The horrible truth slowly leaching out from Tepco regarding the state of play regarding highly contaminated water storage at Fukushima......Recall I recently wondered how many other tanks might be affected apart from the one that has leaked 300 tons - so !
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/08/242077.html
Route ( as per Tepco handout ) for how radioactive water could reach the Sea....
Simply Info....
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/08/leak-of-300-tonne-ro-waste-water-at.html
( Tepco plans starting to fail before they can even roll them out as events catch up to and pass Tepco by... )
I just posted the article that the head of Fukushima's fisheries associations has agreed to the government/TEPCO plan of "groundwater bypass".
However, there are two problems.
First, the drains near the H4 area where the leaking RO (reverse osmosis) waste water tank is located are general-use drains, and they go out to the ocean OUTSIDE the plant port, as I show in the black arrow in the upper right corner in the map below:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-20/japan-raises-severity-latest-and-greatest-leak-level-3
( now we are up to level three , do we see level five by Wednesday night ? INES scale below - this is a 5 presently , perhaps 6 ! )
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/20/2013 21:47 -0400
http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2013/08/fukushima-contamination-updates-august.html
![[Mystery] Water gauge is situated 4 tanks away from the officially leaking tank / "How did they measure?"](http://fukushima-diary.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/imagebot818-450x327.png "[Mystery] Water gauge is situated 4 tanks away from the officially leaking tank / \"How did they measure?\"")
Posted in Daily News, Fukushima Plant situation, Media blackout 
Tags: 311, contaminated water, fukushima,happy11311, japan, leak, nuclear, radiation, tank, tepco, twitter 
1 Comment »
Posted in Daily News, Fukushima Plant situation Tags: 311, contaminated water, fukushima, japan, leakage,nuclear, radiation, tank, tepco, β 1 Comment »
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/08/242077.html
Route ( as per Tepco handout ) for how radioactive water could reach the Sea....
Simply Info....
Tank Leak At Daiichi; More Failures To Come, Direct Route To The Sea
TEPCO reported a leaking tank yesterday that initially sounded like nothing new. They have had minor leaks in these tanks and others before. This tank leak is larger, 300 of the 1000 tons from the tank has leaked. The water leaking out is highly contaminated with readings as high as 96 mSv/h of just beta radiation, this doesn’t include any gamma readings. The water itself read 80 million bq/liter. TEPCO now reports that it was the gasket of the bolt together tank that failed. There have been other instances of these gaskets leaking but in smaller amounts. TEPCO claims that workers check these tanks for leaks twice a day. The used tanks, about 300 of them, have … Read entire article »
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/08/leak-of-300-tonne-ro-waste-water-at.html
( Tepco plans starting to fail before they can even roll them out as events catch up to and pass Tepco by... )
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013
Leak of 300-Tonne RO Waste Water at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Could Kill TEPCO's Groundwater Bypass Plan
I just posted the article that the head of Fukushima's fisheries associations has agreed to the government/TEPCO plan of "groundwater bypass".
However, there are two problems.
First, the drains near the H4 area where the leaking RO (reverse osmosis) waste water tank is located are general-use drains, and they go out to the ocean OUTSIDE the plant port, as I show in the black arrow in the upper right corner in the map below:
So far, the water in the drains have little radioactive materials, and no radioactive materials have been detected in the seawater in the south of the plant, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority in the August 21, 2013 meeting.
The second, and far more serious problem, I think, is that the location of the H4 area with at least one leaky tank is JUST TOO CLOSE to the 12 wells that TEPCO has dug for the groundwater bypass plan, to intercept and draw uncontaminated groundwater before it hits the reactor buildings.
Uh oh.
The TEPCO map with annotation, from @Kontan_Bigcat; English labels are by me:
The second, and far more serious problem, I think, is that the location of the H4 area with at least one leaky tank is JUST TOO CLOSE to the 12 wells that TEPCO has dug for the groundwater bypass plan, to intercept and draw uncontaminated groundwater before it hits the reactor buildings.
Uh oh.
