Records Show Confusion in U.S. at Start of Japan’s Atomic Crisis

U.S. Nuke Official: ‘This Is Too Big for Tepco’

Talk about tough assignments: Chuck Casto, a veteran U.S. nuclear regulator, arrived in Japan on March 16, 2011, to figure out what was going on at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and help Japan fix its problems.
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Mr. Casto was a central figure in the U.S. decision to call for a 50-mile evacuation zone with his repeated insistence that a pool with spent-fuel rods at reactor No. 4 was likely empty and spewing radiation.

In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Casto told JRT that the only evidence Japan could show for water in the pool was a handful of still frames from a video that the Japanese side refused to hand over. The frames seemed to show a glint of water in the pool, but Mr. Casto wasn’t persuaded.

“I said, ‘I just don’t see it,’ and I didn’t,” he recalled in the interview. He placed more credence in U.S. evidence that seemed to show the pool was destroyed.

In the transcripts, he says, “I’m ever more convinced that there’s nothing there. … And I just have to stake my career on it.”

Ultimately, Japan concluded there was water in the pool the whole time. In the interview, Mr. Casto partly conceded the point, but said he still believes the problems at No. 4 may have been more severe than Tepco thinks.
[link to blogs.wsj.com]

NRC releases inside look at U.S. response to Japan nuclear disaster

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Jaczko acknowledged the transcripts show the confusion within the agency during the early days of the crisis triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, but said he believes they reflect well on the agency.

"As challenging as these days were, I have never been more honored to be the chairman of this agency than I was while I was leading the staff in this response," Jaczko said. "What we're making public today is in effect a very important historical record, and I'm tremendously proud of the important work here by the staff of the NRC."

Agency officials said the Fukushima experience demonstrated the "significant limitation" the United States had on getting information about an incident "halfway around the world."

"In this country, we would expect to have much more direct access to information," said Dan Dorman, deputy director of engineering and corporate support.

Officials also said that previous exercises in the command center had not fully prepared them for what turned out to be a months-long event that required teams of people working round-the-clock for months.

Bad Data Guided U.S. Fukushima Call
Now, almost a year after the accident, newly released transcripts of discussions by U.S. officials give the clearest picture yet of how that move was based at least in part on faulty information about whether spent fuel rods in one reactor had been exposed.

The documents, released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Wall Street Journal and other organizations, consist of transcripts of phone conversations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's operations center in Rockville, Md., during the first 10 days after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
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"So, at this point, you no longer believe that the pool is dry?Is that what I'm hearing?" Mr. Jaczko asked Chuck Casto, the head of the NRC's delegation in Japan. Mr. Casto said: "I would say, as of five o'clock yesterday, the pool had some water in it."

Shortly afterward, however, Mr. Casto reported new information that persuaded him the pool lacked water. "For me, I'm ever more convinced that there's nothing there. There's major damage to that building. And I just have to stake my career on it," he told other NRC staffers. They relayed that information to Mr. Jaczko, who decided no retraction was needed.

The source of the new information was redacted in the transcripts, but the U.S. has said it sent an unmanned surveillance plane over Fukushima about that time.
[link to online.wsj.com]

Last Edited by The real and almighty Atom-Boy on 02/21/2012 11:55 PM

You are the biggest shill ever i hope your Pay Check from TEPCO gets lost in the mail this week.

Transcripts show NRC officials debated chairman’s claim on spent-fuel pools in Japan crisis
Top Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials debated the accuracy of public statements made by the agency’s chairman about a pool holding spent fuel rods at a crippled Japan nuclear plant, newly released transcripts show.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko told Congress the pool was dry, which would have increased the chances of a catastrophic radioactive release. The claim — which drew immediate denials from Japanese officials and later proved to be wrong — was a key reason for a U.S. recommendation that Americans within 50 miles of the plant leave the area.
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The official later said he was unsure, telling Jaczko: “It may not have been dry, but it certainly wasn’t full” of water.
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Japanese officials denied the pool was dry and reported that the plant’s condition was stable.

NRC officials later acknowledged that Jaczko spoke in error.
[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

Let me say that the SFP need only a few Seconds
to lose all the Water in a Steaming Process,
the Fuel Rods will reach Temperature of above 2.500 Celsius
in the matter of under 5 Minutes!

Last Edited by The real and almighty Atom-Boy on 02/22/2012 12:04 AM

So this is where your pay cheque comes from eh Japanese Shill?

[link to endthelie.com]

The world has forgotten the real victims of Fukushima
All this happened amid mounting hysteria – and an information void. It wasn’t until several weeks later that the first considered scientific reports emerged from Japan, notably the report by Britain’s nuclear regulator, Mike Weightman, which made it clear that although outdated, riddled with design flaws and struck by geological forces that went way beyond the design brief, the Fukushima plant had survived remarkably intact.

There are bitter ironies in all of this. The panic caused a minor evacuation of Tokyo, which almost certainly resulted in more road deaths than will ever be attributable to radiation leaks. At one point, governments in Europe, including ours, were offering to fly expats home from places where the radiation levels were lower than the natural background count in Aberdeen or Cornwall.

As Wade Allison, emeritus professor of physics at Oxford University, says: “The reporting of Fukushima was guided by the Cold War reflex that matched radiation with fear and mortal danger. Reactors have been destroyed, but the radiation at Fukushima has caused no loss of life and is unlikely to do so, even in the next 50 years. The voices of science and common sense on which the future of mankind depends were drowned out and remain to be heard, even today. The result has been unnecessary suffering and great socio-economic damage.”

