The main trouble with depleted uranium comes from its toxicity, not from its radioactivity, you can see that since as you pointed out, the half life of U238 comes in a geological timescale.
Because the roof of the reactor building is not strong enough to bear the load of a 6.5 MW diesel power plant. I doubt that the roof of any building is able to bear the load an vibration of that kind of equipment.. The source of the troubles in Fukushima is that they effectively, like GP said, put a too low sea barrier for the tsunamis that have it the area in previous times. Additionally, they ignored internal reports that suggested improved tsunami countermeasures like walls and water proof doors. The tsunami ripped open the door of the turbine building from the side of unit 4, the sea gone inside the building with full force. the necessary walls and doors that would have prevented the current disaster would had come at a price of less of 100 million USD, far cheaper than any of the units that have been scuttled in the current disaster.
In fact, most of the reactors at NPS affected by the tsunami were at cold shutdown in the 2 days from the earthquake. One of the units at Onagawa NPS was at cold shutdown almost at the time of the earthquake, the other was at cold shutdown before the day ended. Still, we can't take into account the normal cold shutdown time since the units from Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini weren't working under normal circumstances. After all, the first evacuation order from nuclear emergency was issued for Fukushima Daini, since they thought it was the one at most danger.
The 2 deaths from Fukushima are from the tsunami, their bodies were recovered from the basement of turbine building of unit 4, drowned when the tsunami flooded the whole area. Currently, only 22 workers were exposed to more than 100 mSv of radiation.
OPINION: How to minimize consequences of the Fukushima catastrophe By Alexey V. Yablokov
The analysis of the health impact of radioactive land contamination by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, made by Professor Chris Busby (the European Committee of Radiation Risk) based on official Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology data, has shown that over the next 50 years it would be possible to have around 400,000 additional cancer patients within a 200-kilometer radius of the plant.
I find that extremely unlikely since the radiation readings beginning at 20 km south of Fukushima Daiichi are barely above background levels. Now, based on the trend of the readings done around Fukushima Daiichi, I believe that the Japanese government instead of going into a evacuation zone based in a radius from the plant, will make a evacuation from the zone going up to 60 km from Fukushima Daiichi northwest 10-15 km wide, since only inside this polygon are radiation readings above 2 Sv/h. The highest reading outside the current evacuation zone are at reading point 32 in Namie town, at 28.6 Sv/h, around 32 km northwest from Fukushima Daiichi.
From geotermal in general the enviromental effects are the CO2 and sulfur present in geotermal steam. Also, if the field is in a forest, it means that the area will be cleared of trees. On the plus side, the most beautiful grass that I have ever seen was in the perforation fields of a geotermal plant.
A 10 meter tall wall around the buildings in case of Fukushima Daiichi would have prevented almost all the damage that the power station withstand. The surge was 14.7 m but the highest level recorded inside buildings was of 5 m so with the proposed walls they will be prepared to withstand a tsunami of 20-22 m that has not been recorded in the area, but previous records show that the area was flooded by 10-12 m tsunami at least 3 times in the last 5 centuries. Unfortunately, I can't find the link of the article where I read about the records.
Press Release (Apr 09,2011) Results of the investigation regarding tsunami arrived in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station
...
At Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on the ocean-side of the main building area, inundation with inundation height of approximately O.P. + 14 to 15 meters (inundation depth approximately 4 to 5 meters) occurred in most of the area. At Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station, inundation with inundation height of approximately O.P. + 6.5 to 7 meters occurred in the ocean-side areas, however, only surrounding areas of Unit 1 and 2 buildings and the south side of Unit 3 building was inundated within the main building area. Accordingly, we have confirmed that the impact of tsunami was relatively larger in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station than Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station.
Sure he is, the readings higher than 53-58 Sv that are common for monitoring post 83 at the boundary of the 20km evacuation zone are only in the monitoring posts named MP-5 to MP-8 in Fukushima Daiichi that go from west to the south of Fukushima Daiichi's premises, but the worst reading comes from the main building at 560 Sv/h, latest measurement.
Not really, a rally against nuclear power plants in Tokyo, the largest city in the world and most affected by the current mess was attended by less than 18k last weekend. Now, instead of building stupid PR "educational villas" like Tontu Village nuclear plant operators must add the necessary safety systems that are economically feasible to prevent the occurrence of events like this. "Safety first" was a maxim that apparently was well understood by Fukushima's workers, but not by the managers of the company.
