Japan: 9.0 Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Reactor Status #5

[Daisyjane]

Those are pre-built on land and assembled under and above the water.

Plus, it's not a zillion degrees Celsius in the lake, like it is in the reactors.

 

[peeples]

This doesn't fix the temp issue, but hydrolic concrete will cure under water... however it needs to be kept away from strong waves and stuff..

http://www.ehow.com/how_5164757_cure-concrete-under-water.html

 

[peeples]

Army Corps of engineers PDF on underwater concrete
http://www.wes.army.mil/SL/INP/reports/inpsl1.pdf

They talk about minerals being added, and limestone
thermal behavior...

 

[Peliman]

The first image at this link is the "leak"...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...gineers-fail-seal-radioactive-ocean-leak.html

Not as much water in the pit that I'd imagined. They might be successful eventually. Thanks

 

[Daisyjane]

More than 50% over the limit, those mushrooms.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82903.html

TOKYO, April 3, Kyodo The health ministry said Sunday it has detected radioactive substances higher than the legal limits in mushrooms sampled Friday in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said it found the mushrooms to contain 3,100 becquerels of radioactive iodine and 890 becquerels of radioactive cesium against the limits of 2,000 becquerels and 500 becquerels. The announcement led the prefectural government to ask farmers to voluntarily refrain from shipping mushrooms in Iwaki.

Meanwhile, the science ministry said its helicopter, which examined air samples at the altitude of 160-650 meters, detected radiation of 0.30 microsieverts per hour in the sky above Kawamata in the prefecture -- a level more than 10 times the normal figures for the prefecture's sky at 0.01-0.03 microsieverts.

 

[Peliman]

Army Corps of engineers PDF on underwater concrete
http://www.wes.army.mil/SL/INP/reports/inpsl1.pdf

They talk about minerals being added, and limestone
thermal behavior...

Good find and keep reading, it's technique. Yes cement has different types of mixes. Some strengths and plastics can be used to increase hardness. Fiberglass stands are one type which keeps concrete from cracking. Looking at their diagram I don't think it's possible to get all the equipment needed to do this type of pouring. Looking at the pictures Quiche has posted it was a very small pour and may have been brought to the pit by hand and wheel barrow.

Here's a pic of their setup and pouring from underneath an already poured surface. The question is, is this method practical.

 

[peeples]

I saw it and yeah it just kinda looked haphazardly dumped into there.....

 

[dsntslp]

Looking at one of the news sites and out of the corner of my eye I see...

"Click to pray"

not

"Click to play". (Which is what was really written.)

Subconscious at work?

Click, click, click, click, click...

 

[not_my_kids]

More than 50% over the limit, those mushrooms.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82903.html

TOKYO, April 3, Kyodo The health ministry said Sunday it has detected radioactive substances higher than the legal limits in mushrooms sampled Friday in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said it found the mushrooms to contain 3,100 becquerels of radioactive iodine and 890 becquerels of radioactive cesium against the limits of 2,000 becquerels and 500 becquerels. The announcement led the prefectural government to ask farmers to voluntarily refrain from shipping mushrooms in Iwaki.

Meanwhile, the science ministry said its helicopter, which examined air samples at the altitude of 160-650 meters, detected radiation of 0.30 microsieverts per hour in the sky above Kawamata in the prefecture -- a level more than 10 times the normal figures for the prefecture's sky at 0.01-0.03 microsieverts.

Gee and just yesterday they were trying to convince us that everything was still within legal limits....at this point, it's not about making up their minds, it's about telling the truth. It's black or white, one or the other, but it can't be both.
Someone asked when we should really start to worry...personally, I would say about 2 weeks ago, if not before.

