Tuesday, May 17, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Workers Enter Reactor 2 Bldg in Tungsten Vest

It is the first time the workers enter the reactor building since March 15 when there was an explosion in the Suppression Chamber.

According to Mainichi Shinbun (11:13AM JST 5/18/2011), 4 workers entered the reactor building of the Reactor 2 at 9:30AM to survey the interior of the building to prepare for the equipment calibration and installation of the cooling system. The workers will also go to the 2nd floor of the reactor building. The workers wear a "tungsten vest" to prevent external radiation exposure. They also carry oxygen tanks on them.

Never heard of a tungsten vest...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.entergy.com/News_Room/newsrelease.aspx?NR_ID=2145

for tungsten vest

dominique

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

I think I can explain the use of Tungsten in the safety vest. Tungsten is use as a neutron reflector this points to the fact that TEPCO was well aware of neutron emissions early in the accident. Neutron are very dangerous they can be as biologically damaging as alpha particles but they are incredible penetrating.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_reflector

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part020/part020-1004.html

netudiant said...

Tungsten is super heavy, density 19.3, but is used as a shield for high energy radiation, because it works as well as lead at a much lower thickness and without the toxicity of lead. See : http://hps.ne.uiuc.edu/natcisoe/symposiumpapers/2003/Tuesday/Ohr_paper.pdf

The offset is the workers will have much reduced mobility, as the tungsten body shielding will be tens of kilograms. These guys really earn their pay, working in a wrecked and contaminated reactor building, sweating in sealed armor, trying to breathe through a facemask. They deserve respect.

Anonymous said...

So. Robots cannot be used for a survey? Why?

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

(I hear the robots went on strike!)

Here is more information on the Tungsten vests They are a new and just in time for the spring isotope season in Fukushima. Oh happy day!

Award Honors Arkansas Nuclear One For New Shielding Technology:

http://nuclearstreet.com/nuclear_power_industry_news/b/nuclear_power_news/archive/2010/08/12/award-honors-arkansas-nuclear-one-for-new-shielding-technology.aspx

"Entergy employees at Arkansas Nuclear One won the Materials and Services Process Award for creating tungsten radiation shielding that effectively protects both equipment and personnel. The innovation has been used in Japan in response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power station.

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2011/05/nei-top-industry-practice-awards-for.html

naruhodo said...

Re: Robots
my translation from French, my comments in square brackets.

On March 21 Japan declined the French offer to send SPECIALIZED robots from the Chinon nuclear power plant, Japanese authorities judged them "maladapted" to the situation.
On Friday [that means March the 18th!], EDF [the French Electric Power Utility Company] has announced sending to Fukushima remotely piloted robots able to replace human intervention in case of an accident at a nuclear power plant.
The robots belong to the INTRA company based just by the Chinon nuclear power plant in the Indre-et-Loire region.

source:
http://www.courrierdelouest.fr/actualite/saumur/article_-Nucleaire.-Les-Japonais-declinent-l-offre-des-robots-de-Chinon_21399-49_actualite.Htm

BTW, thanks for your blog, keep up with the good work.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Check out this nob. This "expert" thinks the "experts" at the IAEA got the INES scale wrong because it is making his industry look bad. Why didn't this nuclear booster whine about the INES scale being wrong back in 1990 when it was unveiled? I asked the question in the comment section of his article I wonder if I'll get an answer? The nuclear industry is always moving the goal post when it comes to justifying their existence. First they claim contamination will never leak then when it does they claim the leaks aren't that bad. When the leaks are proven to be worse than reported they claim the contamination isn't dangerous to "immediate" human health.

http://www.rdmag.com/News/2011/05/Policy-Industry-Nuclear-Radiation-expert-criticizes-comparison-of-Fukushima-to-Chernobyl/

When the sewage plants have to shut down and the local farmers have to collect their produce as nuclear waste suddenly they get real quiet about what to do. I've read about Tea farmers being asked to collect their radioactive tea leaves and remove them from the vicinity of the trees. According to falloutphilippines Water measurements per prefecture posted at atmc.jp didn't predict this problem, so soil sample measurements would probably not help much either. Ahh! The mysteries of nuclear power.

http://falloutphilippines.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-to-do-with-all-those-cesium.html

Maybe if EX-SKF has side bar space they could put up the Bloomberg article link for falloutphilippines. It is good to see the MSM finally pointing out the obvious.

http://falloutphilippines.blogspot.com/2011/05/snarky-bloomberg-article-nails-tepco.html

Anonymous said...

tungsten as radiation protection?

so Goldfinger's Ft. Knox scheme wouldn't have worked then

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

It looks like Fukushima has the US nuclear industry looking over its shoulder. Of course they say it has nothing to do with the Fukup at Fukushima but in nucspeak we all know this means "look busy people are watching us"

"US reactor outages 50 pct above late-spring average"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/utilities-nuclear-outages-idUSN1629762220110516

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

Hey is anybody interested in some real time modeling of radioactive material and floating debris near Japan's Coastline?

http://www.seathos.org/live-modeling-of-japan-coastline/

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