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[Ether_Snake]

Tepco Faces 132 Olympic Pools Worth of Radioactive Water

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) has accumulated the largest pool of radioactive water in the history of nuclear accidents. The utility must now decide what to do with it: dump in the ocean, evaporate into the air, or both.

[...]

The government said this week it will take a bigger role in staunching the toxic outflow that’s grown to 40 times the volume accumulated in the atomic disaster at Three Mile Island in the U.S.

[...]

Processing and disposing of the water, enough to fill 132 Olympic-size swimming pools, will be one of the most challenging engineering tasks of our generation, former nuclear engineer Michael Friedlander said. Tokyo Electric has chopped down forest to add more water tanks at the site 220 kilometers (137 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

[...]

The steel storage tanks are vulnerable to spills due to earthquakes as well as leaks, representing “a very clear and present danger to the plant site and to the people working there,” said Friedlander, who spent 13 years operating U.S. nuclear plants, including the Crystal River Station in Florida.

“There are really only a few ways you can get rid of it,” Friedlander said. “You put it in the ocean or it’s going to have to be evaporated. It’s a political hotspot, but at some point you cannot just continue collecting this water.”

[...]

Tepco has 300 tons of water flowing into the reactors each day for cooling, while another 400 tons of groundwater from hills behind the plant is seeping into basements and mixing with contaminated run-off. Tepco is then pumping hundreds of tons out of the basements each day to store in tanks to await treatment to extract cesium and strontium via two filter systems.

And it's only been two years, and there's no end in sight to how much more water will have to be contaminated!

 

[Stinkles]

Dump it in aquatic reptile tanks.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

That's actually much less than I thought it'd be.

Me being an expert on nuclear waste.

 

[iamaustrian]

That's actually much less than I thought it'd be.

Me being an expert on nuclear waste.

300 tons each day is less than you thought?
That's a gigantic amount of water. So are the 132 pools of radiated water.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

I was considering visiting Japan next year, but now, I don't really think I'll go there, at least for the next few years.

 

[Blablurn]

I was considering visiting Japan next year, but now, I don't really think I'll go there, at least for the next few years.

well. as long as you dont jump into the radioactive water to swim a lil, u will be fine lol.

 

[KuroNeeko]

Most of the people living outside of the affected zone don't really care anymore, mostly because no one really knows how bad it is. The news only reports what the government lets them and it's not enough.

It's a shame and it's even worse that the government is getting away with it.

 

[Router]

We could shoot it at the sun but nooooo we went and mothballed NASA.

 

[Danj]

We could shoot it at the sun but nooooo we went and mothballed NASA.

Are you confusing reality with Superman IV?

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Most people still haven't realized how bad this actually is, and dismiss any mention of the probable long term implications as fear mongering and paranoia. The level of denial surrounding this thing has been disturbing from the start, when transparent assurances about how quickly and easily this would be brought under control were bandied about and people actually swallowed it hook line and sinker. It is blatantly obvious that Tepco only lets on as much as circumstances force them to at any given time. They don't even have a way to stop the rods from potentially melting right through the reactors into the ground, and several could still be in danger of exploding. Of course, the current denial is that the effects will somehow remain relatively isolated, and not affect anyone outside of a few kilometers or whatever, which is of course bullshit. I'm feeling confident a huge amount of the health and environmental impacts will be rationalized away as statistical noise in the coming decade.

 

[Kickz]

These guys are gonna have mutant powers.

 

[Dead Man]

300 tons each day is less than you thought?
That's a gigantic amount of water. So are the 132 pools of radiated water.

Of course it is, but I am in the same boat, I thought it would be more.

 

[Meaning Of Karma]

I was considering visiting Japan next year, but now, I don't really think I'll go there, at least for the next few years.

Are you serious?

 

[Fuzzery]

NEW STALKER GAME

 

[mercenar1e]

Seems like a lose-lose situation... Is that 300 tons of water per day?

 

[Demon Lizardman]

Goddamn it, this is horrible and I love seafood.

 

[Ether_Snake]

That's actually much less than I thought it'd be.

Me being an expert on nuclear waste.

