Japanese officials are giving up; Fukushima to be abandoned and entombed

[Thunderstruck]

...cut...

Japan finally conceded defeat in the battle to contain radiation at four of Fukushima's crippled reactors. They will now be shut down. Details of how this will be done are yet to be revealed, but officials said it would mean switching off all power and abandoning attempts to keep the nuclear fuel rods cool.

The final move would involve pouring tonnes of concrete on the reactors to seal them in tombs and ensure radiation does not leak out. The country's nuclear safety agency revealed levels of radiation in the ocean near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant had surged to 4,385 times the regulatory limit.

The dramatic announcement that the four reactors are out of control and will have to be decommissioned was made yesterday by the chairman of the electric company operating the Fukushima plant."

...cut...

With a deep bow and a grimace, Mr Tsunehisa Katsumata finally offered a humble apology for the failure to stop the leakage of radiation.

His face pale as he spoke in Tokyo, Mr Katsumata said he felt particularly sorry for people who have had to flee from their homes or even refrain from stepping outside while they have been trying to cope with the impact of the March 11 earthquake and aftershocks.

In admitting that four of the troubled reactors would have to be shut down for good, he left no doubt in the minds of observers that he knew the battle to keep their fuel rods cool could not be won.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371793/Japan-nuclear-crisis-Fukushima-plant-entombed-concrete-radiation-leak.html#ixzz1IDRCX1GA

[Tx4obama]

1. There is NO way to completely entomb them. It will leak into the ground then into the ocean. n/t

[drm604]

2. I don't even understand what this is saying.

Is there a translation problem here? They can't be "shut down" any more than they already are. The fuel is out of control, you can't shut that down.

If they can't control the heating is concrete really going to help? Won't that just contain the pressure and end up with some kind of explosion?

[Godhumor]

4. Language aside, it meas they're going to Chernobyl the reactors

Shut down everything, pour in some sort of radioactive absorbing sand-like material then bury it under neat a massive block on concrete.

Essentially, instead of saving it,they're admitting that the immediate area will never be usable again.

[girl gone mad]

3. I guess it confirms what I suspected from very early on.

They were never able to regain control because their early attempts to cool the reactors resulted in chain reactions, significant radiation and more damage to the fuel rods. Those fire hoses were not going to cut it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Oh dear.

Now what's going to happen? What a nightmare the Japanese people are living. Good G-d.

[jannyk]

6. Is there another source? The Daily Mail is on par w/National Enquirer. nt

[Thunderstruck]

11. From UPI:

"We have no choice but to scrap" the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 units at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Katsumata told a news conference.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/30/UPI-NewsTrack-TopNews/UPI-13621301536800/#ixzz1IDdfmmY0

[scarletwoman]

12. Thank you. DUers need to understand that the Daily Mail is a tabloid. (nt)

[Thunderstruck]

13. I actually was not aware of that. But UPI backs it up here:

"We have no choice but to scrap" the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 units at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Katsumata told a news conference.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/03/30/UPI-NewsTrack-TopNews/UPI-13621301536800/#ixzz1IDdfmmY0

[Thunderstruck]

14. From San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/31/MN261IMONA.DTL

Four out of six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were damaged beyond repair in Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the chairman of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday.

Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said he is taking over daily operations at Tokyo Electric, which owns the crippled plant, because company President Masataka Shimizu has been hospitalized for an illness brought on by stress.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/30/MN261IMONA.DTL#ixzz1IDf2jwEM

[Downtown Hound]

29. MSNBC has confirmed the shipping of large cement pumps to the damaged plant

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42359020/ns/world_news-asiapacific

[AndyTiedye]

7. They Can't Seal Them, They're Still Too Hot and May Still be Fissioning at Times

If it's sealed, the heat and pressure have nowhere to go.

Heat + pressure + fission = :nuke:

[SurfingScientist]

8. Here you go: MSNBC - they are bringing more pumps!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42359020/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

They are flying in more of the huge concrete pumps from elsewhere, alone 4 from Germany where they are made.

Wow, back when I worked summer jobs in construction back in Germany, we used the "Putzmeister" pumps in much smaller editions to get plaster on buildings. Now they use them to contain nuclear disasters - apparently they have already used them to entomb Chernobyl. Go Putzmeister!!! :applause:

Yes, that's the (preliminary) end of it I guess - there is nothing left to do but pour concrete on top, hope that it limits the release of radioactive material, and then figure out how large the forbidden zone around the reactors will have to be. :( Not that different from Chernobyl really, however Chernobyl's huge fire spread the material a lot further in the atmosphere and across a continent. Some experts say the final extent of Fukushima remains to be seen, with isotopes getting into the ground water and into the ocean's food chain that are both essential for Japan.

