Attempt To Pour Concrete On Fukushima Crack Generating 1 Sievert/Hour Fails-New Unmanned Drone Pics

[stockholmer]

Source: Zero Hedge / Reuters

After prior reports that radiation in and around Fukushima had breached the dreaded barrier of 1 sievert/hour were attributed to some PR apparatchik not knowing how to carry the decimal comma, we once again get confirmation that previous attempts to refute what some saw merely as scaremongering, were in fact more lies. According to Reuters, the soon to be nationalized TEPCO said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts (1 sievert) of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit. "With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday. He cautioned, however: "We can't really say for certain until we've studied the results." Since at this point nobody believes anything coming out of Japan and TEPCO, most are just expecting for the concrete to come: "TEPCO has begun pouring concrete into the pit to stop the leak, he said." Alas, as always happens when horrible plans go awry, this latest attempt to fix the problem with the nuclear (pardon the pan) "solution" is failing. "Public broadcaster NHK said late on Saturday that water was preventing the concrete from hardening and the pit was still leaking." In other words, recent horrendously planned attempts to cool the reactor by pumping water on it may well scuttle the Plan Z option of entombing the reactor. And if that doesn't work, then Japan is straight out of plans.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/04/02/uk-japan-idUKTRE72A0UU20110402

"(Reuters) - Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focussing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.

"With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday.

He cautioned, however: "We can't really say for certain until we've studied the results." <

Leakage did not stop even after concrete was poured into the pit, and Tokyo Electric is now planning to use water-absorbent polymer to prevent contaminated water from leaking out into the sea.............................."





Read more: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/attempt-pour-concrete-fukushima-pit-crack-generating-1-sieverthour-fails-new-unmanned-drone-

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[Nexus7]

1. Hydraulic cement

They haven't heard of hydraulic cement in Japan?

[PoliticAverse]

29. That was my first thought also. n/t

[Javaman]

31. What is it?

:shrug:

[Baclava]

2. The world's largest concrete pump headed to Japan

The world's largest concrete pump, deployed at the construction site of the U.S. government's $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel plant at Savannah River Site, is being moved to Japan in a series of emergency measures to help stabilize the Fukushima reactors.

"The bottom line is, the Japanese need this particular unit worse than we do, so we're giving it up," said Jerry Ashmore, whose company, Augusta-based Ashmore Concrete Contractors, Inc., is the concrete supplier for the MOX facility.

"There are only three of these pumps in the world, of which two are suited for this work, so we have to get it there as soon as we can," Ashmore said in an interview Thursday. "Time is very much a factor." The pump was moved Wednesday from the construction site in Aiken County to a facility in Hanahan, S.C., for minor modifications, and will be trucked to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where it will be picked up by the world's largest cargo plane, the Russian-made Antonov 225, which will fly it to Tokyo.

Ashmore said officials have already notified Shaw AREVA MOX Services, which is building the MOX plant for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, that the pump was being moved and will not be returned because it will become contaminated by radiation. "It will be too hot to come back," Ashmore said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2011-03-31/srs-pump-will-head-japan

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So they're gonna entomb it all afterall.

[stockholmer]

3. they cannot entomb it until they stop the meltdowns, that is the rub

:(

[Baclava]

7. Well this can't be good

[eowyn_of_rohan]

20. It burns through the concrete, or through whatever is below it.

:scared: :nuke:

[jwirr]

4. And another thread here at DU says it is leaking into the ocean from

the bottom.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

21. Great. Between the Gulf and this....

just no words. I hate mankind sometimes.

Nuclear Power? NO THANKS!

[AndyTiedye]

8. Good That it is Delaying Construction of a MOX Nuke Fuel Plant Too

We don't need more plutonium, thank you.
The longer that thing takes to build the better.

[Baclava]

17. Should have read further...

The 190,000-pound pump, made by German-based Putzmeister has a 70-meter boom and can be controlled remotely, making it suitable for use in the unpredictable and highly radioactive environment of the doomed nuclear reactors in Japan, he said.

The MOX complex, scheduled to open in 2016, is designed to dispose of 32 metric tons of plutonium from dismantled nuclear bombs by blending small amounts of the material with uranium to make nuclear fuel for commercial power reactors. Its design calls for 170,000 cubic yards of concrete strengthened with 35,000 tons of reinforcing steel bars.

The absence of the pump will not affect the U.S. project's construction schedule, Ashmore said, noting that there are several slightly smaller units still at the MOX site and being used by the civil contractor, Alberici Constructors.

same article

[AndyTiedye]

23. sigh

[lostnfound]

9. Don't worry, the people who made money off of selling these reactors will pay for it. Nt

[naaman fletcher]

15. no they wont

GE? They own the government, along with Goldman and JPM. The lesson of the last 20 years is that if you have enough money you can do whatever you want.

[Octafish]

19. Corporations don't have to pay. That's what individual taxpayers are for.

Would Fund Protect US Taxpayers From Nuke Disaster Here?

