Meltdown Likely Under Way At Japan Nuclear Reactor

[canuckamuck]

Just wondering if it's a problem to transport rods from the storage pools into other Nuke plants that are still functioning and have their cooling systems in the right order? At least if would eliminate some fuel that could release the radiation if the things get worse?

If you could find someway to also move a giant pool of circulating water at the same time. Otherwise they will burn on transport.

[elcent]

Just wondering if it's a problem to transport rods from the storage pools into other Nuke plants that are still functioning and have their cooling systems in the right order? At least if would eliminate some fuel that could release the radiation if the things get worse?

If you could find someway to also move a giant pool of circulating water at the same time. Otherwise they will burn on transport.

exactly!

.... and if they could move it where would they move it? Sending it out with a Spacellab would be the only save conclusion but is practically impossible.

[elcent]

Image of reactor unit 4

[StreetCowboy]

Just wondering if it's a problem to transport rods from the storage pools into other Nuke plants that are still functioning and have their cooling systems in the right order? At least if would eliminate some fuel that could release the radiation if the things get worse?

They can only be transported once they have cooled sufficiently, and then they are moved in flasks which is a major logistic and security operation. Sometimes the flasks are know to leak as well - happened when my cousin worked a sellafield.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Nuclear_flask

For the sake of a quiet family life I would have let that correlation pass unremarked...

SC

[webfact]

Small amounts of radiation detected in the water supply in Fukushima, Japan - Fuji TV via NBC News /RT @BreakingNews

[jfchandler]

Im out w the wife. Behave yourselves while Im out.

The French news and some of the other stuff about the No 4 pool temps is stuff from‎ yesterday.

the reactors are hot. U guys keep cool. :-)

[elcent]

over 100 000 children homeless in Japam.

[MikeyIdea]

http://www.surf-forecast.com/weather_maps/Japan

Good animated wind map of Japan showing what the wind is going to do the next 5 days, select wind forcast in the weather base map drop down and none as information overlay

At least wind is on the Japanese side

Edited March 16, 2011 by MikeyIdea

[elcent]

This was a villagebefore called Otsuchi

[elcent]

(All times are local in Japan GMT+9)

• Timestamp: 6:14pm
  Over the past couple of hours, military Chinook helicopters have been airlifting water to Fukushima nuclear power station.
  Water bombs have been dropped onto the site of the fire in reactor 4. But NHK says that the mission has been abandoned.

[bkkjames]

Army has aborted an operation to spray water on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant - NHK TV reports

[Shurup]

They can only be transported once they have cooled sufficiently, and then they are moved in flasks which is a major logistic and security operation. Sometimes the flasks are know to leak as well - happened when my cousin worked a sellafield.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Nuclear_flask

I understand they were cool enough as the roads from reactor 4 were in the cooling pond for a while and were placed there before the EQ and tsunami.

If you could find someway to also move a giant pool of circulating water at the same time. Otherwise they will burn on transport.

I also understand they still have to be cooled during the transport, didn't think it has to be a giant pool to transport a few rods at a time.

exactly!

.... and if they could move it where would they move it? Sending it out with a Spacellab would be the only save conclusion but is practically impossible.

Move it where? To the other Nuke plants (cooling ponds) that have their cooling systems running properly. There are plenty plants left in Japan that didn't experience any troubles.

[canuckamuck]

They can only be transported once they have cooled sufficiently, and then they are moved in flasks which is a major logistic and security operation. Sometimes the flasks are know to leak as well - happened when my cousin worked a sellafield.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Nuclear_flask

I understand they were cool enough as the roads from reactor 4 were in the cooling pond for a while and were placed there before the EQ and tsunami.

If you could find someway to also move a giant pool of circulating water at the same time. Otherwise they will burn on transport.

I also understand they still have to be cooled during the transport, didn't think it has to be a giant pool to transport a few rods at a time.

exactly!

.... and if they could move it where would they move it? Sending it out with a Spacellab would be the only save conclusion but is practically impossible.

Move it where? To the other Nuke plants (cooling ponds) that have their cooling systems running properly. There are plenty plants left in Japan that didn't experience any troubles.

I saw on one the clips here that the pool on reactor 4 may have as many as 8 reactors worth of rods in it, and some of those rods were just recently taken out of use.

[elcent]

Move it where? To the other Nuke plants (cooling ponds) that have their cooling systems running properly. There are plenty plants left in Japan that didn't experience any troubles.

Many rods are damaged and would set all the other fuel rods on meltdown.

[Chopperboy]

They can only be transported once they have cooled sufficiently, and then they are moved in flasks which is a major logistic and security operation. Sometimes the flasks are know to leak as well - happened when my cousin worked a sellafield.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Nuclear_flask

I understand they were cool enough as the roads from reactor 4 were in the cooling pond for a while and were placed there before the EQ and tsunami.