The TEPCO map with annotation, from @Kontan_Bigcat; English labels are by me:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-20/japan-raises-severity-latest-and-greatest-leak-level-3
( now we are up to level three , do we see level five by Wednesday night ? INES scale below - this is a 5 presently , perhaps 6 ! )
Japan Raises Severity Of Latest (And Greatest) Leak To Level 3
Earlier today, when we reported on the latest, and to date largest reported leak at Fukushima, one of roughly 300 tons, we mocked the government's response when we said "don't panic: here comes the Japanese government to designate the leak as a trivial, "Level 1" incident on an 8 level scale. But at least finally the JNRA admitted the ongoing problems at the supposedly "contained" disaster site. On the other hand, what it would take for Japan to admit to a Level 8 emergency? Perhaps a Fukushimanado." Well, the JNRA may have been insulted by out mockery as moments ago Reuters reported that Japan has raised the severity of the leak to Level 3 on the International Scale.
http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2013/08/fukushima-contamination-updates-august.html
August 20th ....... All hell breaking loose.....
http://rt.com/news/fukushima-radioactive-puddle-leakage-710/
( So , how many of these tanks might be leaking and when might Tepco release those facts ? 300 tons of highly radioactive water released and this is just a level one event ? )
Another tank with highly radioactive water at the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant has leaked, reported operator TEPCO. The contaminated water contains an unprecedented 80 million Becquerels of radiation per liter. The norm is a mere 150 Bq.
A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Tuesday that 300 tons of highly radioactive water has leaked from a stainless steel tank on the territory of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has classified the leak as a Level One incident, the second lowest on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) for radiological releases, a spokesman informed Reuters.
The incident is the first Level One since the actual catastrophe at Fukushima in March 2011 when Japanese authorities issued an INES rating.
Level One means that the incident is classified as anomalous situation that exceeds limits of safe functioning of an installation. The most dangerous, Level Seven, has only been applied twice: for the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 and the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima plant itself.
Release of radioactive energy is measured in Becquerels, i.e. radioactive decay collision events per second happening in a certain volume of material. The internationally accepted normal radioactivity level is 150 Becquerels.
According to TEPCO’s own measurements the puddle that formed around the damaged tank is emitting radiation of 100 Millisieverts per hour, as a probe has been taken about half a meter from the water, reported Kyodo News.
A dose rate measured in Sieverts indicates how much radiation a person would receive standing near the source of radiation.
A typical release of radiation is generally taken for 1 Millisievert per year, but exposure limits for the nuclear industry personnel are much higher. Still, an hour near that puddle of radioactive water is equivalent to five years of total radiation exposure – even for TEPCO staff deployed at the Fukushima site.
TEPCO has to keep the melted uranium fuel rods of three destroyed reactors awash with water using a jerry-rigged system only to keep the melted debris cool and relatively stable. To establish a closed cycle of the process, the operator stores huge amounts of radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear facility.
It is believed that overall there are more than 350,000 tons of radioactive water stored at the Fukushima plant in special tanks and the drainage system, and without special protection in the basements of the devastated facility. At the beginning of 2013, TEPCO drained most of the basement galleries, pumping radioactive water into newly delivered tanks.
TEPCO insists that since the tanks are located on elevated ground some 500 meters from the seashore, the puddle from the damaged tank has not escaped into the Pacific Ocean. Still, the level of contaminated water in the tank continues to lower, the company stated.
At the same time the ruined reactors of the Fukushima nuclear facility are located practically on the coast. And while the melted cores of the three destroyed reactors have burnt through the concrete basement of the reactor zone, radioactive water is soaking down into soil, eventually getting into the Pacific Ocean – a fact confirmed by radiation samples.
Leakage of radiation-contaminated water has been the major threat to Japan’s population and environment from the very beginning of the Fukushima disaster. But until recently TEPCO has been flatly denying that radioactive waste is escaping into the Pacific.
Only in late July the company acknowledged the fact that contaminated water is escaping from basements and trenches of the Fukushima plant into the ocean.
Japanese authorities have demanded that TEPCO take immediate measures to stop radioactive leakage into the ocean.
After Fukushima disaster practically all Japanese nuclear power plants were taken out of service for safety checks. So far only two out of total 50 Japanese nuclear power plants have returned to service.
******
One day later , Tepco starts " leaking " the truth !
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/08/300m3-leakage-fukushima-nuclear-plant-has-350-more-tanks-of-the-same-type-rubber-sealing-instead-of-welding/
[300m3 leakage] Fukushima nuclear plant has 350 more tanks of the same type / Rubber sealing instead of welding
Posted by Mochizuki on August 20th, 2013 · No Comments
Following up this article..[Mystery] Water gauge is situated 4 tanks away from the officially leaking tank / “How did they measure?” [URL]
In the extraordinary press conference of 8/20/2013, Tepco commented there are 350 more tanks of the same type in Fukushima nuclear plant.
