fuck everything about shitty government monopolies on dangerous aging infrastructure. not politically popular = not getting renovated this year! (ad infinitum)
Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
91–100 of 109 posts
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#92Can someone provide background information on the type of reactor at Fukusima, it's age, and it's failsafe mechanism. I was under the impression that no modern reactor would sustain criticality in the event of a failure.
To answer my own question, Fukushima is a first generation bwr: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_Water_Reactor It lacks the safety mechanisms of an abwr. Namely even after the control rods are deployed, heat can continue to build up. Hence the plant requires forced cooling, in this case provided by diesel and electric pumps. After the earthquake the diesel pumps failed and cooling was effected by battery power. W…
Read my comment here:
http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=2316851
It's going to take a couple days for any nuclear reactor to burn off decay heat.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
"This is starting to look a lot like Chernobyl" Walt Patterson, an associate fellow with Chatham House, has told the BBC after seeing pictures of the explosion at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant. "The nuclear agency says that they have detected caesium and iodine outside the unit, which certainly indicates fuel melting at the very least," he says. "Once you have melting fuel coming into contact with water, that w…
This is quite different from Chernobyl, which didn't even have a proper confinement wall. It's unlikely that it can get as bad as Chernobyl was.
Chernobyl also was a _bona fide_ reactivity excursion - a nuclear-driven steam explosion literally blew the core apart and spewed radioactive particulates into the atmosphere.
This is just built-up decay heat and chemical reactions.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#94fuck everything about shitty government monopolies on dangerous aging infrastructure. not politically popular = not getting renovated this year! (ad infinitum)
I don't think renovating a nuclear power is difficult to stir up popular support for if the experts want it renovated badly. I doubt private industry would have had any more foresight.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
"... that's not exactly the best case is it?" You could think about the outer building as keeping the rain out, and possibly aeroplanes to some extent. It is not the critical last defence against stuff happening in the reactor, the containment building is. You can bet that the japanese army is keeping any possible threats out of there.
I read somewhere that this design does not have a containment dome. So basically containment wise (in comparison to Chernobil) this reactor is a bit better that it uses reactor containment vessel, but it does not use containment dome. I also read that on TMI a similar hydrogen explosion occurred but it was contained by containment dome.
It doesn't have a concrete containment dome. It's got a steel containment vessel surrounding the main reactor vessel, though.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#96Know why Japan is now clearing all this up now? Cuz the USA offered to send emergency help. Imagine the USA team going over and finding nothing really happened, an entire hoax. This bombing was crafted to short the stock markets. It's pitiful what the rich do for their market gains.
Whoever downvotes this also believes that 9/11 incident was an accident. It was cleverly crafted as well.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#97Got a mail from WANO relayed to me, below is the interesting part about the explosion. ----- 1. Hydrogen explosion occurred at 15:36 between containment and reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi unit 1. Walls of reactor building were blown out or damaged. 2. It was confirmed that unit 1 containment integrity was maintained. Explosion was not inside the containment as it is inert. 3. Radiation level at the Fukushima D…
What is the significance of boron in the seawater?
(It just reads like one of those understated but extremely important bits you find in these sorts of alerts :-| )
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#98Got a mail from WANO relayed to me, below is the interesting part about the explosion. ----- 1. Hydrogen explosion occurred at 15:36 between containment and reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi unit 1. Walls of reactor building were blown out or damaged. 2. It was confirmed that unit 1 containment integrity was maintained. Explosion was not inside the containment as it is inert. 3. Radiation level at the Fukushima D…
What is the significance of boron in the seawater? (It just reads like one of those understated but extremely important bits you find in these sorts of alerts :-| )
Boron has a high neutron cross-section, it therefore absorbs neutrons and slows down the fission process.
In a PWR you add it into the water as a way to moderate the reaction, but in a BWR (like the reactor 1 in Fukushima Daiichi) you only add it as a last resort, since it is incredibly hard to clean out of the system.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#99Got a mail from WANO relayed to me, below is the interesting part about the explosion. ----- 1. Hydrogen explosion occurred at 15:36 between containment and reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi unit 1. Walls of reactor building were blown out or damaged. 2. It was confirmed that unit 1 containment integrity was maintained. Explosion was not inside the containment as it is inert. 3. Radiation level at the Fukushima D…
What is the significance of boron in the seawater? (It just reads like one of those understated but extremely important bits you find in these sorts of alerts :-| )
Boron absorbs neutrons. This stops nuclear reactions in progress.
Re: Video of reactor 1 at Fukushima plant
#100Real quick, what does that mean for the rest of the world? Do we have to fear something?
Don't have a source for this picture, but it probably depicts the worst-case scenario:
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3245/8m6k8n7f8q7z7.jpg
US West Coast gets the fallout cloud in 10 days.