New fission suspected at Japan nuclear plant(reactor #2, xenon 133,135 detected)

Agence France Presse via Google ^ | 11/01/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

New fission suspected at Japan nuclear plant

(AFP) – 17 minutes ago

TOKYO — The operator of Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said Wednesday it feared nuclear fission had resumed within one of its reactors despite a shutdown.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it had begun injecting water and boric acid into Reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which began leaking radiation after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

"We cannot deny the possibility of a small nuclear fission reaction," TEPCO spokesman Hiroki Kawamata said, adding that the injection was a precautionary measure.

He said there was no fresh danger at the plant, as the reactor's temperature and pressure, as well as radiation levels at monitoring posts, showed no substantial changes.

Fission is the process by which an operating nuclear reactor produces power.

The reactor automatically shut down in the wake of the disaster but nuclear fuel is believed to have melted through its container onto the bottom of the outer vessel when the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems.

[TigerLikesRooster]

IIRC, xenon is usually used as a confirming evidence that a nuclear test was conducted.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[TigerLikesRooster]

I am sorry that I forgot to write down a name of the news link, letting a long ugly url-link to appear instead.

My apologies.

[knarf]

Can’cha just walk away and the thing would melt a hole into the center of the earth?

[Razzz42]

Thanks for posting.

Nuclear power, the gift that keeps on giving.

[Admin Moderator]

No problems. I added the source for you.

[blueplum]

what are the chances “we’ve” created an entirely new isotope ?

that is, the original material: high-grade plutonium, cooked at high temps with, oh, say, residual boric acid breakdown byproducts, plus seawater goodies, and heavens knows what else mixed in the molten soup as far as composition of the reactor core metals themselves, and, voila - a new isotope??

[TigerLikesRooster]

If so, we already have a ready available name for the new isotope: Godzillium

[Art in Idaho]

Any new reliable data on how much of the radiation reached the US, levels, isotopes, etc? Have to admit I've been avoiding doing any research on it. Good ole' denial.

[WVRockDJ]

Ok, you got me. I laughed. :-)

[MindBender26]

At Chernobyl, in the aftermath of the exlposion in #4, one of the biggest problems was the long-duration national sense of despair and depression.

Are you detecting any of that there?

[TigerLikesRooster]

I think it is gradually setting in. Ordinary Japanese have been discovering lately that gov refused to tell the real extent of the damage. Still, gov goes about it without any sense of urgency or swift decisive action. They started to feel helpless because, on their own, there is not much they can do.

On top of long-running economic stagnation and growing public debt, this will add another layer of heavy burden of intractable problem on a large scale. I don't know if such a feeling keeps them demoralized and despair or it will cause them to lash out externally. There is another lingering problem: the prospect of powerful aftershock approximately within a year of last one. It appears that it is not purely an academic matter.

[=8 mrrabbit 8=]

Posted just an hour ago...come one folks...simply scrolling the page a dozen links will show you that.

=8-)

[TigerLikesRooster]

I heard there are some monitoring going on in West Coast by civilian groups.

[justa-hairyape]

Related Free Republic post.

TEPCO finds sign of fresh nuclear fission at Fukushima reactor

[chimera]

The latest evidence is that it is not from criticality, but spontaneous fission from curium-242 and curium-244, which are normal byproducts of the irradiation of uranium fuel. More jumping to conclusions on the part of the purveyors of FUD. Spontaneous fission is a normal decay mode for various heavy nuclei, including uranium and plutonium.

[chimera]

There is no such thing as “high-grade” plutonium. Plutonium is graded based on its 240Pu content. The most common classifications are weapons-grade, fuel grade, or power reactor grade. There is the so-called “supergrade” plutonium, which is only used in Navy weapons. MOX fuel makes use of power reactor grade plutonium, which has the lowest “quality” because of the presence of 240Pu.

[chimera]

The latest evidence is that it is not from criticality, but spontaneous fission from curium-242 and curium-244, which are normal byproducts of the irradiation of uranium fuel. More jumping to conclusions on the part of the purveyors of FUD. Spontaneous fission is a normal decay mode for various heavy nuclei, including uranium and plutonium.

[chimera]

Sorry for the double post. I forgot about an open posting window.

[J Aguilar]

Is TEPCO now telling the truth?