TEPCO says Fukushima nuclear plant seismometers were broken

I see ineptitude at all levels of the nuclear industry have remained the same. Don’t need a broken seismic machine or a recalibrated radiation detector to gather that information.

When will the Japanese learn that anything nuclear has never been beneficial for them...

What about the mechanisms on all the other aging reactors on fault lines?

Is the Japanese government in charge of the cleanup?

10 years later, TEPCO still finds ways to infuriate me about their poor management

"No damage" was the first headline that went out and captured everyone's attention. Most people stopped reading at that point.

This quietly changed however into a more truthful "No damage yet reported", when 90% of the readers had gone elsewhere.

One by one we have became aware of what actually happened 10 days ago there in the 7.3 quake on 13 February 2021.

The list of various forms of damage from the latest earthquake slowly grows, but is the trade-off really worth it?

The shock impact was lessened, true, but Tepco's credibility continues to bounce hard along rock bottom.

Quote: "TEPCO initially reported there was no abnormality at the plant from Saturday's earthquake. But on Monday, it said about 20 of the tanks had slid slightly due to the quake, a storage container carrying radioactive waste had tilted, and asphalt pavement at the plant was cracked."

This last paragraph from the article bears reposting; such important detail will surely get brushed under the carpet.

TEPCO,

Old classical conservative management. Not much too expect

This part of the article is very distrubing.

Regulatory officials asked TEPCO at the meeting why it did not have seismological data from the Unit 3 reactor for Saturday's quake, and utility officials acknowledged that both of its seismometers had failed — one in July and the other in October — and had never been repaired.

TEPCO also said that seismometers at all but two of the reactor buildings that survived the 2011 disaster were submerged by water from the tsunami and have never been replaced.

Right now, as far as I know, seismographical instruments do not perform a safe shutdown function as they would during normal operation however they provide valuable data which can be used to determine the level of assessment required within the plant to look for further damage.

However the more important concern with this is it makes us ask what other instrumentation (some which may be performing critical safety functions) is inoperable or has not been calibrated within its (typically one year) calibration cycle.

Even the strongest supporter of TEPCO cannot rationalize that this is OK.

It is not OK and should trigger a full and very invasive audit by the NRA.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?"

--"You never asked"

This culture of omitting things at a high level which creates this fake perception harmony is like shooting on it’s own foot.

And then when major problems like this comes out there will be even more issues.

I hope that someday J-bureaucracy and companies will learn to use transparency.

When there's another accident they're not going to tell you

If there is another quake like that of ten years ago, and a subsequent tsunami, we are in the hands of inept people like TEPCO, which means you can kiss most of Kanto goodbye this time.

"No, no, there's nothing wrong here. See? Look at the seismometers! They don't show any signs of unusual activity! Don't worry!"

Not made clear in the above article, but the seismological measuring instruments in the basements of reactors 1 - 4 were flooded by the tsunami and have not worked since.

https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/87498

Quote: 福島第一原発では1～6号機原子炉建屋の地下階に地震計が設置されていたが、津波で浸水した1～4号機の機器は動いていない。= "At Fukushima I, of the seismometers in the basements of the six reactors buildings 1 -6, the instruments in 1 - 4 were submerged in the tsunami and do not work."

Ah, what does "slid slightly" mean in Nuclear terms...

tango6467, I just checked the J press and found these tanks slid, quote, "about 5 cm, within design limits".

Of possibly more concern is the falling cooling water levels in Nos. 1 and 3, with the possibility that the corium is already exposed in No. 2.

See the water levels in the illustration here. (Water surface in red):

https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article_photo/list?article_id=87052&pid=266284

https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/87052

So all the previous top officials at Tepco since the build of those reactors up until today need to be arrested and thrown in prison for public endangerment, negligence and anything else that the courts can think up.

They have systematically lied & cheated to make profits and place everyone else in danger.

TEPCO is a filthy corrupt bunch of scumbags

The general function of seismometers is to stop the nuclear reaction by insertion of the control rods. 

Given the high seismic activity in Japan, seismograph control at a nuclear power plant is among the most important tasks. The persons responsible for the safe operation of the power plant should therefore be held criminally liable.

It doesn't really matter anymore, enough radiation has been released to sicken all of us for the next 50 to 100 years anyways.