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More radioactive water pooling at Fukushima plant

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More than 100,000 tons of contaminated water at the plant could overflow within two weeks if action is not taken. At one location, water is 14 centimeters from spilling

That's not good. Get that new cartridge in there and start up that water cleaning gizmo.

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Actually, I'd prefer if they spent a day or two to figure out what went wrong. They cannot afford to change cartridges every five hours, because then the whole machine wouldn't work at all (I think it doesn't come with a gatling-style cartridge exchange mechanism...). Rather, I'm still hoping that their measurement of cartridge radioactivity is wrong, or that they measured in the wrong spot, or that they sucked in radioactive dust particles that accumulated in the cartridge or something along these lines. If, however, the water radioactivity is so much higher than anticipated, the whole situation looks really grim...

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If, however, the water radioactivity is so much higher than anticipated, the whole situation looks really grim...

Doomed_To_Repeat_It -- that is the $64,000 question. Let's hope, as you suggest, that there is some sort of technical or mechanical problem behind the filter reaching its limit so quickly. Otherwise, as has often been the case in the past three months, things are continue to get worse before they get better.

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@Doomed Actually, I'd prefer if they spent a day or two to figure out what went wrong

The contaminated water is about to breech it's containment, the day or two has already passed. That water is HIGHLY contaminated and I've seen a schematic of the cartridge in question. They have to replace it more often Period, TEPCO's decision to use water is just going to cost them through the nose.

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My opinion is to say dump it all out, and start fresh.

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God what a mess.

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Just read it Osakadaz. Pretty dangerous.

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The dead end of the dead-ending appraoch. Ad-hoc, stop gap solutions have nothing systematic. Needed to be localized and approached from a worse case situation from day one.

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I hate to say it, and I don't say this lightly, but Fukushima may well become the world's next Cherobyl. It may even be worse. The authorities are doing their very best to play down the significance of the event, but the news I read is never very encouraging. Stop gap measures seems about right, but what the hell are they going to do with 100 000 tons of highly contaminated water?! Dump it into the ocean? Sounds like an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen to me.

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Thank you, YongYang, for this very insightful comment. As they say, an expert is "someone, who, in hindsight, can tell you why it did not work". The water filtering is not a stop-gap, dead-end solution, but the best way to a permanent solution there is atm. If you do happen to have a better idea, please come forward with it NOW - Japan (actually: the whole world) needs it, and very desperately so.

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Doomed - I think you'll find the usual suspects here aren't interested in better ideas. Just the sound of their own voices and doomsday scenarios.

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I hate to say it, and I don't say this lightly, but Fukushima may well become the world's next Cherobyl.

It seems as though it already is, unfortunately.

hoserfella - good to see you rockin' with the Napoleon Dynamite avatar, nice work!

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Heads up...we are going to have a big spill, and maybe a release of more crap into the environment. Nothing wrong with N-Power. Hope my cancer is not too painful.

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Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic and do not be impolite to one another.

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Incredible to see so many still having 'the faith', the belief in the sunny days ahead. Never has been anything surmounting to that, has always been the worst case which is where the approach should have started from. If the reality scares you, what til you understand the truth of how bad the real situation is. Sad, sad to see the childish snips and snaps even now surfacing when a mature insightful analysis of the facts would much better serve. Really, satnd back, have a look and see.

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The wording of the article is bad, as usual. 125,000 tons of water 'could overflow'... no.

It will be just a trickle.

It will not suddenly pour out. The containment will not rupture either folks. Read the news and the article more carefully please.

The water has been building up in the basements and is now reaching the front door mats. It will begin to overflow, but the daily amount of overflow will never be more than the 500 tons they are pouring through the reactors every day.

If they can get their new recycle system up and running before the first trickles begin, then maybe they can contain the water within the plant. If they can't then they will have to start digging ditches and sluices and pits for a while, if they haven't already started. Let's hope they have, or it will start running down into the sea.

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500 tons of water per day is a trickle?

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"TEPCO said radiation to be released by the ventilation will be too small to threaten human health."

Sure, and why wouldn't anyone take them at their word? They'll be saying the same thing in two months when they are forced to admit (after denying, of course) that a whole lot of water already overflowed into the ocean and surrounding land, but of course, 'may not immediately threaten human health'.

And yet fools like Kaeida are still pushing for the other reactors, which were inspected VERY quickly, to start up again.

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Hawaiian Islands are real pretty, That's my good news. Cause Fukushima Daiich has a long way to go to get 100,000+ tons of contaminated water Decontamined and disposed of properly. Then TEPCO can tackle reactors 1, 2, and 3 properly. But with the current situation and one poster issued a comment about the condition of reactor No. 4 as having problems. The contamination is in the land, sea and air. TEPCO is causing and environment to become inhospitable.

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The problems in Fukushima are affecting the world so why aren't there international teams on site?

Why is this still in the hands of a private company?

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haran3375.

What International Teams are you expecting to come here and what would their expertise be with dealing with such an event? Also how much equipment, etc would those International Teams need to take over?

