Posted on 03/19/2011 7:31:11 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Tepco Reactors May Have Turned Corner As Some Cooling Functions Apparently Restored
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The battle to bring the troubled Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture under control may have turned a corner, with cooling functions at two reactors apparently working again, a development that could ease a nuclear emergency that has gripped the nation for more than a week.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it managed to get temperatures at the waste fuel storage pools at reactors No. 5 and No. 6 close to regular temperatures, Kyodo News reported Sunday morning. A typical spent fuel pool is kept at a temperature below 25 degrees Celsius under normal operating conditions.
The beleaguered Japanese utility said the cooling systems for spent-fuel storage pools have gotten back up and running again at its No.6 reactor, enabling the company to operate pumps that will supply seawater to the pools.
(Excerpt) Read more at e.nikkei.com ...
Think about it; even a 9.x earthquake, tsunami, and many aftershocks couldn’t damage Fukushima Daiichi enough to where it was anywhere close to a fraction of Chernobyl. In stark contrast Chernobyl blew up all by itself, no earthquake or tsaunmi needed. Fukushima Daiichi stands as a great testament to western nuclear powerplant design and operating standards, very impressive difference in my opinion.
I wonder if there will be even one radiation fatality in the next few months from Fukushima Daiichi. I read about one worker being exposed enough to require hospitalization, and the dose was a tiny fraction of what it would have been at Chernobyl.
Here’s some perspective on the current radiation levels at Fukushima Daiichi;
First from -> http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031905-e.html
“From now on, if the measured figure fluctuates and goes above and below 500 micro Sv/h" (.5 m/sv);
and
” - The radiation exposure of 1 TEPCO employee, who was working inside the reactor building, exceeded 100mSv and he was transported to the hospital.”
In morning hours after Chernobyl 134 workers received an exposure of 0.8-16 Gy which is 800-16000 m/sv ( 1Gy = 1Sv, 1Sv = 1000 m/Sv)
What this means is 134 workers in the first few hours at Chernobyl recieved 800m/Sv-16000m/sv. That stands in very stark contrast to the one Fukushima worker who recieved 100 m/sv.
For more perspective on radiation exposure; Symptom Benchmarks and Dose Examples
If any want to monitor the current and actual radiation levels across Japan check this link; http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/saigaijohou/syousai/1303726.htm
If is is steaming it’s not dry, if it quit steaming it might be dry. I think that picture is a few days old now.
I think you are right about #4, but there isn’t a technical reason they couldn’t get it back up. It wasn’t running when the quake hit, so it’s reactor hasn’t had any issues. It’s fuel storage may have been breached, but that’s just a matter of requilding the exterior building.
However, that reactor is old, and was shut down I believe because they were looking at whether it could be upgraded. So it is quite possible that whatever economics made that feasable, the added costs of rebuilding everything damaged by the explosion would probably push it into the non-economic territory.
Until the next quake+tsunami breaks and spreads it? They need another choice. The fuel needs to end up elsewhere. It will be technically difficult, but possible. Once the fuel in the pools and the fuel in #1-3 is removed the residual radiation should be mild. It can be allowed, at least mostly allowed, to decay in place like the Chernobyl environs.
I think you are right about #4, but there isnt a technical reason they couldnt get it back up...
Agree 100%.
Nope - dump the fuel rods in the Maryanis Trench. 35,000 feet of seawater should cool them down a bit.
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