[Japan]Highly radioactive water removal continues, water level drops by 1 cm

Kyodo News ^ | 04/20/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

Highly radioactive water removal continues, water level drops by 1 cm

TOKYO, April 20, Kyodo

The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said Wednesday the level of highly radioactive water filling one of the underground tunnels at the site has dropped by 1 centimeter, a day after work to pump out the water started toward restoring the key cooling functions of the plant's troubled reactors.

But the level did not drop further in the morning even as workers continued to transfer the water building up around the No. 2 reactor turbine building of the coastal Fukushima Daiichi plant and the so-called trench connected to it, the government's nuclear agency said.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, the agency's spokesman, said he was not surprised by the outcome because the whole picture of the flow of water at the site is not completely clear, stressing the need to swiftly transfer 10,000 tons of the contaminated water into a storage facility as planned and to create a system to clean it.

[TigerLikesRooster]

They are supposed to drain 380 tons of water per day for 26 days. Somehow I doubt that 1 cm depth can account for 380 tons. Water must be coming in from some place else, filling much of space left by pumped-out water.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[GonzoGOP]

Treating 10,000 tons of contaminated water isn't going to be a picnic. They are going to have to build a water treatment plant just to pull out the radioactive particulate. And that site isn't exactly the best working conditions for heavy construction. They when they are done they will have to pull down the now thoroughly contaminated water treatment plant.

Where are all the "This is no big deal and will all be over in a couple of day" guys from last month. Seriously I just once want to see one of the guys who called me Obana's caddy when I said that cleaning up this mess combined with the tsunami was going to break the Japanese economy come back and admit this was a Big Deal after all.

[RummyChick]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86719.html

A citizen’s group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.

[Bikkuri]

Please add me to your ping list... didn’t even realize there was one :o

Thank you :)

Bikk

[TigerLikesRooster]

Chinese are cleaning out powdered milk inventory in New Zealand. They have their own toxic milk scandal(due to toxic chemicals, such as melamine or airborne radioactive pollutants from Japan.) Either Chinese tourists themselves are doing it or Chinese trading firms buy and export them back to China.

We may see Japanese doing the same.

[meatloaf]

BWRs already have demineralizers incorporated into the design. Treatment of radioactive water simply involves removing any minerals in the water. Without the minerals the water is no longer radioactive. The cleanup at TMI involved processing 2.8 million gallons of water.

The Japanese may want to buy or maybe rent additional demineralizers to speed up the process.

[null and void]

Will the Kiwis have to switch to sheep’s milk?

[TigerLikesRooster]

They might. The news article I quoted mentioned that powdered milks are rationed to local New Zealanders. They are said to have trouble finding enough stock for themselves.

[aumrl]

I’ll bite.
25,000 deaths caused by quake and wave.
How many caused by nuclearplant accident.?
My only concern was the lack of real coverage of the destruction of Japan and the hyping of the nuclear problem with a corresponding mistrust of nuclear generation in this country.

[GonzoGOP]

25,000 deaths caused by quake and wave.

Your bite has missed the target. I have seen the "How many has this killed" canard too often to fall for that. Note that I never mentioned casualties, just cleanup costs and time.

Note that I pointed out that it would break the economy, not kill people. It doesn't have to kill anyone to cost hundreds of billions in clean up, lost revenue from property evacuated and electrical systems disrupted, and additional checks on food and water. In fact it is the efforts to prevent deaths that is what will cost the most money. Because they are good people the Japanese will take the hit to their economy to save people. An admirable trait, but the economy is still going to get wrecked.

Unless you are claiming that the cleanup is going to cost a few bucks and be over in a few days.

[aumrl]

I’ll double down on my statement.
Remember one year ago; the media hyped the gulf oil well blow out as the worst disaster in history. Oil slick coming up the east coast etc.
We need nuclear power. What will be the cost of not having it available?

[shaggy eel]

Will the Kiwis have to switch to sheep’s milk?

,,, it's forward thinking like that that will see you be first to land on the moon one day!