Japan Earthquake: nuclear plants

MadderDoc

Yes, alright, over the building is not too precise. In this animation, three small red dots are overlayed to mark the direction to the visible NW, SW, and SE corner of the building, thus roughly outlining the confines of the original building when things get messy in the images.

Frame 0 is the first frame which unambiguously shows damage to the building. I think it is safe to assume that between frame -1 and frame 0, an explosive combustion of hydrogen occurred inside the building. In frame 1 we see hydrogen apparently combusting outside the confines of the building, in white hot intensity. As regards the direction to this visual flame, it could be from either the south or the east wall of the SE corner. The three-lobed shape of the flame would indicate to me that it is from the east wall. The condensed combustion gases from this flame is, I believe, what we see eventually develop into a notably _whitish_ 'wart' in frame no 35, to the right bottom downwind side of the developing central eruption cloud. It would seem to me most likely from the observation, that between frame 0 and frame 1, hydrogen escaped from the building from its SE corner in an upwards easterly direction and burned there, outside the confines of the building.

Seeing hydrogen could escape from the building, it would seem to be implied there is hydrogen in it, so either hydrogen is burning still inside the building during frame 0-1, or frame 1 could represent a flash back to re-ignite hydrogen inside a oxygen starved building, now being fed air through openings in the roof.

Yamanote

Thanks for the news tsutsuji-san, quite interesting!

tsutsuji

The 6th mid long term meeting was held yesterday: http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02.html

The 5th meeting (23 April 2012) : http://www.physicsforums.com/showpos...ostcount=12979

The 4th meeting (28 March 2012) : http://www.physicsforums.com/showpos...ostcount=12764

The 3rd meeting (27 February 2012) has been translated into English on Tepco's website : http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...ference-e.html

28 May 2012 government-Tokyo Electric mid and long term response committee, steering committee (6th meeting)

http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02a.pdf Agenda
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02b.pdf Participants

Document 1
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02c.pdf Abstract of the proceedings of 5th steering committee meeting

Document 2: Plant status
Document 2-1: Plant status
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02d.pdf Plant parameters
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02e.pdf Accumulated water storage status

Document 3 Study and execution of each special plan

3-1 Cooling by closed loop water injection
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02f.pdf Schedule
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02g.pdf Summer season countermeasures for the reactor water injection equipments [page 3/5: unit 2's reactor temperature is expected to reach 65°C in July when the weather is the hottest]
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02h.pdf Results of the surveys on location concerning the environment improvement for the purpose of installing alternative thermometers in unit 2's RPV.
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02j.pdf Execution of internal survey into unit 1 primary containment vessel (PCV) [endoscope mission in August-September 2012]
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02k.pdf Results of the survey into unit 3's TIP room in reactor building first floor

3-2 Treatment of accumulated water
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02m.pdf Schedule
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02n.pdf Subdrain purification test report (report No. 1)


3-3 Countermeasures to reduce environmental radiations
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02p.pdf Schedule
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02q.pdf Management of debris, cut down trees, generated by the response to the accident
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02r.pdf Status of the preparatory works of the soil-covered temporary storage facility
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02s.pdf Countermeasures against fire for the cut down trees
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02t.pdf Consequences on water quality of the covering of the sea floor in the harbour
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02u.pdf Results of evaluation of additional releases from reactor building's primary containment vessels

3-4 Improvement of working conditions
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02p.pdf Schedule

3-5 Countermeasures for spent fuels pools
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02w.pdf Schedule
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02x.pdf Debris removal work, reactor building top part, unit 3
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02y.pdf Debris removal work, reactor building top part, unit 4
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_02z.pdf Check of soundness of new fuel (unirradiated fuel) in unit 4 spent fuel pool
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...20528_02aa.pdf Results of inspection aimed at checking the soundness of Fukushima Daiichi unit 4's reactor building

3-6 Preparations for fuel debris removal
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...20528_02bb.pdf Schedule [a robot mission into unit 3's torus room is scheduled for the last 10 days of June]
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...20528_02cc.pdf Results of survey by robots into unit 1's reactor building: "development of remote controlled decontamination techniques inside buildings"

3-7 treatment and disposal of radioactive waste
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...20528_02dd.pdf Schedule

Document 4
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...20528_02ee.pdf roadmap progress (abstract)

28 May 2012 government-Tokyo Electric mid and long term response committee, technical development progress headquarters (6th meeting) (http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01.html )

http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01a.pdf Agenda

Document 1
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01b.pdf Abstract of the proceedings of 5th meeting

Document 2
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01c.pdf Fiscal 2012 research and development plan (draft)

Spent fuel pool countermeasures working team

Document 2-1 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01d.pdf Evaluation of long term soundess of the fuel assemblies removed from spent fuel pools (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)

Fuel debris removal preparation working team

Document 2-2-1 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01e.pdf Development of remote controled decontamination techniques inside buildings (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-2 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01f.pdf Development of techniques to determine the leakage points inside PCVs (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-3 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01g.pdf Development of techniques to repair PCVs (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-4 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01h.pdf Development of techniques to survey inside PCVs (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-5 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01j.pdf Development of techniques to assess the soundness of RPVs/PCVs (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-6 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01k.pdf Development of techniques to manage debris criticality (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-7 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01m.pdf Grasping the status inside reactors by the upgrading of accident progression analysis techniques (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-8 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01n.pdf Characterization by using mock-up debris and development of debris treatment techniques (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-2-9 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01p.pdf Building of material accountancy for fuel debris (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)

