Published: April 23rd, 2012 at 7:59 pm ET
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Via EXSKF: “It looks like the government’s PR effort to show that the Reactor 4 spent fuel pool and the top floors of the Reactor 4 building are not toppling over. [...] Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool on the 5th floor (I suppose it is buried under the white plastic sheet)”
Via SimplyInfo: “Debris cover over”
Image from Tepco Handout: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_120423_06-e.pdf
SOURCE: Tepco
Published: April 23rd, 2012 at 7:59 pm ET
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sending...
http://youtu.be/Td33YHsh_
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Link not working.
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How much did the photographer lean to make it look almost level ?
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xdrfox, I think the workers would have to cooperate to rig the photo tilt – they appear to be standing normally. You might be able to calculate the floor's angle of tilt by assuming the guy with his back to the camera is vertical. As a rough guess, I'd say it's about a 15 degree slope, but geometry/trig was never my strong suit.
The slope seems to be the same for all structures visible, not just the pool – even the free-standing wall in the far right background.
Some of our engineering pros might be able to come up with exact angles and calculate some loads, maximum water depths and stresses, especially by comparing this photo to old photos of the intact pool.
No water is visible in the "pool". Nothing from all their spraying, nothing from precipitation, nothing peeking through low spots in the "debris cover", which is very chaotic in form – no recognizable shapes beneath it, and lots of rough (sharp?) edges.
The workers' body language suggests no particular fear or urgency.
Strange stuff. Very Tepco.
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aigeezer,
Their satnce says they are open legged to keep balance otherwise the kegs would be together, the 15 degree is what has been news for months so about right !
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xdrfox – could be. The guy at the far end facing the camera has a very open stance, but the guy beside him with his back turned doesn't seem to – he's the one that influenced my viewpoint most.
I figured the guys in the blue shoes are facing into the slope, so wouldn't need to compensate much for it. I thought the blue shoes might be making their feet extra conspicuous also, so I tended to discount their stance.
All minor stuff, I guess, unless it's useful to extract some hard data about the pool itself.
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aigeezer,
But we can not see the possision of his right leg !
Problematic for an acurate take, so the others stance and the one leaning foward on pool rail on his arms !
blue shoes ???
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xdrfox, to see the blue shoes, view the photo as a pdf (your browser may let you click on the image and open the pdf in a new tab). There's a second line of workers visible, and you can zoom the pdf for detail.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_120423_06-e.pdf
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aigeezer,
I think they are paper/cloth pull overs !
Like you get in hospital to get in the same room as a delivery !
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At least they covered the pool with some tarps only took over a year. At this pace this station should be cleaned up in about 1000 years.
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8 months to remove debris from perimeter
8 months to pour new solid platform
2 years to build new building around area.
6 months to remove debris from pool.
1 year to remove spent fuel.
at the very best 5 years.
add government approval and endorsement for each step.
Yes Dr.Strangelove you are very close.
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Spent fuel pool # 4 is not the only concern… just one of many….
Atucha Nuclear Reactor Taken Over By Terrorists; via A Green Road Blog
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/atucha-nuclear-reactor-taken-over-by.html
Fukushima Reactor 4; Global Life Extinction Event If It Collapses; via A Green Road Blog
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/fukushima-reactor-4-life-extinction.html
12 reasons why all nuclear power plants must be shut down; via A Green Road Blog http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/12-reasons-why-all-nuclear-power-plants.html
Super Solar Storm To Hit Earth In 2013 'Carrington Effect'; 400 Nuke Plants Will Melt Down/Explode; via A Green Road Blog
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/super-solar-storm-predicted-to-hit-2013.html
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Notice how they are all standing on the high side of the slanted building. I sure do hope it holds.
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we can b sooo glad this planet's fate is in the hand of professionals. I guess they went to Ace or Home Depot and asked the apprentice for the good-ole radiation proof tarp. Also good is that when the rods tumble through the ceiling underneath in the next days/ weeks/ months/ years to come, it won't be visible to the tour planes flying over. Nothing as good as effective PR ..
And sure this tarp will hold back the blast of 85 Chernobyls, too ..
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video last week:
http://youtu.be/etfMBhpTxp4
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Fear like no other when quakes hit while you are standing on this !
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So where is the fuel handling crane in this image? According to information and images released by TEPCO recently, it is supposed to be in the fuel pool…
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sorry for doubble-posting
here in the ending of the video we can see the white plastics too:
http://youtu.be/2oi5w1ECLVM
0:16-0:30
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Does anyone think it odd that these white sheets are covering up precisely what they are trying to assure us is safe?
