NISA

Government Panel Report: Japan And TEPCO ‘Ignored Nuclear Accident Risks’

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– Japan and TEPCO ‘ignored nuclear accident risks’ (Telegraph, July 23, 2012):

Japanese and Tokyo Electric Power officials ignored the risks of an atomic accident because they believed in the “myth of nuclear safety”, a government panel’s report on the Fukushima crisis said on Monday.

“The fundamental problem lies in the fact that utilities, including TEPCO, and the government have failed to see the danger as reality as they were bound by a myth of nuclear safety and the notion that severe accidents do not happen at nuclear plants in our country,” said the 450-page report.

The study, completed by a government-appointed panel including scholars, journalists, lawyers and engineers, also said Fukushima staff were poorly trained to deal with the crisis after the plant’s reactors went into meltdown last year.

NISA Approves Female Workers At Fukushima I Nuke Plant On TEPCO’s Request

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– NISA Approves TEPCO’s Request to Have Female Workers Back at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant (EX-SKF, Mar 9, 2012):

TEPCO informed the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency that it would bring female workers back at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on March 9, and NISA approved before the day was over.

According to Tokyo Shinbun quoting Kyodo News (3/9/2012), TEPCO is envisioning 8 hours a day, 20 days per month indoor work that would result in less than 5 millisieverts in 3 months.

As per my calculation, it will be 3.456 millisieverts in 3 months.

I just asked a former TEPCO employee who used to work at one of the TEPCO’s nuclear power plants, who said “0.1 to 0.3 millisievert per year” radiation exposure for indoor, office work with occasional visits to controlled areas.

What is the point of TEPCO bringing back female workers at the plant where 7.2 microsieverts/hour radiation is considered “low”? Just to send a hopeful message that everything is going well in Fukushima?

AND NOW … NISA: Reactors 1 and 3 Explosions May Have Been Caused by Vent

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– “Now They Tell Us” Series: NISA Says Reactors 1 and 3 Explosions May Have Been Caused by Vent (EX-SKF, Dec. 28, 2011):

(In case you haven’t read about it during my absence…)

Nikkei Shinbun reports that NISA admitted the hydrogen explosions that took place in Reactor 1 and Reactor 3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in March may have been caused by hydrogen flowing back from the exhaust stack. In other words, vent may have caused the explosions.

From Nikkei Shinbun (12/27/2011):

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The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry disclosed during the experts hearing on December 27 on the cause of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident that a possible cause of the hydrogen explosions in Reactors 1 and 3 may have been that the hydrogen that was vented from the Containment Vessel [to the exhaust stack] flowed back into the reactor building through a different pipe. As the power was lost due to tsunami, the valve of this different pipe remained open, and unable to prevent the reverse flow of hydrogen, according to the NISA.

Read moreAND NOW … NISA: Reactors 1 and 3 Explosions May Have Been Caused by Vent