TRANSCRIPTION Foreign Press Conference Just finishing in Tokyo

YOKOSONews live feed - -
[link to www.ustream.tv] LIVE LINK

Forget the website... Here is the live link to Katsu (Cats) He mans the YOKOSO NEWS. COM website and broadcasts from a US server in Virginia, his own disaster recovery strategy in case there is a huge catastrophe in Japan. He uses USTREAM for Japanese transmission. Clever!

Katsu (or Katz as he sometimes writes it on his blog) has to be the worst amateur broadcaster ever, but I really love this charmingly self-deprecating guy. He is trying so hard to get news out to the foreign community. He is tireless and 100% sincere and also has such a quirky sense of humor. He is the BEST! Just ignore the occasional silent pause when he runs out of things to say or yawns loudly on air because is so sleepy and exhausted from manning his post on air for hours at a time.

A few minutes ago he said that his "supa" in Tachikawa had no food! Note that he did not say "conbeni" (convenience store); he said "supa" (supermarket). Katsu began by chatting with some guy about a "man-made disaster" in Tokyo because of panic buying and hoarding of food supplies by the public. They were not in favor of this. Then they went on to talk about the revolving power blackouts in the Kanto area.

Katsu in Tachikawa and his female pal ,Emma, an excellent translator (!) who is in downtown Tokyo get dozens of on-the-spot tweets and report on these. Right now... they are talking about the US servicemen on the carrier Ronald Reagan and Emma says someone is reporting some low level of radiation in Fukushima and taking measures to do something to the deck ??? to shield the carrier ??? She did not really understand the tweet... Neither do I.

So... now Katsu has gone on to report to some listener in France who has posted their link

[link to www.ustream.tv] to Le Monde and it hit top rating and his YOKOSO News website got swamped with hits.

There is a huge ANIME / MANGA convention in Tokyo now with over a half a million visitors expected. It is called KOMIKET (a telescoped word for “Comic Market”) and Katsu is trying to report on it but is now preoccupied with the tsunami/earthquake/radiation threat and cannot get back to this convention which he had originally wanted to report on.

Foreign Press Conference…. Now starting

www.videonews.com live (an indy media site) is now broadcasting live from a Foreign Press Corps news conference.... Emi and Katsu will translate live for us...

Conference now for the foreign press is taking place in Tokyo but the indy feed has crashed because too many people are trying to access it. So... Katsu is asking for live tweets from the conference. USTREAM has also crashed because of too many hits (I know; I was trying to get on it for about 10 minutes).

Katsu briefly got the connection and translated as follows- -
[Some official is speaking but I could not catch his name because of the temporarily lost feed.] He is saying:

No damage is believed to have been caused to the containment vessel (which the Japanese spokesperson is calling "the bulbous object") or to the outside container (i.e., the concrete building) yesterday at the #3 reactor of the Fukushima # 1 Plant. This is the one that was emitting smoke and vapor last night when there was an explosion. But do not worry. All is well!

[Oops... too many people were online and Katsu lost the feed again...] Resuming…

We have to wait for a 24-hour period to see if there is any damage…

If you are in Tokyo and Kanto area now, please switch off your lights and conserve power but there will be revolving blackouts so please turn up your refrigerator up a little.

Q&A

Q??? Could not catch the wording of this question.

Answer: In order to relieve pressure in the containment vessel they are going to release vapor from time to time. But if the core is exposed they will not be able to release hydrogen gas because it would be highly radioactive.

The fuel rods are exposed, this produces hydrogen gas and this has to be released.

However, we did see an explosion. So for some reason gas was leaking and ignited and thus we saw the explosion. This ignition was outside the containment vessel. It would have been much more serious if the hydrogen had built up within the containment vessel and it had exploded. That would have been much more serious... very bad. Unfortunately when we vent the gas we not only get rid of hydrogen but also some nitrogen which is radioactive. You also run the risk that oxygen could enter the vessel and it might ignite.

Q Is there a big risk?
If a large amount of nitrogen is leaving the vessel and oxygen enters the vessel and ignites with the large amount of hydrogen which must be released, there would be an explosion within the vessel. This is a risk we take when working with nuclear production. There is always this problem.

