Tuesday, April 9, 2013

4/10/2013 Update on Never-Ending Pond Leak Story out of #Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Radioactive Materials Found Outside the Liners


(The post will be updated as the day/night progresses...)

Let's start from the latest... 

(UPDATE) TEPCO says they will hold a press conference in J-Village from 3:30PM today (April 10) with TEPCO's president, who will explain the situation of the leak. The regular TEPCO press conference will start one hour earlier, at 4:30PM.

(UPDATE) NHK just reported that radioactive materials detected outside the liners for the pond No.1 was 0.11 Bq/cc (cm3) (or 110 Bq/liter) of radioactive strontium (and others, of course).

Just a headline from Kyodo News (11:27AM 4/10/2013):

福島第1原発の地下貯水槽の防止シート外側で微量の放射性物質が検出されたと、東京電力が発表。

TEPCO announced that a very small amount of radioactive materials has been detected outside the liners for the in-the-ground water storage.


No info on which pond, how much.

TEPCO so far has hoped that the leaks in the pond No.3 and the pond No.1 are at the locations where the leak detection pipes stick out, piercing through the HDPE layers. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the pond No.1.

Asahi Shinbun reports (4/10/2013; part):

新たに漏れが見つかったのは、1号貯水槽。これまで漏れが見つかった2、3号貯水槽のうち、2号貯水槽の汚染水の9200トンを6日から移し替えている途中だった。

A new leak was found in the storage No.1. Leaks had been found in the storage No.2 and No.3, and 9,200 tonnes of waste water in the storage No.2 was being transported to the storage No.1 starting April 6.

東電によると、9日午前、3重構造の遮水シートの間にたまった水を調べたところ、1立方センチあたり高濃度の1万ベクレルが検出され、汚染水の漏れを確認した。

According to TEPCO, the water between the 3-layer waterproof sheets was tested in the morning of April 9, and found 10,000 becquerels/cm3 of radioactive materials which confirmed the leak of the waste water.

東電はこれまで、貯水槽の上部から漏れていると推定。満水状態にしなければ汚染水をためられるとしていた。しかし、今回漏れた1号貯水槽は5割しかたまっておらず、底に近い方のシートの継ぎ目などから漏れたことが確実となった。

So far, TEPCO had assumed that the leak was from the upper part of the storage, and insisted that they could use the storage as long as the storage was not filled to the top. However, the storage No.1 where the new leak was found was only 50% full. It is now certain that the location of the leak is near the bottom, probably from one of the joints of the liners.


Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority met in the morning of April 10 to discuss the leak problem, but the meeting lasted for only 30 minutes, as there is no effective way to deal with the leak.

Jiji Tsushin reports (4/10/2013; part):

会合では規制委として、汚染水を保管するタンクの増設前倒しを東電に要求することや、放射性物質を取り除く多核種除去装置の本格稼働を急ぐことなどが挙げられたが、新たに有効な対策は示されず、議論は30分足らずで終了した。

At the meeting, they raised the issues such as demanding TEPCO to build additional storage tanks for the waste water ahead of schedule and pushing for the start of the multi-nuclide removal system [ALPS]. However, there was no effective measure [for the leak], and the meeting was over in less than 30 minutes.

規制委で事故対応を担当する更田豊志委員は「過酷な現場で作業を進めている」と述べ、現場に配慮して警告が十分できなかったと反省した。

Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa, who is in charge of the accident response, said "The work is being carried out in an extremely harsh environment", and regretted that he could not give enough warning in consideration for the workers there.



10 comments:

Growltiger said...

Since the sludge is so HOT, what is their plan as we understand there is no way to move the materials to a different container. First, they dont have any more space or areas or containers. And then, the sludge is filtered RO products, very highly contaminated with radiation.
One item NOT mentioned in this report..the KIND of radiation. IF the 10,000 Bq/kg is PU..we are toast..Its probably not (hope dies eternal), or stronium (hum..thats not healthy either).

Soon they will start dumping directly in to the ocean..unless a miracle happens.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Oops, thanks for mentioning the density... It is 10,000 Bq/cm3. But no, it is not plutonium. They are mostly strontium and other betas that SARRY/Kurion does not remove.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

And they have other types of treated water they could start dumping, before they dump this highly saline waste water with extremely high beta radiation (which could be as high as 2 sievert/hour on the surface).

Anonymous said...

NRA meeting video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huPIy_yAbIM

Apolline said...

No more update, Ultraman ?
May I publish my translation ?

It's a nightmare...

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Hi, Helios. There are several more updates but I'll write them in the next post tomorrow...

Anonymous said...

"pushing for the start of the multi-nuclide removal system [ALPS]"
After having themselves delayed it for months? This is beyond ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it something, how they keep assuming happy stuff which later turns out to be quite wrong?

Like how when they assumed they were pumping water into the reactors, but they weren't really? Or when they assumed tsunami protection isn't such a big priority? There's something deeply wrong with the safety culture of TEPCO.

Anonymous said...

Everything Tepco does is 'make shift style' Why? Otherwise it might costs too much money.
There is absolutely no will to solve this properly. A kid of 11 years could predict two years ago Tepco would run out of options to store the conteminated water. They have to solve maths like: You have 12 buckets of 20 liter. The water tape leaks 3 liter per day. After how many days all buckets are full???
Tepco and the Japanese government do not seemed to be able to such a math, or not willing to do. Whatever it is, it's clear we can expect the worst is still to come, with a government who can not even add up 1+1 ( except when it comes to their kickbacks ).
This 'situation' with the leaks makes the way clear to dump all the conteminated water in the ocean for the many years to come.

Goodbye sushi !!! Sayonara sashimi !!!


Atomfritz said...

This is becoming more and more thrilling.
I really miss new data about the leak rates. Too shocking to be published?

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