TEPCO Rejected 2008 Tsunami Threat Report

Tokyo Electric Power officials received in 2008 an internal report showing that the the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant could be threatened by a tsunami of up to 10.2 metres. However TEPCO officials rejected the report saying that such an threat was "unrealistic".

Because TEPCO the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant ignored the warnings made in the internal report nothing was done to better protection against seawater if a big tsunami occurred.

The internal report show that the complex was at risk of damage from a tsunami of the size that hit north-east Japan in March, and dismissed the need for better protection against seawater flooding.

Tsunami at The Fukushima Daiichi Plant Photograph: Reuters

The tsunami that took out Fukushima and the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on the afternoon of 11 March was more than 14 meters high and lead to the destruction and full meltdown of the reactor units.

Masao Yoshida the man in charge of the department overseeing the plant's management in 2008 when the 2008 internal report was submitted, has since been credited with preventing a more serious accident in March.

However now with the evidence showing that the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was unprepared for the tsunami, despite the previous reports and warnings, Yoshida is now leaving his post. The manager of the Fukushima plant, Masao Yoshida is now being treated for an unspecified illness and will leave his post on Thursday.

TEPCO in the meantime refuse to disclose what Yoshida's illness is and many are now guessing that it's something to do with radiation sickness. But what is said is that it is not related to his exposure to radiation during the nine months since the Fukushima Disaster began. Yoshida said "On doctors' advice, I have no choice but to be hospitalised for treatment," "It breaks my heart to have to bid farewell in this way to all of the people with whom I have worked since the disaster."

After the tsunami Yoshida approved the continued injection of seawater into one of the damaged reactors, despite being told to abandon the measure by Tepco officials. He was later reprimanded, but won praise from experts who said he had helped cool overheating fuel rods and prevent a worse disaster.

The 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was built on the assumptions that the biggest tsunami that could be expected Fukushimas coast would be 5.7 metres high. Even at that height, the 2008 report said, water levels on site could exceed 15 metres.

There is ongoing discussion what illness Yoshida have for the moment being and with citizens upset that the warnings made back in 2008 fell on def ears. 

Fukushima Japan Earthquake Research Center Worried

Transcribed Video BBC NEWS Australian Cannonball Fukushima Disaster Report

More than 300.000 children from around Fukushima nuclear plant are having health checkups because of fears of possible thyroid disorders from radiation. The meltdown at Fukushima has added to public unease in Japan about nuclear energy, and some experts say their warnings about the risks were ignored. Our science correspondent David Shukman has been reporting on the nuclear question and has been given rare access to the Hamaoka nuclear power station.

David Shukman: This is the friendly face of nuclear power, bright and reliable, an exhibition to persuade the public that getting electricity this way is safe. But people have also seen a much darker image. Men struggling inside the Fukushima power station for the past six months and opinion is shifting even inside the plant itself.

None of the staff can speak to the media openly but engineer from Fukushima agreed to meet us. To hide his identity we have altered the video, but this is what he said.

Fukushima Engineer: That if people think nuclear power is safe, I’d like them to work with me for a day in the ruble. They’d see a disaster at Fukushima, and if after that they still say it’s safe, they are just ignorant.

David Shukman: Most of Japan’s nuclear power stations like this one at Hamaoka are now shut down. Here the 2000 staff are just keeping things ticking over. And none of the plants will reopen until they are better defended, especially from the sea.

David Shukman: The big shock for the Japanese nuclear industry was that the earthquake was stronger and the tsunami bigger than anyone expected, so they are having to take emergency measures, here they can no longer relay on this huge embankment for protection against the sea. They are going to build an 18 meter wall just the other side of it.

David Shukman: A company video explains how this massive new sea defense will work, and on a rare visit inside we were shown how the power station is already been made more waterproof. It was flooding that caused the catastrophe at Fukushima so here the backup systems are now installed up on the roof. Officials hope the public will be reassured.

Kanji Nishida, Chubu Electric Power: We confirm that tsunamis will not come over our embankment we still think our nuclear power plant is safe enough.

David Shukman: But at the governments earthquake research center they are worried, they have simulated in graphic detail a really huge tsunami that struck Japan more than a thousand years ago, and they say that no one listens.

Japan Earthquake Research Center: According to the director Yukinobu Nakamura we warned that a tsunami could overwhelm Fukushima, but they put of doing anything about it.

David Shukman: In the past Japan quietly relied on nuclear power but the question now is whether the next generation will still want it. David Shukman BBC NEWS at Hamaoka in Japan.

6.8 Quake Hit Japan With Epicenter off Fukushima Prefecture

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You can read the news below but I want to share something with you first. The earthquake that hit August 19, 2011 14:36 Local Time can be seen here on the live cam of the Fukushima reactor units. Around 1:46 min into the video we see  the whole camera shake from the earthquake. Because the 1 hour video is compressed to 3 min the earthquake goes by quick on cam. However I read a very interesting thing from Sickputer on enenews. He noted that since the earthquake the whole plant was very quiet. And this is true. There have not been any "burning" going on. Or the normal fog / steam coming from the reactors. It's been quiet. Very quite.

To me this confirms some of the things that we have been seeing on the live cam. That TEPCO is indeed burning the radioactive material on site. But because of the earthquake the work with burning the radioactive material have come to a halt. For the moment it's quiet, I guess we only have to wait and see if they continue to burn the nuclear waste.

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https://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/19/3848023/strong-earthquake-hits-north-eastern.html

Published: Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 - 1:00 am

TOKYO - A magnitude-6.8 earthquake jolted north-eastern Japan on Friday and a tsunami warning was issued, the Meteorological Agency said.

The warning was issued for the coastal areas in the prefectures of Fukushima and Miyagi.

No immediate casualties or damage were reported.

The quake occurred at 2:36 pm (0536GMT) with its epicenter off Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 20 kilometers, the agency said.

No immediate new damage was found at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, public broadcaster NHK said, citing operator Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The same region was hit by a magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami on March 11, causing damage to the plant, which has been leaking radioactive material ever since.