Group items tagged

Chronology of events surrounding crippled Fukushima nuclear plant A school building, which was submerged as a result of a tsunami on March 11, stands in an area of Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture. (Mainichi) TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The following is a chronology of events regarding the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Fukushima Prefecture, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern and eastern Japan. March 11 -- Magnitude 9.0 earthquake forces power plant's Nos. 1-3 reactors to suspend operations automatically (Nos. 4-6 reactors were shut down, undergoing regular checks). Prime Minister Kan declares nuclear emergency, directing local residents in 3-kilometer radius of plant to evacuate. March 12 -- Kan inspects stricken plant. Radioactive steam is vented from No. 1 reactor's containment vessel. Hydrogen explosion rips No. 1 reactor building. Government expands evacuation zone to 20 km radius of plant. March 14 -- Hydrogen explosion rocks No. 3 reactor building. No. 2 reactor's fuel rods are exposed as water recedes inside reactor vessel. March 15 -- Kan scolds Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) officials at company head office. Explosion is heard near suppression chamber of No. 2 reactor's containment vessel. Explosion is also heard at No. 4 reactor. Government directs residents in 20-30-km ring of plant to stay indoors. A tsunami crests the embankment of the Heikawa River in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, before sweeping into the city on March 11. (Mainichi) March 16 -- Damage is feared to have been done to No. 3 reactor's containment vessel, forcing workers to retreat. March 17 -- Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters drop water on No. 3 reactor building. Fire engines spray water from ground. March 18 -- Nuclear safety agency gives crisis involving Nos. 1-3 reactors preliminary value of Level 5 on nuclear accident scale of 7. March 19 -- Tokyo firefighters spray water at No. 3 reactor. Government announces detecti

Tokyo Electric Power could face 2 trillion yen ($23.6 bln) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012 to compensate communities near its crippled nuclear plant, JP Morgan said in a research report obtained by Reuters. Shares of Tokyo Electric, commonly known as Tepco, have lost about three-fourths of their value since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami tore through the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, causing it to leak radiation. The government has evacuated people living in a 20 km (12 miles) radius of the plant and announced on Monday that it would encourage people to leave certain areas beyond that exclusion zone due to accumulated radiation. As Tepco has struggled to contain the crisis, analysts have struggled to come up with viable estimates for the financial burden facing the utility given the unprecedented scale of the problem and uncertainty over the likely degree of government support. JP Morgan said Tepco could face 554 billion yen of extraordinary losses in the financial year ended last month for scrapping the crippled plant and bringing thermal power plants back on line. It estimated that Tepco would have to shoulder 600 billion yen in extra costs due to increased use of thermal power in the financial year to March 2012, and some 2 trillion yen in damages to compensate local communities. JP Morgan said how a law governing such cases is interpreted would be key in determining the company's liabilities. "A key issue concerning damage compensation is whether the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident is considered an unavoidable natural disaster," JP Morgan analyst Tomohiro Jikihara wrote in the report. "In the case of losses, Tepco also bears liability. We assume compensation of 2 trillion yen."

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, has handed a Diet science committee another heavily redacted accident manual for the stricken plant. The House of Representatives Special Committee on Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation had requested TEPCO submit two operating manuals -- one each for accidents and severe accidents -- through the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI). On Sept. 7, the committee announced it had received only the first of the two manuals, the majority of which had been blacked out, prompting the body to demand TEPCO resubmit both manuals by Sept. 9. The committee revealed on Sept. 12 that the severe accident manual subsequently handed over by TEPCO was also almost entirely redacted."

"TEPCO: Melted fuel ate into containment vessel The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has announced the results of an analysis on the state of melted fuel in the plant's Number 1 unit. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, and several research institutes made public their analyses on the melting of fuel rods at 3 of the plant's units at a government-sponsored study meeting on Wednesday. The analyses were based on temperatures, amounts of cooling water and other data. TEPCO said that in the worse case, all fuel rods in the plant's Number 1 reactor may have melted and dropped through its bottom into a containment vessel. The bottom of the vessel is concrete covered with a steel plate. The utility said the fuel may have eroded the bottom to a depth of 65 centimeters. The thinnest part of the section is only 37 centimeters thick. TEPCO also said as much as 57 percent of the fuel in the plant's Number 2 reactor and 63 percent in the Number 3 reactor may have melted, and that some of the melted fuel may have fallen through reactor vessels. Wednesday, November 30, 2011 20:02 +0900 (JST)"

"TEPCO has sent out their compensation applications to people who received provisional compensation. It consists of a 156 page manual and a 60 page application form. It requires copies of a variety of documents people may no longer have access to due to the disasters and each individual in a household must fill out a booklet. This application is only good through August so any ongoing compensation for September onward would require filling out another monster sized application. The truly evil part is if TEPCO declares the application incomplete for some reason the applicant will not be able to fix the issue. They will have to start from scratch and complete another 60 page application with documentation. This farcical process is clearly intended to avoid having to pay any compensation by making the process impossible to complete. People have the ability to request mediation from the government if TEPCO rejects their application creating another long complicated endeavor."

