69 Months And BTW Nice Hole You Got There

How about that hole? I think it is a case of more rubble, more trouble.

Video #2

Video #3

OK. By now you have seen the nice hole - you did look didn't you? So what about the 69 months? I'm afraid that is either a typo or a projection based on past performance. One or the other. What am I On about? TEPCO has a plan. A 6 to 9 month plan. Lucky numbers. If everything aligns.

TEPCO issues 6-9 month containment plan

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has issued a schedule for putting the crisis under control in 6 to 9 months.

The chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Tsunehisa Katsumata, explained the plan at a news conference on Sunday.

The utility firm said a two-phase process is scheduled.
In the first stage over the next 3 months, it will build new cooling systems outside the Number 1 and 3 reactor buildings to cool down the nuclear fuel, and to ensure that radiation levels around the plant continue to decline.

The company says it will contain the radioactivity leakage from the Number 2 reactor by patching the damaged section.

In the second stage, TEPCO plans to lower the temperature of the nuclear fuel in the reactors to below 100 degrees Celsius to stabilize its condition.

Aside from the laugher of 6 to 9 months let us look at the bits I highlighted.

will build new cooling systems outside the Number 1 and 3 reactor buildings to cool down the nuclear fuel

Well we learn what is going on by reading between the lines. Fukuology. Don't say it out loud. You will be accused of bad manners. So what do we know? The current system has not stopped the spew of radiation for one. Steam (OK water vapor wise guy) appears to be lofting radioactives in the air. Given the wind patterns expected for the next few days that is going to be a problem. Dang. And "will build" in a high rad environment? Good luck with that.

will contain the radioactivity leakage from the Number 2 reactor by patching the damaged section

A concrete patch? That is a trick I'd love to see. If the patch is going hold in a high earthquake environment they are going to have to fill it with rebar and tie the rebar to the existing loose ends. A tough tedious job normally. In a high rad environment? Maybe they will just totally prefab a patch and glue it on at the site. If they can get a crane big enough to lift it on to the site.

But maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe they are going to patch the reactor and not the building. Uh. Where will they get the volunteers?

Robots are going to work at Fukushima. American robots. Thanks to Zero Hedge for the heads up about the videos.



TEPCO has a plan to reduce the radiation spew. Special Covers. More colloquially referred to as hats.

TEPCO also said it will put special covers on the heavily damaged outer buildings of the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 reactors as an emergency measure to prevent radioactive materials from spewing out of the buildings and contaminating the air and soil, with plans to complete the work in roughly six to nine months.

Over the medium term, however, the utility plans to cover the reactor buildings with concrete walls and roofs, it said.

The company said it will pour water into the structures containing reactor pressure vessels for the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors within roughly three months, while putting back into the pressure vessels any water that leaks out in the process.

For the No. 2 reactor, whose containment vessel is feared to have been damaged, the utility plans to seal with sticky cement a part in the vessel that is believed to have been breached. It hopes to begin cooling the reactor within roughly three months in the same manner as the No. 1 and 3 reactors.

Things that have been obvious for quite some time are now being admitted.

Here is a real howler Gov't to decide whether evacuees can return home after 6-9 months. I refuse to quote a bit of that fantasy. "...the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage...". Tell me about it.

ex-SKF has some thoughts about the "plan". This is a good one:

I'm reading the 7-page handout (in Japanese) that TEPCO distributed for the press conference that details out the specific tasks to achieve the goals (that they call "Steps 1 and 2"). So far I haven't find anything that is different from what TEPCO has been doing for the past month.

And so is this:

So what else will TEPCO and the national government be dribbling out, over the next 9 months? They will extend and pretend as long as necessary until the weary citizens and residents of Japan simply don't care any more, as they will let their children play in the contaminated school yards and eat contaminated vegetables and fish to support the farmers and fishermen, and tell themselves everything will be just fine.

Would they really do that? Depressing even to contemplate.

Here is another report of the plan (with video) that reprises past events.

Following the quake and tsunami, cooling systems broke down in reactors 1, 2 and 3. TEPCO workers have been pumping in cold water in an effort to keep them from overheating.

However, the water inside the reactors quickly becomes contaminated with high levels of radioactive substances. Due to possible structural damage in the quake, contaminated reactor water has been leaking into the basements of neighboring turbine buildings and service tunnels. This has impeded emergency repair work and created a disposal problem.

To best deal with the present circumstances, TEPCO plans to first pump contaminated wastewater outside the turbine buildings where it can be more safely cooled and filtered. Radioactive substances and salt are removed and a continuous supply of treated water is circulated to gradually cool down the reactors.

I guess reactors is the technical term. The uninitiated refer to them as piles of radioactive rubble.

It seems the plan has created a minor diplomatic row. Wait until they (the Japanese and the affected countries) have to deal with reality.

Cross Posted at Classical Values