[LurkedLongEnough]

Yes, we should help the Japanese drop sand on them from helicopters or something that would expose the volunteers as brief as possible. The actual situation is probably worse than they’re letting on, as well.

What about using liquid nitrogren to cool them? Would that evaporate even quicker though?

I’m praying for these people.

[Hacklehead]

“What about using liquid nitrogren to cool them? Would that evaporate even quicker though?”

You would not want to do that for alot of reasons, the main one being that LN2 would instantly turn to its gas form and spread radioactivity into the air. In addition, putting something that cold onto something that hot might cause the fuel rod cases to crack.

[GonzoGOP]

What about using liquid nitrogren to cool them?

That would be bad. The nitrogen would flag vaporize creating unimaginable pressure. BOOM. Besides the extreme cold would make all the pipes brittle. Also not a good thing in an area experiencing lots of aftershocks.

What they need is lots of water. When dealing with nukes water has so many desirable properties (it is particularly good at stopping radiation without becoming radioactive itself) that there really is no reason to use anything else. They just need more pumping capacity than what they have.

[EBH]

No, you’re trying to keep things from exploding and keep steam to a minimum.

That said this isn’t just straight sea water, keep in mind they are adding boric acid as they go to help cool and neutralize things too.

Since this has never been done on this kind of scale before, it will be interesting from an emergency planning standpoint to evaluate how much was mitigated by these actions.

Radiation from the rods is hazardous to the immediate area. Long distance hazards will be created by particulates in the atmosphere that electrons can attach too. Think steam/water molecules, but that water is boron treated too. How much it will mitigate is unknown in this situation.

I continue to admire the Japanese heroic efforts to mitigate a disaster.