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Chris Martenson Exclusive: New Photos Of Fukushima Reactors
Submitted by Chris Martenson
Exclusive: new photos of Fukushima reactors
Noting that the press has largely turned its resources off of the Fukushima complex, and needing up-to-date information on the status of the damage control efforts there, we secured the most up-to-date satellite photo from DigitalGlobe (dated March 31st), which we analyze below. This is the first photo of the damaged reactor site at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility made available to the public in over a week. That means you, our readers, are the first public eyes anywhere to see this photo.
Drawing upon the expertise of our resident nuclear engineer and Ann Stringer, imaging expert, we conclude that the situation at Fukushima is not stabilized: things are not yet at a place of steady progress in the containment and clean-up efforts. It's still a dance, forwards and backwards, with the workers making gains here and there and the situation forcing them to react defensively.
In this report, we will tell you what we know for sure, what we are nearly certain of, and what we remain forced to speculate about.
Here is a portion of a much larger image (covering 25 square kilometers in total) showing the reactor complex as of March 31, at roughly mid-day:
Photo Credit, 2011, DigitalGlobe
What We Can See
Here's what we can directly observe in the larger satellite image:
- Steam is still rising from reactors #2, #3 (circled in green) and #4.
- Of the four reactor buildings, three are nearly or totally destroyed, while the outside (at least) of the fourth is in relatively better shape.
- We can count 7 fire trucks 'on site' with another 7 just to the north, all with water lines strung out across the ground.
- There is only one ship/vessel to be seen, located inside of the breakwater and nearly as far to the north as it can go inside that boundary.
- A significant number of the vehicles that can be seen at the core of the site have not moved since the first released photos on March 12.
- There is a parking lot slightly to the north and west with approximately 250 passenger vehicles in it and a side lot with 30 large green tanks neatly arranged in rows.
- The rest of the area is one, two, and four lane roads (no traffic at all), worked farmland, residential and commercial areas, mostly empty parking lots, and two baseball diamonds.
Here's what we don't see
- Nowhere in the 25 km area in the main photo can we find anything that looks like a staging area with a large collection of assets such as tanker trucks, pumpers, cement trucks, piles of pre-staged materials, ambulances, and fire trucks.
- The cement pumper truck seen a week ago has been apparently replaced by the boom at reactor #4.
- There's no obvious barge delivering fresh water for the rector cooling efforts as recently reported (it may have come and gone?).
- Any obvious changes to the roofs of any of the reactors.
- Any people outside the plants working.
Things we can logically conclude
The steam that is venting is a mixed blessing. It implies that cooling water is getting to some hot material, which is a good thing, but it also means that something is hot enough to vaporize water and the continued release of radioactivity into the surrounding environment.
This means that the lack of steam coming from reactor #1 is either a very good sign, or a very bad sign. Good because it could mean that the containment vessels are intact and cooling water is circulating. Bad because it could imply that no water is getting to it and it is a very hot mass right now. According to TEPCO, reactor #1 has had seawater, and now freshwater, circulating through the reactor vessel - and since both containment vessels are intact, we'll conclude the lack of steam is a good sign.
The situation at Fukushima is going to drag on for years. First there's the matter of stabilizing the situation which has not yet been fully achieved. Recent surprises in terms of the amounts and locations of radioactivity are one sign that the situation is not fully stabilized. Still, nothing has blown up in quite a while, the steam venting appears consistent, and the major surprises seem to be over for now. While the TEPCO workers are still reacting to things as they arise, these are smaller things than last week, which is another hopeful sign.
The detected presence of neutron beams, I-134, and radioactive chlorine are all strongly supportive of the idea that criticality has resumed. Our best guess is that these are localized pockets, probably of short duration, and do not involve the entire core mass of any particular reactor conflagrating in some gigantic, greenish blob of uncontrolled fission. The geometries of the fuel in relation to neutron moderators requires precise conditions to support sustained fission and so it is rather unlikely to be occurring in anything other than localized pockets. If the entire reactor in its fully operational state was capable of supporting what we might scale to 100% fission, the amount of fission happening after a partial (or complete) meltdown will be a far lesser percentage. Still, any amount of fission is unwelcome at this point because it is adding to the heat and radiation removal difficulties.
The constantly rising levels of radioactivity found in the seawater are a further unwelcome development, but without a proper isotope analysis we cannot conclude anything about the potential resumption of fission from their gross amounts alone. It's always possible that the leftover fission products are now being washed in larger amounts into the sea for some reason.
Additional Drone Photos
These are the most detailed photos yet to emerge into the public space (released yesterday, March 31, as far as I know), and they are purported to come from a drone flyover on March 20 and 24th. They are really quite good, and worth viewing in their entirety here.
