Meltdown Likely Under Way At Japan Nuclear Reactor

[jfchandler]

NHK live broadcast has Cabinet Secretary Edano saying water injection continuing at Reactor 3, believes reactor vessel not breached, govt. trying to obtain radiation monitoring...

Says "low possibility" of "mass radiation" leak.

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

I must say, the NHK photo seems to show a lot more structural damage to the No. 3 reactor building...compared to the similar photos of No. 1 reactor after its explosion...

[webfact]

600 people remain inside 20km radium of Fukushima plant; officials say no majradiation release expect; reactor unlikely damaged /RT @mpoppel:

[webfact]

Inner reactor container reportedly intact after explosion at Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant - AP /RT @BreakingNews:

[jfchandler]

NHK's before and after comparison photos of the Number 3 reactor:

Live video still showing plumes of white smoke rising from plant structure.

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

NHK live report on Japan nuclear regulators holding news conference now, saying worker or workers injured at Reactor 3, ambulance called, TEPCO says...

Say very little wind at site now...but high levels winds blowing to southwest.

Say Edano comments on explosion based on discussion with TEPCO plant manager.

20 microSv of hourly radiation monitored... an amount that will not cause health damage.

"So we can say the amount is minimum."

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[Jdietz]

Tsunami warning cancelled. Apparently seismographs registered the explosion at the Daiichi #3 plant, triggering false alarm.

[bkkjames]

Japan nuclear regulators holding news conference now, saying worker or workers injured at Reactor 3, ambulance called, TEPCO says...

Say very little wind at site now...but high levels winds blowing to southwest.

Say Edano comments on explosion based on discussion with TEPCO plant manager.

high level winds to the southwest - that's south towards the major cities?

[jfchandler]

Another NHK before and after Reactor No. 3 photo:

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[StreetCowboy]

...

8>< SNIP NESTED QUOTES DELETED ><8

Doomed I tells ya! Doooooomed!

I asume the pressure vessels are domed

SC

[jfchandler]

TEPCO holding news conference live on NHK...

Earlier versions deleted...

Now saying six people injured in the explosion... those others reported missing earlier have been found. No more details on extent of injuries.

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[Jdietz]

@BreakingNews Fukushima nuclear plant was tested to withstand 7.9 quake, not 8.9 - wsj http://on.wsj.com/idd9Yo

ONE WOULD THINK YHEY WOULD HAVE A BACK UP SYSTEM TO KEEP THE WATER FLOWING IE GENERATERS.

Read back a bit... there are:

- Primary AC cooling system

- Secondary Diesel generators

- Tertiary backup batteries.

Quake damaged / forced reactors into shutdown, killing AC

Tsunami took care of the Diesel generators

Backup batteries had 8 hours life in them.

[StreetCowboy]

This excerpt from a long Wall Street Journal Monday update on the nuclear situation:

Japanese officials released no new information overnight about the Fukushima situation. But a foreign observer briefed on the situation early in the Japanese morning said reactor No. 3 remained critical, with about three feet of the fuel exposed. "The fuel is getting hotter and hotter," this person said.

The more of the fuel that is exposed, the hotter the fuel gets, converting even more of the coolant into steam, and worsening the situation, by exposing even more fuel to the melting and heating process, this person said. He described the crisis as proceeding like a freight train, that gathers momentum as the crisis continues.

A similar crisis in reactor No. 1 at the same nuclear power station appeared to be slowing, he said, but it is unclear if the crisis in reactor one is completely past.

The full article is here:

http://online.wsj.co...l?mod=asia_home

A poor choice of words, given the specific meaning of the word 'critical' in nuclear engineering.

I very much doubt the reactor remains critical, though it could be very bad.

As mentioned earlier, with the boron, and all the contamination from the sea water, and the control rods dropped, and the fuel over-temperature, the remaining problem is removing the decay heat from the fuel....

SC

[jfchandler]

Background from Kyodo News on earlier in the day developments at Fukushima:

The utility had been pouring seawater into the plant's No. 1 and No. 3 reactors to help cool their cores, which are believed to have partially melted after part of the fuel rods were no longer covered by coolant water when levels fell following the quake. The seawater injection stopped around 1 a.m. [Monday] due to the shortage of water left in tanks, but resumed for No. 3 reactor at 3:20 a.m., according to the nuclear safety agency.

The halt of coolant water injection apparently caused rising pressure in the reactor container and an increase in the radiation level at the plant, the agency said.

TEPCO at one point planned to release radioactive steam from the No. 3 reactor container to depressurize it and ordered workers to vacate the site. But as the pressure later lowered, workers resumed operations at the site, according to the agency.

[brahmburgers]

A short while ago BBC News reported #3 reactor had PLUTONIUM rods installed in 1999. Not sure whether that's in addition to instead of Uranium. Plutonium is more dire that Uranium.

