Two more reactors unstable at Japan nuke plant

[marjar]

SOMA, Japan — The world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl rose to a new level Wednesday as engineers at Japan's stricken nuclear complex worried about the possibility of blasts at two other reactors.

"Plant operators were considering the removal of panels from units 5 and 6 reactor buildings to prevent a possible buildup of hydrogen," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

"It was a buildup of hydrogen at units 1, 2, and 3 that led to explosions at the Dai-ichi facilities in recent days," it added.

Units 5 and 6 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant were full of nuclear fuel but not producing when Friday's quake and tsunami struck. They had been considered stable, but on Tuesday a senior official said temperatures there were also slightly elevated.

"The power for cooling is not working well and the temperature is gradually rising, so it is necessary to control it," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

The news followed an explosion Monday night at the plant's unit 4 that opened two large holes in the structure housing spent nuclear fuel rods.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42084187/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

[Deleted]

Yeah, it sux. All the reactors at that plant have had explosions, etc. Very bad news. And other reactors are in trouble, also. Seems they were built to specs of the worst possible scenario---- but then this disaster topped that.
Very bad. Seems US plants are also built to similar specs---- I heard they are in no way equipped to withstand a 9 earthquake. There is one down the road from me in AZ. Not on a fault line--- duh-- who would be that stupid??? I won't answer that one.
There is one not far away from us, though, in the tip of southern CA, built right on the flipping ocean, and right on a fault line. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that is fucked up. Our weather comes from Mexico in the summer, from CA in the winter. Thank you SO much, CA, for being braindead enough to build a nuke power plant on a fault line right on the ocean upwind of AZ.
Who dreams this shit up?

[privateinvestor]

About now all we can do is to watch and wait to see what happens....what is surprising to me is how the so called nuclear plant experts are all over the map on his tragedy today...hard to know which one is right or just speculating the doomsday scenarios

[Deleted]

Yeah, PI. Don't like what you are hearing, change the channel. Sux if all you want is the truth.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

<<Thank you SO much, CA, for being braindead enough to build a nuke power plant on a fault line right on the ocean upwind of AZ.>>


Just because there's a fault line doesn't mean it is ever going to move again. The rule for a nuke reactor is that there has to be no evidence of activity for 500,000 years. I live less than 1/4 mile from a fault line, it doesn't worry me in the least.

[handyman2]

China syndrome anyone?

[henryclay]

The media has published gloom and doom maps, and told people on the west coast to protect themselves from nuclear radiation. I wonder if Al Gore had anything to do with it. I'm attaching a popular map that some idiot has dreamed up. It may be Al Gore's prediction, but it is more like his global warming prediction than reality.

One nuclear expert has said that if he were within one mile, (not 3 or 4 thousand miles), of one of the reactors in Japan his biggest worry would be food and water, NOT radiation.

To put it in perspective, 65 years ago there were two real, honest to goodness actual nuclear explosions in Japan. It was in all the papers. They were baaaaadddd explosions. They killed people right and left, and the cloud they caused went miles into the atmosphere and drifted towards the United States. But I don't recall anyone in the US ever being affected by them back them. , , , , and I don't expect anyone to be affected by the tradegy that is happening in Japan now, either.

And my point is simply that some people make a living by instilling fear and panic in others. They would serve their audience better by addressing their concerns at helping those who need it at the core of the problem.

This map is pure hogwash.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

This story is pure hogwash. I knew the media were ignorant, and irresponsible-- but they've taken it to new heights with ths nuclear incident in Japan.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Mar 15, 2011 19:56:22 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

China syndrome anyone?

Most moronic movie of all time.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I know it's hard for some people to accept- but the "China Syndrome" was a work of fiction.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Mar 16, 2011 23:24:38 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I know it's hard for some people to accept- but the "China Syndrome" was a work of fiction.

Pure fiction, based on ignorance, stupidity and visceral fear.

[deziloooooo]

Latest news is not really good, more air being released from damaged containment vessel as pressure builds up, expected to release havier doses of radioactivity into the atmosphere, still no electricity to the generators for cooling and not sure if they will work once powered up and iodine capsules should have been released to populace earlier.
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news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110320/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake
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.Disaster in Japan

Pressure rises again in Japan reactor

By ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Eric Talmadge And Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press – 1 hr 25 mins ago

FUKUSHIMA, Japan –

"Technicians prepared to vent radioactive gas into the air Sunday because of a new spike in pressure at Japan's crippled, leaking nuclear complex, while a safety official said protective iodine pills should have been distributed near the plant days earlier.

