Helicopters attempt to cool Fukushima nuclear plant from the air

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8385094/Helicopters-attempt-to-cool-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-from-the-air.html

Helicopters attempt to cool Fukushima nuclear plant from the air
Japanese military helicopters are to dump water onto reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in a desperate effort to cool them down.

After a surge in radiation at the nuclear plant hit by Friday's earthquake, Japan has suspended ground efforts to prevent it from melting down.

Chinook helicopters carrying red buckets have been lifting off from Kasuminome Air Base, near Sendai.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who have been dousing the reactors with seawater on the ground in a frantic effort to stabilise their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas.

Earlier in the day, white smoke could be seen billowing from one of the reactors.

They are now apparently considering using police water cannons.

Are they concerned that the radiation is interfering with the avionics or the people aboard the helicopters?

I understand that a water cannon operator might be able to walk away for some time, but there would still be maintenance and fueling issues, so operators would still need to be close enough to attend them.

Link to the brief helicopter mention:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78597.html

Link to the brief water cannon mention:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78622.html

from the BBC:
"2014: A special police van equipped with a water cannon - normally used to disperse rioters - meanwhile arrived at the power station early on Thursday. Tepco plans to use the cannon to spray water onto reactor 4's spent fuel storage pond. The cannon is thought to be strong enough to allow engineers to remain a safe distance from the complex and limit their exposure to radiation."

Article from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/japan-cool-fukushima-water-cannon

in a helicopter above the site could be much higher than someone on the ground. Lot of potential variables.

Also if a water cannon operator gets a lethal dose and dies on the scene he won't crash a fuel loaded heavy helicopter into an already damaged plant (it weighs about 15 tons). Chinook is a very large helicopter. I know it sounds insensitive but it is reaching that point.


Yes that is an artillery howitzer it is lifting.

sacrificed themselves for the rest of us. May they rest in peace, most of them.

He is a hero in his country. They don't know why he didn't get sick and die, but his body was somehow resilient enough that he survived any after effects thus far.

He had acute radiation sickness from gamma rays. He was alive in 2006 for sure.

They can carry payloads of death but not water.

Perhaps water bombers, like those used for fighting large forest fires could be tried. They wouldn't have to stay over the target long, and thus wouldn't expose the crews to much radiation, though they wouldn't be terribly accurate. Canada and the U.S. have plenty of them and they aren't needed for forest fires at this time of the year.