Nuclear rods melting inside three Fukushima reactors, Japan admits

[Truth2Tell]

Source: The Journal (IRE)

JAPAN’S NUCLEAR AUTHORITIES say they believe that three reactors at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant are now melting.

The country’s chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said that although staff at the nuclear facility – where two containment buildings have been destroyed by hydrogen explosions – were unable to check for certain, it was “highly likely” that the nuclear cores at reactors, 1 2 and 3 at Fukushima I nuclear station had begun to melt.

Reuters had earlier reported that the cooling mixture of seawater and boron in the number 2 reactor had totally evaporated, with the reactor’s nuclear rods therefore totally exposed for a significant period of time.

The plant operator TEPCO had earlier said it couldn’t rule out the possibility of a nuclear meltdown in the reactor – and had admitted that a partial meltdown could already be underway.

Read more: http://www.thejournal.ie/nuclear-rods-melting-inside-three-fukushima-reactors-japan-admits-2011-03/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Truth-Out exposes TEPCO, the company Obama wants to build nuke plants in Texas.

"What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.

Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bailout in the making is called the South Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse - Toshiba."

Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators

http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457

[fascisthunter]

3. WOW.... unbelievable

fellow democrats, wake up!

[Boswell]

4. so who was hiding this?

if it was all public before how can it now be "exposed"?

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Everything Palast does is an "expose".

As for hidden, so much is hidden from the public nowdays, yes?

[quaker bill]

18. Texas???

[kentauros]

38. When it was first built and online, it was called the STNP,

or South Texas Nuclear Project. They dropped the word "Nuclear" due to the public stigma associated with it. There were also major cost-overruns and the first contractor, Brown & Root, seemed to have problems pouring the concrete for the containment buildings. I remember news reports of inspectors finding 40-foot voids in the forms.

Here's a Google Maps link to it:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=28.772926,-96.043167&spn=0.113753,0.213032&t=h&z=13

[flamingdem]

19. The only silver lining might be exposing the incompetency in the Nuke biz nt

[wordpix]

24. and the ridiculously high cost, and the fact O is unabashedly pro-nuke

The Obama admin. should change its nuclear tune or just one more MAJOR reason to vote for his opponent in the primaries.

[lapfog_1]

35. If I recall correctly...

There isn't a US based company that can cast the steel containment vessels, and in fact, there is only one facility in the work (in Japan) that has the capability.

I'm sure I've heard this little factoid in the past.

[Tx4obama]

2. Also, Just in - ABC is reporting that the container of a nuclear reactor in Japan is damaged

Just in ....

5:50pm via Huffington Japan Live Blog

ABC is reporting that the container of a nuclear reactor in Japan is damaged:

abcnews @ abcnews : Just in: Japan's govt says part of the container of a troubled nuclear reactor appears to be damaged

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/japan-earthquake-tsunami_n_834380.html
p.s. Live Blog begins directly under the article.

[DLnyc]

5. And a correction:

CORRECTION: ABC has issued the following correction:
abcnews @ abcnews : Correction: Japanese govt did NOT say apparent damage to reactor 'means possibility of serious radiation leak'. Said no spike in rad. levels

[Tx4obama]

6. Yep. But the news of the reactor's container damage stands as is.

And even if their gov didn't "say" there'd be a possibility of serious radiation leak - the possibility is still there.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. The suppression pool on the Mark 1 BWR is outside the core containment.

It's a wierd arrangement, but it's still sealable.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. There are reports that high levels of radiation have been measured at Ibaraki, south of Fukushima.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/#entry-6a00e0097e4e6888330147e33686b3970b

[DissedByBush]

8. Not a safety issue, don't believe the hype

If the rods were left exposed, most likely we have some the casings of the rods melted. This is not a meltdown. It is likely this has happened.

If they were left exposed for a very long time, and they hadn't cooled down enough prior, it is possible that the fuel itself could melt. It is not likely this has happened.

Worst case if this happens, the melted fuel falls into the "core catcher" of concrete and graphite, and sits there until it cools down.

Remember, the reactors were shut down, the control rods fully inserted, immediately when the earthquake started.

All they're doing now is dealing with the residual heat of the reactor.

The biggest problem all this is, is financial, as it's going to cost the company running the plant a lot of time and money before it can come back online.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Reactors 1-3 are never coming back on line. Ever.

