Fukushima worker confesses “There is nothing left that we could do”

This Fukushima worker (Twitter account Happy20790) tweets useful information daily.
On 3/11, he was right at the plant, had water of the spent fuel pool over his protecting clothes.
When reactor 3 exploded, he was in reactor 2.

Though his tweets are sometimes biased, he basically tries to be neutral.

Remember the previous post “Tepco reduced 60% of the sub contract workers at Fukushima plants”

He explained the truth behind it all.

Happy20790 ハッピー
ただいまっ(^O^)今日もコツコツでした。1号機のガス管理システム作業も終盤になってきました。これが終わると今後の抱えてる作業はあと2~3件でその後は今のところ無いでし。やらなきゃいけない事はいっぱいあるけど…。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き1:ん~昨日の国会でもあったけど作業員削減、どこの企業がどの位なのかはわかんないけど、全体的に作業員減るんじゃないかなぁ。作業員が減る理由は予算の事もあるけど単純にそれだけじゃないと思うよ。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き2:政府が言ってる第2ステップまで終わったら、その後の作業はまだ具体的に決まってない計画段階のものが多くて具体的作業が決まってないのも理由の一つなんだと思う。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き3:なぜ決まらないのかって云うと、次ステップは格納容器とか圧力容器内の状況把握、炉内注水の汚染水が漏れてる場所の把握及び止水対策等々がメインでそれらの工事をどうやってやるかが具体化してないんだと思う。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き4:原子炉建屋は高線量だしまして3号機は建屋でさえ未だに入れないし…。ガス管理システムで格納容器内のデータ分析して一つ一つ決めなきゃならないんだ。原子炉建屋の中や地下に行けなきゃ作業も出来ない。ということは作業員も必要ないに結びつくんだと思うんだ。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き5:今現在やる事が決まって作業があるのは3号機オペフロの瓦礫撤去、4号機のオペフロ解体撤去・機材撤去・SFP内燃料取出、汚染水処理システムの維持・メンテナンス・タンク設置、1~4号機の炉内注水システムの維持・メンテナンス、遮水壁設置くらいかなぁ。

Happy20790 ハッピー
続き6:あとは固化設備とか洗濯設備とかの付帯設備設置だね。廻りの作業はあるけど肝心な中身の作業が出来ないのが頭のイタいとこなんだ…。あとひとつ理由をあげると、協力企業の作業員が減るのは今までメーカーがやってた作業を東電社員や東電系列企業がやり始めた事かな。

In short, he says Tepco started reducing the number of workers because they can not do anything for the reactors anymore. Even though they stock lots of workers, there is no clue to do something most important.

He explains, the next thing to do is to check the state of container vessels pressure vessels, define the actual point of the leakage of contaminated water, and action to stop the leakage, but there is zero plan / idea how to manage it.

The interiors of the buildings are extremely radioactive and nobody can officially go into reactor 3 (though the helmet of the worker was recorded in the video taken by the robot). They can never go into the basement floor of the reactors either. The only thing they can do is to analyze the gas from inside of the container vessels.

Thus nothing can be done by human anymore. They can only clean debris, take away broken operation floor, maintain the water purifying system, setting new tanks etc..

  1. I have come to consider that the complete demolition of the power plant buildings followed by excavation to locate the corium masses is the only way forwards. Desperate times require bold measures.

    The ground around the plant needs to be cleared to a (say) 3Km radius. An outer ring from 2-3Km to mitigate general environmental damage. An innermost ring from 1-2Km. to provide a radiation firebreak for anyone working on site. From 1-2Km. store the rubble from the demolition and the soil from the excavation.

    More knowledgeable folks than I may well find these distances are too short but that’s a detail for them to consider.

    In parallel, there will be work establishing measures to mitigate yet further environmental damage to Japan, its neighbours, the Ocean and the rest of the world; and a internationally agreed plan on disposal of the debris.