People talk a lot about radiation leaks and such, but almost never talk about how radiation affects things. Here's my take on it, and you can comment to your heart's content:

Radiation affects atoms on atomic levels. It sort of jimmies or zaps them. Since all is made from atoms, it affects everything: not just humans, but all living things ......and all things, period. Even a reinforced cement wall will weaken if zapped with enough radiation. Of course, living cells are much more sensitive to radiation than cement walls. And reproductive cells (sperm and eggs) even more so - that's why even small doses of radiation can screw up reproduction results. Similarly, cancer is caused (at least partly) by normally functioning cells going awry. Radiation zaps cells in strange ways, which can lead to cancer. That's why we so often hear of various types of cancer showing up after people have been zapped by radiation. We never hear about plants or animals affected that way, because people only really care about people.

Incidentally: certain plant sprouts and wheat grass juice are helpful in allaying the affects of radiation. Is there any wheat grass juice in Thailand? No, but there's plenty of MSG and congealed pig's blood.

[Crushdepth]

Imagine if this happened in another country with nuclear power plants!

Yeah I can't wait for Thailand to get a few. Maintenance, planning, disaster preparedness...alai na?

[jfchandler]

A short while ago BBC News reported #3 reactor had PLUTONIUM rods installed in 1999. Not sure whether that's in addition to instead of Uranium. Plutonium is more dire that Uranium.

See this prior post from the BBC on the plutonium issue re Reactor No. 3

[jfchandler]

Reuters closeup photo of the No. 3 reactor prior to the explosion:

[jfchandler]

CNN Report:

An explosion happened late Monday morning at the Fukushima Daiichi's No. 3 nuclear reactor building, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano confirmed to reporters. The container vessel surrounding the reactor remains intact, Edano said, citing the head of the nuclear plant report.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed images of white smoke rising above the facility, which is in northeastern Japan. Citing the nation's nuclear and industrial agency, NHK said that a wall of one of the reactor's buildings had collapsed.

Residents remaining within 20 kilometers of the plant, despite an earlier evacuation order, have been ordered to stay indoors, according to Edano. The secretary added that initial reports suggested that radiation levels had increased after the blast, but Edano said he did not believe there was a massive leak, given that water continues to be injected into the reactors and that the pressure inside the reactor is "within a certain range."

[jfchandler]

Another live Edano news conference on the explosion...'

The container vessel has not been damaged... internal pressure in vessel based on measurements is stable..

As of 11:37 am, 50 microSv per hour was measured....NHK translator reports of Edano comments.

It shows there is no massive radioactive leakage...

The environment in the central control room is healthy

Plant manager on site confirms 6 people injured, none missing.

Edano says today's incident similar to prior one at Reactor No.1.

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

In a separate development, TEPCO delays planned first round of rotating power cuts.... due to lower power consumption on its system.

Still planning future cuts....

[webfact]

Japan chief cabinet secretary Edano: 6 people injured after explosion at Fukushima nuclear plant /RT @REUTERSFLASH:

[jfchandler]

NHK report:

6 injured in another Fukushima nuclear plant blast

What appears to be another hydrogen blast has occurred at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima. No damage to the reactor chamber has been reported, but 6 people at the plant have been injured.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says what it believes was a hydrogen blast occurred at 11:01 AM on Monday at the No.3 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The agency says it has so far observed no abnormal rise in radiation around the compound of the plant.

The agency has advised anyone remaining within 20 kilometers of the power plant to take shelter inside buildings as soon as possible. About 600 people are thought to be still in the area.

A similar hydrogen blast occurred at the No.1 reactor at the same plant on Saturday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that he has received a report that the latest blast has left the container of No.3 reactor intact. He said the likelihood of large volumes of radioactive materials being dispersed in the air is low.

Video footage shows that the top of the building housing the reactor has been blown off, as in Saturday's blast.

Fears of an explosion grew when the water level of the No. 3 reactor dropped, exposing fuel rods, and a reaction with the steam generated a large amount of hydrogen. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says that even if the top of the building has blown off, the reactor chamber will not be affected.

Monday, March 14, 2011 12:30 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/14_26.html

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[webfact]

Toyota says to halt all production in Japan until at least March 16 /RT @REUTERSFLASH:

[jfchandler]

Kyodo News:

Nikkei [stock index] tumbles 6% after explosion at nuke plant -- 12:37 14 March

Stock of Tokyo Electric [TEPCO] faces massive selling orders

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[bkkjames]

Military Crew Said to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call Risk in U.S. Slight

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 13, 2011

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The Pentagon was expected to announce that the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which is sailing in the Pacific, passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, causing crew members on deck to receive a month’s worth of radiation in about an hour, government officials said Sunday.

The officials added that American helicopters flying missions about 60 miles north of the damaged reactors became coated with particulate radiation that had to be washed off.

