Fixing Fukushima's Water Problem

Lasrick writes "This is an excellent analysis of exactly what the problems are at Fukushima, and what risks are posed to the public. From the article: 'The operator of Fukushima Daiichi, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), has worked hard and has indeed contained most of the significant contamination carried by water used to cool the plant’s damaged reactor cores. Still, a series of events—including significant leakage from tanks built to hold radioactive water—has eroded public confidence. To address the water challenges, an improved water management plan should be created to deal with all levels of contamination, from slightly contaminated groundwater to highly radioactive cooling water flowing out of the damaged cores. This plan needs to build on the many good Tepco efforts of the past two years, but it should also incorporate new technologies that improve water cleanup performance and increase processing capacities. Importantly, this plan needs to include a new level of transparency for and outreach to the Japanese public, so citizens can understand and have confidence in the ultimate solution to the Fukushima water problem, which will almost certainly require the release of water—treated so it conforms to Japanese and international radioactivity standards—into the sea.'"

Comments

"slightly contaminated groundwater"

[Anonymous Coward]

This summary is hot garbage or a Tepco advertisement/PR damage control measure. They are beyond incompetent.

Hmm

[lightknight]

Well, going with theoretical solutions (for 200 Alex), I'd whip up a pneumatic robot (all fluidic pressure, no electronics), and strap on a chemical laser + fiber optic lines + lens system. That should ensure that stray radiation will not damage any electronics, as it won't have any, though it will be a one way trip for the bot (still going to be highly radioactive), and watching the cables will be an issue (better pay the extra money to make sure they're braided). Then I'd send it into the reactor core, to cut up / out the still active reactor rods, and bring them to a designated midway point piece by piece.

No human is going to survive in that core, even if they'd volunteer for the mission...nor would any electronic-based machine. The first will be cooked from the inside out, the second will get so many errors as it gets closer to the core from radiation hitting its processors that it will do more damage than good.

Re:Hmm

[AmiMoJo]

A few issues. Firstly, cutting anything produces dust, and in this case the dust is highly radioactive. Controlling it is non-trivial and one of the reasons why they are extremely cautious operating in that area. If something collapsed while cutting in that area it could be disastrous.

Secondly it isn't clear if using a laser would be safe in the cores. There is likely some hydrogen and certainly a lot of flammable material around. Without electronics it would be hard to detect or measure too.

Finally even once the core is dissected what would you do with it? The current plan is to wait for it to become a little safer to 20 or 30 years times before even starting to look at moving it to another area for storage. The storage pools on-site are already in pretty bad shape and leaking, so you would have to take that extremely dangerous material somewhere else. Of course, no-where else wants it and Japan currently does not have any way of dealing with it.

Re:Heavy Water?

[Chris Mattern]

That's nice. It's also irrelevant. The Fukushima reactor did not use heavy water. The problem here is coolant/moderator ordinary light water that is heavily contaminated with dissolved radioactive materials.

"Eroded ... public confidence"

[fnj]

Duh. Ya think, TEPCO shitheads?

It isn't precisely the phrasing I would use. Every shred of public confidence was lost on 2011-3-11 and the few days following, and nothing done since has restored a single iota of it.

How to restore public confidence in TEPCO?

[Minwee]

As I recall, the traditional way involved wearing a white robe and holding a knife in your hand while your trusted second stood behind you with his sword drawn, ready to finish the job.

The modern way seems to involve holding a press conference in which you say "Gosh, we don't know how that went wrong. It certainly wasn't our fault. I hope it doesn't happen again. Again." while your trusted second brings you a coffee.

I'm sure that one of those approaches will suffice to restore TEPCO's spotless public image.

20/20 hindsight is often terribly embarrassing...

[sugarmatic]

...and Fukushima is a perfect example.

In the months following the incident, the press was hyping the accident to ethereal levels.

In the years following the incident, the US nuclear industry groups busily developed counter propaganda, using official measurements and downplaying risks ("1% greater chance of dying from cancer for 77 people") and the like. Carefully written op-ed and science pieces appeared all over the press from the Smart Serious People in the room, to soothe a worried public, that their superior assessment of the situation proved the concerns of pollution would become cautionary tales of hysteria.

The Japanese government deliberately withheld information until after the election, and now the pollution levels emanating form the plant render many the carefully written, I-told-you-it-was-hysteria explanations, riddled in Smug by the Serious Persons seem pretty silly, if not entertaining, to read.

If anything can be drawn from all this, it is, "It ain't over till it's over..."