Risk of hydrogen explosion from leaking containers at Fukushima plant

[yuiyoshida]

Source: Ajw.asahi.com



Inspections of containers holding contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant found that at least 10 percent have leaks, which could trigger a hydrogen explosion.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, reported its findings at a meeting with a study group from the Nuclear Regulation Authority on May 22. It said no radioactive water was found to have escaped outside the concrete structures that encase the containers.

According to TEPCO, there were about 1,300 such containers at the plant as of May 20.

They store waste water from the ALPS (advanced liquid processing system) equipment that removes radioactive substances from contaminated water.

Read more: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201505230059

[Demeter]

1. So the Bang is Leading over the Whimper as Regards the End of the World

I always expected so. T. S. Eliott recanted, too. But his summary: The Waste Land, will cover it.

[Fairgo]

2. I am so sorry

That such a lovely country and such wonderful people should be saddled with this curse for the next millenium. I am also sorry that there will be more fukishimas in the coming decades, and the face of the world will be pocked by these dead spaces. Who will stand watch for the half life of this calamity?

[jwirr]

3. Like the Rs I am not a scientist. But first we hear that the barrels are leaking and they need to

use them for more waste. The answer is dump it in the ocean. But when they suggest that they get a huge amount of blowback. We do not want our oceans poisoned anymore.

Now we hear that the barrels may explode and cause another disaster. Equally as bad as dumping the poison into the water. I have some questions.

First is this info from TEPCO or from the Nuclear Regulation Authority? It sounds like this is TEPCO.

Second I want to know what the Nuclear Regulations Authority and other scientists think of this. TEPCO is the owner that is on the hook for this mess. They have something to gain if we get scared and let them dump the mess into the ocean. Scientists around the world may be more objective and look at the whole problem.

Third I want to hear from the environmental groups. What are the problems with this they see? Where do they see this going?

Fourth when is the world going to step in and help with this? This is not a local problem - it effects us all. The best minds in the world need to come together and rethink the whole nuclear problem. Specifically how to deal with the current problems with these plants.

[JEB]

4. Excellent questions.

Thanks for the thoughtful and insightful post. I certainly won't trust anything stated by TEPCO.

[jwirr]

5. I think that TEPCO is in a very tight spot with no way to go. I wonder if this is a private company

or if Japan itself is the owner?

One think I am really sorry about is that this is the second time around for Japan. This must have been part of the worry for their people when we bombed them in the WWII.

[JEB]

6. Trouble every way they turn and no easy solutions.

I agree that this calls for international effort.

[yuiyoshida]

8. I do believe that

TEPCO is a private Corporation.

[jwirr]

9. Thank you. Then the Japanese people are probably very upset with them.

[yuiyoshida]

10. I am sure they are...

Kiyoshiro's Summertime Blues - an anti-nuclear power protest song by a japanese rocker

[truedelphi]

12. Jwirr - what the media will never tell us:

The people of the prefecture of Fukushima were so upset with TEPCO that they were choosing a political strategy of shutting down the plant, back in 2005-2006.

But when George W Bush got wind of this, his Administration sent over our top nuclear officials, who arm wrestled various folks inside the political organizations in Japan.

So then the honorable mayor in Fukushima was suddenly hit with charges relating to some major scandal (forget if it was embezzlement or whatever.) Once that man was run out of office and replaced, the local Japanese citizens had no way to shut down the reactor, and the result is what happened in 2011.

What the American media will tell us, again and again, as they did in Time magazine over the summer of 2011, is that "we simply do not have any relevant data regarding radiation and its effects on human health."

I guess all that stuff about our scientists collecting data and doing studies after Hiroshima were simply hallucinations of the non-Corporate owned press, circa 1945 to 1955.

[jwirr]

14. Oh, not again. But this does not surprise me. Do these rich people think they have a place they can

hide from the natural consequences of something like this? The whole world is in trouble. And all their money is not going to be able to insulate them.

[valerief]

15. Yes. They have space stations. nt

[jwirr]

21. I would like to see them go now and leave this earth to us.

[valerief]

23. Ah, wouldn't that be nice! And they can take their killer goons with them.

[sulphurdunn]

20. The best minds in the world

don't work for the nuke lobby and don't have the money to buy politicians and regulators.

[jwirr]

22. No but they can give us info to use against nukes. I am not going to just give up and say oh

go ahead I like poison. The so called best minds in the world came together once to create this monster it is now time for them to figure out how the destroy it.