There was no indication that any of the military personnel had experienced ill effects from the exposure. (Everyone is exposed to a small amount of natural background radiation.)

But the episodes showed that the prevailing winds were picking up radioactive material from crippled reactors in northeastern Japan. Ever since an earthquake struck Japan on Friday, the authorities worldwide have been laying plans to map where radioactive plumes might blow and determine what, if any, danger they could pose to people.

Blogs were churning with alarm. But officials insisted that unless the quake-damaged nuclear plants deteriorated into full meltdown, any radiation that reached the United States would be too weak to do any harm.

Washington had “hypothetical plots” for worst-case plume dispersal within hours of the start of the crisis, a senior official said Sunday. The aim, the official added, was “more to help Japan” than the United States, since few experts foresaw high levels of radiation reaching the West Coast.

For now, the prevailing winds over Japan were blowing eastward across the Pacific. If they continue to do so, international stations for radioactive tracking at Wake or Midway Islands might detect radiation later this week, said Annika Thunborg, a spokeswoman for an arm of the United Nations in Vienna that monitors the planet for spikes in radioactivity.

“At this point, we have not picked up anything” in detectors midway between Japan and Hawaii, Ms. Thunborg said in an interview on Sunday. “We’re talking a couple of days — nothing before Tuesday — in terms of picking something up.”

Agencies involved in the tracking efforts include the World Meteorological Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which runs a global network of more than 60 stations that sniff the air for radiation spikes.

In the United States, the Departments of Defense and Energy maintain large facilities and cadres of specialists for tracking airborne releases of radiation, both civilian and military.

On Sunday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expected no “harmful levels of radioactivity” to move on the winds to Hawaii, Alaska or the West Coast from the reactors in Japan, “given the thousands of miles between the two countries.”

In interviews, some private nuclear experts called a windborne threat unlikely. Others urged caution.

“We’re all worrying about it,” said Robert Alvarez, a nuclear expert who, from 1993 to 1999, was a policy adviser to the secretary of energy, who runs the nation’s nuclear complex.

“It’s going to be very important,” he added, “for the Japanese and U.S. authorities to inform the public about the nature of the plumes and any need for precautionary measures.”

The plume issue has arisen before. In 1986, radiation spewing from the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine was spread around the globe on winds and reached the West Coast in 10 days. It was judged more of a curiosity than a threat.

Since then, scientists have refined their abilities to monitor such atmospheric releases. The advances are rooted in the development of new networks of radiation detectors, flotillas of imaging satellites and the advent of supercomputers that can model the subtle complexities of the wind to draw up advanced forecasts.

With the Japanese crisis, popular apprehension has also soared.

“Concern has been raised about a massive radioactive cloud escaping and sweeping over the West Coast,” said a recent blog, recommending whole grains and health foods for fighting radiation poisoning.

On another blog, someone asked, “Should I take iodine now?” That referred to pills that can prevent poisoning from the atmospheric release of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear plants that the Japanese authorities have identified as escaping into the atmosphere.

While federal officials expected little danger in the United States from Japanese plumes, they were taking no chances. On Sunday, Energy Department officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the agency was working on three fronts.

One main player is the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Officials said they had activated its National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center, which draws on meteorologists, nuclear scientists and computer scientists to forecast plume dispersal.

Separately, energy officials said the agency was readying plans to deploy two-person monitoring and sampling teams, if necessary. The teams would travel to consulates, military installations and Navy ships to sample the air in a coordinated effort to improve plume tracking.

Finally, the department was preparing what it calls its Aerial Measuring System. Its detectors and analytical equipment can be mounted on a variety of aircraft. Officials said the equipment and monitoring team are staged out of the department’s Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and are on two-hour call.

“We’re on top of this,” a department official said.

David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html?src=tptw

[jfchandler]

Interesting report James...

Earlier today in this thread, we also had media reports saying the elevated levels of radiation measured yesterday at the Onagawa nuclear plant, 120 Km away from Fukushima, now are believed to have been related to Fukushima emissions -- and not from the Onagawa plant itself.

Also, just fyi, I've been told that for copyright reasons, ThaiVisa's policy for U.S. media sources with whom they don't have republication agreements is to limit the direct content postings here to several paragraphs, and provide a direct web link to the full version of the article.

Edited March 14, 2011 by jfchandler

[Lopburi99]

You guys were right on about predicting this would/could happen to #3. Thumbs up!

Edited March 14, 2011 by Lopburi99

[webfact]

Japanese spokesman says no marked change in radiation level after reactor blast; control room remains intact - Kyodo http://bit.ly/f3aJP6

[webfact]

Seven people initially listed as missing in explosion at earthquake-damaged Japanese nuclear power plant on Monday have been located, nine people totally have been injured in blast: Jiji Press /MCOT