Posted on 03/12/2011 7:32:41 AM PST by SteveH
Huge blast at Japan nuclear power plant
12 March 2011 Last updated at 08:44 ET
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
The word "meltdown" goes to the heart of the big nuclear question - is nuclear power safe?
The term is associated in the public mind with the two most notorious accidents in recent memory - Three Mile Island, in the US, in 1979, and Chernobyl, in Ukraine, seven years later.
You can think of the core of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), such as the ones at Fukushima Daiichi, as a massive version of the electrical element you may have in your kettle.
It sits there, immersed in water, getting very hot.
The water cools it, and also carries the heat away - usually as steam - so it can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity.
If the water stops flowing, there is a problem. The core overheats and more of the water turns to steam.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
You are probably right! I predict that since wind power and solar power are not capable of making up for the 200, or so, nuclear plants that won't be built, coal and natural gas fired power plants will be the winners.
Don’t tell Jane — why not check out Helen Caldicott on facebook — that’ll curl your hair. I might add, those tinfoil hats ain’t gonna help you.
A replacement turbine for cooling has landed at the airport and is en route via road to the reactor. This is good news.
It's very frustrating that every time we have one of these major events, like the Gulf oil blowout for instance, in hindsight there's almost always a couple of really basic things that led to the problem or made it much worse than it had to be.
I can just imagine the effect this will have on our attempts to bring nuclear power online to help break our dependence on foreign oil.
Both earthquakes and tsunamis are a real threat to that region of the world. Not so for much of the USA, but you can bet we'll hear about this ad nauseum as the Greenies kick into high gear.
This is the end of any nuclear power resurgence in the USA. Start digging that coal!
I don’t like nuclear power, never have and this is one reason why.
I also saw that the tsunami warning center upped their estimate to a 9.1 magnitude. That is pretty close to the record earthquake. Given that, it is amazing that most of the nuclear plants in Japan are still operating, supplying the energy needed to support recovery operations. That is a real news story and you can count on it never being told by the media.
I just heard some expert on tv saying with every hour that goes by the treat is less.
The threat of a meltdown is less.
Heard the media is now not permitted within 30 miles of any of the plants. The cover-up begins?
You have a pretty good explanation of the failure of the safety features. One thing I’m wondering, and it’s probably my ignorance of the system, but wouldn’t the nuclear pile “scram” in such a situation, i.e. the control rods would slam down and stop the reaction? Perhaps they did (if the reactor is such a design) and the overheating was due to residual heat, i.e. you can’t just shut the reactor off and it cools on its own without the assistance of a coolant system.
Comments appreciated.
These were old Nuke plants - and it appears the anti-nuke crowd in the media is capitalizing on it big time.
I bet you use an electric toothbrush without a thought about it don’t you...
Wait until the truth catches up with the BS coming out of the media.
“I don’t like nuclear power, never have and this is one reason why.”
Ditto for me. I would much rather breathe the steam and CO2 coming out of the that coal fueled power plant any day.
whatever you do, don’t tell Jane Fonda...
Thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you. It soothes the soul to read something positive! I’m not being goofy either - it is really nice to see something like that. Hope. A plan.
“I just heard some expert on tv”
X is an unknown factor
spert is a drip under pressure.....
alot of them around here lately........
Agreed. But that building didn’t waste any time flying apart...
As a precaution they increased evac zone from 10km to 20km. That makes sense. I heard three people could have been exposed to radiation at the time of explosion. They were 1km away waiting for a helicopter pickup.
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