Posted on 03/23/2011 1:09:44 PM PDT by AwesomePossum
...black smoke was seen rising at the No. 3 reactor building...surface temperatures...have topped the maximum levels...high-level radiation amounting to at least 500 millisieverts per hour was detected...
(Excerpt) Read more at english.kyodonews.jp ...
Countdown to ‘radiation is actually good for you’ posters showing up.
You can be pro-nuclear power and be terrified of this
#3 is the one with the MOX fuel rods. They contain Plutonium and other nasty stuff.
But don’t worry. Haven’t you heard? Radiation is good for you.
Paging Ann Coulter LOL
The cleanup is going to be hard. The guys are going to have to be rotated out regularly to avoid radiation buildup. So imagine trying to build an office building where you had to fire and rehire your crew every week. Nothing impossible or end of the world, but it is going to be a long messy and extremely expensive cleanup. Piled of course on top of the massive damage done to the rest of Northern Japan.
So........How do you introduce cooling water back into a superheated nuclear mass without an expolosion? I would think you would have to first boil the water into superheated steam (400 to 600 degrees) and then gradually throttle back the steam temperature once the heat absorption from the nuclear material settles the steam climb at an upper limit line to begin cooling from.
Any smart folks out there who can idjucate me would be appreciated.
No problem, anyone who says there is anything to be concerned about is a crazy panic-filled nut. Meltdown? Pleeeasesee...
No you cannot. Be terrified and die. That is when you have REAL problems, being terrified is the last thing you can afford. Then you’ll die.
The fact that you entertain and promote terror makes you (1) a person looking for thrills, or (2) a terrorist.
Which are you?
TEPCO’s track record does not inspire confidence.
Amazing how problems seem to occur simultaneously at the different reactors — like some kind of nuclear Jungian Synchronicity. Almost reminds me of spooky entangled photons /way out comment
LOL, They really started crawling out from under their computer desks as soon as things settled down a bit...
A bit more news like the above, and you'll hear crickets again.
FYI (jest in case): WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!
Fear-mongering kills. Get that through your pin head.
Is Shep Smith still hyperventilating and talking about all the “could happen... might lead to...” stuff?
Not schmart folk here but the cooling pools aren’t enclosed like the boiler. Yes, the water would initially flash off but most or all of the rods in the pools are partially covered anyway. P.S. Interesting statistics you gave about the amount of volume expansion and explosive potential in an enclosed system.
You add it under pressure?
I wonder the same thing. I assume they're introducing it to the superheated areas slowly enough that the expansion can take place slowly enough to be safely contained.
Hell, I don't add cold water or oil to an overheated car engine, much less to an overheated reactor core.
I also assume that the amount of water they are able to "sprinkle" down from firehoses and whatnot is not contained, since the buildings are open, so while they'll get vapor expansion, it's happening in free air, essentially.
But I'm not there, and I'm not an expert... just a guy with a 35-year old physics degree... who wonders the same thing.
“Hey sis, long time no see,”
“Say, I didn’t know you had implants”
They are dealing with several situations that confused the public.
1. The primary containment, the reinforced concrete building that houses the reactor was never breached. Pressure from that is vented into the sheet metal and structural steel building on top of the reactor. That is where the hyfrogen ignited after it was vented.
2. The reactor vents into a torus, larged water filled structure, which reduces pressure.
3. The spent fuel pools, stainless steel lined concrete, which are outside the primary containment and which are probably now exposed have been the target of the helicopter water drops and the water from the fire engine deck guns.
4. In this country both the reactor, RPV, and the steel lined reinforced containment buildings are ASME pressure vessels.
Given the situation, seems like water (maybe mixed with boron or other chemicals to stop or slow down the reaction) is their only and best way to cool things down, and venting (radioactivity-filled steam) is their controlled way or reducing the resulting pressure instead of having the roofs blown off more reactor buildings by hydrogen explosions and damaging other components in the process
They have just been dumping seawater into the buildings and refilling the fuel storage pool. Steam and pressure must be better choices than not cooling as fast as possible
These heroes at this facility just seem to be dealing with choosing a bad choice or chancing a worse choice
My grandmother cracked an engine block once years ago by spraying it with cold water after it overheated to cool it off.
Seems a lot of people would kind like to understand the answer to the question you proposed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.