The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 180 is up at Hiroshima Syndrome
From The Hiroshima Syndrome’s Fukushima Commentary – Fukushima and the Inevitable Tritium Controversy
Tritium is one of the weakest beta-emitting isotopes in the universe. 37,000,000 Becquerels per liter doesn’t hurt lab mice. Fukushima’s highest Tritium level is 630,000 Bq/liter. They should release the ALPS system effluent directly to the sea, but radiophobic outcries in Japan will not allow it
Early in 2014, Tokyo Electric Company intends to begin the full-scale operation of their Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) at Fukushima Daiichi. It will remove 60+ radioactive isotopes remaining in the currently-stored wastewater that has been run through the Cesium absorber system. It seems ALPS will use high-efficiency resin beds to strip the materials from the liquids flowing through them.
The resulting water will be so pure that it will not conduct electricity very well, if at all. Only one radioactive isotope will remain – Tritium. The ultimate question will be whether or not Tepco’s allowed to release the ultra-clean Tritiated water into the sea, mitigating their wastewater buildup problem. Any detectible radioactivity makes millions of Japanese fear for their lives, and the mere thought of eating seafood that might contain something radioactive makes many consumers shun fish caught off the Fukushima coast. The Fisheries of Fukushima have already declared that they will never agree to allow Tritiated water releases to the sea, no matter what.
The Kudankulam plant is now India’s 21st operating nuclear unit. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said that the unit was synchronized to the grid at 2.45am on Friday. The company noted that output from the reactor would be raised in stages – to 500 MWe, then 750 MWe before reaching full capacity of 1000 MWe.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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