Monday, February 13, 2012

TEPCO Evening Press Conference 2/13/2012: Reactor 2 RPV Thermocouple Is Broken, Matsumoto Says

Press conference live link is here.

Reactor 2 RPV's thermocouple that's been going up seems to have finally broken. (0r else...)

15:00 285.4 degrees Celsius
16:00 260.9
17:00 275.9

Screen capture from the press conference screen:

The last time this particular thermocouple went to that level, it was March 2011.

TEPCO was measuring the electrical resistance of the thermocouple before the temperature suddenly shot up to 285 degrees at 3PM.

Resistance 500 to 530 ohm.

The instrument has totally failed, says TEPCO's Matsumoto.

Interesting question from a reporter from Nico Nico: Are you going to test the other two thermocouples at the bottom of the RPV?
A: No.

Yomiuri: Did measuring the resistance break the thermocouple?
A: We don't know why the temperature shot up after we finished the measurement.

Yomiuri: Do you know when this thermocouple broke?
A: At least, until the end of January it was showing the same trend as the other two. We want to carefully compare with other thermocouples.

===========================
Jiji Tsushin says right before 3PM, the temperature was 342.2 degrees Celsius.

===========================

Q: Who decided that the thermocouple was broken? Was the manufacturer consulted?
A: TEPCO decided. We have experience in maintenance of the thermocouple. (Matsumoto sounds very testy.)

Q: Is there a possibility of a thermocouple showing temperature lower than what really is and therefore it is broken?
A: If this thermocouple were correct, there would be other thermocouples that would show higher temperature. The other temperatures are trending down. So we think this particular thermocouple is broken.

Q: The temperature rise in early February - was it related to the instrument failure now?
A: We think so. But we didn't know at that time whether it was actually a rise in temperature or the instrument failure. The temperature did go down after increasing the water injection.

Q: How reliable is it to judge "recriticality" by xenon-135?
A: We think it is a reliable indicator.

Q: When was 342.2 degrees Celsius recorded?
A: We finished the testing at 2:54PM. So it must be between that time and 3PM. We'll have to check.

Q: How high did the temperature go? (looking at the graph that was provided)
A: It went overscale, so the graph shows temperatures like that [over 400 degrees Celsius].

22 comments:

Chibaguy said...

That is not subtle at all. I see manipulation here. Keep a camera fixed on the whole site while making them conduct the same tests. This does not add up.

Sebaschan said...

well let's just hope it's actually broken...at 342 degrees there should already be fission going on.

Anonymous said...

Could this be related to the rising Cesium emissions? Seems it could be a concern.

http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/j/koukabutsu47.pdf

swl

Anonymous said...

There is some activity on Twitter around these latest measurements: http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/j/koukabutsu47.pdf
and what they could imply.

Do they mean anything significant, or are those levels still minuscule relatively?

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Anonymous said...

They broke the thermometer deliberately.

Anonymous said...

Thermocouple broken.

Cold shutdown maintained.

Frame the narrative carefully and always arrive at the destination intended.

CaptD said...

No meter = N☢ Readings to explain!

Wake Up Japan, you are now a majority TEPCO Owner, where is your Board seat and who is asking questions for you?

CaptD said...

Radiation hits Tokyo from 2/13 to 2/15
http://fuk­ushima-dia­ry.com/?p=­6959
snip + Video of spread...
Meteocente­r Swiss forecast the radiation flow from Fukushima.

According to the report, wind of 10m and 500m height will blow from Fukushima to Tokyo.

Radiation is assumed to widely hit Tokyo from 3:00 AM 2/14/2012 to 8:00 AM 2/15/2012 (JST).

It’s better to wear a mask or stay inside as much as possible.

===
Japan is now a majority TEPCO Stock Owner, where is their TEPCO Board seat and who is asking questions and demanding answers for all those in Tokyo receiving TEPCO's radioactiv­e fallout?

This is UNACCEPTAB­LE!

Who wants to star in a Japanese radioactiv­e pollution Film!

CaptD said...

Warning:
Everyone in Tokyo is now staring in the latest Japanese Radioactive Horror Film, courtesy of TEPCO and the Japanese Gov't. approved burning and dumping of radioactive contaminated waste... Stay indoors and use TEPCO's electricity...

Anonymous said...

At least check the other Thermocouples!! Just assuming the one warning of danger is broken and not the other two is suicidal.

CaptD said...

Ostrich roundup continues in nuclear evacuation zone
http://is.gd/Kgew9Z

I guess they will soon start putting bags over Tokyo residents heads to calm them down!

Anonymous said...

I agree with CaptainD who alerted us last March with the smoking gun NRC emails.

The nuclear fascists are damn liars about the dangers...Reactor 2 is leaking badly just like 1,3,and 4.

Tokyo forecast for weather shows radiation blowing from the north so CaptinD is right...stay indoors...if you must get outside wear a mask and use an umbrella:

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Tokyo+Japan+JAXX0085

Take Care!

