TEPCO confronts new problem of radioactive water at Fukushima plant

[kristopher]

TEPCO confronts new problem of radioactive water at Fukushima plant
December 26, 2015
By HIROMI KUMAGAI/ Staff Writer

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has unexpectedly been forced to deal with an increasingly large amount radioactive water accumulating at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after seaside walls to block the flow of groundwater were constructed in October.

TEPCO completed the walls on Oct. 26 to block contaminated groundwater from flowing into sea. The utility began pumping up groundwater from five wells dug between the walls and the plant's reactor buildings. The plan called for releasing the less contaminated water into the sea after a purification process, butTEPCO discovered that the water had larger amounts of radiation than it had expected.

TEPCO officials said the situation has left the utility with no option but to transfer 200 to 300 tons of groundwater each day into highly contaminated reactor buildings since November, a move that couldfurther contaminate the water.

Comprised of numerous cylindrical steel pipes measuring 30 meters tall, the seaside walls were installed on the coastal side of the No. 1 to No. 4 reactor buildings to block contaminated groundwater flowing out of the highly contaminated buildings from reaching the ocean.

To control groundwater levels...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201512260045

[Journeyman]

1. Maginot Walls to contain poisoned water. Storing contaminated water in more highly contaminated. . .

buildings. Trying to erect a $500 Million "ice wall," only to concede its failure.

"Trust us," they say, worldwide. "This is all very safe."

Each failure comes in such a short span of time, yet the problem will be measured in millennia.

And over it all I keep hearing Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard" himself, offering sage advice for the ages:

"Many a mickle makes a muckle."

("Many littles make a lot.&quot

Hard not to believe we passed a tipping point decades ago.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. And the nuke supporters continue to write it off as a minor issue, and assure us that we need

more nuclear plants, that they're the 'solution' to our fossil fuel problems, that they're 'not really dangerous'.

The only safe place for nukes... is off earth, preferably not even in earth orbit.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

3. I am waiting for the "all is ok crowd"

this worries me - hurry come tell me all is good

[chervilant]

4. Well,

The "all is well" crowd told us Fukushima radiation reaching the west coast of the US would be on the order of "eating two bananas."

smdh...

[FBaggins]

5. You should have listened

The radiation in a banana is much higher than that from Fukushima radiation reaching the west coast.

Bananas have an activity in excess of 100,000 bq/ton. The highest levels of cs 134/137 found in seawater off the west coast have been in the high single-digits to very low double-digits.

It has to increase about 10,000-fold before you can compare Fukushima radiation in seawater to a banana without looking ridiculous.