[ RadSafe ] Thinking outside the tank

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Franz.

I am not the least bit offended: I recognize that I am indeed a long way from the scene, both physically and information-wise.  I have no doubt that the people working the problem are more knowledgeable and perhaps smarter than myself.  On the other hand, the saying "When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember you are there to drain the swamp" can apply.  

In this case there have been a lot of things done that are far outside the box, and I admire the creativity under pressure that has been displayed.  But I also recognize that in a crisis it can be very hard to see all the possibilities, especially ones that under normal circumstances would never be considered.  

For all I know, this has been considered and rejected for sound technical reasons.  But it is also possible that it never occurred to them (if it had, it might well have been preferable to sea water, at least in some places.)

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 11:22 AM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Thinking outside the tank

Mike, 

Not being an expert on nuclear reactors, partly on nuclear accidents
(Chernobyl), I would like to respectfully disagree. Having been in Japan on
invitation of the government and having visited no nuclear power plants, but
emergency and surveillance centers and systems I have the impression that
the Japanese collegues know quite well what to do in order to minimize the
damage. It is very easy to give good advices from far, far away, but another
thing is to deal with a disaster on the spot where it occurs. Availability
of machinery, work force, experts etc. is probably a much more important
factor than "rational" thinking. Your reasoning might be correct, but it
might be impossible (and I am convinced) to be applied in the circumstances
of an emergency or a chaos due to lack of infrastructure.

Hope you are not offended by my criticism - because I usually appreciate
your comments.

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] Im Auftrag von Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 06. April 2011 18:47
An: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Thinking outside the tank

It occurs to me that the engineers working Fukushima Daiichi problems
may be missing a bet.  They need to dewater a number of spaces in order
to do repair work, while at the same time continue to put water on the
reactors and SNF pools to keep them cool, with issues of bringing in
enough non-salt water for cooling, and taking a lot of flak for pumping
tanks of lower contaminated water into the ocean.  I wonder if they have
looked at using the water from the holding tanks for cooling, and
building a recirculation system, sucking water out of spaces, running it
through screens to remove the big pieces, maybe running it through some
quick and dirty filter system, then dump it into the tanks, to be used
as cooling water.  Yes, it is contaminated, and will crap up their
pumps; but is there anyone who thinks that equipment isn't already
contaminated?  And it's not like they can contaminate the reactor
facilities more.   
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