the derision of the world (even in Japan, surprise) was made by the prime minister of Japan whose interest seems to be more aligned with the "global" community than with the subjects in the increasingly Orwellian Japan. TEPCO went along with it, for sure.

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