nuclear-news

Concrete cover is a safer option for crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant

Title: Jaczko, Johnson & Tsutsui, The Ongoing Fukushima Daiichi Crisis
Source: Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Date: September 24, 2013

Tetsuro Tsutsui, Member of Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee, Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE) Nuclear Power Plant Technical Experts’ Group:

Plans for removal of debris should be cancelled. The current METI and Tepco road map says that the removal of the [melted fuel] debris will begin 8.5 years after the accident and be completed 20 to 25 years after the accident.

We propose the following alternative: The contaminated water problem should be resolved. Spent fuel in the spent fuel pools should be removed as planned. Then we propose that the water cooling of the damaged reactor cores should be continued until the decay heat is reduced sufficiently for natural air circulation. Subsequently, the equipment and building areas [slated?] for isolation should be covered with concrete.

Gregory Jaczko: The Ongoing Fukushima Daiichi Crisis 9/24/2013

This proposed method could avoid many uncertain difficulties which would arise in the METI/Tepco plan, including: Plugging an uncertain number of cracks in the pressure and containment vessels; The need to develop missiles to break up the blocks of debris and remove the pieces of debris; The extensive radioactive dose to workers; The huge financial expenses.
Watch the FCCJ event here
See also: Bloomberg: Tepco now in talks to cover Fukushima reactors with concrete for next 75 years — Officials reviewing plan in U.S.

September 25, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized