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Fukushima and the coming Tokyo Earthquake Logo
09 Mar2018

The Fukushima ice wall fails to keep out groundwater

March 9, 2018. Written by Tony Smyth. Posted in Blog

A major problem at Fukushima Dai-ichi is the flow of groundwater through the plant from the surrounding hills. This water flows into the irradiated debris in the basements of the destroyed reactors and then from there into the sea.

 

Tepco’s answer to this was to build a frozen soil barrier circling the four radioactive reactors. This cost $324 million in public funds. The company sank about 1,500 tubes filled with brine to a depth of 30 meters (100 feet) in a 1.5-kilometre (1-mile) perimeter around four of the plant’s reactors. It then cools the brine to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit).

The water inflows often fluctuate with rainfall. The dry month of January averaged 83 tons a day. But when a typhoon struck during the last week of October, 866 tons a day poured into the reactors. This is the peak level shown in the graphic below.

 

In 2013, Tepco assured skeptics that this barrier would limit the flow of groundwater into the plant’s basements from the site’s reactors, to “nearly nothing.” However, since the ice wall became fully operational at the end of August of last year, an average of 141 metric tonnes a day of water has seeped into the reactor and turbine areas, more than the average of 132 metric tonnes a day during the prior nine months.

The continuing seepage has created vast amounts of toxic water that Tepco must pump out, decontaminate and store in tanks that now number 1,000, holding 1 million tonnes. It says it will run out of space by early 2021.

The purification process removes 62 radioactive elements from the contaminated water but it leaves tritium, a mildly radioactive element that is difficult to separate from water. Not considered harmful in low doses, tritium is released into oceans and rivers by nuclear plants around the world at various national standard levels.

But local residents, particularly fishermen, oppose ocean releases because they fear it will keep consumers from buying Fukushima products.

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  • What are the dangers in the planned release of water from the Fukushima site?
  • Update on progress in food and water safety in Fukushima
  • Japan to build new coal-burning power plants, despite the climate risks
  • Fukushima is running out of space to store its radioactive water
  • Fukushima gets it first surf shop since the 2011 meltdowns
  • Cancer rates at Fukushima as of March 2018
  • The Fukushima ice wall fails to keep out groundwater
  • Smashwords interview
  • Robots finally find the melted fuel cores
  • Hunters kill radioactive wild boars in Fukushima nuclear disaster zone
  • Cancer among workers at Fukushima Dai-ichi
  • Little radiation off Fukushima six years after meltdown
  • The world with over 1°C temperature rise
  • Radiation levels kill Tepco’s robots

Recent Comments

  • Avatar

    Tony Smyth

    July 16, 2017 | #

    Hey. Yes its just been finished. Hurrah. BUT I’m off to Europe tomorrow so will release it a few days after I get back. Probably round August 9th. A book launch needs many things coordinated to improve publicity and I can’t do that from Dublin/Berlin. Besides which I’ve been incredibly busy these last 10 weeks, not just physically but mentally. A well earned rest and many pints of Guiness sounds good to me. Thanks for the interest.

  • Avatar

    Jonathan L.

    July 16, 2017 | #

    Hello Tony, I’m kind of curious — any news about the editing on your book?

  • Avatar

    Tony Smyth

    April 27, 2017 | #

    Thanks Jonathan. Its been finished for a while, its just the guy doing the final conversion to ebook format is very busy, hence the delay. It will be out on Kindle first then on Smashwords. In print on Amazon a bit later.
    I’m already researching for the sequel to it which will basically argue that the current economic paradigm is broken and that major change is ahead, whether we like it or not. Provisional title is ‘Inverting the pyramid’ plus it will have some subhead which may come to me as I write it. We live in interesting times.

  • Avatar

    Jonathan L. Seagull

    April 27, 2017 | #

    Your book looks really interesting, I hope you release it on Kindle Unlimited!

  • Avatar

    GJS

    April 21, 2017 | #

    Blog up and running. Keep people informed, this stuff is real and a threat. Looking forward to the book as well.

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