Unlike the previous leaks (from the same place) where the PVC joint cracked (1st leak on July 9) and where the cast-iron joint corroded (2nd leak on July 12), TEPCO says that the PVC joint completely broke off.
The company doesn't know when the water treatment system can be re-started, as the repair work needs to be done in a very high radiation environment (100 to 150 millisieverts/hour) and each worker can remain there only for 1 to 2 minutes.
Who could have known? (Any comment from AREVA engineers?)
Well, this could be a lesson for the Japanese government who wants to push the so-called "stress test" on all nuclear power plants in Japan, assuming big earthquakes and tsunami. The pipe joints failed in three different ways: plastic cracked, cast iron corroded, and plastic broke off. If the government thinks the next nuclear disaster will happen the same way as the Fukushima accident, they may be very, very wrong.
Just when I thought, "Maybe Murphy is taking a summer vacation away from Fukushima..."
From TEPCO's handout for the press on July 14 in English:
30-Day free trial by following the link.
Tokyo Time
戦争の経済学
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ArmstrongEconomics.com, 2/9/2014より：
戦争の経済学
マーティン・アームストロング
多くの人々が同じ質問を発している－ なぜ今、戦争の話がでるのか？
答えはまったく簡単だ。何千年もの昔までさかのぼる包括的なデータベースを構築する利点の一つは、それを基にいくつもの調査研究を行...
10 years ago
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14 comments:
And yet, the water level is much lower than it was 2 weeks ago, when it was in dire danger of spilling out and spreading contamination. There have been multiple setbacks, but the system is in place and it has worked well enough to ameliorate the immediate danger of the trenches overflowing. The water level in the trench from #3 hasn't been this low since early June. Despite the setbacks, the water level from #2 hasn't been this low since July 1st. I'm not the Areva engineer, but I can understand why he's frustrated at seeing any effort being denigrated.
The main pipes, and the welded-on inlet port are all stainless steel. I find it incomprehensible that the couplings for the flexible hose to the inlet were not also stainless steel. FFS, corrosive chemicals, in a high radiation environment! Radiation embrittles plastics, and it should have been obvious repairs would be difficult once they circulated very highly radioactive water.
Even if they couldn't find stainless steel couplings off the shelf, it would have been easy enough for someone to *make* them on a lathe. But nooo.... not at TEPCO.
I wonder if the entire Fukushima effort is composed of idiots, because all the people with any sense have already run far away?
Also, notice how whoever created that diagram has no idea how the hose clamping actually works? It's really some kind of clamped bayonet seal, but the diagram leaves that out entirely. Plus, I bet the thread on the inlet is NOT actually a tapered thread.
Good luck getting the broken-off thread section out, with only 1 to 2 minute working times and wearing a waterproof suit, since touching the water leaking from the broken joint will give radiation burns.
Should just leave it there, slide a larger dia flexible pipe over the inlet and hose end, tighten with hose clamps.
TerraHertz
Robbie001 sez:
@Anon 2:42
I don't think the treatment system is solely or even mainly responsible for the lowering of the trench water levels. Until recently they have barely been making enough water to keep up with cooling. They have gotten more contaminated water storage on site since the treatment plant breaks down every other couple of days. The Mega Float just started taking it's 10,000 tons water in the last few weeks. Other outdoor temporary storage has also been setup. IMO they are still at the bottom of a very deep hole they haven't even gotten to the foot of the mountain or crossed the river yet.
This comedy of errors is happening for a reason!
We can all speculate as to what that reason is.
These people in charge are supposedly smart people. One has to ask oneself why they appear to be knuckle-draggers. This would be a different animal if this were just Japan's problem but it's not. The world should say 'enough is enough' and forcibly move these people aside whether they want to go kicking and screaming or peaceably. Not just TEPCO but the Japanese government also. The US and NATO have no problem with infringing on the sovereignty of other nations so why are they so quiet about this? I suspect that the answers to this question are more frightening than the disaster itself.
This sounds really scarey.
Robbie001 sez:
@ Bruce
I think the reason is $$$$ and inconvenient truth. The US doesn't invade countries that don't enrich their bottomline. If Libya and Iraq didn't have oil we wouldn't even know they existed. The genocide in Rwanda is a perfect example of what happens when you don't have resources that the world wants. If the world forced Japan to do the right thing it would shatter the illusion that everything is alright. The US doesn't want to draw attention to the disaster and neither do any other nuclear nations, they are too busy keeping their nuclear revivals on life support. Remember the UN's nuclear lapdog the IAEA has praised Japan for their disaster response it's going to be hard to stir up international will with stuff like that going on. The international nuclear club was already in the process of revising "safe" exposure level upwards 1000 fold to justify future "incidents" without much protest.
