Japanese nuclear reactor in peril

[Skip_In_Boulder]

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 11, 2011; 2:46 PM

Japanese authorities and the U.S. military on Saturday were racing to find ways to deliver new backup generators or batteries to a nuclear power reactor whose cooling facilities have been crippled by a loss of power as a result of the earthquake.

The reactor, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co., is currently drawing on battery power that may last only a few hours. Without electricity, the reactor will be unable to pump water to cool its hot reactor core, possibly leading to a meltdown or some other release of radioactive material.

Japanese authorities informed the International Atomic Energy Agency's Incident and Emergency Center that they have ordered the evacuation of about 3,000 residents within a 1.9-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and told people within a 16.2-mile radius to remain indoors, according to the IAEA Web site.

The cooling problem is with the second of six reactors at the plant, located on the east coast of Japan about 200 miles north of Tokyo and south of the heavily damaged town of Sendai. Separately there were reports of elevated radiation levels inside the control room of one of the other reactor units, which was built 40 years ago. Sources said that the authorities were contemplating venting from that unit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031103673.html

[PA Democrat]

1. K & R. This sounds very serious.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

6. I'm keeping a close eye on it

as it just doesn't sound good to me. Not to mention in the last couple of hours the news coming out just seems to get worse and worse.

[Junkdrawer]

2. I'm wondering if the 40 yr. old reactor vessel was cracked in the quake....

That would account for the inability to control the temperature of the core and the great increase in the pressures inside the containment building.

Neutron embrittlement is a problem with older reactors.

[wtmusic]

21. Good point.

Any pressure increase in the containment structure would likely point to a leak inside.

[somone]

3. It is a serious situation

[MineralMan]

4. I hope they get that fixed soon. Building nuclear power plants

in earthquake-prone areas never did seem like a good idea. I protested the Diablo Canyon plant in CA many times, just for that reason.

I hope the US military can help with a large generator soon. I don't know what they have near that location, though.

[FBaggins]

17. I'm sure that japan has generators.

There are pretty obviously at least five working ones providing power to the other reactors at the same site. The trick I suppose is getting them hooked up to the endangered plant.

[MineralMan]

20. I'm sure they do. OTOH, perhaps we can lend some immediate

assistance. Downthread, I commented on Kawasaki, which builds such generators. It's not a matter of who has them. It's a matter of getting one in place and operating. The others at that plant may be in full use right now.

[FBaggins]

22. Yep. I just meant that this isn't Haiti.

Haiti is basically 3rd world and even a MUCH smaller earthquake (without tsunami) killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Japan is a 1st-world advanced nation. They don't need us riding in on a white horse to save them. We're just a friend in a time of need.

What we've reportedly supplied is a specialized (but unspecified) reactor coolant. I'm incredibly intrigued by this and wonder what it is. I can't imagine that we had the stuff siting at a Navy base in Japan... it must have been flown over.

I suppose I can be patient enough to wait and learn. It'll probably turn out to be bad reporting and the real story is entirely different.

Have I been patient long enough yet?

How about now?

[MineralMan]

23. I don't know about that coolant.

Could it be somehow related to our own nuclear naval fleet? I have no idea. If so, I can see why it might be sited in Japan.

[FBaggins]

33. I wondered about it too. Then there's this:

US did not deliver coolant to Japan nuclear reactor

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/japan-quake-nuclear-coolant-idUSN1121769820110311

I think that it's safe to say that at least 25% of what we read as all this is going on will be wrong. Not disinformation, just confusion.

[MineralMan]

37. Yes. So it is with most breaking and developing major stories.

I've learned to wait and see what develops, even though the process is always very interesting.

There's always a lot of stuff, early on, that ends up being incorrect.

[FBaggins]

38. Yep... and don't forget

They've got a few other things to be worried about right now. They can be forgiven for not checking in with us every five minutes.

Rough day.

[MineralMan]

39. Indeed. A very bad day for Japan.

We're far too impatient in expecting all the facts just hours after a major disaster. Waiting for factual information is good. Complaining that it is not coming to our computers as fast as we'd like isn't so good. As you say, folks in Japan have other concerns right now that sort of outweigh American web browsers' need for news. Uff da!

[DeeJay]

5. Aptly named, Fukus n/t

[Skip_In_Boulder]

9. It may be living up to its name today.

However, I hope that isn't true.

[rgbecker]

7. Nothing to see here...move along...

Another set back for those that think Nuclear power is for our green tomorrow. If that sucker melts down, they won't bother having rebuild anything within 30 miles. Or is it 100? And people thought the problem was going to be storing the waste so earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters wouldn't bother the storage area for 1000's of years.

[riverwalker]

8. more here

(what I am wondering, with the jet stream, should west coast in US be concerned about the release?)

