Pick a number, and that reactor is described as being near a meltdown. The news coverage coming out of Japan is even more confused when American media deciphers it. Hopefully hard facts come in soon…
Meltdown occurred according to Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
URGENT: March 12 00:00 PST: Explosion at Nuclear Facility
VIDEO of explosion at nuke plant.
Reuters Live Earthquake News Feed
Several people appear to be injured at Fukushima nuclear plant – NHK
Walls and roof of a building at site destroyed by blast – NHK via Sky News
UPDATE: 22:50 PST: BREAKING NEWS: Pressure successfully released from Fukushima No. 1 reactor: agency
UPDATE: 21:47 PST: Meltdown underway at Reactor #1? http://twitter.com/#!/dicklp
Fukushima fuel cores are melting at 2000C and dropping onto steel floor. Steel melts at 1500C. Could still be brought under control, but Four other Fukushima nuke reactors are struggling with similar problem. If multiple meltdown begins, it will be uncontrollable.
Nuclear reactor coolant systems are running on batteries, and the coolant has reached the boiling point. Extremely critical situation currently at several earthquake affected nuclear reactors. Officials are concerned that a Three Mile Island 1979 meltdown could happen here. Reuters Link
From the LA Times:
Conditions appear to be worsening at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan, according to local media.
The Kyodo news agency reported that the cooling system has failed at three reactors of Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant. The coolant water’s temperature had reached boiling temperature, the agency reported, citing the power plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power.
The cooling system failure at the No. 2 power plant came after officials were already troubled by the failure of the emergency cooling system at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, which officials feared could cause a meltdown.
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Wow. Not good.
Fukushima, Japan – Nuclear Reactor Explosion – March 12, 2011
Looks like maybe the turbine building, not the reactor containment.
@crosspatch that is what I thought as well but all media sources seem to disagree.
Sky News reporting that radiation levels 8X background outside plant and 1000X background inside control room.
Further new Tsunamis expected up to 3 meters, evacuation of coastal areas to higher ground implemented.
I did want to comment about some of the poor ( and excellent) reporting going on around the world regarding this incident but since i have been considering what to write there has been the explosion.
I will bring you video from Sky News Uk as it becomes available. ( I don’t have the actual explosion yet but I see that it is above )
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tA3jxqKoA&w=640&h=390%5D
I’d appreciate it if a moderator could sort the embedding out in the previous post ( and explain how to do it as I have more to post )
– – – – – – –
tokyoboy,
This is surprising news if it is related to the essential structure of the 1F1 reactor building. So I would like to know if it an associated building such as the rad-waste building or truck access bay or auxiliary building or transformer/switchgear building or turbine building instead of the reactor building essential structure itself.
We are all trying our best to sort it out and understand.
Do you have a link about the explosion?
John
Wish I spoke Japanese. Some live untranslated coverage here plus hopefully more translated soon:
http://live.cnn.com/
If you watch that video when they show the close up you see that the roof didn’t collapse inward it was blown off. There is a very definite and visible pressure wave going straight up and the walls blew outward.
Re: crosspatch
I would say the turbine building. The containment building is only now said to be pressured a two atmospheres. That won’t create a pressure wave like we saw after the explosion. A turbine building could have steam under great pressure and I could imagine such an explosion there. No flash so it wasn’t a chemical explosion.
Doug Allen says:
March 11, 2011 at 7:24 pm
>>
Hmmm. Scary for Japan which has suffered enough. Scary for all of us. I think a lot of us old conservationists/environmentalists who had opposed nuclear were “warming up” to it as the best and cheapest alternative to fossil fuels should they run out or global warming actually proved to be CAGW, which I doubt. Now, I suppose, for better or worse, we are stuck with fossil fuels, very inefficient wind, and very expensive solar. BTW, there are millions of us conservationists/environmentalists who feel the global warming zealots and green extremists have hijacked our beloved movement. Lets take it back!
>>
Exactly.
