New measurements show almost no water in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
11 May 2011 Murphys have never left Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and they are coming out from their hiding places. After the workers braved the very high radiation inside the Reactor 1 building and repaired the pressure gauge and the water gauge inside the Containment Vessel and the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV), TEPCO is finding out that the number they’ve been reporting on the level of water inside the RPV that houses the nuclear fuel rods was very, very wrong, and there’s hardly any water inside the RPV. It also turns out that there is little water in the Containment Vessel that houses the RPV. There goes the “water entombment” scheme. All the water that has been poured into the reactor has gone somewhere. Both the RPV and the Containment Vessel of the Reactor 1 have been breached. From MBS Mainichi News (latest revision at 8:31AM JST 5/12/2011):

福島第一原発の１号機で、圧力容器やその外側の格納容器に、ほとんど水がたまっていないことがＪＮＮの取材でわかりました。「格納容器に水をためる」という、当初、予定していた冷却方法の大幅な見直しを迫られることになります。 JNN’s investigation has revealed that there is hardly any water inside the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and the Containment Vessel of the Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The planned “water entombment” to cool the reactor would have to be vastly revised. … 燃料棒がむき出しになり、空だき状態になると水素爆発の危険が高まりますが、原子炉の状態が安定していることから、燃料が 溶けて圧力容器の底にたまり、かろうじて水で冷やされている可能性もあるということです。また、外側の格納容器にもほとんど水がたまっていなかったという ことです。 If the fuel rods are exposed, there is an increased danger of hydrogen explosion. However, the condition of the reactor seems stable, so it is possible that the fuel rods have melted to the bottom of the RPV, and the molten mass is being cooled by the water at the bottom, according to the source. There was hardly any water in the Containment Vessel, the source also revealed. …

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor 1’s RPV Has Hardly Any Water