March 23rd, 2011
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This is going viral. Frankly, I don't have the words. Watch for yourselves.
Showing posts with label meltdown fears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meltdown fears. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Fukushima Crisis Continues...
March 23rd, 2011 5:05am CST BREAKING
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The Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility has evacuated again as plumes of black smoke are pouring from the building that houses troubled reactor #3 itself. Radiation has reached Iceland and is expected in France soon. Japanese food products have been banned from export to the U.S. Fear continues to dominate the world’s reaction in spite of expert pronouncements that it's not the level of disaster it could have been.
The number of dead and missing in Japan has now exceeded 24,000
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The Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility has evacuated again as plumes of black smoke are pouring from the building that houses troubled reactor #3 itself. Radiation has reached Iceland and is expected in France soon. Japanese food products have been banned from export to the U.S. Fear continues to dominate the world’s reaction in spite of expert pronouncements that it's not the level of disaster it could have been.
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| Image © copyright 2011 WSJ - SOURCE |
The number of dead and missing in Japan has now exceeded 24,000
Monday, March 21, 2011
Fukushima Continues...
March 21st, 2011 10:40am CST
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The catastrophe at Fukushima continues. From CNN:
"Gray smoke spewed Monday out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor, a setback that came despite fervent efforts to prevent the further release of radioactive materials at the stricken facility. Those who had been working nearby were evacuated to safety shortly after the smoke was spotted around 4 p.m. Monday , a Tokyo Electric Power Company official told reporters. This is the same reactor that has been authorities' top priority -- and concern -- in recent days. Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety, said measurements taken soon after the smoke was spotted did not indicate any spike in radiation. He said that there was no evident explosion, and no one was reported injured."
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The catastrophe at Fukushima continues. From CNN:
"Gray smoke spewed Monday out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor, a setback that came despite fervent efforts to prevent the further release of radioactive materials at the stricken facility. Those who had been working nearby were evacuated to safety shortly after the smoke was spotted around 4 p.m. Monday , a Tokyo Electric Power Company official told reporters. This is the same reactor that has been authorities' top priority -- and concern -- in recent days. Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety, said measurements taken soon after the smoke was spotted did not indicate any spike in radiation. He said that there was no evident explosion, and no one was reported injured."
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
3rd Blast Confirmed, part 4
Mar 14th 2011 8:34pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
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It should be assumed at this point that the Japanese energy corporation responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex, TEPCO, is just plain covering their asses. The only recent official release at their site as of this posting doesn't reference reactor #2 in any meaningful way. Check out their public pronouncements HERE.
Linked via CRIEnglish:
"Hourly radiation was measured at 8, 217 micro sievert at the front door of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Tuesday.
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.
It should be assumed at this point that the Japanese energy corporation responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex, TEPCO, is just plain covering their asses. The only recent official release at their site as of this posting doesn't reference reactor #2 in any meaningful way. Check out their public pronouncements HERE.
Linked via CRIEnglish:
"Hourly radiation was measured at 8, 217 micro sievert at the front door of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Tuesday.
A TEPCO official told a televised press conference that the figure was three times higher than the amount of radiation a person receives in his natural state within a year.
The rise in radiation was detected after an explosion was heard at the No. 2 reactor of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant at 6:10 a.m. Tuesday (2110 GMT Monday).
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the suppression pool of the reactor might have been damaged at No. 2 reactor.
A rise in radiation was monitored near the nuclear plant shortly after the blast, said the agency. The radiation fell to 882 micro sievert after briefly rising as high as 965.5 micro sievert, topping the legal limit of 500.
But the agency said that the radiation will not immediately affect people's health at the levels of above figures."
3rd Blast Confirmed, part 3
Mar 14th, 2011 7:56pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.
Okay. It does sound bad. But we are having a very hard time getting confirmations.
From Today Online:
"Tokyo Electric said late yesterday that a malfunctioning valve made it impossible to inject seawater into the reactor. The water levels inside its containment vessel fell and left its fuel rods exposed - perhaps completely exposed - for some hours.
In reactor No 2, which is now the most damaged of the three at the Daiichi plant, at least parts of the fuel rods have been exposed for several hours, which also suggests that some of the fuel has begun to melt. Government and company officials said fuel melting has almost certainly occurred in that reactor, which can increase releases of radioactive material through the water and steam that escapes from the container vessel.
In a worst case scenario, the fuel pellets could also burn through the bottom of the containment vessel and radioactive material could pour out that way - often referred to as a full meltdown.
"There is a possibility that the fuel rods are heating up and starting to melt," said a Tokyo Electric spokesman late last night, in a news conference televised on public broadcaster NHK. "It is our understanding that we have possible damage to the fuel rods."
The extreme challenge of managing reactor No 2 came as officials were still struggling to keep the cores of two other reactors, No 1 and No 3, covered with seawater. There was no immediate indication that either of those two reactors had experienced a crisis as serious as that at No 2.
By last night, officials said that radiation readings around the plant reached 3,130 micro Sievert - the highest yet detected at the Daiichi facility since the quake and six times the legal limit.
A Tokyo Electric official had then described the situation as improving. "We do not feel that a critical event is imminent," he told a press conference.
Industry executives in America who were in touch with their counterparts in Japan last night grew increasingly alarmed about the risks posed by the No 2 reactor.
