Fuel Removal From Fukushima's Reactor 4 Threatens 'Apocalyptic' Scenario

[Tracy Riddle]

Or we can re-watch On the Beach while we're waiting.

[Keith Millea]

Or "The Sacrifice"......Andrei Tarkovsky

[Keith Millea]

Published on Sunday, November 17, 2013 by Common Dreams

Highly Dangerous Fukushima 4 Fuel Removal Begins Monday

- Common Dreams staff



The highly dangerous and unprecedented removal of the highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods in Fukushima Unit 4 will begin on Monday, November 18.

The Unit 4 fuel rod removal is like to trying to pull cigarettes from a crushed pack.The Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) had previously said the process would begin in mid-November but kept the exact date secret 'for security reasons.' TEPCO has now confirmed that the operation will begin Monday.

The NRA said that it will provide 'enhanced oversight' to TEPCO as the company begins the hugely delicate process of removing 1,331 spent fuel assemblies and 202 unused assemblies. The fuel rods are brittle, potentially damaged, and still located high above the ground in a badly damaged building that has buckled and tilted and could collapse if another quake strikes.

The fuel assemblies are in a 32 x 40 feet concrete pool, the base of which is on the fourth story of the damaged reactor building. The assemblies - which contain plutonium, one of the most toxic substances known - are under 23 feet of water.

If the fuel rods - there are 50-70 in each of the assemblies, which weigh around 661 pounds and are 15 feet long - are exposed to air or if they break, catastrophic amounts of radioactive gases could be released into the atmosphere.

Arnie Gundersen, a veteran U.S. nuclear engineer and director of Fairewinds Energy Education, says the Unit 4 fuel rod removal is like to trying to pull cigarettes from a crushed pack.

The 1,331 used fuel rod assemblies contain radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.

"Full release from the Unit-4 spent fuel pool, without any containment or control, could cause by far the most serious radiological disaster to date," say independent consultants Mycle Schneider and
Antony Froggatt in a recent [URL="http://www.worldnuclearreport.org/-2013-.html"]World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

[/URL]http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/11/17-0

[Peter Lemkin]

Ahhh! Nothing to worry about.............:alberteinstein:

[Keith Millea]

Ahhh! Nothing to worry about.............:alberteinstein:

Published on Monday, November 18, 2013 by Common Dreams

Developing: Earthquake Hits Japan Amid Fukushima Fuel Rod Removal


The U.S. Geological Survey says earthquake has 5.7 magnitude, with details still unfolding

- Common Dreams staff

An image from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the approximate location of the earthquake.Developing:

A strong earthquake has struck Japan's coast south of the Fukushima nuclear plant currently undergoing a dangerous removal of highly radioactive Unit 4 fuel rods, according to online reports.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a 5.7 magnitude earthquake has struck Japan 25 kilometers southeast of Toba, releasing the following tweet:

Strong earthquake, NEAR S. COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN, Nov-18 19:10 UTC, 0 #quake tweets/min, http://t.co/jAAXkTfU5k

Reports of the earthquake are still emerging. The following Twitter feed has news and updates.

[Peter Lemkin]

Ahhh! Nothing to worry about.............:alberteinstein:

Published on Monday, November 18, 2013 by Common Dreams

Developing: Earthquake Hits Japan Amid Fukushima Fuel Rod Removal


The U.S. Geological Survey says earthquake has 5.7 magnitude, with details still unfolding

- Common Dreams staff

An image from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the approximate location of the earthquake.Developing:

A strong earthquake has struck Japan's coast south of the Fukushima nuclear plant currently undergoing a dangerous removal of highly radioactive Unit 4 fuel rods, according to online reports.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a 5.7 magnitude earthquake has struck Japan 25 kilometers southeast of Toba, releasing the following tweet:

Strong earthquake, NEAR S. COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN, Nov-18 19:10 UTC, 0 #quake tweets/min, http://t.co/jAAXkTfU5k

Reports of the earthquake are still emerging. The following Twitter feed has news and updates.

Hmmm....that's moderately large.....likely not large enough to cause a major problem unless these are foreshocks of a larger earthquake...however, they show how seismically active Japan is [if memory serves, last major quake was only a month ago!] and the dangers at hand.....

It will take a few years to remove these fuel rods and about 30-40 years to 'clean up' [bury] the entire site.....even then, a large earthquake could un-bury it and cause catastrophic damage, worldwide. There is NO good solution - only less bad ones. Nuclear Energy was always a bad idea and getting worse by the day....as these reactors [damaged or not] age, they become more and more dangerous...they are dangerous at 'conception'. 'Ya likely 'ain't seen nothing yet, sadly......

[David Guyatt]

There is NO good solution - only less bad ones. Nuclear Energy was always a bad idea and getting worse by the day....as these reactors [damaged or not] age, they become more and more dangerous...they are dangerous at 'conception'. 'Ya likely 'ain't seen nothing yet, sadly......

Agreed.

It's the case now that we're damned if they do try something, and damned if they don't.

As a grumpy old bastard, I can only say that we sow the seeds of our own destruction - through arrogance and the accompanying blind ignorance.

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves. CW 9: AION: 126

[David Guyatt]

From Phys.org:

Water decontamination system in trouble at Japan's Fukushima

Dec 01, 2013

Members of the media and Tokyo Electric Power Co. employees wearing protective suits and masks walk past storage tanks for radioactive water at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan on November 7, 2013A trouble-prone system used to decontaminate radioactive water at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant was switched off Sunday because of a chemical leak, the plant's operator said.

Hydrochloric acid, used to neutralise alkaline water being decontaminated, was found seeping from a pipe joint, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said in a statement.
The joint was wrapped in a vinyl bag to contain the leakage, TEPCO said, adding it was investigating the cause of the trouble.
About one litre of hydrochloric acid has been contained in the bag.
The leak was found at one of three Advanced Liquid Processing System units designed to remove radioactivity from contaminated water at the plant, where a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 sent nuclear reactors into meltdown.
The systems are expected to play a crucial role in treating huge amounts of toxic water accumulating at the plant.
The troubled system was one of two units that had been in trial operation and were scheduled to go into full operation Sunday.
In late September plastic padding clogged up a drain in the same system, causing it to shut down. In October, it was halted due to a programming mistake.
Thousands of tonnes of water, used since the meltdown to cool reactors or polluted by other radioactive material, are being stored in huge tanks at the site on Japan's northeast coast.
A series of setbacks, including radioactive water leaks into the Pacific Ocean, have eroded confidence that Asia's largest utility can tame the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl.

[Peter Lemkin]

Glad to hear the whole procedure::bicyclebully:: is going so well!

[David Guyatt]

Glad to hear the whole procedure::bicyclebully:: is going so well!

Yes. Almost every week brings more reasons for supreme confidence that everything will work out well. Like the endings of Hollywood films.