Japan may set up underground tank to stop contaminated water from spilling into sea

[FBaggins]

Tokyo, Apr 27 (ANI): Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is reportedly considering setting up a big underground tank in the compound of the earthquake-cum-tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to prevent contaminated water from spilling into the sea.

“There is bedrock 46 meters underground. The government has found that no tainted water will seep below (the bedrock) and is considering building a tank there,” Ikuhiro Hattori, head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives Associations, quoted Kan as saying.

Hattori announcement came after he and other executives of the federation held talks with Kan, during which they lodged a protest against the government for allowing the nuclear plant’s operator to release a large amount of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean in early April, the Kyodo news agency reports.

It was reported last month that tremendously high levels of radioactive iodine was detected in Pacific Ocean waters near the troubled plant, fueling already growing concerns over a possible nuclear catastrophe in the Asian country. (ANI)

http://truthdive.com/2011/04/27/Japan-may-set-up-underground-tank-to-stop-contaminated-water-from-spilling-into-sea.html

[flamingdem]

1. More improvised bullshit from Tepco nt

[FBaggins]

2. Did you expect something that WASN'T improvised?

It isn't like there's anyone out there who has a great deal of experience with this.

[wtmusic]

3. Why aren't they recirculating the water? nt

[FBaggins]

4. It would have to be cooled first

It doesn't do much good to take water near the boiling point and pump it back into the top of the reactor. The water has to run through some form of heat-exchange... and in order to do that they have to get passed a number of steps that they just haven't figured out how to accomplish.

Digging a big hole, otoh, (especially away from the "hotter" parts of the plant) is a much simper engineering challenge.

They may (just guessing) have already decided that they can't hook up a recirculation system until they can get a certain amount of water out of the way (which means they need somewhere to put it).

[wtmusic]

5. I'm sure they have their reasons

but high-capacity heat exchangers are a fairly common piece of equipment in industry.

Seems a tank would fill up in short order.

[kristopher]

6. They are going to ...

They are planning to treat the water to remove both radiation and salts, then they will recirculate it. I forgot the time frame for that to be ready but I think it was a couple of months.

They worry about the ability of any containment for water to endure possible earthquakes.

[FBaggins]

7. Yes... that's supposedly the plan.

Not that every plan makes it past the next day.

But digging a hole doesn't have to take months, and it looks like they need to move at least some of the water before they can get to where they can hook things up.

[Fledermaus]

8. Ok, how are they going to stop the radiation from moving into the inland water table?

When are they going to somthing? anything?

[meow mix]

9. sounds more like an open pit than a tank..

considering the declaration that water cannot seep through rock

[FBaggins]

10. Could be. The article is less than clear.

It also reads as if they'll dig down 40 meters to get to the bedrock. That doesn't sound quick (though it could be done concurrently with everything else since it would be an entirely different crew skill set).