 

[not_my_kids]

Engineers pinned their hopes on chemicals, sawdust and shredded newspaper to stop highly radioactive water pouring into the ocean from Japan’s tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant Sunday as officials said it will take several months to bring the crisis under control, the first time they have provided a timetable.
http://www.newsday.com/news/world/engineers-pin-hopes-on-polymer-to-stop-nuke-leak-1.2797986
You have to pay to read more, but I read the list of the stuff they are putting in the pit and all I could think of was third grade and paper mache....That does not inspire confidence.

and

The leaks did not stop after concrete was poured into the pit, and TEPCO turned to water-absorbent polymers to prevent any more contaminated water from going out.

The latest effort to staunch the flow of radioactive water into the Pacific started on Sunday afternoon. Workers then topped the polymers with more concrete.

"We were hoping the polymers would function like diapers but are yet to see a visible effect," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/03/japan-idUSL3E7F309220110403

BBM. Diapers and Paper mache...God help us all.

 

[Quiche]

This article explains the certificate needed to get shelter outside of the radioactive zones.

Inside the Danger Zone

Quote: ... In the parking lot, government officials in white hazmat suits swept Geiger counters over anxious residents who waited patiently in line. Kenji Sasahara, 45, a public-health physician, explained that the town’s 9,783 remaining residents—perhaps one third of the pre-earthquake population—had voluntarily come forward to be screened. In return, the government issued all but three of them a certificate stating that their radiation level was below 0.0001 millisievers, indicating no detrimental impact to the human body. Three, who worked near the plant, registered higher levels and were given high-pressure hot showers to remove iodine. Then they, too, were released.

The certificate is important, Sasahara said, because people living near the damaged reactor have already begun to face discrimination. They have been barred from staying in inns outside Fukushima prefecture. Angry motorists in Tokyo and other cities have complained that Fukushima-plate-bearing cars were “contaminated.” Some Minamisoma citizens have sought treatment at medical clinics in cities beyond the buffer zone, only to be turned away because they didn’t have “radiation-free” certificates.

Sasahara says the harsh treatment worryingly echoes the stigma endured for decades by hibakusha—survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. “We want to prove that these people are not contaminated, so they won’t be discriminated against because they come from Fukushima,” says Sasahara.


http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/03/inside-the-danger-zone.html

 

[bessie]

From the article and here's the kicker, it sounds like they are trying an expanding foam. Trouble is, the wont how how it reacts to the water it's going into. Sounds like a hail mary pass to seal the leak.

Eighty bags of a water-gel mix made by the Tokyo-based IB Daiwa company will be used in the operation. Each one contains 100 grams of material that includes a special polymer. A Tokyo Electric official said the substance should expand to several thousand times its size as it sticks, ideally, to plug the leak.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/japan.nuclear.reactors/

Read this earlier this morning and I'm like, we'll see what kind of mud pit this makes. There is such a thing as preparing and roughing surfaces even for paint to stick. If this dosen't work, they will need to clean the pit out before trying another sealer.

Water is a problem in getting mixtures to set and harden. I knew concrete wouldn't set and harden in water, now they have concrete mud in the pit.

Cross your fingers on the foam expanding under water.

This sounds like a novelty item that was marketed as plant soil in the late 80's-early 90's. Can't recall the name. The selling point was that plants would grow for months without being watered. It was even available in a variety of colors you could match to your decor. Anyone else remember this stuff?

Anyway, it was crystals containing some kind of plastic polymers and organic nutrients, I would assume, in a clear container shaped like a small to medium sized flower pot. You'd add water, and it would turn into a very sticky, low viscose gel strong enough to support an average houseplant. Someone gave my husband a couple of samples, so we tried it. The plants grew well for several months, but from what I recall, the "soil" dessicated after several months and adding water did not return its gel-ness. There was little shrinkage, though, and the hardened substance retained its shape in the pot. So I'm thinking, if the Japanese are using some super-duper form of this stuff, it just might work.

ETA: FYI, after googling I find this plant gel is still available under different names.

 

[Quiche]

Absorbent yet to soak up radioactive water at Fukushima plant

Quote:...the water flow remains unaffected...

