How did the nuclear accident get this bad?

[CarmelHP]

And to think, Toshiba or Mitsubishi or something....want to sell us all mini reactors to put in our house....

Right, let's not adopt newer, very safe designs because an old, very much less safe design had problems in one of the most extreme natural events ever to occur on the planet. We can't do without the power provided by those less safe reactors, but we can't replace them with safer designs because of mindless fear-mongering. Brilliant.

 

[Bendrx]

And to think, Toshiba or Mitsubishi or something....want to sell us all mini reactors to put in our house....

I want one, not the Mitsu, but I'll take the Toshiba any day. My only concern would be repeated stray bullets.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Fairly good explanation of some of the issues that they are dealing with.


Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com



Sounds like the Tsunami itself was what they didn't anticipate (at least not as large as this one anyhow) which flooded the back up diesel generators.

 

[irishfan]

I can't help to think how things would look here if the New Madrid fault really lets loose with all the nuclear reactors in the midwest and the oak ridge reactor.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I want one, not the Mitsu, but I'll take the Toshiba any day. My only concern would be repeated stray bullets.

They encase them in hardened reinforced concrete that they claim would take several weeks with equipment and explosives to breach....

 

[Leadeye]

Can't speak for what is still running at Oak Ridge, but the rest of the units in the midwest are pressurized water reactors, different from what is in trouble over in Japan. PWR design is what is used in the navy and has a separate hot loop. This connects to a heat exchanger which provides steam for the turbines. The japanese reactors include the turbine in the hot loop, a less complicated desgin known as a boiling water reactor. PWR and BWR are both light water reactors and need the water to keep the reaction going.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

It just got worse. According to Japanese news reports, Reactor number 2 exploded. Primary containment vessel breeched. Radiation readings bad, but not that bad. 800 microsievert is 80 millirem per hour. I would say that they are in a whole new level of hurt.

Per Kyodo News:
BREAKING NEWS: TEPCO admits possibility of meltdown at Fukushima reactors (09:29 Tokyo time)

Watch NHK World Live TV from Japan.

 

[Yeah]

Gotta link?

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Watch NHK World Live TV from Japan.

The translation keeps changing the amount of radiation being detected. It will be a couple of hours before the government can work up a comprehensive detailed update.

 

[longbow]

Richard Simmons

Anal bleach.........end thread hijack........

 

[Jack Ryan]

I think the media is doing what it does best- blowing this out of all proportion. This is not another Chernobyl.
Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation BraveNewClimate

Yet.

They do have a darn good start on [STRIKE]one though[/STRIKE], make that three or four.

 

[CountryBoy19]

So what is the risk of fallout to us in the states?

Or do they still not know?

I've heard the entire spectrum of what's going to happen. It ranges from "we're not going to be effected" to one person that came in saying, "OMG, OMG, OMG, we're all gonna die, the nuclear power plants in Japan are blowing up!!!!!"

ETA, found my answer in a link posted in a similar thread. Everybody should read it before passing along the wild claims that MSNBC etc are making.

MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub (http://web.mit.edu/nse/) | Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering a

 

[Bunnykid68]

The USA has 104 nuclear reactors. Should we just shut them down just in case?

 

[jblomenberg16]

So what is the risk of fallout to us in the states?

Or do they still not know?

I've heard the entire spectrum of what's going to happen. It ranges from "we're not going to be effected" to one person that came in saying, "OMG, OMG, OMG, we're all gonna die, the nuclear power plants in Japan are blowing up!!!!!"

ETA, found my answer in a link posted in a similar thread. Everybody should read it before passing along the wild claims that MSNBC etc are making.

MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub (http://web.mit.edu/nse/) | Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering a

A very good read, and to those who haven't read it, make sure you scroll down far enough to read the post by Dr Josef Oehmen .


Clearly a lot of S has hit the F over there, but it sounds like a complete Chernobyl like event is very unlikely, even with the problems they are having getting the reactors to cool down.

 

[A5guy]

Yet.

They do have a darn good start on [strike]one though[/strike], make that three or four.

Yeah. The situation seems to be deteriorating, that's for sure. Hoping for the best, and that the best and brightest are on it.

 

[Leadeye]

The USA has 104 nuclear reactors. Should we just shut them down just in case?

It's hard to compare the two technologies of LWR although they are similar. I think a lot of what they are doing over there right now is educated guess work because of uncertain data. Best of luck to them, a lot of hard decisions will have to be made without much info to work with.

 

[mrjarrell]

Looks like they've finally managed to run a big enough power cable to reactor 2. That should enable them to restart the pumps and get it to cooling. Kudos to the brave guys doing their job above and beyond the call of a paycheck.

BBC News - Japan quake: Power line laid to Fukushima nuclear plant