Ice wall to contain Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant isn’t freezing

[yuiyoshida]

TOKYO —

More than three years after the earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and left a major nuclear plant in Fukushima paralyzed, efforts to contain the nuclear disaster are still facing major hurdles as the area around it remains a ghost town. Last week, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), revealed that an ice wall that was designed to stem the flow of radioactive water seeping from the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant isn’t freezing as fast as they hoped.

In the three months since construction began, temperatures in the ground around the barrier meant to contain the contaminated water in underground trenches have only fallen to around 15 degrees and TEPCO announced a new plan to accelerate the freezing process — dumping 10 tons of ice every day until the wall forms.

TEPCO made the announcement during a meeting of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority on July 23. Apparently a small stream of water has kept the ice wall from freezing properly. The Japanese electric company said it has not been able to get temperatures down to about 5 degrees, the ideal temperature to form the barrier. The original design of the ice wall called for it to be completely formed by late May. So to quicken the freezing process, TEPCO said it will start dumping huge amounts of ice and also increasing the number of underground pipes to quickly lower temperatures.

Starting Aug 1, TEPCO will drop about 10 tons of ice and one ton of dry ice per day into the trenches surrounding the reactors. If temperatures drop enough and the wall starts forming, the plan is to reduce the daily ice dump to about four or five tons. And they will also install an additional four pipes to bring the total up to 23 pipes pumping coolant.

During the meeting last week, a building engineering professor, who is part of the investigation panel charged with finding a solution to the nuclear disaster, voiced concern over the logistics of the ice wall. He doubted that the frozen barrier would be able to form and urged the committee to consider just filling in the trenches with concrete to prevent any of the contaminated water from flowing out.

more:http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/ice-wall-to-contain-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-isnt-freezing

[PoliticAverse]

1. Someone thought this plan would work on the first try? n/t

[betsuni]

2. I use "ice pillows" during these hot summer nights.

I put the ice pillows in the freezer because that's where they get cold. I do not put them in the oven. Duh.

[madokie]

3. As we go through life what we all need to do is learn from our mistakes

in this case the mistake was the hope that nuclear energy could be made to be safe and competitive, neither of which has been shown to be true.
The first law of holes is when you find yourself in one is to quite digging.
I wish like hell that nuclear energy could be as promised all those decades ago and still hope that maybe they will figure it out but in the mean time lets phase these monstrosities out until that day comes. A lot of work to make them safe and competitive still needs to be done yet.

Ok considering this ice wall. Whats being done to protect the ground water. The ocean is huge and can possibly absorb a lot radiation but the aquifer doesn't fall in that same category.

A lot of strides have been made in developing alternate sources of energy in the last couple decades and thats where we need to concentrate our efforts in the mean time, IMHO

[FBaggins]

4. They really can't seem to report accurately on this, can they?

The "ice wall" has only just gotten started. They aren't anywhere near trying to freeze the ground yet... let alone had trouble or failed.

The freezing effort that as so-far failed is related to attempts to freeze water in the trenches between the units that the sea. See image below.

The ice wall shown in the OP graphic won't be ready for many months.



A useful article explaining what's happening in the OP:

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2014/06/fukushima-i-npp-telephone-game-nth-time.html

Fukushima I NPP Telephone Game (Nth Time): "Ice Plug for Trench Water Not Working" Morphed into "Frozen Soil Wall Around Reactor Buildings Not Working"

It involves both the Japanese media and the foreign media, both in Japanese and in English, following the usual pattern of:


Original Japanese article appears in the Japanese media;

Original Japanese article is then translated into English incorrectly;

English article freaks out the foreign readers;

English article is then translated back into Japanese;

Japanese readers freak out reading the translated Japanese article.