Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Huge Blast at Japan Nuclear Power Plant
BBC ^ | 12 March 2011 Last updated at 08:44 ET | Richard Black

Posted on 03/12/2011 7:32:41 AM PST by SteveH

Huge blast at Japan nuclear power plant

12 March 2011 Last updated at 08:44 ET

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

The word "meltdown" goes to the heart of the big nuclear question - is nuclear power safe?

The term is associated in the public mind with the two most notorious accidents in recent memory - Three Mile Island, in the US, in 1979, and Chernobyl, in Ukraine, seven years later.

You can think of the core of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), such as the ones at Fukushima Daiichi, as a massive version of the electrical element you may have in your kettle.

It sits there, immersed in water, getting very hot.

The water cools it, and also carries the heat away - usually as steam - so it can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity.

If the water stops flowing, there is a problem. The core overheats and more of the water turns to steam.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bwr; fukushima; japan; radiation
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 last
To: randog

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...


41 posted on 03/12/2011 8:44:52 AM PST by CarryaBigStick (My office is an Airtractor 402)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Georgia Girl 2

Ditto that!!!


42 posted on 03/12/2011 8:46:16 AM PST by MsLady (Be the kind of woman that when you get up in the morning, the devil says, "Oh crap, she's UP !!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

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.


43 posted on 03/12/2011 8:48:18 AM PST by Fresh Wind (TOTUS knows how to give a speech. Obama knows how to read.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

Sounds like an aftershock was involved;

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


44 posted on 03/12/2011 8:49:41 AM PST by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marylin vos Savant)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

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.


45 posted on 03/12/2011 8:52:40 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dynoman

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.


46 posted on 03/12/2011 8:58:23 AM PST by SteveH (First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: macquire

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.


47 posted on 03/12/2011 9:00:10 AM PST by TjBlacken
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

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


48 posted on 03/12/2011 9:01:58 AM PST by faucetman (Just the facts ma'am, just the facts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

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


49 posted on 03/12/2011 9:07:17 AM PST by DungeonMaster (My dad put his arm around me like that once, to this very day he wears orthopedic shirts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kindred
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.

50 posted on 03/12/2011 9:13:14 AM PST by mellow velo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: NVDave

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.


51 posted on 03/12/2011 9:19:24 AM PST by RummyChick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: RummyChick

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.


52 posted on 03/12/2011 9:22:23 AM PST by NVDave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: kindred; SortaBichy

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


53 posted on 03/12/2011 9:24:32 AM PST by ErnBatavia (It's not the Obama Administration....it's the "Obama Regime".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: omega4179
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.

54 posted on 03/12/2011 9:25:43 AM PST by RetiredArmy (The Lord Said It and I Believe it. Read your Bible. These are the end time events.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: faucetman

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.


55 posted on 03/12/2011 9:28:07 AM PST by TjBlacken
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Boardwalk
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.

56 posted on 03/12/2011 10:07:49 AM PST by chimera
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: MediaMole

Will this wake up Godzilla?


57 posted on 03/12/2011 12:42:33 PM PST by jmacusa (Two wrongs don't make a right. But they can make it interesting.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: CarryaBigStick

Thanks for verifying that CaBS.


58 posted on 03/13/2011 4:48:50 AM PDT by randog (Tap into America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: SteveH
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.

59 posted on 03/13/2011 4:55:23 AM PDT by Jim Noble (I'd crawl over broken glass for her. Alea iacta est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Noble

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.


60 posted on 03/13/2011 5:08:47 AM PDT by EBH ( Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-60 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson