Update #17: June 8, 2011
by Nelle Maxey
The temperatures in the RPVs (reactor pressure vessels) at all 3 reactors remain above 100 degrees Celsius.
The temperatures recorded below are from http://atmc.jp/plant/temperature/
This data concurs with the data in the JANTI parameter report today.
Alarmingly, Unit 3 has shown a steady rise in temperature over the last week.
Chamber B has climbed at a rate of 5.5 degrees per day average. Thankfully, it appears to be leveling off.
Chamber A rate of heating is less at 2.8 degrees per day average; but it is still climbing.
Today's temperatures are:
6/08 Chamber A 148.9 °C
Chamber B 181.2 °C
TEPCO press releases and NHK stories this morning include information on TEPCO's other nuclear plant which is FUKUSHIMA II-the DAINI plant.
It is located 10km south of FUKUSHIMA I -the DIACHI plant- which has been the subject of all of my updates to date.
DAINI is a smaller installation with only 4 BWR reactors.
It also suffered damage in the earthquake and was listed as an INES level 3 accident.
Wikipedia has a complete history of this accident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daini_Nuclear_Power_Plant
1) Here is the NHK story today on the release of radioactive water from the basements of Units 1, 2 & 4 at DAINI.
Note that 3,000 cubic meters of water is approximately equal to 3,000 metric tons or 793,000 gallons.
Also note there are no details of the decontamination plan at DAINI.
TEPCO mulls release of decontaminated water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daini_Nuclear_Power_Plant
"The Tokyo Electric Power Company is studying a plan to decontaminate seawater pooled at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant and discharge it into the sea.
TEPCO says about 3,000 cubic meters of radioactive seawater has been stagnant in the basement of the plant's reactor and turbine buildings since being hit by a tsunami following the March 11th earthquake.
The utility says the temperature in all 4 of the plant's reactors has fallen below 100 degrees Celsius, but cites the risk that stagnant seawater will corrode equipment.
TEPCO is considering a plan to decontaminate the water so that it meets national safety standards and then release it into the Pacific Ocean.
The utility says the concentration of radioactive cesium in the water is 30 times the permissible limit, but that it contains no other radioactive materials exceeding the safety limits….
The chief of a fishing cooperatives' association in Fukushima Prefecture expressed shock and bewilderment at the utility's plan."
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 19:55 +0900 (JST)
There is an informative article at the Wall Street Journal this morning:
Tepco Plans Radioactive Water Release from Second Plant
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576373150813737000.html
2) There are two other TEPCO press releases today regarding DAINI.
Namely, that radioactive air is leaking from the main exhaust duct at DAINI Unit 4 and that an oil leak has been discovered at DAINI Units 3 & 4.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11060809-e.html
Oil leakage to the sea confirmed around the water discharge canal of Unit 3 and 4, Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11060807-e.html
Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station:
" – At 4:00 pm on June 7, air leak was found at the weld zone of unit 4's main emission duct by TEPCO employee. Radioactive materials in the air were below measurable limits. No outlier at main emission monitor and monitoring post. The repair work will be implemented soon."
Now back to Fukushima I the Daichi plant:
Nelle's comments: Details are scant on what mechanisms they are planning to use to "decontaminate" the water. I have previously published Greenpeace criticism of the Areva (French) system. The decontamination units will remove radioactive substances, oil and seasalt from the runoff water so it can be reused as a reactor coolant from about mid-June.
See below for an excellent article with some details on the fukushima "water problem" at the Energy Blog.
TEPCO tests water purification system
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/08_16.html
"Tokyo Electric Power Company says it is making final preparations to activate special purification equipment to treat radioactive waste water at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The company plans to start up the system on June 15th.
On Wednesday, TEPCO tested the control board of a US-developed device that adsorbs radioactive cesium. It also tested the pumps of a French device that uses special chemicals to settle radioactive substances in the water.
The new water purification system has 2 other main parts that use Japanese and imported technology.
TEPCO says it expects the system to decontaminate about 1,200 tons of water per day before it is transferred to temporary storage tanks within the compound of the nuclear plant.
More than 105,000 tons of toxic water is believed to have already accumulated in the basements of the reactors and their turbine buildings. Every day more than 500 tons of contaminated water is added to the amount, as TEPCO has to inject fresh water into the reactors to keep them cool."
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 13:03 +0900 (JST)
Following is an extract from The Energy Collective blog article of June 7th. I suggest reading the entire article as it is written in plain English and contains much information on the volumes of contaminated water, plans for storage of the water as well as decontamination plans reprinted here.
Tackling TEPCO's Water Problem
http://theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/58861/tackling-tepcos-water-problem
"…Store once treat once
The next step is to develop a treatment system to process the water to get the radioactivity out of it. It turns out Areva, the French state-owned nuclear giant, has such a process which it uses at the La Hague fuel reprocessing plant. Areva is building a similar facility at Fukushima which it expects to start up on June 15.
