Posted on 03/14/2011 1:45:20 PM PDT by americanophile
Japan has asked the US for help to stop a quake-damaged nuclear reactor plunging into uncontrollable meltdown. The plea comes after a second hydrogen explosion occurred at a nuclear plant where officials warned that three nuclear rods in a cooling-starved reactor appeared to be melting.
Plumes of grey smoke billowed into the air after the blast at the Fukushima Daiichi plant's number 3 unit, injuring 11 people.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano confirmed the fear of rods melting inside all three of the site's most troubled reactors.
"Although we cannot directly check it, it's highly likely happening," he said.
Officials insist the inner reactor's container remains intact - but concern was raised when number 2 unit's fuel rods were left fully exposed by a falling cooling water level.
Workers managed to raise water levels after a second drop on Monday night, but they began falling for a third time, according to nuclear agency official Naoki Kumagai.
Specialists are now considering spraying water directly on the hermetically-sealed container in an attempt to cool it.
The former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Sky News that the status of the faulty reactor may deteriorate even more.
"I think the situation is still very, very grim - we are by far not over the worst," Olli Heinonen said.
Harvard-based Mr Heinonen said it is now important for US expertise to be employed to minimise the risk of a catastrophic failure.
"They are the best people to know their (reactors') behaviour, particularly when you go into this phase and assess the consequences."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
That was before the orders to make Muslim's and other to feel better about themselves. Now you press 1 for Arabic, 2 Spanish, and 9 in order to get an English speaking interpreter.
For all who have been looking for realtime radiation data from Japan, you are in luck. Or maybe not, as the data unfortunately indicates nothing good. The System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) releases gamma radiation data online. The site is jittery and apparently not suited for major traffic which is why we represent several screen captures of the data. While it is not surprising that according to the website both Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are entirely “Under Survey” as it makes sense that the government does not want to generate panic, SPEEDI has disclosed some tell-tale data about cities in Ibaraki prefecture, which is just a hundred or so miles north of Tokyo, and is just south of the ill-fated Fukushima prefecture. And the data is stunning: based on a N, NE and NNE wind direction (where it originates), meaning all coming from Fukushima, with a normal reading in the 80 nGy/h range, the city of Kounosu Naka is at 3,024, Kadobe Naka is at 2,416, Isobe Hitachioota is at 1,213 and many others are in the mid to upper triple digit range! Again, this is based on wind coming out of Fukushima and ultimately headed toward the capital. Indicatively, normal terrestrial plus cosmic gamma radiation is about 80 nGy/h.
Below we present screencaptures as of moments ago, as apparently the Japanese government seems to believe that abnormal gamma radiation levels are perfectly notmal:
A map of all prefectures, showing maximum gamma radation readings. Note Ibaraki at 3,024 nGy/h, and Kanagawa right below it (and downwind) at 224 nGy/h compared to low double digts for all other prefecture.
(more at link)
back in August of 10
The scattering of the fuel into the atmospher is what caused Chernobyl to be the disaster it was. Keep it in place, the reaction has stopped, all they need to do is get the cooling process completed. The efforts have been failing short of being completed, but each one has incrementally cooled the core.
Well, Japan’s secrecy and sealed mouths during most of this nuclear crisis is partly to blame for all the hysteria. I would like to think that a country with one of the top economies in the world would have the ability to call out for help within hours of the reactor problem. They certainly have the P.R. capability to usher a spokesman to a podium and report the situation to ease the minds of millions of worried people. This is not a Third World country, but they’re acting like it. A nuclear meltdown is not something you can wish away with steamed rice and a palm pilot. To me they are displaying some of the same selfishness and arrogance we saw in the 40’s. That’s just how I see it. Sorry if it comes off as insensitive.
LMAO....
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet.
He is a Buddhist monk and doesn’t live in Japan. He lives Tibet, a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas.
He is hardly a muslim.
It’s a disgrace if we didn’t offer and they had to ask. Some “citizen of the world” Obama turned out to be.
There will be a small amount that will be atomized enough to become airborne. The vast majority will simply be scattered around the area. Maybe for a mile or two (who knows). We're talking tons and tons of material here.
A carefully sized conventional explosive would produce an insignificant amount of fallout compared to what would be generated by a vaporizing mass of uranium and plutonium.
What may happen anyway, is a low level explosion of the reactor once enough fuel has melted together.
That and the top feet of the rods were made of graphite.
Basically the dam place had no containment. It was simply a reactor inside of a building.
I managed to explain this Japanese reactor to someone pretty simply. This reactor is a boiler. Instead of fire tubes, there are rods in there carrying the nuclear fuel. The boiler is made of stainless steel and its within a thick concrete vessel, and then outside of that, the building. Below that, there is a containment place built, that if it should ever happen, the melted crap can run down and spread out, which aint gonna happen.
These people think this SOB is going to blow up like a nuke bomb and level the whole GD earth.
Other countries need to step up.I feel for those people but there are so many people in this country who are going without.How much money can we possibly send,when Americans are going hungry and are one paycheck away from being homeless?
Oh no, please, let it be above his pay grade. The last thing we need is him helping.
If we send anybody, it needs to be refinery and plant experts plus maybe oil well specialist from Texas and Louisiana and etc.
He is the 19th hole.
"Engrish" is pretty well understood by most Japanese.
They are generally quite well educated.
I doubt the language barrier is very difficult to overcome.
You’re right. Obama doesn’t have a clue and doesn’t care. These real, crucial world issues, to which the U.S. has always been first responder, just get in the way of the agenda dearest to the liberal heart: gay marriage, First Couple lectures vs. school bullies, dictating the American diet and so forth.
Once those are addressed, it’s time to phone ya buds and shoot some hoops.
Isn’t this a old GE reactor? Have they said anything yet?
Zer0 isn’t going to substantively respond...there is a difference between Shinto, Taoism, et al vs. Islam. For him, there is only ONE.
Isn't the reactor, encased in a steel wall AND a concrete wall (within the outer building), missile-proof?
No you are not appearing insensitive.
But when something goes wrong “inside the fence line,” often times the management themselves contribute to the confusion. Sometimes by speaking too soon...without all the facts.
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