[ RadSafe ] Icy future for Japan???

[Dan McCarn]

Dear Group:

Freeze walls are an extremely effective hydrobarrier, are very robust, can
last for decades and have a long history of use in mining and excavating.
 Cameco uses a CaCl2 brine (-25 to -35C) to freeze rock around the high
grade McArthur River uranium deposit which is located in a clayey,
relatively incompetent rock called an argillite.  Shell Oil successfully
tested freeze wall technology in the Piceance Basin, NW Colorado for it's
potential as a hydrobarrier using anhydrous ammonia (-40 to -50C) as a
refrigerant. Rock, being a good insulator, can remain frozen for decades or
as long as necessary.

The water inside the freeze wall can be pumped & treated and managed
independently of water outside the freeze wall making it ideal for treating
a local source of contaminated water.

Concrete is relatively permeable. A grout curtain around a facility is far
more prone to leaks than a freeze wall.  A fracture in a grout curtain will
create a leak; a fracture in a freeze wall will heal itself. A freeze wall,
imho, is far better solution, but then I worked for Shell on the Piceance
basin oil shale project for several years, and have been familiar with the
technology as applied to McArthur River since the 80s.



Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
108 Sherwood Blvd
Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
+1-505-672-2014 (Home – New Mexico)
+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com


On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 11:51 AM, <JPreisig at aol.com> wrote:

> Radsafe:
>
>      CNN News is reporting that Japan is looking at  freezing the ground
> around the Fukushima reactors to keep the radioactivity from  reaching the
> Ocean.  Is there no concrete in Japan???  Isn't dilution  the solution to
> pollution????
>
>     Regards,    Joe Preisig
>
>
>
>
>
>
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