Japanese Nuclear Plant Experiencing Cooling Malfunction After Earthquake
Ominous flash from Kyodo Wire:
The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant reported an abnormality Friday following a powerful earthquake which hit a wide area in northeastern Japan including Fukushima Prefecture, the industry ministry said.
The system to cool reactor cores in case of emergency stopped at the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., it said.
There are reports that the Japanese PM will declare a nuclear emergency.
Wikipedia has details of the plant, though the obvious thing is that it's right on the coast.
Update: There's no evidence of any radioactive leakage, but officials have confirmed that the cooling process for the nuclear plant has not yet gone according to....
Update 2: Japan has declared a nuclear emergency.
Update 3: 2000 residents near the Fukushima Nuclear Plant have been urged to evacuate.
Update 4: According to reports, Japanese jets have been ordered to fly over the Fukushima Nuclear plant
Update 5: According to Reuters, a Dam has broken in the same region as the at-risk nuclear power plant.
Update 6: The owner of the plant, TEPCO, says the reactor pressure is rising, and there are risks of a radiation leak, according to Reuters.
Update 7: Now the trade minister says a leak is possible.
Update 8: Word is, Japanese authorities will release a small amount of radioactive vapor into the air to ease pressure.
Update 9: Japan just expanded the evacuation range from 3 KM to 9 KM, says Reuters.
Update: 4:29 PM ET: Anti-nuclear expert Kevin Kamp explains the nightmare scenario in Fukushma, via Forbes and the Institute for Public Accuracy:
“The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.
“In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.”
Meanwhile, Kyodo is reporting that local radiation levels are 8 times more than normal.
Update 4:43 PM: Now according to Kyodo, radiation is measured at 1000x normal.
Update 5:05: The entire world is now watching the Fukushima plant. Here's a llink to a satellite image of the plant, just to get some more perspective on where this is.
Ok before i go to bed I'm going to explain what i believe happened with this explosion at the Fukushima plant. First lets give a little background on the reactor inside that building;(WIKI) The boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The BWR was developed by the Idaho National Laboratory and General Electric in the mid-1950s. In the present, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy specializes in the design and construction of this type of reactor. The developed in the USSR the RBMK reactors are a type of boiling water reactors, most known as chernobyl type reactors.
BWR schematic.
1. Reactor pressure vessel (RPV)
2. Nuclear fuel element 3. Control rods 4. Circulation pumps 5. Engine control rods 6. Steam 7. Feedwater 8. High pressure turbine (HPT) 9. Low pressure turbine |
10. Generator
11. Exciter 12. Condenser 13. Coolant 14. Pre-heater 15. Feedwater pump 16. Cold water pump 17. Concrete enclosure 18. Mains connection |
See the Pressure chamber labeled #1, I believe that is what you see exploding, this is the worst case scenario. This Is my speculation based on the video i have seen of the explosion. Note that there are 6 total reactors at the Fukushima plant so its possible more could explode. "IWAKI, Japan (AP) -- An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor amid fears that it was close to a disastrous meltdown after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami." So they readily admit this very large explosion happened IN THE SAME ROOM as the nuclear reactor. If it wasn't the reactor pressure chamber which contains the nuclear fuel pellets that exploded, I'm fairly confident that they have lost all control of that one reactor at a minimum.
Comment
-
Comment by TheLasersShadow on March 12, 2011 at 6:34am
-
Ok before i go to bed I'm going to explain what i believe happened with this explosion at the Fukushima plant. First lets give a little background on the reactor inside that building;(WIKI) The boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The BWR was developed by the Idaho National Laboratory and General Electric in the mid-1950s. In the present, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy specializes in the design and construction of this type of reactor. The developed in the USSR the RBMK reactors are a type of boiling water reactors, most known as chernobyl type reactors.
BWR schematic.
