New power line may ease Japan nuclear crisis

[onehandle]

Source: AP

TOKYO – The operator of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant says it has almost completed a new power line that could restore electricity to the complex and solve the crisis that has threatened a meltdown.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said early Thursday the power line to Fukushima Dai-ichi is almost complete. Officials plan to try it "as soon as possible" but he could not say when.

The new line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool.

The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's earthquake and tsunami that pulverized Japan's northeastern coastline.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. They brought in an extension cord?

eom

[LiberalEsto]

8. A very long extension cord nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. One reel of power cable can be over a mile in length

I'm pretty sure that's how they would be getting power if there are no diesel generators and no working power outlets nearby. It was tongue in cheek, but more like a "duh" moment, perhaps because that's what they have surely done.

[PA Democrat]

2. BBC is reporting this:

The AP news agency is quoting Tepco as saying a new power line is almost ready which could end the crisis. The disruption of power to the pumps which send coolant through the reactors is what led to their overheating.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[Wilms]

3. And when they plug it in they'll find the cooling system too damaged to operate.

Hate to say it, but I know next to nothing about this technology and managed to predict a number of the events already.

[daleo]

4. It sounds like progress

But it also sounds simplistic. It may not be all that easy to put the genie back in the bottle (though now there may be a bottle).

[MineralMan]

5. Apparently, they've been working all along to bring power back

to the plant. There hasn't been any reporting on this, but it's not really surprising. All of these efforts take time to complete. I hope it's not too late.

For most of us, understanding the magnitude of the actual situation is difficult. It's easy to think that things should be done at once that actually take several days to accomplish, even in the best of conditions. We're very impatient from our distant viewpoint. From getting supplies to shelters to getting electricity restored to the plant, every project takes time and has new obstacles in its way due to earthquake damage, tsunami damage, fuel shortages, and other factors.

It's common to be impatient, and uncommon to know everything that is causing delays. We're a long way from Japan.

[backscatter712]

6. This is very good news.

If they can bring the main reactor cooling pumps online, they might be able to get control of this. They could refill the cooling pools, they could recool the reactors, maybe finally bring this emergency to an end.

The main pumps are huge, IIRC, pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons per minute. And IIRC, they themselves weren't damaged, it was the emergency generators that got wiped out by the tsunami. The problem was powering them. Truck generators couldn't generate enough power, and probably couldn't make it to the reactor through the rubble. They had auxiliary pumps, but that's like trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose.

Cross your fingers - they might be able to finally quench those reactors and get the spent fuel rods back underwater.

[Throckmorton]

12. Shutdown cooling, not Main Reactor Coolant pumps

I shudder to think of the condition of the Nuclear Service Cooling Water system at these units after all this.

[think]

7. It is always good to hope

[Bragi]

9. Yes!! This is the first good news from Japan in days

If they get the reactors under control, all they have to deal with is massive loss of life and a trillion dollars worth of damage.

Please let it be so!

[kiranon]

11. Turning the power on during a fire doesn't sound like a good idea.

[Change Happens]

13. Please God, let it be true!!!