Contaminated water crisis

Huge tanks shipped to Fukushima plant / One gets full within less than 2 days

 

 

Following up this article.. Tepco to carry new contaminated water tanks directly from the factory by transport ships [URL]

 

Tepco started carrying 6 contaminated water tanks from the factory in Mitsubishi heavy industries in Hyogo to Fukushima plant.

The contaminated water is increasing faster than Tepco builds the new tanks in the site. Tepco attempts to catch up with the contaminated water increasing by transferring the completed tanks directly from the manufacture.

 

One is 15.6m tall, the diameter is 8.1m. The capacity is 700m3, but one tank gets full only within 2 days because 400m3 of groundwater flows to the basement of the plant buildings every single day.

 

Currently the storage facility is 91% full. It can be overflowing this coming June. (cf, Contaminated water storage already 91% full / Could be overflowing by this coming June [URL2]) Tepco states they are going to purify all 450,000 m3 of contaminated water by the end of next March. However the multiple nuclide removing system ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) hasn’t been in the operation without having the continuous troubles. (cf, 4,200,000,000Bq of β nuclides and 10,000,000 Bq of γ nuclides leaked from ALPS again / New technology never get into operation [URL3]) If the new technology of ALPS turns to fail with other freezing water wall plan, Tepco would need to continue transferring these tanks for over half a century until they decommission the plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://photo.tepco.co.jp/date/2014/201404-j/140417_01j.html

 

See also

 

You read this now because we’ve been surviving until today.

_____

Français :

D’énormes citernes expédiées à la centrale de Fukushima / Une remplie en moins de 2 jours

 

Article lié : Tepco va se faire livrer de nouvelles citernes par bateau directement de l’usine

Tepco a reçu 6 citernes à eaux extrêmement radioactives livrées à la centrale depuis l’usine de Mitsubishi industries lourdes de Hyogo.
Le volume des eaux extrêmement radioactives augmente plus vite que ce que Tepco peut construire en nouvelles citernes sur site. Tepco tente de rattraper le rythme en se faisant livrer des citernes déjà totalement montées à l’usine du fabricant.

Elles font 15,6 m de haut pour un diamètre de 8,10 m. Leur capacité est de 700 m³, une citerne est remplie en moins de 2 jours parce que le flot des eaux inondant les bâtiments de la centrale est de 400 m³ par jour.

Actuellement, les équipements de stockage de  ces eaux sont pleins à 91 %. Ça devrait déborder à partir de juin (cf. Eaux extrêmement radioactives – stockage déjà saturé à 91 % : ça devrait déborder courant juin). Tepco affirme qu’ils auront purifié les 450 000 m³ d’eaux extrêmement radioactives pour la fin mars de l’an prochain. Néanmoins, le système de filtrage multi-nucléide ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) n’a jamais été mis en fonction sans connaître systématiquement des problèmes. (cf. 4,2 milliards de Bq en β et 10 millions de Bq en γ ont encore fuit de ALPS : Cette nouvelle technique n’a jamais été opérationnelle) Si la nouvelle technique de ALPS reste inefficace, ainsi que l’autre projet de mur souterrain congelé, Tepco devra continuer de remplir ces citernes pendant plus du demi-siècle que demande le démantèlement de cette centrale.







http://photo.tepco.co.jp/date/2014/201404-j/140417_01j.html

Vous pouvez lire ceci parce que nous avons survécu jusqu’à aujourd’hui.

Mochizuki
Mochizuki
The writer of Fukushima Diary.
Related
Previous 4,200,000,000Bq of β and 10,000,000 Bq of γ nuclides leaked from ALPS again / New technology never get into operation
Next “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries trying to quit being in cooperate with Areva”, a Fukushima worker

15 Comments

  2. I agree. The entire current contents of the tank farm could be stored in a couple of supertankers. There would be risks of course, but the risk from earthquakes and tsunamis would be greatly reduced. Why wait for a surplus one? If the Japanese government were serious about containing the disaster it would requisition the required ships as a matter of urgency.

  3. Can anyone explain what would happen if they stopped pouring water on the reactors?
    The decay heat is no longer enough to melt the cores. So is it to provide shielding for on-site workers? Wouldn’t pouring in lots of concrete do the same shielding, plug some leaks, help immobilize radiological material, and solve the storage problem? Why are they not being done?
    Perhaps nuclear expert Mr Bill Duff can provide an intelligent, well researched answer, unless he is only able to call people names and paste irrelevant, technical-sounding content from wikipedia to make himself sound like an expert.

    1. Pouring concrete now would be the worst thing they could do.
      The molten cores need some form of active cooling. Water provides this.
      Covering them in concrete would cause them to heat up quickly and possibly cause further explosions.

