Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

[Montanaro]

They don't really have much of na option, they don't have enough space to house enough solar panels or wind turbines to repalce their entire nuclear energy supply, which currently provides 1/3 of the power needs.

Going back to fossil fuel burning won't be popular, as efficient, or a long term solution.

They will surely look to upgrade their safety features though. The electric company has already admitted the buildings that house the reactors are not earthquake proof.

Good point

but once in the 60s we (usa) nuked some underwater point in the pacific, radiating all sorts of tuna. Japanese harvested these tuna (who are known for their long distant travels) and many Japanese became sick. Caused a pretty big political split.

Certainly many Japanese will look at this situation very carefully.

 

[Jake]

FFS i wish i could use a keyboard properly, reading back my own quotes makes me look like a right ***.

 

[ajt09]

FFS i wish i could use a keyboard properly, reading back my own quotes makes me look like a right ***.

How many people haven't had that moment lol

How long will it take before they realise roughly, how serious the situation is roughly? Hours, a day?

 

[Mike.]

How many people haven't had that moment lol

How long will it take before they realise roughly, how serious the situation is roughly? Hours, a day?

depends on if/when they can get close

jake, know the feeling .

 

[Jake]

I usually correct my typo errors, but people quote me too fast!

They can't really tell how serious it is as it's a constantly escalating situation. All they can do is give updates on whats happening. But they themselves don't fully know what is happening as many of the instruments have been damaged, this is why they don't know immediately when coolant levels drop. Currently they are only able to react to developments rather than spot them early enough to do something proactively, because they aren't getting the help from instrumentation that an undamaged reactor and it's safety equipment would give.

It took months of investigation after stabilising the reactor at 3 Mile Island to work out what went wrong and even longer to quantify the damage and finally say how serious an event it was.

 

[ajt09]

I usually correct my typo errors, but people quote me too fast!

They can't really tell how serious it is as it's a constantly escalating situation. All they can do is give updates on whats happening. But they themselves don't fully know what is happening as many of the instruments have been damaged, this is why they don't know immediately when coolant levels drop. Currently they are only able to react to developments rather than spot them early enough to do something proactively, because they aren't getting the help from instrumentation that an undamaged reactor and it's safety equipment would give.

It took months of investigation after stabilising the reactor at 3 Mile Island to work out what went wrong and even longer to quantify the damage and finally say how serious an event it was.

so its a nightmare then basically. Because the biggest weakness that instruments don't have is fatigue. The people there will be pretty burnt out by now surely.

 

[Jake]

Well they are manually pumping in seawater and boric acid to act as an emergency coolant, as long as they are doing that at a constant rate, eventually the cores will cool, and the reactors can be stabilised. They don't need all the indicative instrumentation to pump the coolant in, although it would help to identify any possible leaks, which there are feared to be in at least one reactor.
The problem is that the pumps keep either failing or are getting damaged by the explosions that are occuring from the venting of Hydrogen. These failures lower the amount of coolant, which causes heating and possible melting of the core, meaning more super heated steam is produced, this breaks down into Hydrogen, which then must be vented, risking explosion, and coolant pump damage, it's a vicious cycle.

 

[Mike.]

Well they are manually pumping in seawater and boric acid to act as an emergency coolant, as long as they are doing that at a constant rate, eventually the cores will cool, and the reactor can be stabilised. The don't need all the indicative instrumentation to pump the coolant in, although it would help to identify any possible leaks, which there are feared to be in at least one reactor.
The problem is that the pumps keep either failing or are getting damaged by the explosions that are occuring from the venting of Hydrogen. These failures lower the amount of coolant, which causes heating and possible melting of the core, meaning more super heated steam is produced, this breaks down into Hydrogen, which then must be vented, risking explosion, and coolant pump damage, it's a vicious cycle.

sounds like they are starting to fight a losing battle...

 

[ajt09]

Certainly sounds like its a losing battle. But the effort they've made so far, I am going to remain positive until it's officially a lost battle. What they've achieved so far under the circumanstances is pretty remarkable

 

[GodCubed]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12740843

^ BBC link for the latest blast. Grim reading.

Tokyo Electric officials say that one hour of exposure at the nuclear plant would be equivalent to eight times at what a person might experience naturally during the year.

 

[IanC]

BBC reports from Japan meltdown is possible.

 

[Athe~]

I feel so powerless sitting on a chair readin while there are people working their balls off in a nuclear plant trying to avert yet another disaster. I don't know how I'd react in such a situation, but I really wish there was something I could do.

 

[markodragojevic]

How do you mean meltdown???

 

[IanC]

I would like to be in one of the international search and rescue services. Might have to do a bit more research into it tonight to see what you have to do to qualify. I know there is International Rescue (not Thunderbirds).

 

[Jake]

How do you mean meltdown???

Well the fuel rods in all 3 reactors have been exposed at various points and for various amounts of time due to the coolant systems failing.

Whenever coolant is not present, the fuel rods beign to heat up and will eventually melt. It is widely accepted that some melting has probably already occured. Melting isn't a massive problem unless the containment vessel is damaged, and breaking reports suggest the containment vessels of one of the reactors may be damaged.

 

[IanC]

How do you mean meltdown???

It is what happens when the reactor has over heated.

EDIT see Jake's comment above.

 

[Jake]

Breaking news reporting a fire at reactor 4, which was previously reported as being offline and safe...

 

[Mike.]

Breaking news reporting a fire at reactor 4, which was previously reported as being offline and safe...

oh FFS, isnt there any good news?

 

[Zebedee]

oh FFS, isnt there any good news?

Only if they get this fire in the reactor building under control (it's not a reactor fire). That's going to spread **** all over the shop - onsite they're now reporting readings of 400 millisieverts per hour as a result of this fire spreading radioactivity from the spent fuel rods in that area. Three hours without protection in that **** will pretty much guarantee a nasty case of radiation sickness. On the plus side, it's still only that high in a relatively limited area with just a few metres away from that radioactivity only a tenth or so of those levels.

 

[Jake]

Well the fuel rods in all 3 reactors have been exposed at various points and for various amounts of time due to the coolant systems failing.

Whenever coolant is not present, the fuel rods beign to heat up and will eventually melt. It is widely accepted that some melting has probably already occured. Melting isn't a massive problem unless the containment vessel is damaged, and breaking reports suggest the containment vessels of one of the reactors may be damaged.

Just to clarify, melting of the fuel rods, if allowed to continue unchecked, ie if coolant wasn't restored quick enough, IS a major problem:

The risk comes if the fuel rods melt and then sit in the bottom of the containment vessel and begin a secondary nuclear reaction, which will reheat everything and begin melting everything around the radioactive material. The radioactive material will then bore a hole through everything in its path, eventually findng its way into the outside environment.

---------- Post added at 07:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 AM ----------

BBCrolling news hasn't updated for almost an hour now. oO)