Japan Earthquake: Nuclear Plants at Fukushima Daiichi

[SteveElbows]

I am trying to establish whether there is a chance that this could be the telescopic part of the fuel bridge, with the idea that the bridge, or part of it, may have landed upside-down in this area. Even if we cannot say that this object may fit the bill, can anybody comment on how radioactive we may expect this part to be?

I think for now I will have to conclude that its more likely to be a bit of furniture, eg a pole that rope is hung from just like the ones int he foreground. But its hard to be sure, perhaps I would expect a part of the fuel telescopic arm to have a wider diameter than this, but judging exact scale of things on the photo is not too easy. In any case I haven't even seen much in the way of detailed images of this bit of equipment in normal setting, at least not the lower portion of it.

 

[mscharisma]

Greater levels of radioactive materials found due to rain
TOKYO, March 22, Kyodo

Thank you for finding it. What strikes me as odd is the close relation of times. March 22 per Kyodo: level for mandatory decontamination will be raised from 6,000 to 100,000 cpm for the general public.
Per the Mainichi Daily News:
"The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it received the data from power companies across the country that measured the workers' internal exposure to radiation with "whole-body counters" and recorded levels of 1,500 counts per minute (cpm) or higher. In 1,193 cases, workers had internal exposure to radiation of more than 10,000 cpm. Those workers had apparently returned to their homes near the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant or had moved to other nuclear power plants from the Fukushima No. 1 and 2 nuclear power plants. [my comment: Unfortunately not clarification of time frames]

According to Kakizawa, one worker at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant operated by Hokuriku Electric Power Co. in Ishikawa Prefecture returned to his home in Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 13 and stayed there for several hours. He then stayed in Koriyama in the prefecture with his family for one night before moving out of Fukushima. On March 23, he underwent a test at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant that showed his internal exposure to radiation had reached 5,000 cpm. He was thus instructed by the company to remain on standby. The radiation reading dropped below 1,500 cpm two days later, and then he returned to work."

 

[StrangeBeauty]

Via ex-skf:
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/ministry-of-education-quietly-released.html

Some WSPEEDI info released:

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/saigaijohou/syousai/1305747.htm

"When Professor Kosako resigned from his post as PM special advisor in protest of the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children, he called for the release of WSPEEDI"

This is some of that data.

"One of the maps, "Organ dose of I-131 for infant [less than a year old]", shows that the extremely high dose along the coast of Fukushima, with the dose in the area around Fukushima I Nuke Plant over 500 millisieverts (deep pink color)."

This only covers I-131, not Cs or other nuclides.

 

[MadderDoc]

I can't recognize anything on the picture... But it's still very interesting. There are several 'overexposed' spots across the picture - are those traces of radiation hitting the CCD chip?

Fully exposed in the photo of the 1Sv/h debris location are as far as I can see, only the expected highlights from metal surface reflexes. As regards seeing traces of radiation hitting the CCD this photo of workers at ground floor of unit 2 would seem more promising:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110519_3_4.jpg

 

[MadderDoc]

Lens in a simple camera is not able to collimate neither of the possible radiation types, if anything, whole image should be overexposed the same way.

I think collimation is beside the point, a ccd chip simply registers the radiation incident on its light sensitive layer array, see here for a practical use of the principle:
http://bqscan.com

 

[Rive]

OK, there was a misunderstanding. You wrote about "overexposed spots" and I thought what you mean is that some objects on the picture look overexposed, while you meant something that I would describe as similar to "hot pixels". I can easily imagine these can be effect of radiation.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant the 'hot pixels', not objects. Thanks for the reply.

 

[DSamsom]

Via ex-skf:
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/ministry-of-education-quietly-released.html

Some WSPEEDI info released:

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/saigaijohou/syousai/1305747.htm

"When Professor Kosako resigned from his post as PM special advisor in protest of the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children, he called for the release of WSPEEDI"

This is some of that data.

"One of the maps, "Organ dose of I-131 for infant [less than a year old]", shows that the extremely high dose along the coast of Fukushima, with the dose in the area around Fukushima I Nuke Plant over 500 millisieverts (deep pink color)."

This only covers I-131, not Cs or other nuclides.

Interesting figures. The 500 mSv however could be misleading. The title of the map is "organ dose of I-131". Assuming they mean the organ thyroid gland, which has a weighting-factor of 0,05, the resulting effective dose would be 25 mSv.

 

[Uagrepus]

The most of these pixel errors I saw near Unit 2 (please zoom into the darker areas). Good to hear, radiation can't be the reason:

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/4963/no2fallout.th.jpg

Hmm, just reflections from water droplets?

 

[MadderDoc]

<..>I am trying to establish whether there is a chance that this could be the telescopic part of the fuel bridge, with the idea that the bridge, or part of it, may have landed upside-down in this area. Even if we cannot say that this object may fit the bill, can anybody comment on how radioactive we may expect this part to be?

I am pretty sure there are quite a number of other objects that this bit of debris could be, so I am not exactly convinced of this theory myself, just throwing it out there.