Mar 18, 2011 – 6:42 AM
AOL.com
Andrew Schneider

EXCERPT...

According to a 2008 report by the World Nuclear Association, an international nuclear trade organization, the Price-Anderson Act originally limited liability for any single nuclear accident to $500 million in government funds, plus the maximum liability insurance available in the private market -- at that time, $60 million -- for $560 million total.

Repeatedly, the act was extended and the liability coverage increased. The last hike was in 2005 and extended the act for another 20 years. President George W. Bush signed off on the longest extension Congress has ever granted

The act requires operators of the plants -- through private insurance and an industrywide pool -- to be responsible for $10 billion. This sounds like a lot of money, but in reality it's more like a pebble in a rock quarry. All we can do is guess what the cost would be from a meltdown of a single reactor in a populated area.

Almost a half a trillion dollars, predicted two professors from the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

CONTINUED...

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/18/would-fund-protect-us-taxpayers-from-nuke-disaster-here/

Sheesh. They're not called "little people" for nothing.

[Lenomsky]

25. It's Madness

I just watched 'Best Chernobyl Documentary 2006 The Battle of Chernobyl (HQ)' and had no idea they had to mobilise 500,000 workers at a cost of ~$16 Billion in 1986's money to contain and entomb the reactor. This excludes the cost to move many millions of residents and relocate them.

In those days as we know the workers were given scant information and primitive protection and were essentially drones of the state.
I wonder how many Japanese will be willing to sacrafice their lives with full knowledge?

Wiki snip ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

"Estimates of the number of deaths potentially resulting from the accident vary enormously; the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest it could reach 4,000 while a Greenpeace report puts this figure at 200,000 or more. A UNSCEAR report places the total deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008."

I posit that even Greenpeace have under-estimated the resulting deaths and WHO imagine only 4,000 death WTF!

I pity Japan and the World.

[Octafish]

30. KIDDofSPEED says a lot about Chernobyl from the human perspective...

...you may appreciate:

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

Going from your words, I believe you both care about the future.

A hearty welcome to DU, Lenomsky!

[crickets]

32. The nuclear industry gets you coming and going. Too cheap to meter! -nt

edit sp

[lostnfound]

26. Not only will they NOT pay for it, they won't count it in ANY estimate of cost of nuclear power. nt

[Marnie]

10. The Romans were able to build concrete ports by using

"water" proof concrete about 2000 year ago.

Of course the water that is diluting this concrete may be very hot and who knows what effect the radiation would have.

[TheMadMonk]

24. Even ordinary portland cement will set underwater.

The trick is that it must lie undisturbed.

Perhaps, pour in a layer of drillers mud and attempt to inject grout beneat it.

[cadaverdog]

11. I saw a story on this device last night

and they said that the pump was to be used to pour water on the reactors, rather than concrete. It was to be retrofitted to pump water before being shipped to Japan.
Not certain of the veracity of this report.

[mopinko]

16. that's what rachel said.

didn't say whether it could be changed back later, tho.

[PoliticAverse]

28. Kind of ironic...

that a pump being used to construct a MOX fuel plant has to go fix a disaster involving a MOX fueled reactor...

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. Well...

...It simply looks as if humanity finally has its ass in a self-created crack which it cannot get out of. :shrug:

[stockholmer]

6. Floating island may store Japan’s radioactive water (including video)

http://rt.com/news/island-japans-radioactive-water/

snip



"Efforts to remove the tainted water from the basements continued on Saturday, Kyodo News reports. To store it, TEPCO – the operator of the troubled Fukushima-1 plant – is considering using an artificial floating island, or “Mega-Float”. The total capacity of its reservoirs exceeds 10,000 tons of water. The company may also pump inert nitrogen into the containment vessels of the reactors to replace explosive hydrogen, in an effort to prevent the risk of more blasts.

It is not yet clear how much time it would take to implement all that has been planned. The operator still has to continue pouring massive amounts of water into the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel pools in an attempt to cool the rods down. On Saturday, it resumed transferring fresh water to the tanks from a US Navy barge.
On Saturday, for the first time since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited the devastated areas. He went to the completely destroyed town of Rikudzentakata, where he met the locals who had survived the tsunami and promised them all necessary support from the government.

Later in his visit, the prime minister also met with the specialists working at Fukusima-1 nuclear plant at their temporary headquarters located 20 kilometers away from the plant. “We have to make all the efforts so that our country can overcome the consequences of the devastating earthquake,” Kan told them.

According to Greenpeace nuclear power expert Jan Haverkamp, not everyone in the plant’s proximity who should have been evacuated was evacuated....."

[DeSwiss]

12. K&R n/t

[aquart]

13. Whatever God you got, PRAY.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. My Goddess is Gaia. She is laughing her ass off.

Pesky pitiful humans. Teach them to mess MY world up.

[JournalistKev87]

14. To quote I Am Legend,

"God didn't do this; we did."

[WhiteTara]

22. some of tried to say No

but we did this.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

27. unrec for zero hedge spin.