There still is a long way to go to get all of the Fuel Assemblies transferred.
That only leaves 90% of the Fuel in an awkward position if an earthquake hits...
Keep up to date by listening to Situational Preparedness WED on USAEBN.
Stay Safe.
_MP
Fukushima Fuel Transfer Reaches 10% Milestone
Fukushima nuclear power station as unit 4 operations commenced (screen shot from euronews broadcast, November 11, 2013.) TEPCO announced 10% completion of the spent fuel transfer this week. |
Sandy Dechert - via CleanTechnica
15.01.2014 10:00 EST
Tokyo Electric Power Company has reached a minor milestone in cleaning up the mess that started at its Fukushima nuclear power station
on Friday, March 11, 2011 (March 12, U.S.). A subsea earthquake off the
Pacific coast of Tōhoku, the resulting tsunami, and an unfortunate
series of human miscalculations have dogged the ruined facility for almost three years.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant
originally comprised six boiling water reactors of a half-century-old
General Electric design. The installation was one of the world’s 25
largest nuclear power stations. TEPCO currently believes that after the
tsunami, units 1-3 suffered meltdowns, perhaps even through the floors
of the buildings and into the soil.
However, the situation in unit
4 merited the most immediate attention. There, the building had partly
collapsed. New and spent (used) fuel rods stored in temporary
containment 100 feet above ground level were emitting radiation to the
atmosphere.
In danger of internal
collision due to seismic events or spillage from the damaged secondary
containment, this exposed fuel has threatened Japan with a massive
uncontrollable nuclear chain reaction. After completing precautionary
activities, on November 18, 2013, the company began a delicate task of
rearrangement. Plant workers started moving the assemblies of nuclear
fuel rods racked in the upper-story pool to safer ground-level storage
in a centralized pool common to all the damaged reactors.
As well as the hazard of
spontaneous explosions, spent fuel rods can release considerable heat
and quickly lethal levels of radiation. Robot cranes and other
human-directed machinery are necessary to move these very hazardous
materials. The unit 4 cooling pond contains 1,533 fuel assemblies, of
which 1,331 have been used and 202 are unirradiated (fresh) ones. Some
of the fuel assemblies are known to be damaged.
Today,
TEPCO plant personnel completed 10% of the transfers that must be done
to stabilize the fuel from reactor unit 4. TEPCO describes the operations being undertaken as follows:
- Relocate the fuel assemblies stored in the fuel rack inside the spent fuel pool, one by one, into a transportation container (cask) underwater using a fuel handling machine.
- Lift up the cask from the spent fuel pool using a crane.
- Conduct, on the floor as high as the operating floor, such works as closing the lid of the cask and decontaminating the cask.
- Lift down the cask toward the ground using the crane to lay it on a trailer.
- Transport the cask to the common pool using the trailer.
TEPCO expects it will take
about a year to make all the Unit 4 transfers. Hundred-ton casks of fuel
have now been transported to ground-level storage seven times, for a
total of 154 transferred
assemblies. Those who have doubted TEPCO’s
capability find some reassurance in the apparently smooth progress of
this work and about the 90% of transfers still to be made. Too, it bodes
well that TEPCO has been able to extract both spent and new fuel
assemblies during this time. The company can plan further withdrawals of
both from a position of greater certainty.
The plan for unit 4 generated confidence in some observers initially, but considerable doubt in others. Among those urging caution
were scientists of both Japan and other nations and some highly placed
Japanese officials, including a former prime minister. The United States
has expressed support and dispatched both official and unofficial
observers. Internally, it appears that the Japanese people are uncertain
and divided about the company’s future use of nuclear power. Political
wrangles over the issue have become commonplace, and the population has
not reduced its distrust of both TEPCO and (to a lesser degree) the
inconsistent government.
The other three damaged reactors at Fukushima hold additional dangers. Serious leaks from the plant to groundwater and the Pacific
have already been discovered. These have apparently resulted from small
ruptures within the many tanks and pipes used to hold radioactive
cooling water. Recent reports of Fukushima-originated radiation
currently endangering the west coastal and interior United States have
been debunked. A new meltdown in unit 3, also reported by some news
outlets, has apparently not occurred, although emissions to the air from
that reactor have been noted. Further explosions seem unlikely at
present.
As we noted here and in our sister publication, Planetsave, earlier on the operation,
“The company is proceeding from what nuclear experts agree is the easiest task to the most difficult: safely coping with the molten fuel released by the other three affected reactors somewhere below the ground’s surface.”
Units 5 and 6 of the power
station suffered no critical damage from the 2011 storm and TEPCO
initially hoped to restart them, but Japan’s government views them as
part of the general disaster area and has closed them down completely.
Both a large and powerful offshore wind farm and a capacious Toshiba-backed solar photovoltaic field
near Fukushima are in the works and can be expected to offset some of
the crushing burden of Japan’s recent oil and gas expenditures needed to
replace lost nuclear power. Also, since the first of the year, major
solar players have just announced two far-reaching partnerships in
Japan. TEPCO expects it will take 40 years to decommission the entire Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Potassium Iodide Tablets
More from “Japan (Fukushima)”
Fukushima: The Truth about the scale of the Disaster - Disaster Survival Magazine Issue #1 |
Madtown Preppers Alerts are for informational use only. These
alerts purpose is to inform you of news events in order for you to
adjust your family preparedness programs. We believe that
knowledge is power and in order for you to make informed
decisions, we try and bring you verified information, not to
increase fear but to inform you. We do not endorse any of the
sources we link to in any article.
NebShip Shop Survival/Bushcraft/Off Grid Living
#NebShipShop
@NebudchenezzarSFire/Cooking/Bushcraft (4) Off Grid COM/Power (6) Knives/Blades/Custom Edged Tools (4) Water/Storage/Safety
No comments:
Post a Comment