Radiation Levels Surge Outside Two Nuclear Plants in Japan

Foxnews.com ^ | 3/11/11

[socialism_stinX]

TOKYO – Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake. Thousands of residents were evacuated as workers struggled to get the reactors under control to prevent meltdowns.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/japan-issues-emergency-nuke-plant-leak/#ixzz1GLApKL9w

[soycd]

>Apparently the loss of the backup/emergency diesel generators to the tsunami left them with only 8 hours of battery-powered cooling. Not enough.

Maybe I’m oversimplifying things but why not deliver a bunch of portable generators to pump the cooling water?

[sionnsar]

I am not sure why when the control rods go in hydraulically that the plant cannot be shut down. I realize it is still hot but would expect that within a few hours that the plant could be totally shut down.

Quantify "few": From what I read it is only 24-48 hours. Is three weeks "few"? Might depend upon what you're dealing with.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Did you happen to catch the caller to Mark Levin who was a nuclear engineer or scientist? It was pretty revealing. He discussed to containment units that these ones in Japan seem to have. Chernobyl didn’t have one.

[sionnsar]

Maybe I’m oversimplifying things

Oversimplifying? AHAIK you are Square On Target, soycd!

[lonevoice]

The word “devastating” seems an understatement. I keep crying while watching as the news get worse. This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.

[Jeff Winston]

Lord, please place your hand on the situation in Japan; let a regional or worldwide disaster be averted.

[ElenaM]

The plants are on the coast that was just decimated by the tsunami. How to get stuff there would be a logistical nightmare. It wouldn’t be just generators but the fuel to run them and other items as well. Not to mention that those kinds of materials are in high demand in a wide swath of destruction.

That’s my guess. Easier said than done.

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

it sounds like the pumps were damaged.

I suspect that the pumps are running on battery power, which will inevitably run out....I think that's the problem.

[Clay Moore]

Assuming you can get firetrucks to the scene, get hard suction hose to draft water, keep the intake clear of debris, and keep fuel coming to the truck. Most trucks in the US will draft about 1500 gallons per minute. I have no idea how much they would need.

[2harddrive]

WHY can’t they just pull the fuel rods from the core? Shut DOWN the reaction?

[2harddrive]

Some idiot will probably blame the earthquakes on the fracking of shale gas and oil wells in the US! They will demand an ONSHORE drilling “moratorium”, to go along with Herr Obama’s offshore drilling ban!

[Clay Moore]

My guess is the tsunami filled the APU engine cylinders and crankcase with water. If they were running at the time, they may well be non salvageable due to hydro-lock.

[GonzoGOP]

WHY can’t they just pull the fuel rods from the core? Shut DOWN the reaction?

Nukes don't have an on/off switch like that. First you don't' pull the fuel rods, unless you want to get real radioactive. You drop control rods that absorb the free neutrons and stop the reaction. But the reaction doesn't just stop. You stop say 95/97 percent right away but the rest is going to take the better part of a day to shut down. And even 5% of the heat of a reactor will melt it if it isn't cooled. And you have a lot of residual heat to get out while that happens.

They scrammed the reactor at the time of the earthquake. Now they are just trying to keep the coolant running while the remaining head dissipates.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Amen.

[poobear]

...And When There are Two or More Gathered in My Name...

May God Bless All of You.

Amen.

[Bean Counter]

That is precisely my point. The possibility of a major problem at one of these plants is in fact remote, repeat, remote. They declare an emergency a lot quicker than they ever used to, and these evacuations are a lot more precautionary than the news reports would have you believe.

The media is playing these problems for all they are worth. I listened to a correspondent on TV today basically talk a nuclear spokesman into saying that a meltdown was possible, when clearly they are nowhere near that point.

I still caution people from buying into the “sky is falling” mode that the MSM is in.

[Scythian]

DRUDGE HEADLINE :

'HOURS' TO PREVENT NUKE MELTDOWN

[Whenifhow]

TWITTER Nuclear power plant attempts to save plant STOPPED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upkD8OCrE9Q

JAPAN RADIATION ALERT! Thousand FLEE LEAK ZONE! It WILL follow the jet stream!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHmoEG_hEs0&feature=player_embedded

[rahbert]

All the boron moderator will do is soak up the neutrons and stop the reaction. the heat is still
in the core and will warp it if it gets too hot. if the
control rod holes are warped scramming won’t be possible.
They could dump powdered/liquid moderator directly into
the vessel as a last resort. the people tasked with doing that would be national heros giving their lives for their
country, like the reactor watch on K-19.