Nuclear shitstorm in japan
Katzenklavier
Regular
So, this is what is ACTUALLY happening.
Breakdown of the mess
* Reactor #1 has a little bit of fuel melted.
* Venting of steam at reactors 1, 2, 3 blew apart the outer buildings.
* All cooling pumps are out of order, they are pretty much dumping seawater on the rods and letting t boil off, hence the steam.
* Hydrogen is being formed in the reactors, as the seawater is reacting with metal inside them. This hydrogen caused an explosion at reactor 2 which damaged to its suppression pool, which helps to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine, strontium in its water.
* There was a pressure drop at reactor 2, suggesting the vessel has been breached. The government gave no update on the status of a steel container surrounding the core of the plant's No.2 reactor, deemed by observers as most at risk of a meltdown.
* Radiation levels at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi complex have varied wildly, with a reading of 11,930 microsieverts at the main gate of the plant at 0000 GMT, up from 596 microsieverts as of 0630 GMT.
* Elsewhere at the plant, levels reached as high as 400,000 microsieverts an hour (or 400 millisieverts an hour).
* Later, there was a fire and explosion at the complex's No. 4 reactor and this is likely to have contributed to rising radiation levels.
* The No. 4 reactor had been shut down for maintenance ahead of the quake, but a spent-fuel cooling pool associated with that reactor caught fire, causing the explosion.
* The No.4 reactor's cooling pool, where spent nuclear fuel is stored, is at 84*c (supposed to be 40) and the water level is falling.
*Radiation levels at the reactor have become too high for normal work in the control room. Workers cannot stay in the room long and so are going in and out alongside monitoring from a different room.
Report from Kyodo on Prime Minister Naoto Kan's anger at TEPCO:
Japan's prime minister was furious with the power firm at the centre of the nuclear crisis for taking so long to inform his office about a blast at a stricken reactor plant, demanding "What the hell is going on?".
"The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives.
Kyodo also reports that Naoto Kan ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the Fukushima plant.
The Japanese nuclear safety agency says there are two eight-metre holes in the wall of Fukushima no.4 outer building after the blast there.
Holes in wall mean spent nuclear fuel pool at No.4 reactor is exposed to outside air: TEPCO
Spend Fuel Pools at reactor 5 and 6 are at around 84° celisus, according to TEPCO and NHK. Normal temperature is 40
Reactors 4, 5, and 6 were all down for maintenance at time of quake, but all 3 suffered cut-off of water circulation in their spent fuel ponds. The problems at No. 4 are more acute because all of its fuel rods are in the pool while 5-6 have only 1/3 as many fuel rods. But temps slowly rising at 5-6 also.
Kyodo is reporting that TEPCO has become unable to pour water onto the spent fuel in reactor 4.
Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be outside.
“That would be like Chernobyl on steroids,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1.
People familiar with the plant said there are seven spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi, many of them densely packed.
Breakdown of the mess
* Reactor #1 has a little bit of fuel melted.
* Venting of steam at reactors 1, 2, 3 blew apart the outer buildings.
* All cooling pumps are out of order, they are pretty much dumping seawater on the rods and letting t boil off, hence the steam.
* Hydrogen is being formed in the reactors, as the seawater is reacting with metal inside them. This hydrogen caused an explosion at reactor 2 which damaged to its suppression pool, which helps to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine, strontium in its water.
* There was a pressure drop at reactor 2, suggesting the vessel has been breached. The government gave no update on the status of a steel container surrounding the core of the plant's No.2 reactor, deemed by observers as most at risk of a meltdown.
* Radiation levels at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi complex have varied wildly, with a reading of 11,930 microsieverts at the main gate of the plant at 0000 GMT, up from 596 microsieverts as of 0630 GMT.
* Elsewhere at the plant, levels reached as high as 400,000 microsieverts an hour (or 400 millisieverts an hour).
* Later, there was a fire and explosion at the complex's No. 4 reactor and this is likely to have contributed to rising radiation levels.
* The No. 4 reactor had been shut down for maintenance ahead of the quake, but a spent-fuel cooling pool associated with that reactor caught fire, causing the explosion.
* The No.4 reactor's cooling pool, where spent nuclear fuel is stored, is at 84*c (supposed to be 40) and the water level is falling.
*Radiation levels at the reactor have become too high for normal work in the control room. Workers cannot stay in the room long and so are going in and out alongside monitoring from a different room.
Report from Kyodo on Prime Minister Naoto Kan's anger at TEPCO:
Japan's prime minister was furious with the power firm at the centre of the nuclear crisis for taking so long to inform his office about a blast at a stricken reactor plant, demanding "What the hell is going on?".
"The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives.
Kyodo also reports that Naoto Kan ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the Fukushima plant.
The Japanese nuclear safety agency says there are two eight-metre holes in the wall of Fukushima no.4 outer building after the blast there.
