Thursday, September 22, 2011

TEPCO To Sprinkle Low-Contamination Water from Reactor 5 and 6 Turbine Bldgs in the Fuku I Compound

after they treat the water to remove as much radioactive materials and salt as possible from the water.

TEPCO seems to be running out of storage space for contaminated water, and at the same time is worried that the wood piles may catch fire after the trees were cut down to make room for storage facilities on the west side of the plant.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/22/2011):

東京電力は22日、福島第一原子力発電所5、6号機から移送して仮設タンクなどに貯蔵している低濃度汚染水について、浄化処理をした後、敷地内に散水する計画を明らかにした。

TEPCO disclosed the plan on September 22 to treat the low-contamination water and sprinkle the treated water in the Fukushima I Nuke Plant compound. The low-contamination water came from Reactors 5 and 6, and is currently stored in temporary storage facilities.

 周囲の環境への影響はほとんどないとしているが、地元自治体の反対も予想される。

The company says there will be hardly any effect to the surrounding environment, but there may be objections from the local municipalities.

 5、6号機には津波でタービン建屋などに大量の海水が侵入したほか、雨水や地下水も流入。東電は、これらの低濃度汚染水を仮設タンクと大型の浮島「メガフロート」に移送し、現在計1万6350トンたまっている。

In Reactors 5 and 6, a large amount of seawater flowed into the turbine buildings and other buildings when the tsumani hit. In addition, rainwater and the groundwater have seeped in. TEPCO has been transferring this low-contamination water to the temporary storage tanks and to the "Megafloat", and there are currently 16,350 tonnes.

 東電は敷地内の森林を切り開いて仮設タンクなどを設置してきたが、伐採後に山積みした木が自然発火したり、ほこりが飛散したりするのを防ぐため、木の集積場周辺への散水を計画した。低濃度汚染水に含まれる放射性物質濃度を海水浴場の水質基準(放射性セシウムで1リットル当たり50ベクレル以下)以下に浄化し、塩分を取り除いて利用するという。

Tepco has been clearing the forest inside the compound in order to set up the temporary storage tanks. The company is planning to sprinkle the treated water on the wood piles and the surrounding areas to prevent the wood piles from catching fire and to suppress the dust. The water will be treated to reduce the density of radioactive materials to the level allowed for the ocean bathing (50 becquerels/liter and below for radioactive cesium), and be desalinated.

Asahi Shinbun has the information on how "low" the contamination is in this water, and it is 0.01 becquerel/ milliliter (= cubic centimeter). So, in one liter the density is 10 becquerels/liter. If both newspapers are right, then TEPCO will only have to do the desalination.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This to me was the most bizarre story to come out of Tepco in a while. The latest typhoon just dumped huge amounts of water all over Japan. There is absolutely no need to spread water around to reduce fire risk. They are actually increasing the fallout level by doing this. I'm OK with the idea of turning Fukushima Daiichi into a nuclear waste site (let's face it, it already is) so storing the water there is OK with me, but spreading it around the site to "reduce fire risk"?? Facepalm.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

They are running out of storage space, clearly. 10 becquerels/liter radiation is lower than the provisional safety limit for water and milk for babies in Japan (which is 100 becquerels/liter).

pat said...

Does anyone believe TEpco on this

Richard said...

I don't believe Tepco. Let's not suffer from short term memory loss, here. It was only a few months ago when they dumped huge amounts of so-called low radiated water into the ocean, which turned out to be not so low.

In Japan, "It's better to apologize later than ask for permission beforehand." (as the saying goes.)

Anonymous said...

I'm sure none of this will impact the fantasy road map TEPCO has been dreaming about. I'm surprised they don't just make another ocean dump like they did in the early days of the disaster. At 10 Bq/L this water could be sold as a health drink in Japan. Fire suppression could be done by selling the wood to coffin makers for super eco-points. Maybe they can give TEPCO eco-points for "sprinkling" the water instead of just dumping it.

Anonymous said...

TEPCO's Apocalypse is to be delivered in the Now, and repeatedly.

True to form, they deliver.

Next? Guided tours for the radiation tourists. Yes, on site.

Anonymous said...

And we can watch and wonder how long before the compound is reduced to temperate tundra where nothing grows, 'inexplicably'.

Do they have a roadmap target date for the tundra?

Anonymous said...

And the target date for burning the wood piles?

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