Posted on 03/15/2011 3:42:39 AM PDT by tobyhill
Spent fuel rods containing radioactive material may have burned in Tuesday's fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant -- causing a spike in radiation levels, the plant's owner said.
The blaze started Tuesday morning but was later extinguished, Tokyo Electric Power Company said. It was unclear how much radioactive material may have been emitted, or what kind of health threat that could pose.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday afternoon that radiation readings at the plant's front gate had returned to a level that would not cause "harm to human health."
Japanese officials earlier told the International Atomic Energy Agency that radioactivity was "being released directly into the atmosphere" during the fire, according to a statement from the UN watchdog organization.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Sure glad I’m not the insurance company on the hook for this mess.
‘Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday afternoon that radiation readings at the plant’s front gate had returned to a level that would not cause “harm to human health.”’
That seems like a pretty lousy measurement standard.
Wouldn’t the radiation level at the front gate have a whole lot to do with which way the wind is blowing?
There’s got to be more to this, I can’t see how basically metal fuel rods burn, and if they did how they could be extinguished so easily. They would most likely melt and end up like the elephant’s foot under Chernobyl.
Why is the world waiting so long for the one action that would stop these reactors cold. Given his ability to shut down the US free economy so well, why not just drop (.)bama into the reactor site. Instant shut down.
In one reactor the rods were completely out of water for 2 1/2 hours due to a rapid fall in water level. Not exactly sure which # that was. Right now the rods are reported to be only 1/2 submerged. So they assume it has at least suffered partial meltdown.
Germany just announced they are shutting down their oldest reactors.
Yes I read that in secondary sources but never did find a primary source that stated the fuel rods were completely uncovered. Do you have a primary source that states that as fact?
Blast heard at Fukushima's No.2 reactor: gov't
Ouch. Apparently referring to reactor #2. The one that had an explosion below the reactor. Rods completely above water for more then 2 1/2 hours.
Reuters:
TEPCO says there is radiation reading of 100 millisieverts near the no.4 reactor building. uk.reuters.com
“There’s got to be more to this, I can’t see how basically metal fuel rods burn, and if they did how they could be extinguished so easily. They would most likely melt and end up like the elephant’s foot under Chernobyl.”
Let’s just say that this is an example of “just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it cannot happen”. Some metals, like depleted uranium, will spontaneously combust when they are sufficiently finely divided, eg; powdered. That’s in air. If the temps are high enough at the point where these metals are exposed, including the zirconium cladding, water can dissasociate into hydrogen & oxygen, just as with electrolysis. That’s a potent explosive mixture right there. But in any event the process supplies free oxygen. And generally speaking, almost anything that can oxidize can, under the right conditions, oxidize fast enough to catch fire or catch fire to what’s next to it.
I’m basically ignoring the major media on the nuke plants’ status. They’ve been talking about an impending meltdown - since Saturday morning!
“Well, if there is one thing this whole situation with Japan’s nuclear plant has ensured, it is that the enviroweenies will now have ABSOLUTE evidence (in their minds) as to why our country should NEVER build any more nuclear plants. I wouldn’t count on the U.S. EVER having nuclear power plants in the foreseeable future...”
I’m very sorry to have to agree with you. Nuclear is probably screwed for *another* couple of decades, at least. And the US will immutably pay the price in GDP, opportunities for growth (eg; jobs), external energy dependence and the resulting burden of higher fuel costs, and indeed, plenty of cancers and various lung diseases from people breathing the crap output by coal power plants. Plenty more than would occur from nuclear, that is a certainty. This is a heavy, heavy door being closed, I’m afraid.
Meanwhile Iran’s nuclear program will be cheered on by the same anti-nuclear American left.
“Wouldn’t the radiation level at the front gate have a whole lot to do with which way the wind is blowing?”
Depends on the type of radiation. The wind will affect alpha particles, but gamma radiation will not be affected by the wind.
*
Glad I don’t have any Aflac stock nor any stock of G.E. or any nuke plant builders.
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