Japan is constructing a Giant tent over damaged reactor!

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Fukushima officials hope the cover will keep radioactive materials that have already leaked from spreading, prevent rainwater seepage and offer a barrier from possible leaks or blasts in the future.

Has this ever been done before elsewhere, is it plausible?
It seems like it is an experimental attempt, Hopefully it can work to keep back the spread of radiation.

reply to post by Htrowklis82


I hope that this helps, but my gut reaction is that this is merely a cosmetic bandaid designed to make people feel as if something is actully being done, when there is really nothing that anyone can do.

I think I heard this a while ago, but still I think it's pointless.

Im sure this was talked about before.

Its used to stop gamma radiation i think....it doesnt stop the hot particles though.

reply to post by loves a conspiricy


I am not as knowledgeable as I need to be on differing types of radiation. Can you explain to me the difference between the gamma radiation, and hot particles. What are hot particles?
Are you saying the tent will not lessen the danger of the situation in Japan?

Originally posted by Htrowklis82

Fukushima officials hope the cover will keep radioactive materials that have already leaked from spreading, prevent rainwater seepage and offer a barrier from possible leaks or blasts in the future.

Has this ever been done before elsewhere, is it plausible?
It seems like it is an experimental attempt, Hopefully it can work to keep back the spread of radiation.

I'm skeptical about it resisting blasts, unless the blasts are really tiny. I think if they had a tent in place in mid March when the original blasts occurred, those blasts would have pulverized the tent.

But if they don't have any blasts, it's feasible, and it's a good idea. But it's analagous to putting a bandaid on a really deep cut that really needs stitches. Both would be a temporary measure. That's the main problem with it. But it's probably the best thing they can do for now.

Did you use the search function? There are already two threads on this subject.

Here's one from May: Japan To Cover Damaged Nuclear Reactors With Giant Tents

Here's one from July: Tepco to build sarcophagus over Fukushima reactor Though it's not really a sarcophagus, I think "tent" is a better description.

Originally posted by loves a conspiricy
Im sure this was talked about before.

Its used to stop gamma radiation i think....it doesnt stop the hot particles though.

Yes it was talked about before, see the other threads. It won't stop any radiation from being emitted. What it is intended to do is to minimize the spread of that leaked radiation to areas outside the tent. How well it does that will depend on how well it's built. I expect it can be built well enough to do that reasonably well, temporarily.

Originally posted by Htrowklis82
I am not as knowledgeable as I need to be on differing types of radiation. Can you explain to me the difference between the gamma radiation, and hot particles. What are hot particles?

That's something you can easily find on Google, or even on ATS search as it's been explained here many times.

Are you saying the tent will not lessen the danger of the situation in Japan?

It will help to drastically reduce the spread of new contamination outside the tent to the surrounding area.

But by solving that problem it creates another. By trapping the radioactive steam escaping from the failed reactors, the radiation levels inside the tent could become highly elevated, making it that much more difficult to remediate the facility inside the tent. High levels of radiation even shut down some robots unless they are exceptionally well "hardened" against radiation.

You know what sounds better than a tent?

Concrete walls. Thick ones, really really thick.

It won't solve the problem, but it would sure help me relax a little bit....sheesh...

wONT A HOLE BE BURNT IN THE TOP? IT REMINDS OF THE HELIS DABBING DROPS OF RAIN ON IT > IDIOTS

I think Cameron could have missed a trick here. I can think of a huge overpriced tent that was going begging.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
You know what sounds better than a tent?

Concrete walls. Thick ones, really really thick.

It won't solve the problem, but it would sure help me relax a little bit....sheesh...

That's what Chernobyl has, and it still leaks. And, it's harder to fix since the concrete gets in your way when you try to work on the site.

Eventually they will probably use concrete at Fukushima, but only when the reactors are under control. Using a tent in the meantime is logical.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by muzzleflash
You know what sounds better than a tent?

Concrete walls. Thick ones, really really thick.

It won't solve the problem, but it would sure help me relax a little bit....sheesh...

That's what Chernobyl has, and it still leaks. And, it's harder to fix since the concrete gets in your way when you try to work on the site.

Eventually they will probably use concrete at Fukushima, but only when the reactors are under control. Using a tent in the meantime is logical.

O please. Putting poly over a reactor where the releases are fractions of microns is like using a cheesecloth condom and not expecting to get your girl knocked up. Near as i can figure these tents are to prevent prying eyes from seeing what is really going on. The need to dismantle the reactors in order to get access to the corium which has now moved to the bedrock, and they don't, repeat, don't want to admit this let alone anyone figure it out.

Their strategy thus far has been to to attempt to cool the corium (allowing for far more lethal radioactive steam releases over time), than to try to cap it in the rock. Truth told it may not be possible to cap the corium blobs depending upon the geometry of each of the 100+ ton reactor cores. If they have scattered into smaller blobs and are dispersed throughout the rock then it would be very difficult and no guarantee that the corium won't reach groundwater. Trying to cool the lava enough so that it forms a crust and loses mobility may be their best option at this point.