Thursday, July 25, 2013

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3's Steam: TEPCO Spokesman Says "As You All Know, the Area Was Contaminated by the Steam Coming Out of Containment Vessel" After Explosion in March 2011


(UPDATE 7/25/2013) Just as back then, TEPCO now says the current steam may be from the Containment Vessel after all, at least in part. See my latest post.

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So that steam back then was actually coming from inside the Containment Vessel???

In the regular press conference on July 24, 2013, TEPCO's spokesman said the steam coming out of Reactor 3 in March 2011 after the explosion was from inside the Containment Vessel, and that is known to everybody.

11 minutes 39 seconds into his briefing (video is at TEPCO's site but only for one week), TEPCO's PR manager Ono says,

ご存知の通り、3号のシールドプラグ近辺ということで言いますと、発災直後に原子炉の格納容器の中から出ている蒸気、というものが、この周辺を含めて、出ていた場所でございますので、そうした影響で高い線量がシールドプラグの雰囲気、周りですね、近辺で観測されている、ということではないか、と考えてございます。

As you all know, speaking about the area near the shield plug of Reactor 3, it was around this area where the steam was coming from inside the reactor's Containment Vessel right after the accident [explosion of Reactor 3 on March 14, 2011]. We think the current high radiation levels observed around, near the shield plug, are probably due to the effect of that steam.


"As you all know"??? Since when?

As far as I remember, the explosion of the Reactor 3 building is explained by TEPCO as hydrogen explosion (initially some TEPCO workers, including Plant Manager Masao Yoshida, thought it was a steam explosion), but the company never explained where the steam seen rising from the wreckage of the Reactor 3 operating floor after the explosion was coming from.

Now, according to TEPCO, everyone is supposed to know, as a matter of fact after two years and four months later, that the steam in March 2011 was coming from inside the Containment Vessel.

I watched the Q&A section of the press conference, but no one seemed to be bothered by Ono's remark. Was it just me who didn't know about it as the established fact? I had suspected as much from the beginning, but didn't know that's now an accepted fact.

How and what did I miss? I searched my own blog for Reactor 3's posts from the beginning, and the closest reference I found was that the steam looked to be rising from near the Containment Vessel.

Well, on further research on the net, what I seem to have missed was the morning press conference on March 16, 2011 by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano (link is in Japanese, Asahi Shinbun). He said, about the steam that started to vigorously rise from Reactor 3 around 8:30AM that day and the sharp rise in radiation levels at the plant after 10AM,

専門家による分析を鋭意しているが、現在において可能性として一番高いと思われるのは、あくまでも確定ではない、可能性として一番高いと思われるのは、2号炉において生じたように、格納容器の一部から水蒸気が放出されて煙が上がっている。そのため、たまっていた放射性を帯びた水蒸気なので、一時的に高い数値が計測されたのではないかというのが、繰り返すが確定ではない、現時点の分析として最も高い可能性として見られている状況。

We are having experts analyze the situation, but at this point, the highest possibility, not confirmed yet, but the highest possibility seems to be that the steam is being released from some part of the Containment Vessel, just like it happened in Reactor 2. Since it is radioactive steam that was inside the Containment Vessel, high levels of radiation were observed temporarily. Let me repeat that it is not yet confirmed, but that is the most likely scenario at this point.


(Wait a minute. Just like it happened in Reactor 2???)

In the afternoon press conference at 6PM on March 16, 2011 (link is in Japanese, Asahi Shinbun), Edano somewhat backed off and said he had heard the steam might be from the suppression chamber (it is still part of the Containment Vessel, I suppose, but below the 1st floor). NISA thought the rise in radiation levels at the plant in the morning of March 16, 2011 was because of Reactor 2, not Reactor 3.

Mr. Edano talked about it as the hypothesis, that the steam rising from Reactor 3 after the March 14, 2011 explosion was from the Containment Vessel, and that was 2 years and 4 months ago. I do not think (I may be wrong) anyone paid attention to this particular remark or followed up on it.

But now, according to TEPCO, that's what everyone should know, that the steam seen rising from the Reactor 3 wreckage in March 2011 was from the Containment Vessel.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where is it going to come from, the moon?

Anonymous said...

My guess: in a couple of months TEPCO will say exactly the same about the vapor seen in the past few days!
"As you all know, that steam, coming from within the Reactor #3 CV, was not *so* radioactive..." ;-)

Anonymous said...

Of course they haven't explicitly said the Reactor 3 blew up.