Beginning with reactor 3, one thing we can say is, this thing is a right proper mess:
(Source for all that follow)
There's a significant hole to the left of center that goes deep into the sub-structure (with a strange greenish cast that we've not been able to resolve after much conjecture) and it's clear that this building alone will take a long time to resolve.
Interestingly, we get our clearest image yet of the hole in turbine building #3 that was created by something ejected into the air during the reactor #3 explosion.
Looking like one of those cartoon cutouts that happens when the coyote hits the ground, we get the impression that whatever it was happened to be quite heavy and possibly shaped like an Apollo capsule. It has been my suspicion, which contradicts the official story, that the concrete containment vessel was what actually blew up in reactor #3 and I have been looking for evidence of in the form of large, heavy chunks of concrete (especially the refueling plug) lying about. I don't know what made this hole in the roof of the turbine building, but it was heavy.
Reactor #4 provides us with proof that serious damage can result from the effects of an overheated spent fuel storage pool:
Here the watering boom can be clearly seen. A camera was recently attached to the boom and it took some interior shots which were suggestive of the idea that the spent fuel pool is damaged and largely drained of water. Spraying water into this pool, then, is probably a balancing act with the desire to spray enough water on the rods to keep them cool being offset by the risk of having radioactive water drain away for parts unknown.
Almost certainly this same balancing act defines the efforts for reactors #2 and #3 as well.
Conclusions
The efforts at Fukushima are probably weeks away from even basic stabilization and we are years away from any sort of a final resolution. This crisis is going to be with all of us for a very long time. Radiation will continue to escape from the complex into the environment for weeks at best, months or years at worst.
The chief concern here is that things might still take a turn for the worse whereby radiation spikes to levels that prevent humans from getting close enough to perform meaningful operations and work on the site. If the radiation spikes high enough it will force an evacuation from the vicinity complicating every part of what has to happen next from monitoring to remediation.
The general lack of staged materials anywhere in the vicinity indicates that authorities have not yet decided on a plan of action, feeding our assessment that they are still in 'react mode' and that we are weeks away from nominal stabilization.
On Thursday we learned from the Wall Street Journal that TEPCO only had one stretcher, a satellite phone, 50 protective suits, and only enough dosimeters to give a single one to each worker group. Given this woeful level of preparation it is not surprising to see that regular fire trucks, cement trucks, and a lack of staged materials comprise much of the current damage control mix.
We don't yet know enough to conclude how much fission has spontaneously re-occurred, but we have strong suspicions that the number is higher than zero. Here we make our call for the release of more complete and timely radiation readouts and sampling results by TEPCO and Japan so that we can assess what the true risks are. The situation remains fluid and quite a lot depends now on chance and which way the wind blows.
And as I detailed in the Alert report I issued soonafter the tragic events of the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 10th, the impact of Japan's tribulations on the global economy will be large and vast. World markets are simply unpreapared for the third-largest economy to suddenly and violently downshift. The persisting crisis at Fukushima simply worsens the picture.
As always, we'll continue montioring developments closely and reporting our findings and conclusions on this site.
best,
Chris
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no surprise there, that a concrete tunnel cracked in an earthquake is no surprise, and the tsunami coming in and out could have create all sorts of unequalized and groundwater forces unusual water pressures on an underground structure, could have caused tunnel to have bouyancy pressures on it, could have caused erosion of material under tunnel push on and on....
Finally, TEPCO is now attended the designer of jet engines (General Electric) (google trans from French) 01/04/2011 http://tinyurl.com/3wpdzje
Finally, TEPCO is now attended both the designer of jet engines (General Electric) and the NRC, the U.S. regulator.
The condition of Units 1 to 3 remains very worrying. Although power supplies have been found, the artificial cooling facilities are not returned to service; audits are continuing.
Moreover, the presence of contaminated water in buildings of three units of turbines shows that significant leakage of water from tanks or enclosures reactors instead. Pumping operations of the water are underway on Units 1, 2 and 3. This finding confirms the suspicions of loss of sealing vessels or cooling of reactors 2 and 3.
In addition, contaminated water is also present in wells adjacent to buildings turbine Units 1 to 3. A pumping operation was conducted today on the well of the reactor 1, by directing water to a storage capacity of effluent.
ORG: http://www.irsn.fr/FR/Actualites_presse/Actualites/Pages/20110401_seisme-japon-point-situation-1-avril.aspx
More a question than comment. Animals, especially birds, have free access to the Fukushima contamination zone including the reactor buildings. How much radioactivity can a seagull contain if it were to fly over or through a radioactive plume or dine on a dead fish lying along the coast? If it were to defecate on a car in say Chiba prefecture a day or two later and the owner of that car were to wipe the droppings off and throw the paper towel into the kitchen garbage bag what kind of exposure is likely? Does anyone know? Has any research ever been done?