    I cannot see any other proposal working, I cannot see any payback from the tiptoeing around that is the current process, and I am alarmed that the folks on the ground now appear to have lost the will to go on.

    Submitted with respect and humility.

    1. Apologies

      Please read as:

      “The ground around the plant needs to be cleared to a (say) 3Km radius. An outer ring from 2-3Km to mitigate general environmental damage. An innermost ring from 0-1Km. to provide a radiation firebreak for anyone working on site. From 1-2Km. store the rubble from the demolition and the soil from the excavation.”

      As recommended, plan carefully before acting. As I should have done above.

      1. I really don’t think there is any practical solution in what you write. They cannot excavate after the cores without being exposed to massive radiation and what when they get to them? They are not containable by any means so what then?

        I think the best solution, albeit drastic is or was to drop nuclear bombs on each reactor (all six) and in that way consume all the fuel. Then they can actually consider starting cleanup. Unfortunately it may be too late for this since the corium is now apparently in China syndrome.

        1. Explosions are going to massively contaminate the air and consequently the land and ocean around. Had bombs been an option they would have been used by now.

          The analysis that expects radiation on workers needs to be carried out. Your expectations may or may not be correct. Regardless, the action of the USSR at Chernobyl showed that fear need not be an ingredient in carrying out remediation plans. let alone trying to think them through.

          Fear is what has kept the Fuxu activity alive all along. Including the ongoing propaganda, coverups and lies. We should try to think about the unthinkable just in case a possible solution is trying to reveal itself.

          If the corium masses are hot because they are covered, then removing the cover should reduce their heat content and the intrinsic danger of the material.

          I only suggest this as something to look at. I think the experts should look at it, What Tepco have been doing now looks suspiciously like a pretence of activity for the sake of the media, and it now seems they have lost heart and want to walk away from it.

          1. To put some flesh on the bones of this concept I’ve started outlining the areas on Google Earth. The area concerned is substantial and includes a number of settlements, villages and towns. That it is so large tends to suggest the right scale.

      2. Maybe there’s still time to dig underground and put something there to stop anything coming from the plant.

        1. I think that would be more difficult than starting at the surface – more costly, more risky, and less certain of results.

    2. …”ground needs to be cleared”

      …and just who is going to operate the equipment, would you?

      Demolish the power plant??? and whom would you like to see go in and set wiring and charges, Santa’s elvs?

      1. This sort of response is to be expected but adds nothing to the debate and misses the major point.

        Sarcasm is unnecessary. If we are facing an extinction event then common sense, and our DNA, tells us to start thinking and cooperating.

  2. maybe the only way to get rid of those cores is to release the energy of a megaton bomb to vaporise them, maybe better than the slow release for god knows how many years, get it over in one go and start recovery from then on.

  3. I’ve been wondering in the last two-three months why they’ve been more open (inviting journalists, admitting meltdowns, admitting that some areas can’t even be entered by people…)

    It occurred to me at some point in September that perhaps they are hiding something even worse than three- to five-fold meltdown.

    Unfortunately, I was right. As an often pessimistic person, I’m amazed that TEPCO and their nuclear plants have far surpassed many of my worst expectations.

    It’s a like a bad horror movie.

    Anyone in Japan who is reading this: please consider leaving ASAP, especially if you have children.

    1. I didn’t post anything when Tepco gave “a free bus package tour” for journalists. The journalists did their best. Some of them took nice pictures. but I know it was nothing but a performance.
      Before they held the free package tour,they cleaned and organized everything ,they had so many rehearsals not to let them see something they should not see.
      If I post it, I must help them spread lies.
      There’s nothing to improve. It’s over.Simple.

  4. Can’t the Japanese government do what the Soviets did for the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and blanket the entire Fukushima nuclear reactor complex in concrete? Or is that going to be a problem of getting enough concrete in to cover a huge area?

    At least this gives the Japanese government some breathing space to think about a proper long-term solution and to consider cleaning up the countryside surrounding Fukushima.

