Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Record radiation level detected inside damaged Fukushima reactor
Japantoday ^ | Feb. 3, 2017 | NA

Posted on 02/03/2017 3:01:42 PM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt

A record radiation level has been detected inside the No. 2 reactor at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex,
with the estimated reading of up to 530 sieverts per hour, the plant operator said Thursday.

The reading means a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.
grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors that melted down in the March 2011 nuclear disaster.

The plant operator also announced that based on an image analysis, a 1-square-meter hole has been found on a metal grating beneath the reactor pressure vessel,
likely caused by melted nuclear fuel that fell through the vessel.

The new radiation level, described by some experts as “unimaginable,” far exceeds 73 sieverts per hour, the previously highest radiation reading monitored in the interior of the reactor.

An official of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences said medical professionals have never considered dealing with this level of radiation in their work.

According to TEPCO, the extremely high radiation level was detected inside the containment vessel, in the space around 2.3 meters away from the base of the reactor pressure vessel.

According to the institute, 4 sieverts of radiation exposure would kill one in two people.

(Excerpt) Read more at japantoday.com ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: energy; fukushima; giegercounter; nuclearpower; prepers; preppers; radiation; reactor; shtf
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last
To: PAR35

If a 6 core Intel I7 has something like 1.1 billion discrete elements i.e., transistors. 1 transitor = 1 tube (or valve).

Built from tubes the robot would likely be as big as a small moon & generate the heat of a blast furnace.


41 posted on 02/03/2017 5:06:22 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Here is a link to the technical report for this study, if you want something other than from the popular media (which tends to be a bit embellished).

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2017/images/handouts_170130_02-e.pdf


42 posted on 02/03/2017 5:10:55 PM PST by chimera
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Actually, the problem started when the designers of the plant decided to place the emergency generators to power a shutdown scenerio at a location near sea level.

If they had been smart, the gensets would have been sited on the bluff above the plant, and emergency power would have kicked in within seconds, to shut down the plant. Once the gensets we’re flooded, it was all over!

Exact thing that caused Katrina floods to overcome the emergency pumps.


43 posted on 02/03/2017 5:11:03 PM PST by Noob1999
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Jim 0216

Liquid Flouride nuclear reactors are basically fail safe and do not produce waste. The technology has been around since the 50s but was abandoned because it doesn’t produce nuclear materials that were needed to support nuclear weapons programs at the time.

Big difference. Nuclear can be extremely safe.


44 posted on 02/03/2017 5:19:40 PM PST by zek157
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Reily

And the components no doubt are already hardened/shielded to the maximum extent practical. It would be feasible to implement the robot mechanical functions using hydraulics, but the sensors and cameras are another matter. That unprecedented level of radiation (within the scope of man’s activities) is going to do funky things to a broad range of materials: solid, liquid, and gaseous.


45 posted on 02/03/2017 5:27:32 PM PST by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Reily

Run it on punch tape instead of electronic memory. Mechanical switches. Young pups need to learn some history.


46 posted on 02/03/2017 5:34:07 PM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: steve86

Radiation shielding is capture cross section & shielding thickness. I am sure as you pointed out the robot is probably already at edge of what can be done to protect it.


47 posted on 02/03/2017 5:38:06 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: PAR35

and the post data analysis done on Walther WSR160s.


48 posted on 02/03/2017 5:43:58 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: minnesota_bound

Same here. It was REM till I woke up.....

... :D


49 posted on 02/03/2017 5:45:59 PM PST by Redcitizen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Enough there for an explosion?


50 posted on 02/03/2017 5:48:32 PM PST by fruser1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reily

What? Your slide rule is broken?


51 posted on 02/03/2017 5:52:11 PM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Noob1999
If they had been smart, the gensets would have been sited on the bluff above the plant,

IMO nuke plants should be built below their cooling water source. If pumps fail, manually open the valves and let gravity do the rest.

Yes, it would restrict where the plants were built but better be safe than sorry.

52 posted on 02/03/2017 5:54:30 PM PST by Vinnie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: PAR35

My freshman physics class was the last class to be taught slide rule. I still have it somewhere.


53 posted on 02/03/2017 5:58:34 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Some locals were running around Charleston, OR with a Geiger counter and some of Alex Jones’ people and got shut right down.


54 posted on 02/03/2017 7:00:18 PM PST by gundog (Hail to the Chief, bitches.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Some locals were running around Charleston, OR with a Geiger counter and some of Alex Jones’ people and got shut right down.


55 posted on 02/03/2017 7:03:50 PM PST by gundog (Hail to the Chief, bitches.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

The spent pool is located above the reactor vessel. During refueling, they open the vessel and remove the spent bundle. This is all done underwater so the spent rods, which are highly radioactive, are never exposed to the atmosphere. Once adequately “cooled” they are transferred out of the pool into large casks and moved to a new location.

Here in the US those rods that are in the casks were to be transferred to Yucca Mountain for permanent storage but that contract has been broken by Obama and Harry Reid. Of course Harry didn’t have any problem with spending billions on Yucca until the time came to open it up for it’s intended use.


56 posted on 02/03/2017 7:19:00 PM PST by shotgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt
The fault line, near the ocean build, and design assumptions regarding the potential for tidal waves are legitimate concerns. The pool on the refueling floor is called a spent fuel pool. Used fuel from refueling is stored there. The initial design was to store the fuel for about five years then reprocess it. Except for refueling spent fuel pool water does not communicate with the reactor. Spent fuel pool water is not used to make steam to make electricity. The location simplifies refueling. The pool is fully seismic and is designed so that it cannot drain below the level of required shielding above the spent fuel. IMHO they may have been able to save the reactors equipped with RCIC turbines by thinking way outside of the box. It would have been risky and would have required cutting the RCIC turbine exhaust line and routing the exhaust out of the reactor building. Do-able but dangerous. All BWR RCIC turbine exhaust lines should have the ability to exhaust to the atmosphere added to their normal exhaust path.
57 posted on 02/03/2017 7:26:30 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: shotgun
shotgun :".. the casks were to be transferred to Yucca Mountain for permanent storage but that contract has been broken by Obama and Harry Reid.
Of course Harry didn’t have any problem with spending billions on Yucca until the time came to open it up for it’s intended use."

TIK: That is because it brought jobs and industry to the area, in preparation work.

shotgun :" Once adequately “cooled” they are transferred out of the pool into large casks and moved to a new location."

TIK: The problem is that with Yucca Mountain closed, there is no place to transport the spent rods to another location.
Many of those spent rods (fuel) are being warehoused elsewhere on the site of the nuclear plant until other storage arrangements can be made.
Those spent rods still need to remain secured and under guard (security expense).

58 posted on 02/03/2017 7:32:40 PM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt (Muslim & Spanish migrants are like Kudzu--> designed to overload the system= Cloward-Piven)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: zek157

I’m not convinced - yet.

Once nuclear power plants are actually safe then it seems like things like Fukushima shouldn’t happen.


59 posted on 02/03/2017 8:30:18 PM PST by Jim W N
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: PAR35; Reily; steve86

I can envision a (rather large) cable controlled robot that could withstand this radiation flux for hours. However, I do not know of any camera, tube or Solid State technology, that would be worth a darn after a few minutes in that flux.


60 posted on 02/03/2017 9:01:36 PM PST by AFPhys ((Liberalism is what Smart looks like to Stupid people - ® - Mia of KC. Rush - 1:50-8/21/15))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson