Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan used remote-controlled cameras to observe the current conditions inside of the Unit 3 containment vessel. The cameras were also equipped with radiation detectors and temperature monitoring sensors. On Tuesday, the work was focused on the upper areas of the containment vessel. Next, TEPCO will investigate […]
At the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, workers accidentally dropped a large piece of debris into the Unit 3 spent fuel pool on Friday, a little after noon. The workers were carrying out operations to remove debris with a large remote controlled crane. At the time of the accident, workers were manipulating the control console […]
For the last three and a half years, TEPCO engineers have been working to better characterize the state of the melted nuclear fuel in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. Now those officials believe that most of the melted nuclear fuel in the Unit 3 reactor melted through the reactor pressure vessel and collected at the […]
TEPCO has announced that they estimate some 1.1 trillion becquerels of radiation was released during debris cleanup operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor. According to TEPCO’s estimates the removal work generated 280 billion becquerel per hour releases. Some of the radioactive cesium which was released during the debris removal operations was found over […]
Officials from the agriculture ministry told reporters on Monday that efforts to clean up debris at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have been the source of cesium that contaminated rice crops about twelve and a half miles away in the city of Minami Soma. The officials suggested that the radioactive materials were transported […]
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been using heavy duty remove control decontamination robots to conduct debris removal operations at the Unit 3 reactor building. Radiation levels inside of the reactor building prevent workers from carrying out the operations directly. Photos released this week show the MEISTeR robot designed by Mitsubishi Heavy […]
In September 2013, Tokyo Electric announced that it planned to drill freeze wells at three feet intervals to create an ‘ice wall’ nearly a mile long at the Unit 2 and Unit 3 reactors, where an estimated 11,000 tons of contaminated wastewater is believed to have collected, in an attempt to stem contaminated water from […]
Tokyo Electric is planning a more expansive investigation of the damaged containment vessels at Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1, Reactor 2, and Reactor 3. The utility hopes that the information gathered during the investigations will help plan fuel removal operations. Previous investigations uncovered that the damaged containment vessels are likely not capable of holding water, as […]
In the three years since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster there has been a plethora of drastic changes made to the landscape of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant including; new processing facilities for radioactive water, a farm of storage tanks for contaminated water, new cooling systems, a new carpet of thick […]
This week TEPCO released new photos which show the progress made removing debris off of the top of the Unit 3 reactor building. These photos show some of the damage to the operating floor of the reactor building including locations where the floors have been damaged and the rebar is exposed. The investigation conducted by […]
On Saturday, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan were operating a remote-controlled robot to remove debris on the first floor of the Unit 3 reactor building when they discovered a stream of water nearly a foot wide flowing through the first floor the reactor building before escaping into a drain on […]
An analysis of salt accumulation in Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 and Unit 3 reactor pressure vessels conducted by Dr. Mitchell T. Farmer, Reactor Safety Experimentation Section Manager at Argonne National Laboratory. March 23rd, 2011 – Over 9,000 Lbs of Salt Added Each Day to Reactor Pressure Vessels of Fukushima Daiichi U…
In April of 2011, a consortium of industrial and governmental organizations established to provide advice to Japan in its efforts to stabilize the conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, authored an analysis of Tokyo Electric’s roadmap to restore stability at the crippled facility. The consortium was made up of representatives from General Electric, […]
TEPCO workers used an infrared-thermographic camera over the weekend to capture images of the top floor of the Unit 3 reactor building where steam was observed last week. The camera was positioned between 15 and 40 meters above the reactor suspended by a crane. TEPCO released its results of the measurement but was unable to […]
TEPCO announced that while workers were conducting debris removal operations with remotely operated cranes positioned atop the crippled Unit 3 reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi steam began emanating from near the primary containment structure and equipment storage pool on the 5th floor. The primary containment vessel surrounds the reactor vessel and is made of steel […]
March 31st, 2011 – TEPCO’s Assessment of Structural Damage to Unit 1, 3, And 4 Reactor Buildings by Enformable
Workers at Fukushima Daiichi were working this week to remove rubble from atop the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor building with remote-controlled cranes, when they discovered the radiation dose from a piece of debris they removed from the 5th floor of the reactor building was highly radioactive and releasing a dose rate over 540 […]
For the last year and a half, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been working to clear debris from atop the decimated reactor building. After an explosion ripped the building apart, twisted metal trusses, rubble and debris prevented clear access and visibility of the spent fuel pool. By March of this year, […]
Monday night, a power outage at the Main Anti-Earthquake Building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station suspended operations at three spent fuel pool cooling systems and other critical plant facilities. TEPCO was later criticized for a three hour delay between the power outage and their notification of the event to the press. After further […]
TEPCO released video footage of an investigation into the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 spent fuel pool, after workers performing debris removal operations knocked the fuel handling machine mast into the spent fuel pool. TEPCO claims to have found no initial signs of damage to the spent fuel racks or liner. The footage revealed large amounts […]