Fukushima Timeline March 15, 2011

Date: March 15, 2011 Tuesday

Day 5: Kan says no TEPCO pullout / Reactor 2 melts down, explodes damaging supression level / Reactor 4 fuel rod fire and explosion

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-japan-quake-roof-idUSTRE72E8H920110315

TOKYO | Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:47pm EDT

(Reuters) - Two workers are missing ... they were in the turbine area of the No.4 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was damaged by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

...there was a crack in the roof of the reactor building.

from: http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/bn-heli-rad-survey/
The map on the bottom is made by Mr.Hayakawa,from Gumna uni,who is a specialist of volcanic ash.

Map shows tan plume 4:00-12:00 cruising by Tokyo
Map shows red plume creating dark red northwest patch 18:00-25:00 after midnight
http://bos.sagepub.com/content/67/5/27.full
It appears that the wind was blowing in a northwesterly direction when the largest on-shore releases occurred. These releases apparently occurred on March 15.7
March 15, four days after the accident, an additional 354,000 people living between 20 and 30 kilometers of the plant were advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to radiation (Japanese government,
Timeline: 

• Event: Kan orders TEPCO to not abandon the nuclear plant Kyodo news agency reported that Naoto Kan also ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co on Tuesday not to pull employees out of the Fukushima plant
• Time: 3/15-12:30AM At 00:30 JST on 15 March, NHK ran a live press conference with TEPCO stating that the water level had sunk under the rods once again and pressure in the vessel was raised. The utility said that the hydrogen explosion at Unit 3 might have caused a glitch in the cooling system of Unit 2: Four out of five water pumps being used to cool the Unit 2 reactor had failed after the explosion at Unit 3. In addition, the last pump had briefly stopped working when fuel ran out.[168][169] To replenish the water, the contained pressure would have to be lowered first by opening a valve of the vessel. The unit's air flow gauge was accidentally turned off and, with the gauge turned off, flow of water into the reactor was blocked leading to full exposure of the rods.
• Time: 3/15-1:30AM unit 2 water level dropped to bottom and fuel rods completely exposed
• As of 04:11 JST on 15 March, water was being pumped into the reactor of Unit 2 again.[170]
• Time: 3/15-6:10AM explosion heard at unit 2. Pressure in suppression chamber falls from 300 to 100 kPA. Then water rises again to 30% of rod high and containment pressure at 500 kPa, suppression chamber/torus is probably damaged. While admitting that the suppression pool at the bottom of the containment vessel had been damaged in the explosion, causing a drop of pressure there, Japanese nuclear authorities emphasized that the containment had not been breached as a result of the explosion and contained no obvious holes.[180] In a news conference on 15 March the director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, said that there was a "possibility of core damage" at Unit 2 of less than 5%.[181] The Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) stated 33% of the fuel rods were damaged, in news reports the morning of 16 March
• Time: 3/15-5:40 to 6:00 AM Event: Unit 4 Explosion
  a loud explosion was heard from within the power station. Afterwards, it was confirmed that the 4th floor rooftop area of the Unit 4 Nuclear Reactor Building had sustained damage. " link The event is not caught on camera. The black roof surface is in place, but will be blown off by March 17. Unit 4 isn't even operating, it is only storing "warm" fuel in its storage pool, but there is no power for cooling.
• Time: 3/15-9:38AM Unit 4 fire reported as flames break out on fourth level of building.
• Time: 3/15-10:00AM radiation measured 400 msv/hr on inland side of Unit 3, 1000 is enough to cause radiation sicknes.
• Time: 3/15-11:00AM Unit 4 fire dies down by 11:AM leaving 8 square meter hold in the wall.
• Time: 3/15-11:00AM Oct 27 report:  http://enenews.com/un-agency-reactor-3-exploded-a-second-time-24-hours-later-then-wind-and-rain-brought-high-levels-of-radiation-over-tokyo-sendai-nagano 
  Summary Report of RSMC Beijing on Fukushima Nuclear Accident Emergency Response, WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION (United Nations), Oct. 27, 2011:At 11:00 (Japan Standard Time) JST on 15 March, Unit 3 explored [sic] again. At that time, due to the easterly winds and precipitation in and around Fukushima, the surrounding areas including Tokyo, Nagano, Sendai and other places detected high radiation, which matched well with the simulation results.
• Event: Unit 4 explosion photos released href="http://www.setyoufreenews.com/2011/03/tepco-releases-photo-of-no4-reactor.html?amp"> Photo shot on tu released on wed by Tepco shows a large portion of the building's outer wall has collapsed. Shot from the northwestern side of the reactor, shows that a large portion of the building's outer wall has collapsed. There is an 8-meter hole on the 4th floor, and the interior is visible. Another 8-meter square hole was also confirmed on the outer wall of the building. Both appeared after an explosion early on Tuesday.
• time 3/15-5:40AM event: Explosion Unit 4 blows out walls
  http://my.firedoglake.com/scarecrow/2011/03/15/japan-nuclear-watch-wed-a-m-new-fire-and-explosion-at-unit-4-fuel-pond/ Japan Nuclear Watch, Wed. am JST: New Fire and Explosion at Unit 4 Fuel Pond By: Scarecrow Tuesday March 15, 2011 2:25 pm About 5:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, their time, officials reported a fire and explosion that blew a hole about 8 meters wide in the walls of the Unit 4 building. The location corresponds to the 4th floor area where the spent fuel storage pools are located. There is reportedly a hole in the building roof, as a result of yesterday’s explosion and fire, and authorities considered using helicopters to dump or inject water from the roof. However the hole is apparently not near enough to the fuel rod pools to make an aerial drop effective.
• Time: 3/15-6:12AM Event: Unit 4 ezplosion shows up on seismometer http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111002003221.htm
  the panel studied a seismometer at the plant and found only one explosion tremor recorded at 6:12 a.m. that day. Based on analysis of the tremor, the panel concluded that the explosion occurred at the No. 4 reactor.