That's probably the problem with the fuel handling mast, on one hand it has a peculiar appearance, otoh it does not have very distinct features suitable for ID. I reckon if you could examine the full circumference of this object, its being part of the mast would be determined by finding guiding grooves along its length.

Re the fhm of unit 3 and its whereabouts, from looking at the most recent photos, particularly after the leaning stairway concrete structure at the SW corner fell, 'something big' appears to have been caught up in the remains of the metal framework up on the S/SW part of the service floor. Excruciatingly we do not have better photos of this section of the roof.

 

[Borek]

Hmm, just reflections from water droplets?

Nope. Take it from someone taking pictures for almost 40 years.

 

[Rive]

So he had the test 10 days after he had been to the area and it was that high. The half life for iodine is like 8 days right? two days later he was down to 1500 and went back to work. 10 days is time for one halflife before he was tested...but somehow the math isn't working for me. Can someone explain this??

It sounds like some amateurism mixed with bad luck?

Possibly it was his skin what was contaminated, and not in site but at home or during traveling.
Then there was no second test after an external decontamination when the first test revealed the problem.
And then he went home and taken a shower.

Maybe.

 

[etudiant]

Interesting figures. The 500 mSv however could be misleading. The title of the map is "organ dose of I-131". Assuming they mean the organ thyroid gland, which has a weighting-factor of 0,05, the resulting effective dose would be 25 mSv.

Unfortunately, I do not read Japanese, so the writeup eludes me.
However, one of the commentators on EX-SKF noted that the data released did not reflect the actual source terms, but rather an assumption of initial emissions.
So these results may not represent reality at all.
Can anyone who actually reads Japanese help clarify whether these are actual measurements or merely estimates from a simulation?

 

[Uagrepus]

Nope. Take it from someone taking pictures for almost 40 years.

Thanks. I came to that idea watching a remarkable aerial and what looks like prism effects there (near the coast line):

http://www.digitalglobe.com/downloads/featured_images/japan_earthquaketsu_fukushima_daiichirec_march17_2011_dg.jpg

 

[zapperzero]

Evening story time. Back when I was living behind the Iron Curtain, some medical doctors in my country, after Chernobyl, put paid to the gov't story ("all is well, no fallout here, blah blah") by just exposing radiological film to dust in the air, plants or even small animals.

Auto-radiography it's called. I saw one of those films. It had been exposed to just outside air, from a first floor window, for a minute or so. It looked badly speckled, almost foggy, there were a couple streaks across too, from betas I guess, or maybe cosmic rays or whatever.

But I don't see this thing with the cameras, now, as a source of very much useful info. Yea, the plant is hot. We knew that. It's hotter some places than others. We knew that too, we have nice rad-maps from TEPCO. The sensors get triggered by gamma or beta or whatever. It's impressive, but so what?

Later edit: I just took a look at bqscan and the EXIF info in that photo. No luck, the particular camera model isn't supported :(

 

[zapperzero]

Interesting figures. The 500 mSv however could be misleading. The title of the map is "organ dose of I-131". Assuming they mean the organ thyroid gland, which has a weighting-factor of 0,05, the resulting effective dose would be 25 mSv.

It's interesting and also near-useless... the source term is assumed, not known...

EDIT: That's how I read the google-translated docs. I do not speak or read Japanese, though I'm beginning to think it may be worth investing the time to learn at least a bit, after all this crisis won't be over in less than a year.

 

[zapperzero]

Thanks. I came to that idea watching a remarkable aerial and what looks like prism effects there (near the coast line):

http://www.digitalglobe.com/downloads/featured_images/japan_earthquaketsu_fukushima_daiichirec_march17_2011_dg.jpg

Hey ho... when you say prism effects you mean the oddly coloured diffuse splotches in the water? What abot the two closely spaced shiny/white spots, violet on the edges, on the roof of #1 turbine hall? There's another similar one on the road in front of #4. Specular?

 

[havemercy]

Could anyone here explain what is occurring regarding the schoolchildren ? I read that some political men has quitted because of the limits raised by the ministry of eductation, that some new maps has been released with level of radioactivity of certain elements but nut all ? Could it be also possible to link the level of radioactivity of the maps with the "normal" annual limits for children ? Many thanks in advance. :)

 

[robinson]

I would suspect that there are a number of pieces of equipment from the service floor level that end up rather radioactive, but I have absolutely no idea what level of radiation readings we should expect from them.

That's what I am wondering. Does metal equipment outside the reactor core, or outside spent fuel ponds ever get that radioactive? I find it hard to believe that anything inside the reactor building has that level of radiation that isn't covered with a lot of water, or inside the containment.

Because how could anyone work around equipment that hot? I don't know if it's secrecy or my ignorance, but there seems to be very little published or commonly known about radiation levels inside a nuclear power plant. Or a spent fuel pond.

I'm pretty sure nothing in the workspace in a normal plant is 1 Sv/hr

 

[robinson]

As for the photo questions, it would have to be gamma rays causing any effect on the electronics themselves. Right? Alpha and Beta won't effect the inside of a cameras sensors.

