I know this is part of the thread on the aftermath of the Japan earthquake, but I think it now deserves it's own thread.
Japanese officials are know acknowledging the possibility of nuclear meltdowns in at least 2 of the reactors in the Fukushima prefectre.
A meltdown in a worst case scenario could affect the mainland United States, if not the world. Just talking worst case scenario here, if one of the reactors were to breech it's containment vessel a cascade of events could happen that would make Chernobyl look like Three Mile Island in comparison. Say the core were to meltdown and release massive amounts of radiation. The resulting reactors at the site which are also in trouble might also have radiation levels too high for humans to survive for more than a short amount of time. Even if brave souls were to stay behind they might not survive for more than a few hours. They would be incapacitated and unable to work in a very short time. This could cause the whole plant to be evacuated. If one of these reactors were to runaway and melt through the bottom of the facility and continue to sink until it hit ground water (or ocean water) the resulting steam explosion would destroy the rest of the complex and be much like a nuclear explosion on a massive scale.
The effects would be devastating to the world. Keep in mind, a 1GW nuclear reactor harnesses the energy of a Hiroshima size nuclear bomb every 6 hours. They have enough fuel to keep up this energy production for a year. If the hundreds of tons of nuclear fuel were dispersed we would have a global catastrophe. The immediate area would be uninhabitable virtually forever. What would happen to the rest of the world is unknown. These plants are right on the ocean. Assuming the winds normally blow from west to east that would carry the fallout over the ocean. What would happen to the ocean? What would happen to the US?
I have a hobby type interest in nuclear power and understand how things work. What I don't understand is what could happen in a worst case scenario. Anybody here have any thoughts?
Japanese officials are know acknowledging the possibility of nuclear meltdowns in at least 2 of the reactors in the Fukushima prefectre.
A meltdown in a worst case scenario could affect the mainland United States, if not the world. Just talking worst case scenario here, if one of the reactors were to breech it's containment vessel a cascade of events could happen that would make Chernobyl look like Three Mile Island in comparison. Say the core were to meltdown and release massive amounts of radiation. The resulting reactors at the site which are also in trouble might also have radiation levels too high for humans to survive for more than a short amount of time. Even if brave souls were to stay behind they might not survive for more than a few hours. They would be incapacitated and unable to work in a very short time. This could cause the whole plant to be evacuated. If one of these reactors were to runaway and melt through the bottom of the facility and continue to sink until it hit ground water (or ocean water) the resulting steam explosion would destroy the rest of the complex and be much like a nuclear explosion on a massive scale.
The effects would be devastating to the world. Keep in mind, a 1GW nuclear reactor harnesses the energy of a Hiroshima size nuclear bomb every 6 hours. They have enough fuel to keep up this energy production for a year. If the hundreds of tons of nuclear fuel were dispersed we would have a global catastrophe. The immediate area would be uninhabitable virtually forever. What would happen to the rest of the world is unknown. These plants are right on the ocean. Assuming the winds normally blow from west to east that would carry the fallout over the ocean. What would happen to the ocean? What would happen to the US?
I have a hobby type interest in nuclear power and understand how things work. What I don't understand is what could happen in a worst case scenario. Anybody here have any thoughts?
