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.

[gandalftb]

Yup, #4 was supposedly shutdown for inspection, now it's on fire. Hmmm.

Also, they are pumping lots of water into the #2 reactor vessel but the water level isn't going up as fast as it should... Could be a leak... An indication that the reactor vessel has been breached.

[kroll]

Concentration decreases by about the square of the distance,

Indeed it would, if they were no currents, and no continents/land-masses, no salinity and heat in the ocean. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on what the currents do) the movement of radioactive substances can be more, or Less organized (i.e. More diffusive). In this case it is almost certainly More diffusive because of the powerful Kuroshio current (the japanese equivalent of the Gulf-stream). It would get pretty well-mixed by the time it flows towards the alaska current and makes it into the californian current. It still sucks for the locals though...

[ArmstedFragg]

You gave me a citation for what creates a reportable error. Where’s the citation for your claim that a cardiac cath uses 1500 rad? I make that out to be a 75 minute procedure at HIGH dose. Or a 10 hour procedure at normal dose.

[luvie]

The Japanese people are stoic and brave and will overcome this....in time....

Janet Whatshername and her boss, the fake president, when
faced with similar catastrophes....

Or they'll go play golf/tennis/take trips....

[jwalsh07]

Which simply means you are unfamiliar with the cath lab. Cine doses are not limited to 10 or 20 R. But you knew that right?

Cases >1500R are flagged for investigation.

Don't move the goal posts any more either.

[ArmstedFragg]

I think you're just seeing an example of a phenomenon that happens around here from time to time. All of those of us who pointed out that the news media was hyping the Gulf spill were immediately accused of being on the BP payroll. We really need to find some way of dividing threads between the alarmists and the fact oriented. Then, on those rare occasions when both prove to be correct, we can have a joint thread.

[gandalftb]

BTW, they just increased the total evacuation zone from 16 to 19 miles.

[tcrlaf]

BREAKIN—KYODO NEWS Reporting an explosion in Reactor Building FOUR now. This is the building with the spent-fuels pool.

This could be the REALLY bad one, folks.

[little jeremiah]

Check on Ticker Forum, TEPCO is apparently issuing news that may not be on that site yet. I am reading on about 3 forums and people are not making up smack.

[Ditto]

You are very correct on Plutonium. It is the most lethal substance known. Anything inhaled destroys the lungs.

BS. It's a low level, long life (very long life), alpha emitter.

You have stuff under your sink right now that is far more 'lethal' than plutonium.

Don't buy the crap the eco-commies feed you. Plutonium is a nasty and we should do all we can to keep it out of the environment, but it is far -- very far -- from being the most "lethal substance known."

[gandalftb]

"water drowned the on-site generators and the secondary hookups for truck-based generators were flooded as well"

True, the obvious error was in placing the redundant system, the truck-mounted generators in the same location as the primary backup generators. Any decent safety plan does not expose both levels of redundancy to the same hazard. Whatever could degrade the primary would also degrade the secondary system if they are located together. Amazingly poor thinking.

The reason you have truck mounted anything is so that it can be located elsewhere and brought in when needed.

[PeteCat]

Thanks, This is so frustrating - with the time shifts, Int’l date line and DST, not to mention the difficulty in translating from Japanese to English. It was much easier during the Gulf rig issue. So much confusion.

[Springfield Reformer]

You’re probably right, but it’s dang frustrating.

[ArmstedFragg]

And don’t project goal post moves on those who haven’t.

Here is the statement you made:

“Cardiac Cath: up to 1500R(1,500,000mR)”

Was it your intention to say that the procedure, when performed in such a manner that a reportable error is created can reach 1500R, or was it your intention to say that as normally performed it’s in the vicinity of 1500R? If your intent was the latter, please provide some evidence to that effect, not a cite to a “flagged for investigation” standard.

You were responding to a list of average exposures for various events, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that you were using the same standard, but perhaps my assumption was incorrect, so please clarify.

Or, I guess, one other possibility is that you don’t think the phrase “flagged for investigation” equates to reportable error. Is that your claim?

[ArmstedFragg]

It is that.

[ArmstedFragg]

Is it still used in pacemaker power supplies?

[little jeremiah]

I’m reading on these threads, there are dedicated news searchers, I’m sure there are plenty of other sites but I’m familiar with these ones:

http://tickerforum.org/akcs-www?post=182121&page=54

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?380265-Explosion-Destroys-containment-REACTOR-2-BREACHED-4-ON-FIRE-post-650-758-841%28!!%29/page22

http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?t=1248&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=5310

[ArmstedFragg]

The ole’ common point failure theory at work. Close kin to Murphy.

[jwalsh07]

My claims:

1. You are not qualified to discuss radiation dose in the cath lab as evidenced by your previous post.

2. You implied that I had erred by orders of magnitude in your original post. This was of course wrong.

3. You have gone from arguing that I was off by orders of magnitude to semantics.

You sure you want to keep digging?

[little jeremiah]

The Prime Minister of Japan just addressed the people and said there is a fire in #4, I’m reading on four sites, there is a fire there and just a few minutes ago, a hydrogen exlosion. There are spent fuel rods which are open to the amosphere.