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Japan: Two damaged reactors may have holes in their containment vessels: TEPCO data
Mainichi Shimbun ^ | 05/25/11

Posted on 05/25/2011 7:42:21 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

Two damaged reactors may have holes in their containment vessels: TEPCO data

At least two reactors at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant may have holes in their containment vessels, according to a report released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on May 24, a finding that could hamper efforts to meet a government-sanctioned timetable to end the crisis.

TEPCO, the operator of the troubled nuclear power plant, said in the report that meltdowns had occurred at the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors. The report revealed for the first time the possibility of the No. 1 and 2 reactors having a hole about 7 centimeters in diameter and multiple holes about 10 centimeters in diameter in their respective containment vessels.

TEPCO said the damage caused by meltdowns to the pressure vessels of the No. 2 and 3 reactors was "limited." But experts had questioned the status of their pressure vessels as well as their containment vessels because highly contaminated radioactive water was leaked into their turbine buildings. Therefore, it has become increasingly unclear whether the utility and the government can deliver on the roadmap that seeks to bring the nuclear power plant under control within six to nine months.

(Excerpt) Read more at mdn.mainichi.jp ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Japan; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: containmentvesel; fukushima; meltdown; radiation
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This is the first time they talk about holes in containment vessels.
1 posted on 05/25/2011 7:42:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster; sushiman; Ronin; AmericanInTokyo; gaijin; struggle; DTogo; GATOR NAVY; Iris7; ...

P!


2 posted on 05/25/2011 7:43:15 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Excellent

What would tepco like me to do about it


3 posted on 05/25/2011 7:57:42 AM PDT by Flavius (What hopes for victory, Gaius Crastinus? What grounds for encouragement ?)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Excellent

What would tepco like me to do about it


4 posted on 05/25/2011 7:57:52 AM PDT by Flavius (What hopes for victory, Gaius Crastinus? What grounds for encouragement ?)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I thought the containment vessels were designed for this sort of event (meltdown).


5 posted on 05/25/2011 7:59:39 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I’m getting my tin foil hat back out. This stuff gives me the heebie jeebies.


6 posted on 05/25/2011 7:59:53 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
I’m getting my tin foil hat back out. This stuff gives me the heebie jeebies.

Don't worry, I was assured by fellow FReepers that this won't even be an expensive cleanup. And that suggesting that it might be a long expensive cleanup, or that TEPCO might be underestimating extent of the cleanup necessary, makes you a DU troll.
7 posted on 05/25/2011 8:07:34 AM PDT by GonzoGOP (There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Expect more of these type of reports. I’m sure we will not know the whole truth for some time. It is the ultimate disgrace to the Japanese to lose face or respect.


8 posted on 05/25/2011 8:09:29 AM PDT by freebird5850 (Of course Obama loves his country...it's just that Sarah Palin loves mine!)
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To: Paladin2

The 2 events surpassed the design parameters of the plant.

The containment vessel/building is 3rd part of a reactor’s defense in depth. The first is the fuel rod cladding, then the reactor pressure vessel, then the containment building.

It is the reactor pressure vessel’s integrity that would be of most concern as it holds the fuel rods, which have melted to varying degrees.


9 posted on 05/25/2011 8:30:33 AM PDT by fred2008
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To: TigerLikesRooster

The result of melt down right through the containment concrete.

There is no way to sop it.


10 posted on 05/25/2011 9:16:12 AM PDT by chainsaw (I'd hate to be a democrat running against Sarah Palin.)
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To: chainsaw
Sorry, but "The China Syndrome" was just a movie, not a documentary. Chernobyl's melted core couldn't even melt a steel steam plenum, let alone the floor.


11 posted on 05/25/2011 9:19:42 AM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
I’m getting my tin foil hat back out

Better with your lead foil hat and other things than tin foil. Tin doesn't block enough radiation.

12 posted on 05/25/2011 10:10:30 AM PDT by from occupied ga
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To: from occupied ga

Good point. LOL!


13 posted on 05/25/2011 10:35:51 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Paladin2

“I thought the containment vessels were designed for this sort of event (meltdown).”

Nope. A containment vessel is meant to contain the situation if the pressure vessel is compromised, say, if the melted fuel rods puddle in the bottom of the pressure vessel and then melt on through that. Not good if the containment vessel has been breached, because the next thing after that is dirt.


14 posted on 05/25/2011 10:58:50 AM PDT by catnipman
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To: catnipman
"A containment vessel is meant to contain the situation if the pressure vessel is compromised"

The pressure vessels weren't compromised?

15 posted on 05/25/2011 11:01:48 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: TigerLikesRooster

TEPCO, the operator of the troubled nuclear power plant, said in the report that meltdowns had occurred at the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors.-——

meltdowns had occured..

Can’t be right, too many ‘freepers’ attacked anyone (other freepers) who posted even a concern about this....


16 posted on 05/25/2011 11:13:39 AM PDT by Freddd (NoPA ngineers.)
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To: Paladin2

“The pressure vessels weren’t compromised?”

According to this article, and several others, the pressure vessels were indeed compromised, hence the references to 7cm and 10cm holes in them in this article.

Presumably, the melted puddle of fuel rods in the bottom of the pressure vessel melted those holes and then at least some of the puddle continued to leak out the holes into the bottom of the containment vessel, which by the way, is a large, hollow concrete structure that houses the much smaller stainless steel pressure vessel.

Now it’s also looking like the containment vessel is compromised too, though I haven’t seen any details as to the nature of the damage, e.g., cracks from the earthquake, broken pipe fittings, and/or melted-down fuel rods melting through the bottom of the containment vessel.


17 posted on 05/25/2011 11:40:43 AM PDT by catnipman
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To: catnipman
"I haven’t seen any details as to the nature of the damage, e.g., cracks from the earthquake, broken pipe fittings, and/or melted-down fuel rods melting through the bottom of the containment vessel."

Well, those details would certainly help.

It's difficult to believe that an earthquake would put (relatively small) holes in a monolithic concrete structure without cracks being present also.

18 posted on 05/25/2011 11:48:23 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Freddd
Can’t be right, too many ‘freepers’ attacked anyone (other freepers) who posted even a concern about this....

Depends on what you mean by "meltdown." Everyone knew that the fuel rods had been damaged and melted, that was evident from very early on. If you take "meltdown" to mean the same thing as the mythological "China Syndrome" BS, then there's a failure of communication here.

The core melted and puddled at the bottom of the TMI reactor, and only made it through a quarter-inch of the 5-inch-thick steel. Unless they've changed the laws of physics since then, I would expect the same result at Fukushima.

19 posted on 05/25/2011 2:17:46 PM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: mvpel

Chernobyl’s melted core couldn’t even melt a steel steam plenum

Chernobyl exploded and spread the nuclear material all over the country side. There was no nuclear explosion here,just a big pool of super hot melted fuel rods and nuclear fuel material.


20 posted on 05/26/2011 4:57:11 AM PDT by chainsaw (I'd hate to be a democrat running against Sarah Palin.)
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