A Power Plant Accident


OK after the July 2007 earthquake the Nuclear Power company TEPCO lied and said that their was no radiation leak, but over the following weeks they admitted to more and more leakage and damage. Japans industrial safety standards are notoriously llow. So I was expecting the company to be in all sorts of trouble.

For a bit of background here is a snippet from the International Heral Tribune

Earthquake stokes fears over nuclear safety in Japan (July 24, 2007)
"After a deadly earthquake struck northwestern Japan last week, the nation was stunned when a nuclear power plant near the earthquake's center suffered widespread damage, including minor radiation leaks, ruptured pipes, flooding and a fire that belched black smoke for more than an hour on live television.

But perhaps the most startling discovery came in the days that followed, when scientists used data from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake to conclude that the builders of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world's largest by electrical output, may have unknowingly constructed it directly on top of an active seismic fault.

"Not finding the fault was a miss on our part," said Toshiaki Sakai, who heads the engineering group in charge of Tokyo Electric's nuclear plants. "But it was not a fatal miss by any means."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/24/news/japan.php


A stunning newspaper Article

In the midst of this scandal, the following article absolutely astounded me. I have copied here mainly because that it is very llikely to be removed from the Newspaper's website as all articles are removed over time. I would have scanned it in , but I lost my copy. In essence the worlds biggest newspaper chose to run an article blaming the plant workers for their lax fire fighting efforts. when the facts really supported them running the article about people further up the food chain.

While you read the article below take note of the following:
* The power company had been warned about potential fire risks, but still had not installed anything above the mandatory fire fighting equipment, which then when the fire started did not work. Leaving the plant workers with no functioning fire fighting equipment when the fire started
* The fire department could only supply five fireman to a fire at the countys biggest nuclear power plant (at the time being televised live on TV)


The article in full:

Workers called inept during nuke plant fire

07/21/2007

BY MASATOMO NORIKYO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Original - http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200707200575.html

As black smoke belched into the air and flames melted metal parts, workers at the quake-damaged Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant stood by and watched.

That is the grim picture being painted by members of the local fire department, who had to arrive at the scene Monday to douse the fire at a transformer caused by the earthquake.

On Friday, the industry ministry, which oversees the nation's nuclear power plants, told electric power companies operating nuclear reactors to take more effective firefighting measures.

The problems at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant are especially egregious because plant officials had been warned in the past about their lax efforts in dealing with fires.

The earthquake, with an upper 6 intensity on the Japanese scale of 7, hit Niigata Prefecture on Monday, a national holiday. There were only 17 members of the Kashiwazaki fire department working that day, and they already had their hands full dealing with damage from the earthquake in various parts of the city.

The only members available to go to the nuclear power plant were five employees who were called in for emergency work even though they had the day off.

The source of the fire was a 2.5-meter-tall bridge column supporting electric power transmission cables to a plant transformer.

When firefighters arrived around 11:30 a.m., more than an hour after the earthquake struck, black smoke was rising from the column and the fire had melted metal parts.

Four firehoses that had been connected by plant workers lay useless near the fire. Only two of the hoses actually released water, but the water pressure was so weak the liquid spurted out only about a meter.

"The plant workers could only stand by and watch," a firefighter said.

Although plant workers are supposed to take the initial steps to extinguish fires before firefighters arrive, the four workers did not complete their tasks in the two hours before the fire was completely extinguished.

The shaking from the earthquake, which killed at least 10 people, is believed to have caused land sinkage that led to a short-circuit or overheating in the transmission cables, sparking the transformer fire.

The quake might also have damaged the nuclear plant's firefighting system, but this has not been confirmed.

Although nuclear plants are under no legal requirements concerning the installation of firefighting equipment, an official with the Kashiwazaki Fire Department said, "They could have considered placing large fire extinguishers throughout the facility to deal with emergencies."

Nuclear plant workers have been warned in the past about their lax efforts at firefighting.

In April, during a periodic inspection, vinyl sheets within the plant caught on fire. The local fire department was not notified until about three hours after the fire was discovered.

Fire department officials warned plant workers to be more prompt about notifying the department about fires.

Fire department officials said there have been at least three other fires at the nuclear power plant this year.

"Even when a number of small fires broke out, there appeared to be a continued belief in the myth about the safety of the plant," one official said. "The latest incident was caused in part by a feeling that plant workers only had to remain within legal limits in their response."(IHT/Asahi: July 21,2007)

 




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