leaks, high radiation, kludge: At Fukushima, the situation is serious. Japanese Prime Minister sends money and complains operator Tepco. He tried to save nuclear power.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO briefly, since two and a half years struggling to cool the remains of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. In three of the four reactors melted fuel rods are suspected. Since water is continuously introduced into the cracked blocks and radioactively contaminated pumped out. It is now more and more a problem.
More than 280,000 tons of radioactive water stored behind the blocks in 1.000 metal tanks. And the leak. Almost every day a new Tepco admits leaks, measures high radiation levels, without first knowing exactly what triggers it. The situation is serious, the daily increasing amount of contaminated water overwhelmed the workers. What now?
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Tepco is now converted 360 million euros (47 billion yen) in view. “The world is watching us to see if we accomplish the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, including problems with contaminated water,” he said after a ministerial meeting on Tuesday.
It’s not so much about the world, but Abe has a domestic political issue. His plan to provide the country with cheap nuclear power again, is at stake. “Radical measures” were needed, he said, “not haphazard reactions.”
But money alone will not defuse the situation. Tepco is working not only with leaking tanks. The cylindrical container surrounds a small protective wall, which drain cocks were obviously not secured properly until recently. So Tepco announced last week that 300,000 liters of contaminated water have simply disappeared. Then, the operator announced, first to close all valves.
The plant is a “Haunted House”The head of the newly established Nuclear NRA is so worried that he was classified as a “serious incident” the situation. Fukushima Daiichi was a “haunted house,” said Shunichi Tanaka. In any mishap follow another with no prospect of an end. The nuclear engineer does not seem to want to accept TEPCO’s crisis management. Too often, the operating company downplayed problems or only admitted when they could no longer be concealed.
Japan disaster
days on the brink after quake, tsunami and meltdown
- 11 March 2011, 14.46 clock
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satellite image of Japan | © NASA / Goddard / SeaWiFS / ORBIMAGE
The worst earthquake in Japan’s history rocked the country about six minutes with a magnitude of 9.0. The epicenter is located about 130 kilometers off the coast of the main island of Honshu. The effects are dramatic: On the ocean floor, the earth’s crust breaks to 400 kilometers in length, parts of the coast move jerkily up to 50 meters to the east. An area the size of Schleswig-Holstein stands a few meters to.
- 11 March 2011, approximately 15.40 clock
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destruction in the city of Natori | © STR / AFP / Getty Images
A tsunami hurtling at 800 kilometers per hour towards the coast. About ten meters in some places the tidal waves are high, in some places they reach almost 40 meters. Penetrate for miles inland bodies of water. More than 18,000 people die. Entire cities are wiped out. Nuclear power plant in Fukushima-Daiichi the power goes out. The quake has cut the lines, the tsunami flooded diesel generators.
- 11 March 2011, 16.30 bis 20.30 clock
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The Fukushima nuclear power plant on 12 March 2011 | © STR / AFP / Getty Images
water cooling of two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has failed. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the situation in the 54 reactors in the country is stable, because they were automatically shut down immediately after the quake. At 20.30 clock, the government must then announce the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear emergency. About 2,000 residents in the area are asked to leave their homes immediately.
- 12 March 2011, the morning
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soldiers, people from the disaster areas. | © STR / AFP / Getty images.jpg
radiation measurements at the nuclear power plant, the evacuation zone is increased. At least 60,000 people are on the run. Prime Minister Kan is flying in a helicopter to Fukushima to get a picture of the situation. Let off steam in nuclear power engineers through the emergency valves to reduce the pressure in the reactor vessels. Meanwhile, the water boils in the Notkühlbecken.
- 12 March 2011, 15.36 clock
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people around the world see the explosion on television. | © Park Ji-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images
Fukushima Daiichi ignites hydrogen and shredded the outer shell of reactor 1 Without power for the pumps that drive the cooling cycle, temperature and pressure were increased sharply. In spite off the block so the fuel began to glow, vaporized water and hydrogen gas formed during melting of the reactor core. Japan and the world fear the nuclear apocalypse.