[PCIntern]

22. "Putzmeister" is what my Mom of blessed memory used to call

my uncle-by-marriage...

[ReggieVeggie]

9. didn't someone say entombment won't work?

runaway nuclear reaction doesn't stop for concrete

[quinnox]

10. Should have been done a long time ago

Hopefully the japanese incompetence and delay won't result in too many deaths from radiation and harm to the environment in the future.

[Mojeoux]

15. I agree, why did they try to fix this mess at all?

The entombed reactor in Chernobyl probably leaks too. If you could scoop up the whole mess with a giant spatula and flip it out to Mercury, that would be the very best.
All they can do now in entomb.ASAP

[Mojeoux]

16. I agree, why did they try to fix this mess at all?

The entombed reactor in Chernobyl probably leaks too. If you could scoop up the whole mess with a giant spatula and flip it out to Mercury, that would be the very best.
All they can do now in entomb.ASAP

[quinnox]

17. Yea, it just kept getting worse

at least they are finally trying to get this disaster under permanent containment.

[northoftheborder]

18. I've heard contradictory opinions about entombing the reactors.

Some say it's impossible, they would just sink into the earth and further contaminate the soil and water. Yet they are sending those huge concrete machines. Wish someone would sum up what the situation is in easy to understand format. Likely they are dealing with contrasting advice and opinions from different scientists and experts.

[girl gone mad]

23. I'm not an engineer..

my academic background is relativity and quantum, but they (the engineers) will have to weigh their options.

If they keep trying to cool the reactors while they are leaking, this process will create a lot of radioactive water that will boil off into the air, seep into the ground, and contaminate the ocean. They will not be able to store all of the radioactive water created during the time needed to cool the core enough to take the assembly apart and dry cask the fuel. There is not much sense in trying to plug or repair the leaks if they had chain reactions and displaced fuel after loss of cooling, because my guess is the steel has become brittle and that's a battle they can't win.

If they think they have a plan that can minimize the spread of radiation and withstand the buildup of pressure for a significant amount of time, they will take it, even if it means constant monitoring and re-entombment every few decades, imo.

I would also be interested in hearing the opinions of experienced engineers. I am trained to think about what is happening at the subatomic scale in large systems and don't have any working knowledge of these materials (by that I mean all of the metals and the concrete, etc.) under these conditions.

[Biker13]

27. Thank You For Your Post!

I'm a Theoretical Mathematician myself, and know NOTHING about this stuff. I come to DU for some answers and clarification.

I'm rarely disappointed.

Biker's Old Lady

[Generic Other]

19. What happens to Fukushima?

Is it too contaminated to inhabit now?

[hatrack]

20. This story is shit - "abandoning attempts to keep the nuclear fuel rods cool"?

Come ON.

[RC]

21. The Daily Mail story is just feeding in the FUD of the Anti-Nukers hysteria.

The worse it sounds, the better they like it.
The Daily Mail is not a reliable source for anything. A check-out line tabloid.

[Modern_Matthew]

24. World's largest concrete pump is headed to Fukushima. Different article.

The world’s largest concrete pump, deployed at the construction site of the U.S. government’s $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel plant at Savannah River Site, is being moved to Japan in a series of emergency measures to help stabilize the Fukushima reactors.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2011-03-31/srs-concrete-pump-heading-japan-nuclear-site

[joeunderdog]

25. Thank God that no other nuclear power plants are at risk from natural disasters.

Otherwise, people might have to rethink the risk/benefit analysis of not considering safer alternatives.

[Urban Prairie]

26. Yeah....F3 or higher tornadoes prefer to hit populated trailer parks and such

they probably try to avoid nuke reactors like the plague, Mother Nature wouldn't want a large F4 or F5 twister carrying hundreds of spent fuel rods, sucked out of the pools of a now roofless reactor building, dancing and hopping around the countryside, now would she??

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/mar/26/tva-expands-emergency-scenarios/

:shrug:

[crickets]

28. Well, there's an unforgettable mental image.

Ouch. Has anybody really sat down and assessed how lucky we are that only one major nuclear accident has been brought about by natural disaster?

So far.