Nuclear Crisis at Fukushima

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/3788886037/nuclear-crisis-at-fukushima

[closeupready]

14. Should they be concerned? Yes, in my opinion. I had a friend from Sweden whose health

was negatively impacted by Chernobyl fallout. In fact, I believe Swedish authorities TO THIS DAY still advise against consumption of Lappish reindeer. While the distance between Japan and the West Coast is much larger than that between Chernobyl and Sweden, we know that air pollution from China has an impact on weather patterns in the American West.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

16. That is what concerns me

Particularly if this thing is releasing radiation into the air which everybody seems to be going out of there way trying to downplay. Call me paranoid but when people go out of there way to assure me there is not a problem I immediately think, there's a problem.

[FBaggins]

19. You're right.

That is paranoid. :)

But being paranoid about something doesn't mean that it ISN'T going to be a problem. It just means that your concern is at best premature.

There's no question that this is a dangerous situation. That doesn't mean that there's more than a 1:100 chance of disaster... but that's millions of times above the normal level. If you're ever going to be paranoid about nuclear power, now's the time. :)

[Skip_In_Boulder]

29. I was kind of hoping that I was being paranoid

But then this came along.

BREAKING NEWS: Japan says radiation surges outside nuclear plant; evacuations expanded

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[FBaggins]

30. Again... reality and internal fears are independent.

It's possible to be paranoid of something that eventually ends up happening... and it's possible to ignore the dangers in something and just get lucky. The key is recognizing that you didn't "get lucky" just because you assumed without justification that everthing would turn out ok... and you don't cease to be paranoid when something goes wrong.

It's win-win baby!

My parents are always a little worried when they come to visit us because we have gas heat and every once in a blue moon, such a home blows up. It's an irrational fear (and they get past it), but that doesn't mean that the house might not blow up some day. Doesn't mean that gas heat is any less safe than it was yesterday... it just means that the coin flip unexpectedly came up "heads" 20 times in a row.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Go nuclear!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[undeterred]

11. This sounds like the setup plot for a very exciting movie.

But its real. :scared:

[Skip_In_Boulder]

13. Godzilla!!!!!

[MineralMan]

12. Kawasaki manufactures gas turbine generators in Japan.

Some are very large, indeed.

http://www.kawasakitrading.co.jp/eg/products/electric/

[peopleb4money]

15. There are valid arguments from the anti-nuclear people.

[wtmusic]

18. 3 of 4 mobile power supplies have arrived

"Almost nine hours later, an announcement from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that three of four mobile power supplies had arrived at Fukushima Daiichi and cables were being set up to supply emergency power. Other power modules were in transit by air.

However, pressure inside the containment of Unit 1 at Fukushima Daichi had been steadily increasing over the time that emergency core cooling systems have not been active. Tepco reported at 2am that pressure had increased beyond reference levels but was within engineered limits.

The company then announced a decision to reduce the pressure within containment "for those units that cannot confirm certain level of water injection" by the safety systems. 'We will endeavor to restore the units and continue monitoring the environment of the site periphery.'"

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Massive_earthquake_hits_Japan_1103111.html?je

[Whisp]

34. shouldn't these extra power supplies be stored near the facility to begin with?

as a cautionary?

this just does not sound good. I feel sick!

[riverwalker]

24. "1000 x normal levels"

just on CNN

[FBaggins]

25. 1000 times normal levels of WHAT? n/t

[Skip_In_Boulder]

27. Just got it on a Tweet

thinkprogress ThinkProgress
Scary. RT @W7VOA: Officials now saying radiation at Fukushima nuke plant 1,000X normal level. #jpquake

[Agony]

36. 1000x normal levels in the control room...

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/76948.html

[rgbecker]

26. Another DU post about this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x617431

Big trouble. They need to get some of that melting ice cap from Greenland to Japan pronto!

[malaise]

28. Breaking on M$NBComcast

BREAKING NEWS: Japan says radiation surges outside nuclear plant; evacuations expanded

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[apocalypsehow]

31. Funny, last time I participated in one of these nuclear threads an anti-nuclear poster reeled off a

long post full of scientific jargon supposedly "proving" that nuclear power was unsafe - the old argument from authority logical fallacy. He even implied, while delicately skirting just this side of the line of DU's rules, that I had no business participating in the thread with other, *ahem*, "scientific experts" like himself.

I printed the post out.

A few weeks later, I had lunch with a Frat brother of mine who is an actual engineer, not some anonymous dude on the internets. I showed him the printed post, he read it, and laughed. "Gibberish," he said, "pure pseudo-scientific gibberish."

I wish I had bookmarked that post...

[Electric Monk]

32. Would that be this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x428232#430298

Funny, the things one can find with a simple google search...

[apocalypsehow]

35. Yep, that's it. Thanks for the link. I appreciate it. n/t.