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Japan Asks US To Help Stop Reactor Meltdown
Sky News ^ | March 14, 2011 | Sky News

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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; japan; japanearthquake; melt; meltdown; nuclear; obama; obamafailure; phonecall
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To: meyer

From my understanding Fukushima 1 is a GE reactor from the 70’s. I would assume that it is not the only one in use in the word of similar design. Most of our plants are form the same era and may very likely have the same reactor in them.


81 posted on 03/14/2011 2:31:20 PM PDT by matt04
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To: StAnDeliver
“Mobilize! Send the flotilla, gather the experts, spare no expense!

To do what? I know we can do a lot to pick up survivors and bring in food and supplies in the tsunami zone, but at the reactor unless you can provide real help sending in a bunch of people just adds to the number you might eventually have to evacuate. This isn't a third world country. Their people are every bit as good as ours. Actually since they have better engineering schools some are probably better than ours.

These people have been our friends for the last 40 years, and that’s how you treat a friend.”

I get that but are we just sending in men to "Do Something" or is there actually some unique ability that we can bring to the emergency at the reactor. If not there are thousands of other places up and down Japan's northern coast where we can make an obvious positive contribution. I'm not being overly dramatic when I say people are dieing up there. They need food, shelter, water, transport and medical services. All of those are things we can do something about. But at the reactor I just don't see what we bring to the table. There will never be enough resources to deal with all of the individual tragedies going on in Japan today. We need to send ours where they can do the most good.
82 posted on 03/14/2011 2:32:04 PM PDT by GonzoGOP (There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
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To: Fido969

There’s a big, big difference between saying “there’s no problem at all,” and saying “every living thing on the planet is not actually all doomed.”


83 posted on 03/14/2011 2:32:48 PM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: americanophile

"Three strikes for them and 18 holes for me.
They are not Moslem, not an enemy of
natural born Americans, and not my people."

84 posted on 03/14/2011 2:33:14 PM PDT by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: ArmstedFragg

I really feel the human tragedy there, and it’s unfathomable.

But you know, I’m so far up here in the mountains of Maine that my biggest worry is: what is this going to do to the price of gas for me?


85 posted on 03/14/2011 2:33:22 PM PDT by Fido969 ("The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax." - Albert Einstein)
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To: KansasGirl
Did somebody call???


86 posted on 03/14/2011 2:34:42 PM PDT by mentor2k
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To: Fishtalk

Didn’t the reaction stop when the control rods were dropped?

That’d be of concern.


87 posted on 03/14/2011 2:34:47 PM PDT by ArmstedFragg (hoaxy dopey changey)
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To: NVDave

Hey Dave, I have it on pretty good authority that we geared up and had generators leaded etc and were ready to help but the Japanese moved their own in. I also believe that several airports(of any size to the plants) nearest have been destroyed. That means sticking them on a barge and bringing them in. But the Japanese must have solved the power problem if they can pump seawater now.


88 posted on 03/14/2011 2:34:56 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: americanophile

Obama will send teams of lawyers just as soon as he can figure out who to sue.


89 posted on 03/14/2011 2:36:41 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: StAnDeliver
Entombment. Sand and concrete. Gotta get on it now before you lose the containments.

They're not going to lose the containment. This is a western-designed reactor, remember?

The reason they had to dump sand and concrete on Chernobyl is because it had NO containment at all.

90 posted on 03/14/2011 2:37:09 PM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
Too many of us think we understand the complexities of nuclear power plants when in fact we don’t. That includes the media..

Agreed and for those who worked in the field all we're getting fed through the media is misinformation and in many cases inaccurate and error riddled information.

These guys need support be it personnel to relieve those who have been going without sleep since the earthquake on Friday, be it reliable generators, be it pumps, boric acid, filtration, or fuel.

If these babies are melting down this is going to take a few weeks...not a few days.

91 posted on 03/14/2011 2:37:22 PM PDT by EBH ( Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.)
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To: americanophile
He's WAY too busy! Call back later ...

U.S. President Barack Obama signs a screen showing Duke Ellington during a visit to Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia March 14, 2011. Obama wrote, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!"', a reference to a Duke Ellington composition. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

92 posted on 03/14/2011 2:38:34 PM PDT by maggief
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To: Errant

Under no condition should a reactor be bombed. That will pulverize the fuel and disperse it into the atmosphere.

This is what happened at Chernobyl. The steam lines ruptured and pulverized the reactor. Then the coolant caught fire and smoke carried radioactive fuel particles up into the atmosphere.


93 posted on 03/14/2011 2:40:57 PM PDT by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS OUR PRESIDENT!)
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To: Red Badger

He’s probing the 19th hole.


94 posted on 03/14/2011 2:41:01 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Errant

The reactions stopped when the units were scrammed on Friday. What you are dealing with now is the residual heat and the daughter’s breakdown.

There’s nothing to blow-up and stop.


95 posted on 03/14/2011 2:41:17 PM PDT by EBH ( Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.)
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To: Windflier

Know what? We agree on something! LOL.

I have been keeping up with a Woman, on another thread, that said it was a shame on us that we hadnt delivered more than 1500 pounds of rice before the day before yesterday...or something like that.

I mean..JHC! What? We now need to station ships all over the GD globe in case of a disaster?


96 posted on 03/14/2011 2:41:19 PM PDT by crz
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To: DManA

There’s no ‘bright side’ to the prospect of three nuclear reactors melting down.


97 posted on 03/14/2011 2:42:35 PM PDT by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: americanophile
I'm very skeptical of this whole “meltdown” deal. This could be designed to make Obama look like a nuclear scientist if there is no “meltdown”.

Glenn Beck has put it in simple terms of what's happening with the nuke plant and it appears that George Soros and The Tide's Foundation are behind some of the scare.

98 posted on 03/14/2011 2:45:24 PM PDT by tobyhill
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To: americanophile

The people that built this reactor are either dead or too old to do much good. It was built in 1970.


99 posted on 03/14/2011 2:46:20 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: americanophile

Let’s hope this isn’t above Barry’s pay grade.


100 posted on 03/14/2011 2:46:38 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
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