Fukushima Daiichi: A Chronological Account of the Disaster

Here is a video of a presentation made by Hiroaki Koide who is a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering who teaches at the Kyoto University Research Institute, he also is a Nuclear Waste Management & Safety Expert.

In this video he does a great job explaining the whole situation from the very beginning until present day. He covers a lot of ground but makes it easy to understand for us since he breaks it down in layman's terms.

He explains the physics behind nuclear technology, what went wrong and what they are doing to fix the problem. He also speaks about the mishandling of the incident by the Japanese government and TEPCO and the dangers that the Japanese people and the rest of the world have been through and now continue to face.

I know ATS members like a full rundown of a video if it's more than a few minutes long but I have explained it the best I can and advise you watch his presentation if you have 15 minutes to spare.

A lot of this information may be old to some of you but I was unaware of a lot of what he spoke about and this video helped me understand the situation better than I did before I watched it.

"Fukushima Daiichi: A Chronological Account of the Disaster"
HD, 14 min 55 sec, in Japanese with English Subtitle

Hiroaki Koide, Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering, Assistant Professor at the Kyoto University Research Institute, Nuclear Waste Management & Safety Expert

Helen Caldicott Foundation
"Symposium"
The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Co-Sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility
March 11th & 12th, 2013
New York City
www.nuclearfreeplanet.org...

Videographed & Edited by Intertelemedia, Inc
Translated by Kazko Kawai, Voices for Lively Spring
Subtitled by East River Films Inc

As Mr. Koide sayd, let's hope that there are no major earthquakes in that region while they try and fix this horrible accident.

I wanted to add a source for Fukishima and Nuclear info in general, I did search for this John Witherspoon and only came us with the Signer of the Declaration of Independence (I believe from one of the Carolinas).

However, this, contemporary, John Witherspoon was on Ian Masters Radio show 'Background Briefing" today, 3/13/13 at 5:00 pm PST talking about how Tepco Lied about the contamination, how models of "Plumes" are horribly inaccurate and how sailors, solders and their dependant who are trying to get help from the VA, etc are being shut out (and how it's being done) and a handful of Saliors on the Reagan are sueing Tepco. I know the Sailors sueing is oldish news (not to me) but I found his exposition and information excellent. His site, Energy Matters, is a wealth of information .......

spoonsenergymatters.wordpress.com... ors/

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

I couldn't detect that he was deceptive about the situation over there. He does down play it a little. Some admissions I had not heard before. 100 tons of fuel in each reactor during operation prior to the earthquake. Hundreds of times of the radiation released by the Hiroshima bomb... already. The potential danger from collapse of spent fuel pool in reactor building #4.

Thanks for bringing it. It ain't over over there.

There is a video frmo the Former prime minister of japan during the event too.
You can find it when u watch the video.

I believe I'll stick with the NRC report. It's much more detailed and easier to understand. If you recall this all took place during a dead news cycle and the Japanese Government threw the American media out of their country for refusing to stop using the term 'meltdown'. When a CNN crew did a live report from Iceland (where they calculated the other side of the world was and the meltdown was going to come out) I'll never forget how stupid they looked. Didn't think they could top that but ABC doing a live report from inside a gun shop during the coverage of the massacre in New Hampshire came close. Also, from NRC there is an outside link you can get to see the infrared camera they keep above Unit 3 in Fukushima Dai-ichi and it looks pretty darn hot down there.

On June 5th 1986 NBC reported experts said the area around Chernobyl would be a nuclear wasteland for the next 500,000 years. They were a little over the top as the majority of the area has been repopulated and a thriving game park surrounds the site.
I was scheduled to tour the Chernobyl site in 2006 when I was in the Ukraine however the tour was cancelled because of 'local events' In the now Russian Federation the term 'local events' usually means there is something about your visa they don't like. Deplaning 5 days later at JFK we were all put through the 'interview' I told them the Russians didn't like my 'Nazi sounding name'- which was a joke that they didn't find very funny.

reply to post by spooky24


Please forgive me if I misunderstood your post, but are you saying that a meltdown never occured and that this is all media sensationalism and that there is nothing to worry about?