 

[MiceAndMen]

There are some new images of the Megafloat arriving here:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/index-e.html"

I don't understand why they're so enamored with the Megafloat barge. They seem to take every opportunity to keep everyone updated on where it is, at all times. It is perhaps the singularly most uninteresting piece of equipment in the cleanup operation.

 

[MiceAndMen]

Regarding the Gamma Camera images at http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/index-e.html

Does the fact that the Gamma Camera registers significantly on the (broken?) ventilating ducts imply that the electrically powered HVAC fans were actively circulating radioactive material before they lost electric power on 11 March?

 

[zapperzero]

That's what I am wondering. Does metal equipment outside the reactor core, or outside spent fuel ponds ever get that radioactive?
I'm pretty sure nothing in the workspace in a normal plant is 1 Sv/hr

The easiest explanation is there's some steel thing with a fresh thick coat of radioactive cesium. Could be anything, really, although spent fuel should be much hotter.

Does equipment get that hot? Hmm... the cooling loop is pretty hot with very short-lived stuff, but may also get contaminated with all sorts of activated junk from the reactor.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that turbine blades are rad waste by the time they're done with them.

 

[zapperzero]

I don't understand why they're so enamored with the Megafloat barge. They seem to take every opportunity to keep everyone updated on where it is, at all times. It is perhaps the singularly most uninteresting piece of equipment in the cleanup operation.

I think you've just answered your own question there. TEPCO PR and Corp Relations at work, I'm afraid. Barge updates are a cheap, truthful way of saying "look, there's progress being made" every so often. Good news are scarce, they make the most of what they have.

Look up their first sitreps. A lot of things were happening in the first three days. Yet, TEPCO PR were just re-releasing the same stale info every two hours or so. When they stated "no changes from previous release", even when the situation had in fact changed, well, they meant there was no change in the content of the press release, and they were saying that, and it's true, sort of. The kind of true that stands up in court, just barely, if you have the best lawyers money can buy.

 

[Astronuc]

That's what I am wondering. Does metal equipment outside the reactor core, or outside spent fuel ponds ever get that radioactive? I find it hard to believe that anything inside the reactor building has that level of radiation that isn't covered with a lot of water, or inside the containment.

Because how could anyone work around equipment that hot? I don't know if it's secrecy or my ignorance, but there seems to be very little published or commonly known about radiation levels inside a nuclear power plant. Or a spent fuel pond.

I'm pretty sure nothing in the workspace in a normal plant is 1 Sv/hr

Basically, anything in or adjacent to the core gets activated, i.e., becomes radioactive.

Clearly the fuel becomes radioactive. The fission produces produces fission products, most of which decay by beta emission. In the neutron flux, some uranium is transmuted to transuranics. Core internals, most of which use stainless steel become activated, as does the steel core support plate, baffle and upper guide structure. Corrosion products that deposit on the fuel are also activated.

Materials outside of the core, really ouside of the neutron flux do not become activated, but some of the corrosion products do deposit on surfaces of piping outside of the core and RPV. The reactor coolant system or recirculating water system does have resin filters that are design to collect corrosion products. This is the reactor water cleanup (RWCU) system.

If fuel fails, i.e., cladding is breached, the some fission products, primarily Xe, Kr, I will readily escape into the coolant and travel around the primary system. In the case of a BWR, they travel into the turbine. Some will exit in an off-gas treatment system where filter catch radioactive gases or their decay products. If the breach is severe, then some loss of fuel and soluble fission product into the coolant will occur. Then the RWCU will collect some, and some will collected on the condensate polishers, which are also resin filters designed to remove impurities/corrosion products from the water.

 

[Most Curious]

Excellent Astronuc! Thank you.

I have heard Cobalt is one of the nasties that accumulates in piping that carries coolant. Any comment?

 

[Astronuc]

Excellent Astronuc! Thank you.

I have heard Cobalt is one of the nasties that accumulates in piping that carries coolant. Any comment?

Yes - over the last two decades, the industry has taken steps to reduce Co-58 and Co-60 in the reactor coolant. The use of Inconel in the core has been minimized and the compositions of stainless steels, principally SS304 and 316, have had restrictions on Co content in order to mitigate Co-60. Co-58 comes from an n,p reaction with Ni-58.

Zn has been added to primary water chemistries to reduce Ni dissolution in order to reduce deterioration of stainless steels and Inconels, and reduce Ni deposition in the core.

Any cobalt-bearing alloys have been eliminated from cooling systems connected to the reactor system.

 

[Atomfritz]

There is some interesting green material in the area that looks to be broken metal of some sort.[/i]

I think the green stuff scattered on photo is no metal. You would see the metal exposed at the breaks, but it is colored uniformly. Looks like plastic to me.

I read somewhere in this thread that functional groups in nuclear plants are "color coded", like the "FHM green".