@Robbie001
OK, try to figure out where the truth is (as much as possible) by looking at the data. Water began to be treated on June 16th at 8:00am. According to the Tepco press releases, low level radioactive water was begun to be transported to the Megafloat on July 14th at 10:00am. So any drop in the trenches up until the 14th cannot be a result of movement to the Megafloat. From July 2nd, decontaminated water begun to be recirculated to the RPVs. So any lowering of the levels since the 2nd we can attribute to the decontamination process. From July 10th (3:15pm) there was movement of some contaminated water from the turbine building of #3 to a "waste process building", so any drop in the levels of #3 we can say are a result of a combination of decontamination and shifting around of water.
So looking at the data of the water levels, we can see a clear drop from the 2nd, so we have to assume it is a result of the decontamination. From the 10th there has been no net drop (actually it starts to rise again), and so we can probably assume that the rise is due to the decontamination not working (stopped due to the problems mentioned here) or perhaps there was a rise in water level that was offset by movement of water to other tanks.
Would you agree with that assessment?
Oh my God!
All this effort just to boil water?
Great way to keep a corporate lock on the power source....losers!
@ anon 2:06,
"So any drop in the trenches up until the 14th cannot be a result of movement to the Megafloat. .. So any lowering of the levels since the 2nd we can attribute to the decontamination process. "
Those are best-case scenarios. Who is verifying anything TEPCO is doing, the Silent Ones? Since nothing TEPCO has done to date leads us to believe they have transitioned to best-case handling, why assume they have done so now?
It is indeed about money, and a certain type at that. Fictitious money financing fictitious prosperity in both nations, fictitious security allowing hostage-taking. About all we need right now is Curtis LeMay to rise from the grave and threaten to bomb DC and Tokyo.
@ Anon 2:48
These are not "best-case" scenarios, they are simply the results of the data. The best-case scenario is that all the decontamination works brilliantly and there are no malfunctions or leakages, but obviously that is not happening. Of course, we can say that Tepco is lying about everything, but then we jump into the world of superstition and there is no point to this blog or any other blog at all.
FWIW can you imagine if, say, Indonesia had been sold a NPP and it had 'Fukushimaed' by the 2004 tsunami that hit Sumatra? If Japan, with all its technological, engineering and financial
resources, has been struggling to bring these ruined reactors into some sort of cold storage just how would a Indonesia or Vietnam cope. Yet the nuclear power industry is falling over themselves trying to sell NPP to countries with little, if any, indigenous capacity to deal with an accident on this scale.
@anon at 5:07PM, it will be easy. There is a shady company who are bringing in 1000 young Vietnamese men per year for 6 years (total 6000) to Japan and "train" them on the job at nuclear power plants all over Japan, doing maintenance and repair. The company also brings "trainees" from Indonesia. They will be so prepared for a Fukushima-type disaster.
I hate to think Japan's NPPs relying on Vietnamese workers who barely speak the language and have zero experience in NPP doing maintenance work.
@ anon 3:45,
I will differ with every thing you stated.
"These are not "best-case" scenarios, they are simply the results of the data."
No, they are best-case in the sense we already know things are not working "brilliantly", breakdowns etc., the monitoring protocol appears to be as undescribed (is it?) as the exact location of the corium.
"The best-case scenario is that all the decontamination works brilliantly and there are no malfunctions or leakages, but obviously that is not happening."
Obviously, and to the point that everyone does not even presume to pretend it could be happening. An historical possibility for TEPCO that it chose not to be part of the present, which for you means "best-case" has devolved/is devolving.
"Of course, we can say that Tepco is lying about everything, but then we jump into the world of superstition and there is no point to this blog or any other blog at all."
TEPCO themselves may have some interesting responses were someone to ask them at a press conference if they are lying. Actually a very healthy part of this blog is to consider the possibility that TEPCO could be lying about much, as it has already lied about MUCH.
Backdoor apologists are to be called out, as I just did to whomever feels to apologize for such corporate filth.
They allowed 3 dirty bombs+ to light up and did nothing until 'convinced' to do something by others, etc.
They are terrorists in the true sense of the word.
The Russians have a reputation for being cynical, heh, they have nothing on TEPCO for cynicism. The Russians acted quickly, there is no other way to respond to reactors melting down.
That sounds like a mess. Having something contaminating you drinking water treatment system doesn't sound like a very good situation.
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