There is release of hydrogen from intentional venting of the reactors to relieve pressure. And there is probable damage to the unit #2 pressure control ring, the torus or wet well, which also released hydrogen.
Posted on 03/18/2011 4:47:13 AM PDT by hc87
More from my friend on newer designs:
“One important point I neglected to make: The problem of aux generators being down is unique to Generation-II nuclear plants, such as this elderly GE installation. The Generation-III and Generation-III+ plants currently being installed, such as the AP1000s at Vogtle, DO NOT suffer from dead power at the site.
The Gen-III/III+ power units have passive cooling systems designed in. If everything has gone down, the reactor is still able to maintain cooling flow, with no pumps running. Coolant runs on gravity and convection. The diesel generators were seen as a weakness decades ago,
and have been designed out of the safety systems for the newer reactors.
Gen-II reactors are considered obsolete, and they will retire as their design lives play out.
For that matter, Gen-III reactor designs are somewhat obsolete, and Gen-IV reactors, with further safety enhancements, are being developed.
All small, modular reactor designs currently seeking licenses have passive cooling features.”
I think your post deserves its own Thread....I tried posting a thread yesterday about Rescue (probably now Relief/Recovery) and it wasn’t much read....but, maybe we should post one thread a day.....the hundreds of thousands displaced humans are getting lost in the Nuclear Reactor issues.
Never mind...it’s already been put out on its own thread.
Someone has posted a thread. I’d post the link, but I need to go.
bttt
Well, the truth has to fulfill scientific rules, therefore we have been knowning whether they were telling the truth or not.
And yes, secretary Edano and NHK TV were telling the truth well beyond what the Western media has been doing.
Fuel tanks for the generators were moved by the tsunami 300 meters inshore. The buildings were flooded and the switching devices damaged. The Japanese did a great job controlling and cooling the reactors. Hot spots on the upper part of the fuel rods in the reactors #2 and #3 may have been melted, but as it happened in the TMI accident, there was enough water to cold down these pieces and leave them solidified on the bottom of the reactor.
There is release of hydrogen from intentional venting of the reactors to relieve pressure. And there is probable damage to the unit #2 pressure control ring, the torus or wet well, which also released hydrogen.
Let’s hope it only gets better from here.
I would not trust anything General Electric says or anything they make. Slimy company. Friends of Hussein.
Okay but that’s not GE talking. That’s a nuclear physicist explaining reactor design improvements. He doesn’t work for GE either.
I am not being mindless here or fear-mongering...but repeating what has been said. Going too far either way...into mindless fear or stupid poohing all is under control is crap either way. You can only deal with what is being said at this point and try and understand it.
And if the panic other gov. officials have shown in the last few days does not get your attention that something very bad is or has been happening then nothing will.
I've been asking precisely this question for days and was blown off as a fear-mongering kook.
Thanks for information in #37 and #41. Filed away for ongoing reference.
Although if you read the article, they aren’t weighing “doing it”, so much as they are discussing how that would be one possibility for the future that they cannot rule out yet.
Even the title is less suggestive than “weigh burying”; the title of the article is “Japan weighs NEED to bury nuclear facility”.
Right now, it appears the only substantively uncontained nuclear material is the spent fuel rods which are not normally contained when first removed (they are put in water to cool down, and then later moved to another pond to cool down, and then encased in dry storage).
Simply encasing those isn’t a good idea, because they will just keep heating up and break containment — that’s why they go through the cooling process with water.
If not damaged, they can be moved around, so they could be dropped into a new holding tank built somewhere else on site if necessary. But if they are damaged, I would guess the radiation would be too high to remove them from water to move them.
People are confusing the "SPENT STORAGE POOL" with the word "REACTOR".
The spent pool has to be kept full of water to keep the rods from overheating & melting. The reactors are not the problem, the pools are. They rods in them, in a perfect situation, are covered in about 40 feet of water at all times. If there is a leak in the pool, then the water they are putting in is leaking out, exposing part of the rods.
I will give you the assertion that the USA (Obama) could have and should have given large portable generators to the site even if TEPCO or Japan refused them. We have heavy lift capacity and a lot of military muscle to get material anywhere in a short amount of time.
That said, I seriously doubt 2 hours was possible. More like 24 to 48 hours. Certainly by Wednesday following the disaster. That TEPCO had to build a temporary power line that was hooked up a full week after the disaster is amazing. The Japanese and USA (Obama) governments really were lax in their duties on this. Primarily the Japanese government, but I think Obama should have imposed US assistance on this.
Remember how Obama flew to Copenhagen and imposed himself into a meeting where he was not welcome and commited the USA to all kinds of green BS to stop the "global warming disaster"? Well, here is a real emergency and Obama filled out his NCAA tournament chart instead.
Obama isn't shy, he just didn't see this as a priority.
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