Japan Earthquake | Page 2568
No Pacific wide tsunami from 6.9M earthquake in Peru Friday (Oct 28)
www.hawaii247.comby Liz 10/28/2011 7:27:04 PM
Fuel retrieval at Fukushima to start in 10 years
Japan's Atomic Energy Commission says it aims to start retrieving melted nuclear fuel rods from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant within 10 years.
The Commission's expert panel on Friday presented a draft report on the timetable for scrapping the plant.
The report says decommissioning will start with repairing the containment vessels of the No.1 to No.3 reactors, where meltdowns occurred.
The vessels will then be filled with water to block radiation released from the melted fuel.
The commission also plans to start moving spent fuel rods from pools at the No.1 to No.4 reactors to another pool in the plant within 3 years. This will take place after the reactors achieve a state of cold shutdown.
The report projects that the decommissioning will take more than 30 years to complete.
The timetable is longer than that for the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States, because the containment vessels were damaged at Fukushima along with the pressure vessels that house fuel rods.
In the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, about 70 percent of the reactor's fuel rods melted. Fuel retrieval began 6 years after the accident and lasted for 5 years.
The work at Fukushima is expected to be longer and more difficult, because the extent of the damage is more severe and workers will have to repair 4 reactors simultaneously.
Friday, October 28, 2011 18:39 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jpby Edano 10/28/2011 7:29:34 PM
chernobyl film hits home in japan www.moneycontrol.comby lillymunster 10/28/2011 7:35:32 PM- I think this will be far more complicated than they make it sound
The report says decommissioning will start with repairing the containment vessels of the No.1 to No.3 reactors, where meltdowns occurred.
The vessels will then be filled with water to block radiation released from the melted fuel.by lillymunster 10/28/2011 7:38:17 PM - @lillymunster i thought the same. robots must make the repairs, i guess. how else ?by Edano 10/28/2011 7:39:04 PM
- @Edano right. Getting workers in plus they may find some drastically worse damage. Repairing a car sized hole is a bigger task than fixing cracks in a swimming pool.by lillymunster 10/28/2011 7:49:41 PM
- Uh, finally back. Thanks for the Wenders explanation. Yes, "Wings of Desire" is the English title for "Der Himmel ueber Berlin." One of my favorite movies. I love the idea that angels can hear people think, and the clutter this produces.
On another note, I finished my piece on nuke plants, earthquakes, and North Anna NPS. The interesting part for Dominion (and the rest of us nearby) will be the tests of systems, structures and components important for reactor safety during restart. Emergency Core Cooling Systems may fail as they did in Japan. Here it is: brainmindinstrev.blogspot.comby Peter 10/28/2011 7:58:33 PM - @Peter Great! Can I repost in the manner I did with your other ones?by lillymunster 10/28/2011 8:03:10 PM
- That timetable comparison with TMI is a bit misleading because TMI has not been fully decomissioned yet. Imagine three, four decades for this job! If an engineering school graduate starts now, she/he will still watch the removal of bits of fuel from these wrecks, when she/he retires. Can we imagine what this process alone will cost?by Peter 10/28/2011 8:04:27 PM
- @lillymunster , if you like it, you may use it, :)by Peter 10/28/2011 8:05:05 PM
- @Peter excellent !by Edano 10/28/2011 8:24:48 PM
- @Peter, copied over with credits - set it to post tomorrow morning on the group site.by lillymunster 10/28/2011 8:38:12 PM
- @Edano , thanks, seismics is an interesting field. One thing I learned is that the magnitude of a quake does not tell you much on how the quake shakes the ground locally. One effect at play is that when vibrations transition from a soft to a hard layer, the waves compress shorter and increase in amplitude which amplifies the shaking for those who sit on top the hard layer, ;).by Peter 10/28/2011 8:41:45 PM
- A bit more of the things I noted. NPS systems, structures and components are categorized in three categories I, II, III in the US, A, B and C in Japan. Category I is the stuff important to reactor safety and must fulfill the highest standards, for example rpvs and reactor containments which must be built on rock. The other stuff, like the turbine buildings and all kinds of tanks are of lesser quality material can be built on soil and are less shake-proved. Therefore, the reactor on rock will rattle differently in a quake than the turbine building and the water storage tanks with their piping. The connections between cat I, II and III components will be exposed to different forces on each end with potentially damaging effect. The emergency core cooling system, including the RCIC and HPCI at Fukushima, are affected by this phenomenon, because the valves and piping that lead to and from the reactor are cat I, whereas the piping and valves to the default source of water, that is the condensate storage tank, are cat II, tank included. The RCIC and HPCI failed at Fukushima. It would be great, if we could identify the Condensate Storage Tanks and the shape they were in before and after the explosions. I would not be surprised to find piles of debris in their places.by Peter 10/28/2011 9:03:18 PM
- Fukushima reactor building gets new covering
One of the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant finally has a cover in place that will help lower radioactive emissions.
