Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 41

@Dean, I remember reading something about Plutonium emitting more intense neutrons, or was it faster ? anyway it was mentioned it could hamper the efforts
by WolfDK 3/26/2011 7:54:22 PM

@jojo, i'm no nuclear physicist so can't really answer that, but from what ive heard and learnt is that cooling it seems to be the major concern currently. I expect they need to keep the spent fuel covered to prevent melting of the fuel and keep cooling and pressure under control in the vessel. If either of these go out of the workable limits, i'm sure we would be in for a worse situation than current.
by Rexz 3/26/2011 7:54:34 PM

@radioguy : but corrosion never produces Co60, only Co59. and corrosion should not happen in stainless steel. and moreover not in a reactor vessel. corrosion is very unlikely.
by Matsuoko 3/26/2011 7:55:52 PM

@NHK Listener thanks for links. they still nowhere say where they will put the water pumped out. I really believe they will just put in in the sea, as in every article, they always mention that there is no probleme with radioactiv dilution in the sea.
by Future Isnow 3/26/2011 7:55:52 PM

and I guess water is the main thing we have lots of, hence the use of sea water first for how close it was and the abundance of it.
by Rexz 3/26/2011 7:56:21 PM

@Future Isnow No problem until they start measuring Cesium levels in tuna that is.
by Jojo 3/26/2011 7:56:29 PM

@Dean What extra treats are posed by the added plutonium, besides its half-life?
by Jeff 3/26/2011 7:57:36 PM

The only reason to keep it cool is so it doesn't melt. If it goes past that point it just a big mass that could lead to criticality. But if it has already melted, well there's not much you can do but cover it.
by Jim Carver 3/26/2011 7:57:42 PM

SO, in a nutshell, the waste management strategy consisted of thousands of long, thin assemblies filled with thousands of fuel pellets, and this totally elegant system to move these nice discrete but seriously dangerous assemblies around. So, now that they're all in various sates of liquidity and non-discreteness, how do you move the suckers?
by radioguy 3/26/2011 7:58:02 PM

@Jojo true, and not only in Tuna. and cesium is not the worst, unfortunately... :(
by Future Isnow 3/26/2011 7:58:40 PM

@Jim Carver They didn't fill in Three mile island did they?
by NHK Listener 3/26/2011 7:59:14 PM

@Matsuoko Unless the corrosion is caused by a 2800 degree Celsius ball of Corium inside of a containment vessel....
by Dennis Tucker Jr 3/26/2011 7:59:40 PM

i really have no idea what they could effectively do now. it can be compared to a volcano. you can only sit and wait until its over. and spray some water on important things.
by Matsuoko 3/26/2011 7:59:55 PM

@Future Isnow We've tracked how wind moves on mainland Japan. Has any tracked estimated radioactivity from the tons and tons of radioactive seawater, and how those will move in the Pacific currents?
by Jojo 3/26/2011 7:59:55 PM

@you My point is that a lot of people eat a lot of fish from the Pacific. if it only took a few days for the air to get to Nor Cal...
by Jojo 3/26/2011 8:00:32 PM

@Matsuko Wait till a smoldering pile of uranium and plutonium is over?
by radioguy 3/26/2011 8:01:32 PM

@radioguy I don't think you move the 'suckers' I think you cool - isolate - encase - and enclose them.
by Tenzing 3/26/2011 8:01:36 PM

@NHK Listener They removed most of it, maybe. But, that plant operated less than a year. This thing has been around a lot longer and many times more fuel and spent fuel is involved.
by Jim Carver 3/26/2011 8:01:40 PM

this japanese filmmaker shows us the reality. fiction becoms reality www.youtube.com !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by hans 3/26/2011 8:01:45 PM

@Dennis Tucker Jr : well, i really don't know what happens in extreme circumstances. but stainless steel is not supposed to corrode and of course you don't want corrosion in a reactor vessel. so, corrosion should not happen in an intact vessel. as a consequently, the vessel is ruined.
by Matsuoko 3/26/2011 8:02:00 PM

@Tzenzing That's been the plan all along I think, but it just keeps having more chaotic variables added.
by radioguy 3/26/2011 8:02:38 PM

@Janis lol, after 50 there's no holding back. Watching all this unfold takes me back to the time I spent protesting the opening of Diablo Canyon. Then, as now, I still wonder why people make dangerous things they can't fix when they break. Then give those dangerous things ocean view homes on earthquake fault lines.
by Debra Beckham 3/26/2011 8:02:55 PM

@Debra Wow... I was there too. It seemed like a terrible idea then, and a worse idea now.
by radioguy 3/26/2011 8:04:11 PM

@Matsuoko What I (we're) trying to tell you is that the cobalt in the steel of the liner is bound to be melted by the Corium which will then alter the state of the steel AND make it radioactive before something flushes it out [to sea, at this point]. Which IMPLIES a meltdown has happened [and may still be happening].
by Dennis Tucker Jr 3/26/2011 8:04:19 PM

True Debra. Sometimes I need to have more of a filter I know! :)
by Janis 3/26/2011 8:04:49 PM

@Jojo I don't think so, ocean is huge. remember that 100 000 tons of high activity waste have been disposed by several countries near england and france, and in othe places. We still have La Hague, which release every day, from a 3 kms pipeline in sea, radioactive product (off course, they have not the bequerels found in the water in the underground of Fukushima) but this is every day. We have some russian river who do the same, from old deposit (?) we have some US river who do the same from old deposit, etc, etc... Sea and water is the nuclear Trashcan, unfortunately . this is always the same sentence: it will dilute, it will be spray away, etc...
by Future Isnow 3/26/2011 8:05:31 PM

@Dennis Tucker Jr : yep agree. moreover, if you find Co60 outside of vessel, it indicates a vessel breach.
by Matsuoko 3/26/2011 8:05:41 PM

@Poland not at the moment... down until the story gets big again
by radioguy 3/26/2011 8:05:42 PM

@Jim Carver LOl, quite True : new Reuters, but better, LOL
by Future Isnow 3/26/2011 8:06:20 PM

nice chatting with you all.. please keep positive as you can, thoughts go deeply out for japan ,, hold together
by Dean 3/26/2011 8:07:19 PM

I just can't see them carting around all that stuff and making a new dump.
by Jim Carver 3/26/2011 8:08:02 PM

@Future Isnow Sure, it will dilute. But the ocean isn't infinite. Also, it's not uniform. You might get a bunch of radioactive material dumped on the seabed right next to your beaches for 200 years.
by Jojo 3/26/2011 8:08:08 PM

@Jojo I think that's among my biggest fears...this stuff getting into the food chain and being around for hundreds of years.
by Janis 3/26/2011 8:09:12 PM

@Janis "FDA Approved" will take on a whole new meaning.
by Dennis Tucker Jr 3/26/2011 8:10:11 PM

@Janis it's already in the food chain... has been since we started in like 1948. Where is that link to all the detonations since then? Like 2000+ of them? It is already all around us... this is just increasing it.
by Meretisa 3/26/2011 8:10:28 PM