Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

[mincepie]

Spent fuel pools...anything in this??

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0...or-update-Amid-signs-of-progress-new-problems

Guessing these would be somewhere near the top of this??

 

[elbows]

Here we go, via the BBC:

2207: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, has said a partial defect has been found inside the containment vessel of reactor 3 at the Fukushima Daaich nuclear power plant, the Kyodo news agency reports. He has also said the reactor is "not necessarily in a stable condition". Early on Tuesday morning, officials said pressure inside the container had dropped and sea water was being pumped in to cool the fuel rods.

 

[elbows]

OK although the BBC said it was reactor 3, Reuters and Kyodo both say it was reactor 2 that was being talked about.

Japan's Edano: damage seen at Fukushima No.2 reactor

TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - Japan's top government spokesman said on Tuesday that some damage has been detected at the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi No.2 nuclear reactor in northern Japan, but that no sharp increase in radiation levels has been seen.

The damage was found in the suppression pool, which is attached to the No.2 reactor's containment vessel at the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T: Quote), Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

Edano said the suppression pool is used to turn vapour into water, but did not elaborate further on the damage.

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFTKG00709320110314

 

[Barking_Mad]

talk of a 'defect' in one of the reactors containment chambers....drip, drip drip....

 

[scooter]

What happens if they pump the fucker full of liquid nitrogen?

 

[scooter]

Never mind. Doesn't conduct heat as quickly as water and may crack the containment chamber

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110314085003AArL8qo

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110314091052AAmyYAL

 

[bi0boy]

abcnews : Japanese govt says damage to reactor container "indicates possible serious radiation leaks".

 

[T & P]

Breaking news: fresh explosion heard at reactor.

 

[elbows]

Blast heard at reactor number 2, apparently heard at 6.10am local time.

 

[Pickman's model]

it's going to hell in a handcart

 

[elbows]

The company press conference is being reported in a rather confusing way by NHK world, but I will do my best.

It sounds like the explosion and a 'strange sound' came from the suppression pool area at 6.10-6.14am today at reactor 2.

This may mean that the arse has fallen out of this particular reactor, which is one of the worst-case scenarios we've heard in recent days. Its not completely clear yet.

 

[lopsidedbunny]

suppression pool? what is that for??? I suspect the core leaking from the reactor hence the bang...?

 

[weltweit]

Japan crisis: third explosion raises spectre of nuclear nightmare
New explosion at Fukushima plant, as engineers fought to prevent a meltdown in the second worst nuclear accident in history.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...sion-raises-spectre-of-nuclear-nightmare.html

 

[Pickman's model]

Japan crisis: third explosion raises spectre of nuclear nightmare
New explosion at Fukushima plant, as engineers fought to prevent a meltdown in the second worst nuclear accident in history.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...sion-raises-spectre-of-nuclear-nightmare.html

yeh? by the time you get up tomorrow, it'll be 'as engineers fought to prevent a meltdown in the worst nuclear accident in history'

 

[peterkro]

suppression pool? what is that for??? I suspect the core leaking from the reactor hence the bang...?

Bear in mind I may be talking complete bollocks.The suppression pool is essentially an expansion vessel directly connected to the main pressure chamber.If I'm reading the diagrams on NHK correctly the pipe between the two vessels has gone but it is still inside the final containment area.

 

[free spirit]

suppression pool? what is that for??? I suspect the core leaking from the reactor hence the bang...?

I'd think that all bangs will be related to hydrogen formed from superheated steam exploding, or possibly a pressure explosion from the high pressure steam itself.

Question is what damage each explosion does to the remaining containment, and probably more importantly to the pipework delivering the sea water into the reactor. If that pipework get's damaged to the point where not enough sea water can be pumped in to the core to keep it cool, then I'd think they'd be heading rapidly towards meltdown (unless they have a cunning plan z up their sleaves).

At that stage, I'd think they'd be entering the territory of having to send people in on short exposure cycles to attempt to repair the cooling system or something like that, but I've only got a fairly vague grasp of how these things work, so I could be wrong.

 

[lopsidedbunny]

I have to agree if anything like chernobyl disaster poor sods hopefully they are better equip, they are on a two minute suicide mission.

I'm a bit morbid I admittedly.

 

[free spirit]

one thing I do have some experience of though is pumping sea water, and I'd envisage that the flucutations in whether they'r able to keep the fuel rods covered or not is largely down to the influence of the tides.

at low tide they're going to be having to pump it against an extra 6-10m of head vs at high tide, which is going to make a difference to the flow rate that any given pump can achieve. The intakes will also be prone to getting blocked with seaweed etc, so I'm thinking that whether or not these reactors meltdown is probably going to depend on some very low tech factors - ie a bloke with a stick frantically clearing the seaweed from the intakes, and how low the tides happen to be going.

 

[lopsidedbunny]

What's happening???

 

[twentythreedom]

no.2's gone bang, nhk say "could be worst case scenario"

 

[laptop]

Spent fuel pools...anything in this??

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0...or-update-Amid-signs-of-progress-new-problems

Guessing these would be somewhere near the top of this??

Probably something in it

This afternoon the regulatory agency wasn't answering questions about how much fuel was in the pool.

It's the cuboid tank at top left of that graphic, I think; the one at top right, below the orange crane, is, I guess, where new fuel waiting to be loaded would be stored.

 

[Nylock]

Juat heard they are 'fighting two meltdowns' (BBC news)

 

[twentythreedom]

fire at no.4 reactor according to NHK. that's all 4 of them fucked now...

 

[elbows]

It seems there were actually two incidents this morning Japan time. Reactor number 4 has suffered a hydrogen problem and a fire, quite possibly this is a spent fuel issue. Not much new detail on reactor 2.

 

[elbows]

'stay indoors' warning issued for the 20km-30km range.

 

[elbows]

They seem to currently believe that the very high radiation readings in the area are caused more by the unit 4 fire than the unit 2 incident.

 

[Fedayn]

Third blast at Japan nuclear plant

 

[elbows]

Third blast at Japan nuclear plant

Right now it seems that this blast, at reactor 2, was actually the 4th blast. A 3rd blast, at Unit 4 happened shortly before the blast at number 2, but was not reported about till later.

One radiation level on the site reached 400 millisieverts according to figures released so far. This is a much higher level than ones previously discussed, the very highest of which was around 8000 microsieverts = only 8 millisieverts.

 

[laptop]

On the #4 reactor fire:

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness following a fire at the number-four reactor at the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 atomic power plant.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/s...-to-residents-after-blast-20110315-1buq7.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Oh dear. Winds are currently blowing toward Tokyo.