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN - Even as it struggled to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster in a quarter-century, Tokyo Electric Power Co. late last month quietly set out big plans for the future: It proposed building two new nuclear reactors at its radiation-spewing Fukushima Daiichi power plant. 18 Comments Weigh In Corrections? Graphic Graphic: Japan's nuclear emergency Video Video: The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has finally plugged a leak of highly radioactive water that had been draining into the Pacific. (April 6) More on this Story Amid nuclear crisis, Japan's Tepco planned new reactors Radioactive water no longer leaking into sea, nuclear plant operator says Japanese utility dumps radioactive water into Pacific to ease storage woes View all Items in this Story Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, informed Fukushima prefecture on March 26 of its desire to start building the reactors as early as next spring, local officials said. That was just two weeks after an explosion at the utility's tsunami-crippled complex set off a cascade of catastrophes. The proposal was then included in a formal report submitted to authorities in Tokyo on March 31 as part of an annual process designed to assess Japan's future electricity supply.

Given the increasingly serious circumstances involving Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the firm cannot be allowed to get away with ambiguous statements. Appearing Wednesday at a press conference at TEPCO's head office, the first he had held in about a month, company President Masataka Shimizu did not go into detail about future actions concerning the nuclear plant. All he said was: "I want to indicate [when the accident can be contained] as soon as possible." On the subject of compensation for people affected by the crisis, Shimizu said: "We'll act based on the law concerning compensation for nuclear disasters. We're considering provisional payments for urgently needed money." Under the law, the government will shoulder up to 240 billion yen for the Fukushima accident. If the total amount exceeds that figure, TEPCO is in principle responsible for the remainder. The total amount of compensation may reach trillions of yen, however, making it doubtful TEPCO will be able to shoulder such a burden. Therefore, the government and TEPCO have begun discussing a plan to establish a fund for compensation payments, to which other electric power companies will also contribute money.

The emergency cooling system of a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture that has just been restarted experienced a temporary glitch Monday morning, but there was no hazard to the environment, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The glitch was reported as Tepco activated the No. 7 reactor's core isolation cooling system as part of trial operations that started Saturday. Tepco found the level of coolant in the pool had risen. After it was lowered, Tepco then found it was unable to shut down the cooling system, which pours coolant into the reactor in the event of an emergency, and eventually stopped it with another method.

"epco's litany of deliberate violations of the most elementary safety standards, enabled by the collusion of one government after another, is a graphic demonstration of the intolerable danger posed by the capitalist economic order itself, reports Mike Head. A huge explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan following a major earthquake and tsunami The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is the conglomerate at the centre of Japan's nuclear radiation emergency at Fukushima. Its operations over the past several decades epitomise the government-backed pursuit of corporate profit, at the direct expense of lives, health and safety. Tepco is the fourth largest power company in the world, and the biggest in Asia, operating 17 nuclear reactors and supplying one-third of Japan's electricity. It has a long, documented history of serious safety breaches, systemic cover-ups of potentially fatal disasters, persecution of whistle-blowers, suppression of popular opposition and use of its economic and advertising clout to silence criticism."

"* Govt to put about 5 trln yen ($62 bln) into compensation fund -lawmaker * Shareholders to be protected but dividend payment unlikely for 10 yrs -lawmaker * Tepco to post 1 trln yen annual net loss for year that ended Mar 31 -Nikkei * Tepco booking charges for scrapping reactors, tax asset writeoff -Nikkei (Adds Kyodo report on asset sale, streamlining) By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Taiga Uranaka TOKYO, May 11 (Reuters) - Japan's government is planning to inject about $62 billion into a fund to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its nuclear plant and save Asia's largest utility from financial ruin. The scheme, set to be approved by the cabinet as early as Thursday, is designed to protect bondholders and will keep Tokyo Electric shares listed, although the utility will be forced to forgo dividend payments for several years, ruling party lawmakers briefed on the plan said on Wednesday. The plan is the result of weeks of wrangling among government officials, bankers and Tokyo Electric executives over who should foot the bill for the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan and is leaking radiation."

"A fiefdom of nuclear experts at Tokyo Electric Power Co. has survived past crises and appears likely to withstand fallout from the controversy at the embattled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The "nuclear village," as it is known, has maintained its independence for decades, virtually shielded from other parts of the company by the specialized nature of its operations. The "village" is headed by Executive Vice President Sakae Muto, 60, general manager of the Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Division. His predecessor, Ichiro Takekuro, 65, holds the title of "fellow," who assists the president as the top nuclear expert. Muto, Takekuro and others attended a meeting on April 17 of the combined government-TEPCO headquarters in regards to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Earlier the same day, TEPCO announced a road map to bring reactors crippled by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake to cold shutdown. "