But I doubt that a plastic box would be used in hot areas, for various reasons. It could just be a trash can been hit in the yard by the explosion. (just my unqualified 2 cents)

Certainly this pile of rubble has long interested me, it was previous labelled as up to 300mSv on the site radiation map, I guess they got closer to part of it this time.

I am also curious. What could be radiating so much there?

I'm pretty sure nothing in the workspace in a normal plant is 1 Sv/hr

Certainly this is not caused by a screwdriver.

So here my layman's analysis of the image and my thoughts and questions:



http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/5558/reactorstain2.jpg

(Edit 2: re-uploaded smaller sized pic, see full resolution pic here: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/reactorstain.jpg )


What could be this reddish stuff that appears to spread like pigment?

Any idea?

Edit: This stuff also could be bricks. But I doubt that bricks of apparently very low quality are used in NPPs... So I suppose this could be something other... but what?

 

[Azby]

Interesting figures. The 500 mSv however could be misleading. The title of the map is "organ dose of I-131". Assuming they mean the organ thyroid gland, which has a weighting-factor of 0,05, the resulting effective dose would be 25 mSv.

Yes, this had me scratching my head a few weeks ago. It's not clear what weighting/conversion factors they are using.
As for whether this data reflects actual source term measurements, the answer is no. These are estimates produced by measuring actual dust and wind direction, and the exrapolating back. The data is not exactly worthless, but is difficult to place a high degree of confidence in. We need more information about how it was calculated, what the assumptions were, whether the estimates over time were generated by continuous radiation measurements during the time frame or assuming a constant release for the entire period and interating wind measurements, etc..

As has been the case most of the time, the data is suggestive enough to cause great anxiety among laypeople but not complete enough to allow outside experts to make sound conclusions.

The attached files are dated for March 23-April 25. Two show estimates for adult doses for all nuclides; the one for infant doses shows I-131 only, and explans the reverse-extrapolation and says "trial calculation." (I have renamed the files)

 

[maddog1964]

That's what I am wondering. Does metal equipment outside the reactor core, or outside spent fuel ponds ever get that radioactive? I find it hard to believe that anything inside the reactor building has that level of radiation that isn't covered with a lot of water, or inside the containment.

Because how could anyone work around equipment that hot? I don't know if it's secrecy or my ignorance, but there seems to be very little published or commonly known about radiation levels inside a nuclear power plant. Or a spent fuel pond.

I'm pretty sure nothing in the workspace in a normal plant is 1 Sv/hr

Robinson, Astronuc description is very though, I think everyone trying to figure the radiation and explosions would be better able to analize both sitituations if they were not just concentrating on the fuel as the only place that "particulates" (not sure that would be the correct technical term") of the radiation would be (It is the main sourcre).

Have been studying bld#1 equipment (japan) and drawings from a US plant. After many hours and still not enought research... the systems are quite complex and "appear" to go to many of the buildings... not just the reactor containment bld. One example is the off gassing system.. its job is to "scrubb" the air of the radiation. There are several other systems that "clean" the SFP water of by-products. As Astronic desribed some go through the core. But what level of contamination is carried along I do not know and have been looking for help on in this area.

Pipe will collect product on the inner wall, if its Radioactive fluid its my understanding that the pipe wall will absore it.. I belive, but am still working on the system that is used to minimize this (BUT have not finished)
hope this helps...

I have been quite surprised at the building construction and very numerous components that are exposed to at least a min. low level radiation. They usually would not have a tank inside a concrete room if there was no "danger associated" with it (again, some of this infor is from a plant here in the US.) but if only 50% of the systems and components were applipicable to the Japanese plant it would explain alot.

The diagrams you see on the tepco and news articles only show the "main flow" they are much more complex, it will take me quite some time to link all the drawings together. Then there is the variables as to what japan has and does not. Most of these drawings are from 84 and some in the 90's

I guess the question that remains is how "Hot" do these resin beds/sludge tanks and many filters get... that part is not my field. The equipment and components are! And What is now debrie around the plant.. you can clearly see that some items seem to have left some of the buildings... were they came from and were they are now is the ??

 

[StrangeBeauty]

Edit: UPDATE: This story at NHK says they found 1000 mSv/h debris on Friday south of unit 3. That's probably what's shown in the pictures above. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/22_07.html

Also, I've been wondering about the possibility that this is another reading that's actually >1000 mSv, not just "1000 mSv". It would be based on the upper limit of the measuring device, and it seems that a lot of their devices top out at 1 Sv.

Also I see they are finally trying to get readings directly above the reactor buildings:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_11.html

To take the measurements, it is using a small instrument attached to the arm of a crane pump that's about 50 meters tall.

On Sunday afternoon, for about 20 minutes, the instrument measured radioactive substances in the air about 5 to 10 meters above the Number 1 reactor building. TEPCO will disclose the results of the analysis as early as Tuesday.

Much will depend on wind direction and strength in addition to the instrument placement. I'd like to see a measurement taken directly in the steam emanating from the building.

 

[MiceAndMen]

I think the green stuff scattered on photo is no metal. You would see the metal exposed at the breaks, but it is colored uniformly. Looks like plastic to me.