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82882.html

You know, we haven't heard any numbers on the level of radiation in the ocean since Thursday's numbers (10,000 times legal limits). This leak was discovered after that-- they must be astronomical at this point. jmo

 

[Verity]

BBM. Diapers and Paper mache...God help us all.

Respectfully snipped.

Sounds like a Heath Robinson with less chance of success: :banghead:
Heath Robinson

So if I'm reading this right, (hopefully not), as things stand, humanity has a future embracing the impact of 50 - 100 years of leaking radioactive particles into the Pacific Ocean. The International community is responding by sending lots of heavy equipment and manpower to try and figure something out, but nobody has any reliable plan, or precedent on which to estimate likely timeframe. Equipment sent to Japan cannot be returned, as it will be too contaminated, so in the event of a similar occurrence elsewhere, said equipment won't be available locally.:maddening:

I'm going for a walk on the beach and to say hello to the newly returned and nesting Ospreys.

 

[peeples]

Indonesia just had a 6.7 earthquake

 

[dsntslp]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Indonesia

Quote:
A physics lecturer from Airlangga University said that need for electricity is continuing to go up and fossil fuel reserves are to be depleted soon. Indonesia is quite ready and able to develop nuclear power plant. The nuclear experts are ready and prepared and they have been successfully conducted some nuclear research since 1970s. Vietnam already had nuclear power plant, while Malaysia and Philippines are the next to have. So, Indonesia should initial it soon.[3]

Although there are nuclear crisis in Japan, Indonesia is unlikely to halt its plan of building its first nuclear power plant due to electricity crisis. Indonesian Nuclear Energy Regulation Agency (Bapeten) has confirmed that seven nuclear supervisors were on IAEA missions in several countries, including one in Tokyo, Japan, so Indonesia are ready to operate nuclear power plants as soon as those facilities are built.[4]
[edit] Locations of nuclear reactors

For research purposes, experimental nuclear reactors have already been built in Indonesia:

1. Yogyakarta, Central Java. This is the Kartini nuclear research reactor.
2. Serpong (Banten).This is the MPR RSG-GA Siwabessy research reactor.
3. Bandung, West Java. This is the Triga Mark II nuclear research reactor.

According to an observer, Indonesia is viable to build a nuclear reactor in every province due to there being ample stocks of materials and appropriate geological support. As a tin mining area, monazite exists everywhere at Bangka and Belitung island. The 182.9 tons of monazite sediment was found in Mount Muntai and it is sufficient for a nuclear power plant which will be built in West bangka and South Bangka.[5][Full citation needed]
Endquote:

More at link.

 

[dsntslp]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/indonesia.quake/index.html?hpt=T2

6.7-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia

(CNN) -- A magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert notifying authorities of "a very small possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the earthquake epicenter."

The quake's epicenter was located 149 miles east-northeast of Christmas Island at a depth of 14.9 miles, USGS said.

 

[not_my_kids]

I fear that we know where this issue with the crack is going. Finding a stopgap measure (a finger to stick in the dam) and more men sacrificing themselves to go down there and permanently repair it.

I hope they have a better way, but for the life of me, I'm not seeing one.

 

[Daisyjane]

You guys think this plan will work?

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82921.html

TOKYO, April 4, Kyodo

The government has asked Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to study the possibility of containing radioactive substances from four damaged reactors by wrapping their entire containment buildings with a huge amount of sheeting, government sources said Sunday. The proposal calls for building framed structures around the 45-meter-high containment buildings and then wrapping them with the sheeting, the sources said. If all of the four buildings were wrapped in this manner, it would cost about 80 billion yen and take up to two months, the sources said.But atomic energy experts are skeptical about the feasibility of the plan, proposed by a general construction firm, saying the step would have only limited effects in blocking the release of radioactive substances into the environment.

 

[Daisyjane]

Longer article detailing current efforts, but this is what stood out to me:

"Experts estimate that about 7 tons an hour of radioactive water is escaping the pit." That's just from the crack in Reactor 2. Wonder what the total from all four reactors would be?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04japan.html?pagewanted=1