There are significant challenges facing the Areva project. In a spent fuel reprocessing plant, the nuclear chemistry numbers are well known, predictable, and controlled in small batches and in an established industrial environment. At Fukushima, no one is quite sure what is in the water, and the working conditions are anything but ideal.
Capture the flag
Areva plans to use a coprecipitation process to remove radioactivity like isotopes of cesium and iodine and other radionnuclides that are coming from the water leaking out of the reactor containment buildings. As the water flows down into turbine buildings and other underground vaults, it mixes with seawater used to cool the reactors in the first days of the crisis, mud, industrial debris, etc. This makes for a very different water chemistry than a spent fuel plant. The salt content of the seawater alone may require new thinking about how to make the process work.
Conprecipitation works by a method that could be called "capture the flag." You put in chemicals that will bind to the material you want to remove. At the same time you want the resulting mass to become insoluble which will then precipitate out either by gravity or centrifuge process. Then you can wrap the unwanted and now insoluble material in some other substance, pump it into leakproof containers, and then get rid of it that way.
Areva's plan is to treat contaminated water from reactor cooling systems by adding chemicals that bind to radioactive isotopes and then settle out. In its press statement last April, Areva did not specify the exact technical method it plans to use at Fukushima. There are numerous methods in the technical literature.
According to several media reports, the process it uses at La Hague uses a specific mix of chemicals which capture the radionuclides which are removed from the water as a highly radioactive chemical sludge.
The sludge is mixed with bitumen petroleum product similar to asphalt. That mixture is poured into 55 gal drums, which are sealed and then buried in a special landfill for radioactive materials.
Water quality or mixed nuts?
The efficiency of coprecipitation of radioactive materials from water depends on what you want to remove and how much of it you can expect to remove given the input chemicals and the amount of radioactivity in the water at the start of the process.
What this means for Areva is that given the difficult mixed nuts quality of the water chemistry at Fukushima, it is unclear how much radioactivity will be removed by the plant. Some is better than none.
Nuclear expert Lake Barrett told the Washington Post that at Fukushima, "you have massive volumes and a very heterogeneous chemistry."
Areva spokesperson Patricia Marie told the newspaper, "Honestly, it is hard to say how it will work."
Some progress is better than none at all
For its part Areva says that is bringing the water treatment process to Japan based on a request from TEPCO. Developed by AREVA and used in the Marcoule and La Hague facilities, the conprecipitation process uses chemical reagents to separate and recover the radioactive elements. AREVA also called on the skills of Veolia Water a multi-national civil engineering firm specializing in water treatment technologies and building facilities that use them.
Areva said in its statement . . .
"The contaminated water must be treated rapidly as it is preventing Tepco from repairing the power plant's power supply and cooling systems. The unit will sharply reduce the radioactivity levels of the treated water, which could be reused in the power plant's cooling systems."
The treatment unit, which will be provided by Veolia Water, can process 50,000 liters (13,200 gallons) of water per hour, Areva Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said at an April briefing in Tokyo.
How much how soon?
With an estimated 15 million gallons of water needing treatment, the timeline for optimal performance will be about two months. However, water treatment processes, especially those with a mixed effluent of unknown concentrations of contaminants, don't work at the optimum level right out of the box.
It could take some time for Areva to adjust the system to do its job efficiently. Also, there are the likelihoods of equipment breakdowns and the difficulties that will be encountered if the plant leaks radioactive water itself.
Stocks and flows
TEPCO's on site storage of radioactive water once its its new canisters arrive will be about 7.3 million gallons which means the other 7.6 million gallons will be uncontrolled and the volume will grow with each new day of external cooling until the recirculation systems are restored to service if in fact that is even technically possible.
In terms of stocks and flows, Areva's plant will have to be reliable for some period of time. TEPCO is reportedly pouring up to 100 tons a day of water (24,000 gallons) on each of the three unstable reactors. With start-up of the new facility scheduled for June 15, and a 50 day or more backlog of water already needing treatment, in another two months, there will be another three-to-six million gallons of water needing treatment. Rainwater and snow melt will add volume what's coming off the reactors."
This NHK story regards the humidity problem in Unit 2.
They are going to release contaminated air from the building in an attempt to lower the temperature and humidity in the building. Air filters will be installed to filter some radioactive particles prior to the release. Yesterday's story said they weren't sure the filters would work due to high humidity? Guess we'll find out.
Note the article also discusses a power problem at the control room for Unit 1 & 2.
Air in No.2 reactor building to be released
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/08_34.html
"The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will release air from inside the No.2 reactor building after lowing its intense radioactivity and high humidity, which have been hampering the work to restore its cooling ystem.
The No.2 reactor building has 99.9 percent humidity and high levels of radioactivity, which make it hard for workers in protective gear to work inside it for long periods.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, plans to install air filters to lower the contamination and humidity, and then open the building's doors to let out the air. TEPCO hopes to install the filters by this Saturday, run them for about 3 days, and open the reactor building's doors some time next week.
