Massive Quake Hits NE Japan

[Dinner]

OK, now that sounds serious.

[germanos]

Blast at 46 seconds

more

[germanos]

Good wideangle shot shows how massive the explosion was (BBC)

[kittenOFchaos]

The expert I just saw being interviewed on BBC News 24 indicated that this explosion was most likely due to steam and radioactive release would be pretty minor. As time passes, the risk of meltdown should significantly decrease.

The report also stated that in terms of lives lost per kWh that hydro is more lethal than nuclear.

[Docfeelgood]

Can buy a lot of cheap property in japan.

[Docfeelgood]

Oh, my sure are a lot of nuclear experts here!

[Docfeelgood]

Heard on the news THREE nuke plants are in meltdown mode!!!

Japan has declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability.

Getting conflicting reports now

But he said even if there was a meltdown, it would not affect humans within a six-mile radius.

HUGE BS!!!!

[Docfeelgood]

It doesn't look like the plants are going to go chernobyl on us. Worst case seems to me that it could be slightly worse than 3 mile island. The fact that it took an 8.9 earthquake on a small island on the pacific rim to get a nuclear reactor anywhere near becoming dangerous is the ultimate testament to their safety. But of course the public won't see it that way and we will be forever without cost-effective clean energy.

but at such a high cost should they turn into the worst case scenario. as these are now doing.

[Wezil]

I just hope they don't cross H1N1 with a meltdown.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Oh, my sure are a lot of nuclear experts here!

Who else works in the industry on these forums? Would like to compare notes. Have been traveling the last few days so am missing details. Never would have imagined catastrophic loss of containment.

[Guynemer]

I've actually been anxious to have you weigh in on what's going on, Ogie. We're all just a bunch of observers who think we know a lot more than we really do.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Don't know many of the details. Sounds like that had no onsite backup power thus the emergency diesels that provide power to run the coolant pump or the back up residual heat removal systems were inoperable.

Likely the safety pressure relief valves were activated in order to prevent reactor breach thus the containment atmosphere was compromised. I dont have any knowledge about how containment compromise happened though. Might have also included loss of piping integrity and thus a nuch more substantial loss of coolant accident LOCA break. The real clue was the utility was attempting to vent. That is extremely bad news meaning reactor integrity was compromised either intetionally or otherwise.

I'm still in shock that containment blew! wow.

[Guynemer]

So on a scale of 1 to Godzilla rising from the depths and crushing people under foot, how ****ed is the area around the reactor in question likely to be?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Will be something less then Chernobyl depending on dispersion of reactor content/ reactor integrity. Depends mostly on how dispersed the stuff is. In chernobyl the thing blew up as well and sent the reactor contents airborne. Bad likely very bad considering population density which I assume high considering it's Japan.

Also just heard they were handing out potassium iodide AFTER not before the releases. Not good. That usually indicates they were concerned about radioactive iodine, a fission byproduct, meaning they already figured they were melting fuel and that fuel integrity the first radiation boundary was Or very shortly would be compromised.

[Guynemer]

Maybe you can't answer this particular question, but my lay understanding is that--due to their unique historical perspective and frequent experience with tectonic activity--Japan has what is generally considered to be the structurally safest plants in the world. Is that accurate, or just urban myth/hearsay?