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Nuclear events taking place in Japan.

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Proud Mary

Fri May 13 2011, 09:37PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

The molten uranium mass created by the Windscale Fire of 1957 was found to be still molten inside its concrete vault in 2001. We should expect no less at Fukushima - that no complete resolution of the problem is possible, and that the best that can be done is to hand down the problem to the next generation, to the daughters and sons of those who now work there, in the hope that technological progress over decades may one day discover a solution.

Patrick

Fri May 13 2011, 10:20PM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

Proud Mary wrote ...

The molten uranium mass created by the Windscale Fire of 1957 was found to be still molten inside its concrete vault in 2001. We should expect no less at Fukushima - that no complete resolution of the problem is possible, and that the best that can be done is to hand down the problem to the next generation, to the daughters and sons of those who now work there, in the hope that technological progress over decades may one day discover a solution.

Yes, that is precisely what I meant to imply. fully resolving these matters would require a "star trek" like understanding of phyics and chemistry we just dont have now.

All we can do now is baby sit the problem--mitagate the immeadiate health risk, and wait for another century's solution.

Chip Fixes

Thu May 19 2011, 01:26AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Can't they put a containment chamber around it?

Ash Small

Thu May 19 2011, 01:56AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

I think that's what they are planning to do, but it isn't a permanent solution, as Chernobyl has proved.

Chip Fixes

Thu May 19 2011, 02:03AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Ah yes, I found an article on the dome[s]

Ash Small

Wed Jun 08 2011, 01:18AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

According to the BBC, reactor 1 went into meltdown within 5 hours after the tsunami, and twice as much radiation was released in the first week than was originally admitted. (770,000 tera bequerels)

Ash Small wrote ...
(on march 12)
.
Apparently the radioactivity release is consistent with what would be expected in a meltdown.

.

I hate to say I told you so.

Proud Mary

Wed Jun 08 2011, 02:26AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Ash Small wrote ...

According to the BBC, reactor 1 went into meltdown within 5 hours after the tsunami, and twice as much radiation was released in the first week than was originally admitted. (770,000 tera bequerels)

Ash Small wrote ...
(on march 12)
.
Apparently the radioactivity release is consistent with what would be expected in a meltdown.

.

I hate to say I told you so.

Everyone whose opinion you'd respect knew they were lying all along.

Ash Small

Wed Jun 08 2011, 09:56AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Proud Mary wrote ...

.
Everyone whose opinion you'd respect knew they were lying all along.

Several people whose opinion I (usually) respect were expressing doubts regarding a meltdown in this thread on March 12th, but I'm not going to press the point or mention names.

The purpose of my previous post was to primarily report the latest news, ie the Japanese authorities have now admitted they were lying. (which many of us suspected at the time)

Patrick

Thu Jun 09 2011, 01:41AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

Yep, I was worried from the beginning that this was worse than admitted from the start, for two reasons:

First, in the case of Three Mile Island--many of the expert operators who were'nt schills for the government or private business, believed that the reactor had not been seriously altered in geometry, though it would never operate again... years later a special camera revelaed that 5 feet of the top of the reactor was gone. These same experts later said they were shocked, they never thought it had been that bad.

Lesson: In catastrophic events, Titanic, Union Carbide/Bhopal, Challinger/Columbia, Katrina, 9/11, Chernoble, Flight KAL 007, Cuban missle crisis... and more, often the full scope, intensity and cause of the situation is not understood until months or years later.

Second, the Japanese governement had a profound even soul shattering decisions and assesments to make, not just the obvious "lets rescue everyone" but the difficulty in what civil and martial capacity remains, and what has been lost due to the earthquake, intensified by the Tsunami, and further compounded by a nuclear disaster. I mean dam, anyone of those events would press any government to the absolute limit, they had all three to deal with.

I was greatly relieved to see the Japanese people hold themselves together...

Ash Small

Thu Jun 09 2011, 10:33AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

I think the point here is that, even after others (experts in the field) had pointed out that the hydrogen that exploded was produced by the zirconium fuel cannisters melting (and reacting with water) and that the subsequent radiation produced was indicative of a meltdown, the authorities continued to deny that a meltdown had occurred for weeks.

(PM, you did confirm that the fuel cannisters had melted on 13th March)

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