Failsafe nuclear power stations fail in Japan. - Page 3

Don't worry? WTF!-

"A former nuclear power plant designer has said Japan is facing an extremely grave crisis and called on the government to release more information, which he said was being suppressed. Masashi Goto told a news conference in Tokyo that one of the reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant was highly unstable, and that if there was a meltdown the consequences would be tremendous. He said such an event might be very likely indeed. So far, the government has said a meltdown would not lead to a sizeable leak of radioactive materials.

Mr Goto said the reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant were suffering pressure build-ups way beyond that for which they were designed. There was a severe risk of an explosion, with radioactive material being strewn over a very wide area beyond the 20km evacuation zone set up by the authorities he added. Mr Goto calculated that because Reactor No 3 at Fukushima-Daiichi where pressure is rising and there is a risk of an explosion used a type of fuel known as Mox, a mixture of p lutonium oxide and uranium oxide, the radioactive fallout from any meltdown might be twice as bad.
He described the worst-case scenario: It is difficult to say, but that would be a core meltdown. If the rods fall and mix with water, the result would be an explosion of solid material like a volcano spreading radioactive material. Steam or a hydrogen explosion caused by the mix would spread radioactive waste more than 50km. Also, this would be multiplied. There are many reactors in the area so there would be many Chernobyls.

He accused the government of deliberately withholding vital information that would allow outside experts help solve the problems. For example, there has not been enough information about the hydrogen being vented. We dont know how much was vented and how radioactive it was. He also described the use of sea water to cool the cores of the reactors at Fukushima-Daiichi as highly unusual and dangerous."
~ http://www.realnewsreporter.com/?p=954

"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy..."
~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna..._Energy_Agency

From an interesting but scary, piece in the NYT-

"...Fukushima was designed by General Electric, just as Oyster Creek was, at about the same time, and the two plants are very similar, he said....

The emergency flooding of two stricken reactors with seawater and the resulting steam releases are a desperate step intended to avoid a much bigger problem: a full meltdown of the nuclear cores in two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

To pump in the water, the Japanese have apparently tried used [sic] fire-fighting equipment — hardly the usual procedure. But forcing the seawater inside the containment vessel has been extraordinarily difficult, because the pressure in the vessel has become so great.

One American official likened the process to “trying to pour water into an inflated balloon,” and said that on Sunday it was “not clear how much water they are getting in, or whether they are covering the cores.”

The problem was compounded because gauges inside the reactor seemed to have been damaged in the earthquake or the tsunami, making it impossible to know just how much water is in the core.

And workers attempting the pumping operation are presumed to be exposed to radiation; several workers, according to Japanese reports, have been treated for radiation poisoning. It is not clear how severe their exposure was.

But Pentagon officials reported Sunday that helicopters flying 60 miles from the plant picked up small amounts of radioactive particulates — still being analyzed, but presumed to include Cesium-137 and Iodine-121 —"
~ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/wo...nted=1&_r=1&hp

Stay safe. I'd leave.

Sounds like paradise

I'd be worried about the wind directions if there are meltdowns. Who knows if that will happen but if it does it could be really bad.

This from the NYT-

"They're basically in a full-scale panic" among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive.

The executive is not involved in managing the response to the reactors' difficulties but has many contacts in Japan. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do."

From the Guardian-

"The Guardian has also posted a newly released diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, which records that a high profile Japanese politician told US diplomats that the Japanese government department responsible for nuclear energy has been "covering up nuclear accidents and obscuring the true costs and problems associated with the nuclear industry"."

"In describing the clout wielded by the electric companies, Kono claimed that a Japanese television station had planned a three part interview with him on nuclear issues, but had canceled after the first interview, because the electric companies threatened to withdraw their extensive sponsorship."
~http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-e...cuments/175295

Places to avoid if possible- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gr8h...layer_embedded

A rupture may have occurred inside the containment vessel at Fukushima's number two reactor, Japan's NHK public broadcaster is reporting.

Although details are only slowly emerging about the explosion that was heard there a short time ago, technicians have been told to evacuate the area

A nuclear export told the broadcaster that there may have been a radioactive leak as a result of the explosion at the vessel, which is supposed to prevent radiation from leaking out.

The explosion appears to be related to a fault with the suppression pool at the very bottom of the containment vessel. Steam is brought down to the pool and is used to cool the reactor.
~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog...ear-alert-live

Edit- deleted following. not sure it was saying what i thought it was saying.

"It happened 24 years ago and more than 1,300 miles away from the UK. But, for the sheep farmers of Scotland, the effects from the fallout from Chernobyl have only just ended.

An announcement that the industry is finally free of the radioactive material which forced many of its upland farms to be placed under Food Standards Agency (FSA) restrictions has been hailed as "a blessed relief". Some Scottish farmers have been unable to slaughter, sell or even move their livestock without stringent testing and government pre-approval for the past 24 years.

Many of the owners of the original 9,700 UK farms affected are, even now, reluctant to talk about their fight to survive in the aftermath of the 1986 disaster, because of the possible stigma attached.
The FSA announced a couple of weeks ago that the last Scottish farm had been declared free of radioactive material. But in north Wales, 330 farms remain restricted, along with eight in Cumbria. Before farmers in restricted areas can sell or move any of their livestock, they must have each animal tested.

David Ellwood, 53, who owns Baskell Farm in western Cumbria, is still under FSA restrictions. "I was told they would only last a week, but 24 years later we are still dealing with it," he said.

Radioactive caesium has a relatively short half-life of 30 years – the time it takes for activity to halve – and it was always anticipated that restrictions would be necessary for up to 20 or 30 years after the accident. Some of the affected sheep that just exceed the threshold can be brought within the limit by allowing them to graze on lower, unaffected pastures for several months before slaughter."
~ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...t-2020059.html

Does anyone here know the consequences of plutonium's 24,000 year half life found in the Mox reactor?

"Government regulators knew of a heightened risk of explosion in the type of nuclear reactors used at the Fukushima plant in Japan from the moment they went into operation.

Safety inspectors at America's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) warned as early as 1972 that the General Electric reactors, which did away with the traditional large containment domes, were more vulnerable to explosion and more vulnerable to the release of radiation if a meltdown occurred.

Michael Mariotte, director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said: "The concern has been there all along that this containment building was not strong enough and the pressure containment system was not robust enough to prevent an explosion."

The early warning about the reactor design was reinforced in 1986 when Harold Denton, then the top safety official at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), warned of a high risk of failure of the mark one containment system.

"Mark one containment, especially being smaller with lower design pressure, in spite of the suppression pool... you'll find something like a 90% probability of that containment failing," he told an industry trade group at the time.

"Any reactor in this situation would be in a world of hurt. These designs are even more problematic because should you get core melt according to the nuclear regulatory commission the containment is 90% likely to fail," said Jim Riccio, a nuclear expert at Greenpeace. "In essence, the public's last line of defence in case of a meltdown really doesn't exist at all."


Nuclear reactors of the same design are in widespread use in America.Of the 104 reactors currently in use, 23 are of the same GE mark two design, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Twelve more are a modified version of the boiling water reactor.

A number of those reactors are now reaching the end of their original 40-year lifsepan, and campaigners have been fighting attempts by the nuclear industry to extend their operation. One such GE mark one plant in contention is the Vermont Yankee. The NRC renewed the plant's lease for 20 years last week. However, the state government has moved to shut down the plant.
~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...=ILCNETTXT3487