Last Call

Contracting note:  concrete does not set very well when you're trying to use it say, plug a radioactive water leak.

A first attempt to plug a cracked concrete shaft that is leaking highly radioactive water into the ocean off Japan failed Saturday, so officials are now exploring alternatives, spokesmen for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.


Power plant workers had been trying to fill the shaft with fresh concrete, but that did not change the amount of water coming out of the crack, the spokesmen said at a news conference that ran late into the night Saturday.

Their "plan B" is to use polymers to stop the leak, the spokesmen said. A Tokyo Electric expert will visit the site Sunday morning and decide what polymer to use before the work begins.

Workers will then break the shaft's ceiling and insert the polymer in a different spot from where they tried to place the concrete, they said.

Yeah, I could have told you that might have been a problem, guys.  I really am hoping the polymer trick works (then maybe a lot of concrete over it) but the bigger problem is all this radioactive water still means the Fukushima Daiichi plant is going to be dangerous for years.