End in sight for Fukushima fears – as engineers ponder burying stricken plant

[defendandprotect]

Source: thejournal.i.e.

End in sight for Fukushima fears – as engineers ponder burying stricken plant

ENGINEERS AT THE Fukushima I nuclear power plant in northern Japan have extended a new emergency power cable to the front of the complex – hoping to create a medium-term solution to the plant’s ongoing cooling problems.

Staff at the plant have been battling to maintain cooling systems at the plant since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake a week ago – and the resulting tsunami – knocked out both the primary and backup cooling systems at each of the plant’s six nuclear reactors.

Each core reactor has faced the possibility of overheating as a result – with some of the active nuclear cores already having gone into partial meltdown.

Overnight, however, engineers finished laying a new industrial electricity supply to the plant – a move which could allow the primary cooling systems to be restored, allying any major fears of further meltdowns.



Read more: http://www.thejournal.ie/end-in-sight-for-fukushima-fears-as-engineers-ponder-burying-stricken-plant-2011-03/

[Botany]

1. the end is nowhere near in sight

they are just talking about solutions now ...... there tons and tons of radioactive rods on that site
that right now are leaking vast amounts of toxins into the environment.

[CountAllVotes]

2. they need to evacuate the entire country

It is indeed a huge disaster. They need to get the people out of there (all of them!) ASAP!!

:kick:

[regnaD kciN]

20. Isn't that a bit of an overstatement?

:crazy:

[CountAllVotes]

21. no, it is not an overstatement

I'm sure many in Japan would agree. Get the hell out of here NOW! :nuke:

[rbixby]

25. Where do you evacuate 200 million people to though? NT

[CountAllVotes]

26. one idea

By boat to another location perhaps for decontamination and then they could fly them to America and they could buy one of the empty homes here dare I suggest ... ?

[GodlessBiker]

27. Jersey?

I kid, I kid. I grew up in Jersey.

[krispos42]

30. Siberia

It's close, and empty. And land-locked!!!

[sudopod]

31. *facepalm* nt

[sudopod]

32. *facepalm* nt

[exboyfil]

3. I thought the entombing option should have been

explored before now.

[snagglepuss]

37. I read today entombing is no longer an option because pouring sand on the

still hot reactors would produce glass which would stop further cooling.:(

[JJW]

4. The Junk Shot

That's the ticket just throw everything we got at it and bury it.

[bergie321]

7. What?

No top hat?

[Brother Buzz]

10. Madison Avenue wasn't consulted

They are making an end run and going straight to Top Kill

[SlicerDicer-]

19. Guam Capsized I say we throw that at it.

[axollot]

39. Someone here on Tuesday or Wed made a comment about

how to address this situation and e used all the options that were used in the leak. So your comment cracked me up.

Ever notice things come in three's?

What will be the next man-made ecological disaster?

We had the oil spill
Now these reactors in Japan
What's next?

It's almost a cosmic smack down to show us the use of these types of things for energy must stop now.

The next one will be coal or natural gas. Mountain top removal going horribly wrong - worse than the act itself and/or some major f'up while fraking.

To be clear, I'm not wanting anything of the sort to happen, but the reactor problems in Japan is a huge wake up call for people calling for this "safe" energy. My argument against it has always been in the event of natural forces beyond our control (like an earthquake) that takes out the plant and had been told that what's happening in Japan would NEVER happen - period - due to design. Well now they know they can happen.

Japan has suffered the trifecta from hell.

Cheers
Sandy

[Old and In the Way]

5. Lets pray that they can stabilize the immediate situation and then figure out

a long term plan to minimize the damage. I'm pretty sure that's going to be the largest tomb the world has ever seen.

[defendandprotect]

29. They have a power line now in place to restart the cooling -- however,

this is at the least an earthquake-prone island with a total of 55 reactors over

17 complexes. Seismic activity is increasing because of Global Warming -- perhaps

increasing not only earthquakes but volcanic activity, as well?

Many questions about the plants pre this disaster and tsunami --

Here in America we have 106 nuclear power plants -- and same potential for Global

Warming creating increasingly chaotic and severe weather conditions.