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majia,
These sheets may be made from the same material the suits are they wear to counter radioactivity, Something to do with threads of metal in them also I think, wonder if kevlar is used also !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevlar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_suit
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I still think the images of the pool we've been seeing are fraudulent…
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majia, could be any fuel pool ! Even 5 or 6 !
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They've many in various states of relative normal-ness or horrendous peril. TEPCO has apologized publicly for similar accidents at Daiini, and there are 9 other plants "in trouble" since the earthquake/tsunami. I've questioned the validity of SFP photos ostensibly from Daiichi several times over the past year-plus.
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+100. They're just covers so the drones can't see into the pool.
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only for downgrading the radiometers from the reporters.
ergo=sfp4 is allways cooking and steaming onto open air
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Maybe what was under the plastic went to the glue factory.
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TheBigPicture.
They may have been transporting some of it to the glue bake off when something went a miss ! ( recriticle )
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Oh, ouch.
Good one, TBP.
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Here is my 2 cents worth….that whatever the white tarps are covering is NOT SFP4.
Wouldn't be the first time that Homer Simpson was called in to document this mess.
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A good find from F311WDogs
Albert Einstein's
Letters to President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
http://hypertextbook.com/eworld/einstein.shtml
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Great Find, Thanks!
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Given this info: "Tweet from @onodekita translated by Fukushima Diary
A Fukushima citizen living in 30km area published the book about his experience after 311. In his book (P43), he refers to a nuclear worker who watched reactor 4 being destroyed. Though explosion of reactor 4 was not reported, it is significantly destroyed.
'Reactor 4 is the most mysterious case. There was no major blasting sound, but the walls of the reactor building were deformed like morphing of SFX in front of our eyes, the walls of lateral side went totally messed up after all.'"
Now this quote above is about the reactor 4 and not the fuel pool, but here is my question: What are the effects on building materials when exposed to ongoing levels of high radioactivity? What if high radiation leakage from the pools is causing the degradation of the encasement and maybe an earthquake won't even be needed to further evolve the disaster.
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oh see? Everything's fine. I can't see anything wrong.
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The pools are typically 45 feet deep with the spent fuel taking up the bottom 15 feet.
http://chong.zxq.net/misc/events/SpentFuelPool.htm
I am sure there is alot of roof beams and the crane in the pool. But is it entirely full of debris? Why does the tarp look so bumpy. If it was tied at the corners, you would expect it to sag in the center. If they tied ropes across to prop it there would be a regular pattern. It appears to be above the level of their feet.
I sure would like to see a pic from the same angle before the tarp was installed.
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Sharp2197.
Beleive it is gathered and flded roughly many times to help stop beta and alpha rays ! See my post about the material !
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Good points, Sharp2197. Also… in a zoomed view, there appear to be ten workers, plus the photographer, looking relatively relaxed. Most of them are lined up on a ramp or catwalk. It's hard to guess what work they might be doing in that configuration, other than posing for a photo-op, but it seems like an odd place to dawdle.
One of them, possibly another at the far end, seem to be holding cameras up. Other than that, none of them seem to have any tools.
They don't appear to be looking at anything in particular or doing anything in particular.
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It is covered in SHEET…
What a Nuclear Waste!
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lol..like a lumpy swimming pool cover….oh..poorly done ..time to hire another grounds keeper…lol
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Great metaphore these braniac's show the world… Very clinical.
Shouldn't you always throw a white sheet over death?
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damn, missed my i
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typical brainiac mistake. LOL
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LOL brainiac, yes JEBUS is.
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If you compare the two pictures in the PDF, the SFP one and the NRB Unit 4 one, pay attention to the relationship of the Yellow reactor cap, to the sheet covering and the reactor well. Does anyone see the oddity of the distances. Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks to be not enough area for both to fit into??? They kinda look to be one and the same???
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Wow,….deep and dark,…and full of TRUTH!
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When I was 16 I lived in Seattle for a year. At the international expo downtown, the Japanese tourists would take hundreds of pics. They would even hand their camera to complete strangers and ask to take their pic.
Why do we get only one pic of this, I am sure they took a hundred.
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And with the advent of digital cameras, everyone acts in a similar manner and take loads of pictures.
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The fact that they are standing OUTSIDE to fix the INSIDE of the reactor really says it all right there. Why are they outside? Cuz there aren't any walls, ceilings, or many places left to stand inside.