They've detected Cs-137 in cattle already; I won't be having Kobe beef for a few decades.
Seagulls are like cockroaches and lawyers, immune from radiation and all known poisons. The devil takes care of his own;)
Gives new meaning to the old joke: If the Fu(kushima) sh*ts...
And what about the juvenile and 1 year old bluefin tuna swimming now off the Sendai coast and getting ready for their annual 3 month migration to the eastern Pacific; how much contamination will they contain and bring to the US west coast water?
In March 1998 the Ministery of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food cautioned residents in the UK villiage of Seascale (Windscale) they had found radioactive pidgeons. Pidgeons were found to have high levels of radioactivity that they took off site. The always "low" levels of radiation were found around peoples homes but of course it was "safe" as far as they knew but they didn't give out any hard numbers just assurances that it will be looked into in the future.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/55612.stm
The same kind of thing has happened at the US Hanford and Savannah river nuclear facilities "hot" animals don't know where the facility boundaries are.
Germany’s radioactive boars a legacy of Chernobyl http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/04/02/news/germany%E2%80%99s-radioac...
Take a look at this one. Wolves and boars thrived.
Here's a quote from the below links.
"Populations of wolfs and wild boars grow rapidly. They occupying the abandoned houses and sheds. They are curiously unagressive here. Maybe that has something to do with the food supply which plentiful for all species except man, but contaminated. It's not unusual to see a wolf, a fox, a wild boar or a wild deer casually crossing the road. "
And as a curious side benefit, A rare horse(very old strain) is making a come back where there are no men.
Pictures.
"These are Prejevalsky Horses. Someone brought a couple of them from Asia a few years ago, they liked it here and now there are 3 herds running in Chernobyl area. They are a sturdy breed and are always on the move. They have a prehistoric look about them. When they sweep by at full gallop, it feels like you might see a herd of ancient Eohippus next."
Elena takes motorcycle ride thru Chernobyl country side.
Must see pictures
Chernobyl - Land of the Wolves
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-land-of-the-wolves
Someone above talked about Abandon Trucks and equip at chernobyl, this one's got the pictures.
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited
Just Somtin To Freak you Out Over The Weekend ;) YET ANOTHER Illuminati Card Event that came about... http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=204037.0
"RUN AWAY AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!" Chernobyl Scientist On Japan Nuclear Meltdown Risk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTX_tYu4-0
Just to be obvious here Tunga should like to point out the inconvenient unresolved contradictions reported by TEPCO.
After the video of reactor #1 and #3 was shown on the web exploding. Hydrogen was blamed. We know that Hydrogen could only have been formed if the temperature was hot enough to melt the zirconium tubes. Namely 2200C.
After the explosions TEPCO claimed that temps in the reactors was 400C. They expected us to believe somebody climbed into the building with a fire hose, drilled through 8" of solid high strength steel in a red hot condition and tapped a canvas hose into it.
This is obviously total and complete BS. The whole discussion of "control over the reactors is complete BS. The sending of workers into the scene is tantamount to premeditated murder.
The people running the show over there are not just ignorant or stupid, they are evil.
More on deadly birds from the Mainichi Shimbun.
"On the premises of the nuclear power plant, there was a car stuck into the outer wall of a reactor building -- possibly due to the hydrogen explosions -- and big fish and sharks washed ashore by the tsunami were lying around while birds aiming for them circled in the skies above, he said."
This has got to still be going on. Gulls, crows and lord knows what other animals are roaming through the Fukushima nuclear plant and then heading for... who knows where. Dead fish washing ashore miles from the 4000 times normal radioactive waters off that power plant where other gulls and crows, maybe someone's cat scavanges the remains and goes home to nestle in the lap of its owner!
King: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?
Hamlet: At supper.
King: At supper? Where?
Hamlet: Well, he's not doing the eating. He's being eaten. By worms, you see. Funny...no one eats worms, but when we die, worms eat us. Isn't it ironic? Worms don't care if you were a king or a beggar. They eat you all the same.
King: Alas, alas!
Hamlet: A man can go fishing with a worm that's eaten from a king's corpse, and then eat fish that ate the worm.
King: What do you mean?
Hamlet: I just wanted to explain how a king can pass through the guts of a beggar.
Higher radiation levels on SDF helicopters
Higher than normal levels of radiation have been detected on Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters that flew over the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant even after decontamination.
GSDF sources say hundreds of microsieverts of radiation per hour were detected at engine inlets and other parts of the helicopters, which monitored radiation levels and took aerial pictures of the plant.