The company plans to begin the work of injecting nitrogen into the No.2 reactor later this month to prevent a hydrogen explosion.
On Wednesday afternoon, a switchboard problem knocked out power to the control rooms of the No.1 and No. 2 reactors, and stopped data transmission from 2 radiation monitoring posts within the compound. Nitrogen injection into the No.1 reactor containment vessel was also suspended.
The switchboard was fixed about 3 hours later. TEPCO says the data transmission and nitrogen injection have resumed."
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 19:55 +0900 (JST)
Radioactive debris outside No.3 reactor removed
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/08_08.html
"Workers have completed the removal of radioactive debris that was outside the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company finished removing the debris near the entrance to the building on Tuesday.
Work began last month to clear up the debris created by the March hydrogen explosion.
Under TEPCO's plan to bring the plant under control, nitrogen gas will be injected into the No.3 reactor containment vessel to prevent hydrogen explosions.
It will also install a circulatory cooling system at the reactor. The large equipment for these tasks will be brought into the building.
But last month, high radiation levels of 160 to 170 millisieverts per hour were detected near the door of the containment vessel.
TEPCO says workers will soon go into the reactor building to check the debris inside and to monitor radiation levels in the area.
The company says it will consider installing devices to remove radioactive substances in the atmosphere and setting up lead panels to block radiation.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 08:44 +0900 (JST)
And in the Department of Lame Excuses we have the following NHK article. Note that the undisclosed data is from the time of the explosions when radiation levels would have been the highest and was also from OUTSIDE the 20 km evacuation zone."
Ministry failed to publish some radiation data
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/08_05.html
"The Japanese government says it failed to publish some radiation data from the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The science and technology ministry says it did not release radiation monitoring data from March 16th through April 4th and radiation measurements for soil on March 16th and 17th. The data was taken by the Fukushima prefectural government outside a 20-kilometer radius of the plant.
The ministry apologized for not disclosing the data.
It says it thought the Fukushima government had already released it.
The data was collected as a reference for deciding on evacuation measures and restrictions on food and water consumption. The ministry says the unpublished information does not affect the steps that are now in place. The ministry says it will publish the data on its website."
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 06:13 +0900 (JST)
As a final note in todays update, I'd like to call everyone's attention to this Rex Weyler article, Nuclear Delusions. It discusses the problems with nuclear energy and contains some astounding information like this:
"7. Scale
The world now operates about 434 nuclear reactors, not counting those in current meltdown or closed for repairs. To replace current hydrocarbon energy production with nuclear power at the current average capacity would require about 7,000 nuclear reactors. To replace half our hydrocarbon energy with nuclear (3,500 reactors) by 2030, we would have to build 175 new reactors per year, 3 new reactors per week for twenty years.
Such a scenario is not possible for supply chain reasons alone (cement, steel, appropriate sites, and construction capacity). From 1996-2009, the nuclear industry retired 43 old reactors and opened 49 new ones, a net gain of six reactors in 13 years.
If such a scenario were possible, we could then expect 8-times as many nuclear accidents and subsequent cancer and leukemia cases, and 8-times the annual nuclear waste and uranium demand. The current nuclear industry consumes 68,000 tons of uranium per year. The International Atomic Energy Agency's most optimistic estimate of reserves, including hypothesized reserves yet to be discovered, is 7.7 million tons. Thirty-five hundred operating nuclear plants would drain these reserves in 14 years, leaving communities on land poisoned with radioactive dust, radon gas, and suffering from a legacy of birth defects, leukemia and other cancers.
Furthermore, none of this accounts for population and economic growth. Two billion people live without electricity. The UN estimates we may add 3 or 4 billion more people before human population stabilizes. Meanwhile, the wealthy 15% of the world consume most of the current energy capacity. Even accounting for some efficiency gains and modest lifestyles, to meet these growth and social justice needs would require 3-to-4-times our current energy consumption, and to supply even half of this with nuclear plants would require about 15,000 nuclear plants.
Nuclear plants have a life-cycle of 40 to 60 years. To maintain an industry of 15,000 nuclear plants, we would have to build approximately one new plant each day, forever; while decommissioning one plant each day, forever; leaving behind thousands of radioactive dead zones vulnerable to earthquakes, uranium mining wastelands, and deadly radioactive waste."
I couldn't find this article on Weyler's Greenpeace blog Deep Green, but I did find it here:
http://ditchyourfridge.blogspot.com/2011/05/rex-weyler-nuclear-delusions-why.html
Rex Weyler: Nuclear Delusions: Why Nuclear Power is not a Solution to our Energy Challenge
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The Watershed Sentinel is proud to share Nelle Maxey's Fukushima Updates prepared for the BC environmental community.
Every day, Nelle pours over the media and other reports of the status of the reactors at Fukushima, comparing figures and trying to make sense out of the conflicting reports.