Reuters: Head of Tepco ‘shocked’ people are concerned about No. 4 fuel pool — ‘Baffled’ by criticism of company’s role in Fukushima disaster

He's right:  It's CRAZY to be worried about an ongoing catastrophe/potential Extinction Level Event.  Crazy, I tells ya..  Reuters, via ENEWS:

The new head of the company at the centre of Japan’s nuclear disaster said on Thursday he was baffled by fierce criticism of the firm where he has worked nearly 40 years and hoped to rebuild public trust but offered no clear idea how to do so.

[...]
At one of the meetings, a moderate earthquake struck and he was quickly peppered with questions about the safety of a badly damaged building at Fukushima full of spent fuel rods.


That was “quite a shock for us,” [President of Tepco Naomi Hirose] said, because the company assumed its reinforcement work has been sufficient.


Fukushima’s spent fuel pool No. 4 has been a source of international concern because they are exposed to the atmosphere after one of the explosions that hit the station tore the reactor building roof off and caused its walls to tilt.
[...] 

His attitude is very comforting, in a clueless rich guy who makes a disaster scenario oh so much worse kinda way, don't you think?  I can't wait for his public reaction when the inevitable happens:  GUUUUHHHHH??   Wuuuuuhhh?  Howdathappen?

Fukushima Update: Some Good(?) News, Some Not So Good News..

Two from Fukushima Diary..  The Good News?  Ok, the kind-of Good News?

[Reactor4] Debris removal was finished, fuel will be taken out soon.

Following up this article..[LIVE] Tepco is removing the upper part of reactor4

Tepco finished the debris removal of SFP4. Now the PCV and SFP4 are completely exposed outside.
They are going to take out 2 of the new fuel assemblies soon.[Link] 

So..  Only 1551 fuel assemblies to go?  This comment is also..  Troubling..

look, I have photos of SFP4 in the top part of reactor 4 building from last year – IT IS GONE.. Spent Fuel Pool Four is no longer part of the building. We can clearly see the top of the reactor (big yellow dome)but where is the fuel pool which should be ABOVE the reactor ???Where is SFP 4 ??

Huh.

Not so good news:  Survey robot died in reactor 3



Related to this article..Robot destroyed within 2 hours in reactor 2



Survey runner robot stopped on the radiation measurement of torus room in reactor3.


From 11:00 to 15:00 of 7/11/2012, Tepco was taking radiation, visual and “sound” data in torus room of reactor3 by using a robot. The atmospheric dose was 360 mSv/h.


Human worker opened the door of the torus room to let the robot enter, it went around clockwise, but the communication was interrupted at the manhole located at the South-East of torus room.
The robot is cabled, Tepco hasn’t verify the cause yet. They only assume the cable might have been damaged on the way. Tepco can’t take the robot back either because the radiation level is too high.


The robot sent radiation and visual data until it stopped but because the sound data is recorded in it, it can’t be obtained until they get the robot back. They were planning to detect the water leaking point by recording the sound data.


They recorded the sound data when they conducted robot survey in torus room of reactor2 as well, but because the alarm of survey meter was too noisy, they couldn’t hear the sound of water flow.

I'd still like to know the circumstances around TEPCO busting ass to clean up Reactor4 much faster than scheduled.  As with all things Fukushima, the bad news still outweighs the good.

Record radiation levels detected at Fukushima reactor

If we have yet to invent technologies that can effectively demolish, decontaminate, and contain nuclear disasters, shouldn't we admit that nuclear power is beyond our scope of control?  Accordingly, shouldn't we be working on those technologies before we build any more reactors or utilize this Pandora's Box of death?  Don't forget:  It's all done to boil water.  Terra Daily, via The Extinction Protocol:


June 28, 2012 – JAPAN – TEPCO, the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said Wednesday record amounts of radiation had been detected in the basement of reactor number 1, further hampering clean-up operations. TEPCO took samples from the basement after lowering a camera and surveying instruments through a drain hole in the basement ceiling. Radiation levels above radioactive water in the basement reached up to 10,300 millisievert an hour, a dose that will kill humans within a short time after making them sick within minutes. The annual allowed dose for workers at the stricken site is reached in only 20 seconds. “Workers cannot enter the site and we must use robots for the demolition,” said TEPCO. The Fukushima operator said that radiation levels were 10 times higher than those recorded at the plant’s two other crippled reactors, number two and three. This was due to the poor state of the nuclear fuel in the reactor compared to that in the two others. The meltdown at the core of three of Fukushima’s six reactors occurred after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and ensuing massive tsunami shut off the power supply and cooling system. Demolition of the three reactors as well as the plant’s number 4 unit is expected to take 40 years and will need the use of new technologies.  (As yet un-invented technologies..)

40 years?  Do you really think we have that much time?  I doubt it..  All to boil water..

Here's The Thing About Fukushima..

I've been bothered by the total, universal lack of interest from Society regarding all things Fukushima.  This is an ongoing nuclear emergency, and..  Crickets.  No global protests, no "It's Day 473"-type broadcasts, much less wall to wall or even continual coverage.  No outrage.  No real reaction.  So very little news, but evidently enough to quench collective curiousity. 

There are many valid reasons for this phenomenon, and I think these reasons are contributive and re-enforce each other, curtailing the drive for knowledge, encouraging silence.  Of those, I'll focus in on Denial.

In the case of Fukushima, Denial due to fear is one part, but Denial due to inability to fully process and understand the implications of this disaster, even a very little bit, is as important than fear.  The continual, contaminating effect of radiation is incomprehensible to a large swath of our population, not to mention the implications of a Reactor 4 catastrophic event.  Or radiation from Reactors 1, 2, or 3 reaching the water table.  These crises loom so large, yet we continue on, oblivious to what could very well happen, and what is happening now.  If I can't see radiation, then it must not really exist, right?  Maybe you can call someone on your cell phone to have them help you figure it out!

A contributing factor to the Global Disaster Malaise that is Fukushima?  Short answer:  People can't wrap their heads around the implications, so they ignore it. 

More implications are becoming apparent.  Soon, there will be more.  And then, those implications will be next to impossible to ignore, anymore..

Innocuous Header, Ominous Implications.. (Upate, Friday, April 13, 6 p.m. Central)

SFP4 over 55℃. Coolant system is still stopped.  10 hours started awhile ago, by the way..  Fukushima Diary.  Excerpts:  (The little squares are a missing font that indicate Celsius..)

Though Tepco stopped the water leakage, coolant system is still not back on. At the moment, they can’t estimate when they can recover it. Also, they estimated the temperature increases at 0.5℃/h, it’s increasing at over 1℃/h. It went up by 22℃ within 18 hours. Currently the temperature of SFP is 55℃.(10:00 JST) The safety limit is 65℃. At this pace, it will reach 65℃ about in 10 hours.

Please remember that nuclear energy containment temperatures must be tightly controlled to remain safe.  A 22 degree Celsius rise IS NOT STABLE and IS VERY DANGEROUS.  This has been a recurring problem at Fukushima.  Unless TEPCO gets its shit together pronto, there will be fireworks; and soon.  Radioactive, Extinction Level fireworks. 

Prayers to your appropriate deity might be wise right now..  Atheists, just cross your fingers, as nothing else regarding TEPCO seems to help.  Also:  Helpful aliens?  Right now might be a good time to jump into Earth's affairs--You have my permission!

UPDATE:

Probably coolant system of SFP recovered  So things have "probably" stabilized.. For now..

Fukushima at Increased Earthquake Risk, Scientists Report

An old fault line reactivates almost right underneath Fukushima?  Not awesome.  Really Not Awesome, considering Reactors 2 and 4 seem to be much worse than thought.  The only ingredient missing for Catastrophe is a 7.0 or greater quake.  According to the article, there's a 70 percent chance of that happening this year, and a 98 percent chance of that happening in the next three years.

Not If.  Only When.