Q What about the coolant?
Electricity, pumps and ample supplies of water are necessary.
When you have disruption you have several backup systems and they were unfortunately able to be started up and other outside backup supplies failed and now we have a haphazard supply system. Of course, the most important thing we have to ensure at this time - - we have to ensure that the fuel rods are completely immersed in water. If we can do this, then maybe there can be an end to this situation. But everything has been cobbled together and there is no guarantee that this water and electrical supply can be assured and that this cooling process can be secure and stabilized. There are other things within the system, for example the electrical circuitry, which might have been damaged either by the earthquake or by the tsunami and we are experiencing this at some reactors, but there are other reactors where the diesel generators have been able to operate. It differs from location to location and reactor to reactor and there is not one single cause. However there are several cases where the diesel generators have failed to start. There are multiple causes and multiple factors in the system.

FEED LOST

Q Water system.... (Cannot hear reply) OK again...

There are ample supplies of water now but we do not know if the rods are completely immersed. The reason that I am not being precise is that there are some questions as to whether the gauges/ monitors are completely working. Although these may be unreliable there are other parameters we can use to judge if the water is working and that the rods are immersed. I am not saying, however, that we are certain that the rods are immersed and I cannot guarantee that the situation is improving

STOP (background noise and whispering)

BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN

Concerning Unit# 2 I have just learned this information. Breaking news. The fuel rods in the #2 Unit are exposed! I do not know if fully or partially. They seen to be at least partially exposed. This has been reported by TEPCO and also reported on NHK and KYODO. I cannot say more but I know that to have exposed fuel rods is a very, very difficult situation. I would like to say that you can circulate water around exposed rods, however, the sea water being pumped in is only a heat exchange and this is not really a properly working circulating system.

So this is very serious - - using a makeshift system when fuel rods are exposed. It is just a heat exchange, not a proper cooling system with circulation. There is the risk that it could melt down. Serious situation. Pressure is rising.

_______________________________

Press Conference resumed...

Two situations which we are dealing with now...

1. The reactor core - very serious - - kibishii

2. The containment situation.

From the core there are pipes which lead out... in this case the first thing that happened was the cooling system was damaged. because the outside system was no longer viable, the 2 suppression pools at the bottom were used as a cooling system and then ...as a result, within the containment vessel there was a rise in pressure.

Another problem was within the reactor core itself... Usually you have a problem withing the reactor core frst and you deal with it as our first line of defense but in this case, with the earthquake and tsunami, our first problem was with the containment vessel and the pipes and this, not the inner core, became our first line of defense, This is not usual.

(He then mentioned his PhD and his work designing nuclear reactors for Toshiba for many years and then left the conference)
____________________

New man... Dr Goto

Reporting on new problems at FUK-1 #3

#3 reactor. Two rods have now fused together and now pressure is rising ....

He asked for questions from the press...

Q Some Japanese reporter is going on and on and making statements rather than asking a question...
Summary by Katsu of Yokoso News: Govt has announced that people nearby have been exposed to high msv of radiation and that they must be decontaminated. Reporters are too close to the govt and are dismissive about this and are saying it is not so high. But it is serious when people are being exposed to Cesium. Isn't this time for a more serious approach to radiation exposure? Do shi masho-ka?

FEED lost


Ans By Dr Goto: I am not a radiation exposure expert but... Time is important; there is a difference between a short time of exposure and long-term. We should treat this with caution. E.g. If you have 3 X-rays per year... no one alive would expose the same part of their body 3 times to X-rays. Only if they have some disease will they expose themselves to this risk and any kind of exposrure creates the risk of cancer. Therefore I believe that these kinds of comments should be made with great caution. Radiation needs to be explained more carefully... amount... time periods

Q from gaijin (sounds American) reporter
After the damage caused by the tsunami, am I to understand that they dipped into the suppression pool ? and Did this decrease its
effectiveness? and If hydrogen is such a problem, then why don't you have a hydrogen recombiner at these plants?

a Yes. Because of damage to the cooling system and the electrical system

b This is something we see at PWRs (pressurized reactors) but at Fukushima this is a BWR (boiling water reactor) system and we do not usually need hydrogen conbiners.

Brief stop and consultation...

CORRECTION BY DR GOTO
My understanding must be corrected - -
March XX (?) at (time?) it was annnounced that there was a problem - fuel rods are completely out at the #2 reactor. Although we are pumping water into it there are constantly falling water levels

And now it seems we are running out of fuel to pump the water into the system I do not know if it is diesel but whatever it is they are running out of it!