    I can’t see why Japan doesn’t invest in geothermal energy as there are hot springs and an active volcano (Kagoshima?) in western Japan. But the decision to invest in nuclear power back in the 1940s and 50s was not originally an economic one – it was a military one abetted by the United States government of the time.

  5. So Tepco is just waiting for the corium to reach the bedrock? And then hope for the best? But what if it’s the worst instead, an enormous explosion like a nuclear bomb??? Help!!!!!
    How many more months until it reaches that point?

  6. Dear Japan :

    Drop
    LIQUID NITROGEN & DRY ICE CO2
    on your goddamned Fukushima nuke reactors

    NOW, Already, Please, Thank you.

    Why ? Shock cooling — Smothering — Formation of solid nitrides, nitrates, carbonates, &c… Duhhh…

    It worked @ Chernobyl ( Tons of Dry Ice CO2 dropped by helicopter ).
    Still can’t figure it out ?
    Ask “Red” Adair : He used liquid nitrogen to extinguish oil well fires in Kuwait ( Pop. Sci., Jan 1991 )

    UPDATE : 6 April 2011 … weeks later — http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-06/japan-nuclear-workers-start-pumping-nitrogen-into-damaged-plant.html — Japan Nuclear Workers Start Pumping Nitrogen Into Damaged Plant… [ Then they stopped for “fear of a hydrogen explosion” ]. Now fear This —

    20 November 2011 … http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/11/architect-of-reactor-3-warns-massive-hydrovolcanic-explosion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29 target=”_blank”

    Full Scale Japan Syndrome ( Meltdown + Denial = National Murder-Suicide ) in progress ! Soon the “Tread” will come off Japan …

    1. Well said. “Japan Syndrome”, exactly.

      Like many other people do here, I hope the Japanese “government” bureaucrats and the TEPCO’s middle-aged men, who like to appear on TV, will finally wake up.
      I hope they realize this grave problem now instead of playing the “innocent” and virgin boys (“boya
      ” in Japanese) the way they have been pretending this year.

      The former PM Naoto Kan looked like a totally incompetent boy too.
      Everyone wonders why these Japanese guys can never grow up and admit both the only solution and their own incompetence.

      I fear the time is running out for Japan now and the Japanese people in this country will have to witness a so called “mushroom cloud” over the Fukushima plant due to the China-Japan Syndrome.
      All thanks to the utter incompetence of the Japanese “boya” men from the TEPCO and the “government.”

  7. this is just crazy…is this a mass extintion accident…i think radiation is everywhere ..not to be and alarmist but what can anyone do but look out for yourself,dont depend on your media or your lying ass goverment your goverment is like ours in u.s.a…they turned off radiation detectors in canada and usa…all the plume went into canada and the midwest usa…some radiation in rainwater here in indiana .345 msv…hmmm what the freak (f#ck) you have in that nuclear fuel…i think it has plutonium in it ..like very high levels..

