Between the Poles: Fukushima Daiichi: IAEA says situation remains very serious

Geoff Zeiss

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March 31, 2011

Fukushima Daiichi: IAEA says situation remains very serious

The IAEA has reported on the status of Units 1-6 at Fukushima Daiichi

Unit 1

Water in the turbine room has is being pumped into the condenser with 3 pumps (6.5 ton/hour each) and the water level has dropped from 40cm to 20cm.

Fresh water has been continuously injected into the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) through feed-water line at an indicated flow rate of 8.0 m3/h. The pumping of freshwater into the RPV has been switched from fire trucks to temporary electrical pumps with diesel generator.

The indicated temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV of Unit 1 has decreased from 323 °C to 281 °C and at the bottom of RPV remained stable at 134 °C. There is a corresponding decrease in Drywell pressure.

Unit 2

Unit 2 is where highly radioactive water was detected in the turbine room. Water is being pumped from the Condensate Storage Tank into the Surge Tank so that the condenser can be drained to the Condensate Storage Tank and contaminated water can be pumped out from the Turbine building into the condenser.

Fresh water is being injected continuously through the fire extinguisher line at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using a temporary electric pump.

The indicated temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV has increased from 154 °C to 177 °C and at the bottom of RPV has increased from 78 °C to 88 °C. Indicated Drywell pressure remains at atmospheric pressure.

Unit 3

The same process of pumping the water from the Condensed Water Storage Tank into the Surge Tank is being implemented at Unit 3.

Fresh water is being injected continuously through the fire extinguisher line at an indicated rate of 7 m3/h using a temporary electric pump.

The indicated temperature at the feed water nozzle of the RPV is about 75 °C and at the bottom of RPV is about 116 °C. The validity of the RPV temperature measurement at the feed water nozzle is still under investigation.

JAIF reports that high radiation makes difficult the work to restore originally installed pumps for injection. Removing water with high concenration of radioactive nuclides in the basement of buildings of Units 1 through 3 was partly begin on 26th but is considered to take time to complete.

Units 5 and 6

Remain in cold shut down

Spent Fuel Pools

It was planned to commence the pumping of water into the Unit 1 Spent Fuel Pool by concrete pumping truck from 29 March. Also, on 29 March pumping of fresh water into the Unit 2 spent fuel pool commenced via a temporary electrical pump. The temperature of the spent fuel pool is 46 °C as of 19:00 UTC, 29 March. For Unit 4 it was planned to commence pumping freshwater into the spent fuel pool on March 29. The IAEA has not received information on implementation of spraying activities in units 1 and 4.

JAIF reports that a steam like substance rose intermittently from the reactor building at Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4 has been observed.

Posted at 04:24 AM in Electric Power, Environment, Fukushima Nuclear Incidents | Permalink

Between the Poles

Geoff Zeiss

October 2024

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March 31, 2011

Fukushima Daiichi: IAEA says situation remains very serious

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