Analysis and commentary on the June 26 investigation lead by Tepco on the level of the suppression chamber 1F1

by TRIFOUILLAX (Translated from French) http://www.gen4.fr/blog/2012/06/analyse-et-commentaires-sur-linvestigation-mene-par-tepco-le26-juin-au-niveau-de-la-chambre-de-suppression-1f1.html The area of concern The area west the suppression chamber room, at the first level of reactor building no. 1 at Fukushima Daiichi.

1 The approximate site of the June 26 investigation

More accurately, according to document no. 3, it appears the operation was led near the "manhole" situated southeast of the building, visible on the video and older schematics (unit 1F2).

2-The site more accurately (according to Tepco document no. 3)

The method utilized An endoscope composed of a camera, a thermometer and a radiation meter were inserted from a conduit crossing the floor of level 1 in order to open into the west part of the room containing the suppression pool (or torus).

3 - insertion point of the material and leveling

4 - Note the catwalk that goes around the torus

Levels "OP" OP (Ocean Pacifique) : the average level of this former, corresponding to around 72cm under the average level of the Bay of Tokyo. All of Tepco's leveling are based on this reference. We will note that: -The height of the floor of first story is situated at OP10200, or 10.2 m above the average level of the Pacific and the base at OP9550, which allows us to deduce that the flagstone of the floor of the first story measures 0.65m of thickness -The lowest point of BR1 (the slab) is situated at OP-1230, or an overall room height of 10.78m -The water level in the room is situated at around OP4000, or 5.23m -The torus measures around 8m high for 40m in diameter, whereas the oblique connecting pipes toward the drywell measure around 2m in diameter. The men, the intervention conditions, the human dosimeter We estimate that Tepco intervened with human workers in a very difficult context: strong radioactivity, humidity, heat... The fact that the operator doesn't communicate, as it normally writes reports later of the composition of the team and the radiation doses of the concerned workers, leads us to estimate that the workers were subject to an important irradiation. Given the levels captured below, we can easily understand that the workers could not intervene directly from the lower room, the catwalk being situated above the level of stagnant water but in a zone where the radioactivity reached several Sieverts per hour. The concrete floor of 65cm thus allows the workers to "only" be exposed to a dose rate of around 20 mSv/h, so that the rate is 30 times greater (0.62 Sv/h) just below the concrete floor.

5-The dose rate levels on or under the floor of the first floor

The measurements are homogeneously very elevated in the aerial part of the trajectory (OP4000 OP9550), the maximum dose rate is obtained to a depth of around OP4200, that is just above the level of the stocked water in the suppression chamber. The dose comes back down then at around 3 meters before climbing, at the bottom of the course, to values very - too - elevated (several hundreds of millions of Sieverts/h) that Tepco also estimates as "erroneous".

6-The dose level estimates by OP level

Would the corium of Unit no. 1 have passed by there? In fact, the dosimeter seemed to function correctly before level "12", we also think that it could have to be damaged at the lower level of the suppression room, perhaps because it was found at the immediate proximity where a portion of the fuel melted together in this zone? It is necessary to know if the industrial dosimeters, even if they are very resistant to elevated radiation, were made to be close to an immediate proximity irradiating a dose measurement greater to around 100s of Sieverts and would be able to survive a cumulative dose of around 1000 Sieverts. Could they have located Unit no. 1's corium? The dosimetry levels measured in the course of the June 26 operation are clearly greater to those measured, for example, in the same place in Unit no. 2, that never passed 0.12 Sv/h and were established at 0.055 Sv/h against 1.5 Sv/h in the same place (level of the catwalk 1F1). The dose is around 30 times greater to the dose of Unit no. 1! The hypothesis of a corium having pierced the bottom of the reactor tank, then having escaped by gravity toward the torus pipes before piercing the condensation chamber (very thin comparatively to 2 PCV and RPV tanks) seems to be

confirmed. It is equally possible that the fuel in fusion was fragmented in order to escape the primary containment by several different paths (there are 8 transversal pipes in all).

7 - The measurements effectuated by a robot on the catwalk of Unit no. 2 on April 20, 2012

Fukushima Daiichi's Unit no. 1 has long been considered as the one where the fuel was most damaged, by the fact of its technical level going back to 1970 (Mark1-BWR/3); it is generally established that the first fusion of the heart was produced at this level since March 12, 2011, that is, the day after the blackout. Analysis of the video The recorded images are of a good quality except for the very important dose measurements. We will observe them attentively: (01:30) View of the catwalk rail overlooking the torus (2:00) The manipulator positions the camera to pass by the exterior of the catwalk (2:15) This 30-second breakdown of the lighting permits us to visualize well the numerous photons hitting the camera lens, creating beautiful artifacts of color (05:30) Note the corrosion omnipresent on the metallic surfaces (07:15) After a lot of tries, circumvention of the railing of the catwalk succeeds! (12:30) We see for the first time the surface of the water (14:30) plunged, note how all the visible surfaces are changed to red as soon as they are immersed (16:30) Some oxydated surfaces are completely decomposing, is this from the suppression chamber itself or something else? (18:15) Same for this plane, green and red surfaces perfectly irregular... It's strange... (21:00) Plane perfectly clean, the surfaces almost remind of massifs of coral but with metallic sparkles (23:00) The monitoring becomes delicate following numerous particulates in suspension in the water, probably engendered by the maneuvering of the endoscope

(27:35) The least light touch to what seems to be the suppression chamber causes the detachment of numerous particles (30:00) Is the concrete raft reached? (35:00) Beginning of the raising of the endoscope (36:30) Surface! (37:45) In the raising, the endoscope gets a little stuck, the guy must have been raging mad Bravo to the manipulators, this wasn't easy! Sources : Unit 1 Reactor Building Torus Room Investigation Results (June 26, 2012) (http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_120627_02-e.pdf) Video recorded during the investigation, Tepco, June 25 (http://tepco.webcdn.stream.ne.jp/www11/tepco/download/120627_01j.zip5 )(337 Mb) To read equally : Analyse et commentaires sur lendoscopie 1F2 du 20/1/12, gen4, 20/1/12 Analyse des photos et vidos du tore de suppression 1F2, gen4, 20/4/12
(translated by Laura Tattoo)