"They're basically in a full-scale panic" among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do."
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.
Okay. It does sound bad. But we are having a very hard time getting confirmations.
From Today Online:
"Tokyo Electric said late yesterday that a malfunctioning valve made it impossible to inject seawater into the reactor. The water levels inside its containment vessel fell and left its fuel rods exposed - perhaps completely exposed - for some hours.
In reactor No 2, which is now the most damaged of the three at the Daiichi plant, at least parts of the fuel rods have been exposed for several hours, which also suggests that some of the fuel has begun to melt. Government and company officials said fuel melting has almost certainly occurred in that reactor, which can increase releases of radioactive material through the water and steam that escapes from the container vessel.
In a worst case scenario, the fuel pellets could also burn through the bottom of the containment vessel and radioactive material could pour out that way - often referred to as a full meltdown.
"There is a possibility that the fuel rods are heating up and starting to melt," said a Tokyo Electric spokesman late last night, in a news conference televised on public broadcaster NHK. "It is our understanding that we have possible damage to the fuel rods."
The extreme challenge of managing reactor No 2 came as officials were still struggling to keep the cores of two other reactors, No 1 and No 3, covered with seawater. There was no immediate indication that either of those two reactors had experienced a crisis as serious as that at No 2.
By last night, officials said that radiation readings around the plant reached 3,130 micro Sievert - the highest yet detected at the Daiichi facility since the quake and six times the legal limit.
A Tokyo Electric official had then described the situation as improving. "We do not feel that a critical event is imminent," he told a press conference.
Industry executives in America who were in touch with their counterparts in Japan last night grew increasingly alarmed about the risks posed by the No 2 reactor.
"They're basically in a full-scale panic" among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do."
3rd Blast Confirmed, Cont...
Mar 14th, 2011 7:45pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
The London Telegraph is reporting this more frightening detail:
"The government also reported apparent damage to part of the container shielding the same reactor at Fukushima 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, although it was unclear whether this resulted from the blast.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters the suppression pool of the number-two nuclear reactor appeared to have been damaged.
This is the bottom part of the container, which holds water used to cool it down and control air pressure inside."
3rd Blast Confirmed
Mar 14th, 2011 7:38pm CST
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.
As we were beginning to fear earlier, the attempts to fully stabilize reactor #2 at Fukushima Dai-Ichi have been unsuccessful.
From The Age:
"A third explosion in four days has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. The blast on Tuesday at Dai-ichi Unit 2 follows two hydrogen explosions at the plant - at Unit 1 and Unit 3 - as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.Water levels have dropped precipitously inside Unit 2, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing Unit 3.
RED EMPHASES ARE OURS
Please give of what you can to support relief efforts in Japan. Click HERE and HERE.
As we were beginning to fear earlier, the attempts to fully stabilize reactor #2 at Fukushima Dai-Ichi have been unsuccessful.
From The Age:
"A third explosion in four days has rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. The blast on Tuesday at Dai-ichi Unit 2 follows two hydrogen explosions at the plant - at Unit 1 and Unit 3 - as authorities struggle to prevent the catastrophic release of radiation in the area devastated by a tsunami.Water levels have dropped precipitously inside Unit 2, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing Unit 3.
The latest explosion was heard at 6.10am on Tuesday (8.10am AEDT), a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety Agency said at a news conference.
The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power, said the explosion occurred near the suppression pool in the reactor's containment vessel. The pool was later found to have a defect.
International scientists have said there are serious dangers but not at the level of the 1986 blast in Chernobyl."
First Coast via USA Today reports:
"At a news conference Monday afternoon, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, John Roos, said U.S. experts are working closely with Japan and that staff from the Department of Energy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are consulting with the nation. The staff includes experts in boiling-water nuclear plants, the type used at Fukushima.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said there is no danger of radiation drifting as far as the West Coast of the United States.Four nuclear plants in northeastern Japan have reported damage. Operators lost the ability to cool the three reactors at Dai-ichi and three more at another nearby complex using usual procedures, after the quake knocked out power and the tsunami swamped backup generators."
Is Containment Holding?
Mar 14th, 2011 2:32pm CST
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While many experts continue to reassure us that the critical core containment structures involved in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex are not breached, the latest pronouncements from NISA don't make me feel any better. From The Guardian:
Please donate to the efforts for relief in Japan HERE and HERE.
While many experts continue to reassure us that the critical core containment structures involved in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex are not breached, the latest pronouncements from NISA don't make me feel any better. From The Guardian:
"On Monday evening, Ryohei Shiomi, an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), said reactors 1 and 3 appeared stable for the time being, but that reactor two, where fuel rods were most exposed, was still a concern. "Unit 2 now requires all our effort and attention," he said.
The day began with an orange flash and a violent blast that destroyed most of the containment building around reactor 3, with debris falling back inside and onto the structure housing the reactor. The blast was caused by a buildup of hydrogen that was produced when superheated steam in the core reacted with the zirconium alloy cladding that surrounds the reactor's fuel rods.
Tepco said 11 people were injured in the accident, one seriously. A similar explosion blew the top off the reactor 1 building on Saturday morning.
Despite earlier assurances from Tepco that the steel containment vessels surrounding the reactors were undamaged in both explosions, Naoki Kumagai, a Nisa official, said "It's impossible to say whether there has or has not been damage."
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