Friday, February 8, 2013

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO DID Drop Debris into Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool


(UPDATE 2/10/2013) See my latest post on this topic. The crane is remote-controlled, but there are human workers right on on the platform who have to be there to observe the work to make sure the work is done properly and safely.

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It's snowing heavily at the plant. The equipment to remove the debris from what used to be the operating floor of Reactor 3 is remote-controlled.

From TEPCO's Photos and Videos page, 2/8/2013:


According to TEPCO, the debris is "assumed to be the fuel handling machine mast", and it is a "possible" drop. Since no one can be there to witness the event firsthand, it is always a possibility, I suppose.

The radiation levels in and around the Reactor 3 building remain very high, although I don't remember any reporting of how high they actually are for a very long time. I think it was in 2011 when the human workers dared enter the reactor building. I remember seeing them making very quick swipes of the floor. I wonder if they did the analysis.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking at the video with digital zoom and step by step or in slow motion, that was a hell of a splash. Some debris fell straight down and a large portion fell over towards the middle then into the pool causing the largest wave.

Snow falling and snow build up on the debris makes it hard to tell what the shapes were that fell in beside the long shot from the camera distance.

Question will be, how much more damage was done or does it even matter now?

Maybe they would be better off to let the pond freeze over and then remove any rubble but of course I am simple minded.

Anonymous said...

So dropping debris in is "possible" but everything else is just "baseless rumor".

Anonymous said...

The idea is to remove whatever is above the SFP so that equipment can be used to fish out the spent fuel rods, so whatever that is covering it needs to come off even of parts of it fall into the pool. They would have to deal with that later. There is no talk about the reactor condition on this unit so these pools need to be cleared first. It will take months if they progress at the planned rate. So ask the question,"Could Russian or Iranians subcontractors do this faster and better ?". Why not give that a shot ?. Seeing Tepco has no experience in this sort of cleanup.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

The "planned rate" is very accelerated, particularly since the new LDP admin came into power. Workers are doing the work like this in a condition they shouldn't be working on - snowy, windy day when almost all other jobs at the plant were called off.

Anonymous said...

The debris removal often resembles that awful claw machine game.
Maybe they should hire this kid...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDqYbZXl_vY&list=PL55CC3173B2F0E4F5

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