Tokyo Electric President, Shimizu Masataka, is in the hospital. Hypertension and dizziness are the reasons given. He has not appeared in public since attending a press conference on 13 March.
TEPCo runs the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Tag Archives: GE
Idaho National Laboratory sending Radiation Robots to Japan
The Idaho National Laboratory is sending robots hardened against radiation, along with hardened cameras to Japan.
That’s according to officials with the U.S. Department of Energy. The robots will be used where radiation levels are too high for people, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The statements by Energy Department officials, about the INL robots, were made to a U.S. Senate panel on 29 March.
The U.S. department of Energy has sent, or is sending, 70 employees, along with tons of equipment, to help fight the nuclear disaster.
Just remember, this nuclear disaster is due to the lax disaster preparations of a Japanese capitalist corporation, and yet, the taxpayers of Japan are paying for it, and we taxpayers in the U.S. are paying for it. Corporations suck!
Japan now on “Maximum Alert”!
The situation at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant now has Japan officially on maximum alert.
To give an idea of just how much highly contaminated water they must try to remove before any more work can continue on the damage plant: Just one of the tunnel/trenches under the reactors holds 6,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, more than two Olympic swimming pools.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio says they have no choice but to keep pumping water in, to keep the reactors from melting down.
Set back for Toyota, telling dealers to make in house repairs
Due to continued parts supply shortages caused by the 11 March disasters, Toyota is now telling dealers NOT to replace damaged parts.
Toyota wants dealer auto shops to make in-house repairs of damaged parts, when possible. Toyota says there could be at least 233 parts that are not available. They did not specify which parts, but could involve parts for suspensions and air bags.
Honda steps up production cut backs, parts shortage will now affect Auto Mechanics
Starting March 30, Honda will cut back on production within Canada and the United States.
Honda officials say the cut backs are due to prolonged shut down of parts suppliers in Japan. They do not know how long their production cut backs will last.
Honda has also warned car dealers that parts for their auto repair shops are dwindling. They told the dealers to expect shortages.
Honda did not give specifics regarding their production cut backs, but they hoped it would be enough to avoid total factory shut downs.
In one Japanese town evidence that Tsunami was 30 meters high (almost 100 feet)
A joint research team from Yokohama National University, and University of Tokyo, surveyed the city of Ofunato, in Iwate Prefecture.
Things like fishing gear and remains of boats were found on a cliff. The only way the stuff could have gotten to the top of the cliff was if the Tsunami was at least 29.6 meters high (97 feet).
The height of the March 11 tsunami varies along the Japanese coast line, because of the shape of the land. The bay at Ofunato is very narrow and would force the wave higher.
Idaho not reporting any Radiation from Japan
As of 28 March 2011, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is not reporting any increase in radiation levels in Idaho, on their RadNet site.
Also, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare believes that currently the risk of high radiation levels, from Japan, is still low.
The IDHW has a Japan situation page that lets Idahoans know about monitoring, food safety and FAQs like; “Should I start taking Iodide?”
(don’t take iodide unless you’re real close to a nuclear disaster ’cause to much iodide is bad for you)
Reactor turbine rooms like Radiators on a Car, and it’s time to change the fluid
Officials are struggling with the latest set back at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; flooded turbine rooms.
The turbine rooms are where the coolant is cooled, basically giant heat exchangers, or radiators. The problem is that the rooms have flooded with water that has mixed with fuel rods in the reactor cores, making the water highly contaminated. Before they can do anymore work they have to get the water out.
Tokyo Electric Officials were thinking of pumping the contaminated water into the turbine condenser (it’s like a radiator on a car), but, oh yeah, the condensers already have water in them. The contaminated water is so bad that it’s basically nuclear waste. You can’t just let it drain out into the ground water , or ocean.
So they are trying to drain the condensers, and then pump the contaminated water into the condensers. They’ve already begun on reactor 1 turbine room. Reactor 2 turbine room has radiation levels of 1,000 millisieverts per hour. TEPCo officials don’t know when they can attempt to drain reactor 2 turbine room because of the radiation levels.
They’re also dealing with a tunnel/trench found under the reactors, and found filled with contaminated water.
“Grand Vision” reconstruction of Japan will rely on Clean Green Energy
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, says the “Grand Vision” of reconstructing Japan will include clean energy.
Edano made it clear that reconstruction planning is on the back burner due to the current disaster, but that clean energy will be one of the “pillars” of the plan.
He mentioned bio-fuels and solar power, as being examples of the type of clean energy that will be used.
Evacuation Preperations Ramping Up in Japan, Condition Dire
Japanese Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, says people living in the nuclear disaster zones are in “…dire condition…”, and a Disaster Management Special Task Force is being created, for evacuations, and decontamination.
The task force will prepare to begin accepting evacuees, and establish decontamination sites.
Also, temporary housing will be established for the thousands of people that will be affected.