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Tokyo reporting they have lost control of pressure


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#1 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 05:59 PM

6 mins ago
#Tokyo Electric Power Co. reporting they have lost control of pressure in No. 1 & 2 nuclear reactors with temps rising - Reuters
http://www.breakingnews.com/

Edited by Rogerdodger, 11 March 2011 - 06:00 PM.


#2 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:01 PM

1 hour ago

Discovery suggests radioactive steam could spread around plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. - kyodo news


URGENT: Radiation 1,000 times higher than normal detected at nuke plant

TOKYO, March 12, Kyodo

The amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level Saturday in the control room of the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

The discovery suggests radioactive steam could spread around the facility operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 11 March 2011 - 06:05 PM.


#3 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:04 PM

URGENT: Cooling system fails at Fukushima No. 2 plant

#4 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:08 PM

The China Syndrome. The title refers to the concept that, if an American nuclear plant melts down, the core will melt through the Earth until it reaches China (see China Syndrome). China is simply a popular metaphor, as the opposite side of the globe from the USA is actually the Indian Ocean.

#5 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:14 PM

Japan's prime minister says there are no reports of radioactive material leaks after quake, tsunami - Msnbc less than 5 seconds ago via breakingnews.com

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Edited by Rogerdodger, 11 March 2011 - 06:15 PM.


#6 turn55

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:16 PM

It seems that the fuel is slowly uncovering. No power to run emergency cooling injection pumps, coupled with an earthquake induced leak perhaps creating a loss of coolant accident. With radiation levels that high there must already be some fuel damage. This is a Boiling Water Reactor, so they have more time to figure out how to get some power to some pumps, and valves than if it were a Pressurized Water Reactor. I am hearing comparisons already to Chernobyl, but this is no way like that cluster, plus that Russian design was a graphite cooled reactor and it exploded and caught fire. The Japan reactors can't explode and are cooled with water.

#7 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:22 PM

I guess this is close to the worst case for reactors. The potential is horrible. Our worst fears seldom come true. Usually. <_<

#8 dcengr

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:22 PM

I have a degree in nuclear engineering. But not a practicing nuclear engineer.. but let me chime in. This is a serious accident, no doubt. But the reactor is a boiling water reactor and as such it is inherantly more safe than say Chernobyl which was a graphite moderating reactor. Graphite burns at high temperature and the russian containment system blew. In a boiling water reactor, the water is used to moderate the neutrons which is what causes the nuclear reaction. With the water gone, it can't generate any more nuclear fission but there's latent heat in there which is sufficient to melt the primary containment vessel. If that happened, then it will melt it, pressure would relieve itself into the secondary containment, which is a concrete structure. The core may still be very hot and melt into the floor, but I'd say vast majority of the nuclear material would be contained. The second containment vessel is large enough to expand any pressure generated by the breach of the primary containment. Now the caveat is they can design all this stuff but they never put this sort of emergency into practice.. so this is real life case of whether human engineering did the right stuff or they didn't design it for some fallacy somewhere (ie something they never thought about how it would behave). I see more problems in real world engineering from the fact people can't think up everything... It would be a shame for the japanese to have been nuked twice in WW2 then nuked again :angry:
Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?

#9 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:25 PM

Did BP or Halliburton have anything to do with the safety designs? :o

#10 Rogerdodger

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 06:39 PM

Live TV Link.
http://www.ustream.t...tokimekitonight