No Concrete for Nuke Plant:
Get Fuel First
TEPCO won't take Chernobyl approach to resolving nuclear power plant crisis Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) adviser Toshiaki Enomoto is pictured at the company's Tokyo head office. It may take 10 years to start removing damaged nuclear fuel from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, but the plant's operator is adamant not to bury the damaged reactors while fuel remains in them, a company official has said: "We will definitely remove the fuel." Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) adviser Toshiaki Enomoto stressed that the company would not bury the reactors in concrete in a "stone tomb" approach like the one adopted at Chernobyl.
TEPCO chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata has announced plans to decommission the plant's No. 1 through 4 reactors. Normally it takes 20 to 30 years to decommission a reactor, but the process at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is expected to take even longer as workers must start by developing specialized equipment to remove damaged fuel.
Enomoto said that for the time being the ongoing process of injecting water into the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors at the plant was essential. The plant's residual heat removal system could take a month to get up and running again, Enomoto said. At the same time measures will proceed to have radioactive material contained within the reactor buildings within a few months, Enomoto said. Enomoto said nuclear fuel at the plant could not be removed using conventional methods for two reasons: The reactor buildings are damaged, and measures are needed to prevent the spread of radiation; and 25 to 70 percent damage has occurred to the fuel rods in the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors. New methods to remove the fuel must be developed, and it will take 10 years before workers can start removing fuel, he said.
Link:
http://femalefaust.blogspot.com/2011/04/ex-tepco-exec-no-concrete-for-nuke.html
No comments:
Post a Comment