Treatment and disposal of radioactive waste working team

Document 2-3-1 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01q.pdf Development of treatment and disposal techniques for the secondary waste products generated by the contaminated water treatment (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)
Document 2-3-2 http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01r.pdf Development of treatment and disposal techniques for radioactive waste (Fiscal 2012 and general plan)

Document 3
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01s.pdf Result of the public appeal for a technical catalogue in relation with the machinery and equipments used in the preparation of the fuel debris removal, toward the decommissionning process of Fukushima Daiichi units 1,2,3 and 4 (Tokyo Electric Power Company)

Document 4
http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01t.pdf Status of the study of the conseption of research basic points

Attachment: http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuc...120528_01u.pdf Symposium on machinery and equipments toward the decommissionning process of Fukushima Daiichi [held by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers on 27 May 2012][page 2: 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2012) Symposium on Robotic Solutions Toward Nuclear Decommission May 18 (Friday), 2012 in Saint Paul, USA]

Uagrepus

I would vote for 2 east and 1 south, forming the "three-lobed shape of the flame":



Most of the roof-panels in the SE-corner of U3 are oriented east-west and many were thrown to the turbine-building following this direction.

MadderDoc

Agreed. From about frame 4, destruction of the south wall appears to have progressed to let the flame burn more generally out through the top of that wall. During frame 0-4, there seems to be no discontinuity in the exploding motion in the rest of the building that is set going in frame 0. From about frame 5 the fuel supply for the flame seems to be gradually cut of, while the development of the eruption cloud center is taking over the scene. Concurrently with this change material seems to start being ejected from a lower part (likely 4th floor) of the west wall.

tsutsuji

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...20526_01-e.pdf Accumulated water in unit 3 Radiation Waste Underground Storage Facility Building: "Accumulated water amount is approx. 610m3 in the entire building (including the unchecked areas). The property of the accumulated water is assumed to be either groundwater or rainwater".

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...20529_03-e.pdf Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, May 29, 2012:

May 28, 2012: The following Unit 2 PCV thermometers (monitored in accordance with Article 138 of the Technical Specification) indicated significant temperature changes (stepwise increase/decrease in temperature). Upon our temperature trend evaluation, we found that these temperature changes may have been caused by abnormality with the thermometers. On May 29, direct resistance measurement was done on these thermometers, and reliability evaluation will also be done. According to the radioactivity density of short half-life nuclides, there is no possibility of re-criticality.

- RETURN AIR DRYWELL COOLER (TE-16-114A) [Monitored] 58.0℃→64.7℃
- RETURN AIR DRYWELL COOLER (TE-16-114D) [Monitored] 43.7℃→47.6℃
- SUPPLY AIR D/W COOLER HVH 2-16A (TE-16-114F #1) [Reference] 41.0℃→35.0℃
- SUPPLY AIR D/W COOLER HVH 2-16C (TE-16-114H #1) [Monitored] 52.1℃→48.2℃
(Above data was acquired from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM on May 28)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...20529_02-e.pdf Temperature inside the PCV of Unit 2, Fukushima Daiichi NPS (6 hour data)

MadderDoc

Most video footage of the explosion which have been or remain still available have been quite unfortunately re-sampled and re-compressed from an original 50Hz interlaced TV recording, to e.g. the commonly found 29.968fps on youtube. Unavoidably such a conversion produces horrible artefacts, and comes with loss and blending of the original information.

From a short lineage recording of an original TV broadcast, it has been possible to produce this animation of the first second after the blast in the original high temporal resolution. Since the original is 50 Hz interlaced, utilising both fields yields a temporal resolution of 50 fps, or 20 milliseconds per frame. You won't find this better anywhere else on internet :-)

Those of you who have taken special interest in the explosion will note particularly the extra temporal resolution at around the time of the first signs of something happening with the building.

triumph61

New interesting Photos

Reaktor Cap Unit
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/library/120.../120528_34.jpg

http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/201...20528_01e.html

tsutsuji

Translation:

1/8

2/8

3/8

Attached Thumbnails

     

tsutsuji

Translation:
4/8

5/8

6/8

Attached Thumbnails

     

tsutsuji

Translation:
7/8

8/8

Attached Thumbnails

   

Joffan

Thanks very much for the translation Tsutsuji. I'd still prefer one of these snake robots doing the inspection work.

Rive

Very thanks for the translation.

What do you think, would it worth to contact them somehow for suggesting a lights-off time during the survey? Based on some cherenkov (background) lights the cam might be able to pick up more details even in 'rainy' environment than with the small LEDs on the camera.

tsutsuji

They did not talk specifically about a snake bot, but in the March report they were open about "self propulsion of the extremity" in case the conventional endoscope technique is not workable for the insertion of the alternative thermometers at unit 2 :

however, the mock-up tests performed last month showed that the conventional endoscope technique is likely to be OK or nearly OK.

Can radio waves penetrate through the PCV wall ? If not, the snake would still need a cable to send data and to receive control signals.

Joffan

The snake robot shown was on an umbilical - probably for power, data, and pull-back. They'd probably need to protect the edges of any drilled holes.

Astronuc

Fresh fuel would not be dangerous itself - I've handled fresh fuel (even pellets) with gloves - however, the surfaces would be contaminated with whatever radionuclides were deposited from any fuel that failed in the pool (or from whatever fission products were released to the spent fuel pool) during the accident.

Ordinarily, damaged fresh fuel is often returned to the manufacturer (in this case, after decontamination) and defueled. The UO₂ is recycled and the Zircaloy is scrapped. It could be remelted and recycled if the impurities are less than ASTM spec.

MadderDoc

I wonder what kind of sick paranoia has led to the blocking out of the rack number in the photo on page 5 of that document.
(It is rack number 26, if someone should want to know.)