Dangerous breach feared at Japan nuke site

[jaxx]

msnbc.com news services
updated 1 hour 39 minutes ago

TOKYO — A possible breach in the core of a reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, Japanese officials revealed Friday, as the prime minister called the country's ongoing fight to stabilize the plant "very grave and serious."

<..> Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than is typical and suffered skin burns on their feet, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said.

That happened at the turbine building for the Unit 3 nuclear reactor, and the Kyodo news agency on Friday reported that highly radioactive water was also found in the turbine buildings at Units 1 and 2.

<..> Hideo Morimoto, director at Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, also played down fears. "I feel if the pressure vessel has been seriously damaged, then far more radiation would have leaked," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42263856/ns/...iapacific/

I am hesitant to post info about the nuclear crisis in Japan because there seems to be so much crazy stuff out there right now. The people there must be so scared.

[Cha]

Still, the "radio activity" doesn't sound good and we should be aware of reports that are coming out of Japan although there will be a lot of confusion right along with it for who knows how long.

Thanks jaxx.

[Beetwasher]

On a selfish note, I'm glad I insisted that my Sister-In-Law take herself and her son (my 5 yr old nephew) out of Chiba and go to my in-laws on the West Coast of Japan in Toyama, much further from Fukishima and out of any harms way. I'm glad I insisted and kept insisting because they were not considering it until I started really making noise about it to my wife.

Unfortunately my BIL is in Tokyo and has to stay there as his job is actually related to what's going on in Fukishima and he has to work (can't say any more than that).

[JuniperLea]

(03-25-2011 01:29 PM)Beetwasher Wrote:  On a selfish note, I'm glad I insisted that my Sister-In-Law take herself and her son (my 5 yr old nephew) out of Chiba and go to my in-laws on the West Coast of Japan in Toyama, much further from Fukishima and out of any harms way. I'm glad I insisted and kept insisting because they were not considering it until I started really making noise about it to my wife.

Unfortunately my BIL is in Tokyo and has to stay there as his job is actually related to what's going on in Fukishima and he has to work (can't say any more than that).

Compassion can be confused with selfishness, I suppose. It's good what you did!

I'm starting to see nuclear facility work hit my desk now as well... and can't say more than that either. It's hard to work in the trenches sometimes.

[JuniperLea]

It will be difficult to hide the massive white mushroom cloud... this is getting more scary by the day. I noticed there isn't much mention anymore in the main $tream evening TV news.

[yowzayowzayowza]

[HamdenRice]

My heart is sinking for the Japanese people. As some of you may know, I've worked a lot on African issues and studied Africa in grad school, but my minor both undergrad and grad was East Asia. I have always admired Japanese culture. The news is awful. If this were happening in a bigger country, or further away from Tokyo, I would agree with those who don't want to sound like "doomers." But this kind of breach and the way this problem remains out of control, within contamination distance of Tokyo just makes my heart sink.

DailyKos has a continuing series of diaries in which folks contribute what they know and new reports, and it's amazing how many really qualified people, like nuclear engineers, provide input.

Here's a physicists brief diary about what the isotope profile means:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/25...-from-core

and this are the 2 mothership type diaries for DK commentary:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/25...r-Disaster

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/25...erShip-#11

[jaxx]

US rushes freshwater to help Japan nuclear plant

SENDAI, Japan (AP) - U.S. naval barges loaded with freshwater sped toward Japan's overheated nuclear plant on Saturday to help workers struggling to stem a worrying rise in radioactivity and remove dangerously contaminated water from the facility.

Workers at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have been using seawater in a frantic bid to stabilize reactors overheating since a tsunami knocked out the complex's crucial cooling system March 11, but fears are mounting about the corrosive nature of the salt in the water.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. is now rushing to inject the reactors with freshwater instead to prevent pipes from clogging and to begin extracting the radioactive water, Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday.

<..> Defense Minister Yoshimi Kitazawa said late Friday that the U.S. government had made "an extremely urgent" request to switch to freshwater. He said the U.S. military was sending water to nearby Onahama Bay and that water injections could begin early next week.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/2011032...RFV80.html

[There Is No Spoon]

They need to be careful here. I heard one fellow explain that there's a very remote chance that the reactor containing plutonium (#3) could possibly reach critical mass if it melted down and certain other conditions were met. I guess it's so remote that others dismiss it entirely, but it sticks in my head as everything that can go wrong has done so already.

[jaxx]

It's like the whole place is another accident waiting to happen. They knew salt water would pose problems, and it has. Now to put in clean water...what will that do? I don't think anything is remote there TINS, it's like the whole thing is an unknown situation.

[There Is No Spoon]

(03-26-2011 09:12 AM)jaxx Wrote:  It's like the whole place is another accident waiting to happen. They knew salt water would pose problems, and it has. Now to put in clean water...what will that do? I don't think anything is remote there TINS, it's like the whole thing is an unknown situation.

Let's hope this particular scenario is extremely remote. Do you know what would happen if the rods went molten, then hit the cold water pool below the reactor and react in such a way as to hit critical mass?

[jaxx]

No, I don't know. I'm horribly ignorant in these subjects. But I appreciate any help in trying to understand.

[There Is No Spoon]

(03-26-2011 09:24 AM)jaxx Wrote:  No, I don't know. I'm horribly ignorant in these subjects. But I appreciate any help in trying to understand.

Well, I'm not a nuclear physicist either, but if it went critical it could create a fission chain reaction that could "explode" and spread nuclear material over a large area.

[Still a Democrat]

Probably because of my ignorance on the matter, I'm getting numb to these "look what's happened now" headlines. It's a heartbreaking tragedy, but I'm not really able to ride the emotional roller coaster with each of these headlines.