Update # 33: July 14, 2011
Decontamination System
Today at NHK, there are two articles regarding decontamination. First, the decontamination system is still shut down.
Note both of today's article say the target for operation rate was 90%. Previous articles had said TEPCO revised the target rate to 80% following earlier problems with the system. Seems the press is holding them to the earlier rate. This is directly related to the next story. Japanese company Toshiba has developed another decontamination system for TEPCO. Interesting that the article says the new, simpler system may run in parallel with or supplement the faltering French/American system. See my comments below the articles.
Fukushima plant suffers a leak in water filtering
"A system for decontaminating and recycling radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been halted again after operating in fits and starts.
Plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, found a leak through a broken plastic joint in a French-made facility on early Wednesday afternoon, forcing a shutdown for more than a day…."
Thursday, July 14, 2011 19:26 +0900 (JST)
Toshiba develops nuclear decontamination system
Japanese electronics maker Toshiba has developed a system to decontaminate radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from early August.
The system, nicknamed Sarry, was shown to media at a plant in Yokohama on Thursday. It consists of a series of 14 tanks, each 1.4 meters wide and 3.6 meters high.
Minerals put inside the tanks are to absorb radioactive cesium and strontium and reduce levels of radioactivity in contaminated water by a factor of about one million….
Thursday, July 14, 2011 19:26 +0900 (JST)
Nelle's comments:
In looking for information on the decontamination system on the net, I stumbled on the following Japanese blogger's comment (dated June 10) which seems very relevant to the developments today. Note there are links in the original article to Japanese-language press stories on the $200M yen/ton paid to Areva and the "cheaper and much more reliable" technology already in existence in Japan.
AREVA's Decontamination System A Joke!
Friday, June 10, 2011
"The world biggest nuclear company AREVA (headquarter in France and affiliated with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) has been revealed their crooked businesses by European scholars and Greenpeace [See the Forbes article link from yesterday for verification-Nelle]. They lend their decontamination system to the Fukushima Daiichi plant charging ridiculous 200,000,000 yen per 1 ton of contaminated water (yes, per a ton)!! There is a cheaper and much more reliable technology already existed in Japan. I can't stand that a nuclear company makes more profits from nuclear accidents! If the government has such money, it must be used to victims and survivors at the 311 disaster and evacuees in Fukushima. The government should cancel the agreement with AREVA immediately."
I also found this story on the Ex-SKF blog which discusses the lack of technical support from Areva in setting up and running the system. As an aside, since my son installs and runs complicated control systems, I have heard many stories of how important technical support and technical operations manuals are to proper operation of any system. The following comments could explain the continuing problems with the Areva system. Further, this problem of technical support would certainly be alleviated by Toshiba handling the decontamination system, wouldn't it?
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/07/fukushima-drawings-of-arevas.html
"Fukushima: Drawings of AREVA's Decontamination System Written in Italian and French, Details Unavailable due to National or Corporate Security says an anonymous worker at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. There are many who think it's almost a miracle that the entire system works at all.
The contaminated water treatment system at the plant has been in operation since June 17, and it has been plagued with problems, most of which are blamed on the workers. When they blame "worker's mistake" as the reason for system malfunction or breakage, suspect some other reasons that they want to hide. This seems to be the case for the troubles at the contaminated water treatment system…."
Good news, while the decontamination system is not on track for the July 17th target date in the plan, the nitrogen injection may be.
"Nitrogen injection starts at No. 3 reactor
"The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has started injecting nitrogen into the plant's No. 3 reactor's containment vessel to prevent a hydrogen explosion….
Tokyo Electric had already begun injecting nitrogen into the plant's No. 1 and 2 reactors. The work at the No. 3 reactor was delayed due to high radiation levels.
Nitrogen injection is essential for the utility to complete the first step of its plan to bring the plant under control by the target date of July 17th."
Thursday, July 14, 2011 21:52 +0900 (JST)
CONTAMINATION
More contaminated hay found affecting more cattle (42 head) than the first disclosure. The meat has not yet been traced or tested for contamination, but the feed contamination is much higher than the first reported which did in fact contaminate meat that was tested. And the government has ordered the farm to stop selling cattle.
Cesium found in hay at another farm in Fukushima
"Radioactive cesium far exceeding safe limits has been detected in hay fed to cattle at a second farm near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
Fukushima's government warned on Thursday that 42 possibly contaminated cattle have already been shipped out from the farm in Asakawa Town…." Thursday, July 14, 2011 21:52 +0900 (JST)
More action on worker safety has been ordered by NISA. What the statement "TEPCO lacks information" about subcontracted employees means is that they have no information that the workers have any radioactive safety training. Therefore, the agency is requiring TEPCO to supervise these workers more effectively by hiring more safety managers. They are also requiring the company to provide more safety gear to these poor bastards.
TEPCO urged to tighten workers' radiation control
"Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency [NISA] has urged the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to tighten controls on workers' radiation exposure.
About 3,000 workers are struggling daily at the plant to contain the nuclear crisis.
The safety agency has been inspecting Tokyo Electric Power Company's measures to protect them from exposure to radiation.
The agency says it has found 8 areas of concern and ordered TEPCO on Wednesday to take appropriate measures.
The agency said that TEPCO lacks information about subcontracting employees and ordered the company to boost the number of safety managers for such workers.
It also urged the utility to provide more full-face protective masks and make sure that plant workers wear them properly.
Since the nuclear crisis began in March, 6 workers have been exposed to radiation doses above the allowable emergency limit of 250 millisieverts.
About 1,500 have still to receive medical checks for exposure to radiation."
Thursday, July 14, 2011 07:51 +0900 (JST)
And finally, the "stress test" plan for nuclear plant safety has still not been finalized. Reading between the lines, this story rather confirms my suspicions that the stress test announcement was a knee jerk reaction by government to the email scandal. The headline would better read, "Agency yet to DRAFT stress test plan"
Agency yet to finalize stress test plan
"Japan's nuclear safety agency has yet to finalize plans for new safety checks on the nation's nuclear power plants, despite being asked to do so in a week.
The government announced on Wednesday last week that it would conduct so-called stress tests on all nuclear plants. It later said the tests would be carried out in 2 stages…." Thursday, July 14, 2011 09:57 +0900 (JST)"
There are other stories at NHK today on the email scandal, cancelled nuke plant restarts, plan to move away from nuclear fuel to alternative energy and so forth. I will report on these stories later.
Contaminated Water Treatment System: PVC Joint Broke Off Completely in AREVA's System, in 100 to 150 Millisieverts/Hr Environment
"Unlike the previous leaks (from the same place) where the PVC joint cracked (1st leak on July 9) and where the cast-iron joint corroded (2nd leak on July 12), TEPCO says that the PVC joint completely broke off.
The company doesn't know when the water treatment system can be re-started, as the repair work needs to be done in a very high radiation environment (100 to 150 millisieverts/hour) and each worker can remain there only for 1 to 2 minutes….
Who could have known? (Any comment from AREVA engineers?)
…Just when I thought, "Maybe Murphy is taking a summer vacation away from Fukushima…"