Unless maybe they recycle the building's foundation, and you consider that 'coming back online'.

These three are trash. Good riddance anyway, Mark 1 containments. Clearly not suitable to the environmental risks on the Japanese coastline.

[DissedByBush]

16. Complete meltdown has not been shown

That is what would cause a total loss.

If the rod casings partially melted (most likely), they basically have to refuel the reactor long before planned.

The damage to the outer containment due to explosion has to be fixed of course.

But that's outer containment, the concrete shell. I haven't heard anything about the inner (high-strength steel) containment being damaged.

[Peace Patriot]

33. You don't know what you're talking about. The use of sea water is a last resort measure

to stop a meltdown and it means that they gave up on these reactors the minute they started pumping sea water into them. Sea water trashes the entire facility. They will never come back on-line.

[boppers]

34. I have heard about inner containment possibly being damaged in #2.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-japan-reactor-damage-20110314,0,5884491.story

[TNLib]

17. I think your probably right and I doubt that they will re-build in that location

considering the tsunami threat.

[Occulus]

10. The biggest problem is financial, huh?

:puke:

[wordpix]

26. right, tell that to the people who have lost their irradiated homes---maybe forever

there's more to it than just money. There's also your home, land, garden, wildlife...the list goes on.

[Confusious]

13. They flushed them with salt water

Those things are never going to be used agian.

[DissedByBush]

15. Salt water doesn't really matter

Reactors don't care. The problem there is radiation.

The pure water normally used doesn't take on any lasting radioactivity, ultra-short half-lifes.

Elements in the sea water can become long-term irradiated, so now they have to worry about safely disposing of that.

[Confusious]

32. The containment vessel is steel

salt water rusts steel.

[liberation]

41. Salt water renders those reactors useless

It is a measure of last resort.

[Rex]

40. Don't believe your hype?

Not a problem, no one else is either it seems.

[certainot]

14. an 'expert' on bozo hannity says soviets were at fuku and in charge when it happened

for some reason.

i missed much of it but it was the most idiotic shit- in other words the plants would have been ok if the top notch japanese crew were in charge instead of the second string- so it wasn't anybody's fault but the soviets. maybe commies. amazing.

[Aerows]

20. I'm shocked they didn't try to blame it on Muslims

I guess we'll have to wait for Beck to make that connection.

[unkachuck]

21. you could be right....

....Muslims have been known to encourage people to build inadequately designed nuclear power reactors on earthquake fault lines....or was that corporate Christians?

[rosesaylavee]

22. Russian Muslims

Yeah. That's it. Trained in Texas by libruls no doubt.

[yardwork]

27. Massachusetts. Trained in Massachusetts. Gotta be.

[rosesaylavee]

31. Ok, either in the Berkshires

or somewhere in that librul cesspool of Austin. :hi:

[KamaAina]

28. Soviets?!

Dude. 1989 called. It wants its geopolitics back. :dunce:

[kentauros]

39. Yeah, but consider that teabaggers that weren't even born in 1941

seemingly haven't gotten over Pearl Harbor.

[wordpix]

30. other Faux "expert" said the only nuke plants we have to worry about are near the sea & on fault

lines, like the San Andreas. Otherwise, there are no concerns.

These nutcases never for once mentioned the fact that our ancient electric infrastructure could easily be disrupted by any number of problems, and has been disrupted plenty in the past (remember all those blackouts?). I'm no nuke expert but I do understand that nukes need water pumped in large quantity to cool the fuel rods and could end with meltdowns/explosions if water can't be pumped because the electricity isn't there to pump it.

The bozos could get blown to corporatist nuclear smithereens but they would still be claiming their puppetmasters know all and have been right all along. :puke:

[certainot]

42. yep, natural disasters of all types could fuck up the cooling

[Downwinder]

23. Wonder if the Fukushima meltdown is an insured destruction of

obsolete equipment?

[jimlup]

25. I think we are now losing the whole site....

Could be catastrophic... I don't see how the reactor vessels can hold. Maybe, but it seems doubtful if we are full meltdown.

[DeSwiss]

29. K&R

And then there's the http://squall.sfsu.edu/scripts/nhemjetstream_model.html">jetstream.

[Overseas]

36. Sad K&R. //nt

[Uncle Joe]

37. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Truth2Tell.