• Event: Unit 4 photo shows fueling crane is exposed to air:
  The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people Saturday, March 19, 2011 setyoufree
   Exposed: this shots shows a gaping hole in the building of reactor number four.The green crane circled, is normally used to move spent fuel rods into a 45ft deepstorage pond, just out of shot But the pool has now boiled dry and the spent rods areheating up and releasing radiation It comes after pictures emerged showing overheating fuel rods exposed to the elements through a huge hole in the wall of a reactor building at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.
• Date: 3/15/2011 Time 12:12J 03:12U To recap, here is the latest AFP update: Edano later said there was also an explosion which started a fire at the number-four reactor. Although the number-four reactor was shut for maintenance when the quake and tsunami struck last Friday, "spent nuclear fuel in the reactor heated up, creating hydrogen and triggered a hydrogen explosion". He said radioactive substances were leaked along with the hydrogen. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8384853/Japan-earthquake-as-it-happened-March-15.html
• 18.10 A pump technician at the Fukushima plant tells Associated Press that he was in the complex when Friday's earthquake hit. Speaking at an evacuation centre wit his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, he says: I worry a lot about fallout. If we could see it, we could escape, but we can't.
• Date: 3/15/2011 Time: 3:00PM Event: Kaieda disclosed TEPCO planning to abandon nuclear plant, Kan visits plantHe explained the reason why he went to TEPCO headquarters on March 15, 2011, 4 days after the accident, was the words from Former Minister of METI Banri Kaieda around 3pm on the same day, who disclosed TEPCO was planning to abandon Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Energy Plant
  Kan felt “If TEPCO abandons Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Energy Plant, 10 nuclear reactors and 11 nuclear fuel storage pools, nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel storage pools would be empty and rapidly melt down. ” , then he ordered to set up the Integrated Headquarters Measures of TEPCO and government at TEPCO headquarters.
  “If TEPCO had abandoned Fukushima Nuclear Energy Plant, there would have been nobody in Tokyo. It was the most critical moment for Japan as a country to keep surviving as it is. The amount of radiation leakage could have been more than several score times than Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident.” , Kan explained and this experience changed his old idea of being confidence in Japanese nuclear technology into the new idea to aim not to rely on nuclear power plant energy society.
  source: http://houseoffoust.com/group/?p=2919
• Time: 6:26PM=18.26 Report from the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo who says there are now believed to have been four blasts at Fukushima. The fourth reportedly occured in reactor four, where spent fuel rods are stored, he says http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8384853/Japan-earthquake-as-it-happened-March-15.html
• Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said two workers were missing after blasts at the facility a day earlier blew a hole in the building housing the No. 4 reactor.
• 20.39 Sky News is reporting (quoting Reuters) that two workers are missing from reactor four since the explosion there at 6am local time on Tuesday. The roof of that reactor is cracked and has led to a spike in radiation.
• later: 21.59 Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has denied that two missing plant workers from reactor four went missing after Tuesday's explosion and insisted that they have been lost since the earthquake and tsunami struck Fukushima.
• Reactor 4 has explosion and fire in spent fuel rod pool, releasing radioactive materials into the air. The rods are stored in water to keep them cool, but pumps have no power. It is thought that a hydrogen explosion started the fire, which was extinguished.
• "The report also suggests that a fourth explosion at the site in the early days after the quake may have occurred in the spent fuel pool at reactor No. 4 and may have scattered some pieces of uranium pellets around the site between the buildings. Workers may have bulldozed dirt over the radioactive pieces in an attempt to contain the radiation, the report said." LA Times
• Damage to temporary cooling systems on unit 2 by the explosion in unit 3 plus problems with its venting system meant that water could not be added, to the extent that unit 2 was in the most severe condition of the three reactors.^[39]
• Explosion at Unit 2 in the "pressure suppression room" containing the supression torus / donut caused some damage to unit 2’s containment system.
• Radiation levels at the plant rose significantly but subsequently fell back. equivalent dose> rates at one location in the vicinity of unit 3 recorded 400 millisieverts per hour.
• Date: 3/15 Time: 8:00PM /20:00 Event: Unit 2 meltdown complete. (101 hrs after earthquake) mainichi.jp
• 21.51U A further fire has broken out at Fukushima plant, according to local media, althought it is not clear which reactor is affected. Flames are visible from what is reported by the BBC as reactor four. Tepco has confirmed that another fire has broken out. href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8384853/Japan-earthquake-as-it-happened-March-15.html">21.59
• 22.49U New reports from Sky saying that the "new" fire at reactor 4 took hold because the first fire (and explosion) from Tuesday morning local time was never properly extinguished. AP reports: Utility says new fire at Japan nuclear reactor erupted because first one was not extinguished.
• 21.46U CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman tweets: Large snowstorm right now in the Japanese tsunami zone. It couldn't have come at a worse time for the homeless and the rescuers. href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8384853/Japan-earthquake-as-it-happened-March-15.html">21.59
• 21.40U Japan's nuclear safety committee say radiation levels of 400 millisieverts an hour had been recorded near Fukushima's No.4 reactor earlier today. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer. The workers who have stayed behind to cool the reactors are being hailed as heroes. href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8384853/Japan-earthquake-as-it-happened-March-15.html">21.59

