Contaminated Water at Fukushima

NHK: Long-term response needed for radioactive water

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/11_06.html

"The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is struggling to deal with radioactive water that is pooling in reactor buildings as the crisis goes into its 4th month.

"Water being injected to cool reactors is becoming highly radioactive and accumulating in the basements of reactor buildings. In some facilities, contaminated water is just 20 centimeters from filling the basement.

"On July 2nd, Tokyo Electric Power Company stopped using fresh water to cool the reactors and instead, began running a circulatory cooling system. The system pumps out and decontaminates radioactive water before recycling it as a coolant.


"But the system has suffered from a series of problems. On Sunday it was suspended for 12 hours as radioactive water leaked from a decontamination device...."

Monday, July 11, 2011 05:42 +0900 (JST)


MAJIA HERE: The very severe problem of this radioactive water is addressed in an article at the links below (Hat tip Whoopie at Enews)

The first link is the direct one
http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20110710_OTS0012/global-2000-warnt-fukushima-hat-zeitbombe-im-keller?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

This second link is to a translated version
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ots.at%2Fpresseaussendung%2FOTS_20110710_OTS0012%2Fglobal-2000-warnt-fukushima-hat-zeitbombe-im-keller%3Futm_medium%3Dtwitter%26utm_source%3Dtwitterfeed

Here is an excerpt I've edited for clarity (please keep in mind this is a google translation so the grammar is off. My editorial marks are in brackets)

"Million gallons of highly radioactive water in the basement of the four Nuclear-threatening wrecks in Fukushima, despite the efforts of the operators leak. "For four months now put the destroyed nuclear reactors in Fukushima [have had] uncontrolled release of radioactivity: in [the] form of water vapor that is formed during the evaporation of cooling water, and in the form of water after contact with the molten Nuclear fuel in the basement of the nuclear complex is running.

This highly radioactive water accumulates here and threatens to leak, " warns Dr. Reinhard Uhrig, nuclear expert from Global 2000. The operating company TEPCO [is] still trying desperately to [find] ever new storage capacities and simultaneously to create a finite water treatment system to get going.

"In early April, emergency measure as simply 10 million gallons of radioactive water medium from the central treatment plant directly discharged into the sea - The radioactivity in the Pacific grew strong locally already [and there] are radioisotopes in fish like sand eels and whales clearly measurable, " Sun Uhrig.

"Meanwhile, the central processing plant in Fukushima full again - even a floating platform and additional tanks are filled with 22 million gallons, so that already total of 121 million gallons of highly radioactive broth to a solution please wait."

The water is rising The water treatment plant operators in the company TEPCO recent weeks to install, up to 1.2 million liters decontaminate radioactive water per day.

There are always however, problems with the cesium-absorber materials and the very improvised plastic tubes under the high pressure of the system will leak and burst. "You can then almost a month after starting work on 15 June is no longer of 'teething' speak of the treatment system, but system errors, the[y] always stop the treatment - at the same time increases the water, "said Uhrig.

To the still red-hot molten core to cool, 400,000 liters of fresh water per day into the reactors pumped - that are contaminated again and in the basement . through Radioactive water in 5 hours deadly