Friday, June 3, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 100,000 Tonnes of Highly Contaminated Water, May Leak by June 15

Often, you could tell what's going on by looking at the information that is withheld. One such piece of information was the water level at the trenches from the Fukushima I's Reactors 2 and 3.

On May 28 and 29, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) uploaded the information on the trench water levels at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, as the typhoon No.2 was heading north. Then, that information stopped on May 30. I found it very peculiar, and was about to write a post.

Now the news comes that the amount of highly contaminated water is over 100,000 tonnes, and it would start to leak by June 15 on a heavy rainfall.

Southern Tohoku that includes Fukushima Prefecture enters the rainy season ("tsuyu 入梅") around June 12 in a normal year, and the rainy season lasts for about a month and a half till late July. Kanto has already entered the rainy season since May 27, 17 days earlier than last year.

From Kyodo News Japanese (6/3/2011):

東京電力は3日、福島第1原発の原子炉建屋などにたまっている 高濃度の放射性物質を含む汚染水の総量は5月末現在、推定10万5100トンと発表した。1~3号機の原子炉へ注入している水が建屋に漏れていると想定 し、大雨が降った場合は高濃度の汚染水が6月15日までに外部に漏れ出る恐れがあるとしている。

TEPCO announced on June 3 that the total amount of highly contaminated water in the buildings at Fukushima I Nuke Plant is estimated to be 105,100 tonnes at the end of May. Assuming that the water being injected into the Reactor Pressure Vessels for the Reactors 1, 2 and 3 is leaking into the reactor buildings, TEPCO said the highly contaminated water may leak outside by June 15 if there is a heavy rainfall.

 東電は、汚染水の放射性物質を除去するなどして浄化するシステムを15日以降に稼働させる計画だが、間に合わない可能性がある。東電によると、5月末には100ミリを超える雨が降り、その影響で水位が50ミリ以上上がったという。

TEPCO plans to start operating the water treatment system to remove radioactive materials in the contaminated water after June 15, but the system may not come in time. According to TEPCO, the rainfall at the end of May exceeded 100 millimeters, causing the water level [the article doesn't say where] to rise by more than 50 millimeters.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

@ Robbie

Thanks for your reply re: potential contamination of China territorial waters/possible criminal charges. Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

No problem Anon 5:14 it's just my opinion but with most of Japan's neighbor's either in the nuclear club or aspiring to I doubt any of them are going to want to rock the boat. (It's bad for business).

As for the contaminated water they may dump I found this information on fresh water fish and contamination uptake. If this holds true for saltwater fish the Japanese may be looking a decades of seafood contamination.

3.5.3.2. Caesium-137 in freshwater fish and other aquatic biota

During the years following the Chernobyl accident there have been many studies of the levels of radiocaesium contamination of freshwater fish. As a result of high radiocaesium bio-accumulation factors, fish have remained contaminated in some areas, despite low radiocaesium levels in water. Uptake of radiocaesium into small fish was relatively rapid, the maximum concentration being observed during the first weeks after the accident[3.93, 3.95]. Due to the slow uptake rates of radiocaesium in large predatory fish (pike, eel, bream) maximum activity concentrations were not observed until six to 12 months after the fallout event [3.93, 3.127] (Fig. 3.48)

(see pg 53)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/51087283/80/Caesium-137-in-freshwater-fish-and-other-aquatic-biota

Cherie said...

100,000 tonnes of water are in the buildings.
What is the point where the substructures begin shifting?

Get enough water in the buildings and the thing could overload the foundations, many of which must be compromised due to the
quake.

Anonymous said...

I bet the TEPCO officials are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they now have
the rains to blame for an overflow.

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