To me it looks like steel or metal with reinfoced webs, but you're probably right about it being plastic. There would indeed be exposed metal at the breaks.

As for the red stuff in the photo, I think they used a "dye bomb" or dropped some paint on the hot spot as a marker.

If I could ask a favor, in the future could you please try and limit the horizontal width of posted pics to 800 or so? Very wide pics make the rest of the page really hard to read!

 

[ElliotLake]

I think the green stuff scattered on photo is no metal. You would see the metal exposed at the breaks, but it is colored uniformly. Looks like plastic to me.

I read somewhere in this thread that functional groups in nuclear plants are "color coded", like the "FHM green".

But I doubt that a plastic box would be used in hot areas, for various reasons. It could just be a trash can been hit in the yard by the explosion. (just my unqualified 2 cents)



I am also curious. What could be radiating so much there?



Certainly this is not caused by a screwdriver.

So here my layman's analysis of the image and my thoughts and questions:



What could be this reddish stuff that appears to spread like pigment?

Any idea?

Edit: This stuff also could be bricks. But I doubt that bricks of apparently very low quality are used in NPPs... So I suppose this could be something other... but what?

Highly doubtful it's brick; that's a wrong red for bricks, too bluish-red, too "red" for brick.
Appears too as though whatever the red is, it got there after the pile got pushed together.

 

[Atomfritz]

As for the red stuff in the photo, I think they used a "dye bomb" or dropped some paint on the hot spot as a marker.

This sounds very plausible, thanks!

If I could ask a favor, in the future could you please try and limit the horizontal width of posted pics to 800 or so? Very wide pics make the rest of the page really hard to read!

Oooops... apologizes to all..
I really didn't think of that. *slapping myself*

 

[westfield]

Regarding the Gamma Camera images at http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/index-e.html

Does the fact that the Gamma Camera registers significantly on the (broken?) ventilating ducts imply that the electrically powered HVAC fans were actively circulating radioactive material before they lost electric power on 11 March?

Tepco press releases often seem a bit like their plant releases, they do nothing to clear the air.

In this case, are they simply surveying the place, or perhaps looking for a failure point or are they looking to see what equipment can be made serviceable?

If they are looking for a failure point then SGTS ducting outside of primary containment but inside the building would be a good candidate (it's my "favourite" for how hydrogen made it throughout the RB's). The SGTS's projected failure during reactor overpressure "incidents" is what prompted the Direct Torus Vent System retrofit.

However, there are the SGTS ducts, HVAC ducts and others, who knows what the ducting system is in the pictures, who knows why tepco surveyed it and who knows why they showed it to us.


There are lots of docs on the net going into GE Mark 1 BWR "issues" in depth but this one does two of the more likely failures in brief -
Page 4 of http://resosol.org/InfoNuc/seismes/Japon2011/Nucleonics Week-20110324.pdf" document has a brief section on the Brunswick plant stress test that revealed the BWR Mk1 containment dome lifting off it's seals at 70psi and also the SGTS issue as mentioned above.

 

[jmelson]

I think the green stuff scattered on photo is no metal.

That green stuff may be Borotron, or similar boron-loaded plastic for neutron absorption. I see it at the accelerator labs I visit, you can get it in sheets and blocks to fabricate shielding from.

Jon

 

[Atomfritz]

Highly doubtful it's brick; that's a wrong red for bricks, too bluish-red, too "red" for brick.

Yes, this really disturbs me.
And a closer looking also makes me doubt that this is just dye.
See this zoomed-in image.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5853/bricks1.jpg

This discoloration of bricks is often caused by abnormal high temperatures, like with metals.
Over-heated red pottery often discolors into crimson-bluish if it gets burnt too hot.

Another known cause of brick discoloration are chemical contaminations.

And why are these bricks (or whatever this is) in such a bad shape?
If these are hard bricks (as commonly used in modern times), such a pulverization makes me think that they originally probably have been very near the epicentre of an explosion.

Or, maybe like damaged oven/furnace bricks. Like being burst by steam expansion when heating up a wet oven.
If you look at the bricks closely, you also can find blackish-looking discolorations.
Like the soot you find when you demolish an old not-perfectly-tight chimney. You see where smoke has passed/leaked through.

In fact, these bricks look to me very similar to rotten chimney bricks, decomposed by the effects of heavily changing temperatures, humidity, condensing as boilt out, and salts and acids.
Really not the sort of things I would expect in a NPP.

To me these discolorations seem a bit too dark just to be mortar.
Could it be earth, on this sandy site?
Or, could it be precipitated black smoke?

So, what I don't understand - where came these "bricks" from?
And why do they look so odd?

Could it be possible that an opening in the reactor building has been closed by putting masonry into it?

Maybe due an open hole for some heavy equipment that had to be put with a crane into a building floor after raw construction has been finished?
Or by some modification involving closing no-longer needed openings?