      1. The question is WHY do the cores require active cooling? I don’t think they do. There is very little to suggest that they have not solidified, either on the RPV floor, the bottom of the containment, or melted into the containment concrete base. Possibly a bit further down if you subscribe to worst case scenarios like Mr. Bill Duff. But it’s very unlikely that they are not solid. Removing active cooling would allow their temperature to rise, but it’s not enough to cause them to melt, and there’s nothing that I can think of there which would cause further explosions. Please motivate what you think would explode, exactly, and why.

        My guess is that the water acts as a radiation shield. And pouring concrete is probably not physically possible due to radiation preventing workers getting close enough. That said, perhaps there are other resins which could be injected somewhere. But there is no debate about these ideas as far as I’m aware, while the water is being pumped in, leaking everywhere, filling the storage, without a clear explanation why. I’m just wondering if TEPCO has publicized any of their research into these alternatives.

        1. LOL,

          Your guess? Based on what?

          And if/when you are as wrong, as TEPCO?

          How shall Japan un-ring that bell?

  4. Goodness! I find myself on the same page as both Diemos and Niall, both literally and figuratively. Have I stepped through the looking glass? No matter. It’s all too easy to resort to name calling, and I’ve been guilty of it myself; but for the time being I’m enjoying the outbreak of real debate and incisive questioning. Niall, your question is one I’ve often myself, and I’d be keen to hear from anyone who can throw some light on it.

  5. Because they are keeping up appearances that nothing is really wrong.
    To make it look like they can turn the switch back on, by keeping the site looking like it could return to functionality.
    Cementing the whole site down would be a loss of face and prestige, so it isn’t going to happen.
    This is a leaky bucket with extra buckets coming in…..

    1. It’s obvious the plant can never be switched back on. The fact that something is obvious doesn’t count for much in Fuku-land, but even Tepco has admitted the plant is kaput.

      Tepco’s priorities are protecting their profits and covering the arse of the nuclear industry. If they could achieve this by pouring concrete, why don’t they? Could it be because pouring concrete would make it more difficult to dig the coriums out, assuming this is ever possible? Are they trying to pretend that FD is just a larger version of TMI?

      To return to Niall’s question, what’s the worst that could happen if they turned the cooling pumps off?

  6. Corium Location

    One size does NOT fit ALL!

    Extensive Grouting, Ditching and Underground Dams are appropriate, in the absence of corium location DATA.

    1) What is the detailed status of the MUON detection and mapping projects?

    2) Where are the corium slugs?

    3) What are the corium slug temperatures?

    4) Are each of the corium slugs wet or dry, now?

    Some basic factual disclosures are required, prior to BLINDLY ‘pouring cement’.

    Sincerely,

    Bill Duff

      1. Poor judgement

        Japan has not handled the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station well, from cradle to grave.

        The judgement of Japan shows no signs of impending improvement.

        If this were now an interior problem, equivalent to a Kansas meltdown, then that would be their problem. Unfortunately, the Japanese appear to have killed the Northwest Pacific Ocean Fishery.

        And the destruction continues.

        Sincerely,

        Bill Duff

  7. 1) Well, muon tomography is a technology being developed by LANL that they’ve proposed to deploy at Fukushima. You put cargo containers full of detectors on either side of the building to track muons passing through it and if you sit there and collect data for several months you might be able to make a blurry image with a resolution of a couple of meters of what’s in between the two detectors. That should probably give you enough information to say, “Yup, the cores melted alright.” LANL has active proposals in to the US and Japan to jointly fund construction and deployment.

    2) Lower than they used to be.

    3) Room temperature. Fission stopped on 3/11 and by melting they released their fission products so there’s little decay heat. google “elephant’s foot” to see what happens to corium.

    4) I’ll go with “moist” at least.

  8. China Syndromes?

    Are there one or more China Syndrome(s) at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station? Available evidence suggests that there may be corium in the earth, deeper than the concrete foundation level, from FDU-3.

    Other, more conventional corium mapping methods have been proposed.

    For example, Schlumberger routinely maps (LOGS) formation radiation in O&G wells, with passive and active methods.

    One Size does not fit all.

    An inappropriate action, may reignite fissioning, in one or more corium slugs.

    Sincerely,

    Bill Duff

  9. Quote from “More on Muon Core Imagining” written October 2012: http : //www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=8017
    “There is a portion that needs to be paid by TEPCO and METI to put the project into action.”

    Quote from “Fukushima News Roundup; January 27, 2014”: http : //www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=12230
    “Japan has opted to develop their own muon detection system to attempt to find the reactor cores at Fukushima Daiichi..”

    I wonder what an “active” Muon detection system would “look” like.

    Note that the “elephant’s foot” formation in Chernobyl was aided with generous amounts of lead and sand, if i remember correctly.

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About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

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