Posted on 03/11/2011 3:34:41 AM PST by TSgt
A fire has broken out at one of Japan's nuclear power plants after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the country today, according to news agency reports.
The fire is reported to be at Tohoku Electricitys Onagawa plant. The Japanese government has declared a nuclear power emergency situation, the news agency Jiji said, quoting the Japanese defence ministry .
However, the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna saidthe four Japanese nuclear power plants closest to the earthquake have been safely shut down. "The four Japanese nuclear power plants closest to the quake have been safely shut down," the agency said in a statement, adding it was liaising with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on further details of the situation.
All Japanese ports have closed close, with discharge operations halted, after the earthquake and the resultant tsunami, shippers say. A tsunami 10 metres high hit the port in Sendai, northern Japan, with Sendai airport subsequently flooded, according to television reports. The tsunami swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships and cars. Several other airports, including Tokyo's Narita, were closed and rail services halted.
Tokyo Electric Power said the power had been cut to 4 million homes. Among other reports of damage, Japanese media reported a fire at JFE Holdings' steel plant in Chiba. JFE, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, said there was no major impact. Cosmo Oil said its Chiba refinery had been hit by a fire in storage tank, and it was still working to extinguish it. JX Nippon Oil, Japan's top refiner, halted operations at three refineries in Sendai, Kashima and Negishi, Jiji News said. Television showed black smoke pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama's Isogo area.
By 2pm UAE time at least 22 people were reported killed in the earthquake, the biggest to hit Japan in 140 years.
Electronics giant Sony, one of the country's biggest exporters, shut six factories, while Toyota said it had halted production at a parts factory and two assembly plants in the area, and Nissan, the country's second-largest automaker, stopped operations at four factories, media reported.
Experts are predicting that the earthquake will have a serious effect on Japans economy, which the Bank of Japan has been struggling to revive. With Japanese interest rates already near zero, analysts said the central bank and the government had few options but to inject more money into the economy, even if it risked swelling the already bloated deficit. Tsutomu Yamada, a market analysts at Kabu.com Securities. said: "The extent of the damage is hard to tell but it seems devastating for the northern Japan economy. The government must act quickly to announce support packages and the central bank should pump more money into the economy,"
The earthquake in 1995 that devastated Kobe in Japan caused $100 billion in damage.
A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific basin except the mainland United States and Canada following a huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
“trust me the media will blow this into a nuclear disaster, this will help slow reactor developent and building world wide”
Blow this? Nuclear power is not a conservative/liberal issue. Boiling water using the most poisonous substances known to man while thumbing your nose at mother mature will lead to a big wakeup call.
Human frailty and totally unacceptable leakages will result, ultimately, in disaster every time.
Safe cause you say so. I’ve got a 160 points and years on construction projects as large as the Alaskan pipeline that tells me differently.
What do you got?
“What do you got?”
So tell us how many people have have died in nuclear plant accidents over the years?
And how many people have died from accidents at other types of power generation plants.
And then tell us since you don’t like nuclear power; what is your alternative for inexpensive, safe electricity?
He was on here this morning, Middle East time, not long after the earthquake hit. So was Ronin, but he was concerned about family in a harder-hit area and that this thing wasn't over.
It would sure be great to hear from both of you guys again.
Your answer was non-respnsive as to why your opinion should carry any weight. There is plenty of natural gas and oil in this country, as well as Canada and Mexico. New proven reserves should put an end to chicken little’s the sky is falling. Drill baby drill!
Pebble-bed reactors. They don't get hot enuff to melt. they can't.
Powder..patch..ball FIRE!
Kyodo News Ticker
http://english.kyodonews.jp/photos/2011/03/76624.html
Radiation level rising in Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant turbine building (01:58)
crap
BBC
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has said the pressure inside the No. 1 reactor at its Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant has been rising, with the risk of a radiation leak, according to the Jiji Press news agency. Tepco planned to take measures to release the pressure, the report added. The reactor’s cooling system began to malfunction after the earthquake. People living close to the plant were later evacuated as a precaution.
Nuclear physicist Dr Walt Patterson tells the BBC it sounds like there is a “serious problem” at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant. “It’s the sort of thing that nuclear engineers have nightmares about,” he says. “If it is not resolved in the next few hours it will get serious. If the core is uncovered, then those rods at the top may get hot enough to melt themselves.”
You have given no reason why your opinion should carry any weight.
Give us what kind of engineering degree you have, and then tell us what what nuclear plants you have worked in. And what safety issues in the industry you have observed.
Telling us that your are an expert in nuclear safety because you have worked the Alaska pipeline doesn't cut it.
You may in fact be very knowledgeable, but I will trust the industries track record and PERSONAL knowledge of people who work in the industry, over hearsay on the Internet.
Jane Fonda also didn't like the nuclear industry and made a movie about it. I don't listen to her opinion either.
Yes, trust the nuclear engineers. They know best. Best to discount my real life experiences. So what if some major project was built backwards. With nuclear power, everyone is really really really careful. Three reallys ought to about do it. Thank you for sharing what background you have for your bromide pronouncement that nuclear power is safe. I’d gladly but you a one way ticket to Wefuguprilibadliama power plant so you can observe the safety in action.
Sure humans make mistakes. Humans also do quite a bit correctly.
“Yes, trust the nuclear engineers. They know best. “
I trust nuclear engineers that work in the field and have many years of experience.
They are constantly looking for potential problems and weaknesses. They look at all kinds of scenarios and “what ifs”.
They are on site at these plants.
It hasn’t even been 12 hours since the Earthquake hit in Japan, and some geriatric hag named Kate Hudson, of a nuclear disarmament group, is screaming & yelling that all nuclear power plants worldwide must be shut down immediately. So far as we know, no in in Japan has died today because of a nuclear reactor.
“So far as we know, no in in Japan has died today because of a nuclear reactor.”
But a LOT of people live better and longer because of the electricity they produce.
This was a massive quake. Its a testament to good engineering and construction that the damage is not worse.
You have to extract the fuel rods to essentially make the reactor (idle). That is not a quick process. It requires substantial de-fueling maintenance procedures.
Not correct. The reaction (fission) stops instantly with the insertion of the control rods. Once the reaction stops, there is still considerable 'residual heat' in the core from decay products which requires coolant circulation to remove that heat. My guess here is that the plant lost off-site power to keep their coolant pumps running and for some reason or another, their emergency diesel generators did not kick in to provide power for the pumps.
Worst case scenario, they could trash their core and the reactor internals, much like what happened at Three Mile Island. It probably poses no danger to the outside world.
Core temp: RISING.......LOSING.........DUH
Probably does not have a DCS unless it's for collecting historical data or for non-safety functions. To my knowledge, no DCS has been rated for safety related function (NRC Class Class 1-E). They tend to use separate very specialized controls much of them hard-wired analog vintage equipment for those safety related functions.
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