If so, then this could have a series of imaginable consequences.
First, it would have been a weak point in the side walls - possibly ripping them outward instead of relieving the pressure in direction to the ceiling, resulting in the peculiar shape of RB #3?
Second, as most initial pressure then would be relieved when this "structural breaking point" opens, maybe a contaminated equipment part could have separated and blown out of the building?
And so, finally, resulting in a radiation obstacle for the pumping teams, so it just got bulldozed into the next corner?

(Sorry for my long unqualified and scientifically unfounded post. I just have a bit of construction experience, nothing nuclear.)

 

[Grumalg]

Maybe the brick color is due to Iodine? Iodine-129 @ .84% fission yield and 15.7 million year halflife could surely still be around in quantity.

 

[Atomfritz]

Being curious, if i find a clue what the green broken thing could be, I collected the item details in a pic. Looks like sort of container to me.
maybe an expert here can recognize/identify this item?

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/744/greenplastic.jpg

 

[MiceAndMen]

However, there are the SGTS ducts, HVAC ducts and others, who knows what the ducting system is in the pictures, who knows why tepco surveyed it and who knows why they showed it to us.

The PDF on this page, "May 22, 2011 Dose-measurement points by gamma camera..."
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/index-e.html

is this file http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_110522_01-e.pdf

The first page shows where the pictures were taken from. It looks like they drove the gamma cam bot in through the vehicle portal ("carry-in gate for large stuff") and took pictures straight ahead, and then turned right 90 deg and took some more. The electrical panel on the column with the door hanging off of it is in both pictures. The second picture, then, is from an area near the SW corner of the building with the camera pointing South, while it seems to be pointing East in the first picture.

@Atomfritz : Thank you for resizing that picture.

 

[ElliotLake]

I've no nuclear experience but have built & fired a lot of kilns, and that red substance is nothing like any brick (kiln or otherwise) I've seen. The weird blue red in overburnt bricks goes along with melting, slagging not crumbliness. Boiler bricks would be whitish to white, high duty (high temp/corrosive atmosphere) refractories don't include iron.

It is a puzzle, that largest lump does have a brickish outline, but I can't believe Tepco would have used bricks that way: Japanese knowledge/practice of ceramics is vast and ancient. "Dye bomb" or indicator powder gets my vote.

 

[Maxion]

Yes, this really disturbs me.
And a closer looking also makes me doubt that this is just dye.
See this zoomed-in image.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5853/bricks1.jpg

This discoloration of bricks is often caused by abnormal high temperatures, like with metals.
Over-heated red pottery often discolors into crimson-bluish if it gets burnt too hot.

Another known cause of brick discoloration are chemical contaminations.

And why are these bricks (or whatever this is) in such a bad shape?
If these are hard bricks (as commonly used in modern times), such a pulverization makes me think that they originally probably have been very near the epicentre of an explosion.

Or, maybe like damaged oven/furnace bricks. Like being burst by steam expansion when heating up a wet oven.
If you look at the bricks closely, you also can find blackish-looking discolorations.
Like the soot you find when you demolish an old not-perfectly-tight chimney. You see where smoke has passed/leaked through.

In fact, these bricks look to me very similar to rotten chimney bricks, decomposed by the effects of heavily changing temperatures, humidity, condensing as boilt out, and salts and acids.
Really not the sort of things I would expect in a NPP.

To me these discolorations seem a bit too dark just to be mortar.
Could it be earth, on this sandy site?
Or, could it be precipitated black smoke?

So, what I don't understand - where came these "bricks" from?
And why do they look so odd?

Could it be possible that an opening in the reactor building has been closed by putting masonry into it?

Maybe due an open hole for some heavy equipment that had to be put with a crane into a building floor after raw construction has been finished?
Or by some modification involving closing no-longer needed openings?

If so, then this could have a series of imaginable consequences.
First, it would have been a weak point in the side walls - possibly ripping them outward instead of relieving the pressure in direction to the ceiling, resulting in the peculiar shape of RB #3?
Second, as most initial pressure then would be relieved when this "structural breaking point" opens, maybe a contaminated equipment part could have separated and blown out of the building?
And so, finally, resulting in a radiation obstacle for the pumping teams, so it just got bulldozed into the next corner?

(Sorry for my long unqualified and scientifically unfounded post. I just have a bit of construction experience, nothing nuclear.)

Heh, remember occams razor. What would normal red bricks be doing as construction material at a nuclear powerplant? Laying bricks is not exactly easy on labor.. And that would be the only small pile of bricks we've seen on the entire site.

It's paint/dye/powder to mark the spot of high radiation.

 

[MiceAndMen]

However, there are the SGTS ducts, HVAC ducts and others, who knows what the ducting system is in the pictures, who knows why tepco surveyed it and who knows why they showed it to us.

My second reply to this... I adjusted the levels a little on the second picture (the one to the south) just to enhance the contrast a bit. It's a little more complex up there than I initially thought. There seems to be a jib crane mounted on a vertical pivot that is probably used to load and unload equipment and fuel from vehicles. Other than that, it looks like a rat's nest of pipes and other things.

