Godzilla! Huge Earthquake in Japan

The Pumpkin King said:
Eh? I have been here for 4 years. I thought you were in Thailand. :O

When did you get here?

I am moving to Hawaii in 10 days...




I am pretty sure Okinawa is fine LGBR. ;)

Time for me to try and get some sleep...
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Been here making video games for 2.5 years.
So we better meet up before you go then. Like tomorrow. I have a movie audition Sunday, then work until next weekend.


L. Spiro
 
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese authorities will release slightly radioactive vapor to ease pressure at nuclear reactor whose cooling system failed.
The failure occurred after a power outage caused by Friday's massive earthquake off northeastern Japan.

Japan's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.

The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor that will be released would not affect the environment or human health.
 
Really worried about that nuke plant. I heard on cnn with the amount of material still in that reactor, a meltdown would be worse than chernobyl.
 
triple said:
Really worried about that nuke plant. I heard on cnn with the amount of material still in that reactor, a meltdown would be worse than chernobyl.
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i heard on cnn that if a terrorist detonated a nuclear bomb in downtown new york it would be worse than hiroshima
 
meltdowns dont happen in phase 3 and above nuclear reactors
and certainly not in ones built to western standards

meltdown at 3 mile island did absolutely shit all, BESIDES ruin nuclear technology in america for 4 decades (and also destroy any chance at a viable space program)
 
I doubt we'd see the same issues that the Russians experienced with their meltdown, where their primary containment dome actually tipped over because of poor construction and materials.

I certainly wouldn't want to be working there right now though.
 
Basic Nuclear Plant Safety Primer for Everyone.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant is a Boiling Water Reactor. It is both moderated (what causes fission) and cooled (what stops the nuclear fuel/waste from getting so hot it melts) by water.

The plant was scrammed (immediately stopped) after the earthquake by inserting control rods (boron-infused 'rods' that prevent further fissions from taking place (by eating up all the neutrons necessary to initiate fission). This happened successfully. The plant is "shut down."

However, after the plant is shut down, there are still certain elements called "delayed neutron precursors" that will STILL released neutrons for some time period after the plant is shut down. These are what cause heat to accrue in a reactor that should theoretically be "shut down". This is why cooling needs to be provided in a typical 2nd generation light-water reactor (what most reactors in the world are) for a good while after shutdown.

Without cooling water, the likely "worst case" will be the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) building up heat, which builds up pressure, which could cause a rupture of the vessel. The fuel rods will spill out radioactive contents, fires might break out, and the reactor is basically a lost cause.

And how does that affect the general populace in terms of radioactive dose?
-Not at all.

The RPV is surrounded by a containment facility designed from the ground up to withstand everything short of hydrogen bombs. Given the semi-spherical distance from the RPV an explosion would have to travel to break through the containment vessel, it is fundamentally impossible (given the energy density the RPV is capable of containing) for there to be straight up "radioactive smoke" or such getting outside of containment. The containment building is constructed to prevent EXACTLY this emergency.

So while this is a worrying emergency, and could represent billions of lost dollars a mess to clean up should the WORST come about, it will still not be another Chernobyl. And given the efforts underway to provide cooling and the fact that the fuel rods are still not exposed to air (When the real danger of fuel melting can occur), there is still time to stop this loss of coolent accident (LOCA).

So we SHOULD worry about this reactor problem, but not for the reason most anti-nuclear activists would have you believe.
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