The United States thought it had nuclear issues.
But, compared to Japan, its problems are far less
severe. This week, Japanese officials announced a
$500 million to plan to try and stope
radioactive water from leaking into the Sea of Japan
-- one that will freeze the ground soil using "ice
walls."
The Japanese government, meanwhile, will also
provide the funding to allow the Tokyo Electric
Power Co. the ability to upgrade the equipment that
it uses to collect the contaminated water, which is
reported to be around 335,000 tons. It’s all part of
a massive undertaking to stop the roughly 300 tons
of irradiated water from flowing into the sea there
-- something that some experts say endangers sea
life in the immediate area but not something that
will be a pervasive issue.
“Ice walls aside, the most realistic solution is to
purify water to safe levels and release it into the
sea,” says
Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan’s Nuclear
Regulation Authority, in an interview with the
AP. “A water treatment unit intended to do that
failed during a test run and is being repaired. The
government is planning to fund the development of a
more advanced unit over the next two years.”
Beyond freezing the ground below to contain the
radioactive water, the country is having a problem
with the temporary tanks -- the size of small houses
-- that are storing water held at the Fukushima
units. Those tanks are leaking. And, that same water
had been used to cool down the molten reactors after
a massive earthquake and the resulting tsunami in
March 2011 destroyed the facility, causing the
region’s 160,000 inhabitants to flee.
Tepco has found dangerously high radiation levels
near the tanks. But short distances away, those
readings are considerably less. The utility says
that it has no evidence that the tanks holding
contaminated have leaked, although it does not deny
the possibility.
Critics of the "ice wall” are saying that Japan
should take a page from Ukraine’s playbook and
completely seal off the failed facility. In that
case, the plant at Chernobyl has declared the area
totally off limits. But the
New York Times is reporting that Japan will not
take similar action, noting that just covering the
infected areas with concrete would fail to contain
the spread of radiation. The paper also says that
the Japan is densely populated and that it will one
day need this land.
In light of the Japanese nuclear accident, the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is recommending that
the 100-plus reactors here get scrutinized every 10
years for seismic and flooding risks. And that
includes routine inspections to ensure that the
vulnerabilities of each and every plant are fully
understood. Plants would furthermore be required to
have licensed, back-up emergency equipment to ensure
that the cooling pools containing fuel rods would
continue to operate in the event of a power failure.
Twitter: @Ken_Silverstein
Whether you are Pro or Anti Nuclear,
Fukushima's radioactive water is causing Global
concerns and rightfully so since TEPCO's track
record at telling the truth is about as good as
their handling of the triple meltdown at
Fukushima.
TEPCO saves huge YEN for every liter of
radioactively polluted water that escapes. leaks
or is simply allowed to run either onto the
ground or directly into the Pacific Ocean, via
the Sea of Japan.
Once off site it is no longer TEPCO's
problem, which is wonderful for them but
terrible for the res of us!
Their storage system has been designed to
fail since the first tanks were built on site
and those that think that TEPCO is doing
everything they can to capture and hold onto
this radioactive water is living in a fantasy
world where TEPCO cares more about the people of
Japan than they do about saving FACE and their
own Profits!
We are not being told the truth about what is
going on there, which is BAD news for mankind
and especially the Pacific Ocean which is now
and will continue to be, a Japanese radioactive
dumping ground!
Here is yet another example of why the public
cannot trust TEPCO and/or the Japanese
Government who "regulates" them:
Rad detectors at Fukushima Diachi read 1,800
millisieverts an hour.- BBC.
So rather than say that the Pacific is huge
and it is OK for the Japanese to keep dumping,
everyone Pro or Anti Nuclear should be asking
why the Japanese are being allowed to do this,
since it is putting radioactive egg on the face
of entire nuclear industry, who have since
3/11/11 tried to continually downplay any and
all negative information that challenges nuclear
as being unsafe!
Ice Wall = Nuclear Energy Sink Hole
Beware Japan
I believe that TEPCO will now demand to restart Fukushima Diachi reactors #5 & #6 to power their ice wall refrigeration project and have the rest of the Planet pay for it!.
TEPCO will use any excuse to restart more nuclear, which is only safe until the next accident...
A far safer and less costly plan would be to pump all the rad water into a large tanker and then pump it overboard (in a UN approved plan) that would spread it as "THIN" as possible throughout the entire Pacific and/or Worlds Oceans.
While I do not like the idea of pollution any body of water, the Japanese are already doing now in the worst possible way at Fukushima Diachi!
The priority should be to relocate all spent fuel rods ASAP while at the same time getting rid of the stored Rad water as fast as possible, to make room for the water that will be needed for future cooling!