The saddest thing is that despite the historic records and internal research, TEPCO was already aware of the vulnerability of Fukushima Daiichi against a very probable large tsunami and know of cheap counter measures against flooding* but didn't do anything because management was more worried downsizing the company. Now, with their reputation in ruins, with only 10% or less of their previous market value and doing the worst damage to Japan since WWII I think that the Emperor should order to the top managers of TEPCO to commit sepukko in front of NHK's cameras.
It can't be from the spent fuel pools since they are still refilling them every 2-3 days. Don't knowing their size, is hard to make an educated guess if the level of refilling is consistent with the expected evaporation from fuel's heat or the pools are leaking. For unit 4, the damage is consistent with the damage expected from a fire. The fact that the steel frame is almost intact clearly shows that it didn't had sustained damage from a explosion except from the debris of unit 3.
At this time is more about political posturing than to make a reasonable assessment. They had elections but nobody reported on them. The governor of Tokyo made a fuss about high levels of I-131 in tap water mostly has a political ploy, several days later, he drank a glass of water like nothing. TEPCO is loved by no one and their political power vanished with the drop of 90% in company's value. Being hard against them is good for reelection prospects.
In fact, they just have make even more of an attractive target transmission lines. You only need to know when a NPS is in maintenance, and to knock the external transmission lines. For a more successful attack, damage the fuel deposits for the emergency generators. A difficult attack, but not impossible.
But,..
With the new regulations, and the extended battery backup, Japan had a backup of 8 hours, 2 times the US standard, but it will be improved to last at least for a day, and the reinforcement of tsunami walls that will make an external attack even more harder, plus the requirement to have additional emergency generators, on site the fire engines, pumps and hoses necessary to make Fukushima the first and last occurrence of this kind of disaster. We must remember that in 12 march a dam broke in Fukushima prefecture. This must have affected the availability of routes to the damaged NPS for the emergency vehicles.
Press Release (Apr 12,2011) Fire at the sampling equipment at the water discharge channel, Units 1-4, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (2nd release)
At approximately 6:38 AM, April 12th, fire has been found at the distribution switchboard containing batteries located in the sampling equipment switchbox situated close to the south water discharge channel for Units 1-4. The self defense fire fighting team conducted the fire fighting at an early stage. At the same time, at approximately 6:45 AM, we reported to the Futaba fire authorities. As a result of the fire fighting, it is confirmed that the fire has been under control without fire or smoke.
There is no impact on the external release of radioactive substances or on the cooling capability of the reactor from this incident. There has been no change on the monitoring figures of the surrounding environment. We will continue monitoring the status of the plant and the surrounding environment around the Power Station. We will investigate the cause in detail.
(Previously announced)
The Futaba fire authorities confirmed fire extinguishment on site survey at 9:12 AM, April 12th. We will investigate the cause in detail.
TEPCO did many things wrong in the early hours from the disaster, but they are very straightforward now and I have my highest respect for whoever was the manager that ordained the evacuation from site when in the fire in unit 4 the radiation surged to very dangerous levels. He didn't requested from his men suicide heroism like the russians in Chernobyl. Kyodo has TEPCO's pictures of just when the tsunami hit the station: http://english.kyodonews.jp/photos/2011/04/84500.html
OPINION: What worked and what did not: views from the field By Rajib Shaw TOKYO, April 11, Kyodo... In Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, an eight-story tsunami evacuation building stood undamaged very close to the shoreline. On the hazard map, distributed by the city government, this building was designated and marked as an evacuation building with clear instruction that people need to evacuate higher than the fourth floor. What is more interesting is that, on March 3 (also the day of the 1933 Showa Sanriku earthquake and tsunami) an evacuation drill was performed with local residents and school children. Therefore, tsunami awareness was rather fresh in their minds and people took shelter in evacuation buildings and on a nearby evacuation road (a pre-designated road on the nearby mountain with access stairs), immediately when they felt the earthquake. This shows the importance of evacuation drills and disaster education.... For early warning systems to be effective, a proper risk communication mechanism, which links both information provider and receiver, is needed. In the March 11 disaster, the tsunami warning and tsunami advisory were issued within three minutes after the event.
The warning was broadcast though the Japan Meteorological Agency webpage, television, radio, social networking media, and also through announcements from the town and city offices. However, in several places, init
He was a cofounder of Danger, Inc., I will put it has a one of his recent, post Apple note worthy achievements. Also, he has put a strong commitment toward education; I'm sure that the kids that he helped will remember him for the rest of their life.