These tanks have the rubber sealing instead of welding. It can be built quicker but has more risk of leakage.
Tepco had the underground reservoirs leak this Spring. They had to build additional tanks provisionally.
These provisional tanks were considered to last for 5 years but they have already started leaking actually.
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/08/mystery-water-gauge-is-situated-4-tanks-away-from-the-officially-leaking-tank-how-did-they-measure/
[Mystery] Water gauge is situated 4 tanks away from the officially leaking tank / “How did they measure?”
Posted by Mochizuki on August 20th, 2013 · No Comments
Following up this article.. [300m3 leakage] 0.1 Sv/h near the radio relay station [URL]
From Tepco’s data, the water gauge is attached to a different tank from the one that Tepco officially announced is leaking.
There are three tanks between the water gauge and the officially leaking tank. It is questionable how Tepco checked the leaking water volume.
In this area, there are 26 tanks, which are nearly full. Except for the officially leaking one, 25,610 m3 of contaminated water is stocked in total.
Fukushima worker “300m3 of leaked water went to the radio relay station area” / Worst place to flow to
Posted by Mochizuki on August 20th, 2013
Following up this article..[Tank leakage] 300m3, 24,000,000,000,000 Bq of β nuclide released / still keeps leaking [URL] The Fukushima worker Happy11311 commented on Twitter that the extremely contaminated 300m3 of leaked water went to the radio relay station area, where is the worst place the water can go to. <Translate> The contaminated water [...]
Posted in Daily News, Fukushima Plant situation, Media blackout Tags: 311, contaminated water, fukushima,happy11311, japan, leak, nuclear, radiation, tank, tepco, twitter 1 Comment »[Tank leakage] 300m3, 24,000,000,000,000 Bq of β nuclide released / still keeps leaking
Posted by Mochizuki on August 20th, 2013
Following up this article..Fukushima worker “Expiration date for use of the contaminated tanks is coming.” [URL] Tepco held an extraordinary press conference for the leakage on 8/20/2013. From their announcement, one of the tanks (No.5) lost 1/3 of the stocked water, which is approx. 300 tones. Most of the leaked water has travelled out [...]
Posted in Daily News, Fukushima Plant situation Tags: 311, contaminated water, fukushima, japan, leakage,nuclear, radiation, tank, tepco, β 1 Comment »
http://enenews.com/anonymous-tepco-official-tank-may-have-leaked-tons-of-highly-radioactive-liquid-every-day-over-past-month-we-didnt-detect-it-for-as-long-as-30-days-spokesman-leakage-is-continuing
Japan Times, Aug 20, 2013: On Tuesday, Tepco said the water level in tank No. 5 had dropped by 3 meters, meaning about 300 tons of contaminated water had been lost. From Monday to Tuesday, about 10 tons were lost, indicating this amount may have leaked every day over the past 30 days, a senior Tepco official told The Japan Times. “So far, we had four similar (tank) leakage cases. The problem this time is that we didn’t detect it for as long as 30 days,” the official said.
Xinhua, Aug 20, 2013: Masayuki Ono, spokesman of TEPCO, told a press conference Tuesday that the leakage is continuing and leaked water has most likely seeped into ground but not run into the sea. TEPCO is now trying to prevent the spread of radioactive water and remove the contaminated soil. However, they have not checked yet whether there are still leakage in other tanks, said Ono.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/08/real-leak-of-at-least-300-tonnes-of.html
As the world's mainstream media and alternative media suddenly rediscover Fukushima I Nuke Plant over the "assumption" by a career bureaucrat at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (whose Agency of Natural Resources and Energy oversees the decommissioning of the plant) that "300 tonnes of highly contaminated [sic] water" may be leaking every day, a real leak of actual waste water with extremely high beta nuclides has been found.
According to TEPCO, who held an ad hoc press conference at noon on August 20, 2013, at least 300 tonnes of waste water after the cesium absorption (by SARRY) and desalination (by Reverse Osmosis Apparatus) has leaked from a huge 1,000-tonne steel tank (or two, they don't know yet), and it is likely that the waste water is STILL LEAKING as TEPCO hasn't been able to identify the location of the leak(s).
Information about the leak, from Jiji Tsushin (8/20/2013), TEPCO's press conference on 8/20/2013 and TEPCO's handout to the press (8/20/2013):
MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2013
(UPDATED with Diagrams) Real Leak of at Least 300 Tonnes of Really Highly Contaminated Water at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and Leak Continues
As the world's mainstream media and alternative media suddenly rediscover Fukushima I Nuke Plant over the "assumption" by a career bureaucrat at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (whose Agency of Natural Resources and Energy oversees the decommissioning of the plant) that "300 tonnes of highly contaminated [sic] water" may be leaking every day, a real leak of actual waste water with extremely high beta nuclides has been found.