Holes in wall mean spent nuclear fuel pool at No.4 reactor is exposed to outside air: TEPCO
Spend Fuel Pools at reactor 5 and 6 are at around 84° celisus, according to TEPCO and NHK. Normal temperature is 40
Reactors 4, 5, and 6 were all down for maintenance at time of quake, but all 3 suffered cut-off of water circulation in their spent fuel ponds. The problems at No. 4 are more acute because all of its fuel rods are in the pool while 5-6 have only 1/3 as many fuel rods. But temps slowly rising at 5-6 also.
Kyodo is reporting that TEPCO has become unable to pour water onto the spent fuel in reactor 4.
Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be outside.
“That would be like Chernobyl on steroids,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1.
People familiar with the plant said there are seven spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi, many of them densely packed.
Comments
Even without the hype from the media this is a big problem for Japan. Earthquakes, tsunami and now a nuclear disaster...when it rains, it pours.
I've been reading a lot of what happens on Abovetopsecret.com but when explaining this situation to the ignorant, I will be using this list.
Also I believe reactor #4 was using MOX fuel, which is several times more powerful than enriched uranium. i don't have my source on that anymore though, google it.
This
Wheres you proof?
:facepalm:
Assorted sources, mainly science websites.
interesting to be honest i heard thi swas illegal to use for power production
Pressure drop, you say?
Well I have lots of Fallout practice.
I kinda hope this shit will just get worse and kill cosplayfags or Weaboos in the process. I feel sorry for the Japanese people as they are nothing but honest, reserved, good-natured people, but are let down by the way the West interprets their culture.
In short, people like this would be who I would use to cool the reactors down:
Yes, but the H2 formed because the water is oxidizing the metal in the reactors. Not good...
Latest news:
*Pilots returning from humanitarian missions being treated for radiation sickness.
*Explosion at reactor number 4 claims 5 lives and releases 400 foot plume of radioactive smoke and particulate.
* Radioactivity released directly into the atmosphere has dramatically spiked in levels.
* Level 6 emergency (Chernobyl was a 7) 50 workers are left at the plant when a normal operating staff required to maintain the reactors safely is 600 or more.
* The Japanese government is considering using military helicopters to drop water onto the spent fuel pools.
* spent fuel pool at Reactor 4 has no water, radiation levels are "extremely high"
Status as of now:
For those that don't know what a meltdown is: The fuel melts and then burns through the bottom of the reactor, and it just keep going giving off radioactive smoke, in the process. Concrete burns, and it can theoretically keep burning into the Earth until it reaches the water table.
Now, while it is not good that a lot of shit would end up in the sea if the bad stuff was transported by water, the sea would soak it up and it would fall away to hidden deapths, out of sight, out of mind.
It is the fire we need worry about, that is the thing that would quickly spread fuckloads of bad radiation very quickly - the smoke coming frome the fire would contain reactor products and nuclear fuels.
Not a good day when it rains that shit down on you.
Unless they get this under control soon, some place, hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles from the reactor will be facing nuclear rain within a couple of days to a week.
What does this mean to you?
Ceasium-137 and Strontium-90 tend to stay within miles of the plant.
Iodine-131 has a very short half life.
There doesn't seem to be any hope for getting these reactors under control, and I don't think they can dump water on #4's waste pool because it may be spewing way too much gamma radiation vertically. :-/
* Helicopters are rotating in their mission to dump water on Reactor 3, gathering seawater from close to the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Four water drops are so far thought to have taken place but targeting of the spray is proving difficult A lead plate is attached to the bottom of each chopper and the crew are wearing protective suits.
* They cannot drop water on #4's pool due to a roof being in the way.
Uhh, they keep missing.
Thanks totse for explaining it in rather excellent detail.
Also I was told the reason all these problems started was because the plant was designed to take the highest flood they had ever had which was 8M instead they got 30M..
Now it's just a mess.
Source
C/O
"Do I trust Katz more than the media?, fucking hell yeah"
A post came through as I was writing this. And it brings up a question, do the Japanese reactors use metallic uranium or uranium oxide? And how hot does it have to get for uranium oxide to lose the oxygen and start melting? Does the uranium have the potential to enrich the uranium around it and produce fast fission capable uranium, or even plutonium? Fuck, this is sooo going to help the anti nuclear lobby groups.
I dont think its a long term thing, building up levels of iodine in the body to help prevent an uptake of radioactive iodine, more of a take a big hit to fill you up. Looked for some research into it and this is what I found:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1759381
Can you imagine recruiting subjects for that? Hi there, how would you like to have a solution of chemicals injected in your Mary?
In the USA virtually no radioiodine, cs-137 or Sr-90 will arrive.
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They use uranium oxide. Everyone stopped using flammable uranium metal after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire
However reactor 3 uses MOX (mixed oxide fuel), and that contains plutonium as well as uranium. Plutonium is much more active than uranium so it poses a greater threat were it to escape. Escaped uranium is meh, not too bad really. The decay products are the real danger, they are extremely active since they have short half lives.
Reactor 3 is presumably the one that melted, but the damn japs keep trying to stifle the information so I'm not positive.
A week ago 3 workers suffered severe radiation burns when water leaked in their suits. This leads me to believe that the fuel casings have cracked open and the water is making direct contact with the fuel, picking up some of the decay products on the way.
It's better than coal...