Breaking:Explosion at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi plant heard around 0630 GMT

reuters ^ | 3-12-11

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Just in:

Explosion at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi plant heard around 0630 GMT

NHK footage shows steam-like smoke coming from Tepco's Fukushima plant

[Freddd]

Yeah tell that to the 4 in the hospital who went through the explosion, trying to prevent the explosion.

[blueplum]

better to strip clothing outdoors, scrub, and then go indoors to fresh noncontaminated clothing

[Red Badger]

Well, at least now we all know that a light water reactor can go Chernobyl.....

[presently no screen name]

Now he’s saying - let’s wait for the press conference - I think he believes he doesn’t have the right info.

[J Aguilar]

Yes. The concrete of the external containment building is gone. However the iron scaffolding seems to hold in place.

Calm weather today there:

TOKYO WX
120300JST ISSUED AT 120700JST

SYNOPSIS
DEVELOPING LOW 1006HPA AT 37N 156E MOVING EAST 35KT
FORECAST POSITION FOR 130300JST AT 43N 173E WITH UNCERTAINTY OF 130
NM RADIUS
WARM FRONT FROM 37N 156E TO 37N 159E 36N 161E
COLD FRONT FROM 37N 156E TO 34N 153E 31N 150E
HIGH 1024HPA AT 33N 131E MOVING EAST 25KT

OBSERVATION REPORTS
120600JST
CHOSHI WNW 5KT CLEAR 1022HPA 2C 5NM
OSHIMA ENE 7KT FAIR 1021HPA 5C 20NM
HACHIJOJIMA WEST 11KT FAIR 1022HPA 7C 20NM

FORECAST
NORTHERN SEA OFF KANTO
REMARKS GALE WARNING CONTINUED
120700-122400JST
NW 35KT LATER SW 20KT
FAIR OCCASIONALLY CLOUDY
VIS 5 TO 10NM BUT 2NM OR LESS IN PLACES
SEAS 3METERS LATER 2.5METERS
130000-132400JST
SW 20KT LATER 25KT
FAIR OCCASIONALLY CLOUDY
VIS 5 TO 10NM
SEAS 2METERS

[MindBender26]

The outer, weather shell of the building is gone. If the containment was of the domed design, it is gone, too. If if is of the mushroom-flattop design, it appears to be Ok, or at least it may be Ok from pictures.

The problem is they cannot produce power for cooling water pumps from generators at plant, or get it in from outside plant.

This can lead to a cascading series of problems where 3 to 5 reactors are lost.

At Chernobyl, 1,2 and 3 remained stable when 4 blew. They stayed on grid. That is not the case here.

[Revel]

“#1 power plant blew away, hyper rescue sent, level of radiation around nuclear plant is 350 times of nature level.”

And what about the workers at the other troubled plant. Do they stay and get exposed, or do that abandon it and let it blow too? I think we can assume that it is still in need of manual attention.

[Tolsti2]

Yep. Needing backup power was never a good idea.

I’m sick by this now, and this will ruin nuclear power from now on. The damn thing entirely failed.

[Cementjungle]

I wonder if there’s a radiation detector app for my Android phone.

[Gator113]

You have my prayers and best wishes. You folks could sure use a break.

[justa-hairyape]

That was a huge explosion. Could have damaged the other reactors.

[ConservativeTeen]

Wish Fox would break away from their rerun of Red Eye to give us this news.

[rawhide]

Well at least the outer shell is gone. You can see some of the framework left. No telling how much damage the inner core received from the explosion? With the explosion happening the way it did, you would think it has been damaged.

[Williams]

From everything we are hearing on tv now, it sounds like they are in the soup. Does anyone have serious information on how far the effects of an explosion/ meltdown wil carry.

I know the materials will circle the globe, but in what concentration? Chernobyl was contained under that enormous concrete pile, and still contaminted a wide area. It’s too early I guess for any such operation here. How serious will effect be on the USA?

Japan is a small nation with a lot of people. Could we lose Japan in major part? Does the light water reactor distinction make a difference?

Just asking, hope this isn’t as bad as what it sounds right now.

[Freddd]

I can’t believe this has happened our American media isn’t even reporting on it now...

[Tolsti2]

I’m getting ready to see stuff in TX go up, this appears to be a full out-explosion that might make Chernobyl look like a joke.

[J Aguilar]

#1 was an older design. That seems to have some influence.

[ConservativeTeen]

Nevermind, it’s not a rerun, but still, they have had Breaking News breaks for news stories far less than this.

[Eye of Unk]

I had a dream I was running through a city escaping falling debris a couple days ago, all I was wearing was a sheet of plastic.

[justa-hairyape]

With the explosion happening the way it did, you would think it has been damaged.

An explosion of that magnitude had to at least affect the integrity of the internal containment vessel. Mass evacuations will probably happen soon. 25-50 miles wide.