Published: April 23rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm ET
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Title: The Highest Risk: Problems of Radiation at Reaction Unit 4, Fukushima Daiichi
Source: The Asia- Pacific Journal, Vol 10, Issue 17, No. 4
Author: Shaun Burnie
Date: Apr. 23, 2012
[...] Securing the structure of the pool at Unit 4 was identified early on in the crisis, with support columns installed. But the survivability of these columns, if struck by a manor [sic] seismic event, must be doubted. A decision to build a new structure around the plant with heavy lift cranes is only the start of a long process that risks failure at numerous corners. All through this period and before the spent fuel is unloaded and put in secure casks the possibility will persist of loss of cooling water leading to an exothermic reaction that would lead to the release of a vast inventory of radioactive cesium and other radionuclides. The 50 mile evacuation zone recommended for U.S. citizens in the months after the Fukushima accident began would not be sufficient to protect Japan, including Metropolitan Tokyo, from potential devastation as a society. That was the information conveyed to Prime Minister Kan more than one year ago – and it remains the nightmare today. [...]
Read the report here
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Earlier today, Tepco released photos of the support structure under SFP No. 4:
Published: April 23rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm ET
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Looks like they reinforced it with some thin pieces of 1/2 inch tubing in an X pattern and a couple of pieces of sheet metal.
We have some baling wire, if you run out.. Just let us know, OK?
Should be good to go that way, eh?
Anyone know what they are doing, besides ignoring the problem or talking about it. Talk is cheap.
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The entire global community should be working on this minute but other nations have offered to help and I don't know if it is the Japanese culture, hubris or what but they just will not let anyone help. So what do other countries do in this dire situation? I guess all we can do as individuals is prepare for the worse and hope for the best? Of course the current situation is pretty damn dire from what I know and this mess will not be rectified in my lifetime. NO NUKES and please use money to dry cask the spent fuel pools in the US. Please?
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Rather if you won't shut them all down at least dry cask the enormous amounts of spent fuel. We could start selling raffle tickets if it's the money or maybe get rid of Newt's security team at 40 thousand a day and I"m sure we can find a lot more money being wasted that can be used to protect our nation.
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I have worked with people born and raised in Japanese culture.
My boss on my first job out of college was a WWII Kamikaze pilot.
Too long of a story for here.
The very concept of outside help is not within their conscious makeup. It is out of the question.
A study of the term Gaijin will offer a better understanding of the cultural/psychological problem we are dealing with.
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Agreed!
Add to that, they have a Gang control "problem" that keeps anyone from doing what is best without first getting the OK from all the higher ups many of which don't have a clue as to what really needs to be done!
Well connected GANGS are making a killing off these radioactive waste projects and they stand to make the most money from the Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster at Fukushima; this will enable them to "RUN" Japan as never before!
No wonder the Japanese people are powerless to stop these GANGS from doing whatever they want…
How many Politicians will benefit from this Nuclear dirty money?
**Supporting Nuclear just enables their Gang controlled Utilities**…
A great example:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fkibo-promesse.org%2F2012%2F04%2Fyakuza-et-nucleaire-au-japon%2F%3Futm_medium%3Dtwitter%26utm_source%3Dtwitterfeed
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Pic #2 the metal above the guy on the right and the crossbars look like standard scaffolding. certainly does not look like it could support tons of concrete, water, and spent fuel assemblies.
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Hi Sharp2197. That was my first impression also, so I zoomed in on the image and (sort of) convinced myself that they were pointing to a very large steel beam. The guy holding the worklight seems to touch the top of it with his right hand, and they both seem to be gazing at it.
Everything else that they might be looking at seems look like, gulp, wood, but surely that is not the case.
Anyway, if it is a big steel beam that would be great, although I don't see how they could have installed it. If it's not a steel beam, then I don't know what it might be.
