Posted on 02/03/2017 3:01:42 PM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt
A record radiation level has been detected inside the No. 2 reactor at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex,
with the estimated reading of up to 530 sieverts per hour, the plant operator said Thursday.
The reading means a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.
grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors that melted down in the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
The plant operator also announced that based on an image analysis, a 1-square-meter hole has been found on a metal grating beneath the reactor pressure vessel,
likely caused by melted nuclear fuel that fell through the vessel.
The new radiation level, described by some experts as “unimaginable,” far exceeds 73 sieverts per hour, the previously highest radiation reading monitored in the interior of the reactor.
An official of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences said medical professionals have never considered dealing with this level of radiation in their work.
According to TEPCO, the extremely high radiation level was detected inside the containment vessel, in the space around 2.3 meters away from the base of the reactor pressure vessel.
According to the institute, 4 sieverts of radiation exposure would kill one in two people.
(Excerpt) Read more at japantoday.com ...
Could they put a nuclear bomb in the reactor and blow the thing up? Seems that would stop a runaway reaction.
One important safety factor for nuclear power - Don’t put your nuclear power plant on an active fault!
Of course it Japan - an island nation built on volcanic islands.
Maybe the rule of thumb should be - Don’t put your civilization on a volcanic island. Bad things can & will happen!
probably nothing can be absolutely fail safe by definition, but these molten salt systems cannot fail like Fukishima, or 3 Mile nearly did. Molten salt reactors don’t run away like that as the reaction slows down before reaching critical levels.
They also have far less waste to dispose of for far less time. still an issue, but 80% less waste that only needs ~300 years to break down compared to 10,000 years for conventional is good.
Dont compare Zeppelin safety records with a popcorn maker without looking at how the Molten salt reactors work. we throw more potential energy away with burned coal fly ash that contains thorium than that recovered in burning the coal. This should be the future clean energy until we develop something like fusion.
I learned in high school Trig. I have no idea what happened to mine. Of course, in those ancient days, we had to learn cursive in elementary school and memorize the multiplication tables, as well. Back when there was really a common core of curriculum required.
I’d at least try a heavily shielded tube camera. use a convoluted periscope arrangement with mirrors to bring the image in. It should last longer than an electronic camera on a stalk.
Ten thousand years? Is that the Fukushima meltdown situation?
Teacher in high school physics used the “China Syndrome” as an example of movie fakery when we were studying gravity.
I was taught cursive too, though my cursive writing looks like a mad chicken got its feet into an ink well.
Of course nothing is absolutely fail safe but the technology should be reasonably safe and I still do not think these fission reactors are reasonably safe. I think they’re getting closer but there’s still too little margin for error. 300 years to break down is way too long IMO. And the administration can apparently decide to go with the traditional rather than the newer molten salt reactors if they feel they’ll get better results. So the average Joe living in the vicinity of one of these reactors doesn’t know what he’s got nearby.
It would be wonderful if they could figure out a way to harness a cost-effective fusion reactor.
Depends. Some of the byproducts have half life of 30 years, transuranic waste is 1000. Uranium 234 is 24000, so Fukishima is going to be radioactive a loooong time.
It’s still the same amount of nuclear materials decaying over time. That would be like saying its a good thing the Pacific Ocean is there to disperse the radioactivity throughout the pacific current.
One day they might be able to use robotics to gather what is left of the rods. I’ve also heard talk of creating a frozen zone around the reactor to keep contaminated ground water from seeping into the Pacific. Read a couple days ago the readings are so high that it kills the robotics circuitry within a few hours. Perhaps they can harden it better like military hardware to work longer. It shouldn’t have happened. Japan has records of tsunamis hitting the country going back over 2000 years.
Yes, but the ‘heat’ is caused by an on-going nuclear reaction... right? It’s still in the ‘meltdown’ phase? Which is worse...
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