Doubts cast over TEPCO's plan to block radioactive water at Fukushima plant

[kristopher]

Doubts cast over TEPCO's plan to block radioactive water at Fukushima plant

August 03, 2013

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
After nearly 30 months of failure, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is still providing little reason for confidence in its ability to deal with the radioactive water leaking at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The utility continues to face criticism for its delay in releasing vital information about conditions at the crippled plant. Fishermen and residents have lost patience over the many setbacks in TEPCO’s preparations to decommission the reactors.

And now, the Nuclear Regulation Authority is raising doubts about the utility’s latest plan: constructing underground walls to prevent the contaminated water from reaching the Pacific Ocean.

The immediate concern is radioactive water seeping along the seaward side of the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors and spilling into the sea.

TEPCO is currently solidifying soil with chemicals near a levee to...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201308030046

Radioactivity levels higher in water deeper underground at Fukushima plant
August 02, 2013

By JIN NISHIKAWA/ Staff Writer
Radioactive cesium levels were much higher in water deep underground at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant than in samples taken closer to the surface, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said on Aug. 1.

TEPCO measured the radioactivity of water samples taken from the vertical shafts of two concrete trenches for pipes each connected to the turbine buildings of the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors.

The samples were collected on July 31 at a depth of 1 meter, 7 meters and 13 meters on the seaward side of the plant.

Cesium-134 levels of 300 million becquerels and cesium-137 readings of 650 million becquerels per liter were found in water samples from a depth of 13 meters in the trench for the No. 2 reactor turbine building, according to TEPCO.

Levels of radioactive materials that emit beta rays, including strontium, were 520 million becquerels at the same site, TEPCO said....

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201308020045

[intaglio]

1. And the naysayers will be along in ...

One interesting thing is that in the post yesterday the levels of caesium were noted but not other isotopes. This probably raises the count drastically from the 950 kBq per litre.

[stonecutter357]

2. We tried to create eggs that god can't crack.

[kristopher]

3. Interesting expression.

Very apt imagery. Thank you.

PS I worked as a stonecutter one summer during college. What type of work is your speciality?

[stonecutter357]

4. It's a masonic reference.

[Yo_Mama]

5. That is really excellent coverage, thanks for posting it

There is clearly no possibility of even mitigating the situation unless they start pumping groundwater out of the site. But a huge volume of water will have to be removed every few months, and the water itself then would need to be purified.

They don't have the pumping facilities necessary. They don't have the storage facilities necessary. They don't have the purification facilities necessary.

And the situation is getting worse and will continue to get worse, because there is nothing they can do in the infrastructure of the reactors, and that has to be where the majority of this is coming from. They can't get near plathe substructure - it's too hot.

In the near term, the best option is indeed to drill wells toward the inland perimeter of the site and start pumping out relatively clean water to dump in the ocean, because there is no other way to prevent much more contaminated discharges. But that solution will surely be temporary, because if they pump enough out to control the water levels inside the containment barrier they are attempting to build, then they will change the underground seepage patterns and the more contaminated water will start to migrate toward the "clean" wells.

The good news is that the water contamination is still relatively mild. The bad news is that it probably will continue to get worse.

The fact that they are detecting tritium, probably in the form of titrated water, means that this contamination is at least partly sourced from the infrastructure of the reactors, and may be continuing or even increasing.