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Government of Japan has released guidance for agencies to certify that their Twitter accounts are truly the official accounts. I see some references to “the Japanese version of Twitter” and hope that they do not Galapagos that thing into an unworkable, walled-off, useful-only-to-Japan-and-therefore-useless “hinternet” system. So far, so good.

In fact, I have been pleasantly surprised by the recent development of high-quality, well-populated information in English from the Japanese government, at least in matters not directly pertaining to (ahem) the violent and menacing death throes of the stricken nuclear powerplant at Fukushima. Even there, I am finding that better information than what we think of as official and public is indeed available. The government seems to make lots of raw and evaluated data available online.

The government … Continue reading →

If these graphs are trustworthy, then there are two still-developing situations, although both are moving slowly, and neither looks like an emergent problem in the short term. But in dealing with previously damaged systems, all bets are off.

The pressure in the core of Fukushima Daiichi number one continues to rise, while the drywell pressure falls. The rising pressure is disturbing even though it is just approaching 1,000 kPa, which is about ten atmospheres. We have seen these vessels performing well in excess of 6,000 kPa, and at the rate the pressure is rising, that would be weeks from now even if it continued in a linear fashion, which is unlikely. So as a raw amount of pressure, it is not alarming, but the fact that it … Continue reading →

Contrary to my previous post, it seems, the third unit at Fukushima 1 is intact. There are serious issues, but this data tells a tale of fluctuating pressure in #3 drywell after the explosion, which would not be possible if the lid had been blown off. Instead it would look like #2, which is a nightmare. That one definitely breached, as the pressure in the core vessel and the drywell have not budged from 1 atmosphere since the explosion.
Part of the deal in speaking frankly is admitting mistakes, and I was wrong about #3 popping its cork. Now we just have all the rest of them to worry about.

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I can’t prove it but I think the lid of Fukushima 1-3 is lying atop the wreckage where it landed after being blasted 400 feet straight up in a spew of reactor guts.

Explosion of #3 directed straight up, and forcefully so. This happens when “up” is the easiest direction to go, which would be the case if the lid gives way while the walls hold together.

You can see crap raining down from that plume. Big heavy crap. I said *at the time* that the object on the left was the primary containment lid.

The footage of the 1-3 (second) explosion is shot from the south-west. The tower in the foreground is aligned with the corner of the #3 building from the camera’s perspective. The big … Continue reading →