    1. Bravo Roberto, svpeao che alla fine ti saresti dimostrato esattamente per quello che sei. Un grandissimo maleducato, come MINIMO. So bene che il post con le tue “sparate” sullo Stronzio “inesistente” è quello precedente, ma se avessi risposto lì tu non l’avresti letto, impegnato come sei ad attaccare Maria su tutti i fronti possibili e immaginabili (il perché lo sai solo tu ma non è difficile da immaginare!)Il fatto poi che ti arrampichi sugli specchi, che ti appigli ai refusi per attaccare un calcolo incontestabile lascia intuire parecchio altro! So bene che Sievert si scrive Sievert e Il calcolo da me riportato è basato sui dati riportati a pag 3 della TUA STESSA FONTE!Cito: “Una contaminazione omogenea superficiale di 1000 Bq/cm2 di pelle produce una dose equivalente all’epidermide (strato superficiale della pelle) di 3,6x10E-3 Sv/ora”.10 grammi sono un centesimo di kg (10E-2) quindi 50 Bq/kg danno 0,5 Bq su 10 grammi. Il fattore di conversione secondo la TUA fonte è 3,6x10E-3 Sv su 1000 Bq quindi su un Bq è pari a 3,6x10E-6. Moltiplichiamo questo fattore per 0,5 Bq ed otteniamo la dose equivalente in UN’ORA di 1,8 microSv, microSievert (contento?) su UN centimetro quadro. Moltiplichiamo per 10 centimetri quadri e otteniamo 18 microSv tondi tondi. In un’ora!Sei tu che non sai la differenza tra Bq/m2, Bq/kg, esposizione interna, esposizione esterna (con e senza contatto) carissimo! Sei tu che quello che fa finta di saper fare i conti. Anzi, mi correggo, fai finta di NON saper fare i conti. Per me li sai fare benissimo. Perché fingi lo sai solo tu ma non è molto difficile da immaginare.Comunque grazie, professo’. È da commenti come i tuoi che si capisce veramente come stanno le cose, chi siete e perché “sparate” così. Ce ne sono 4 o 5 in rete che scrivono usando il tuo stesso stile.Uno l’ho già sgamato con i suoi post sulla “salubrità” delle radiazioni e sulle sostanze NON emesse da Fukushima. Tu sei il secondo. Non ho fretta. Sono sicuro che continuando così alla fine vi sgamerò tutti. )Ti saluto, “sempliciotto” (io non mi abbasso al tuo livello!)P.S.: Comunque per farti contento ripubblico tutto sulla’altro post, così non ti lamenti.

  8. It’s time Tepco is relieved of duty, as they say in the military. They have been on duty too long. They have conflicts of iterests in this event. They are over their head in cleaning an event they bear a good undetermined portion of responsibility for its cause. They are trying to clean up an event and minimize out of pocket expenses, hide and minimize responsibility. Then fininally they will leave a camoflaged problem and walk away alla BP in the Gulf of Mexico.
    This is an international problem affecting the whole world directly with radiation poisoning. That demands an international solution. More and bigger brains without conflict of interests can be brought in to deal with the situation, and plans can be devised and discussed among international experts and governments, and the necessary funding for the optimum solution, if there is one, can be obtained.
    The longer this international solution is delayed by the Japanese government, the worse things will get. Just as we have been witnessing with continued international radiation spread. Also, the longer this international solution is delayed the more technically difficult it will be do the cleanup. Bandaid solutions, as well as rash ill considered decisions by parties with special interests and conflicts of interest are not the way to go in my humble opinion.
    The situation is like the old joke about passengers on an old time wood passenger boat with seats directly on the hull. One passenger takes out a drill and starts drilling a hole under his seat. The other passengers are astonished, and cry out what are you doing. That passenger answers, it is my seat, I paid for it, and I can do what I want under my seat. The other passengers answer, fool you will sink and drowne us all.
    This is not Tepco’s problem anymore it is the worlds.

  9. Bombs WERE an option, in the weeks after the explosions France and America were arguing about this very issue – The fact is that the people who had responsibility for making the decision CHOSE the slow-burner-poison-the-whole-planet-option, rather than sacrifice the image that ‘Nuclear is safe and we can control it’.

  10. I think the best two solutions are

    1. Nuke the plant burn up all the radiation before MOX explodes and poisons the earth

    2. get the huge ship dredger that was used to build sand islands to Fukushima and pump these elements underground in the cracks. This would neutralize the radiation

    dry sand
    boron powder
    graphite
    powered shuttle tile
    lead powder

    this seals the material in a cocoon worked in English experiments. The ship can pump thousands and thousands of gallons of materials per minute.

