Japan:Over 100,000 Tons of Polluted Water Seen at Fukushima N-Plant

Jiji Press ^ | 05/18/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

Over 100,000 Tons of Polluted Water Seen at Fukushima N-Plant

Tokyo, May 18 (Jiji Press)--The total amount of radiation-contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan is estimated to top 100,000 tons, the company said Wednesday.

The amount includes some 7,500 tons of water that have already been removed from the No. 2 and No. 3 reactor buildings, company officials said.

At present, the combined amount of radioactive water at the power plant's No. 1 to No. 6 reactor facilities, including the basements of the reactor buildings and turbine buildings, stands at an estimated 98,500 tons, the officials said.

The No. 2 reactor facilities are estimated to have the largest amount of polluted water totaling 25,000 tons--6,500 tons in the basement of the reactor building, 13,000 tons in the turbine building basement and 5,500 tons in an underground tunnel, or trench, that stretches toward the ocean.

Radioactive substances continue leaking from the plant in Fukushima Prefecture since it was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[HiTech RedNeck]

and 5,500 tons in an underground tunnel, or trench, that stretches toward the ocean

Wonder if this 5500 tons is busily flowing into the ocean, and if so at what rate?

[TigerLikesRooster]

All I can say is that it could be flowing out faster than crabs can run away from. Many bottom-dwelling creatures might be already glowing in the dark.:-)

[Mr. K]

If they pump it deep into the ocean 50 miles out, i dont see the problem

It will be so diluted it will be undetectable past background radiation

[farlander]

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

[T. P. Pole]

Putting this into a perspective -
8.3 lbs per US gallon
240 US gallons per ton
660,000 gallons for minimum depth "olympic size" swimming pool
2,750 tons per minimum pool
36 swimming pools per 100,000 tons

So, the headline could also read "Over 36 Swimming Pools Worth of Water." Yup, that is still a lot.

187,189,915,062,857,000,000 gallons in the Pacific ocean
779,957,979,428,571,000 tons of water in the Pacific ocean

[T. P. Pole]

And for the really crazy math folks out there, how many radioactive molecules would there per per gallon of water once diluted throughout the Pacific? I make it out to be somewhere around 127,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water per gallon, if that helps.

[ransomnote]

So is that...50,000 tons per month and they will have to keep it up for months if their ‘schedule’ is to be believed.

[ransomnote]

So 100,000 tons is on site - what about water they say is ‘missing’ or has gone into the ocean? This Bloomberg article may help with the math:

“Beside radiation leaks into the atmosphere forcing about 50,000 families near the plant to evacuate, more than 10 million liters (2.6 million gallons) of contaminated water have leaked or been released into the sea.

Millions of liters of radiated water have also filled basements and trenches at the station from leaking reactor vessels and piping. “

And this is to go on for months? Note the Bloomberg article is titled “TEPCO misleading Public Over Nuclear Crisis”. The guy interviewed makes the point that TEPCO set the roadmap for recovery by 6 - 9 months before it has even figured out the status of reactors 2 and 3:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/tepco-misleading-public-over-nuclear-crisis.html

[Publius6961]

I am still trying to understand what "radioactive water" is exacrly. I was nort aware that either hydrogen or oxygen can be made redioactive for any significant length of time.

If the radioactivity is entirely in suspended solids, those should be able to be filtered out and the amount of water is irrelevant.