Another case of relatively low tech coming to the rescue. Tokyo Electric Power Company now using a type of polymeric powder to soak up contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The poly kitty litter, which is used in disposable diapers, can soak up to 50 times its weight.
Workers are using it in the cracked pit connected to Reactor 2.
A nuclear plant in Mexico, with a bad history might be leaking radiation, including cesium-137. Laguna Verde nuclear power plant is 290 kilometers southeast of Mexico City, and residents in a near by town have been dying of cancers and tumors since the plant became operational.
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) runs the plant, and has a long list of complaints, including deaths of employees, and a whistle blower that was fired. Laguna Verde has been in operation since 1990.
Vega de Alatorre, a town with about 18,500 residents, has reported unusual amounts of deaths from rare cancers. Just since 2008, 33 people have died of various kinds of cancers and tumors; brain cancer, renal cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, tuberous sclerosis. Most of the people in the area have no family history of cancer. Two of the deaths include workers at the nuke plant.
In 1999 the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) found there had been a high number of shutdowns that weakened the operating systems. Also, inadequate training, lack of proper management and obsolete equipment.
Bernardo Salas was fired from CFE recently, after he went public with information about Laguna Verde. He reported that reactor 2 almost experienced melt down, because of an electrical fault in 2006. Also, Salas reported that he found cesium-137 and cobalt-60 at three locations outside the plant, between 2006-2009.
The ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, in Japan, is forcing officials in Mexico to finally listen to complaints about Laguna Verde. A group of Mexican Senators will visit the plant on April 6.
The lack of electricity in Japan is due to several nuclear power plants being shut down since the 11 March disasters. They were planning on restarting this month, but, because of the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, they will delay longer.
Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, and, Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, have all delayed their planned restarts. This will make the problem of international parts supplies even worse.
Nuclear plant officials say it’s not just the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, but the fact that the Japanese government has ordered nuke plants to increase structural protection against natural disasters. That will take time.
Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say they have found the bodies of two Fukushima Daiichi workers missing since the 11 March tsunami.
They had to remove radioactive debris in order to recover the bodies. The two men bled to death, from injuries caused by the tsunami.
U.S. military forces in Japan has warned of cesium contamination on helicopters.
Yesterday, the Japanese Self Defense Forces announced that some of their helicopters are contaminated with high levels of radiation, even after going through a decontamination process.
U.S. Navy personnel trying to decontaminate the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan
NHK reported that the U.S. military has told the JSDF that the contamination is probably cesium. Cesium sticks to paint, and is not easily removed.
The JSDF says they will try vacuuming the contamination off their helicopters.
This is something for everyone to think about regarding personal vehicles, homes, even your vegetable gardens. Cover everything outside with thick tarps (or several layers of tarps) in a nuclear disaster. Those tarps will become radioactive waste, which will present another problem, but better the tarps than anything you value. Just another reason why nuclear power is so dangerous.
Once again, Tokyo Electric Power Company downplayed how bad the situation is. A crack in a large pit, at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is much worse than first reported. TEPCo said they could stop leaking radioactive water by using concrete on the crack.
The crack is very large, and the water isn’t just ‘leaking’, it’s pouring into the Pacific Ocean. The concrete is not solidifying because of the huge amount of water flowing into the pit. Remember, each reactor holds hundreds of tons of water.
The pit is connected to Reactor 2 turbine room via a trench. It has become clear that most of the water that’s been pumped, and sprayed, into the reactors over the last few weeks, is just running out the bottom of the structures, into their basements and into their turbine/cooling buildings. Now, it’s known that the highly contaminated water is pouring into the Pacific Ocean.
TEPCo officials say they will try using a polymer to seal the large crack in reactor 2’s pit.
The president of Suzuki announced that if parts supply problems persist, they too will close plants.
Suzuki is working to find other sources of parts, outside of Japan.
Suzuki has operations all over the world, including Canada and the United States. They are partners with General Motors.
The Japanese government is thinking about using ships from the U.S., and giant floating platforms, to store the deadly water.
Efforts to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control are being held up because of highly radioactive water, that is now leaking in the reactors.
The water can not be flushed away, it is nuclear waste. Several Japanese deep sea fishing companies have offered their ‘mega-floats’, used as deep seas fishing ‘parks’, to be filled with the contaminated water. The mega floats are 136 meters (446 feet) long and 46 meters (150 feet) wide.
Also, U.S. military barges might be used to store the deadly water, after they unload their cargo of fresh water.
Ford has finally joined the ranks of auto makers in closing plants. The reason, the same as the others, no parts.
Ford will close a factory in Kentucky for at least one week.
Japanese Self Defense Forces report that several of their helicopters are testing positive for radiation contamination. Even after decontamination procedures.
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