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3164723.htm Well it was the starkest language that we've heard yet from the government. What emerged that we didn't know was that there had also been an explosion and a fire in reactor 4 at Fukushima. Number 4 had an explosion as well and then a fire which is what was revealed in that press conference. Yes, number 4 was not in operation at the time of the earthquake. There were no active fuel rods in there but there is spent fuel. Now the fire apparently started through a similar hydrogen explosion that we saw in number 1 and 3 and that the chief cabinet secretary said that they have assumed that some radioactive substances are being released as a result of that explosion and fire at number 4. "Explosion at No 4 Fukushima reactor" http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2011/03/pictures-of-reactor-4-and-3-upclose.html Pictures of Reactors 4 and 3 upclose after explosions - I captured off Live Japan News Shows shattered Reactor 4 building. SPENT FUEL STORAGE POND ON FIRE AT REACTOR 4
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log Updates of 7 April 2011 Tue Mar-15-11 05:27 AM Response to Reply #8 13. Fire confirmed Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 06:15 CET) Japanese authorities informed the IAEA that there has been an explosion at the Unit 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The explosion occurred at around 06:20 on 15 March local Japan time. Japanese authorities also today informed the IAEA at 04:50 CET that the spent fuel storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is on fire and radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere. Dose rates of up to 400 millisievert per hour have been reported at the site. The Japanese authorities are saying that there is a possibility that the fire was caused by a hydrogen explosion.

divvy (547 posts) Tue Mar-15-11 07:13 PM explosions are not good Reports of explosions are not good... No kidding. The zircolloy reaction of clad melting gives off a lot of hydrogen, which can accumulate in the top of the reactor vessel. Such a bubble of explosive gasses is very dangerous. Large scale fuel failure is probably happening at multiple plants. My guess is that the explosions are from hydrogen vented from the vessel. That is a sign of fuel clad "melting." Core melting doesn't necessarily mean that the worst case scenario will result... It didn't at TMI. As long as they can prevent reactor vessel failure, the impact on the general public can be minimized. I know the GE Mark I plant had design provisions for pumping seawater into the reactor... I don't know if the other plant designs did. I haven't heard what resources are being brought in to help plant personnel. They need help... Not just advice! What is being done to restore power to these stricken plants? ... And when will they have it? No plant, even one originally in cold shutdown, can operate indefinitely without AC power. I guess I am frustrated to hear of casualties... People can't go into primary containment under these circumstances. Venting should be to primary containment, which could then be vented through a standby gas treatment system in the RX building, if there is AC power to run it. That could be where the hydrogen explosion occurred. The system has a heater that wouldn't be good with an explosive mix of hydrogen. PWRs actually have glow plugs or some type of heaters to burn hydrogen inside their much larger containments. BWRs don't have these systems. The Mark I containment could not accommodate open flames... too small.

·  Last Defense at Troubled Reactors: 50 Japanese Workers By KEITH BRADSHER and HIROKO TABUCHI Published: March 15, 2011

• five workers died since quake
• 22 workers injured
• two missing (later found killed by tsunami and quake)
• one hospitalized grasping chest unable to stand
• another treated after blast of radiation near reactor
• 11 injured in #3 hydrogen explosion (not counting 7 killed nearby)
• normal crew is 10-12 people per reactor
• only 50 left onsite, there were 750 emergency people on site.
• 28 died from radiation exposure at Chernobyl within 3 months, 19 by infections from radiation skin burns, 106 developed radiation sickness
• two of the medical evacuees died in the early hours of March 15. The principal even appealed for assistance on a local FM radio station, saying, "Help us!" At the time, about 90 patients and four hospital workers as well as police officers and Self-Defense Forces (SDF) members were at the hospital. The crisis at the nuclear plant was only growing worse, and a GSDF rescue team never came to rescue them. Following an explosion at the nuclear plant, SDF members remaining at the hospital left there after telling staff, "We must go back." At around 1 a.m. on March 15, police officers urged hospital staff to evacuate, saying, "You have no choice but to leave here." In response