"Low radiation" water that TEPCO already started dumping into the ocean (yes, they started dumping 2 hours after the presser that ended around 5:00PM JST 4/4/2011)
From various sources (here, here and here):
11,500 tons of low radiation water comes from:
The central waste product processing facility (which they just happened to find out had been flooded with water last week): 10,000 tons
Basement of the turbine buildings for Reactors 5 and 6: 1,150 tons
WAIT A MINUTE. There was 1,500 tons of water in the turbine building basement for Reactors 5 and 6??? And they tell us now?
And here's the level of radiation measured by Iodine-131 (they don't tell us what else is in the water):
Water from the central waste product processing facility: 6.3 becquerel/cubic centimeter (156 times the limit);
Water from Reactor 5 turbine room basement: 1.6 becquerel/cubic centimeters (40 times the limit);
Water from Reactor 6 turbine room basement: 20 becquerel/cubic centimeters (500 times the limit)
It is considered that the radioactive materials in the water at these locations have come from the air.
Contaminated water from Reactor 2, in comparison, looks deadly at "several million becquerel/cubic centimeter", and "10,000 tons of low radioactive water from the above three facilities is equivalent to 10 liters of high radioactive water from Reactor 2" (Asahi).
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the action is regrettably necessary to avert an emergency (of running out of space to store high radiation water).
TEPCO (and NISA) rejected the recommendations that were suggested by Nuclear Safety Commission on March 29 and decided to use the turbine building for Reactor 4 as "storage" for contaminated water, until they realized that "the turbine building for Reactor 4 is connected to the turbine building for Reactor 3" (Sankei). Duh.
Nuclear Safety Commission's recommendations included (according to Sankei):
- Dig a storage pond/well;
- Use tankers currently not in use;
- Ask the US military for help.
And a regular assurance from the bureaucrats and TEPCO that it is safe, eat all fish and seaweeds you want.
So move along, nothing to see here. It's getting rarer and rarer to see the Fukushima I Nuke Plant-related news from the top headlines at major newspapers, at least in their web versions of their newspapers.
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2 comments:
"Nuclear Safety Commission's recommendations included (according to Sankei):
* Dig a storage pond/well;
* Use tankers currently not in use;
* Ask the US military for help."
None of these options are something you have to do for "safe" "low levels" of radiation. I am willing to bet this turn of events alone surpasses Three Mile Island. It is looking more and more like Japan is going to have to bump up the level officially to a multiple INES 6 event. How much do you want to bet the nuclear industry is going to want to average (and round down) the INES ratings to "avoid any confusion" the multiple ratings might cause. One thing I find coming from the "ignorant" MSM fed population is, "it is only a 5 out of 7". I have to point out the it is actually multiple reactors at INES level 5 with some 5/6 level SFP's thrown in to boot. I also point out a lot of experts are rating it at a 6 and some claim it is on course to exceed the INES scale.
From the latest stuff I've seen on NHK they think there are broken pipes, voids and loose sandy soil between the source and a broad release plume. Another thing people aren't thinking about is the proposed silt boom is going to increase radiation levels near the plant if it can actually impound a signification portion of the release (which I doubt). I think all they are going to do is contaminate a huge sopping wad of material that they will have to deal with at some point in the future.
The simple fact of the matter is they need to close their cooling loops but they can't because the facility is so busted up and "hot" from all the natural and man-made disasters. They should have realized from the start that they had to control their poorly improvised cooling loops to some degree because water will always find the path of least resistance. This is really pointing to a total across the board panic response in the crucial first few days of the disaster.
Nuclear Safety Commission seems to have always thought this is the most serious accident Japan ever had, but they were kept quiet.
"This is really pointing to a total across the board panic response in the crucial first few days of the disaster." - I think they should have panicked big time in the beginning, instead of presenting nothing was out of the order. They should have gone into a frenzy mode, asking all the help they needed and not needed, and get everyone on board.
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