Posted on 03/14/2011 6:39:05 AM PDT by Lil Flower
TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - Nuclear fuel rods at a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear reactor are now fully exposed, Jiji news agency said, quoting the plant's operator, Tokyo Eletcric Power Co .
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
they are pumping salt water to keep this from meltdown
I’m guessing that this is a bad thing, but Reuters doesn’t feel the need to really say so.
I’m checking NHK World Live TV Tokyo now... http://bit.ly/idutY6
“Nuclear fuel rods fully exposed at Japan reactor”
IF that’s true there is another disaster looming. It won’t be long before those rods meltdown unless they get sand or water on them.
I’ve been hearing this from KFI radio this morning. What the heck does this mean? Rods exposed?
Should one worry about exposure on the west coast of America? Sorry if I sound paranoid but I am pregnant and know very little about nukes.
I heard this am that they could not pump in the seawater fast enough to cover the core. It was evaporating.
LOL. Not laughing at the situation but at the lack of information from Reuters. Great, the rods are exposed, but what the heck does this mean and what are the consequences?
Preparing for a multitude of Freepers to show and post there is no danger in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Yes, we should help the Japanese drop sand on them from helicopters or something that would expose the volunteers as brief as possible. The actual situation is probably worse than they’re letting on, as well.
What about using liquid nitrogren to cool them? Would that evaporate even quicker though?
I’m praying for these people.
The article by the MIT guy should be required reading. He explains the situation very well. This is NOT Chernobyl II.
Tepco says water levels have risen, and the fuel rods are now only half-exposed.
Tepco says it has opened the steam relief valve at Daiichi’s no.2 reactor.
No expert, but I used to work at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Glen Rose, Texas. Basically you insert the rods into the reactor to slow down the fission reaction, and withdraw them to speed up the fission reaction.
Kind of impressive thinking how much energy that is considering all the control rods are in place and this is the residual heat, just a tiny percentage of what it puts out when operating normally.
What I can’t figure out is how they keep things from cracking and breaking when you start dumping cold sea water on something that hot, the contractions in size alone must have a lot of very close tolerance equipment moving all over the place.
He is a PhD Scientist, whose father has extensive experience in Germanys nuclear industry.
It also contains serveral errors as pointed out in other threads on FR.
If there is a radioactivity release bad enough to affect you on the West Coast, you will know about it days in advance and have time to take action.
Sorry, I mis-typed. Control rods are inserted to slow the reaction. I failed to notice in the post above that they are talking about fuel rods. My error.
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