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March 18-Fukushima Reactors Live Thread

Posted on 03/18/2011 4:47:13 AM PDT by hc87

Please post links and comments on Fukushima reactors here.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fukushima; japan; japanearthquake; kukushima; reactors
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To: All

More from my friend on newer designs:

“One important point I neglected to make: The problem of aux generators being down is unique to Generation-II nuclear plants, such as this elderly GE installation. The Generation-III and Generation-III+ plants currently being installed, such as the AP1000s at Vogtle, DO NOT suffer from dead power at the site.

The Gen-III/III+ power units have passive cooling systems designed in. If everything has gone down, the reactor is still able to maintain cooling flow, with no pumps running. Coolant runs on gravity and convection. The diesel generators were seen as a weakness decades ago,
and have been designed out of the safety systems for the newer reactors.

Gen-II reactors are considered obsolete, and they will retire as their design lives play out.

For that matter, Gen-III reactor designs are somewhat obsolete, and Gen-IV reactors, with further safety enhancements, are being developed.

All small, modular reactor designs currently seeking licenses have passive cooling features.”


41 posted on 03/18/2011 8:33:19 AM PDT by fred2008
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To: listenhillary

I think your post deserves its own Thread....I tried posting a thread yesterday about Rescue (probably now Relief/Recovery) and it wasn’t much read....but, maybe we should post one thread a day.....the hundreds of thousands displaced humans are getting lost in the Nuclear Reactor issues.


42 posted on 03/18/2011 8:42:01 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Unlike the West, the Islamic world is serious.)
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To: goodnesswins

Never mind...it’s already been put out on its own thread.


43 posted on 03/18/2011 8:44:49 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Unlike the West, the Islamic world is serious.)
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To: goodnesswins

Someone has posted a thread. I’d post the link, but I need to go.


44 posted on 03/18/2011 8:45:00 AM PDT by listenhillary (Social Justice is the epitome of injustice.)
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To: thackney

bttt


45 posted on 03/18/2011 8:45:25 AM PDT by Matchett-PI ("Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Tax " ~ Gagdad Bob)
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To: Delta Dawn

Well, the truth has to fulfill scientific rules, therefore we have been knowning whether they were telling the truth or not.

And yes, secretary Edano and NHK TV were telling the truth well beyond what the Western media has been doing.

Fuel tanks for the generators were moved by the tsunami 300 meters inshore. The buildings were flooded and the switching devices damaged. The Japanese did a great job controlling and cooling the reactors. Hot spots on the upper part of the fuel rods in the reactors #2 and #3 may have been melted, but as it happened in the TMI accident, there was enough water to cold down these pieces and leave them solidified on the bottom of the reactor.


46 posted on 03/18/2011 8:45:36 AM PDT by J Aguilar (Fiat Justitia et ruat coelum)
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To: Lady Heron
I am probably wasting time on semantics, but the fuel assembly is not the reactor. The fuel assemblies, some of which are likely partially melted, are still contained in the reactor. The reactor's are designed to continue to contain them, even if melted into a puddle in the base of the reactor.

There is release of hydrogen from intentional venting of the reactors to relieve pressure. And there is probable damage to the unit #2 pressure control ring, the torus or wet well, which also released hydrogen.


47 posted on 03/18/2011 8:49:11 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer (biblein90days.org))
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To: J Aguilar

Let’s hope it only gets better from here.


48 posted on 03/18/2011 8:49:59 AM PDT by Delta Dawn (The whole truth.)
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To: fred2008

I would not trust anything General Electric says or anything they make. Slimy company. Friends of Hussein.


49 posted on 03/18/2011 9:01:10 AM PDT by Frantzie (HD TV - Total Brain-washing now in High Def. 3-D Coming soon)
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To: Frantzie

Okay but that’s not GE talking. That’s a nuclear physicist explaining reactor design improvements. He doesn’t work for GE either.


