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IMPACT OF NUCLEAR DISASTER

ON FUKUSHIMA DAI-ICHI POWER

PLANT

 LB5124- CURRENT BUSINESS ISSUES

(SP 51)

 LECTURER: Mr Chua Chong Hock  

Submitted by:

SINDHU PRAKASH 

12667501

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December 12, 2011

Toshio Nishizawa,

President,

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated.

Respected Sir,

We are submitting to you the report, which will help the TEPCO in the speedy expedition of 

the disaster that occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The purpose of thereport is to bring to your notice, the process of mobilizing all available resources towards the

stabilization of "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station" and to "care for the afflicted",

"ensure stable power supply during the summer" and "implement extreme business efficiency

and streamlining measures." The content of this report concentrates on the structural and

acoustical aspects of the measures that will help the Nuclear power plant recover from the

disaster met. This report also discusses the ways in which the support can be sought from the

concerned sources for the speedy recovery.

Sincerely,

SindhuPrakash

R&D Administrative Officer

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated

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CONTENTS 1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………….....................................4 

2.  INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………5 

2.1  PURPOSE AND SCOPE………………………………...................................5 

3.  COMPANY BACKGROUND……………………………………................................6

4.  ISSUES/PROBLEMS………………………………………………......................................6 

4.1 RADIO ACTIVE DECAY……………………………........................................7

4.2  HEAT ACCUMULATION……………………………....................................7 

4.3 CORROSION……………………………………………………………………..7 

4.4 SALT ACCUMULATION……………………………………………………….7 

4.5  RADIO ACTIVE MATERIAL…………………………………………………..7 

4.6   POLLUTING THE AIR…………………………………………………………7 

4.7   MELTDOWN…………………………………………………………………….7 

4.8  REGULATION……………………………………….....................................8 

4.9 CASUALITIES…………………………………………………………………..8 

5.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS………………………………….………......................................8 

5.1 ISSUES/PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED…….…………...................................8 

6.  RECOMMENDATION………………………………………………………………………9 

6.1  ENERGY POLICY REFORM…………………………………………………9 

6.2  NATIONALIZATION………………………………………………………….10 

6.3  NOAA- FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION………………………….10

7.  IMPLEMENTATION PLAN……………………………………………………………….11 

7.1  PRILIMINARY ASSESSMENT……………………………………………….12 

7.2 SECONDARY ASSESSMENT……………………………………………....12 

7.2.1   PRILIMINARY ASSESSMENT……………………………12 

7.2.2  SECONDARY ASSESSMENT…………..........................12 

8.  CONCLUSION……………………………………………………….................................12 

9.  REFERENCES……………………………………………………….................................13 

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This report gives a detailed analysis of the hazards of operational reactors and the nuclear

disasters which new’ affected widely’ designs and future reactor concepts. The risk factors

are also associated with the management of spent nuclear fuel. The first part of the report

describes in detail about the company background and the issues faced by them in operation

today; the second part says about the risks involved with new designs and the causes

mentioned in detail and ; the third part the 'ageing' of operational reactors; the fourth issue is,

the terrorist threat and the major risks involved to nuclear power and the final part associated

with climate change impacts – such as flooding – on nuclear power. The project is mainly

focused on the natural disasters which affected the company. This issue happened wheninternally the company had a minor nuclear problem. When both the issues occurred together

the company had to face a major loss and other natural disasters affected the neighbourhood.

The company attained a major loss and because of the loss they faced a lot of drawbacks. The

impact faced by the fukushimi dai-ichi about japan’s nuclear crisis.meltdown was the major 

issue because of why the problem occurred. The company also given certain suggestions as to

how to rectify the mistakes done and safety measure to face the issue if occurs in future. This

project clearly specifies the causes and the solutions taken i.e the safety measures used in the

project.

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INTRODUCTION

This project mainly focuses on the nuclear disasters like equipment failures, nuclear

meltdowns, and the release of radioactive materials at the Fukushima nuclear power plant due

to the earthquake and tsunami on11 march 2011. (Lummis), 2011) The Fukushima meltdowns

scattered nuclear fallout over an area the size of Chicago. Government scientists estimate that

the total radiation released on land was about a sixth of the level at Chernobyl (Osnos, 2011). 

This is maintained by Tokyo electric power company (TEPCO). This disaster is the largest

nuclear accident occurred in Japan since 1986. On March 11, the largest earthquake on record

struck Japan and generated a thirty-foot tsunami that inundated the country's northeast coast.

