NHK...

The Tokyo Electric Power has released 5 photographs of the crippled Number 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

One of the pictures taken by workers on May 9th shows a large amount of debris on the reactor building floor.

Another picture shows an elevator located at the northwest corner of the building with cables hanging loose. The elevator door was blown off by a large hydrogen explosion on March 12th.

A picture was taken by a remote-controlled robot on May 13th at the southeastern side of the Number One reactor building. Equipment that appears to be an electrical circuit board can also be seen near a double door. No debris can be seen on the floor.

Around this area, extreme high levels of radioactivity have been observed -- up to 2,000 milisieverts per hour, thus workers can only stay in the vicinity for around 8 minutes.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57 +0900 (JST)

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it may take a number of years to remove damaged nuclear fuel rods from the Number 1 reactor.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced on Saturday, that most of the fuel rods in the Number 1 reactor have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor where they are submerged in water.

TEPCO announced in April that it was aiming to get the reactor stabilized and cooled down in 6 to 9 months.
However, no timeline has yet been proposed for the removal of the nuclear fuel.

The company plans to study measures taken at the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US, where a meltdown of nuclear fuel rods also occurred.

There it took almost 10 years to remove melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor, which resembled hardened lava.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57 +0900 (JST)

A massive hollow floating platform is being transported to Fukushima to hold radioactive water from a troubled nuclear power plant.

The steel platform is 136 meters long and 46 meters wide and can store up to 10,000 tons of water.

It was provided to Tokyo Electric Power Company from Shizuoka city, where it was used as a fishing park.
It was made water-tight and rust-resistant during one month of refitting at a Yokohama shipyard. A large crane was mounted and pipes attached.

After final inspection at a nearby port, the platform is scheduled to arrive off the coast at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in one to two weeks.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 13:00 +0900 (JST)

Now, what happens if a tsunami hits that? typhoon?

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant announced that radioactive materials continue to leak into the ocean near the plant.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said 140 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter, was measured on Saturday morning near the water intake of the plant's Number 3 reactor. That represents 2,300 times the legal limit.

It also detected 150 becquerels of cesium-137, which is 1,700 times the legal limit.

On Wednesday of this week, the utility found that highly radioactive water was continuing to flow into the ocean from a pit located near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor.

On Friday, TEPCO detected 6,200 times the legal limit of cesium-134.

The company says it will continue to monitor radioactivity levels near the plant.

Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57 +0900 (JST)