50 posted on 03/18/2011 9:09:52 AM PDT by fred2008
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To: thackney
Look, not going to argue with you just repeating what has been reported said by gov. and plant officials. They themselves at differing points during this whole mess have said partial meltdown has probably occurred, yes, contained in the containment vessels but even then they think one of those is cracked.

I am not being mindless here or fear-mongering...but repeating what has been said. Going too far either way...into mindless fear or stupid poohing all is under control is crap either way. You can only deal with what is being said at this point and try and understand it.

And if the panic other gov. officials have shown in the last few days does not get your attention that something very bad is or has been happening then nothing will.

51 posted on 03/18/2011 9:55:38 AM PDT by Lady Heron
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To: Delta Dawn
I have to believe that the US govt had parts and assets within 2 hours of that plant that could and should have had those generators up and running before any of this got out of hand.

I've been asking precisely this question for days and was blown off as a fear-mongering kook.

52 posted on 03/18/2011 10:06:29 AM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica (Insane, Corrupt Democrats or Stupid, Spineless Republicans - Pick America's poison.)
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To: fred2008

Thanks for information in #37 and #41. Filed away for ongoing reference.


53 posted on 03/18/2011 10:09:56 AM PDT by lonevoice (Where the Welfare State is on the march, the Police State is not far behind)
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To: Grumplestiltskin

Although if you read the article, they aren’t weighing “doing it”, so much as they are discussing how that would be one possibility for the future that they cannot rule out yet.

Even the title is less suggestive than “weigh burying”; the title of the article is “Japan weighs NEED to bury nuclear facility”.

Right now, it appears the only substantively uncontained nuclear material is the spent fuel rods which are not normally contained when first removed (they are put in water to cool down, and then later moved to another pond to cool down, and then encased in dry storage).

Simply encasing those isn’t a good idea, because they will just keep heating up and break containment — that’s why they go through the cooling process with water.

If not damaged, they can be moved around, so they could be dropped into a new holding tank built somewhere else on site if necessary. But if they are damaged, I would guess the radiation would be too high to remove them from water to move them.


54 posted on 03/18/2011 10:27:07 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: hc87

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2690864/posts


55 posted on 03/18/2011 10:44:36 AM PDT by hc87
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To: thackney
The reactors are not melting down. The fuel rods have overheated due to loss of coolant but the reactor is still intact and inside the containment.

People are confusing the "SPENT STORAGE POOL" with the word "REACTOR".

The spent pool has to be kept full of water to keep the rods from overheating & melting. The reactors are not the problem, the pools are. They rods in them, in a perfect situation, are covered in about 40 feet of water at all times. If there is a leak in the pool, then the water they are putting in is leaking out, exposing part of the rods.

56 posted on 03/18/2011 10:47:42 AM PDT by blondee123 (Japan in MAJOR CRISIS & ZERO PARTIES ON! IMPEACH HIM!)
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To: Delta Dawn
I have to believe that the US govt had parts and assets within 2 hours of that plant that could and should have had those generators up and running before any of this got out of hand.

I will give you the assertion that the USA (Obama) could have and should have given large portable generators to the site even if TEPCO or Japan refused them. We have heavy lift capacity and a lot of military muscle to get material anywhere in a short amount of time.

That said, I seriously doubt 2 hours was possible. More like 24 to 48 hours. Certainly by Wednesday following the disaster. That TEPCO had to build a temporary power line that was hooked up a full week after the disaster is amazing. The Japanese and USA (Obama) governments really were lax in their duties on this. Primarily the Japanese government, but I think Obama should have imposed US assistance on this.

Remember how Obama flew to Copenhagen and imposed himself into a meeting where he was not welcome and commited the USA to all kinds of green BS to stop the "global warming disaster"? Well, here is a real emergency and Obama filled out his NCAA tournament chart instead.

Obama isn't shy, he just didn't see this as a priority.

57 posted on 03/19/2011 11:54:19 AM PDT by SteamShovel ("Does the noise in my head bother you?")
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