Fukushima Nuclear Chief after 3/11: It will be like ‘China Syndrome’ film, fuel to melt away — “We’re imagining collapse of eastern Japan… going to be more than Chernobyl” — “Could be Plutonium… all substances from fuel are going to be released”
ENENews.com
June 2nd, 2014
Asahi Shimbun, June 2, 2014: One of the darkest hours in the Fukushima nuclear disaster came very early on when [TEPCO] said the situation [at Fukushima Daiichi] was out of control. After hearing this, nuclear experts and government officials gathered at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo got ready to throw in the towel […] [Goshi Hosono, special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan] conveyed the utter panic and hopelessness that gripped people in the room. TEPCO executives said the nuclear reactors “are now out of control” as signs emerged of major damage to the No. 2 reactor’s containment vessel. […] Hosono’s account offers the most complete picture to date of the helplessness that raged as the enormity of the disaster became apparent early on March 15, 2011 […] TEPCO officials became hugely alarmed around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., when the pressure inside the reactor containment vessel started shooting up, prompting them to state that things are “out of control.” […] Other nuclear experts who were present at the office, like Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission, shared the same mind-set with TEPCO that all options had run out in containing the disaster.
Asahi Shimbun interview with Goshi Hosono, adviser to PM Naoto Kan: “It was shocking to hear the words ‘out of control’ from TEPCO. With nuclear experts saying the situation was out of control, there was no way I could tell them to keep it under control. […] With nothing we could do, we felt an overpowering sense of helplessness […] Overall, we all thought the withdrawal had to be stopped no matter what, but we didn’t have anything to back up our belief. How do we do this … ? With TEPCO saying there was nothing they could do, we were consumed by hopelessness.” [Watch: Hosono: Very strong possibility there is nuclear fuel outside containment vessel]
Fukushima plant manager Masao Yoshida’s comments to gov’t panel about crisis on Mar. 14-15, 2011: “It’s because the water, it isn’t going in. If water can’t go in, the fuel, it’s just going to melt away. It could be plutonium, it could be something else, but all substances amounting from the fuel are going to be released. It’s going to be a much more serious matter than the current cesium situation because all the radioactive substances are going to be released and dispersed outside. We’re imagining the collapse of eastern Japan. The situation is going to be more than a Chernobyl-class disaster, maybe not exactly like the film ‘The China Syndrome,’ but more like that. Then, we’ll have to stop pumping water into the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors as well.”
