Saturday, March 19, 2011 14:07 JST (01:07 am Saturday March 19 ET) NHK reports that NISA says that the emergncy diesel generator at Unit 6 is now operating and a cooling pump at Unit 5 has been confirmed to be usable. The spent fuel pool at Unit 5 has been cooled by the pump since 5 AM on Saturday (16:00:00 Friday March 18 ET).
Radiation at the plant's west gate (1.1 kilometers west of Unit 3)
830.8 μSv/hr at 8:10 AM Mar 19 (19:10:00 Friday March 18 ET)
364.5 μSv/hr at 9:00 AM Mar 19 (20:00:00 Friday March 18 ET)
Previous readings have been
271 μSv/hr at 7:30 AM Mar 18 (06:30 p.m. Thursday March 17 ET)
289 μSv/hr at 11pm Mar 17 (10:00:00 a.m. Thursday March 17 ET)
292 μSv/hr at 8:40pm Mar 17 (07:40:00 a.m. Thursday March 17 ET)
646.2μSv/h at 11:10am Mar. 17 (10:10 p.m. Wednesday March 16 ET)
1472μSv/h at 16:20, Mar 16 (03:20 am Wednesday March 16 ET)
Like thi does a lot of good, after the elements were exposed, oxidised, partially melted, and the thermodynamic constellation for which the fuel was foreseen has been changed.
Had someone only been on the ball, and brought in (by airlift if necessary) either replacement generators or, as has been suggested elsewhere, simply diesel feel in tankers to get generated electricity back flowing before the batteries ran out, then the impact would have been far less.
Instead people followed procedure and failed to communicate. Lovely.
Posted by: Charles | March 25, 2011 at 01:47 PM