"We're Boned!"
Posted on 03/16/2011 1:12:42 PM PDT by AnAmericanAbroad
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chief of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that all the water is gone from one of the spent fuel pools at Japan's most troubled nuclear plant, but Japanese officials denied it. If NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is correct, this would mean there's nothing to stop the fuel rods from getting hotter and ultimately melting down. Read more at source.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
From the sound of it, Obama didn’t bother to speak to Kan until tonight?
"We're Boned!"
The fuel storage pool I worked at had racks that maintained fuel cell spacing for safety, and almost as important...a plain old Stortz connection for a fire hose on the outside of the facility. What the heck is going on with losing cooling pit water?? You can get a hell of a lot of water in through a large diameter fire hose. This just doesn’t make sense.
Good info is so hard to get.
The buildings must be cracked underneath. All the water is leaking out the bottom. Just like an old cracked bathtub.
You are whistling past the graveyard.
The spent fuel facility I worked at had cages that maintained fuel rod spacing. Almost as important, it had a fairly common Stortz hose connection on the outside of the building that could easily by connected to a firetruck or hydrantfrom a safe distance and behind shielding. I can’t believe a spent fuel water pit would not be equipped this way anywhere in the world! Something ain’t adding up again.
Good info on current status seems so hard to get
It is always good to keep a cool head even if things actually do go south quickly. Acting in a panicked state increases your chances of making dumb decisions.
Someone also needs to tell teh fed govt to calm down, as they’ve just apparently cornered the market on KI pills.
A great point, these things were designed a hell of a lot better in terms of containment than the soviet reactors. Worst case they also fill up the buildings with sand and put a massive concrete top on them.
Based on the explosions and pictures of the wrecked buildings, I’d guess a lot of equipment and plumbing was destroyed.
France has newer safer designs because they’ve been building new plants along the way, past 1980.
If anything, if people want to learn a good lesson, it’s to forge ahead with new, safer reactor designs like the pebble-bed reactors, to replace the older plants and thus, increase our nuclear safety.
“They’ve been working to restore power to the plant. I believe they will get a handle on it.
Even if they don’t, I don’t think this is a catastrophe for anyplace other than Fukushima and the surrounding area.”
Well, just a short time ago the word was, “don’t worry, they’ve got it all under control”.
Hmm.... so now it might become a “catastrophe” — but that’s fine, it’s only going to be one for the Fukushima area?
What next?
Just askin’....
I am concerned now for the surrounding countryside. This kind of accident does render the land uninhabitable, the question is... at what radius?
Pray for Japan. They are hiding the radiation levels now according to drudge. THAT is not a good sign. Not by a long shot. That actually worries me quite a bit.
To be honest, I have watched a lot of Japanese tv streams with these people reporting, the officials...
I have thought they were glossing over and not really telling the whole story of what was going on for awhile.
I believe it is partly because of their culture. Admitting problems is admitting failure, hiding weakness, etc.
It’s not that great of a ‘virtue’ when you really need to know what’s going on in catastrophic emergency situations.
Thank you!
The Stortz emergency water connection I was familiar with, was nothing more than a 4” pipe from outside the facility directly to the pool through about 10’ of reinforced concrete. Can’t imagine a low velocity H2 explosion damaging anything that is designed to be last ditch, reliable and simple. As far a cracked steel pit liner....its still contained by surrounding reinforced concrete. This lack of water in a cooling pit is not believable to me. If its leaking, add make-up water. I’m sure it doesn’t have ‘a big hole’ in it.
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