IAEA's Chief Amano Does #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Tour

The video of his July 25 tour of the crippled plant has been uploaded by the IAEA.

As they approach Reactor 3, the survey meter keeps beeping, alerting them to a high radiation level even at that distance (about 1:32 into the video).

Devastation from tsunami looks just as bad as in the earlier videos (about 2 minutes into the video).

Toward the end of the video, the survey meter shows "88.3". I suppose it is in microsievert per hour.

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Japanese Government's Report to IAEA on Fukushima I Nuke Plant Accident

It is written as if the accident is long over and now irrelevant.

I'm reading it now. It looks like the IAEA report to the Japanese government, and it also looks like the presentation that one of the government's favorite nuclear scholars at Tokyo University made in late May (h/t helios).

Why do I get this suspicion that all three were written by the same set of people?

The most hilarious part of the report to me is the "lessons learned" section. Before they "learn the lessons", they'd better stop these reactors from spreading further radiation, FIRST.

The Japanese government report to the IAEA (in English):

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/kan/topics/201106/iaea_houkokusho_e.html

The IAEA report to the Japanese government:

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kinkyu_img/20110601_01.pdf

Professor Naoto Sekimura's presentation on May 26 to the US Academy of Sciences in Washington DC :

http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/nrsb/miscellaneous/SekimuraPresentation.pdf

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#Fukushima I Nuke Accident: Japanese Government Admits "Melt-Through" in Reactors 1, 2 and 3

It's so predictable how these politicians and bureaucrats behave: like they have behaved ever since the start of the accident.

Yomiuri Shinbun (original in Japanese; 6/7/2011) reports that the Japanese government will now admit in the report to IAEA that the "melt-through" may have taken place in the Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant.

According to Yomiuri, "melt-through" happens when the melted fuel leaked from the Reactor Pressure Vessel and deposits at the bottom of the Containment Vessel, and is considered worse than "melt down".

Well, "fear-mongering" and "sensational" US Representative Ed Markey, D-Mass. was right then. He said back on April 6 that he'd received information that part of the reactor core had probably melted through the Reactor Pressure Vessel at the Reactor 2 at Fukushima. And the NRC said they didn't know for sure. Uh huh.

By the time the report is submitted and discussed at the IAEA, they will be talking about the corium out of the Containment Vessel, eating away the foundation.

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IAEA's Preliminary Report on #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Accident

It is posted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kinkyu_img/20110601_01.pdf

I haven't read it yet. I figure it is like reading TEPCO's press release...

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IAEA Experts Investigated #Fukushima I Accident for 10 Days, Ready to Report and Praise the Japanese Government

So the IAEA's team of nuclear experts arrived on May 23 on a 10-day mission to figure out what happened at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and they're now done and ready to report.

As reported in Mainichi Shinbun Japanese, the IAEA report will state the obvious, nothing new, nothing to contradict what TEPCO and the Japanese government have been insisting. And a generous praise for the Japanese government.

The IAEA findings to be included in their report, from Mainishi Shinbun Japanese (2:50AM JST 6/1/2011):

• Danger of tsunami was underestimated. People who build nuclear power plants and people who operate the plants should factor in the impact of "natural disasters" more;

• Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (regulatory agency for the nuclear industry) should be more independent;

• Initial response should be better thought out;

• Hydrogen is dangerous;

• Dedicated and determined skilled workers at the plant;

• TEPCO's "roadmap" needs to be revised as the situation develops, and some form of international cooperation may be possible;

• The international community should learn from the Fukushima I accident as a lesson on nuclear safety.

And

• The Japanese government's response to the accident has been "wonderful and well-organized".

No kidding. The IAEA had better inform the residents of Japan about that very quickly; they may already have gotten some funny ideas about the effectiveness of their government in dealing with the on-going nuclear crisis.

The IAEA team is scheduled to visit the Prime Minister's Residence on June 1, and hand the report to the Prime Minister.

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The IAEA Team To Figure Out #Fukushima Disaster

A good doctor in Kumamoto, Japan who writes a blog in Japanese on Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident and the ensuing nuclear and radiation disaster that's slowly unfolding telephoned the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of METI and asked for the names of the IAEA team that has been sent to investigate the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident.

(He wrote about how much the ground upon which Fukushima I Nuke Plant sits may have shifted by the quake, which I posted here.)

NISA told Dr. Ono the list was released to the press, but not to the general public, but they sent him a fax anyway.

Here's the fax, with his permission:

18 people total:

6 people from IAEA, 2 of them from PR department;
1 from UK (leader)
1 from France (deputy leader)
1 from Argentina
1 from Turkey
1 from Russia
1 from China
1 from USA
1 from South Korea
1 from India
1 from Hungary
1 from Indonesia
1 from Spain

The list reads like the attendance list of G20. More power to emerging economies!

Does anyone know anything about these people, whether they are actually capable of assessing anything? Or is this just an international political theater?

Many Japanese, including the doctor, are really counting on the IAEA investigation to reveal what's been hidden by the Japanese government and TEPCO. But I have a sinking feeling that won't happen, looking at the list.

On May 26, the IAEA team went to a nuclear power plant to learn about what happened on the day of the earthquake. No, not Fukushima I. They went to Tokai II Nuclear Power Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, where 1 of the 3 emergency power generators stopped temporarily and the seawater intake pump broke after the tsunami.

That should help them assess the Fukushima I's situation. No doubt.

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