 

[zapperzero]

http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/5558/reactorstain2.jpg

(Edit 2: re-uploaded smaller sized pic, see full resolution pic here: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/reactorstain.jpg )

I like your analysis. I think the red is red marker powder.
Let me throw my $0.02 in the rubble debate, from a very different angle.

I had been looking for a way to avoid having to think of burning concrete and burning metals, because I didn't understand why such high temperatures would not also produce other observable effects. Seems I found it.

The yellow stuff is indeed insulating foam. To be more precise, it is polyurethane foam, widely used for insulation and as a fire retardant. If you are looking for an explanation for what generated massive amounts of black smoke on several occasions, this may be it. A small electrical fire in a cable duct (a la Browns Ferry) can be enough to get it going.

Diablo Canyon incidents:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/info-notices/1988/in88004s1.html

LATER EDIT: the small orange-brown pieces you ask about are also insulating foam. It gets like this from being exposed to UV light.

 

[tsutsuji]

Greater levels of radioactive materials found due to rain
TOKYO, March 22, Kyodo

Thanks for unearthing this Kyodo news.

Far greater amounts of radioactive iodine and cesium were found in rain, dust and particles in the air in some areas over a 24-hour period from Sunday morning due to rainfall, the science ministry said Monday.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80010.html

This blame-the-rain stance sort of rules out the possibility that any serious radiation was released into the air at the plant on March 20th or 21st.

In this case, are they simply surveying the place, or perhaps looking for a failure point or are they looking to see what equipment can be made serviceable?

I was thinking that at the very least by knowing where the hot spots are located they would know where they need to add shields to block the rays.

 

[jlduh]

Hey ho... when you say prism effects you mean the oddly coloured diffuse splotches in the water? What abot the two closely spaced shiny/white spots, violet on the edges, on the roof of #1 turbine hall? There's another similar one on the road in front of #4. Specular?

Concerning this particular picture that you mention:
http://www.netimago.com/image_202874.html

I remarked when i saw it first when it was released by digitalglobe that there were those very bright spots encircled with coloured lines, especially on some roofs but also around the reactors on the ground. AT first i thought that these could be some glowing parts of fuel or corium emitting a very intense light, as in digital photography, this kind of fringing appears around very bright spots in an image, in fact this comes from an overflow of photos in the adjacent pixels when the pixels receiving too much light are saturating (which is called BLOOMING).

I tried to see on all the other pictures i saw after from the plant if i could do a correspondance between these spots seen on this picture taken just after explosion of N°3 and some specific areas with remaining debris. In fact i didn't succeed in doing this: those spots didn't appear to me to be of special interest based on the later pictures.

So i don't know what to think. For sure these bright spots circled with color are surprising at first sight. On the other hand, we see in the sea area (on the same picture) that there are a lot of speculars coming from what looks to be like aluminum sheets reflecting in the sun. I don't know if there is something special on the water that makes it shining like that, or if it is just from the waves and the sun playing together (i think this second option is the good one). For sure, the picture is a little bit overexposed and the sun reflecting here and there doesn't help.

Now, even if the spots on the roofs for example are not "glowing corium" (which was not evidently) but reflections from shiny parts, we shoud find evidence of some of those parts on other pictures. I had a hard time to confirm this either... So i guess this needs maybe further look and analysis. But again maybe it's just speculars on some small shiny parts, we all know how bright this can be if just at the right angle!

Concerning the white dots in some pictures in areas with radioactivity: this is a different subject than above but to me this is clearly the effect of the radiations (gamma) on the sensor. This is very well shown in the experiment in the video posted. Some of these dots may be in fact dead pixels from a previous exposure (like in the experiment shown) or pixels reacting to some gamma rays i think.

CCDs are considered more proned to this than CMOS but CMOS are also vulnerable to this. There is a complete thesis available on this subject:

http://www.cse.yorku.ca/visor/pdf/MSc_thesis_Henok.pdf

 

[Borek]

Maybe the brick color is due to Iodine? Iodine-129 @ .84% fission yield and 15.7 million year halflife could surely still be around in quantity.

Iodine is too volatile to stay in open place for that long. Besides this is not an iodine color.

 

[zapperzero]

an overflow of photos in the adjacent pixels when the pixels receiving too much light are saturating (which is called BLOOMING).

Now, even if the spots on the roofs for example are not "glowing corium" but reflections from shiny parts, we should find evidence of some of those parts on other pictures. I had a hard time to confirm this either... So i guess this needs maybe further look and analysis.

Blooming on the edges, for sure. But I can't see what the mirror could have been either. I doubt anyone went on that roof to sweep away little blobs of corium though, after all, this is not as bad as Chernobyl, as they keep telling us :D

 

[zapperzero]

This blame-the-rain stance sort of rules out the possibility that any serious radiation was released into the air at the plant on March 20th or 21st.

Serious amount of radiation in Tokyo is serious, no matter if it's from concentration due to rain or a new massive release.

 

[Borek]

Yes, this really disturbs me.
And a closer looking also makes me doubt that this is just dye.
See this zoomed-in image.

