Radiation Levels Surge Outside Two Nuclear Plants in Japan

Radiation Levels Surge Outside Two Nuclear Plants in Japan

Published March 11, 2011

Associated Press


TOKYO – Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake. Thousands of residents were evacuated as workers struggled to get the reactors under control to prevent meltdowns.

A single reactor in northeastern Japan had been the focus of much of the concern in the initial hours after the 8.9 magnitude quake, but the government declared new states of emergency at three other plants in the area Saturday morning.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/japan-issues-emergency-nuke-plant-leak/#ixzz1GL8PgYY3

Wow, FIVE reactors? If they manage to dodge the bullet on meltdown of at least one with that many going bad, it will be a miracle.

The environmental whackos enjoying this......

I doubt there will be any meltdowns, but this will be just like the oil spill....no new nuclear plants for us now. The solar/windmill cheerleaders will be doing a little dance as we continue to run out of energy.

So far they seem to think they can control them, but it is a very serious matter for at least all of Japan, and according to the direction of the winds, possibly South Korea.

CriticalBill wrote: I doubt there will be any meltdowns, but this will be just like the oil spill....no new nuclear plants for us now. The solar/windmill cheerleaders will be doing a little dance as we continue to run out of energy.

No more wind.... looks we need to regulate the wind....it's burning up Boulder.....then again, maybe that's a good thing (just kiddin').

A summary:

There are 6 BWR reactors at the Fukushima Daichi site (4 were operating / 2 refueling) and 4 BWR reactors (2 operating 2 refueling) at the Fukushima Daini site. Both sites were impacted by the earthquake. All reactors are down. The TECO web page has the details on the sites - as long a one recognizes that the Japanese are rarely very forthcoming on the extent of damage and absolutely not transparent. The evacuation was precautionary - not caused by any current release or prediction of release - just the chance that things could get worse.

I predict (always a big risk) that this will be major problems for restoration of the sites/reactors but there should not be any major melt downs or large releases. The damage will be extensive but the layers of defense are robust. The steam coming off the BWR core should not have much of a source term inventory unless there are more problems with maintaining the ECCS cooling systems in service. So far, it doesn't sound like this is the case. I'll bet on the GE design.

We will hear LOTS of speculation and predictions of doom but as I understand it - they have sufficient redundancy to prevent major core damage.

FROM an ex-chief engineer on a BWR USA.

Lets see, the Middle East is in turmoil, the world economy sucks, stock market falling as gas prices rise, and now this. I wonder how many more catastrophes it's going to take before we have a complete economic meltdown? Sometimes I wonder if the Mayans were right about the end of 2012.... the closer we get to it, the more sh** seems to be hitting the fan. (probably just global warming)

deltamrey wrote: A summary:

There are 6 BWR reactors at the Fukushima Daichi site (4 were operating / 2 refueling) and 4 BWR reactors (2 operating 2 refueling) at the Fukushima Daini site. Both sites were impacted by the earthquake. All reactors are down. The TECO web page has the details on the sites - as long a one recognizes that the Japanese are rarely very forthcoming on the extent of damage and absolutely not transparent. The evacuation was precautionary - not caused by any current release or prediction of release - just the chance that things could get worse.

I predict (always a big risk) that this will be major problems for restoration of the sites/reactors but there should not be any major melt downs or large releases. The damage will be extensive but the layers of defense are robust. The steam coming off the BWR core should not have much of a source term inventory unless there are more problems with maintaining the ECCS cooling systems in service. So far, it doesn't sound like this is the case. I'll bet on the GE design.

We will hear LOTS of speculation and predictions of doom but as I understand it - they have sufficient redundancy to prevent major core damage.

FROM an ex-chief engineer on a BWR USA.

So what are the chances of radiation beyond the containment safeguards?

The containment (MK I or II) surrounds the vessel - large valves close the reactor proper from the turbine building. So, any release will be mostly in containment. BUT if a possible core melt is on the horizon the approach is to release pressure from the containment/vessel to prevent more severe damage to the core. A burst containment is possible - that is a massive event with huge releases IF it happened. I understand up to five reactors are involved. This controlled release is via a vent system to the atmosphere. That call is delicate to say the least.

The Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) is a pump/piping configuration requiring electrical power - water is pumped over the core to let it cool and not melt.......BUT this power is not available (damaged diesels and outside sources are gone). This is a very touchy situation - restoration of emergency power is a must.