LF: SRS concrete pump heading to Japan nuclear site (world’s largest concrete pump)

Title: SRS concrete pump heading to Japan nuclear site (world’s largest concrete pump)
Source: The Augusta Chronicle
URL Source: http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest ... apan-nuclear-site?v=1301602293
Published: Mar 31, 2011
Author: Rob Pavey
Post Date: 2011-03-31 22:25:15 by Hondo68
Keywords: Savannah River Site, can be controlled remotely, Germany-based Putzmeister
Views: 3103
Comments: 3

The world’s largest concrete pump, deployed at the construction site of the U.S. government’s $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel plant at Savannah River Site, is being moved to Japan in a series of emergency measures to help stabilize the Fukushima reactors.

Putzmeister: largest concrete pumps in the world

Ashmore Concrete

The MOX Plant:

“The bottom line is, the Japanese need this particular unit worse than we do, so we’re giving it up,” said Jerry Ashmore, whose company, Augusta-based Ashmore Concrete Contractors, Inc., is the concrete supplier for the MOX facility.

The 190,000-pound pump, made by Germany-based Putzmeister has a 70-meter boom and can be controlled remotely, making it suitable for use in the unpredictable and highly radioactive environment of the doomed nuclear reactors in Japan, he said.

“There are only three of these pumps in the world, of which two are suited for this work, so we have to get it there as soon as we can,” Ashmore said in an interview with The Chronicle today. “Time is very much a factor.”

The pump was moved Wednesday from the construction site in Aiken County to a facility in Hanahan, S.C., for minor modifications, and will be trucked to Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport, where it will be picked up by the world’s largest cargo plane, the Russian-made Antonov 225, which will fly it to Tokyo.

The move to Atlanta, he added, will require expedited special permits from Georgia’s Department of Transportation, due to the weight of the equipment. If all goes well, the pump will be en route to Japan sometime next week.

According to Putzmeister’s website, four smaller pumps made by the company are already at work at Fukushima pumping water onto the overheated reactors.

Initially, the pump from Savannah River Site, and another 70-meter Putzmeister now at a construction site in California, will be used to pump water—and later will be used to move concrete.

“Our understanding is, they are preparing to go to next phase and it will require a lot of concrete,” Ashmore said, noting that the 70-meter pump can move 210 cubic yards of concrete per hour.

Putzmeister equipment was also used in the 1980s, when massive amounts of concrete were used to entomb the melted core of the reactor at Chernobyl.

In addition to the equipment now at Fukushima and the two 70-meter pumps being moved from the U.S., a contractor in Vietnam has given up a 58-meter pump so it can be diverted to Japan, and two 62-meter pumps in Germany were loaded on Wednesday for transport to Tokyo.

Ashmore officials have already notified Shaw AREVA MOX Services, which is building the MOX plant for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, that the pump was being moved and will not be returned. “It will be too hot to come back,” Ashmore said.

The MOX complex, scheduled to open in 2016, is designed to dispose of 32 metric tons plutonium from dismantled nuclear bombs by blending small amounts of the material with uranium to make nuclear fuel for commercial power reactors. Its design calls for 170,000 cubic yards of concrete strengthened with 35,000 tons of reinforcing steel bars.

The absence of the pump will not affect the U.S. project’s construction schedule, Ashmore said, noting that there are several slightly smaller units still at the MOX site and being used by the civil contractor, Alberici Constructors.

There is also the third existing 70-meter Putzmeister that is in the U.S., but not in a state where it could easily be retrofitted for shipment to Japan. “We may try to buy that one later if we need to,” he said.

The costs of the operation, including an estimated $1.4 million to fly the pump from Atlanta to Tokyo aboard the Antonov transporter, are being underwritten by the Tokyo Electric Power Company through a contracting agreement with Putzmeister.

And it will be left there, as it will be covered in Plutonium, Strontium, Americium.

And of course it may not be electonically hardened enough and may get fried by the EMP/Radiation.

And they're scared shitless. As can be seen by the fact that Obama has said nothing about this Worst Catastrophe Possible Nuke Event. And I haven't seen a Breaking News Info from the USSA MSM on this since it started.

Work to regain control of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has hardly been making headway, even showing signs it may turn out to be a long-haul battle. Managing to bring the reactors to a stable condition is essential in order to curb the proliferation of radioactive materials that have been a source of concern for the nation. In reaching that goal, three steps are vital -- removing contaminated water at the turbine buildings of the Nos. 1 to 4 reactors, followed by bringing the cooling systems into operation and then cooling down the reactors for shutdown.

This right here- followed by bringing the cooling systems into operation and then cooling down the reactors for shutdown. -will take 100 years. Human Pop on the Planet will be approx 1. 2 billion, give or take a billion by then.

Fukushima is the Fate of All 442 Reactors (not including Private/Experimental and Military-at least 300). The Good News is that they're All on Fault Lines so that they should all be buried/covered in less than the 'normal' 20 000 year 'safe' span. :twisted: :roll: :shock: 8-)

"England is wracked by these and the wedding of the useless Prince and his non-royal consort isn’t bringing the country together, the Crown fears angry mobs might disrupt the elites and very rich gathering together to celebrate social divisions and the rich lording it over the poor.

Nov 23, 2010 ... April 29, the date chosen for Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton, was chosen because.....