Disasters like that are not covered in any drill manual.

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American army has Teams that are trained and equipped to work in this environment, as does most nations. Japanese SDF does not! Also the manual does not cover what is happening. It was out of control to start with, they need help....

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Japan should look to Russia for advice and consultation. The Russians have been through a similar crisis -while the Japanese respond ad hoc to the problems and try to find their own solutions, time is being wasted and lives are being and will be lost, not to mention how many millions will be affected by the radioactive contamination that is STILL being released!

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Actually they don't know if the filter really reached its limit or not.

It was giving off huge radiation warnings, so they shut it down, but they are still not sure if the filter itself reached its maximum radioactivity limit, or whether some other nearby source (piping?) set off the high readings.

Anyway, in a potentially difficult situation, it is important that those having to find ways of dealing with it fight their panic and concentrate on the task at hand. They will have to be imaginitive, despite huge tiredness, lack of sleep and recreation, etc. A calm decision at the right moment could tip the balance for all of us.

I hope we can cut them some slack and think about recriminations later.

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According to an article on aljazeera.net it is already worse than Chernobyl and seeing the "progress" of the last few months I'm inclined to believe it.

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How much is "500 tons" and how radioactive is it? And where is it all going to go? And how big are these filters? I mean, I use filters to make my coffee. More info please. I am far from reassured.

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Ranger, 500 tons correspond to a volume of 10 x 10 x 5 meters. That would be the average one-family-house in Tokyo suburbs, I guess. Full of radioactivity, that is, although I agree that, compared to the overall radioactivity and amounts of water, this is a trickle, and might well be thinned down to undetectable levels once in the sea. Accumulation in the seabed and in marine life is a different story, though, and very much depends on for how long this "trickle" lasts... As for the filter: Those are columns of 0.9 meters diameter and 2.3 m height. Not the average coffee filter.

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I wonder if the up and coming monsoon season that will hit that area will make things worse.

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This saga just won't end.

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Well, over 100,000 tonnes of highly contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant are estimated to contain 720,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials.

If Kurion’s vessel absorbed enough radioactive materials in 5 hours and it should have taken 30 days, the water was 144 times as radioactive as the system had anticipated.

If the water actually turns out to be 144 times as radioactive, the Fukushima accident would need a new INES category and should not be placed in the same category (Level 7) as the Chernobyl accident which released only 5.6 million terabecquerels of radioactive materials. Maybe it should be simply called “Level Fukushima”. Hey, to 'It's OK gang', keep believing, aye.

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The water was sprayed directly into the reactors, right on the melted fuel rods and all, it's got to be HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE. Workers could not even get into the section of reactor No. 1 for a long while remember they had to eventually vent the section they needed to work in because the radiation level was So high. THIS water has been and through the heart of these reactors. I don't understand how anyone can think the water shouldn't be highly radioactive.

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Utrack, that is correct, and you begin to wonder about their plan to keep recycling and filtering the same water.

How long can they keep pouring water directly over melted fuel, then sucking it up from the basement, filtering it and reusing it? An endless supply of filters will come from where?

Will the water keep reverting to the same radioactivity each time around, or will it gradually be filled with some kind of gradually more-resistant mutant radiation?

Anyway, let's hope and pray their experiment bears fruit.

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TEPCO has denied the truth to themselves and the public, hence pouring water on an already melted through reactor. TEPCO workers took too long for this plan to bear fruit, I personally blame the Management. In reading the article deplicting the first hours of Daiichi. Where the workers had to Borrow this and that from contractors, just to be able to work like TEPCO had nothing available for them, they even had to go offsite to obtain proptective gear for dealing with the initial situation they were confrontd with. EVERYTHING took tooo long. Those reactors went well past the just add water stage initially, so this is just a mess now that TEPCO has to clean up.

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Not to make light of the situation be my previous statement about Daiichi is just a mess that TEPCO has to clean up. In all honesty the situation is ugly for alot of people near and around ground zero and beyond. TEPCO has created an inhospitable environment for people. The sea is poisoned the air is poisoned and the land is poisoned. The fishing is no good. the air has radiation in it. and the farmers can't sell their crops do to said radiation. Inhospitable for Humanity. NOT GOOD We all need to eat and breathe to live. So, TEPCO has to wake up.

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Humans are apart of a delicate frame work, everything is matter, energy and we as a race have consciousness that's it, everything else is man made. We are not invincible and harmful changes like increased levels of radiation can be harmful. Thats why whatever TEPCO has to do to fix this situation that they created do to miss-management, They have to do it.

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Man made in terms of ideology.

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This is a national emergency but it is not being treated as such. All foreign sources opin that it is a dangerous mess. Even experts in academia from Tokyo,Kobe and Kyoto universities are critical. Prof Toshiso Kosako, the rebuffed expert, brought in as an advisor from Tokyo university tended his resignation in public view.His advice was being ignored by his superiors (not radiation experts) Raising limits for radiation exposure ,ingesting contaminated fish or swimming in a radioactive sea or lake wont' protect us from cancer or genetic damage!!!!!!!!

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