An IAEA team reviewing the Japanese accident issued a preliminary report this week stating that Japan had underestimated the danger of tsunamis and had not provided adequate backup cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
"The operators were faced with a catastrophic, unprecedented emergency scenario with no power, reactor control or instrumentation," the report says. The tsunami also "severely affected communications systems both within and external to the site."
Emergency workers "had to work in darkness with almost no instrumentation and control systems," the report says.
The team said that Japan must ensure that "regulatory independence and clarity of roles are preserved in all circumstances," echoing criticism that close associations between Japan's nuclear regulators and industry officials had undermined strong safety oversight.
Mattson said he believes the IAEA meeting will look at the results from its inspection team and will probably set a schedule for further reviews and recommendations over this year. "My hope is that they will really open this question of international oversight," he said.
An initial inspection report on U.S. reactors by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month found that about one-third had some vulnerabilities to extreme emergencies, according to the NRC.
"Our inspectors found all the reactors would be kept safe even in the event their regular safety systems were affected by these events, although a few plants have to do a better job maintaining the necessary resources and procedures," said Eric Leeds, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
Bracing for coincidental failures
Inspection reports disclosed that on one reactor, some door seals that were not hardened to withstand seismic shocks could fail in an earthquake, allowing water to enter rooms containing electrical equipment used to shut down the plant.
Another reactor had sump pumps and flooding detectors that were considered "non-safety related" and thus not hardened to withstand earthquakes, the NRC staff reported. Firefighting equipment at the reactor staged to respond to severe fires or explosions was not stored in hardened buildings because a severe fire and an earthquake "were not assumed to occur coincidentally."
A third plant had a single diesel-driven pump to provide emergency cooling water to a single reactor in case an earthquake cut off normal water flow. The pump could not have serviced both of the plant's reactors if they lost normal water supply simultaneously, the NRC staff said. The plant owner planned for a contractor to provide seawater for emergency cooling, but had no backup plan if an earthquake and tsunami blocked highways to the plant, the NRC said.
Mattson said the added safety measures likely to result from a more demanding look at nuclear plant vulnerabilities should not impose unreasonable costs on most plants. "I don't think it's breaking the bank," he said in an interview. "A higher sea wall [at the Fukushima Daiichi plant] wouldn't have broken the bank compared to what Japan will have to pay without the sea wall.
"Some of the older plants could be shut down, but some are beyond their design life. You shouldn't shut them down willy-nilly, like Germany did. But you ought to look at them really hard, with 'Fukushima eyes,' and see how comfortable you are."
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
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Add CommentNuclear power plants are too safe. ALL sources of electricity should be held to the same standard. Coal kills 26000 Americans and 1 Million Chinese every year. Coal puts 100 to 400 times as much radiation into the air as nuclear reactors are allowed to. Wind turbines can kill people by falling on them, by flinging ice, by workers falling off, etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDeaths per terrawatt year [twy] for energy industries, including Chernobyl. terra=mega mega [There are zero sources of energy that cause zero deaths, but not having the electricity causes the far more deaths because not having electricity is a form of poverty.]
fuel......... ........fatalities... .....who......... .......deaths per twy
coal......... .........6400...... ......workers........... .........342
natural gas..... ..1200...... .....workers and public... ...85
hydro........ .......4000..... .......public............ ............883
nuclear........ .........31...... ......workers............ .............8
Nuclear power is proven to be the safest. Source: "The Revenge of Gaia" by James Lovelock page 102. As you can see, psychological problems are preventing the wider use of nuclear power. Chernobyl is included.
I have no connection with the nuclear power industry. I have never had any connection with the nuclear power industry. I am not being paid by anyone to say this. My sole motive is to avoid death in the collapse of civilization and to avoid extinction due to global warming.
The only deaths at Fukushima Daiichi were from the tsunami. None were from the reactor or radiation. Several workers got the equivalent of a sunburn on their ankles. They would not have gotten sunburns on their ankles if they had worn galoshes.
The power plant at Fukushima Daiichi survived the earthquake and a 46 foot high wall of water. You couldn't do that. American containment buildings are even stronger.
Definitions of “survived” The containment buildings are largely intact and the radiation leakage is below the natural background level averaged over a year. That is very good for being hit with a 46 foot tall wall of water. Why does jumping off a tall bridge kill you? Because water hits you like concrete if you are moving fast. The tsunami was going 500 miles per hour in the open ocean. When you jump off a bridge, your terminal velocity is 200 mph.
Coal contains: URANIUM, ARSENIC, LEAD, MERCURY, Antimony, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Selenium, Barium, Fluorine, Silver, Beryllium, Iron, Sulfur, Thorium etc.