I'll take this guy's opinion:

Processing and disposing of the water, enough to fill 132 Olympic-size swimming pools, will be one of the most challenging engineering tasks of our generation, former nuclear engineer Michael Friedlander said.

as more more credible.

 

[Clydefrog]

These guys are gonna have mutant powers.

unfortunately, mutant powers in real life are actually mutant weaknesses / cancer

 

[creationtheory]

Somebody call Elon.

 

[Soyongdori]

These guys are gonna have mutant powers.

Or cancer. Yup most likely cancer.

 

[Escape Goat]

Actually, mutants can't get cancer or HIV.

edit - actually, its just HIV.

 

[Soyongdori]

America already tested this on japan. Dont argue.

 

[yogloo]

Time to have a radioactive summer Olympics.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Pay SpaceX to launch the shit into the Sun.

 

[Escape Goat]

Pay SpaceX to launch the shit into the Sun.

can't we just funnel the gas up into orbit. it would probably be cheaper.

 

[Zeus Molecules]

I wonder if this will lead to testing their exports for levels of radiation

 

[ClassyPenguin]

Pay SpaceX to launch the shit into the Sun.

What a disaster it would be if the rocket explodes in mid launch.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Pay SpaceX to launch the shit into the Sun.

Add more radiation to a radiated object.

GENIUS =O

 

[Skinpop]

Most of the people living outside of the affected zone don't really care anymore, mostly because no one really knows how bad it is. The news only reports what the government lets them and it's not enough.

It's a shame and it's even worse that the government is getting away with it.

i dunno, when I went to kansai this summer quite a lot of people were still talking about it and expressing how little faith they have in politicians and the government since the disaster.

In the media there have been quite a few mangas, dramas and live action movies touching the subject. (The land of hope for example

Its just that as a normal citizen you can't let it take over your life. You still have kids and cats to feed, work to do and other personal engagements like any normal people to attend to.

Also, japan is a country that has a history of natural disasters and will never be safe from earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons, you have to learn how to deal with it or your life will forever be shit.

I'm personally more concerned about the political situation(lack of trust in politicians and the swapping game for the prime minister seat). That's the shit that lets the government get away with crap like this.

 

[HoodWinked]

they're using the water for cooling so why not just recycle the radiated water. nvm i think they might be.

 

[Skinpop]

So how long is it expected to take until the radioactive matter cools down?

 

[Fenderputty]

I like how they're using tanks that are susceptible to earthquakes. Because Japan doesn't have a ton of earthquakes and this wasn't all caused by an earthquake.

I mean ... it might be the only way they can store it. I just see some irony there.

 

[Evolution_1ne]

No, Planet Earth faces 132 swimming pools of radioactive water,

 

[Skinpop]

I like how they're using tanks that are susceptible to earthquakes. Because Japan doesn't have a ton of earthquakes and this wasn't all caused by an earthquake.

I mean ... it might be the only way they can store it. I just see some irony there.

I suppose they don't have much time to engineer and construct enormous earthquake-safe tanks. The situation is really crappy :/

 

[shira]

Something tells me it's not a good time to be a dolphin near Japan.

 

[Ether_Snake]

So how long is it expected to take until the radioactive matter cools down?

Vermont is doing a declassification of their 40 years old nuclear plant. Do you know how long it might take for the rods to cool?

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...plant-close/JTX64k3YjBz7yrJnI40bVM/story.html

The company has two years from the date the reactor shuts down, expected in the final three months of 2014, to deliver a decommissioning plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Entergy will have 60 years to dismantle buildings, drain reactor pools, and contain spent fuel in cylinders reinforced with steel and concrete.

And some Gaffers still maintain that it's more difficult to put an end to coal plants, lol.

It's much easier to put an end to the production of any other type of energy, and much safer, than this crap.

 

[ponpo]

Good time for me to move to Japan imo. Maybe an explosion will occur around the rods and hukushima will melt and then all of Earth will end in an apocalypse.

Launch the rods into space ┐(´ー&#65344┌

Really though they need to do something if there is just melted radioactive blobs sinking further into the earth daily. TEPCO is garbage and IAEA should just send a military task force to take control of the entire situation.

 

[Timedog]

Can someone explain what the problem is and why it's taking years to cool down?

