Japan's Abe orders surviving Fukushima reactors scrapped, pledges safe Olympics

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the scrapping of two Fukushima nuclear reactors that survived the 2011 tsunami, a write-off that threatens to complicate a turnaround plan the operator has presented to creditors.

<snip>

Abe, speaking to reporters after a tour of the plant on Thursday, said he told Tokyo Electric Power Co to set a time frame for dealing with leaking contaminated water.

"In order for them to concentrate on this, I have directed them to decommission the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors that are now halted," Abe said.

<snip>

Four reactors were destroyed by meltdowns and hydrogen explosions. The No. 5 and No. 6 reactors escaped serious damage and Tokyo Electric has been allowed to carry the facilities as an asset on its balance sheet.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/19/us-japan-fukushima-abe-idUSBRE98I08320130919

[madokie]

1. Sounds like a good idea to me

I'm sure the usual suspect will be along here shortly telling me how misguided I am in saying that.
The thing is nuclear energy is dead, it just hasn't been buried yet.

Its just a matter of time until we here in the USA has a catastrophe with one of our 100 plus operating nuclear power plants. It makes me wonder are we ready to write off a large section of very desirable real estate and the possibility of the lives lost in the short term as well as in the long term, I'm not. Many of our nuclear power plants are sited near large metropolitan areas.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. The US had a near-catastrophe at Three Mile Island

If I remember correctly, they were talking about evacuating a 50-mile radius around the site, if the unthinkable happened.

[madokie]

14. Nothing says we won't yet have one

I remember three mile Island well too. It for the most part was what helped to put a stake through the heart of the expansion of nuclear power plants here in the states.
If it wasn't for the fact that once something goes wrong, for whatever reason, it can and sometimes goes wrong in a big way. Chernobyl and Fukushima Japan are pretty good examples of that. Once it does go wrong then the nuclear power industry doesn't really know what to do to fix it. The odds are too great for catastrophe for me to warm up to the use of nuclear energy.
We stopped the building of PSO's proposed Black Fox nuclear power plant near here back in the '70s

[Art_from_Ark]

15. I remember Black Fox

I actually took part in a letter writing campaign to stop it In those days, I was subscribing to the Tulsa World which often carried articles about the proposed plant. The owners of the site got it all cleared and basically were saying, "Hey, we've got the site ready, just let us go ahead and build the damn thing".

Around the same time, I was also involved in the campaign against the proposed Callaway nuclear facility in central Missouri. That was put up to a vote by the people of Missouri in 1980, who voted overwhelmingly for it, even in the immediate aftermath of Three Mile Island.

[madokie]

16. Thank you for helping

We have Carrie Dickerson to thank for putting an end to this power plant. http://www.carriedickersonfoundation.org/lifelegacy.html

[Art_from_Ark]

17. I'm wondering if a coal-burning plant was built on the Black Fox site

Correct me if I'm wrong, my Oklahoma geography is a little fuzzy right now, but I'm thinking that that big power plant that was (is) visible from the old Oklahoma Highway 33 just east of Tulsa is on the old Black Fox site?

[madokie]

19. I think what you're referring to is GRDA's two coal fire power plants sited on Grand River

that are just east of Chouteau OK., about 15 miles east of Inola. GRDA is in the process of closing one of the coal power plants and replacing it with a gas powered co gen plant. Places in my yard I can see the two GRDA stacks as they are about 2 miles straight east of me. The one they're phasing out was built before they had to have any scrubbers on the stacks and it is really dirty, the other one not as much. Hopefully they'll be phasing out the other one in a few years. I'm not sure NG is any better considering fracking and all but it is cleaner burning by quiet a bit.

I don't remember PSO doing anything with the black fox site.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. Yes, the GRDA complex is what I was thinking about

I had thought it was between Chouteau and Tulsa, but apparently it's on the other side of Chouteau. It's been so long since I was out that way...

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Thanks for the information about Carrie Dickerson

I hadn't been aware of her role in stopping Black Fox. I was under the impression that a lot of opposition to Black Fox was due to the Kerr-McGee/Karen Silkwood incident a few years earlier. But it seems that Ms. Dickinson's efforts preceded that.

[DeSwiss]

2. Of course they're scrapped!

- No one can get near them. Sheesh. What a dickhead.....

K&R

[center][/center]

[AtheistCrusader]

5. No, 5 and 6 aren't busted.

They could probably be started up, from a reactor standpoint, but the cooling inlets and who knows what else in the switchyard are all scrap.

This is meaningless press release anyway, TEPCO stated they were going to decom those two reactors not long after the initial disaster.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. I would imagine that the waterlogging and long exposure to seawater,

not to mention damage that they likely sustained during the big earthquake, would have rendered the other two units permanently inoperable as well.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. I don't think they had to resort to seawater for 5,6.

But everything related to them outside the reactor buildings was certainly swamped.

I can't find an article that says they announced the demise of those two in 2011, but I swear I saw it, because I remember people here in shock at the mere proposition that maybe they might have thought about restarting those two...

I'm sure of it.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. OK, I checked some Japanese articles about 5 and 6

１～４号機に比べ、約１３メートル高い地点にあったことも津波被害が抑えられた一因となった。
&quot Units 5 and 6) were on ground that was about 13 meters higher than that of units 1 through 4, so that was one factor in minimizing the damage (to those two units) from the tsunami".

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/news/130919/dst13091921010013-n1.htm

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. OMG....that image is is really......

uhhhhh.....

I am committing the sincerest form of flattery...
stealing...........

[PearliePoo2]

3. The criminals at TEPCO just released info on a "new" little problem.

There are cracks in the support beams that hold up a 400' vent tower.

http://enenews.com/tv-officials-concerned-400-ft-tall-pipe-next-to-fukushima-reactors-will-collapse-during-quake-8-cracks-found-in-support-brace-govt-orders-immediate-investigation-tepco-unsure-how-to-acces

Workers on Wednesday discovered the cracks and cuts at 8 places in the buttress about 66 meters above the ground. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has ordered the company to assess the capacity of the pipe to withstand an earthquake as quickly as possible. The 120-meter vertical pipe stands between the number-1 and number-2 reactor buildings. They believe the 2011 earthquake damaged the steel framework. They say they have not observed any obvious damage in the pipe itself. The officials say they are considering how to access the pipe to assess its strength. The area around the pipe is contaminated with high levels of radiation measuring 10 sieverts per hour.

Btw..10Sv is certain death. It may actually be much higher than that because that's as high as their instruments can measure.
No one can access it safely. If the tower collapses, it could easily fall onto the #1 or#2 already damaged plants.
How you going to fix this FUBAR TEPCO? Huh? Huh?

[Overseas]

7. k&R.

[PearliePoo2]

4. Earthquakes In Japan? We GOT your earthquakes in Japan right here...

http://www.japanquakemap.com/week

There have been 11 earthquakes in Japan in the last 7 days. All of them close to or above a 5M, including the most recent near Fukushima today at a 5.3.

Earthquakes shaking an already liquefied foundation that these wrecked plants are sitting on, plus a cracked, damaged 400' vent tower, is nothing but some scary shit.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Actually there have been at least 30 earthquakes here in Japan in the last 7 days

but only one other-- the 4.8 earthquake off the coast of Miyagi-- has even approached the magnitude 5 level.

http://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/earthquake/list/

[Overseas]

6. I should hope so! K&R.

[The Stranger]

12. Well I'm glad that two years later they're going to "set a time frame" to stop the leaking.

Way ahead of this thing, they are.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. What are the mechanics of decommissioning a nuke plant?

Is it something Tepco can even do safely?