According to TEPCO, who held an ad hoc press conference at noon on August 20, 2013, at least 300 tonnes of waste water after the cesium absorption (by SARRY) and desalination (by Reverse Osmosis Apparatus) has leaked from a huge 1,000-tonne steel tank (or two, they don't know yet), and it is likely that the waste water is STILL LEAKING as TEPCO hasn't been able to identify the location of the leak(s).
Information about the leak, from Jiji Tsushin (8/20/2013), TEPCO's press conference on 8/20/2013 and TEPCO's handout to the press (8/20/2013):
Leak from a group of 1,000-tonne steel tanks (tank is 12 meters in diameter, 11-meter high) in the area H4 which has total 26 tanks. The location is about 500 meters from the embankment.
One of the tanks in this particular group (No.5 in the group I in H4 area, or H4-I-5) was found with the water level that was 3.4-meter lower than before.
Nature of contaminated water: waste water after cesium absorption and desalination (called by TEPCO RO water)
Estimated amount of contaminated water: 300 tonnes (300,000 liters)
Density of radioactive materials (TEPCO's announcement is in Bq/cm3, as it is highly contaminated water; Jiji Tsushin reports the number in Bq/liter):
Estimated amount of contaminated water: 300 tonnes (300,000 liters)
Density of radioactive materials (TEPCO's announcement is in Bq/cm3, as it is highly contaminated water; Jiji Tsushin reports the number in Bq/liter):
- All-beta including strontium: 80 million Bq/L (80,000 Bq/cm3)
- Radioactive cesium: 146,000 Bq/L (146 Bq/cm3)
Most of the leaked waste water went outside the low enclosure built around the tanks. The valve is installed to drain rainwater from the enclosure, and this valve was found "open", as it shouldn't have been.
The water leaked inside the enclosure has been collected (about 4 tonnes as of 12AM on August 20, 2013). The area is being inspected every three hours, butthe leak CONTINUES (or TEPCO cannot confirm that the leak has stopped, though the company seems to think it has stopped).
TEPCO hopes to empty the tank No.5 and move the RO waste water into the tanks in the nearby group B, as the tanks in group B is only about 60% full. The rest of the tank in this H4 areas are 97.8% full.
The scale of the leak is one of the largest since the start of the accident (excluding the April 2011 leak of highly contaminated water from the Reactor 2 turbine building basement).
The manufacturer's warranty of the tank is 5 years.
There is a drain nearby that goes to the ocean, but hardly any radioactive materials have been detected from the water (most likely rainwater) in the drain.
The water leaked inside the enclosure has been collected (about 4 tonnes as of 12AM on August 20, 2013). The area is being inspected every three hours, butthe leak CONTINUES (or TEPCO cannot confirm that the leak has stopped, though the company seems to think it has stopped).
TEPCO hopes to empty the tank No.5 and move the RO waste water into the tanks in the nearby group B, as the tanks in group B is only about 60% full. The rest of the tank in this H4 areas are 97.8% full.
The scale of the leak is one of the largest since the start of the accident (excluding the April 2011 leak of highly contaminated water from the Reactor 2 turbine building basement).
The manufacturer's warranty of the tank is 5 years.
There is a drain nearby that goes to the ocean, but hardly any radioactive materials have been detected from the water (most likely rainwater) in the drain.
Here's how one of the tanks looks like, from the leak in June 2013 from a tank in a different area:
From TEPCO's handout for the press, 8/20/2013 (English labels are by me):
Wow those are some crazy numbers, I'm beginning to think the suggestion that we drop a nuke on Fukushima is a good one. I think Merkel was making a threat, I could see her on "Hogan's Heroes" as col. Klink's evil aunt.
ReplyDeleteEvening Kev - things are getting out of hand fast . First , the water problem was 300 tons of ground water ( or perhaps 600 tons depending on what you believe ) flowing into the reactor building and then flowing into the Sea. Now we have a 300 ton leak ( undetected for thirty days - what are they doing ) of highly contaminated water from one of 350 storage tanks , which we will likely find this isn't the only leaking tank . Thus we have a two - fold " water world " problem !
DeleteMerkel running scared ( added a piece from Mish who has reader comment saying things are much closer than they appear !