Monday, June 27, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: New and Improved Reactor Cooling System Using Treated Water Shuts Down After 1.5 Hour of Operation

Yes, yes it is a big system, which should have been carefully prepared and tested for at least one or two years and they did it in 2 months.

A leak was found on a joint of PVC pipes that transport the treated water.

In earlier Yomiuri article, 4 kilometer long PVC pipes feed the treated water to the reactors, and TEPCO people were worried about the leak all along.

I guess they were too preoccupied with Kurion's zeolite vessels (which require frequent change and system downtime) and didn't have time to test the 4 kilometer long network of PVC pipes.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (1:31AM JST 6/28/2011):

東京電力は27日午後4時20分、福島第一原子力発電所の原子炉から漏れ出した高濃度汚染水を浄化し、冷却水として再利用する「循環注水冷却」を開始した。

TEPCO started the cooling of the reactors using the water treated by the contaminated water treatment system at 4:20PM JST on June 27.

 しかし、注水用配管の継ぎ目に水漏れが見つかり、約1時間半後に原子炉への注水を停止した。28日早朝から原因調査と対策を進める。

However, a water leak from the pipe joint of a water feeding pipe was discovered, and the water injection into the reactors were stopped after one and a half hour. TEPCO will investigate in the morning of June 28.

 東電によると、建屋地下などにたまった汚染水を浄化する処理システムは、稼働を続けている。原子炉への注水は、従来のタンクからの配管に切り替えて継続しており、問題ないという。

According to TEPCO, the contaminated water treatment system itself continues to operate. Cooling of the reactors is unaffected, as they are using the water from the storage tanks as before.

 水漏れがあった配管はポリ塩化ビニール製で直径が約10センチ。原子炉への注水ポンプに真水を送る配管で、流量調整に向かった作業員が漏出を見つけた。東電は、漏れた水は処理済みのため、作業への影響はないとしている。

A leak was found on a 10-centimeter diameter PVC pipe. It is a pipe that feeds fresh water to the pump that pumps water into the reactors. A worker who went to adjust the flow rate found the leak. TEPCO says the leaked water was treated, and there is no effect on the work at the plant.

To clarify, this "fresh water" was made "fresh" by going through the 4-step contaminated water treatment system.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Maybe the troubled water plant will be the subject of a new manga or anime.

"Tokyo's Laputa Int'l Animation Festival makes Fukushima accident this year's theme:

Ryō Saitani, a festival organizer, manga creator, and a prominent anti-nuclear power activist, noted that the nuclear power industry have used manga to promote its safety, especially after the Chernobyl nuclear power accident in 1986. The festival organizers emphasize the threat of radiation in Tokyo from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, although the government and independent surveys have reported normal background radiation levels in Tokyo since the accident.

The fesitval is accepting (PDF format) animated shorts until the end of August. Both professionals and amateurs can enter two-dimensional, three-dimensional, hybrid, and computer animated entries."

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_d2d5c61e-b180-11df-96bc-001cc4c03286.html

Anonymous said...

Cool, new and improved system, cool! Ooops...

the voice in your head said...

Sigh, well, robbie001, and here you thought TEPCO was turning a corner when the T-Hawk simply crashed without causing havoc and/or death. You, in a momentary comment typing bout, lapsed and underestimated TEPCO's enormity of incompetance. Do not do so again.

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Hey, I was just trying to look on the sunny side of things. OK, I promise only the depressing truth from now on.

I wonder how much of the precious treated water they lost to the leak? Originally when they gave a cost estimate per treated ton it was $2585/per ton and 1200 tons treated per day. It has been over a week since they started treating "hot" water and they've only managed to treat 1500-1800 tons that has to effect the treatment price significantly.

Anonymous said...

People of Japan:

Totally off topic... but maybe not.

The Japanese government is putting the responsibility for the Fukushima accident and cleanup on TEPCO. Both TEPCO and the governments both national and local withheld information important for the Japanese people to make decisions important to their health.

I think it's time for the Self Defense Force to bring down and arrest the Cabinet of the Japanese government and executives of TEPCO for criminal neglect (for starters). The SDF should take executive control of the Fukushima cleanup and plead for international help for the effort.

SDF, your hands are clean and the people will back you. Look at your name; 'Self Defense Force'. Who do you protect? What is your job? Who is your enemy?

Right now the people of Japan need you to do the job you were created for... protect the people.

Do it!

Anonymous said...

Yesterday's terrible event.

The first two clips are color edited. I don't think they have been tampered with otherwise because the images (glow and flames) look exactly like what I witnessed yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFxGQW3UNDo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0pVpC0OVY0&feature=related

Lucas Whitefield Hixson has some still shots that show the strange colored smoke emanating from this fire yesterday
http://news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/2011/06/large-vapor-event-at-fukushima-daiichi.html

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 7:07,

While allowing for the time-lapse effect, I will say the #4 Spent Fuel Pool is one active beast.

Pool caught fire after other reactors melted down, large number of fuel rods.

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