[Chan790]

33. One nagging point.

Global warming has no effect on seismic activity. None whatsoever. It's one of those absurdities that won't die like the "Paul (McCartney) is dead" rumors and Nigerian lottery scams.

Factually, temperature changes at the surface under even the most extreme conditions represent negligible variance upon the tectonic plates of the Earth.

Global warming has an effect on:

Weather? Yes.
Plate tectonics? No. (by-extension, seismic activity? No.)

[thereismore]

6. No end in sight.What a stupid article. There is going to be a permanent exclusion zone

with at least 4 concrete tombs. It won't happen overnight.

[avaistheone1]

12. +100

[avaistheone1]

13. +100

[truebrit71]

24. Yup..."the end"...not bloody likely...

...

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stockholmer]

9. truly have to bitterly laugh at the lede"End in sight for Fukushima fears",article even contradicts

"The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the main concern in the meantime was at the ponds of ‘spent’ nuclear fuel at reactors 4, 5 and 6, explaining that the water temperature in such storage pools is usually around 25°C or lower.

When the temperature in the pools at reactors 5 and 6 were monitored yesterday, by comparison, both recorded Celsius temperatures of above 62°C.

“If fuel is no longer covered by water or temperatures reach a boiling point, fuel can become exposed and create a risk of radioactive release,” an IAEA statement explained.

“The concern about the spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi is that sources of power to cool the pools have been compromised.”

It was those fears that had seen Japanese authorities yesterday fly helicopters over the plant in attempts to douse the reactors with seawater.

The official level of concern about reactors 1, 2 and 3 – as measured on the International Nuclear Event Scale – has now been raised from level 4 to level 5, the equivalent of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in the 1970.

A spokesman for General Electric also confirmed that staff from the company were joining TEPCO, in attempts to avoid a full-scale meltdown......"


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the last sentence in the quote truly scares me


:yoiks:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[reformist2]

14. Wishful thinking Thursday, False hope Friday.

Just wait until this evening. The press always dumps the bad news on us after the markets have closed for the weekend.

[totodeinhere]

15. I think that this report is a feel good spin that is not realistic.

Just running power lines to the plant will not solve the problem since the cooling equipment has been destroyed and it won't run whether it has electricity or not.

[jannyk]

16. Not LBN - this is an erroneous report and mosty opinion.

[Aerows]

17. TEPCO Director Weeps After Disclosing Truth About Fukushima Disaster

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/tepco-director-weeps-after-disclosing-truth-about-fukushima-disaster#comments

Nothing more to say.

[Hannah Bell]

22. yes, because a us doomster economic blog repeating material from the uk tabloid

'the daily mail' is the best source for breaking unbiased news on the situation in japan.

[freshwest]

34. At least the man had the humility and humanity to weep rather than laugh like RW pundits.

[ixion]

18. ah, the ol sweep-it-under-the-rug bit... problem solved!

:eyes:

[Prometheus Bound]

23. I don't see how it can be entombed at the edge of the ocean (pic).

Wouldn't radiation leak into the Pacific forever?

[freshwest]

36. What a lovely piece of Earth it was.

[caseymoz]

28. Except they should have been laying that cable on Sunday.

You talk about too late! In the meantime, now that they've had meltdowns to some degree, they can't expect the water to circulate well through the reactor or the spent fuel, especially into hottest, most fissile melted parts.

If they didn't have power, what was the reactor crew doing there at all that time, taking years off their lives? I mean, whatever they could do short of fire hoses, would have required power.

This is like BP in the Gulf. No, the end is not in sight with this. The more details that come out, the worse this looks.

The article says that they have fears that the fuel rods are exposed. They've had that fear for at least 3 days now. If they haven't found out and solved even that problem yet, how is it that "the end is in sight?"

What is this publication? Who owns it? It seems like the worse bit of journalism. It wins the BP prize for the greatest flackwork of the year.

[daleo]

35. They may have power, but do the pumps still work?

They have been through a lot.

[Bo]

38. ...the old bury everything strategy....calling max max max

i cannot japn is such sheep...