Sometimes the media gets it wrong and we all have to hold our hands up here. Twenty thousand-plus people perished in a real disaster, people about whom we in the West have heard very little.
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Sometimes the media gets it wrong and we all have to hold our hands up here. Twenty thousand-plus people perished in a real disaster, people about whom we in the West have heard very little.


[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

The Telegraph Article is not really accurate,
F'Shima caused until today ca. 600 Deaths,
mostly because of the Evacuation of the Older People
in Hospitals, Residences and Hospices,
this People could live longer!

Last Edited by The real and almighty Atom-Boy on 02/22/2012 12:18 AM

So I guess the fire trucks pumping sea water into the plants was misinformation also? I can't imagine pumping sea water into a reactor over a blown fuse.

Who cares about new, old news? This is just misinformation, designed to take attention away from the current conditions.
How is this pinned?

UN /\/\ THIS

10s of millions of people will die from Fukushima; even hundreds of millions. It will be a death from cancer... it will be massive death from cancer... even megadeath from cancer.

DNA of humanity in the Northern Hemisphere is ruined... no breeding stock remains north of the Equator.

No, this Problem was real,
not real are the Reports about burning
or/and exploded Fuel,
this was a very scary scenario and i am
very happy since they showed the Pictures
of the SFP a few days ago,
this reduced the impact of this disaster a lot!

Anonymous Coward
User ID: 7912159
United States
02/22/2012 15:28
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Re: Records Show Confusion in U.S. at Start of Japan’s Atomic Crisis
Who cares about new, old news? This is just misinformation, designed to take attention away from the current conditions.
How is this pinned?
------------

This was pinned by me because this is interesting and important for all the People who use different Blogs
and Forums!

I said already Months ago that the Sfp Nr.4 is still there because the Radiation Levels here in Tokyo and in Fukushima Prefecture are too low, in the case this Pools explode we would see a much higher Level and different Radioactive Materials!

So i am happy that this do not happened, this will decrease the Death-toll a lot!

I am happy because the suffering of innocent People,
Children will be much smaller!!!

Last Edited by The real and almighty Atom-Boy on 02/22/2012 02:36 AM

Man, I was all over the net saying that salt water is a bad idea, regardless of the options. Just saying, because that pretty much screwed the pooch on any chance of getting the pipe lines going again.

The problem was completely power related.

All of this could have been prevented had either the a) fail safes worked and b) a underground or possibly inside the containment vessel itself. IDK, just speculating here.

The Salt Water was the best they could do
at this Time so short after the Tsunami!

Please read all of the Reports above,
i could not posting everything because
of the 50% Regulation, you will get
a better insight- view of all the Communicatio
Problems!

And yes, this Disaster could be prevented
just by not using so much Energy!

Wait... what?

This part... 'almost certainly resulted in more road deaths than will ever be attributable to radiation leaks'. WTF?


So basically. The US wasn't sure because the Japanese were withholding information, so they expected the worse (in which case this situation warranted) and then it jumps with no proof, to, everyone's over reaction being an error.

This article reads like a cut and paste. It is inconsistent and contains grand assumptions.

The way it is written speaks of it being a shill document.

Is this how stupid you think people are. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

Fool Japanese.

So, we just take your word for it?

I pray God for you to be right.

The only cofussion was how big the lie would be about how bad it really is...

Hiroshima?

Gosh,

are you to stupid to read what i wrote?
"Please read all of the Reports above,
i could not posting everything because
of the 50% Regulation, you will get
a better insight- view of all the Communicatio(n)
Problems!"

Sometimes People like you are well advised to read
real Reports from a trust-able Source
instead of all the Bullshit some
People here and there provide every day!

But you still have your Doom
and more Doom is still possible
but until now (02/22/12 07.30pm)
many People like you miserably failed
in the Interpretation of this Disaster!

You can't swim with the big Fish
when your fins are not developed!

Confusion in the United States? That's preposterous.

Yes? what does all this mean?

You need to articulate your question
because i am not able to see what you are looking for!

I did read it. Are you confessing to have wrote it? Or is it just a copy and post from a propaganda site.

Who is a trust-able source to you, Atom boy? Tepco? The Japanese government? Because they wouldn't lie to protect their industry, would they? (cue in sarcasm).

I'm not sure if I feel sorry for you for being a pathetic brainwashed loser, or feel angry that you are trying to mislead the public with your bogus mis-information.

This article isn't even misinformation, it's a time waster. So the US at first thought it was a worse case scenario, and then the author continues, without proof, and with the same propaganda atom boy has been trying to get us to believe, they were mistaken. Wha???

C'mon, surely you can do better than that.

You are not able to read only,
you need Glasses too,

the Source is: [link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

as you can read on that specific Posting,
so please give your self a little bit of Time
before you start to bite my Legs in every Thread!

Do you not think that your Enenews or even Fuku-Diary have
a own Agenda, do you think they are neutral?

If so you failed again, 4'th Times alone today!

I really doubt that all the Newspapers+
numerous scientifically oriented Magazines
posting Bullshit, Lies and Disinformation
about the same Topic and on the same Day,
the chances for a Media-Attack of this Scale
is minimal, at least "in my Opinion"!

U.S. worried about Fukushima meltdown early on: commission transcript
The transcripts also showed that Jaczko mentioned "potentially up to six spent-fuel pools in a degraded condition, possibly with spent fuel pool fires."

The NRC officials also believed that the spent fuel pool in the No. 4 reactor had been substantially damaged to the point that it could no longer retain water, which is needed to prevent the rods from releasing radiation into the atmosphere.

Me is so happy that this do not happened
i doubt that some People here really understand this,
all this means Thousands of People will not suffer
by Pain and Death!