Huge Blast at Japan Nuclear Power Plant

BBC ^ | 12 March 2011 Last updated at 08:44 ET | Richard Black

[CarryaBigStick]

Yes, initial reports said that all the reactors in the area scrammed automatically, but a scrammed reactor still has a lot of residual heat that needs to be removed or exposing the core to air is a risk if the water isn’t kept circulating. The backup diesel generators supplying power to the circulation pumps quit after a short time. No power to pump the cooling water...

[MsLady]

Ditto that!!!

[Fresh Wind]

If an earthquake causes a bridge to collapse, and someone is killed, does that mean that all bridges are unsafe and should be banned?

Just asking.

[dynoman]

Sounds like an aftershock was involved;

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031225-e.html

[LurkedLongEnough]

No one yet has mentioned Revenge of the Whales yet. Or Greenpeace. Whales + Greenpeace are behind it all, we just need to connect the dots.

[SteveH]

Tepco press release

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031225-e.html

Press Release (Mar 12,2011)
White smoke around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1

On March 11, 2011, turbines and reactors of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Station Unit 1(Boiling Water Reactor, Rated Output 460 MW) and
Unit 2 and 3 (Boiling Water Reactor, Rated Output 784 MW) that had been
operating at rated power automatically shutdown due to the
Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake.(already announced)

Today at approximately 3:36PM, a big quake occurred and there was a big
sound around the Unit 1 and white smoke.
Our two employees and two subcontract workers working for the safety of
the plant were injured and transported to the hospital.

We are presently checking on the site situation of each plant and effect
of discharged radioactive materials.

We will endeavor to restore the units and continue monitoring the
environment of the site periphery.

[TjBlacken]

Where would hydrogen likely accumulate in one of these old reactor designs? I thought only in the primary containment.

Looked like lots of concrete dust. If secondary containment and HEPA filtered ventilation is destroyed, look out downwinders. If that’s actually the case, the contamination (radioactive particles)...not ‘radiation’ is what should be feared, I would guess. Inhaled particles have got to be tough to deal with.

[faucetman]

Before everyone overreacts to this latest nuclear accident, which the facts are not known and is still ongoing, read about the truth of Chernobyl.

Have you seen the recent pictures of the new Hiroshima? While nuclear accidents or explosions are very serious, they are NOT the end of the world.

The anti nuke crowd will exploit this latest event to the max. The hype will be to the moon. Let us remain rooted in the truth with facts.

http://www.wonuc.org/xfiles/chern_01.html

http://www.wonuc.org/xfiles/chern_02.html

[DungeonMaster]

Don’t worry, nuclear power is perfectly safe. Windmills are dangerously noisy and dangerously unattractive.

[mellow velo]

The left is already pushing the anti nuclear power plant agenda so people can die near their 0 power windmills.

Right, because we all know that rows & rows of windmills (and solar panel farms, for that matter) would still be standing in the aftermath of a major earthquake and subsequent tsunami! /s

For people that are supposed to be "progressive", some of their ideas come right out of the stone age.

[RummyChick]

So let me ask this.

Evidently, Japan had warning that this quake could happen within a hundred mile radius within 72 hours of a quake in Honshu region March 9th which is where the Tsunami hit in Sendai on the 11th.

Could Japan have done anything to protect those reactors knowing that this could happen within 72 hours.

[NVDave]

About all they could have done is shut them down ahead of time and start cooling the core.

This would obviously have darkened a huge swath of Japan.

[ErnBatavia]

Rachel Madcow had a huge ‘wideon’ this morning while interviewing a handpicked nuke “expert”....absolutely orgasmic.

[RetiredArmy]

That depends if the Japanese government is as dedicated to lying as ours is.

The Japanese gov is on the phone to the Soviets right now to find out how to try to cover it up. Maybe learn a couple of things to lie and tell the world, no worries, nothing too see here, move on along.

[TjBlacken]

Rooted in fact:
Big bang at nuc plant... real bad, no matter the technical details.

If radioactive contamination spreads outside of primary and secondary containments...huge health concern for locals.

[chimera]

Yes, remember this is decay heat we are talking about. That is produced by the radioactive decay of fission products in the fuel. As the activity drops from the decay process, less heat is produced.

This is different than the Chornobil event, which was a rapid release of energy from an overpower transient. Thermal events evolve with slower time constants. This gives you time to try other things, like auxiliary cooling (if you can get it), shoring up containment, etc.

[jmacusa]

Will this wake up Godzilla?

[randog]

Thanks for verifying that CaBS.

[Jim Noble]

Well, it was predictable that the anti-nuke tree huggers would crawl out of the woodwork with their usual BS.

However, the events in Japan do raise an interesting question: Does the BWR design rely on uninterrupted electric power for safety?

There are lots of not-quite apocalyptic scenarios where the power goes off for a long time. In these scenarios, the uninterrupted supply of generator fuel is also not a given.

If loss of external power + fuel exhaustion leads to core melting, the design may not be as safe as I have believed.

[EBH]

Keep in mind this was a 40 year old plant. The redundant AC power system was overtaken by a tsunami wave(s).

As many want to say...should have thought about that...

40 years ago the risk evaluators would have looked at such a scenario as a very long shot.

Man verses Nature or Act of God.