ID :
174386
Sun, 04/10/2011 - 19:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/174386
The shortlink copeid
Highly radioactive water in nuke plant set to be moved for storage
TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo -
Workers at the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant prepared Sunday to start removing highly radioactive water in the plant that is hampering restoration efforts in the prolonged nuclear crisis, the government's nuclear agency said.
Toxic water has been found in the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings, as well as in nearby underground trenches connected to them. Transferring the water, totaling some 60,000 tons, to nearby tanks and other storage places is seen as vital to move ahead with the work to restore the key cooling functions for reactors damaged after the March 11 quake and tsunami.
The workers were to start soon with pumping out water filling a trench near the No. 2 reactor to a ''condenser'' inside the reactor's turbine building, as the level of the water is edging up, apparently because of steps taken to block the water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
The condenser, where in normal operations steam created from the reactor is converted into water, has a capacity to store 3,000 tons of liquid and work to empty it finished Saturday.
The water inside the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it is highly contaminated because it is believed to be originating from the No. 2 reactor core, where fuel rods have partially melted.
As preparations proceeded for transferring the water, a male worker in his 30s was taken to a hospital as he complained of feeling sick around 11:10 a.m. after laying a hose pipe from 9:30 a.m., but is conscious and was found to have no radioactive materials on him, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
The nuclear regulator is asking the firm to check issues such as whether the condenser is sound enough to store the liquid and whether the workers' safety would be secured in the mission, agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told an afternoon press conference.
The employee was later diagnosed as having ''overworked,'' according to the utility firm known as TEPCO.
Wearing a full-face mask, outerwear upon protective clothing, rubber gloves and high boots, the worker was exposed in the work to 4.84 millisieverts of radiation, which is below the limit of 5 millisieverts set for Sunday's work.
At the same time, workers also tried to open up a facility for nuclear waste disposal in the plant by continuing to dump relatively less contaminated water found inside the facility into the Pacific Ocean.
TEPCO is expected to soon finish discharging some 9,000 tons of water from the waste disposal facility, a move that has sparked concerns in the domestic fishing industry as well as neighboring countries over how the marine environment could be affected.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters Sunday that the government had lacked considerations for neighboring countries and the local communities over the water-dumping measure, saying more thorough explanations should have been given beforehand.
Recalling the nearly month-long efforts to contain the country's worst nuclear crisis, Nishiyama of the nuclear agency said he was sorry for causing concerns among the public and those who were forced to evacuate from where they lived due to the accident.
''We would like to stabilize this situation as quickly as possible and manage to achieve a condition in which the reactors would be stably cooled,'' he said.
To check the conditions of the buildings of the troubled Nos. 1 to 4 reactors, the utility used a small unmanned helicopter on Sunday.
The company has also started using a system that enables workers to operate heavy machinery by remote control to remove the rubble left in the plant premises by massive tsunami waves and hydrogen explosions after the magnitude 9.0 quake, it said the same day.
High radiation dosage at the level of several hundreds of milisieverts per hour has been observed at an area between the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors and the west side of the No. 3 reactor, suggesting the debris may be emitting radiation, TEPCO said, adding that work efficiency can be secured even in such touchy conditions by using the remote-control system.
Workers at the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant prepared Sunday to start removing highly radioactive water in the plant that is hampering restoration efforts in the prolonged nuclear crisis, the government's nuclear agency said.
Toxic water has been found in the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings, as well as in nearby underground trenches connected to them. Transferring the water, totaling some 60,000 tons, to nearby tanks and other storage places is seen as vital to move ahead with the work to restore the key cooling functions for reactors damaged after the March 11 quake and tsunami.
The workers were to start soon with pumping out water filling a trench near the No. 2 reactor to a ''condenser'' inside the reactor's turbine building, as the level of the water is edging up, apparently because of steps taken to block the water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
The condenser, where in normal operations steam created from the reactor is converted into water, has a capacity to store 3,000 tons of liquid and work to empty it finished Saturday.
The water inside the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it is highly contaminated because it is believed to be originating from the No. 2 reactor core, where fuel rods have partially melted.
As preparations proceeded for transferring the water, a male worker in his 30s was taken to a hospital as he complained of feeling sick around 11:10 a.m. after laying a hose pipe from 9:30 a.m., but is conscious and was found to have no radioactive materials on him, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
The nuclear regulator is asking the firm to check issues such as whether the condenser is sound enough to store the liquid and whether the workers' safety would be secured in the mission, agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told an afternoon press conference.
The employee was later diagnosed as having ''overworked,'' according to the utility firm known as TEPCO.
Wearing a full-face mask, outerwear upon protective clothing, rubber gloves and high boots, the worker was exposed in the work to 4.84 millisieverts of radiation, which is below the limit of 5 millisieverts set for Sunday's work.
At the same time, workers also tried to open up a facility for nuclear waste disposal in the plant by continuing to dump relatively less contaminated water found inside the facility into the Pacific Ocean.
TEPCO is expected to soon finish discharging some 9,000 tons of water from the waste disposal facility, a move that has sparked concerns in the domestic fishing industry as well as neighboring countries over how the marine environment could be affected.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters Sunday that the government had lacked considerations for neighboring countries and the local communities over the water-dumping measure, saying more thorough explanations should have been given beforehand.
Recalling the nearly month-long efforts to contain the country's worst nuclear crisis, Nishiyama of the nuclear agency said he was sorry for causing concerns among the public and those who were forced to evacuate from where they lived due to the accident.
''We would like to stabilize this situation as quickly as possible and manage to achieve a condition in which the reactors would be stably cooled,'' he said.
To check the conditions of the buildings of the troubled Nos. 1 to 4 reactors, the utility used a small unmanned helicopter on Sunday.
The company has also started using a system that enables workers to operate heavy machinery by remote control to remove the rubble left in the plant premises by massive tsunami waves and hydrogen explosions after the magnitude 9.0 quake, it said the same day.
High radiation dosage at the level of several hundreds of milisieverts per hour has been observed at an area between the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors and the west side of the No. 3 reactor, suggesting the debris may be emitting radiation, TEPCO said, adding that work efficiency can be secured even in such touchy conditions by using the remote-control system.
