In a bit of news concerning my most recent blog entry about Japanese government responsibility for the nuclear accident at Fukushima (read that blog here), it has now been reported in the German press that the plant at Fukushima was allegedly scheduled for shut-down this month.
This is the second nuclear accident at this plant in 29 years.
Brief comment from What Really Happened:
In the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant, an explosion occurred. The fear of a worst-case scenario is there. What kind of nuclear power plant? Who owns it? It is a company that wanted to cover up several affairs. The complex of the Fukushima nuclear power plant is one of the largest in Japan. The power plant consists of a total of six reactors, Two more are planned. The Fukushima nuclear power plant 1, which was seriously damaged in the earthquake is 40 years old. The problem reactor was about to be closed down according to a database of the Nuclear Research Centre Training Centre (ICJT) in Slovenia. It shows as the "expected date of closure," March 2011.
Well, I can answer the question as to "who owns this power plant?" It is TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company). Read about the previous shut-downs and scandals here at Wikipedia. Here is also a short list of accidents so far in Japan. TEPCO is in very tight with the Japanese government and owns a virtual monopoly on electrical power in Japan.
Here is the information in German about the alleged planned closure:
Here is the information in German about the alleged planned closure:
Original text from Sueddeutsche:
Der Problemreaktor stand nach Angaben aus einer internationalen AKW-Datenbank kurz vor der Stilllegung. Der Reaktor 1 des Meilers Fukushima Eins sollte in diesem Monat den Betrieb einstellen; eine Datenbank des Forschungszentrums Nuclear Training Centre (ICJT) in Slowenien nennt als "erwartetes Datum der Stilllegung" den März 2011. Der Bau des Reaktorblocks begann nach Angaben der World Nuclear Association bereits am 31. Juli 1967, die Leitung der Arbeiten lag beim US-Konzern General Electric. Am 17. November 1970 ging der Siedewasserreaktor ans Netz.
Der Problemreaktor stand nach Angaben aus einer internationalen AKW-Datenbank kurz vor der Stilllegung. Der Reaktor 1 des Meilers Fukushima Eins sollte in diesem Monat den Betrieb einstellen; eine Datenbank des Forschungszentrums Nuclear Training Centre (ICJT) in Slowenien nennt als "erwartetes Datum der Stilllegung" den März 2011. Der Bau des Reaktorblocks begann nach Angaben der World Nuclear Association bereits am 31. Juli 1967, die Leitung der Arbeiten lag beim US-Konzern General Electric. Am 17. November 1970 ging der Siedewasserreaktor ans Netz.
The problem reactor stood according to data from an international nuclear power plant data base shortly before the shutdown. The reactor 1 of the Meilers Fukushima unity should stop the enterprise in this month; a data base of the research center Nuclear training Centre (ICJT) in Slovenia calls as " expected date of the Stilllegung" March 2011. The building of the reactor block began the line of the work according to data of the World Nuclear Association already on 31 July 1967, lay with the US group General Electric. On 17 November 1970 the boiling water reactor went to the net.
There's a scandal in there not too far from the surface here,
especially concerning government announcements that things
were safe and under control when they obviously weren't.
Heads must roll.
UPDATE:
THIS JUST IN: "The Daiichi site is located in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The 460-megawatt Unit 1 began operating in 1971 and is the oldest at the site. It is a boiling water reactor that drives the turbine with radioactive water, unlike pressurized water reactors usually found in the United States. Japanese regulators decided in February to allow it to run another 10 years."
I wonder if Tokyo Electric Power Co. would request a plant closure postponement if it were to be directly liable for any accident...
especially concerning government announcements that things
were safe and under control when they obviously weren't.
Heads must roll.
UPDATE:
THIS JUST IN: "The Daiichi site is located in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The 460-megawatt Unit 1 began operating in 1971 and is the oldest at the site. It is a boiling water reactor that drives the turbine with radioactive water, unlike pressurized water reactors usually found in the United States. Japanese regulators decided in February to allow it to run another 10 years."
