Contaminated Water Problems at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant "A Matter of How to Communicate"

Oh. Here I thought they were about:

• figuring out where the groundwater and contaminated water are coming from, and how much;

• diverting the groundwater from the contaminated areas;

• decreasing the amount of water injected into the reactors to reduce the amount of contaminated water to treat;

• possibly diluting and dissipating if only tritium is the issue;

• building welded tanks to replace the assembled tanks;

• coming up with different ways to cool the reactors that do not rely on continuous injection of water; and

• creating a human resource management system so that the workers at the plant (other than TEPCO employees) can work with decent training, pay and benefits.

According to TEPCO and Mr. Lake Barrett, a former US NRC official advising TEPCO, it seems it is more about how the problems are explained to the rest of the world, since the contaminated water is well contained.

From NHK News (9/13/2013; part):

汚染水「世界にどう伝えるか取り組みを」

Contaminated water "more effort to communicate with the world"

東京電力の本店で開かれた対策会議にはスリーマイル島原発の事故の後、およそ４年間にわたって現場で廃炉作業を指揮したアメリカ原子力規制委員会の元職員、レイク・バレット氏が社外の専門家として参加しました。

Mr. Lake Barrett, former US NRC official who directed the decommissioning work for 4 years after the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident, attended the meeting at TEPCO headquarters as an outside expert.

会議の冒頭でバレット氏は「大量の汚染水があるにも関わらず最大限の努力によってきちんと封じ込められていると考えている。非常に複雑な地下水の流れがあるなか、困難な問題ではあるが技術的な対策とともに世界全体にどう伝えていくのかということにぜひ取り組んで頂きたい」と述べました。

At the start of the meeting, Mr. Barrett said, "Despite the large amount of contaminated water at the site, I think it is properly contained by the maximum effort [by TEPCO]. It is a difficult problem with the very complex groundwater flow, but I would recommend that the efforts not only be for technical control of the water but also to improve your methods of communicating to the world the situation that's actually there at the site." [From "I would recommend..." onward, it is Mr. Barrett's actual remark as heard on the NHK video.]

またバレット氏は▽何かが起きてからではなく、事前に手当てを打っていくべきだということや▽一般の人たちにも分かりやすく情報を発信し、コミュニケーションの改善を図るべきだなどと提言したということです。

Mr. Barrett also suggested that problems should be dealt with before they become problems, and communication be improved by disseminating information in a way that is easy for the general public to understand.

これに対し、東京電力の廣瀬社長は「専門家から意見を頂きながら漁業関係者の方々を含めて一般の人たちに分かりやすく情報を発信し、対策の強化にしっかりと取り組んでいきたい」と話していました。

TEPCO's President Hirose said, "With the advice from experts, we will do our best to communicate better with the general public including the fishermen, and to reinforce measures [for contaminated water].

Mr. Barrett, according to NHK World news from 9/12/2013, visited Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on the day before (9/12/2013) and inspected the tanks himself.

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