[After this statement about the exposaed rods and fuel issue at #2, questions to Dr Goto resumed...]
____________________________________________

Q from Indian reporter:

Design of outer containment vessel. Did you design any of these?

Ans: My specialty in design was the strength of the design of the containment vessels They are susceptible to external pressure and relatively small amount of external pressure could hurt the vessel. When an accident occurs, we have to make sure that there is not negative pressure within the vessel. (Quiet consultation re how to translate "shinku" ) "Shinku" is the vacuum rupture breakage valve which is within the vessel. It prevents breakage when inside pressure is much less than that outside the vessel.

Q again from Indian reporter - - What is the significance of "fuel rods are fully exposed" ?

Dr Goto: The time factor... if for a long time, the situation is serious
According to TEPCO, we cannot deny the possibility that the #2 core has melted.

Q from Japanese reporter - - When you saw the 2nd explosion (#3), with the plume of black smoke going violently up into the air, it was different from the explosion at #1 two days ago which was grey smoke slowly rising. Why? And second question - - I understand that the #3 reactor uses a different type of fuel?

Much more amounts of hydrogen was released with the second (Reactor #3) explosion. Also how much time has elapsed before it ignites affects the difference between the two explosions, #1 and #3... but I do not have the data/details.

As for reactor #3... We can say that it is probably more severe involving #3, because with #3 they used MOX fuel and so plutonium might be released into the atmosphere. We can also say that the melting point is lower for MOX fuel and so we can say there is more of a risk with MOX fuel

Q from gaijin reporter (sounds European):

Cooling system problem - - why? Why is this different, whereas #1 seems to be OK? [Does the reporter mean different for #2 or for #3? Not clear.]

If even if it is not a perfect cooling system - - now heat transfer not circulatory - - it can work if sea water is poured into the system (consultation correction...There are so many factors that determine the time it takes to cool the system, that I cannot answer.

Q from Japanese reporter:
Many members of the press have been using the word "meltdown." What do you mean? A complete core meltdown of all fuel a.k.a. the China Syndrome?

Dr Goto: At TMI (Three Mile Island) this debris remained for some time. Very dangerous. Hot debris was at the bottom of the container vessel and the container wall could have been breached There could have been a hole however, at TMI, they were somehow able to stop the process before the debris burned through the vessel.

There is always the danger that the hot debris could burn through the bottom of the vessel. It could interact with the water poured on it to cool it and produce a hydrogen explosion.

Dr Goto: Latest word. Meltdown has begun and this debris is beginning to accumulate in the bottom of the vessel.

Q female Japanese reporter: Two questions You are describing a worst case scenario, Dr Goto. How much time do we have before this occurs? and What about the other units?

Dr Goto: Now I do not know. I do not want to even think about it. It would take some time. There are so many factors. We cannot see what is inside the unit. At TMI it took ten years before they could see inside.

As for the other units, people who are working on the other units could no longer continue their work, so I hope we will do our best to contain this...

Older Japanese reporter -- Q re differences between the two explosions - - #1 and #3.

Dr Goto:

Hydrogen explosion at #1 walls and roof were destroyed but at
#3 the explosion was more violent walls and the framework, the girders of the building, were also damaged

It has also been reported that the Pump Vehicle was blown away in this explosion...And therefore we surmise that this explosion hindered the cooling work which was being done on Reactor #2.

With regard to the MOX fuel in #3.... one of the consequences is that you are using a fuel that has a lower melting point, which means that you would have a higher risk of a melting of the core.

Also the toxicity of the plutonium in the MOX fuel is higher. According to my research, the concentration could be double.

Q Japanese female reporter: Personal question about your background? and You seem to be critical of your current employer?

Dr Goto

My background was in shipbuilding and then I went into nuclear power plant designing because I felt this was the most important last line of defense for public safety.

I worked on the design of containment vessels and I began to realize that this containment vessel was not a good final line of defense. I realized that in serious situations such as earthquakes, the vessel could crackk. This danger is very low. But when a quake occurs it can cause multiple damage to many systems and I realized that this type of containment vessel, the final line of defense, was not not invincible. And I realized this after the K (?) earthquake and I felt that I had no choice but to step out and speak.
[Feed temporarily lost...]

Q Japanese reporter What advice would you give to PM Kan and other government officials who may be being led in different directions by the power company officials? What questions would you direct them to ask the power company officials?