They've been trying to hide it since the beginning because they don't want the public to know 1. that nuclear reactor containment is not really containment at all. 2. that the newly minted MOX fueled reactor exploded and 3. That the explosion released an unknown quantity of MOX to the atmosphere - which subsequently fell down to earth who knows where - and is now in the process of a massive DNA killing spree wherever it is being ingested.

Because if the public knew those things and knew what is going to become of them, they would demand that nuclear fission be banned from earth.

However it was obvious from nature and shape of the explosion, and it's been made clear right here on this blog over and over again that the containment was breached.

If you have been resisting that notion, then you have been part of the coverup - either unwittingly or willingly.

James

Anonymous said...

Talking about this steam on his blog prof. Taked briefly mentioned that there was no reason to evacuate yet. Now I know why he was saying so.

Thank you Primavera-san, 毎度。

Beppe

Unknown said...

YES The perjury continues,
perjury and science mix in a way which kills innocent people.
The good thing is that FUKUSHIMA WILL last 40 +YEARS
to clean up according to the head of decommissioning so the truth will slowly come out.
The chernobyl decommissioning will last a total of 129 years,(until 2115) and we see now 30,000 scientific documents only on Chernobyl, in spite of the soviet union destruction of evidence in the first 3.5 years.

VyseLegendaire said...

The steam, as you all know, as been coming from the fire-breathing dragon lying beneath the reactor. You did all know that, didn't you?

Anonymous said...

This steam gushing out, is like an ongoing Three Miles Island accident in slow motion. After some time, the equivalent of Three Miles Island will have been ejected into the air. Does someone cares where it is flying to? Because some children or pregnant woman should not get into contact with this contaminated air.
But who cares after all, after 3/11, no one notices anymore because the population voted to ignore the reality.

Anonymous said...

The fire-breathing dragon explanation for the rising steam is at least as plausible as the "rain hitting the 40 degree containment cap" explanation. My vote goes to the dragon.
*mscharisma*

Anonymous said...

Obfuscation at its best!

Fuku---the fire breathing dragon. It's going to become an animated series with a stuffed toy division. Something like Pingu.

Anonymous said...

It *already* is an animated series: Doraemon is nuke powered, Atom... well the name says it all. Topo Gigio, please come to our rescue!

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Enter the Dragon... That's my vote, too.

As I was researching for the post above, I found other very interesting things, including the number of explosions of Reactor 3. I'm doing some more research before I write a post. Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

>If you have been resisting that notion, then you have been part of the coverup - either unwittingly or willingly.

James, there are people, including experts, who say the initial explosion on March 14, 2011 was 1) hydrogen explosion; 2) steam explosion; 3) nuclear explosion from SFP; 4) nuclear explosion from CV.

Clearly you are No.4 and you insist that somehow a BWR exploded like Chernobyl's RBMK, spewing the contents inside RPV. But to say what you said is to stifle the discussion and is an attempt to intimidate.

What TEPCO and Mr. Edano referred to was not the initial explosion that blew off the top floor but the subsequent (March 16 onward) steam coming out of the wreckage.

Anonymous said...

Great work. Once again. Much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

"As you all know, we are totally screwed and full of shit."

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it was a nuclear explosion or a steam explosion on March 14th - but I do know it came from the containment - and now you know it too.

I actually suspect it was a steam flash, since the RPV was over 1000 PSI prior to the explosion, according to the control records.

Yes of course it exploded like Chernobyl - take another look at the video if you think it wasn't an explosion.

And yes, there have been quite a few so called "experts" who've been trying to claim everything else but the truth for two years now.

Let me say this - if they are any kind of expert and they've been claiming anything other than what we now know to be true, then they are either not very "expert" or they are a liar.

- And that includes one grandfatherly so called "expert" that has been claiming everything but a containment breach on #3 for two years. I said he was lying before and I'll say he's been lying again now - and with him it is not simple ignorance - he's a fraud - and I have no problem with you telling him I said so.

James

Anonymous said...

I do not think James is intimidating, I am more bothered by people who routinely post anonymously, if you ask me...

Beppe

Anonymous said...

Take the anonymous feature out and see how many comments you get.

I have no problem with anonymous commenters. I welcome everyone, even the Finnish Troll. (but maybe not complete nitwits like the woman who formerly worked for a nuke fuel company in Tennessee(?) and was running for a state political posiion)

Anonymous said...

Oh and, Topo Gigio---boy, do I miss that charming mouse. Part of my childhood as well.

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