Earlier, I wrote:
The NHK report showing on the reactor said that the radioactive
water leak came from a holding tank for spent fuel rods. That's appalling!
What is even worse is that this holding tank appears to be an
above-ground large steel box-like structure. Maybe the video image
was off . . .
The video image was off, or maybe I did not see what the camera was
pointed at, with all the clutter of equipment. Yesterday, NHK
explained how the leak occurred. The event is understandable. The
spent-fuel pool is an in-ground concrete structure. They broadcast a
surveillance camera showing the pool during the earthquake. The water
was agitated and splashed around by the earthquake. It looks like a
bucket of water that someone is shaking. A couple of tons of water
splashed out, and some of this drained into pipes that empty
offshore. The rest was mopped up and there is now a large pile of
what look like sponges to me, which are classified as low level radwaste.
It should not have taken them 10 days to get around to explaining
this. The slow release of information is urging public confidence,
which is already at a low ebb.
Other serious damage at the plant has been revealed in recent days.
An overhead traveling crane is broken. It was also shown on NHK. It
will have to be fixed before they can open up some of the reactors to
investigate the condition of the reactor cores.
- Jed