1. Reactor pressure vessel (RPV)
2. Nuclear fuel element
3. Control rods
4. Circulation pumps
5. Engine control rods
6. Steam
7. Feedwater
8. High pressure turbine (HPT)
9. Low pressure turbine10. Generator
11. Exciter
12. Condenser
13. Coolant
14. Pre-heater
15. Feedwater pump
16. Cold water pump
17. Concrete enclosure
18. Mains connectionSee the Pressure chamber labeled #1, I believe that is what you see exploding, this is the worst case scenario. This Is my speculation based on the video i have seen of the explosion. Note that there are 6 total reactors at the Fukushima plant so its possible more could explode. "IWAKI, Japan (AP) -- An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor amid fears that it was close to a disastrous meltdown after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami." So they readily admit this very large explosion happened IN THE SAME ROOM as the nuclear reactor. If it wasn't the reactor pressure chamber which contains the nuclear fuel pellets that exploded, I'm fairly confident that they have lost all control of that one reactor at a minimum.
-
-
Building At Nuclear Power Station Blows Up...
Radiation leaking, pressure in core unstable...
VIDEO...
'MAY BE EXPERIENCING NUCLEAR MELTDOWN'...
Japan nuke officials: 'High probability'...
'No immediate health hazard,' officials say -- while evacuating 45,...
Concerns grow about second nuke plant...
Japan declares emergencies at 5 nuclear units...
Evacuation widened at Fukushima II...
-
-
A massive explosion has struck a Japanese nuclear power plant after Friday's devastating earthquake.
A huge pall of smoke was seen coming from the plant at Fukushima and several workers were injured.
Japanese officials fear a meltdown at one of the plant's reactors after radioactive material was detected outside it.
-
Comment by truth on March 12, 2011 at 12:31am
-
-
Officials are now considering releasing some radiation to relieve pressure in the containment at the Daiichi plant and are also considering releasing pressure at Daini, signs that difficulties are mounting. Such a release has only occurred once in U.S. history, at Three Mile Island.
"(It's) a sign that the Japanese are pulling out all the stops they can to prevent this accident from developing into a core melt and also prevent it from causing a breach of the containment (system) from the pressure that is building up inside the core because of excess heat," said Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
While the restoration of power through additional generators should allow TEPCO to bring the situation back under control, left unchecked the coolant could boil off within hours. That would cause the core to overheat and damage the fuel, according to nuclear experts familiar with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979.
It could take hours more for the metal surrounding the ceramic uranium fuel pellets in the fuel rods to melt, which is what happened at Three Mile Island. That accident essentially frozen the nuclear industry for three decades.
Seven years later the industry suffered another blow after the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine exploded due to an uncontrolled power surge that damaged the reactor core, releasing a radioactive cloud that blanketed Europe.
The metal on the fuel rods would not melt until temperatures far exceed 1,000 degrees F. The ceramic uranium pellets would not melt until temperatures reached about 2,000 degrees F, nuclear experts said.
-
-
-
Comment by Jeff on March 11, 2011 at 8:00am
-
DUST, the FINAL Links, the Edited version. Proof on pages 21-42.
Part 1 - Pages 1 to 109
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-6b653c65.html
Part 2 Pages 110 to 199
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-c8691ffa.html
Part 3 Pages 200 to 310
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-cd8f0ba4.html
-
-
"A fire broke out at Tohoku Electric Power's Onagawa nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, Kyodo news agency has reported.
Reuters reports that prior to the Kyodo report, the company had said it had not received information on whether there had been any problems at the nuclear power plant after the disaster.
Meanwhile, Fukushima Prefecture, the site of a Tokyo Electric Power nuclear power plant, said the plant's reactor cooling system was functioning, denying an earlier report that it was malfunctioning."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8375373/Japan-...
"Destroying the New World Order"
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!
Latest Activity
- Top News
- Everything
Whatever Happened?
Whatever Happened? The unsung heroes will go about their dayRegardless of the welcome they've…See More
"cheeki kea Nice work! Thank you! "
"Chin up folks, once the low hanging fruit gets picked off a clearer view will reveal the higher…"
"Your right LP it's insane for sure and hopefully improbable, keeping an open mind. Checking…"
"The white dude in the center is Bill Gates!!! "
"How can this scoundrel walk free? Because he's just one of the many similar ones."
"This insane. As if there was a extra-terrestrial enemy who wants to destroy us all."
What Will happen When Robot Brides Replace Human Marriage?
With the rapidly approaching prospect of singularity and artificial intelligence dominance taking…See More
TRUMP ADVOCATING FOR PEACE, CABINET PICKS ADVOCATE WAR
The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. To access our premium content, subscribe to the Trends Journal...
© 2024 Created by truth.
Powered by
You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!
Join 12160 Social Network