Reactor Core #3 Is Probably Damaged; Radiation May Increase; Japan Advises Locals To Flee

TBI ^ | 3-25-2011 | Gus Lubin

[blam]

FUKUSHIMA: Reactor Core #3 Is Probably Damaged; Radiation May Increase; Japan Advises Locals To Flee

Gus Lubin
Mar. 25, 2011, 4:18 AM

Reactor core #3 is probably damaged, Japan's nuclear safety agency said Friday following the hospitalization of several plant workers yesterday.

Elevated radiation could be coming from a damaged reactor core or from cooling water. Either way radiation could increase.

Spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told a press conference: ''At present, our monitoring data suggest the (No. 3) reactor retains certain containment functions, but there is a good chance that the reactor has been damaged," according to Kyodo. The government is also considering bailing water out of reactor #3.

The government encouraged Japanese living within 18 miles of the nuclear plant to leave voluntarily.

There have been various reports that Japan is considering upgrading the crisis from 5 to 6 on the nuclear crisis scale.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to address the nation within hours.

Shares of plant-operator TEPKO dropped another 2.4% in Tokyo, after plunging 14% the previous day.

[mad_as_he$$]

Burying them without gaining control of cooling would just make it worse.

[NRG1973]

Burying them without gaining control of cooling would just make it worse.

Why so?

[mewzilla]

Meanwhile....

EPA: Some West Coast Radiation Monitors Not Working Properly

If the admin gets caught lying about what's making it over here, even if the levels are harmless, God help them.

[mad_as_he$$]

If a reaction continues uncontrolled the heat and pressure would build and then there would be a serious explosion. In the unlikely event they get enough concrete on top of the reactor to contain such an explosion it would go out the bottom and reach the ground water and or the sea. The reaction has to be shut down with a mediating agent such as graphite and lead. BTW it is my firm belief that the operator(s) significantly underestimated the secondary reaction rates in Unit 3. They thought that when they inserted the rods it would cool in 48 hours like a “normal” reactor. Clearly the MOX fuel caused the secondary reaction to run unabated.

[PapaBear3625]

they aren’t trying to save the plants, they sacrificed them when they started dousing them with sea water. They don’t know what to do. If it were as simple as pouring concrete on them, it would already be done.

You CAN'T pour concrete on them yet. You have to cool them off first. Concrete is a thermal insulator. If you put concrete around it, the inside will get hotter and hotter.

[coaltrain]

Much ado about nothing.

[RC one]

This is going to end badly I think. I hope I’m wrong. It seems pretty hopeless though. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

[ZX12R]

[Siena Dreaming]

Correct.

[Errant]

WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!

Pass it on (jest in case) ...

[Buckeye McFrog]

Stop fiddling around trying to save their precious plants - over the safety of people.

I thought these plants were due to be decommissioned in a year or so anyhow, so why try to save them? In any case they'd certainly be toast after a couple of weeks of being doused with seawater.

[Larry Lucido]

We need to entomb the sun.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Even Chernobyl wasn’t “encased” in concrete, there are boreholes into the core, and they have filtering and cooling; and that one had already blown up.

[CharlesWayneCT]

They still don’t know where the water came from, and they don’t think the water from the reactor itself could have gotten to where they think the workers were; other speculation is that this was contaminated by the spent fuel pool.

Still adds complexity, because they have to collect this water (which from one source has 3.9 million of some measurement I didn’t recognize, compared to 3.1 in the seawater — a million times more). They have to filter it, clean out the radiation, and then handle the radioactive waste. They obviously can’t let open pools of highly contaminated water sit around.

[Defend Liberty]

Anyway, my son (PhD physics), is presently living in the LA area and said that he's not worried about any radiation from this incident but does take comfort in having the potassium iodide. So....

Your son is certainly more learned in this subject than me. I fully admit I could be completely incorrect, however that little voice in my head keeps telling me there is at least a possibility radiation levels could increase in the U.S. so long as the radiation keeps spewing from the nuclear plant.

[chessplayer]

Cue the “radiation is good for you” contingent.

[chessplayer]

“Japan reactor core may be leaking radioactive material, official says”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html

[maine-iac7]

When I suggested they just dump concrete on ‘em, like Chernobyl - you said “You CAN’T pour concrete on them yet. You have to cool them off first. Concrete is a thermal insulator. If you put concrete around it, the inside will get hotter and hotter. “

You’d better tell them quick - ;o)

“TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese engineers conceded on Friday that burying a crippled nuclear plant in sand and concrete may be a last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release, the method used to seal huge leakages from Chernobyl in 1986.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/japan-nuclear-plant-_n_837596.html