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Japan Nuclear Crisis Part II


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Need to edit the description...I was thinking something like "It did. It can get pretty bad."

I'm mostly joking...anyway, I haven't read this but it seems like a good timeline of events so far to catch people up who haven't been able to keep up with all the developments.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-japan-quake-timeline-idUSTRE72F0WG20110316

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So is it officially a Level 7 on the nuclear disaster scale yet?

Nope....Not enough radiation is being released into the atmosphere yet, but something tells me that haven't been getting too many readings lately near the reactors since it's been steady around 300 mSv to 400 mSv for a day with little reporting on any changes.

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I made a sample scenario for scale so people can relate better to the situation in Japan. I have placed circles increasing at 10 mile increments from the center which I have located at MD's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant for a sense of realism.

post-1262-0-50422500-1300257858.jpg

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Helicopter taking off with a water bucket on Japan television heading for the reactors.

Guess a TEPCO conference is going on now.

#2 reactor temps stabilized, pressure in core and container vessel has fallen.

#4 situation not good

#5,6 temps have risen.

Really got to love TEPCO though.

#2 reactor temps stabilized, or the gauge may be wrong.

#2 reactor pressure in core and container vessel has fallen... this means it may be cooling.... or it may be breached.

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Helicopter taking off with a water bucket on Japan television heading for the reactors.

Guess a TEPCO conference is going on now.

#2 reactor temps stabilized, pressure in core and container vessel has fallen.

#4 situation not good

#5,6 temps have risen.

How about spent fuel temps? Won't those be the concern in the coming days, as the reations in the plant stop? Or am I mis-interpreting what I have heard?

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Thanks OSU!.....here is a summary report

Status of quake-stricken reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plants

TOKYO, March 16, Kyodo

The following is the known status as of Wednesday evening of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.

Fukushima No. 1 plant

-- Reactor No. 1 - Suspended after quake, cooling failure, partial melting of core, vapor vented, building damaged Saturday by hydrogen explosion, seawater being pumped in.

-- Reactor No. 2 - Suspended after quake, cooling failure, seawater being pumped in, fuel rods fully exposed temporarily, vapor vented, building housing reactor damaged Monday by blast at reactor No. 3, damage to containment vessel on Tuesday, potential meltdown feared.

-- Reactor No. 3 - Suspended after quake, cooling failure, partial melting of core feared, vapor vented, seawater being pumped in, building housing reactor damaged Monday by hydrogen explosion, high-level radiation measured nearby on Tuesday, plume of smoke observed Wednesday, damage to containment vessel likely.

-- Reactor No. 4 - Under maintenance when quake struck, fire Tuesday possibly caused by hydrogen explosion at pool holding spent fuel rods, abnormal temperature rise in spent-fuel storage pool but water level not observed, fire observed Wednesday at building housing reactor, no water poured in to cool pool, spraying of boric acid being considered.

-- Reactors No. 5, No. 6 - Under maintenance when quake struck, temperatures slightly rising in spent-fuel storage pools.

Fukushima No. 2 plant

-- Reactors No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 - Suspended after quake, cooling failure, then cold shutdown.

-- Reactor No. 3 - Suspended after quake, cold shutdown.

==Kyodo

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reading through remarks etc....the white smoke from unit three is something that needs to be understood, or maybe they know. Notice post white smoke, the mention of containment vessel damage. I assume that is the steel vessel that would be rather difficult to damage, outside of a melt.

My question for an expert would be, when containment vessel damage is likely, would that also indicate a meltdown has occurred and fuel coolant interaction has occurred, increasing the pressures and hydrogen levels which in turn caused the explosions at the reactors which likely have experienced a breach of the containment vessel?

I am not sure if the containment vessel and reactor vessel are one in the same....perhaps the containment vessel surrounds the reactor?

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http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/R/Radiation.html

1000 mSv to cause illness, 4500 mSv about the 50% fatality does, so despite CNN suggesting these people remaining behind are risking death, it will take many hours of exposure even in the plant to risk radiation sickness.

The 400 mSv noted for a time near reactor 3 in OSU's post is one notable exception, I'd hope workers minimized their time near there as 2 or 3 hours exposure would be enough to cause some illness.

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reading through remarks etc....the white smoke from unit three is something that needs to be understood, or maybe they know. Notice post white smoke, the mention of containment vessel damage. I assume that is the steel vessel that would be rather difficult to damage, outside of a melt.

My question for an expert would be, when containment vessel damage is likely, would that also indicate a meltdown has occurred and fuel coolant interaction has occurred, increasing the pressures and hydrogen levels which in turn caused the explosions at the reactors which likely have experienced a breach of the containment vessel?

I am not sure if the containment vessel and reactor vessel are one in the same....perhaps the containment vessel surrounds the reactor?

two different things...reactor vessel made of thick stainless steel...then the containment building (reinforced concrete) houses the reactor vessel.

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http://users.rcn.com.../Radiation.html

1000 mSv to cause illness, 4500 mSv about the 50% fatality does, so despite CNN suggesting these people remaining behind are risking death, it will take many hours of exposure even in the plant to risk radiation sickness.

Even so, they are still taking a significant risk to their lives by being so close to an uncontrolled situation and subjecting themselves to high levels of radiation that might cause health problems or premature death down the road.

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http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/R/Radiation.html

1000 mSv to cause illness, 4500 mSv about the 50% fatality does, so despite CNN suggesting these people remaining behind are risking death, it will take many hours of exposure even in the plant to risk radiation sickness.

The 400 mSv noted for a time near reactor 3 in OSU's post is one notable exception, I'd hope workers minimized their time near there as 2 or 3 hours exposure would be enough to cause some illness.

They're measuring over 3000msv near the perimeter and the helicopter that was too dump water had to turn back because radiation levels were so high.

Today to me is the critical day. It will either get much worse or will stabilize. At some point the slow motion wreck either gets reigned in or starts to snowball.

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Even so, they are still taking a significant risk to their lives by being so close to an uncontrolled situation and subjecting themselves to high levels of radiation that might cause health problems or premature death down the road.

No doubt. I wouldn't want to be there.

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Reading through various articles etc.....one retired operator stated that one final measure is the ability to hook up a fire truck to pump water.....he stated this was on all Mark 1's in America.....and the two he worked at. If so.....I would think having a retired pump truck on site would be standard.

He stated that cooling should be easy on the Mark 1's providing you pump water.......

He concludes that there must have been damage to the (cant remember exact words) the circulation loop...and explosions damaged other reactors cooling loops. Otherwise hooking up a pumper..cranking it up would be a fine .....last measure and it would work.

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I had no idea Japan still had an Emperor. Anyhow, it seems we are sending some trucks to help.

7:55 a.m. ET Wednesday, 8:55 p.m. in Tokyo] Two U.S. military water trucks are being sent to help in cooling damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the U.S. military says. The trucks will not be operated by U.S. military personnel, but by employees of Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the nuclear plant.

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