Putin holds a meeting on the situation around the nuclear power plant in Japan

Transcript of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, I have called you here to talk about the situation with our neighbours, keeping in mind that it is within close proximity of the Russian border. And in general, it seems that dire consequences await our Japanese friends. Either way, the global economy and the environment will be impacted – especially, of course, on the Japanese islands.

Let's talk about it more broadly. Let's start with the situation that, according to available data, is developing at the nuclear power plant. Mr Kiriyenko (addressing general director of Rosatom, Federal Atomic Energy Agency), if you please.

Sergei Kiriyenko: Mr Putin, the information that I'll report on now has been culled not only from Tokyo provided by our Japanese colleagues, by the IAEA, but also from of our own simulations, because the information that our colleagues give us, unfortunately, lags behind in time, or is insufficient. But given the fact that we have formed a think tank that enables us to model the situation, we understand it as follows. If I may, Mr Putin, I'll show even some pictures to you. The pictures we have are the following...

Vladimir Putin: Yes, go ahead.

Sergei Kiriyenko: This station had six reactors. Three of them were idle – they were under repair – and three were operational.

Vladimir Putin: And they pose a threat?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Unfortunately, all six could pose a threat at this point. I will explain why.

In the first stage, the reactor design looks like this. There is the reactor vessel, which contains the rods. In a normal state, these rods must be completely immersed in water. What has happened to them? First, the power went out because of the earthquake and then the tsunami destroyed the drives, so water was no longer being pumped into the emergency diesel generators' cooling system.

Vladimir Putin: In other words, the earthquake destroyed the normal operations of the cooling system, and the tsunami destroyed the emergency system?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Exactly. After that, the batteries snapped on, but they only lasted seven to eight hours. During this time, cooling water had to be fed into the reactor. They were unable to do this, and as a result, the water boiled and the temperature continued to rise. They were forced to open the valves, otherwise the pressure would have breached the reactor vessel. Then the water level began to fall, so parts of the rods were not immersed in water. In the areas where they were not immersed in water, the rods began to melt. This is what actually caused the first and third reactors to explode, because the melting zirconium rods and steam give rise to a zirconium-steam reaction, which releases hydrogen.

Vladimir Putin: And the rods melted like putty and slid down?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Yes, they slid down, exactly. And accordingly, it went (I’ll finish drawing the picture below) ... There is a protective containment vessel around this. An airtight protective containment vessel with the required foundation which prevents the release of radioactive materials. It is surrounded by an airtight reinforced concrete structure, plus a general structure and an external building.

What happened there? When that steam spewed out, they were forced to direct it inside the containment vessel. When pressure started building up inside the containment vessel, they had to vent it, and the steam was directed upwards, under the roof of the main building. Actually, that was when the explosion at the first reactor took place. This is what happened at the first reactor. The explosion destroyed the upper section of the external building and the reactor body. The first reactor's containment vessel remained intact. Consequently, gases are being vented into the atmosphere. These are mostly short-lived isotopes ...

Vladimir Putin: Their half-life is several hours, right?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Yes, several hours, Mr Putin. The main isotope, iodine-131, has a half-life of eight days. This is still quite a lot. Considering the fact that most of this drifts in the direction of the Pacific Ocean, such residual radiation is short-lived. The cloud, which formed after explosions at the first, third and second reactors, drifted in the direction of Tokyo. When the cloud reached Tokyo, its radiation levels dropped to 400 microroentgens per hour. Almost the same radiation levels are registered inside the cabin of an aircraft.

Several hours after Tokyo was subjected to peak radiation levels, they dropped to 40 microroentgens per hour. This is only about two times higher than the normal background radiation level, just like at any granite embankment.

Vladimir Putin: Does this threaten human lives and health in any way?

Sergei Kiriyenko: No. Short-term radiation levels of 400 microroentgens pose no hazard, while a level of 40 microroentgens is absolutely normal. Some people spend their whole lives in areas with even higher radiation levels.

This is the first reactor. The situation there remains the same. By all estimates, the reactor's body is intact, also protecting the containment vessel. However, steam continues to be released. They continue to pump water inside the reactor and the containment vessel in order to cool the reactor from the outside. So much for the situation at the station's first and third reactors.

And now a few words about the second reactor, which fared much worse. They failed to ensure an uninterrupted water supply to the reactor's body because a pump valve had jammed. They used fire engines to pump water because there was no electricity. They failed to resolve this malfunction. Consequently, all the water disappeared from the reactor's body. The core melted down and, in our opinion, penetrated ...

Vladimir Putin: Burned through.

Sergei Kiriyenko: ... Burned through the reactor's body. That's what we told you last night. The water supply had disappeared by nightfall. They were racing against this because it would take three to five hours to penetrate the reactor's body. This is what happened tonight. We realise that the current situation will look the same for the second reactor. The core melted down through the entire reactor's body and is now encased in the containment vessel. It did not get past the reinforced concrete structures ... Still there is a risk that the core may burn through the reinforced concrete and penetrate the ground.

Vladimir Putin: Will it pass into the groundwater?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Yes. Their second reactor was rocked by an explosion tonight. As far as we understand, nothing is left in the reactor's body because the explosion ripped through the containment vessel. This explosion has damaged the reactor-body shell and the containment vessel, as well as the upper section of the external building. Consequently, this may now become the main source of radiation leaks. Of course, most radioactive substances were trapped inside the containment vessel. Gases spewing out have substantial radiation levels, but they are mostly made up of short-lived isotopes. And only an insignificant amount of long-lived and heavy isotopes are being vented into the atmosphere.

Vladimir Putin: Long-lived and heavy isotopes are found ...

Sergei Kiriyenko: Mostly here. Only some of these isotopes are being vented with the continued steam release. Japanese specialists had pumped water here, and there is still residual water plus steam here.

Vladimir Putin: Is this not a hydrogen explosion?

Sergei Kiriyenko: No, this explosion is not linked with a nuclear reaction. On the whole, our specialists estimate that such an explosion is impossible here, unless our Japanese colleagues are hiding some information from us. But we proceed from the premise that we are assessing the entire situation in their place, and that we comprehend it completely. Anything to add?

Vladimir Putin: I would like to ask the following question in this regard. Are Russian specialists, who are ready to go to Japan, cleared for work at the power plant?

Sergei Kiriyenko: No, Mr Putin. The situation is bad. Our specialists have been waiting in Khabarovsk for over ten hours because the Japanese side has not given the go-ahead. That Emergencies Ministry plane is carrying two world-class specialists who were involved in the Chernobyl clean-up effort and who have both scientific and managerial experience. The delegation is headed by the first deputy director-general of Rosenergoatom, a doctor of sciences and a professor who experienced the entire Chernobyl disaster. He is among the world's leading experts in this field. The Tokyo centre of the World Association of Nuclear Operators is ready to receive him. But the plane with equipment and rescue workers onboard has been waiting in Khabarovsk for ten hours because Tokyo has not accepted them. They could render substantial assistance, consultative services, to say the least.

Vladimir Putin: Is this the decision of our Japanese partners?

Sergei Kiriyenko: Yes, Mr Putin. And what has been added? What's making us worried, and what our Japanese colleagues still don't tell us? But our own forecast is as follows ...

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