Some of the spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the No. 4 reactor building of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant were confirmed to be damaged, but most of them are believed to be in sound condition, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday. The firm known as TEPCO said its analysis of a 400-milliliter water sample taken Tuesday from the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool revealed the damage to some fuel rods in such a pool for the first time, as it detected higher-than-usual levels of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137. The No. 4 reactor, halted for a regular inspection before last month's earthquake and tsunami disaster, had all of its 1,331 spent fuel rods and 204 unused fuel rods stored in the pool for the maintenance work and the fuel was feared to have sustained damage from overheating. The cooling period for 548 of the 1,331 rods was shorter than that for others and the volume of decay heat emitted from the fuel in the No. 4 unit pool is larger compared with pools at other reactor buildings. According to TEPCO, radioactive iodine-131 amounting to 220 becquerels per cubic centimeter, cesium-134 of 88 becquerels and cesium-137 of 93 becquerels were detected in the pool water. Those substances are generated by nuclear fission. The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the confirmed radioactive materials were up to 100,000 times higher than normal but that the higher readings may have also been caused by the pouring of rainwater containing much radioactivity or particles of radiation-emitting rubble in the pool.

Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato has expressed anger at the central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., saying both "betrayed" the people of Fukushima Prefecture with repeated assurances about the safety of nuclear power plants. "We feel we were betrayed [by the central government and TEPCO]," Sato said during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday, nearly a month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the outbreak of a series of accidents at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. "The central government and TEPCO repeatedly told us, 'Nuclear power plants are safe because they've got multiple protection systems,' and, 'Earthquake-proof measures have been taken,'" Sato said.

"Moody's cuts nuclear operator Tepco rating to junk status TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service cut its credit rating on Tokyo Electric Power Co to junk status on Monday and kept the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant on review for possible further downgrade, citing uncertainty over the fate of its bailout plan. Moody's said it had lowered Tokyo Electric Power's (Tepco) senior secured rating to Ba2 from Baa2 and long-term rating to B1 from Baa3, citing rising costs and compensation fees related to the disaster at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. "

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) likely failed in its attempt to vent the No. 1 reactor of its tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in mid-March shortly before a hydrogen explosion, despite its claim that it successfully vented the reactor, it has emerged. TEPCO insiders said the valves for venting the reactor did not sufficiently open, and TEPCO's headquarters admitted that it has not confirmed whether the valves opened. Experts have pointed out that data released by the utility suggests that one of the valves closed after it briefly opened. However, it still remains unclear whether the hydrogen explosion in the reactor building was caused by a venting failure, as experts say it is possible that hydrogen was accumulating even before the venting attempt."

"The whereabouts of about 30 subcontractors who helped deal with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is unknown, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said on June 20. The workers are among some 3,700 who worked to control the disaster in March, the month the plant was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The workers' names were listed in records showing that they had been loaned dosimeters, but when the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), contacted the companies they were associated with, the companies replied that there was no record of those workers. The ministry has branded TEPCO's administration of workers "sloppy" and ordered the company to conduct an investigation to identify the workers. "We don't know why there is no record of the workers. The records and dosimeters were managed by TEPCO and its administration can only be described as sloppy," a representative of the ministry's Labor Standards Bureau said. Ministry officials said that 3,639 emergency workers were enlisted to handle the nuclear crisis in March. As of June 20, TEPCO had reported provisional radiation exposure figures for 3,514 workers to the ministry. "

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. led Japanese utilities in rallying around a nuclear future, defying growing public opposition to atomic energy after the worst radiation accident in 25 years. Shareholders of Tepco, as Japan's biggest utility is known, voted to continue with nuclear power yesterday at the company's first annual meeting since the crisis at its Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant wiped about $36 billion off its market value. Kansai Electric Power Co. today reinforced the status quo, with shareholders rejecting a motion to halt reactors. The votes in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that caused meltdowns at Fukushima show Japan's reliance on atomic energy even as opposition grows. Shareholders of Tohoku Electric Power Co. and other regional energy providers also voted down proposals against nuclear power. "

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) said Tuesday that it will pay estimated additional compensation of up to Y48 billion, or Y100,000-Y300,000 per nuclear accident evacuee. The compensation was the second round of compensation payments to nuclear accident evacuees. The company, also known as Tepco, said it will disclose the impact of the extra compensation on its earnings as soon as details become clear. In terms of compensation payments, Tepco has already provided about 50,000 households within a 30-kilometer radius of the stricken plant with payments of up to Y1 million each, which would cost the company a total of around Y50 billion. The utility reported in May a net loss of Y1.247 trillion for the 12 months ended March. The loss was the biggest annual loss in Japanese corporate history outside the financial sector. "

Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T), Asia's largest utility, is considering building nuclear power plants overseas, Kyodo News Agency reported on Wednesday. Kyodo said TEPCO was considering focusing such moves in emerging countries in Asia, such as Vietnam and India, where demand for electricity is expected to strengthen as their economies grow.

Steam leaked from part of a pump carrying water to the No. 7 nuclear reactor in the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in northern Japan on Saturday, but the leak was soon fixed, Kyodo news agency said. Though the steam contained a minuscule amount of radioactive material, there was no impact on the outside environment, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) (9501.T), which runs the plant -- the world's biggest -- was quoted by Kyodo as saying. TEPCO officials were not available for comment.