Posted on 03/12/2011 2:10:04 AM PST by jmcenanly
No problem. It’s an easy mixup to make since the two nuclear power plants have the same name (Fukushima). The only way to tell the difference is the number, and since the number is not written in English here, it is hard to tell which power station they’re talking about. This gets even more confusing since their are multiple reactors at each of these two power plants with numbers as well. For instance, Fukushima I-1 refers to Fukushima power plant 1 Reactor 1, where as Fukushima II-1 refers to Fukushima power plant 2 Reactor 1.
They explain in Tokyo now... http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ watch LIVE
Indeed, misunderstanding...they are indeed close in proximity and name...see:
http://www2.jnes.go.jp/atom-db/en/general/atomic/ke02a13/info_g.html
Fukushima Daini is in better shape apparently.
NHK World now clarifying No 2 power plant area, Fukushima Daini, is still under a 10km evac zone, it was not extended to 20km.
Nuclear power—it never was or will be anything more than a giant game of Russian roulette.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ (live)
When something terrible happens at a fossil fueled plant, or elsewhere in its fuel supply chain, it doesn’t get a lot of news.
To quote NASA in the first shuttle disaster, "obviously, a major malfunction.."
Not that way.
When a reactor shuts down, needs some cooling for days. All ten reactors were shut down, however, the cooling systems in the older units failed due to the fact that the tsunami had damaged the auxiliary power plant.
Injecting water is a way of cooling the reactor, however, the steam generated has to go somewhere. If everything else is damaged, one option is to keep it into the containment building. Probably the building could not whitstand the pressure and broke up.
The systems were tackling the problem, but the plant is too old and too damaged.
“When something terrible happens at a fossil fueled plant, or elsewhere in its fuel supply chain, it doesn’t get a lot of news.”
When fossil fuel plants threaten to release isotope poisons which will contaminate large swatches of the earth for generations, they will get lots of press.
It was a 40 year old unit that has sustained Japan biggest earthquake and a tsunami minutes later.
Japan needs independece for their energy sector, and only nuclear power can give them that.
Appears to be another building, not the reactor.
One, there are zero reports of containment loss.
Two, the meltdown hasn’t yet been confirmed.
Three, it’s not been confirmed that it was the plant that exploded.
It is an open secret that fossil fuel burning sends out a pretty fair amount of radioactive material. It’s not dramatic like the failure of a nuke which creates a small, intensely hot spot.
All commonly used forms of energy carry dangers and risks.
What blew in that photo was, I believe, some relatively inert, mostly non radioactive gases (with a little radioactivity mixed in). Apparently as a result of the great heat in the cooling-less reactor vessel. Whether it melts through, and to where it goes after that, isn’t known yet.
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