Posted on 04/15/2011 8:28:02 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Tepco Continues Desperate Struggle To Block Contamination
TOKYO (Nikkei)--With its crippled reactors showing no signs of stabilizing, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) is employing a host of measures to minimize contamination from radioactive water released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The utility on Friday deposited 30 sandbags, each filled with 10kg of zeolite, in the ocean near the water intakes of the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. The mineral is said to be effective in absorbing radioactive cesium.
Tepco also set up several silt curtains near the intakes to filter out pollutants, and installed seven metal plates to prevent contaminated water from spreading.
By Friday, the company had finished dumping water with low levels of radiation into the sea from a waste disposal facility to make room for more contaminated water from the turbine buildings and elsewhere. It released a total of 10,393 tons of water from this facility and from the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors into the sea. The total radioactivity of this water is estimated at 150 billion becquerels, or 10-100 times government standards.
The nuclear reactors at the site remain in a precarious state, and a lack of precise data is making it difficult to deploy effective measures.
Temperatures continue to fluctuate in the No. 1 reactor, where some 70% of the fuel rods in the pressure vessel are reportedly damaged. Nitrogen has been injected into the containment vessel since April 7 to prevent hydrogen explosions. But the interior pressure is not increasing as hoped, raising the possibility that radioactive air is leaking from the containment vessel.
At the No. 2 reactor, radioactive substances may be escaping from the partially damaged suppression chamber. The water in the basement of the turbine building and in the trenches there had the highest radioactivity levels, making the reactor the top priority for workers at the plant.
The building of the No. 3 reactor was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 14. Measurements on Thursday found that the temperature in the upper section of the pressure vessel had climbed by several tens of degrees Celsius.
The No. 4 reactor has large amounts of spent nuclear fuel in its storage pool. Some of the fuel rods are believed to have been damaged due to overheating when the water level in the pool fell. Based on an analysis of samples collected Tuesday, the water in the pool stood at 90 C and was highly radioactive. And some 200 tons of water was pumped in to bring the level back up.
(The Nikkei April 16 morning edition)
Why is TEPCO still in charge? Why not the Japanese gov’t at least. TEPCO is a soon to be bankrupt entity. This disaster is normally where the US would step up and lead in the colossal global tragedy but the consequences of Obama to the destruction of the US just continue . . .
They said earlier this week (when they upped the accident to level 7) that they released 1015 to 1017 becquerels so 1011 is a pretty minor release. Numbers here: /focus/news/2694364/posts?page=839#839
Fun fact: “TEPCO has estimated that these discharges would increase the effective dose to a member of the public by 0.6 mSv, if he/she were to eat seaweed and seafood from 1 km from the discharge point every day for a year. It should be noted however that the movements of all ships, including fishing boats, are restricted within a 30km zone from the NPP.”
So, if somebody were to break the law and harvest fish and seaweed near the damaged nuclear power plant’s contaminated water discharge *and* eat it every day for a year, they’d get an additional 0.6 mSv (60 mrem) of radiation. Living in a brick house will give you 75 mrem a year.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled fearmongering.
Japanese govt. ? Even more dishonest and inept than TEPCO !
Granted, I’m not a nuclear engineer, but a pickuptruck-full of what is going to do what, now?
They dumped 700lbs of (basically kitty-litter) into the ocean? That’ll fix the melted-down reactor!
“The Government” ran Chernobyl and the aftermath and it burned for months.
Zeolite will adsorb. (note to article: adsorb not absorb)
Excerpting Kyodo News articles is fear mongering?
Well then, brace yourself - here’s another excerpt:
Excessive radioactive cesium found in fish caught off Fukushima
TOKYO, April 13, Kyodo
Radioactive cesium 25 times above the legal limit for consumption was detected Wednesday in young sand lance caught off Fukushima Prefecture, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.
One of the sample fish had a level of cesium of 12,500 becquerels per kilogram about 500 meters off the city of Iwaki, and 35 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, it said. The limit is 500 becquerels under the Food Sanitation Law.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85289.html
Oh and to anyone else reading this, please note, exposure (e.g. living in a brick house) is less damaging than consumption (e.g. eating a fish that glows in the dark)
FWIW: I read last week that TEPCO would not bury the reactor like the Russians did until all fuel was removed - which would be years from now.
?
We let BP call the shots during that whole fiasco last year.
"“The Government” ran Chernobyl and the aftermath and it burned for months."The fire was contained within approximately 15 days. Cleaning up the most dangerous debris and entombing the reactor within a "sarcophagus" took months.
There is a reason folks cringe when they hear “We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
Unfortunately, the press release from TEPCO that I read quoted the CEO or Pres. of the company as saying that they would invent the means to do so. *sigh*
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