In many countries, the fuel assemblies are stored underwater for 10 to 20 years before being sent for reprocessing or dry cask storage. The water cools the fuel and provides shielding from radiation. Spent fuel rods generate intense heat and dangerous radiation that must be contained. Fuel is moved from the reactor and manipulated in the pool generally by automated handling systems.

[elcent]

(All times are local in Japan GMT+9)

• Timestamp: 6:17pm Japan's chief cabinet secretary has warned that while they're now dousing the plant with water, it has to be done with caution.
  
  We got advice from experts to spray water from above, but depending on the situation in the storage pool, we may cause some risk if we pour water in large amounts in a very short time. So we have to analyse the risks.
  
  

[elcent]

now while we'reat it. What about Iran, it is a country prone to strong quakes. Iran would keep it a secret and let nobody in? North Korea? Burma? China? ...

This should be the end of nuclear power plants.

[elcent]

1500 micro sievert outside the 20km radious were measured at 4pm local time

[Gaccha]

Thsi all reminds me of the uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction that occured at Tokaimura power station in Ibaraki around 1999.

I got on my motorbike and went to see the plant (seeing things that make it into the news is my hobby-- just as yours is fishing and sunbathing)...

Anyway, here is a nice chronology of the disgraceful work practices that led to an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction...

http://www.isis-online.org/publications/tokai.html

[MikeyIdea]

now while we'reat it. What about Iran, it is a country prone to strong quakes. Iran would keep it a secret and let nobody in? North Korea? Burma? China? ...

This should be the end of nuclear power plants.

Only if it is replaced with non-fossile fuel sources

History (not the next couple of years though) will probably show that nuclear power would have been a better choice for our grand children

But what we should do is of course to realise that we are slowly destroying the only home we have every time we start our car or turn the air-condition in our house on

Doesn't matter that I am against nuclear power, the options are even worse

[elcent]

(All times are local in Japan GMT+9)

• Timestamp: 6:54pm Al Jazeera's D.Parvaz (@dparvaz)blogs from Tokyo on how the Japanese are trying to move away from the path of radioactive winds - Read it here Trying to outrun radiation
• Timestamp: 6:49pm The crisis in Japan has hit the nuclear power industry worldwide, as governments order safety checks.
  Angela Merkel, German chancellor says all seven of the country's nuclear power plants which began operating before 1980, will be shut down for checks.
  She also confirmed that France and Germany have agreed to put nuclear safety on the G20 agenda.
  And the European Union is calling for so-called "stress tests" on all 143 nuclear reactors across Europe, in response to what the EU energy chief describes as an "apocalypse" in Japan.

[elcent]

[Chopperboy]

UN expert on chemical safety problems Valery Petrosyan prognoses that “If the wind is strong and blows to the west – that’ll be both Koreas and China, but if it’s a south-western direction – then Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar will suffer; or Indonesia and the Philippines, if in the south. Russia's Far East and Kurils are very likely to be in danger.”

[bkkjames]

1. World Health Organisation: No evidence of significant spread of radiation following leak at Fukushima 1 nuclear plant. http://bit.ly/hCH93i 13 minutes ago via SkyNews Alerts - Breaking
2. Reuters: Water being poured into reactors 5 & 6 at Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant. 19 minutes ago via SkyNews Alerts - Breaking
3. French nuclear safety agency says pool containing spent fuel rods in Fukushima 1 no. 4 reactor remains the "major concern". 28 minutes ago via SkyNews Alerts - Breaking

http://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak

[bkkjames]

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/16/fukushima-16-march-summary/

not the best quality image but gives you an idea of TEPCOs own status of the reactors.

[elcent]

1000 Millisievert are currently measured around the reactors. This is enough to get radiation sickness which will lead to death within weeks.

[elcent]

7:24pm Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas has reported from Osaka that "There are so many reactors that have been damaged at that one site.

"But what is worrying that there is now seems to be reactor number 3 is showing high levels of radiation.

"There is a very reserved anxiety, and many many people are leaving the country."

this god damned unit 3 as I was afraid from the very beginning. The one with plutonium.

Meanwhile children in South-Korea are being prepaired for ...

[elcent]

As I mentioned in an earlier post. Japan is on a mushroom like rock, which means when the meltdown sets in it will reach sea-water. What happens then and when?

[elcent]

[Chopperboy]

this god damned unit 3 as I was afraid from the very beginning. The one with plutonium.

Some experts say that should any leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant occur, the range of contamination of the atmosphere would be much worse than that produced by the Chernobyl disaster, regardless of the containment dome.

http://rt.com/news/nuclear-troubles-echoes-plant/

Edited March 16, 2011 by Chopperboy