Japan: Original plan to cool Fukushima nuclear reactor to be scrapped

Mainichi Shimbun ^ | 05/15/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

Original plan to cool Fukushima nuclear reactor to be scrapped

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated Sunday that a plan to flood and cool the No. 1 reactor's containment vessel at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant with water will be abandoned as holes have been created by melted nuclear fuel at the bottom of the pressure vessel.

Goshi Hosono, tasked with handling the nuclear crisis, told TV programs, however, that the government will keep intact the "road map" devised by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to bring the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors under control within six to nine months.

On the original plan to completely submerge the 4-meter-tall fuel rods by filling the vessel with water, Hosono said, ''We should not cause the (radioactive) water to flow into the sea by taking such a measure.''

[justa-hairyape]

Perhaps someone is enjoying the PR side of this, but anyone with any knowledge knew within an hour of them failing to restore core cooling that there would be core damage -- (in Jane Fonda terms, a meltdown).

You have not read many of the earlier threads. The general consensus from the experts was that the Japanese were telling the truth and their was no melt down. At all. Then the Japanese admitted partial meltdown and it took us two weeks to get the whining to stop here. Now we have full meltdown in one and possibly three reactors. And the usual crowd is back to whine again. Would be nice if we could get beyond the whining to possibly determine just how far that corium will flow.

[justa-hairyape]

Who the heck is asking all the questions here ? Not the experts. Those of us skeptical of the Japanese government and Nuclear Industry explanations are the ones trying to determine what is going on. And as a result we are treated to nuclear scientists dressing up in clown outfits parading around stating exploding nuclear reactor buildings are no problem and plutonium in the soil from the explosions is nothing to worry about.

Sheer lunacy. These same people also claimed; the reactor buildings could never explode; the reactors could never leak; full meltdown cannot occur; containment can never be breached; yada, yada, yada. They have failed us miserably.

[chimera]

Hey, you were the one that brought it up by saying I know nothing. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all otherwise. You're still doing it in your response to poster Ditto saying something about "dressing up in clown suits". So who is the one making it about you and me? I may have inferred that you lack an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the science and technology (which you have demonstrated), but I'm sure I never said anything about being a clown.

You bring up the issue of "corium" and its properties and made a snide challenge in post 14 which inferred no one had studied the properties of "corium". You did all this evidently without doing the slightest bit of on-line research. Just search on the keywords "corium" and "coolability". You'll get over 3500 references. If you read some of those, you'll see measurements of things like heat flux, porosity, Prandtl number. Do you know what any of those things are? Can you even admit that you were wrong to infer that such knowledge was not available?

[Ditto]

And as a result we are treated to nuclear scientists dressing up in clown outfits parading around stating exploding nuclear reactor buildings are no problem and plutonium in the soil from the explosions is nothing to worry about.

Can you direct me to a quote of some "nuclear scientist" saying that there is nothing to worry about?

All I have heard anyone say in that vein is don't panic -- we can work through this -- while the uninformed run around with their hair on fire screaming that the world is about to end.

I guess it's far more fun to panic -- makes for snappier posts.

[Ditto]

You have not read many of the earlier threads. The general consensus from the experts was that the Japanese were telling the truth and their was no melt down.

I read the eariler threads and I don't recall anyone with any real knowledge claiming there was no meltdown. The plant went 16+ hours without cooling. There is no possibility of avoiding fuel damage (meltdown in Jane Fonda speak) and anyone with any degree of knowledge knew that at the time.

[justa-hairyape]

Yeah, excuse me for being alarmed after three nuclear reactor buildings experienced explosions because their cores were melting. Silly me wanting all that attention.

Dude, if I had a spaceship, I would have left this insane asylum a long time ago.

[justa-hairyape]

There is no possibility of avoiding fuel damage (meltdown in Jane Fonda speak) and anyone with any degree of knowledge knew that at the time.

If I had time I would dig up all the quotes from Nuclear Power experts stating that no meltdown had occurred. Too busy.

[Ditto]

Dude, if I had a spaceship, I would have left this insane asylum a long time ago.

Don't let the Van Allen belt hit you on the way out. ;~))