Gigantic concrete pumps from U.S. to help in Japan's nuclear crisis
Apr. 2, 2011	06:33 am JST	 Apr. 2, 2011 | 07:15 am JST
paulinusa
Apr. 2, 2011	08:11 am JST
Putzmeister! Great name! Anyone who has been to Japan instantly notices that everything is on a smaller scale. And what Fukushima needs in terms of equipment(and effort) is something "sugoi".
I thought they had already 2 of these Putzmeisters complete with Betonpumpe Führer pumping water at Fukushima and that they are going to send 4 more.
Edward Venn
Yes, they have some big Putzmeisters in Japan and now they're getting bigger ones.
Apr. 2, 2011	01:35 pm JST
I have been involved with AN124 charters a few times here over the years, they can carry about 120tons but the 6engine AN225 are serious monsters that can carry 200-250tons each, they cant fly far without re-fueling though, I hope they can get these suckers over here pronto.
I hope the airport authorities show the smarts to let these land at Sendai or a military aiport if they are closer!
Borrowing a robot here, hiring a water pump there, trying seawater, etc! what am really still wondering is how Japan, a country with reputable engineering talent, robotics and all, could not have thought of structures such as those being borrowed, especially, when it relies on such potentially dangerous energy sources. Is the lack of foresight on government or TEPCO? Unfortunately, it all goes back to who awards TEPCO the monopoly contracts. With all the revenues got from the power supply, its responses, safety measures, and disaster preparedness strategies fall shot of the desired standards for a country such as Japan and should be held accountable for Japan's loss of pride. Sorry
imacat
Pumps from Germany, planes from Russia... whatever happened to American engineering.
Ken Adachi
TEPCO can not afford to by robots or high volume pumps because of Amakudari system thats why.
oberst
Pumps from Germany, planes from Russia... whatever happened to American engineering...................................
Putzmeister America Inc in Wisconsin. The German firm manufactured the equipment........................
Globalization ?
Sapporodenki
"Whatever happened to American Engineering?" Good example being perhaps Fukushima Daichi No.1. Has GE as a name tag. Cheers.
Salsero
Good one Sapporodenki. Anyone who wants to reminisce about American engineering, we're looking at it everyday at Daiichi...lol..Maybe Japan should have bought their nuclear reactors from Germany and then we wouldn't be in this situation today.
Carcharodon
looking at river beds and general construction projects in Japan, I used to say Japan had a philosophy: when in doubt - concrete. works elsewhere, Pray it works again.
tokyovistor
It is a good reason for Japan to place the giant monument on this highly-radiating factory.
Badsey
I am happy to see some concrete solutions being put forth. Japan could easily just concrete over the whole city of FukuShima and add a rail terminal, airport and super-highway. =These Putzmeister concrete pump behemoths are just what Japan has needed for a longtime.
Let the building begin and let's start pouring some crete.
romanshein
Mriya is not Russian, it is Ukrainian aircraft.
Sapporodenki and Salsero: I'm not a fan of GE but to be fair the technology used at the time is forty years old(or older). And then there is the issue of how the host country maintains the plant or changes the original specs. Anyway, there's enough blame to go around for all parties involved.
ChinaGirl
paulinusa I'm not a fan of GE but to be fair the technology used at the time is forty years old(or older)
And these reactors were scheduled to be decommissioned March 2011. How convenient. TEPCO will get bail-out money and doesn't have to pay compensation since the accident was caused by a natural disaster, supposedly. Instead of losing money for turning off reactors and building new ones TEPCO will get the bail-out money to pay for it all and more. Disaster capitalism.
Cynicarc
Thank You ChinaGirl!! One thing that hardly anyone has ever mentioned is that these plants were at the end of their life cycle when all this happened. People should not be using this event as reasons to scare people about the new technology being used for the latest nuclear reactors. That being said, TEPCO has dropped the ball on this one.
My idea of something being decommissioned is that there is no-longer maintenance required nor personal monitoring the state of the infrastructure, which to me says that if it was scheduled to be decommissioned in March, that they would have started the shutdown and cooling process as far back as November last year so that the removal of the substances could have been finished by the end of March. But they just tried milking those reactors for as long as they could, and ended up with this mess.
okapake
Wasn't it mentioned in a news article that TEPCO applied for and was about to given a ten year extension of the operation of Daiiachi?
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