Japan Earthquake: nuclear plants Fukushima part 2

In summary, there was a magnitude-5.3 earthquake that hit Japan's Fukushima prefecture, causing damage to the nuclear power plant. There is no indication that the earthquake has caused any damage to the plant's containment units, but Tepco is reinforcing the monitoring of the plant in response to the discovery of 5 loose bolts. There has been no news about the plant's fuel rods since the earthquake, but it is hoped that fuel fishing will begin in Unit 4 soon.
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Many years ago a co-worker summarized our rad safety training as, "don't lick the walls."
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
cesium and strontium?
Yes, primarily, and their decay products, e.g., Ba and Y, and a little Rb, precursor to Sr. They will be distributed at the surface and into the concrete. It's what accumulates at the surface, and it's not so much beta and decay gammas.

They could spray a binder on the concrete, but then disassembly, which would cause dust is an issue. One would have to do a wet grind and collect the fragments and particulate matter, and filter what dissolves in the water.
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
If so, isn't that a good thing?
If you can just leave it alone then could be fine, but they are still supposed to work there for some time. And to keep the radiation levels of such working environment low enough to keep limits is troublesome. It's no longer an emergency, so limits are strict...

As I recall even in the very first years they already had some attempts and tests on this, and indeed, removing surface (possibly contaminated) layers was an option they tested.

Grinding, pressure washing, shot-blasting, acidic etching and so on...
 

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