The vertical barber-pole striped thing above the worker on the right looks really strange when you zoom the image. I think it is some kind of support pole or piping, possibly for the scaffolding, but the color plays tricks where it meets the guy's helmet, and makes the perspective look odd as though it is simultaneously in front of and behind him.
The scaffolding/staging looks pretty lightweight, for sure.
What do you make of it all after a close-zoom look?
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It's too late to agree with me. I've changed my mind.
That can't be a steel beam – must have been wishful thinking on my part.
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I don't think they are under the pool, I think they have glued plywood to the side of the pool. The scaffolding is there to facillitate the gluing. (Hope they weren't getting the glue from Mitsui) It look like they are consulting a dry erase board of instructions.
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Your basic beam-and-jack quick shore-up job. It won't handle a decent earthquake if the ground moves just so…
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I know you were making a joke, but what they are doing doesn't look much better than baling wire. They need some duct tape and some Leak Stopper.
Those are some of the most frightening pictures yet – open air fuel pool. Scary , scary stuff.
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JB WELD!
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ShoeGoo covered with some Gorilla Glue.
Problem solved.
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GRB dude, I got some video on my site, long slender reinforcing.
No sense of being strong enough
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/04/troll-type-silliness-saying-fuel-pool-4.html
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AGR, that's scaffolding and not the support structure. The description under the picture is misleading.
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That's not alot of confirmation. I see some wood looking walls and scaffolding.
More evidence would be NEEDED since they have lied to everyone over and over and mostly neglected THEIR PEOPLE who are suffering daily and lost or loosing their livelyhood!
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So 3300 fuel rods in SFP 4..if they had started immediately after 3/11..to remove..(assuming its as "safe" with radiation as they say) –we would not be having this discussion. As far as anyone knows, they have been doing a lot of talking..and chopping..but its removal to a safe location…
NOW if TEPCO has not been telling the truth (sarcasm) then of course it might not be possible to MOVE the fuel rods out..So your guess as good as mine in all this..but its not time to sit on your hands and twiddle. Actions will make a different..not press releases.
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I did my own analysis on unit 4 based on limited information, BUT nothing presented by TEPCO creates any warm fuzzy feeling.
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/04/troll-type-silliness-saying-fuel-pool-4.html
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I wonder how long they can remain in that crumbled building, even in those suits. (hours, minutes?)
I wonder what ailments and suffering those liquidators will have over the next several years? I am sure we will never be told it was from exposures from Fukushima.
I am sure they are told, "your risk is minimal, it's of no concern".
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Repost:
CaptD
April 23, 2012 at 5:42 pm · Reply
I also read a link that Dick Cheney was a Board Member of the Texas Company that got a "sole source" contract for their Maintenance…
They were all suddenly "down for maintenance"…The Nuclear Fix is IN… Anyone have a link?
Tweeted and posted too!
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The added support beams under SPF are strong enough to hold up the pool under stable conditions. However, the elements are separate props, and with a lateral shift from a quake, it would be like dropping dominoes under a box, all falling in the same direction. It is the lack of lateral support that makes them dangerous in a major quake.
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We use airbags here to upright simi trucks/trailers that have turned over, wonder it these could help or have some made for the job supporting from the bottom and they could hold shocks during quakes ?
I still don't understand why they are mot just building a huge pool around It bigger and taller then the unit 4 fuel pool filling the bottom with cement and filling with water, building cranes on rails atop it !
If it last for 6 to eight years the rods would have cooled down and work could be able to do to somewhat !
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I got some JB Weld too !
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sticky tape and rubber band will do the job.
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See pictures of the actual supporting steel pillars here:
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/library/110620_2/handouts_110620_04-e.pdf
Lat summer a statical engineer worried not so much about the stability of those steel pillars, but about the additional weight of the concrete they poured in.
The structure of the building had not been dimensioned for that, he said.
