Third Reactor at Fukushima Nuclear Plant Explodes

ABC ^ | March 14, 2011 | DAVID MUIR AND JESSICA HOPPER

[gandalftb]

There was a new explosion Tuesday morning at a reactor the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and the company that runs the plant said water may be leaking from the reactor.

Half of the rods inside the reactor were not immersed in water and the suppression pool, which holds the water used to keep the rods cool, seemed to be damaged, according to Tokyo Electric Co. and government officials.

The level of radiation also rose around the reactor, but a government official said there was no danger.

"The radioactive level near unit 2 has gone up, but at this juncture, the level is not judged to be immediately harmful to human bodies," said Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman in the prime minister's office.

The blast is the third at the plant in the three days since a powerful earthquake struck Japan on Friday.

[LibLieSlayer]

Naw... some of us are reading and shaking our heads.

LLS

[Palladin]

“We had to wait 5 years to learn that TMI had suffered a significant partial meltdown.”

Precisely why we cannot believe anything told to the press by the managers of TEPCO, the company that owns and operates the plants.

TMI’s owners got their PR people on it immediately. The word that went out to the public was—”We were twenty minutes away from a meltdown.”

[little jeremiah]

I don’t know what the last nuclear incident was. It’s pretty clear the situation is really serious; don’t know if the die hard “the Titanic is NOT sinking” crowd will admit it.

[Aevery_Freeman]

To give some perspective

Extremity (arm, leg, etc) Xray: 1 mrem
Dental Xray: 1 mrem
Chest Xray: 6 mrem
Nuclear Medicine (thyroid scan): 14 mrem
Neck/Skull Xray: 20 mrem
Pelvis/Huip Xray: 65 mrem
CAT Scan: 110 mrem
Upper GI Xray: 245 mrem
Barium Enema: 405 mrem

μSv = 0.1 mrem
8217 microseverts = 821.7mrem

Of course, the workers have protective gear and training

[Varsity Flight]

Anyone yet seen a live camera phone or camcorder of the actual inside of these reactors/plants currently?

Isn’t it interesting that with all the cell phones, cameras, DVDs, phone cameras, that none seem to be piping live current pictures of the event conditions? Workers with live cell-camera phones in hi-tech Japan?

[ArmstedFragg]

Wrong, WEST edge of the valley, my error.

The distance is correct, though.

[BenKenobi]

“In that scenario, it is always prudent to assume the worse. Why would you assume the best if you knew no one on the planet had a clue?”

For the same reason why Reagan said: “trust, but verify”.

I trust that the Japanese will be able to keep their reactors under control, until there’s evidence that they have lost control. This has not happened at present.

I see no reason to assume anything until there is evidence backing up that statement.

[BenKenobi]

As opposed to people who know nothing and aren’t there?

[DB]

Further is definitely better...

There’s a big difference between 5 miles and 25 miles and so on...

Generally the further away the smoother the earthquake. You can tell when they are close by when they are sharp in motion. The more rolling (smooth movement) it is, the further away it likely is.

[ArmstedFragg]

fox news: guy on phone from Tokoyo we are getting reports of not just a meltdown but the CORE melting

Great moments in reporting:

There's some other kind of meltdown?

[BenKenobi]

I require news to contain facts. Lacking facts, there is only speculation, not news.

[Aevery_Freeman]

With a grain of salt...still remember the movie The China Syndrome.

The left is still waiting for that to happen.

Not saying that the media would run around shrieking that the sky is falling like a bunch of Chicken Little's...Oh, hell, yes I am.

(Please see post #144)

[MasterGunner01]

Yup. We’re all gonna die. Voluntary Human Extinction Program. It’s a wonderful thing because we all go out together — that means The One is toast, too.

[LibLieSlayer]

All news outlets should be forced to scroll your words across the bottom of their screens... constantly.

LLS

[GonzoGOP]

Crap, this it. Where can we go now. 750 Rems on the West Coast.

Well if you get 750 rems you will have just enough time to put your head between your legs and a$$ goodbye. Of course it isn't going to produce nearly that much radiation, and it won't go nearly that far. I have included a map of Chernobyl, which due to reactor design was much worse that this one can possibly get, and the area in yellow represents the exposure to .1 Rad. And it only went a little over 800km. There is no way a BWR is going to produce 7000 times the radiation of Chernobyl and spread it over an area ten times as large.
This is not the end of the world. But if the Japanese government has to clean up 1256 square kilometers (20 km radius circle, do the math) it will be the end of the Japanese Economy.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Glad you have you aboard, sir. We need all the thinking men we can find.

[BenKenobi]

Have we stated that everything is ok? No. All we are saying is that the article doesn’t actually say what you want it to say, and that the statement acknowledging the possibility of a meltdown is not the same as the one which says that a meltdown will occur.

When people are sending me PMs asking if they are ok in the Pac Northwest, then I know that the irresponsible fearmongers need to be slapped down, hard.

But, go one, continue ‘reporting’, ‘tweeting’ whatever. I’ll stick to the facts.

[Jack Hydrazine]

It’s amazing how much bad stuff around the globe has happened since the Idiot/Impostor-In-Chief has been in office.

[D-fendr]

Possibility of meltdown is old news. Last I heard they were saying some core meltdown was very likely happening.

Also radiation has been leaked, what kind and how much is what’s needed to assess without screaming vague headlines.

A confirmed containment breach would be news - again, how much and to what effect needs to be known. Then there is the countermeasures available and what a lack of them would mean - and not mean - to public health.

Until then it is speculation. Assess each fact and event as it becomes known, not headlines like “Third Reactor Explodes” when the reactor didn’t explode for example.

Following screaming headlines on a tickertape site is not a good plan for calm assessment of risks.

And looking for other long shot disaster scenarios that are not even on the radar at this point, is just plain irresponsible. In case that should ring a bell for you.

[Palladin]

A good short article about the FUBAR at TMI. A lot of little things went wrong that added up to a BIG nuclear crisis:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/tmi/tmi03.htm