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Reactor meltdown possible in Japan.


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While true, this is the first I've heard that it was confirmed by the media.

here is how the info is flowing

real time(live shots, internet info, PR's from the plant owners, etc) faster then the news media (and their experts) but then the news media is faster then the bureaucratic government. But when the goverment finally confirms something the news media reports it as breaking "new" news

we all knew in this thread yesterday the the cesium present meant a meltdown happened

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While true, this is the first I've heard that it was confirmed by the media.

Well there is supposedly a report that NISA said the explosion at the #1 reactor could have only been caused by a meltdown of the core.

Nikkei news source ran with it and STRATFOR picked it up. Haven't seen it independently verified and cant find anything directly from NISA.

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here is how the info is flowing

real time(live shots, internet info, PR's from the plant owners, etc) faster then the news media (and their experts) but then the news media is faster then the bureaucratic government. But when the goverment finally confirms something the news media reports it as breaking "new" news

we all knew in this thread yesterday the the cerium present meant a meltdown happened

Who's this "we" you refer to?

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Well there is supposedly a report that NISA said the explosion at the #1 reactor could have only been caused by a meltdown of the core.

Nikkei news source ran with it and STRATFOR picked it up. Haven't seen it independently verified and cant find anything directly from NISA.

I think I read in the one of the AP articles that you'd get the hydrogen needed for an explosion if the fuel temp reached 2200 degrees, but a meltdown doesn't start until it reaches 4000 degrees.

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I think I read in the one of the AP articles that you'd get the hydrogen needed for an explosion if the fuel temp reached 2200 degrees, but a meltdown doesn't start until it reaches 4000 degrees.

Here's the quote:

"Officials declined to say what the temperature was inside the troubled reactor, Unit 1. At 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius), the zirconium casings of the fuel rods can react with the cooling water and create hydrogen. At 4,000 F (2,200 C), the uranium fuel pellets inside the rods start to melt, the beginning of a meltdown."

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It appears that as the level of coolant in the reactor vessel lowered, a portion of the top of the uranium fuel rods was exposed. This may have caused zirconium cladding of the fuel rods to react with water to create hydrogen. This hydrogen was vented, then somehow ignited, causing the explosion.

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Wow this is turning into the modern Moby Dick, whales revenge. The problems in different reactors multiplying. Pumping seawater on to fuel rods...... Yikes

Couple of questions arise...

Does the seawater go back out to the ocean contaminated?

How long could they do this for?

One of the folks on (I think) Fox News said this pretty much renders the reactor inoperable for the future.

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It appears that as the level of coolant in the reactor vessel lowered, a portion of the top of the uranium fuel rods was exposed. This may have caused zirconium cladding of the fuel rods to react with water to create hydrogen. This hydrogen was vented, then somehow ignited, causing the explosion.

That doesn't sound very good.

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It appears that as the level of coolant in the reactor vessel lowered, a portion of the top of the uranium fuel rods was exposed. This may have caused zirconium cladding of the fuel rods to react with water to create hydrogen. This hydrogen was vented, then somehow ignited, causing the explosion.

The rods were most likely exposed with differing accounts of length and duration. TEPCO even admitted as much, something like 1.5 meters of the 4.5 length of the rods.

What you described is what I've read as being one of the likely causes of the explosion.

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First closeup of the building housing the reactor. Again keep in mind that the reactor itself is in a secondary enclosure that can't really be seen....

20110313-817987-1-L.jpg

A good diagram giving an idea of what the picture shows. As mentioned you can't quite see the secondary containment system around the reactor/core and why a few folks initially thought the entire reactor had blown up -

BoilingWaterReactorDesign_3.jpg

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0106: The director general of the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, says he hopes the actions taken by the Japanese authorities at the power plant will be successful: "The IAEA was informed by the Japanese authorities that the explosion occurred outside the primary containment vessel at unit one and the integrity of that vessel is confirmed. The IAEA has been informed that sea water with boron is being injected into the vessel as a counter-measure to prevent possible damage to the core. I hope that the sea water will be injected successfully and that the safety of unit one will be established as soon as possible."

That doesn't sound good.

BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

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