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Japan is allowing TEPCO to put Life on Earth at RISK…
If the SFP (Spent Fuel Pool) in #4 collapses or fails to be kept cool FOR ANY REASON, in a very short time, all the fuel rods in it will destroy themselves by becoming a huge molten mass. This new radioactive mass will make the ENTIRE Fukushima complex (including reactors #5 and #6 (and their SFP's) into not only the Worlds biggest nuclear disaster but it will be so radioactive that the entire complex will be off limits to humans! This new uncontrollable molten mass will spew so much radioactivity (and keep doing so for the rest of our lives) that it will change life as we know it, because it will be spread Globally by the jet stream and or Ocean currents.
BTW: If you have not seen the 1959 movie "On the Beach" you should, it describes a very similar situation…
Please demand some answers from your State and National Leaders as to why our President and Government's Leaders are not also demanding that this Potential "LIFE AS WE KNOW IT" event is not even being discussed by our MSM!
and
TEPCO MUST DO 3 THINGS ASAP TO PREVENT This:
1. TEPCO should be filling the entire #4 building with concrete ASAP in order to create a "Seismic Vessel" to completely encapsulate the SFP making it impossible for it to collapse, because the new "Seismic Vessel" would be one gigantic unit…
2. TEPCO should have no less than 4 backup generators and 4 pumps that EACH could provide ENOUGH emergency power and…
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Sorry, I did not notice the word limit…
Cont
2. TEPCO should have no less than 4 backup generators and 4 pumps that EACH could provide ENOUGH emergency power and water should ANYTHING happen to prevent the normal pumps from functioning. Note this includes protecting all the fuel, storage tanks, piping and controls so that it would make these pumps and their generators completely BOMB PROOF so nothing could prevent them from functioning 24/7/365 and then TEST ONE UNIT EVERY DAY UNDER ACTUAL LOAD, so that the on site workers become expert at shifting pumps!
3. TEPCO should build and then fill enough tanks to provide standby cooling freshwater for at least one week, so that no matter what happens, the #4 SFP will be kept cool without using seawater, (which could serve as another backup source of water) if the freshwater proved to not be enough for some unknown reason!
====
We cannot allow Japan to fiddle while (Fukushima's) SFP # 4 BURNS…
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I think the design of the new steel addition to SFP #4 will act like a can opener if there is a BIG Quake and actually make things MUCH worse!
I challenge TEPCOP’s structural Engineers to produce a software simulation for a 9.0 quake striking the Fukushima Complex…
Then do the same thing after modeling filling the SFP complex with concrete making the SFP a huge “block” as I mentioned before…
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This undoubtedly a stupid question, but … in light of the fact that SFP3 went up in a spectacular way, what is it about #4 that will result in chain reactions of more problems with reactors? Granted, the last thing the world needs is more fuel just lying on the ground. Obviously there would be a huge and unimaginable increase in radiation spewing out of the place that will have nightmarish consequences. I'm just not following how it would lead to additional failures down the line. Help!
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3Cats I think the problem is that the entire building may fall over. The common spent fuel pool for fuel from all the reactors is about 50 meters away. Reactor 4 building is about that tall. So if it falls to the west there is a very good chance that debris will shatter the common pool also. If this happens then we have 10,000 fuel assemblies laying on the ground, covered by a pile of rubble.
Hope this helps.
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OK, so basically at that point the area becomes so intensely radioactive that humans cannot be on the grounds … and because no one will be able to continue "remediation" (what a joke!) or keep other cooling systems running, the place is left to simmer, stew, steam and whatever else it will do. That would explain how other reactors at Daiichi would be compromised. But I thought that (somewhere along the line) I saw speculation that it would trigger a domino effect that would involve other plants as well. Did I simply misread? If not, how would this domino effect happen?
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Assuming this really is sfp4 and not a film set with extras, why don't they not want us to see the water surface?
When the obvious question arising out of the publication of the picture is "What are the grotty white polythene bags for on the water surface?" then would you not expect the answer to be stated in the press release?
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