#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3: Steel Sheets on the Reactor Building Floor to Shield Radiation

After "Warrior" the vacuum robot swept up "sand and dust" on the floor (whatever it was) which TEPCO said was causing the high radiation in the area (right below the Spent Fuel Pool) and the radiation level didn't go down, TEPCO is laying down the steel sheets on the floor to help shield the radiation.

So the very high radiation is from the floor, and it measures over 100 millisieverts/hour 1 meter above the floor.

In June when the workers entered the Reactor 3's reactor building for the first time since the March 11 start of the accident at the plant, they were seen swiping the floor and collecting samples (see the video). The result of the sample analysis has never been disclosed.

TEPCO's press handout on July 4:

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3 SFP (not SPF) Has At Least One Fuel Bundle Left, Near Water Surface

(I'm trying to be positive here.)

Arnie Gundersen commenting on Ian Goddard's discovery of a single fuel bundle in the Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool:

"Warrior" the vacuuming robot may not have been vacuuming just "sand and dust" after all.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Photo

TEPCO took this photo when they sent carbon-based workers on June 29 to the 5th floor of the Reactor 4 reactor building. They released other photos on June 30 as part of press handouts but this had to wait a day.

It looks like a nice radon hot spring water, doesn't it?. The temperature is rather high for comfortable bathing, at constant 85 degrees Celsius (185 degrees Fahrenheit).

Here's what they released separately as the press handout on June 30:

The fuel pool valve is totally rusted, probably from seawater.

The radiation level turned out to be "benign" for the plant, and TEPCO says the workers can now go up there for the work of installing the cooling system for the Spent Fuel Pool.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 4: 4th Floor Photos

The spent fuel pool occupies part of the 4th floor and the 5th floor. These pictures were taken (I'm sure they took more) by the workers on June 10.

In the first photo, you can see the pipe that's bent. That was the pipe that TEPCO was counting on to connect the cooling system for the Spent Fuel Pool, according to Jiji News (6/11/2011). The cooling system for the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool won't be operational at least until July, as TEPCO will have to either fix the pipe or come up with alternative connection.

The second photo shows a mess of broken pipes, concrete bits and equipments. Any mechanics, engineers, who want to dissect the photo?

The Reactor 4 was in a scheduled maintenance when the earthquake hit on March 11. All the fuel rods had been moved to the Spent Fuel Pool. The workers were in the process of replacing the stainless-steel shroud of the Reactor Pressure Vessel at the time of the earthquake.

From TEPCO's Photo for Press page (click to enlarge):

Earlier (on June 8), TEPCO had released the PDF document detailing the supporting beams underneath the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool . Here's the PDF image:

For larger photos in the above document, click on these links:

• Steel support pillars
  (pictured on 2:00 PM, June 7, 2011)
• Installation of steel support pillars
  (pictured on 2:00 PM, June 7, 2011)
• Steel support pillars(highlighted in color are pillars)
  (pictured on 2:00 PM, June 7, 2011)

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