SP

Anonymous said...

They dont want to prove the other 2 gauges are faulty, so they wont be tested.

CaptD said...

11 Months and counting!

The Japanese people and many of those of the rest of the World,
... wait in fear because of what TEPCO and the Japanese Gov't.
... are trying to make money instead of stopping this Eco-Disaster...

That is the bottom line and no amount of Nuclear Baloney (NB) type
... "reports or reviews or Nuclear theory" makes that any better.

Do any of US actually know what the situation is on the ground?

I sure don't, but I know that because TEPCO has lied, concealed data
... and played the Japanese People's SAFETY down, while trying to save
... TEPCO profits instead, we all have much to fear from THEM!

If someone told me 11 MONTHS ago that I would be sitting on the edge
... of my chair, and blogging to save the Japanese people from their Utility
... TEPCO & their Gov't. overseers I would have thought they were crazy!

This is a nuclear nightmare
... And N☢T just for the Japanese, but the Planet!

the voice in your head said...

"If someone told me 11 MONTHS ago that I would be sitting on the edge... of my chair, and blogging to save the Japanese people from their Utility... TEPCO & their Gov't. overseers I would have thought they were crazy!

How right you are CaptD. The truth is stranger than fiction--or that
is what they say, anyway. But written fiction has to at least be somewhat believable! Imagine if someone wrote about what is actually happening now as fiction(before 3/11). They would have been laughed off the Japanese Islands.

Even if one of Japan's crazy cult film directors(a couple of them from Toho Studios comes to mind) put this out as a movie, they'd be branded as completely insane.

Godzilla rising up from the ocean is much more believable in the Japanese mind.

Anonymous said...

Chernobyl disaster helped to bankrhupt old Soviet Union and it looking like same thing might happen to Japan. Out of worst thing that can happen, it being catalyst for getting rid of most of Japanese government despots would come best thing. Too bad many innocents trapped in this will pay with their health and environment will be polluted for future generations. It's terrible to think about price to pay.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-13/tepco-widens-loss-forecast-as-fukushima-costs-trigger-8-9-billion-of-aid.html

Anonymous said...

There is more about those temperature readings.

We need to know:
- when the thermocouples were changed last time (year ago) who did it (manufactures, specialized workers, general workers?).
The resistance test in Ohm is not the only method because "The true test would be to measure the voltage. A thermocouple is technically a voltage source with the voltage proportional to temperature. Measuring the resistance of a thermocouple is like measuring the resistance of a battery.".

Read this:
http://www.scitopics.com/Nuclear_Plant_Temperature_Instrumentation.html

and if you have time this "Manual on the use of thermocouples in temperature measurement"
http://books.google.it/books?id=Pos-MXDWb6MC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=thermocouple+temperature+nuclear+reactor+reliability&source=bl&ots=17p9gYOesm&sig=iSXyPlC2cYyDzR3m4-0zbADvFpw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_k45T7C2EeLP4QStsaWhCw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=thermocouple%20temperature%20nuclear%20reactor%20reliability&f=false

Anonymous said...

What are all of you so worried about?

The clever Japanese, together with the British, are, at this very moment, spending loads of someone else's hard earned money on a high-tech
incredibly useful project that will revolutionize radioactive disaster cleanup.

After the masterminds in charge of TEPCO manage to wipe out all human life from Japan, the ECO III, IV, or V robots will take over, sustaining themselves by gorging on radioactive nuclides everywhere around them and thriving and replicating like mad. Thus will the Japanese population will be replaced and Japanese society be restored so it is just like before. No one will notice the difference.

http://newtechcentury.com/scientist-create-a-robot-that-eats-and-goes-to-the-bathroom/

Scott said...

Tepco wa baka na yattsu me!@!

CaptD said...

1. An Engineering point of view, one can see that TEPCO is
... with holding vital info that is delaying any containment
... (no pun intended) and now their Gov't. is helping them!

2. A Scientific point of view, TEPCO is in total denial about
... the seriousness of this nuclear debacle and its effect on
... on the Japanese people and their economy! They are
... treating this more like a big "RECALL" instead of a CRISIS!

3. A Global point of view, Japan is not only NOW the World's
... Greatest Polluter, but they have lost their good quality
... reputation and they are allowing the pollution to continue!

4. A Humanitarian point of view, their treatment of their own
... children's health, their workers health and their refusal to
... make public, radiation readings from 3/11 is inexcusable!

5. A MSM (Main Stream Media) point of view, the way that our
... Countries have hidden this from the Public is just criminal
... and should be a wake up call to all to of us that we are losing
... our freedom of the Press along with our Freedom of Speech.

The only thing hard to understand is, why has the UN
... and All Other Nations allowed this "Japanese Fire Drill"
... to Continue, unless we are all potentially doomed
... and they do not want Global Panic?

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