I would hate to "put words in your mouth" and my reading comprehension isn't that great today so a clarification on your points would be appreciated when and if possible.

Thanks.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

There were some interesting details presented, about unit #4 and the Tepco time estimates to complete the work, and whether it can be done safely. But the punchline was the nuclear-free Japan...I suppose it remains to be seen if that will happen or not. Considering the massive faults in and around Japan, it must be very difficult to find a safe site for a nuclear power plant that isn't too close to a fault line.

One key point he left out is that Tepco's own people foresaw the possibility of that disaster 2-3 years before it happened, yet Tepco's management did nothing to put backup generators in a more secure location that wouldn't get washed away in a tsunami. This is perhaps the biggest failure in the entire scenario, and he didn't even mention it. He did mention they lacked backup power, and if they had that, the meltdowns could probably have been completely avoided if the pipes and pumps were still intact enough to deliver the water.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

I'm not sure thats what he meant. I have a video taken Saturday morning of the 12th (one day after the quake) from NHK. This is proof that #1 reactor is already melting down. This video is from the news helo looking from the ocean at Fukushima. The 4 buildings can be seen, still intact. On the right side there is "steam" coming from the vent stack next to #1. That is emergency venting of radioactive hydrogen gas to prevent buildup in the reactor building. They would never vent like that unless there was uncontrolled fission occurring in the reactor well.


Here is another video from helo the first night in Infra Red. At the end of the video they show the four plants from ocean side and number one is hot from leaking water. So is the smoke stack (lit up like a christmas tree).


A snap shot from the above vid:


All the buildings are still intact. All four are "hot" in the infrared spectrum. Look at number 4 on the right. And the "venting" stack. Inside there the core is in meltdown. This is the night of the quake (11-12) before the roof blew off of #1.

At the moment the situation is stabilized. The SRP spent rod pool in unit 4 is being contained however huge concerns about a new seismic event that could cause the pool to shift-with unknown results. The core of Unit 3 is still very hot and active. A new seismic event could be catastrophic.
What angered Japan and the Japanese people was the fact that more than 20,000 Japanese simply disappeared off the face of the earth-no bodies, no bones or even torn clothing. The force of the wave coming inland was only topped by force going back out to sea. Despite this unparalleled human tragedy all the western media was concerned with was 'meltdown'. All those lives meant nothing.
People today, and especially younger people, who have only the internet as a blind and distorted base of knowledge just can't accept the fact that not all cultures swim the same stream as America does. Yes, we have similar forms of government however Japanese society in night and day different from America-the loss of life was simply devastating for them.
The Japanese Government has taken the path that America has in it's relation with utilities such as TVA that produces about 30% of it power from 4 nuclear plants. It has no relationship with the media at all-they issue press releases and that is it. The insanely competitive sensationalistic 24 hour media cycle in America simply can't be trusted not to purposely expand the facts of any event-be it racial, monetary, religious or the Nuclear power grid.
The term is core collapse or core envelopment which has happened in unit 3 and the pool in unit 4 is going to be problematic for a long, long time. Any media releases involving the units will go through the NRC therefore avoiding media sensationalism.
Core envelopment just doesn't have the same ZAP! as 'meltdown'.

Originally posted by intrptr
Look at number 4 on the right. And the "venting" stack. Inside there the core is in meltdown.

According to the OP video, number 4 wasn't even running. It was shut down.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

 

Originally posted by intrptr
Look at number 4 on the right. And the "venting" stack. Inside there the core is in meltdown.

According to the OP video, number 4 wasn't even running. It was shut down.

Whoops! You you are so right. My bad. I meant number "1" (on the right). Thanks for catching that.

About number four. Even though the reactor was off line for refueling, the fuel pool was beginning to heat up. The electric power was off and that meant that the water in the pool was not circulating. The eventual melting of fuel rods there would lead to an explosion in that building as well.