The death toll is estimated at over thirteen thousand with thousands more missing, and the

country is grappling with power shortages, search and rescue efforts, and the need to provide

shelter and other services for victims. The disaster also caused a set of catastrophic events at

the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Over one hundred thousand people have been evacuated

in the area surrounding the plant; some are already suffering from radiation exposure. Several

powerful aftershocks have complicated search and rescue efforts and hampered official

efforts at bringing the nuclear situation under control. The triple-fold crisis has ignited debateover the prospects for the Japanese economy and has significant implications for the future of 

nuclear power in Japan and around the world.

2.1 Purpose and Scope:

The purpose and scope of the study includes understanding, describing and evaluating the

incidents that occurred in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant 

The earthquake and Tsunami in Japan caused a volcanic eruption of boiling nuclear water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor which led the company to shutdown indefinitely.

As the impact was quite heavy the environment was deeply affected and both the natural

resources of the country and the company’s resources were damaged.  

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COMPANY BACKGROUND

The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant ,is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-

square-kilometre (860-acre) in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Futaba

District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It was first commissioned in 1971, the plant consists

of six boiling water reactors .These light water reactors drove electrical generators with a

combined power of 4.7 GWe. The Fukushima Daiichi is one of the 15 largest nuclear power

stations in the world. Fukushima I was the first nuclear plant to be constructed and run

entirely by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The plant suffered major

damage from the 9.0 earthquakes and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011

and is not expected to reopen. The earthquake and tsunami disabled the reactor cooling

systems, leading to nuclear radiation leaks and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone

surrounding the plant. On April 20, 2011, the Japanese authorities declared the 20 km

evacuation zone a no-go area which may only be entered under government supervision.

The Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant, or Fukushima Dai-ni, is located to the south and also

run by TEPCO.

ISSUES AND PROBLEMS

The company faced lot of issues and problems and this natural disaster was a major a

drawback. The question to be asked to ourself is Does this mean that trouble at the 4 wrecked

reactors on the East coast of Japan is over? Will this continue to the future?

With the restoration of mains power to the site, in the media there is talk that the situation is

now under control. The rate of deterioration has certainly slowed, but there are five slow

burning issues that will determine the eventual outcome, one working in favour of the

authorities and four working against:

 4.1 RADIOACTIVE DECAY The fission products have started declining as they increase,

though the rate of decline is slowing as we increase the short half lives into the intermediate

and longer half life inventories.

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 4.2 HEAT ACCUMULATION suspects to rise for so long as circulation cooling is absent

until a steady state is reached between the reactors and spent fuel and the surrounding

buildings.

 4.3 CORROSION of the stainless steel reactor vessel, pipes and pumps in a salt water

environment they are not designed to withstand.

 4.4 SALT ACCUMULATION which is another issues faced by the company.

 4.5 RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL spread and accumulation in the surrounding

environment.

 4.6 POLLUTING THE AIR 

In a sign of how far-fetched a crisis of this magnitude was considered, Tepco didn't take

the extra step of installing a filter on its emergency vent pipe to scrub out radioactive

particles.  But the whole vent installation was considered voluntary, since Japanese

regulators didn't think nuclear reactors would ever have to deal with the high pressures

the vent system was designed to withstand. That meant venting would be accompanied bythe release of significant amounts of radioactivity in the air.

 4.7 MELTDOWN

Meltdown was a major loss for the company. <Ref>{{cite

 news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8509502/Nuclear-

 meltdown-at-Fukushima-plant.html |title=Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant |date=12

 May 2011 |author=Julian Ryall |publisher=The Daily Telegraph

|location=London}}</ref>TEPCO administration confirms that a meltdown occurred due to

the water leakage and , with molten fuel has fallen to the bottom of the reactor's containment

vessel. According to their research there are holes in the base of the pressure vessel, and most

of the fuel has probably melted. The nuclear fuel has possibly leaked into the containment

vessel, which was damaged in an explosion during the crisis. This caused both the Japanese

government and TEPCO to be criticized for consistently underestimating the severity of the

situation.

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 4.8 REGULATION

Here we would want to highlight this point because the Regulatory may capture and may

contribute to the series of failures which were revealed after the tsunami receded. Regulatory

capture may have also contributed to the current situation. While the case argues with the

government they accept the blame with the regulatory and not for ensuring the nuclear

industry’s oversight both domestically and internationally. 

