Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operator 'ignored tsunami warning'
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant ignored warnings that the complex was at risk of damage from a tsunami of the size that hit north-east Japan in March, and dismissed the need for better protection against seawater flooding, according to reports.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) officials rejected "unrealistic" estimates made in a 2008 internal report that the plant could be threatened by a tsunami of up to 10.2 metres, Kyodo news agency said.
The tsunami that crippled backup power supplies at the plant on the afternoon of 11 March, leading to the meltdown of three reactors, was more than 14 metres high.
Evidence that the utility was unprepared for the tsunami, despite previous warnings, came as the firm announced that the manager of the Fukushima plant, Masao Yoshida, was being treated for an unspecified illness and would leave his post on Thursday.
The company refused to disclose the nature of Yoshida's illness, but said it was not related to his exposure to radiation during the nine months since the crisis began. "On doctors' advice, I have no choice but to be hospitalised for treatment," Yoshida, 56, reportedly said in a message to staff. "It breaks my heart to have to bid farewell in this way to all of the people with whom I have worked since the disaster."
Yoshida, who led the department overseeing the plant's management when the 2008 report was submitted, has been credited with preventing a more serious accident in March.
In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, he approved the continued injection of seawater into one of the damaged reactors, despite being told to abandon the measure by Tepco officials. He was later reprimanded, but won praise from experts who said he had helped cool overheating fuel rods and prevent a worse disaster.
via guardian.co.uk
TEPCO's Fukushima Plant Head Leaves The Plant
TEPCO announced on November 28 that Masao Yoshida, head of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, has fallen ill and been hospitalized; he will resign as the head of the plant as of December 1st.
Yoshida, head of Fukushima I Nuke Plant, issued a message to the plant workers as follows: "An illness was found during the medical exam, and I have no choice but to leave the plant, despite the on-going plant accident. To have to part with you like this is gut-wrenching, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart for any inconvenience that my leaving the post may cause."
As usual, TEPCO says it won't disclose what kind of illness that Yoshida suffers, or the cumulative radiation exposure he has received ever since March 11, as such information is "private".
Japan Solar and Wind Power
"Toshiba to participate in solar photovoltaic and wind power generation project in Aichi"
Nuclear power plants are very expensive to build, very expensive to deal with all the nuclear waste, very expensive to decommission and endlessly expensive when they go into meltdowns, like at Fukushima.
The bottom line for nuclear energy in Japan, is that because of it's history of earthquakes, tsunami's and other strong natural disasters, it's not a country which should have built nuclear plants in the first place. The country was duped into nuclear power by America in the mid 1950's and in turn the Japanese politicians duped the people of Japan by issuing a fake document with false information about nuclear energy. It set the path for Japanese nuclear energy.
Prior to the 3/11 disaster there were 54 reactors. A further two are under construction and another 12 are in the planning stage, although at the moment it's unclear what will happen with those. The normal life of a nuclear power plant is 30 years but power companies can make a request, to extend them another 10 years to give them a 40 year life. The power companies want that extra 10 years because it generates not only power but also pure profits. Some of the reactors at Fukushima were given the 10 year extension.
Of the 54 reactors, about 15 of them are older than 30 years or just reaching that 30 year mark.
TEPCO is the biggest and richest of the 10 power companies in the country, and probably the biggest and richest in the whole of Asia. TEPCO made huge profits, from power generation and from over charging it's customers for more than 10 years. TEPCO even with it's vast corporate wealth was unable or unwilling to build or update it's nuclear plants with the state-of-art safety standards. In fact, TEPCO has a long history of nuclear accidents of varying degrees and even falsifying documents about it's safety inspections. On one occasion it was fined.
A plan by TEPCO to electrically connect all six reactors at the Fukushima plant, which could have reduced the damage from the Great East Earthquake and Tsunami, never left the drawing board because executives of TEPCO believed no disaster to strike the plant would knock out the power supply and cripple the reactors. TEPCO didn't want to spend money on the plan.
On a much more serious story, TEPCO refused to take anti-quake measures on 600 important pieces of equipment at its Fukushima No1 nuclear plant, even though revised safety guidelines, issued by NISA on Oct.13, in 2006 required such action.
The total electrical power generated in Japan is about 200 Gigawatts. Prior to 3/11, about 47 Gigawatts was being generated by nuclear reactors.
Following the 3/11 disaster many nuclear power plants shut down and were not given permission to restart. During this summer, there were only about 18 reactors working,and there wasn't any major power outages. The number of operational reactors have since dropped to about 11, and if the current path is maintained, all reactors will be shut down by next year. I don't think this will continue and some will be restarted although many citizens who live near the nuclear plants, are now calling for permanent shut downs, even though it would mean many of them losing their work, since they also work at those nuclear plants. That is a strong message.
Out of the total of 200 Gigawatts of power generated, only 85% of it is generated by the 10 major power companies, including TEPCO. The other 15% is generated by industrial facilities.
Following the 3/11 disaster nuclear power was only generating about 18% of total power or about, 36 Gigawatts. That has since been reduced with more reactor shut downs.
Hydro capacity is 22GW, 2008, accounting for 8% of total capacity. There are new hydro plants under construction. The 2,350MW Kanagawa plant due online in 2017, and the 1,20MW Omarugawa plant due online 2011.
As of September 2011, Japan had 1,807 wind turbines generating 2440 MW of power. 1,198 small hydropower plants producing 3,225 MW of power. The small hydro's account for 6.6%of total hydro power. Cost per kilowatt-hour for power from smaller plants was high at ¥15-100.
In 2010 there were 18 geothermal power plants generating 536 MW (0.1% of total power).
190 generators attached to municipal waste units and 70 independent plants using biomass fuel to produce energy. 14 other generators were used to burn both coal and biomass fuel. In 2008, Japan produced 322 million tons of biomass fuel and converted 76% of it into energy.
The amount of power generated by companies other than the 10 major power companies could be increased to 30-35% of total power. Further use of renewables like wind, solar, tidal and geothermal. A plan is under discussion to require all new homes to have solar panels fitted.
The argument from the pro nuclear quarter is that only nuclear energy can reduce the amount of green house gases. The greatest per capital producer of greenhouse gases is America, which refused to sign the Kyoto agreement and next door China is now the biggest producer of green house gases.
There are many ways to reduce green house gases, including buying carbon credits and even collecting the gases and turning them into useful chemicals. I don't think any country in the world would complain if Japan announced it was ending nuclear power.
Some experts have stated that the cost of the nuclear disaster, including compensation, will be $260 billion. That much money could buy 100+ Fukushima power plants operating on geothermal power. That's only an example of the cost of this grave nuclear disaster.
All power to the Sun and Toshiba, which originally built some of the Fukushima reactors.
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