Since the end of June when the contaminated water treatment system started the operation, total 50,000 tonnes of groundwater have seeped into the reactor buildings and turbine buildings at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. Now, the total amount of contaminated water (highly contaminated water plus not-so-highly contaminated, treated water) at the plant has grown from 127,000 tonnes at the end of June to 175,000 tonnes as of October 18, according to Asahi Shinbun.
Does TEPCO have any plan to stop the flow of groundwater into the reactor buildings and turbine buildings, which just adds to the amount of highly contaminated water to be treated and stored? TEPCO is fast running out of storage space, even with cutting down more trees to make room for the storage tanks.
Other than spraying the low-contamination, treated water on the premise, the answer is no. No plan, as TEPCO is running out of money that it is willing to spend on Fukushima I Nuke Plant.
From Asahi Shinbun (10/19/2011):
原発事故の復旧を目指す東京電力福島第一原発の原子炉建屋やタービン建屋内に、この４カ月間で計約５万トンの地下水が流れ込み、放射能汚染水が４割増えたことが分かった。流入はいまも続き、浄化後の汚染水が増え続けて保管場所が不足する恐れがあるほか、水処理施設の不具合と大雨が重なれば、建屋から汚染水があふれる可能性もある。
It has been discovered that the contaminated water has increased by 40% in 4 months inside the reactor buildings and turbine buildings at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, with the inflow of ground water of about 50,000 tonnes. The flow still continues. TEPCO may run out of storage space for the treated, still-contaminated, water. There is also a possibility of the highly contaminated water overflowing from the buildings if a problem at the water treatment facility and a heavy rain coincide.
東京電力の公表データをもとに朝日新聞が試算したところ、水処理施設が本格稼働した６月下旬以降、１～４号機の建屋地下には１日あたり約４５０トンの地下水が流れ込み続けている。建屋の壁などに損傷部があるためとみられる。
According to the calculation done by Asahi Shinbun based on the data published by TEPCO, about 450 tonnes of ground water per day have been flowing into the buildings of Reactors 1 through 4 since the end of June when the contaminated water treatment facility started the operation. It is considered that there are damages in the walls of the buildings.
流入量は降雨と連動しており、台風による大雨後の９月下旬には倍増、１週間で約７７００トンの地下水が流れ込んでいた。
The amount of groundwater into the buildings fluctuates with the rainfall. At the end of September when it rained heavily because of a typhoon, the amount of ground water doubled, and about 7,700 tonnes of water seeped into the buildings in that week.
流入した地下水は建屋地下の汚染水と混じり、高濃度放射能汚染水として水処理施設に送られる。放射能濃度を下げ、塩分を除去した水は、原子炉の注水に使われる。
The groundwater would mix with the contaminated water in the basement of the buildings, and this highly contaminated water is being sent to the water treatment facility. After the density of radioactive materials in the water is lowered and salt removed, the treated water is being used for cooling the reactors.
この「循環注水冷却」が始まった６月下旬、原発敷地内には、高濃度放射能汚染水と処理後の汚染水が計約１２万７千トンあったが、地下水が流入した結果、１０月１８日現在、４割増えて約１７万５千トンに。すべて、外部に放出できない水だ。
When the circulatory water injection and cooling system started in late June, there were 127,000 tonnes of contaminated water (highly contaminated water plus the treated water with low contamination). However, as the result of the groundwater inflow, there are now 175,000 tonnes of contaminated water, a 40% increase, as of October 18. None of the water could be released outside the plant.
淡水化処理に伴って出る塩分の濃い濃縮廃液は専用のタンクにためられるが、増え続ければタンクを増やす必要がある。現在、毎月２万トン分のタンクを増設しており、タンク置き場を確保するため、東電は原発敷地内の森を伐採している。水を蒸発させることで量を減らす装置があるが、現在は稼働していない。
Concentrated, highly saline waste water after the desalination process is stored in the special tanks. As more water is processed, more tanks are needed. TEPCO is installing 20,000 tonnes storage tanks every month. To secure the space for the tanks the company has been cutting down the trees in the plant compound. There is a system to evaporate water to reduce the amount of waste water, but it is not currently used.
原子炉冷却に使った高濃度汚染水がたまるタービン建屋の水位は現在、あふれる恐れがある高さの約１メートル下にあり、大雨が降ってすぐにあふれ出るレベルではないが、水処理装置の不具合が重なれば、循環が滞って水位が一気に上昇する恐れがある。
The water level in the turbine buildings where the highly contaminated water after the reactor cooling accumulates is 1 meter below the level at which there is a danger of overflowing. It is not the level that would cause immediate overflow after a heavy rain. However, if the heavy rain is coupled with a trouble at the water treatment system that hampers the water circulation, the water level could rise very rapidly.
水処理施設の能力は１日１４００トン。東電は、施設が順調に稼働しており、循環注水冷却が安定していることを強調するが、処理すべき水が増えている現状が続けば、施設に過分な負荷がかかり、不具合につながりかねない。
The treatment capacity of the water treatment facility is 1,400 tonnes per day. TEPCO emphasizes that the facility is running smoothly and the circulatory water injection system is stable. However, if the current situation continues where groundwater keeps coming into the buildings that needs to be treated, the water treatment facility will be taxed with excess load, which may cause a problem.
