Tokyo Electric Power Company says workers are now building a steel fence around the water inlets and outlets of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

They are attempting to block highly radioactive isotopes from getting out into the currents of the Pacific Ocean. They are also using silt fences.

One report says the steel fences are seven steel sheets thick, and the fence will cover an area 120 meters (393 feet) wide.

Recently officials admitted that radiation reports were faulty because the radiation levels are so high that monitoring devices are basically wigging out, and unable to give accurate readings. They stopped short of saying the levels are so high that they peg their meters.

They are hoping to use a UAV (drone) to monitor levels over the plant. It depends on the weather, unmanned aerial vehicles need good weather to fly.

Thursday’s 7.4 ‘aftershock’ not only cut power to another nuclear plant, that was struggling to keep its reactors cool, now they have found more problems.

Tohoku Electric Power Company (not to be confused with Fukushima Daiichi’s Tokyo Electric Power Company), says they have discovered water leaks, and ‘blow off’ panels are damaged.

The blow off panels are part of a pressure relief system on Onagawa’s Reactor 3. The plant was using external power from three power lines, but the latest quake knocked down two of them. Tohoku Electric says they are maintaining cooling with the one power line.

Their inspections continue, and so far they are not picking up increased radiation levels.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials have to back off their six day plan of injecting nitrogen into the damaged containment vessel of Reactor 1.  After a full day of nitrogen injection they say pressure is increasing in the reactor.  The nitrogen does seem to have counteracted the hydrogen build up.

TEPCo said the latest 7 quake did not do additional damage Fukushima Daiichi, or Fukushima DaiNi plant.

TEPCo officials say they will trying injecting nitrogen into reactors 2 & 3, since they are now showing similar problems as Reactor 1 (hydrogen gas build up).

“The Fukushima No. 1 plant was a practice course for Toshiba and Hitachi Ltd. to learn about GE’s design on a trial-and-error basis.”-former TEPCo executive

asahi.com reporting that Fukushima Daiichi (aka Number 1 Plant) was designed as “trial and error” experiment.  This might explain why it’s neighbor, Fukushima DaiNi (aka Number 2 Plant), is not having the same problems.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials recently compared the design plans of the two plants.  Their conclusion was that the safety features of Fukushima Daiichi are so different, and weaker, than Fukushima DaiNi, that it must be the reason for the current crisis. I find it amazing that TEPCo didn’t already understand the fundamental differences between their nuclear plants.

A former TEPCo engineer said even upgrades, made to Number 1 Plant, were not sufficient: “First of all, there was the judgment that the reactor core buildings were in a safe location in relation to the expected height of any tsunami that might strike the plant. However, even if they wanted to move the generators, there was no space within the reactor building, so that would have meant a major revision in design. At the time, no one considered making such changes.”

A unnamed midlevel TEPCo official said just getting a nuke plant built was all that mattered: “The blueprints for the reactor cores at the No. 1 plant were bought ‘as is’ by Toshiba Corp. from General Electric Co., so the priority at that time was on constructing the reactors according to those blueprints.”

Remember, there are six reactors at Fukushima Number 1 Plant.  So far reactors 1, 2, 3 & 4 are in trouble. Why not reactors 5 & 6?  Those reactors are of a later more improved design than the 1, 2, 3 & 4 reactors. 

Some TEPCo officials admit that making the decision NOT to make proper improvements was a matter of pride; it would have meant admitting that the work already done was faulty.

General Electric’s current involvement in the crisis might be due to the fact that they could be sued, under Japanese law, for their faulty design.