Posted on 03/17/2011 10:39:24 AM PDT by milwguy
The media as usual is Waaayyy behind the curve. To anyone with a basic understanding of what is going on in Japan, it is obvious containment has been lost at a minimum of three reactors, #1,#3, and #4. The ability to restore electricity and cooling (doubtful due to the damage of the explosions) to the reactors does not change the fact that radiation is leaking from the site in vast quantities.
The Russians in sense had an easier problem to deal with because the reactor blew up, spewing a lot of the fuel asemblies and radioactive stuff hundreds of meters from the plant. The reaction kept going, but it was only at one plant and a lot of the fuel was ejected by the explosion, not 3 or 4 like in Japan......The Russians (and I think the Japanese) only solution was to entomb the destroyed reactor and building that housed it.....Here is how they had to do it................
The designing of the sarcophagus started on May, 20, 1986. Subsequent construction lasted for 206 days, from June to late November of the same year.[2] The first task before construction started was to build a cooling slab under the reactor to prevent the hot nuclear fuel from burning a hole in the base. Coal miners were called up to dig the necessary tunnel below the reactor and by June 24, 1986 four hundred coal miners had built the 168 metre (551 ft) long tunnel.[4] When the building became overly radioactive it became impossible to directly screw down the nuts and bolts or apply any direct welding to the sarcophagus, so this work was done by robots.[1] The seams of the sarcophagus, however, were not properly sealed. The entire construction process consisted of eight stages: clearing and concreting of territory around reactor unit 4, erection of initial ferro-concrete protective walls around the perimeter, construction of separation walls between units 3 and 4, cascade wall construction, covering of the turbine hall, mounting of a high-rise buttress wall, erection of supports and installation of a reactor compartment covering and finally the installation of a ventilation system.
More than 400,000 m3 of concrete and 7,300 tonnes of metal framework were used during the erection of the sarcophagus.[2] The building ultimately enclosed 740,000 m3 of heavily contaminated debris inside,[1] together with contaminated soil.[4] On October 11, 1986 the Soviet Governmental Commission accepted "Conclusion on Reliability and Durability of a Covering Constructions and Radiation Safety of Chernobyl NPP Unit 4 Reactor Compartment".[5] The sarcophagus has over 60 bore holes to allow observation of the interior of the core.[6] In many places the structure was designed to have ventilation shafts to allow some convection inside.[6] Filtration systems have been put in place so that no radioactive material will escape through these holes.[6]
The situation is actually 10 million times worse than this. At least.
Look below your thread at the next thread down.
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NEI Japan Reactor Update - UPDATE AS OF 11:35 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, MARCH 17:
Nuclear Energy Institute ^ | 11:35 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, MARCH 17
Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2011 12:38:56 PM by FreedomPoster
UPDATE AS OF 11:35 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, MARCH 17:
Fukushima Daiichi The reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are in stable condition and are being cooled with seawater, but workers at the plant continue efforts to add cooling water to fuel pools at reactors 3 and 4.
The status of the reactors at the site is as follows:
Reactor 1’s primary containment is believed to be intact and the reactor is in a stable condition. Seawater injection into the reactor is continuing.
Reactor 2 is in stable condition with seawater injection continuing. The reactor’s primary containment may not have been breached, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and World Association of Nuclear Operators officials said on Thursday.
Access problems at the site have delayed connection of a temporary cable to restore off-site electricity. The connection will provide power to the control rod drive pump, instrumentation, batteries and the control room. Power has not been available at the site since the earthquake on March 11.
Reactor 3 is in stable condition with seawater injection continuing. The primary containment is believed to be intact. Pressure in the containment has fluctuated due to venting of the reactor containment structure.
TEPCO officials say that although one side of the concrete wall of the fuel pool structure has collapsed, the steel liner of the pool remains intact, based on aerial photos of the reactor taken on March 17. The pool still has water providing some cooling for the fuel; however, helicopters dropped water on the reactor four times during the morning (Japan time) on March 17. Water also was sprayed at reactor 4 using high-pressure water cannons.
Reactors 5 and 6 were both shut down before the quake occurred. Primary and secondary containments are intact at both reactors. Temperature instruments in the spent fuel pools at reactors 5 and 6 are operational, and temperatures are being maintained at about 62 degrees Celsius. TEPCO is continuing efforts to restore power at reactor 5.
Fukushima Daini All four reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant have reached cold shutdown conditions with normal cooling being maintained using residual heat removal systems.
Get ready.
Soon as some freepers read that, expect name calling, poo pooing and comments of stop panicking.....
They do it any time a fact is presented.
We are told we are 1 number under Chernobly, yet 4 are in peril and 3 leaking radiation, that didn’t happen at Chernobyl, yet if anyone comments on it, they call you names and say you are panicking...
Dr. Robert Zubrin:
“The reactors in question were all shut down four days ago. The control rods have been inserted, and the cores have been salted with boron. It is physically impossible for them to sustain a fission reaction of any kind at this point, let alone cause another Chernobyl. Only the fission-byproduct decay heat remains, and it is fading fast as the short half-life material... performs its decay reactions and ceases to exist.” It is at this point as likely that the reactors could melt down as a car with an empty tank and all four tires stripped could win the Indy. “
If we had believed the media last summer re the oil spill, the entire planet would now be under six feet of oil.
When you have a left-wing media that has an agenda of shutting down the nuclear power industry in the US and the rest of the industrialized world (Iran and Venezuela, no problem ... they can build all the nukes they want), that reaction is entirely appropriate.
And reactor 4?
Indeed. In fact the radiation destroyed all life on the planet 48 hours ago, and caused a rift in the space-time continuum. We're currently caught in a time-bubble in the rift, but as soon as it closes, were all scr
There wasn't even fuel rods inside the reactor in #4. The problems there are in the spent fuel cooling pond; no reactor containment issues at all.
The reactors are not the issue, the COOLING POOLS containing spent fuel rods are. The reactor has two levels of defense, the 6 inch thick steel reactor vessel and the 3 foot thick concrete and steel containment structure around the vessel. The cooling pools, while less volatile have no such protection, and that is where the leakage of radiation and melting of fuel rods is most likely occuring.
Reactor #3 was fueled with the MOX fuel rods in February, meaning some of the spent rods have only been out of the reactor a month or so. Very hot and dangerous for months.
Notice the TEPCO release intentionally downplays the cooling pools and highlights the reactor progress. The fact they mention helicopter and fire truck spraying should be a tip to you that they are fools. The helicopter drops accomplish nothing (watch on video if you do not believe me), and the fire trucks could not get close enough to get water where it was needed. The trucks only have an effective range of 30 meters (100ft). The trucks had to withdraw due to high radioactive readings.
I read something about 140 hours being a critical time to get the rods submerged before they get out of hand. This morning I watched live as the TEPCO guys said the mission today was critical for reactor #3. By all accounts they failed, we will see what happens next.
I misstated. Not the reactors but the buildings have lost containment and the water in the cooling pools is gone in one or two of the buildings. The bigger issue will be the cooling pools not the reactors, I have been saying that for awhile now.
The NYT and ABC are way ahead of you.
IBTRC
In before the rift closes.
Here is a nice link of live coverage of the event from Japan. They just admitted radiation level at ENTRANCE to the facility is 292 microsiverts per hour, and the fire trucks sprayed water AT the plant for less than 30 minutes. The trucks could not get close enough to get water on the cooling pool and had to be withdrawn due to high radioactivity....
http://globaltravelerinternational.blogspot.com/2011/03/nhk-tokyo-japan-live-tv.html
Just curious, have you ever worked at a nuclear facility?
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