Fukushima tsunami plan a single page

[Octafish]

Source: AP

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese nuclear regulators trusted that the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex were safe from the worst waves an earthquake could muster based on a single-page memo from the plant operator nearly a decade ago.

In the Dec. 19, 2001, document — one double-sized page obtained by The Associated Press under Japan's public records law — Tokyo Electric Power Co. rules out the possibility of a tsunami large enough to knock the plant offline and gives scant details to justify this conclusion, which proved to be wildly optimistic.

Regulators at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, or NISA, had asked plant operators for assessments of their earthquake and tsunami preparedness. They didn't mind the brevity of TEPCO's response, and apparently made no moves to verify its calculations or ask for supporting documents.

"This is all we saw," said Masaru Kobayashi, who now heads NISA's quake-safety section. "We did not look into the validity of the content."


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hnjifVSi-UcoxLNiB8sFVyUAnGEg?docId=31c43c68bceb4aef999cc206d3a32731

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TEPCO needs to upgrade procedures, as well as management.

[flamingdem]

1. Actually I think it is less than a page, it's a word:

run!

[Octafish]

2. The people's ancestors left monuments to remind them of the dangers...

Japan’s ancient tsunami warnings carved in stone

ANEYOSHI – Weathered stone markers recalling the deadly tsunamis of centuries past dot the sawtooth coastline of northeast Japan, serving as silent warnings from the ancestors.

One of the monuments on a wooded hillside marks the limit of the tiny village of Aneyoshi, whose residents now credit it with saving them on March 11 when a giant ocean wave smashed into the fishing cove below them.

“A house on high ground will lead to peace and happiness for posterity,” reads the inscription on the stone, which was erected after a massive tsunami in 1933 killed thousands along the rugged Pacific coast.

“Remember the calamity of the great tsunami. Never build houses from this point down…. No matter how many years pass, keep vigilance high,” says the ominous warning carved into the one-metre (three-foot) tall stone.

CONTINUED...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hnjifVSi-UcoxLNiB8sFVyUAnGEg?docId=31c43c68bceb4aef999cc206d3a32731

[defendandprotect]

5. Interesting -- and sad --

[Octafish]

6. Heartbreaking -- The warnings went unheeded.

And people built up their communities in harm's way.



Another warning went unheeded: Just a few hours after the tsunami wiped out the back-up power generators (an event that may have been avoided by what got left out of the single page: flood-proofing the back up generators), three reactors melted down. And TEPCO failed to warn the public.

[defendandprotect]

7. .. and they added nuclear reactors to the mix --

How can it possibly be that US began atomic age in Japan and the

tremendous suffering of the Japanese because of it -- and yet they

were somehow convinced that all of their energy should be based on

nuclear power?


Definition of true insanity may be that anyone could be convinced to

use nuclear reactors to heat water for steam!! As Einstein related it to us!!



Their scientists have also been telling them for 5 years and more that seismic

activity is increasing. There were efforts to close down Fukushima because of

that and because of their age -- they were only built to withstand 7.0 quakes.

And there are 18 of these things on the island in three separate facilities.


We here in US also have nuclear reactors built on faults --

And in Ohio they put two nuclear reactors on Lake Erie -- a source of drinking water!


Ugh!!

:)

[boppers]

8. People are trying to rebuild New Orleans in the US.

Humans are not always rational about their own safety.

[bananas]

12. Warning future civilizations about nuclear waste is a big problem

so it's interesting to see that these ancient tsunami warnings didn't work.

[tomm2thumbs]

3. I guess they want to make sure everyone is on the same page

so to speak

[Octafish]

4. From the way TEPCO's going, one page may've been too much to take in at all.

Tepco Failed to Disclose Scale of Fukushima Radiation Leaks, Academics Say

By Stuart Biggs and Yuriy Humber
Bloomberg May 27, 2011 5:22 AM ET

As a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visits Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled nuclear plant today, academics warn the company has failed to disclose the scale of radiation leaks and faces a “massive problem” with contaminated water.

The utility known as Tepco has been pumping cooling water into the three reactors that melted down after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. By May 18, almost 100,000 tons of radioactive water had leaked into basements and other areas of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The volume of radiated water may double by the end of December and will cost 42 billion yen ($518 million) to decontaminate, according to Tepco’s estimates.

“Contaminated water is increasing and this is a massive problem,” Tetsuo Iguchi, a specialist in isotope analysis and radiation detection at Nagoya University, said by phone. “They need to find a place to store the contaminated water and they need to guarantee it won’t go into the soil.”

SNIP...

Tepco has been withholding data on radiation from Dai-Ichi, Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Japan’s prime minister, said at a press briefing today. Hosono said he ordered the utility to check for any data it hasn’t disclosed and release the material as soon as possible.

CONTINUED...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-27/tepco-faces-massive-problem-containing-radioactive-water-at-fukushima.html

[tabasco]

9. In boldface type:

"Run like hell!!

[Poll_Blind]

10. Bwahaha! You beat me to it!

:rofl:

PB

[robdogbucky]

11. Did it include plans for a supertyphoon?

Typhoon Strengthens, May Hit Fukushima Nuke Plant

By Aaron Sheldrick and Tsuyoshi Inajima - May 26, 2011 11:56 PM PT


Typhoon Songda strengthened to a supertyphoon after battering the Philippines and headed for Japan on a track that may pass over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant by May 30, a U.S. monitoring center said.

Songda’s winds increased to 241 kilometers (150 miles) per hour from 213 kph yesterday, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said on its website. The storm’s eye was about 240 kilometers east of Aparri in the Philippines at 8 a.m. today, the center said. Songda was moving northwest at 19 kph and is forecast to turn to the northeast and cross the island of Okinawa by 9 p.m. local time tomorrow before heading for Honshu.

The center’s forecast graphic includes a possible path over Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been spewing radiation since March 11 when an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. Three of six reactor buildings have no roof after explosions blew them off, exposing spent fuel pools and containment chambers that are leaking.

“We are still considering typhoon measures and can’t announce detailed plans yet,” Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said by phone when asked about the storm. The utility known as Tepco plans to complete the installation of covers for the buildings by October, he said...



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-27/typhoon-strengthens-may-hit-fukushima-nuke-plant.html