The US military has informed the Japanese force that radioactive cesium in particular easily adheres to paint used on helicopters and other vehicles.
The GSDF is trying to ensure that all mechanics will wear protective gear during their work. It is also considering the purchase of new equipment to vacuum up radioactive substances.
Saturday, April 02, 2011 09:27 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/02_12.html
I saw that to. I bet Japan is going to have a sizable nuclear graveyard whenever they finally decide to call it OK. According to Zhores A. Medvedev's book "Nuclear Disaster in the Urals" vehicles in the Mayak hot zone weren't allowed outside of the zone because of the increasing dose of radiation contamination they accumulated over time from hot dust and rain. You had to exchange vehicles at the border of the Mayak contamination zone. In Chernobyl 100's of vehicles became too hot to operate after a few months in the exclusion zone. I want to see the magic Rad-vac they are going to use most of the decontamination routines I've seen involve soapy water and pressure washers. In Chernobyl they found decontamination was really just concentrating contamination in the runoff so they gave up.
Perhaps this has been asked and answered, and I missed it. Why did building #4 explode?
Fuel pool evaporated; exposed rod cladding heats and emits hydrogen. Just about anything can blow it up.
They have fresh core material in the pool at Unit 4. So there's more of it and hotter to boot.
Some speculate there are still fuel assemblies loaded in reactor 4 but I am agnostic on that point. Pretty much the same physics.
Just to be clear here Jim in MN; the spent fuel rods went critical and reached 2200C thus melting the zirconium tubes that contained them? Why don't we see any sign of that heat in the thermal images released last week? The fuel in the pool must have been completely vaporized.
Partly melted perhaps. Just enough to blow to roof off. Compared to huge pillar of debris and dust carried aloft plus shock wave damage to building across the street when #3 exploded.
Another mystery, gentlemen. How come #2 is the worst threat, most likely to have melted through steel vessel, yet has an intact roof?
I keep hearing reports that TEPCO has "injected" water into reactors -- as opposed to spraying water at the wreckage from above. Further, they injected seawater previously which wrecked pumps and flanges, causing radioactive leaks. I'm beginning to think this story is hooey. No access to "inject" make-up water. No pumps to impel water to torus or reactor vessel.
What do you guys think?
Agree with hooey assessment. The condenser line to the cooling tower in #3 is on the ground outside in pieces.
They reported fires in #4 so that is probably where the spent fuel went to. Uranium melts at 3000C BTW. It sure seems like they reported temps in all four of the reactors after the explosions at around 400C. Now they are saying there was no fuel in Reactor #4. Plus there is no video of the #4 explosion even though it happened during daylight.
They probably averted a major explosion in unit #2 (though they did get one big enough to blow the rectangular hole in the wall that's been venting steam) by leaving the door to the "suppression chamber" open down low and steam vents open up high. This pile is either in contact with the ground water or sea water they may have been able to siphon into the basement. With out a seriously high power pump; any water directed through pipes to the reactor vessel would be turned to steam long before they got it any where near the core.
"They reported fires in #4"
I believe that was a case of lying, to avoid admitting #4 blew up just like 1 & 3. On the 15th when it happened, the spin control crew must have been going totally ape-shit about people seeing one after another reactor building blow up. I think they decided there was no way they were going to admit another one. First we heard of #4 was reference to 'some damage', and only after pictures got out (a day or two later) it was obvious the building blew up. IF NHK or anyone has any video, I wish it would leak. I'm guessing they were heavily threatened not to broadcast it. Three exploding reactors in a row would be really rubbing the point in everyone's faces. Nuclear industry says "No! Cannot be allowed!"
You have to imagine each of the cores and pools cycling through a thousand degrees or more in a few hours under the right circumstances.
Cooling stops for whatever reason...water heats up...water boils...water boils off...rods exposed....rods heat up...if that goes long enough, cladding failure...then eventually fuel melt etc.
But at any point in this sequence, the fire brigade shows up. BAM! with the cold water. Back to point A.
And round and round she goes. Take a thermal at any random point, could be anything. Also those thermals were from helis with line of sight IR only; the top of the building/rubble if you will. As we can all attest from our bleeding, peeling eyeballs trying, you can't see the damn rods/pools/cores from outside. Neither can a JSDF thermal camera from a helicopter.
Just to be clear here Jim in MN; you believe that a fire hose can cool a runaway reaction of a thousand pounds of 2200C metal down to 400C?
No, I don't know how the water is interacting with the rods. I am just saying that these things have been up the scale and back again.
FWIW it depends on the mass of the metal vs. the mass of the water. Can you cool a speck? Yup. Can you cool a couple of tons? Depends.
Or their instrumentation is wonky, erratic.