Noda says Fukushima nuclear plant will be stable by year's end

The countdown begins... in 21 days all will be well...

and we should believe him because...........

Next, I expect to hear "Fukushima's plant will be profitable again by the end of next year". They will also claim that radiation levels are low enough to continue operations.

Ok Noda, you just signed your own death warrant. (figuratively speaking).

So who is going to be the next PM? (Munching popcorn here as the drama unfolds like a bad soap opera AGAIN)

Does stabilizing not include pouring contaminated water into the ocean??

To be honest, I don't care how they do it... just get it done!

I just realized the 'end of the year' is only a few weeks away. I am a firm believer of optimism and visualization but in this case......ermmm. Don't get me wrong, I and millions of others are praying the plant can be brought under control but only last week we're hearing about 'leaks'.

They will meet the deadline because they have stated they will do so. They want to "regain the public's trust" and don't want to do anything else really "regrettable."

It's still "leaking"...which is NEVER defined in amount. It could still be gushing/sloshing, shooting, schmooting for all the accuracy not available. And yes, whatabout the tons of radioactive water...more "leaking" into the hapless ocean? Just remember, nuclear power is "efficient, safe, and cheap"...especially that last one. This is going to be a never ending story. Popcorn at the ready for this one.

Making this kind of promise is a MAJOR risk for Noda, especially because it's not likely to be the case that the plant will actually be stabilized given the aforementioned fuel movement, etc., as well as 'new leaks' cropping up here and there all the time. If it ISN'T stabilized by the time he has just promised then he's going to be screwed -- the opposition is having a field day with his selections as it is. They would put him on the stake for not fulfilling this promise.

If they DO declare that it's stable and cold shutdown has been achieved, they better prove it, not pull some 'mission accomplished' patting each other on the back while leaks are still popping up and radiation is still being released in various forms.

The corium under three reactors is bubbling away somewhere underneath the reactor pressure vessels, giving off radiation so intense that neither carbon-based workers nor 'bots can approach it; requiring constant cooling by a McGiveresque system of pipes, whose failure could trigger further reaction and problems; and which constantly spring leaks of radioactive material into the environment...

That's a stable, cold shutdown?

I recommend TEPCO and Noda both consult a decent dictionary for the definition of stable, and it is not the one to do with horses!

Stable is a word tepco defined, they still need to pump water daily on it otherwise it will overheat.

How come they don't move those temperature gauges and take daily readings of radiation down at the basements where the corium would be expected to be at? When they publish those readings - that's when they might declare "stable" conditions!!!!! Other nuclear experts are still wary of more hydrogen explosions too!!!

The horses have bolted out of the stables, y'know!!!

This is a joke right? ROFL, thanks for the funny one... Let's see, containment structure still leaking, pumping water out of the basement, no where to put the water, want to dump in the sea, not sure where the melted fuel rods are, on and on. This thing won't be in cold shutdown a year from now, and yes we'll have a new Prime Minister by then. No accountability...

Cold shutdown of media coverage perhaps!

As an example of real world situations, the UK is dismantling a fast-breeder reactor at Dounreay, on the coast of Scotland. The goal for completing the dismantling of the facilities, which requires the removal of fuel rods, is 2039. But nearly 30 years have passed since the reactor, which was shut down in 1977, started being dismantled in 1983, yet workers are still unable to remove the fuel rods from the reactor's core. Even if the remaining work proceeds smoothly, it will take another 20 years, he predicts. That means the dismantling work will take at least half a century in total.

That was from a regular shutdown, albeit in a fast-breeder like Monju. The 2nd Unit at Three Mile Island, a more similar design, but with significantly less damage, with the melted fuel rods remaining inside the intact reactor vessel, also took 15 years to decommission, but the building is still standing and won't be fully decommissioned unti Unit 1 shuts down for good in 2034. Today, the TMI-2 reactor is permanently shut down with the reactor coolant system drained, the radioactive water decontaminated and evaporated, radioactive waste shipped off-site, reactor fuel and core debris shipped off-site, and the remainder of the site being monitored.

At Fukushima they do not even know where the melted fuel rods are, and currently there is no technology available to directly visualise them.

Stable.....?

Ok! If Noda said it then it must be true?? Er...Yeah right!!

Wanderlust:

" That was from a regular shutdown, albeit in a fast-breeder like Monju. "

Fast breeders are a different kettle of fish. That is why I am against them. You can´t compare them to normal reactors.

It seems there's a big difference between "stabilized" and "shut down". Looks like Noda isn't taking such a risk in promising stabilization. Even he's not stupid enough to do that. Some people may be mislead though if they equate stabilization with safety.

Sadly most japanese have little interest in this issue now and in 21 days the nhk singing contest will attract the nations attention, not this

Noda is a politician, so of course everybody is expected to believe his words.

They will say they met the deadline.

STABLE. From "Tepco's New Dictionary of Definitions, 2011"

Stable (adj.), meaning 1. cold (= 99 degrees or less, ie scalding is fine, but up there no bubbling in those empty reactor vessels) 2. leaking less radiation (well, less than in those months of outrageous off-the-charts unprecedented earlier leakages). Rocking and rolling with aftershocks? Acceptable within our definition of stable. 200 tons of lava-like corium oozing around eating away the floors of the basements and fast approaching the outer and final containment walls? Not a problem. cf famous proverbs. Eg "Stable as a three-legged table," etc.

Reading this spin everyday has me wondering WTF are they trying to do? It's insanity to the point of making me sick of people in office or those in a position to actually to speak the truth and say they have no real solution to the problem! First off, It's a known major fault in the earths crust that Japan sits on or near! WTF were you thinking? The earth will never move? Secondly, the outlandish proposals to contain the radiation after the fact is a total joke! Chernobyl is still contaminated and hospitals are full of babies that have deformities and thyroid cancer is rampant! What is the half life of radiation? Basically it is decimated for the foreseeable future if not forever! The proposal a month or so ago to install panels over the plant was a total joke! Another WTF! The fuel rods etc have melted through the concrete foundation and are now being cooled by the ocean! Then I hear a proposal to build a giant washing machine to clean the debris! Wow! and another WTF! So is essence, those people are screwed! Maybe the ignorance and greed of the world leaders and lairs that control will go down with this big Titanic! It's not the problem we need to address! It is the cause of the problem! And, I'm talking to a wall!

Condition of cool shutdown means....

no manual labor for cleaning up the mess related to crippled reactors.

no manual labor for checking water leaks, and cracks on the instruments related to a water-cooling system.

re-activation of water-cooling system in full swing

completion of repairing broken chambers and containments for the reactors and water tanks

Boy, where are they now? When was the last time PM went Fukushima? He doesn’t even know the folks have not completed any of the above yet, I guess.

Whew!