 4.9 CASUALTIES

Here inside the company the employees were dead from "disaster conditions" following the

earthquake. There was a huge problem and that issue which affected the whole country was

that there were bodies which were decontaminated as radiation and that has been decomposed

from the plant for three weeks. And as they mentioned earlier some of them were literally

suffering from dehydredation because they have not eaten in three days.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 5.1 ISSUES/PROBLEMS IDENTIFICATION

Based on the article, the issues and problems can be addressed as follows:

1. Fukushima Daiichi should have anticipated the danger of accidents if there is an external

environmental situation like Earthquake and Tsunami.

2. The danger of proliferation of nuclear weapons which are close to the city and also close to

other nuclear reactors is hazardous to the people living in the neighbourhood during anemergency situation like overflowing nuclear boiling water reactors into the city.

3. The company should have disposed the existing nuclear waste far away from the city, in a

no man’s land so that even during an environmental disaster occurrence it can still be

controlled and would not have been lethal like cited in the article by “ Mary Hamer, M.D.

U.S.A.” 

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4. Nuclear Power generation can supply only a small fraction of the world's energy needs and

the quantity is still less for a country like Japan and the country cannot afford to lose its

valuable energy resources.

5. The Nuclear power generation is heavily subsidized & if it were not for these subsidies,

(nuclear power) would not be able to compete with wind energy or solar energy. It is vital

that the subsidies be shifted from nuclear power to the development of various forms of 

renewable energy.

RECOMMENDATIONS 

1. Enlarge the exclusion zone from 20 kilo meters to at least about a 50-km radius of the

plant;

2. Distribute detailed instructions on effective ways to protect the health of individuals while

avoiding the additional contamination of food. Organize regular measurements of all people

by individual dose counters at least once a week. Distribute radio protectors and

decontaminants of radionuclide.

3. Develop recommendations for safe agriculture on the contaminated territories:

reprocessing of milk, decontamination of meat, turning agriculture into production of 

technical cultures. Such ''radionuclide-resistant'' agriculture will be costly and needs to be

subsidized;

4. It is necessary to urgently improve existing sustainable measures and possibly create new

ones to deal with the immediate and long-term consequences faced during an external

emergency situation.

5. The most effective way to help organize post-Fukushima life in the contaminated

territories is to create a special powerful interagency state body to handle the problems of 

contaminated territories during the first most complicated years.

6.1 ENERGY POLICY REFORM

A government-run bailout fund would buy new stocks such as preferred shares to be issued

by the utility, sources said. 

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The company’s Shares in Tepco came down as much as 17 percent before regaining some

ground to end down 11 percent.

"The report got investors worried that Tepco could possibly become insolvent," said 

 Hiroyuki Fukunaga, CEO of Investrust. "If they need 1 trillion yen to avoid that, then the

 money is not coming from anyone but the government." Which is reffered in

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-08/news/30490673_1_cold-shutdown-

tepco-fukushima 

To cover costs, Asia's biggest utility is pushing for hikes in electricity charges. It also wants

permission to restart nuclear reactors, particularly those that have been idled at its biggest 

 plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. 

6.2 NATIONALIZATION-How Japan affects United States of America:

Nationalization could be a first step toward these reforms as sthe generations are splitted and

distributed. "But whether this is a trial balloon and gets shot down in the short run, which’s to

say?" while the nationalization of the country had issues which spread to a particular country

like U.S. they had also affected by the fish contamination.

The government says that their panel led by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura will

announce plans to inject public funds, though Fujimura told reporters the issue of public

funds was not now on the table for the new year.

Tepco is due to announce new steps in the coming days, which include an increase in its

planned cost cuts over 10 years by 100 billion yen to 2.64 trillion yen as well as the sale of a

thermal power plant, a source has said.

Tepco will pay premium of about 20 billion yen ($258.03 million) for the five-year policy, a

10-fold increase from the several hundred million yen a year it pays at present, Nikkei said.