地下水流入を完全に止めるのは難しく、東電は対策工事を計画していない。汚染水がたまり続けることに対して、東電の原子力・立地本部の松本純一本部長代理は「建屋の地下部分を使わずに水を循環させる、よりコンパクトな水処理にしないと、流入する地下水の処理が必要な状況からぬけられない」としているが、根本解決のめどは立っていない。
It is difficult to stop the inflow of groundwater completely, and TEPCO is not planning any countermeasure construction. Regarding the continued inflow of groundwater into the buildings, TEPCO's Junichi Matsumoto says, "We have to come up with a more compact water treatment system in which we can circulate water without using the basements of the buildings. Otherwise we would be stuck in a situation where we have to treat the groundwater coming into the basements." However, there is no prospect of fundamentally solving the problem.
And there will be no such prospect, as TEPCO is now proven to be very good at looking the other way. Over 10 sieverts/hour ultra-hot spot? Not a problem, we will just cordon off the area. What is causing 10 sieverts/hour radiation? Why it's not our problem. How much over 10 sieverts/hour? We don't know because we don't measure such things. High hydrogen concentration in the pipe? Not a problem, we will just blow nitrogen gas. What is causing the high hydrogen concentration? It's not our problem. A worker died after 1 week of work at the plant. Why? It's not our problem, it's the subcontractor's problem...
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9 comments:
A more compact system would be nice. Only it means hooking up return pipes somewhere in the reactor buildings, directly to the PCVs or even the suppression chambers.
Not the easiest thing to do, even supposing that the aforementioned structures can be made watertight, which they obviously are not at the moment.
TL;DR: Matsumoto's on crack.
"We have to come up with a more compact water treatment system in which we can circulate water without using the basements of the buildings. Otherwise we would be stuck in a situation where we have to treat the groundwater coming into the basements."
The basements did not leak like that before the quake, so the foundations are damaged, water is gaining access.
"hooking up return pipes somewhere in the reactor buildings, directly to the PCVs or even the suppression chambers."
Christ, stick the damned pipe in the hole in the floor w/the 4.7Sievert.
How they gonna make them watertight, send divers down to patch foot long cracks in the foundations?
the only way to fix these structures would be to dig trenches around them and pour more concrete into the areas that are compromised.
The proposed use of coagulants to seal the reactor site from the turbine hall is presumably aimed at this problem.
It has worked before, afaik, in the case of the ocean leakage from the site.
The problem here is that the leak paths are entirely unknown. Where to inject the coagulant is a mystery. In addition, drilling down to create a sealed section underground is very difficult when the drill site may be seriously radioactive.
Nevertheless, in a sense, this is good news.
TEPCO is at the stage where they can begin to think about how to begin to cope with the actual site, as opposed to just the radiation and debris.
Following the original post: Is there some weird form of drama that informs the thinking processes of nuclear power engineers on this site? black comedy? They just seem to be going round in circles. To me, it seems as if there are several chains of command in action, all confusing each other and not in any way trying to coordinate. Just a farce, a black farce. I don't know Japanese theatre, but maybe there are some traditional dramas that work this way. It would be nice to have this confirmed or refuted.
To netudiant, I would like to tease out your logic a bit, and maybe you can explain why "in a sense, this is good news" when "the leak paths are entirely unknown" and "the drill site may be seriously radioactive".
I would add that as the turbine hall basements are below sea level then in any non radioactive environment the construction of a lower level floor seal would be a considerable engineering achievement.
I would like some reflection on this being no time to assert that we are soon out of the woods on this one.
Not to forget that both systems, the Areva one and the Sarry one, produce lots of nuclear waste on top. The more water has to be treated, the more waste will be produced. Not only their water tanks are increasing.
DD
If the turbine hall basements are below sea level, is the sea the most likely source of the 'ground water' invasion?
From: Dark NRG, London. A top British nuclear scientist who studied Chernobyl extensively, this morning said, Fukushima is already far worse. High radiation is being found 30km offshore in the sea. Fish are testing highly radioactive. Rain that is falling all over Japan is heavily contaminated. Drinking water will soon be contaminated, meaning it will get into the whole food chain, animals, fish, seaweed and rice crops. Tokyo is at huge risk. Wind and rain are quickly contaminating the city. He stated that his figures indicate possibly 100,000 people will get sick and many newborn babies will have genetic deformities and serious diseases such as leukemia. He does not believe that there will be a cold shutdown any time soon, in fact he said figures, reports and photos this week suggest a possible full nuclear explosion, such as from a huge atomic bomb, may occur. His figures suggest at least 2 reactors and spent fuel pools are reaching critical mass in runaway nuclear reactions. He believes that very soon, no matter how much water is pumped in, it is now a runaway situation. This radio interview went to air today. The scientist was absolutely distraught and I believe he was even holding back a deeper concern due to other things he knows but he would not say.
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