Posted on 03/15/2011 3:09:28 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
As long as it isn’t a new new new fire.
Reuters is saying TEP said a fire broke out and that efforts are under way to put it out.
No, this is new, at least according to live TV. FWIW.
Let us be clear. Compared to the real disaster at hand, the hypothetical threat from the nuclear stations is zero. The reactors in question were all shut down four days ago. The control rods have been inserted, and the cores have been salted with boron. It is physically impossible for them to sustain a fission reaction of any kind at this point, let alone cause another Chernobyl. Only the fission-byproduct decay heat remains, and it is fading fast as the short half-life material (which accounts for most of the radioactivity) performs its decay reactions and ceases to exist. At this point, the total heating power in the reactors is only about 0.3 percent of what it was when the reactors were operating. That means that a system previously capable of generating 1,300 megawatts of heat would now yield 4 megawatts thermal — about the same as that emitted by a dozen 100-horsepower automobile engines. The Japanese engineers can certainly deal with that with water cooling. And even if they were to stop, there just isn’t enough heating power in the system anymore to generate a dangerous plume of radioactive materials, which is doubly impossible at this point since all the more active short half-life stuff is already gone.
Will you believe Drudge, Reuters or the utility company TEPCO itself?
TEPCO called the fire department but they’re unable to get close enough because of the radiation.
“Reuters: “Breaking news from NHK, quoting Tokyo Electric Power: Fire breaks out at Fukushima Daiichi No. 4 reactor...
NHK analyst says it looks like another hydrogen explosion/fire. Flames now rising from reactor. Cause not yet known (or disclosed).”
Really not that important as long as the containment field is still holding. The room is like a weather cover and no fuel is exposed there.
Careful or Katie K. will be reporting this rumor on her next update...
Meet the new fire. Same as the old fire.
AFAIK it's not either. And from the news report, they don't either. Yet it gets a headline. No telling what the NYT will do with it.
Media coverage is atrocious.
Yes it is. There is nothing else to be done other than to try and keep things cool or not on fire.
Now the only strategy left is the effort to keep the contamination local.
Pray for the Japaneses and all who are going to be working this mess for the next few weeks. This won’t be put out in a few hours, it is going to take teams, cooperation, and weeks.
Yes it is. There is nothing else to be done other than to try and keep things cool or not on fire.
Now the only strategy left is the effort to keep the contamination local.
Pray for the Japanese and all who are going to be working this mess for the next few weeks. This won’t be put out in a few hours, it is going to take teams, cooperation, and weeks.
The date on that article is 3-15 it is 3-16 0720hrs in Japan right now, the article is a day old.
Fine. I am not a nuclear scientist. But I do know that a lot of the people saying this is not a serious problem will look awfully dumb if they are wrong. I trust they know what they are talking about but if this does become a catastrophe they will have lost a boatload of credibility ... Including many on these threads.
Thank you Eva. I thought all the rods had been inserted immediately after the earthquake occurred. I realize the core still has to be cooled.
Anyone know more about the cores being “salted” with boron?
Is boron in the vessel and it is dropped on the core from the ceiling or is this what Hillary was delivery with the Air Force as she was taking incoming fire while finding the Rose Law Firm billing records in Fort Marcy Park.
I dont’ want to downplay the seriousness of the situation but I just can’t help but remember all the panicked, sky-falling, inaccurate, emotional news segments that came during Hurricane Katrina.
It just seems to me that if there was anything that bad (meaning worse than an explosion at a chemical plant or coal power plant) going on we would be seeing media footage of buildings aflame and blackened radiation bagdes.
Completely unscientific method here but my gut has been pretty good to me in the past.
Veryify the times of these articles, it is 3-16-11 0730 in Tokyo right now. Some of these articles being linked are 24+ hours old!
Most all of the articles are time stamped locally, alot are EST... not japan local time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.