TEPCO struggling with water treatment system at plant

From Xday this had to be approached as a worst case scenario. Appallingly lack of EVERYTHING. It should of been buried, localized and then sorted out from that point onwards. Still it is a VERY serious situation. A catastrophe still unfolding. Core one. for me, is on the floor, the concrete mat and is eating it away... It’s worse than it ever was.

So is it safe to try to live in Shinjuku? Cesium-13 and Cesium-137, are very dangerous...... How should food and water should be screened? Is bath/tap water safe in Shinjuku? Should I wear a cough mask when out side? Should I buy a radiation, and earthquake detectors? Is 2012 going to be more cataclysmic......

@Tamesu San - I'd be mighty careful about seeking advice like this on a comments board, though I think everyone would agree that wearing a cough mask is pointless if you're trying to filter out radiation, as is boiling tap water. Do what makes you feel safe. If you're really worried I would say don't come to Shinjuku.

Farmboy:

" When you figure out how to decontaminate the water, bring the boat back "

What you mean "when you figure out"? They are decontaminating the water now, that is what all these filtration systems are about.

Utrack:

" How do you bring a reactor that has melted through into a cold shutdown. Really how. "

Err... by cooling it? That`s what they did in 3 mile island too, and the world did not end last time I looked.

NHK is reporting that they didn't have a valve set properly. Let's go through this again, mates. This is open. this is closed. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Questions?

The valve was labelled SHUT and that seemed correct, so they left it in that position but in fact it was OPEN internally and allowing highly contaminated water to bypass half the filtration system. The lever may have been bolted on backwards.

They believe it has been in the wrong position since they first built this emergency system for dealing with the basement water, and that is the reason that they have been getting such strange results..

Let us hope that they have now ironed out the glitches (favorite nuke word) and it's full steam ahead! Get that water flowing! YAY!

TEPCO have blamed Everyone else for the problems, how about looking at the work force I am sorry to say, they are in danger and trying but day workers who are so desperate for Sake money that this is their best option. Is it any wonder mistake after mistake.

@Honne,

"various contingency plans in place depending upon the analysis of various sources of information."

This is a good approach/idea!

I'd like to expnand upon that if I may...

One contingency plan would be to have at least 3 if possible open-ended plane tickets paid for in advance to alternative safer (Internal/External Japan) locations.

Two have essential gear packed.

tbc.....

a valve today was manually left open, due to a mistake with the label. Why are these potato heads still there? Why is this reported in such a matter of fact way day after day...no anger no outrage?

One thing is sure...if you stay in Japan and you don't have to, you're crazy. Even those with careers and families here really need to consider getting out.

Thank you for calling some of us crazy and being concerned for our well being but I think I'll make those decisions on my own (like certifying myself crazy and considering the need to leave.) I've stated before I have various contingency plans in place depending upon the analysis of various sources of information.

Farmboy, love it. As long as they bow when they apologise

3 for 1, An apology is 3 times more sincere

Farmboy,

That seems way to logical, or difficult for TEPCO to manage. The other (TEPCO) way would be, send expendable worker to area holding water have him / her open valve and release water to ocean. If discover blame worker, and say sorry many times. Repeat as required....

True, and these are probably not trades people.

If you have ever watch a Japanese tradesperson perform their job you would know they are dithering idiots with absolutely no idea what they are doing. Therefor, this report should not be a surprise to anyone.

A valve on backwards, mother of pearl, road workers have 3/4 people checking everything? it's just not funny. The list of human mistakes and system failures - how on earth have they managed to last this long?

One thing is sure...if you stay in Japan and you don't have to, you're crazy. Even those with careers and families here really need to consider getting out. This situation is definitely not going to blow over and even if eventually (and it seems like that is a big "if" right now) the reactors are brought under control, radiation levels are going to be much higher than usual for a long time...even as far away as Tokyo. Plus the danger of radioactive crops will apply wherever you are living in Japan at a supermarket near you.

Ignorant- Ok...because we are told what is happening in a vague drip feed manner. This leads to speculation that can cover a broad field of possibility. As often as not at least some posters have been proven correct, not always but more often then the media report. Not sure about activist journalism, an opinion is just that. The article states that again TEPCOS plan failed (again) people do not trust them and we are all worried about what is actually happening, how safe are we?

WilliB,

Never said you did.... Try reading the post again.

You are having a go at people for reporting what is happening by calling them ignorant activist journalism. What is ignorant about the article, and where is the activist part? You are obviously struggling with reality and that is TEPCO are useless!

spidapig:

I did not say "all is rosy".

WilliB,

You are so right when you say "This ignorant activist journolism is really getting annoying". It is sooooo hard to ignore and pretend all is rosy with Fukushima with all this bad news day in day out. ;-)

Another misleading article. The "water treatment system" they are talking about is not a factory standard installation, it is something they are setting up on site, and they dealing with problems as they arise. And of course there are problems, and they are addressed. This ignorant activist journalism is really getting annoying.