Please, not a "what this pixel is" again.

Color that you see depends on the light at the place picture was taken, white balance of the camera and color temperature of your monitor (and other things). In some cases original colors are irreproducible on the screen no matter how you try, in some cases they are changed beyond recognition. So while there is some reddish tint in this place, it accurate shade is questionable.

Shapes do look "brickish" but if you desaturate the image (making it black and white) they no longer look like bricks, just like a random rubble. It is combination of shape and color that tricks you into thinking about bricks.

I like the idea of a paint bomb.

 

[jlduh]

Tepco press releases often seem a bit like their plant releases, they do nothing to clear the air.

In this case, are they simply surveying the place, or perhaps looking for a failure point or are they looking to see what equipment can be made serviceable?

If they are looking for a failure point then SGTS ducting outside of primary containment but inside the building would be a good candidate (it's my "favourite" for how hydrogen made it throughout the RB's). The SGTS's projected failure during reactor overpressure "incidents" is what prompted the Direct Torus Vent System retrofit.

However, there are the SGTS ducts, HVAC ducts and others, who knows what the ducting system is in the pictures, who knows why tepco surveyed it and who knows why they showed it to us.


There are lots of docs on the net going into GE Mark 1 BWR "issues" in depth but this one does two of the more likely failures in brief -
Page 4 of http://resosol.org/InfoNuc/seismes/Japon2011/Nucleonics Week-20110324.pdf" document has a brief section on the Brunswick plant stress test that revealed the BWR Mk1 containment dome lifting off it's seals at 70psi and also the SGTS issue as mentioned above.

Humm, i extract the part that is interesting in this last pdf (TCups may like it !):

According to Lochbaum, workers at Brunswick-2,
which also has the Mark I containment — a design by
General Electric used at units 1, 2 and 3 at Fukushima
I — performed “a structural integrity test on the reactor”
in the 1970s, in order “to satisfy a requirement in the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code
for prototype containment designs.”
Progress says the test is required of all containments
before reactors enter service.
He said workers pumped air into the containment
vessel to raise the pressure inside beyond the designed
maximum of 62 pounds per square inch to 71 psi, but
that the pressure stayed constant at 70 psi. “A hissing
sound attracted workers to the top of the containment
structure,” said Lochbaum. Workers discovered that the
air pushed up the metal containment head, which is
bolted to the containment wall “with a rubber O-ring
between the surfaces,” and seeped out into the refueling
cavity above the primary containment, he said.
“It is possible that the containment pressures [at
Fukushima I units] rose high enough to replicate the
Brunswick experience,” he said.
But while containment leakage in the Brunswick test prevented
the pressure inside from rising above 70 psi, Japan’s
NISA reported that pressure in the containment of unit 1
at Fukushima I had exceeded 120 psi a day after the reactor
had lost cooling. Tepco reported that the containment vessel
pressure at unit 2 had reached above 102 psi.

The interesting stuff if not only the pressure value at which it leaked (which is significantly lower than what some containments at Daichi apparently experienced) but the confirmation (as this has already been discussed) with a real world testing operation that this part of the containment (the seal of the containment cover) is clearly a weak point, making it very probable that some H2 escaped to the refueling well by this path...


There are other elements on the unresolved question of venting at Daichi (and I'm not sure it will make it clearer?):

Ventilation system
As steam accumulated and pressure rose in the containment
vessels, Tepco released some steam outside the reactor
buildings at all three units. Helwig said it is possible that
some steam mixed with hydrogen had escaped into the reactor
building during the venting.
The original Mark I design came with a so-called standby
gas treatment system, or SGTS, to vent steam under emergency
situations. Such a system first scrubs most radioactive
particles out of the steam through filters and then releases it
through the ventilation stack to the atmosphere. Fukushima
I units 1, 2 and 3 are still equipped with the SGTS system,
said a Tepco official, who requested anonymity because he is
not authorized to speak to the press.
The SGTS uses ductwork, which is susceptible to leaking
because it is not air tight and is not designed to withstand
significant pressures, to channel steam, said Helwig.
NRC in the 1980s requested that all US plants with Mark
I containments install hardened vents, replacing ductwork
with hard pipes, according to a March 19 report on the Mark
I by GE Hitachi, the company that combined the nuclear
operations of GE and Hitachi.
Borchardt told NRC commissioners that all US Mark I
reactors now have hardened vents, which he said would not
allow hydrogen to leak during venting.
Alexander Marion, vice president of nuclear operations
for NEI, said in an interview March 22 that US industry
experts assume that Fukushima I reactors do not have hardened
vents, “because somehow they were releasing hydrogen
into the secondary containment, but we just don’t know.”
The Tepco official, who answered questions through
emails, however, said the ductwork SGTS was not used at
Fukushima I for venting, “because the pressure of the containment
vessel was high.” Instead, he said, the company
used an alternative vent called the direct release line, which
can withstand high pressure, to blow off steam and cut
pressure inside the containments. “The direct vent line we
used this time is hardened pipe designed for severe accident
case,” he said.