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TEPCO to drain two tanks at Fukushima nuclear plant

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All very sad. Nuclear power has never been the solution to the energy problem. It generates clean energy at the instance and cheaply but no one is willing to face the real costs of the risks and waste (normal disposal and storage) seriously. US stores them in the Rocky mountains, Russia dumps them in shallow waters by the Beaufort sea. France? Japan? There were news of ships carrying nuclear wastes being denied passage through certain waters. Where were they heading? With the extreme weather these days are those monsters swept under the carpet really out of sight and out of mind? How can advances in education lead to this kind of self-delusional 'solutions'?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@the_odeman

Agreed. Those tanks they have put up are temporary and constructed to be such, with rubber seals of all things. I doubt they would withstand another tsunami and they have been built very close to the sea, which I find baffling.

I don't think there is a hurry up and fix it solution but if you can't get close to the problem areas, you need to build machines that can, and for some reason I've been thumbed down repeatedly for suggesting that Japan is the best nation to create these machines. They are at the leading edge of robot technology, and just as technology develops faster to meet needs in crisis like times of war, it could also be the case with a disaster like the current one. Of course, people have to see it as a crisis first and admit that it is, and that just isn't happening.

Of course help should be sought from other countries.

You are brave going to Fukushima that often!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Not defending anyone either but if you needed high-tech, new generation robot technology, which country would you look to first? Just saying.

@Francis

I have no idea, hence why I never post messages like "hurry up and fix it" like some people post. I lived in Fukushima for 6 and a half years up until last year, I love the place and visit there 4-5 times a year to see friends. It is very frustrating to see TEPCOs methods fail time after time. My only hope is that they are open to ALL ideas from ALL countries.

As for that zeolite solution, is there enough available right now? Is it readily available?

Tepco should be already construction sturdy tanks that will cover the next 10 years, and each prefecture should be helping out.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

hoserfella - Don't forget the LDP! TEPCO and the LDP are in bed together on this one. You're right, it goes back years...

5 ( +5 / -0 )

It would need help for the United Nation.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

There is technology, Japan is just stubborn not to get any outside help because they want to downplay the disaster.

Gundersen, who has visited the Fukushima power plant in the past, said a better solution would be to dig a two-metre wide trench down to bedrock level and fill it with a material called zeolite: a volcanic material that comes from Mother Nature.

"It's incredibly good at filtering radioactive isotopes. So whatever is inside the fence will stay inside and whatever is outside the fence would be clean," said Gundersen, who estimates the price tag for such a project would be around $10 billion.

< http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/japan-s-fukushima-nuclear-plant-leaks-what-you-need-to-know-1.1423249#ixzz2cwDUkGhL>

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

The cause was a huge earthquake and tsunami... not too much you can do about that now.

Wrong. The cause of the Fukushima disaster was TEPCO ignoring safety precautions going back years.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Treating the symptom but not the cause.

The cause was a huge earthquake and tsunami... not too much you can do about that now.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

What people dont know is that the scariest thing about this situation is that it is a world first. There is no technology available to solve this situation....that is what is very very scary.

Not defending anyone either but if you needed high-tech, new generation robot technology, which country would you look to first? Just saying.

If they can pull this off, it might be a giant leap in terms of technology. Let's hope so!

Ganbare Nippon!

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Despite the leaks local council is still encouraging people to swim at the local beaches. http://evacuatefukushimanow.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E3%83%BB%E3%81%84%E3%82%8F%E3%81%8D%E5%B8%82-swimming-in-fukushima/

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I think that Japan should encourage the creation of a multinational team will be based at Fukushima for years. Not only would Japan benefit, but the world would by gaining experience on how to deal with such disasters. It should not only be Japanese, Americans, and British, etc. but Russians, Indians, Iranians, and any country that has nuclear reactors.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Let me guess where they'll be emptying these two tanks to. The ocean?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Think of these "nuclear watchdog inspectors" like this: suppose the hunt for WMDs in Iraq had been conducted by a handful of UN inspectors who had been handpicked by Saddam Hussein; others on the team would have been simply friendly to him; still others would have been former colleagues,classmates and drinking buddies. None on the team would have been unknown to Saddam or unbiased or even neutral. Had this team found WMDs they would have given him the benefit of the doubt and acted with restraint.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Two words we have seen too many times N-Disaster and Sloopy. Let's sell it to the world!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

52atomsrgod

Japan needs to pull all the radioactive rods out of the plants and store them in stainless steel containers and bury them deep below ground, and this time nowhere near underground water supplies.

Mate, they would if they could. I hate defending TEPCO, but do you really think it is that easy to do?!?!?! If it was, they would have done that 2 years ago.

What people dont know is that the scariest thing about this situation is that it is a world first. There is no technology available to solve this situation....that is what is very very scary.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Nuclear watchdog inspectors who toured Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant following the discovery of a huge radioactive leak declared Friday that water storage at the site was “sloppy”.

Really now, at this point I'm inclined to ask what the Nuclear watchdogs were doing before the tanks were built. I'm sure all of TEPCO's proposals were approved before they began building the storage tanks. Further, why weren't TEPCO's tanks monitored during construction and improvements made along the way? Both TEPCO and the so-called watchdogs failed on this. My three Chihuahuas are better watch dogs than these clowns.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Look up bioaccumulation

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan needs to pull all the radioactive rods out of the plants and store them in stainless steel containers and bury them deep below ground, and this time nowhere near underground water supplies.

Radiation never dilutes, in fact radiation concentrates as it enters the food chain.

Plants to fish to larger fish to tuna and finally into man's DNA. Where it emits energy that cuts the covalent bond that hold the DNA together, this is how you get birth defects and cancer.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Treating the symptom but not the cause.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/asia/nuclear-operator-raises-alarm-on-crisis.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This is getting very serious and J. Government needs to declare the state of emergency.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

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