- 13 March 2011
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The then Prime Minister Naoto Kan on 13 March during a press conference. | © JIJI PRESS / AFP / Getty Images
near the reactor 1 of the Fukushima Daiichi a four-hundred-fold increase in radioactivity is measured. Prime Minister Kan admits for the first time that a meltdown was possible. Simulations and measurements confirm the melt from the outside in the weeks after the accident. Today, the ruins, the remains of block 1, in airtight plastic wrapped.
- 14 March 2011
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A woman looking in the devastation of belongings. | © Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
alone in Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan 2,000 dead are found. 390,000 people are on the run from the tsunami disaster area, more than 1,400 relief camps set up. Meanwhile, there are many places is no more oil, people freeze. Far more than 300,000 homes and buildings are destroyed, roads, railway lines and entire areas impassable.
- 14 March 2011
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Fallout near the coast | © TIME Graphic
Although the nuclear workers desperately cool the reactors with sea water, there is another hydrogen explosion at reactor 3 of Fukushima Daiichi. Radioactive material penetrates to the outside, the majority being blown in the coming days on the Pacific Ocean. But part also spreads over the mainland. The figure shows where long-lived cesium has focused (red stands for the highest levels of radiation).
- 15 March 2011
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Radiation analysis for nuclear workers | © Issei Kato / AFP / Getty Images
third and fourth explosion occurring in Fukushima. The building of reactor 2 remains intact hydrogen from block 3 blows the roof of reactor 4 Of previously about 40 800 workers remain in the pitch-dark power plant. In vain they tried to prevent further explosions. The accident is rated as nuclear incident the mark 6. A month later it gets the maximum as Chernobyl Level 7: GAU
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- Preliminary balance of unhappiness
- apparently a complete meltdown
Fukushima Daiichi one year after the accident | © Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP / Getty Images
In one of the six reactor units occurred in the two other liquefied fuel rods probably at least half. The government estimates that a safe dismantling of Fukushima Daiichi will take at least 40 years. In December she announced the cold shutdown of the power plant, is controversial how safe the situation really is there.
- Preliminary balance of unhappiness
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A man in the ruins of his city | © Nicholas comb / AFP / Getty Images
The radiation exposure of the people was much lower than for the residents of Chernobyl. The Radiation Safety Committee of the UN estimates that the increase in cancer cases will not be measurable. The main reason is that hardly any radioactive iodine is inhaled by humans or ingested. The tsunami killed more than 18,000 people, however. To this day, survivors live in temporary accommodation containers.
the company informed on 21 July about the fact that beneath the reactors and contaminated water seeping flowed partly in the Pacific. Three days earlier, have you experienced it, it said. The public continued Tepco but only after the upper house elections in knowledge that the conservative premier Abe bestowed a victory and helped his coalition a majority in both chambers of parliament. Since then, laws alone can decide with her partner Komeito, the LDP government.
Abe wants the top atomic overseer Tanaka soon approved the gradual restart of the remaining 46 nuclear reactors in the country.
Sven Stockrahm
© ZEIT ONLINE
Sven Stockrahm editor is in the department of knowledge in ZEIT ONLINE. His profile page click here.
the Premier is clear that Japan’s financial problems can come to grips with a strong economy. And that takes a lot and cheap electricity. The back should provide nuclear power, despite the meltdown in their own country.
dangerous situation in Fukushima does not facilitate this project. Therefore, Abe also makes Tepco alone the scapegoat. The system is the problem, Tepco ignored rules, which is known to all, even the prime minister. Nevertheless, he has covered the long years now, the company seems to be sacrificed in order to turn on the total nuclear power again.
the multi-million package to solve the water problems, the Prime Minister will also clearly demonstrate ability to act. The message is that nuclear power is not the problem, but incompetent operator.
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