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Thursday Update

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From NEI’s Japan Earthquake launch page:

UPDATE AS OF 11 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, APRIL 21:
As workers continue to pump cooling water into the reactors and used fuel pools at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, they also continue to deal with contaminated water at the site.

A particular problem has been the leakage of highly radioactive water on the turbine building side of reactor 2. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) workers this week completed injecting liquid glass and cement-based grout to seal a concrete enclosure outside the building. They also installed iron plates at the screen room of reactor 2 and silt fences in front of the screen rooms of reactors 1-4. TEPCO is placing sandbags in strategic locations around the site.

Workers also continued to pump water out of the reactor 2 turbine building into a tank at the on-site waste processing facility. This is a slow-moving process estimated to take 26 days. In all, TEPCO estimates that 67,500 tons of radioactive water has accumulated at the plant.

Robots detected high levels of radiation hazardous to humans over even a short amount of time in buildings for reactors 1 and 2. Reactor 3 also was surveyed, but radiation levels weren’t available. Cameras on the robots showed debris on the floors of the buildings that could hamper work after the radiation is controlled.

New Video Posted
NEI has uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel. The video, "INL Director Discusses the Future for Nuclear Energy in the United States," features the Idaho National Laboratory's Director John Grossenbacher, who explains that the United States should develop its energy policies based on an assessment of the current events at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors and the costs and benefits of providing electricity through various energy sources.

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