So is it safe to try to live in Shinjuku? Cesium-13 and Cesium-137, are very dangerous...... How should food and water should be screened? Is bath/tap water safe in Shinjuku? Should I wear a cough mask when out side? Should I buy a radiation, and earthquake detectors? Is 2012 going to be more cataclysmic......

Or the filters are for WATER and not sludge, the previous article mentioned a rise in radiation as the sludge built up. I do not know it is a guess but something went pear shaped pretty fast. I have no doubt that any Gaijin involved are well out of any decision loop.

Seriously, though, the critical error of a filter predicted to last several weeks only lasting for five hours shows just how out of touch with reality and how careless TEPCO is

It's not TEPCO's technology so it's possible that they were going on what information was provided to them. Unfortunately, it seems nobody thought to question whether or not the details were accurate.

Tepco need to be removed and the Japanese government should accept all the help it has been offered from abroad. Tepco are clearly not up to the job, and it is risking far too much to continue to let them mess up, hide and fail to solve this.

Well the water treatment system was built with components from several foreign companies (as noted above), and the involvement of experts from abroad who have extensive real-life experience in doing this kind of thing--so it's not as though TEPCO is bumbling along on its own with no guidance or technical help from the outside... and I don't see what having the government take over the effort would accomplish; certainly the bureaucrats and politicians and their multitude of committees have no more experience or first-hand expertise than anyone else already involved.

Did the filter 'fill up' as it didn't absorb as much as they thought it would, or that there were far more particles than expected?

As to why the evil clowns at TEPCO are still 'running' this thing, I have to think that this is actually the JP govt. trying to show people they (TEPCO) are being forced to fix their mess and take some responsibility, given just days after the quake, their CEO said he wanted the SDF and US forces to handle it and Kan was heard loudly berating him at length (this episoide was recounted by several journalists outside the room).

Either way, I hope this begins to move forwards soon; having been on a cleanup team in the tsunami areas, these people need to get back to whatever life they can as soon as possible, and this constant radiation issue is of course slowing that, and piling on the fear.

I'm with smith japan, If it has not already happened it will soon and much latter will the full extent be hinted at. Of course sadly by then I fear there will be another unfolding disaster. Love to see some investigative reporting rather than the repeating press releases.

It could overflow within 10 days if action is not taken

This is what they said 7 days ago.

cactusJack: "TEPCO struggling with __. Just fill in the blank to have a new headline every day."

Or every few hours.

Seriously, though, the critical error of a filter predicted to last several weeks only lasting for five hours shows just how out of touch with reality and how careless TEPCO is. If they say they are concerned, you KNOW the problem is about 100 times worse than they're letting on. In a few months we'll hear about how the water had already leaked out into the ground and ocean and how TEPCO knew but didn't want to 'confuse' people, and/or how the government asked them not to release the info (again, so as not to confuse people).

Looks like a mass water dump into the ocean is coming soon... Again. Since it has taken this long, any efforts to go underground now would be both extremely costly and time consuming. Concreting the reactor at this point would still be a nuclear pipe bomb. I'm starting to lose any sense of hope that they'll finally find a solution to all this... So sad. Anyone got any ideas?

TEPCO struggling with __. Just fill in the blank to have a new headline every day.

Dump it and do a scientific study on the impact to whales.

There is no hope for this water, it will be dumped into the environment or the ocean, please Japan ask for help, your ego is too big

They did. The water treatment system they installed were made by a French company called Avron and a U.S. company called Kurion.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/science/news/20110622-OYT1T00967.htm?from=navr

Tepco have their priorities so wrong, they took way to long to setup this machine and put all their eggs in one basket with it.

There is no hope for this water, it will be dumped into the environment or the ocean, please Japan ask for help, your ego is too big

Plan B: Store the water in school swimming pools. Now that the children have dosimeters, that should be fine, right? After all, they won't be swimming 24/7. (He said, in the Japanese dialect known as bureaucratese.)

TEPCO are totally useless. They are the bungling every aspect of this disaster since the moment the tsunami hit yet the Japanese government are continuing to allow this to happen. Time that the government get off their collective useless asses and start to take control of this situation.

How can they get their predictions so wrong afterall there is a big difference between several weeks and 5 hours.

Is there just 1 filter or are there several filters that reduce the amount of sludge as they filter? Major mistake 7 weeks and Just 5hrs. Where are the spares? Where was the planning? Again a potential disaster due fully to TEPCOS Homer Simpson attitude to the situation.

Since it will eventually over flow, just dump it into the ocean now. That way the whole world will get involved and send over more help to stop the mess. Green Tea anyone?

How do you bring a reactor that has melted through into a cold shutdown. Really how.

Tepco need to be removed and the Japanese government should accept all the help it has been offered from abroad. Tepco are clearly not up to the job, and it is risking far too much to continue to let them mess up, hide and fail to solve this.

TEPCO hopes to bring the reactors to a stable cold shutdown state by early January, _ a goal some experts have questioned as too ambitious.

By early January of what year? 2012? 2015? 2050?