Massive Quake Hits NE Japan

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

HYDROGEN, dumbass. HYDROGEN. The explosion was virtually identical to the first. It is very simple. Heat splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Heat goes away, hydrogen and oxygen recombine---BOOM! Mini hindenburg. Now shut up.

Presence of hydrogen in containment building is due to reactor venting hydrogen. Reactor is generating hydrogen when fuel rod get uncovered and or at temps in excess of about 1500 F. Then zirconium cladding begins oxidizing stealing oxygen from steam and liberating hydrogen.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Other sources of hydrogen include hydrogen water treatment of reactor feed water and hydrogen used to provide a reducing atmosphere at ozone generating generator windings. The site typically has some storage tanks of hydrogen but these would be outside containment.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Are most reactors built near large bodies of water? I can see why that might be so.

Seems a rather inconvenient coincidence that a tumbler nearby can swamp the machinery needed to make them safe.

Did nobody see this coming?

Most nukes are near large bodies of water for access to cooling media. Even palo verde in the middle of the Arizona desert relies on man made bodies of water all of pheonix's sewage.

[germanos]

Feel good picture by AP:


A mother with her child, born last Saturday in a shelter in Iwaki.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Jesus: a second explosion and things are getting worse:

BBC
#
0629: Urgent news: Cooling functions have stopped and water levels are falling in Reactor 2 at the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant - Jiji news agency, quoted by Reuters.

#
0631: This is the first time today that we are hearing of problems in Reactor 2. This morning, there was a huge explosion at Reactor 3, and there was a blast at Reactor 1 on Saturday. But both of those reactors are said to be intact.

It seems that the explosion at reactor 3 somehow knocked out the coolant pumps for reactor 2. They're now saying that reactor 2's fuel rods were briefly exposed.

I get the feeling it's a good thing that three of the six reactors at the site were already offline for maintenance.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Speaking of building codes: around here we sometimes worry about the roof collapsing from too much snow.

[germanos]

I get the feeling it's a good thing that three of the six reactors at the site were already offline for maintenance.

If there's one thing we can be 100% sure of it's that.

[germanos]

Speaking of building codes: around here we sometimes worry about the roof collapsing from too much snow.

It's amazing some things are still standing. There was this pic of the lone Hospital still standing at that town that was wiped of the map. Only the fifth (?) floor appeared unscathed. All floors below were apparently washed out given the debris hanging out of the shattered windows. The wave must have been more then 10 meters high there.

[The Mad Monk]

That pic is just surreal.

[The Mad Monk]

Japanese Factory Closings Threaten Global Supply Chain.
The Wall Street Journal (3/14, Kachi, Takahashi; subscription required) reports that Japan's manufacturing sector is in disarray, even where plants are not directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami, and the closing of car and chip factories threatens to disrupt the global supply chain. The Journal says that plants that manufacture engines and other components for cars are either shut or so disrupted that they might as well be shut. In addition, manufacturers face rolling blackouts that will disrupt their power supplies for weeks. Other plants that are reported closed include paper makers, steel companies, and consumer electronic plants. Companies that have announced the closing of their plants include Hino Motors, Honda, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Suzuki Motors and Toyota. Some products, such as the Toyota Prius, for example, can only be made with access to Japanese-manufactured parts.

Reuters (3/14) reports that oil refiners announced closings, while Sony optical film manufacturing was halted after its plant was flooded. Some companies have no idea when they will be able to resume manufacturing, in part because it is unclear the scale of damage to the country's infrastructure yet. Reuters adds that Japan's economy should recover in the long term, but spot shortages of goods will affect short-term performance.

The Wall Street Journal (3/13, Van Hasselt, Jones; subscription required) reported over the weekend that US and Canadian West Coast ports saw no immediate impact from Japan's troubles, although NYK Group of Tokyo said it suspended its service on the Japan-China Express shipping service. That firm services Sendai, one of the Japanese cities hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunamai. Shipping impact will become clearer this week.

Bloomberg News (3/12, Anstey, Otsuma) reported that "Japan's central bank pledged to ensure financial stability after the nation's strongest earthquake on record forced Toyota Motor Corp. to shut some plants, shut down oil refineries and sparked a plunge in stocks." Bloomberg News added that "the disaster may curb Japan's recovery from an economic slump in the fourth quarter as Prime Minister Naoto Kan struggles to convince investors about his ability to tackle the world's largest public-debt burden," but chief economist Brendan Brown of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International in London said "the nagging question in the background here, given that public finances are in such a weak condition already, is: Is this going to push Japan over the edge?"

Japanese Stock Market Drops Sharply; Auto Stocks Tumble. The New York Times (3/14, Wassener) reports on its website that "the Japanese stock market dropped sharply Monday," with "the Nikkei 225 index...down 6.2 percent not long after the midday break in Tokyo." The "industrial, manufacturing and financial stocks were particularly hurt, amid huge uncertainty over the extent of the damage and continuing aftershocks as well as the systematic rolling blackouts that began Monday and their effect on production." The Times says "Mitsubishi Motors plummeted 9.1 percent, Nissan was down 8.5 percent and Toyota fell 7.3 percent. Sony slumped 7.7 percent, Canon dropped 5.8 percent and Panasonic was down 6.9 percent." Moreover, "Toshiba plummeted 16.3 percent and Hitachi by 15.2 percent."

From an industry newsletter.

[germanos]

It seems that the explosion at reactor 3 somehow knocked out the coolant pumps for reactor 2. They're now saying that reactor 2's fuel rods were briefly exposed.

From Kyodo news:
NEWS ADVISORY: Fuel rods at No. 2 reactor fully exposed for about 2.5 hours: agency

Half an hour before they reported:
BREAKING NEWS: Water level of about 2 meters recovered at No. 2 reactor of nuke plant

So I assume things have improved.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

From Kyodo news:
NEWS ADVISORY: Fuel rods at No. 2 reactor fully exposed for about 2.5 hours: agency

Half an hour before they reported:
BREAKING NEWS: Water level of about 2 meters recovered at No. 2 reactor of nuke plant

So I assume things have improved.

Daiishi plant can't catch a break. Dang.

However units 1, 2, and 3 still have reactor integrity.

[Docfeelgood]

Queue Doc Feelpanicky.

Do you really feel the need to jump on the band wagon?

[Docfeelgood]

Presence of hydrogen in containment building is due to reactor venting hydrogen. Reactor is generating hydrogen when fuel rod get uncovered and or at temps in excess of about 1500 F. Then zirconium cladding begins oxidizing stealing oxygen from steam and liberating hydrogen.

This is a bad thing?

[Docfeelgood]

I wonder if the US satellites can pick up radiation signature at the power plants?