Posted on 02/12/2012 5:46:42 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Fukushima No. 2 reactor temperature up to 82C, but not critical: TEPCO
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday the temperature at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant rose further to 82 C, but the reactor has not gone critical.
While the thermometer reading at shortly after 2 p.m. marked a new high since the reactor attained a cold shutdown in December, the utility known as TEPCO said it has confirmed that sustained nuclear reactions are not taking place in the reactor as no radioactive xenon has been detected inside its containment vessel.
TEPCO reported the latest development immediately to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry as the temperature exceeded the limit of 80 C designated by the company's safety regulation for maintaining a cold shutdown, it said.
It is considered desirable to keep the temperature below 80 C, while the bottom of a reactor pressure vessel must be kept below 100 C in a stable cold shutdown, in view of the margin of error of thermometers, according to TEPCO officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at mdn.mainichi.jp ...
P!
No XENON.
So, I have to ask this time why the guys in charge of this need to tell me this is not a "critical temperature". ~
NO XENON!!!!
This is an undifferentiated pile of radioactive waste materials dumped out of crushed or opened fuel rods ~ so what's in there?
” What happens then?”
Shrimp become 2 feet long and fish have two heads.
Gojira !
Mothra!
There is zero chance of any of the reactors going critical. The reaction stopped instantly when the reactors were scrambled and the boron rods dropped. ( well not instantly but close enough )
Looking forward to the 40 foot long squid. Calamari for a 1000?
The sushi that ate Sendai !
These guys need a very wide margin of error.
Yes, and it comes with a pretty green glow that you can enjoy for days.
Ok, so what does it matter that the temperature is increasing?
Again there is zero threat of going critical.
It means that the cold shutdown lie is dead. Tepco/Japan just does not want to give up on that dead horse yet. They are claiming sensor failure and that temperature is not the main metric to determine Cold Shutdown Conditions. These Japanese Nuclear engineers are starting to sound like Global Warming proponents. Warmth causes snow - Temperature has nothing to do with Cold Shutdown.
The main problem with the high temperature readings is that it means they have no clue as to what they are doing. But hey, some of us already knew that. We are in uncharted territory. We need to know what is causing the high temperature. It could be heat coming out of the hole where the corium melted reactor mess is digging into. Or it could be heat from some of the remaining as yet unmelted core that still resides in the RPV with a big hole in the bottom of it. And recriticalities have been ongoing. They have measured radioactive iodine around Japan off and on ever since last March. You see, once the core melts, there is no containment and no shutdown. The control rods have also melted.
So temperature sensors within reactor #2 are failing after reading high temps. Tepco is losing the ability to determine what is happening within the RPV of reactor #2.
At the same time they are telling us it’s not returning to criticality ~ or something like that ~ RETURNING? It’s been there? ~ without sensors they are blind.
Seems like they are experiencing a new problem each week.
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.