Utility Starts Filtering Water at Stricken Japanese Nuclear Plant

TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power, the utility trying to contain the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, took a significant step forward on Friday when it began operating a huge filtration system that it hopes will ease the amount of contaminated water produced at its damaged reactors.

The filtering equipment, hastily cobbled together by several foreign and Japanese companies, is urgently needed because the storage facilities at the power plant are glutted with tens of thousands of tons of radioactive water, and are expected to overflow as soon as next week if nothing is done.

If that occurs, Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, will be forced to dump thousands of tons of even more tainted water into the ocean, and would probably bring down even more criticism on the embattled company and the government, which has been attacked for its handling of the crisis.

Hoping to avoid releasing any more contaminated water, Tepco in late April set out an ambitious nine-month road map for stabilizing conditions at its nuclear reactors. The plan includes setting up a sprawling water treatment facility that is expected to cost about $663 million. Built under the supervision of Toshiba and Hitachi, the filtration system is meant to sift out oil, and then cesium and other radioactive elements, before desalinating the remaining water.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/asia/18tepco.html?_r=1

But, the damn things had already melted through, so pumping water in was just spreading a stream of radiation into the sea.

Now, we're all supposed to ignore the fact that there are several thousand tons of partially molten corium still emitting radioactive particles into the air and burning on the cement subbasements of the ruined reactors, and no apparent way to contain that airborne emission for many months to come.

I can breath free, and feel so much better, now.

...and anything they do to keep that from escaping a huge positive. There are a lot of lives in the balance.

more radiation than expected shut it down... But don't worry, everything is fine!

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_10.html

They're checking into it. Info in article. The dosimeter reading might have been wrong, but if it was right, they are in one hell of a fix.