Woz is more like a modern day Nikola Tesla. Steve Jobs is a strange mix of Jules Verne and Thomas Alva Edison. For Woz is more important to have fun doing what he does than being rich and famous. For Jobs, is quality and perfection. To each his own.
Maybe you are joking, but I doubt that Woz needs to do that taking into account all the wives and girlfriends that he had in his life. Looks like his intelligence and good humor are the main source of his sex appeal.
That's why I put the Conventional PS and reinforcement of NPS in the title. I re-read my post again and don't see how it can be confusion among Kashima Thermal Power Station, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPS and Fukushima Daiichi NPS. Is clear that I'm talking about 3 different things. Anyway, the recovery of Kashima CPS means that TEPCO will have additional, redundant energy to supply Fukushima Daiichi, if they managed to repair the old transmission lines to the site. The redundancy in external power supply is key to make any emergency manageable, we have a perfect example with Onagawa NPS, that survived with minor damage the earthquake and tsunami in March 11th, and the recent April earthquake too. It could be made almost a reference design.
Of course, Fukushima's units 1, 2 and 3 will never be online again. They have core damage and severe contamination, specially unit 2 that have damage in suppression chamber. Even if the units were ok, they have scuttled them the moment they started to use sea water to cool the core. Maybe they could try salvage unit 4, since the damage is in the exterior, and the spend fuel pool is the only point of concern there. Units 5 and 6, aside political pressure, can be put online when they make the mandatory improvements to the support infrastructure and emergency procedures.
Well, that people don't have the right to be safe in their persons and possessions, for starters. In effect, if people on that Constitution free zones aren't mistreated in the same way that Middle East dictators do is because a lack of man power from the security services, not for a lack of will.
-Kashima Thermal Power Station Units 6: shutdown due to the earthquake -Kashima Thermal Power Station: Units 2 resumed generating power at
5:45 pm April 7th. -Kashima Thermal Power Station: Units 5 resumed generating power at
9:27 am April 8th.
Yesterday they put online unit 3, I'm impressed that they managed to put those units online in such a short time even with the ground still shaking.
The new walls aside from protecting the buildings from tsunami waves, I think they will act as an additional barrier in case the reactor building suffer fire or explosions, like the one in unit 3 in Fukushima, that sent debris damaging several buildings around the unit, I don't know if they will provide some radiation protection to workers in case of emergency.
Article 17-2 The organization shall draw up plan for each of the folloeing in order to improve system for maintaining reactor facilities under circumstances where tidal waves cause loss of function to all the facilities receiving alternating-currentpower, all the reactor cooling facilities utilizing seawater and all the facilities for spent fuel pool cooling (“Station Blackout”). (1) Allocate staff in order to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout. (2) Train staff who operate to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout. (3) Install power source cars, fire-fighting vehicles, fire fighting hoses and other equipments necessary for operation to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout. 2. The organization shall conduct activities to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout based on the plans mentioned above. 3. The organization shall conduct periodic evaluation on the matters mentioned in Paragraph 1. and 2. and based on such evaluation, take necessary measures.
Now, we shall be looking the start of improvement works in a pair of months in NPS around the world; that, if the nuclear industry really wants to survive this disaster.
Another that comes to mind is professor Farnsworth from Futurama. He invented XXX century's robots, built a spaceship that moves the entire universe, and got laid, several times.
Slashdot Mirror
The main trouble with depleted uranium comes from its toxicity, not from its radioactivity, you can see that since as you pointed out, the half life of U238 comes in a geological timescale.
Because the roof of the reactor building is not strong enough to bear the load of a 6.5 MW diesel power plant. I doubt that the roof of any building is able to bear the load an vibration of that kind of equipment.. The source of the troubles in Fukushima is that they effectively, like GP said, put a too low sea barrier for the tsunamis that have it the area in previous times. Additionally, they ignored internal reports that suggested improved tsunami countermeasures like walls and water proof doors. The tsunami ripped open the door of the turbine building from the side of unit 4, the sea gone inside the building with full force. the necessary walls and doors that would have prevented the current disaster would had come at a price of less of 100 million USD, far cheaper than any of the units that have been scuttled in the current disaster.
In fact, most of the reactors at NPS affected by the tsunami were at cold shutdown in the 2 days from the earthquake. One of the units at Onagawa NPS was at cold shutdown almost at the time of the earthquake, the other was at cold shutdown before the day ended. Still, we can't take into account the normal cold shutdown time since the units from Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini weren't working under normal circumstances. After all, the first evacuation order from nuclear emergency was issued for Fukushima Daini, since they thought it was the one at most danger.
... here are pictures of the operators of those machines:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/photos/2011/04/84830.html
and the remote control machinery at work:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110411_1f_system1_8.jpg
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110411_1f_system1_7.jpg
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110411_1f_system1_5.jpg
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110411_1f_system1_1.jpg
Maybe, just maybe, they found that the best tool for what they wanted to do is this robot made in America?
The 2 deaths from Fukushima are from the tsunami, their bodies were recovered from the basement of turbine building of unit 4, drowned when the tsunami flooded the whole area. Currently, only 22 workers were exposed to more than 100 mSv of radiation.
I see in this picture:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110417_1f_1_2.jpg
the reflection of the operators in the wall. I suppose that after that door is the most intense radiation in the building.
The above comment says 2 Sv/h, but should say microsievert, but looks like slashdot doesn't like greek characters.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/85736.html
OPINION: How to minimize consequences of the Fukushima catastrophe
By Alexey V. Yablokov
The analysis of the health impact of radioactive land contamination by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, made by Professor Chris Busby (the European Committee of Radiation Risk) based on official Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology data, has shown that over the next 50 years it would be possible to have around 400,000 additional cancer patients within a 200-kilometer radius of the plant.
I find that extremely unlikely since the radiation readings beginning at 20 km south of Fukushima Daiichi are barely above background levels. Now, based on the trend of the readings done around Fukushima Daiichi, I believe that the Japanese government instead of going into a evacuation zone based in a radius from the plant, will make a evacuation from the zone going up to 60 km from Fukushima Daiichi northwest 10-15 km wide, since only inside this polygon are radiation readings above 2 Sv/h. The highest reading outside the current evacuation zone are at reading point 32 in Namie town, at 28.6 Sv/h, around 32 km northwest from Fukushima Daiichi.
The last available reading from Fukushima:
http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/04/18/1305090_041816.pdf
From geotermal in general the enviromental effects are the CO2 and sulfur present in geotermal steam. Also, if the field is in a forest, it means that the area will be cleared of trees. On the plus side, the most beautiful grass that I have ever seen was in the perforation fields of a geotermal plant.
A 10 meter tall wall around the buildings in case of Fukushima Daiichi would have prevented almost all the damage that the power station withstand. The surge was 14.7 m but the highest level recorded inside buildings was of 5 m so with the proposed walls they will be prepared to withstand a tsunami of 20-22 m that has not been recorded in the area, but previous records show that the area was flooded by 10-12 m tsunami at least 3 times in the last 5 centuries. Unfortunately, I can't find the link of the article where I read about the records.
From TEPCO:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040910-e.html
Press Release (Apr 09,2011)
Results of the investigation regarding tsunami arrived in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station
At Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on the ocean-side of the main building area, inundation with inundation height of approximately O.P. + 14 to 15 meters (inundation depth approximately 4 to 5 meters) occurred in most of the area. At Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station, inundation with inundation height of approximately O.P. + 6.5 to 7 meters occurred in the ocean-side areas, however, only surrounding areas of Unit 1 and 2 buildings and the south side of Unit 3 building was inundated within the main building area. Accordingly, we have confirmed that the impact of tsunami was relatively larger in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station than Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station.
O.P. Being the reference for sea level.
Best Regards
Sure he is, the readings higher than 53-58 Sv that are common for monitoring post 83 at the boundary of the 20km evacuation zone are only in the monitoring posts named MP-5 to MP-8 in Fukushima Daiichi that go from west to the south of Fukushima Daiichi's premises, but the worst reading comes from the main building at 560 Sv/h, latest measurement.
From the map of MP http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/monitoring/11040201.html it appears that the worst release of radiation was/is from the spent fuel pool of unit 4 or from the discharge channel of units 1-4.
Not really, a rally against nuclear power plants in Tokyo, the largest city in the world and most affected by the current mess was attended by less than 18k last weekend. Now, instead of building stupid PR "educational villas" like Tontu Village nuclear plant operators must add the necessary safety systems that are economically feasible to prevent the occurrence of events like this. "Safety first" was a maxim that apparently was well understood by Fukushima's workers, but not by the managers of the company.
C'mon, the moment that they put in MRI devices that you will receive a dose of 6,900Sv/each time you get a scan, people will run away from hospitals.
The saddest thing is that despite the historic records and internal research, TEPCO was already aware of the vulnerability of Fukushima Daiichi against a very probable large tsunami and know of cheap counter measures against flooding* but didn't do anything because management was more worried downsizing the company. Now, with their reputation in ruins, with only 10% or less of their previous market value and doing the worst damage to Japan since WWII I think that the Emperor should order to the top managers of TEPCO to commit sepukko in front of NHK's cameras.
* I mean, the large, 10-12 m tall concrete walls: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110407e19.pdf that by the new rules from regulators in Japan, http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110408e3.pdf will need to be built around reactor and turbine buildings with waterproof doors. Certainly, that is expensive because the large perimeter to cover but is a pittance versus the price of a nuclear power plant and even less than the cost of the cleanup of the current mess.
It can't be from the spent fuel pools since they are still refilling them every 2-3 days. Don't knowing their size, is hard to make an educated guess if the level of refilling is consistent with the expected evaporation from fuel's heat or the pools are leaking. For unit 4, the damage is consistent with the damage expected from a fire. The fact that the steel frame is almost intact clearly shows that it didn't had sustained damage from a explosion except from the debris of unit 3.
At this time is more about political posturing than to make a reasonable assessment. They had elections but nobody reported on them. The governor of Tokyo made a fuss about high levels of I-131 in tap water mostly has a political ploy, several days later, he drank a glass of water like nothing. TEPCO is loved by no one and their political power vanished with the drop of 90% in company's value. Being hard against them is good for reelection prospects.
In fact, they just have make even more of an attractive target transmission lines. You only need to know when a NPS is in maintenance, and to knock the external transmission lines. For a more successful attack, damage the fuel deposits for the emergency generators. A difficult attack, but not impossible.
But,..
With the new regulations, and the extended battery backup, Japan had a backup of 8 hours, 2 times the US standard, but it will be improved to last at least for a day, and the reinforcement of tsunami walls that will make an external attack even more harder, plus the requirement to have additional emergency generators, on site the fire engines, pumps and hoses necessary to make Fukushima the first and last occurrence of this kind of disaster. We must remember that in 12 march a dam broke in Fukushima prefecture. This must have affected the availability of routes to the damaged NPS for the emergency vehicles.
In your old link. From TEPCO:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11041202-e.html
Press Release (Apr 12,2011)
Fire at the sampling equipment at the water discharge channel, Units 1-4, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (2nd release)
At approximately 6:38 AM, April 12th, fire has been found at the
distribution switchboard containing batteries located in the sampling
equipment switchbox situated close to the south water discharge channel
for Units 1-4. The self defense fire fighting team conducted the fire
fighting at an early stage. At the same time, at approximately 6:45 AM,
we reported to the Futaba fire authorities.
As a result of the fire fighting, it is confirmed that the fire has been
under control without fire or smoke.
There is no impact on the external release of radioactive substances or on
the cooling capability of the reactor from this incident. There has been
no change on the monitoring figures of the surrounding environment.
We will continue monitoring the status of the plant and the surrounding
environment around the Power Station. We will investigate the cause in
detail.
(Previously announced)
The Futaba fire authorities confirmed fire extinguishment on site survey
at 9:12 AM, April 12th. We will investigate the cause in detail.
TEPCO did many things wrong in the early hours from the disaster, but they are very straightforward now and I have my highest respect for whoever was the manager that ordained the evacuation from site when in the fire in unit 4 the radiation surged to very dangerous levels. He didn't requested from his men suicide heroism like the russians in Chernobyl.
Kyodo has TEPCO's pictures of just when the tsunami hit the station:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/photos/2011/04/84500.html
Another interesting piece from Kyodo, that highlights the value of prevention and emergency preparedness:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84552.html
OPINION: What worked and what did not: views from the field ... ...
By Rajib Shaw
TOKYO, April 11, Kyodo
In Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, an eight-story tsunami evacuation building stood undamaged very close to the shoreline. On the hazard map, distributed by the city government, this building was designated and marked as an evacuation building with clear instruction that people need to evacuate higher than the fourth floor. What is more interesting is that, on March 3 (also the day of the 1933 Showa Sanriku earthquake and tsunami) an evacuation drill was performed with local residents and school children. Therefore, tsunami awareness was rather fresh in their minds and people took shelter in evacuation buildings and on a nearby evacuation road (a pre-designated road on the nearby mountain with access stairs), immediately when they felt the earthquake. This shows the importance of evacuation drills and disaster education.