The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, had been building the casing for the plant's No. 1 reactor since late June. The reactor had been damaged by a hydrogen explosion following the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
The cover is 54 meters high, 47 meters wide and 42 meters deep. It has a ventilation system that filters out radioactive substances.
TEPCO says that during pilot tests, the system removed more than 90 percent of radioactive cesium from the reactor.
The company says the cover will allow it to move nearer to its goal of containing radioactive emissions from the No. 1 reactor.
TEPCO is considering installing similar covers for the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors when debris removal is completed after next summer. Both reactor buildings were damaged by the explosions.
Radioactive emissions need to be lowered before local residents who were evacuated following the earthquake and tsunami can return home.
Saturday, October 29, 2011 05:46 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jpby Edano 10/28/2011 10:11:35 PM - 90% is not enough.by Edano 10/28/2011 10:12:28 PM
@Edano return home?!?!by elainekirk 10/28/2011 10:16:20 PM- how long must the people wait until there are 0 emissions ? isn't that possible for the tepco clowns ?by Edano 10/28/2011 10:28:25 PM
- @Edano I thought they were going to get 3 and 4 cleaned and covered faster than that. They are going to let them spew for another year?by lillymunster 10/28/2011 10:36:35 PM
- Crack on the casing for axle junction of Ceiling Crane of Spent Fuel
Pool Building at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
www.tepco.co.jp
Hey tepco found their cameraby elainekirk 10/28/2011 10:59:47 PM 
Exhaust Tower www.tepco.co.jp
by elainekirk via Tepco.co.jp 10/28/2011 11:01:06 PM
www.tepco.co.jp
filter unit www.tepco.co.jpby elainekirk via Tepco.co.jp 10/28/2011 11:03:01 PM
www.tepco.co.jp
filter unit www.tepco.co.jpby elainekirk via Tepco.co.jp 10/28/2011 11:03:01 PM- @EDANO Video please www.tepco.co.jpby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:04:09 PM
- that video is quite good not published in english yet I wonder why they have a mound outside the unit?by elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:05:07 PM
- by Edano 10/28/2011 11:11:09 PM
- @Edano oh you are a starby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:11:56 PM
- the tent, tepco calls it "KIMONO" :)by Edano 10/28/2011 11:12:16 PM
- @elainekirk true.by Edano 10/28/2011 11:12:41 PM
- @Edano well I knew they liked to dress things up ...but...by elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:13:19 PM
- I wonder if the mound is for filling the cracksby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:15:01 PM
- @edano tepco reasons for increasing water being pumped into unit 1 www.tepco.co.jp hands up everyone who believes themby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:16:45 PM
- @elainekirk (reads TEPCO handout) ::headdesk:: unless they think it is going to drastically hold temps down... I wonder how long before they back it off because it becomes a steambath and they can't see inside.by lillymunster 10/28/2011 11:19:54 PM
- doc for the exhaustion tower posted earlier www.tepco.co.jpby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:19:55 PM
- At 2:20 pm on October 28, one of the TEPCO staff felt sick and threw up
while he was checking the documents in the administration office
building, because the full-covered mask was tied too tightly. Because he
put off the mask temporarily when he threw up, he will be tested with
the whole body counter just in case. No radioactive materials was
detected on his face. www.tepco.co.jp that doc also talks of an exhaust unit in 2 nowby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:23:00 PM - the tent construction sure is impressing. the cranes seem remote controlled. nice toys.by Edano 10/28/2011 11:25:42 PM
- @Edano yeah great meccano kitby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:32:30 PM
- @elainekirk eeewwwww. I mentioned that to the hubby. He said army NBC training someone asked what you do if you have to barf. They told them if nerve gas was involved puke in your mask and deal with it....by lillymunster 10/28/2011 11:35:10 PM
- @lillymunster hard to swallow that oneby elainekirk 10/28/2011 11:43:10 PM
- @elainekirk lolby lillymunster 10/28/2011 11:43:40 PM
- wasn't sure if this was posted or not www.google.com EU gaps in stress testsby lillymunster 10/28/2011 11:53:16 PM
www.houseoffoust.com
strange rise in #3 control room radiation from normally ~ 0.01 mSv/h to 0.035 mSv/hr (yellow curve) since yesterday.by Edano via Houseoffoust 10/29/2011 12:18:44 AM- 35 uSv/hr means you better not stay too long in there.by Edano 10/29/2011 12:23:42 AM
- additionally, #3 core pressure A and B gauges failed on the same day.by Edano 10/29/2011 12:30:52 AM
- is the vessel still burning ?by Edano 10/29/2011 12:32:27 AM
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