[ RadSafe ] One More NEI update

[Conklin, Al (DOH)]

I'm taking the public calls on this incident- mostly about KI, with me
trying to explain why we're not recommending it. I've handled about 200
calls since yesterday. Anyone else inundated and what is your message?

Al Conklin
Lead Trainer and Health Physicist
Radiological Emergency Preparedness Section
Office of Radiation Protection
Department of Health
office: 360-236-3261
cell: 360-239-1237

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jeff Terry
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 3:15 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: [ RadSafe ] One More NEI update

EB UPDATE AS OF 2:15 P.M. EDT, TUESDAY, MARCH 15:
An explosion at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant earlier today has
damaged the suppression chamber, which holds water and steam released
from the reactor core. Personnel not directly supporting recovery
efforts have been evacuated from the plant, with about 50 employees
remaining, principally to restore cooling water in the reactors.

Later in the day, water level inside the Unit 2 reactor was measured at
1.7 meters below the top of the fuel rods, but it was rising as workers
pumped sea water into the reactor, reports said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that an oil leak in a cooling water pump
at Unit 4 was the cause of a fire that burned for approximately 140
minutes. The fire was not in the spent fuel pool, as reported by several
media outlets. Unit 4 was in a 105-day-long maintenance outage at the
time of the earthquake and there is no fuel in the reactor.

All four reactors at the Fukushima Daini power plant are shutdown and
reactor coolant systems are keeping the reactors safe.
Residents have been evacuated from the area surrounding the facility and
they have been given potassium iodide tablets as a preventive measure.
The ingestion of the tablets can help prevent the accumulation of
radioactive iodine in the thyroid.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent 11 experts to Tokyo to
provide assistance requested by the Japanese government. Two reactor
experts were dispatched Saturday; others began departing Monday.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said today that nuclear energy is safe and
important to the country's energy portfolio. Americans should have full
confidence that the United States has rigorous safety regulations in
place to ensure that our nuclear power is generated safely and
responsibly.

In testimony before the House of Representatives, Chu said: Safety
remains at the forefront of our effort to responsibly develop America's
energy resources, and we will continue to incorporate best practices and
lessons learned into that process. He said the country must rely on
several energy sources, including nuclear.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, said in a statement, I think undoubtedly they'll (Nuclear
Regulatory Commission) be taking a fresh look at the safety precautions
and provisions that are in place, in light of whatever is learned from
the Japanese. I hope that the Commission will quickly reach some
conclusions about whether the safety precautions and provisions that it
has insisted on are adequate for the future.


Jeff Terry
Asst. Professor of Physics
Life Science Bldg Rm 166
Illinois Institute of Technology
3101 S. Dearborn St. 
Chicago IL 60616
630-252-9708
terryj at iit.edu




On Mar 15, 2011, at 5:06 PM, Jeff Terry wrote:

> Sorry, lost the links here they are:
> 
>
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1300168169P.pdf
> 
>
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news_images/pdf/ENGNEWS01_1300166591P.pdf
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/4qfm6nc
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/4s8mrul
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/48konl8
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
> On Mar 15, 2011, at 4:58 PM, Jeff Terry wrote:
> 
>>> On the JAIF website, there is a complete summary PDF that includes
status updates of all units at the Fukushima plant. 
>> 
> 
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