Ramanisblog

Tag: Nuclear Waste

  • Japan dumps Nuclear Toxic Water into Sea-Health Effects,Video.

    Bottom line is no body is sure how the radio active waste shall affect marine Life and Environment.

    They just make a general assertion that the effects will be minimal with out any supporting evidence and no one has determined what the ‘Safety Limits’of radioactive materials dumped in the ocean are.

    Japan, with no other options in sight is forced to dump Nuclear waste into the sea, treaties notwithstanding.

    The Effects to So Sea water and the effect it will have on ground water level nobody knows.

    We have created the Nuclear Monster,let us suffer from it.

    Story:

    Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday began releasing 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Monday evening to help accelerate the process of bringing the crippled complex under control.

    The radical step was taken to make room for the more radioactive water that is being pumped out of the No. 2 reactor’s turbine building.

    The utility also said it plans to release 1,500 tons of radioactive water being stored under the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors, which have been safely shut down.

    The government said dumping the water will pose “no major health risk” and is inevitable in order to rescue the plant.

    Tepco will try to minimize the environmental impact of the dump by setting up an underwater silt fence similar to an oil fence outside the seawater intake near the damaged No. 2 reactor, where toxic water is already leaking into the sea from a cracked storage pit.

    http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110405a1.html

    Related:

    Radioactive Waste Dumping.

    Greenpeace first encountered a vessel routinely and deliberately dumping radioactive
    waste at sea, approximately 400 miles South West of Cornwall in July 1978. The area
    had been specified by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), an off-shoot of the
    Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as the designated
    dumpsite of the western European nuclear industry. The Greenpeace ship Rainbow
    Warrior found the Gem, a vessel chartered annually by the UK Atomic Energy Authority
    (UKAEA) to dump so-called low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes from
    medical and military establishments and nuclear power plants.
    Since its early days, in the late 1940s, the nuclear industry had chosen the oceans as a
    convenient place to dispose of its inconvenient wastes. The USA, the then USSR, France,
    the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and other states used the sea as a radioactive
    dump, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and they were determined to continue.

    The Oslo Convention was the first regional treaty to regulate the dumping of wastes at
    sea – it was negotiated in 1972 by the countries bordering the North-East Atlantic. The
    nuclear industry successfully blocked efforts to include radioactive wastes within the
    auspices of the convention. Consequently, while the Convention regulated the dumping
    of sewage sludge, dredging spoils, and organohalogen compounds (amongst others) for
    almost twenty five years, the signatory nations had no right to even comment on the
    dumping of radioactive wastes. Yet, paradoxically, the OECD/NEA designated dumpsite
    for radioactive wastes was inside the area covered by the Convention.
    A few months later in 1972 the negotiations on the London Dumping Convention were
    concluded. This was the first global treaty to regulate the dumping of wastes at sea. This
    time the negotiations were less dominated by the Western European nuclear states, and,
    as a result, the dumping of so-called high-level radioactive wastes was banned.

    http://www.greenpeace.org/international/PageFiles/24222/OSPARhistorybft.pdf

    The first reported sea disposal operation of radioactive waste was carried out by the USA in 1946 in the North-East Pacific Ocean and the latest was carried out by the Russian Federation in 1993 in the Japan Sea/East Sea. During the 48 year history of sea disposal, 14 countries have used more than 80 sites to dispose of approximately 85 PBq (1 PBq = 1015 Bq) of radioactive waste (Fig. 10).

    http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/about/physicalandchemicalproperties/radiosp/htm/Geographical.html

     

  • Japan Radioactive Water.How to Dispose it?Video.

     

    Storage Tunnel.

     

     

    But how to dispose of  irradiated water?

    I have not been able to find information.

    Nor people are sure about dumping nuclear waste into the sea.

    TOKYO – Workers discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan’s crippled nuclear complex, officials said Monday, as emergency crews struggled to pump out hundreds of tons of contaminated water and bring the plant back under control.

    Officials believe the contaminated water has sent radioactivity levels soaring at the coastal complex, and caused more radiation to seep into soil and seawater.

    The Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, was crippled March 11 when a tsunami spawned by a powerful earthquake slammed into Japan’s northeastern coast. The huge wave engulfed much of the complex, and destroyed the crucial power systems needed to cool the complex’s nuclear fuel rods.

    Since then, three of the complex’s six units are believed to have partially melted down, and emergency crews have struggled with everything from malfunctioning pumps to dangerous spikes in radiation that have forced temporary evacuations.

    Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will last weeks, months or years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far away as Tokyo.

    The troubles at the Fukushima complex have eclipsed Pennsylvania‘s 1979 crisis at Three Mile Island, when a partial meltdown raised fears of widespread radiation release, but is still well short of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 31 people with radiation sickness, raised long-term cancer rates, and spewed radiation for hundreds of miles (kilometers).

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

    How to dispose Nuclear Waste.

     

    Photo Used With Permission of Joseph Gonyeau. Original Source: Virtual Nuclear Tourist

     

     

    The spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor are the most radioactive of all nuclear wastes. When all the radiation given off by nuclear waste is tallied, the fuel rods give off 99% of it, in spite of having relatively small volume. There is, as of now, no permanent storage site of spent fuel rods. Temporary storage is being used while a permanent site is searched for and prepared.

    When the spent fuel rods are removed from the reactor core, they are extremely hot and must be cooled down. Most nuclear power plants have a temporary storage pool next to the reactor. The spent rods are placed in the pool, where they can cool down. The pool is not filled with ordinary water but with boric acid, which helps to absorb some of the radiation given off by the radioactive nuclei inside the spent rods. The spent fuel rods are supposed to stay in the pool for only about 6 months, but, because there is no permanent storage site, they often stay there for years. Many power plants have had to enlarge their pools to make room for more rods. As pools fill, there are major problems. If the rods are placed too close together, the remaining nuclear fuel could go critical, starting a nuclear chain reaction. Thus, the rods must be monitored and it is very important that the pools do not become too crowded. Also, as an additional safety measure, neutron-absorbing materials similar to those used in control rods are placed amongst the fuel rods. Permanent disposal of the spent fuel is becoming more important as the pools become more and more crowded.

    Dry Cask Storage Containers .

    Another method of temporary storage is now used because of the overcrowding of pools. This is called dry storage (as opposed to “wet” storage which we outlined above). Basically, this entails taking the waste and putting it in reinforced casks or entombing it in concrete bunkers. This is after the waste has already spent about 5 years cooling in a pool. The casks are also usually located close to the reactor site.

    Permanent Fuel Storage/Disposal:

    There are many ideas about what to do with nuclear waste. The low-level (not extremely radioactive) waste can often be buried near the surface of the earth. It is not very dangerous and usually will have lost most of its radioactivity in a couple hundred years. The high-level waste, comprised mostly of spent fuel rods, is harder to get rid of. There are still plans for its disposal, however. Some of these include burying the waste under the ocean floor, storing it underground, and shooting it into space. The most promising option so far is burying the waste in the ground. This is called “deep geological disposal”. Because a spent fuel rod contains material that takes thousands of years to become stable (and non-radioactive), it must be contained for a very long time. If it is not contained, it could come in contact with human population centers and wildlife, posing a great danger to them. Therefore, the waste must be sealed up tightly. Also, if the waste is being stored underground, it must be stored in an area where there is little groundwater flowing through. If ground water does flow through a waste storage site, it could erode the containment canisters and carry waste away into the environment. Additionally, a disposal site must be found with little geological activity. We don’t want to put a waste disposal site on top of a fault line, where 1000 years in the future an earthquake will occur, releasing the buried waste into the environment.

    The waste will probably be encapsulated in large casks designed to withstand corrosion, impacts, radiation, and temperature extremes. Special casks will also have to be used to transfer fuel rods from their holding pools and dry storage areas next to the reactor to the permanent geological storage site.

    http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/nuclear_waste_storage/nuclear_waste_storage.html

    Related:

    Highly radioactive iodine seeping from Japan’s damaged nuclear complex may be making its way into seawater farther north of the plant than previously thought, officials say, adding to radiation concerns as the crisis stretches into a third week.

    Mounting problems, including badly miscalculated radiation figures and no place to store dangerously contaminated water, have stymied emergency workers struggling to cool down the overheating plant and avert a disaster with global implications.

    The coastal Fukushima Daiichi power plant, 220 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, has been leaking radiation since a magnitude-9.0 quake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that engulfed the complex. The wave knocked out power to the system that cools the dangerously hot nuclear fuel rods.

    On Monday, workers resumed the laborious yet urgent task of pumping out the hundreds of tons of radioactive water inside several buildings at the six-unit plant. The water must be removed and safely stored before work can continue to power up the plant’s cooling system, nuclear safety officials said. That process alone could take weeks, experts say.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/28/japan-mon-troubles.html?ref=rss