Reuters: Japan lays power cable in race to stop radiation

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110318

Japan lays power cable in race to stop radiation

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO | Fri Mar 18, 2011 4:57pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - …

Further cabling inside was underway before an attempt to restart water pumps needed to cool overheated nuclear fuel rods at the six-reactor Fukushima plant in northeastern Japan, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

…

Working inside a 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone at Fukushima, nearly 300 engineers were focused on trying to restore power at pumps in four of the reactors.

"TEPCO has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said in a statement.

Another 1,480 meters (5,000 feet) of cable are being laid inside the complex before engineers try to crank up the coolers at reactor No. 2, followed by 1, 3 and 4 this weekend, company officials added.

…

See also: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=280571&mesg_id=280571

[leveymg]

1. Don't get your hopes up. The fickin' pipes and (perhaps) pumps are destroyed.

The coolant systems probably are so badly damaged they won't work in reactors 2,3 and 4 when they get the power reconnected.

[RC]

3. Noth'n ain't ever gonna work there again, right?

Radiation is scary stuff, able to stop everthing from working. Might as well evacuate that part of the world and go home.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. It's quite possible those pumps are trash!

I wonder if anyone else has pumps?

http://www.c7f.navy.mil/news/2011/03-march/040.htm

US Navy Provides Pumps to Assist in Reactor Cooling Effort

By Commander, Naval

YOKOSUKA, Japan - The U.S. Navy has provided five high-capacity pumping systems to Japan's Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Group Nuclear Asset Management Department to assist in the effort to cool the core of the damaged No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

The five pumps came from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Emergency Ship Salvage Material (ESSM) locker located in Sasebo, Japan.

The pumps were picked up from the Air Mobility Command (AMC) terminal at Fukuoka International Airport on Wednesday evening and flown via U.S. Air Force C-17 to Yokota Air Base. One U.S. Salvage Engineer and one Navy Master Diver from the CTF-73 staff in Singapore accompanied the pumps to Yokota where they met up with Japanese Civil Defense personnel to provide training on the equipment. The pumps will then be transported by the Japanese to the reactor site sometime Thursday.

The two U.S. salvage experts from Singapore will not travel to Fukushima to assist in the effort.

According to the ESSM website, www.supsal.org, the ESSM system is a series of facilities located within the continental United States and at other sites around the world "that provide ship salvage, pollution control, and underwater ship husbandry equipment on an emergency or as required basis."

The U.S. Navy continues missions in support of Operation Tomodachi in response to the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunamis that hit northern Japan March 11.

[WeAreAmerica]

2. How about this to get wter to fuel rods

Just get a U shaped pipe that " L's " at the bottom with a flex pipe . Hook it to a massive pump that could be powered by gasoline and the intake will be ocean water. Use the Helocopter that initially dropped the water to begin with to lower it.