I hope for the local population that can be brought under control but for the rest of the world it probably could not have come at a better time.
Hopefully this will be wake-up call for the GW zealots. Do they really want to believe that CO2 is more dangerous than nuclear fission reactor fuel and waste products?
Let’s hope that the environmental movement can get off the AGW bandwagon and start concerning itself with REAL pollution issues again.
External radiation now 20X background level, Sky News.
@boballab
Yes, that was something i noticed to. This was a distinctive upwards explosion ( I’m ex Royal Artillery, I know my bangs ;))
Japan’s chief secretary confirms radiation leaks now ( breaking ) but confirms that the 6 mile evacuation zone is enough.
This is the reporting from Russia Today ( which is a great if you ever get the chance to tune in )
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZfutqhyBYQ&fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0%5D
I’m sure Al Gore will say the more frequent and more violent earthquakes are an expected result of global warming and all this is completely consistent with model predictions of the effects of AGW.
Just wait ’till someone works out how much CO2 escaped from F***youshimmer #1.
Whatever was blowing up it the video, it does not look like a 4 foot thick concrete containment structure. Given that the simple solution to the problem is to vent the reactor vessel down to 1 bar then add water at will, the only reason a melt down could occur is because venting of mildly radioactive steam is delayed for political reasons. While I can accept that the Japanese often exhibit extreme bureaucratic paralysis, I am unwilling to accept that all their engineers are a bunch of [snip].
@ur momisugly John G. Bell says:
March 12, 2011 at 1:31 am
Re: crosspatch
I would say the turbine building. The containment building is only now said to be pressured a two atmospheres. That won’t create a pressure wave like we saw after the explosion. A turbine building could have steam under great pressure and I could imagine such an explosion there. No flash so it wasn’t a chemical explosion.
———
I think you are correct, John. Makes all the sense in the world to me, considering how much trouble they must be having with controls & subsystems.
From Yahoo News:
Footage on Japanese TV showed that the walls of one building had crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame standing.
Japan’s Nuclear Power Stations Explained
There’s a good graph half way down showing the power released into the ocean (From our friends at NOAA):-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365229/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-Fears-massive-death-toll.html
“Given that the simple solution to the problem is to vent the reactor vessel down to 1 bar then add water at will, the only reason a melt down could occur is because venting of mildly radioactive steam is delayed for political reasons. While I can accept that the Japanese often exhibit extreme bureaucratic paralysis, I am unwilling to accept that all their engineers are a bunch of [snip].”
Apparently they tried to manually vent the gas (the valves do not have power currently). The worker doing the release was exposed to a fair dose of radiation so they have gone back to the drawing board.
Evacuation radius now set to 12 miles, people told to not leave any skin uncovered, use wet towels wrapped around face and head, do not drink tap water.
http://www.ustream.tv/news
Updates in English
Live from Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan
Almost simultaneously with the strong shock that hit Japan and triggered a giant tsunami in the Pacific, the Russian Kamchatka volcanoes erupted too. Erupcji towarzyszyły trzęsienia ziemi. Eruption was accompanied by earthquakes.
Other volcanic activity in Japan and other places too.
Slightly better quality video of what appears to be a nuclear reactor containment building exploding.
Why are the buildings cube shaped rather than a cylinder with a dome? Is the reactor contained within another containment structure within these cube like buildings? Anyone have design diagrams of this facility?
The speculation about the Tsunami / future Tsunami’s being caused by global warming has already begun. See here, here, here.
For Warmists who are inclined to believe this nonsense then please believe the following things caused by global warming:
Bird migrations longer
Bird migrations shorter
Boreal forest fires may increase
Boreal forest fires may decrease
Earth’s rotation to slow down
Earth’s rotation to speed up
Plants move uphill
Plants move downhill
Sahel to get less rain
Sahel to get more rain
Enough said!
According to a Finnish expert, the explosion was caused by hydrogen that has formed in the reactor. He says this is the second worst accident after Chernobyl.
Luckily the wind is blowing to the sea.