Radiation, a danger for days in areas around the plant, already has seeped into the food supply, with the government warning that tests of spinach and milk from areas as far as 75 miles (120 kilometers) away exceeded safety limts. Tap water farther away turned up tiny amounts of radioactive iodine in Tokyo and other areas.

Amid concerns of wider contamination, a nuclear safety official said the government was caught off-guard by the accident's severity and only belatedly realized the need to give potassium iodide to those living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

The pills help reduce the chances of thyroid cancer, one of the diseases that may develop from radiation exposure. The official, Kazuma Yokota, said an explosion at the plant's Unit 3 reactor last Sunday should have triggered the distribution. But the order only came three days later.

"We should have made this decision and announced it sooner," Yokota told reporters at the emergency command center in the city of Fukushima. "It is true that we had not foreseen a disaster of these proportions. We had not practiced or trained for something this bad. We must admit that we were not fully prepared"
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[Click on link to read article]

[Deleted]

"And my point is simply that some people make a living by instilling fear and panic in others."

I certainly agree with that...

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I love the headlines and by lines like "worst...since Chernobyl". Um, how about ONLY nuclear accident / incident since Cherynobyl? I'm not saying we ever "relax" when it comes to nuclear power, but how about keeping some perspective here. At Cherynobyl there was no "core"- or protective covering. The coolant was graphite, which of course is flammable. When the reactor is running hot, the last thing you want is the coolant to flash- which it did. And the Ruskies were deliberately pushing the reactor to its limits there. That wasn't an accident- that was a man-caused disaster. It was a nuclear murder-suicide.

What we have in Japan is more of an "incident" which given the extraordinary circumstances which brought it about is something of a miracle. It's not good in any way-- it's bad. But it's so much less bad than it is being made out to be.

[deziloooooo]

I thought that there are FOUR reactors in trouble here PLUS the area the used rods are in storage, no water covering those either, and a country the size of California and a population so dense, and so far, it seems nothing is working well.

I think it's in perspective all right , these people are in big trouble.

[Value Buy]

Mar 21, 2011 1:15:09 GMT -5 deziloooooo said:

I thought that there are FOUR reactors in trouble here PLUS the area the used rods are in storage, no water covering those either, and a country the size of California and a population so dense, and so far, it seems nothing is working well.

I think it's in perspective all right , these people are in big trouble.

Do not forget the nearby Pacific Islands and possibly Australia,or anything else downwind from Japan.
Remember, we get pollution from China's dirty coal electrical plants here in the states. It may dilute, but it does pollute....

[illinicheme]

Here's a nice illustration for anyone who'd like a visual representation of the impacts of various radiation levels.

blog.xkcd.com/2011/03/19/radiation-chart/

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Mar 21, 2011 1:15:09 GMT -5 deziloooooo said:

I thought that there are FOUR reactors in trouble here PLUS the area the used rods are in storage, no water covering those either, and a country the size of California and a population so dense, and so far, it seems nothing is working well.

I think it's in perspective all right , these people are in big trouble.

www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-21/kan-sees-fukushima-progress-as-smoke-at-reactors-slows-work.html

Kan’s optimistic statements are the strongest yet from a Japanese official amid the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The battle to prevent a meltdown entered its 12th day as reports of radiation contamination at sea and on land multiplied. Cooler temperatures in pools holding spent fuel rods are the result of thousands of tons of seawater sprayed over the reactors since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged the cooling systems.

“While we haven’t reached the point where we can say we’ve gotten out of this crisis situation, it can be said that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Kan said at a meeting of his crisis response team in Tokyo.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

There were actually only two reactors of five in question. Even for the two where coolant had evaporated below the safe levels, the cores remained in tact. The real problem was the storage pools where spent fuel rods were kept. Fears were that if the pools weren't re-filled, the spent rods would overheat and catch fire, burn out of control, and spew radiation into the air. Fortunately, it does not look like that will happen.