Disasters in Japan

Z

z107

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Poor people.

I was not expecting a nuclear disaster when I woke up this morning. One reactor has exploded, and there are six others there, some with failed cooling systems.
 
The news seems to be getting worse with each report with regard to the nuclear position. If radiation has leaked then the implications will spread further than Japan.

Worrying times.
 
It's looking more and more like Japan's Chernobyl.
At least they didn't wait three days to evacuate.

I wonder what the implications of another tsunami hitting the reactor would be? It looks quite close the the coast. (not to mention Tokyo)
 
It is fantastic to watch the footage of the pre-school children being rescued. Apparently, there were 48 of them on a military boat.

Marion
 
The_Banker said:
The news seems to be getting worse with each report with regard to the nuclear position. If radiation has leaked then the implications will spread further than Japan.

Worrying times.
Click to expand...

It certainly puts the "totally safe energy" arguement back in it's box (again). There should be some system which relies on hard data as opposed to political posturing in the case of nuclear disasters.

I think in the case of Chernobyl it was only when high levels were reported in Norway(?) that they finally owned up to it. Thankfully the cloud system went around Ireland on that day in '86.

According to the reports yesterday they'd managed to cool the reactors in a controlled way in Japan, but these latest reports don't seem to tally with that ... I'm no expert but I'd have assumed that the cooling rods would automatically drop into the reactors if there was a power failure.

Sounds to me more like it got hit before the power failed, possibly damaging the mechanism?
 
What I've learned over the last few hours, reading often conflicting reports, is that the reactor automatically shut down when the earthquake happened.
The control rods automatically go into the core.

However, the core still needs to be cooled with water and there needs to be electricity to run the pumps. Normally this is done off the mains. There are two 'failsafes' to power the pumps. (Diesel generators and battery)
The earthquake destroyed the mains option, so we were left with the Diesel generators. These failed because (I think) the tsunami, or earthquake. We are left with the batteries, but these only run for eight hours.

So water (coolant) isn't circulating and is being boiled off. The outer containment has just exploded off (Steam explosion?) exposing the inner reactor containment.

I don't know how they're going to keep the reactor cool now.
 
umop3p!sdn said:
What I've learned over the last few hours, reading often conflicting reports, is that the reactor automatically shut down when the earthquake happened.
The control rods automatically go into the core.

However, the core still needs to be cooled with water and there needs to be electricity to run the pumps. Normally this is done off the mains. There are two 'failsafes' to power the pumps. (Diesel generators and battery)
The earthquake destroyed the mains option, so we were left with the Diesel generators. These failed because (I think) the tsunami, or earthquake. We are left with the batteries, but these only run for eight hours.

So water (coolant) isn't circulating and is being boiled off. The outer containment has just exploded off (Steam explosion?) exposing the inner reactor containment.

I don't know how they're going to keep the reactor cool now.
Click to expand...

Ah right, so it's not producing any new energy but they have to ensure that what's already there doesn't get to a meltdown situation - which afaik is unstoppable - and blow the thing apart. Scary stuff. The latest idea seems to be releasing radioactive steam ... probably the lesser of two evils ...
 
I had a look at the Japanese embassy website this am. I thought there might be some info on making a small donation or whatever. There was nothing. I know Japan is rich, but I'm sure they will need help? I've never seen anything like the destruction and shudder to think of the numbers of dead. Anyone know if there is some relevant site ?
 
I had a look at the Japanese embassy website this am. I thought there might be some info on making a small donation or whatever. There was nothing. I know Japan is rich, but I'm sure they will need help? I've never seen anything like the destruction and shudder to think of the numbers of dead. Anyone know if there is some relevant site ?
Click to expand...
I was wondering how Japan would financially recover from this, especially if we do end up with worst case nuclear scenario.
I remember reading that Chernobyl cost something like $200billion to clean up - and they still haven't replaced the crumbling containment structure.
 
umop3p!sdn said:
I was wondering how Japan would financially recover from this, especially if we do end up with worst case nuclear scenario.
I remember reading that Chernobyl cost something like $200billion to clean up - and they still haven't replaced the crumbling containment structure.
Click to expand...

Lets not overreact or speculate on this until we know the facts. It is not a Chernobyl yet by any means.
 
I don't believe I'm overreacting.
The last I heard was that they were going to pump seawater and boron in. This really is a drastic measure. Haven't heard any other reports since, which is ominous.

The control rods are in, so hopefully it wont get too much worse.
 
umop3p!sdn said:
I don't believe I'm overreacting.
The last I heard was that they were going to pump seawater and boron in.
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Boric Acid - an absorbatant.

It's looking more like a "Three Mile Island" than a Chernobyl at the moment.

Edit: Have any reactors actually exploded?
 
Teatime said:
Lets not overreact or speculate on this until we know the facts. It is not a Chernobyl yet by any means.
Click to expand...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article563041.ece

The effects of the Chernobyl disaster are way overstated for a variety of reasons. The truth is that even if there is a Chernobyl style disaster in Japan, the death toll will be insignificant when compared with that of the earthquake/tsunami. The word 'nuclear' seeks to evoke irrational fear that is way out of proportion to the effects.
 
I always thought that the after effects of Chernobyl were understated if anything. A huge area of land where people are not allowed to live, even today. Try viewing some youtube footage and see the cost in human terms as well as environmental and monetary.
According to official reports, only about 30 people died because of Chernobyl. This is of course nonsense.

Anyway, back to Japan. It seems things are getting worse. Two buildings have exploded with the fuel rods now exposed in the third.

USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier has suspended aid missions and changed course after radiation amounting to a month's worth in one hour was detected, 160km from the plant.
 
umop3p!sdn said:
I was wondering how Japan would financially recover from this, especially if we do end up with worst case nuclear scenario.
I remember reading that Chernobyl cost something like $200billion to clean up - and they still haven't replaced the crumbling containment structure.
Click to expand...

Japan has almost $900bn worth of US treasury bonds in foreign reserves, so the costs will not be a problem. Apart from the human costs the problem will be the effects on an already fragile economy and whether this will result in increased Keynesian policies.
 
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