  11. I believe the actions that need to be set in motion are: 1) clear 10km no-go zone and start building nuke waste storage for dismantled reactors and tsunami waste inside. 2) build a massive seawall to prevent the crime of sea pollution 3) tunnel underneath and build containment like under Chenobyl 4) Evacuate citizens from 80-100km 5) move Japanese capital to Osaka 6) evacuate children from Tokyo/Ibaraki etc 7) pay all citizens from 80km for their house and land and 9 months salary for relocation 8) ban fishing from Tohoku for 200 years 9) start training doctors and caregivers for future health consequences 10) internationalize the effort to find a solution 11) prosecute Kan, Edano and TEPCO management 12) dispel rumours in foreign press that the disaster is finished and under control 13) decommission all nuke power stations 14) develop cutting edge renewable energy technology and export to the world 15) ban all food with even slight radiation, and make it a crime to grow, sell or serve food with even slight amounts of irradiation

    1. to Naoya Yamaguchi, I believe you have given much thought to what is going on there in Japan and some good solutions to many of the collateral damage. You are correct that massive action must be taken in multiple areas of the devastation. I also agree wholeheartedly with the criminal charges being brought to bear upon those who have continually mislead the people of Japan and in an extenstion of that, the NRC’s complicity here in the US. By rights, that would need to include those government officials here & in other countries who have suppressed the information that has been not only available to them, but stalwartly brought before conferences by Arney Gunderson of Fairewinds.com. His expert information from the beginning of this event has brought the attention of Fukushima many people throughout the world, we just need to make it more widely known than it is now. I would suggest that you start a conversation with Mr. Gunderson who at least has an active video website up with up-to-date info on Fukushima. I am more than sure that he could use your invaluable personal-on-the-ground info. You can reach him via his website. I pray for all of those who have suffered imemediately from the event & for all of us who are still going to experience the ongoing effects. Also, I know it sounds strange, but another individual here in the US who could make a big impact on the American’s Nuclear situation is Ralph Nader. He has long fought for alternative energies and against nuclear….and he has spent his entire life in the service of this country’s people and fought for their safety. I hope this gives you soem avenues for getting the truth out to the world. Sincerely, Penni

    2. Great! Big Thinking!

      In my opinion, for what it’s worth, which may not be a lot, Big Thinking does need to be right at the top of the Fuxu agenda, and the confused and lazy fat cats need to be swept mercilessly out of the way of the real remediators, whoever they may need to be.

      And (again, for what it’s worth, which may not be much, my full moral and intellectual support can be at your disposal).

      Well said, thanks.

  12. All these ‘nuke it’ posts… so ignorant. Even the pit material of a nuke is only fractionally transmuted on detonation, and the product isotopes are typically far more radioactive than than the original materials of the nuke.
    As for trying to ‘burn up’ the corium masses, which are now deep in the ground under thousands of tons of reinforced concrete and steel – are you freeking out of your mind?

    Nuking the Fukushima reactors would have one result, and one only. VASTLY more radiation release than is already occurring.
    Nuking them is NOT even close to a solution. Unless the ‘problem’ you want to solve is life on Earth.

    Stop being so damned stupid. “Blow it up, that’ll help.” Good grief.

  13. Stop me if i’ve posted this before —

    Drop LIQUID NITROGEN & DRY ICE CO2
    on your goddamned nuclear reactors

    NOW, already, please, thank you.

    Why ? Shock cooling — Smothering — Formation of solid nitrides, nitrates, carbonates, &c.

    It worked @ Chernobyl — See
    Channel 4-TV, San Francisco, 6 O’Clock News, Day 5 —
    Emergency Message ( from me ) morphed in transmission via Lawrence Livermore Laboratory HQ @ Berkeley :
    ” We recommend that you drop a refrigerant on it. ”
    Check their archives if you doubt —
    The Russians used Dry Ice ~ 12 hours later.

    Nitrogen embrittlement will facilitate penetration of more nitrogen and break up potential critical mass …

    Ask “Red” Adair : He used liquid nitrogen to extinguish oil well fires in Kuwait ( Popular Science, Jan 1991 ) …

Comments are closed.

About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

Categories

November 2011
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930