Fukushima 1 Nuclear Accident Day 7: Thursday, 17 March

01:37
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a Travel Advice Bulletin advising Australian travellers to reconsider the need to travel to Tokyo, the surrounding earthquake-affected districts, Chiba, Fukushima, Aomori, Iwate, Nagano, Niigata and Ibaraki prefectures and not to travel to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant exclusion zone and Miyagi Prefecture.
03:50
IAEA Director announces he will travel to Japan to "see the situation for himself".
04:00
The US Embassy, on advice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told Americans to evacuate a radius of "approximately 50 miles (80 km)" from the Fukushima plant.
05:25 (approximately)
The head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, said that the fuel pool at unit 4 had run dry and as a result, radiation levels at the plant were "extremely high". TEPCO denied that the pool had run dry and said "the condition is stable" at unit 4.
09:00
Radiation levels in cities near Fukushima I plant: 13.9 µSv at Fukushima City, 65 km northwest; 2.71 µSv at Kooriyama city, 60 km west; 1.25 µSv at Iwaki city, 40 km southwest.
09:19 (approximate)
Naoki Tsunoda, a TEPCO spokesman, indicates that the new power lines to the plant were almost finished and that officials planned to try it "as soon as possible." Kyodo said that could be as early as Thursday afternoon.
09:48
Japan's Self Defense Force used CH-47 helicopters to perform water spraying operations on reactor unit 3. JAIF reported that the helicopter had been specially modified with lead shielding to protect the personnel onboard. However, much of the water appeared to be dispersed in the wind before reaching its target.
10:00
Helicopter based spraying operations were halted after 4 water drops were performed on unit 3. Japanese newscaster NHK indicated that spraying operations will continue from the ground and that personnel are monitoring the radiation levels around the base.
10:15
The IAEA releases a summary of all injuries and contaminations due to the situation at the Fukushima I nuclear plant. It indicates that 23 people were injured, more than 20 were contaminated, and 2 are missing.


10:40
JAIF reports that the radiation levels at the main gate are 10 millisieverts per hour.
11:05
The Japanese nuclear safety agency says external power to the plant should partially resume later in the day.[Kyodo News]
11:10
Radiation reading at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Station (NPS) border is 646 µSv/hour.
12:00
The IAEA announce that the temperature in spent fuel pond at reactor 5 is 64.2 °C and the spent fuel pond at reactor 6 is 62.5 °C
12:07
Cabinet Secretary Edano says Unit 3 is the top priority for cooling efforts [Kyodo News]
16:00
The Japan Times reports that radiation levels at the main gate drop to 1.5 millisieverts per hour. Additionally, after hours of conflicting reports on the cause of the white smoke emitting from unit 3, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano corrects an earlier statement and now believes that the smoke is being relased from the storage pool at unit 3, and not the containment vessel.
16:00
Status of Fukushima I at 16:00 March 17

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6
Power output (MWe) 460 784 784 784 784 1100
Type of reactor BWR-3 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-5
Status at earthquake In service In service In service Defueled Outage (scheduled) Outage (scheduled)
Fuel integrity 70% damaged 33% damaged Damaged No fuel rods Not damaged Not damaged
Containment integrity Not damaged Damage suspected Damage suspected, but considered to be unlikely. Not damaged Not damaged Not damaged
Core cooling system 1 (ECCS/RHR) Not functional Not functional Not functional Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Core cooling system 2 (RCIC/MUWC) Not functional Not functional Not functional Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Building integrity Severely damaged Slightly damaged Severely damaged Severely damaged Not damaged Not damaged
Pressure vessel, water level Around half of the fuel Higher than half of the fuel Around half of the fuel Safe Safe Safe
Pressure vessel, pressure Stable Unknown Stable Safe Safe Safe
Containment pressure Stable D/W: Unknown, S/P: Atmosphere Stable Safe Safe Safe
Seawater injection into core Continuing Continuing Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Seawater injection into containment building Continuing To be decided Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Containment venting Continuing Preparing Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Integrity of fuel in Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) (no data) (no data) SFP level low,
Preparing water injection		 SFP level low,
Preparing water injection,
Damage to fuel rods suspected		 SFP temperature increasing SFP temperature increasing
Environmental effect (NPS border) 646 µSv/hour at 11:10, March 17
Evacuation radius 20 km from Nuclear Power Station (NPS). People who live between 20 km to 30 km from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Station are to stay indoors.
INES Level 4 (estimated by Japanese NISA and accepted by the international IAEA); Level 6 (estimated by the French Nuclear Safety Authority, ASN and the Finnish nuclear authorities)
17:00
South Korean foreign minister Kim Sung-hwan urged South Koreans in Japan to stay 80 kilometers outside the earthquake-stricken nuclear complex in Fukushima.
17:30
Rewiring unit 2 to the Japanese power grid was completed at 08:30 UTC and IAEA indicates that Power will be turned on once the spraying of unit 3 is completed.
19:25
Workers begin spraying water from "special pumper trucks" similar to those used for aircraft fires onto unit 3.
22:00
Status of Fukushima I at 22:00 March 17

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6
Power output (MWe) 460 784 784 784 784 1100
Type of reactor BWR-3 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-4 BWR-5
Status at earthquake In service In service In service Defueled Outage (scheduled) Outage (scheduled)
Fuel integrity 70% damaged 33% damaged Damaged No fuel rods Not damaged Not damaged
Containment integrity Not damaged Damage suspected Damage suspected, but considered to be unlikely. Not damaged Not damaged Not damaged
Core cooling system 1 (ECCS/RHR) Not functional Not functional Not functional Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Core cooling system 2 (RCIC/MUWC) Not functional Not functional Not functional Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Building integrity Severely damaged Slightly damaged Severely damaged Severely damaged Not damaged Not damaged
Pressure vessel, water level Around half of the fuel Higher than half of the fuel Around half of the fuel Safe Safe Safe
Pressure vessel, pressure Stable Unknown Stable Safe Safe Safe
Containment pressure Unknown D/W: Unknown, S/P: Atmosphere Stable Safe Safe Safe
Seawater injection into core Continuing Continuing Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Seawater injection into containment building Continuing To be decided Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Containment venting Continuing Preparing Continuing Not necessary Not necessary Not necessary
Integrity of fuel in Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) (no data) (no data) SFP level low,
Starting water injection		 SFP level low,
Preparing water injection,
Damage to fuel rods suspected		 SFP temperature increasing, 64.2 °C SFP temperature increasing, 62.5 °C
Environmental effect (NPS border) 309 µSv/hour at 15:30, March 17
Evacuation radius 20 km from Nuclear Power Station (NPS). People who live between 20 km to 30 km from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Station are to stay indoors.
INES Level 4 (estimated by Japanese NISA and accepted by the international IAEA); Level 6 (estimated by the French Nuclear Safety Authority, ASN and the Finnish nuclear authorities)
20:09
Workers finish successfully spraying 30 tons of water from pumper trucks onto Unit 3, and TEPCO is now evaluating the effectiveness of the operation. IAEA indicates that the spraying of water on the Unit 3 reactor building was temporarily stopped.
22:37
Reuters reports that work has started to connect outside power lines to the Fukishima I nuclear power plant. Unit 2 will be the first to receive electricity. The earliest this could happen is Friday.

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