For early warning systems to be effective, a proper risk communication mechanism, which links both information provider and receiver, is needed. In the March 11 disaster, the tsunami warning and tsunami advisory were issued within three minutes after the event.
The warning was broadcast though the Japan Meteorological Agency webpage, television, radio, social networking media, and also through announcements from the town and city offices. However, in several places, init
He was a cofounder of Danger, Inc., I will put it has a one of his recent, post Apple note worthy achievements. Also, he has put a strong commitment toward education; I'm sure that the kids that he helped will remember him for the rest of their life.
Woz is more like a modern day Nikola Tesla. Steve Jobs is a strange mix of Jules Verne and Thomas Alva Edison. For Woz is more important to have fun doing what he does than being rich and famous. For Jobs, is quality and perfection. To each his own.
Maybe you are joking, but I doubt that Woz needs to do that taking into account all the wives and girlfriends that he had in his life. Looks like his intelligence and good humor are the main source of his sex appeal.
That's why I put the Conventional PS and reinforcement of NPS in the title. I re-read my post again and don't see how it can be confusion among Kashima Thermal Power Station, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPS and Fukushima Daiichi NPS. Is clear that I'm talking about 3 different things. Anyway, the recovery of Kashima CPS means that TEPCO will have additional, redundant energy to supply Fukushima Daiichi, if they managed to repair the old transmission lines to the site. The redundancy in external power supply is key to make any emergency manageable, we have a perfect example with Onagawa NPS, that survived with minor damage the earthquake and tsunami in March 11th, and the recent April earthquake too. It could be made almost a reference design.
Of course, Fukushima's units 1, 2 and 3 will never be online again. They have core damage and severe contamination, specially unit 2 that have damage in suppression chamber. Even if the units were ok, they have scuttled them the moment they started to use sea water to cool the core. Maybe they could try salvage unit 4, since the damage is in the exterior, and the spend fuel pool is the only point of concern there. Units 5 and 6, aside political pressure, can be put online when they make the mandatory improvements to the support infrastructure and emergency procedures.
Well, that people don't have the right to be safe in their persons and possessions, for starters. In effect, if people on that Constitution free zones aren't mistreated in the same way that Middle East dictators do is because a lack of man power from the security services, not for a lack of will.
TEPCO has put back online units 3, 2 and 5. From their press release:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040809-e.html
-Kashima Thermal Power Station Units 6: shutdown due to the earthquake
-Kashima Thermal Power Station: Units 2 resumed generating power at
5:45 pm April 7th.
-Kashima Thermal Power Station: Units 5 resumed generating power at
9:27 am April 8th.
Yesterday they put online unit 3, I'm impressed that they managed to put those units online in such a short time even with the ground still shaking.
Also, they put forward a plan to reinforce Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPS, the largest in the world, in accordance with the new, upgraded regulations for the operation of NPS in Japan, in http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040708-e.html and graphics http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110407e19.pdf
The new walls aside from protecting the buildings from tsunami waves, I think they will act as an additional barrier in case the reactor building suffer fire or explosions, like the one in unit 3 in Fukushima, that sent debris damaging several buildings around the unit, I don't know if they will provide some radiation protection to workers in case of emergency.
The amended regulations say:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/110408e3.pdf
Article 17-2 The organization shall draw up plan for each of the folloeing in
order to improve system for maintaining reactor facilities under circumstances where tidal waves cause loss of function to all the facilities receiving alternating-currentpower, all the reactor cooling facilities utilizing seawater and all the facilities for spent fuel pool cooling (“Station Blackout”).
(1) Allocate staff in order to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout.
(2) Train staff who operate to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout.
(3) Install power source cars, fire-fighting vehicles, fire fighting hoses and other equipments necessary for operation to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout.
2. The organization shall conduct activities to maintain reactor facilities under Station Blackout based on the plans mentioned above.
3. The organization shall conduct periodic evaluation on the matters mentioned in Paragraph 1. and 2. and based on such evaluation, take necessary measures.
Now, we shall be looking the start of improvement works in a pair of months in NPS around the world; that, if the nuclear industry really wants to survive this disaster.
Yup. Democrats in Congress and Senate are so spineless that they should be reclassified like molluscs.
Another that comes to mind is professor Farnsworth from Futurama. He invented XXX century's robots, built a spaceship that moves the entire universe, and got laid, several times.