Japanese nuclear plant may only have a few hours....

[TheState]

Strike against the Japanese professor.

Chernobyl was a light water reactor.

You're right, however he's right too (though he put it wrong). Chernobyl had a positive void coefficient, the reactors in Japan do not.

What that means is that at Chernobyl, as water started boiling off, power went up. In Japan, as water starts boiling off, power will go down.



Edit: Actually, I take that back, the professor is right. Even though Chernobyl used light water for cooling, technically it is graphite moderated (hence the positive void coefficient). The Japan reactors use light water for cooling and moderation.

 

[Carson]

Video shows what is left of one of the containment structures

Good video. The picture of the building 1 after the explosion is eerily similar to Chernobyl.

 

[jtstellar]

So wtf.. is radiation going to rain down here on cali or not.. wtf is government doing jacking up all the resources and crowd out private watchdogs with their shit regulations and now give no warning or analysis.. fucking go to hell

 

[Aratus]

to cool down a pre-meltdown scenario, don't you pull rods
out of the pile? you then have a lead encased storage area.

 

[TheState]

to cool down a pre-meltdown scenario, don't you pull rods
out of the pile? you then have a lead encased storage area.

If there was still water in the reactor, pulling the rods completely out would be taking the reactor to 100% power. The rods fell automatically when the quake hit and the reactor shut down. They are just dealing with the decay heat (probably about 1-2 megawatts or 0.5% of full power).

 

[KramerDSP]

So wtf.. is radiation going to rain down here on cali or not.. wtf is government doing jacking up all the resources and crowd out private watchdogs with their shit regulations and now give no warning or analysis.. fucking go to hell

Nobody really knows anything. The Japanese Government has officially declared "the event" a level 4 out of 7 (5 being Three Mile Island and 7 being Chernobyl) which is a localized event. But people are saying it is far too early to tell for sure. I've been monitoring http://twitter.com/#!/search/fukushima for instaneous updates, but they're not all reliable, and not all in chronological order either.

 

[Carson]

First thing I did this morning upon waking & reading about nuclear fallout is grab a bottle of iodine & spread some on me, kid, & kids friends in my house with some iodine on their tummys! (me personally ive been doomed since i was a gleam in the ole mans eye; he was involved in TWO atomic bomb testings years ago; still has enough radiation in him to be considered a GlowWorm!)

Maybe don't go to apey with the iodine unless your real close to the accident site. I see a picture being posted of the time it will take for the radiation to get here and it looks like we have some wiggle room. Besides they tell us a meltdown hasn't occurred yet so what has been release should dissipate by a large degree.

There should be pleanty of time to study up on Potassium Iodide and purchase some.

I'm pretty sure it was my biology teacher Mrs. Brown that told us all about this and the theory that filling up on less radioactive iodine should help keep some of the radioactive isotopes from being taken in. She was the best.

Then again it could be sold out.

Going apey here.

 

[Anti Federalist]

You're right, however he's right too (though he put it wrong). Chernobyl had a positive void coefficient, the reactors in Japan do not.

What that means is that at Chernobyl, as water started boiling off, power went up. In Japan, as water starts boiling off, power will go down.



Edit: Actually, I take that back, the professor is right. Even though Chernobyl used light water for cooling, technically it is graphite moderated (hence the positive void coefficient). The Japan reactors use light water for cooling and moderation.

True enough, and it is was the burning graphite soot that spread most of the radioactivity.

At this point I'm assuming the reactors all "auto SCRAM-ed" and they are dealing with residual heat.

But that is still enough to cause a loss of cooling accident.

 

[teacherone]

URGENT: Cooling system fails at Fukushima No. 2 plant
TOKYO, March 12, Kyodo

The cooling system failed at three reactors of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant Saturday, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The company, which has already scrambled to deal with radiation leaks at its Fukushima No. 1 plant, notified the industry ministry that the failsafe system at the No. 2 plant stopped functioning as the temperature of coolant water has topped 100 C.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/76962.html

 

[Carson]

Fark has a few thread going on this topic. Here is a link to one of the latest.

http://www.fark.com/comments/6028329/More-than-1700-people-likely-dead-missing-after-Japanese-quaketsunami-Explosion-blows-roof-off-nuke-plant-raising-fears-of-a-meltdown-government-expands-evacuation-area-Thread-4-LGT-Thread-3&new=1#new

 

[teacherone]

plant was supposed to be powered down for good this month---


Important dates:

Construction Start: 7.1967
Grid connection: 11.1970
First criticality: 10.1970
Commercial operation: 3.1971
Expected shutdown date: 3.2011

http://www.icjt.org/plants/uni/a/uni194a.html

 

[JoshLowry]

plant was supposed to be powered down for good this month---

Important dates:

http://www.icjt.org/plants/uni/a/uni194a.html

Wow, that's really unfortunate.

Looks like they can scratch that off their to do list.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Wow, that's really unfortunate.

Looks like they can scratch that off their to do list.

 

[Fox McCloud]

It was planned to be shut down on the 26th....well...they almost made it. :T

 

[MozoVote]

Now this has become MORE interesting. What are the odds that a company running a plant that is about to be shut down, might have become become lax with expensive maintenance and emergency procedures? There will certainly be an inquiry after the disaster relief actions have been completed.

 

[s35wf]

Maybe don't go to apey with the iodine unless your real close to the accident site. I see a picture being posted of the time it will take for the radiation to get here and it looks like we have some wiggle room. Besides they tell us a meltdown hasn't occurred yet so what has been release should dissipate by a large degree.

There should be pleanty of time to study up on Potassium Iodide and purchase some.

I'm pretty sure it was my biology teacher Mrs. Brown that told us all about this and the theory that filling up on less radioactive iodine should help keep some of the radioactive isotopes from being taken in. She was the best.

Then again it could be sold out.

Going apey here.

Im not going apey; just KNOW that having a good supply of iodine in your body is good for ya anyways! (cant hurt;might help) and in advance is good thing! besides I have an xray done the other day anyways. Research iodine then get back to me. Oh some website I just read said that the radiation could cross the Pacific in as little as 36 Hours .......SO ALL YOU GUYS ON THE WEST COAST make sure you got your IODINE!

 

[jtyr8nt93]

According to Reuters, Japan is asking Russia to provide a more enhanced and abundant energy supply. Plan is to increase liquified natural gas to 150,000 metric tons and maybe coal also from Gazprom.

 

[KramerDSP]

Oh boy....

A meltdown may be under way at one of Fukushima nuclear power reactors, an official with nuclear and industrial safety agency told CNN

 

[s35wf]

bump. reports on twitter say two other reactors are fixing to go up! WARNING!

 

[One Last Battle!]

Just to let you know, potassium iodide is a bit unhealthy. If you take it without needing it, it can have some very nasty side effects.