I wonder if Tokyo Electric Power Co. would request a plant closure postponement if it were to be directly liable for any accident...
13 comments:
Like I've been saying for years and years, JAPANESE POLITICIANS REFUSE TO ADMIT THEIR MISTAKES!! These idiots know that Japan has a lot of proven and confirmed geothermal resources, as well as Super Safe, Small, & Simple (4S) nuclear technology developed IN JAPAN, yet they insist on backing these legacy nuclear power plants.
I hope you and others who really care about this country expose all of them. Google Mr. Yukiya Amano of the IAEA, another Japanese puppet who may be worse than Koizumi, and you'll begin to clearly see the players in this terrible scandal...
"i"
Two more massive explosions have now been reported
Mike.
You know that heads won't roll! The Japanese people will accept the inevitability of their plight with the same “shikataganai” attitude with which they’ve always accepted what the fates will/can throw at them. You also know that our Japanese friends will also accept and adapt, at the same time as convolutedly turning the disaster into some kind of national cross to bear. Think about it; how many times have you heard the phrase “唯一の被爆国” (yuittsunohibakukoku = the only country to have ever been attacked with nuclear weapons) in a way that almost smacks of reverse pride and alsmost always before some politician uses the fact to launch into some kind of diatribe about Japan’s uniqueness and how the rest of the world should recognize it? I've even hear it used (in what turned out to be a futile attempt) to address Japan's suposed and as yet unresolved issues with its actions during its colonal period.
Dear Anon and Ira,
Yes... Unfortunately you are right. I wish I could say that you weren't... Alas.
Mike--I work in this business stateside. The Fukushima reactors and their containment structures were built to survive an earthquake of the magnitude experienced on 11 March. The structures did survive the quake, but the tsunami got them by swamping the backup diesel generators, the protection of which was clearly underdesigned. Without the diesels, they cannot run the pumps needed to circulate water through the reactor core, and the fuel will eventually be exposed and overheat. This is what generated the hydrogen that has now blown the tops off of two buildings. For the time being, it appears the reactor containment structures are still intact. It is much easier to design for an earthquake, believe it or not, than to design for a giant wave. If there's a scandal, that's where it'll be: in the regulatory agency's design requirements for tsunami events, and how those requirements are "met".
Woah! Anonymous! That's a bombshell! Thanks.
my most recent blog
Do you mean blog post/entry, sir?
Dear J.K. thanks so much. Forgive my haste in writing these things... The situation is quite fluid and, when the power goes off, I haven't the leisure nor liberty to be word perfect... Anyhow, that's my excuse.
Please just call me Mike, OK?
Of course you are forgiven.
Good luck in this chaotic situation.
I was in Japan only three months ago (mostly Osaka, but also Kyoto and Hiroshima). I guess that makes me personally lucky as to the timing of the catastrophe. Of course, my sympathies are with you and everyone else who are in the midst of it.
Mike,
According to Forbes.com:
"The Daiichi site is located in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The 460-megawatt Unit 1 began operating in 1971 and is the oldest at the site. It is a boiling water reactor that drives the turbine with radioactive water, unlike pressurized water reactors usually found in the United States. Japanese regulators decided in February to allow it to run another 10 years."
I wonder if Tokyo Electric Power Co. would request a plant closure postponement if it were to be directly liable for any accident...
BZ
Having worked 2 years inside the Japanese government, I remember the lack of decision making; I'm now amazed at the ridiculus statements coming out of the "official news agencies" in Japan; one minute they are saying "government passing out iodine pills; next minute, it's everything is fine, no dangerous levels of radiation....I wish the Japanese people would wake up and stop saying "shikata ga nai" and say "shikata ga aru"...then work to change once this horrible nightmare is over....which I hope is sooner then later.
MJK
I was in Japan only three months ago
Make that four.
in which ways can this accident expose the security of other countries, and how recoverable is it to within the islands themselves?
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