Quake/Tsunami

[Lamplighter]

This disaster in Japan is a disaster that just keeps disaster-ing.

This is quite a long article, but here is the gist ...

The plant was built in an old river bed.
It rains in Japan ... water runs downhill

The company that built this GE reactor did not consider "what if ..."
The earthquake broke underground drainage pipes
The "ice wall" technology is untested and would cost ~ $1 billion
The company is near bankruptcy
The government basically opposes bankruptcy due to effect on economy



Washington Post
Chico Harlan
10/21/13

For Tepco and Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, toxic water stymies cleanup

TOKYO — Two and a half years after a series of nuclear meltdowns,
Japan’s effort to clean up what remains of the Fukushima Daiichi
power plant is turning into another kind of disaster.

All of the nation’s 50 operable reactors are currently shuttered.

The site now stores 90 million gallons of radioactive water,
more than enough to fill Yankee Stadium to the brim.
An additional 400 tons of toxic water is flowing daily into the Pacific Ocean,
and almost every week, the plant operator acknowledges a new leak.
<snip>
One lawmaker, Sumio Mabuchi, who was also an adviser to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan,
says Tepco, deep in debt, neglected to take important steps against the groundwater
two years ago because of concerns about its bottom line.
<snip>
The first months of the disaster were chaotic, an improvised battle that involved
firetrucks, helicopters, robots and workers trying to cool melted nuclear fuel.
As the emergency calmed and the groundwater problem emerged, Tepco was left with two options:
It could either block the groundwater from entering the site,
or it could pump the groundwater out and store whatever had leaked into buildings.
Tepco opted for the latter — a mistake, many outside researchers say.

The remaining options to deal with the buildup are unpopular or flawed.
The latest plan includes the ice wall, a new groundwater pumping system
and yet another system to filter radionuclides. But the ice-wall technology is unproven,
and taxpayers will foot the bill because Tepco lacks the funding to deal with major,
unplanned problems at the plant.