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Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

reuters.com

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Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#41

Post by jedsmith »

jonknee wrote: post #21
Roritharr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is not clear at this moment if the containment vessel is damaged or not. the spike in radiation levels that was measured lately does indicate that it is broken. Edit: If you want to read up on the radiation levels: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110315-red-alert-radiatio...

... Which would mean an explosion damaged the containment vessel. The earthquake did remarkably little damage to the plant.

You do realize that everything that has happened at the plant since the earthquake, including that explosion, is a direct result of the earthquake, right? That's like saying the airliners didn't take down the World Trade Center, the fire did. There wouldn't have been a fire if it weren't for the airliners.

The earthquake and subsequent effects of the earthquake destroyed these reactors. It's a pointless distinction to say otherwise, designed to soften the blow to nuclear power's reputation.

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#42

Post by nakkiel »

Roritharr wrote: post #13
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one of the worst earthquakes on record can't break the containment vessel in these old plants, then I think we're actually doing very well.

it is not clear at this moment if the containment vessel is damaged or not. the spike in radiation levels that was measured lately does indicate that it is broken. Edit: If you want to read up on the radiation levels: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110315-red-alert-radiatio...

AFAIK the radiations might come from the fire in rector 4.

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#43

Post by thingie »

wladimir wrote: post #17
pieter wrote: post #2

I guess a knee-jerk reaction can be expected in a country where nuclear power is currently pretty controversial.

It's only a temporary measure anyway, the plants will be inspected and (if everything well) turned on again until 2023 or so. Personally, I'd feel a lot safer if all nuclear plants were turned off forever. Sure, the chance of something going horribly wrong is low, but if it goes wrong it is a big big mess. Just too horrible to warrant any of the advantages that nuclear power has.

I feel almost infinitely more threatened by a lack of electric power than a nuclear plant accident (the nearest one is about 35 km from here, for the record). And that is much more likely to happen; from some perspective, it even seems inevitable.

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#44

Post by CountHackulus »

xlpz wrote: post #25
thematt wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I actually think the events of the past week prove it's safety. Let put it in perspective: a 40 year old nuclear reactor gets hit by a 9 magnitude earthquake, then slammed with 20 ft. tall swell of water, followed by an explosion due to the buildup of hydrogen gas that blows off the roof of the building, and after all that the core was still mostly intact and contained. That seems like an amazingly positive resu…

What potentially devastating consequences would there be if instead of a nuclear plant a windmill had been hit by an earthquake, tsunami and explosion? I honestly fail to be impressed by this kind of reasoning about nuclear energy's safety. Disclaimer: I still think fission power might be better in the long run than coal power (catastrophic global warming is worse than any nuclear disaster), but I'd rather do without…

That one windmill won't provide near the power output of one nuclear reactor. It would be more like an entire windmill farm getting hit. Also, look at what happened to the coal plants; fires everywhere and explosions at the oil refineries. The nuclear plants look far safer to me. Don't try and use hydro as an example of safe power lest we forget what happened in China recently.

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#45

Post by drzaiusapelord »

mironathetin wrote: post #26
bhousel wrote: post #9

This strikes me more as a political stunt by Merkel to rally the conservative base in Germany than anything else. Still, it doesn't surprise me that this is such a hot button issue right now. I've long been a supporter of nuclear power, but the events of the past week have made me start to reconsider a lot of my beliefs about its safety.

I still remember the voices after Chernobyl: Light water reactors are safe and core meltdown can never happen, because the moderator is water. If it evaporates, the moderator is gone and the core will cool down. Chernobyl was a graphite moderated reactor. When the core overheated, the graphite melted together with the uranium and the nuclear reaction could not be stopped any more. Now we see how reliable those report…

By voices you mean Soviet propaganda for not only a poorly designed plant but also a poorly designed plant run poorly.

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#46

Post by jgrahamc »

paganel wrote: post #32
jgrahamc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which beliefs? That a nuclear power station situated in a major earthquake zone next to the coast could magically survive a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami? Right now, we don't know how serious this situation is, it could be that this will end with a small amount of radiation leaked and four reactors that have to be decommissioned. Or it could end with a major environmental disaster. We simply don't know yet. I'd cautio…

> That a nuclear power station situation in a major earthquake zone next to the coast could magically survive a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami? The un-posed question is "what happens if a group of terrorists fly an A380 directly into one of these plants"? Someone on reddit was mentioning that a nuclear plant in Texas was built to "withstand a direct hit from an F-16 traveling at supersonic speeds", but I guess an A380…

You might enjoy reading "Deterring Terrorism: Aircraft Crash Impact Analyses Demonstrate Nuclear Power Plant’s Structural Strength"

http://www.nei.org/filefolder/EPRI_Nuclear_Plant_Structural_...

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#49

Post by ErrantX »

homecoded wrote: post #24
Roritharr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is not clear at this moment if the containment vessel is damaged or not. the spike in radiation levels that was measured lately does indicate that it is broken. Edit: If you want to read up on the radiation levels: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110315-red-alert-radiatio...

The news ticker at heute.de was pretty sure about it, saying there are two holes each eight square meters in size in reactor 4. Of course I can't say how much truth lies in that statement.

That's talking about the reactor building (i.e. the outer walls). It's not 100% clear but they were at one point demolishing those walls to help vent hydrogen from the building. But I saw anbother source saying an explosion in that building caused the holes.

(Unit 4, BTW, is shut down & stable, but it is the building with the fire in the spent fuel pond)

Re: Germany shuts down seven reactors‎ because of Fokushima

#50

Post by CountHackulus »

homecoded wrote: post #24
Roritharr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is not clear at this moment if the containment vessel is damaged or not. the spike in radiation levels that was measured lately does indicate that it is broken. Edit: If you want to read up on the radiation levels: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110315-red-alert-radiatio...

The news ticker at heute.de was pretty sure about it, saying there are two holes each eight square meters in size in reactor 4. Of course I can't say how much truth lies in that statement.

The Brazillian news was claiming that a huge nuclear fallout cloud was heading their way and that everyone should stock up on iodine. The Austrian news was claiming that the meltdown was fully under way and that hell on earth was about to be unleashed.

I'd wait until we have clear news about what's going on before making an opinion.

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