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Vic, yes clear skies have a new meaning, when looked at from their current location.
I am watching an earthquake episode on Science, the Japanese have a long history of earthquakes and tsunami's. They have towns with tsunami gates, they have practice drills, what to do if the tsunami siren goes off. The children leave school and climb a hill, like we used to march out and gather across the street for a fire drill. Or duck under the desk ( if you are old enough) for a nuclear war.
If they are so aware to drill school students, How could they allow this much spent fuel being stored within 100 meters of the ocean?
This screams a total breakdown of government. All over the world governments are bowing to their new masters…Multi-National Corporations.
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What a nice pcture. Why haven't we seen any like this up close without a damn sheet on it?
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EX-SKF has a plan showing the SPF and reactor well (along with some mapped debris in the pool.
its obvious that the photo in the pdf is only showing a small corner of the SPF. the SPF is massive compared to the reactor well, and that is not what you see in the pdf photos.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.ca/2012/04/debris-map-inside-reactor-4-spent-fuel.html
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Thanks for that, gottagetoffthegrid. Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing?
1. The pdf photo makes it seem that we are looking from one side to the other – the full width (length?) of the pool. Are you thinking the photographer may be standing on something like one of the items labeled "metal debris" somewhere in the middle, rather than on the edge – perhaps, for example, the one near the number 14 on the debris map?
2. On the debris map, many of the large items colored as "metal debris" seem very regular in shape and have labels in Japanese that I can't read. Do you know if these are debris or are some kind of access platforms placed above the debris field? Can you (anyone) interpret the Japanese captions, please?
3. There are various items labeled "wooden sheet" on the debris map. I'm guessing these were deliberately placed, perhaps for access. Do you know what they are?
4. I find it really hard to reconcile the pdf white-sheet image with the debris map. Have you figured out how/where/if they match up?
Thanks!
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my guess is the metal debris is parts of the main gantry crane, the wood and concrete are likely from the walls and roof that blew off.
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from what I can see on the pdf photo, it looks like the photog is standing at the top left of the map beside the reactor well looking to the east and the white sheet is covering fuel assembly slots 26, 14 and 01.
I think the big orange cap is on that pedistal-looking thing just north of fuel assembly slot 26.
but when you look at the photo of the reactor well the paralax doesnt add up. its possible that the white sheet is on the ground between the well and fuel slot 26, and the pool is actualy under that green gantry in the background.
one thing for certain, there is (was?) a sh!tload of spent fuel in that pool
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Thanks, gotta. Your interpretation is better than any I've come up with, but…
1. Shouldn't we be seeing the big "metal debris" thing that covers half of 14? Maybe it's under the white fabric, but it should protrude where the workers are standing (I think – see #3 below). I wish I could read those labels.
2. I was thinking the big orange cap was the large round item above 46. I found a photo of it from June 2011, but I'm still not sure what is what. The debris map has a compass N which is great, but I'm confused about direction when looking at the rubble photos. I wish they would caption them "looking North at X from Y", for instance.
http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/16/fukushima-nuke-plant-reactor-4s-slowly-changing-look-photos-from-march-2011-to-march-2012/
3. In the link above, there is a photo from March 2012 that appears to show the same scaffolding/staging from the latest press releases. It also seems to show a crane moving a catwalk into place – perhaps the catwalks the workers are standing on in the current photos. Is that what the large labeled "metal debris" items are? – work platforms, inserted above the rubble by crane? Are these the reinforcement beams, with handrails fitted on top for workers?…
We clamored for better photos for months – now we've got some and the mystery remains. Spent fuel, you say?… I almost forgot.
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based on what I see from air photos here on this website, the sheet is not covering the SPF, but likely the tool storage pond. the SPF is behind the photographer.
http://www.houseoffoust.com/fukushima/fukushima.html
you need to navigate using the left menu on this guy's site to
"NEW R4 Pics and info"
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Thanks, gotta – good link. That makes sense – the caption "White sheets covering surface of Spent Fuel Pool No. 4" just doesn't seem to hold up very well as we try to make sense of the photos.
The "video R4 sfp" from your link also looks completely different from the white sheet version of the sfp.
The Tepco handout caption reads "Confirmation of the spend (sic) fuel pool on the fifth floor of Nuclear Reactor Building Unit 4" but the photo seems to show nothing of the sort.
I wonder if they got any media questions about all this – I haven't seen any buzz about it.
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