[sulphurdunn]

24. So, why don't they?

More is going on with nuclear energy than meets the eye. A see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil suppression has replaced the initial horror of the Fukushima disaster. M$M pretty much ignores it. Politicians won't speak its name. Scientists are pretty much mute on the subject.

The Fukushima Daiichi reactors melted down 4 years ago and the whole matter has pretty much gone down the memory hole.

[jwirr]

25. You have the right question. I do know one answer. There was an offer of help some time ago and

the company rejected it. Don't remember why.

So what would you suggest the world do about this mess?

[sulphurdunn]

26. I don't know if much can actually

be done at Fukushima other than applying more bandaids because there is no way to stop the bleeding. For the rest of the world, the solution is simple: The phaseout and decommissioning of all nuclear plants should begin immediately.

[jwirr]

27. That is mostly where I am at also.

[ananda]

7. Sigh

Now I am become Death, Destroyer of worlds! -- Bhagavad Gita

When asked “... why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?” Einstein replied: "That is simple, my friend. It is because politics is more difficult than physics."

We have to cure ourselves of the itch for absolute
knowledge and power. We have to close the distance between
the push-button order and the human act. We have to touch
people." -- Jacob Bronowski; "The Ascent of Man."

[greatlaurel]

11. How is the hydorogen being generated in the water storage units?

This is a sounds like a very serious situation if the water storage units are generating enough hydrogen to become an explosion risk. Something does not add up in the official story. The report states that the hydrogen is being generated by the water being exposed to high levels of radiation from the sediments in the storage containers.

International assistance and an all hands on deck attitude needs to be brought in asap. Should have occurred right from the start of this unprecedented disaster.

[hunter]

13. Maybe they need some of those Recombination Vent Caps they use on lead-acid batteries...

http://www.sbsbattery.com/products-services/by-product/battery-maintenance-safety-accessories/vent-caps-etc/stationary-utility-flooded-battery-vent-cap.html

Oh my!

Of course if they'd upt the emergency back-up generators and fuel tanks on the hill and the parking lot by the ocean, maybe none of this would have happened.

What a mess.

[valerief]

16. What does a hydrogen explosion mean? Like a hydrogen bomb detonating? nt

[yuiyoshida]

17. From the article:

An NRA official said the accumulating hydrogen poses a potential danger.

“If the concentration level is high, a spark caused by static electricity could cause a container to explode,” the official said.

Although all the lids of the containers were supposed to be fitted with pressure-release valves to allow gasses to escape, TEPCO’s survey found that one did not have the mechanism.

[valerief]

18. Thanks. I saw that but it didn't register. Now I get it. nt

[yuiyoshida]

19. You're welcome

[RobertEarl]

28. I think its a fake idea

The only way hydrogen can be generated is through the water becoming so hot that the water molecule - H2O - breaks into hydrogen and oxygen.

I think what they are hiding is the fact that the atomic level decay of the nuke elements in the tanks could cause explosions. After all, such deposits of nuke wastes like they have in Fukushima are new to science, as there has never before been such a concentration as in those tanks.

They rightly fear an explosion, and to get ahead of the event they are throwing out the idea that it "Was just a hydrogen explosion".

[FBaggins]

29. Oh lordy... not that #$% again

The only way hydrogen can be generated is through the water becoming so hot that the water molecule - H2O - breaks into hydrogen and oxygen.

How many times do you need to be told that when water gets really hot... it boils. It does not break down into hydrogen and oxygen.

I think what they are hiding is the fact that the atomic level decay of the nuke elements in the tanks could cause explosions.

Oh there's a new one. I can't wait to hear "the science" for that one. Let me guess... nuclear decay goes on all around us all the time, but there's something special about "manmade radiation" (sic) that makes it explosive... right?

After all, such deposits of nuke wastes like they have in Fukushima are new to science, as there has never before been such a concentration as in those tanks.

Ridiculously wrong. Regular spent fuel is many MANY times more concentrated.

[FBaggins]

30. Much of the confusion is from poor reporting

The leaks and hydrogen production are unrelated. In fact, the hydrogen problem is likely tied to the barrel that inexplicably lacks the holes to allow hydrogen to vent out.

Obviously, "hydrogen explosion" in the same sentence as "Fukushima" is going to sell some advertising for the news organization, but the risk in this case would be pretty tiny. The amount of material available for some oxidizing chemical reaction to release hydrogen is fairly small... but that's not the largest factor here. It's awfully hard to come up with a plausible scenario where you have a sealed tank hydrogen explosion, because you would need to have a supply of oxygen (in a sealed drum of water?) and then a spark/flame (same question) meeting an amount of hydrogen that would be unlikely to be created given the amount and makeup of the sludge in the tank.