Tepco's future as an independent firm has been in doubt since an earthquake and tsunami

wrecked the plant in March, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and

leaving it with huge compensation payments and clean-up costs

($1 = 77.7300 Japanese yen)

6.3 NOAA-Food and Drug Administration: 

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The FDA should immediately ban all food and water imports from Japan, expanding on the

FDA’s original step of restricting imports of milk and produce from the region near the

accident site. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and FDA work together

to be sure that seafood caught in United States and international waters is free of radioactive

contamination. Data generated by any monitoring program should be made public. Congress

should provide adequate funding for the seafood inspection, both at home and abroad, instead

of attempting to cut funding to both the United States Department of Agriculture and the

FDA, which would weaken their ability to meet their current obligations, even without the

additional burden posed by this nuclear accident

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

7.1 PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT: This can be implemented on a reactor, which is in

periodic inspection and has organised its start up preparations.

7.2 SECONDARY ASSESSMENTS: This method can be implemented on all existing

power reactor facilities.(however, Fukushima dai-ichi and dai-ni NPs of TEPCO, as well as

any facilities that are being taken measures for decommissioning and do not have any fuelremaining in the facilities, are excluded). The target for the operators to submit their reports

is by the end of the year. however this deadline will be adjusted, as necessary, considering the

states of implementation of the stress tests in Japan and the state of review in the

investigation committee on the accident at the fukushima nuclear power stations of Tokyo

electric power company. 

Power reactor facilities currently under construction will be implemented the

assessments prior to starting up.

The assessments will be implemented per NPS

  Actions taken by NISA:

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7.2.1 PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENTS: NISA will evaluate the content of the preliminary

assessment when NISA receives submission of it. NISA will report the results of its findings

to the NSC and request them for its confirmation.

7.2.2 SECONDARY ASSESSMENTS: NISA will evaluate the content of submitted reports.

NISA will report the results of its findings to the NSC and request them for its conformation.

Furthermore, if necessary, NISA will revise the implementation matters for the secondary

assessments, and will instruct the operators again to implement the assessments based on

revised implementations matters, considering the states of implementation of the stress tests

in European countries and the state of review in the investigation committee on the accident

at the Fukushima nuclear power stations of Tokyo electric power company.

CONCLUSION

So hereby the company would like to conclude that according to the Government, over

160,000 people in the general population were shown in March 2011 for radiation exposureand there was no case found which literally had thirty workers conducting operations at the

plant who had exposure levels greater than 100 mSv.

The company also says that in September 2011, the company’s six workers at the Fukushima

Daiichi site have exceeded lifetime legal limits for radiation and more than 300 have received

significant radiation doses.

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster  

The company states that in September 2011, there were no deaths or serious injuries due to

direct radiation exposures. But the Cancer deaths due to accumulated radiation exposures

cannot be ruled out, and according to one expert, might be in the order of 100 cases.

The company should make a note of those issues and problems which is explained above to

be rectified and take the necessary security measures to make a change and alert if in case the

natural disasters occur in future. And I have also mentioned the suggestions and the

recommendations which can be used to make further changes in the market. The company

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even now bear a certain loss but in case they work in detail on the mistakes which they made

there are chances for them to rectify the errors.

REFERENCES

  http://www.countercurrents.org/hamer050411.htm the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

by Mary Hamer, M.D 05 April, 2011

  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24949 The Severity of the

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima by

Prof. Matthew Penney and Prof. Mark Selden May 24, 2011 

  http://www.cfr.org/japan/issue-guide-japans-triple-crisis/p24382?cid=ppc-Google-Japan_Issue_Guide&gclid=CPWJlaWr-awCFY4a6wodd1xFTA, Japan's

Triple Crisis April 12, 2011, CFR.org Staff 

  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/17/111017fa_fact_osnos THE

FALLOUT, Evan OsnosOCTOBER 17, 2011

  http://www.nirs.org/fukushima/crisis.htm  Michael Mariotte, March 11, 2011. 

Nuclear Crisis in Japan

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/12/japan-fukushima-reactor-

e_n_1089900.html , Japan Fukushima Reactor: Eight Months After Nuclear

Disaster, Plant Remains In Shambles Mari Yamaguchi 11/12/11

  http://e360.yale.edu/feature/anatomy_of_a_nuclear_crisis_a_chronology_of_fuk

ushima/2385/, Anatomy of a Nuclear Crisis:A Chronology of Fukushima DAVID

BIELLO 21 MAR 2011Nuclear Crisis in Japan 

  http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/26/fukushima-26-march-status/ Fukushima

Daiichi Nuclear Accident – 26 March status 26 March 2011 by Barry Brook

  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/world/asia/report-details-initial-chaos-at-

fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-in-japan.html, Report Gives New Details of 

Chaos at Stricken Plant, MATTHEW November 11, 2011