Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–March 19, 2011 – Update as of 2:00 PM EST.
Radiation doses at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continue to decrease. Radiation dose rates at the site boundary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant ranged from 1 millirem to 3 millirem per hour on March 18. Eighteen locations were monitored in a 30-kilometer to 60-kilometer radius of the plant. The highest radiation dose rate at any of those locations was 14 millirem per hour.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is installing high voltage cables from a nearby transmission line to reactors 1 and 2 at Fukushima Daiichi. Power is expected to be restored to reactors 1 and 2 later today (Saturday, March 19, Japan time). Priority is being given to restoring power to residual heat removal and cooling water pumps at the reactors. Plans are being made to extend high voltage cables to reactors 3 and 4 by March 21.
TEPCO also is stepping up efforts today to add water to the used fuel pool at reactor 4.
Two diesel generators are running and supplying electrical power to reactors 5 and 6 at Fukushima Daiichi. A residual heat removal pump, powered by a diesel generator, is providing cooling to the spent fuel pool at reactor 5. Temperature in the spent fuel pool at reactor 5 is “high, but decreasing,” according to Japan nuclear industry sources.
There has been no change in the primary reactor containment structures at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Crews are still pumping seawater into the reactors 1, 2 and 3 to cool the fuel.
All four reactors at Fukushima Daini have reached cold shutdown conditions with normal cooling being maintained using residual heat removal systems.
U.S. Public Opinion Data
U.S. public opinion on the safety of nuclear energy is relatively unchanged from 2008 levels despite the Fukushima accident, and 60 percent of Americans surveyed said the situation in Japan has made no difference in how they feel about nuclear energy in the United States.
Fox News Poll conducted by Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw & Co. Research. March 14-16, 2011. N=913 registered voters nationwide. Margin of error plus or minus 3.
“Do you believe nuclear power is a safe source of energy?”
| Yes | No | Unsure | |
| % | % | % | |
| March 14-16, 2011 | 51 | 40 | 9 |
| June 17-18, 2008 | 53 | 34 | 13 |
“Has the current situation in Japan made you less likely to support using nuclear energy as a power source here in the United States, or has it not made a difference to how you feel?” If less likely: “Is that much less or just somewhat less likely?”
| Much less likely | Somewhat less likely | Not made a difference | Unsure | |
| % | % | % | % | |
| March 14-16, 2011 | 19 | 18 | 60 | 3 |
UPDATE AS OF 10 A.M. EDT, SATURDAY, MARCH 19:
At a March 19 news conference, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that sea water injection is continuing at reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Preparations were being made to spray water into the used fuel pool at reactor 4, and an unmanned vehicle sprayed more than 1,500 gallons of water over seven hours into the used fuel pool at reactor 3, Edano said. He also said he believed that the situation at the reactor 3 fuel pool is stabilizing.
Some reactor cooling capacity has been restored at reactors 5 and 6 after the installation of generators at those reactors, Edano added.
Edano said that progress had been made on “a fundamental solution” to restore power at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, with electricity expected to be restored at reactors 1 and 2 today and reactor 3 as early as Sunday.
Edano said that additional equipment was being transported to the site and that other means of providing cooling water to the pool is be examined.
Radiation dose at the west gate of the Fukushima Daiichi was 83 millirem per hour on March 18 at 7:10 p.m. EDT and dropped to 36 millirem per hour by 8 p.m. EDT, Edano said. Radiation levels have decreased since March 16. Although they are higher than normal, radiation levels near the reactors are within the range that allows workers to continue on-site recovery measures, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
According to the IAEA, radiation dose rates in Tokyo and other areas outside the 30-kilometer zone remain far below levels which would require any protective action by the public.
All reactors at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant are in cold shutdown. (See the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum website.)
Radiation levels have increased above the federal government’s level in some food products from the Fukushima Prefecture and nearby areas. These levels were detected in samples of milk in Fukushima Prefecture and six samples of spinach in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture, according to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum. Edano said that if these products are consumed for a year, the total radiation dose would be equivalent to one CT scan.
Additional monitoring of food products is continuing in those regions.
Source: nei.org