 

[Musician]

Can someone explain what the problem is and why it's taking years to cool down?

Reactors gonna react

 

[iamaustrian]

Can someone explain what the problem is and why it's taking years to cool down?

read the wikipedia about Nuclear Plants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant

It explains it pretty good.

 

[Timedog]

read the wikipedia about Nuclear Plants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant

It explains it pretty good.

Would you be willing to point out which section it explains it pretty good in, since you read it?

 

[spineduke]

Would you be willing to point out which section it explains it pretty good in, since you read it?

This is more relevant to what you're asking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_heat

 

[Timedog]

This is more relevant to what you're asking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_heat

This makes it seem like decay heat tapers off pretty sharply after the reactor is turned off. I thought the reactor was like, still melting or something, years after the accident?

 

[MutFox]

Dump it inside an active volcano...

 

[ClassyPenguin]

This makes it seem like decay heat tapers off pretty sharply after the reactor is turned off. I thought the reactor was like, still melting or something, years after the accident?

The reactor did have a meltdown and since the safety systems failed due to the tsunami, they just dumped a shit ton of water onto it.

Then there is the spent fuel pools, which also need to be cooled down and the systems failed there too, so they again, just dumped water on it.

The Frontline documentary on Fukushima goes in to the details. A complete clusterfuck. Makes Deepwater Horizon Spill seem like child's play.

 

[Timedog]

The reactor did have a meltdown and since the safety systems failed due to the tsunami, they just dumped a shit ton of water onto it.

Then there is the spent fuel pools, which also need to be cooled down and the systems failed there too, so they again, just dumped water on it.

The Frontline documentary on Fukushima goes in to the details. A complete clusterfuck. Makes Deepwater Horizon Spill seem like child's play.

Oooh, nice. I'll have to check that out!

 

[spineduke]

This makes it seem like decay heat tapers off pretty sharply after the reactor is turned off. I thought the reactor was like, still melting or something, years after the accident?

"Because radioisotopes of all half life lengths are present in nuclear waste, enough decay heat continues to be produced in spent fuel rods to require them to spend a minimum of one year, and more typically 10 to 20 years, in a spent fuel pool of water, before being further processed. However, the heat produced during this time is still only a small fraction (less than 10%) of the heat produced in the first week after shutdown.[2]"

The idea is to avoid any heat buildup, to prevent another reaction from occuring.

 

[Upsidedown Fuji]

Dump it inside an active volcano...

That... that would just create even more problems...

A more realistic solution is to stop TEPCO from being the exclusive entity working on the containment of their failure. This should be an international effort as well as internationally funded as it affects EVERYONE the more we wait for TEPCO to f-it up more.

 

[ponpo]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/09/03/fukushima-japan-government.html

The Japanese government announced Tuesday it is funding a costly, untested subterranean ice wall in a desperate step to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after repeated failures by the plant's operator.

Public funding is part of several measures the government adopted Tuesday. Most had already been announced but they are widely seen as a safety appeal before the International Olympic Committee votes on which city will host the 2020 Olympics. Tokyo is a front-runner.

"Instead of leaving this up to TEPCO [Tokyo Electric Power Company], the government will step forward and take charge," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after adopting the outline. "The world is watching if we can properly handle the contaminated water but also the entire decommissioning of the plant."

The government plans to spend an estimated $470 million US through the end of 2014 on two projects — the ice wall and upgraded water treatment units that is supposed to remove all radioactive elements but tritium — according to energy agency official Tatsuya Shinkawa.

The government is not paying for urgently needed water tanks and other equipment that TEPCO is using to stop leaks.

The ice wall would freeze the ground to a depth of up to 30 metres through a system of thin pipes carrying a coolant as cold as minus -40 C. It would thus block contaminated water from escaping the facility's immediate surroundings, as well as keep underground water from entering the reactor and turbine buildings, where most contaminated radioactive water has collected.

Good solution until another earthquake occurs and whatever is powering the ice wall fails.

More
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940214
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/02/fukushima-japan-action-nuclear-cleanup

Related https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oGW1X_oK2I&t=1m57s

 

[TheGravemind]

Forgive my ignorance but why tepco can't send a robot in the nuclear plant , collect all the nuclear shit and then process the water ?