Information Sheet Regarding the Tohoku Earthquake (from FEPC Washington Office)8/9

Information Sheet Regarding the Tohoku Earthquake (from FEPC Washington Office)

Dear Friends,

Please find the updated information sheet below and attached that summarizes the events from Update-54 on 7/20.

For your reference, JAIF (Japan Atomic Industrial Forum) has been posting the translation of news reports on their website. http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/  

Please direct any questions regarding this document to me, Ishida@denjiren.com or Samuel Lederer, Researcher of FEPC at lederer@denjiren.com.

Update to Information Sheet Regarding the Tohoku Earthquake

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC) Washington DC Office

As of August 9, 2011

All times listed below are Japan Standard Time (JST) unless otherwise noted.

• Enactment of Law on the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation
• On August 3, the Japanese Diet passed the Act to Establish Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation. The Act stipulates the corporation’s establishment and its role to support nuclear operators’ compensation for large scale nuclear accidents.
• FEPC Chairman Makoto Yagi made the following comment on the new entity: “The Law is an extremely important to ensure that the affected people are compensated promptly and appropriately, that the accident in Fukushima is dealt with steadily, and that a stable supply of electricity is maintained. We appreciate that the Law specifies the responsibilities of the government as we have purported and explicitly states that the sharing of burden between the government and the power companies will be studied promptly once the law is put into effect. Along with provisional payment based on the ‘Act on Emergency Measures Concerning the Damages of the Nuclear Accident of 2011’, which was passed into law during the current Diet session, I hope that this law will help provide relief to the affected people as quickly as possible.”
• TEPCO President Toshio Nishizawa made the following comment on the new entity: “Thanks to the strenuous efforts of the government and the many other individuals concerned, the enactment of the Law was realized today. Under the framework of the nuclear disaster compensation system that includes this Law, we will endeavor to compensate the afflicted in a fair and prompt manner based upon guidelines to be established by the Committee for Adjustment of Compensation for Nuclear Damage Disputes in conjunction with support from the government, while also securing a stable power supply.”
• The outlines of the bill (draft basis) are available at: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/roadmap/pdf/20110614_damage_corporation_1.pdf http://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/roadmap/pdf/20110614_damage_corporation_2.pdf

• Evaluation of Safety Improvements at Fukushima Daiichi by NISA
• On August 4, the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency (NISA) released the evaluation of safety improvements at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
• After evaluating past and current countermeasures, NISA concluded that the probability of Nitrogen explosions or the loss of cooling functions for reactors and spent fuel pools has greatly decreased.
• NISA also conducted analyses to test the possible effect of a loss of reactor cooling function at Fukushima Daiichi due to another earthquake or tsunami. NISA concluded that in such an event, radiation emissions beyond 20km would be sufficiently small compared with the criteria set by Nuclear Safety Commission and the recommendations of International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

• Preparation for the lifting of Evacuation Order for Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zone
• After evaluating NISA’s August 4 report on the safety countermeasures being undertaken at Fukushima Daiichi, the Government announced on August 9 that it will prepare to lift the evacuation order for the “Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zone.”
• Currently, some areas between 20km to 30km from Fukushima Daiichi are designated as “Emergency Evacuation Preparation Zones”, where residents have made preparations to evacuate, if necessary. The Government requested that children and hospital patients not enter this area.
• The Government will cooperate with local governments in the area to facilitate the return of evacuated residents.

• Major Activities at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
• On July 22, TEPCO completed the installation of a temporary roof at the turbine building of Unit 3 to prevent rain from entering though holes in the rooftop.
• On July 30, TEPCO completed the reinforcement of the supporting structure of the spent fuel pool at Unit 4. The details are available at:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_110730_02-e.pdf

• On July 31, TEPCO began to operate the circulating cooling system at the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 to remove decay heat of the spent fuel in order to maintain the water level and ensure the cooling of water in the pool.
• On August 1, TEPCO released details of the plan to install water shield walls in front of the existing sea walls of Unit 1 to 4 in order to prevent further ocean contamination by underground water. The details are available at:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11080108-e.html

• On August 1, TEPCO began a test operation of the additional Cesium absorption unit (SARRY) of water treatment facility. The details of SARRY are available at:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_110714_06-e.pdf

• On August 7, TEPCO began to operate a unit to collect evaporated fresh water from concentrated salt residue produced by the desalination facility. This fresh water will be used to cool the reactor cores of Unit 1 to 3.
• Other countermeasures such as injecting water into reactor cores with circulating cooling system, injecting Nitrogen gas into primary containment vessels, cooling of spent fuel pools with circulating cooling system, and transferring accumulated water continue to be implemented.

• Radiation Levels
• On July 31, TEPCO discovered very high radiation readings at the bottom part of the main exhaust stack of Units 1 and 2. On August 1, TEPCO announced that the surface dose around the standby gas treatment system (SGTS) pipe connection point of the stack measured 10 Sv/h.
• The concentration of radioactive nuclides from the seawater sampled at the screen device (installed to remove waste before the intake of seawater) of Unit 2 and sampled near the seawater discharge point (south side) of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station were as follows:

Nuclides (half-life)	Concentration (Unit : Bq/cm3)				Ratio
	Sampled inside the silt  fence at the screen of Unit 2	Sampled outside the silt fence at the screen of Unit 2	Sampled at south side discharge point	Maximum Permissible Water Concentration (d)	a / d	b / d	c / d
	8/8 7:00AM   (a)	8/8 6:57AM (b)	8/8 4:30PM (c)
I-131 (8 days)	5.7 x 10-2	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	4.0 x 10-2	1.4	-	-
Cs-134 (2 years)	8.9 x 10-1	4.5 x 10-1	Not Detectable	6.0 x 10-2	15	7.5	-
Cs-137 (30 years)	1.0 x 100	4.7 x 10-1	Not Detectable	9.0 x 10-2	11	5.2	-

• The concentration of radioactive nuclides from the groundwater sampled at sub-drain pits at Unit 1 to 6 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station were as follows:

	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 5	Unit 6
Samples taken at	8/8 12:15PM	8/8 12:20PM	8/8 12:25AM	8/8 11:31AM	8/8 12:05AM	8/8 11:55AM
Nuclides (half-life)	Concentration (Unit : Bq/cm3)
I-131 (8 days)	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable
Cs-134 (2 years)	1.1 x 100	5.1 x 100	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable
Cs-137 (30 years)	1.4 x 100	6.3 x 100	3.9 x 10-2	Not Detectable	Not Detectable	Not Detectable

• At 2:00PM on August 9, radiation level at west gate (approximately 3,609 feet from Unit 2 reactor building) of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: 12.0 micro Sv/hour. Other monitoring data at the site are available at:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/index-e.html

• Measurement results of environmental radioactivity level around Fukushima Nuclear Power Station announced at 6:00PM on August 7 are shown in the attached PDF file. Previous data are available at:    http://www.mext.go.jp/english/incident/1304082.htm

• Plant Parameters (As of 12:00PM on August 9)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/images/11080912_table_summary-e.pdf

• Plant Status (As of August 4)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/images/f12np-gaiyou_e_2.pdf

Our official sources are:

• Office of The Prime Minister of Japan
• Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)
• Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Press Releases
• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
• Ministry of Defense (MOD)

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Taro Ishida

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan
1901 L Street, NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036

Mobile (202) 253-2579

Phone (202) 530-0769 (Direct)
Phone (202) 466-6781
Fax (202) 466-6758

email: ishida@denjiren.com

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