Monday, November 25, 2013

(UPDATED) TEPCO Is Removing "SPENT FUEL ASSEMBLIES" from #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Today (11/26/2013)


(UPDATE-2) The second day of fuel assembly removal (11/27/2013). The work started at 9:30AM JST, according to TEPCO. On November 26, 2013, the workers removed six spent fuel assemblies into the cask in the cask pit inside the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool. The work took about three hours - 30 minutes per one fuel assembly.

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

(UPDATE) From TEPCO, the first spent fuel assembly from the pool was placed in the cask, at 3:21PM.

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

Hardly anyone on the net in Japan is paying attention, as the bigger and more distressing (unless you are a staunch supporter of Liberal Democratic Party) news of the day is the passage of Secrecy Act in the special committee in the Lower House with overwhelming majority votes by LDP, Komei (the ruling coalition), and Your Party. Passage in the Lower House (where LDP alone holds majority) is expected in the afternoon.

Six groups of workers (6 workers each in a group) in two-hour rotations will remove 22 irradiated SPENT FUEL assemblies, according to Mainichi, unlike the first time when unused, new fuel assemblies were removed.

Just like the first time, the entire operation will be done under water. So far, no news of a sizeable earthquake, and hardly any news coverage of the event.

From TEPCO's alert for the press (11/26/2013):

The second removal of fuel assemblies from the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is scheduled today.

Preparation started at 9AM.

At 10:56AM, the work started to move the container for the transfer of the fuel assemblies from the temporary storage location on the operating floor of Reactor 4 to the Spent Fuel Pool.

At 11:29AM, the container was placed at the bottom of the Spent Fuel Pool.


本日(11月26日)より福島第一原子力発電所4号機使用済燃料プールから2回目の燃料取り出し作業を行う予定としておりましたが、同日午前9時00分より準備作業に取りかかっております。

その後、午前10時56分、4号機オペレーティングフロア(原子炉建屋5階部分)の容器仕立ピットに仮置きしていた構内用輸送容器を、使用済燃料プールへ移動する作業を開始しました。

使用済燃料プールへ移動した構内用輸送容器については、午前11時29分に4号機使用済燃料プールの底へ着床しました。


Removal of the spent fuel assemblies may be starting just about now (3PM, JST).

14 comments:

Apolline said...

Hi, Ultraman, may I have a link about Secrecy Act ? Secrecy about Fukushima ?
Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Hélios,
Mainichi and Asahi Shimbun (besides others) have english sites.
Here are 2 articles as example:
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131126p2a00m0na018000c.html

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201311260068

Viola

Andrew Judd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrew Judd said...

Hello, Do you know if any videos have been released of the inside of reactor 3 since they built the cover? Are they officially doing anything there yet? Thanks, Andrew

Anonymous said...

So at the day they start to remove the spent fuel assemblies, they push their secrecy law. Some coincidence...
In this new Japan they should redefine 'sanbiki no saru'; "see no danger, talk no secrets, hear no other opinions" and you will live happenly ever after!

Anonymous said...

and 'See no danger' can be easly replaced by: 'see no corruption'

Anonymous said...

Hardly anyone on the net is paying attention, full stop.
They're too busy stripping for their console live stream, or something.

PavewayIV said...

There really isn't anything to worry about. TEPCO has taken plenty of measures to insure dangerous information does not leave containment. Only terrorists need information for their evil purposes.

Besides, the fuel rod removal has actually caused a reverse radioactive plume - radioactivity is dropping like a rock in the U.S. as the jet stream dragged it over Alaska. Check out the plummeting radiation in Juneau during the first removal:

http://epa.gov/radnet/radnet-data/radnet-juneau-bg.html

That's a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website. You can trust them!

If they keep moving those fuel rods, the U.S. will be radiation-free. If that happens, the government will force citizens to create small fission bonfires to maintain appropriate background levels.

The next nuclear black hole is being generated now over Fukushima and is being sucked into the jet stream as you read this. Expect U.S. West Coast radiation levels to plummet on the 27th unless they can HAARP the high pressure away from the coast.

http://squall.sfsu.edu/scripts/nhemjetstream_model.html

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Andrew, there is no cover over Reactor 3. TEPCO just finished removing large debris from the operating floor (or what used to be the operating floor...)

Viola, thanks for the links. The law is not particularly about Fukushima but just about everything. It passed easily in the Lower House, now on to the Upper House.

Anonymous said...

I bet if TEPCO does screw up with the fuel rods, they'll just blame it on terrorists or some shit.

Andrew Judd said...

Laprimavera, Thanks for your answer. I can see now that as of July 2013 the operating floor for building 3 is still covered with junk but the roofing junk is gone. I mistakingly imagined i had seen a covered building 3 when looking at pictures of the new 4.

Anonymous said...

Coincidentally Tepco asked the media not to film fuel removal operations from helicopters as that might disclose security information to terrorists.

The new "security" law being rammed through the parliament covers security information related to npps: position of surveillance cameras, information on patrolling shifts (including those to monitors leaking tanks?) etc.

Another bit of democracy flushed down the toilet.

Beppe

Anonymous said...

Why do we drive in parkways and park in driveways?
Why are hedge funds leveraged?
Why does "spent" fuel need to be cooled down for years?

"Words are important" Nanni Moretti, in "Palombella rossa".

Anonymous said...

Rice grown in Hirono has been delivered to Imperial Palace to be served at agency esteries. The emperor declared he will have some too. The Jiji Press news does not mention whether the same rice will also be fed to princess Aiko.

Beppe

Post a Comment