Dr Goto Ah…What are the questions they should ask? This is very difficult. I ask this of myself. All efforts must be made to ensure that damage be kept to a minimum. What can each of us do... In the case of myself, I feel it is my duty to tell everything I know. One thing I am anxious about is that the persons in charge are not necessarily the persons with the most technical expertise. As for the government officials, when information is being given to the public, someone has stepped in and has changed this information!
CUT OFF!!!!

Someone cut Dr Goto off here (!) and announced that Mr Yukio Edamo, Chief Cabinet Secretary, would be giving the rest of the press conference. [From here on... we heard no more at all from the very honest and forthright Dr Goto.]



Mr Edamo answers all the questions from now on:

[Emma takes a break here and Katsu takes over translating...]

Mr Edamo:

We apologize for the deep concern re #1 and #3

#1 reactor: we have resumed work and the pouring of water in

#3 reactor: has concrete walls blown out but we resumed pouring water in at 8 PM and we can see that the water level is rising

#2 reactor: the cooling system had stopped and we were getting ready to pour the water in and, at one point, we ran out of fuel to pump the water in, so the water level had gone down and the rods were exposed. We were able to resume pouring the water in and now we can see the level rising so we will continue... So please... the people working on site are trying their best.

About the scheduled blackout, it was the first day of the rolling blackout... We apologize for the rolling power blackout but because of the Japanese people's help we were able to save 9 million Kw and I think this was because the train companies stopped operating so this effort was by the help of the train company and the people About tomorrow, we are trying to work hard if train company resume work and trying to conserve power but we know that many people in Japan have been affected by the delay or cancellation of these trains. To conduct train transport is very important to Japanese economy but if we try to do the train operation normally we might expect to go over output and have outage. We might expect to have to continue rolling blackout. We are trying our best not to stop the train system in Tokyo. In order for the possibility to resume train service we need the people to conserve power, Starting tomorrow the weather will become colder and this will be an inconvenience to people but I would like you to limit the use of the trains and electrical power usage in order to ensure the train operation and stuff. (sic)

So is there a possibility of a problem with the first and third reactors? We have heard the report of the blast of the concrete walls We have heard that there is a hole, so maybe the hydrogen is extracting so maybe there will be a hole (he may mean in #2 ???) [this was not clear] like the first and third reactor... so we are continuing at the second reactor with the same procedures as at the first and third reactors...

Q When are you going to announce the rolling blackout schedule? We are consulting with the experts and hoping that we can soon make an announcement about blackout and train schedules.
TEPCO and Japanese government are working closely...

Q re safety of Japanese food products
I have heard that the Singaporean government is going to conduct a radiation check of all Japanese food products. We have been monitoring levels around all the nuclear plants. We know a few numbers (low level?) of radiation have been around the plant but below the healty limit. But when the thing happens we will notify everyone.
Q Onagawa power plant ? The number reported is under the level of risk but when it happens we will of course tell the people of Japan.

Q Current situation?
Earlier today we had a moment when we were not able to pour the water in, but that issue has been resolved.

Q Where is Mr Kan and why does he not talk to the press?
Mr Kan could not go yet but in the near future he will visit the site.

Q Again - - I ask why Kan Naoto is not going to the plant. Everyone is asking that.
We do not feel he has to come before the press but I am going to come out and give information from the Japanese government. The more important thing is to share the information. We don't know if he is coming before the press after this.

Follow-up Q
So we have passed the usual critical 72 hour time... so we think Naoto Kan can come out (to the site and to the press)

This 72 hours is the time that survivors can come out, but we are continuing the search and I sure that many people have been left behind and there are some people that have not even been reached and we are trying our best and it is hard, but right now Naoto Kan is closely monitoring the power plant situation so I would like the people to understand why he is not appearing now.

Q Workers’ safety?
I know people are working hard and maybe below the safety level. If they get exposed to radiation we will be sure to take care of the after-circumstances.

Q Do you think the core melted? We believe the core could be melting but we cannot confirm this problem.

Q The fuel shortage caused this problem?
We do not know for sure if the fuel shortage caused it but now the power has been restored and water is pouring in...

Q This country's power problem... we did research... we could not fulfil...??? (Katsu, the translator stopped and waited and basically gave up here.)

Q What is the status now?
There are different situations so... (Translator Katsu stops and says "Sorry my translation is not accurate")

OK... the press conference is almost over and I am tired of transcribing this... They are back to talking about blackouts and train schedules and government measures...

THE END