Safety Not A Critical Issue At J-Nuke Plants

[Doctor Stop]

[floatl][/floatl]

Hokuriku Electric Power covered up nuclear reactor reaching criticality

KANAZAWA -- Hokuriku Electric Power Co. covered up that a nuclear reactor reached criticality in 1999 after three of its control rods accidentally dropped out of position while offline, company officials announced Thursday.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has summoned Isao Nagahara, president of the power supplier, and instructed him to order that the reactor be stopped and given a thorough safety inspection.

The accident occurred in the No. 1 reactor at the company's Shika Nuclear Power Plant on June 18, 1999, company officials said. Three of the 89 control rods -- which prevent a nuclear reaction from occurring -- dropped out of the reactor while it was offline for inspections. The remaining rods were insufficient to stop the reaction process, which then reached criticality...the agency suspects that three control rods dropped out of the reactor because workers erroneously operated their control valves.

Failure to report any emergency stop of nuclear reactors to the government regulator constitutes a violation of the law. However, the three-year statute of limitations has already run out on the Hokuriku Electric Power Co. case.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070315p2a00m0na025000c.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality_accident

[Tsuru]

I think this incident indicates a fundamentally flawed basic core design... If the control rods have to raised to go into the reactor, what's to there to prevent total meltdown when the emergency system fails? I thought reactors were always designed to allow the control rods to drop in by gravity and shut it down when the emergency system fails?

[Doctor Stop]

Yes, the control rods are supposed to drop by gravity and land safely on deliciously fluffy donuts thereby halting the self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction. Donuts...

Breaking news:

Outrage over Japan nuclear reactor coverup

An official with Hokuriku's nuclear team admitted the company had not reported the incident, which took place during a test while the unit was offline for a planned inspection.

"There was a cover-up," Toshihiko Takahashi told a news conference, bowing deeply. He added that the incident may have breached laws governing nuclear plant regulation.

"We deeply apologize for [almost killing] everyone."

Link

What's good with the WA if people who break the WA don't commit seppuku immediately after being caught breaking the WA? Have they no honor?

[TFG]

A guy I know teaches at one of those power plants and a few years ago when they were caught painting over cracks in the shroud with paint, he asked the people at the place he worked at what they thought about it.
The reply which came from the people who work in this plant was "Oh, that's not unusual, we do it all the time here"!

I think the IAEA would do well to get a short leash on the Japanese with their practices in nuclear power plants of painting over the shrouds cracks, mixing uranium in buckets till it glows in the dark and of course hiding dangerous incidents from both the public and the government.

Fucking idiots.

[IkemenTommy]

You hear about these cover-ups every time, but you never hear about anyone coming forward to admit. You know that they cover up more shit under the rug and you'll never hear some of the real fucked up shit. Oh well, if you get caught just apologize and do the gomen nasai to the press. People will forgive and forget.

[Tsuru]

Exactly. What we hear in the press is probably just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

For a country that has first-hand experience with the prolonged aftereffects of radiation exposure of whole populations I never cease to be amazed just how incredibly lucky they continue to be that something hasn't already gone very very wrong. What part of the Japanese government oversees the safety of nuclear power plants? The only institutions I hear mentioned are the companies that operate these plants, but before the IAEA steps in there's gotta be someone in the J-government who's got the responsibility of scrutinizing these events?

[Doctor Stop]

Japan's nuclear program is as dangerous at the North Korean's, if not more.

The biggest problem is the Japanese public doesn't know and doesn't care.

[Doctor Stop]

2 more N-plants admit past problems with rods

Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co. said Monday that control rods had slipped out of place at their reactors years before a similar incident resulted in a criticality accident in 1999 at Hokuriku Electric Power Co.'s Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The slipping of the rods took place at Tohoku Electric's Onagawa nuclear power plant in July 1988, and at Chubu Electric's Hamaoka nuclear power plant in May 1991. Neither of the incidents led to a criticality accident, so the utilities did not report them to the government.

However, if they had released information on the incidents, it could have prevented the criticality accident from occurring at the Shika nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor in Shikamachi, Ishikawa Prefecture.

The three nuclear reactors in question are boiling-water reactors. Fail-safes to prevent control rods from slipping apparently were not functioning. Experts suspect there were common structural defects in the fail-safes...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070320TDY01003.htm

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: TEPCO admits '78 criticality incident

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) revealed Thursday that one of its nuclear reactors may have reached "criticality," or a self-sustaining chain reaction, in 1978...TEPCO's reactor manufacturer Toshiba Corp.'s records showed there was a high possibility of a criticality incident that could have lasted for 7 1/2 hours...more...

[Doctor Stop]

[floatl][/floatl]Tepco owns up to past nuclear plant accidents

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that it had concealed an emergency shutdown of a reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 1984.

The utility also reported to the government that a criticality accident occurred in a separate reactor at the plant in 1978, changing its earlier claim that such an accident was "likely to have happened."

Tepco is the second power company in recent days to acknowledge the occurrence of a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. did so on March 15.

Along with Tepco, 11 other power companies also reported to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, all the irregularities they have found in their probes since November under an order by Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari...The utility said it deliberately chose not to report the incident to the nuclear safety watchdog.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070331a4.html

[TFG]

Seems like NK's nuclear program is safer than Japan's.

I saw a newscaster say that last night on TV and it cracked me up.

IAEA where are you while all this is going on in JAPAN!

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: More nuclear plant cover-ups admitted

More cover-ups of problems at nuclear power plants were reported Friday as electric power companies belatedly announced measures to prevent a recurrence of accidents at their boiling-water reactors. In some instances at the boiling-water reactors, slipped control rods led to a state of criticality, or a self-sustaining chain reaction, including one at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power. TEPCO on Friday came clean on other problems. Officials admitted that not only did the company fail to have control rod operating devices used at the Fukushima No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant inspected by the central government, but that TEPCO workers asked Hitachi Ltd. officials to help cover up the lack of inspection...more...

[Buraku]

TEPCO is going to close another one of their plants

[madfuku]

Look ma, the sushi glows in the dark:D